History

Why Cambridge University has been luckier for queens in class than kings in waiting

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11th January 2014
Edward VII, William’s great-great-great-grandfather, wasn’t the first British royal to attend the university but he was the first heir to the throne to finish his studies there. And his mother, Queen Victoria, might have wished he hadn’t bothered.  Albert Edward, Prince of Wales went up to Trinity College in 1861 to read history.  But that same year, the future king also spent some time…
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History

Anne of Cleves, A Flanders Mare: Part 1

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11th January 2014
Everyone knows that Henry VIII had six wives, with the rhyme ‘Divorced, Beheaded, Died, Divorced, Beheaded, Survived’, recording their largely unenviable fates. Henry’s second wife, Anne Boleyn, is a household name, but what of the other Queen Anne – the fourth wife…
State & Ceremonial

Queen's workload continues to drop as royal engagement figures are released

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31st December 2013
The Times has published its annual letter from Tim O’Donovan detailing the number of engagements undertaken by members of the Royal Family in the past year. In his annual survey of the Royal Family’s engagements, Mr O’Donovan noted, “After the busy Diamond Jubilee year it is not surprising that members of the Royal Family carried out fewer official duties in 2013.” He went on to say…
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History

William III - The Invader King

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28th December 2013
On this day in 1688, the Dutch Stateholder William III of Orange made a triumphant march into London ending the reign of King James II. In what history has since coined the “Glorious Revolution” William of Orange invaded England on the 5th of November 1688. It would…
State & Ceremonial

Royal Family set for series of overseas engagements

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26th December 2013
Members of the Royal Family including The Earl and Countess of Wessex, Duke and Duchess of Gloucester and the Princess Royal are set for several weeks of overseas engagements between them towards the end of January and into February as the Royal Family return from their festive break early next year. The Countess of Wessex will travel to France in early February. The Earl of Wessex is the first to…
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History

Judith of Francia: Twice Queen of Wessex

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20th December 2013
Anglo-Saxon queens receive very little attention, with it commonly believed that there were no pre-Conquest queens in England. Such an assertion is patently untrue, as the lives of early queens, such as Elfrida, Emma of Normandy and Edith Godwin show. All three of these women lived late in the Anglo-Saxon period. A century before the first of these three women became queen, another woman – in…
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