Wonderful Weekends (Official Portraits of 2 Noblewomen)

Last year saw many Nobles from Scotney and Britania reviving the old fashion of Official Portraits. This fashion has been very prevalent especially in the Scot-Britanian Isles where Royal popularity has soared to the point where now a restoration of the monarchy is imminent. Today we have our traditional weekend slot of official portraits in this vein but in a slight change we are featuring two sets of photographs of two separate people. Firstly the Duchess of Roswind of Britania, the the wife of Prince Louis D'Pont Du Lac released her official portraits as the Premiere Duchess of the Realm in Britania. 

Her Royal Highness, Princess Victoria, D'Pont Du Lac, Duchess of Roswind is pictured in her ancestral home, Hever Castle in Norfolk wearing the coronet of rank of a Duchess. 

Here we see the Duchess with her Coat of Arms carved in wood behind her coronet shown in detail. 

Hever Castle provided the perfect interior setting for this photo shoot.

Next we feature one of the pre-eminent Hispanian Nobles, the Countess De Lumbre. Her Excellency has only had portraits in her capacity as a world famous Spanish dancer but never an actual official photo shoot purely as a Noblewoman. This was the first but also a very successful one in our opinion.

The Countess opted for the rarely seen De Lumbre Rubies, coupled with a red dress with bolera jacket.

We seem to almost have a full collection of official portraits of almost all the Royals and Nobles featured here on our many Wonderful Weekends slot. Have a look by following the link below. 

Wonderful Weekends (Duke of Swann and Countess De Lumbre Dance for Charity)

The Duke of Swann, a world renowned supporter of the Flamenco Dancing discipline, was joined again by his friend the Countess De Lumbre to dance for charity. The famous Royals have danced in aid of charities before and decided this time to raise awareness for old age homes in Swann and Hispania. To view their previous dance follow the link below.

http://daniel-s-world.blogspot.com/search/label/Spanish%20Dancing

The Flamenco style was chosen for this particular performance. This style requires clapping to precede the actual dance. Clapping is called "palmas" in the original Hispanic. 

The flowing organic moves of the lady dancer is accented by the very strong formality of the male. 

Often the two dancer will circle each other or one around the other. 

Short postured poses interspersed in the dance gives the dancers respite, usually before extensive footwork called "zapateado". 

The Duke of Swann performs the extremely difficult footwork while the Countess claps. 

Then in perfect unison with the music, the dance stops. The dance served to raise awareness for a selection of old age homes of the Duke's and Countess' choice. We hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. 

Wonderful Weekends (Duke of Swann and Countess De Lumbre Performs for Charity)

On this Easter Weekend, the Duke of Swann decided to use his considerable influence and talent coupled with that of a good friend to raise awareness and funds for a charitable cause.

The Duke of Swann was joined by renowned Spanish dancer Countess De Lumbre to do a once-off Spanish dance performance in aid of orphans in the Hispanic region of Cataljone.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Swann stands ready in proper pose to receive the Countess on the dance floor. 

The Countess De Lumbre, who is renowned for her resemblance to Queen Maria of Hispania is dressed in a traditional Hispanic "Tail Dress". 

The dance begins as the couple elegantly raise their hands.

This regional dance requires the man to wear a hat and has to remove and replace it as part of the dance. 

A confident attitude is best expressed in this dance. Even though the man is very masculine subtle elegance can be appreciated in the gentle movement of the hands and head. The Lady although feminine produces very strong stamping with the feet and exudes strength in her facial expressions. 

The lady is required to pick up her dress at times, swirling it vigorously to the beat of the music.

The dancer also gently circle each other. 

The confident poise is unmistakably beautiful and elegant. 

Spanish dancing expresses deep passion. This dance requires the dress tail to be kicked at times to get it out from under the dancer feet. This allows for a visual display as the dress flares up and around. 

The show was aired live on the internet raising funds whilst viewers logged in to view it. It ran for an entire day and was then permanently removed. Stills of the dance are still available as downloadable images also at a nominal fee that goes to charity.

"To be or not to be" Thursday (Countess de Lumbre)

Today we profile a person of contrasts, conviction and passion. She is famous for her beauty, her talent at dancing and for her uncanny resemblance to the Queen of Hispania. She hardly ever attends state functions preferring to focus on her more practical responsibilities but isn’t beyond dressing to the hilt when the occasion demands it.

Her Excellency Donna Maria Rosario de Lumbre, Contessa De Lumbre is the wife of The Comte De Lumbre. Married in April 2011 and from humble origins the Countess is an acclaimed Flamenco dancer and has continued her love and now patronage of this particular art form. The Hispanian monarchy from which her husband derives his noble title, survived the Bloody Revolution of 1996. Thus the De Lumbre family has continued in their responsibilities and lifestyles uninterrupted and unscathed except for extended family abroad being affected. It did however leave an unsettling fear of revolution within the Hispanian monarchy.

Today at age 35, the Countess works alongside her husband on his extensive wine and olive oil producing farms. Owner of several castles the family has many obligations toward the International Heritage Trust and fulfills them by managing most of the properties as museums and not just as private residences. The Countess, a lay scholar of medieval history, takes pride in her role as custodian of the castles and their historic art treasures. She attempts also to spend as much time as possible in performing Flamenco but only to raise money for charities.

Animal abuse takes high priority with Donna Maria who grew up hating the violent side and death associated with Bull fighting. At age 11 her uncle sold a bull to the ring not knowing that the young Maria had taken a liking to it in preceding months often visiting its pastures to look at it and sketch it. Its horrific death affected her deeply. Upon becoming a Countess she chose to use her influence and started a national campaign to eradicate all harm being caused to bulls in the ring. Controversy has obviously been sparked as traditionalists refuse to compromise ancient traditions in the face of total bans. The Countess a passionate Spaniard, hopes to find a middle path and proposes an “American Rodeo” style Bull fight were artistic performance of the matador is the goal rather than the torture and death of an innocent animal. She is currently petitioning Queen Maria of Hispania to avert total bans in favour of her proposal. If her efforts become law she will go down in history as the lady who saved the matador and the bull at the same time. So, don’t mess with Donna Maria she will dance circles around you.

The Countess is due to do an Europan tour of Flamenco dancing to raise awareness of her campaign petitioning for the new Bull fighting law. The tour is set to start in the Principality of Swann towards the end of the year with the Duke of Swann’s special support.

 The Countess de Lumbre wearing a Matador fusion Flamenco dress designed for her performances by Madame Frumsetta. She also wears solid 9ct yellow gold hoop earrings designed by the Duke of Swann's Jewellery Workshops. We can see how she resembles the Queen of Hispania almost like a twin sister.