Cinema · Books · Monarchies · People
Was the Youth of Henry V Really So Dissolute? Yet another myth of Shakespeare's making has found flesh, thanks to the efforts of the film crew behind “The King”. Though the prince and his father did indeed have political differences, the future king never renounced his status, nor
Cinema · Monarchies · People
What Did Henry V Look Like? Shakespeare's portrait of Henry is idealised. But the portrait of Henry created by the Australian director David Michôd, with Brad Pitt's company behind him, is almost flawless. Note that Netflix nonetheless files The King under "biographical" and "
Cinema · Books · London · Monarchies · Observations
Shakespeare's Henry is the ideal national hero, and by showing his imperfection the freewheeling interpreter only brings the ruler closer to the people, so that the reckless drunkard and ne'er-do-well becomes all the more beloved and all the more patrioti. Among the first words
Cinema · Books · Monarchies · Science
Henry V is, for the English, one of the best-loved figures of their history and very nearly the champion of screen adaptations, rivalled only by Richard the Lionheart, Henry VIII and Queen Elizabeth. But what makes this not especially distinguished, yet so celebrated, ruler so attractive? Talent! And a
Monarchies · Museums · Heritage
The value of the treasures stolen from the Green Vault in Dresden is estimated at a billion dollars. Naturally, the stolen objects have no market price, but this is all the same one of the most audacious museum robberies of recent years. It has already been established that three sets
NB! · Archive · Monarchies · Humour
Anastasia Romanova and a selfie. The figure in the background is not a ghost, but one of the household, caught moving through the long exposure
Aristocracy · Cinema · Monarchies · Observations
In the ballroom scene Mary of Teck wears the famous Vladimir Tiara, so beloved of Elizabeth II, but with the emerald rather than the pearl set. The tiara originates from the Romanov family.
Aristocracy · Cinema · Monarchies · Observations · Mores
Downton Abbey throws open its doors once more: a feature-length film based on the plot of the eponymous series has been released. The Crawley family, in full strength, awaits an exalted visit from the royal couple, and the vicissitudes of the plot are chiefly bound up with preparations for
Archive · Monarchies · Observations · People
It is interesting to watch how Napoleon's signature changed: from a plain Bonaparte, when he was still an artillery captain in 1792, to a plain Napoleon with a sharp flourish in the 1800s, when he was already Emperor. As late as 1798, in Egypt, Napoleon still signed himself
Faith · Monarchies · Observations · Ethnography · Humour
The hongi is the traditional Maori greeting, based on the belief that the nose is the centre of the body and that the divine breath passes through it, so that touching the tips of noses makes people close: they have shared one divine breath and are, as it were, united
NB! · Archaeology · Art · Monarchies · Museums · People
A rather grim portrait of the birthday boy: the head of Emperor Vespasian, born on 17 November AD 9 and died in AD 79. This fragment of a statue of Vespasian was found in the forum of Hippo in Algeria and set into the wall of its museum. Not the
Aristocracy · Monarchies · Mores
The Romanovs' claim to the throne rested on the fact that there once was a maiden Koshkina. It was not even a surname: at that time it would be more fitting to speak of by-names. And so there were the Koshkins-Romanovs, and accordingly Anastasia, or, as we