The Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace has
provided the setting for many historical events, most particularly
royal weddings and christenings, most recently that of HRH Prince
George of Cambridge in 2013; it is only ever open to the public for
religious services. To enter the Chapel Royal though is to walk in
the footsteps of at least four royal brides and to process up its
aisle is to retrace…
In Prince & Patron, the Summer Opening
Exhibition at Buckingham Palace, a bust of Prince Albert is
displayed, labelled simply as ‘William Theed (1804-91) Prince
Albert, 1862; marble.’ But it is no ordinary bust, nor is it just
one among other memorial busts…
An exquisite oil on panel painting by
Franz Xavier Winterhalter, that fashionable artist of European
court portraiture, is currently on display in Prince & Patron, the
Summer Opening Exhibition of the State Rooms at Buckingham Palace,
showcasing some of the personal…
Queen Victoria kept her journals from the
year 1832 up until around two weeks before her death in 1901. Her
voluminous correspondence is well known; indeed, it was averaged by
the author Giles St Aubyn that the Queen wrote up to some 2,500
words per day (Christopher Hibbert, Queen Victoria: A Personal
History, XV). Three volumes of her letters were edited by Arthur C.
Benson and Viscount Esher…
‘Islay [a pet dog] is still plagued by
him [Lord Melbourne] every evening—a thing which he much enjoys—and
constantly begs for the spectacles. I forgot to tell you that Karl
has given me a pretty little Rowley, who likewise lives in the
house. The multitude of dogs is…
‘Never, never can I forget this brilliant
year… so full of marvellous kindness, loyalty & devotion of so many
millions which I really could hardly have expected’. (Quoted in
Christopher Hibbert, Queen Victoria, A Personal History, 379). With
these words, Queen…
Queen Victoria began her journal in 1832
at the age of thirteen and continued to keep it until old age, with
the last entry made just nine days before she died, constituting,
therefore, a remarkable royal record. She took her journal with her
wherever she went on her travels, which was entrusted to the care
of her Wardrobe Maids. The one hundred and forty-one bound volumes
of Queen Victoria’s…
Queen Victoria famously wrote of her
wedding day – 10 February 1840: ‘“Oh! This was the happiest day of
my life!” The day – 10 February – became one which the Queen – so
peculiarly concerned with dates and anniversaries – would ever
refer to as having…
A bedroom gives a uniquely personal
insight into any historical personality and a royal personage no
less so. Many key moments in Queen Victoria’s life also took place
in her bedrooms, which help in no small way, to tell the story of
that life. The furnishing of this most…
Queen Victoria’s love of dogs provided
the inspiration for royal sculpture and painting, as well, of
course, the Queen’s journal entries. References to her dogs abound
throughout. Interestingly, her life may in one way, be charted
through her dogs, because they were with her from her youth until
literally the very end. It was a dog that was with her as a young
princess at Kensington and a dog…
