Queen Victoria’s intimates added to royal dress collection at Kensington Palace

October 9th, 2009 LONDON - The identity of the "cursed blood" disorder that troubled the British Royal Family in the 19th and early 20th centuries has been revealed. DNA analysis show that the disease inherited by Queen Victoria's descendants was probably a severe form of the blood clotting disorder haemophilia B, according to the study published in journal Science.

September 8th, 2009 Victoria's secret: royal bloomers join collectionLONDON — A set of roomy bloomers that once belonged to Queen Victoria are back in royal drawers. The underwear — which has a 56-inch (142-centimeter) waist — has been added to Britain's Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection at Kensington Palace.

September 8th, 2009 LONDON - A bizarre heirloom of the Royal Family has emerged in the form of a pair of oversized knickers belonging to Her Majesty Queen Victoria. The linen "split drawers", which had been hidden in a private collection for 100 years, measured 52 inches around the waist, and were sold at auction for 600 pounds to the Royal Ceremonial Dress Collection charity.

August 10th, 2009 LONDON - The royal tradition of servants and guests walking backwards when leaving a room after seeing the Queen has reportedly been deserted over health and safety concerns. The practice was reportedly dropped for most Palace staff and all visitors over fears that it could lead to someone getting injured, and perhaps slapping Buckingham Palace with a lawsuit for damages.

June 27th, 2009 LONDON - British monarch Queen Elizabeth II has said that she will not accede to an MPs demand to open Buckingham Palace more often to the public to generate millions in extra revenue for badly needed repairs. According to The Telegraph, the Commons Public Accounts Committee has urged the royal household to devise a business plan for keeping the building open longer to try to pay for a backlog of maintenance that has risen to 32 million pounds.

June 14th, 2009 LONDON - Queen Elizabeth II and Michelle Obama have struck a firm friendship since they first met at the G20 summit in London in April, according to sources. The Queen, in what was suggested to be a sign of close bonding, allegedly let the US First Lady and her daughters to have a rare guided tour of Buckingham Palace during their visit to the capital last week.

May 27th, 2009 LONDON - Buckingham Palace officials are very angry with French President Nicolas Sarkozy because he has not invited the Queen as a guest at next week's D-Day 65th anniversary. Organisers have revealed that the French President is focused on the "main event" of hosting his US counterpart Barack Obama.

May 26th, 2009 LONDON - A Sikh group from Slough has written to Queen Elizabeth requesting her to return property and items belonging to the family of Punjab's last king Ranjit Singh. The Telegraph quoted Jagdeesh Singh, from the Sikh Community Action Network, as saying: "We have written to the Queen asking for access rights and the eventual return of items such as historic copies of the Sikh national sacred writings, together with swords and weapons of the Sikh gurus." According to Singh, letters, diaries and writings of Maharaja Duleep Singh, the Sikh ruler exiled to Britain in the 19th century, are also part of the collection, some of which is housed at Windsor Castle.

May 24th, 2009 LONDON - Britain's Queen Elizabeth could have been at the mercy of terrorists recently because of a security breach at Buckinhgam Palace. According to a News of The World report, two of its undercover reporters were given access to Her Majesty's fleet of limos inside the palace grounds by the Asian boyfriend of a Lithuanian hooker.

May 14th, 2009 LONDON - A collection of personal letters and photographs addressed to a friend by Queen Mary have come into the limelight for the first time and are set to go under the hammer. The collection, spanning half a century, unravels the correspondence between the royal and her friend, Kate Rube, and later Rube's daughter Elizabeth Gillman.

May 13th, 2009 LONDON - Prince William had to apologise after a 109-year-old woman wrote to the Queen to complain that Her Majesty wore the same yellow dress in all five royal birthday cards sent to congratulate her. Catherine Masters' letter compelled William to promise that his grandmother would wear a new outfit for the next card.

May 5th, 2009 LONDON - Just a few days after the sex scandal on the Queen's front lawn came to light, a second one has been reported involving the Senior Under Butler of the Monarch. Robert Wilson, who held the job title Senior Under Butler to the Silver and Gilt Pantry, was discovered ogling at gay porn on his laptop, just minutes after he served Her Majesty and Prince Philip their afternoon tea at their Sandringham estate in Norfolk.

April 15th, 2009 LONDON - The Queen had sent her "warmest good wishes" to Jade Goody a week before the reality star lost her life to cancer. The Royal had taken the unusual step of sending the heartfelt message in a note that had arrived at the late 27-year-old's home in Upshire, Essex as she lay struggling for her life.

March 7th, 2009 LONDON - US President Barack Obama and his wife Michelle are expected to be received by Queen Elizabeth II during the Group of 20 (G20) summit in London next month, according to media reports Friday. The private visit is due to take place at Buckingham Palace before the start of the one-day summit of world leaders in London April 2.

December 27th, 2008 LONDON - Britain's Queen Elizabeth II has banned staff from revealing details of their work in a bid to prevent further embarrassing leaks of the goings-on in the royal household, according to reports Sunday. More than 200 butlers, cooks and general and cleaning staff are to sign confidentiality contracts by which they could lose their jobs for discussing any aspect of the royal household even with their own families, the News of the World reported.