Charles “III”
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With the first coronation in seventy years looming fast, there is naturally a lot of discussion about various aspects of the ancient ceremony. I don’t know what the new king’s wish to “modernise” might finally entail, but I do know the proceedings will have to include the Coronation Chair (now a shadow of its former…
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It’s been so very long since there was a coronation that many do not know what to expect, and those of us who remember Queen Elizabeth II’s coronation do not know what the new king’s decision to “modernise” the ceremony will actually entail. I hope it doesn’t ruin the solemnity and implications of an occasion…
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I have continued to watch The Prince’s Master Crafters series , and in the penultimate episode the contestants had a go at one another’s speciality craft. The very last episode will be when they all try to produce their very best work in their own craft. The winner will get to present their work…
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There I was on the road to Damascus when there was a great roll of thunder and suddenly I was confronted by Vlad the Impaler. I jest of course, but I did see a TV documentary about Vlad’s curse and did have a flash of inspiration for an article for the blog. Except….right now I…
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An Irish take on the British peerage system
Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, Charles “III”, Charles I, Charles II, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Birkenhead, Earl of Wessex, Edward Earl of Wessex, executions, Godwin Earl of Wessex, hereditary peers, House of Lords, Ireland, Irish Central, Irish Treaty, Niall O’Dowd, Oliver Cromwell, posthumous execution, royal titles, Thomas Hardy, Viscount CastlereaghHere is an article from Niall O’Dowd of “Irish Central” to mark the accession of Charles III. It makes a number of good points, although some others are debateable:1) Wessex may have ceased to be as a Kingdom when Athelstan took over the others (Mercia, Northumbria and East Anglia) but it had Earls in the…
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A review of Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors….
“Tudors”, Anne of Bohemia, Anzac Day, Bayeux Tapestry, burials, Channel Five, Charles “III”, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Charles I, Charles II, Cheyneygates, Cicely Plantagenet, coronation chair, coronations, Crown of St. Edward, Dame Judi Dench, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Norfolk, Easter, Elizabeth II, executions, gardens, Harold II, Hawksmoor Tower, Henry V, Henry VII Lady Chapel, Holy Week, Imperial State Crown, Lady Diana Spencer, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Lent, Liber Regalis, Operation Golden Orb, Order of the Bath, Palm Sunday, Platinum Jubilee Roof, Poets’ Corner, Pyx Chamber, Queen Mother, records, Richard II, Royal Peculiars, Royal regalia, Shrine of St. Edward the Confessor, Sir Derek Jacobi, Sir Ian McKellen, Sir john Gielgud, Sir Ralph Scrope, St. Paul’s, State Opening of Parliament, Stone of Scone, Timothy West, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Tower of London, Viscount Welles, weddings, Westminster AbbeyI have now watched all of the Channel 5 series Westminster Abbey: Behind Closed Doors, which is so packed with information that I hardly know where to begin with this review. Aha, did I hear you say the beginning might be a good idea? You’re right, so here goes with a selection of descriptions from…
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Another interesting hypothesis
Arbella Stuart, Bavaria, Britain’s Real Monarch, Charles “III”, Clementina Walkinshaw, Culloden, Diana Princess of Wales, Edward of Warwick, executions, Glorious Revolution, Greys, Henry “IX”, Henry Lord Montagu, Henry Pole the Younger, Henry VIII, hypotheses, illegitimacy, Jacobites, James of Monmouth, James VII/II, John Ashdown-Hill, Lady Katherine Grey, Liechtenstein, Margaret of Salisbury, marriage law, Michael K Jones, Poles, Royal Marriage Secrets, Sardinia, Scotland, Seymours, Spencers, Tony Robinson, Useful ChartsOn Thursday, we published a presentation by “Useful Charts”, showing how the English throne may have descended had Henry VIII’s will been followed after 1603 as it had beforehand. Of course, the family in question may have fared differently anyway if Lady Katherine Grey, her Seymour husband, and son and Arbella Stuart, the latter’s wife,…
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My reaction to Lucy Worsley’s Christmas Carol Odyssey….
“Tudor” propaganda, “Tudors”, Anglo-Saxons, bias, Catholics, Charles “III”, Christina Rossetti, Christmas carols, Christmas truce, Edward VI, Ely Cathedral, Father Christmas, First World War, French Revolution, Gustav Holst, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Jacobites, Lucy Worsley, Methodists, music, mystery plays, Napoleonic wars, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Reformation, Reverend Phillips, wassailingSometimes the stories behind our much-loved Christmas carols are quite disheartening, involving as they do national and international strife and religious rivalry that was both bloody and filled with hatred. Yet every year we sing the resultant carols with joy. The reactions of the human race are sometimes contradictory. To say the least! I am…
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Blood of the Clans
BBC1 Scotland, Blood of the Clans, Charles “III”, Charles I, Clan Campbell, Clan Graham, Clan MacDonald, Clan MacGregor, clans, Culloden, Derby, Earls of Argyll, Earls of Montrose, executions, Flora MacDonald, George I, George II, Jacobite rebellions, James “VIII/III”, Killiecrankie, Neil Oliver, Prestonpans, Rise of the Clans, Rob Roy MacGregor, siege of Aberdeen, Simon Fraser Lord Lovat, Viscount Claverhouse, War of the Three KingdomsNeil Oliver has been back on our screens, BBC1 Scotland at least, with another short series. Following on from his 2018 Rise of the Clans, which detailed tribal influence over events such as the ascent of Robert I and subsequently the Stewarts to Mary’s troublesome reign and deposition, Blood of the Clans deals with Scottish…
The New Murrey and Blue blog 