In the British Library five letters from
Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna of
Russia (1872-1918) are preserved. Initially, I thought there were
seven letters of hers at the British Library, but further research
has enabled me to establish that these are instead, two postcards
in Russian, to her only son, Tsarevich Alexei Nikolaevich
(1904-1918). These letters are…
Most royalty have some kind of monogram.
Most royals also have a personal and a family coat of arms. The
monograms are for more personal use than the coat of arms, and
therefore, we do not see them so often. In Norway, the case is that
the King’s monogram is used by…
The wedding cakes in Queen Victoria’s
family were magnificent examples of edible ceremony. Once they
reached the age of photography, they were faithfully recorded for
posterity. These images still have the power to enchant today, even
in long ago albums. Just looking at…
Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor will
be christened today and while there’s been plenty of chat about the
decision not to release the names of his godparents, there are some
rather more interesting aspects of royal baptisms to enjoy. From
gowns that helped industry to the water that the Archbishop of
Canterbury, Justin Welby, will use to welcome him formally to the
Church of England, this…
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 charming photograph taken by Mary Steen
in the Queen’s Sitting Room at Windsor on 21 May 1895 shows an
elderly Queen Victoria knitting or crocheting, sat with her
youngest daughter, Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, who
dutifully reads the newspaper aloud to her…
Five decades earlier, the groom’s
grandparents had seen their dreams of marrying in the Eternal City
dashed. But as Prince Amadeo of Belgium and Elisabetta Rosboch wed
on July 5th 2014, there were no such problems. The eldest
grandchild of King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium enjoyed the
fairytale wedding in Rome that they had always dreamed about. Embed
from Getty Images Just like his…
Queen Victoria had twelve bridesmaids.
What do we know about them? What did they wear? Certainly the Queen
– as might be expected – had a greater number of bridesmaids than
her daughters would at their weddings, eight being a recurring
choice. We can see them clustered…
In the Queen’s bedroom at Osborne House,
may be found a quite extraordinary chintz pattern. Used for the bed
hangings of the Queen’s bed, as well as the sofa and curtains, the
material has been adopted in a modern context for the room, having
originally been for the…
Of Queen Victoria’s nine children, one
alone was born at Windsor Castle. This royal child was also
christened there. This was the second son of the Queen and Prince
Albert, baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 6
September 1844. This child would be Prince Alfred, Duke of
Edinburgh and later Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha after his uncle, Duke
Ernest II. The baby prince’s christening…
