Features

The royal wedding of a romantic and reluctant queen

The year 1923 saw the marital calendar was packed with princely nuptials. The springtime wedding of Albert, Duke of York had brought huge crowds to London, and there was an impressive turnout in the city that autumn when Lady Louise Mountbatten wed Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and began a path that would lead to a crown.This second royal wedding of 1923 was a happy ending for a…
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Features

The tiara left by a princess to her young godson to give to his future bride

The Duchess of Gloucester has a jewellery collection to rival some of those held by royal dynasties in Europe. Some of her pieces come from Queen Mary thanks to the current duke’s mother and her mother-in-law, Princess Alice. But one tiara in particular has a different origin, coming from a lesser-known branch of Queen Victoria’s family tree. It’s known as the Cartier India…
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Features

The birth of the House of Windsor

When King George V inherited the throne from his father, Edward VII, in 1910, he was the second monarch in the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. However, he would also be the last monarch of the dynasty. Queen Victoria was the sixth monarch in the House of Hanover. In…
Features

The unborn baby who could be King: the little-known clause in the royal succession

It is a scenario that lies more in the realm of royal drama than modern reality: a monarch dies suddenly, leaving behind a pregnant consort and a nation unsure of its next sovereign. Yet this constitutional conundrum is one that has been anticipated for centuries. British royal succession law, as arcane as it may sometimes appear, offers a clear and carefully constructed answer to what happens if…
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Features

Queen Camilla will be taking part in the National Year of Reading next year

The Queen’s Reading Room will be lending a hand by providing support for a government initiative next year. Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has shared that 2026 will officially be a National Year of Reading in the United Kingdom. The government- in partnership with the Literacy Trust- is hoping that the campaign will “inspire thousands of community reading champions, welcome…
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