Palaces & Buildings

Dragons to return to The Great Pagoda at Kew after a 200 year absence

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…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

The Execution of a Queen

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…
Read more
State & Ceremonial

Queen attends State Opening of Parliament

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…
Palaces & Buildings

Former royal train station to be re-built following devastating fire

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…
Read more
FeaturesHistory

‘Fat Mary’ - The last Princess of Cambridge

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.
Read more