Last updated on March 29th, 2022Queen Victoria was born in Kensington Palace, Princess Diana lived here with her sons, and Prince William and Catherine have now taken up residence here with their children. But Kensington Palace is more than a royal residence, it’s also one of London’s greatest historical treasures and it’s baroque doors are…
A Tour of Handel’s London – Visit 16 Handel Locations
Last updated on June 20th, 2022George Frideric Handel was born in Germany, but he spent a whopping 47 years in London, arriving here when he was just 26. He went on to write some of the world’s most famous operas and oratorios in the capital and became the toast of London town. His patrons included…
The Lost Dress of Elizabeth I – Hampton Court Palace
Last updated on August 17th, 2020There are some royal portraits that just take your breath away. The ‘Armada Portrait’ of Elizabeth I at the Queen’s House in Greenwich is one of them. Thomas Sully’s ‘Queen Victoria’ at the Wallace Collection is another, and let’s not forget ‘Queen Elizabeth II, Lightness of Being’ by Chris Levine….
12 things to do in Kew Gardens when it rains
Last updated on August 16th, 2020My love affair with Kew Gardens began in the rain. It was one of those typical British summertime days, one which promised soggy jeans and the inevitable squelching through mud. A picnic was off the menu and so was lazing around in the summery aroma of freshly-cut grass. We had…
Eltham Palace | Where Medieval meets Art Deco London
Last updated on March 1st, 2021Eltham Palace is one of London’s unique gems, a historic venue where Art Deco London is living it up with its medieval ancestors. Imagine a hotsy-totsy sleepover with both Henry VIII and Hercule Poirot. You have a coupe de champagne in one hand, and the ivories tinker away in the…
The London Season
Last updated on June 20th, 2022The Chelsea Flower Show may officially kick-start the London Season, but for me, it’s the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy that gets summer in London off to a rip-roaring start. The world’s largest open submission art exhibition signals a tee off for strawberries and cream, cucumber sandwiches, Pimms and…
Costumes from The Favourite at Hampton Court
Move over Henry VIII: you’ve had your day. There’s a new dawn at Hampton Court Palace, and it’s Queen Anne’s turn to be in the limelight. Thanks to Yorgos Lanthimos’s baroque tour de force: The Favourite, Queen Anne is finally, and deservedly, taking centre stage in British history. Winner of seven Baftas, a Golden Globe…
Russians, Royalty and the Romanovs at the Queen’s Gallery
Last updated on April 22nd, 2019As if the Last Tsar exhibition at the Science Museum wasn’t enough of a treat, London is now getting a Romanov double whammy with a new exhibition at the Queen’s Gallery, Buckingham Palace. Russia, Royalty and the Romanovs has glitz, it has glamour, and it has a generous helping of…
The Last Tsar: Blood and Revolution – Science Museum
Last updated on April 12th, 2019A new exhibition at the Science Museum in London originated a few years ago, when a curator discovered a crate buried in the museum’s vast archive. Inside, she found 22 photograph albums of the Russian Imperial family, taken between 1908 and 1916, and so began the journey of The Last Tsar:…
Wallace Collection – A National Treasure
Last updated on February 18th, 2021Tucked behind the Selfridges department store in Marylebone is the Wallace Collection, one of my favourite London haunts. It’s an eighteenth-century city pile with a jaw-dropping art collection and a 500-strong furniture depository which would make Marie Antoinette feel perfectly at home. It’s a sea of crimson red, rococo gold,…