The third son of King George V and Queen Mary, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester was born on 31 March 1900.
He was the first son of a monarch to be educated at school and went onto study at Eton College.
His life was full of tragedy starting with not being able to continue his life with the woman he was having an affair with, Beryl Markham and having to pay her and her husband hush-money for the…
First and foremost, we think of bells as something we hear and don’t see. The bells of Westminster Abbey now mingle in between the great soundscape of London noise and the busy restlessness of Westminster, blending the secular with the divine, much as they have done for…
In St. Thomas’ Church, Newport on the Isle of Wight, stands an extraordinary monument, touching in its simplicity. It was erected over the tomb of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I (1635-1650). This beloved royal child was immortalized as such by Van Dyck in his…
Following her wedding at St James’s Palace to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on 10 February 1840, Queen Victoria drove to Windsor for her honeymoon. Windsor had mixed associations for the Queen. It was the place of the famous contretemps between her uncle, King William IV and her mother, the Duchess of Kent; it was also where the father she had never known, Edward, Duke of Kent, was…
Praised by Alexander Pope in his Moral Essays as possessing a ‘proud alcove’ in which one might happily be ‘galant and gay’, the great house of Cliveden, Taplow, where Meghan Markle spent the night before her wedding to Prince Harry, was visited by Queen Victoria in…
Given the inseparable links between music and the British Monarchy, it naturally follows that the music chosen for royal weddings reflected both the importance of the occasion as well as the personal taste of the monarch. Whether it was the splendour of Handel’s marriage…
Traditionally royal grooms do not wear a wedding ring, with only the bride receiving a wedding band during the ceremony. It is currently unknown whether Prince Harry will continue with this tradition or opt to wear a band to display his love rather than royal protocol.
The Duke of Cambridge chose to follow family tradition and not wear the symbol of marriage, whereas The Prince of Wales wears a…
The Quire of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor is an area extraordinarily rich in the history of the English Monarchy, yet this sacred and mystical space in the Chapel enshrining the Order of the Garter – the Order’s spiritual home – is as much associated with royal…
All Fine on the Day: a look at past royal weddings which have turned out well despite problems
16th May 2018
Being part of a royal family may be a privilege but it does not protect its members from the worries and woes that beset everyone else.
Weddings are famously fraught with difficulties, as Prince Harry and Meghan Markle are discovering. Perhaps they can take comfort from the…
On 21 September 1662, Samuel Pepys entered the following words into his Restoration diary: “The Queen coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James’s (the first time it hath been ready for her), I crowded after her, and I got up to the room where her closet is; and there stood and saw the fine altar, ornaments, and the fryers in their habits, and the priests come in with their…
