The Japanese Monarchy is the oldest
monarchy in the world, and that becomes very clear from the moment
you come across the succession law that governs it. We are now in
2019, and women are still not allowed to succeed to the
Chrysanthemum Throne which is unacceptable in the world today where
the principles of gender equality are so desperately important. The
succession to the Chrysanthemum Throne…
An exquisite gold, sapphire and diamond
brooch crafted in St Petersburg was consigned to auction in October
2018. I had first encountered it as a personal gift from Tsarina
Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918) to the friend of her youth, Marion
Louisa ‘Pollie’…
It’s the biggest royal anniversary of the
year and it’s almost upon us. May 24th 2019 marks two centuries
since the birth of Queen Victoria, a monarch so influential, she
gave her name to an era. And as part of our Victoria series on
Royal Central, we’ve…
Born Masako Owada (orOwada Masako
according to Asian naming customs where the family name is placed
before the given name), she was born on 9 December 1963 in
Tokyo’sToranomon Hospital toYumiko Egashira andHisashi Owada – the
latter being a former diplomat and former judge on the
International Court of Justice. Masako has two younger siblings –
twin…
It raced to the top of the guessing
charts almost as soon as the Duke and Duchess of Sussex announced
their were expecting a baby and as the wait for the arrival of the
new seventh in line to the throne enters its final stages, it’s
still number one. A new survey has…
OK, I hate to be the one to break it to
you like this but you might not find out the answer to that
question until Baby Sussex is wailing down the walls of Frogmore
Cottage. The decision of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex to keep the
arrival of their first child private means…
In a recent life of Queen Victoria, (A.
N. Wilson, Victoria: A Life, 2014) I stumbled across an
illustration of one of the famous group photographs taken behind
the Palais Edinburg in Coburg, showing Queen Victoria surrounded by
a whole host of contemporary royalty – mostly members of her own
family through blood or marriage, including five of her children
and numerous grandchildren –…
Aged sixteen, Princess Victoria made a
pencil sketch of herself. Knowing the vividness of the watercolours
that she made for her sketchbook and the skilled drawings she made
during this time of other important figures in her youth, it is
fascinating that she chose to apply…
Frogmore House, royal residence and regal
wedding venue of choice for the Windsors, is throwing open its
doors to visitors. The famous building at Windsor will be open for
three charity days at the end of May this year. The visits are part
of the annual charity garden open…
Eternally beautiful, eternally tragic,
the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, continues to fascinate,
over a hundred years after her death. And now the story of this
groundbreaking royal is to hit TV screens in a new production. The
new version will be an adaptation of the successful novels based on
the empress by Allison Pataki. ‘The Accidental Empress’ and ‘Sisi:
Empress on…
