Repair work will soon get underway aboard a Victorian battleship, the HMS Warrior, which was once a part of the high-tech marine fleet of Queen Victoria. Anchored at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, the vessel has deteriorated over the past century and requires urgent engineering intervention.
HMS Warrior, launched in 1860, was the pride of Queen Victoria’s fleet. Powered by steam and sail…
Allegations resolved over Queen Victoria’s real father
7th April 2015
Hers is a line which has ruled Britain for almost 200 years and which has given us two of the longest reigning monarchs in our history. So allegations that Queen Victoria wasn’t really a (British) royal certainly raised eyebrows. But now the doubts over her lineage have…
The Richard effect: Seven-fold increase in visitors to Bosworth during Richard III's reinterment week
3rd April 2015
Move over Kate! A new phenomenon – the Richard effect – has begun to take the world by storm, following the reinterment of King Richard III at Leicester Cathedral last week.
More than 2,500 people attended the service held in honour of the Plantagenet King, and…
Mother of a dynasty: Louisa Jane, first Duchess of Abercorn
31st March 2015
On 31 March 1905 an extraordinary woman died at Coates Castle in Sussex, aged 92. Although she had been widowed since 1885, Louisa Jane, the first Duchess of Abercorn, was not going to let advancing years and the loss of a husband interfere with the rest of her life. She may have outlived her close friend, Queen Victoria, by four years, but she was unlikely to be lonely.
This is a version of a…
The Australia Magna Carta Embroidery - commemorating the spread of law and order throughout the world
30th March 2015
The Australia panel of the twelve panel Magna Carta embroidery is now completed. The latest delicately embroidered, highly detailed piece, tells the story of how the abiding principles of the Magna Carta influenced and remained the basis of common law in many countries…
Stories of the Stuarts: Lucy Walter, mistress of King Charles II
29th March 2015
In this new ongoing series of articles, we will be delving in to the world of the House of Stuart, a royal dynasty who first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland in the late 14th century before eventually inheriting the Kingdoms of England and Ireland in the early 17th…
Benedict Cumberbatch to give reading at Richard III reburial
25th March 2015
Star of Sherlock, Benedict Cumberbatch, will read a poem at the re-internment of the last Plantagenet King, Richard III, on Thursday. The re-internment service will take place at Leicester Cathedral three years after his remains were discovered at the site of an archaeological excavation on a Leicester City Council car park.
The actor will read verses of a poem written by Poet Laureate, Carol Ann…
The final journey: Richard III's reburial procession
22nd March 2015
Over 500 years after his death, and nearly three years after the discovery of his remains under a Leicester car park, King Richard III is finally set to get the funeral that he deserves, as his reburial procession got underway in Leicester today. Richard III’s remains…
Petition to give Anne Boleyn a Royal Pardon after she was 'wrongly accused' of her crimes
14th March 2015
An e-petition has been created to try and grant Anne Boleyn a Royal Pardon after it is believed that she was ‘wrongly accused’ of the crimes that led to her execution in 1536.
In addition to asking for a Royal Pardon, the petition calls for the former Queen of…
For years, it was believed that King Richard III had dark hair and black eyes. That is how he is portrayed in his portraits, and the image certainly is consistent with that of a notorious King, rumoured to have murdered his nephews. But now, scientists say that the last of the Plantagenet rulers may, in fact, have had blonde hair and blue eyes.
The results of DNA tests carried out by Dr Turi King…