It’s the hashtag to have this summer and now the royals are part of the craze, too. England is awash with wildflowers as the sun reaches its height with everywhere from motorway verges to public parks going for the natural look. And now Kensington Palace has shared its own take with a celebration of its wildflower meadow for 2019.
A team from Historic Royal Palaces has been working through…
This summer, Royal Central is taking a look at who’s who in the lines of succession around the world. And our latest instalment takes us to Spain. By law, the line of succession there is limited to the descendants of King Juan Carlos I, a rule that remained unchanged…
A fond tradition arose in the lifetime of Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, Queen Victoria’s two-time Prime Minister, namely that of his receiving flowers, often primroses from the Queen. To Disraeli, Queen Victoria was the ‘Faery’ – his endearing name for his…
Today we’re looking at the line of succession to the Belgian throne.
Current Monarch: King Philippe, who succeeded his father, King Albert II, on 21 July 2013 after he stepped down for health reasons.
Photo: Laura Dekkers
King Philippe was considered by many to be the heir to his uncle, King Baudouin, but after his death in 1991, Baudouin’s younger brother, Albert succeeded to the…
In the Western manuscripts collection held at the British Library are what are known as the Boyd Carpenter papers, Vol. V, Add MS 46721: 1884-1917. This remarkable collection of documents contain letters written in English from or on behalf of various crowned heads of Europe…
In the British Library five letters from Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia (1872-1918) are preserved. Initially, I thought there were seven letters of hers at the British Library, but further research has enabled me to establish that these…
The wedding cakes in Queen Victoria’s family were magnificent examples of edible ceremony. Once they reached the age of photography, they were faithfully recorded for posterity. These images still have the power to enchant today, even in long ago albums. Just looking at these gorgeous cakes allows us to almost taste them by sight across the centuries. They were luscious creations. Rich in royal…
A charming photograph taken by Mary Steen in the Queen’s Sitting Room at Windsor on 21 May 1895 shows an elderly Queen Victoria knitting or crocheting, sat with her youngest daughter, Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, who dutifully reads the newspaper aloud to her…
In the Queen’s bedroom at Osborne House, may be found a quite extraordinary chintz pattern. Used for the bed hangings of the Queen’s bed, as well as the sofa and curtains, the material has been adopted in a modern context for the room, having originally been for the…
On the eve of her wedding to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria received a sapphire diamond-bordered brooch. It was an item of personal jewellery to which she would attach intense sentimental importance. It became in a way, a symbol of her marriage to Prince Albert and she valued it so highly that on her death, she willed it to the Crown to prevent its being given on further within the Royal Family. It…
