Queen Victoria had twelve bridesmaids. What do we know about them? What did they wear? Certainly the Queen – as might be expected – had a greater number of bridesmaids than her daughters would at their weddings, eight being a recurring choice. We can see them clustered in pairs in Sir George Hayter’s large painting The Marriage of Queen Victoria, 10 February 1840, gathered respectfully…
In the Queen’s bedroom at Osborne House, may be found a quite extraordinary chintz pattern. Used for the bed hangings of the Queen’s bed, as well as the sofa and curtains, the material has been adopted in a modern context for the room, having originally been for the…
Of Queen Victoria’s nine children, one alone was born at Windsor Castle. This royal child was also christened there. This was the second son of the Queen and Prince Albert, baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 6 September 1844. This child would be Prince…
On the eve of her wedding to Prince Albert, Queen Victoria received a sapphire diamond-bordered brooch. It was an item of personal jewellery to which she would attach intense sentimental importance. It became in a way, a symbol of her marriage to Prince Albert and she valued it so highly that on her death, she willed it to the Crown to prevent its being given on further within the Royal Family. It…
In the summer of 1894, the Tsarevich Nicholas came to England as a guest of Queen Victoria, first staying for a brief few days with his fiancée, Princess Alix of Hesse, at Walton-on-Thames before continuing to Windsor Castle. This was a blissful period for a young couple…
In honour of The Queen’s Holyrood Week, we’re taking a look at royal history in and around Edinburgh. Our senior reporter Kristin Contino headed to Scotland to find out more about some favourite royal spots.
“Britannia is the one place where I can truly relax,”…
They were an unexpected king and queen and their royal romance has weathered several storms but today King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium will mark their sixtieth wedding anniversary. The couple, who married on July 2nd 1959 in Brussels, will celebrate surrounded by family and friends. As they become the first Belgian monarchs to reach a Diamond wedding anniversary, Royal Central looks…
The British colonial flag is currently being hung in the legislative chamber of Hong Kong after protestors stormed the building.
After defacing the Hong Kong Bauhinia emblem in the chamber, protestors proceeded to fly the old style flag in the parliament building which was…
Northampton Museums own a pair of flat shoes, believed to be those worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding day, 10 February 1840. Of white satin, they certainly would have complimented the Queen’s own simple wedding dress of finely woven Spitalfields silk satin in her own…
On the upper floor of the Swiss Cottage at Osborne, a rustic structure carved with Biblical texts in German and built behind the individual garden plots belonging to each of the royal children, today’s visitor finds this large room set as if for tea, with napkins turned to the shape of the Prince of Wales’ feathers, as if the Royal Family are at any moment, expected. An afternoon memorialised…
