Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Georg Friedrich and Sophie announce their Wedding plans
The Wedding of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Sophie of Isenburg will take place on 27.08.2011 at the Friedenskirche in Potsdam. Thus was confirmerdb y Michaela Blankart the speaker of the House of Prussia. Planned is an ecumenical Wedding as the Prince is protestant and the Princess catholic. There will be 700 guests invited. The evening before the annuel Concert for the Princess Kira of Prussia foundatuion will take place at the Concerthouse at the Berliner Gendarmenmakrt (The concert usually takes place on Hohenzollern Castle).
SPAİN ROYAL FAMİLY
Spain Royal Family attended the awards 2010 of the national Sports at Palacio del Pardo in Madrid
photos(zimbio,daylife:getty images)
Member's Profile: Noaki
We're excited to announce a new series of occasional profile of our members to give you a little insight into who we are and what our creative process is. First up, Noaki who upcycles vintage pieces into jewelries and makes heirloom brooch bouquets.
Tell us a little about yourself
I live in a little bungalow in Southern California with my husband, two children and our blind dog, Dudley. I work as an environmental writer during the day and indulge in my jewelry interests at night after getting the kids off to bed. I grew up in a pretty creative household -- my mother was a painter and my father was an industrial designer -- so I've always needed some kind of visually creative outlet.
What's your favorite item in your shop?
Right now that would have to be my bouquets. Each one is a real labor of love and takes hours to create from beginning to end. My hands have all sorts of callouses now from wiring the jewelry and beads for the bouquets. Usually after I finish one I'll put it on display in a vintage vase on my dresser so I can enjoy it for about a day before shipping it off.
How did the first one come about?
I put the first bouquet together a year or so ago with my sister who has an amazing eye for style and had worked as a florist at a high-end shop in LA that did celebrity weddings and Oscar parties. This was before the brooch bouquet trend hit and I was trying to come up with something eye-catching for a photo shoot I was providing jewelry for. I remember looking at a vintage pin of a bouquet in my stash and I thought it might be fun to do an entire bouquet out of jewelry.
The biggest hurdle was just finding all the jewelry at a reasonable price and then figuring out how to put it all together in a way that wouldn't look like an unfortunate craft project. It was my sister's idea to go with all silver and clear rhinestone jewelry and to attach swarovski rhinestones on the petals and leaves as a finishing touch.
Any regrettable creations?
Oh yeah. I actually have a little designated bag where all my failed creations sit and wait to be dismantled. I really don't like putting items in my shop that I wouldn't wear or want myself. There's a necklace in that bag with these beads that are just the most beautiful translucent blue. I had this idea of make a necklace that would look like pieces of ice floating on your neck. The color is just stunning but I could never get it to hang right.
Anything you'd like to create in the future?
I've been toying around with the idea of doing a jeweled bouquet with more of a summery, beachy theme. I like the idea of a contrast between high end rhinestone pieces and pearls with some real turquoise stones and real pieces of coral. Still thinking this one through.
Like what you see?
More of Noaki's work at www.noaki.etsy.com. Her blog
Tweet
 |
| Photo by John Schnack Studio |
Tell us a little about yourself
I live in a little bungalow in Southern California with my husband, two children and our blind dog, Dudley. I work as an environmental writer during the day and indulge in my jewelry interests at night after getting the kids off to bed. I grew up in a pretty creative household -- my mother was a painter and my father was an industrial designer -- so I've always needed some kind of visually creative outlet.
What's your favorite item in your shop?
Right now that would have to be my bouquets. Each one is a real labor of love and takes hours to create from beginning to end. My hands have all sorts of callouses now from wiring the jewelry and beads for the bouquets. Usually after I finish one I'll put it on display in a vintage vase on my dresser so I can enjoy it for about a day before shipping it off.
 |  |
| From Etsy Wedding Divas |
How did the first one come about?
I put the first bouquet together a year or so ago with my sister who has an amazing eye for style and had worked as a florist at a high-end shop in LA that did celebrity weddings and Oscar parties. This was before the brooch bouquet trend hit and I was trying to come up with something eye-catching for a photo shoot I was providing jewelry for. I remember looking at a vintage pin of a bouquet in my stash and I thought it might be fun to do an entire bouquet out of jewelry.
The biggest hurdle was just finding all the jewelry at a reasonable price and then figuring out how to put it all together in a way that wouldn't look like an unfortunate craft project. It was my sister's idea to go with all silver and clear rhinestone jewelry and to attach swarovski rhinestones on the petals and leaves as a finishing touch.
 |
| From Etsy Wedding Divas |
Any regrettable creations?
Oh yeah. I actually have a little designated bag where all my failed creations sit and wait to be dismantled. I really don't like putting items in my shop that I wouldn't wear or want myself. There's a necklace in that bag with these beads that are just the most beautiful translucent blue. I had this idea of make a necklace that would look like pieces of ice floating on your neck. The color is just stunning but I could never get it to hang right.
Anything you'd like to create in the future?
I've been toying around with the idea of doing a jeweled bouquet with more of a summery, beachy theme. I like the idea of a contrast between high end rhinestone pieces and pearls with some real turquoise stones and real pieces of coral. Still thinking this one through.
Like what you see?
More of Noaki's work at www.noaki.etsy.com. Her blog
:: Please mention our blog if you find this blog post interesting. Blog responsibly ::
Tweet
Kate Middleton's future title
Her upcoming marriage to Prince William will give her a total makeover in terms of social statusUnited Kingdom
Anyway, back to the upcoming April 2011 royal event. After the wedding, Kate Middleton would outrank other titled women in the realms including Prince William's distant cousins (Lady Ella Windsor, Lady Davina Windsor etc.), as non-aristocrat, her status is found in the bottom line of the social class system of Britain, but the marriage will pull her above the surface and will leap in the highest position in the Kingdom next to the Queen and senior female members of the royal family. Her future royal status will depend on Prince William’s title.
Traditionally, a senior male member of the royal family is always created a British Duke by the ruling sovereign upon marriage. Duke is the highest hereditary rank in British peerage and usually granted to the sons of the monarch. But because Prince William is the future Prince of Wales, he might not be given with a distinct noble title of his own. Still, some members of the media speculates that the Prince might be created a Duke in his own right, suggested titles include: Duke of Sussex because he currently lived at the Sussex dukedom in North Wales or Duke of Clarence because his father’s London residence is the Clarence House (the last royal prince with that title was Prince Albert Victor, eldest son of Edward VII, he didn't live to be crowned as King so his younger brother inherited the throne and reigned for 30 years as George V, the grandfather of Queen Elizabeth II) some even suggested Duke of Windsor, but I don’t think the Queen would grant this title to William as this is much related to her uncle, Edward VIII who was created the Duke of Windsor by her father, George VI after he abdicated the throne. Using this title again might stir another controversy revisiting the shame and scandal endured by the monarchy during the abdication crisis in 1936.
If Prince William would become the Duke of Clarence, his future wife will be automatically called the Duchess of Clarence, but if the Prince would not accept any noble title as reported earlier, Kate Middleton would be known simply as Princess William but not Princess Catherine as she will not be created a Princess in her own right. The last woman to be created Princess in her own right was Princess Alice, the dowager Duchess of Gloucester, she was the wife of Prince Henry, the Duke of Gloucester, younger brother of King George VI. Princess Alice was born Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas Scott, daughter of the 6th Duke of Beauccleaugh. When her husband died in 1974 and in order to avoid confusion with her daughter in law, the new Duchess of Gloucester, she asked the Queen to allow her to use the title Princess, henceforth, she was known as Princess Alice of Gloucester. She died in 2003 at the age of 102.
Unlike other Kingdoms of Europe where a wife would consequently become a Princess upon marrying a Prince, in Great Britain marriage does not automatically create one a Princess, the British monarchy follows a strict protocol in using and granting royal titles. In 1981, when Lady Diana Spencer married the Prince of Wales, Buckingham Palace office released an official statement regarding the status of the newly created Princess of Wales: “Following the marriage, she will be known as Her Royal Highness, Diana, the Princess of Wales, she is not Princess Diana because she was not born a Princess nor The Princess Diana because only children of the ruling sovereign have “The” before their names”, but people outside Great Britain who did not know the complexities of royal titles and its subtleties, continue calling her Princess Di (The Royals, Kitty Kelley, 1997).
So Miss Middleton would not be enjoying the fairytale title of a Princess upon her marriage, she might be known as the Princess of Wales when Prince Charles ascend the throne but she will never be created a Princess in her own right.
The King's Nickname
The habit of endowing our kings with nicknames or descriptive epithets seems to have died out, except perhaps in the pages of the tabloid press. More’s the pity. My learned friend @Mrs Symbols has wisely pointed out that had George VI, the subject of the Oscar-winning movie The King’s Speech, lived a thousand years earlier, he would probably have earned a nickname similar to that of his distant ancestor, the French king Louis II (c. 846–879), known to his contemporaries as Louis the Stammerer.
Louis was the son of Charles the Bald (r. 843-877), the first king of West Francia, the area that encompasses modern-day France. The Carolingian monarchs and their nobles are distinguished in the chronicles of the time by a quite glorious collection of soubriquets. Forget the rather dull list of regnal numbers, Charlemagne (or Charles the Great, himself the son of Pippin the Short) was succeeded in 814 by his son Louis the Pious. He fathered three princes who divided up the empire between them: Charles the Bald, Lothair, and Louis the German. Louis the German’s son was Charles the Fat, and Charles the Bald’s successor was his son, Louis the Stammerer. They numbered among their noble followers Bernard the Calf, count of Toulouse, Wilfrid the Hairy, count of Barcelona and Bernard Hairypaws, count of Autun. Although they sound like the cast of an episode of Blackadder, these were powerful, ambitious men, dedicated to serving their king (mostly) and carving out mini-kingdoms for themselves.
They were united in their struggle against the Vikings, enemies with equally descriptive names, like Ragnar Lodbrok (Hairy-breeches) and, er, Ivar the Boneless. It wasn’t till the 10th century that Erik Bloodaxe bagged the best and most terrifying Viking nickname of them all.
Historians differ in their opinions about these kingly nicknames. You’d think that the clue would be in the name, but one theory has it that Charles was so hirsute, that he was nicknamed ‘the Bald’ in an ironic manner. Bernard Hairypaws was apparently so-called because of his foxy nature, rather than his shaggy hands.
 |
| Louis the Stammerer from a 14th century ms. (Wikimedia) |
As for Louis the Stammerer, it seems that like George VI, he suffered from being the son of a formidable father. Charles the Bald fought throughout his adult life to hold his widespread domains together in the face of Viking attacks, revolting nobles and bitter family arguments that ripped Charlemagne’s empire apart. He expected his four sons to obey him without question. Charles himself was the youngest of Louis the Pious’s sons and knew only too well the dangers and problems inherent in allowing ambitious young princes to carve out their own domains. Louis the Stammerer and his brothers, Charles the Child and Carloman, were not outstanding in their filial devotion and during the 860s and 870s periodically stirred up trouble against their father. When his third son, Carloman, rebelled against him, Charles the Bald had him blinded and imprisoned in the abbey of Corbie. So perhaps it’s not surprising that Louis stammered.
Louis did not have a Lionel Logue to help him, but interestingly, in the face of such a ferocious parent, at the age of 16 in 862 he secretly married his concubine Ansgarde, a woman 20 years older than him, who presumably provided some comfort. Ten years later, his father forced him to repudiate Ansgarde in favour of a more politically advantageous wife, and Louis, with his eye on his inheritance, complied.
Louis inherited the throne in 877, but survived only two years, dying in 879. In an age when military might and a commanding personal presence were all-important, Louis was seen to be lacking and was certainly overshadowed by his powerful father. But in his brief time on the throne he continued his father’s work in maintaining an iron grip on the West Frankish realm, and eventually, it was his youngest (posthumous) son, Charles the Simple or Straightforward (879-929), who crushed the Vikings and restored order to France.
Kim Kardashian | Marchesa gown
Kim Kardashian looked fabulous in a red Marchesa gown at the Heart Truth 2010 Fashion Show at New York Fashion Week. The fashion show showed of the Red Dress Collection 2010, which helps raise awareness about women's heart disease. Kim Kardashian was also in New York to promote her new fragrance and show her Bebe fashion line. Reggie Bush was also with her in New York City and Bryant Park.
Shy Kings and Dance Cards
(This site is still waiting to be spring cleaned...please bear with me if it goes a little wonky for a while)
Last week, in the wake of the deserved success of “The King’s Speech”, Channel 4 presented a moving documentary entitled “The Real King’s Speech” which added more background to the film. It included original footage of George VI making various speeches, and alongside that way in which these were presented by the BBC (some of them doctored to make the speech more fluent), the original with all its pauses and hesitations. The close-ups of the King’s face, the movement of his lips and the muscles in his throat as he attempted what was for him ‘hell’ (his word for it) as he worked on overcoming his stammer and speech impediment were incredibly moving. Several things came to mind.
Firstly, the original assessment in the notes of his therapist mentioned the total lack of diaphragm movement and the virtual ‘idleness’ of the solar plexus. The solar plexus has long been seen as the centre of self-awareness/self-worth (isn’t it amazing how, when you are humiliated you feel it physically in your gut?) and it is small wonder that poor George VI had such self-worth issues when you consider the horrors of his childhood: being forced into leg-splints, having his hand tied behind him because he was left-handed (as a left-handed person myself, I cannot think of anything more bizarre than that kind of treatment and hurrah that his great-grandson, Prince William, is left-handed and no one thinks anything of it!) and having such a bully of a father who yelled at him constantly!
Secondly, it is interesting that King George’s courage was recognised during his lifetime and is even more highly regarded now. The immense strength of character it took for a desperately shy man with a speech impediment to accept the throne for which he was unprepared cannot be underestimated. It is said that when he realised his brother had abdicated, he sobbed for an hour at the realisation of what responsibility he must now shoulder. For a man to be so afraid and yet to take that responsibility, it requires enormous moral courage and George VI demonstrated that courage.
And yet....Nicholas II...The Tsar did not stammer but he, too, had felt overwhelmed by a powerful father and was suddenly saddled with an empire for which he, at only 26 years old, was suddenly responsible. Not only was he coming to terms with father’s death, but also realising the enormous task ahead of him, when he cried on his cousin’s shoulders, that did not feel ready for such responsibility. George VI is, quite rightly, regarded as heroic for his moral courage. Nicholas, however, facing an even greater task, is regarded as weak. I think they were both very brave men who, at great personal cost, did not shirk responsibility. I wish that Nicholas would also be generally described as courageous.
On a lighter note I have a bizarre question! At balls, when ladies often had dance
cards attached to their wrists on which they could ‘book’ who would partner them for which dance, how did the men remember on whose cards their names were written and how did they make sure they didn’t double-book themselves? Did they have secret notebooks stashed in their pockets or did they have to remember exactly what they had already arranged?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
