Spain

A future queen's day of history takes centre stage on royal Christmas card

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12th December 2023
It was an historic day for a future queen and it’s become the centrepiece of her family’s festive greeting.An image of Princess Leonor from the day she came of age and swore her allegiance to the Spanish Constitution has been chosen for the Spanish royal Christmas car this year.Leonor is seen with her parents, King Felipe and Queen Letizia, and her younger sister, Infanta…
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British Royals

The princess whose low key royal wedding attracted global attention

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12th December 2023
The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence are celebrating their wedding anniversary. The couple mark 31 years of marriage on December 12th 2023.Their wedding was one of the most unusual in the history of the House of Windsor. It was low key, taking place at a small Scottish church rather than one of the grand venues used for other Royal Family weddings.Despite that, it…
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Features

The sweet gift of a prince to a grieving queen on the saddest of Christmas days

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11th December 2023
She had made the season her own. The festive season at the end of the 19th century was very different from that in 1837, the year she had become monarch. Yet the final Christmas of Queen Victoria was filled with heartbreak.The queen herself could not get away from it, noting in her diary for December 25th 1900 ”this has indeed been a terribly sad Christmas for us all!”. And it had…
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British Royals

The first royal Christmas speech

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11th December 2023
The royal Christmas speech is now an important part of the festive season with the Monarch addressing country and Commonwealth every December 25th at 3pm. Christmas lunches and celebrations are built around it and millions tune in to hear the address. However, this special…
Royal Christmas

The year Queen Elizabeth II didn't make a Christmas speech

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10th December 2023
Queen Elizabeth II turned the Christmas speech into an essential part of every festive season. Although it was her grandfather, King George V, who first broadcast to the nation on Christmas Day and her father, King George VI, who made the famous addresses through the difficult years of World War Two, it would be Elizabeth II who made the moment into a national institution.In 1957, the speech…
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