Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
Today there is cause for a drink: 20,000 subscribers! So I find myself in the modest company of a Corton Charlemagne Grand Cru. This wine is sometimes called the great white wine of Burgundy, and not without reason. After the victory over the Saracens in 732, the grandfather of
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The admirers of Ferdinand VII could, of course, have known that while they fought for his freedom under the slogans «God. Fatherland. King», their dearly beloved ruler was heartily congratulating Napoleon on his victories on the Spanish front. The Otechestvennye zapiski of 1868 offered a rather pithy characterisation of Ferdinand:
Art · Monarchies · Museums · People
The coffin of Maximilian of Habsburg, Archduke of Austria and Emperor of Mexico, who came to the throne with the help of Napoleon III and by means of a so-called plebiscite. Maximilian was in many respects a charming ruler, but he failed to hold on to power: he swerved
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"Ah, you naughty girl! How could you write such a letter! How cold it is! My soul is sad! My heart melts, and my imagination simply frightens me. You love me less strongly. A day will come when you will cease to love me altogether." I have been
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Four-year-old little Victoria, the future Queen of Great Britain, in black. Victoria spent nearly half her life in black, from the death of Prince Albert in 1861 to the end of her days in 1901
Architecture · Monarchies · Mores · Rome · Humour
At the entrance to the main building of the Villa Medici, which today houses the French Academy in Rome, stands a fountain of imposing size. The round basin was acquired by Cardinal Ferdinando de' Medici, who bought it in 1587 for 200 scudi from the monastery of San Salvatore
Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Mores
The grand portrait of the Dauphins of France with the Marquise de Lansac. In 1638 Cardinal Richelieu filled every court office with his own creatures, and installed a relative of his as governess to the future king and the Duke of Orléans. The elderly woman beside the little boys is
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Architecture · Monarchies · Mores · Humour
If you too fell for the gossip that Louis-Philippe was a nasty piece of work and a scoundrel, perhaps this charming lift, which he devised and installed at the Château de Fontainebleau in 1840 for his elderly sister, will make you think again. Then again, even scoundrels love their
Geography · Maps · Monarchies · Museums · Education · Paris
This colossal globe, 1.3 metres in diameter, was made by the renowned geographer Edme Mentelle in 1788 at the commission of Louis XVI for the education of the Dauphin. The outer sphere opens along the prime meridian, which at that time ran through the Canary Islands; on its reverse
The East · Monarchies · Observations · Society
Today Akihito, the 125th Emperor of Japan, formally abdicated the Chrysanthemum Throne; tomorrow his eldest son, 59-year-old Naruhito, will be enthroned. By way of comparison, Akihito's father, Emperor Showa, lived to almost 88 and reigned for 62 years. Since abdication was not provided for by the