Features

A kilt and a cardigan for The Queen as she makes history by appointing a new Prime Minister at Balmoral

It was such a misty day that the woman about to take the top job in Britain found herself delayed by the weather. As Liz Truss was driven through the autumnal weather towards Balmoral, the fire was lit in the drawing room where The Queen was waiting. Her Majesty was also ready for the cooling weather – she chose a kilt and cardigan for this historic audience. The Queen looked relaxed…
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Features

Was a common illness used as an excuse to cover up the murders of outspoken royal women?

It was an illness that claimed millions of lives before the advent of modern medicine and among its victims are several queens and high ranking women in English royal history. Puerperal fever, sometimes called childbed fever, was a bacterial infection that led to death in the majority of cases and it was only eradicated by the advancement of hygiene techniques and the introduction of…
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Features

Katherine Parr, reduced to a nursemaid by history, was actually Henry VIII's most successful queen

On a hot summer day in 1543, a young widow married an ageing and much wed king in a ceremony that took many by surprise. By the time Katherine Parr said ‘I do’ to Henry VIII in the Queen’s Closet at Hampton Court Palace on July 12th1543, his five previous unions and attitude towards marital harmony were such that continental contenders to be consort of England were all but running in…
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Features

The first American Princess of Monaco

American by birth, hugely popular and credited with helping turn Monaco from a forgotten principality into a European hotspot – but this isn’t the story of Grace Kelly. Almost seven decades before her famous marriage to Prince Rainier III, another US born princess had taken Monaco by storm and transformed its fortunes. However, there was no fairytale ending for Alice Heine, the first…
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