She became an empress in the most
difficult of circumstances and her short reign ended in exile and a
lifetime of supporting her royal heritage from afar. Zita, Empress
of Austria found herself with an imperial crown as a result of an
assassination which sent the world to war. When conflict consumed
the globe again, she once more had to flee. In the latest of our
‘Last Consorts’…
We know that sometimes monarchs choose a
different regnal name than the one they have gone by throughout
their life—King George VI is a famous example of this, having gone
by Bertie (or Albert, his given name) until he became King – but
what about those who go by…
It’s one of the oldest churches in
Britain the seat of one of England’s most important clerics yet the
famous York Minster is a rare venue for royal weddings. Just two
major regal marriages have taken place at this ancient church in
almost 1,000 years. The…
Painting by ground breaking artist rediscovered in a royal storage room
24th September 2023
The Royal Collection Trust has just
announced that a painting by Artemisia Gentileschi has gone on
display at Windsor Castle for the first time in almost two
centuries. The announcement comes at the end of a much-needed
restoration work that the painting has undergone, as it was
misattributed to “French School” and left in disrepair in a Hampton
Court Palace storage room. The…
She was called ‘the White Rose’ and her
time as queen lasted just one summer. Geraldine, last Queen of
Albania, reigned as consort for just a year before she and her
royal family had to flee an Italian invasion. Though she spent the
rest of her life…
The time Queen Elizabeth II accidentally stepped on the foot of the King of Norway
23rd September 2023
Weddings can be fraught businesses and
nothing every goes completely to plan, even for royalty. When Queen
Elizabeth II attended Princess Alexandra’s 1963 wedding to
Alexander Ogilvy, she ended up having to say sorry to another
monarch. Footage from Princess…
Rania Al-Yassin was born in Kuwait City,
Kuwait, on 31 August 1970, toFaisal Sedki al-Yassin, a pediatric
doctor, andIlham Yasmin, both of whom were Palestinian. Her parents
moved from the West Bank to Kuwait just before the 1967
Arab-Israeli War. She has one older sister, Dina and one younger
brother,Magdi. The family regularly visited their family in the
West Bank. For her…
‘Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced,
beheaded, survived.’ That sad little rhyme, summing up the fates of
Henry VIII’s six wives, is familiar to many. But while just about
everyone knows that the monarch with a thing for wedding cake said
‘I do’…
The royal links of an historic church in the shadow of a world famous abbey
22nd September 2023
It’s hosted dazzling and trend setting
royal weddings but St. Margaret’s Church at Westminster is always
in the shadows for it stands, quite literally, beneath the world
famous abbey. It traces its history back to pre Conquest times but
the current building…
Royals and the United Nations: what roles do they have?
22nd September 2023
The United Nations is the biggest
international organism currently in existence, as it unites
representatives from more than 190 countries and different
international organisations, like the EU and the African
Union. Its purpose as an intergovernmental organisation is to
“maintain international peace and security, develop friendly
relations among nations, achieve international cooperation…
