In Berlin, there is a missing queen. Her
burial place in the historic Hohenzollerngruft [Hohenzollern vault]
in Berlin Cathedral is disputed and may be lost. Elisabeth
Christine, Frederick II’s (‘the Great’) unloved queen was a victim
of historical banishment, in Frederick’s lifetime at least.
Metaphorically, she remains in his shadow. Unlike the husband she
revered, Elisabeth…
Today we’re looking at the history of the
Palace of Zarzuela, which is the home of King Felipe, his wife,
Queen Letizia, and their two daughters, Princess Leonor and Infanta
Sofía; as well as King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofía. Construction
began on Zarzuela Palace back in…
In 1888, a year whose numbering Queen
Victoria thought odd (‘Never can it be written again!’), her
daughter, the Princess Royal and Crown Princess of Prussia, had
become German Empress, prompting the proud words from her mother:
‘My OWN dear Empress Victoria… may God…
Frederick II, accorded the epithet ‘the
Great’ already during his own lifetime, had in fact, a whole other
life after death, aside from his legacy. The great King’s legend
stalks the eighteenth century like a gigantic historic shadow, much
as the oversize silhouette of him prowls the terrace at his beloved
refuge of Sanssouci, the palace he built for himself at Potsdam, as
portrayed by the…
Emanuela Orlandi – the 15-year-old
daughter of a Vatican clerk – went missing in 1983 when she failed
to return home after a music lesson in Rome. The search for her
continues to this day and her family recently received an anonymous
letter saying that her body…
After the First World War, several of
Europe’s monarchies fell, and among them were the German and
Austrian-Hungarian Empires. While many of the royalty in these
countries fled to other countries to live their lives in exile,
others chose to remain in their country of…
A fond tradition arose in the lifetime of
Benjamin Disraeli, Lord Beaconsfield, Queen Victoria’s two-time
Prime Minister, namely that of his receiving flowers, often
primroses from the Queen. To Disraeli, Queen Victoria was the
‘Faery’ – his endearing name for his Sovereign, whatever the
intention of Edmund Spenser’s epic poem Faerie Queene. Disraeli
told his friend, Lady Bradford, that…
Buckingham Palace has confirmed that a
man was detained in the early hours of this morning in Buckingham
Palace’s forecourt. The 22-year-old man is believed to have climbed
over the fence from the Buckingham Palace Road side of the
building; he was arrested just a few…
Perched atop Castle Rock, the ancient
volcanic plug that towers above the city of Edinburgh, sits the
most besieged place in Britain. Edinburgh Castle has served as a
military fortress, royal residence, and prison of war, but today it
stakes its claim as the most-visited…
They have been home to generations of
royals who have carved their names in the history books and in
2019, their power to fascinate continues. A new survey has taken a
look at the most popular regal residences in Europe and those
belonging to the British royals take four of the top five spots.
Buckingham Palace, Kensington Palace, Windsor Castle and Hampton
Court Palace dominate the head of the…
