On1 May 1876, Queen Victoria was
proclaimed Empress Of India after discussion with Prime Minister of
the day, Benjamin Disraeli led to Queen Victoria wanting a title
boost after her daughter became Empress Of Germany. From 1876 until
the Empire Of India was disbanded in 1947, British Monarchs were
styled as King-Emperors and Queen-Empresses. This is the only
instance in British history…
Frederick II, accorded the epithet ‘the
Great’ already during his own lifetime, had in fact, a whole other
life after death, aside from his legacy. The great King’s legend
stalks the eighteenth century like a gigantic historic shadow, much
as the oversize silhouette of…
In the British Library five letters from
Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of
Russia (1872-1918) are preserved. Initially, I thought there were
seven letters of hers at the British Library, but further research
has enabled me to establish that these…
Prince Michael (b. 4 July 1942) is the
younger brother of the Duke of Kent and paternal first cousin of
Queen Elizabeth II. As a five-year-old, he was a pageboy at the
wedding of the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. He was
educated at Sunningdale School and Eton, before entering the Royal
Military Academy at Sandhurst, during his life he has always been
active in learning languages and…
On the upper floor of the Swiss Cottage
at Osborne, a rustic structure carved with Biblical texts in German
and built behind the individual garden plots belonging to each of
the royal children, today’s visitor finds this large room set as if
for tea, with napkins turned to…
The first and only time that the boy
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart visited London occurred between 1764-5, at
about the half-way point of the Mozart family’s monumental European
Grand Tour, which was to prove pivotal in Wolfgang’s developmental
process as a composer, the…
As Royal Ascot approaches, horse racing
fans begin to anticipate the winners and losers of the event. But
one of the main features of Royal Ascot is, of course, the
attendance of the Queen and members of the Royal family. As the
name suggests, this competition has a rich royal history, but it’s
only actually called Royal Ascot when the Queen attends – here’s
how Ascot’s heritage ties in…
On 29 May 1894, Tsarevich Nicholas of
Russia wrote to his mother, Empress Marie Feodorovna, that he could
see the sea from the room in which he was writing, in the imperial
palace of Peterhof and that he had ‘such a longing for the yacht
and want to fly there to join my…
During the time they were at Coburg,
Princess Alix of Hesse and Tsarevich Nicholas of Russia became
engaged, a date they would treasure for the rest of their lives – 8
April 1894. Whilst they were in Coburg, visited the theatre and saw
an operetta of which they would…
In May 1894, Princess Alix of Hesse
undertook a cure in the fashionable Yorkshire spa town of Harrogate
for sciatica. She had become engaged to Tsarevich Nicholas of
Russia at Coburg the previous month. Whilst she stayed at
Harrogate, she regularly corresponded with her fiancé, who would
later join her at the house her eldest sister, Victoria, Princess
Louis of Battenberg had rented at…
