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Monarchies
Art · Monarchies · Observations · Humour
Hairstyle of Empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus, on a coin
All the best things were invented in antiquity. Take this hairstyle of the Empress Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. I understand that few would expend so much effort on arranging their hair, especially in the absence of slave labour, but it looks positively regal. Incidentally, I commend the maker
Geography · Maps · Monarchies · Mores · People
Map of Emperor Hadrian's Journeys Across the Provinces of the Roman Empire
Map of the travels of Emperor Hadrian through the towns and provinces of the Roman Empire. Hadrian did not begin his reign in Rome, and he went on to spend it in perpetual motion, setting off now for Germany, now for Britain, now for the East: he oversaw the building
Faith · Art · London · Monarchies · Museums
Angels in lapis-lazuli robes and white chaplets of roses, gathered about the Virgin and Christ Child on the right-hand panel of the Wilton Diptych, the celebrated monument of Gothic panel painting of the late fourteenth century, have become a riddle for a
The principal explanations come down to the personal iconography of King Richard II, who is himself portrayed kneeling on the left-hand panel with his patron saints John the Baptist, Edward the Confessor and Edmund the Martyr. Eleven was the number of gold coins that Richard offered to the Virgin
Archive · London · Monarchies · Mores · People
Wallis's meeting with the Queen Mother and her burial beside her husband at Frogmore
The Dowager Duchess of Windsor, a.k.a. Wallis Simpson, in England in May 1972, before the funeral of her husband, the former King Edward VIII. Wallis does not merely look lonely but frightened: she could hardly fail to dread a meeting with the Queen Mother, whom she had not
Monarchies · Mores · Society · Humour
A 55-year-old Australian claims to be the secret son of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker
A 55-year-old Australian claims to be the secret son of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker. For years now, Simon Charles Dorante-Day has been trying to prove it. By his account, he was born to 19-year-old Camilla by 17-year-old Charles. Adopted at ten months
Archive · Faith · Monarchies · Society
Viktor Orbán, the Hungarian prime minister, known for his Euroscepticism and anti-migrant views, has presented Pope Francis with a copy of a letter of 1243 from King Béla IV of Hungary to Pope Innocent IV, in which the king informs the pope…
As is well known, Béla IV warned the pontiffs of the Mongol menace more than once; he wrote to Gregory IX as well, begging for help, but these pleas went unanswered. Nor did any European state respond to the call to defend Hungary, and in the end the whole country
Faith · Cinema · Monarchies · Humour
Horns on the helmet of Alexander the Great and their link to the cult of Zeus and Amon
The helmet of Alexander of Macedon in the film "Gentlemen of Fortune" is made from a fireman's helmet. Alexander did in fact have a horned helmet, but the point is not whether it bore even the faintest resemblance to a firefighter's hard hat painted
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Observations · Society Pages · Humour
The Late Queen Fabiola of Belgium Sends Greetings to Her Niece, Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, Who Wore Her Diamond Earrings to the Wedding of Her Daughter, Princess Marie-Annunciata of Liechtenstein, in Vienna the Other Day
Sorry if, from now on, you will always picture the departed owners of old things saluting you from the other world whenever you come to use them. On the other hand, it may even be good for you
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Paris · People
Twenty-four years ago, Arthur Edwards, who had photographed Princess Diana for seventeen years, took this picture of her coffin leaving the ancient Pitié-Salpêtrière hospital in Paris
Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
Augustus, Caracalla, Hadrian and other Roman emperors depicted as cartoon characters
One can always do something more productive, but then we should never have learnt which of the Roman emperors makes the most charming cartoon character: Augustus, Caracalla, Hadrian, Vespasian, Otho, Nero or Galba? Alas, the outcome resembles a sitting of the Federation Council, and one can look with any warmth
Monarchies · Observations · Pop Culture · Humour
An advert has popped up on Instagram for a maker of costume jewellery who has produced a replica of the crown of the British Empire
An advert has popped up on Instagram for a maker of costume jewellery who has produced a replica of the crown of the British Empire. A highly questionable bit of handiwork, though it would be most interesting to see the customer (actually, no). I shall not give a link to