Thank you to everyone who has read the Princess Palace blog. I really appreciate your interest and support! To celebrate your continued readership, here is a list of the Top 5 New Posts of 2024 and the Top 5 Archived Posts that you returned to explore.
TOP 5 NEW POSTS OF 2024
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Boudica statue across from the Palace of Westminster Photo by Luke McKernan via Wikimedia Commons |
#5 Queens of Britain Series: Mary I
(Posted June 2024)
Remembered as "Bloody Mary" for her religious persecutions, Mary's life was shaped by the turbulent disruption of her family that saw her fall from beloved daughter to outcast bastard. Nevertheless, she became England's first crowned female monarch.
#4 Queens of Britain Series: Margaret Maid of Norway
(Posted April 2024)
The dangers of medieval life led to one tiny girl, born and raised far away in Norway, becoming the Queen of Scotland. Those dangers also meant that the young orphan never set foot in her kingdom.
#3 Queens of Britain Series: Empress Matilda (Posted March 2024)
The tragic death of her brother caused a young widow to be recalled from Germany to serve as the first recognized heir to England. Upon her father's death, however, many of his lords forswore their allegiance to her sparking a civil war that would bring her within hours of being crowned as England's first female monarch. While the crown slipped through her own fingers, she ultimately secured it for her son.
#2 Queens of Britain Series: Lady Jane Grey
(Posted May 2024)
When her father and father-in-law conspired to maintain their own power by placing Jane on the throne after the death of her cousin King Edward VI, they did not count on two things. First, 16-year-old Jane had a strong will and would not allow them to pass her power to her husband, who had no dynastic ties to the crown. Second, the people of England would stand up for the rights of Edward's sister over his cousin. Remembered as the "Nine Days Queen", the bright young Jane was executed although she was little more than a pawn to the men around her.
#1 Queens of Britain Series: Boudica
(Posted January 2024)
The bravery of the Iceni Queen Boudica, who dared to defy Briton's Roman overlords, has grown almost mythic over the millennium since she lived. Despite nearly achieving her goal of overthrowing the empire, Roman chroniclers built up the legend of Boudica and she has reemerged time and again over the centuries as the embodiment of British nationhood and female empowerment. This year, my post about her drew more readers than any other new post in 2024.
TOP 5 ARCHIVED POSTS IN 2024
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Princess Alix of Hesse, one of Queen Victoria's "Gorgeous Granddaughters", before she became the Empress of Russia and was murdered with her family. Photo via Wikimedia Commons |
(Originally posted in 2009)
In the 15 years since it was first written, this post has usually topped the "This Week's Favorite Posts" list more weeks than not. It welcomes a lot of first-time readers using the search terms "how to become a princess." The post originally explored how the royal wives of 2009 met their husbands but has been updated over the years to include more recent brides.
#4 We Three Queens
(Originally posted in 2011)
The Tudor dynasty and the marital history of King Henry VIII has maintained a fascination for half a millennium. This continued interest, the popularity of the stage musical "Six" and my own posts about the reigning women of the 16th Century all helped to bring readers to the #4 and #3 Archived Posts in 2024. "We Three Queens" takes a look at Henry's first three wives, all of whom were considered queens in the year 1536.
#3 Killing Queens: A Bloody Tudor Heritage
(Originally posted in 2009)
A lot public interest has focused on King Henry VIII's penchant for mistreating his many wives, including the fact that he had two of them beheaded. In this post, I expand the Tudor dynasty's fatal decisions to include the fact that both of his daughters also had queens beheaded, although in their cases, the women they killed were actual traitors and rivals for their own thrones.
#2 The Wives of Hussein
(Originally posted in 2018)
Twenty-five years after King Hussein of Jordan's death, we remain interested in his large family, which he created with four wives from four different nations. With 11 children born or adopted between 1956 and 1986, Hussein was a beloved father. His first two marriages ended in divorce and the third with the tragic death of his wife in a helicopter crash, while the fourth lasted 21 years (longer than the first three combined) until his own death in 1999.
#1 Gorgeous Granddaughters of Queen Victoria
(Originally posted in 2014)
Sparked by a conversation a decade ago on social media, this post attempts to capture the perceived beauty (or lack thereof) of Queen Victoria's 22 granddaughters. They include celebrated beauties like the martyred Elizabeth and Alix of Hesse, the dramatic Romanian queen Marie of Edinburgh, and the bereaved Spanish queen Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg as well as the derided "plain" Wales sisters, Margaret of Prussia, and the Schleswig-Holstein sisters who eventually became "Princesses of Nothing." This post has remained a perennial favorite for readers since it was first posted a decade ago.
