#royal-courts-palace

[livesunique]

The Queen's Staircase, Hampton Court Palace,

Molesey, United Kingdom

[royalty-nobility]

The Marriage of Nicholas II, Tsar of Russia, 26th November 1894

Artist: Laurits Regner Tuxen (Danish, 1853-1927)

Date: 1895-1896

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Royal Collection Trust, United Kingdom

Description

The wedding between Nicholas II and Princess Alix of Hesse took place in the Imperial Chapel of the Winter Palace on 26 November 1894, just over twenty years after the marriage of the Tsar's aunt in the same chapel. The wedding was announced in April that year and was to take place on the Empress Marie Feodorovna's birthday. Tragically, Emperor Alexander III died of kidney disease on 1 November, and the court was thrown into mourning with the exception of the day of the marriage.

The royal couple stand, holding lighted candles, whilst the Metropolitan Archbishop of St Petersburg, Mgr Palladius, makes the sign of the cross before them. Ella, (Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna), writing to her grandmother, Queen Victoria, described her sister's dress as 'embroidered silver cloth Russian court dress & very pretty', helpfully including a sketch. She added that 'Alix being tall will look perfectly lovely'. She wears a kokoshnik tiara and a small diamond crown, beneath which is a wreath of orange blossom, her imperial gold-embroidered mantle is lined with ermine. The Tsar is dressed in the uniform of a Hussar. In the background George I, King of Greece stands to the left of Christian IX, King of Denmark, who looks towards his daughter, the Dowager Empress; the Princess of Wales, and the Queen of Greece. The Prince of Wales can be seen dressed in the uniform of Russian Dragoons to the right of the portrait.

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visits the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival to view the RHS 'Back to Nature Garden' which she co-designed at Hampton Court Palace on July 1, 2019 in London, England. 

[guzhuangheaven]

There's something that's always confused me in legend of Ruyi, and I don't suppose you would know or be able to explain;

In Ruyi, Jin Yuyan tries several times to get Yongcheng adopted by Fuca Langhua, in order to give him legitimacy in becoming the crown prince, this ends up being her downfall because others clearly see it for what it is, Meiruo even says, that it would make him legitimate.

But one of the major character arc points for Yongqi is that he feels neglected because he's not legitimate and therefore not eligible to be crown prince despite being the most talented, which ends up leading to his death as well. Qianlong says openly to Ruyi that it's a shame he's not legitimate because he's the best choice for crown prince.

But Yongqi is officially adopted by Ruyi both before and after she becomes Empress, so why would Yongcheng being adopted by Empress Langhua, even postmortem, make him legitimate but Yongqi being adopted by Empress Ruyi not also be legitimate?

From my understanding, the two things are different:

Yongqi was raised by Ruyi but in the genealogical records, his mother is still listed as Hailan. As such, he’s still considered shuchu. If Yongqi didn’t die and did become emperor, he would of course be required to honour Ruyi as his foster mother and his official mother/dimu, but he would also be expected to honour Hailan as his biological mother. 

What Yuyan actually wants when she wants Yongcheng to be adopted by Langhua is for the genealogical records to be changed, so that Yongcheng is listed as if he’s Langhua’s biological son, that’s how he becomes dichu/legitimate. This basically means Yuyan would no longer have any official place in Yongcheng’s life (and Yuyan can accept this because she still has Yongxuan and Yongxing). For all intents and purposes, it would be as if Yuyan was never his mother in the first place, and if Yongcheng wants to pay respects to her/honour her in any way, it would look only as if it’s because Yuyan helped raised him, not because she’s his birth mother. 

(In Story of Minglan, it mentioned at one point that Minglan is also listed in the family records as Da Niangzi's daughter, so she could be counted as a di daughter of the Sheng family. Probably they did this to raise her status a little when she married into the family of a Marquis.)

This is different from what actually happens to Yongcheng, where he becomes adopted into the line of Prince Lu (in the drama it’s Prince Li?) who was Qianlong’s uncle. Younger sons being adopted into the lines of their uncles/male line relatives to inherit when their uncles/relative have no male heir is a more common practice, so Yongcheng would still be recorded as Qianlong’s biological son who was adopted by Prince Lu to continue Prince Lu’s family line. It’s a way for family members to express goodwill and take care of each other, and in more normal families would mean that younger sons would have a chance at a larger inheritance. But these kinds of dramas it’s framed more sinisterly as a way to disinherit Yongcheng from the throne.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

Official Portraits of the Jubilee Guests before the evening's Jubilee Banquet

The King and Queen were photographed with the guests of honour from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, and Norway.

15 September 2023

HM The King, photographed with the Nordic heads of state in connection with the celebrations for The King's 50th Jubilee.

Their Majesties The King and Queen, photographed with the Nordic heads of state and their spouses in connection with the celebrations for The King's 50th Jubilee.

Their Majesties The King and Queen, photographed with the Nordic heads of state and their spouses, together with the heirs to the Swedish and Danish thrones and their spouses and The Crown Prince of Norway, in connection with the celebrations for The King's 50th Jubilee.

📍: Bernadotte Gallery, Royal Palace of Stockholm

📸: Ingemar Lindewall / The Royal Court of Sweden

—

King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, Crown Princess Mary of Denmark, King Harald of Norway, Queen Sonja of Norway, Crown Prince Haakon of Norway, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Prince Daniel of Sweden, President Sauli Niinistö of Finland, First Lady Jenni Elina Haukio, President Guðni Thorlacius Jóhannesson of Iceland, and First Lady Eliza Jean Reid

[thatsmybook]

As talked about in this podcast episode of @peopledonttalkabout , the music room fight scene in season one episode five encompasses the entire dynamic and arc of Wilmon's relationship in Young Royals. Margaret and Anton point out that this is the first ever time that Simon calls Wille 'Prince'.

My thoughts about Simon's feelings towards Wille from the music room up until the hug at Lucia, is that in this period he views Wille as one of the elite kids all having each others' backs (once a brother always a brother) and using their privilege to scapegoat out of their mistakes. From the moment Wille accuses Simon of being low for providing these elite kids with drugs (which he took) is when the switch happens - from perceiving Wille as just himself to a Prince. Judging as low the lower class kid for providing drugs to the upper class kids who consume them is the equivalent hypocrisy that Simon spoke about in the first episode of the show. Simon: "Why is it called tax 'evasion' but welfare 'scam?' It's all right that rich people cheat, but when poor people do it, it's messed up. For rich people, it's not even called 'welfare' it's called 'deduction'." The language and perception is that one is superior to the other.

[Simon suggests that Wille thinks that his family's reputation and future is superior to Simon's. Wille pauses and doesn't answer and Simon takes that as Wille implying the Royal family's concerns are superior to the Eriksson family's. This comes full circle at the end of season 3 when Simon is struggling with his family's reputation being trashed in comments on social media and Wille dismisses his worries because his mother's health and the state of the royal family is more important. Wille's birthday and how he behaves towards Simon is an escalation of what is happening in this music room in Season one.]

Simon himself is in trouble with drugs because of the elite kids' need for alcohol and drugs and to prevent one of those kids from predating on his vulnerable sister because of her access to those drugs.

Wille going on to help August with his finance problems with just one phonecall in the next scene illustrates how this class of kids have each others' backs. (My first thought when I first watched this show was that Wille was now going to cover August's debt to Simon so Simon is no longer having to do what he's doing- but, no, Simon is not whose finances he's concerned about. Though, in fairness I doubt that Simon would have accepted Wille's financial help.)

Wille texts Simon that he understands that he is angry and he will fix the problem. Simon is still angry because in my opinion he's like "well of course you should- it's your problem to fix". And he's frustrated that now his fate at the school and future rests in this upper class kid's hands. He has no reason to trust this group of people, and he is still viewing Wille as a representative of them.

Then at Lucia when Wille tells Simon that they threw Alexander under the bus, he's angry again about this elite group using their camaraderie and privilege at a lower class kid's expense. (Alexander may be rich but he is lower class than the Society kids). When Wille tells Simon what he did to save Simon, he wonders what he owes this elite kids' representative in compensation. A thank you? Wille's groups' classicism did this to Simon in the first place. Now Simon has been granted a reprieve because one of these kids needs him as a friend/lover. He shakes his head because it's so messed up and goes against his principles, which waver, the longer he spends at this school.

Now, of course, Wille is not August and there are individual accountabilities amongst these group of elite kids, but throughout this whole period Simon not only perceives Wille as the Prince, but Wille grouped in with these upper class kids diabolically getting away with their misbehaviour. The show shows a montage of the Society all lying to the headmistress to blame Alexander and Wille is just one of them. That scene for me acts as the show reminding us - Wille IS one of them - they share the same values and principles. (Costuming and casting in that scene does a good job with the storytelling- they all look similar and are dressed in similar colours).

Simon pushing past all this at Lucia to once again perceive Wille as himself to comfort him, because of Wille's loneliness, is testament to Simon's character. This is the reason their love story exists. Because Simon is a person with strong integrity but also one who gives people that he loves second chances. He is brave with his heart like that. In that scene at Lucia, I personally did not want Simon to forgive Wille for his classism both in the music room and concerning Alexander. But Simon cares enough for Wille to forgive him and move on.

This entire event is one of those instances that Simon is referring to in the tent in season three when he says that Wille does not recognise his own privilege at times. Deciding not to be part of the succession in the monarchy at the end of season three will not have rid Wille of his class status and innate classicism (however minor it is compared to the outright bigots at Hillerska). This, as a 17 year old, will take some time to unlearn. Many of us as adults are still unlearning problematic takes from the environments we were brought up in. I'm sure Simon will never miss an opportunity to call him out on it in their future.

[artandthebible]

King Ahasuerus Sentences Haman to Death

Artist: Anton Petter (Austrian, 1781-1858)

Date: 1835

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: The Österreichische Galerie Belvedere, Viena, Austria

Description

As described in the Book of Esther, Haman was the son of Hammedatha the Agagite. After Haman was appointed the principal minister of the king Ahasuerus, all of the king's servants were required to bow down to Haman, but Mordecai refused to. Angered by this, and knowing of Mordecai's Jewish nationality, Haman convinced Ahasuerus to allow him to have all of the Jews in the Persian empire killed.

The plot was foiled by Queen Esther, the king's recent wife, who was herself a Jew. Esther invited Haman and the king to two banquets. In the second banquet, she informed the king that Haman was plotting to kill her (and the other Jews). This enraged the king, who was further angered when (after leaving the room briefly and returning) he discovered Haman had fallen on Esther's couch, intending to beg mercy from Esther, but which the king interpreted as a sexual advance.

On the king's orders, Haman was hanged from the 50-cubit-high gallows that had originally been built by Haman himself, on the advice of his wife Zeresh, in order to hang Mordecai. The bodies of Haman's ten sons were also hanged, after they died in battle against the Jews. The Jews also killed about 75,000 of their enemies in self-defense.

[houseofbrat]

And in this week's edition of

On Wednesday, 02 October 2024, William did his first investiture since his last one on 04 June 2024.

Later in the day, those who were celebrating their honours had whatever minimal spotlight they get taken away when Kensington Palace released photos of Kate hugging an actual & verified cancer patient.

Kate released her end-of-"chemotherapy" video on 09 September, and only three-plus weeks later did she finally & publicly acknowledge the existence of other people's cancer via this photo op with Liz.

It's a photo op because Kate is not going to be able to count this as a work engagement in the court circular, according to Hannah Furness in The Telegraph.

Yes, it's a great story for Liz and her family, but why couldn't Kensington Palace just release the photo of Liz's family the day after the investiture? Just so those receiving their awards could enjoy their brief moment of sunshine?

I guess the KP comms team could not have waited a day because William had to spit out this bonmot the following day, when he did an engagement with actual Olympians.

But William responded: "No I was so keen to come but I have to say after reading someone’s interview about Covid [looking at Adam Peaty - who tested positive during the games] I decided, because my wife was obviously having chemo, that I didn’t want to risk bringing Covid home, so Adam very kindly reminded me that that was still a thing! But we watched the whole thing. We were glued to it every day."

Kate "was obviously having chemo," guys! That's why they couldn't attend the Olympics in Paris!

But Kate could go and sit at Wimbledon for multiple hours in the sun and hug Wimby athletes, who could be transmitters of viruses.

But Kate didn't need to separate herself from her school-age children, who are well-known germ carriers just like all other young children. No reports of that. Ever!

But also William doesn't do "work" appearances when his kids are out of school. It's not like William, who was president of the FA last year (2023), when the women's World Cup was in Australia could take the time to either a) travel to Australia for it or b) attend a public watch party to show his support. He doesn't want to cut into his copious vacation time by showing real-time support for UK athletes.

But, hey, good on William for staying on the pr message that Kate did chemo because she had CANCER! Just one day after Will & Kate's photo op with Liz's family.

But then there was the cherry on top of these pr shenanigans released by Tom Sykes of The Daily Beast yesterday. Within this article, which is kind of/sort of about assumptions regarding Charles's health, there is a lot of reframing of recent decisions by Will & Kate from the past 18 months.

William also sprang into action. Just days after the news was made public he appointed a new private secretary, Ian Patrick, an experienced former diplomat who had worked for the Foreign Office for eight years. The implication was clear: William would be stepping up to a bigger, more global role. William’s plans, however, were then brutally knocked aside by his own wife’s cancer diagnosis which forced him to retreat from public life, and international travel, for several months.

LOL!! Nice try whitewashing that hiring, Tom!

Ian Patrick was hired because Jean-Christophe Grey quit or gave notice he was resigning in September 2023, and William had to find someone else to replace him.

After all, no one picked up that CEO job that Kensington Palace put out at the same time JCG said he was leaving! Was the CEO posting even real, given how the search was "suspended" eight months later? After another private secretary was in place? Did William ever truly want a CEO? Or was this just a face-saving cover because Jean-Christophe suddenly said he was done?

And hey, let's not forget that Will & Kate haven't done a tour since 2022! They made it known after Charles's coronation in May 2023 that they weren't going to do another tour until 2024. William isn't going to do a tour solo. When will this "more global role" be happening? 2025? 2026? 2027?

Now, of course, with Kate’s recovery, William is back and has a much higher profile than his father, who has spent the last few weeks gathering and conserving his strength for the Australia tour.

William barely works and is scheduled to go on VACATION for two weeks on 18 October. And then William is going to do "work" for six more weeks until he can go on vacation for another 3.5 weeks.

William will resume long haul international travel when he travels to South Africa in early November for the Earthshot Awards. It promises to be a high-profile affair.

Is William actually going to South Africa? Is this a confirmation, Tom? Or is this statement just an assumption by you?

The king’s other brother, Prince Edward and Edward’s wife, Sophie, Duchess of Edinburgh, who are neither great friends nor enemies with Charles, have successfully won the trust and affection of William and Kate and they are likely to be rewarded with a promotion when William’s reign begins.

Convenient, Tom, how you don't mention that Sophie wore a new (to her) tiara in June. Or that Sophie will likely get The Order of the Garter next year, either on her birthday in January or in the honour's list. What are you going to do, Tom, if Sophie wears another new tiara by the end of the year? Are you still going to play this game of Ed & Sophie just being neutral ("neither great friends nor enemies") to Charles?

This whole article is pure, adulterated spin on The Wales family pr blunders for the year. All the moves have happened because they had a grand plan. No mention of THAT MOTHER'S DAY PHOTO or other pr disasters from the spring. No, it's all going to a grand plan.

Executive power and influence is already flowing William’s way. Anyone who doubts that only has to look at the glossy Instagram video William and Kate published last month to announce her recovery from cancer. It wasn’t signed off by the king, and featured not Charles, but Kate’s parents, Mike and Carole.

William is walking around looking like shit terrible. So terrible that KP already gave quotes to InTouch Weekly to spin his gaunt & haggard frame. There's a stark difference in how he looks today versus how he looked when he filmed interviews for his Homewards documentary just a few months ago.

Kate can only tweet or do photo ops that aren't going to count as work in the court circular. Her future schedule is blank except for Remembrance Sunday and her Christmas carol concert.

Totally examples of "executive power and influence."

LOL!!

Is David Beckham going to hold William's hand at other future engagements this fall? Sophie has her own work to do. She can't babysit William on a regular basis. She just picked up a new patronage.

A patronage that would have been right up Kate's alley, if Kate was still going to "work" in the future.

Perhaps we should be asking if parliament needs to rectify that Kate's marriage should be morganatic in the future, if she's not ever going to do regular royal duties again.

[aelfgyvaa]

hey can someone explain to me why Historic Royal Palaces has an entire section of their shop dedicated to Anne Boleyn merch in a way that doesn't make that sound super fucking weird and gross

[roseunspindle]

Ladies on the Screen

[randomidiocyncrazies]

Reading Raven of the Inner Palace, and Eisei/Wei Qing's feud with Jusetsu/Shouxue is interesting—I like that his animosity makes sense within the larger political context w/o making him a total villain. Also relieved that the power dynamics between them are more nuanced—both of their freedoms are restricted, albeit in different ways, and he's technically of a lower status than her within the court (hence the passive-aggression). He's kinda a bitch but an understandable one, and he has his admirable qualities as well.

(I do think it's funny that he sent Onkei/Wen Ying to keep an eye on her, but Onkei is now quite loyal Jusetsu, which pisses him off. Sorry dude you miscalculated)

[dailyasiandramas]

[princesscatherineblog]

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge visits the RHS Hampton Court Palace Garden Festival to view the RHS 'Back to Nature Garden' which she co-designed at Hampton Court Palace on July 1, 2019 in London, England.

[guzhuangheaven]

Hi there! I have a doubt you may know: At the beginning of Ruyi’s, we see Gao Xiyue having a status similar to Hongli’s fujin: she has servants and doesn’t seem to assist another woman. Also when the concubines greet Langhua when Yongzhen's death is announced: they all have servants. However, when Hu Yunjiao becomes a concubine, she seems more like a servant that can sleep with Yongqi. So how was the life for a Qing prince’s concubine? Servants or masters?

Gao Xiyue at the beginning and Hu Yunjiao might have the same title (Gege) but their status are two completely different things. 

Gao Xiyue is a daughter of a high ranking official, and her position in Hongli’s household though relatively low was bestowed personally by the emperor in part for recognition of her father’s work, and she was also properly received into the household. Probably the only reason she wasn’t given a title of Ce Fujin was because of her status as a Han or Yongzheng didn’t want to appear like he was putting too much pressure on Langhua as the new Di Fujin by also having Hongli have two Ce Fujin at the same time which may be seen as implied approval for even more overt competition between them. It might also be because Hongli already basically publicly rejected Xiyue, so Yongzheng forcing him to accept her with too high a title from the get go isn’t a good look either. 

Hu Yunjiao is in a completely different position. It’s kind of vague in the drama how she just appears in Yongqi’s household but she starts out as a pretty low ranking maid that Yongqi just happens to take a fancy to, and he clearly slept with her before she was given any sort of recognition. Yunjiao said that she doesn’t want a title and didn’t feel worthy to meet the empress, mostly because staying in obscurity and feinting this kind of modesty also serves her purpose. She wouldn’t want to be raised to the same kind of prestige as Xiyue had and couldn’t be given her origin. Yongqi basically gave her recognition and a Gege title because he likes her and it’s the honourable thing to do once they’d been together, but her prestige is entirely dependent on his favour, whereas Xiyue had standing from her father being a meritorious high ranking official. Until enough time passed/she has a son it’s unlikely the household will really look beyond Yunjiao’s past as a maid, Xiyue doesn’t have to contend with that. 

I think it’s likely that Yunjiao after becoming Gege would have a maid or two at her disposal, we just don’t see them on screen because we only see her in intimate settings with Yongqi or when she’s sneaking around to meet Yanwan. Technically she wouldn’t have to do any manual labour or whatever her old duties as a maid were, but she would still have been expected to wait on Yongqi and his Di Fujin - but then Xiyue would have been expected to do this for Hongli and Langhua too, we just didn’t have a lot of screentime covering the period when she was Gege. 

If Yunjiao wasn’t there under false pretenses, she probably could have asked for more benefits and recognition like for Yongqi to help her family politically (because it was mentioned at one point her “father” was supposed to be an official? Probably a low ranking one) or just occasional money to help her family (or you know…to treat her own illness), but obviously Yunjiao wasn’t there for any of that, so the appearance of her obscure position in the drama is at least partly self-imposed.

[thepastisalreadywritten]

[princess-yan-writes]

does this make sense or is the order wrong