All About Royal Families

The people from Antwerp (Belgium) haven't forgotten a visit from the Russian Tsar Peter the Great (1672-1725). He visited the city near the Scheldt for three days in 1717! According to some  sources the Tsar and his court could drink a lot and he wanted to know the length of the cathedral by measuring it with a rope.  Antwerp and its people never saw such a special person before and of course they wanted to honour him or his visit by a statue.  The statue of Peter De Grote was created in 1998 on the initiative of Art Group International who wanted - after the fall of the communism - to strengthen the cultural ties between Antwerp and Russia. The creator of the statue was Georgy Frangulyan.    Who was Peter the Great? Peter I Aleksejevitsj Romanov, nicknamed Peter the Great was Tsar from Russia from 9 June 1672 till his death on 8 February 1725.  He was the first Russian Tsar who travelled outside his country. He modernised  the vast empire and he...

 On 24 October 51, Domitian was born in Rome. He was the youngest son of Titus Flavius Vespasianus - known as Vespasian - and Flavia Domitilla Major.  He had one older sister, Domitilla the Younger and a brother also named Flavius Vespasianus.  Childhood Domitian was not educated at court. He displayed considerable marksmanship with the bow and arrow.  He was tall, with a modest expression. His eyes were large, but his sight was somewhat dim. He was handsome and graceful too.  He received the education of young man of the privileged senatorial class, he studied rhetoric and literature. Domitian could quote important poets and writers such as Homer or Virgil on appropriate occasions. He was described as learned and educated. Among his first published works were poetry as well as writings on law and administration.  The Year of the four emperors On 9 June 68 , Nero committed suicide and with him the Julio-Claudian dynasty came to an end. Chaos occurred a...

Recently I bought the Dutch book Learning by doing written by Eloise van Oranje. Eloise, who? Countess Eloise of Orange-Nassau (born on 8 June 2002) is the first child and  eldest daughter of Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien of The Netherlands.  She is thus a granddaughter of former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and Prince Claus. She also is the great-granddaughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard.  Her maternal grandfather is Laurens Jan Brinkhorst, a retired Dutch politician and jurist.  Eloise is a member of the Dutch Royal Family and fifth in the line of the succession of the Dutch throne.  She is active on Social Media as Eloise of Orange. However due to her studies she now is less on Instagram. The Book Learning by doing I was pleasantly surprised by reading the book: Learning by doing. Although Eloise is a young enterprising girl, it even was interesting for me. In her first book she talked about her student life, her l...

Giorgio Armani is an Italian fashion designer born on 11 July 1934. He formed his  company Armani in 1975. By 2001, Armani was the most successful Italian fashion designer.  Source picture: Book Cover Giorgio Armani was born in the northern Italian town of Piacenza, where he was raised with his older brother Sergio and his younger sister Rosanna by their mother Maria Raimondi and father Ugo Armani. During the secondary school at the liceo Scientifico Leonardo Da Vinci in Milan,  Armani aspired to a career in medicine, particularly after reading A.J Cronin's  The Citadel. He enrolled in the Department of Medicine at the University of Milan. But he left after three years and in 1953 he joined the army. Due to his medical  background, he was assigned to the Military Hospital in Verona.  Finally he opted luckily for another career path. After the army, Armani found a job as a window dresser at La Rinascente, a department store in Milan in 1957. He went on to be...

On 4 July 1799, Oscar was born in Paris, then a part of the French Republic. Napoleon Bonaparte himself chose the name Oscar after one of the heroes  in the Poems of Ossian by James Macpherson. (Via Johan Bengtsson @ Twitter) Family Oscars parents were King Charles XIV of Sweden and Désirée Clary. His paternal grandparents were Henri Bernadotte and Jeanne de Saint-Jean. Désirée Clary was the daughter of a wealthy silk merchant and her sister July Clary married Joseph Bonaparte. July Clary became queen of Naples and Sicily. It was Joseph Bonaparte, the brother of Napoleon, who was the godfather of Oscar of Sweden. (Via Johan Bengtsson @ Twitter)  King Oscar I of Sweden was a member of the House of Bernadotte. Childhood On 21 August 1810, Oscars father Charles XIV was elected at the Riksdag of the Estates as King Charles XIII had no heirs. On that day, Oscar was created Prince of Sweden with the style your Royal Highness. He also received the title Duke of Södermanland. Prince A...