Royal magazines, 1901-77

Written By Dr Craig Horner.

A donation arrived a little while ago and we’re only now able to take a closer look. John from Cambridge had sent two boxes of magazines, all with a royal theme. There are about two dozen titles (below), going back to 1901 (an Illustrated London News special on the death of Victoria), and, with most of the rest in the 1920s, 1930s and 1950s, the set finishes off in 1977. John tells us that the magazines were found in the attic of his mother-in-law’s house, which she had lived in since the 1970s, and were probably left behind by a previous owner.

Whoever that person was, they evidently sought out just about anything on their newsagent’s shelves with a royal theme. So, we have some specific celebratory pamphlets and souvenirs, such as Off Duty: the Royal Family at Leisure (1947); or Our Princess Weds (1947). We’ll certainly keep these but they didn’t generally have any ads.

It’s the periodicals that really got our attention, and you can get an idea of the range of titles from the photos. There was so much in fact that I’m simply going to concentrate on an issue of The Queen magazine from 1934 and a 1953 issue of Heiress.

Why The Queen? I was particularly taken with this magazine, here spanning 1934 to 1954. This was a beautifully put together magazine, on art paper, and a weekly. It started in 1861 (when Victoria apparently approved the title) and survived until 1970 when it merged with Harper’s Bazaar to make Harper’s and Queen. Sampling a copy from 28 November 1934, ‘The Lady’s Newspaper’, as it was straplined, had articles on various royals, stage and screen, court gossip, fashion (with advice on this occasion handily provided by Princess Marina), careers (dentistry for women) and travel. A short story is carried over to the next edition. There’s also a feature on what to wear ‘if your bust is too large’ (or ‘too small’) – you should start, apparently, by ‘studying your faults’ in the mirror. Ads are for whisky, Huntley and Palmer’s chocolate, Shredded Wheat, blotting pads, underwear made from the ‘miracle yarn’ Lastex, and Burberry. At a shilling it was very expensive at the time, but the readership was upmarket. Physically very large, there is colour scattered throughout the magazine, used for ads and editorial.

And why the Heiress? Well, it is an altogether different publication. This was a monthly, about A5 in size and costing a shilling. The paper is much cheaper (although this could be because of post-war rationing?), but despite this was clearly meant for the upmarket reader – in fact, the strapline tells us it was ‘The magazine for the older girl’. A bit of background to this one. It had started in 1880 as Girl’s Own Paper, and became Girl’s Own Paper and Heiress in 1947. By 1952 it was simply Heiress, and didn’t last much longer, closing in 1956. This particular issue (March 1953) had articles on opera, travel, pets, cookery, beauty, fashion, fiction and skating. There was a short story, and an article tackled the vexed question of the good-night kiss. The royal connection here is the pull-out ‘Heiress Royal Family Album no. 2’, and ‘the story of’ Princess Alexandra. The ads are wonderful: laxatives, shampoos, Parto’s brassieres, Persil, Cusson’s Imperial Leather soap, the WRAC, Hercules bicycles and Goya perfume.

I can’t finish without mentioning the Daily Mail ‘Silver Jubilee’ special of 6 May 1935. This enormous eight-pager, costing a shilling, was a rose-tinted round up of the last 25 years by way of celebration for George V’s jubilee. It was printed on silver-inked paper and would have stood out a mile on the newsagent’s shelf.

The periodicals are:

Weekly Illustrated 1937

Graphic 1910, 1929

Tatler 1935, 1947, 1952, 1953

Picture Post 1947, 1952, 1954

Somerset Life 1967?

Sketch 1934

Sphere 1923, 1929, 1935, 1947, 1950, 1953

Illustrated London News 1901, 1922, 1960, 1962, 1977

The Queen 1934, 1935, 1947, 1948, 1952, 1953, 1954

Daily Mail 1935 (silver special supplement)

The Lady 1934

Holly Leaves, 1967

Panorama 1938, 1948, 1958

Punch 1952

Illustrated 1947, 1948

The King’s Army 1950s?

Woman’s Own 1935 1937

Coronation Day 1937

Lady’s Companion 1935, 1937

The Story of our King and Queen 1935

Woman’s Pictorial 1935

Home Chat 1935

Heiress 1953


Dr Craig Horner.

Craig Horner was until recently senior lecturer in history at Manchester Metropolitan University, and is now retired. His research is in late-Victorian mobility, especially cycling and motoring.

He has written on early motoring, most recently The Emergence of Bicycling and Automobility in Britain published by Bloomsbury 2021 and edits Aspects of Motoring History for the Society of Automotive Historians in Britain.

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Vole magazine, 1977-80