Lydia Starbuck

For a woman who founded one of the most famous royal dynasties in British history, she is surprisingly enigmatic. Katherine of Valois was the first Kate to be Queen of England and yet much of the modern imagining of her comes from her fleeting appearance in the works of Shakespeare. But what little we do know seems to indicate that the ‘fair Kate’ of Henry V was every bit as ambitious…

His birth secured the succession in a way the British royal family had never known before. When Mary, Duchess of York delivered a healthy boy on June 23rd 1894 she ensured that her royal dynasty had three heirs in direct line to the throne. But the baby who arrived that day would take the crown from ultimate security to compete crisis. The baby grew up to be Edward VIII, the king who abdicated for…

The birth of a new family member always brings joy but for Queen Elizabeth II, the arrival of her first great grandson also made history. For the first time in over a century, a Monarch saw three generations of heirs in line for the throne. The direct succession was guaranteed into the 22nd century. The birth of George Alexander Louis, on July 22nd 2013 at St. Mary’s Hospital, Paddington…