Dressed in their iconic red coats and bearskin hats, the Queen’s Guard exemplify classic British pomp and no visit to London would be complete without witnessing this world-famous ceremony. The Changing of the Guard is a centuries-old tradition steeped in custom and is led by experienced, front-line soldiers.
For more than a millennium, the British royal family has captured the imagination of countless people, British and otherwise. However, there is another group of people that spend a lot of time at Buckingham Palace; and, while far less famous, they are, in my opinion, just as intriguing. Notoriously silent and stoic, the Queen’s Guard raise a lot of questions:
Who are they? How did they land the job? Just how heavy …
As I rounded the corner to visit Scotland’s Brodie Castle, the last person I expected to meet was Struwwelpeter. Yet mixed among the fine art, antique furniture and centuries of history in this magnificent turreted castle, there he was. Staring at me from, appropriately enough, the shelf in the former nursery!
Truth is, until that very moment, I’d never even heard of Struwwelpeter. But, with a cover illustration equal parts bewitching and bewildering, I was desperate to learn more and made a mental note of the book’s title as interior photography was not allowed. Immediately upon my return to Edinburgh later that week, I scoured every secondhand bookstore in town until I finally unearthed this beautiful 1940 hardback edition.…
Nestled inside the breathtaking hills of County Clare, you’ll find Hazel Mountain Chocolate Factory, the most remote chocolate factory in the world! Or at least I did, and quite by accident…
Making my way from Galway to Tralee, the landscape stunned. Broadly speaking, County Clare can be separated into two geographical regions. The south is comprised of gentle rolling countryside which courses alongside the River Shannon while the north is a rugged, limestoney land marked by vertiginous coastal cliffs. Wonderfulness.
As I cut across the county northwest to southeast, I couldn’t help but notice the crooked little sign jutting out from the side of the road: ‘Hazel Mountain Chocolate Factory’. Intrigued, I hit the blinker on my little red rental …
The murder of David Rizzio on March 9, 1566 was, quite possibly, the most dramatic moment in Scottish history.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Born in 1533 just outside of Turin, Italy, David Rizzio was a good musician and an excellent singer. An expert musician herself, Mary, Queen of Scots, also happened to be looking for a bass to sing in a quarter of French singers. After only two performances for the queen, Mary liked him so much that she offered him a job as a gentleman of the privy chamber. While some in the Scottish court found Rizzio to be an ugly little man, some found him quite affable. With his expensive taste in clothing coupled with an
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