Take a step back in time and imagine Georgian London. The year is 1762 and a building unlike no other becomes the talk of the town. Many marvelled at its beauty; others thought it would not last.
Artist’s impressions of what the Pagoda will look like once restoration is finished. Photo Courtesy of Historic Royal Palaces.
The Great Pagoda at Kew, designed and constructed during Chinoiserie craze…
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor on their wedding day in 1937
It was a love story that changed the course of British history and rocked the monarchy. This is perhaps why a car, said to have been used to sneak Wallis Simpson in and out of Balmoral during her relationship with…
Two law professors in Canada are challenging the change to royal succession rules which now mean that a girl can succeed ahead of a younger born brother. They are arguing that the alterations this made to Canadian law are ‘unconstitutional’ and ‘colonialist’. The…
Anne Boleyn is probably best remembered as the most controversial Queen in British history, which is perhaps not entirely deserved. Even though much is said about her, there are a lot things we don’t know, such as her birthday. Unfortunately for women of that time period, it was not uncommon for her birth date not to be recorded. Eric Ives settles on 1501 in his magnificent biography on…
The Queen has opened the first session of the new Parliament today as she led proceedings for the annual State Opening of Parliament. Travelling with the Duke of Edinburgh in the Diamond Jubilee State Coach, Her Majesty was also joined at Westminster by the Prince of Wales…
On 17 November 1558 England’s first undisputed Queen regnant, Mary I, died, paving the way for the accession of her half-sister Elizabeth I. Mary had been a staunch Roman Catholic and she had been determined to bring England back to what she believed to be the true…
A former railway station used by Queen Victoria and royal guests from across Europe for visits to Balmoral will be restored after it was devastated by a major fire earlier this month.  Local people and historians alike have welcomed the news that the Old Royal Station in Ballater, Aberdeenshire,will be rebuilt following the blaze but officials are warning that the process to bring it back to its…
The Queen has given her seal of approval on the bid to return the ‘Welsh Crown Jewels’ back to Wales. The jewels include a ring, a mantle, a robe, a sword, a girdle, and a rod. But the most famous part of this regalia is without a doubt the coronet.
The…
An American tourist caused quite a scare by flying a drone close to Windsor Castle, where The Queen was in residence. The unmanned aircraft was spotted flying within 50 metres of the castle, and was being controlled by a remote.
The drone was reportedly being used to film a…
by Alexander Bassano, half-plate glass negative, circa 1888
It has been quite some time since the last Princess of Cambridge – 132 years to be exact. Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge was born in 1833. She had earned the nickname of Fat Mary and is recorded as a “jolly old maid” in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
Luckily for her, that was not her only nickname.
