A portrait of the toddler Princess Alix of Hesse by the Austrian painter George Koberwein caught my attention back in 2004. Examining how it came to be painted was a source of great interest to me, not least because the picture that he produced of the baby princess, not quite two years old, is such a charming study.
Portraits from such an early period of Princess Alix’s life are rare; she was…
Banbury Cross is of course, synonymous with local Oxfordshire folklore for many, because of the popular rhyme which has a ‘fine lady’ riding to it on her cockhorse. Indeed, this is the main reason why many people know of the existence of the Cross at all. Far less known…
In addition to the private gifts exchanged at royal weddings were also those public gifts given on behalf of a nation. Either to accompany its native bride on her marriage, or increasingly, to take the form of diplomatic presents, such as the Sevres porcelain dinner service…
In St. Thomas’ Church, Newport on the Isle of Wight, stands an extraordinary monument, touching in its simplicity. It was erected over the tomb of Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Charles I (1635-1650). This beloved royal child was immortalized as such by Van Dyck in his great portrait of the five children of Charles I, in which the future Charles II stands at the centre, his left hand resting…
Following her wedding at St James’s Palace to Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on 10 February 1840, Queen Victoria drove to Windsor for her honeymoon. Windsor had mixed associations for the Queen. It was the place of the famous contretemps between her uncle, King…
Praised by Alexander Pope in his Moral Essays as possessing a ‘proud alcove’ in which one might happily be ‘galant and gay’, the great house of Cliveden, Taplow, where Meghan Markle spent the night before her wedding to Prince Harry, was visited by Queen Victoria in…
Given the inseparable links between music and the British Monarchy, it naturally follows that the music chosen for royal weddings reflected both the importance of the occasion as well as the personal taste of the monarch. Whether it was the splendour of Handel’s marriage anthem ‘Sing unto God’ for the wedding of Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1736 or the Chorale composed by Prince Albert…
The Quire of St. George’s Chapel, Windsor is an area extraordinarily rich in the history of the English Monarchy, yet this sacred and mystical space in the Chapel enshrining the Order of the Garter – the Order’s spiritual home – is as much associated with royal…
From the roof, you can see Windsor Castle, but that’s not nearly the most regal thing about Cliveden in Buckinghamshire where Meghan Markle will spend the night before her marriage to Prince Harry. This palatial house, owned by the National Trust and leased as a hotel…
On 21 September 1662, Samuel Pepys entered the following words into his Restoration diary: “The Queen coming by in her coach, going to her chappell at St. James’s (the first time it hath been ready for her), I crowded after her, and I got up to the room where her closet is; and there stood and saw the fine altar, ornaments, and the fryers in their habits, and the priests come in with their…
