Outside the Houses of Parliament, standing rather boldly with a hand on his sword and the other clutching a Bible, stands a statute of Oliver Cromwell. For a time, Cromwell was the sole interruption in a long line of English monarchs, during which the British Isles were no longer governed by a monarchy but instead by a republican “Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland”. This…
The Royal Coat of Arms acts as the official coat of arms for the British monarch.
The Royal Coat of Arms features a shield divided into four quarters. The quarters represent the symbols of Ireland, England, and Scotland. Wales does not play a role in the Royal Coat of Arms…
Princess Ragnhild of Norway and Erling Lorentzen were married on 15 May 1953 at Asker parish church near Oslo.
The Princess was born on 9 June 1930 and was the older sister of the present King of Norway, Harald V, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday. At the time of her…
London has many plaques and memorials with royal connections but in fact, rather fewer statues. Some of these statues have interesting hidden histories of their own, of how they were made, how they came to be in the places that they are and why. Some of these statues may be much less known and indeed, too little seen.
Queen Charlotte, born Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Queen consort to…
Looking Back at the Wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones
6th May 2017
On 6 May 1960, Princess Margaret became the first royal to marry in a televised ceremony when she married photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in a glittering service at Westminster Abbey.
Princess Margaret had been linked to several beaus, most notably her father’s and…
Throughout history, many royals have died in brutal and bizarre ways. Royals have been killed in attacks, by illness and by accident. However, only one European royal has ever been murdered by a monkey. That is the Greek King Alexander, who died at 27-years-old in…
The future King George VI and Queen Elizabeth married on 26 April 1923 in Westminster Abbey. Prince Albert, Duke of York, was the second son of King George V and Queen Mary, while Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon was the youngest daughter of the Earl and Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne.
They initially met as children before a dance in 1920 brought them together again as adults. Elizabeth was…
Following her birth on April 21 1926 at the home of her maternal grandparents at 17 Bruton St Mayfair, the baby Princess Elizabeth moved to the house that her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York, had takenat 145 Piccadilly W1. This would be the house in which she…
Built of 775 rooms and housing no less than 78 bathrooms and 1,514 doors, it’s little wonder that Buckingham Palace has become a world famous architectural and cultural landmark. Present-day Buckingham Palace – with its more than 40,000 light bulbs and protection guards…
The War of the Roses was a period marked by the deep-set and bitter hatred that burned between the Houses of Lancaster and York. After the overthrow of Richard II by his cousin King Henry IV, the House of Plantagenet gave way to the House of Lancaster and the Kingdom of England began to stutter and fall. After the premature death of Henry V, who briefly brought England back to a zenith during his…
