Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon
Month: October 2019
The Royal Women
Queen Victoria & Sir John Conroy
John Conroy was born on 21 October 1786 as the son of John Ponsonby Conroy, Esq., and Margaret Wilson in Wales. Both his parents were Irish, and he was one of six siblings. He entered the army at the age of 17, but he was not quite as successful as he might have hoped. His [read more]
Hortense de Beauharnais
Lost Kingdoms – Kingdom of Holland
The Kingdom of Holland was set up by Napoleon Bonaparte for his brother Louis Bonaparte, who became the first King of Holland in 1806. Louis was – unhappily – married to Napoleon’s stepdaughter Hortense, who was thus the first – and as it would turn out the last – Queen of the Kingdom of Holland. [read more]
Book Reviews
Book News November 2019
The Prince & I: My Life with Prince Bira of Siam Paperback – 12 November 2019 (US) & 7 October 2019 (UK) The Prince & I is the story of the passionate love of Bira, Prince of Siam, grandson of King Mongkut of The King & I fame, and the young Englishwoman who would become his [read more]
Maria Alexandrovna of Russia
Maria Alexandrovna of Russia – Mistress in her own Kingdom (Part two)
Read part one here. Maria quickly fell pregnant and gave birth to her first child – a son named Alfred – in October 1874. On 27 October, Queen Victoria wrote to her eldest daughter, “She has not had any drawback – and is as well and strong as possible and shows a very healthy constitution [read more]
Helen of Greece and Denmark
Program of the reburial of Queen Mother Helen of Romania
A full program of the coming reburial of Queen Mother Helen of Romania has been released. Queen Mother Helen, born Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, died in exile in Switzerland in 1982 and was buried in the Bois-de-Vaux Cemetery there. In 2018, it was announced that her remains and those of her former husband [read more]