Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies · Museums
One of the eight parts of the famous series of tapestries of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. The tapestry was made in 1466 in the millefleurs technique, popular in the 15th and 16th centuries, that is, "a thousand flowers", which make up the main artistic body of
London · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
On the well-worn anecdote about how at Queen Elizabeth II's reception in 1961 Yury Gagarin, having drunk a cup of tea with lemon, fished out the slice of lemon and ate it, there is one clarification. Such an incident did indeed occur, but the man in question
Cinema · Monarchies · Mores · People
Hollywood diva Loretta Young as the English queen Berengaria of Navarre in the 1935 film The Crusaders. Berengaria is the only English queen who never set foot on English soil. It is held, however, that she may after all have visited England, but only after the death of her husband,
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Marina Amaral has colourised a snap of Franz Ferdinand taken a couple of minutes before his assassination on 28 June 1914. The Archduke wears the pale blue tunic of a general of cavalry, black trousers with red stripes and a cap with green parrot feathers. His wife, the Most Serene
Art · Monarchies · Observations
I adore this detail from The Battle of Fontenoy by Horace Vernet, painter, diplomat and popularizer of battle painting. It is generally held that the scene shows a father kissing his son after the battle. Though perhaps it is not a father at all. The young man, incidentally, holds in
Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies
Daughter, Élisabeth Charlotte de Bourbon-Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine, and mother, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Princess of Orléans. Eighteenth century. An incredible likeness, an incredible authorial approach to the portrait. The portrait of Liselotte, as Her Highness the Princess of Orléans was known, was painted by Hyacinthe Rigaud. Her
Aristocracy · Art · Monarchies
The Lely Venus is a famous copy of Praxiteles' Venus, made in the 1st-2nd centuries. Rubens found the sculpture in the rich collection of the House of Gonzaga and showed it to the English king, Charles I, who fell in love with it and acquired it for his
Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Mores · Humour
On Josephine's birthday, let us recall the hilariously funny American melodrama "Napoleon and Josephine: A Love Story", with a young Armand Assante as the Emperor. It is a miniseries, so it will see you through several evenings. Do take note of the costumes, hairstyles and make-
Faith · Monarchies · People
Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI has left the Vatican with a small retinue, his secretary and several medical staff to visit his elder brother Georg, aged 96, in Germany, where the latter's health has begun to decline. Benedict commented briefly on this rare absence from his permanent Vatican residence,
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🇩🇰 Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary at the presentation of the Queen's portrait, marking her 80th birthday, at Frederiksborg Castle. All in all, I still have but one question for this charming and modest queen, in every respect: who styles you, my