The Buckingham Palace garden party is one of the most prestigious invitations of the season. Established by Queen Victoria in the 1860s as twice-yearly ‘breakfasts’ presenting debutantes into society, the afternoon events took full advantage of the nation’s new-found obsession with tea-drinking. Today, the sovereign hosts two summer garden parties at Buckingham …
Read More »Hotels fit for royalty! From The Carlyle in New York where Princess Diana stayed after her divorce from Charles to London’s Goring where Kate slept before her wedding in 2011 – as Prince Harry is ‘set to stay in a hotel this week’ for UK visit
As expected, members of the Royal Family are accustomed to staying in the finest hotels during their travels. For instance, New York’s The Mark, which boasts the largest hotel penthouse suite in the USA, was chosen as the swanky venue for Meghan Markle’s 2019 baby shower. Then there’s The Carlyle …
Read More »King Charles’ attendance at this year’s royal garden parties ‘will be confirmed on the day’ as he continues his cancer treatment, Palace announces
The attendance of King Charles III and other Royal Family members at garden parties this summer will be ‘confirmed on the day’, Buckingham Palace said today. Two of the traditional gatherings will take place in the Buckingham Palace Garden in London later this month – next Wednesday, May 8 and …
Read More »This arts-loving royal, who turns 60 today, was born in a palace but lives in a terraced house! (A posh one, naturally). She was a big favourite of Queen Elizabeth and King Charles
When she was born at Kensington Palace on May 1, 1964, Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones was seventh in the line of succession. Weighing 6lb and 2oz, she was the first direct descendant of a sovereign in 145 years – since Queen Victoria’s birth in 1819 – to have been born at …
Read More »From William and Kate’s wedding menu to ten-course royal feasts: TOM PARKER BOWLES uses ten historical palace menus to explain how royal tastes have changed
As train lunches go, it takes some beating. Starting with a mound of caviar, the menu moves through trout, lamb, chicken and partridge, asparagus and cheese soufflé, before finishing with a few serious puddings. It certainly beats a Greggs sausage roll. But this was no ordinary lunch, rather a feast …
Read More »King Charles is opening his residences to the public to make the Royal Family ‘more transparent and cost effective’ – and is acknowledging ‘the need for the monarchy to evolve’, claims royal expert
King Charles III’s decision to open his royal residences to the public indicates he has realised ‘the need for the monarchy to evolve’, a royal expert has claimed. Earlier this week, in an unprecedented move, His Majesty, 75, announced that Balmoral Castle – the late Queen’s favourite retreat in Scotland, will …
Read More »Philip’s battle against his viciously snobby Royal in-laws: They sneered at him for being ‘rough and uneducated’ as well as ‘rather Germanic’, reveals ALEXANDER LARMAN’s new book. But, despite being humiliated in a kilt, his love for Elizabeth won the day
As newlyweds, Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip had what their courtiers regarded as a thoroughly modern marriage. In July 1949, two years after their wedding, they moved into Clarence House, which had been refurbished with the extravagant gadgetry and luxuries that the Duke of Edinburgh desired. These included everything from …
Read More »Prince William should not be given the ‘burden’ of taking over from Prince Charles and needs to ‘enjoy and learn from’ his current role, royal historian claims
Prince William was warned not to ‘try and take over’ from his father King Charles too soon by a royal historian. Marlene Koenig claimed Princess Diana’s son needs time to ‘enjoy’ his new role as Prince of Wales and ‘learn’ what it means to be King before taking over as …
Read More »Queen’s disabled cousins Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon who were kept ‘hidden’
They are the royals who were kept at arm’s length, albeit for starkly different reasons. Katherine and Nerissa Bowes-Lyon, severely disabled cousins of the late Queen, were cared for in an asylum and listed as dead from 1963, even though they were very much alive. Prince John, the youngest child …
Read More »Edward VII had ‘special’ chair made for the Paris brothels. And Victoria pretended to be ‘Madame de la Comtesse de Balmoral’ on her private trips to France. It fooled no one! We look back at the Royal Family’s great cross-Channel love-affair
France might well be our oldest and, over time, our most implacable enemy. But the history of Anglo-French state visits is longer and warmer than might be expected, a warmth I’ve no doubt Charles will feel when he arrives in Paris later this month. For all the recent hostilities over …
Read More »