Saturday 26 July 2014

My latest article: Felipe VI

The August issue of the British monthly magazine Majesty (Vol. 35, No. 8) went on sale in Britain on Thursday, and this month I write about the inauguration of King Felipe VI and the up-hill struggle that faces him as he tries to rebuild trust in the monarchy after King Juan Carlos's spectacular fall from grace.
In the same issue there are also articles on Queen Anne of Britain, the last Stuart monarch, who died 300 years ago on 1 August, and the accession of the House of Hanover, as well as an article on Prince Aleksandar of Serbia/Yugoslavia, who is about to turn ninety.
In the next issue I will sum up several years of research into the sometimes dramatic history of the Norwegian emerald parure and also write about Reims, the history of French coronations and the destruction of the coronation church in September 1914.

Tuesday 15 July 2014

Marianne Bernadotte speaks on radio on 90th birthday

Today is the ninetieth birthday of Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg, philantropist, actress and aunt by marriage to the King of Sweden and the Queen of Denmark. In 1961 she married as her second husband (and his third wife) the industrial designer Count Sigvard Bernadotte af Wisborg, by birth Prince of Sweden, who died in 2002.
At 1 p.m. today Marianne Bernadotte will host a so-called "summer programme" on Swedish radio, which should be available at this external link: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/avsnitt/400121?programid=2071.
It is an annual tradition that a number of more or less interesting people are invited to host such a programme between midsummer and mid-August, where they talk about topics of their own choice and play music selected by themselves.
Princess Birgitta hosted such a "summer talk" in 2009, while this year's list also contains another princess, i.e. the half-Swedish Princess Anna of Bavaria, a political journalist and biographer, who will host a programme on 28 July.

Sunday 6 July 2014

Prince Amedeo marries in Rome

On Saturday Prince Amedeo of Belgium, a nephew of King Philippe, married his longtime girlfriend Elisabetta Maria Rosboch von Wolkenstein, known as Lili, in the ancient Basilica of Santa Maria in Trastevere in her hometown Rome. The bride wore a Valentino dress and a tiara loaned by the groom's grandmother, Queen Paola, which originally belonged to the late Queen Astrid.
Among the guests were King Philippe and Queen Mathilde, accompanied by their four children, of whom Princess Elisabeth was a bridesmaid, King Albert and Queen Paola, and the groom's other uncle, Prince Laurent with his wife Claire and their three children, among them Princess Louise, who was also a bridesmaid. Several members of the groom's paternal family, the House of Habsburg, were also in attendance, as was Princess Beatrice of Britain.