Features

For a woman who founded one of the most famous royal dynasties in British history, she is surprisingly enigmatic. Katherine of Valois was the first Kate to be Queen of England and yet much of the modern imagining of her comes from her fleeting appearance in the works of Shakespeare. But what little we do know seems to indicate that the ‘fair Kate’ of Henry V was every bit as ambitious…

For centuries, tiaras have been a symbol of royalty and some gems hold more significance than others when used in these sparkling signs of power. The ruby is the birthstone for July. It’s been used in royal jewellery collections for centuries and it now features in some of the most striking pieces in European vaults. The Dutch royal gem collection has some famous examples of the stone including…

Victoria was the monarch who invented jubilees as we know them. The celebrations of 1887 and 1897 are among the most famous events of royal history and helped shape her legacy. But our modern minds assume there must also have been a silver version, for that is the pattern we are used to. Elizabeth II, the ultimate Jubilee Monarch, began her unprecedented run of anniversary celebrations in 1977 as…