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Meet the Neighbours - Shugborough Hall #80

The next house in this series is a mere half hour from Hoar Cross Hall and we often visited it during the summer months and later, when my children were born, we’d take them for a visit too!  Seated on the edge of Cannock Chase this elegant house was once a manor house owned by the Bishops of Lichfield, until the dissolution of the monasteries around 1540.  Later it came into the hands of the Anson family, who were ancestors of the Earls of Lichfield, and stayed there for three centuries.  William Anson’s grandson, also called William, demolished the manor house in 1693 and built a three storey building in the Neo-Classical style which forms the central p...

Queen Alexandra - my family #50

Queen Alexandra was the daughter-in-law of Queen Victoria as she was married to her eldest son and heir, Edward Vii. Her family were from Denmark and although of royal blood they were a distant branch of the royal house of Oldenburg and apparently lived very modestly on her father's army commission. However, in 1852 her father, Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, was chosen to succeed his second cousin Frederick Vii as ighlight'>king of Denmark thus the family's status rose and they moved into a new official residence, Bernstorff Palace. Alexandra, or 'Alix' as she was known was born on 1st December 1844, her full name being Alexandra Caroline M...

Queen Alexandra - my family #52

Here is a final selection of photos from the album of Queen Alexandra, found in the Library of Hoar Cross Hall.  Alexandra enjoyed photography as a hobby and in 1908 put together this album of personal photos of her family to be sold for charity.  it is a fascinating insight into another world, long gone now.  As we lead up to the Coronation of ighlight'>king Charles iii it is a reminder of all that has gone before and all that is to come in the future with our hard worighlight'>king royals.     ighlight'>king Edward Vii and David Here is the ighlight'>king in relaxed pose with his grandson, David, who later became ighlight'>king Edward Viii.  David became the ighlight'>king in January 1936 and famously abdicat...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #49

With the ighlight'>king's Coronation looming on 6th May in the UK, i thought i'd do some royal family related articles this month starting with royal visitors at the Hall in the 1920s. i also have a book called Queen Alexandra's Christmas Gift Book which was left in the Library and shows personal photos from her own camera which she took of the royal family between 1900-1910 -  a rare insight indeed into what the royals did in their leisure time!  i will be sharing these photos over the next month leading up to the Coronation and hope you find them as fascinating as i do. Royal Visitors From earliest times the ighlight'>king's court has travelled around the ighlight'>kingdom so the ighlight'>king...

Royal Visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #20

From earliest times the ighlight'>king's court has traveled around the ighlight'>kingdom so the ighlight'>king could see first hand what was happening in his realm. When the ighlight'>king showed up, the local subjects were expected to provide food, entertainment, and accommodations in the form of mediaeval banquets.  For the ighlight'>king or Queen's subjects this could be very expensive and not all royalty was welcome! However, this was the only way that people could see their ighlight'>king or Queen and know that they were real. Fast forward from the twelve century to the 21st century and royals are still touring the country so their subjects can 'see them and believe in them'. Although i published this blog in June...

Royal visitors at Hoar Cross Hall #10

From earliest times the ighlight'>king's court has traveled around the ighlight'>kingdom so the ighlight'>king could see first hand what was going on in his realm. When the ighlight'>king showed up, the local subjects were expected to provide food, entertainment, and accommodations usually in the form of mediaeval banquets.  For the ighlight'>king or Queen's subjects this could be very expensive and not all royalty was welcome! However, this was the only way that people could see their ighlight'>king or Queen and know that they were real. Fast forward from the twelve century to the 21st century and royals are still touring the country so their subjects can 'see them and believe in them'. The Queen's grandparents, ighlight'>king...