HistoryInsight

Royal Presents at Osborne: New Exhibition to focus on Queen Victoria and Prince Albert

English Heritage celebrates the bicentenary of the births of both Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with a new exhibition, Royal Presents at Osborne, focusing on the unique stories behind seven gifts exchanged by the royal couple. Osborne itself was, of course, the Queen and Prince Consort’s supreme present as a private retreat, for themselves and the royal children. Its situation was ideal…
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HistoryInsight

Finding Queen Victoria's perfume

Queen Victoria’s use of perfume is a subject of interest because of what it reveals about both her personal toilette and tastes. An equivalent in scent perhaps, of that distinctive signature we know so well on paper, adding an ‘I’ for ‘Imperatrix’ after she was…
History

A gift from Imperial Russia?

In the German spa town of Bad Nauheim in Hesse, hangs a present – by tradition – from Imperial Russia. It is to be found within the solemnly beautiful church, the Reinhardskirche, in the old town quarter, built between 1732/33. Like many baroque churches whose…
History

Royal burial site 'UK's answer to Tutankhamun's tomb'

A royal burial site from over 1,400 years ago found near a supermarket in Essex is being called England’s answer to the tomb of Tutankhamun. And experts now believe they know which Anglo Saxon royal was laid to rest here as they prepare to display some of the artefacts found in the burial chamber for the first time. The site, at Prittlewell in Essex, was first found in 2003 during roadworks…
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History

Royal Windowpanes

The regal tradition of scratching signatures in windowpanes is long established and well known. The windows – particularly when in rooms of royal residences – formed a kind of living ‘guestbook’, often accompanied by the date the visit or signature, was made. These…
British RoyalsPalaces & BuildingsThe Sussexes

London landmarks light up for Baby Sussex

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex rejoiced at the arrival of Baby Sussex yesterday, and landmarks around London lit up in celebration of the good news last night. As they did for the births of the Cambridge babies, two of the city’s iconic sights are shining in special colours to honour the arrival of Harry and Meghan’s first child. The London Eye has lit up the night sky in the Union…
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History

Alice in Eastbourne: A Royal Holiday in 1878

In the summer of 1878, Queen Victoria’s second daughter, Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, came to Eastbourne, because she had been ordered rest. The sojourn on the East Sussex coast was the gift of Queen Victoria to her daughter, (David Duff, Hessian Tapestry, 177) and Alice visited the seaside town with her family in what would poignantly prove to be the last holiday that they would…
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