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. What if
Edward VIII hadn’t abdicated? Who would be Monarch now? There are
two roads to go down here. The first is that Edward VIII did give
up the woman he loved. No marriage to Mrs Simpson would leave him
free to wed someone else. Who…
As Victory in Europe was declared, on May
8th 1945, a shy man who had found himself at the centre of the
efforts to defeat the Nazis prepared to speak to millions by radio.
At his side was the wife who had played just as crucial a role
throughout World War Two. The words of…
They were the words spoken by a king as a
country looked to him for inspiration and, legend has it, they were
handed to him by the heir who would go on to make history. During
Britain’s first Christmas of World War Two in 1939, George VI
broadcast to the country and…
It is one of the most famous pictures in
royal history, a moment when a Monarch and his people were
completely united. As World War Two came to an end in Europe, King
George VI and his family stood on the balcony of Buckingham Palace
surrounded by the cheers of thousands. With them, the wartime Prime
Minister, Winston Churchill, whose leadership had already made him
a legend. On the 75th…
On May 8th 2020, the Queen will speak to
her country and her Commonwealth to mark the 75th anniversary of
Victory in Europe Day. Her own VE Day address will take place at
9pm, the exact time her father, King George VI, spoke as World War
Two came to an end in Europe seventy…
In the days and weeks afterwards, King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited many parts of England to see
how people were beginning to tackle post war living. They were
given a warm reception everywhere while some areas, like London’s
East End, welcomed them as one of…
Around the same time that the UK
introduced new succession laws that allowed girls the same rights
as boys, the country also passed same sex marriage legislation. But
royal laws haven’t caught up with that yet. In the future, as is
the case in most European countries, a prince may take a husband
and a princess may choose a wife. But when that happens, what title
will be bestowed on…
In the years ahead, both the Duchess of
Cornwall and the Duchess of Cambridge will act as consorts to their
husbands when they one day ascend to the throne. It is a well
established constitutional convention that the wife of a King is
styled as Queen Consort. The last…
On May 7 1697, a fire broke out and
destroyed much of the old royal palace in Stockholm. The castle Tre
Kronor, or Three Crowns in English, is now only a footnote in
history with the present royal palace of Stockholm built above the
ruins of the old middle-aged castle that…
Was Prince William's tragic death kept secret from the Duke of Gloucester?
7th May 2020
The third son of King George V and Queen
Mary, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was born on 31 March 1900.
He was the first son of a monarch to be educated at school and went
onto study at Eton College. His life was full of tragedy starting
with not being able to continue his life with the woman he was
having an affair with, Beryl Markham, and having to pay her and her
husband hush-money for…
