June 12 – He Crowned Charlemagne

June 10, 2013

Pope St. Leo III Date of birth unknown; died 816. He was elected on the very day his predecessor was buried (26 Dec., 795), and consecrated on the following day. It is quite possible that this haste may have been due to a desire on the part of the Romans to anticipate any interference of […]

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Video – Queen’s Coronation: guns mark 60th anniversary with 62-round royal salute

June 6, 2013

At the Tower of London the Honourable Artillery Company fired a 62-round royal salute from the Tower’s Gun Wharf across the River Thames. The Queen, who was crowned on June 2, 1953 when she was just 27 years old, reached the milestone anniversary this week. But as the anniversary fell on a Sunday, a day […]

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Elites We Will Always Have: Are Yours Good or Bad? – The Washington Post

June 6, 2013

According to The Washington Post: The role — and riches — of China’s princelings has become a particularly touchy issue in the run-up to a party congress this fall… Resentment toward the families of party elite has bubbled for years in China, stirred by a widespread belief that they are arrogant, flout rules with impunity and […]

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Patton on keeping a family spirit in the Staff

June 6, 2013

“Staff officers of inharmonious disposition, irrespective of their ability, must be removed.  A staff cannot function properly unless it is a united family.” Alan Axelrod, Patton on Leadership: Strategic Lessons for Corporate Warfare (Paramus, N.J.: Prentince Hall Press, 1999), 157. Short Stories on Honor, Chivalry, and the World of Nobility—no. 288

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The fruit of long family traditions

June 6, 2013

“First of all, you must maintain an irreproachable religious and moral conduct, especially within the family, and practice a healthy austerity in life. Let the other classes be aware of the patrimony of virtues and gifts that are your own, the fruit of long family traditions.” (Pius XII, 1958 allocution to the Roman Patriciate and […]

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June 7 – The Crusaders reach the walls of Jerusalem

June 6, 2013

In June of 1099 [the First Crusade] arrived before the walls of Jerusalem, which was then held by the Fatimid Arabs of Egypt. With their usual religious zeal and grim determination, the Christians prepared to attack the walls. Their fighting force had been reduced to 1,200 knights and 10,000 foot soldiers, with a similar number […]

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June 8 – Accused of theft and other misconduct

June 6, 2013

St. William of York (WILLIAM FITZHERBERT, also called WILLIAM OF THWAYT). Archbishop of York. Tradition represents him as nephew of King Stephen, whose sister Emma was believed to have married Herbert of Winchester, treasurer to Henry I. William became a priest, and about 1130 he was canon and treasurer of York. In 1142 he was […]

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The Coronation: A ceremony for a sublime-starved world

June 3, 2013

According to Express: The Coronation of the beautiful 27-year-old Queen Elizabeth on June 2, 1953, was consequently to be a glittering affair, a day to remember and one to boost the morale of the entire population. Having been meticulously planned, taking more than a year to organise, the grand spectacle did not disappoint. The ancient […]

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June 2, 1953: The Medieval Coronation Ceremony that Fascinated the World

June 3, 2013

According to The Telegraph: It was the 1953 Coronation, planned by the Earl Marshal, the Duke of Norfolk, that provided the Queen with a formal initiation rite and an investiture with her official regalia. It was a public display, too, of the Queen’s spiritual and constitutional role, stamping her place in a 900-year-long chain of […]

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60 Years: World Celebrates Diamond Jubilee of Queen’s Coronation

June 3, 2013

According to BBC News: It was a dazzling spectacle with solemn pledges and soaring music. It brought together a cast of characters, the like of which had not been seen since the days of Britain’s imperial glory. Yet for all its splendor and pageantry, the coronation of a British monarch is really a rather curious […]

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New Book – The Coronation: A Royal History

June 3, 2013

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1459717600

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Muley Abul Hacen refuses tribute to the Catholic Kings Ferdinand and Isabel

June 3, 2013

In 1476,Aben Ismail died; and his successor, Muley Abul Hacen, a chieftain already famous in his own land for various daring raids into Christian territory, ceased to send the required tribute to Castile. When the ambassadors of Ferdinand and Isabel came before him to remonstrate, he replied haughtily: “Go, tell your sovereigns that the kings […]

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The Nobility Should Remain a Leading Class in Today’s Greatly Changed Social Context

June 3, 2013

According to Pius XII, “one may think as one wishes” about the new lifestyles. One is not at all obliged to applaud them, but one must accept that they constitute the palpable reality in which we are obliged to live. Just what, then, is the objective and manly acknowledgment of these lifestyles? Have the nobility […]

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June 3 – She eventually won her husband’s heart to the faith, but then had to witness her children kill each other.

June 3, 2013

St. Clotilda, Queen of the Franks (French: CLOTILDE; German: CHLOTHILDE). Queen of the Franks, born probably at Lyons, c. 474; died at Tours, 3 June, 545. Her feast is celebrated 3 June. Clotilda was the wife of Clovis I, and the daughter of Chilperic, King of Burgundians of Lyons, and Caretena. After the death of […]

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June 5 – My God Stands Stronger Than Yours

June 3, 2013

St. Boniface (WINFRID, WYNFRITH). Apostle of Germany, date of birth unknown; martyred 5 June, 755 (754); emblems: the oak, axe, book, fox, scourge, fountain, raven, sword. He was a native of England, though some authorities have claimed him for Ireland or Scotland. The place of his birth is not known, though it was probably the […]

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June 5 – It is in adversity that we test friendship

June 3, 2013

Blessed Ferdinand of Portugal Prince of Portugal, b. in Portugal, 29 September, 1402; d. at Fez, in Morocco, 5 June, 1443. He was one of five sons, his mother being Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, and his father King John I, known in history for his victories over the Moors and […]

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The leftist paper The Guardian rages against Sunday’s diamond jubilee of the Queen’s coronation

May 30, 2013

According to the The Guardian: It is the 60th anniversary of Elizabeth II’s coronation on Sunday…. These are bad times for republicans. The last three years have been full of royal pageantry…. It is not so much what monarchy does that offends me, but what it does not do. It does not tell us that we are free […]

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Islamists desire to topple the Jordanian monarchy

May 30, 2013

According to JNS.org: Jordan was established by Great Britain post-World War I from the original Mandate of Palestine. In return for the support of Ali bin Hussein, the leader of the Hashemite tribe from the holy cities of Mecca and Medina, during the British-led Arab Revolt against the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the […]

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Prince Harry told to watch out after Islamist Woolwich terrorist attack

May 30, 2013

According to Mirror: Prince Harry has been warned to be extra vigilant in public after the murder of Lee Rigby. A Royal source said: “He is the Taliban’s number one target.” To read the full article in Mirror, please click here.  

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An anxious moment for Marie Antoinette in the Temple prison

May 30, 2013

While the royal family was imprisoned and closely guarded in the Temple, the revolutionaries discovered an iron coffer in one of the rooms, a fact they considered highly suspect, giving rise to endless rumors and inquiries. One day, while the prisoners were dining under their guards’ watchful eyes, the Dauphin saw a biscuit on the […]

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The Deterioration of the Medieval Order in Modern Times

May 30, 2013

As explained… the feudal organization of society—at once political, social, and economic—deteriorated in modern times (from the fifteenth to the eighteenth centuries). From then on, the successive political and socioeconomic transformations have tended to meld all the classes and entirely, or almost entirely, deny a special juridical status to the clergy and nobility. This is […]

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May 30 – Most Valiant King

May 30, 2013

Saint Ferdinand III of Castile King of Leon and Castile, member of the Third Order of St. Francis, born in 1198 near Salamanca; died at Seville, 30 May, 1252. He was the son of Alfonso IX, King of Leon, and of Berengeria, the daughter of Alfonso III, King of Castile, and sister of Blanche, the […]

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May 30 – Maid of Orleans

May 30, 2013

St. Joan of Arc In French Jeanne d’Arc; by her contemporaries commonly known as la Pucelle (the Maid). Born at Domremy in Champagne, probably on 6 January, 1412; died at Rouen, 30 May, 1431. The village of Domremy lay upon the confines of territory which recognized the suzerainty of the Duke of Burgundy, but in […]

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June 1 – Kidnapped for Christ

May 30, 2013

Bl. John Story (Or Storey.) Martyr; born 1504; died at Tyburn, 1 June, 1571. He was educated at Oxford, and was president of Broadgates Hall, now Pembroke College, from 1537 to 1539. He entered Parliament as member for Hindon, Wilts, in 1547, and was imprisoned for opposing the Bill of Uniformity, 24 Jan.-2 March, 1548-9. […]

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June 1 – This Aristocrat Gave His Life for the Poor

May 30, 2013

Saint Hannibal Mary Di Francia (1851-1927)  (sometimes written as Annibale Maria Di Francia) Hannibal Mary Di Francia was born in Messina, Italy, on July 5, 1851. His father Francis was a knight, the Marquises of St. Catherine of Jonio, Papal Vice-Consul and Honorary Captain of the Navy. His mother, Anna Toscano, also belonged to an […]

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Terrorism will not stop Queen’s visit to Woolwich barracks

May 27, 2013

According to Hello Magazine: “It was a shocking and appalling act of violence that has left the nation stunned. In a move of defiance against the two men suspected of committing the atrocity on the streets of Woolwich on Wednesday, the Queen has vowed that her visit to the Woolwich barracks will go ahead as planned. The monarch, 87, […]

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Queen Elizabeth: On Sunday it will have been 60 years since her coronation

May 27, 2013

According to The Telegraph: At her Coronation 60 years ago, the most important moment for Elizabeth II was not the crowning but swearing to God to serve her people all her life. Only the weather seems the same. Sixty years ago next Sunday, on June 2 1953, the day of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth […]

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Isabella the Catholic confronts a riotous mob and restores order to Segovia

May 27, 2013

At the beginning of August, 1476, what threatened to be a serious rebellion broke out in Segovia, during the absence of the governor, Andres de Cabrera, now Marquis of Moya. The malcontents, whose disaffection had been roused  by his appointment of certain officials, succeeded by a ruse in gaining entrance to the citadel and seized […]

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Revolutionary principles subvert the medieval organic social order

May 27, 2013

Clergy, nobility, and people. This trilogy naturally brings to mind the representative assemblies that characterized many monarchies of the Middle Ages and the Ancien Régime: the Cortes of Portugal and Spain, the Estates General of France, the Parliament of England, and so forth. In these assemblies, there was an authentic national representation that faithfully mirrored […]

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May 27 – St. Augustine of Canterbury

May 27, 2013

St. Augustine of Canterbury First Archbishop of Canterbury, Apostle of the English; date of birth unknown; died 26 May, 604. Symbols: cope, pallium, and mitre as Bishop of Canterbury, and pastoral staff and gospels as missionary. Nothing is known of his youth except that he was probably a Roman of the better class, and that […]

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May 28 – Whether She Was Upstairs Or Downstairs, She Was Ever Steady

May 27, 2013

Blessed Margaret Pole Countess of Salisbury, martyr; born at Castle Farley, near Bath, 14 August, 1473; martyred at East Smithfield Green, 28 May, 1541. She was the daughter of George Plantagenet, Duke of Clarence, and Isabel, elder daughter of the Earl of Warwick (the king-maker), and the sister of Edmund of Warwick who, under Henry […]

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May 28 – After Defeating the Saracens, He Joined the Benedictines

May 27, 2013

St. William of Gellone Born 755; died 28 May, c. 812; was the second count of Toulouse, having attained that dignity in 790. He is by some writers also given the title of Duke of Aquitaine. This saint is the hero of the ninth-century “Roman de Guillame au court nez”, but the story of his […]

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Death of HRH Prince Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse

May 23, 2013

The House of Hesse has confirmed the news that HRH Prince Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, passed away earlier today, May 23, 2013. Born in Italy, on August 6, 1926, Prince Moritz was 86 years old. He had been head of the House of Hesse since October 25, 1980, at the death of his father, Prince Philipp.

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St. Edmund, King and Martyr for his faith and people

May 23, 2013

The next year (870)  is one full of sorrow, and of glory, for Christian England. It witnesses the utter destruction of another Saxon kingdom, adds one worthy English name to the calendar of the saints, several to the roll of our heroes still remembered, and a whole people to the glorious list of those who […]

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Clergy, Nobility, and People

May 23, 2013

In the Middle Ages, society consisted of three classes, the clergy, the nobility, and the people, each of which had special duties, privileges, and honors. Besides this tripartite division, a clear distinction existed between rulers and those ruled, a distinction inherent to every social group and principally to a country. Not only the king, however, […]

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May 24 – Our Lady Help of Christians, to commemorate the liberation of the Pope from prison

May 23, 2013

This commemoration was introduced in the liturgical calendar by decree of Pope Pius VII on September 16, 1815, in thanksgiving for his happy return to Rome after a long and painful captivity in Savona and France due to Napoleon’s tyrannical power. By order of Napoleon, Pius VII was arrested, 5 July, 1808, and detained a […]

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May 25 – He Forced the Emperor To Wait Three Days in the Snow

May 23, 2013

Pope St. Gregory VII (HILDEBRAND). One of the greatest of the Roman pontiffs and one of the most remarkable men of all times; born between the years 1020 and 1025, at Soana, or Ravacum, in Tuscany; died 25 May, 1085, at Salerno. The early years of his life are involved in considerable obscurity. His name, […]

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May 25 – She withstood the devil

May 23, 2013

St. Mary Magdalen de’ Pazzi Carmelite Virgin, born 2 April, 1566; died 25 May, 1607. Of outward events there were very few in the saint’s life. She came of two noble families, her father being Camillo Geri de’ Pazzi and her mother a Buondelmonti. She was baptized, and named Caterina, in the great baptistery. Her […]

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May 26 – He converted a young nobleman by showing him a vision of hell, and called the City of Rome his “Desert”

May 23, 2013

THE APOSTLE OF ROME St. Philip Romolo Neri Born at Florence, Italy, 22 July, 1515; died 27 May, 1595. Philip’s family originally came from Castelfranco but had lived for many generations in Florence, where not a few of its members had practised the learned professions, and therefore took rank with the Tuscan nobility. Among these […]

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Isabella the Catholic: Spain’s Joan of Arc

May 20, 2013

Instead of marching to seize Isabel[la], Alfonso V proceeded to Arévalo…. [I]t gave Isabella the one thing she needed—time. She pounced upon her advantage with all the energy of an awakening genius. Tireless, seemingly ubiquitous, she was almost constantly on horseback, going from one end of the kingdom to the other, making speeches, holding conferences, […]

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Chelsea Flower Show 2013: 100 years of royal approval – The Telegraph

May 20, 2013

According to The Telegraph: For a century Chelsea Flower Show has benefited from royal approval. The Queen now follows in her predecessors’ footsteps… and visits Chelsea on the Monday of show week, invariably in company with members of her family. …for 100 years, the show and its royal visitors have performed a mostly harmonious duet, […]

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9-year-old Jaipur prince becomes Maharaja of Sirmaur – India Today

May 20, 2013

According to India Today: Though the old feudal order has become a thing of the past, the former royalties still like to follow certain traditions like anointment of heads and titular heads of erstwhile princely states. In line with tradition, the nine-year-old younger prince of Jaipur, Rajkumar Lakshya Raj Singh is now the titular Maharaja […]

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With the Corruption of Democracy, Liberty Becomes Tyranny and Equality Degenerates into Mechanical Leveling

May 20, 2013

Having defined true democracy [enter link to previous post], Pius XII then describes false democracy. “Against this picture of the democratic ideal of liberty and equality in a people’s government by honest and far-seeing men, what a spectacle is that of a democratic state left to the whims of the masses! “Liberty, from being a […]

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May 20 – St. Bernardine of Siena

May 20, 2013

St. Bernardine of Siena Friar Minor, missionary, and reformer, often called the “Apostle of Italy”, b. of the noble family of Albizeschi at Massa, a Sienese town of which his father was then governor, 8 September, 1380; d. at Aquila in the Abruzzi, 20 May, 1444. Left an orphan at six Bernardine was brought up […]

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May 22 – Hanged for Publishing

May 20, 2013

Blessed James Duckett Martyr, born at Gilfortrigs in the parish of Skelsmergh in Westmoreland, England, date uncertain, of an ancient family of that county; died 9 April, 1601. He was a bookseller and publisher in London. His godfather was the well-known martyr James Leybourbe of Skelsmergh. He seems, however, to have been brought up a […]

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May 22 – Queen’s Confessor

May 20, 2013

Blessed John Forest Born in 1471, presumably at Oxford, where his surname was then not unknown; suffered 22 May, 1538. At the age of twenty he received the habit of St. Francis at Greenwich, in the church of the Friars Minor of the Regular Observance, called for brevity’s sake “Observants”. Nine years later we find […]

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Video: Queen Elizabeth II Opens Parliament 2013

May 16, 2013

Queen Elizabeth II opens sessions of Parliament 2013

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Maria Cristina of Savoy to be beatified

May 16, 2013

According to Realtà Sannita: …Servant of God Maria Cristina of Savoy, wife of Ferdinand II and Queen of the Two Sicilies….was born in Cagliari in 1812 of Vittorio Emanuele I of Savoy and Maria Theresa.  She died in the Royal Palace of Naples, due to post-partum infection, at the age of 23. The people acclaimed […]

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Charlemagne’s indirect role in the unification of England

May 16, 2013

In the year 849, when Alfred [the Great] was born at the royal burgh of Wantage, the youngest child of Aethelwulf and Osberga, the King of the West Saxons had already established his authority as lord over the other Teutonic kingdoms in England. Until the time of Egbert, the father of Aethelwulf, this overlordship had […]

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Natural Inequalities Should Also Exist in a True Democracy

May 16, 2013

[Pius XII] distinguishes between true and false democracy. The former is a corollary of the existence of a true people; the latter, on the contrary, is the consequence of reducing the people to the condition of mere human masses. “Hence, follows clearly another conclusion: the masses—as we have just defined them—are the capital enemy of […]

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St. Honoré pastry and its noble patron saint

May 16, 2013

Anyone who does much baking has had mishaps and for most of us they are very frustrating. Some even give up on the recipe involved, as if it were to blame, not our involuntary lapse. Yet while to err is human, to take a deep breath and try again, armed with prayer aforethought, is Christian. […]

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May 16 – Patron of Poland

May 16, 2013

Saint Andrew Bobola Martyr, born of an old and illustrious Polish family, in the Palatinate of Sandomir, 1590; died at Janów, 16 May, 1657. Having entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus at Wilno (1611), he was ordained in 1622, and appointed preacher in the Church of St. Casimir, Wilno. After making his solemn […]

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May 16 – Leper King

May 16, 2013

Modern society obsessively avoids suffering, risk and danger. It secures everything with seatbelts and safety rails, air conditions the summer heat, prints warnings on coffee cups and advises that that safety glasses should be used while working with hammers. Certainly such precautions have prevented misfortune. However, since heroism and excellence are born from confronting rather […]

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May 19 – Charlemagne’s Scholar

May 16, 2013

Blessed Alcuin of York An eminent educator, scholar, and theologian born about 735; died 19 May, 804. He came of noble Northumbrian parentage, but the place of his birth is a matter of dispute. It was probably in or near York. While still a mere child, he entered the cathedral school founded at that place […]

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May 19 – He Grabbed the Devil By the Nose

May 16, 2013

St. Dunstan of Canterbury Archbishop and confessor, and one of the greatest saints of the Anglo-Saxon Church; born near Glastonbury on the estate of his father, Heorstan, a West Saxon noble. His mother, Cynethryth, a woman of saintly life, was miraculously forewarned of the sanctity of the child within her. She was in the church […]

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Call for a public statue of Mary, Queen of Scots – BBC News

May 13, 2013

According to BBC News: The Marie Stuart Society said Mary…still does not have an official statue. Mary was executed on the orders of her cousin Queen Elizabeth I in 1587. Society resident Margaret Lumsdaine said: “As far as I am aware there is no official statue to the Queen in Scotland.” Mary Stuart was born […]

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39 percent of Serbians want a king again – B92 News

May 13, 2013

According to B92 News: … 39.7 percent of Serbian citizens believe that a renewal of a parliamentary monarchy would be a good idea. …the poll [was] done by Belgrade-based SAS Intelligence agency… SAS Intelligence Executive Director Miljan Premović explained…that the poll…had a 95 percent trust interval “which makes it good enough for scientific publications”. “Simon […]

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Czech crown jewels on display – Radio Prague

May 13, 2013

According to Radio Prague: Tens of thousands of people are expected to queue for hours to view the crown jewels, which have just gone on display at Prague Castle’s Vladislav Hall. Despite persistent heavy rain, a long queue had formed by 9 AM on Friday at Prague Castle, with people waiting patiently for the first […]

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Controversial royal visit to weapons producer proceeded as planned – Views and News from Norway

May 13, 2013

According to Views and News from Norway: Crown Prince Haakon went ahead with his planned visit to Lockheed Martin Aeronautics in Fort Worth, Texas this week amidst criticism back home in Norway. The visit had been criticized because of Lockheed Martin’s history of making cluster bombs and because it was seen as a “PR coup” […]

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Alfred the Great’s fighting days started early

May 13, 2013

With such garniture then of one kind or another, gathered together in these early years, the young crown prince stands loyally by the side of the young king his brother, looking from their western home over an England already growing dark under the shadow of a tremendous storm. When it bursts, will it spend itself […]

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