11 April will be the 335th anniversary of a very unique British coronation- the only joint coronation in British history. Queen Mary II and King William III were crowned as co-monarchs at Westminster Abbey after being offered the crown.
King James II became King upon his brother’s death in 1685. The once beloved Duke of York was Catholic, though, and this would be his downfall. After…
here are a number of events in English royal history that seem extraordinary and unbelievable, but the warming pan scandal has to be at the top of the list. The son of James II and Mary of Modena had a very interesting start to life and would be questioned for…
Within the walls of one of England’s most picturesque castles, a queen gave birth to her only child and set in motion a chain of events that would become one of Tudor England’s most intriguing mysteries. The birth had been much anticipated and much talked about. The…
The fate of one of medieval England’s most famous royal mistresses has fascinated historians for centuries. What really happened to The Fair Rosamund?
Much of Rosamund Clifford’s life is now the stuff of legend and folklore but, in her time, she was England’s greatest beauty and Eleanor of Aquitaine’s greatest nemesis. For by the time Rosamund began a relationship with Eleanor’s…
He was the monarch who had to fight for a throne but then relied on a mistress for advice with a queen who arrived at court to find another holding power. And in the middle of their marriage was a woman with ambition, brains and no sense of self control. Our special read…
Eleanor of Aquitaine died on 1 April 1204 but after 800 years, she still holds our interest. She was Queen twice and held titles in her own name, and she remains one of the most interesting royal women in the mediaeval period.
Eleanor was born on 8 April 1124 to William…
Caroline of Ansbach was Princess of Wales from 1714 to 1727; her father-in-law, King George I, inherited the throne upon Queen Anne’s death and began the Hanoverian dynasty. She remains one of the most interesting women to hold the title of Princess of Wales and left her mark on British society and the monarchy itself.
Caroline spent much of her teenage years at the Prussian court after both…
On July 12th 1543, a rather low key royal wedding took place. The groom was Henry VIII and his sixth wife was Katherine Parr, a relatively unknown minor noblewoman who had risen from daughter of a knight to Queen of England in thirty years. The woman who became a…
For almost a thousand years, coronation services have taken place at Westminster Abbey, in times of peace and strife. The sovereign sometimes arrives at the Abbey a popular figure; sometimes, they’re deeply unpopular.
More often than not, they’re crowned by birthright…
Every Christmas, we expect the Royal Family to go to Sandringham for their annual Christmas Day church service and later, hear a speech from the Monarch. While that is the tradition in the 21st century, the days of the Royal Family celebrating Christmas in a big way date back centuries.
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Let’s start in December 1066 when on Christmas Day, William the Conqueror…
