Queen Victoria spent her last Christmas at Osborne in 1900. It was forty years exactly since Prince Albert had celebrated his final Christmas in 1860 at Windsor, the setting for so many happy family festivities in the past. Prince Albert did not live to see Christmas 1861, dying on 14 December in the same room in which with strange historical prescience, George IV and William IV had also died, in…
Snow has provided enjoyment for countless generations of children and adults alike; royalty, of course,is no exception to this time-honoured rule. English monarchs have wintered at Windsor since the twelfth century.
Windsor Castle was the preferred royal
residence…
The royal who really brought the Christmas tree to Britain
4th December 2023
Prince Albert is generally credited with introducing the Christmas tree to Britain, but in fact, it was the work of his wife’s grandmother, Queen Charlotte. Like Prince Albert, Charlotte was born and raised in Germany, where the tradition of bringing a tree inside at…
All royal wedding dresses are keenly anticipated but there is always slightly more interest and slightly more pressure when the gown on show belongs to a queen in waiting. On December 4th 1999, Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz walked into the Town Hall of Brussels for the start of her marriage celebrations to the heir to the throne of Belgium, Philippe. Mathilde’s marriage turned her…
The future queen who has to take second place to a younger brother in a different line of succession
3rd December 2023
She’s in line to be Queen of Norway one day, but Princess Ingrid Alexandra has to take a lower place in another line of succession thanks to different rules. She is one step behind her younger brother, Prince Sverre Magnus, in the line to the British throne.
Ingrid…
Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway is third in line to the Norwegian throne, and as of today, he is legally allowed to ascend the throne should it ever come to that.
However, there are a few major differences in the titles and styles of Sverre Magnus and his older sister…
Every Christmas, we expect the Royal Family to go to Sandringham for their annual Christmas Day church service and later, hear a speech from the Monarch. While that is the tradition in the 21st century, the days of the Royal Family celebrating Christmas in a big way date back centuries.
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She was the queen who made her mark on Christmas. So much of how we celebrate the festive season began in the Victorian era and the monarch who gave her name to that time left intricate records of how she celebrated. In this special series, Royal Central looks at some of the…
King Harald’s gift to Prince Sverre Magnus on his 18th birthday was the designation as a Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav.
The prince, the only grandson of King Harald and Queen Sonja, received the gift just days before he comes of age. And it’s a very special…
All the brand new Christmas traditions being put in place by the Royal Family
1st December 2023
The Christmas period is always a particularly fun time for royal watching, with behind-the-scenes pictures of the palaces being decorated for the holidays and royals carrying out holiday-themed engagements moving to the forefront.
The Royal Family have always played a significant part in Christmas traditions for the UK, with their annual celebration at Sandringham and the morning walk to and…
