Charlotte Ashby

Country house enthusiast, royal wedding devotee, and unapologetic admirer of centuries-old tradition. Charlotte brings warmth and intimacy to stories about how royals actually live — the homes, the rituals, the family moments behind the pageantry. "Behind every crown is a family — and families are always interesting."
Crown Chronicles

The Day the Royal Family Changed Its Name and Hoped Nobody Would Notice

Charlotte Ashby -
Crown Chronicles: history that still shapes the throne. I have always found it rather touching that the British royal family is named after a castle....
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Crown Jewels Nobody Has Ever Seen, Not Even the Emperor Who Owns Them

Charlotte Ashby -
A mirror, a sword, and a jewel have legitimised the Japanese throne since the year 690. No reigning emperor has ever been allowed to actually see them.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Mountain Was the Message: Catherine, Princess of Wales and the Challenge She Had to Take On

Charlotte Ashby -
She climbed three mountains in 24 hours for the hospital that treated her cancer. But the moment that said the most happened on a foggy summit, with an eleven-year-old boy in a wheelchair.
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Royal News

The Future King Who Spent His Birthday Year in Basic Training

Charlotte Ashby -
Crown Prince Christian of Denmark spent his twentieth year in basic officer training, just completed alongside 119 other cadets. Here's what that year actually looked like.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Future King Who Spent His Birthday Year in Basic Training

Charlotte Ashby -
Crown Prince Christian of Denmark spent his twentieth year in basic officer training, just completed alongside 119 other cadets. Here's what that year actually looked like.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Princess Who Walked Across a Harvard Stage Under a Name Nobody Recognised

Charlotte Ashby -
Princess Elisabeth of Belgium finished her Harvard master's this May, collecting her diploma under her family name rather than her royal title. Here's what her education says about her family.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Princess Who Wanted to Be a Student: What Princess Amalia Tells Us About Growing Up Royal

Charlotte Ashby -
She named her horse Mojito, worked at a beach bar, turned down a million-dollar allowance, and moved into student accommodation. Then the kidnapping threats came. Growing up heir to the Dutch throne has been rather more complicated than most.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Balcony, the Children, and the Tradition That Keeps Renewing Itself: Trooping the Colour 2026

Charlotte Ashby -
Every year without fail, the most precisely choreographed event in the royal calendar produces moments that no amount of rehearsal could manufacture. That is the magic of Trooping the Colour.
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Culture & Lifestyle

The Dragon King’s Kingdom: Why Bhutan’s Royal Family Is the Most Quietly Captivating Monarchy You’re Not Watching

Charlotte Ashby -
In a kingdom that measures happiness instead of productivity, Bhutan's royal family keeps turning up — to highland festivals, remote villages, and the ordinary life of their kingdom — because they want to.
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Culture & Lifestyle

A Cotswolds Wedding and a Blended Family: The Human Story Behind Peter Phillips’s Big Day

Charlotte Ashby -
Peter Phillips married Harriet Sperling in a Gloucestershire village church and celebrated at his childhood home — and it was all the more royal for its simplicity.
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