Nerdy nuggets of royal history.
William the Conqueror, also known as William the Brutal or William of Normandy was crowned King of England on Christmas Day in 1066. How William, an illegitimate Prince from France became king of England by the age of 38 was rather remarkable. But also showed his brutality and determination to succeed. After winning the final... Continue Reading →
Full name: Edward Augustus Born: 2 November 1767, Buckingham House, London Son of George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Married: Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, m. 1818 Died: 23 January 1820, Sidmouth, Enlgand Burial: 12 February 1820, St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle Edward is not generally remembered in royal history. As the fifth child, and fourth... Continue Reading →
'Remember, Remember the 5th of November' On 5th November 1605, a plot was discovered involving a group of religious zealots to blow up the Houses of Parliament and in doing so, assassinate the King. The group was led by Robert Catesby who was a devout Roman Catholic. During the reign of Elizabeth I, life for... Continue Reading →
The Queen's funeral took place 11 days after her passing on the 19th September 2022. She had been spending her summer in her Scottish highlands home of Balmoral Castle when she died which meant her coffin needed to be brought back to London. Once in the Capital she spent four days lying-in-state in Westminster Hall,... Continue Reading →
Full name: Marie Viktoria Feodore Leopoldine Born: 24 May 1874, New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire Daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine Died: 16 November 1878, New Palace, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse, German Empire Buried: Neues Mausoleum Rosenhöhe Park,... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Arthur Tudor Born: 19/20 September 1486, Winchester Cathedral Priory Son of Henry VII and Elizabeth of York Married: Katherine of Aragon, 14th November 1501, St Paul's Cathedral Died: 2nd April 1502, Ludlow Castle Burial: Worcester Cathedral, 25th April 1502 After the tumultuous Wars of the Roses had culminated with Henry Tudor victorious on... Continue Reading →
Full Name: James Charles Stuart Born: 19th June 1566, Edinburgh Castle Son of Mary Queen of Scots and Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley Married: Anne of Denmark, 1589 Reigned: 24th July 1567 (Scotland) 24th March 1603 (England & Ireland) Died: 27th March 1625, Theobalds House, England Buried: 7th May 1625, Westminster Abbey Young King... Continue Reading →
One of the most intriguing mysteries in royal history is what happened to the Princes in the Tower. The two boys were Edward and Richard, the only sons of King Edward IV and his wife Elizabeth Woodville. Edward, the elder of the two was the direct heir to throne, however his ease to gaining the... Continue Reading →
Full name: Wilhelmina Charlotte Caroline Born: 1st March 1683 Daughter of John Frederick, Margrave of Brandenburg-Ansbach and Princess Eleonore Erdmuthe of Saxe-Eisenach. Married: George II Tenue: 11 June 1727 – 20 November 1737 Died: 20th November 1727, St James Palace Burial: 17th December 1727, Westminster Abbey Caroline of Ansbach was one of many Consorts that... Continue Reading →
Name: Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots Born: 8th December 1542, Linlithgow Palace, West Lothian, Scotland Daughter of James V of Scotland and Mary of Guise Married: (1) Francis II of France, (2) Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, (3) James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell Reigned: 14th December 1542 - 24th July 1567 Son: James VI... Continue Reading →
Born: 28th February 1155, London Son of Henry II, King of England and Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine Married: Margaret of France Reigned: 14th June 1170 - 11th June 1183 Died: 11th June 1183, Castle of Martel, France Henry the Young King was not a usual king. This was because he was crowned while his father,... Continue Reading →
On the 14th January 1236, Henry III of England married Eleanor of Provence in Canterbury Cathedral. Henry had been King of England since he was nine years old when his father King John died in 1216. He had been needing a wife and marriage negotiations had been going on behind the scenes for years, but... Continue Reading →
The Christmas Tree is a staple part of the Christmas celebrations in Britain. The idea of bringing a fir tree into our homes and decorating it is a strange one, but has become the norm. It has often been associated with Prince Albert, the Prince Consort of Queen Victoria. However, accounts indicate an earlier royal... Continue Reading →
Sometimes referred to as the ‘Medieval Titanic’, the sinking of the White ship on 25th November 1120, was a major event in English history. This was due to the important members onboard this ship, most notably the heir to Henry I of England, William the Ætheling. ‘Ætheling’ is an Anglo-Saxon term that means eligible to... Continue Reading →
Name: George Plantagenet Born: 21 October 1449, Dublin Castle, Ireland Son of Richard Plantagenet and Cecily Neville Brother of Edward IV and Richard III Married: Isabel Neville, 11th July 1469, Calais Died: 18th February 1478, Tower of London Buried: 25th February 1478, Tewkesbury Abbey To start, let us clarify why this is referring to George... Continue Reading →
Born: 25th November 1609, Louvre Palace, Paris Daughter of Henry IV of France and Marie de' Medici Married: Charles I of England, 1625 Queen Consort of England, 1625 - 1649 Died: 10th September 1669, Château de Colombes, France Buried: Basilica of Saint Denis, 13th September 1669 Henrietta Maria was born the daughter of a King,... Continue Reading →
Full name: John Charles Francis Born: 12th July 1905, York Cottage, Sandringham Son of King George V and Mary of Teck Died: 18th January 1919, Wood Farm, Sandringham Buried: St. Mary Magdalene Church, Sandringham History has forgotten the youngest child of George V and Queen Mary, and would have been Uncle to our current Queen.... Continue Reading →
Born: c. 1031, Flanders Daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders and his wife, Adela Married: William of Normandy (Conqueror) c. 1051 Reign as Queen Consort of England: 1066 - 1083 Died: 3rd November 1083, Normandy Burial: Abbey aux Dames, Normandy Queen Consort to William the Conqueror, Matilda's life was anything but ordinary. At only 16-years-old,... Continue Reading →
Full name: George Augustus Born: 10th November 1683, Hanover, Germany Son of George I of Great Britain and Sophia Dorothea of Celle Married Caroline of Ansbach, 1705 Reign: June 1727 - October 1760 Death: 25th October 1760 Burial: 11th November 1760, Westminster Abbey George II was a king of lasts. He was the last British... Continue Reading →
Born: 848/49, Wantage, Berkshire Son of Æthelwulf, King of Wessex and Osburh Married Ealhswith, 868 Died: 26th October 899 Burial: Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Hampshire, c.1100 To have gained a name like 'Alfred the Great', you have to have made a big impact during your life time, and Alfred certainly did. He was a natural leader... Continue Reading →
On the 29th of April 2011, Prince William married Catherine Elizabeth Middleton at Westminster Abbey. The pair had met almost a decade earlier when they enrolled at St Andrews University in Scotland. The small and secluded University provided William with a chance to escape the scrutiny of London and live a normal independent student life.... Continue Reading →
Full name: Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine Born: 7th December 1807, Amorbach, Bavaria Daughter of Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Married: Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, 1828 Died: 23rd September 1872, Baden-Baden Many accounts of Queen Victoria imply she was an only child owing to her lonely childhood at Kensington... Continue Reading →
Born: 11th May 1366, Prague, Kingdom of Bohemia Daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor and Elizabeth of Pomerania Married: Richard II of England, 20th January 1382, Westminster Abbey Died: 7th June, 1394 Sheen Palace Burial: 3rd August, 1394, Westminster Abbey The death of Edward the Black Prince in 1376 greatly knocked the English monarchy.... Continue Reading →
Born: 19th November 1600, Dunfermline Palace, Fife, Scotland Son of James VI of Scotland ( I of England 1603) and Anne of Denmark Married Henrietta Maria of France, 1625, Notre Dame, Paris Reigned: 27th March 1625 - 30 January 1649 Death: 30th January 1649, Whitehall, London. Burial: 9th Feb 1649, St George's Chapel Windsor The... Continue Reading →
Full name: Charlotte Augusta Born: 7th January 1796, Carlton House London Daughter of George IV and Caroline of Brunswick Married: Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld Died: 6th November 1817, Claremont House, Surrey Buried: 19th November 1817, St George's Chapel, Windsor Princess Charlotte has been forgotten in British royal history owing to her untimely death at only... Continue Reading →
St Andrew's Day has been celebrated in Scotland for centuries and more recently it has been marked as an official holiday on 30th November. According to the New Testament, Saint Andrew was a fisherman from Galilee and the brother of Saint Peter. They became the first of Jesus' disciples. Like Jesus, Andrew was martyr for... Continue Reading →
Elizabeth I in her coronation robes, patterned with Tudor Roses, c. 1600. Born: 7th September 1533, Palace of Placentia, Greenwich Daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn Reigned: 17th November 1558 - 24th March 1603 Died: 24th March 1603, Richmond Palace Surrey Buried: Westminster Abbey, 28th April 1603 Elizabeth I can be argued as the... Continue Reading →
Richard I Born: 8th September 1157, Beaumont Palace, Oxford, England Son of Henry II of England and Eleanor of Aquitaine Married: Berengaria of Navarre, 1191, Chapel of St. George at Limassol, Cyprus Reign: 1189-1199 Died: 6th April 1199, Châlus, Duchy of Aquitaine King Richard I, better known as Richard the Lionheart owing to his military prowess and success in... Continue Reading →
Full name: George of Denmark and Norway, Duke of Cumberland Born: 2nd April 1653, Copenhagen Castle Son of Frederick III of Denmark and Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg Married Queen Anne of Great Britain, 1683 Died: 28th October 1708, Kensington Palace Buried: 13th November 1708, Westminster Abbey George is not well known in British history, despite... Continue Reading →
Full name: William Henry Born: 21st August 1765, Buckingham House (Now Buckingham Palace) Son of George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Married: Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, 1818 Died: 20th June 1837, Windsor Castle Burial: St George's Chapel, Windsor, 8th July 1837 William was the third son of George III and therefore not expected to... Continue Reading →
Full name: Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David (Prince of Wales 1911- 1936, King of England 1936, Duke of Windsor 1936 - 1972) Born: 23rd June 1894, White Lodge, Richmond Park Son of George V and Mary of Teck Married: Wallis Simpson (born Bessie Wallis Warfield) 1937 - his death Died: 28th May... Continue Reading →
Born: 25th November 1638, Palace of Vila Viçosa, Portugal Daughter of King John IV of Portugal and Luisa de Guzmán Married: King Charles II, 21st May 1662, Portsmouth Died: 31st December 1705 Bemposta Palace, Lisbon Buried: Pantheon of the House of Braganza For all the Queen Consorts called Catherine, Catherine of Braganza is possibly the... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Grace Patricia Kelly Born: 12th November 1929, Philadelphia Pennsylvania Daughter of John B. Kelly Sr and Margaret Katherine Majer Married: Rainier III, Prince of Monaco Died: 14th September 1982, Monaco Buried: Cathedral of Our Lady the Immaculate, Monaco Grace Kelly was an icon of the Golden era of Hollywood, staring in classic... Continue Reading →
Something often taken for granted is meal times. We are so used to having three meals a day that it can be hard to think of a time when this was not the case. Breakfast, lunch and dinner had been established in the 18th century to fit in with the working day, however lunch was... Continue Reading →
Born: C. 1537 in either Leicester or London Daughter of Frances Brandon and Henry Grey Married: Lord Guildford Dudley, 1553 Durham House Died: 12th February 1554, Tower of London Buried: St Peter's Chapel, Tower Green. Lady Jane Grey has gone down in history as the shortest reigning monarch. No, not in height but in 'days... Continue Reading →
Born: 11th February 1466, Westminster Palace Daughter of Edward IV of England and Elizabeth Woodville Married: Henry VII Died: 11th February 1503, Tower of London Buried: 24th February 1503, Westminster Abbey If much is known about Elizabeth of York it most probably that she was the mother of Henry VIII and therefore the... Continue Reading →
Thomas Becket was the Archbishop of Canterbury when he was murdered inside Canterbury Cathedral in 1170. He was born in London in 1120 to wealthy parents as his father was a successful merchant. This meant he received a good education at Merton Priory, before he went to Paris to further study. Through his... Continue Reading →
Full name: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, (born, Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark) Born: 10th June 1921, Mon Repos, Corfu, Kingdom of Greece Son of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenburg Married: Queen Elizabeth II, 1947 in Westminster Abbey Died: 9th April 2021, Windsor Castle Being a consort to... Continue Reading →
Born: 12th October 1537, Hampton Court Palace Son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour Reigned: 1547- 1553 Died: 6th July 1553, Greenwich Palace Buried: 8th August 1553, Westminster Abbey The only legitimate son of Henry VIII, Edward automatically became his rightful heir from birth. His life began tragically with his mother, Jane Seymour's death... Continue Reading →
Born: 16th September 1386, Monmouth Castle Son of Henry IV and Mary de Bohun Reigned: 1413 - 1422 Married: Catherine of Valois, 1420 Died: 31st August 1422, Vincennes, France Burial: Westminster Abbey, 7th November 1422 The King made famous by Shakespeare, Henry V is world renowned as a Warrior King, who defeated the French... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Louis Francis Albert Victor Nicholas, birth name, Prince Louis of Battenburg Born: 25th June 1900, Frogmore House, Windsor Son of Prince Louis of Battenburg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and By Rhine Married: Edwina Ashley, 18th July 1922 Died: 27th August 1979, Mullaghmore, County Sligo, Ireland Burried: Romsey Abbey, Hampshire Lord Mountbatten,... Continue Reading →
Born: 18th February 1516, Palace of Placentia, Greenwich Daughter of Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon Married: Philip of Spain, 1554 Reigned: July 1553 - November 1558 Died:17th November 1558, St James's Palace Buried: 14th December 1558, Westminster Abbey Mary I, Mary Tudor or 'Bloody Mary'; this Queen is world renowned. Much of... Continue Reading →
Full title: Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikoleavna of Russia Born: 18th June 1901, Peterhof Palace Saint Petersburg Daughter of Tsar Nicolas II and Alexandra of Hesse Died: 17th July 1918, Yekaterinburg Burial: 17th July 1998, Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg The youngest daughter to the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Anastasia was born at a pivotal... Continue Reading →
Full Name: George Louis Born: 28th May 1660, Hanover Son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick- Luneburg and Sophia of Palatinate Married: Sophia Dorothea of Celle Reigned: 1714 - 1727 Died: 11th June 1727, Schloss Osnabruck Buried: Leineschloss, Hanover. George's connection to the English throne was through his mother, Sophia as she was once of... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary Born: 21st April 1926, Mayfair London Daughter of Prince Albert, Duke of York and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon Married: Philip Mountbatten, Duke of Edinburgh Reigned: 1952 - present Princess Elizabeth was born in London in 1926. Upon her birth she was 3rd in line to the throne, however never expected to... Continue Reading →
Born: 31st May 1443 Died: 29th June 1509 Margaret was the daughter and heir of John Beaufort 1st Duke of Somerset and great-granddaughter of John of Gaunt a son of Edward III. As a child of nobility she was like many girls of her time, used politically and for advantageous marriages. During her life, Margaret would... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Louis Arthur Charles Born: 23rd April 2018 Son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Residence: Kensington Palace, London and Anmer Hall, Norfolk There is not a lot to say about this little Prince as he is only 9 months old! But he has made a few... Continue Reading →
Full Name: Charlotte Elizabeth Diana Born: 2nd May 2015 Daughter of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Residence: Kensington Palace, London and Anmer Hall, Norfolk Princess Charlotte was born on the morning of 2nd May 2015 at St Mary’s hospital in Paddington. She weighed 8lbs 3oz, slightly lighter than her elder... Continue Reading →
Full Name: George Alexander Louis Born: 22nd July 2013 Son of Prince William, Duke of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Residence: Kensington Palace, London & Anmer Hall, Norfolk. George is the first child and son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and therefore the future King of Great Britain and Northern Ireland... Continue Reading →
Grand Duchess Elizabeth of Russia was how she became more commonly known, however she was born as Princess Elizabeth of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother was Princess Alice, the third child of Queen Victoria and her father was Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Both her parents died young, her mother in particular was... Continue Reading →
Kings, Queens and All That... 