In June 1941 five of Queen Elizabeth II’s cousins, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes-Lyon, and Idonea, Etheldreda, and Rosemary Fane were committed to The Royal Earlswood Institution for Mental Defectives. It had been renamed some years earlier from The Asylum for Idiots but both names give you some idea as to the colour of the place.… Read More The Queen’s Hidden Cousins
The balcony of Buckingham Palace has been the focal point of royal appearances for a hundred and seventy years, seventy of which belong solely to Queen Elizabeth After the Trooping of the Colour, she once again took to the balcony as she celebrates her platinum jubilee. She is now the only British monarch to have… Read More Who’s Who on the Balcony
This blog exists, in part, due to David Starkey. Young me was studying at a time when Starkey was considered the absolute authority on Tudor history. He’d written a definitive study of Elizabeth I and had yet to call Catherine Howard a ‘silly little slut’. This week, he appeared on GB News (no comment) for… Read More David Starkey, Aberfan, and Acts of God: A Rebuttal
The second act of Fallout 4, one of Bethesda’s most popular RPGs, is heralded by the arrival of the Brotherhood of Steel. The Brotherhood of Steel are a recurring faction who seek and preserve technology in the aftermath of nuclear war. They’re the technological hoarders of the wasteland that is America, which means while the… Read More Fallout 4, The Prydwen, and Arthurian Legend
“It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a woman excelling in History must be questioned in ways that a man is not and/or relegated to the side-lines of the history she has shaped” – Jane Austen probably. The interesting thing about researching women (and queer people, and people of colour) in history is discovering the… Read More Badass Women in History (who took no s**t)
The funeral of an HRH is usually a public spectacle with thousands lining the route and/or gathering in public spaces to pay their respects or leave flowers. The funeral of Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh on the 17th April 2021 was an altogether quieter affair due to the global pandemic which hasn’t quite gone away.… Read More Who went to Prince Phillip’s funeral?
Throughout history, the death of an heir has had a mixed impact on contemporaries. Inevitably a sad event the loss of the heir apparent is not just a blow to the royal family and the court, but to the nation who had, in them, seen their future monarch. Where the heirs were popular the public… Read More “Too good to live upon earth”: The Death of an Heir
The birth of a royal baby is met with excitement from some, indifference by others and media speculation that will spin even the slightest tidbit of information into a story in itself. For three days while we waited for the announcement for the new Prince Louis’ name we were treated to live updates confirming that… Read More Celebrating a Royal Baby
Originally 327 feet in length, the Orangery at Margam was one of the longest in Britain, and while it may not be that long now, it is still considered one of the finest examples of an 18th Century building in Britain. Today the Orangery is a lovely place for a stroll and a highly sought-after… Read More How the Orange Trees came to the Orangery
The Royal Family have announced that the Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant with her third child. As with her previous pregnancies, the Duke and Duchess were forced to announce the news earlier than they intended (when the Duchess required medical attention for hyperemesis gravidarum). As a result of legislation passed in 2013, regardless of whether the… Read More Third-borns who took the throne
History in the (Re)Making 