Royal History | Suite101

Royal History | Suite101

The Queen's 3D Christmas Message: Behind the Scenes

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A New King or Queen!

Great news this week! Beautiful Kate, the Duchess of Cambridge, is pregnant, and her child will be a future monarch! It's also happy news that the Duchess is out of hospital, and recovering from her severe morning sickness.

Anne's Marriages

I was going to write about the marriage or marriages of the enigmatic Anne Boleyn, my favourite wife.  However, I found this excellent post about Henry and Anne.  This is a comprehensive look at the subject.  Enjoy it.

Catherine Gets Her Man!

The beautiful 24 year old bride must have been the happiest woman at the world as she stood at the altar of the small room in Greenwich Palace.  After several years of struggles over her marriage dowry, illness and even threats to be sent back to Spain, Catherine of Aragon was finally marrying her prince.  And what a prince!

The soon-to-be-crowned Henry  was over six feet tall, handsome, auburn-haired, cultured, pious and well-educated.  Any woman would be pleased to marry him.

It was a quiet wedding, however, unlike the splendid wedding Catherine had to Henry's brother, Arthur.  Henry was still in mourning for his father, Henry VII.  Also, there may have been lingering doubts about the propriety of the marriage - a dispensation had to be granted by the Pope because Henry was marrying his brother's widow.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, William Warham, performed the ceremony which was witnessed by Lord Steward Shrewsbury and William Thomas.  Now Catherine could look forward to her coronation as Queen of England which would be a much more lavish affair.

Tattoos Covered Siberian Princess

Interesting article: Siberian Princess

The Weddings of the Six Wives: Part One

                              Catherine of Aragon's Splendid Wedding

Catherine of Aragon's splendid wedding to Prince Arthur on Sunday, November 14, 1501 was one of the most expensive royal weddings of all time.  No money was spared for the union of this young couple!

The huge church of old Saint Paul's, London looked resplendent with its colourful tapestries, glittering relics, and its other festive decorations.  A raised platform, covered in rich red baize, was built so that everyone could see the young couple but the King and Queen were able to watch the actual wedding ceremony privately through a separate door.

 Every eye turned to see the Princess when they heard the fanfare of trumpets which greeted her at the Galilee porch.  The pretty Princess was arrayed in a white satin gown with a train and a glittering Spanish-style veil of white and gold.  The veil contained pearls and other precious gemstones.  Like the Duchess of Cambridge, she had a long procession

The Princess and Prince exchanged vows of fidelity and promised to care for each other 'in sickness and in health' and 'for richer or poorer' during their glittering wedding ceremony. The wedding was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Henry Deane. They then celebrated High Mass.

Afterwards, the marriage was celebrated with great rejoicing.  There were feasts, tournaments, masked balls, and plays.

Unfortunately, the couple had no children and Prince Arthur died five months later.  The Princess eventually married his younger brother, King Henry VIII.  They had one child, Princess Mary.  Many years later, he King fell in love with the charming and alluring Anne Boleyn King Henry worried that he had not been given an heir because he had married his brother's widow - according to a verse in Leviticus, this was a sin.  He obtained a 'divorce' so that he could marry his mistress, Anne Boleyn.  This started England on the path to the Reformation.

Catherine of Aragon as Mary Magdelene

New post soon!

I am sorry that I have been neglecting this blog for a while.  I hope to write  a new post soon.

Cost of the Diamond Jubilee

Andrea sent me a link to a website which compares the cost of the Diamond Jubilee with the cost of the coronation and the royal wedding: The Changing Costs of the Jubilee

Thank you so much, Andrea!

More Diamond Jubilee Celebrations

Best Wishes for Prince Phillip

The Duke of Edinburgh has been taken to hospital because of a bladder infection.  He will remain in hospital under observation for a few days.

We will think of him and wish him well.

Diamond Jubillee Celebrations

I will probably post a series of video clips of these wonderful celebrations but if I have time I will try to write a few posts about our fantastic Queen.

Katherine Jenkins Singing The National Anthem

The Coronation of Queen Victoria

It was the proudest day of her life.  Queen Victoria would never forgot the cheering crowds, the magnificent Abbey, and the spiritual significance of her Coronation. 

Queen Victoria had been Queen of her great nation for only a year but she was still only a teenager when she was crowned on 28 June, 1938.  The excited young woman found it difficult to sleep the night before and woke up at 4:00 a.m. when she heard the guns.  She went back to bed but she got up again very early and looked out at the park, which was filled with people, soldiers and bands. She probably felt nervous but she woke up feeling ‘young, strong and healthy’.  

The crowds were thrilled to see the procession of colourful carriages and splendidly dressed foreign signatories.  Huge shouts went up as the twelve carriages of Her Majesty and her attendants, each drawn by six beautiful bays, drove past.  400,000 visitors came to London to see the great day.  Multitudes of people thronged every available space – streets, windows and balconies. They were all pleased to have a new young Queen after the rather eccentric Kings who preceded her.

The Queen entered the Abbey dressed in an exquisite white satin gown and bare-headed.  Her eight train-bearers wore dresses of white satin and silver tissue with wreaths of silver corn ears and pink rosebuds on their hair.  When she entered she paused for a moment and clapped her hands but she was seen to momentarily falter before she walked along the nave.  Imagine what she must have felt as she looked at the splendour of the beautifully-decorated Abbey and the richly-dressed Peers and Peeresses who had come to watch her!

The young Queen apparently handled the day with wonderful grace and dignity.  She seemed to watchers as if she floated down the aisle on a ‘cloud of white and silver’.  Unfortunately, there had been no rehearsal and the poor Queen even had to ask John Thynne, the Sub-Dean, ‘what she had to do’ at one stage.  Her coronation ring had to be forced onto her fourth finger by the Archbishop of Canterbury and she had to dip it in ice to remove it.

God really did show his blessing of the ceremony, however. As the young Queen knelt to receive the heavy Crown a ray of sunlight fell on her.  The crowning was described by Lord Melbourne as a ‘most beautiful and impressive moment’.

Many also remembered the Queen’s kindness to the aged Lord Rolle afterwards.  The 82 year old fell as he paid homage, but he was not hurt.  Queen Victoria walked to the end of the steps to prevent another fall.

Lord Melbourne told the Queen that she had ‘done it beautifully’ when they discussed it later.  In spite of the lack of rehearsal and minor problems, the young woman handled the momentous day well.  Perhaps she was pleased that it was over but it must have been an anti-climax as well.  What did she think as she stayed up till midnight watching the fireworks in Green Park?

Happy First Anniversary!

We wish the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge a joyous wedding anniversary!

The Wedding of the Fifteenth Century!

The extravagant wedding of Charles the Bold and Margaret of York, the sister of England's Edward IV, is still commemorated by big celebrations.  These include feasts, medieval music, and colourful parades.  The Festival of the Golden Tree is one re-enactment of the festivities which takes place every five years.

The wedding took place in Belgium in 1468.  Although the wedding service was fairly private, the celebrations before the service were huge.  The bride was carried into the city on a golden litter pulled by golden horses.  She wore a beautiful jewelled coronet with diamonds and pearls.  She was greeted by thousands.

The streets of Bruges were hung with tapestries, flowers filled the bridges, and free wine overflowed.  Plays, pageants, fireworks and music entertained the bride. Knights jousted at several tournaments. Large feasts were held.  On one occasion a unicorn entered the hall to the sound of blasting trumpets.  The unicorn is a traditional symbol of chastity.

The Festival of the Golden Tree takes place every five years.  It derives its name from a tree with a gilded trunk which was part of the wedding decorations.

New Posts Soon

I have been OS for a little over a month. I hope to write new posts soon!

Courageous Lady Nithsdale

You can read about this brave woman and Lord Nithsdale's escape here: .

I also published a short story about her on Twitter at @Artinti.