NB! · Art · Monarchies · People

Catherine II at 33, still Grand Duchess, in mourning for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, 1762

Catherine II at 33, still Grand Duchess, in mourning for Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, 1762. Portrait by Vigilius Eriksen, who was one of Catherine's favourite painters.

NB! · Architecture · Monarchies · Moscow · People

Catherine the Great and Her White Hands at the Entrance to the Grand Palace at Tsaritsyno

Archive · Books · Monarchies · Science · Nature

Butler's bee hierarchy with a queen at the head, an aristocracy and a plebs

The Hierarchy of Bee Society: An Illustration from The Feminine Monarchie, or The History of Bees, the 1609 Scientific Book by the English Naturalist Charles Butler. That bee society is headed by a queen was news at the time; this fact had been discovered only at the end of the

Art · Monarchies · People

Napoleon and His Son

Napoleon and his son. In a frock. Painting by Karl Karlovich Steuben, engraving after it by Alexandre Vincent Sixdeniers

A smiling woman in a light coat and hat holds the rail of a train window, with a man in dark clothing visible behind her.

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations

Elizabeth II smiling from a train window in a black-and-white photograph

Elizabeth II at a train window. Sad, though it is some time now since she was seen off.

Architecture · Books · Monarchies · Society · Saint Petersburg

In 1922 a quatrain by Demyan Bedny was carved on the pedestal of the monument to Alexander III:

My son and my father were executed in their lifetime, And I have reaped the lot of posthumous ignominy: I stand here as a cast-iron scarecrow for a country That has cast off for ever the yoke of autocracy. Literal translation

Faith · Monarchies · Museums · Science

Walking mechanical monk of the 16th century in the Smithsonian collection

The Getty research and education project tells the story of this unique artefact, created at the meeting point of science, art and religion. An almost supernatural automaton, 40 centimetres tall and 450 years old, in the form of a monk. The walking, gesticulating wooden figure belongs to the collection of

NB! · London · Monarchies · Pop Culture · Humour

Princess Anne and Her Adidas Sunglasses: An Ageless Alliance

Books · Monarchies · Mores · Humour

Writer Alexandra Churchill criticised the library in the home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

Churchill's granddaughter ridicules the wretched library in the home of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle. Alexandra Churchill, a writer and historian, drew attention to the half-empty bookcases, filled with dummy books and odd volumes that are destined to die alone on those shelves. By the lady'

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · People · Pop Culture

Princess Margaret, evidently, knew what style was

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Queen Victoria in life and Queen Victoria in a drawing by Lawrence Alma-Tadema

Queen Victoria in life and Queen Victoria in a drawing by Lawrence Alma-Tadema. Oh, these British artists

Aristocracy · Archive · In the Press · Monarchies

Calculation of Nicholas II's share of Russian blood published under the name of Alexey Suvorin

The Moscow Romanovs took their wives from Russian noble families, and their blood was purely Russian blood. But from Peter the Great onwards it became the custom to marry the heirs to the throne to foreigners, chiefly Germans, and the Russian ruling dynasty turned into a thoroughbred non-Russian one.