She was the queen who made her mark on Christmas. So much of how we celebrate the festive season began in the Victorian era and the monarch who gave her name to that time left intricate records of how she celebrated. In this special series, Royal Central looks at some of the most important of them and discovers how Queen Victoria celebrated Christmas.
The Christmas of 1832 is the first recorded…
King Harald’s gift to Prince Sverre Magnus on his 18th birthday was the designation as a Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav.
The prince, the only grandson of King Harald and Queen Sonja, received the gift just days before he comes of age. And it’s a very special…
All the brand new Christmas traditions being put in place by the Royal Family
1st December 2023
The Christmas period is always a particularly fun time for royal watching, with behind-the-scenes pictures of the palaces being decorated for the holidays and royals carrying out holiday-themed engagements moving to the forefront.
The Royal Family have always played a…
The royal reason a magnificent Christmas tree stands in Trafalgar Square
1st December 2023
Every year since 1947, a 20-metre tall tree has been donated to the British as a thank-you from Norway. Now, that tree shines in London’s Trafalgar Square every holiday season.
The tree was given to thank the British for their support during World War II. In April 1940, Germany invaded Norway and attempted to capture King Haakon VII, the royal family, and other members of the Norwegian…
The mysterious death of a king which created an unexpected queen
30th November 2023
King Karl XII of Sweden was born 17 June 1682 as the son of King Karl XI and the Danish-born Ulrika Eleonora. Karl continued his father’s war politics against other Nordic nations, which led to Denmark joining forces with Poland and Russia. They then went to war with…
Many choose to send holiday greetings to the royal families around Christmas. In response, most get a Christmas reply, expressing the royals’ thanks and well wishes for the year ahead.
So, what address should you send your Christmas letters to? We have a breakdown…
The royal wedding that glittered for a dynasty heading for crisis
29th November 2023
It was a wedding featuring two very popular royals and two ceremonies and it led to one of the most influential unions of the 20th century. The marriage of Prince George, Duke of Kent and Princess Marina of Greece, on November 29th 1934, was a day that changed the House of Windsor forever.
The couple matched each other in popularity and royal suitability. The groom was the dashing fourth son of…
The future queen who decided to accept the possibility of a crown over tea at a London hotel
27th November 2023
On a summer’s day in 1818, a young German princess walked into one of the most famous hotels in London to meet a man twice her age. Just a year earlier, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen and her suitor, William, Duke of Clarence, would never have considered chatting let alone…
Poignant heirlooms and peacocks - the historic emeralds of a royal family
27th November 2023
The emerald features in some of the most striking royal tiaras and necklaces currently used by ruling houses around Europe. Among the most historic are the tiaras dominated by that stone which are owned by the Luxembourg Grand Ducal Family.
Chaumet Emerald Tiara
The…
The princess who wore blue to say I do to a prince who waited decades to marry her
26th November 2023
It’s one of my all time favourite royal wedding dresses and just a glimpse of it can make me feel ever so slightly emotional. For not only was the pale blue gown worn by a lass called Lilian from Swansea on a cold, December day in 1976 a masterclass in elegance and chic, it was also the wedding dress of a princess decades in the making. It’s now forty four years since Prince Bertil of…
