Memory Monday (Reichenthal Royal Wedding)

Time for a historic post. In 1997 Syldavia had abolished its national monarchy in favour of a democracy but did face the problem of having absorbed many small regions who were independent monarchies and fiercely traditionally ethnic before the 1996 Revolution. Subsequently the Syldavian civil war broke out and subdued these regions into submission to the greater democratic system. In principle these monarchies where also abolished to some or a complete degree but where some Royal Families were entirely exiled, the small region of Reichenthal signed a treaty with its new overlords. This agreement yielded all authority to the Syldavian government but allowed the King and the local customs to continue ceremoniously with absolutely no claim to governance or government funds. Thus King Lothair, who had ruled for a mere seven days after his father's assassination, yielded to the Syldavian Governor and was relegated to the obscurity of his mountain "Kingdom" to such a degree that Reichenthal soon completely faded into memory and legend. But life went on and "King" Lothair soon took a wife.


The Royal Wedding of  Lothair, King of the Reichenthalians and Azantha, Princess of Perlistan took place in 1998 and was a fresh moment of joy and colour after all the dread that the 1996 Revolution had brought. The event was celebrated locally and did not even receive press coverage in the rest of Syldavia much less internationally. It was not however down toned in its Royal splendour.

The small Kingdom of Reichenthal is hidden away and was completely absorbed by the Syldavian democratic government which relegated it to a regional oddity but this wedding was a time for the local people to shine their local customs brightly among the democratic severity of their "Big Brother" state.

Reichenthal Castle is the venue for almost all the Royal events in the region and also served as the wedding venue in 1998.

Lothair, who could no longer be referred to as "His Majesty" or "King Lothair of Reichenthal", was still colloquially allowed "King of the Reichenthalians" following his name. Here we see him on his wedding day awaiting his bride's arrival in the throne room for the ceremony. The Crown of Reichenthal can be seen just behind Lothair on a golden pedestal.

Standing with Lothair was his soon to be sister-in-law, the pretender Shahbahnou of Perlistan, his best man the Baron Bagrazia and the Silver Cardinal.

The bride's sister was living in exile at the time of the wedding, hailing herself from the ousted monarchy of Perlistan. This was the last time the Shahbahnou was seen wearing this particular set of jewellery as she was forced by the Perlistani government to return them as a national historic treasure. She would only wear them again in 2014 after her exile restrictions were lifted.

Lothair's aunt, Princess Sonja, had been severely traumatised by her family losing so much status as a result of the civil war and almost couldn't attend the wedding for depression. She was however cheered up but the fact that so many, still reigning Royal Families, attended the wedding and was said to find the encouragement to attend herself by the prospect of seeing them. In this photo it is clear that Princess Sonja did not look her best on the day.

Some of the official diplomatic attendees at the wedding included Princess Suzanna of Wallachia...

...and Infanta Isabella of Hispania.

Alison Stadler-Diedricks of Alison Couture was responsible for the wedding dress and as a close friend of Princess Azantha was a very special guest at the wedding. Miss Stadler-Diedricks even procured a brand new diamond tiara especially for the event.

A trumpet fanfare announced the arrival of the Princess Bride.

The spectacular creme and gold embroidered wedding gown took everybody's breath away and did set a style precedent for years to come.

Princess Azantha complimented her dress and flowers with an official 17th Century tiara from the Reichenthal Crown Jewels and her dowry Perlistani Ruby necklace and earrings.

A full length photo of the bride's arrival and amazing gown.

This photo gives a good impression of the impressive gold net veil.

Finally the couple joined each other before the Silver Cardinal for the ceremony.

The actual ceremony was the first to be photographed in Reichenthal as Royal custom forbidding the sacred moment to be photographed was deliberately ignored by Lothair in light of the status of the Royal Family at the time. He also thought that a bit of modernizing might go a long way for charting a new future for himself and his people.

After the formalities the couple left the Castle for a small carriage procession through the streets of the Reichethal capital.

The Governor of Reichenthal, for the sake of the people's insistence, allowed a short procession utilizing primarily routes through public parks obstructing traffic to a minimum.

The Royal guests gathered to send the carriage off, which was to return to the castle about 35 minutes later for a balcony appearance and private reception.

Royal waves were obviously appropriate.

The obligatory posed photos for the press were first on the agenda after the procession.

These photos were also released to the public as pseudo state portraits commemorating the happy day.

God bless Lothair and Azantha, King and Queen of the Reichenthalians.

A large crowd was happy to receive the acknowledgement of the newly weds from the castle balcony.

The very next morning saw the couple leave early by Royal Train for their honeymoon at the Royal Hunting Lodge deep in the Reichenthal forest.

Wonderful Weekends (Arcwhite Charity Photo Shoot)

Lady Arcwhite has called upon some of her most influential Royal friends to join her in a day of fun and dress up in aid of child welfare. The very stylish Lady Arcwhite commissioned another friend, Alison's Couture, to design seven awe inspiring dresses with her Royal friends in mind. The idea being that they all come together for a series of photos to be sold to raise funds for child welfare in each of the countries represented. Suffice it to say, the photos shoot was overwhelmingly spectacular and we hope it raises the much needed funds. 

Each Royal participant was also asked to make a donation in cash along with their time. However the day was totally worth it as the ladies got to "play" for a change and not just dress up for formality's sake. It also serves to boost the public profiles of our popular Royals as a full spread was done in the Mine Magazine. Let as take a look at this amazing event and see our Royals in a slightly more relaxed glamorous take on Royalty and their jewellery. 

Princess Oktavia, the "Punk Princess" rocked this edgy retro ball gown with her family rubies.

Specially designed like all the outfits, to compliment the wearer and her choice of jewels, this Alison original suited the Princess to a "T".

Grand Duchess Azantha, a personal friend of the designer got her favourite colour namely aquamarine blue.

Azantha paired the cool colour of the dress with deep pink, boldly complimenting the dress perfectly.

Lady Victoire of Champagne looked awesome in red. There isn't much more to be said.

The Champagne ruby collection includes one of the world's largest specimens in this brooch that was perfectly off-set by the amazing dress and beautiful Princess.

The lime light stealing Princess Kirsten exploded with colour complimenting her Art Deco amethyst jewellery. The colours are certainly very fun and fantastic unlike the sleek style we are used to see the Princess in.

The Youssopoff amethysts look like they have found their perfect stage in this dress.

The Shahbahnou of Perlistan hails from the Middle East and this dress is of a striking Arabesque inspiration in both fabric and design.

Our third set of rubies again is the perfect accompaniment for this clean cut dress.

The Crown Princess Imperial looked like an Empress but also like a superstar in this deep blue mermaid tail dress. If ever Royalty and Hollywood could be spliced this would be the look.

Imperial sapphires and glitzy blue dress shouted praises at each other that almost rivaled the wearer's blue eyes and broad smile.

Alison's Couture saved the lightning strike for the host of the event, Lady Arcwhite, who has never worn yellow in public and looked out of this world.

Black and yellow cannot help but evoke a "Queen Bee" effect and that Lady Arcwhite certainly can be at times and was for organizing this event to the benefit of thousands of children. We hope you our fans enjoyed it as much as we did and we thank our Royals and Alison for their time and effort in making this bright and beautiful event.

"To be or not to be" Thursday (The Grand Duchess of Reichenthal)

On our Thursday slots we always profile the life of one of our illustrious Royal characters. Today we will take a look at the beautiful and very popular Grand Duchess of Reichenthal. Born Her Imperial Highness, Princess Azantha of Perlistan, younger sister of the pretender to the Perlistani Imperial Throne, she grew up in humble exile. Later she studied in Europa and met the heir to the throne of Reichenthal while reading History of Art at the University of Wallachia. Her she fell in love and so a lifelong relationship began. She eventually gained no more than two separate degrees, one in Anthropology and the other in Economics. Her Royal status was to the liking of her future husband's family, adding prestige to the Royal match, but her native faith was an almost insurmountable obstacle. She loved Crown Prince Lothair of Reichenthal so much that she decided to convert in order to marry also forgoing her right to the style "Imperial Highness". This set the tone for Azantha's life of duty and commitment, and made her extremely popular in her newly adopted country right from the start.

Seen in the photo above, taken in 2013 at the Year End Ball, Azantha wears a turquoise blue dress, her favourite colour as it reminds her of the colour of the ocean that she loves and misses since her days as a Perlistani Princess. Reichenthal, being entirely landlocked does not afford her much of this very personal affection.

The Grand Duchess enjoys dressing up in accordance with her Royal duties and posed for these photos especially for our blog feature. 

Grand Duchess Azantha wears her brand new tiara in this portrait. It was a gift especially made for her at her husband's order to honour her lifelong support of him which lead to his investiture into the Order of the Diamond Star. Azantha has been an unfailing support and encouragement to her husband throughout his life. Even in their youth she saw him through many tumultuous times which included mild alcoholism ending in his involvement in a severe car accident. She shared these times by his side in the face of extreme media coverage but also made a point of attending church and public prayer for the well being of Reichenthal. One of the toughest times she stood by her then fiancé was during the aftermath of Lothair's father's assassination in 1997. If nothing else, her popularity has always been very high in her adopted country and since the mediatized restoration of Reichenthal as an electorate state in Syldavia has now given her a worldwide fan base. 

The former Princess of Perlistan has a very close relationship with her sister even though they literally live worlds apart. Azantha converted from her native faith, alienating her family religiously but it seems that a modern outlook on the matter has left their personal relationships strong. Azantha is often placed in the role of acting as a bridge in matters of faith and has spoken at many political conventions on this topic.

In 1998 the loving Grand Ducal couple was married after a very long engagement. In 1999 the birth of a daughter secured the succession. The Grand Duchess' role in support of her husband is quoted as being her greatest passion and the role of mother takes first place within this spousal relationship.

Outside of being a wife and mother Azantha is very committed to her Royal duties of state followed by her charity work which includes the arts, orphans and animal welfare. She is patron of no less than 60 charities of which 15 are from her native country Perlistan. 

The Grand Duchess is no stranger to finding herself alone (and entirely safe) amongst her people in the streets of Reichenthal. She is quoted as "loving mingling like a normal person". Grand Duchess Azantha is known to break with protocol. She insists on doing her own shopping – often to the frustration of security personnel who need to have their wits about them if she suddenly decides to jump on her Vespa and pop out to the local Supermarket around the corner from the palace. “She is a regular sight over here …” says Supermarket Manager Carl Vuccini. “And she doesn’t like us bowing or curtsying – she goes her own way and talks up a storm with the patrons and store personnel”. The Papparazzi who respect their Grand Duchess' privacy in public do catch a few shots of her on the odd occasion during her shopping sprees. 

Here we see the Grand Duchess happily smiling to the papparazzi while out on her scooter for a coffee date with a friend. 

It seems that Reichentalians enjoy their Royal family’s informal way of interaction. It is clear that the Royal couple loves fun. Palace personnel state that the Grand Duke and Duchess sometimes race one another down the palace driveway – on motorbikes! The Grand Ducal couple own a small collection of two wheelers and the pink vespa is recognised throughout Reichenthal.

A recent survey showed that a staggering 95% of Reichentalians view their monarchy as contemporarily relevant and able to keep up with the times, whilst only 5% (mostly consisting of older more conservative-minded citizens) feel that the Grand Duke and his wife are doing an injustice to the antique Reichentalian Code that has been the Constitution of Reichental throughout its existence as a kingdom. Now as a Grand Duchy under the protectorate and rule of Syldavia the older generation feels some of the prestige has waned but the young up-and-coming youth feels that the past is making way for a new day entirely. Grand Duchess Azantha is right there riding the crest of this new surge and we wish her all the best.