In the grounds of Balmoral Castle is a
building touching in its simplicity. Called the Garden Cottage, it
was built in the grounds at Balmoral and used by Queen Victoria and
her family. In addition to the rooms of the private wings occupied
by the Queen and Royal Family at Buckingham Palace and Windsor
Castle, the smaller residences of Balmoral Castle and Osborne House
were private houses as…
At Osborne House, the beloved family
retreat of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the Isle of Wight,
is a private beach, unlike any other in British history. It is a
royal beach, reserved solely for the use of Queen Victoria, Prince
Albert and their family. English…
Your challenge, should you choose to
accept it, is to find a royal who isn’t called Albert or Victoria.
OK, slightly OTT, but the fact is that two of the hot favourite
names for Royal Baby Cambridge number three are as close as you can
get to ubiquitous in royal circles.
If you think royal baby fever is a new
thing, think again. Back on April 21st 1926, when the Queen was
born, there was plenty of excitement over the arrival of a new
princess who – at the time – was several steps removed from the
Crown and never expected to rule. No matter, as the papers of the
time reported, this royal birth was a major event and those things
we think peculiar to our own time…
The wedding of Prince Andrew and Sarah
Ferguson, on July 23rd 1986, was really rather floral indeed. We
expect all brides to carry a bouquet but Sarah, unlike many women
in recent royal history, chose to wear flowers in her hair, too. As
she made her way into Westminster…
‘Though I stood for the ninth time near a
child and for the fifth time near a daughter, at the altar, I think
I never felt more deeply than I did on this occasion… When the
blessing had been given, I tenderly embraced my darling “Baby” ‘
(op. cit, Christopher…
As The Queen turns 92-years-old, Royal
Central takes a look at some interesting, funny and sometimes
bizarre facts about the monarch. As a teenager, the then Princess
Elizabeth, and her sister Princess Margaret, would act out and
perform a number of pantomimes during the Second World War.
The wax museum Madame Tussauds have displayed 23 different
life-size models of Her Majesty to date. The…
Haven’t we been here before? As the
arrival of baby Cambridge number three closes in, so do the odds on
a new princess being called Alice. Ahead of the birth of Princess
Charlotte, the A name was in the frame as top pick for a baby girl
and we all know how that one ended.
Close to Balmoral Castle is a small
church, which is – almost – unique. With the exceptions of St
Mildred’s Church, Whippingham – where Queen Victoria’s family would
sometimes worship when in residence at Osborne and where the
marriage of her daughter, Princess Beatrice was celebrated – or the
country parish church of St Mary Magdalene on the Sandringham
estate, where the…
