In a continuation of our two-part series, our Historian, Elizabeth Jane Timms, looks back at the death of Prince Albert:
The passing of the Prince Consort is, of course, synonymous with the Blue Room at Windsor Castle, where it took place, a room which I have researched for some six years. The room had been that in which Queen Victoria’s ‘Uncle King’ George IV had died on 26 June 1830. It…
In a two-part series, our Historian, Elizabeth Jane Timms, looks back at the death of Prince Albert:
Prince Albert, the beloved husband and Prince Consort of Queen Victoria, died on 14 December 1861, at Windsor Castle. So enormous were the consequences of this death, both…
The onset of winter provides another opportunity to look again at the links between the many fascinating outdoor pastimes and pursuits enjoyed by royalty, which I touched on in my article of December 2017, Snow and Royalty. Whilst the German Christmas was much popularised by…
With the announcement that Frogmore Cottage will become the residence of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex at Windsor, it is perhaps interesting to briefly review Frogmore Cottage’s history. Contrary to popular imagination, it is not the first time that the building has served as a residence for royalty.
‘Bark writes that you offer me a Cottage at Windsor. Words fail me to express all I feel…
The Story of the Effigies of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert
3rd December 2018
The effigy of Queen Victoria has its own story. It rests next to that of the Prince Consort in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore, one of the most remarkable buildings that was ever to be built in Victorian Britain, constructed as a burial place for Prince Albert and Queen…
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…
The first thing that Princess Victoria did on the morning of 20 June 1837 was to reach for her dressing gown. This historic moment in the Queen’s life has always held a particular fascination for me, and I have regularly revisited it from various angles, from profiling the Archbishop of Canterbury who knelt before her that morning with the Lord Chamberlain, Lord Conyngham, to the staircase she…
Personal items of Queen Victoria acquired by Historic Royal Palaces
2nd November 2018
Some personal items belonging to Queen Victoria have been acquired by Historic Royal Palaces, the independent charity which maintains Kensington Palace, ahead of the bicentenary of the Queen’s birth in 2019, which the palace will celebrate with a new exhibition and…
‘Saw good Mrs Clark, returned from Darmstadt, who gave me an excellent account of Alice, the Baby & dear little Victoria’(Quoted in Charlotte Zeepvat, From Cradle to Crown, 13).
With these words, Queen Victoria recorded in her journal for 13 December 1864, that…
The white caps worn by Queen Victoria have – correctly – come to be regarded as a symbol for her widowhood. They represent one of the few contrasts in colour to the deepest mourning that she adopted after 1861, as a declaration in textile, of the colossal emotional significance to her of the Prince Consort’s death.
White had, of course, been symbolic of her wedding to Prince Albert…
