It’s the biggest royal anniversary of the
year and it’s almost upon us. May 24th 2019 marks two centuries
since the birth of Queen Victoria, a monarch so influential, she
gave her name to an era. And as part of our Victoria series on
Royal Central, we’ve got a special prize to mark the event over on
our Facebook page. To celebrate the anniversary of Victoria’s
birth…
In a recent life of Queen Victoria, (A.
N. Wilson, Victoria: A Life, 2014) I stumbled across an
illustration of one of the famous group photographs taken behind
the Palais Edinburg in Coburg, showing Queen Victoria surrounded by
a whole host of contemporary royalty –…
Aged sixteen, Princess Victoria made a
pencil sketch of herself. Knowing the vividness of the watercolours
that she made for her sketchbook and the skilled drawings she made
during this time of other important figures in her youth, it is
fascinating that she chose to apply…
Frogmore House, royal residence and regal
wedding venue of choice for the Windsors, is throwing open its
doors to visitors. The famous building at Windsor will be open for
three charity days at the end of May this year. The visits are part
of the annual charity garden open days. This year they fall on May
28th, 29th and 30th and support three different organisations – the
National Garden…
Royal births in modern times now take
place with a great degree of privacy for both the parents and
newborn, but this compares drastically with royal births throughout
history. One of the most significant changes is that they do not
now require the attendance of a…
QUESTION 1: WHO WAS PRINCESS VICTORIA?
Princess Victoria was eldest child and daughter of Queen Victoria
of the United Kingdom. ‘Vicky’ as she was known to family was born
on 21 November 1840 at Buckingham Palace. Princess
Vicky was an HRH from birth and as only child…
Eternally beautiful, eternally tragic,
the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, continues to fascinate,
over a hundred years after her death. And now the story of this
groundbreaking royal is to hit TV screens in a new production. The
new version will be an adaptation of the successful novels based on
the empress by Allison Pataki. ‘The Accidental Empress’ and ‘Sisi:
Empress on…
There are thousands of images of royalty
but some regal pictures stand out. They capture a moment in time
that has its own resonance and which lasts beyond the day on which
it was taken. In this occasional series, Royal Central takes a look
back at some of the best known…
Whilst researching for a forthcoming
academic article on Louisa Louis, the devoted dresser to Princess
Charlotte of Wales (1771-1838) who was deeply valued by Queen
Victoria, I encountered the name of Mrs Brock. She belongs to that
fascinating roll-call of characters that…
Now April is here we can say in all
confidence that the next royal wedding happens next month. And as
Lady Gabriella Windsor and Thomas Kingston make the final
preparations for their big day, set for May 18th at St. George’s
Chapel, Windsor, there’s plenty of excitement over the details of
this latest marital celebration. Lady Gabriella will be the latest
bride from the House of…
