Although one of our more controversial monarchs, Richard III has been ill-served by history. On the basis of very little evidence, he has been portrayed as a child-killing monster who waded in blood to a throne that wasn’t his to take, but the facts show that relatively little blood was shed as Richard of Gloucester assumed the crown. Far less was shed during his reign than ever was to flow…
On 26th March, thousands came together to say goodbye to the last Plantagenet King, Richard III. The King’s much-publicised reburial marks the first time since 1485 that the two opposing sides in the Wars of the Roses, the Yorks and the Lancasters have met at…
Queen Anne quite frankly had a tremendous reign becoming the first monarch of a united single sovereign state, known as Great Britain in 1707 as well as showing her worth as a Queen Regnant in a male-dominated society. Though tragedy was never far away from the last of the…
The staff of Windsor Castle have voted to take industrial action over a dispute of pay.
The 76 wardens, employed by the Royal Collection Trust, voted in favour by 84% of a action short of strike. The turn out was 82%.
The strike, which may start from the end of April, would see the wardens, all who are members of the Public and Commercial Services (PCS) union omit from activities that they are…
It was the room where Queen Victoria entertained European royalty in the later part of her reign, and designed as a state setting in what had, until then, been her family and personal retreat. Now the Durbar Room at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight has been restored to…
What really happened to the Princes in the Tower? The Richard III Society seeks answers
13th April 2015
There have been many great mysteries in history. Perhaps though none greater than that of the Princes in the Tower – the two young sons of King Edward IV, who disappeared into the Tower of London and never seen again.
According to Shakespeare, the boys were killed by…
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…
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…
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…
