The following is taken, verbatim, from the booklet “Is the palace haunted?: Palace phantoms,” from my most recent visit to Hampton Court Palace. Since many who read this blog may not be able to travel there, I thought I would type this up for your enjoyment and for you to learn about one of the many ghostly sightings… Read on
Henry Purcell, arguably the greatest English composer of Baroque music, died on this day the 21st of November, 1695. Henry Purcell had been born in late 1659, so that means he was around thirty-six years old at the time of his death. I always find this quite sad, for him – and for us – that he did… Read on
I recently contributed a guest post about William & Mary to the excellent blog of “Hoydens & Firebrands: Roaring Ladies who write about the 17th Century.” It was posted yesterday here: http://hoydensandfirebrands.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/william-and-mary.html Alternately, you can read it here and now: The story of William & Mary is one of duty, love, war, heartbreak, betrayal, and revolution. It was a… Read on
Mary of Modena, second wife of James, Duke of York, and his Queen consort upon his becoming King James II, was born on this day the 5th of October, 1658, in the Ducal Palace in Modena. She was a beautiful woman, with black hair and dark eyes – what we’d call an Italian beauty now. As you can… Read on
I can’t believe it. We are almost at the end of the second summer of doing the Garden History Tours at Kensington Palace. It’s been exceptionally rewarding yet again. I have had the pleasure of meeting so many nice people from around the world and it’s been great fun to talk about the rich history of the palace’s… Read on
Het Loo – Home of William & Mary The Palace is quite easily reached from Amsterdam via train to Apeldoorn, then a short, comfortable bus ride to the palace. From there, one walks into a heavily-forested area, with a path leading up to the ticket office. I met my friend, writer Patric Aalders here with my husband and… Read on
Hampton Court Palace recently had a Baroque Weekend event and I travelled down from my home in Balham to participate in the activities. At 11 o’clock, we were escorted by Sir Christopher Wren from the Clock Court in the Tudor portion of the palace through to the Baroque palace to await the arrival of King William III and… Read on
This is the first time Kensington Palace has offered Garden History Tours! They will be free of charge and last between 45 minutes to 1 hour. All you need to do is sign up at either the Queen’s Entrance or the hub area inside the palace. Please be aware these tours are only for the summer months, from… Read on