Royal Style Duel: Sarah vs. Mary

Poor Sarah Ferguson.

First she voluntarily places herself in fashion competition with her two daughters by dressing ridiculously below her age. Now she's got something that could be age-appropriate, but she's still placing herself in competition with younger princesses in a dress well-known from its outings on Crown Princess Mary.

I love Alexander McQueen (this is from the Fall 2004 RTW collection - both ladies have worn this dress more than once), and I love a purple dress, but I don't know about this one. Seems designed to draw lines exactly where you don't want them.

What do you think?


Photos: Daily Mail/Brennan/Simpson/Marcio Madiera/Style.com

Flashback Friday: Royal Engagement Outfits

I've been thinking about it, and I've decided this: the royal engagement outfit has to be one of the hardest outfits in royal life to get just right.

First of all, it's not an everyday business meeting. (Well, I suppose once upon a time it was a business meeting, but I should hope we've moved past that by now.)

Now, I love me some Tatiana, but her engagement outfit just wasn't...special, you know? And even when you fancy the day-to-day suit up, à la Letizia, you're not immune to criticism.

Second, it may not be an every day event, but it's still not an evening occasion - Sophie's engagement suit I recall being criticized as too "evening" just because she went for a little beading. And there's something off about Charlene in a long dress next to Albert in a regular old suit.

That said, it's not a casual occasion either, Mathilde. (I guess they were going for the young and fresh angle?)

Thirdly, one must be careful not to date oneself.

Because as these two ladies well know, the engagement photos will remain long after the marriage ceases to exist.

Yes, timeless is the way to go. Princess Elizabeth looks well-dressed even 60 years later.

And at least Madeleine can be proud of her engagement outfit, even if she didn't end up being proud of the engagement.

Now, let us revisit the case of Miss Catherine Middleton:

Another one for the timeless category, I say. Not too fancy, not too casual. Made by a British designer (Issa, a fave of Kate's as well as Beatrice and Eugenie). Hits it on all points, all while managing to avoid too great a comparison to the inevitable:

  
Tell me: who tops your all-time best dressed royal fiancée list, and where does Kate rank on your list?

Royal Style Duel: Mary vs. Victoria

Yet another thing I'm way late in covering: another royal twin appearance!

Mary sported this gown first in white at Victoria's private pre-wedding party, followed by Victoria herself in the gray version while on duty with Willem-Alexander:

You think Victoria and Mary had a little fashion chat at the party? That's the scenario I'm going with, just because the picture of a couple of princesses sneaking off for a bit of girl talk makes me smile.

This, of course, is from Malene Birger:

Now, here's something I thought might be fun: let's put it to a style duel and see who wore it best! Cast your vote below:



Photos: Svenskdam

Royal Trend Watch: Safety Woes

Here's a lil' tidbit about yours truly: I'm an interior designer. My particular job involves developing the aesthetics of large buildings, offices and such. What I'm saying is this: I spend a significant amount of my time mucking about construction sites and the like.

Why am I bothering you with this information? Because I want you to know, when I say this, that it comes from deep personal experience:

There is no way to make construction hard hats and safety gear look good. Mette-Marit, I sympathize.

Let me tell you, there's nothing worse than having your style smashed by safety requirements. (Well, alright, there's a whole lot out there that's worse than that. But my world is small and shallow.) High heels are not encouraged in these environments, which is blasphemous. And I'm not even going to get into what these things do to your hair.

Poor royals. Factories, construction sites, you name it: many have tried to rock their safety gear....

...all have failed. A most unfortunate royal trend.

But, hey, I think Mette-Marit's come up with the first step to combating the woes of safety wear:

If your scarf is big enough, it'll cover everything else. Someone needs to tell Letizia.

Photos: Corbis/ANP

The Royal House of Glucksburg

Country: Denmark

Royal House Name: Glucksburg

Current Head: Queen Margrethe II  (born: April 16, 1940)
Consort: HRH Prince Henrik 
Reigned: since 1972
Successor: HRH Crown Prince Frederick 

Queen Margrethe II 

The throne of Denmark is the oldest European royal house dating back from 899 when King Gorm took over the throne. The Danish throne has a complete royal house name of Schleswig-Holstein-Oldenburg-Sonderburg-Glucksburg. Prior to 20^th century this royal house maintained a salic law prohibiting a woman from succeeding the throne but in 1940’s when the royal family realized that Queen Ingrid could no longer provide the throne with a male heir, the government changed its succession rule to primogeniture giving way to King Frederick IX’s eldest daughter, Margrethe, from succeeding.

The multiple name of the royal house of Denmark started in 1448 when King Christoffer III died without a direct successor, he was succeeded by Count Christian of Oldenburg, but in 1863 the last Oldenburg King, Frederik, died without issue, so the throne passed to his nephew from the Schleswig-Holstein-Glucksburg branch who became King Christian IX, his wife, Princess Louise was the daughter of the Duke of Hesse-Cassel. The King was known later on as the grandfather of Europe when his children and descendants married into the existing European royal houses, His eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra, married King Edward VII of England, another daughter, Princess Marie married the Emperor of Russia, Alexander III. His eldest son, Frederick who succeeded him, married the Princess of Sweden, Lovisa and his second son, Prince Vilhelm went on to become King George I of Greece. His grandson became King Haakon VII of Norway in 1905 whose wife, Princess Maud of England, was also his granddaughter through Princess Alexandra.

Today, the royal House of Denmark is ruled by Queen Margrethe since 1972 on the death of her father, King Frederick IX, her subjects affectionately called her “Queen Daisy”. She is married to Count Henri de Laborde de Montpezat of France. Queen Margrethe’s mother, Queen Ingrid, was a great grand daughter of Queen Victoria of England. Queen Margrethe and Prince Henrik had two sons: Prince Frederick and Prince Joachim. Margrethe’s sisters all married into royalty, Princess Benedikte married Prince Lorenz of Germany while Princess Ana Marie married her triple second cousin, King Constantine II of Greece.

Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik

DANISH ROYAL FAMILY

HM The Queen

HRH Prince Henrik

HRH Prince Frederick

HRH Princess Mary

    HRH Prince Christian

   HRH Princess Isabella

HRH Prince Joachim

HRH Princess Marie

   HH Prince Nikolai

   HH Prince Felix
   HH Prince Henrik
 

King Harold's Residence Found!

The ancient residence of King Harold of Denmark was discovered recently by archaeologists near the famous Jelling runic stones. Harold was called Harald Blåtand in Denmark, meaning dark-skinned and tan.

This king is well-loved by many Danes because he united Denmark and Norway and he converted Denmark to Christianity. Born in 911, King Harold was the son of King Gorm and his wife Thyra. Thyra was rather interested in Christianity but remained pagan.

When Gorm was defeated by the German king, Henry 1, he was forced to tolerate his Christian subjects. Harold only accepted Christianity when Denmark was finally defeated by Otto 1. Otto forced Harold to convert and Harold was baptized by a German with the strange name of Poppo. Harold must have taken to the new religion in the end because he built a church dedicated to the Holy Trinity and he built a monument which said that he converted the country to Christianity.

When his sister's Graafeld's husband,Erik Blood Axe, was assassinated, Harold took over Norway. He was slain himself in 986.

Harold was nicknamed 'Harold Bluetooth' and Ericsson's famous Bluetooth technology, which unites 'the worlds of computers and telecom' is named after him.

You can read more about Harold here: Harold Bluetooth's Royal Palace