In the Queen’s bedroom at Osborne House,
may be found a quite extraordinary chintz pattern. Used for the bed
hangings of the Queen’s bed, as well as the sofa and curtains, the
material has been adopted in a modern context for the room, having
originally been for the Royal Yacht Victoria and Albert. The Queen
and the Royal Family would often cross the Solent to Osborne in
either the yacht…
Of Queen Victoria’s nine children, one
alone was born at Windsor Castle. This royal child was also
christened there. This was the second son of the Queen and Prince
Albert, baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle on 6
September 1844. This child would be Prince…
On the eve of her wedding to Prince
Albert, Queen Victoria received a sapphire diamond-bordered brooch.
It was an item of personal jewellery to which she would attach
intense sentimental importance. It became in a way, a symbol of her
marriage to Prince Albert and she valued…
In the summer of 1894, the Tsarevich
Nicholas came to England as a guest of Queen Victoria, first
staying for a brief few days with his fiancée, Princess Alix of
Hesse, at Walton-on-Thames before continuing to Windsor Castle.
This was a blissful period for a young couple who were deeply in
love, having become engaged at Coburg on 8 April 1894. During his
stay at Windsor, the Tsarevich paid a…
Northampton Museums own a pair of flat
shoes, believed to be those worn by Queen Victoria on her wedding
day, 10 February 1840. Of white satin, they certainly would have
complimented the Queen’s own simple wedding dress of finely woven
Spitalfields silk satin in her own…
On the upper floor of the Swiss Cottage
at Osborne, a rustic structure carved with Biblical texts in German
and built behind the individual garden plots belonging to each of
the royal children, today’s visitor finds this large room set as if
for tea, with napkins turned to…
Descending the hill at Windsor Castle
down towards St George’s Chapel, today’s visitor passes the Deanery
at St George’s. The upper level of this building, however, has a
hidden secret within its sacred architecture. Over the leads of the
Deanery was a constructed covered walkway, used by Queen Victoria
to enable her to have private access to the Queen’s Closet or Royal
Closet, sometimes…
One room at Windsor Castle is perhaps
more associated with Queen Victoria’s marriage to Prince Albert
than any other. This is what was called the Blue Closet, part of
the private apartments. By a curious coincidence, Prince Albert
would later die in another room of the…
On 25 October 1897, Queen Victoria
drafted her last will, the manuscript of which is preserved at
Windsor. Typically for the Queen, such a document existed outside
of her journal and in her entry for that day – written up at
Balmoral – there is no mention of her making…
The wedding ring of Queen Victoria has
its special poignancy, a symbol of the passionate marriage she
enjoyed with Prince Albert. Placed on her finger on the morning of
10 February 1840, her private instructions ensured that she would
wear it in perpetuity. What do we know of it? If we study the
paintings and engravings made that show the hands of Queen Victoria
and Prince Albert joined, we might…
