Animals given to royalty could, of course, become pets – but they could often be presented in the form of political gifts, adding therefore to the monarch’s personal sense of majestas. An example of this is the bay horse and three brood mares, sent to Henry VIII by Francesco Gonzaga, Marquis of Mantua in 1514. The personal prestige of the monarch was also flattered by the exotic nature of…
Born on 23 August 1740 to the Duke Anthony Ulrich of Brunswick-Luneburg and his wife Anna Leopoldovna, Ivan was the only grandson of the former Tsar of Russia Ivan V, and consequently in line to the Russian throne.
His mother was the niece of Empress Anna and expected that…
Alongside the well-established royal love of dogs, cats are far less recorded as preferred pets, unlike their canine counterparts. They have, however, been no less loved by those that did own them. So revered were cats (“mau”) as sacred animals in Ancient Egypt that they…
One of English history’s ‘forgotten’ queens, is actually one who was arguablyamong the most loved. This was Mary II, the joint monarch – not queen consort of William III. Forgiven by posterity for deposing her father, contemporary history seems to have accepted this as being something of a regrettable necessity to safeguard England as a Protestant nation. Known for her love of…
“Mary Queen of Scots”. These were the words I overheard from a visitor, passing their comment on the magnificent canopy tomb in the south aisle of the Lady Chapel at Westminster Abbey, erected on the orders of James I to house the remains of his mother, transferred from…
Queen Elizabeth has undertaken 94 official State Visits during her reign, plus two State Visits in her capacity as Queen of Canada (she visited the United States twice in the ‘50s).
A State Visit is when a foreign head of state is invited to visit a country by that country’s head of state. State Visits differ from Official Visits, as an Official Visit is when high-ranking government officials…
“Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world…” were the words which King George V used to describe the Norfolk retreat, beloved by four generations of the British Royal Family since 1862; it was a sentimentechoed by…
Prince Henry to marry on the same date King Henry VIII executed his wife Anne Boleyn
15th December 2017
Prince Henry of Wales, better known as Prince Harry, will marry Meghan Markle on the same date as his namesake, King Henry VIII, executed his wife, Anne Boleyn.
The date is, of course, a purely incidental occurrence, but nonetheless, an amusing one to followers of…
Only eight women have been named TIME Magazine's 'Person of the Year'; Queen Elizabeth and Wallis Simpson are two of them
7th December 2017
Yesterday, TIME Magazine named their ‘Person of the Year’. The 2017 honour went to the Silence Breakers.
The issue covers the storeys of 33 women and two men who came forward to accuse their sexual abusers. The two men are Terry Crews and Blaise Godbe Lipman.
The front cover of the magazine features Ashley Judd, one of Harvey Weinstein’s first accusers, Taylor Swift who took a…
