All About Royal Families

Marimekko Oyj is a Finnish textiles, clothing, and home furnishings company founded by Viljo and Armi Ratia in Helsinki in 1951. Foundation Marimekko was founded in 1951 by Viljo and Armi Ratia , after the Viljo's oil-cloth factory project failed and was converted to a garment plant. Armi asked some artist friends to apply their graphic designs to textiles.  To show how the fabric could be used, the company then designed and sold a line of simple dresses using their fabric. When Finland's leading industrial designer Timo Sarpaneva invited the company to present a fashion show (albeit canceled at short notice) at the 1957 Triennale in Milan, it was an early recognition of fashion as an industrial art and of Marimekko's key role in shaping it to that point. The garments were eventually showcased in the nearby Rinascente upscale department store by display manager Giorgio Armani. History Marimekko spread to America in the 1960s. It was introduced to the United States by the ar...

By royal decree of King Albert II of Belgium (2007), two members (both sons of Prince Michel Felix Swiatopelk-Czetwertynski) were recognised in the Belgian nobility with the rank of Prince, for them and their male-line descendants. 💡 Unlike his sons Prince Michel Felix Swiatopelk-Czetwertynski was not recognized in the Belgian nobility because he wasn't born in Belgium.  They are members of one of the 11 Princely Families in Belgium.  With this interesting episode, I was keen to know more about the history of this rather unknown  Princely family. History The first documented member of the family is Oleksander Chetvertynsky, who is mentioned in 1388. The family was accepted into the princely houses of Poland and Lithuania in 1569 and their Russian title of prince was confirmed in 1843. In 1492, Prince Fedir Mykhailovych Chetvertynsky was the Lithuanian-Ruthenian ambassador to Wallachia. Over time, the family were Polonized and Catholicized, but some me...

Elizabeth II's first tiara was a wedding present in 1947 from her grandmother, Queen Mary , who received it as a gift from the Girls of Great Britain and Ireland in 1893 on the occasion of her marriage to the Duke of York, later George V. Made by E. Wolfe & Co., it was purchased from Garrard & Co. by a committee organised by Lady Eve Greville. In 1914, Mary adapted the tiara to take 13 diamonds in place of the large oriental pearls surmounting the tiara. Leslie Field, author of The Queen's Jewels, described it as, "a festoon-and-scroll with nine large oriental pearls on diamond spikes and set on a base of alternate round and lozenge collets between two plain bands of diamonds".  At first, Elizabeth wore the tiara without its base and pearls but the base was reattached in 1969.  The Girls of Great Britain and Ireland Tiara is one of Elizabeth's most recognisable pieces of jewellery due to its widespread appearance in portraits of the monarch on British bank...

When I had the chance to choose a free book via Booktasters, my eyes immediately fell on this copy: "HRH so many thoughts on royal style" written by Elizabeth Holmes. I must say, I really enjoyed the book, reading it was a pleasure! It contains so many lovely and beautiful pictures and the more it was very positive about the royals. It had nothing to do with sensation. It also was written very well and the chapters were chronological. So, I'm happy this book is a part of my royal book collection. If you like royal  fashion this is a must read. "HRH so many thoughts on royal style" was released in November 2020 and has 327 pages. The author Elizabeth Holmes (born 1980) is an American writer and journalist based in san Francisco California. Known for her coverage of British  royal style and fashion. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Town & Country, Real Simple and InStyle. "HRH: So many Thoughts on royal Style" made the New York Times best...

Royal Ascot is one of the most important Royal events of the year. The racecourse was found by Queen Anne. More about the history of this Royal Ascot Racecourse. History The racecourse was founded in 1711 by Queen Anne , when out riding from Windsor Castle, she came upon an area of open heath that looked, in her words, 'ideal for horses to gallop at full stretch'. Her plans for a new race meeting were subsequently announced in the London Gazette of 12 July 1711. Her Majesty's Plate of 100 guineas will be run for round the new heat on Ascott Common, near Windsor, on Tuesday, August 7th next, by any horse, mare or gelding, being no more than six years old the grass before, as must be certified under the hand of the breeder, carrying 12 St., three heats, to be entered the last day of July, at Mr. Hancock's, at Fern Hill, near the Starting Post. — Announcement of the first race meeting at Ascot, London Gazette (12 July 1711) That first meeting was held on 11 August 1711, th...

Royal jewelry and especially tiara's mostly have a wonderful and sometimes surprising history. In this blogpost we take a closer look to the Vladimir Tiara . The Grand Duchess Vladimir Tiara, sometimes the Diamond and Pearl Tiara, was bought, along with a diamond rivière, by Queen Mary from Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, mother of the Duchess of Kent, in 1921 for a price of £28,000.  Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna and her mother Source picture: Wikipedia The grand duchess, known after her marriage as Princess Nicholas of Greece, inherited it from her mother, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who received it as a wedding gift from her husband in 1874. It originally had 15 large drop pearls, and was made by the jeweller Carl Edvard Bolin at a cost of 48,200 rubles. Princess Mary of Teck wearing the Vladimir Tiara. More about Princess Mary of Teck on this link . Source picture: Wikipedia During the Russian Revolution in 1917, the tiara was hidden with other jewels som...

The crown of the crowns ...  During the covid pandemic, I really missed the bling moments of the royal families.  I started reading books about royal jewelry and I began to interest me in the  history of this famous pieces. So, I hope you'll enjoy next blog post about the Imperial State Crown. Escpecially during this year of the Platinum Jubilee of The Queen, I hope to  catch up with some special jewelry posts.  St Edward's Crown, used to crown English monarchs, was considered to be a holy relic, kept in the saint's shrine at Westminster Abbey and therefore not worn by monarchs at any other time. Instead, a "great crown" with crosses and fleurs-de-lis, but without arches (an open crown), was a king's usual headgear at state occasions until the time of Henry V, who is depicted wearing an imperial crown of state with gold arches (a closed crown). Arches were a symbol of sovereignty, and by this point in history, the king of England was being celebrated as rex in...

On 2 February 2002, Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands married Máxima.  The bride wore a beautiful wedding dress made by Valentino. Who is this wonderful fashion designer, which is the history of this house and which are/were the royal clients? Check it in this fashion blog post. Who is Valentino? Valentino Clemente Ludovico Garavani (born 11 May 1932), known  as Valentino, is an Italian fashion designer and the founder of the Valentino brand and company.  Valentino was born in Voghera, in the province of Pavia, Lombardy, Italy. His mother named him after screen idol Rudolph Valentino. He became interested in fashion while in primary school in his native Voghera, Lombardy, northern Italy, when he apprenticed under his aunt Rosa and local designer Ernestina Salvadeo, an aunt of noted artist Aldo Giorgini. Valentino then moved to Paris to pursue this interest with the help of his mother Teresa de Biaggi and his father Mauro Garavani. There he studied at the École des Beaux...

On 5 February 1972 , Mary Elisabeth Donaldson was born in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia.  Source picture: Hasse Nielsen Family Mary was born the youngest of four children to Scottish parents, Henrietta (née Horne), an executive assistant to the vice-chancellor of the University of Tasmania, and  John Dalgleish Donaldson, a mathematics  professor Her paternal grandfather was Captain Peter Donaldson (1911–1978). Mary was named after her grandmothers, Mary Dalgleish and Elizabeth Gibson Melrose, and was born and raised in Hobart, Australia.  Mary has two older sisters, Jane Stephens and Patricia Bailey, and an older brother, John Stuart Donaldson. Her mother died from complications following heart surgery on 20 November 1997 when Mary was 25. In 2001, her father married the British author and novelist Susan Horwood. Education In 1974, Donaldson started schooling in Clear Lake City Elementary School in Houston, Texas, where her father was working and moved to Sandy Ba...

On 2 February 2002 a real royal wedding took place at the Nieuwe Kerk in Amsterdam, The Netherlands. How did they meet each other? Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, eldest son and heir of Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus, met Argentine-born Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti at the Seville Fair in April 1999. Two weeks later, they met again in New York, where Máxima was working as a banker for Kleinwort Benson. She did not meet his parents, Queen Beatrix and Prince Claus, for some time. The proposal As speed skating is one of the most popular sports, Willem-Alexander proposed to Máxima on the ice on skates. A week earlier, Willem-Alexander already told his mother and Prime Minister Kok that he would propose to Máxima soon. Keeping it secret? The intention was that the intended marriage remained a secret, so as not to get in the way of Willem-Alexander's brother Constantijn and Laurentien Brinkhorst, who would marry in May. Ultimately, it was too difficult to keep secret, so on 30 March 200...