My new article in Reader’s Digest Canada discusses royal residences in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland and recent changes to where members of the royal family live in the reign of King Charles III.
Click here to read “The Ultimate Guide to Royal Residences” in Reader’s Digest Canada
I discussed Prince Harry, Meghan, and the end of their lease at Frogmore Cottage with Aisling Murphy at the Toronto Star.
I discussed Queen Elizabeth II’s annus horribilis in 1992 with Meilan Solly at Smithsonian Magazine including the breakdowns of the marriages of three of the Queen’s four children, the fire at Windsor Castle and how these events are being dramatized in Season 5 of The Crown on Netflix.
Volume 9, Issue 1, 2022 of The Royal Studies Journal is now available to read online. I was the proofreading editor for this issue, reviewing the final drafts of the articles and book reviews.
In my latest articles in the Canadian Encyclopedia, I discussed members of the royal family who made their home in Canada for months or years from Queen Victoria’s father, the Duke of Kent and Strathearn in the 1790s to Harry and Meghan, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in 2020.
Click here to read “Royals Who Lived in Canada” in the Canadian Encyclopedia
My new eight week online course at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies starts Wednesday January 12, 2022. Click here for more information and to register.
The year 2022 marks Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee, the 70th anniversary of her accession to the throne. It’s an opportunity to look back on the social, political and cultural changes during her long reign. The personal lives of royalty are a popular subject for fiction in novels, films and TV series but the real history is more interesting. Each generation of royalty must respond to the challenges of their times to keep the monarchy relevant and engaged with public opinion. Join Carolyn Harris, historian, commentator and author of Raising Royalty: 1000 Years of Royal Parenting for a lively discussion of the history, politics and cultural significance of the monarchy in the UK and Canada.
I discussed changes within the royal family in 2021 including the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and the press attention directed toward junior members of the royal family in a recent interview with Janet Davison for the CBC News Royal Fascinator Newsletter.
Click here to read “Shadows of a difficult 2021 loom over Royal Family ahead of next year’s Platinum Jubilee” at CBC News
I discussed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the royal family and their public engagements with Meghan Collie at Global News. The interview includes Prince Charles’s experience of coronavirus, recent virtual royal engagements and the changes to the royal calendar in response to the pandemic.
I will be teaching an eight week Tuesday evening course in March-April 2020 about Peter the Great and the Building of Saint Petersburg at the University of Toronto School of Continuing Studies. Click here for more information and to register.
When Peter became czar in 1682, Europe was foreign to Russia, an insular and tradition-bound nation. The West fascinated Peter, and he was determined to transform Russia into a great European power. Discover the traditional Russia of Peter’s childhood, his Grand Tour of Europe and his subsequent dream of building St. Petersburg, a new city to match his vision of the country. With images of the city and accounts of his cruel drive to create it, we’ll see how the city emerged as a symbol of his power and of Russia’s hopes.
Queen Elizabeth II’s granddaughter, Princess Beatrice of York, will marry Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi on May 29, 2020 in the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace. The Chapel Royal has not been a venue for royal weddings in more than 100 years but was the setting of important historical royal weddings including Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha in 1840 and the future King George V and Queen Mary in 1893. I discussed Princess Beatrice with Meghan Collie at Global News.