Monarchies · Science · People
It is now known what Louis XIV really died of in 1715: a scientific study of his heart has revealed an infectious cause of death. Physicians now know which microbe brought on his gangrene. A palaeoproteomic study carried out on a sample of the heart of Louis XIV offers new
Aristocracy · The East · Art · Monarchies · Paris
Sotheby's has put up for sale the collections of the Iranian princess Niloufar Pahlavi, niece of the Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. The collection was kept in a mansion in the French capital, decorated by the legendary Renzo Mongiardino in the late 1970s. Most of the works of art
Faith · Art · Books · Monarchies
Miniatures from the "Visions of Tundale" (The Visions of the Knight Tondal), a fifteenth-century illuminated manuscript created by Simon Marmion around 1470 for Margaret of York, wife of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. This twelfth-century Irish text tells of a knight named Tondal (Tundale), who
London · Monarchies · Museums · Society
The Trump administration approached the Eisenhower Presidential Library and Museum in Abilene, Kansas, on the matter. Among other things, the institution's collection holds a sword presented to Eisenhower in 1947 by Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. The library, however, declined to hand over this or any other original
Faith · London · Monarchies · Society · People
A historic event took place in Great Britain today: for the first time in the 1,400-year history of the Anglican Church, a woman has been appointed Archbishop of Canterbury: Sarah Mullally. Her candidacy was approved by King Charles III, and Prime Minister Keir Starmer officially announced the decision.
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Education · People
Architecture · Monarchies · Heritage
In 1842 Ludwig I built Walhalla in Bavaria, a majestic memorial edifice to perpetuate the memory of outstanding Germans. Conforming precisely to the Greek architectural canon, the building, designed by Leo von Klenze, stands on a high bank of the Danube, 10 km from Regensburg, and recalls the Parthenon in
Architecture · Faith · The East · Art · Monarchies · People
The beautiful frescoes of Mikhail Nesterov in the Church of Alexander Nevsky at Abastumani in Georgia. This is a unique case: the entire interior of the church was painted in fresco by Nesterov himself, without the help of other artists: 56 compositions in 8 years. Nesterov's biography in
Faith · Art · London · Monarchies · Museums
otherwise known as the Wilton Diptych, made of two small panels joined by hinges and painted on both sides. On the front, at left, we see the young King Richard II kneeling, accompanied by two saintly kings of England, Edward the Confessor (eleventh century) with the ring intended for John
Aristocracy · Archive · Monarchies · Mores · Saint Petersburg
Interior of the study of Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukaya, the first Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya, in her house on the English Embankment in Saint Petersburg. Photograph of 1876. Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova (Dolgorukaya), from 1880 Most Serene Princess Yuryevskaya (1847 to 1922), was the second, morganatic, wife of Emperor Alexander II;
Books · Monarchies · Rome · Humour
What do you want? A republic? The republic was a fraud. Do you want civil wars again? Do you want famine in the streets once more? Do you want the barbarians to come knocking at your doors? You bawl yourselves hoarse in vain. Go home! Rabble! And you call yourselves
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Society
The King of Britain has met the oldest of his subjects, 116-year-old Ethel Caterham. I sometimes remark on this gesture of British rulers: attention and respect towards the elderly, with special meetings for veterans, visits to the long-lived, and congratulatory messages. Much of this exists in our