CP Mary More Popular Than Oprah!
'Our' CP Mary is more popular than Oprah and Bono according to this article in the San Francisco Sentinel: Popular CP Mary
I also like her hat!
I also like her hat!
Looked beautiful and interesting to use a white wedding dress with a little touch of dark red color and beautiful embroideries
Looked beautiful and interesting to use a white wedding dress with a little touch of dark red color and beautiful embroideries
An Artistic Princess
A piece of very stale cake went on sale last year at a Birmingham antiques fair. It dated from Princess Louise's wedding to the Marquess of Lorne in 1871 and was offered for 145 pounds. The slice was one-inch thick and protected by parchment. Whoever bought the cake was advised that it would not be a good idea to eat it! (I haven't been able to find out whether it was sold or not.)
Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's fourth daughter and sixth child was born in 1848. Regarded as the most beautiful of the Queen's daughters, she had rich brown hair and blue eyes. She also had a distinctive personality. When she was very young she showed her assertiveness by stating, "We are not royal children, we are uncles and aunts!"
Prince Albert, Princess Louise's father died in 1861 when the princess was very young. She suffered great grief but soon found the atmosphere at Court very gloomy and started to become rebellious. However, she served as her mother's unofficial secretary and Queen Victoria was very pleased with her.
Princess Louise did find time for artistic studies, however. She was a talented painter and sculptor and attended the National Art Training School which was founded by Prince Albert. She was also good at playing the piano and dancing.
A Husband For Louise
Queen Victoria soon wanted to find a husband for her lovely daughter. Princess Vicky invited the Princess to Berlin but Louise disliked the Prussian men. She found that they lacked a sense of humour and were rude and arrogant to her. They found her too self-confident and independent for her. The Queen didn't want her to marry a Prussian anyway for political reasons.
There was trouble when the young Princess fell in love with the Rev.Duckworth, her brother Leopold's tutor. The Queen dismissed him. There were even rumours of an illegitimate child and there was a DNA case about this a couple of years ago.
The Princess eventually fell in love with John, the Marquess of Lorne, to great consternation. This was because he was only a subject, not a royal. Prince Edward was especially upset and didn't think that the young man was suitable.
However, Queen Victoria was pleased with the match because it meant that the Princess could remain nearby.
The Marriage of Princess Louise
Princess Louise married the good-looking, mild-mannered young man in 1871 in St.George's Chapel, Windsor. She wore a dress of white satin and a veil of Honiton lace which she designed herself. Her wedding cake weighed over 225 pounds (102 kilograms) and took three months to create.
The marriage was unfortunately not a very happy one. There were rumours that the Marquess was gay and the couple remained childless. There were also whispers that the Princess had affairs. These were allegedly with Bigge, the Queen's assistant private secretary and Edgar Boehm, the sculptor. There is no proof of this, however.
Canada
The Marquess became Governor-General of Canada in 1878. The couple lived in Ottawa.
Princess Louise became very homesick and wasn't very happy in Canada although she liked many Canadians and kept in touch with her Canadian regiments after she returned to England. The couple liked Quebec better in Ottawa. They had a summer house there.
Princess Louise devoted time to her beloved arts and charities. She founded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and wrote an operetta.
The couple had a nasty sleighing accident in Canada. The Princess was knocked unconscious and suffered concussion and shock. She may also have had a piece of glass in her ear.
Alberta and the stunningly beautiful Lake Louise are named after the Princess.
Princess Louise Returns
The couple returned to England in 1883. Lorne became a Liberal MP but joined the Unionists to the Princess's chagrin. She favoured Irish Home Rule. Princess Louise also supported the suffragettes and women's rights. She wrote to Josephine Butler and visited Elizabeth Garrett.
They spent much time apart and Princess Louise became rather keen on her sister Beatrice's husband. She joined the social circle that revolved around her brother, King Edward VII. They were very fond of each other. This is also when the rumours about affairs with other men began.
The couple reconciled in 1911 and the Princess was devastated when the Marquess died in 1914. She complained about being very lonely and wondered what the Marquess was doing!
She continued with her artistic works and many charitable activities until she became very ill. She was even known to visit hospitals on the spur of the moment. The Princess lived at Kensington Palace until she died at the advanced age of 91 in 1939. She had been teased by the King about her obsession with physical fitness and replied that she'd 'outlive them all.' She lived the longest life of the Queen's children so she was right!
I think that Princess Louise was one of the most interesting of the Queen's daughters. She wasn't as admirable as Vicky or Alice but I like her devotion to the arts and charities and she had a memorable personality, obviously.
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A Return to Beauty
I feel so strongly about this subject that I have written this post here and on the "Hilliard & Croft" blog.
For six weeks David Dimbleby's wonderful 'The Seven Ages of Britain' took viewers on an artistic journey through the history of the country from the earliest civilizations to the modern age. Without shying away from the harsher aspects of life and belief - the paintings of heaven and hell, used by religious authorities to frighten people into submission; the vivid depictions of the effects of decadence as shown in 'The Rake's Progress'; and the brutality of weaponry and war - the artists and craftsmen managed to reach to the finest aspects of humanity, taking pride in their work and leaving a legacy of beauty for future generations.
Then came the final episode - "The Age of Ambition". After each of the previous episodes, I felt uplifted and inspired. After this episode, I felt only disgust, depression and almost despair at the depths to which the art world (and the world of literature) has sunk. No painstaking works of art, seeking out the best in humanity, but feeble and shoddy attempts to degrade and demean. After seeing the splattering of red wax on a wall and the so-called artist's agreement that it resembled to blood and that it was good for us to consider such taboo subjects, came the bizarre ugliness of men who painted themselves defecating as though this had some meaning in portraying real life. We were then treated to Damian Hirst's collection of dead flies, and watching him squirt paint onto a turntable (which reminded me of five year olds discovering paint for the first time) followed by Tracey Emin's meaningless comparison between women artists and women's sexuality. Claiming that she was liberated by Feminism, she presented a series of scrappy drawings of naked women in various poses (again, I was reminded of sketches drawn by pubescent boys and passed around classrooms to provide titillation) before her latest work which is basically pornography - absolutely demeaning to women and evidently the product of a mind which seems to wallow in all that is base.
As with so much music and the accompanying videos, and with a great deal of literature, art has descended into the mire of the most sordid minds. As today we can still be uplifted by the works of the great artists from the past, what will be handed on from this age to the people of tomorrow? Is this our legacy to posterity? The aim, it appears, is to shock. It isn't shocking. In order to be shocking, something has to be outstanding and 'different'. This, on the contrary, is merely childish and appears to be the work of emotionally stunted people who choose to dwell upon the dark side. It is said that such dross is a reflection of the age. In fact, it is not. It is merely a reflection of those who have the power to decide what is classed as art and what is not. All over the country, there are craftsmen and artists who produce work of real merit. Their work is visible in local galleries and displays originality and great skill. Seeing such work is uplifting and inspiring. Unfortunately these works are nowadays dismissed by the critics who seem bent on observing and promoting only ugliness.
People complain of the effects of violent video games, the amount of available pornography and the impact of such things on young people. What a disservice to young people - as well as to posterity - the art world is doing, if such trash as was seen in Sunday's night's episode is presented as art. If we wish to improve the way we live, it begins in our own minds. Minds filled with darkness produce dark actions. Let us, for heaven's sake, have a return to beauty. Let's be unafraid to state 'the king is wearing no clothes' when we are presented with this ugliness. Let us state that it is not representative of the age, but only representative of the few warped minds who happen to control art and literature at the moment. If we wish to improve our lives, our sense of cohesion and integrity, the way we treat other people and our sense of our own value and dignity, first and foremost we need a return to skill, to devotion to a craft or art, and, above all, to beauty.
For six weeks David Dimbleby's wonderful 'The Seven Ages of Britain' took viewers on an artistic journey through the history of the country from the earliest civilizations to the modern age. Without shying away from the harsher aspects of life and belief - the paintings of heaven and hell, used by religious authorities to frighten people into submission; the vivid depictions of the effects of decadence as shown in 'The Rake's Progress'; and the brutality of weaponry and war - the artists and craftsmen managed to reach to the finest aspects of humanity, taking pride in their work and leaving a legacy of beauty for future generations.
Then came the final episode - "The Age of Ambition". After each of the previous episodes, I felt uplifted and inspired. After this episode, I felt only disgust, depression and almost despair at the depths to which the art world (and the world of literature) has sunk. No painstaking works of art, seeking out the best in humanity, but feeble and shoddy attempts to degrade and demean. After seeing the splattering of red wax on a wall and the so-called artist's agreement that it resembled to blood and that it was good for us to consider such taboo subjects, came the bizarre ugliness of men who painted themselves defecating as though this had some meaning in portraying real life. We were then treated to Damian Hirst's collection of dead flies, and watching him squirt paint onto a turntable (which reminded me of five year olds discovering paint for the first time) followed by Tracey Emin's meaningless comparison between women artists and women's sexuality. Claiming that she was liberated by Feminism, she presented a series of scrappy drawings of naked women in various poses (again, I was reminded of sketches drawn by pubescent boys and passed around classrooms to provide titillation) before her latest work which is basically pornography - absolutely demeaning to women and evidently the product of a mind which seems to wallow in all that is base.
As with so much music and the accompanying videos, and with a great deal of literature, art has descended into the mire of the most sordid minds. As today we can still be uplifted by the works of the great artists from the past, what will be handed on from this age to the people of tomorrow? Is this our legacy to posterity? The aim, it appears, is to shock. It isn't shocking. In order to be shocking, something has to be outstanding and 'different'. This, on the contrary, is merely childish and appears to be the work of emotionally stunted people who choose to dwell upon the dark side. It is said that such dross is a reflection of the age. In fact, it is not. It is merely a reflection of those who have the power to decide what is classed as art and what is not. All over the country, there are craftsmen and artists who produce work of real merit. Their work is visible in local galleries and displays originality and great skill. Seeing such work is uplifting and inspiring. Unfortunately these works are nowadays dismissed by the critics who seem bent on observing and promoting only ugliness.
People complain of the effects of violent video games, the amount of available pornography and the impact of such things on young people. What a disservice to young people - as well as to posterity - the art world is doing, if such trash as was seen in Sunday's night's episode is presented as art. If we wish to improve the way we live, it begins in our own minds. Minds filled with darkness produce dark actions. Let us, for heaven's sake, have a return to beauty. Let's be unafraid to state 'the king is wearing no clothes' when we are presented with this ugliness. Let us state that it is not representative of the age, but only representative of the few warped minds who happen to control art and literature at the moment. If we wish to improve our lives, our sense of cohesion and integrity, the way we treat other people and our sense of our own value and dignity, first and foremost we need a return to skill, to devotion to a craft or art, and, above all, to beauty.
Over The Top Award
Since we last met I've walked around the Golden Mount in Bangkok, been lost in beautiful San Gimignano, lamented being snowed in in Venice, and had a sleepless night on a train from Venice to Paris. I apologise for being away for so long but I had a lovely holiday.
Now that I'm back I hope to write about Princess Louise this week.
Kittie Howard of The Block has very kindly given me the Over The Top Award and asked me to pass it on to five blogs that I like. Here they are:
Ms.Lucy of Enchanted by Josephine
Hels of ART and ARCHITECTURE, Mainly
Cheryl of The Princess Palace
The Aesthete's Lament
Evangeline of Edwardian Promenade and
Catherine Delors of Versailles and More
There are many other blogs that I love so I may add some more later.
British Victorian Wedding Gowns UK
With abounding couples acquisitive to bethink the aureate ages by accepting indigenous and best weddings, there has been a awakening by designers and bells planners to carbon indigenous dresses in the accomplished of Europe. In the UK, arresting bells designers are now accepted to accept a accumulating of aged bells dresses and accept appear up with account on how to absorb aged apparel with a acceptable fairytale or a avant-garde bells adjustment in a presentable way. UK Bells Dress Styles
There are varieties of conjugal artist collections with a UK touch. Bells dresses from the 16th Aeon bottomward to the aboriginal 20th aeon accept been acclimated in abounding weddings recently. In the 18th and 19th aeon weddings, brides wore abounding colors. It is not until the 20th aeon that acceptable bells gowns were abstract in white color. A bells clothes would be anesthetized bottomward the ancestors for ancestors and preserved for years. Abounding of these apparel collections can be apparent in British building collections, still with their applique and glassy in abreast absolute condition. The art of dress was at a highpoint in the British colonies during the Victorian and Edwardian era that, according to many, has never been equaled. The Victorian attraction with character, chastity and adroitness was due to the ultimate affectation of the bells dress. Their breeding and breeding can be empiric in the Cincinnati Art Building and abounding websites that action aged advice on British history and traditions.
In 18th Aeon English, a new architecture accepted as the corset was in use. The dress has an accessible actualization to abrasion and looks acceptable on a avant-garde woman due to its boning that releases the burden off the diaphragm and the waist. The British actualization corset creates a break that shows off a woman's apprehension and enhances the all-embracing actualization by compression. The corsets accord the apparition of a abate waist. This is added added by acute adornment of the advanced with a actualization additional the assimilation of a new silhouette.
Today, corsets can be cut from aboriginal patterns, with or after tabs. Alternatively, they can additionally be adapted to reflect avant-garde styles with waists cut a little lower and alike done with adaptable inserts for affluence and comfort. The wearer has the appropriate of emphasizing cartilage channels. Accepting acceptable interlinings with able boning is the key in any corset design, contrarily the bells clothes will assume to catch at the waist.
A appropriately cut English bells corset has a bland accomplishment from the neckline all the way bottomward to the base. They can be produced in a advanced array of fabrics and amaranthine means of decorating them exist. In addition, they appear with a aggregate of sleeve shapes.
Other gowns with medieval overtures are Evelyn and Estella. Evelyn has a abstemious arm gauntlet with a toning brim and blind sleeves, while the Estella has a avant-garde abbreviate applicable fishtail with the breeding and actualization of a Victorian black dress. Most of these weddings accept undergone accessory modifications afore their use in avant-garde bells ceremonies. In any case, their aboriginal English archetypal attending is axiomatic and acutely apparent to an advertent eye.
Royal Roots
In recent weeks, I've become entranced with television shows about geneaology. In some of these programs, celebrities trace their heritage and are surprised and delighted to find images and documents related to their ancestors. (Queen Noor of Jordan, born plain old American Lisa Halaby, was stunned to find numerous newspaper articles about her grandfather, a turn-of-the-century immigrant merchant.)
How different it must be for princesses whose royal and aristocratic lineages are documented for generations and generations and generations. I'm sure many of them are proud of their heritage and wish to honor it (witness Princess Beatrice's brief appearance in the recent film "The Young Victoria" about her great-great-great-great grandmother), but I wonder if they are as excited to discover their roots as we ordinary folks.
Just for fun, this week, I thought I'd take you on a photo tour of Queen Elizabeth II's recent ancestors. (Generations 1-5 are wedding day pics!)
Generation 1
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Greece (The Duke of Edinburgh)
Generation 2
King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (The Queen Mother)
Generation 3
King George V and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (Queen Mary)
Generation 4
King Edward VII and Princess Alix of Denmark (Queen Alexandra)
Notice that the mother of the groom, Queen Victoria (seated) is staring at a bust of her late husband.
Generation 5
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg
Generation 6
Prince Edward The Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg
(I'm very conscientious about photo royalties and copyright in general, so apologies for not being able to find a usable image of the Duke but I think getting to see Baby Queen Victoria makes up for it!)
Generation 7
King George III
How different it must be for princesses whose royal and aristocratic lineages are documented for generations and generations and generations. I'm sure many of them are proud of their heritage and wish to honor it (witness Princess Beatrice's brief appearance in the recent film "The Young Victoria" about her great-great-great-great grandmother), but I wonder if they are as excited to discover their roots as we ordinary folks.
Just for fun, this week, I thought I'd take you on a photo tour of Queen Elizabeth II's recent ancestors. (Generations 1-5 are wedding day pics!)
Generation 1
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip of Greece (The Duke of Edinburgh)
Generation 2
King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (The Queen Mother)
Generation 3
King George V and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (Queen Mary)
Generation 4
King Edward VII and Princess Alix of Denmark (Queen Alexandra)
Notice that the mother of the groom, Queen Victoria (seated) is staring at a bust of her late husband.
Generation 5
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg
Generation 6
Prince Edward The Duke of Kent and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg
(I'm very conscientious about photo royalties and copyright in general, so apologies for not being able to find a usable image of the Duke but I think getting to see Baby Queen Victoria makes up for it!)
Generation 7
King George III
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