Tiaras and Trinkets on Tuesday (Royal and Historic Jewellery in Museums Part 2)

The Franconian State History Museum has received a Royal gift  to mark contemporary jewellery design. The gift was sponsored by Princess Augusta and donated to the museum as a record of design in jewellery for the first part of the new millennium. The piece, a tiara, was specifically made for exhibition purposes and thus has never been worn by anybody except posed by Princess Augusta for  this particular photo shoot commemorating the event. This is to at least allow the tiara its proper context once. 

The platinum and diamond tiara can be seen in this detailed photo. It is of obvious modern design with clean lines and an overall futuristic look that will make it look not out of place in a Sci-Fi epic. The piece was made by Franconia's top jewellery firm, Bartier and as such stands as testament of the pinnacle of Europan craftsmanship.

Here Princess Augusta poses with he gift.

Here the tiara can be seen in detail in its proper context for the first and only time. It will from now on be exhibited at the museum in its Contemporary Jewellery Exhibition Hall.

On the other hand a historic jewellery piece from the Franconian Royal Collection, the Goutte de la Mer Sapphire Tiara will be leaving the museum.

The sapphire tiara may be returned to join the newly established Franconaian Crown Jewel Exhibit at the Chateau Lafitte in Lyon which means we may see it worn by a meber of the Franconian Royal Family in pretense or in an official photo if Prince Louis of Franconia ever gets married.

The Goutte de la Mer Sapphire Tiara was originally made in 1804 for Princess Marie Louise, Duchesse D'Angelille upon her marriage to the Duke of Viletta. She was the only surviving female granddaughter of the last King of Franconia. She died childless and her jewellery was dispersed through her husband's family descendants until in 1990 the tiara was purchased by the museum.

Memory Mondays (Style Icons 7 the Duke of Swann)

His Royal Highness the Duke of Swann is the quintessential Royal, statesman and average man rolled up in one. His public role however places an expectancy on him to represent his country and to look the part. He has never failed in this in the arenas of style, fashion and protocol laden Royal tradition.

For his 2004 coronation the Duke of Swann, 21 years old at the time was obliged to wear what protocol dictates and had no free will. His job was to look the part of a reigning monarch and to look it successfully, which he did with flying colours. The photo above was taken at the ceremony and served as his official portrait.

Contrastingly in casual dress, with his shirt untucked, His Royal Highness still looks regal. Could it be the antique car and manor house or is it a natural bearing? Everything about His Royal Highness seems to come together to give the public a rounded impression of himself with the casualness always shining through even if it is just in the smile.

The hardworking Royal is committed to several charitable causes and as such is often called out to far out rural areas where he has to not just show face but actually work. Here the choice of clothing is casual but has to keep a slight air of authority as well seeing as lots of funding has to be accounted for.

To the manner and position born, the Royal limelight of official state occasions consisting of glittering ball rooms and heads of state is where the Duke is most accustomed. In this context, dress uniform is more common than tuxedos and heavy chains of office and other paraphernalia compete to encumber the wearer. The common man might say of a formal night out: "I wish I didn't have to wear a tie." A reigning monarch might wish he was. His Royal Highness however always makes it look like a breeze.

In dress uniform again in 2012 the Duke and his family show unity in complimentary colour choices.

For State Visits Tuxedos may be worn given the context, as was the case in Wallachia in 2014. The Tuxedo is another one of the Duke of Swann's completely conquered arenas as this photo proves.

As a Spanish dancer His Royal Highness trains a lot and even in rehearsal looks dashing. Then again, the posturing learnt in and required from this style of dance will do anybody a great service in their appearance. 

On stage the full effect of the Spanish dancer is unmistakably impressive. 

The hardworking, passionate and truly down to earth Royal Head of State has never set a foot wrong when it comes to his public appearance. We can all but wait to be impressed again whenever this red carpet regular is scheduled to appear before the media glare. 

Breaking News (Europan Council Declares Emperor)

After a tabling of possible candidates for the proposed role of Emperor in Europa on Monday this week, a final verdict has been reached.

It is official, the Crown Prince Imperial, King of the Scots and King of the Britons was unanimously elected by the Europan Government Council as Emperor. His Majesty has officially accepted the offer via phone to the Chairman but is expected to make an announcement on SNN News Live. Henceforth the former Prince Christian-Victor will be known as His Supreme Majesty, Emperor Christian-Victor of the United Empire, King of the Scots, King of the Britons and Crown Prince Imperial of Scot-Britania and all her Realms. His wife will bear the same feminine title but will be known as Empress Odeliah in short.

 It was a already truly proud moment for the peoples of Britania and Scotney a few weeks ago when a restoration of their separate monarchies was announced. Now their nations will be represented in this very auspicious way by having their King presiding as ceremoniously Emperor of  the States of Europa and chairman of the Europan Council in practice. 

At the Europan Council Meeting it was also decided to use the already existing Crown Jewels as the Regalia for the newly created title of Emperor of the United Empire. His Majesty will be invested with these symbols of office as part of the coronations ceremony already planned for him in regards to his Royal role in the Kingdoms of Scotney and Britania.

The Emperor's personal standard will also be the very same one currently accepted as the Imperial Standard for the Head of the House of Aldarian.

We are all overwhelmed with excitement and can feel the tangible surge of festive jubilation beginning to grow as we look forward to a coronation. This will be the event of the century.
Long Live the Emperor and Empress!

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 (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. 

Breaking News (Europan Council Votes on Swanobian Proposal for United Empire)

Earlier this week, in the most bold turn of events, the Principality of Swann's ruler has made a shocking yet not entirely unfounded proposal at this year's Europan Council's Head of State's Summit. 

Switzer Federation is the home of the Europan Council where once annually and in emergencies, the independent countries of Europa's rulers meet to propose and vote on actions to be taken for the benefit of the continent as a whole. This week saw the greatest turning point Europa has been presented with in over 20 years.

Chancellor Johnston of the Democratic Republic of Europa had all focus on himself for the fact that he is chairman of the council and for the changes that have been happening in Britania in recent months. By mid 2015, Britania would have transitioned from a pure democratic republic to a constitutional monarchy.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Swann, ruler of a council member nation with veto rights was to table the revolutionary proposal to the council.

Many other monarchies were represented along with all the other voting members of the council. Here we see the Princess of Wallachia arriving.

Not all member nations were physically present. Absent members included Arcwhite, Normandia, Ruskiana, Franconia and Fulco DÉste. They were voting by telephone and opinion polls were streaming live as they occurred. In the above photo we see the full gathering being opened by Mr. Johnston of Britania.

First the agenda was worked through and reports of previous actions were heard.

Queen Ukulunghile of Ohiri in Africania was officially representing all the non-Europan nations as an observer and commentator.

Here we can see from left, King Nikolas of Syldavia, Princess Xenia of Wallachia and the Duke of Swann.

Queen Maria of Hispania is photographed here next to her Hanoverian counterpart, Grand Duke George.

Chancellor Johnston of Britania, and Chairman of the Europan Council then announced the segment where new proposals are tabled. The Duke of Swann can be seen at is right, ready to take the microphone.

The Duke of Swann's proposal at first came as a surprise but as his presentation progressed not only seemed plausible but actually more economical and efficient system of management. His Royal Highness proposed a neutral chairman for the Europan Council, with executive power and a trans-Europan unifying agenda. He revived the precedent set in 1480 when  King Christian of Scotney was elected Holy Emperor of Europa. That position of Emperor was only for life and could not be succeeded to outside of election, it did not have regional governmental authority, did not negate local culture but unified Europa in economic and defensive affairs. Thus the Duke of Swann called for the position of Emperor be reinstated and that the most suitable person for the role be elected. Possible persons for the role would be tabled after his proposal was accepted.

The vote was unanimous for the position of Chairman of the Europan Council to be replaced by a neutral Emperor from the end of April when Chancellor Johnston's term ends. Possible persons for the role is will now be submitted and the results of a final election will be announced within the next few weeks.

The Europan public are abuzz with the controversial developments but popularity polls are already showing results in favour of it.