All About Royal Families

On 13 November 1871, Charles Spencer-Churchill, 9th Duke of Marlborough , was born in Shimla, then part of British India. He was a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill, with whom he shared a close friendship. As the Duke of Marlborough, he was also the owner of the magnificent Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, one of Britain's most famous stately homes and the birthplace of Winston Churchill. But who was Charles Spencer-Churchill, and what made his life so fascinating? Let's discover his story! Family His parents were Charles Spencer-Churchill, 8th. Duke of Marlborough and Albertha Frances Anne Hamilton. He was a nephew of Lord Randolph Churchill and a first cousin of Sir Winston Churchill.  He was educated at Winchester College and Trinity College, Cambridge. Career in politics Marlborough entered the House of Lords on the early death of his father in 1892, and made his maiden speech in August 1895. In 1899, he was appointed Paymaster General by Lord Salisbury,...

On 18 February 1516, at the Palace of Placentia in Greenwich, a daughter was born to Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. She would grow up to become one of the most controversial monarchs in British history: Mary I of England. For royal historians, Mary’s life is a powerful study in legitimacy, faith and female authority in a male-dominated political world. Family Mary was the only surviving child of Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon. Highly educated, fluent in Latin and Spanish, and musically gifted, she was once the pride of her father’s court. When Henry annulled his marriage to Catherine and married Anne Boleyn, Mary was declared illegitimate. She lost her title of Princess and was forced to serve in the household of her half-sister, the future Elizabeth I. The emotional and political trauma of these years shaped her deeply rooted Catholic convictions. The first crowned queen regnant of England After the death of her half-brother Edward VI in 1553, an attempt was made to place Lad...

In December 2024, I received a special royal post card from the United Kingdom. It was a postcard from Lady Pamela Hicks. But who is she actually? How is she related to the Royal Family? Who is Lady Pamela Hicks? Lady Pamela Carmen Louis Hicks, born Mountbatten, was born on 19 April 1929 in Barcelona, Spain. Royal Family Her parents were Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma and his wife Edwina Ashley.  Her paternal grandparents were Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princes Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. The mother of Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine was Princess Alice of the United Kingdom. Princess Victoria was thus a sister of Princess Alexandra, the last Empress of Russia.  Lady Pamela Hicks is thus a niece of Prince Philip, the late Duke of Edinburgh. Title and more ties At the request of George V her grandparents Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine relinquished their Ger...

After the death of her husband Charles the Bold in 1477, Margaret of York settled her court in Mechelen. Mechelen was the richest city of her widowhood. Later the palace was called the Imperial Court because princes and princesses stayed here, as well as the later Emperor Charles V. 👀  Margaret of York Edward IV, King of England, married his sister Margaret to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. That's a good thing, because he just became a widower.   👉 She also was the sister of King Richard III of England. Eduard also sees value in it, because he has a rich ally against France. Charles has a daughter from his previous marriage: Mary of Burgundy. She was just eleven years old when Margareta became her stepmother. The two get along well. Margaret of York Source picture: Wikipedia 💥 More history 💥 In 1477, the city of Mechelen bought a patrician house along the Keizerstraat from John of Burgundy, Bishop of Kamerijk and pr...

On 13 April 1350, Margaret III, Countess of Flanders was born near Bruges as the daughter of Louis II, Count of Flanders and Margaret of Brabant.   She was the last surviving child and she became the last Countess of Flanders of the House of Dampierre. Weddings A good marriage was very important. So her father negotiated the future of his daughter well. As heir presumptive to her father's territories, Margaret was a highly coveted bride.  In 1355,Margaret of Flanders married Philip of Rouvres, grandson and heir of Odo IV, Duke of Burgundy.  Philip was Count of Burgundy and Artois (1347–1361), Duke of Burgundy (1350–1361), and became Count of Auvergne and Boulogne (1360–1361). We don't know if it was a happy marriage or not, but at least she married at a very young age! Following Philip's death from a riding accident in 1361, Margaret was widowed and had no issue by him.  King John II of France then claimed the Duchy of Burgundy for the kingdo...

This is a blog post at a special request. Eleonor of Aquitaine was perhaps the most famous queen in the Middle Ages.   But who was she?  On 1 April 1204 at the age of about 82, Eleanor of Aquitaine died at Poitiers. Who was Eleanor of Aquitaine? Family Eleanor's year of birth is not known precisely: a late 13th-century genealogy of her family listing her as 13 years old in the spring of 1137 provides the best evidence that Eleanor was perhaps born as late as 1124. Eleanor (or Aliénor) was the oldest of three children of William X, Duke of Aquitaine, whose glittering ducal court was renowned in early 12th-century Europe, and his wife, Aenor de Châtellerault, the daughter of Aimery I, Viscount of Châtellerault, and Dangereuse de l'Isle Bouchard, who was William IX's longtime mistress as well as Eleanor's maternal grandmother. Her parents' marriage had been arranged by Dangereuse with her paternal grandfather William IX. Her family were members of the Hou...

Elizabeth II's first tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother,  Queen Mary , who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. Leslie Field, author of The Queen's Jewels, described it as, "a festoon-and-scroll with nine large oriental pearls on diamond spikes and set on a base of alternate round and lozenge collets between two plain bands of diamonds".  At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969. The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread appearance in portraits of the m...