Hexadecimal colour code #001642. A slightly darker shade to Royal Blue (#002366), wouldn’t you know.
Royal Blue, the colour, was created / blended / discovered in Somerset, England, after a nationwide challenge by King George III for clothiers from all over the kingdom to come up with a suitable colour fit for royalty, and in particular his wife, Queen Charlotte. A kind of X Factor search of the time. The colour was blended, robes were sewn, and a further part of history was made.
This particular King and Queen, crowned as it happens on September 22nd 1761, had only met each other a couple of weeks before, actually on their wedding day. In 1762, King George bought the Queen a new home, Buckingham House in London, which was known at the time as the Queen’s House. Today, it’s Buckingham Palace.
The couple had a very successful marriage with many children, but the King had a fair few challenges himself to deal with during his reign. Little things, such as the American Declaration of Independence from the British Empire on July 4th 1776; a war with France in 1789; and, in 1812, the assassination of Spencer Perceval, the only British Prime Minister to suffer such a fate. George also suffered toward the end of his life with mental illness, to such an extent that he didn’t know that his wife had died in 1818. George himself passed away in Windsor Castle in 1820.
George and Charlotte’s eldest daughter, also Charlotte, was Princess Royal from 1789-1828, and their great granddaughter, Princess Victoria, took over the style in 1841. Her mother (and their granddaughter), also Victoria, had been Queen for about four years at the time.
The Princess Royal title began back in 1642. Not that the Princess Royal title has anything whatsoever to do with the Royal Blue colour, but through the intrinsic web of historical links, they are connected.
Maybe that’s where the term ‘blue blood’ comes from. Royal Blue, that is, and not the Hexadecimal interpretation of it… Having said that, the Royal Blue colour has nothing to do with hex code 001642 either…
However, the coincidental links are there again. Sideview’s weekend theme this week is Blue, 001642 is a shade of blue, the Princess Royal began in 1642, and a coronation took place just over 250 years ago yesterday for the royals who introduced a different shade of blue.
In Somerset, of all places, which just happens to be the county I chose to border Cheshire in my recent ‘Road to Meringue’ series…
My 1642 quest will continue.
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