Princess Maud Charlotte Mary Victoria was the third daughter and youngest surviving child of the Prince and Princess of Wales, later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of Denmark, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel.
Princess Maud was born at Marlborough House on 26 November 1869. She was baptised by John Jackson, Bishop of London at Marlborough House on 24…
Isabella of Valois, The Child Bride of Richard II
4th August 2015
In medieval times royal brides were often quite young when they married, though consummation was usually forbidden until a more appropriate age was reached. A certain young bridge might ring a bell as the founder of the Tudor Dynasty. Lady Margaret Beaufort was first married…
Like the majority of her granddaughters, Princess Viktoria of Prussia was named after both her mother and grandmother. Born on April 12, 1866, in Potsdam Palace. Friederike Amalia Wilhelmine Viktoria was the fifth child and second daughter of Frederick III, Emperor of…
Monarchy Monday: Queen Mary's Dolls House
3rd August 2015
Growing up my father set out to build a dollhouse for my sister and me. It was three stories high, nine rooms, complete with an elevator on the outside operated by a pulley system. My mum used wallpaper samples to cover the walls and left over carpet and lino from our home renovation for the floors. The dollhouse was our pride and joy, and we played for it, admittedly, longer than we should have.
Stories of the Stuarts: Oak Apple Day
1st August 2015
Oak Apple Day was a formal public holiday celebrated in England on the 29th May in recognition of the Restoration of the Monarchy in 1660 following ‘The Commonwealth’ of England and rule of Oliver Cromwell from 1649. It is so named ‘Oak Apple Day’…
On this day, 126 years ago, a shy young woman married a man almost two decades older than her in London. But this was no ordinary wedding. The bride was Princess Louise of Wales, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and her marriage had set tongues wagging for her groom was a…
On this day in 1860, Queen Victoria welcomed her first granddaughter. She was a young grandmamma, just 41 at the time, but the baby girl born in Berlin 155 yeas ago today was Victoria’s second grandchild. She was also the last of the second generation born in the lifetime of her grandpapa, Prince Albert. So far, so fairytale. But the life of Charlotte of Prussia was anything but a happy ever…
‘As a rule, I like girls more’. The opinions of Queen Victoria on babies were quite clear. She might have had a long line of male heirs waiting to inherit her throne but her devotion to her granddaughters was telling. The women of the second generation of her…
Stories of the Stuarts: The New Model Army
22nd July 2015
The Battle of Naseby was the first proper battle of the New Model Army.
The New Model Army was established by the Parliamentarians in February 1645 during the height of the English Civil War. They felt that a professional army would be more successful when pitted against the…
Stories of the Stuarts: Holdenby House
20th July 2015
Holdenby House in Northamptonshire first came to prominence in 1583 when it was built by Sir Christopher Hatton, Lord Chancellor and favourite of Queen Elizabeth I. Holdenby was the largest private house in Elizabethan and was built by Sir Christopher to honour his beloved Queen Elizabeth , even refusing to live in it prior to Good Queen Bess’s first visit.
Original structure of Holdenby…