Frederick II, King ‘in’ Prussia, upon whom was bestowed the celebrated sobriquet of ‘the Great’ in his lifetime, was in his own words ‘a philosopher and want[ed] to be buried as such…” This was eventually carried out in 1991, in accordance with his wishes – two hundred and five years after his death, on the terrace at his beloved palace of Sanssouci [‘free of care’]; at the…
The marriage of Harald and Sonja of Norway on August 29th 1968 was a groundbreaking royal wedding. But the bride chose some very traditional blooms for her bouquet while the church where she said ‘I do’ was decked with popular flowers and foliage.
As Sonja Haraldsen…
This month, King Harald and Queen Sonja of Norway celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. The then Crown Prince of Norway married Sonja Haraldsen on 29 August1968 at Oslo Cathedral. Their wedding, attended by royalty from around Europe, came five months after the…
Today marks 50 years since then Crown Prince Harald married Sonja Haraldsen, and she became Crown Princess of Norway. The day will be celebrated today with a service in the same church as the wedding took place 50 years ago. However, you could not have a proper royal wedding without a sensational cake. The Crown Prince Couple’s wedding cake was a gift from Oslo’s Baker Society, and it was…
In the last days of August 1968, the Royal Family made a sad and surprising announcement. Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent’s health was ”giving rise to anxiety” following the diagnosis of an inoperable brain tumour. There was sympathy for the duchess, a…
Queen Victoria kept her journals from the year 1832 up until around two weeks before her death in 1901. Her voluminous correspondence is well known; indeed, it was averaged by the author Giles St Aubyn that the Queen wrote up to some 2,500 words per day (Christopher Hibbert…
‘Islay [a pet dog] is still plagued by him [Lord Melbourne] every evening—a thing which he much enjoys—and constantly begs for the spectacles. I forgot to tell you that Karl has given me a pretty little Rowley, who likewise lives in the house. The multitude of dogs is really terrible!’ (ed. A. C. Benson & Viscount Esher, The Letters of Queen Victoria, Vol 1, 1837-1843, 204). So the…
Caught forever in a moment of time, they are the tragic family whose terrible end in World War One still appals and fascinates today. The children of the last Tsar of Russia died alongside their parents in Yekaterinburg one hundred years ago this summer. And yet Olga…
Royal weddings bring all kinds of expectations and among them is one filled with sparkle and glitter. For we all assume a royal bride will arrive for her marriage wearing a tiara and when the wedding will result in them becoming a consort or consort in waiting, the…
“For centuries the Tsars of Russia have been waging wars simply for the lust of territory and for the glory of Autocracy. The rulers of Russia have sown the wind and they are now beginning to reap the whirlwind.”
-Carl Joubert
The story of Russia’s last Tsar and his family is perhaps one of the most tragic royal stories to unfold. The Communist uprising led to the death of Tsar Nicholas…
