All About Royal Families

Augustus: The first Roman Emperor In this second  post about the Roman Empire series , there is a main role for Augustus.  Early Life Augustus was born in the city of Rome, very close to the Roman Forum on 23 September 63 BC.  He was named Gaius Octavius Thurinus.  Due to the crowded places in Rome during that time, Octavius was taken to his father's home at Velletri to be raised. His mother, Atia was the niece of Julius Caesar.  In 59 BC his father died, when he was just four years old. His mother remarried a former governor of Syria, Lucius Marcius Philippus. Then Octavius was raised by his grandmother, Julia, the sister of  Julius Caesar.  Julia died in 52 or 51 BC and Octavius delivered the funeral oration for his grandmother. From this point his mother and stepfather took more interest in Octavius.  In 47 BC Octavius was elected to the College of Pontiffs. A turning point When Julius Caesar was killed on the Ides of March in 44 BC, Octav...

While reading in biographies about royals, sometimes other interesting noble families are mentioned. Such as the Family Lichtervelde. Nowadays Lichtervelde still is a municipality located in the Belgian province of West Flanders. The Counts of Lichtervelde are one of the oldest noble families of the County of Flanders. Some members of them became even mayors. Some history * Already in the 13th. century the County of Flanders knew a baroness of Lichtervelde. * In the 14th., 15th and 16th. century several family members were knights. * It was on 27 May 1745 that Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa granted the title of Count to Gillis-François de Lichtervelde.  Famous people * Roger of Lichtervelde was mayor of Bruges between 1378 and 1379. * Louis of Lichtervelde was councillor of Louis of Male . The most famous one was Louis de Lichtervelde (1889 - 1959). He was a private secretary of the Prime Minister and he hold some important positions. He also was an historian.  Louis de Li...

The Crown season 4 On 15 November 2020, Netflix released the 4th season of The Crown.  It was on a grey, rainy Sunday, during the Lockdown in Belgium. That's why I  really wanted to get up early and to put the television on. The Crown the Series The 4th season of the series The Crown counts 10 episodes from around 1 hour per episode.  It is about the years 1977 till 1990 and includes Diana, Princess of Wales and Margaret Thatcher as well. It also includes Prince William and Prince Harry. It covers the tour in Australia of the Prince and Princess of Wales and much more. The new series of the Crown maintains a lot of drama and it showed that the lifes of royals aren't always a fairy tale.  Trailer On this Youtube  link you can see the official trailer from Netflix.  Review Although "The Crown" has a lot of fiction, I really enjoyed the series. I'm born in  1979, so  I don't remember exactely all the historical events which are shown....

On 17 November 1558, at the age of 25, Elizabeth I became Queen of England.  During a speech she declared her intentions: "My lords, the law of nature moves me to sorrow for my sister, the burden  that is fallen  upon me makes me amazed and yet, considering  I am God's creature, ordained to obey  His appointment,  I will thereto yield, desiring from the bottom of my heart that I may  have assistance of His grace to be the minister of  His heavenly will in this office now  committed to me.  And as I am but one body naturally considered through  by his  permission a body politic to govern, so shall I desire you all... to be  assistant to me  that I with my ruling and you with your service may make  a good account to the  Almighty God and leave some comfort to our  posterity on earth. I mean to direct  all my actions by good advice  and counsel." As her triumphal progress wound through the city o...

When I was a child, I looked up to leaders and royals just as Julius Caesar,  Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Victoria. In his writings Julius Caesar mentioned: "From all the Gauls, the Belgae (Belgians) are the bravest." Perhaps that was the main reason, I 'liked' Julius Caesar as a kid.  From Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Victoria, I made different pages on this Allaboutroyalfamilies blog. However Julius Caesar, on his own, has never been mentioned before.  In 2017, I finally got the chance to visit Rome. Walking in such an  amazing city with lovely people, I must admit, I thought about its  history and its emperors.  Of course, I was confused that Julius Caesar never has been an Emperor nor a King, but only a Consul and later even a Dictator.  Nevertheless, I still wanted to make a blogpost about him and the other Roman Emperors.  Source picture: Wikipedia Julius Caesar - Early life Julius Caesar was born on 12 July 100 BC into a patrician family...

On 11 November 1940 the commemoration of the 2600th B-day of the Japanese Empire took place in Tokyo. Around 50.000 Japanese people from in and outside Japan participated in the celebration before the imperial palace. For the VIP guests there was a lavish banquet in the presence of the imperial family. Joseph Grew, the ambassador of the United States of America in Japan had conveyed his congratulations. The Emperor of Japan accepted these wishes with gratitude. The festivities ended on 15 November 1940. More than one year later, on 7 December 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor.  Source pictures: Wikipedia

"Photography is the art, application and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically." The word photography was created from the Greek words phôs = light and graphé or drawing. So literally it was drawing with light.  It always is fascinating that an image can be catched by a photo camera. It's a bit like magic.  Besides the magical side, photography also has a great and long history.  History Ibn al-Haytham, an Arab physisist who lived between 965 and 1040, invented the camera obscura as well as the first true pinhole camera. Later, Leonardo da Vinci mentioned natural camera obcscura that are formed by dark caves  on the edge of a sunlit valley.  The birth of photography was by inventing means to capture and keep the image produced by the camera obscura.  *Albert Magnus (1193-1280) discovered silver nitrate; * Georg Fabricius (1516-1571) discovered silver chloride; But around 1800,...

Rome and its history always have fascinated me. In 2017, I finally could visit this lovely city near the Tiber. Rome's history spans more than 28 centuries. It is the oldest occupied city in Europe. Rome became the capital of the Roman Kingdom, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire and it is the first ever Imperial City and metropolis.  These blog post series will focus on the history of the Roman Empire .  👉 The Roman Emperor was the ruler of the Roman Empire during the imperial period which started in 27 BC.  👉 The legitimacy of an emperor's rule depended on his control of the army and recognition by the Senate.  The first Emperor of the Roman Empire was Augustus. He refused recognition as a monarch. Augustus claimed that his power was republican.  * Who were the Emperors of Rome?  * How was the ordinary life during the Roman Empire?  * Which were the troubles of the Emperors? * More about the rise, decline and fall of the Empire....