If you think royal baby mania is a new
thing, think again. For centuries, the arrival of a regal bundle of
joy has got plenty of people talking. Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert kept the papers and the people happy for the best part of
two decades as they went about building a family of nine princes
and princesses. And one month saw them welcome more bundles of joy
than any other – April. The…
Two hundred years after her birth, Queen
Victoria is taking over Buckingham Palace again. As part of the
celebrations for the bicentenary of the birth of Britain’s second
longest reigning monarch, the most famous royal residence of them
all will host a special exhibition…
When Prince Edward, the youngest child of
The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, married Sophie Rhys-Jones in
June 1999, it was expected that he would be bestowed with a
dukedom, as is customary for the son of a monarch on the occasion
of marriage. It was instead announced…
It’s a royal relationship that has
continued to intrigue even though it officially came to an end over
twenty years ago. Now, the possible reunion of the Duke of York and
his former wife, Sarah, is hitting the headlines once again as the
pair travelled to Bahrain together, their first joint overseas trip
for a quarter of a century. It was a private visit, although the
Duke of York carried…
When HM The Queen bestowed the title of
Duke of Cambridge on her grandson, Prince William, on his wedding
day in April 2011, it marked the recreation of a title that first
originated in the time of King Charles II. A dukedom is the highest
title in the British peerage system…
Moments that defined the British Monarchy – The abdication and scandal of Edward VIII
28th March 2019
On 20 January 1936, Britain’s King George
V died. George V was a popular monarch with strong public morals,
his son, the Prince of Wales acceded to the throne upon his
father’s death. He became King Edward VIII, a name chosen as
opposed to King David as there had been no…
Contained within the report made by
Nicholas Sokolov, who was charged with conducting the official
investigation into the fate of the Russian Imperial Family by the
White Russian Government in February 1919, is an extraordinary set
of four images, listed as ‘Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18’ in my copy of
The Sokolov Investigation, translation and commentary by John F. O’
Connor (1971). It is a…
Dukedoms have been bestowed on royal
males for hundreds of years, and each title carries with it a
history of some description. The most recent dukedom to be bestowed
by HM Queen Elizabeth was that of the Duke of Sussex – a title
given to Prince Harry on the occasion…
I first encountered this hitherto
neglected and virtually ‘forgotten’ letter, categorised as by Tsar
Nicholas II, within the volume The Complete Wartime Correspondence
of Tsar Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra April 1914-March
1917, skilfully edited by Prof Joseph T.
Some photos tell their own story and take
their own place in history as a result. While we are inundated with
images of royalty, some pictures stand out as a snapshot of a
moment that has its own resonance. In this occasional series, Royal
Central looks at some of the best known images of royal life and
the story behind them. And this time, it’s a close up on a very
famous christening…
