British Royals
King Charles III
King Charles III, the 62nd British monarch to serve over the past 1,200 years, ascended to the throne on September 8, 2022, following the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II. At age 73, British history’s longest-serving heir-apparent was officially proclaimed king two days ...read more
15 Key Moments in the Reign of Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II, who ruled the United Kingdom for seven decades, was such a longstanding institution that it’s easy to forget she wasn’t supposed to have become queen at all. Born in 1926, Elizabeth was the daughter of King George V’s second son, and had little expectation of ...read more
Prince Philip: From Controversial Consort to Royal Stalwart
Philip Mountbatten married then-Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and the pair's marriage became the longest royal union in history. Just as his wife is the longest-serving British monarch, Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the longest-serving royal consort in British history. ...read more
Prince Philip, Outsider Who Became England’s Longest-Serving Royal Consort, Dies at 99
Prince Philip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II, died April 9, 2021 at the age of 99. He married the future queen in 1947 and served steadfastly by her side for more than 70 years, as she became the longest-serving monarch in British history. As Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of ...read more
The IRA Assassination of Lord Mountbatten: Facts and Fallout
The gruesome 1979 IRA assassination of a beloved British royal—which took place the same day as a deadly coordinated attack on British troops—led to outrage, heartbreak and a heightening of “The Troubles,” the decades-long Northern Ireland conflict. The Provisional Irish ...read more
How Prince Charles and Lady Diana's Wedding Became a Global Phenomenon
The royal wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer at St. Paul’s Cathedral on July 29, 1981 was watched by 750 million people around the world. Nicknamed “the wedding of the century” for its extravagance, it broke new records and set global fashion trends—while also ...read more
The 1969 Documentary That Tried to Humanize Queen Elizabeth II and the Royal Family
A well-groomed, staid British family sit around the breakfast table. Two young adult children and their middle-aged parents are dressed formally, without a hair out of place. In a high-pitched voice, the mother tells a funny story about her great-great grandmother, while everyone ...read more
The Ruthless 16th-Century Spy Network That Kept Queen Elizabeth Safe
In late 16th-century England, Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant royal who faced perpetual threats to her life and reign. Real enemies and exaggerated fears led to paranoia—and the royal court responded with a secret war. In what would become England’s first great brush with ...read more
Why Royal Guests Have Always Been a Royal Pain
Every summer, Queen Elizabeth I and her massive court set out on a months’ long progress, with a mile-long train of dozens of carriages, carts and over a thousand horses. For this elaborate summer vacation, no regular inn would suit the Virgin Queen. Instead, Elizabeth stayed at ...read more
Naked Cooks, Excrement, Rats: The Secretly Disgusting History of Royal Palaces
In July of 1535, King Henry VIII and his court of over 700 people embarked on an epic official tour. Over the next four months the massive entourage would visit around 30 different royal palaces, aristocratic residences and religious institutions. While these stops were important ...read more
Why Royal Women Gave Birth in Front of Huge Crowds for Centuries
On November 1, 1661, Queen Marie-Therese, the shy, retiring Spanish wife of King Louis XIV of France, went into labor. As soon as the Queen’s contractions began, her quiet palace rooms, in which she had been ceremonially confined for days, began to fill up with Princesses, Dukes ...read more
How ‘Unicorn Horns’ Became the Poison Antidote of Choice for Paranoid Royals
Being a king or queen has always been a treacherous job. Between homicidal enemies, duplicitous courtiers and back-stabbing family members, royals had every reason to constantly fear for their lives. And there was one form of assassination that particularly terrified them: ...read more
When Princess Margaret's Affair Hit the Tabloids—and Torpedoed Her Marriage
They drank. They swam. They smiled. But they didn’t hear the click of the cameras–or acknowledge that their secret romance could constitute a national scandal. They were Princess Margaret and Roddy Llewellyn, and they were about to grace the cover of a British tabloid with images ...read more
The Real-Life Rivalry That Inspired 'The Favourite'
In the Oscar-winning period piece The Favourite, two clever, ambitious ladies-in-waiting in early 18th-century England compete for the favor—and romantic affections—of a mercurial and unstable Queen Anne. The outlandish, profanity-laden and darkly comic film doesn’t stick to the ...read more
How the 1966 Aberfan Mine Disaster Became Elizabeth II's Biggest Regret
The avalanche raced down a steep hill in Aberfan, Wales, sucking everything in its path into the chaos: landscape, buildings, an entire schoolhouse. When David Evans, the owner of a local pub, heard about it from a neighbor, he ran into the street. “Everything was so quiet, so ...read more
The Salacious Letters That Helped Bring Down Mary, Queen of Scots
In 1567, a tempestuous, unhappy queen picked up her pen and wrote a passionate sonnet to her lover. “My love for him is not an empty show,” she wrote, “But purest tenderness and constancy.” Or did she? The sonnet was one of 12. And those documents were part of a larger hoard ...read more
The Wildly Different Childhoods of Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots
Queen Elizabeth I of England and Mary, Queen of Scots were two of the greatest, most legendary rivals in recorded history—although they never even met. In one castle was Elizabeth, the childless “virgin” queen: bawdy, brilliant, tactical and cynical. In the other, Mary: ...read more
7 Surprising Facts about Royal Births
Five months after Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, married at Windsor Castle, royal watchers around the world were thrilled with the announcement that the couple was expecting a child in the spring of 2019. On May 6, 2019, Meghan gave birth to a ...read more
Queen Elizabeth II’s Reign: Before and After
She was one of the most iconic figures in world history: a queen whose reign had outlasted all other British monarchs and most other world leaders, too. But though she stood for the continuity and tradition of the English monarchy, Elizabeth II’s reign was anything but ...read more
Queen Elizabeth II
Queen Elizabeth II served from 1952 to 2022 as reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland) and numerous other realms and territories, as well as head of the Commonwealth, the group of 53 sovereign nations that includes many former ...read more
How American 'Dollar Princesses' Invaded British High Society
When Jennie Jerome and Lord Randolph Churchill announced their engagement in 1874, his parents were horrified. The couple had only known one another for three days, and Jerome—the tattooed daughter of a philandering financier and a social climber—was an American socialite, not a ...read more
Behind-the-Scenes Photos of Queen Elizabeth's 1947 Wedding
How much planning and work goes into a picture-perfect royal event? From creating a balanced guest list that won’t offend any allies to enlisting local law enforcement to control the crowds and hiring a battalion of designers and decorators, there is much to be organized. Queen ...read more
How Queen Victoria’s Matchmaking Helped Cause World War I
If you were a royal in the late part of the 19th century, there’s a good chance you were related to Queen Victoria—and if Victoria was your grandmother, you were pretty much guaranteed a glamorous royal wedding to a prince or princess of her choosing. “Victoria’s descendants ...read more
How Unflattering Royal Portraits Could Break a Marriage Contract
For much of their courtship, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s romance spanned an ocean. Although they are from different countries and radically different backgrounds—one a British royal, the other an American actress—modern travel and technology made their trans-Atlantic romance ...read more