Ilana Miller's book selling on Amazon!

We are selling Ilana Miller's new book The Four Graces – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters on Amazon.com. Here is the link!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097719616X

Our President Visits Their Queen

At a State Dinner this evening President and Mrs Obama were hosted by HM The Queen.

New birth in Casa Savoia – Prince Amedeo

Princess Olga of Savoy-Aosta, Duchess of Puglie, gave birth earlier today to a second son, Prince Amedeo. The birth was reported to have taken place in Paris, where Princess Olga's parents, Prince Michael and Princess Marina of Greece, reside.

Amedeo is the second son of the Duke and Duchess of Puglie. Their first son, Prince Umberto, was born in 2009.

The baby, like his elder brother, happens to be among the most royal of royal babies around these days. He is a descendant of King Christian IX of Denmark, King Louis Philippe of the French, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, to name but a few of his ancestors. In fact, Amedeo and Umberto's maternal grandfather, Prince Michael of Greece, is a first cousin of his grandson's paternal grandmother (Claude of France) as well as of his son-in-law's paternal grandmother (Princess Irene of Greece). Aimone of Savoy-Aosta and  Olga of Greece are very closely related.

See below:

Aimone of Savoy-Aosta                                        Olga of Greece

Parents:

Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta                                       Michael of Greece
Claude of France                                                    Marina Karella

Grandparents:

Aimone of Savoy-Aosta                                        Christopher of Greece
Irene of Greece                                                       Françoise of France
Henri of France                                       
Isabelle of Orléans-Bragança

Great-grandparents:

Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta                     King George I of the Hellenes
Hélène of Orléans                                                   Olga of Russia
King Constantine I of the Hellenes                      Jean, Duke of Guise
Sophie of Prussia                                                    Isabelle of Orléans
Jean, Duke of Guise
Isabelle of Orléans
Pedro de Alcantara of Orléans-Bragança
Elisabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz

Great-great-grandparents:

King Amedeo I of Spain                                         King Christian IX of Denmark
Vittoria del Pozzo della Cisterna                          Louise of Hesse-Kassel
Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris                                     Konstantin of Russia
Isabel of Orléans y Borbón                                     Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg
King George I of the Hellenes                               Robert, Duke of Chartres
Olga Konstantinovna of Russia                            Françoise of Orléans
Friedrich III, German Kaiser                                 Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris
Victoria of Great Britain                                         Isabel of Orléans y Borbón
Robert, Duke of Chartres
Françoise of Orléans
Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris
Isabel of Orléans y Borbón
Gaston, Count d'Eu
Izabel of Brazil

The Infamous Hat Made Famous by its Auction Price

LONDON — Auction site eBay says a bidder has paid 81,100 pounds ($131,648) for the silk bow hat worn by Princess Beatrice to last month's royal wedding.

The 22-year-old granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II put the Philip Treacy creation on sale to raise money for UNICEF and Children in Crisis.

The silk hat caused a stir at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/22/princess-beatrice-hat-ebay-sold_n_865310.html

The Honeymoon's Over

NAIROBI, Kenya — Britain's newly married Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, have left the island nation of the Seychelles after a 10-day honeymoon, officials said Saturday.

"They left happy and clearly content with their stay," said the head of the Seychelles tourism board, Alain St Ange, who saw the couple leave Friday.

William's office at St. James's Palace confirmed the couple had returned to Britain.
The palace said the couple "thoroughly enjoyed their time together, and they are grateful to the Seychelles government for their assistance in making the honeymoon such a memorable and special 10 days."

The island nation's foreign minister said the nation was proud to host the couple.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/21/prince-william-kate-honeymoon-seychelles_n_865068.html

The Queen's State Visit to Ireland

Although she stopped short of an outright apology for the “heartache, turbulence and loss” of the past century, the Queen said: “We can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.”

The landmark speech during a state dinner at Dublin Castle included a direct reference to the murder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, by the IRA, when the Queen said the “events have touched us all, many of us personally”.

But her overriding message was one of “forbearance and conciliation” as she spoke of being able “to bow to the past, but not be bound by it”.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/8522273/The-Queen-acknowledges-sad-and-regrettable-mistakes-of-Britains-troubled-relationship-with-Ireland.html

Those Rocking, Jammin' German Royals

This was like a Royal Command Performance in reverse; instead of commoners performing for royals, royals performed for commoners in a charity jazz concert.

The event took place in the splendour of Munich’s Prince Regent Theatre, formerly an opera house, which opened in August 1901 with a performance of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg by Richard Wagner.

Charly and the Jivemates sounds like some forgotten band of the Sixties, but in fact, Charly is also His Highness Karl Friedrich, prince of Hohenzollern, 58, head of the princely house of Hohenzollern and great-grandson of the last King of Saxony. He is not just head of the family’s extensive agricultural and forestry business, but a most accomplished lead singer, guitarist and saxophonist. He was accompanied by Paul Müller on the double bass, Peter Schmidt on drums, Norbert Rettenmeier on the saxophone, and pianist Frieder Berlin, all commoners, alas, but none the less accomplished musicians.

 Fürst Karl Friedrich of Hohenzollern

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/expatlife/8502838/Highnesses-and-high-notes-at-a-German-jazz-concert-with-a-difference.html

Ilana Miller signs copies of her book

Ilana Miller, at Eurohistory, busily signing copies of her new book, THE FOUR GRACES – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters!

 Ilana Miller holding the first copy of her new book!

 Ilana Miller and our son Derrick having a signing marathon!

Al-Fayed Last Blast – Financing the latest conspiracy theory on Diana's death

Personally, I am not a conspiracy theorist. In fact, I find these an attempt against my intelligence. Whether you, my dear reader, believe these nonsensical claims, of course, is your right. However, I simply do not believe that the RF is monstrous enough to sponsor, conspire or organize with "the establishment", whatever that is, to take out Diana Princess of Wales.

Mohammed Al-Fayed has spent the last decade and a half vilifying the RF and "the establishment", spending along the way a King's ransom on his own sad quest to prove that he shares culpability, and even responsibility, for the inept events that led to the tragic death of the former Princess of Wales.

Believe what you want...enough said!


From The HuffingtonPost...

CANNES, France -- According to a provocative new documentary at the Cannes Film Festival, Britain's royals are racist "gangsters in tiaras" and Prince Philip is a womanizing psychopath.

The movie "Unlawful Killing" revives claims that Princess Diana – adored by millions as the "people's princess" but viewed in royal circles as an embarrassing loose cannon – was murdered by the British establishment. The film was screened Friday for the first time at the festival.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/16/cannes-diana-film-slams-u_n_862286.html

The infamous hat worn by Princess Beatrice fetching a King's Ransom!

Princess Beatrice of York decided to sell for charity that strange contraption she wore at her cousin William's wedding.

The Ebay auction is up to nearly $29,000 as of tonight!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Princess-Beatrice-Royal-Wedding-Hat-Philip-Treacy-/230620500557?pt=Women_s_Accessories_UK&hash=item35b20d924d

+ Princeess donha Maria of Brazil (1914-2011)

Born Princess Maria of Bavaria, eldest daughter of Prince Franz (1875-1957) and Princess Isabella of Croÿ (1890-1982), in 1937 she married Prince Pedro Henrique, Head of the Imperial House of Brazil. They had 12 children and settled in Brazil, where both were to die. Dom Pedro Henrique died in 1981, aged seventy-one.

Donha Maria seems to have passed away in Rio, where she had entered a home for the elderly some time ago.

May She Rest in Peace!

And the honeymoon is on!

Update: The Telegraph writes Seychelles, it is -- "A spokeswoman for the Indian Ocean country's department of tourism said the royal couple landed at the country's main airport at 7.20am local time this morning. They were then transferred by helicopter to a private island where they were expected to spend 10 days at a secluded villa."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/10/william-kate-honeymoon-seychelles_n_859779.html

How Civil List reform will affect the Royal family

The Civil List system of funding the Queen and her family is to be swept away, in a reform which will require belt-tightening by the Royal Family. 

Instead, they will receive a share of the income from the 900-year-old Crown Estate. Here, we examine what the change involves.

How is the Royal Family currently funded?
 

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh receive an annual Civil List grant from the government to the monarch to meet the expenses of acting as Head of State. This was fixed by the Chancellor at £7.9 million for 2011, a figure unchanged for more than a decade. Separate grants are paid to cover the cost of running the Royal household, set for 2011 at £22 million. The Queen will receive a one-off £1 million supplement in 2012 to help pay for diamond jubilee celebrations. 

How will it change?

From 2013, the Civil List and the household grant will be scrapped in favour of a Sovereign Support Grant based on a share of profits from the Crown Estate.

What is the Crown Estate?

The Crown Estate manages the assets of Britain's reigning monarch. It is not the private property of the monarch, and cannot be sold. Instead, it is run as if it were a business and pays all profit back into the public purse. In 2009/10 it handed £211 million to the Treasury.

What does the Crown Estate own?

It manages a vast property empire dating back to the records of William the Conqueror in the Domesday Book of 1086. The holdings were worth £7.3 billion in 2008, although they lost value during the credit crunch and the most recent estimate of their worth was £6.6 billion. The portfolio ranges from sought-after assets such as London's Regent Street and Ascot racecourse to more pedestrian investments such as industrial estates, retail parks and a stake in the Bluewater shopping centre in Kent. It also owns 146,000 hectares of farmland, dozens of forests and estates and the majority of Britain's coastline, as well as the rights to all naturally-occurring gold and silver. It has more than 12,000 tenants paying full market rents, including many farmers, and owns the freehold to many London properties such as Millbank Tower.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/theroyalfamily/8499943/How-Civil-List-reform-will-affect-the-Royal-family.html

 

William and catherine's Friends

While politicians and foreign dignitaries were out in force at Westminster Abbey for the Royal wedding between Prince William and his bride Kate Middleton, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge will have been most thrilled by those who had gathered in Statesmen's Aisle in the abbey's north transept to see them marry.

This was the space, overlooked by statues of Disraeli, Gladstone and Palmerstone, reserved for some of the couple's closest friends.

Valued for their loyalty and discretion, they include childhood friends, and confidantes from school and university.

Also among them were long-time friends of the Royal family, wealthy landowners and aristocrats who have known Prince William all his life, together with the mentors who helped him cope with his mother's death and saw his bride transformed from commoner to future Queen.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8500132/Royal-wedding-William-and-Kates-inner-circle.html

Ilana Miller's The Four Graces – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters

It is with great pleasure and enthusiasm that we announce that Ilana Miller's new book, The Four Graces – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters is in print and about to begin shipping!

This excellent contribution to the study of royalty will begin mailing the week of May 16 to all our clients who have pre-purchased and/or told us they want a copy.

The book can be purchased through Eurohistory at:


http://www.eurohistory.com/shopping/index.php?page=detalle&idP=128


The Four Graces will also be sold at Galignani (Paris) and van Hoogstraten English Bookstore (The Hague). As other outlets join us in bringing this book to you, we will let our readers know!

Amazon will list the book this coming week!

The author, Ms Miller, will be at Eurohistory signing copies as they begin to mail!

Royal Wedding highlights: the 30 best pictures of William & Kate's marriage

Enjoy!

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/royal-wedding-pictures/8485465/Royal-wedding-highlights-the-30-best-pictures-of-William-and-Kates-marriage.html

The "Party of the Century" and a Few Abominable Dresses

The serious partying began shortly before 8pm on Friday, when the bride emerged from Clarence House after four hours alone with her new husband.
Kate Middleton – now the Duchess of Cambridge – had changed from her wedding dress into a second Sarah Burton creation with circle skirt and sparkling diamante embroidery around the waist

For the public, the highpoint of the day had been the double kiss on the balcony at 1.25pm.

But for William and Kate the best was yet to come: a dinner and dance with 300 friends and family at Buckingham Palace.

Such was William’s desire to keep goings-on secret that some guests were required to sign secrecy agreements.

But from insider accounts, a picture has emerged of saucy speeches, pumping dance music, flamboyant dancing from our future Queen – and some cattiness between guests.

The first slip-up came at the Goring Hotel at about 7.30pm, when Kate’s mother Carole briefly lost her footing as she came down the stairs in a black tiered and pleated gown. She was steadied by her 23-year-old son James.
When William and Kate arrived at Buckingham Palace (at least 30 minutes later than planned), it was through a passage lined with flaming torches.

Princess Beatrice of York and yet

another abominable dress faux-pas

 Continue reading...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1382586/Royal-wedding-party-Slip-ups-downs-sambucca-slammers.html#ixzz1LDjaCodj

The Wedding Dress Secret – How Catherine pulled it off?

So how did she do it? How did Kate manage to outfox them all? The story could make a movie with stories of secret locked rooms, clandestine meetings and false trails. All deployed to keep the media off the scent.


According to friends, Kate had a clear idea of her dream dress even before William proposed. She was drawn to the understated, modest elegance of Grace Kelly, whose gowns went on display at the Victoria & Albert Museum last April.

Continue reading...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1382619/Royal-Wedding-How-Kate-hid-The-Dress-world.html

Prince Harry's Wedding Dinner Speech

Harry was said to have made a light-hearted best man's speech, laced with jokes at his brother's expense and even some of his more elderly relatives, after an evening dinner hosted by Prince Charles to celebrate Williams' marriage to Kate Middleton in front of 300 guests.

Harry is even reported to have joked about the relative heights of Kate and the Duke of Edinburgh, his grandfather being dwarfed by the new Duchess of Cambridge in her three-inch heels.

Prince William and the Prince of Wales had earlier used parts of their speeches at the Queen's afternoon champagne reception to mock each other, continuing the tradition of father-son speechmaking.

The Prince of Wales drew attention to his son's baldness and, in return, Prince William highlighted his father's waistline.

His father said he hoped Prince William would look after him in old age before joking that William would "push his wheelchair of a cliff".

 

Continue reading...

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/royal-wedding/8484707/Royal-wedding-Prince-Harry-pays-tribute-to-brother-William-in-best-mans-speech.html

The Dukes of Gloucester Headed to Rome

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will attend beatification ceremony in St Peter’s Square

Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.

On 1 May 2011, His Holiness Pope Benedict XVI will preside at the Beatification of His Holiness Pope John Paul II in St. Peter's Square.

Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will represent Her Majesty The Queen as Head of State of the United Kingdom.

The ceremony will be attended by senior figures from Europe and more widely, including Heads of State and Government. Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims are also expected.
His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester is a grandson of George V and first cousin to H.M. The Queen.