On this day in 1840, John Francis made a second attempt at an assassination of Queen Victoria. The day prior, John Francis had misfired his gun after aiming at Queen Victoria and fled. Prince Albert and a young boy were the only two to witness the incident. It was decided by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert that the safest way to reduce the threat on their lives by the hand of John Francis was to…
A controversial figure in the 1930s, this King caused a scandal when he became the first royal to abdicate the throne – and he did it for love.
Born on 23 June 1894 as David, he was the first son of the future George V and his wife, Mary of Teck.
Edward VIII became King on…
On this day 1487, the pretender Lambert Simnel was crowned as King Edward VI in Dublin. The boy was ten years old at the time, and kept up the pretence for nearly a month before the rebels who supported him were defeated at the Battle of Stoke Field.
In August 1485, Henry…
Britain has two months to raise £10m to save most famous Armada portrait of Elizabeth I
23rd May 2016
The famous Armada portrait of Queen Elizabeth I, which was once owned by Sir Francis Drake, is to be sold for the first time in 400 years, as a £10m campaign is launched to save it. It has been privately held by the Tyrwhitt-Drake family for generations and it is now up for sale. The Art Fund and Royal Museums Greenwich has launched a fundraising campaign to save it for the nation and needs to…
The short service of remembrance, known as The Ceremony of the Lilies and the Roses, is held every 21 May, to commemorate the fact that Henry VI, England’s so-called “saintly king”, died at the Tower of London in 1471.
Tradition has adopted the Norman Wakefield Tower…
One hotel in Northamptonshire preserves a possibly extraordinaryfeature within its walls. The Talbot Hotel in Oundle is located some thirteen miles outside Peterborough and is aten-minutedrive from Fotheringhay. It preserves the staircase which is…
When she was aged six, the young Princess Elizabeth received a special present from the people of Wales. It was a cottage of her very own. She came into possession of this unique gift when her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York took over the use of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park in 1932. It was given to the young princess to enjoy with her baby sister Princess Margaret Rose, who had been…
On 29 May 1926, the christening of the future Queen Elizabeth II, took place. The baptismal service was performed at the private chapel at Buckingham Palace and the occasion of HM The Queen’s 91st birthday provides a pleasant opportunity to revisit this important event.
New archeological evidence seems to confirm the bones found in a medieval reliquiary at Uppsala Cathedral in Sweden, belong to Saint King Erik.
Erik IX was a Swedish king, who reigned c. 1155-1160. No contemporary historical records of Erik survive, what little is known…
Probably best known for the exquisite Easter eggs that he crafted for the Russian Imperial house of Romanov, Peter Carl Faberge was Russia’s premier master goldsmith at the beginning of the twentieth century, the House of Faberge having been founded in St. Petersburg by his father, Gustav Faberge in 1842. Although Faberge would go on to design spectacularobjects of ornamentation such…
