Princess Alexandra of Kent was the last member of the British royal family at whose birth a special official of the royal administration was present, to certify the fact of the birth of an infant of royal blood and to confirm…

Princess Alexandra of Kent was the last member of the British royal family at whose birth a special official of the royal administration was present, to certify the fact of the birth of an infant of royal blood and to confirm the legitimacy of the descent of a person in the line of succession. The rule went back to the great scandal in the reign of James II, when opponents of the Catholic sovereign accused Queen Mary of Modena of having used a changeling to conceal a stillbirth. After 1936 no secretaries attended royal births. Princess Alexandra herself was, at the moment of her birth, sixth in line to the English crown; in our day she stands at 52nd.

Report a translation error

September digest on archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

At the close of the Strugatskys' "Roadside Picnic" the Golden Sphere is asked for this: "Happiness for everybody, free, and let nobody go away unsatisfied!" I do not promise to leave no one aggrieved, but the digest really does come free. So, here is the

Frederic Leighton

Frederic Leighton. “Daedalus and Icarus”, 1869 Daedalus warns his son not to climb too high: the heat of the sun may melt the wax, but Icarus is already gazing into the distance, and the lamentations of a foolish old man interest him not in the least

Princess Alexandra of Kent was the last member of the British royal family at whose birth a special official of the royal administration was present, to certify the fact of the birth of an infant of royal blood and to confirm…

Read more

September digest on archaeological finds, exhibitions, museums, theatre and the Church

Frederic Leighton

Attempts to resolve the problems of many years of uncontrolled mass migration

Characters from Gogol's "Petersburg Tales" on the pedestal of the monument to Nikolai Gogol on Nikitsky Boulevard, photograph of the 1960s