Features

The unhappy royal bride who links Monaco to a very famous throne

While some links between royal houses are well known and rather close, others are a little more distant and perhaps all the more interesting for that. And although the links between Albert II and Charles III might be stretched, they are still there. The connection between the House of Windsor and the House of Grimaldi begins in the 19th century when Albert I, Prince of Monaco married a British…
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The princess who gave up being HRH - for love

Many of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s grandchildren married into various royal families across Europe. Not all did, though. Princess Patricia of Connaught was the daughter of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Margaret Louise of Prussia, and…
Features

A royal rarity - an emerald engagement ring

It’s rare to see a royal engagement ring featuring an emerald. The striking stone features in very few of these most romantic pieces of jewellery but it has a starring role in the ring worn by a princess who will walk down the aisle at this summer’s biggest royal…
Features

The Palais-Royal: from a prince of the church to revolution

While we often associate the French royals with the Palace of Versailles and the Louvre Palace, they owned far more than that over the centuries. The Palais-Royal in Paris began as a cardinal’s palace but made its way into royal hands. The Palais-Royal is in the 1st arrondissement of Paris, on Rue Saint-Honoré. Architect Jacques Lemercier was commissioned in the late 1620s to create a…
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The Prime Minister who had to go to France to kiss hands with a monarch

When Edward VII had headed to Biarritz for a springtime break in 1908, his government had been under the stewardship of Liberal Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman. But his health was failing fast and on April 3rd, he resigned. Herbert Asquith, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, was selected as his successor without opposition ensuring a smooth transition – with one small obstacle. The king was still…
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The King of Appleton House

It was a quiet country house, described by several who knew it as ‘’little’’ and a ‘’pied a terre’, given as a wedding present to a royal couple who were expected to linger on the fringes of regal life. Yet on July 2nd 1903, it became the birthplace of one of…
Features

The romantic tiara that helped create a fairy tale princess

The stunning aquamarine and diamond diadem of Sweden’s royal family is an unusual jewel and it has a rather poignant history to go with it. But it’s become most famous in recent years as the tiara that a popular princess wore to create a modern day fairytale. Princess Madeleine has a soft spot for the aquamarine tiara held in her family vaults. She’s worn it several times at the Nobel…
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