The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara is one of the most impressive pieces in The Queen’s tiara collection. It is one of her favourite tiaras and is frequently worn for different events. It is notable, not only for its sheer size and brilliance but for the fact that it can be worn with either 15 pearls or 15 emeralds hanging from the diamond circles. But how did it end up in the British Royal…
On May 7 1697, a fire broke out and destroyed much of the old royal palace in Stockholm. The castle Tre Kronor, or Three Crowns in English, is now only a footnote in history with the present royal palace of Stockholm built above the ruins of the old middle-aged castle that…
As the only son of the Russian Empress Catherine the Great, Tsar Paul I succeeded his mother on her death in 1796. He would rule the Russian Empire for the next five years. Probably, he would had ruled the Russian Empire much longer than that. But Paul was murdered. And his…
The Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace first and foremost is the name of the Chapel Royal, that establishment of the Royal Household intended to meet the spiritual needs of the Sovereign; the secondary term refers to the building itself – a royal peculiar – in which the monarch actually worshipped. The Chapel Royal is probably best remembered for the wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince…
On This Day in 1940: King Haakon and Crown Prince Olav were almost killed in a bomb attack
28th April 2020
It has been 80 years since the German invasion of Norway. Hitler was looking for the Norwegian Royal Family, and for a while, he also tried to get the 3-year-old Prince Harald to rule the nation as a child king. The royal family managed to escape and lived in exile in the…
It has been 80 years since the German invasion of Norway. Hitler was looking for the Norwegian royal family, and for a while, he also tried to get the 3-year-old Prince Harald to rule the nation as a child king. The royal family managed to escape and lived in exile in the UK…
In February 1308, England welcomed its new queen to her realm for the first time. Isabella, consort to King Edward II, arrived with her husband at Dover after an elaborate wedding in her home country. Isabella expected adulation and respect. Instead, she watched as Edward showered kisses on a court favourite. It would set the template for a marriage that ultimately led to betrayal, a fight for the…
Gustavus Adolphus or better known as King Gustav II of Sweden was born in 1594. At the age of only 16, Gustav was a war-torn young Crown Prince who was eager to take over the Swedish throne. When Denmark-Norway stirred up a new war in 1610, it was only a question of when the…
The Royal Palace in Oslo is today a striking monument in the city centre of Oslo. When the castle was built, it was located outside the very centre of Oslo. The property that is today the residence of Norway’s monarch was for only 300 years ago nothing more than part…
Anne Neville: Richard III's 'Lost' Queen and Westminster Abbey
22nd April 2020
Amidst the chronicle of lost tombs at Westminster Abbey is that of Queen Anne Neville, wife of King Richard III. Queen Anne’s invisibility in these terms underlines the purported neglect on behalf of Richard III; this lack of a memorial was rectified however when a bronze plaque was placed to Queen Anne’s memory at Westminster Abbey, in an attempt to redress this act of historical forgetting.
