Read part 1 of Britain’s Top Palaces here. Let’s continue!
Buckingham Palace, Westminster
Buckingham Palace may have a bit of a shorter history than other palaces but it doesn’t make it any less impressive. It began life in 1703 as Buckingham House, built for the Duke of Buckingham and was purchased as a royal residence by George III for his ever-expanding family in 1761. Queen…
On Thursday 26 March 2015, the reburial of King Richard III took place at Leicester Cathedral. One year on, the city of Leicester has chosen to mark this historic day with a special programme of commemorative events taking place at the Cathedral, Guildhall, St.
For those interested in retracing the steps of Henry VIII’s fourth wife in England, they can of course do so at Hever Castle, the Boleyn seat which was granted her as part of her annulment settlement, at the site of Richmond Palace, which remained hers until her death…
January 30th marks the anniversary of the execution of King Charles I in 1649 at Whitehall, London.The date is normally marked by a short ceremony in the Banqueting House at Whitehall, however this year the ceremony will not take place there due to the fact that the Banqueting House is the subject of a major conservation programme. That bitter winter morning in 1649,the King was led at…
Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel is the ninth Princess of Orange. She was born on 7 February 1688 as the daughter of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Maria Amalia of Courland.
Marie Louise was their 11th child. She was raised as a protestant and she was noticed as a…
You may have heard of this Princess of Orange before, as the 7th Princess of Orange was also an English Princess. Mary was the daughter of Charles I and Henrietta Maria of France and also the first bearer of the title, ‘Princess Royal’, which was created by…
Mary Queen of Scots was born on 8 December 1542, at Linlithgow Palace, incidentally the birthplace of her father, James V of Scotland, in West Lothian, some fifteen miles distance from Edinburgh. The palace’s name translates literally as the “loch in the damp hollow” and still overlooks a inland loch. Today it ismaintained by Historic Scotland and was the residence of…
King Stephen of England was born in Blois in France in either 1092 or 1096. It’s quite unusual that we do not have a birth date for a future King of England, but by the time of his birth, it was not expected that he would ever be king. His parents were Stephen-Henry…
In the High Middle Ages, there were four sisters known by the famous moniker of “the Provençal Sisters” and they married four of the most influential men of Europe at the time. It is through these four marriages that the sisters: Margaret, Eleanor, Sanchia, and Beatrice…
Éléanore de Bourbon was born on 30 April 1587 to Henri I de Bourbon and his second wife Charlotte Catherine de la Tremoille. She was closely related to the French royal family as her father was a first cousin of King Henry IV of France. She had a half-sister from her father’s previous marriage and a full brother, who succeeded to their father’s titles. Her future husband was the son…
