Prince Philip to Officially Retire From Royal Duties

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There was a bit of a furor last night when news came out that staff had been summoned to Buckingham Palace for an unexpected meeting. Speculation ran the gamut of a death to an abdication notice to the decision that the Queen and Prince Philip would decamp to Windsor or Balmoral Castles full-time. A few international news outlets even went so far as to publish news of Prince Philip’s death, posts which have been subsequently taken down since the truth is that he will be retiring from royal duties this fall.

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Kate Dressed Down for a Farms For City Children Engagement

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Today the Duchess of Cambridge ventured out to Wick Court, a Farms For City Children project in Gloucestershire where she met with children from Vauxhall Primary School and staff. Notably, she shared that in addition to the family dog, Lupo, and George’s hamster, Marvin, the family keep a lamb and chickens on their Norfolk estate, as well as eggs currently stored in an incubator in the hopes they hatch. Apparently, George and Charlotte are so excited about seeing baby chicks they’re checking the incubator every morning – fair, I would do the same.

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The Matriarch: Cecily Neville, Duchess of York

On By RSBIn The House of York4 Comments

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One of my favorite figures from the Wars of the Roses is Cecily Neville, Duchess of York who came very close to becoming England’s queen through her husband and ended up mother to two, Edward IV and Richard III. She was grandmother to the Princes in the Tower, mother-in-law to Elizabeth Woodville and Anne Neville, mother to a Duchess of Burgundy and rival to Marguerite of Anjou. In short, she was something to almost everyone and while we know where she was and what she did more often than most women of her time, we know remarkably little about who she actually was.

If you’re familiar with her, it’s actually a bit astonishing given the wealth of information we have to parse through and the level of fame that her family achieved. We have flashes of activity over the course of several decades, but only two real moments of humanity shine through, both of which relate to her children. We know that she was beautiful, though it’s unclear to what extent that was exaggerated given her rank. We believe that she was religious based on her increasingly public piety and retirement to a convent. We assume she mourned the loss of her husband and children.

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Princess Charlotte Turns 2

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Yesterday, Kensington Palace released a new photo of Princess Charlotte to mark her second birthday. The photo was taken by her mother, the Duchess of Cambridge, at their home in Norfolk, Anmer Hall. This practice is typical of how the Cambridges have been handling milestones in their children’s lives – sharing informal, family-taken photos that they release directly via social media.

Normally a series of photos are released whereas in this case there was only one, however I’m not surprised given that there will be more public images of the children available later this month when they participate in the wedding of their aunt, Pippa Middleton. Much like how when Prince George turned two in 2015 only one photo of him was released given that he was snapped so profusely at Charlotte’s christening. Or how the Cambridges didn’t release a Christmas card this past year, but allowed photographs of them walking to and from church in Berkshire to be published. All in moderation, I suppose.

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When Did Edward IV Marry Elizabeth Woodville?

On By RSBIn The House of York1 Comment

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Well, traditionally the answer is today in 1464. According to some versions of the story Edward IV happened upon Elizabeth Grey (née Woodville) under an oak tree near her family home in Northamptonshire where she played the damsel in distress card and petitioned the king for help in reclaiming her son’s inheritance. Taken by her beauty, Edward tried to make her his mistress and when she refused, he married her, kept it to himself for five months and then dramatically announced it at court when his cousin and first councilor, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, was pressuring him to marry King Louis XI of France’s sister-in-law.

But there are some problems with this narrative. First, the whole oak tree imagery is a bit over the top. Second, the date of May 1 or “May Day” is very romantic, but the very fact that it is romantic should raise some eyebrows. Third, there is clear indication from events in the summer of 1464 that there was no plan to present Elizabeth as queen. And four, it is unlikely that Edward and Elizabeth only met for the first time that year.

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The Almost Saint Matilda of Scotland

On By RSBIn The House of Normandy1 Comment

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Back in January we took a look at Adeliza of Louvain and her marriage to Henry I, which, had it been fruitful, may have been able to hold off the decades of civil war that ensued after Henry’s death when his daughter and nephew fought over the throne. But Adeliza was Henry’s second wife and today we’re going to take a look at his first wife, Matilda of Scotland.

Matilda was born “Edith” in around 1080 in Dunfermline, Scotland to King Malcolm III and Margaret of England. Margaret was the daughter of Edward “the Exile,” the son of the English King Edmund Ironside who was defeated by the Danish Canute the Great in 1016. She is more famously known, however, as Saint Margaret of Scotland since she was canonized in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV, a relatively rare occurrence for royalty. Margaret became renowned for both her piety and her focus on education, of which her children were beneficiaries.

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Congratulations & Condolences: Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse

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And so we pick up with yet another of Queen Victoria’s children: Princess Alice, her third child and second daughter. Alice is less famous than her two elder siblings, Vicky and Bertie (aka Empress Frederick of Germany and Edward VII), but that fact doesn’t necessarily align with her dynastic importance.

Have you ever heard it said the Queen and Prince Philip are cousins? Well, they are, albeit distantly. Queen Elizabeth is descended from Queen Victoria through her son, Edward VII, while Philip is descended from her via Alice. Alice’s eldest daughter, Victoria of Hesse, married Prince Louis of Battenberg and her eldest daughter, Princess Alice of Battenberg, is Philip’s mother. So, there you go.

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William, Kate & Harry at the London Marathon

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Today was the big day: 50,000 runners participated in the London marathon and were cheered on by none other than the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry. The three started the event by offering some last minute words of encouragement and sounding “go” by pressing a large, red buzzer.

They then set up camp at a cheering point in Greenwich where they were visible to runners as they went by and proved something of a distraction. At various points people stopped to give them hugs, wave, shake their hands and pose for selfies, sometimes prompting a “keep going” gesture from William and Harry so that they wouldn’t lose too much time. I mean, yes running times are important, but it’s not hard to see why people were doing double-takes…particularly when the three Royals were trading a large, Heads Together-themed foam finger back and forth. You just don’t see that everyday.

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Before Woodville: John, Duke of Bedford & Jacquetta of Luxembourg

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The pairing of John, Duke of Bedford and Jacquetta of Luxembourg is one which never fails to jar me in hindsight. What are the odds that the Duke’s second wife would go on to become the mother of a queen of England via her own second marriage, particularly given the outrageousness of each match? Well, they’re nil. Much like how it can still be difficult to fathom that the marriage of Katherine of Valois’s that became most dynastically significant was hers to Owen Tudor and not Henry V.

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William, Kate & Harry Chat at Kensington Palace (Updated)

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Earlier today, Kensington Palace tweeted out a nearly seven-minute long video of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry talking about Heads Together, mental health and their own experiences with both. Kate briefly spoke about the “steep learning curve” that went along with caring for Prince George with William, while William and Harry talked about how the experience of losing their mother at a young age has made them particularly cognizant of certain issues as they now engage on mental health issues.

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