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 Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert. The Queen
and the Royal Family would often cross the Solent to Osborne in
either the yacht…
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…
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 who were deeply in
love, having become engaged at Coburg on 8 April 1894. During his
stay at Windsor, the Tsarevich paid a…
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…
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 invaded on Monday night. The
British colonial flag is a common sight at protests in Hong Kong.
This week marks 22 years since…
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…
A picture can tell a story all of its own
and some images take on a resonance that lasts beyond the moment
they were made. In this occasional series, Royal Central looks at
some of the pictures that have told the royal tale and examines the
story behind them. Today, it’s a poignant moment when a popular
royal tradition actually became a final farewell. Here is a look at
the last finals weekend…
