Features

The UK will vote in a general election on July 4th 2024 which means that, within days, parliament will be dissolved. Weeks of intense campaigning will begin with politicians criss-crossing the country to try and win votes and, ultimately, the keys to Number 10 Downing Street for their party. It means tough calls for media as they have to show a balanced view of all those campaigning for…

Soft, striking and above all, symbolic. The wedding bouquet carried by the future Queen of Spain, Letizia Ortiz, at her royal wedding on May 22nd 2004 was filled with significance. From personal touches to nods to one of the oldest ruling dynasties in Europe, Letizia filled her posy with meaning. At the heart of her cascading bouquet were the iris and the lily, closely associated with the House…

It is one of the most unusual and historic royal wedding dresses of the 20th century and it’s being seen in all its glory for the first time, almost a century after it was worn. When Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott married Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester on November 6th 1935, she did so in a very unusual royal wedding dress. For Alice, about to become a royal duchess, had no intention…

Every monarchy has to start somewhere. For England, the ”modern” monarchy started with William the Conqueror and his wife, Matilda of Flanders. Matilda was born in 1031 into the House of Flanders. She was the only daughter of Count Baldwin V of Flanders and Adela of France. The Flanders were of strategic importance to most of Europe and England as they served as a “stepping…