Professor Stephen Hawking, who has died at the age of 76, was one of Britain’s greatest ever scientists but despite being given many honours, he declined a knighthood. However, that didn’t stop him developing an apparently relaxed relationship with the Queen. As the world pays tributes to one of its all-time great thinkers, let’s look back at the times royalty celebrated Professor…
This is one royal wedding bouquet you’re not going to miss. When the Princess Royal’s only daughter, Zara, married Mike Tindall in Edinburgh on July 30th 2011, her flowers made a striking impression. For, unusually among royal brides, Zara included a splash of colour…
All brides need a bouquet and a royal bride is no different. Flowers are as much a part of a wedding as the dress, the cake and the first kiss so as the countdown to the first Royal Wedding of 2018 hits its stride, Royal Central will be looking back at the bouquets…
When the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall announced their engagement in February 2005 they wasted no time in setting a date or venue for their marriage. They immediately told the world they would marry in April that year in a civil ceremony at Windsor Castle followed by a service of blessing at St. George’s Chapel later the same day. Yet just a week later, they had to move their civil…
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been sharing more details of their marriage with just over two months to go until they say ‘I do’. The couple are promising a ‘moment of fun and joy’  so to get in that celebratory spirit, Royal Central rounds up everything we…
How important are the Royal Family to the idea of Britishness today? That’s one of the questions raised by a set of coins which go into circulation in the UK on March 1st 2018. The Royal Mint has launched a series of new ten pence pieces– 26 in all, created to form an…
Royal Associations: The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists
27th February 2018
The Duchess of Cambridge has become the patron of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG). She’s just the second patron of the organization but her new role is the continuation of a long association between the college and the Royal Family. To mark the announcement, Royal Central takes a look at the regal past of this Royal College.
The first patron of the college was the…
On July 12th 1543, a rather low key royal wedding took place. The groom was Henry VIII and his sixth wife was Katherine Parr, a relatively unknown minor noblewoman who had risen from daughter of a knight to Queen of England in thirty years. The woman who became a…
After weeks of speculation, we now know which of the stunning tiaras in the royal collection was Kate’s choice for her first State Banquet. The Duchess of Cambridge chose the Lotus Flower tiara that she was last seen wearing in 2013 for this mahor event of the State Visit…
William III and Mary II are an odd couple in British royal history. They are our only joint sovereigns, so far, and they swept to power in a series of events that were romantically named the ‘Glorious Revolution’. The deal they did with parliament to make themselves monarchs altered the way the crown could be inherited for centuries. The couple set up two of London’s most famous…
