Royalty is a world where the past is as much a part of the present as the future. The past seven days have seen the spotlight fall on celebrations and commemorations in equal measure – here’s the week in royal history.
Queen Victoria will be reigning supreme at Buckingham Palace again next year as she is set to take centre stage in the summer opening at the most famous royal residence of them all. Visitors will be welcomed back to the palace between July 20th and September 29th 2019, and the set piece exhibition will be all about the famous queen. The display will mark the 200th anniversary of Victoria’s birth (on May 24th 1819) and will run at the same time as another special on the second longest reigning monarch in British history as Kensington Palace has also announced a new event all about Vicky for next year.
Meanwhile, a slightly less celebrated queen regnant was also making headlines again this week. Queen Anne could well help Olivia Colman land some of the biggest film gongs going next year as her star turn as the feisty and ambitious monarch in the hotly anticipated movie, The Favourite, is gathering momentum on the awards trail. This week she was nominated as Best Actress for her portrayal of Anne at the British Independent Film Awards and talk immediately began of a possible Oscar nod. The BIFAs are handed out on December 2nd while the film itself hits our screens on New Year’s Day.
More recent and more poignant history also dominated this week. With minds turning to the centenary of the end of World War One on November 11th, a new series began on the official Royal Family social media channels. Between November 1st and November 11th, photos of items from the Windsor archives will be shared to explain the role the family and its household played during World War One. Diaries, photos and artefacts will all feature as the story of the Windsors at war unfolds.
Just as that new project got underway, the Duchess of Cambridge paid an unannounced visit to the Imperial War Museum to see some very personal links to the Great War. She read letters written by Maurice, Francis and Lionel Lupton, her great-great uncles who were all killed in the conflict, as well as correspondence sent on behalf of King George V to her family following the loss of the men.
In the coming week, we can expect more reflections as the present looks once more to the past in the hope of learning for the future.
