Features

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…

The relationship of Henry VIII to the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth of York, raises possible interesting psychological theories about his behaviour towards the six women he later married. These are fascinating to suggest, but will only ever remain speculative, especially because on this subject, the King himself was silent. Although his mother died when Henry was just a child, the death of…