Millions are watching as efforts continue
to save Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris which continues to burn after
a huge fire broke out in the roof in the early evening of April
15th 2019. Messages of support for France are pouring in from
around the world. And among those expressing sadness over the fire
and hopes that some of the medieval glory of the cathedral can be
saved are members of royal…
A race against time and flames to save
the priceless artwork of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has begun
after it caught fire on the late afternoon of April 15th 2019.
Fortunately, it appears that no one has been hurt in the blaze
which engulfed the top part of the church as…
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…
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’ Delmé-Radcliffe, Baroness Ungern-Sternberg whose
touching connection I explored in a short article for my Royal
Central blog back in…
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…
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 shown that Diana is the top pick
as the name for Harry and Meghan’s bundle of joy. That is, of
course, if they welcome a…
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 –…
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 the same exactness of
observation to herself. It is, of course, however, not the only
self-portrait that she made. The date…
