All About Royal Families

On 28 March 2007, Annie Leibovitz took four pictures of Queen Elizabeth II in Buckingham Palace in London. The pictures marked the Queen's official State Visit to the United States of America.  In 2016, for the occassion of the Queen's 90th. B-Day, Annie Leibovitz made another series of pictures from the Queen, inter alia with her daughter the Princess Royal and her youngest grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  More about Annie Leibovitz Annie Leibovitz was born on 2 October 1949 in Waterbury, Connecticut in the USA. Her parents were Samuel Leibovitz and Marilyn Edith Heit.  Education Annie Leibovitz attended the San Francisco Art Institute, where she studied for painting with the intention to became an art teacher. It was at school that she had her first photography workshop and she changed her major to photography.  Famous clients * Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her State Visit to the USA and in 2016 for her 90th B-Day on this link .  * John Lennon ...

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading  on 9 January 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She was baptised at St Andrew's Bradfield, a local parish church, on 20 June 1982. Here you can see a part of the interior of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge's home: Kensington Palace in London Family She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949) and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955),a former flight dispatcher and flight attendant, respectively, who in 1987 founded Party Pieces, a privately held mail order company that sells party supplies and decorations with an estimated worth of £30 million. By the early 20th century, the Middleton family had married into the British aristocracy and benefited financially from trust funds which they established over 100 years ago. Her Middleton relatives, including her great-grandmother Olive Middleton , played host to members of the British royal family in the 1920s and 1...

"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,...

Imagine a lovely commune in northwestern France, located on the estuary of the Seine and Le Harvre ... it was written in the stars that this town must attract lots of tourists and artists. This beautiful place was painted by Courbet, Eugène Boudin and even Claude Monet. Honfleur is not only beautiful it also has a splendid (royal) history! Honfleur - picture taken in 2019 by my mother History Honfleur was first mentioned in documents of Richard III, Duke of Normandy in 1027. During the Hundred Years' War (1337 - 1453) between France and England, Honfleur held a very strategic position. In 1357 and again from 1419 and 1450 Honfleur was taken by the English. At the end of the Hundred Years' War, Honfleur had much advantages from the booming maritime trade. During the years of religion conflicts in the 16th. century trade was disturbed. It lasted till the end of the 18th. century. The wars of the French Revolution and in particular the blocade cau...

On 4 February 2020, King Philippe of the Belgians visited the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels. Nationale Bank België Brussel National Bank of Belgium in Brussels Royal history The National Bank of Belgium has been the central bank of Belgium since 5 May 1850. First they worked from a mansion in the Warmoesberg in Brussels. But this became soon too small. The organization bought some properties near the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. This is nowadays a museum about the history of the National Bank of Belgium. Later the National Bank of Belgium opened suboffices around the country. Even in my hometown Sint-Niklaas there was a building of the National Bank. Most of them are closed now. In 2010, the National Bank of Belgium acquired the buildings of the Union du Crédit in Brussels. These buildings were designed by Désiré De Keyser. The most impressive is the glass roof, held by a steel structure. National Bank Belgium Museum ...

In the summer of 2019, I had the chance to see a wonderful exhibition at the Sentate of Belgium. Meanwhile my husband and I got a guided tour  in the building. It really is a splendid royal destination not only due to its history but  also due to the building and due to the many royal links inside.  I must admit, I'm not a political genious and most of the time, I stay far  away from the complicated politics in Belgium. However I really liked  being in the Belgian senate. What is the Senate of Belgium? The Senate of Belgium is one of the two chambers of the Federal Parliament of Belgium. The other house is the Chamber of  Representatives. Thus the Senate is considered to be the upper house of the Federal  Parliament.  The senate was created in 1831 as a chamber fully equal to the Chamber of Representatives. It has undergone several reforms in the past. The most important ones took place in 1993 and...

The Igreja de São Roque or in English the Church of Saint Roch is an amazing beautiful church in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It was the earliest Jesuit Church in Portugal, for more than 200 years, before the Jesuits were expelled. The church is famous for its 18th. century Chapel of St. John the Baptist, at that time it was the most expensive chapel in Europe. With such an expensive chapel, it must be clear that the Church of Saint Roch really has a fantastic royal history. Royal History When Lisbon was being ravaged by the plague, which had arrived by ship from Italy, in 1505, the King and his court were forced to flee the Portuguese capital for a while. The site of São Roque, which was then outside the city walls, became a cemetery for plague victims. At the same time the King of Portugal, Manuel I (reigned from 1495-1521), sent someone to Venice for a relic of St. Roch, the patron of the plague Victims. The relic was sent by the Venetian governmen...

Lisbon is a fantastic city with lots of beautiful, old buildings, a nice atmosphere, a great cultural heritage and of course very good food and drinks. However one of the most amazing and relaxing green places in the capital of Portugal is the Edward VII Park (in Portuguese Edwardo VII). It also offers a wonderful view over Lisbon. But it also has a great royal history. Edward VII Park in Lisbon Portugal Royal History The Edward VII Park was named after King Edward VII of the United Kingdom. King Edward VII was the son of Queen Victoria and he ruled from 1901 till 1910 over the United Kingdom. The King visited Lisbon and Portugal in 1902 to strengthen the relations between Portugal and the United Kingdom. Until his visit, the Park had the name 'Liberty Park'. Although Liberty Park was a beautiful name,  I prefer the new royal name :-) Edward VII Park in Lisbon Portugal Location The Edward VII Park is located between the Avenida de L...