“Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!”
With these words, Queen Victoria described her wedding day in her diary – 10 February 1840, writing up the event for the day’s entry from Windsor Castle. It marked the beginning of her marriage to her cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. The opposite date of this ecstatic exhortation of joy on behalf of the Queen was unquestionably 14…
One of English history’s ‘forgotten’ queens, is actually one who was arguablyamong the most loved. This was Mary II, the joint monarch – not queen consort of William III. Forgiven by posterity for deposing her father, contemporary history seems to have accepted…
“Dear old Sandringham, the place I love better than anywhere else in the world…” were the words which King George V used to describe the Norfolk retreat, beloved by four generations of the British Royal Family since 1862; it was a sentimentechoed by…
The foundation stone for No. 1 Royal Crescent – the first of what would become the glorious Bath stone symmetrical terrace of 30 houses in the city of Bath – was laid on 19 May 1767. The year 2017 will mark exactly 250 years since this iconic symbol of Georgian architecture – largely unchanged – was built to the designs of John Wood the Younger between…
The royal bedwas a symbol of power as well as being a powerful symbol.Almost likea throne, it ultimately stood forstatus and royal authority, providingthe background for such ceremonies as the monarch’s ‘lever’ and…
The Grade II* listed mansion of Bentley Priory in Stanmore, in the London Borough of Harrow, is best known for the vital role it played during the Battle of Britain when the building formed the setting for Headquarters Fighter Command. The Priory remained an RAF base until…
At night, a historical attraction somehow acquires an entirely different authenticambience, with the sense of its past rendered more palpable by the feeling of exclusivity – there is a sense of being a private guest at a bygone court. Entering any residence at night emphasises this idea, something which the sequence of a royal apartment’s series of…
When she was aged six, the young Princess Elizabeth received a special present from the people of Wales. It was a cottage of her very own. She came into possession of this unique gift when her parents, the Duke and Duchess of York took over the use of Royal Lodge in Windsor…
On 29 May 1926, the christening of the future Queen Elizabeth II, took place. The baptismal service was performed at the private chapel at Buckingham Palace and the occasion of HM The Queen’s 91st birthday provides a pleasant opportunity to revisit this important event.
For many, Frogmore’s associations are chiefly with those of royal burial. The estate, located between Windsor Great Park and Home Park, is indeed the setting for two important royal mausoleums – the Royal Mausoleum of Queen Victoria and Albert, the Prince Consort, together with that of the Queen’s mother, Victoria Duchess of Kent – with the royal burial ground in front of the Royal…
