FeaturesJapan

Who is Empress Masako of Japan?

Born Masako Owada (orOwada Masako according to Asian naming customs where the family name is placed before the given name), she was born on 9 December 1963 in Tokyo’sToranomon Hospital toYumiko Egashira andHisashi Owada – the latter being a former diplomat and former judge on the International Court of Justice. Masako has two younger siblings – twin…
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FeaturesHistory

Princess Alix of Hesse's engagement ring?

In a recent life of Queen Victoria, (A. N. Wilson, Victoria: A Life, 2014) I stumbled across an illustration of one of the famous group photographs taken behind the Palais Edinburg in Coburg, showing Queen Victoria surrounded by a whole host of contemporary royalty – mostly members of her own family through blood or marriage, including five of her children and numerous grandchildren &#8211…
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FeaturesHistory

New TV series on Empress Sisi planned

Eternally beautiful, eternally tragic, the Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Sisi, continues to fascinate, over a hundred years after her death. And now the story of this groundbreaking royal is to hit TV screens in a new production. The new version will be an adaptation of the successful novels based on the empress by Allison Pataki. ‘The Accidental Empress’ and ‘Sisi: Empress on…
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Europe’s lucky number sevens: baby Sussex’s counterparts in the line of succession

When Baby Sussex is born in a few weeks time, he or she will be seventh in line to the British throne. They are not the only royals to hold the lucky number seven position in a line of succession. Let’s take a look at Baby Sussex’s counterparts in their lines of succession. Belgium: Archduchess Anna Astrid, 2 – Anna Astrid is the only child of Prince Amedeo and Princess…
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