Gone but not forgotten

This must be the saddest British Pathé newsreel ever. And they don't even include Albania, Serbia/Montenegro/Yugoslavia, or Bulgaria, not to mention all the regional German ones. (France, of course, the only major European monarchy of which no film footage exists, had fallen long before the 20th century.) Excellent old footage though, with more recent captions reflecting the perspective of no earlier than the 1970s. (At least one error in the narration: in the beginning of the Russian portion, it is the Tsar's mother, not his wife, on his arm in the procession; Russian protocol gave the Dowager Empress precedence. At the end of the segment, it is indeed Empress Alexandra who walks with her husband.) Beyond Europe, the second half of the 20th century would prove as disastrous for monarchy in Asia and Africa as the first half was for monarchy in Europe.

Belle Époque Rulers

I've added a new page to my website that collects four assemblies (three posters and one actual photograph) of rulers of the "Belle Époque" (1871-1914), one of my favourite periods in history (in spite of the fact that France was already lost to republicanism), at four different dates: 1896 (below), 1903-05, 1908, and 1910. These are beautiful mementos of what in many ways was a better time, when most of Europe though rapidly modernizing still rightly accepted Monarchy as the norm.

Princess Neslisah Sultan (1921-2012)

I do not generally consider the Ottoman Empire (1299-1923) to have been among history's finest examples of monarchy, but am nevertheless sorry to learn of the death of the last member of the imperial family to have been born before the fall of the Empire. Princess Neslisah, as the wife (from 1940) of Prince Abdel Monem of Egypt (1899-1979; Regent 1952-53 for the infant King Fuad II), was also involved in the final years of the Egyptian monarchy and thus held the dubious distinction of having been exiled by two different anti-monarchist revolutions. The Turkish Prime Minister was gracious enough to praise the princess, last of the Ottomans, as "the poster-child for nobleness who carried the blood of Osman. We remember her with high regard and our blessings."

Ertugrul Osman (1912-2009)

The man who would have been Sultan of the Ottoman Empire died in the city formerly known as Constantinople at the age of 97.

Wanted: Fergie

The Turkish government is demanding that Britain extradite the Duchess of York for trial, who it absurdly accuses of trying to "smear" Turkey in order to keep it out of the European Union. Ankara is annoyed that she and her daughter Princess Eugenie dared to draw attention to the mistreatment of children in Turkish orphanages by participating in an undercover documentary. I hope the British government tells the Turkish government exactly what it can do with its extradition request. While I highly doubt that Her Grace had any such intention, I also hope this kerfuffle does hinder Turkish EU membership; Turkey is not a European country and does not belong in the EU. Whether the EU should exist at all is of course another question...