From My Blog

‘Tales from the Royal Wardrobe’ – what it’s all about

I’m happy to be able to direct you to a smorgasbord of information about our new documentary, ‘Tales from the Royal Wardrobe’, that’s going to be shown on Monday night at 9 on BBC Four. Here you can read the articles I wrote for its BBC webpages… Here’s the story of how it all came

I spend three hours getting dressed as Elizabeth I.

How did Elizabeth I get dressed? I wanted to know!  There’s no doubt that the queen had quite an extraordinary shape, if the portraits are to be believed.  If you visit a Historic Royal Palace it’s quite possible that you’ll see an Elizabeth I wandering round in a replica of the dress you can see

Why do the Georgians matter?

Today I have a LONG READ for you.  It’s an essay I wrote for May’s BBC History Magazine … and even though it’s Midsummer’s Day already there’s lots of time left to see our 2014 ‘Glorious Georges’ displays at Hampton Court Palace, Kensington Palace and Kew Palace too. ‘Sometimes it’s a depressing business being a

History’s most blingtastic weddings

When reality TV star Kim Kardashian married the hip-hop artist Kanye West last month, Grazia magazine called it ‘the most blingtastic, ‘krazy’ wedding of all time’.  The occasion cost $12 million, half a million of them going on the dress alone.  It even had its own room at the hotel.   But this was more than a

Off to Buckingham Palace for a Garden Party

If you’re a Twitter or Facebook follower of mine, you’ll have already seen my Buckingham Palace Garden Party Hat I wore on Tuesday. I hired my vintage 1940s tricorn number from this terrific shop run by my friend the Top Tottie herself. Hats have been a topic of conversation in our office for some time. 

I am made Queen of Everything (but just for a week)

If you’re a female commuter in the London area, chances are that you might occasionally pick up the free Stylist magazine – after all, the excellent Lucy Mangan has a column in it.  Recently I was ‘Queen of Everything’, the interview slot at the back. It might be a little confusing because I spend a

We try to win our colonies back, with a royal progress round the US.

If you follow me on Twitter or Facebook then you’ll know that I have recently made a whirlwind tour of America. I was giving a number of lectures to supporters of the Royal Oak Foundation, which is the American organization that exists to support the British National Trust.  I’ve been on their lecture tours before,

Where are all the female trolls? From the horrid to the heartwarming…

It’s really quite striking that the nasty emails I receive (usually about my voice, it seems) are all from men. Come on, ladies!  You need to make up for lost ground here.  The male trolls are way ahead of you. Usually I just press delete, but occasionally I call a troll out, and even more

A recipe for some highly destructive Georgian sugar-plums

If you’re watching The First Georgians tonight (9pm, BBC Four), look out for the bit where I get to destroy a sugar model of the city of Carlisle by bombarding it with sugar plums!  This week my colleague Christopher Boreham, our researcher on this series, has kindly written a post for you to explain how

Poor Queen Caroline and her horrible death…

This week on The First Georgians (Thursday, 9pm, BBC Four) we are covering the life and the horrible death of the wonderful queen Caroline.  So here’s an extract from my book Courtiers.  It’s part of the chapter about Caroline’s death, which was absolutely my favourite to write.  You can also see a video of me reading