Each family has its own Christmas tradition and royal families are no exception. In this installment of our Christmas series on how ruling houses across Europe mark the holidays, we’re headed to Sandringham for a look at how the House of Windsor celebrates the season.
A Very Big Family Lunch
A week before Christmas, the Queen invites the extended Royal Family to Buckingham Palace for a…
We all love a royal what if and perhaps one of the most intriguing of recent times revolves around the question of the king who renounced his throne for love. On December 11th 1936, 85 years ago, Edward VIII announced to the world that he was ending his reign to marry the…
Born on 28 September 1828, Antoinette Ghislaine de Merode was born in Brussels, Belgium, to Count Werner deMerode and Countess Victoire de Spangen d’Uyternesse.
The day she turned 18, a “golden-haired” Antoinette married Prince Charles III of…
How Queen Charlotte and Queen Victoria & Albert introduced the Christmas Tree to Britain
9th December 2021
Prince Albert is generally credited with introducing the Christmas tree to Britain, but in fact, it was the work of his wife’s grandmother, Queen Charlotte. Like Prince Albert, Charlotte was born and raised in Germany, where the tradition of bringing a tree inside at Christmas time, decorated with lights and sweets, is believed to date back to the 16th century. As a child, Charlotte’s family…
The competition for city status, being held to mark The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, is now in its final stages.
Entry to the contest has closed – the final date for submitting applications was December 8th 2021.
Towns across the UK have put themselves…
Four oak armorial panels once hanging in a home inhabited by Marie de Guise, Mary Queen of Scot’s mother and wife of James V, are now part of the collections of the National Museums Scotland. The acquisition was announced on a meaningful day, with 8 December being the…
Ippolita Trivulzio holds the distinction of being the first woman to hold the title of Princess of Monaco.
Ippolita Trivulzio was born in 1600 in Palazzo Trivulzio,Duchy of Milan (what is today Italy), as the only daughter and younger child of Carlo Emanuele Teodoro Trivulzio, Count of Melzo and CaterinaGonzaga. She had one older brother, Italian Cardinal Gian Giacomo Teodoro…
The connection between the House of Windsor and the House of Grimaldi begins in the 19th century when Albert I, Prince of Monaco married a beautiful and willful British aristocrat called Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton. Her father was the 11th Duke of Hamilton and her…
Royal Trivia: An interview with Royally Obsessed hosts Rachel Bowie and Roberta Fiorito
7th December 2021
If you love quizzing people on royal facts or have a royally-obsessed person on your gift list this year, a new book will definitely tick all the boxes. Releasing 21 December, Royal Trivia by Royally Obsessed podcast hosts Rachel Bowie and Roberta Fiorito covers facts on…
OBITUARY: The Dowager Duchess of Grafton, the Queen's most senior Lady-in-Waiting, who has died aged 101
5th December 2021
The Dowager Duchess of Grafton was born on 24thFebruary 1920 into an aristocratic family of Barons, financiers, and of the banking dynasty Smith’s Bank of Nottingham (founded in 1658 by Thomas Smith).
Born Ann Fortune Smith, Her Grace married Hugh FitzRoy, the then Earl of Euston, on 12thOctober 1946 after meeting him at a ball on his family’s ancestral home of the Euston estate…
