Praised by Alexander Pope in his Moral
Essays as possessing a ‘proud alcove’ in which one might happily be
‘galant and gay’, the great house of Cliveden, Taplow, where Meghan
Markle spent the night before her wedding to Prince Harry, was
visited by Queen Victoria in 1866, who stayed as guest of the
Duchess of Sutherland from 26 May to 5 June. It was not the first
time she had visited…
Royal wedding dresses aren’t just about
what the bride wants to wear. While the woman in white has a big
say in the design, her dream dress also has to fit the rather regal
occasion which will see her and her intended say ‘I do’. Autumn
Kelly and Zara Phillips both had…
Given the inseparable links between music
and the British Monarchy, it naturally follows that the music
chosen for royal weddings reflected both the importance of the
occasion as well as the personal taste of the monarch. Whether it
was the splendour of Handel’s marriage anthem ‘Sing unto God’ for
the wedding of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1736 or the Chorale
composed by Prince Albert…
The Quire of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor
is an area extraordinarily rich in the history of the English
Monarchy, yet this sacred and mystical space in the Chapel
enshrining the Order of the Garter – the Order’s spiritual home –
is as much associated with royal…
From the roof, you can see Windsor
Castle, but that’s not nearly the most regal thing about Cliveden
in Buckinghamshire where Meghan Markle will spend the night before
her marriage to Prince Harry. This palatial house, owned by the
National Trust and leased as a hotel…
All Fine on the Day: a look at past royal weddings which have turned out well despite problems
16th May 2018
Being part of a royal family may be a
privilege but it does not protect its members from the worries and
woes that beset everyone else. Weddings are famously fraught with
difficulties, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are discovering.
Perhaps they can take comfort from the fact that other royal
nuptials have faced problems in the past, yet everything has turned
out fine. The wedding of Prince…
On 21 September 1662, Samuel Pepys
entered the following words into his Restoration diary: “The Queen
coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James’s (the
first time it hath been ready for her), I crowded after her, and I
got up to the room where her closet…
If ever a royal wedding dress summed up
its wearer, it was the gown chosen by Sophie Rhys-Jones for her
marriage to Prince Edward on 19 June 1999 at St George’s Chapel,
Windsor. Subtle, elegant and classic, this was the final Windsor
bridal dress of the 20th century and it…
If you were secretly hoping that the new
Lifetime movie – Harry and Meghan: A Royal Romance – would be good,
I’m sorry to burst your bubble. The Crown it is not. There’s always
an element of camp to Lifetime movies. The genre was basically
built for it, and A Royal Romance is no exception. From Meghan
insisting – in nearly every scene – that she’s an independent,
strong, self-made…
