A Prince for Georgia

The Royal House of Georgia was thrilled to announce the birth of a boy, Giorgi, to Prince Davit and Princess Anna, whose marriage united the two hitherto rival branches of the ancient Bagration dynasty. Prince Giorgi's auspicious birth may be just what is needed to stimulate more discussion of the restoration of the Georgian monarchy. May he one day inherit the throne of his ancestors!

Remembering Grand Duchess Leonida

The last member of the Russian Imperial Family who was born before the Revolution, Grand Duchess Leonida (1914-2010), has been laid to rest in St. Petersburg. Russia Today has excellent video and commentary in English. Also see videos in Russian here and here.

(I thank Monarchy Forum member Seth for these links.)

Grand Duchess Leonida of Russia (1914-2010)

The Russian Orthodox Church has expressed its condolences on the death of HIH Grand Duchess Leonida, who passed away in Madrid last night at the age of 95. Grand Duchess Leonida was the widow of longtime Romanov family head Grand Duke Vladimir (1917-1992) and the mother of current claimant Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna (b 1953). She was born on September 23, 1914 in Tiflis, a princess of the Moukhransky branch of the ancient Bagration royal house of Georgia. Though modern republican Russia denied her the status of Empress she should have attained after the fall of Communism, she will be buried with her husband and his ancestors in the Fortress of St Peter & St Paul. RIP.

Georgian Royal Wedding

Uniting the rival branches of Georgia's ancient dynasty, Prince David Bagrationi-Mukhraneli and Princess Anna Bagrationi-Gruzinsky married in Tbilisi's Trinity Cathedral. There has not been much coverage in the English-language press, other than a rather dismissive Telegraph blog entry, an irritating reminder of how irrelevant monarchism is regarded by many journalists (though not Gerald Warner). While the "fairy tale" element of monarchy is important and should not be belittled, that does not mean that a restoration would have nothing to offer Georgia's very real problems. The world's remaining monarchies make a substantial tangible difference in the lives of their substance; why would Georgia not wish to emulate them?

Royal Musings has more here; also see this thread at my forum for pictures and links.

Georgian Crisis

Gerald Warner has a solution unfortunately not likely to be echoed by many other Western pundits: restore the monarchy!