Aristocracy · Faith · Monarchies · Rome
A man in formal dress and a priest, photographed after a solemn liturgy, might well be heirs to the Austrian crown. Before us are the brothers of Habsburg-Lorraine, great-great-great-grandsons of Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria-Hungary. No great surprise, really, since the Habsburgs are today
Archive · Faith · Monarchies · Saint Petersburg · Humour
A Very Short Story about Dim but Dutiful Officials, Which Could Quite Easily Have Happened in Our Own Day. One day Paul I was receiving the Governor-General of Saint Petersburg, Count Pahlen, and the Catholic bishop Stanisław Siestrzeńcewicz, who enjoyed the Emperor's particular favour. How far the
Faith · Art · Monarchies · Humour
Mary of Modena was the heroine of such images. Here she is apparently being egged on by the treacherous and, for some reason, exceedingly swarthy (probably for greater conviction as to his malicious intent) Jesuit Sir Edward Petre, counsellor to James II, accused of complicity in the substitution of Mary&
Monarchies · Observations · Mores · People
Just think, what a tragic fate! Mary of Modena endured ten miscarriages, and five of her children died in infancy; and when at last a viable child came into the world, she was accused of having substituted a healthy baby for her real child, a sickly, feeble one, and most
Monarchies · Science · Education · People
The first obstetric mannequin was designed by Angélique Du Coudray, celebrated for her book on the fundamentals of midwifery and her vast experience of training young midwives. Under the influence of Du Coudray and her petition, the decision to deny women professional training in obstetrics was reversed. After this success,
Aristocracy · London · Monarchies · Mores · People
Catherine, younger sister of the nine-day queen Jane Grey, paid with her liberty for marrying without Elizabeth's leave: the Virgin Queen took the marriage of a maiden of the Tudor line for an attempted coup. All the more so since Catherine Grey had, in Elizabeth's
NB! · Art · Monarchies · Museums
The collar of the highest French order, that of the Holy Spirit, made of coral and belonging to Louis XVI. The other members of the order had to make do with something plainer: gold and enamel
Monarchies · Science · People
Scientists at Southern Methodist University in the United States link the difficulties Henry VIII's wives had in carrying children to the presence in the king's blood of a particular antigen, belonging to that group of peptides on red blood cells which, when present in a man&
London · Monarchies · Science · People
Could Syphilis Have Been the Cause of Henry VIII's Foul Temper? By the age of fifty Henry VIII was almost immobile, though legends were still told of his former prowess and might. Standing 186 centimetres tall, by the end of his life the king weighed 180 kilograms and
Monarchies · People
Prince of the Moskva Michel Ney Tries to Win Back Napoleon's Favour. Brave soldier, triumphant victor, eminent commander and darling of France, Marshal Ney was the very man who had persuaded Bonaparte, his patron, to abdicate the throne, and had himself taken a seat on the military council
Art · Monarchies · People
Incidentally, Marie Antoinette's court portraitist Vigée Le Brun took a lively interest in everything happening in the world, not only at Versailles, and travelled willingly. Moreover, she was a unique woman for her time, who journeyed across Europe on her own, without a male escort: her husband remained
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · People
The legend of the elder Fyodor Kuzmich, under whose name Alexander I supposedly lived in hiding in Siberia, is not the only evidence that the Emperor was terribly weighed down by the burden of the crown and longed to be rid of the duties of power, to run away. A