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NB! · Archive · Art · Observations · Mores
French Art Nouveau lady's bedroom interior and curtains resembling Soviet ones
Looking through sketches of French Art Nouveau interiors, I came upon some curious curtains that might easily have belonged to an old Soviet interior. At any rate, I keep at home valances and throws from the early twentieth century with almost exactly the same pattern
The East · Books · Monarchies · Mores · People
Katya Desnitskaya, Prince Chakrabon and Paustovsky's story of a Siamese queen
How a Russian noblewoman might have become Queen of Siam. "At the skating rink I often met a friend of my sister Galya, Katyusha Vesnitskaya, a senior schoolgirl at the Fundukleyev Girls' Gymnasium. My elder brother Borya was courting Katyusha. He used to waltz with her on skates.
Archive · Monarchies · Mores
Women of the Imperial Family as Colonels-in-Chief of Russian Regiments
Empress Alexandra Feodorovna in the uniform of Her Majesty's Life-Guards Uhlan Regiment, of which she was Colonel-in-Chief from 1903. On their fourteenth birthdays, the emperor's daughters became colonels of one of the formations of the Russian Imperial Army. The eldest daughter of Nicholas
Art · Monarchies · Mores · Paris
The only reliable image of a masquerade at the Louvre, made at the wish of Louis XIV
People had danced in masks as early as the Renaissance, but the first masked ball as we know it appeared only at the court of the young Louis XIV, and it was held in the Louvre. The people in the centre of the hall hold hands and perform the old
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People
Maria von Vetsera, her death with Crown Prince Rudolf and the crescent in her hair
The mystery of the death of Mary Vetsera, the Austrian noblewoman and beloved of Crown Prince Rudolf, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, remains unsolved to this day. The young baroness was found dead together with Crown Prince Rudolf on 30 January 1889. There are many
Faith · Monarchies · Mores · Society · People
In 1955, when Queen Elizabeth's younger sister Margaret turned 25, she was due to marry her beloved, Group Captain Peter Townsend
In 1955, when Queen Elizabeth's younger sister Margaret turned 25, she was due to marry her beloved, Colonel Peter Townsend. But the marriage did not take place, by the decision of the Queen: as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, she could not countenance the marriage of
Observations · Mores · Pop Culture
The author with Olya in an old city garden in Tver in summer
Many happy returns to my most stylish dear friend Olya Karput, who is not only one of the most agreeable and unquestionably beautiful women in the world of Russian fashion, but also, without a doubt, the finest partner for a ball! 💙💎. How sentimental I have become 🥹 In the photograph, Olya
Archive · Art · Monarchies · Mores · Humour
English satire of the Prince Regent, the future George IV, and his foreign tailors
To waste your time before a Glass Exposes oft a monstrous Ass! An English satire on the Prince Regent, surrounded by foreign tailors recommended by Prince Esterházy. The pointedly boundless lower deck of the future King George IV, at that time Regent of Great Britain in place of his incapacitated
Monarchies · Mores · People · Pop Culture
The Poltimore Tiara, bought by Princess Margaret in 1959 and later sold at Christie's
The Poltimore Tiara was bought by Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister Princess Margaret in 1959 for £5,500, which in today's money is almost 130,000. Margaret wore this tiara at her wedding to Antony Armstrong-Jones, incidentally the author of her legendary photo session. After
Books · Monarchies · Mores · Saint Petersburg
On 23 January 1874 Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, married Grand Duchess Maria, daughter of Tsar Alexander II, in Saint Petersburg
The wedding was preceded by agonising negotiations between Queen Victoria and the Romanovs. It is this wedding that is mentioned in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina. "...Vronsky ...had been attached to a foreign prince who had come to Petersburg, and it was his duty to show him
Faith · Art · Mores · Humour
The Pluralist
A satirical image mocking members of the clergy who draw several incomes at the expense of their primary duties. A priest balances in the heavens, resting upon the spires of four different churches while eyeing a fifth