Delve deeper into the world of the BBC hit drama series Versailles, and discover the real Marie-Antoinette in this ground-breaking study of her secret love affair with the Swedish diplomat Count Axel von Fersen. For the first time an historian has compiled all the known letters between Swedish count Axel von Fersen and Marie-Antoinette, including six [read more]
Madeleine was born in August 1520; she was the fifth child of Francis I of France and his wife, Queen Claude. After the death of her mother, Madeleine and her sister were raised by their aunt Marguerite of Navarre. At the time of Madeleine’s birth, the French and the Scottish were allies. The Auld Alliance [read more]
Louise of Denmark was born on 19 October 1726 as the daughter of King Christian VI of Denmark and Sophie Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach. She was described as a lively person, who did not fit in well into her parents’ court, which was quite rigid. She suffered from a stammer, and her father often complained of [read more]
Last year I wrote about Kneuterdijk Palace lamenting the fact that as a government building (it currently houses the Council of State) it would not be open to the public. Lo and behold, this year Kneuterdijk Palace was a part of Open Monumentsday and opened its doors to the public. Naturally, I went. The Gothic [read more]
Joanna of Naples was born in March 1328 and would turn out to be the first of only two surviving children of Charles, Duke of Calabria and Marie of Valois. She had three elder siblings, who all died young. Her father was the eldest son of King Robert of Naples and Yolanda of Aragon. Charles died in November [read more]
Of the many executions ordered by Henry VIII, surely the most horrifying was that of sixty-seven-year-old Margaret Pole, Countess of Salisbury, hacked to pieces on the scaffold by a blundering headsman. From the start, Margaret’s life had been marred by tragedy and violence: her father, George, Duke of Clarence, had been executed at the order [read more]
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