In the summer of 1894, the Tsarevich
Nicholas came to England as a guest of Queen Victoria, first
staying for a brief few days with his fiancée, Princess Alix of
Hesse, at Walton-on-Thames before continuing to Windsor Castle.
This was a blissful period for a young couple who were deeply in
love, having become engaged at Coburg on 8 April 1894. During his
stay at Windsor, the Tsarevich paid a…
They were an unexpected king and queen
and their royal romance has weathered several storms but today King
Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium will mark their sixtieth
wedding anniversary. The couple, who married on July 2nd 1959 in
Brussels, will celebrate surrounded…
Northampton Museums own a pair of flat
shoes, believed to be those worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding
day, 10 February 1840. Of white satin, they certainly would have
complimented the Queen’s own simple wedding dress of finely woven
Spitalfields silk satin in her own…
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 shape of the Prince of Wales’
feathers, as if the Royal Family are at any moment, expected. An
afternoon memorialised…
A picture can tell a story all of its own
and some images take on a resonance that lasts beyond the moment
they were made. In this occasional series, Royal Central looks at
some of the pictures that have told the royal tale and examines the
story behind them. Today…
When Tsarevich Nicholas visited Windsor
as a guest of Queen Victoria in the summer of 1894, he spent a
brief time with his fiancée, Princess Alix of Hesse, at Marlborough
House, the London residence of the Prince and Princess of Wales on
the Mall. As Nicholas wrote with…
Descending the hill at Windsor Castle
down towards St George’s Chapel, today’s visitor passes the Deanery
at St George’s. The upper level of this building, however, has a
hidden secret within its sacred architecture. Over the leads of the
Deanery was a constructed covered walkway, used by Queen Victoria
to enable her to have private access to the Queen’s Closet or Royal
Closet, sometimes…
One room at Windsor Castle is perhaps
more associated with Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert
than any other. This is what was called the Blue Closet, part of
the private apartments. By a curious coincidence, Prince Albert
would later die in another room of the…
On 25 October 1897, Queen Victoria
drafted her last will, the manuscript of which is preserved at
Windsor. Typically for the Queen, such a document existed outside
of her journal and in her entry for that day – written up at
Balmoral – there is no mention of her making…
The wedding ring of Queen Victoria has
its special poignancy, a symbol of the passionate marriage she
enjoyed with Prince Albert. Placed on her finger on the morning of
10 February 1840, her private instructions ensured that she would
wear it in perpetuity. What do we know of it? If we study the
paintings and engravings made that show the hands of Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert joined, we might…
