Centennial of the death of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna

One hundred years ago today, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1860-1922), died in Cannes at the age of 61. She was the daughter of Nicholas I's youngest son Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich (1832-1909) and his wife Cecilie (Sophie) of Baden (1839-1891). A vivacious and colourful personality, the Grand Duchess had never been happy in Mecklenburg (despite the obvious beauty of Schwerin Castle) or in her marriage to Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III (1851-1897), spent as much time as she could in southern France, and caused a scandal when she gave birth to a child several years after his death. (Her Wikipedia article used to be unusually long and thorough for a relatively obscure royal, but it has apparently been shortened due to copyright infringement.) She and her husband had three children, all of whom married well: Alexandrine (1879-1952) became Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Christian X (grandparents of the present Queen); Friedrich Franz IV (1882-1945), the last Grand Duke, married Princess Alexandra of Hanover; Cecilie (1886-1954) became Crown Princess of Germany as the wife of Crown Prince Wilhelm, and would have become Empress eventually if the German monarchy had survived. Kaiser Wilhelm II was initially hostile to his son's union with Cecilie as he had a low opinion of her mother, but eventually came to accept the match, which proved popular with the public though privately unhappy.  Here Anastasia is pictured with her three legitimate children. While unlike her more famous cousin of the same name she did survive the Revolution, being already out of Russia, her brothers were not so lucky: three of them, Grand Dukes Nicholas (1859-1919), George (1863-1919), and Serge (1869-1918) were murdered by the Bolsheviks. May they all rest in peace.

Prince William under fire

There is a fake online controversy being stirred up about some innocent remarks by Prince William at the Ukrainian Cultural Centre in London. HRH said, “For our generation, it’s very alien to see this in Europe. We are all behind you.” But misleading media reports suggested that he added that wars like this were more typical of Asia and Africa, even though there is no video evidence that he said anything about other continents. So of course Twitter explodes with self-righteous condemnations of "racism" and mocking the prince's alleged ignorance, given that of course historically there have been many conflicts in Europe. But this is stupid. It is a fact that there has not been a large-scale invasion of one European country by another anywhere in Europe since 1945. So yes, for Europeans of William's generation, and even of his parents' generation, what is happening now in Ukraine is "alien." People on Twitter need to get a life and stop hunting for "racism" where it doesn't exist. And shame on those journalists who, perhaps deliberately, put words in the Duke's mouth and altered the meaning of his comments, shortly before he and the Duchess are due to visit the Caribbean.

Update: Hannah Furness sets the record straight in the Telegraph.

New pages on Frederik IX & Ingrid 1935 wedding group photo

Today, inspired by a photo downloaded from Wikipedia, I added two new pages to my website about the 1935 wedding of King Frederik IX of Denmark (1899-1972), whose 50th death anniversary was January 14, and Princess Ingrid of Sweden (1910-2000), parents of the present Queen Margrethe II (as well as Princess Benedikte and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece). Here is the rather splendid photo of all the guests, with identifications and links to their Wikipedia articles, so that viewers can learn a bit about almost every person depicted, and here is a chart of European monarchies at the time. (I recommend viewing the former page on a computer, with the browser extended to full screen; otherwise it is unlikely to display properly.) 

I find it fascinating to contemplate how many stories and how much history a photograph like this represents. In 1935, the old continental European empires were already gone; yet unlike today, many people, royals and commoners, still lived who had been formed by the pre-1914 monarchical Old Order and remembered it well. Modernism (especially in its forms of Communism, Fascism, and Nazism) was already frighteningly ascendant, and yet more vestiges of tradition remained than do today; a unique juxtaposition in history. Countries still monarchical in 1935 that no longer are included Italy, Ireland, Iceland, Bulgaria, Hungary (albeit without a King), Albania, Romania, and Yugoslavia. (The Spanish monarchy had only recently fallen and the Greek one would be restored later that year.)

The Atlantic on MBS

The Atlantic has a substantial new article on Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia. Without editorializing I am sharing it for my readers. It has already been criticized in the Washington Post for being too flattering, though in fact the article contains plenty that is negative. Author Graeme Wood responds to the implication that journalists should not interview autocrats here.

RIP Princess Marie of Liechtenstein (1940-2021)

HSH Princess Marie Aglaë of Liechtenstein, wife of Prince Hans Adam II and mother of Hereditary Prince Alois and three other children, has died at the age of 81, having had a stroke a few days ago. May she rest in peace.

Afghanistan

I'm not up to posting all my thoughts on the heartbreaking situation in Afghanistan, which any longtime readers still following this blog may recall I visited in 2013, but I do want to share this article about how the USA's stupid bias against monarchy prevented the restoration of King Mohammed Zahir Shah in 2002 when it might have paved the way for a brighter future.

Don Foreman (1948-2021)

I am deeply saddened by the death of cancer on Friday 13 August of my friend Don Foreman, former secretary general of the International Monarchist League. Don, who lived in Royal Tunbridge Wells, was one of the first monarchists I ever corresponded with, starting in 1999 when I was following the Australian referendum and he published my first article on the subject, "Why I am a Monarchist," in the league's newsletter. We first met in person at the Queen's Golden Jubilee in London in 2002, my first trip to the UK, long before Facebook connected me with anyone else there. This photo was taken in Canterbury in 2011 when my choir from Dallas was on tour there. Passionately committed to monarchist unity and support of the world's diverse monarchies regardless of potentially divisive factors such as religion or race, he consistently stayed well informed of relevant developments all over the world. During his time as secretary general (1991-2002), the IML, founded in 1943, became more visible in the media than either before or since. I'd had no idea he was ill. We hadn't been in touch much recently, though he'd sent me a meme making fun of a certain Oprah interview in March. May he rest in peace.