Princess Victoria Mary of Teck was born
on 26th May 1867 at Kensington Palace in London. Her parents were
Prince Francis, Duke of Teck and Princess Mary Adelaide of
Cambridge who was the youngest Daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of
Cambridge. When May was baptised in the chapel royal of Kensington
Palace, her godparents included Queen Victoria, the Prince of Wales
(later her father in law King…
Why Cambridge University has been luckier for queens in class than kings in waiting
11th January 2014
Edward VII, William’s
great-great-great-grandfather, wasn’t the first British royal to
attend the university but he was the first heir to the throne to
finish his studies there. And his mother, Queen Victoria, might
have wished he hadn’t bothered. Albert Edward…
Everyone knows that Henry VIII had six
wives, with the rhyme ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced,
Beheaded, Survived’, recording their largely unenviable fates.
Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, is a household name, but what of
the other Queen Anne – the fourth wife…
On this day in 1688, the Dutch
Stateholder William III of Orange made a triumphant march into
London ending the reign of King James II. In what history has since
coined the “Glorious Revolution” William of Orange invaded England
on the 5th of November 1688. It would however, take nearly two
months of struggle for William to depose of King James and claim
the throne for himself and his wife…
Anglo-Saxon queens receive very little
attention, with it commonly believed that there were no
pre-Conquest queens in England. Such an assertion is patently
untrue, as the lives of early queens, such as Elfrida, Emma of
Normandy and Edith Godwin show. All three of these…
On 25 November 1120 the White Ship sank
off the coast of Normandy not long after it set out for England.
The ship, which was fast and well-built, went down quickly, with
only two survivors. Unfortunately, William, the sole legitimate son
of King Henry I was not one of…
Just recently on the 6th of November,
Australia marked 14 years since voting “no” in a referendum to
abolish the Australian Monarchy and become the Republic of
Australia. The topic of Monarchy vs Republic has always been one of
fervent discussion in many Australian homes, social groups and
public arenas, but when the question ‘Should Australia become a
Republic?’ was put to the electorate…
Charles II was famous for his
illegitimate children, and there have been many monarchs and their
families that have had secrets they wanted to keep
hidden. Now it has been suggested that one of
Queen Victoria’s daughters, Princess Louise, could have been one
of…
King George VI contemplated declaring war
on Germany prior to Hitler’s Invasion of Poland in 1939. Sotheby’s
will auction off an initial draft of King George VI’s speech in
which he tells the country that Britain was ready, willing and
able to declare war on…
If skating through history catches ones
fancy, then the chance to hit the ice at the Tower of London is a
must. Now in its 8th year, the Tower moat is the site for the
holiday ice skating. Undoubtedly the Tower moat is the most
recognized moat in London, if not in the country. Since the
incarnation of the Tower in the 11th Century, there has been some
variety of protective ditches. The larger moat…
