Every ten years in the UK, a census is
held. All households in the country are required to fill in a form
with details of everyone living in that one unit to give a picture
of the population and help plan future services. The information is
held securely and can’t be released publicly for another 100 years.
But that means that, a century on, we get wonderful snapshots of
life long ago. I…
She was the ‘May Queen’ whose reign
lasted little more than a month but left its mark in royal history.
Marie-Jose was always a bit of a maverick who had her own views and
no fear of sharing them. Those opinions would become a saving grace
for the dynasty she…
The queen who had to attend her wedding reception in a blood spattered gown
22nd September 2023
A century ago, the woman who reigned as
Spanish consort had more than her fair share of problems. She was
Victoria Eugenie, known as Ena, and her first day as a queen began
in a terrifying manner. Ena perhaps realized the turbulence ahead
of her just minutes after her…
‘Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced,
beheaded, survived.’ That sad little rhyme, summing up the fates of
Henry VIII’s six wives, is familiar to many. But while just about
everyone knows that the monarch with a thing for wedding cake said
‘I do’ six times only to turn sour, and then some, on the majority
of the women he married, the details of his consorts’…
The royal links of an historic church in the shadow of a world famous abbey
22nd September 2023
It’s hosted dazzling and trend setting
royal weddings but St. Margaret’s Church at Westminster is always
in the shadows for it stands, quite literally, beneath the world
famous abbey. It traces its history back to pre Conquest times but
the current building…
On an autumn day, in 1344, a little girl
was born to a famous king and queen. She entered the expected role
of a royal daughter from birth as her future husband, an important
political ally, was already living in the regal nursery she would
call home. This royal baby spent…
A tiny church and a scramble for a minister - a very unusual royal wedding
22nd September 2023
When the leading princess of a royal
court marries, it’s usually a grand affair with tiaras, sparkle and
endless celebrations. But when Astrid, then the de facto first lady
of Norway, said her ‘I dos’ in 1961, it was a low key affair that
changed the rules of royal romance. Her marriage to Johan Martin
Ferner was controversial but the fact that it took place at all
signalled a…
The unhappy royal love story that led to the imprisonment of the Princes in the Tower
21st September 2023
She was the long dead widow who was used
by a king to overthrow his own nephew and yet her name is all but
forgotten today. Eleanor Butler was the woman who helped change the
royal history of England forever and almost brought one of its most
famous dynasties to disaster…
King Charles makes surprising gesture to crowds at start of State Visit to France
20th September 2023
King Charles surprised the thousands who
had come to see him at the start of his State Visit to France with
an unexpected move on the Champs Elysees. As The King was driven
along the famous Parisian street in an official car along with
President Emmanuel Macron, the two…
Queen Elizabeth II was laid to rest in
the King George VI Memorial Chapel at Windsor on the evening of
September 19th 2022. The tombstone was placed on the grave soon
afterwards. The simplest of markers was chosen for the longest
reigning Monarch in British history. Her Late Majesty lies beneath
a slab engraved with ‘Elizabeth II” and her dates, ‘1926
–…
