When history judges a monarch, it
remembers the Crown; but rarely remembers the person standing just
behind it. Yet, behind every successful reign is someone the public
seldom sees – the Private Secretary. It is one of the most powerful
jobs in Britain. No elections. No fanfare. No balcony appearances –
but immense influence. As Sir Clive Alderton prepares to step away
after…
King Charles has continued the
long-standing tradition of spending part of every August at the
Castle of Mey, the remote Caithness retreat loved by his
grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. But alongside its
royal history, the castle is also home to one of…
The event that meant Prince William had to swap one ancient title for another
1st August 2026
William and Kate are known around the
world as the Prince and Princess of Wales. In Scotland, they
actually use a different title – the Duke and Duchess of Rothesay.
As they visited the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, that’s a name
they both had to get used to…
Diana, Princess of Wales went against royal norms at her wedding and even Buckingham Palace commented
29th July 2026
The flowers chosen by Diana, Princess of
Wales for her wedding day are among the most memorable of royal
bouquets. The tumbling, trailing mix of cream, green and yellow
blooms that the bride carried into St. Paul’s Cathedral on July
29th 1981 for her marriage to the then Prince of Wales remain among
the most recognizable of royal flowers, four decades after they
were first seen. For a start…
This is why Queen Elizabeth II had to wait to wear the tiara that the Princess of Wales made famous again
29th July 2026
The Princess of Wales pulled a jewel
suprise when she wore one of the most valuable tiaras in the royal
collection but it’s a mystery gem to most people and for a very
good reason. The gem in question hasn’t been seen in public for
over twenty years and…
Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester,
carried an extraordinary burden for the final years of her
husband’s life – choosing never to tell Prince Henry that their
eldest son had died. The deeply personal decision followed the
tragic death of Prince William of…
How to follow in William the Conqueror's footsteps as medieval kings and queens become the royals everyone wants to know
25th July 2026
The arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry in
England for the first time in almost 1000 years has put a different
kind of royalty in the spotlight. This summer is about to get
medieval as the Conqueror, his queen and the crown he won and made
his own are all anyone wants to talk about, Chainmail is all the
rage for clothing and interiors, there are online queues for
tapestry tickets and no autumn party…
There are some names that just scream
royal – George, Edward, Elizabeth, Anne. Kings and queens have a
tendency to keep it in the family when it comes to christening
their offspring and so a certain quota of names have become
associated with royalty. Alphonso…
The decision to strip Sir Jeffrey
Donaldson of his knighthood has shone a spotlight on one of the
least-used parts of Britain’s honours system – the forfeiture of
royal honours. While knighthoods are among the country’s highest
honours, they are not…
As summer approaches, royal watchers are
once again looking ahead to one of the most established traditions
in the Royal Family’s calendar – King Charles III’s annual stay at
Balmoral Castle. While Buckingham Palace does not announce the
exact date of the King’s arrival in advance, the monarch typically
travels to the Aberdeenshire estate in mid to late August, shortly…
