Features

The royal wedding that led to the creation of the House of Windsor

Picked as a royal bride by Queen Victoria herself, Princess Mary of Teck would find her way to the altar in the most unusual circumstances. For Mary ended up saying ‘I do’ to the second king in waiting selected as a husband for her. But her marriage proved to be a happy one as well as a royal success story. Victoria Mary Augusta Louise Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes of Teck walked…
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Features

The royal bridesmaid who became a queen

As 1922 got under way, newspapers began to run excited articles about a royal wedding. The only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary was about to say ‘I do’ and every moment of her marriage ceremony was up for scrutiny. Princess Mary’s wedding dress…
Features

The princess who wore blue to say 'I do' to a prince who waited decades to marry her

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…
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Features

The princess named after Ireland's patron saint

For a princess who claimed a bit of a royal first at the baptismal font, it’s perhaps not surprising that Patricia of Connaught – known for most of her adult life as Lady Patricia Ramsey – ended up changing plenty of regal rules on her way. The little…
HistoryPalaces & Buildings

Why St James's Palace is no longer London's primary royal residence

For more than 300 years, St James’s Palace has been the setting for some of the most important moments in royal history. Serving as the residence for monarchs of England until the reign of Queen Victoria, today it is still the home of several members of the Royal Family but primarily a working palace. Located in Westminster, the palace was built by Henry VIII in 1531. This makes it even…
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Features

The dramatic promise made by a princess who survived a concentration camp

Princess Antonia of Luxembourg was born in October of 1899. She is the fourth daughter of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Guillaume IV and Princess Marie Anne. Two of her older sisters eventually became Grand Duchesses of Luxembourg. Antonia herself became the final Crown Princess of Bavaria. In 1921, she became the second wife of the Crown Prince of Bavaria, Rupprecht. This marriage was a…
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