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 woman who helped change the
royal history of England forever and almost brought one of its most
famous dynasties to disaster before they had even secured the
throne. But was she also Queen of England? Eleanor never claimed a
crown for herself but as…
King Charles and Queen Camilla will be
carrying out one of the most important religious ceremonies on the
calendar as they head to Durham Cathedral to attend the Royal
Maundy service. Maundy Thursday marks the day before Jesus’s
crucifixion when he ate food with his…
Edmund Tudor, the royal patriarch whose tomb stands in St. David's Cathedral
10th September 2023
As the Prince and Princess of Wales
attended a small service at St. David’s Cathedral in Wales to mark
the anniversary of the death of Queen Elizabeth II, they walked
past the tomb of another important figure in royal history. The
Princess laid a small bouquet of flowers…
A portrait of Katherine Parr has just set
the record for the most expensive Tudor portrait ever sold at
auction. It comes at a time of revived interest in the life of
Henry VIII’s last queen. And her story is a fascinating one.
Written off as a nursemaid to Henry, Katherine was, in fact, one of
the most influential people of the king’s reign, as Lydia Starbuck
explains. On a hot…
A rare portrait of Katherine Parr has set
a record for the most expensive Tudor portrait to be sold at
auction. The painting, attributed to Master John, went under the
hammer at Sotheby’s and fetched over four times the highest
pre-sale estimate as bidding heated…
It was a royal union that changed England
forever. The marriage of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn followed years
of legal wrangling by the king which led to a religious revolution
and an international controversy. When they said ‘I do’, they did
so in secret but five…
Amongst the prettiness of rolling
countryside and the gentle sound of sheep grazing sits a castle
with its own little chapel. The walls are golden yellow while
around it grow sweet scented flowers and glossy, regal trees. But
behind this calm serenity lies the tomb of a queen whose life was
filled with drama and whose end was soon forgotten in the tumult of
Tudor politics. The drama continued…
Marking the 479th anniversary of Catherine Howard's execution
13th February 2021
On 13 February in 1542, Catherine Howard
met her tragic end. The youngest of Henry VIII’s consorts, Howard
and her short tenure, is often forgotten for Catherine of Aragon
and Anne Boleyn. However, her execution was nothing like that of
her cousin Boleyn. The daughter…
On a hot summer day in 1543, a young
widow married an ageing and much wed king in a ceremony that took
many by surprise. By the time Katherine Parr said ‘I do’ to Henry
VIII in the Queen’s Closet at Hampton Court Palace on July 12th
1543, his five previous unions and…
‘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’…
