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Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive. Apologies for the atypical delivery day – I had to wait longer than anticipated for the ingredients for this post to fall into place…

Most of us enjoy cake but when you’re royal, the mouth-watering concoction of eggs, flour and sugar take on a whole new significance. From cake-cutting with swords at official events, to multi-tiered wedding cakes with extravagant ingredients, there’s plenty to be learnt about royal confectionery over the ages. Indeed, earlier this month a rare slice of Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth II’s ‘10,000 mile’ wedding cake went up for auction (more on which later).

I spoke to food historian Sam Bilton and former chef for the royal family, Carolyn Robb, to get some insight into the types of cakes that have been popular throughout royal history.

Read on to find out all about the ‘10,000 mile’ cake, Prince William and Prince Harry’s unusual birthday cake requests, and King Charles’s meticulous cake habits. You will also get the chance to cast your vote to decide on which royal wedding cake is the best – and even get a sneak peek into my kitchen where you can watch me make Princess Diana’s ‘favourite’ cake (and even get the recipe)…

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Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive.

No doubt you will have seen the glittering state banquet and pomp and circumstance that followed US President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump as they embarked on their second state visit to the UK this week.

Of course, I couldn’t let an occasion like this pass without giving a historical perspective of events. As King Charles referenced in his speech, relations between the UK and US haven’t always been the most polite (think Washington v King George III!) but a greater co-operation and relationship between the two nations has

Read on to discover all the highs and lows of US presidential visits over the years…

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Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive.

It’s the season of summer holidays, when the royals take some much-needed respite and head off for some R&R.

I couldn’t let this time of year pass without telling you about the best bits of royal travel history as well as taking a look back at just how much things have changed for royal holidays.

Read on to discover the strange way Queen Victoria took to the water, which travel moment caused Queen Elizabeth II to shed a tear, and which destination is likely the royals’ favourite…

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Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive.

We all watched on riveted last week as the President and First Lady of France, Emmanuel and Brigitte Macron, enjoyed all that British pomp and ceremony has to offer as they were welcomed earlier this month to the UK for the first state visit from France in 17 years.

The visit heralded greater diplomatic closeness between France and the UK, emphasised by King Charles in his speech: "Our two countries face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions. As friends and as allies, we face them together. These challenges know no borders: no fortress can protect us against them this time.

"Our two nations share not only values, but also the tireless determination to act on them in the world."

Brigitte and Emmanuel were treated to a state banquet, a carriage procession through Windsor, and a visit to Westminster Abbey to see the Grave of the Unknown Warrior (get all the French state visit hidden details here).

Of course, my favourite moment had to be the state banquet as I do love to see royals in their finery. It got me thinking about the long history between France and the UK, and the tradition of state visits going back hundreds of years.

Read on to see astonishing archival photos and beautiful paintings, and to discover an extraordinary linguistic misunderstanding that befell one French president’s wife which certainly left me blushing…

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Hello, Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you this month’s edition of The Royal Archive.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll have been watching the great and good descend upon Royal Ascot this year, part of a long tradition between the monarchy and their equine companions. Seeing the royals react to their horses winning or losing got me thinking about the late Queen Elizabeth II, and how she always had such a fondness for horses throughout her lifetime.

Not only was Queen Elizabeth a lover of horses and an expert in all things equine, she also bred (and named) racehorses, carriage horses, hunters, sports and riding horses, and polo ponies.

The late Queen also loved to ride, and was often spotted out and about in the grounds of Windsor Castle, making time with horses an important part of her routine.

This year, the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace celebrates its 200th anniversary, and I spoke to Sally Goodsir, Curator of Decorative Arts at Royal Collection Trust, who is an expert in the history of the Mews.

Read on to discover what Mews staff put in Queen Elizabeth’s carriage on the day of her coronation, how a royal carriage has adopted modern technology, and which royal in history had an especially close connection with the Mews.

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Hello, Royal Clubbers, wishing you a very happy Sunday, and a welcome to this month’s edition of The Royal Archive, where we look back at historical places, people and events that have a link to the present.

A week ago the King and Queen had their coronation portraits unveiled, and we asked some experts and you, our lovely readers, what you thought.

Lots of you got in touch to give your verdict on the portraits, and a big thank you to everyone who responded to the poll – I can reveal 56 per cent of you preferred Queen Camilla’s portrait (me too!), while 34% liked both equally, and just 12 per cent preferred King Charles’s.

I spoke to Kate O’Donoghue, curator of international fine art at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool, which actually houses a Hans Holbein portrait of King Henry VIII.

Kate explained why royal portraits have historically been so important. “Portraits have always played an important role, religiously, socially and politically. They can tell us a lot about a person but also reveal much about the artist who captured them. Portraits present a version of the sitter, a construction of a certain persona, usually to reflect things like power, intelligence or desirability. This can be communicated in many ways, through pose, what someone is wearing or holding, and where they’re located.

“Portraits have the power to bring history to life. Consider the Tudors - for centuries they have been a cultural phenomenon and continue to capture the interest and imagination of audiences. This is in part because they are the first English royal dynasty for which we have an extensive visual record through portraiture, which was explored in the Walker Art Gallery’s 2022 exhibition The Tudors: Passion, Power and Politics in partnership with the National Portrait Gallery.”

This got me thinking about times in history when royal portraits have caused a stir for one reason or another, so I took a look into the archives to find some of the most controversial royal portraits throughout history – and asked Kate to weigh in.

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Hello Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you April’s instalment of The Royal Archive, our monthly newsletter which unearths historical royal tales with a link to the present day.

It’s been nearly 14 years since Prince William and Princess Catherine wed in Westminster Abbey in a ceremony watched by almost a billion people across the world. Royal fans will recall the pageantry such an occasion demanded, with 2,000 guests filling the abbey.

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Hello Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here, bringing you March’s instalment of The Royal Archive, our monthly newsletter which unearths historical royal tales with a link to the present day.

This weekend marks a year since the Princess of Wales released a video revealing her cancer diagnosis and subsequent chemotherapy. It was news which shocked the world, especially as such an intimate health revelation had rarely been shared by the royal family before.

It got me thinking about royals of ages gone by, especially when having a malady of any kind could be destabilising for the country. I’ve rounded up some of the more interesting royal ailments for your interest – I’d love to hear your reaction to these illnesses, if you knew about them previously or can think of any other royal afflictions that are worthy of mention.

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Hello, Royal Clubbers! It’s Millie, bringing you February’s instalment of The Royal Archive, our monthly newsletter which unearths historical royal tales with a link to the present day.

I’m especially excited to share this one with you as I got to speak to author and historian Helen Rappaport about her new book, The Rebel Romanov.

We’re going to be exploring the life of Princess Juliane-Henriette-Ulrike of Saxe-Coburg (try saying that quickly!), a lesser-known royal with a fascinating story who married into the Russian imperial family almost 230 years ago, in a move that helped establish the Saxe-Coburg dynasty in Europe.

If this sounds as exciting to you as it did to me, read on for her story…

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Hi Royal Clubbers, it’s Millie here wishing you all a happy Saturday. I can hardly believe it’s been a whole month since my trip to Hampton Court Palace, where I spoke with Professor Anthony Musson from Historic Royal Palaces about Henry VIII’s Christmas.

There are so many exciting editions of The Royal Archive coming your way over the next couple of months, and more interviews with leading historians and experts for you to enjoy.

We’re staying put for this month’s newsletter, the subject of which came as a real surprise to me: the forgotten tale of the Indian Army camps at Hampton Court Palace.

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Hi Royal clubbers, welcome back to another edition of The Royal Archive – your monthly fix of royal history. It’s Millie here, and I’m very excited to bring you this newsletter as it is a rather diff…

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Happy Saturday, Royal Clubbers! It’s Millie here bringing you our second edition of The Royal Archive, where we unearth royal figures, events and moments from the past that bear on the news of today.

Last month I explored the history of royal trips Down Under, inspired by King Charles and Queen Camilla’s tour of Australia. This month we have all been remembering those who died fighting in the world wars, which has led me down a markedly different path…

While the world wars of the 20th Century are recent enough (just) to be in living memory, seeing King Charles and Prince William at the Festival of Remembrance reminded me there was a time when kings and princes were expected to fight alongside their men, often in situations of extreme danger.

After all, Richard the Lionheart, known for his bravery and crusades, was fatally wounded in 1199 while besieging a castle in France – proving not even kings are safe in war.

Read on for The Royal Archive: The last kings to fight alongside their soldiers (some more successfully than others)…

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Happy Saturday, royal clubbers! It’s Millie here, bringing you our first edition of the Royal Archive, where we take you back in time to royal figures, events and moments in the past that have a link to the present.

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Thank you very much to Royal Club reader Sue who suggested a historical newsletter! Please do keep your thoughts and ideas coming in the comments – we love hearing from you.

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The inspiration behind today’s newsletter is King Charles and Queen Camilla’s royal tour to Australia and Samoa, which kicked off on Friday morning.

King Charles is only the second reigning monarch to set foot on Australian soil, after his mother Queen Elizabeth became the first in 1954.

Read on for Royal Archive: Inside the royal tours to Australia…

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