After a broken engagement a few years
earlier, Princess Madeleine of Sweden finally found the love of her
life after fleeing to New York City to heal her broken heart.
There, through mutual friends, she met American-British financier
Christopher “Chris” O’Neill. They appeared for the first time in
public together in January 2011, and the relationship might have
stayed quiet for longer had…
Queen Victoria's presents to her grandchildren
14th May 2019
As the ‘Grandmother of Europe’, as Queen
Victoria was popularly termed, her very numerous grandchildren
could, of course, expect to receive a variety of charming presents
for their birthdays, just as we might treasure things sent to us by
our grandmothers. These presents…
Looking Back at the Wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
14th May 2019
Today we are going to look back at the
wedding of Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary which took
place 15 years ago. Denmark’s Crown Prince married his Australian
fiancée on a beautiful May morning at the Copenhagen Cathedral.
Crown Prince Frederik first met his…
A German Princess's memories of Queen Victoria
13th May 2019
To Queen Victoria, she was ‘dear Marie
Erbach’. That was what the Queen called Princess Marie of
Battenberg, later Princess zu Erbach-Schönberg, whose memoirs first
appeared in English in 1925, printed by London publishers George
Allen & Unwin. Princess Marie Karoline of Battenberg was born in
1852 and married in 1871 Gustav Ernst, Count, later Prince zu
Erbach-Schönberg (1840-1908). She was…
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…
Finding Queen Victoria's perfume
12th May 2019
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…
A gift from Imperial Russia?
11th May 2019
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 outer exterior is plain and its
interior lavish with decorative detail, the simplicity of its
sacred architecture from the street is…
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…
Royal Windowpanes
9th May 2019
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…
Queen Victoria’s sapphire and diamond
coronet will be on permanent display this year at London’s Victoria
& Albert Museum, as part of the museum’s 2019 bicentenary
celebration to mark the births of both Queen Victoria and Prince
Albert, to whom of course, the museum owes its name. Displayed in
the V&A Museum’s Jewellery Galleries, this magnificent coronet
is among those pieces of personal…

