The ‘meeting’ between Marie Antoinette and the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart has a fabled quality, not least because of the oft-repeated folklore that has grown around it. From the point of view of posterity, it is a fascinating moment to contemplate, when two legendary (Austrian) figures were in the same room, their biographical futures lying still before them.
I want to explore the facts…
Margaret Greville is not a commonly known name. However, her legacy can be seen on several members of the British Royal Family to this day. Many of the tiaras, necklaces, and brooches worn today in the royal family were originally owned by The Hon. Mrs Ronald Greville, but…
The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara is one of the most impressive pieces in The Queen’s tiara collection. It is one of her favourite tiaras and is frequently worn for different events. It is notable, not only for its sheer size and brilliance but for the fact that it can be…
Princess Louise, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, holds an interesting spot in history. She supported higher education for women and feminist causes and was closely involved in the arts – not at all common for a Victorian princess. In opposition to her siblings, her mother wanted her to marry a British suitor rather than a foreign one. Louise married…
George III is rather well-known as a British monarch – The King who lost America, the father of a very large family, the one who went mad. When people think of him, it either tends to be as the devoted family man he was in his early life or his quiet madness in later…
There are a number of events in English royal history that seem extraordinary and unbelievable, but the warming pan scandal has to be at the top of the list. The son of James II and Mary of Modena had a very interesting start to life and would be questioned for…
As the last Emperor of Russia, Tsar Nicholas II’s twenty-three-year reign came to an abrupt end when he abdicated on 15 March 1917. Those tumultuous years of his reign were defined by the Russo-Japanese War that saw the annihilation of the Russian Baltic Fleet, Bloody Sunday and an estimated 3.3 million Russians die during World War I. The relatives of Nicholas’s extended family tree insisted…
One aspect of the evolution of monarchy that I find interesting is the development of Ordinal numbers, or regnal numbers, and also called post-nominal numbers used to differentiate between monarchs of the same name within the same territory. In the British system of…
Deb Stratas has written her fourth book featuring Diana, Princess of Wales. This one, At Home with Diana, tells Diana’s story through the windows of her homes and residences.
The book goes from her birth to her death in homes such as Park House, Althorp, Kensington…
Welcome to the show, to the Histo-remix- the six queens of Henry VIII are taking over Broadway. Tudor history will be taking centre stage on 13 February 2020 at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre in New York with Six the Musical making its Broadway debut.
Six the Musical, created by Lucy Moss and Toby Marlow, is a fresh look at the six women who married Henry VIII. Not a traditional show, this…
