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Valery Tishkov on the title Father of the Fatherland granted to Peter the Great in 1721

"..Notable in this respect is the act of 1721 that bestowed on Peter I the title of Emperor of All Russia. The members of the Senate and the Holy Synod asked the sovereign to take upon himself the title "Father of the Fatherland", since he had done

The East · Monarchies · Observations · Society

The History of the Golden Horde Is Inseparable from the Chronicle of Modern Kazakh Statehood, Says Kazakhstan's President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev

In short, it is not only in Russia that politicians turn their gaze to the Middle Ages

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

A proud skeleton on a mountain of skulls: not a bad design for a monument to Napoleon, and one that remains apt for many a ruler even in our own day

NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Looking at this 1909 photograph of Sir Winston Churchill, then a major and a Member of Parliament, with Kaiser Wilhelm II, I think not of history and politics but of how splendid it would be to bring back capes like Wilhelm's into men's fashion

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Paris · People

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840

Arrival of Napoleon's coffin aboard the ship La Belle Poule (The Pretty Hen), 15 December 1840. Eugène Isabey

NB! · Art · Monarchies · Nature · Humour

Louis XV's cat, General, is apparently unaware that the hare will not be getting up again

Louis XV's cat, General, is apparently unaware that the hare will not be getting up again. Painting by Jean-Baptiste Oudry

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Pop Culture · Humour

If you happen to have thirty-five to forty million roubles lying about, you might consider acquiring the tiara of Pauline Bonaparte

If you happen to have thirty-five to forty million roubles lying about, you might consider acquiring the tiara of Pauline Bonaparte. My business is merely to suggest it

NB! · Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour

Incidentally, the dog of Henrietta of England wears far more interesting earrings than its mistress

Archive · Books · Monarchies · People

The man after whom Franz Josef Land, now part of Russia, is named, one of the longest-reigning monarchs of Europe, Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, Bohemia, Croatia and Slavonia, Galicia and Lodomeria, Franz Joseph I…

A photograph of 1910: the old man here is 80, and he will go on reigning for another 6 years and live to see the murder of his heir, Archduke Franz Ferdinand. If you remember the novel «The Man Without Qualities», the preparations for the coming seventieth anniversary of Franz

Aristocracy · In the Press · Monarchies · Observations · Society

Modern Romanovs and their claims to the Russian throne under pre-revolutionary law

The wedding of Georgy Mikhailovich Romanov has caused a great commotion, and waves of displeasure and outrage are still spreading across the windless surface of our infosphere. Characteristically, I have had messages from people among my acquaintances, even ones permitted to follow me on Insta, saying that all of us

NB! · Aristocracy · Monarchies · Pop Culture

Pierre Casiraghi becomes ambassador for Dior menswear

Pierre Casiraghi has become an ambassador for Dior menswear. Pierre is the younger son of Caroline, Princess of Monaco and Hanover, and the Italian racing driver and businessman Stefano Casiraghi. Pierre's wife Beatrice Borromeo is one of Dior's global ambassadors, while his elder sister Charlotte Casiraghi

Aristocracy · Monarchies · Science · Mores · Paris

Microscope of the Duke of Chaulnes, made around 1750 and sold in 2008 for 900,000 euros

In the drawing room of the antiquary Michel Meyer stood a microscope, an intriguing trinket, though many would call it heaven knows what, neither the most decorative nor the most useful item in the furnishings. Good for propping up books, perhaps, or weighing down the sauerkraut? Yet this microscope dates