When King Charles III and Queen Camilla are crowned on 6 May, many Coronation traditions will take place for the first time in 70 years. Among them will be the use of the Gold State Coach for a Coronation procession.
However, there is expected to be a modern twist on this centuries old part of the ceremonial. The King and Queen Consort won’t use the 260-year-old coach to travel from…
The coronation of a consort who might have been England's first queen regnant
18th March 2023
In another lifetime, perhaps she’d be recognised as England’s first queen regnant, but Elizabeth of York was fated to be a consequential queen consort instead, with her popularity helping to sow peace in the aftermath of the Wars of the Roses.
Elizabeth holds a unique…
King Charles III has often been compared to his great-great-grandfather, King Edward VII. Both ascended the throne after their mother’s enjoyed record-breaking reigns, and at the time of each king’s ascension, they both held the record for longest-serving Prince of…
Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years and lent her name to the era of political and social change, but it began with a ‘botched’ coronation ceremony.
When Victoria was crowned on 22 June 1838, it was the third coronation ceremony of the century; and she followed two uncles to the throne: George IV, unpopular for his spending and his ego; and William IV, unpopular due to the Reform…
For almost a millennium, kings and queens have been crowned at Westminster Abbey. But perhaps the king most intrinsically linked to the Abbey was never crowned there: Edward the Confessor.
Instead, Edward the Confessor was crowned at Winchester Cathedral. He succeeded his…
There have only been a handful of queen regnants in Britain’s history. Queen Elizabeth II was the most recent, having reigned a historic 70 years, but 400 years before her reign began, the first queen regnant was crowned: Queen Mary I.
The eldest daughter of Henry VIII…
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 and succession. On a few occasions, they’re crowned after a battle, like the first king to reign after the Norman…
Ahead of his Coronation in May at Westminster Abbey, King Charles III is taking part in a tradition observed since the seventeenth century. On Thursday 9 March, he will receive the Privileged Bodies at Buckingham Palace.
The Privileged Bodies are a sepcific group of…
The curse of Egyptian King Tut’s tomb is well-known.
Of those who have entered Tutankhamun’s tomb, many have succumbed to unexpected, early deaths. From Lord Carnarvon to Howard Carter, those who “disturbed” the tomb had early deaths under the…
A group of fourteen surgeons and geneticists have confirmed that the distinctive Habsburg chin in the Spanish Royal Family resulted from their inbreeding.
The Habsburg dynasty dates back to the eleventh century when the Counts of Habsburg ruled areas of present-day Switzerland. Through successive generations of advancement and intermarriage with different royal families, branches of the…
