The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge have
appointed their first equerry to their household earlier
this year, The Courtier has discovered, another sign of
an increasing yet inevitable focus on royal duties for the couple.
Captain Florian Graham-Watson, an officer from the Irish Guards,
has been seconded to the Duke and Duchess’s household since the
beginning of the year and even accompanied…
The connection between the House of
Windsor and the House of Grimaldi begins in the 19th century when
Albert I, Prince of Monaco married a beautiful and willful British
aristocrat called Lady Mary Victoria Hamilton. Her father was
the 11th Duke of Hamilton and her mother…
Whilst in Scotland on Thursday, The Earl
and Countess of Strathearn were shown a portrait of Catherine from
a local artist, Tom Sutton-Smith; I have been fortunate enough to
talk with Glenys Andrews, who presented the portrait to the Royal
couple as Mr Sutton-Smith was in…
Born on the 10th February 1894, Maurice
Harold Macmillan was brought into the world at 52 Cadogan Place in
Chelsea to parents Maurice Crawford Macmillan and Helen Tarleton
Belles. Macmillan had two elder brothers, Daniel who was eight
years his senior and Arthur who was four years his senior. From an
early age Macmillan received a very intensive education, which was
closely guarded by his American…
Robert Anthony Eden was born on 12th June
1897 at Windlestone Hall in County Durham into a Conservative
landed gentry family. His father was Sir William Eden and his
mother Sybil Frances Grey. Eden was educated at two independent
schools, Sandroyd School and Eton…
Tea drinking in England dates back to
1662, when it was introduced at court by Portuguese Infanta
Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II. Anna Maria Stanhope,
Duchess of Bedford However, the very British ritual of ‘Afternoon
Tea’ as a meal found its ‘raison…
The bill had done well to reach committee
stage in the Lords last session before it ran out of steam and the
forces of time conspired against its further progress. Fortunately,
however, The Courtier has discovered this is by no means the
end of the line for the fight to change the law to allow women to
inherit peerages and that the final session of this parliament will
see the return of a bill to…
As the introduction states: “Under Queen
Elizabeth II royalty has continued to adapt to the modern world,
and despite some bad times, remains the strongest of British
institutions”. In many ways, this sense of pride and admiration for
the British monarchy is the…
1953: The Queen in Timaru, a major port
in the southern Canterbury region of New Zealand. Crowds gathered
on the banks of the River Thames to catch a glimpse of the Royal
Yacht Britannia bringing Her Majesty and the Royal family home.
Numerous sirens from ships and even…
62 years later and our Queen is still
going strong and, unbelievably, is on her twelfth prime minister.
So here, in this series of blogs, I wish to take you on a royal and
political journey, introducing you to Her Majesty's Prime
Ministers. Let's start all the way back in 1952. The first of Queen
Elizabeth II's prime ministers was wartime Prime Minister, Sir
Winston…
