The latest cinematic offering of royal drama is ‘The Other Boleyn Girl’, which takes a different angle on that most famous period of English royal history – the reign of King Henry VIII – by focusing on the life of Mary Boleyn, sister of the ill-fated Anne Boleyn. A film set against such a well known and fantastically dramatic period should certainly pack a cinematic punch; leading lady Scarlett Johansson actually had some trepidation that the role of Mary Boleyn was a touch melodramatic, “a bit scary”. The cast also includes Natalie Portman as Anne Boleyn and Eric Bana as…
Author: Royalty
King Henry VIII has maintained a remarkable hold on the public imagination and the five hundredth anniversary of his accession to the throne saw the opening of exhibitions at Windsor Castle and the Tower of London (that notorious fortress-prison where Henry’s second wife Anne Boleyn was imprisoned) which bring us a step closer to a renaissance ruler, who was both an attractive and monstrous figure during his lifetime. Indeed, were it not for the fact that the Tudors were on the throne, William Shakespeare might well have chosen to portray the fearsome monarch in one of his plays. Henry would…
The publication of William Shawcross’ ‘Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother: the Official Biography’ has created quite a stir with reviewers criticising both the work and its author. The battle lines can be summarised. Is it an authoritative biography giving a fuller, deeper picture of the life and times of an icon of the 20th century? Or is it a carefully constructed, airbrushed version of history? A degree of skepticism from reviewers is to some extent the author’s burden as this official biography has the blessing of the Royal Family, including photographs released of the Queen and the Prince of Wales…
The tenth anniversary celebrations for the accession of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI focused attention on the North African kingdom, its ruler and the prospects for the Maghreb region (Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco) in general. The celebrations were as much a political as a ceremonial event, and Mohammed VI’s rule and personality placed under international scrutiny writes Jonathan Taylor. Is the forty-six year-old monarch still a progressive figure or, as one commentator suggested a “hyper-monarch”? How does Mohammed reconcile his good intentions with his near autocratic power; his personal fortune in a country where many live on less than one Euro…
For the principality of Monaco the wedding of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock was a day of hope and nostalgia, long anticipated by the Monegasque people. A ruling prince had not wed since Albert’s father Prince Rainier III married Grace Kelly in 1955. In the contemporary context it was seen as confirmation that the principality’s political and economic future is secure. With such thoughts in mind the ruling prince’s nuptials were awaited by the principality’s thirty-plus thousand residents, hopeful that the sovereign marrying the statuesque South African would usher in a new golden era, taking Monaco back to its heyday…
To celebrate the completion of the refurbishment of the Frederik VIII Palace in the Amalienborg Palace complex, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary opened the doors of their future home to the press and public, reports Jonathan Taylor. The Frederik VIII Palace is one of the Amalienborg’s four palaces, which make up the Royal Family’s winter residence. All four are known after Danish kings – Christian VII, Christian VIII, Frederik VIII and Christian IX – but they were actually built in the mid-eighteenth century by noble families. The Frederik VIII Palace was built for Count Joachim Brocksdorff by the royal builder Niels…
A revealing new exhibition, ‘Victoria & Albert: Art & Love’ focuses on the connection between art and romance, a medium through which Queen Victoria and Prince Albert expressed their intense love for each other. It is the first exhibition ever to focus on Victoria and Albert’s shared enthusiasm for art. Bringing together more than 400 items from the Royal Collection, it celebrates the royal couple’s mutual delight in collecting and displaying works of art, from the time of their engagement in 1839 to the Prince’s untimely death in 1861. The exhibition also challenges the popular image of Victoria – the…
The announcement of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement was the moment Kate’s every fashion move became an event in itself. Within hours the £385 Issa London sapphire dress had sold out and within days cheaper replicas were on sale, including a budget priced £25 version at supermarket chain Telco. The announcement had moved Kate from royal girlfriend to future queen and in fashion terms her appeal rocketed – from haute-couture to high street in a matter of days, her very own ‘international label’ had been created by sheer interest. Kate has become Britain’s leading fashion ambassador in the twinkling…
President Zuma’s state visit to Great Britain was his first since taking up office in May 2009. For all concerned it was an important occasion, one which did not, however, go as smoothly as was hoped. Much of the tension was caused by reports in the British press criticising the president, which provoked an angry response from South Africa. In the background lay the fact that the two nations have not always had a happy relationship, which dates back to the British colonial era. In more recent decades, with the struggle against apartheid and South Africa’s emergence as a democracy,…
To mark her tenth birthday the Norwegian court issued some charming new portraits of Princess Ingrid Alexandra. Princess Ingrid is the eldest child of Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit, her brother Prince Sverre Magnus is just over a year younger. Which means that under the Norwegian constitution Ingrid, currently second-in-line to the throne after her father, will one day become queen. Her fate was changed by the relatively recent constitutional change to absolute primogeniture in 1990. If the reform had come two decades earlier Crown Prince Haakon’s elder sister, Princess Martha Louise, would have been first in the line of…