Today the Duke of Cambridge and Prince Harry joined their father, the Prince of Wales, in northern France to commemorate the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge. Earlier, the Queen issued a public message honoring the Canadian soldiers who “stood far from home together with their allies in defense of peace and freedom.”
Continue reading “The Battle of Vimy Ridge, Justin Trudeau & the Windsors”
God help us all. To be clear, I’m only writing this up in a separate post because I wrote twice about the Duke of Cambridge’s Verbier trip and fair is fair. Today, Emily Andrews at The Sun reported that that same weekend the Duchess was in Meribel, France skiing with her sister, Pippa, and friends as part of a pre-wedding “hen party.”
The two groups actually shared the same private jet out of the UK and then split up. A “friend” shared with the paper that:
“Pippa loves skiing so it was her first choice for a hen weekend. They stayed in a really exclusive catered chalet with maids and chef, who ensured that they were totally spoilt. The owners also wanted to impress their royal guests so the girls were showered with gifts. They were given Swatch watches, Ugg slippers, leather-bound notebooks and bespoke fragrances. It was a very small, private party and they had an amazing time.
“Apparently the girls on Pippa’s hen were giggling as Kate told them that William had had to be escorted down from the mountain for being too drunk after that lunch on the Sunday. All the girls thought it was hilarious. He wasn’t allowed to ski as he’d had too much to drink. The staff didn’t want him to get hurt. At first Kate thought it was very funny. But she wasn’t too impressed when she saw the photos of him dancing with that Australian girl.”
This past Wednesday (March 23rd) marked the anniversary of Marguerite of Anjou’s birthday. Wife of Henry VI and pivotal figure in the so-called Wars of the Roses, Marguerite enjoyed a fair amount of notoriety in life, and has seen her reputation molded to reflect the ethos of the time. Today, when there is greater room, and perhaps almost a demand for stronger women, one version of Marguerite has been allowed to emerge: the politico, the matriarch, the leader asserting herself in the masculine world of a Medieval court.
We know more about Marguerite than we do about many of her peers, including her predecessor and successor, Katherine of Valois and Elizabeth Woodville, respectively. Her activity was well-documented and she was active enough that there was enough to record. You can glean a great deal from those actions – what she chose to do speaks to her thought process, but it doesn’t tell the complete story. And, indeed, what’s missing from the story of Marguerite is that we have no idea how much she wanted to take on the role that she did. We know only that when push came to shove, she chose to protect her son’s birthright, and before that she chose to stand up for her husband in the best way she knew how.
Continue reading “The Lost Childhood of Marguerite of Anjou”
Has a greater tragedy than having a busy workday fall on the same day the Duchess of Cambridge arrives in Paris ever befallen anyone? Probably not. I’m catching up now, so bear with me.
Kate and William apparently left straight from their engagement with the Irish Guards earlier today for the airport to fly to Paris, Kate’s hairdresser, Amanda Walker, changing Kate’s hair from the earlier updo to her signature curls on the plane. Upon landing the couple were chauffeured to the Élysée Palace, home of the French president, where they were officially welcomed by President François Hollande.
Kate was still wearing her Catherine Walker from the Irish Guards ceremony, which I think caused some disappointment (myself included). There was something about the idea of Kate landing in Paris, for the first time as duchess, wearing something that really wow’ed. However, at the same time, there was something kind of nostalgic about her continuing to wear her green Catherine Walker coat dress.
Continue reading “William, Kate, Catherine Walker & the Élysée Palace”
Earlier this month we examined the case of Katherine Howard, Henry VIII’s unfortunate fifth wife, who was accused of adultery and executed in 1542. I highlighted recent scholarship which casts doubt as to whether she was guilty of infidelity during her marriage, however today we will be taking look at a union in which there is little doubt of mutual adultery. The events that transpired during the reign of Edward II in the 14th century, and the role that his wife, Isabelle of France, played in them are so fantastical as to be hard to believe. Put another way, when it comes to rebelling against the edicts of her husband, Isabelle puts her 16th century peers to shame.
Continue reading “The She-Wolf of France & Her Victim: Isabelle of France & Edward II”
I almost started this post with “Poor Henry VI,” but that’s debatable, isn’t it? Even today, historians question whether Henry was hapless, pious, unlucky or all three. In any event, he wasn’t a very good king, which is remarkable only because he never knew another existence. He would ascend the English throne on August 31, 1422 when his father, one of England’s most famous and beloved kings, Henry V, died in France at the age of 36. Henry was eight months old, having been born the previous winter at Windsor Castle to his mother, Katherine of Valois.
But fate wasn’t done with the infant king yet: Two months later, on October 22, 1422, his maternal grandfather, King Charles VI of France, died as well. Under the Treaty of Troyes, which had been signed by England, France and Burgundy in June 1420 – and contracted his parents into marriage – Henry also inherited the French throne, now ruling over a dual empire constructed by a father not around to execute it.
Continue reading “Set up for Failure: Henry VI, the Reverse Conquest & the Wars of the Roses”
