On a summer’s day in 1818, a young German
princess walked into one of the most famous hotels in London to
meet a man twice her age. Just a year earlier, Adelaide of
Saxe-Meiningen and her suitor, William, Duke of Clarence, would
never have considered chatting let alone taking the step that would
inevitably follow this brief exchange. But after a short time
together, with chaperones, of…
The Duchess of Cambridge is well-known
across the world for her iconic style, whether it’s a glamourous
dress on a red carpet or a cosy winter coat. I take a look back at
some of her most iconic style moments, from her stunning wedding
dress to the outfits she wore whilst…
Two of The Royal Family’s most senior
aides are leaving their jobs it has been announced. Director of
Royal Communications Sally Osman and The Queen’s Media
Secretary, Steve Kingstone, are leaving palace life for pastures
new. Ms Osman was appointed to the role…
On July 6th 1893, London woke to a
blazing hot morning after two days of rain. The streets were decked
with flowers and large crowds were already settled on the pavements
and lampposts as dawn broke. They had come for the royal wedding of
George, Duke of York, second in line to the throne but what many
really wanted to see was the bride. And Princess Mary of Teck was
ready to step into the…
Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones was born on 20
January 1965 as the youngest child and only daughter
of Christopher Bournes Rhys-Jones and the late Mary O’Sullivan
at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford. She has an elder brother,
David. One of her godparents was the late…
She’s the future queen consort, a mother
of three – including a future king – and one of the most famous
women in the world. But back in 1982, the future Duchess of
Cambridge was just another baby in the nursery at Royal Berkshire
Hospital. Catherine…
It was a quiet country affair, far
removed from the pomp and ceremony we’ve come to expect from royal
weddings. The setting was an English parish church, the regal guest
list only filled a couple of pews, and the bride walked in several
minutes late carrying her own train to protect it from the rain.
The marriage of the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, on 8 July 1972,
was a royal wedding with a…
It’s coming home, it’s coming home, it’s
coming…the tapestry is coming home. The Bayeux Tapestry is heading
back to British shores, for the first time in almost 1000 years,
and you need to put 2022 in your diary right now if you want to see
this…
‘The Royal Family in 1846’ by the
fashionable German painter, Franz Xaver Winterhalter (1805-73) is
an extraordinarily important image. Queen Victoria regarded it as
the painter’s supreme achievement, although he painted the Queen on
other occasions, most notably in…
Royal menageries became homes for the
many animals that were given in previous centuries as political
presents from their respective countries and thereby entered a life
of exalted captivity, the nature of any zoo now being a
controversial one. The oldest baroque zoo was founded at the
Austrian imperial summer residence of Schönbrunn, in 1760, just as
there was a Royal Menagerie in the fabled…
