NB! · Aristocracy · Archive · Mores · Pop Culture
Lee Radziwill (1933-2019), Janet Lee Bouvier (1907-1989), Jackie Kennedy (1929-1994). Three women of the Bouvier family who in their day shone in the social firmament of the United States
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores · Society
During the Belgian royal family's visit to the royal crypt, alongside King Philippe and Queen Mathilde and Philippe's parents, the 87-year-old Albert II of Belgium and 83-year-old Queen Paola, Princess Delphine was also spotted: Philippe's half-sister, the very woman
Aristocracy · Faith · Art · Mores · People
Sibylla of Saxe-Lauenburg (1675-1733), Margravine of Baden-Baden, in a masquerade costume as a sorceress. I do not know whether the outfit really came with fire-breathing asps; perhaps there were simply no fire salamanders to be had. In this portrait Sibylla has gathered together the various attributes
NB! · Aristocracy · Interviews · Monarchies · Paris · Society Pages
Paris Match managed to prepare, in time for the betrothal, a lengthy interview with the "tsarevich", Grand Duke George Mikhailovich, and Rebecca, christened in July 2020 as Victoria Romanovna, Bettarini. We await the print version
Aristocracy · Cinema · Books · Observations
I do not care for round-ups as a format, but this time Buro has put together an excellent list of 7 books of aristocratic character, from "Snobs" by Julian Fellowes, the very same Fellowes who shamelessly cribbed details of the private life of the Earls of Carnarvon
Aristocracy · Mores · Paris · Humour
When the Duke of Vendôme accused Marshal de Bassompierre of plotting against Richelieu, hinting at the marshal's secret marriage to the sister of the Duke of Guise with the words "You will doubtless take the side of Monsieur de Guise, because you kiss his sister, Madame de
Aristocracy · Art · London · Museums · Observations
Had a small dispute with ArtUK and National Trust Collections over Sir James Jebusa Shannon's 1918 portrait of Violet Lindsay, Duchess of Rutland (1856-1937). The cause of my displeasure is the description of the work, which states that in this exotic portrait Lady Violet, her hands dramatically
Aristocracy · Art · Observations · Mores · Education · Ethnography
A snowy day, Ronald Lampitt. One can go endlessly goose-pimpled watching Englishmen, certain continental Europeans and Americans stroll about in shorts in winter. Some will write it off as plain folly, others will recall ancient traditions, still others will put the wardrobe at odds with the weather down to
Aristocracy · Archive · Museums · Mores · People
Nothing special, just the elderly Marchesa Maria Arconati-Visconti playing a bored Renaissance page at home, in the Dutch castle of Gaasbeek. A great eccentric even in her youth, in her declining years the Marchesa Arconati-Visconti devoted herself to decorating and refurbishing a castle in the Southern Netherlands, which
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Seven-month-old Prince Charles of Luxembourg, the first child of Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and his wife Countess Stéphanie de Lannoy, is preparing to celebrate his first Christmas. I look at this photograph and remember travelling to Luxembourg by bus with Auntie Nina to buy meat for borscht, because
Aristocracy · Archive · Faith · People
Photograph from the Byron family vault in the Church of St Mary Magdalene at Hucknall. The poet's remains lie in a coffin bearing a small coronet. Beneath it stands the coffin of the previous lord, the Wicked or Sinful Byron, his great-uncle, which in turn rests on
Aristocracy · Science · People
The first programmer in history is held to be Countess Ada Lovelace, the only legitimate child of George Gordon Byron, whom she did, in fact, see precisely once in her life, when she was a month old. Brought up by the leading scholars of her day, Ada showed a gift