'A little like Game of Thrones': How the Royal Family came to rule

September 16, 2022 S Ho

We may associate the Royal Family with strict protocols and stiff upper lips, but King Charles III and the House of Windsor can trace their lineage back through centuries of bloody wars and brutal power struggles to 1066, when the illegitimate son of a duke and grandson of a tanner ascended the throne. I tried to somehow distill a thousand years worth of dynastic lineage into as many words in this overview that traces the Windsors back to William the Conqueror.

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I cover a broad range of topics - from the serious to the absurd - as a freelance general news writer at CTVNews.ca. Find my latest stories here:

2022

2021

'Perfect storm' ahead for some independent stores, but niche retailers will shine, analysts say
- Retailers will be taking stock of how they did during the Christmas shopping season — the most important sales period of the year — to gauge their chances of survival amid supply chain woes that are unlikely to resolve anytime soon, analysts say. But whether 2022 will be better or worse than 2021 may be up for debate.
A scathing review of a Michelin-starred restaurant in Italy is making headlines
Parents gifted $10B to adult children in past year to buy homes: CIBC
Freddy doesn’t live here anymore: A Nightmare on Elm Street home up for sale
Driftwood sheds light into Arctic sea ice changes over the last 500 years
Afghan family seeks justice after deadly incident at Kabul airport
In Afghanistan, one family reaches safety, while another remains stranded
'Blood on your hands': Afghan interpreter warns Trudeau if family is executed
Anguish, helplessness as Haiti crisis deepens in quake aftermath
Porsche, other brands cut ties with Chinese-Canadian celebrity Kris Wu amid MeToo allegations
- Accusations of predatory behaviour, including with underage teenage girls, against Chinese-Canadian celebrity Kris Wu have sparked online #MeToo discussions in China and prompted a number of brands, including Porsche, to end their relationship with the A-list superstar.

2020

From food to housing: What will cost you more in 2021?
Retailers had an ugly year in 2020. What will 2021 look like?
- The retail landscape in 2020 was always going to be grim, but the pandemic turned it into a graveyard of bankruptcies and closures, with dozens of chains shuttering doors at hundreds of store locations across Canada. And this does not even account for the countless local businesses also forced to close after serving neighbourhoods for decades. The outlook for 2021 remains gloomy for many retailers in Canada, especially apparel. While more closures are likely, the COVID-19 pandemic offers silver linings for some businesses.
Canadian military not training with Chinese army, defence minister says
Pot shops cropping up across First Nations communities in legal grey zone
Did a group of Princeton graduates figure out a secret to winning lotto scratch tickets?
If your password is on this list, you should change it
Travel agents worry they will have to return thousands of dollars in commissions under airline bailout plan
Canadian dollar hits strongest level in more than two years
Canada prepared for mass evacuation of citizens in Hong Kong if necessary
- The federal government has made preparations to evacuate some 300,000 Canadian citizens out of Hong Kong should the situation deteriorate, even though the chances of it becoming necessary are currently very low, according to Ottawa’s top diplomat in Hong Kong.
Elon Musk's SpaceX gets CRTC application approval for Starlink satellite internet
Canadians' opinions of U.S. drop to lowest level in nearly 40 years: survey
COVID-19 eroding global internet freedom, Canada among the most free, report says
How weather, COVID-19 spared Canada from wildfires like those in the U.S.
Retailer behind Garage, Dynamite latest company hit by pandemic
Top Trump adviser Peter Navarro disparages Canada's military efforts in Afghanistan
Finance Minister Bill Morneau resigns, will not seek re-election
Three-year-old victim in Beirut blast confirmed as one of two Canadians killed
Grieving family says Canada abandoned son in Florida prison
Arctic sea ice could be completely gone by 2035, new study predicts
Fox in Germany discovered with hoard of 100 shoes
- When the world feels incredibly divided and the news seems unrelentingly bad, a silly four-paragraph Internet pick-up about a fox with a shoe fetish seemed to be the break people needed from the doomscrolling.
Man drowns in Bellagio fountains in front of tourists: Las Vegas police
Bugs, dehydration, dense wilderness: Quebec manhunt covers dangerous terrain
RCMP says speculation over Rideau Hall outcome if suspect had been non-white a 'distraction'
After WE Charity fallout, students, non-profits await fate of $900M grant program
Who said Cronk was dead? Long-lost beverage rediscovered thanks to Twitter and a micro-brewery
Could this program help reduce gun violence in Canada’s largest city?
These retailers are closing Canadian locations in 2020
As 2020 retail closures accumulate, thousands more expected
- It was already shaping up to be a bad year for Canada’s retail landscape even before the pandemic, but as 2020 approached the halfway mark and provinces started to slowly reopen, at least one retail analyst predicts thousands more stores and restaurants could shutter in Canada by next year, with the effects felt for years to come.
Retailer Anthropologie denies Black shoppers were profiled with secret codename
Racial slurs are common in Toronto-area minor hockey league, players say
Wife of ex-Minneapolis police officer charged with murder files for divorce: lawyer
'I wish there was a sigh of relief': Black community reacts to officer's arrest
- Black community leaders, police officers and others say George Floyd’s death and the aftermath of how the case was handled has further eroded public trust in the justice system.
OPP dismantles Tyendinaga blockade, some demonstrators taken into custody
- Several people were taken into custody Monday as police moved in and began dismantling a blockade near Belleville, Ont., sparking condemnation from the Mohawk of Tyendinaga. Full story with my colleague Alexandra Mae Jones.
Ransomware costs Canadian companies as much as $2.3 billion
U.S. Space Force logo boldly goes where Star Trek has gone before
Bungee-jumping pig in China draws backlash on social media
Newfoundlanders, hunkered down in blistering winter storm, stockpile their #stormchips
Newfoundland blizzard as seen from space
Canadian recession not expected in 2020, despite uncertainties: economist
Death will turn Soleimani into a 'martyr' and unify Iran, researcher says
These theoretical 'stellar engines' could hypothetically move the entire solar system

2019