The Sadness of Princess Charlotte

DIANA was not the first Princess of Wales to die young and inspire hysterical public mourning. in 1817 Princess Charlotte, the daughter of The Prince Regent who would go on to be George IV, died in childbirth aged 21. Known as the “Daughter of England” Charlotte had been loved by the public who saw her as a new hope for the Royal Family. Her grandfather, George III, was thought to be mad and her father’s excesses and extravagances had made him deeply unpopular.

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http://www.express.co.uk/features/view/305850/The-sadness-of-Charlotte%20?%3E

Prince Friso Moved to London!

Queen of the Netherlands (L) and Princess Mabel (R), mother and wife respectively of Dutch Prince Johan Friso, leave The Wellington Hospital in central London on March 2, 2012 where Prince Friso is being treated. Dutch Prince Johan Friso, brain-damaged and in a coma after being caught by an avalanche in Austria last month, was transferred to The Wellington Hospital in London on March 1 the palace said. Queen Beatrix, and the prince's wife and two daughters, also flew to London.

©Getty Images

Royal Ladies Shopping!

Three Generations at Fortnum's: The Queen The Duchess of Cornwall and The Duchess of Cambridge

Enjoy!

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/46588983

More on Grand Duke Serge's Palace Fire

St. Petersburg firefighters worked to save priceless historical architecture when a fire broke out at the Beloselsky-Belozersky Palace in the city center Tuesday.

Efforts by emergency services were praised by City Governor Georgy Poltavchenko, who said they had worked hard to prevent a dangerous situation getting out of control. “Their work today has saved one of the most unique buildings in the city,” he said.

The fire is believed to have started at about midday in a ventilation shaft and quickly spread to the palace’s attic and roof. The work of firefighters was significantly complicated by heavy smoke as well as the complex layout of the attic and old structure of the building, Interfax reported.

A towering plume of smoke above the Fontanka River quickly drew large crowds, eager to film the unfolding spectacle on their cell phones. As the number of onlookers grew, police were forced to hold up traffic along the embankment and parts of Nevsky Prospekt, and traffic jams rapidly formed.

By 2 p.m. the fire was under control. A preliminary assessment determined that no lasting damage had been done to the 18th-century landmark, officials said.

The pink rococo palace is located on the corner of Nevsky Prospekt and the Fontanka River. Built in 1747, it was originally designed to mirror the Stroganoff Palace on the corner of the Moika River and Nevsky Prospekt, and was used as a city retreat by members of the royal family for a number of years.

The historic building also went on to serve as a military hospital and district base for the Central Bolshevik Party before being officially presented to City Hall’s Culture Committee in 1991.

Its current occupants include the regional headquarters of Russian broadcaster Channel One and the Sobchak Museum of the Introduction of Democracy to Contemporary Russia.

http://www.sptimes.ru/index.php?action_id=2&story_id=35227

©Ksenia Ivanova

©Dimitri Lovetsky

A Wagon Fit for a King – When Juan Carlos returned from Exile

The Spanish Armed Forces will have their own historic train. The "railway museum in motion" is a joint initiative of the Institute of Military History and Culture and the Center for Historical Studies Spanish Railway, under the auspices of the Ministry of Defense.

Its promoters want to put this convoy made ​​available to the military authorities in the face of events related to the institution, such as Armed Forces Day, the Easter Military or October 12.

The historic train project of the Armed Forces is the formation of a rail convoy consisting of a steam-locomotive-operation, support van, luxury parlor car for the transportation of military and other authorities and freight wagons , which will be located on old guns and even a battle tank M-41, a tank of the Vietnam era.

The luxury parlor car to be used in this museum is moving train which served to move to Spain Don Juan Carlos, from Portuguese exile in 1948. As is known, was at that time when Don Juan Carlos left the parental residence in Estoril to move to our country.

On this trip, are well known images of NO-DO which represent the arrival of a young Prince of Astruais (don Juan Carlos), aboard the "Lusitania Express" Station Villaverde.

This is a luxury car similar to the popular Orient Express line linking Paris to Istanbul. This car, which was part of the historic 'Lusitania Express' linking Spain and Portugal, is owned by the Center for Historical Studies Spanish Railway.

Press Communiqué from Crown Prince Alexander

HRH CROWN PRINCE ALEXANDER EXPRESSES GRATITUDE TO HIS HOLINESS PATRIARCH IRINEJ OF SERBIA AND THE HOLY SYNOD REGARDING THEIR SUPPORT FOR THE TRANSFER TO SERBIA OF THE ROYAL FAMILY BURIED ABROAD

Belgrade, 29 February 2012 ? HRH Crown Prince Alexander II expressed his gratitude to His Holiness Patriarch Irinej of Serbia and the Holy Synod of the  Serbian Orthodox Church, for their support in his initiative that all members of Karadjordjevic Royal Family who were buried abroad should be transferred to the homeland and buried in the Crypt of St. George Church in Oplenac. 

When English Nobles Threatened the Pope – Henry VIII's First Divorce

The three ft-wide parchment letter, complete with 81 wax seals and red silk ribbons, was one of the highlights of the exhibition, which chronicles more than 1,200 years of the Vatican’s dealings with kings, conquerors and caliphates.

The letter was sent on Henry VIII’s orders to Pope Clement VII in 1530 and was signed by members of the English parliament, as well as bishops, abbots and the Archbishops of York and Canterbury.

They urged the Pope to annul Henry’s marriage to Catherine so that he could marry one of her ladies-in-waiting, Anne Boleyn, in the hope of producing a longed for male heir.

“If the Pope is unwilling, we are left to find a remedy elsewhere. Some remedies are extreme, but a sick man seeks relief in any way he can find,” the lords wrote in a barely veiled threat.

Henry had fallen in love with Boleyn in 1526 and was desperate for his marriage to Catherine to be annulled – a struggle against the Vatican that he referred to as his “great matter”.

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 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/9114639/Vatican-archive-reveals-nobles-threat-to-papacy.html

©AP

King George VI: his ill-health is testament to the dangers of smoking

The account by “our medical correspondent” of King George VI’s demise on the front page of The Daily Telegraph of February 7 1952 – reproduced to mark the 60th anniversary of the Queen’s accession to the throne – is of some medical significance. The King’s later years were dogged by ill health, including intermittent claudication due to narrowing of the arteries requiring the operation of lumbar sympathectomy, where cutting the nerves to the legs improves the circulation.

Next there was “the unrelenting course of the King’s lung trouble”, warranting the resection of a malignant growth, and, finally, he succumbed to a coronary thrombosis due to a clot in the artery to the heart.

The King was, in short, testament to the dangers of smoking, suffering three of its major harmful effects – though tactfully the report does not mention this. He was just 56, and one feels the tenor of post-war Britain would have been quite different had he abjured the habit. He would almost certainly have lived on for another two or three decades.

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Duke of Palma de Mallorca's Defiance of The King

The Duke of Palma, the husband of the King's youngest daughter Cristina, appeared in court in Majorca over the weekend, subpoenaed to give evidence in a case that has turned the spotlight on Spain's royal family.

The Duke, a former Olympic handball medallist who received the title when he married in 1997, has stirred latent antimonarchist sentiments in Spain with the suggestion that he used his royal influence to feather his own nest.

The Duke, 44, is implicated in a case that alleges the embezzlement of public funds through the Noos Institute, a non-profit organisation that arranged sporting and cultural events for the regional governments of Valencia and the Balearics, and which the Duke was chairman of between 2002 to 2006.

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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/9109219/Son-in-law-of-King-Juan-Carlos-of-Spain-admits-he-defied-orders-in-corruption-trial.html

©Reuters

 

Archduke Joachim of Austria – How They Grow!

Archduke Joachim of Austria,. Prince of Belgium, second son of Archduke Lorenz of Austra-Este and of his wife Princess Astrid of Belgium, will swear allegiance on 3 March 2012 at Zeebrugge Naval Base. The young Archduke was appointed Naval Ensign, 2nd Class, last 26 December. The Belgian Royal Palace announced that the young naval ensign's allegiance ceremony will also be attended by Queen Paola and Archduke Joachim;s parents.