The dust is starting to somewhat settle. The official mourning period for Queen Elizabeth ended on Monday night, which means that engagements are beginning to be added back to the calendar – some are related to the new normal and some are traditional commitments. I don’t generally cover one-off engagements anymore; however, I do want to chime in on The Prince and Princess of Wales’s visit to Wales yesterday and take a moment to zoom in on this couple and family in light of this month’s rather seismic events.
Continue reading “The Waleses in Wales”Tag: Wales
Royal Roundup: Forfar, Holyrood Week & Wales
It’s a big week for the Royal Family with the Queen in Edinburgh, the Prince of Wales on his annual trek to Wales, and the Earl and Countess of Wessex making their first trip to Forfar, Scotland. In a slight break from the Cambridges and Sussexes, I thought we’d check in with the other members of the family and get out of England for a quick minute.
Continue reading “Royal Roundup: Forfar, Holyrood Week & Wales”
Meanwhile in Wales…
While the Duke and Duchess of Sussex were showing off their new son at Windsor Castle, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge carried out engagements in North Wales focused on community service and environmental protection.
Harry & Meghan Take Cardiff
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s day started with, well, a delay. Thanks to an issue with the train, the couple was about an hour late when they finally arrived in Cardiff, Wales. Even that – or the slight rain that started – couldn’t put a damper on the crowds who assembled to greet them, many of them who started gathering as early as 6 am.
Kate Recycles Paule Ka Skirt Suit for First Action for Children Engagement
I did a double-take when I first saw Kate’s outfit today since I had thought she had recycled this very suit when I saw the initial images of her stepping out in her Oscar de la Renta ensemble two weeks ago. Granted, the color was off in the photo, but the two skirts do seem similar.
Anyway, back to today: Kate undertook two engagements in Wales on behalf of Action for Children, a patronage she inherited from the Queen this past December. At the end of last year the Queen offloaded 25 charities to various members of her family in an effort to lighten her workload. This particular organization made sense given Kate’s focus on children and child development.
Continue reading “Kate Recycles Paule Ka Skirt Suit for First Action for Children Engagement”
Margaret Beaufort & the Birth of Henry Tudor
On January 28, 1457 the future King Henry VII was born at Pembroke Castle in Wales, but the real star of the show was his mother, the Countess of Richmond. In fact, at the time of his birth it couldn’t have seemed less likely that the infant would one day ascend the English throne and it certainly wasn’t seen as an event of national importance. His father was Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond, the younger half-brother of King Henry VI, through the second marriage of their mother, Katherine of Valois.
But unlike Henry VI, who was fathered by the celebrated Henry V, Edmund and his siblings were fathered by a Welshman attached to Queen Katherine’s household, Owen Tudor. For political reasons, the relationship was conducted under the radar and it wouldn’t be until the early 1450s that Edmund and his younger brother, Jasper, were transitioned from a legally grey area to members of the peerage as the Earls of Richmond and Pembroke, respectively.
Because of these circumstances, the infant Henry Tudor born in 1457 had a better claim to the French crown than the English, if you disregard the Salic Law, barring inheritance of the throne through a woman (a pesky byproduct of the Hundred Years’ War).
Continue reading “Margaret Beaufort & the Birth of Henry Tudor”