HistoryInsight

'Dear Mama': A little-known memorial to the Duchess of Kent

On 16 March 1861, Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, died at Frogmore House, the private residence in Windsor Great Park which she had often used, living there for approximately two decades. After her death, the summer house she had planned during her lifetime was converted into a mausoleum on two levels, built on a mound overlooking the lake. The lower level contains the burial…
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HistoryInsight

Was Queen Victoria a Victorian?

Was Queen Victoria a Victorian? The question is a complex and fascinating one to answer. In the immediate response, Victoria would seem to typify what it meant to be ‘Victorian’ because her long reign straddled the nineteenth century, and the age was accordingly…
HistoryInsight

Queen Victoria's Children's Story: The Adventures of Alice Laselles

Aged 10 ¾ years old, Princess Victoria composed a story. This delightful children’s tale, written by the future Queen, survives in its own little red ‘Composition’ notebook in the Royal Archives. To understand how it was made and the full significance of it, we need only look at the age of the princess when she wrote it. I surmise that if it was written at the age of ten and three-quarter…
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HistoryInsight

Tea and Queen Victoria

Queen Victoria is for many, synonymous with the notion of afternoon tea, probably because the social ceremony became properly established during the later years of her reign. The Queen’s evident love of tea, however, reaches back much further than this elegant ritual.
British RoyalsInsightRoyal WeddingsThe Kents

Lady Gabriella Windsor's Wedding Dress: romance along classic lines

Tulle and organdie were layered to create a cream and blush effect It was a closely guarded secret but now we know. Lady Gabriella Windsor’s wedding dress had caused plenty of speculation ahead of her big day but in the end the only daughter of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent chose a romantic design along classic lines for her marriage to Thomas Kingston at St. George’s Chapel…
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InsightPrincess Anne and Family

Who is Zara Tindall?

Zara Anne Elizabeth Phillips was born to Anne, Princess Royal and Captain Mark Phillips on 15 May 1981 at St Mary’s Hospital in London. She is the younger of their two children and only daughter. Her older brother, Peter Phillips was born on 15 November 1977. She also has two younger half-sisters, Felicity Tonkin and Stephanie Phillips through her father. [getty src=”174191793&#8243…
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