Click for the photo at Times LIVE

 American admirers of the late Princess Diana should take advantage of an opportunity to visit a traveling exhibit, organized by Earl Spencer, now showing at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania until December 31, 2009.

Earl Spencer appeared on The Today Show last week and was interviewed by Matt Lauer. Among the objects brought by Spencer for the interview were the beautiful black, cleavage-baring Jacques Azagury dress worn on the Princess’s last birthday, for her last public engagement; a large, red pedal car from their childhood; and her autographed pink ballet slippers. He also brought some family films which I have never seen, including footage of the family leaving Diana’s christening and some charming film of Frances in slacks, rolling around on the ground and playing with her children.

The Philadelphia exhibit contains other Diana treasures, including her wedding dress, with its matching shoes, bag and parasol. Spencer family jewels are also included. Among them is a diamond tiara but it does not appear that the tiara which was worn by the Princess at her wedding is included. The featured tiara is described as being composed of a Greek key pattern ca. 1860 and surmounted by nine associated palmettes ca. 1840. This piece struck me as being two separate tiaras which were combined, and according to a note in a previous exhibition that is precisely how the Spencers created this tiara at the end of the Victorian period. The hybrid tiara is not a very successful piece in my opinion. Some writers claim that the Princess wore this tiara, but I don’t remember Diana ever wearing this larger Spencer tiara. Other RF jewel experts agree that they have no knowledge of Diana wearing the hybrid tiara in public.

Diana’s former chef, Darren McGrady, who now cooks and sells books as the Royal Chef, is preparing a brunch on Sunday, December 20, in conjunction with the exhibit. The brunch will feature some of the Royal Family’s favorite recipes. Darren’s website is http://www.theroyalchef.com.

Regular adult tickets to the regular traveling exhibit cost about $23 and should be ordered in advance. For more information about the exhibit and tickets, contact Museumtix.

For more information about the main article describing the exhibit, see Times LIVE – Princess Diana exhibition opens

iowabelle British Royals Diana Princess of Wales, Exhibition, Princess Diana, United States of America

Click to see the photo at the Daily Mail

 The days of the dominance of the royal corgis may have come to an end. The Daily Mail is reporting that the Queen has decided to stop breeding corgis. Recently, the Queen lost two corgis to cancer, and allegedly she is so devastated by the loss that she will not be replacing her dogs. There seems to be some discrepancy as to how many corgis and dorgis (corgi-dachshund crosses) that the Queen now owns; one article says that there are now seven dogs.

Additionally, none of the other members of the Royal Family are fond of corgis, and if the Queen were to be survived by a doggie herd, it may prove difficult to find a comfortable home for her aging pets. Prince Philip, who has shared royal quarters with corgis since 1947, is known to have complained that the Queen kept too many dogs. Princess Michael, the only royal known to favor cats, said she sometimes felt like shooting the dogs (the Queen commented that the dogs behaved better than Princess Michael, although that comment probably applies to other members of the family as well). Other royals prefer other breeds of dogs. Read more…

iowabelle British Royals Corgis, Elizabeth II, Pets

From the TRF avatar collection

 Few royal friendships have spawned controversy and even a movie a century later, but Queen Victoria’s attachment to her ghillie, John Brown, was exceptional. There were even rumors in their time that the depressed widow had married her wild Scotsman, earning her the nickname Mrs. Brown. In 1997 Dame Judi Dench and Billie Connolly reenacted the relationship in the movie Mrs. Brown.

The Queen mourned when Brown, who had advanced from ghillie to personal attendant, died in 1883. Her grief endured and when she died she asked to be buried with a lock of his hair, his ring, and his photograph. All to the disapproval of the moral rectitude of the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII. After Brown’s death Victoria ordered the creation of memorials and statues, most of which were destroyed by King Edward. You have to wonder at the spite with which the king acted; what caused his enormous and public resentment?

Click for the photo at collectinguk.com

Perhaps it is a result of the king’s venom that few memorial objects remain. Among them is a stickpin that will be auctioned in Edinburgh on August 18. It is expected to reach as much as £700.

The originals were ordered by the Queen from an Aberdeen jeweler. The gold pin shows Brown’s silhouette on one side and Victoria’s monogram on the other. The Queen gave them to her highland retainers and cottagers, to be worn along with a mourning scarf on the anniversary of Brown’s death. Few stickpins remain, perhaps because, with the death of the Queen and Edward VII’s disdain, it was no longer advantageous for them to be worn in the royal presence.

iowabelle British Royals Jewellery, John Brown, Queen Victoria

Click the image to see the article at The Daily Telegraph

A recent article in The Times made some interesting observations about Dr. David Starkey and the object of his affections, King Henry VIII. The historian and the king share several characteristics, some of which Dr. Starkey addressed.

A few weeks ago I wrote a blog entry about Starkey’s analysis of the king’s handwriting and that of his mother and a sister. While doing research Starkey observed that Henry VIII had grown up, rather unusually, in a household dominated by women when he was the less important “spare to the throne.” “It’s the most important thing I learned,” he explains. “He wasn’t like a typical royal prince at all, not masculinised, not sent away. He was close to his mother, physically brought up with his sisters in a household dominated by women until he’s well into his teens.”
Not unlike the king, Starkey’s upbringing was dominated by his mother. Born in 1945 to a poor family, Starkey had an awful childhood. He was born with two club feet, which had to be operated upon before he was age four, and then contracted polio. The relationship between mother and son, as with the Tudors, was intense, and the death of the mother was a traumatic event for both king and historian. Starkey is reluctant to discuss personal pain and says “The idea of the death à la [Jade] Goody is not one I’m sympathetic to, I’m afraid.” You get the feeling that this is man who is more comfortable cultivating the famed British stiff upper lip.

Both men were also precocious. Toddler Henry rode a horse and observed the rituals of knighthood. Toddler David was able to tell a neighbor a complicated recipe. “Yes, it’s the precocious observing child. That’s something we share. I think certainly, like Henry, I had this. Obviously, Henry didn’t go gay – I’m not carrying the vision that far – but that sense of what a feminised upbringing does to you is very important. It’s not necessarily love of women; it’s a particular approach to human relations. Henry’s a big strong boy and a natural athlete. I was neither of those things. That obviously takes him off in a different direction, but there’s a certain neediness to our human relations. It’s an openness which of course if it is repudiated or injured can turn to something much nastier.” Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals David Starkey, Henry VIII

The Prince of Wales is set to recall his other, often-overlooked, grandmother, the late Princess Andrew of Greece, born Princess Alice of Battenberg. In royal photographs Princess Andrew is the mysterious lady seen wearing a somber nun’s habit, as she did at the coronation of her daughter-in-law in 1953.

The Prince will appear in a film, The Rescuers: Heroes of the Holocaust, that will tell the stories of 12 people who helped save Jews from the Nazis. These people are estimated to have helped save 200,000 European Jews.

Princess Andrew, mother of the Duke of Edinburgh, hid Jewish friends in the royal palace in Athens and she was interrogated by German officials. Family relationships probably drew extra German attention, both negative and positive, to this princess; she was the sister of Lord Louis Mountbatten and the Crown Princess of Sweden (later Queen Louise), as well as being the mother-in-law of several German princes prominent in the German military or the Nazi Party. Her cousin, Prince Victor zu Erbach-Schönberg, had served as the German ambassador to Greece until the occupation of Athens in April 1941. It seems that German officials assumed that she would be supportive of the Nazi regime.

Although most of the Greek royal family fled when World War II came to Greece, Princess Andrew and her sister-in-law, Princess Nicholas (mother of Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent) stayed in Athens. She assisted the Red Cross, helped run a soup kitchen, and brought medical supplies in from Sweden after visits to her sister, the Crown Princess. She also organized shelters for orphaned children. Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Greek Royals, Historical Royals Biography, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Princess Alice of Battenberg, Princess Andrew of Greece, World War II

The National Archives has digitized and created an online exhibition of parchments from the reign of Henry VIII. A collection of “top secret” documents, part of the “Bag of Secrets”, tells the story of the beginning of Anne Boleyn’s trial in 1536. Anne had been accused, with her brother George Boleyn, of high treason and incest. Among the allegations against the Boleyns was that they had French kissed each other, and that Anne enticed George to sleep with her by giving him presents and jewels. Historians do not think that the allegations were true because there is evidence that Anne was not at the locations at the times of the alleged incidents. It seems that Henry concocted the evidence against her.

It is not altogether clear why Henry decided to dump Anne. John Guy, Tudor historian, says “One of the main mysteries of Anne Boleyn is why Henry decided to get rid of her at that time. One obvious answer might be that his eye had alighted on Jane Seymour by then. “Anne first had a daughter (Elizabeth I) and then had miscarriages and it was said that there was a male foetus – this fits in psychologically with Henry, that Henry believed that his marriage was doomed. But why would he bring down the whole of Anne’s party and her brother as well? I think the answer is that Anne had crossed Henry by then.”

The collection of documents, seen on-line for the first time, also includes a court document relating to the divorce from Catherine of Aragon and a letter dealing with Henry’s desire to end his marriage with Anne of Cleves, because of their disappointing sex life. There is also a section of the the display about the Valor Ecclesiasticus, a special valuation of church lands before the dissolution of the monasteries.

See more information about the exhibition at the National Archives Henry VIII website. Also see this article at The Daily Telegraph.

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals Anne Boleyn, Henry VIII

 Charles and Camilla have increased the size of their racing string. The couple now have a yearling and a foal to add to their original filly, Royal Superlative.

Joe Grimwade, the manager of the Royal Studs, was recently interviewed. He said that the foal is unnamed and was the result of the royals breeding their mare, Supereva, with a stallion called Dansili. The royals had not seen their new foal, which was born in late January.

The Waleses’ yearling, a filly called Carousel, shares the same mare, Supereva, with the newcomer. The sire was the stallion Pivotal. Carousel is planned to begin her racing career next year. Supereva is a wedding present from the Queen, who currently has about 30 horses in training. She was probably one of their favorite gifts since Camilla is a well-known enthusiast and Wales was interested in steeple chase in the 1970s and 1980s. Royal Superlative, now three years old, is expected to have her first run of the season (only her second run ever) this spring. Unfortunately, she did not fare well in her previous race.

It would be interesting to know what arrangements the royal couple have made for the end of their horses’ racing careers.

For more information, please see this article in The Daily Telegraph.

iowabelle British Royals Duchess of Cornwall, Horse Racing, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales

A couple living in Richmond-upon-Thames for 40 years have incurred the wrath of Dr. David Starkey, Tudor historian. Planners at Richmond Council have approved the couple’s plans to build a solar powered, triple-glazed, two-story house near the former site of Richmond Palace, which was built by Henry VII.

Starkey finds it a slap in the face to the founding Tudor’s son: “To give it planning permission almost to the day of the 500th anniversary of the coronation of Richmond’s most famous inhabitant, Henry VIII, would add insult to a grievous injury to the surviving historic fabric and setting of Tudor England.”

Starkey says that “The proposed new building is like a snotty-nosed punk in an elegant drawing room: wilfully and self-indulgently out of keeping with its surroundings – in form, colour and materials.” Further, “This sort of ’statement architecture’ can make sense as part of the regeneration of a run-down port or industrial slum, but in the precincts of Richmond Palace, it is simply bad manners.” Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals Architecture, David Starkey, Henry VII, Henry VIII, Richmond Palace

Dr. David Starkey has been making, in my opinion, some rather strange comments about the biases of female historians. He criticizes some for zeroing in on the ’soap opera’ of key figures’ love lives rather than their achievements or failures. The TV show “The Tudors” seems to have inspired these comments.

Although Starkey is correct to criticize the TV show for its inaccuracies and its prurient emphasis (what Starkey describes as a “bonkorama”), he blames female historians for this interpretation of the court of Henry VIII. ‘But it’s what you expect from feminised history, the fact that so many of the writers who write about this are women and so much of their audience is a female audience. Unhappy marriages are big box-office.’

It is unfair to blame women historians for a television production which satisfies its viewers in much the same way that Ugly Betty or Desperate Housewives satisfy their audiences. The problem is, however, according to Starkey, that Henry has been de-emphasized in the re-telling of this tale. Read more…

iowabelle British Royals, Historical Royals David Starkey, Henry VIII, House of Tudor

 Princess Diana will become a comic book hero in a series called “Female Force” which honors influential women. Publishers Diamond Comic Distributors (DCD) said, “The biography will look at the admirable British icon who won hearts around the world as a princess, public figure, philanthropist and parent.” Other women already honored include Michelle Obama, Hilary Clinton, Sarah Palin and Caroline Kennedy. The princess would be the first non-American featured. 

The comic book is scheduled to be issued on July 1, which would have been the princess’s 48th birthday. The comic book publisher had not informed Clarence House about their plans.

Perhaps the comic book will include images of the princess wearing Queen Sonja’s Wonder Woman tiara?
For more information, see this article at the Daily Mail.

iowabelle British Royals Diana Princess of Wales, Princess Diana