On a summer’s day in 1818, a young German princess walked into one of the most famous hotels in London to meet a man twice her age. Just a year earlier, Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen and her suitor, William, Duke of Clarence, would never have considered chatting let alone taking the step that would inevitably follow this brief exchange. But after a short time together, with chaperones, of…
Romance, tragedy and intrigue - the dramatic stories of the royal Christmas Eve babies
22nd December 2021
The Christmas story begins, of course, with a baby and there’s something about a Christmas birthday that makes it all the more interesting, even if mean relatives do double up on presents. Some of the most intriguing royal stories of all have begun on Christmas Eve…
History has her down as the ultimate survivor but the sad end to the story of Katherine Parr, sixth wife of Henry VIII, is behind the tales of sightings of her ghost at the last castle she called home. For the queen consort who avoided the axeman is said to roam the…
On an autumn day, over 500 years ago, Mary Tudor, sister of Henry VIII, marriedthe French king, Louis XII. The spectacular ceremony in Abbeville in Northern France transformed Mary into the Queen of France. No other English princess held that title after her. In fact, only one other daughter of a King of England had married a King of France when Eadgifu of Wessex married…
On Sunday March 21st 2021, the Census takes place in the UK. Every ten years, all households in the country are required to fill in a form with details of everyone living in that one unit to give a picture of the population and help plan future services. The information is…
Royal Central's Oskar Aanmoen's new book: spotlight on a forgotten king, Karl XV
16th September 2020
Royal Central’s Europe Correspondent, Oskar Aanmoen, has had a busy year. As well as covering the continent’s royal families in a time of unprecedented challenges, he’s also been completing a brand new book. Oskar, who has already published five books, is…
‘Divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived.’ That sad little rhyme, summing up the fates of Henry VIII’s six wives, is familiar to many. But while just about everyone knows that the monarch with a thing for wedding cake said ‘I do’ six times only to turn sour, and then some, on the majority of the women he married, the details of his consorts’…
Richard III was declared King of England on June 26th 1483 – thanks to a royal romance which had all but been forgotten.
She was the long dead widow who was used by a king to overthrow his own nephew and yet her name is all but forgotten today. Eleanor Butler was…
The first month of summer has brought many new beginnings for some famous queens and it’s been a moment of crowning glory for others. June is also the month when five English queens said farewell. Here’s a calendar of queens for June.
Birth of a Queen
Just…
Each year, Buckingham Palace holds three garden parties in May, allowing ordinary citizens the opportunity to rub shoulders with royalty. While this year’s events were cancelled due to the global coronavirus pandemic, Royal Central is sharing the history behind Queen Elizabeth’s ‘favourite’ royal event.
Each May, Buckingham Palace throws open the gates and allows 30,000 specially…
