Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Remember the Australian comedian who calls himself the secret son of King Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles? He has turned up again, and all the more opportunely, since the King and Queen's visit to Australia has come at just the right moment. As fresh proof of his royal
Cinema · Monarchies · Museums · Observations · Paris · Humour
But in fact this helmet, which I wrote about briefly in my book, is the sole surviving piece of the armour presented by the Emperor Maximilian I as a diplomatic gift to the English king Henry VIII in 1514. I trust no one will dispute that the old man would
NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Observations · Heritage · Paris
NB! · Archive · In the Press · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Good Lord, how touching! A memorial notice of the death of Harold Godwinson, the last Saxon king of England, in the Hastings Observer
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NB! · Monarchies · Society · Paris · People
On 16 October 1793, Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, was beheaded on the Place de la Révolution. In essence, the French Republic has still not acknowledged its crimes against the royal family, and has never reviewed the unjust, shameful trials of the royal family of France
NB! · Monarchies · Museums · Paris · People
Art · Madrid · Monarchies · Observations
Queen María Luisa of Parma of Spain, portrayed in this picture in court dress and an oriental headdress, was extremely pleased with Goya's work. She even praised him in her letters. She came to the studio tirelessly to admire how the portrait was progressing. When he finished, the
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Society
Note that, as dramatis personae of the alternative history of the West, they now use chiefly natives of the countries south of the Sahara, rather than non-Europeans of any other description. Precisely those whose demographic dynamics look the most promising in the European context
Aristocracy · Madrid · Monarchies · Museums
Mantle of the Grand Master of the Royal and Distinguished Spanish Order of Charles III. This is the second most important order in Spain after the Order of the Golden Fleece. The mantle belonged to King Ferdinand VIl. It is made of light blue silk in honour of the Virgin
Madrid · Monarchies · Mores · Society
Let me try to recount this absorbing tale in brief. Juan Carlos I, now a king in retirement, abdicated in favour of his son in the summer of 2014. He is now 86, bears the title of Emeritus King and lives in self-imposed exile outside Spain. The final years
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Princess Beatrice, niece of King Charles III and daughter of the notorious Prince Andrew, was born in 1988, and her distant relation Princess Victoria of Wales, daughter of Edward VII, was born in 1868. The same shadows beneath the eyes, the same shape of face, the same lips and nose.