In the series “Before they were royal” we
are taking a look at their young lives, education, and professional
lives before gaining their royal title. The second edition focuses
on Queen Máxima of the Netherlands or Máxima Zorreguieta
Cerruti as she was known before her marriage. Born
as Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti to Jorge Zorreguieta
and María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart on 17 May…
The Swiss Cottage, Osborne and Queen Victoria's Children
28th June 2018
The Swiss Cottage at Osborne is a capsule
of successive royal childhood, which continued to hold a place in
the affections of the first children that used it – the nine
children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert – long after they had
grown up, just as it would for…
How Education and Qualifications Can Help You Get an OBE
27th June 2018
Twice a year the Queen bestows upon the
hardest working people an award of achievement. This award can be
given to people from all walks of life, and is a formal
recognition by the royal family of an individual’s achievements in
their sector. A person can be awarded a…
Released in the United States on 1 June
2018 (and due to be released on 5 July in the UK), Jane Dismore’s
Princess The Early Life of Queen Elizabeth II takes a look back, as
the title states, at Her Majesty’s young life beginning before she
was even born. While writing my review, I’ve tried not to give too
much away, so that you all can enjoy the book for yourselves
without it being spoiled…
20 June 1837: Waking up Queen Victoria
27th June 2018
On 20 June 1837, Princess Victoria of
Kent was awoken in her bedroom at Kensington Palace, writing later
in her journal entry for that day, in which significantly the proud
new word ‘alone’ features intermittently (also underlined), we
read: “I was awoke at 6 o’clock…
History's Royal Kates: Catherine of Braganza
26th June 2018
Catherine of Braganza has gone down in
history as a rather nice lady who liked drinking tea. The
Portuguese princess who arrived in Portsmouth in 1662 to marry
Charles II has been portrayed as a gentle soul whose heart was
broken by her inability to have children and who instead contented
herself by making a nice cuppa the fashion of the day while trying
to be friends with her husband’s many…
Portraits of Russian imperial women: Alix and Ella
26th June 2018
The artworks by the fashionable German
portrait painter and historical artist Friedrich August von
Kaulbach (1860-1920) of Princess Alix of Hesse, later Tsarina
Alexandra Feodorovna and her elder sister, Elisabeth Feodorovna,
‘Ella’ Grand Duchess Sergei of Russia…

