Aristocracy · In the Press · Interviews · Monarchies
The current head of the House of Habsburg, the grandson of Austria's last emperor, Charles I, 60-year-old Archduke Karl von Habsburg-Lothringen, has commented on the scandalous interview given by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, speaking to Austria's largest newspaper, the Kronen Zeitung. He
Faith · Observations · Ethnography · Humour
That's just the sort of people we are. Saint Peter reads on a slip of paper that the departed is a Russian, and at once admits him to heaven. A modern priest reports that a note bearing the so-called prayer of absolution is placed in the hands
Archive · London · Monarchies · Mores
Observations · Mores · Humour
There is no more absorbing novel than notes on the history of the fatherland. The wife of Grishka Otrepyev, False Dmitry I, Marina Mnishek, became so convinced that the second resurrected Dmitry was her husband, though in appearance he was not in the least like the first, that she received
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores · People
On 9 March, in his 98th year, Erling Sven Lorentzen, the Norwegian-Brazilian magnate and widower of Princess Ragnhild, eldest daughter of King Olav V of Norway, passed away. In his youth Lorentzen was a bodyguard, and among those he guarded was the Norwegian royal family, including Princess Ragnhild herself
Books · Observations
When the English novelist Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) was asked to write an article on the twelve best novels in world literature, he replied that all twelve had been written by Russian authors, and six of them came from the pen of a single man, Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev: "Virgin
Art · Books · People
Portrait of Louise Germaine de Staël (1766-1817), painted in 1812 by Vladimir Lukich Borovikovsky, when Madame de Staël was visiting Russia and warmly supporting the struggle against Napoleon
Faith · Books · Society · People
Christine de Pizan's (1364-1430) book "The City of Ladies" (1405) opens with the writer's account of how she was ashamed to be a woman, since women make men's lives so unbearable. Christine confesses that she fell into despair and felt herself
NB! · Archive · Art · Books
Illustration from The Book of the City of Ladies by Christine de Pizan, one of the first female writers of the Middle Ages, early fifteenth century. Reason, Rectitude and Justice help Christine de Pizan to build the City of Ladies
NB! · Art · London · Observations · Humour
How all men should look on 8 March. William Bruce Ellis Ranken (1881-1941), Covent Garden, 1930. Happy International Women's Day, to all the lovely, esteemed, priceless, dear girls and women 🌸
Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
I continue to collect stories of incredibly stubborn Russians. Take, for example, our dear priest Foma, who in 1495 took part in the wedding of Ivan III's daughter Elena to the Lithuanian prince Alexander Casimirovich. Ivan III had been particularly insistent that Prince Alexander should not compel the
Art · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
I can hardly believe anyone paid $12 million for this Churchill painting. Then again, one remembers Andy Warhol, and belief comes at once. Especially given its provenance: painted in January 1943 after a meeting with the US President Franklin Roosevelt in Casablanca, presented to Roosevelt that same year, acquired in