Features

The romance and drama of the Winter Queen

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 of the same year. Named in honour of Elizabeth I, the early years of her lifewere spent inLinlithgow Palace.
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History

The king who was crowned on Christmas Day

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

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…
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Features

The classic royal wedding dress chosen by a future queen

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…
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History

A Royal Christmas: Celebrating in the Middle Ages

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. [getty src=”517475910″ width=”380″ height=”594&#8243…
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