AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino
News of King Charles III’s cancer is unexpected: it is unusual for the royal family to release details of medical conditions to the public.
The Queen’s second-last Christmas broadcast, in 2020, during the COVID lockdown.
PA / Alamy
For many people, the royal Christmas broadcast is a festive tradition that brings comfort, reassurance and a connection to the past.
The Christmas pudding, a legacy of the British Empire, is enjoyed around the world – including in former British colonies.
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The Christmas pudding, once known as the ‘Empire Pudding,’ reflects the lasting legacy of the British Empire.
Men and boys, many dressed as women, attacking a turnpike gate in protest at charges at tollgates on public roads in west Wales. The Illustrated London News, 1843.
World History Archive/Alamy
The Rebecca riots saw Welsh farmers disguised as women destroy tollgates as a way of challenging what they believed was an oppressive taxation system.
The practice of putting images of only deceased or allegorical people on U.S. stamps dates back to 1847.
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Hint: It’s all tied up with the country’s history with British royalty.
King George V and Queen Mary in Bombay before the Delhi durbar to mark the king’s coronation in 1911.
PA Images/Alamy
The coronation will have echoes of empire, but represents an important stage in the modern monarchy’s move away from its shadow.
Dutch delftware with a double portrait of William III and Mary II, ca. 1690.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
From lockets for Henry VIII’s wedding to tea cups for Charles III’s coronation, there is a long history of royal souvenirs.
Koh-i-Noor as set in Queen Mary’s crown in 1911.
Tom Hanley/Alamy
Throughout its known history, Koh-i-Noor has been a symbol of imperial conquest and glory.
Queen Elizabeth II at her coronation, age 27.
PA images
Other queens were just teenagers when they ascended the throne.
People file past the Queen’s coffin in St Giles’ church, Edinburgh.
PA Images/Alamy
Queen Elizabeth’s funeral will maintain all the traditions of previous royal funerals but will have some new additions to ease the new sovereign in.
Francis Carruthers Gould, ‘The Mourner’, Fun, February 2, 1901.
A cartoon commemorating the death of King William IV in 1837 would have been unthinkable; by the time Queen Victoria died in 1901, newspapers had changed.
The screen in Piccadilly Circus is lit to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.
(AP Photo/Alberto Pezzali)
This year’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations will draw on traditions that have bolstered support for monarchs since the early 1800s — it could help this year’s celebrations succeed again.
HRH The Princess Mary in 1912, aged 15. She was was the third child of King George V and Queen Mary.
Chronicle / Alamy Stock Photo
The story of how a teenage princess launched one of the first global charity campaigns.
He who laughs last, lives longest?
Leon Neal-WPA Pool/Getty Images
Prince Philip died at 99. Living to such a ripe old age isn’t unusual for UK royals. Nor is it surprising, argues an expert on aging and longevity.
European fairytale: the uniting of the royal houses of Britain, Greece and Denmark in 1947.
Trinity Mirror / Mirrorpix / Alamy Stock Photo
The marriage of the future British queen and her consort was part of an ancient tapestry of royal intermarriage in Europe.
Wedding gown bodice, circa 1836.
The Ohio State Historic Costume & Textiles Collection
The tradition of a bride garbed in white weaves through two thousand years of history, influenced by the Romans – and Queen Victoria.
Highgate Cemetery.
Pack-Shot/Shutterstock
Graveyards were important locations in Victorian life.
Not sure if you’re paying the right price for your tree? The Hotelling equation modified by Faustmann can help.
Aleksandra Suzi/Shutterstock
A Protestant tradition with pagan roots, the Christmas tree is now a global phenomenon. It also reveals much about market economics, so let’s climb on the sleigh and take a ride around this holiday item…
George Eliot (1819-1880), aged 30.
Alexandre-Louis-François d'Albert-Durade/National Portrait Gallery
Born the same year as Queen Victoria, Eliot faced similar life choices to many young women today
A satirical photograph from 1901, where men’s and women’s dress and jobs are switched.
Underwood & Underwood/Wikimedia Commons.
For most of the Victorian era, people thought it was normal for men and women to be treated differently, and judged by different standards.