Features

The sweet gift of a prince to a grieving queen on the saddest of Christmas days

By
11th December 2023
She had made the season her own. The festive season at the end of the 19th century was very different from that in 1837, the year she had become monarch. Yet the final Christmas of Queen Victoria was filled with heartbreak.The queen herself could not get away from it, noting in her diary for December 25th 1900 ”this has indeed been a terribly sad Christmas for us all!”. And it had…
Read more
BhutanFeatures

IN PHOTOS: Princess Sonam Yangden

By
9th December 2023
Bhutan’s newest princess has been named Sonam Yangden Wangchuck.The Royal Office for Media released several images to unveil the newborn royal who was born on 9th September 2023.Photo: Royal Office for MediaRoyal Office for MediaThe Princess is carried…
BhutanFeatures

Bhutan's newest princess named

By
9th December 2023
Bhutan’s royal family has revealed the name of their newest princess with several photographs to debut the newborn.The only daughter of King Jigme Khesar and Queen Jetsun Pema has been named Sonam Yangden Wangchuck. She shares her name with her paternal aunt, Princess Sonam Dechan Wangchuck and paternal grandmother, Queen Tshering Yangdon.Photo: Royal Office for MediaSonam…
Read more
Features

The romance and drama of the Winter Queen

By
8th December 2023
Elizabeth Stuart, often referred to as The Winter Queen, was born on 19 August 1595 to James VI of Scotland, who was also James I of Great Britain, and Anne of Denmark in Falkland Palace, Scotland. In the Chapel Royal at Holyrood Palace, Elizabeth was christened in November…
Features

The royal Christmas marked by a theft that stunned the world

By
7th December 2023
Royal Christmas traditions have evolved through the centuries. Some are based in ancient history, others are ones that the family would create over time. Some are no longer and some have evolved into what we know a royal Christmas to be today.In the 1800s, the then-Princess Victoria enjoyed many Christmases at Kensington Palace. Christmas Eve 1832, the future monarch wrote in her journal how…
Read more
History

The king who was crowned on Christmas Day

By
7th December 2023
For almost a thousand years, coronation services have taken place at Westminster Abbey, in times of peace and strife. The sovereign sometimes arrives at the Abbey a popular figure; sometimes, they’re deeply unpopular.More often than not, they’re crowned by birthright…
Features

The last Christmas of a great queen

By
6th December 2023
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…
Features

The royals who have loved playing in the snow

By
5th December 2023
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 in whichto spend Christmas for Queen Victoria during Prince Albert’s lifetime, Osborne House being chosen on occasion…
Read more