History

Charlotte, a name with royal pedigree

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge named their daughter Charlotte. It’s not a big shock – the name has been one of the favourites with the bookmakers almost since Kate announced she was expecting back in September. And one of the reasons it’s always been such a popular pick is that it’s a modern name with a lot of royal history. It was perhaps most famous – until now – as the name of…
Read more
History

Richard III - Myth or Monster, Saint or Sinner

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…
FeaturesHistory

After Richard III: The reign of the Tudor rose

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 Bosworth. However in 1486, the year after the famed battle, the two families met in a very different place. On 18th January, Elizabeth…
Read more
Palaces & Buildings

Queen Victoria’s Durbar Room at Osborne House reopens following conservation work

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 give visitors will a glimpse of how it would have looked in the 1890s. Osborne House was a retreat for Queen Victoria throughout…
Read more
History

Allegations resolved over Queen Victoria’s real father

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 been resolved – by the respected author who brought them up in the first place. Queen Victoria at her coronation – by…
Read more