Jubilee Palace date for Wolverhampton lecturer

A leading University of Wolverhampton expert is to present a talk on the Royal Family and the press at a special Diamond Jubilee event at Kensington Palace.

The theme of the conference is the relationship between the monarchy and the modern world, and is organised by Historic Royal Palaces (HRP) to coincide with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations in June.

Paul Brighton, Head of the Department of Media, Film and Deaf Studies will present a paper about the press campaign against Queen Victoria’s consort, Prince Albert.

His paper, The Shadow Behind the Throne?, looks at the period 1853-4 when some newspapers questioned Prince Albert’s patriotism on the eve of the Crimean War.

Paul Brighton argues that the political context is crucial to understanding the press attacks on Albert, as newspapers, then as now, had strong political allegiances, and they were not shy of expressing them very vocally.

He says: “It is almost impossible to imagine today’s media demanding that a senior member of the Royal Family be sent to the Tower of London for treason: but that’s exactly what happened to Prince Albert just before the Crimean War. Some papers even went so far as to report that Queen Victoria herself might have to join him. They saw the Prince, quite wrongly, as too favourable to the absolute monarchies in Russia and Prussia.”

The Making of a Monarchy for the Modern World conference takes place at Kensington Palace in London from 6-8 June 2012.

Papers will address a range of inter-related topics covering the period from 1688 to the present day, including the global reach of the British monarchy; royal dress and material culture; the portrayal of monarchs in film and theatre and the relationship between royalty and the media.

Delegates will have the opportunity to attend an exclusive tour of Kensington Palace, a musical performance and a gala dinner in the King’s State Apartments.

For further details about the conference, visit: http://www.hrp.org.uk/monarchyconference

ENDS

For more information please contact Vickie Warren in the Media Relations Office on 01902 322736.