Features

It’s now one of the best known phrases in royal history and it was inspired by a celebration of sixty years of marriage. Without a Diamond Wedding anniversary, there would be no Diamond Jubilee. This sparkling celebration of sixty years of rule, rare even in modern times, owes its name to the celebrations for six decades of marriage. The term ‘Diamond Jubilee’ was coined in the early…

A plaque can be found in the garrison walls at Portsmouth at the location of the old ‘Sally Port’. Its patriotic inscription proclaimsthat “from this place naval heroes innumerable were embarked to fight their country’s battles” but that also, “near this spot, Catharine of Braganza landed in state, May 14 1662 previous to her marriage with Charles II at the Domus Dei a week…

The BBC’s veteran royal correspondent, Nicholas Witchell, is to retire after 47 years of service at the broadcaster. Witchell, who became a royal correspondent in 1998, will step down next year. Covering the latter decades of Queen Elizabeth II’s reign and the accession of King Charles III, Witchell has been a mainstay of royal coverage for 25 years. In 2005, he grabbed the headlines…