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Royal Christening Traditions

Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor will be christened today and while there’s been plenty of chat about the decision not to release the names of his godparents, there are some rather more interesting aspects of royal baptisms to enjoy. From gowns that helped industry to the water that the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, will use to welcome him formally to the Church of England, this…
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Royal Brides: Princess Mary of Teck

Picked as a royal bride by Queen Victoria herself, Princess Mary of Teck would find her way to the altar in the most unusual circumstances. For Mary ended up saying ‘I do’ to the second king in waiting selected as a husband for her. But her marriage proved to be…
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Knitting with Queen Victoria

A charming photograph taken by Mary Steen in the Queen’s Sitting Room at Windsor on 21 May 1895 shows an elderly Queen Victoria knitting or crocheting, sat with her youngest daughter, Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg, who dutifully reads the newspaper aloud to her…
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Royal Wedding Rewind: Prince Amadeo of Belgium and Elisabetta Rosboch

Five decades earlier, the groom’s grandparents had seen their dreams of marrying in the Eternal City dashed. But as Prince Amadeo of Belgium and Elisabetta Rosboch wed on July 5th 2014, there were no such problems. The eldest grandchild of King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium enjoyed the fairytale wedding in Rome that they had always dreamed about. Embed from Getty Images Just like his…
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Queen Victoria's Bridesmaids

Queen Victoria had twelve bridesmaids. What do we know about them? What did they wear? Certainly the Queen – as might be expected – had a greater number of bridesmaids than her daughters would at their weddings, eight being a recurring choice. We can see them clustered…
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An Earlier Royal Christening at Windsor

Of Queen Victoria’s nine children, one alone was born at Windsor Castle. This royal child was also christened there. This was the second son of the Queen and Prince Albert, baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 6 September 1844. This child would be Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and later Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha after his uncle, Duke Ernest II. The baby prince’s christening…
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Queen Victoria's sapphire brooch

On the eve of her wedding to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria received a sapphire diamond-bordered brooch. It was an item of personal jewellery to which she would attach intense sentimental importance. It became in a way, a symbol of her marriage to Prince Albert and she valued…
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When Russia came to Sandringham

In the summer of 1894, the Tsarevich Nicholas came to England as a guest of Queen Victoria, first staying for a brief few days with his fiancée, Princess Alix of Hesse, at Walton-on-Thames before continuing to Windsor Castle. This was a blissful period for a young couple…
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Royal Wedding Rewind: King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium

They were an unexpected king and queen and their royal romance has weathered several storms but today King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium will mark their sixtieth wedding anniversary. The couple, who married on July 2nd 1959 in Brussels, will celebrate surrounded by family and friends. As they become the first Belgian monarchs to reach a Diamond wedding anniversary, Royal Central looks…
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