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Albert Frère one of the richest men of Belgium died

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On 4 February 1926, Albert Frère the son of a nail merchant was born at Fontaine-l'Évêque near Charleroi in Belgium. Since an early age, Frère had to help in the business of his father. When Albert was 17 years old, his father died. He had to leave school and run the family business by hemself. Career At the age of 30, Frère started investing in Belgian steel factories, already by the end of the 1970's he practically controlled the whole steel industry in the region of Charleroi. Later he foresaw the coming steel crisis of the late 1970s and he sold his enterprises to the Belgian state after merging them with the competing steel firm Cockerill to create Cockerill Sambre. Frère built an investment empire around the Swiss holding company Pargesa, which he founded together with the Canadian investor Paul Desmarais. Pargesa took over the Belgian holding company Groupe Bruxelles Lambert in 1982. He also bought significant stakes in Belgian companies as: Petrofi...

Barcelona Cathedral and its great royal history

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The Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia usually known as the Barcelona Cathedral is the seat of the Archbishop of Barcelona in Catalonia, Spain. Barcelona Cathedral The Barcelona Cathedral is located in the Barrio Gótico, one of the most popular tourist regions of the city. It is dedicated to Eulalia of Barcelona, the co-patron saint of Barcelona, who was a young virgin, who suffered martyrdom during Roman times in the city. One story says that she was exposed naked in the public square and a miraculous snowfall in the mid-spring covered her nudity. The body of the saint is entombed in the cathedral's crypt. Barcelona Cathedral Barcelona Cathedral inside Some royal history In a document from the Second Council of Barcelona in 599, it states that the cathedral was dedicated to the Holy Cross. However this church was damaged by al-Mansur during his attack on Barcelona in 986. In 1046,  Count Ramon Berenguer I and his wife Almodis and Bi...

OTD 26 November 1436 Infanta Catarina of Portugal

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O, 26 November 1436, Infanta Catarina was born in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. Family Infanta Catarina was a daughter of King Edward of Portugal and his wife Eleanor of Aragon. Her siblings were: - King Afonso V of Portugal; - Infante Ferdinad of Portugal, Duke of Viseu; - Eleanor of Portugal, who married Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III; - Joan of Portugal, who married King Henry IV of Castile. Catarina of Portugal and her family were members of the noble House of Aviz. Character Like her sisters, Catarina was considered ambitious, shrewd and willful. Love Catarina was promised to marry Charles IV of Navarre but he died before the marriage could take place, and her brother, after securing the marriages of her sisters had no future need of marriage alliances with other royal houses. A nun Catarina turned to a religious life in the convent of Saint Claire. She was very educated and she wrote many books about mora...

OTD 24 November 1394 Charles Duke of Orléans

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On 24 November 1394, Charles of Orléans was born in Paris as the son of Louis I, Duke of Orléans and Valentina Visconti. He was a member of the noble House of Valois. His mother was a daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Duke of Milan. A murder On 23 November 1407, Louis I, Duke of Orléans was assassinated commissioned by John the Fairless, Duke of Burgundy. The later was never punished for his role in Louis' assassination. When Charles mother, Valentina Visconti died on 4 December 1408, Charles and the other boys of the family were made to swear the traditional oath of vengeance for their father's murder at their mother's deathbed. Love and Marriage On 29 June 1406, Charles of Orléans married to his cousin, Isabella of Valois. She was the daughter of King Charles VI of France and Isabella of Bavaria. They had one child, Joan of Valois On 15 August 1410, Charles of Orléans married Bonne of Armagnac, the daughter of Be...