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Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz

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Infanta Pilar was the eldest daughter of Juan de Borbón y Battenberg and María de las Mercedes de Borbón y Orleans born on 30 July 1936. Christening She was baptized in Cannes, in the church of Rins, with the name of María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón.  Her godparents were her paternal grandfather, King Alfonso XIII and her maternal grandmother the Princess Louise of Orléans, although Alfonso XIII acted by delegation as he did not want to meet his wife Queen Victoria Eugenia.  From her birth, as the daughter of the heir to the Crown of Spain she was given the title of Infanta of Spain with treatment of Royal Highness. However, the official recognition of that title came when her brother was already King of Spain. Childhood When she was an infant, the family moved to Rome where the Spanish Royal Family settled in exile. In 1941, after the resignation of Alfonso XIII, her f...

OTD: 25 July 1992 Opening ceremony of the Olympic Games in Barcelona

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From 25 July 1992 till 9 August 1992 the Summer Olympic Games took place in Barcelona. These games are still considered as one of the most successful modern Olympics with more than 9.300 athletes and 169 countries participating. The opening ceremony took place on 25 July 1992 with a big show at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys, Barcelona , Spain.  As mandated by the Olympic Charter, the proceedings combined the formal and ceremonial opening of this international sporting event, including welcoming speeches, hoisting of the flags and the parade of athletes, with an artistic spectacle to showcase the host nation's culture and history. Greek mezzo-soprano, Agnes Baltsa, sang "Romiossini" as the Olympic flag was taken around the stadium.  Alfredo Kraus later sang the Olympic Hymn in both Catalan and Spanish as the flag was hoisted.  The Olympic flame cauldron was lit by a flaming arrow, shot by Paralympic archer Antonio Rebollo. The arrow had been lit by the f...

Camilla, Queen Consort

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Camilla Rosemary Shand was born at King's College Hospital, London, on 17 July 1947. She grew up in The Laines - an 18th-century country house in Plumpton, East Sussex—and a three-storey house in South Kensington, her family's second home.  Family Her parents were British Army officer-turned-businessman Major Bruce Shand and his wife Rosalind, the daughter of Roland Cubitt, 3rd Baron Ashcombe.  She has a younger sister, Annabel Elliot, and had a younger brother, Mark Shand.  One of her maternal great-grandmothers, Alice Keppel, was a mistress of King Edward VII from 1898 to 1910.  Camilla's mother was a housewife, while her father had various business interests after retiring from the army. He was most notably a partner in Block, Grey and Block, a firm of wine merchants in South Audley Street, Mayfair, later joining Ellis, Son and Vidler of Hastings and London. Childhood During her childhood, Camilla became an avid reader through the influence of her f...