All About Royal Families

In August 2023 we visited Buckingham Palace for the very first time and it was - as the ticket told us - a very royal day out. Buckingham Palace is recognised around the world as the home of the monarch, the focus of national and royal celebrations, as well as the backdrop to the regular Changing the Guard ceremony. Buckingham palace is open for public for 10 weeks each summer. This year it is from Friday, 14 July to Sunday, 24 September 2023. A visit We booked a Royal Day Out for two persons. So we were able to visit the State Rooms, The Queen's Gallery and the Royal Mews.    On a rather grey day we finally got the chance to visit Buckingham Palace. We could spend lot of time and there was plenty enough to see. First we visited the Queen's Gallery In 2023 there is a fantastic exhibition about dressing the Georgians. It felt like Bridgerton. Then we visited the Royal Mews, were we saw cars, the carriages, the coaches and of course the horses. And last but not least we visite

20 August 2003 marks the birth of Gabriel Baudouin Marie Prince of Belgium. This took place at the Erasmus Hospital in Anderlecht.  Family Prince Gabriel is the eldest son and second child of King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium. He has an elder sister Elisabeth, a younger brother Emmanuel and a younger sister Eléonore. He was christened at Ciergnon Castle, one of the royal family’s summer residences, on 25 October 2003 by Cardinal Godfried Danneels, the Archbishop of Mechelen-Brussels. His godparents are his maternal uncle Count Charles-Henri d'Udekem d'Acoz (born 1985); and his paternal second cousin, Baroness Maria Christina von Freyberg-Eisenberg. Prince Gabriel is a member of the royal family of Belgium, founded by King Leopold I (born as a Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) Prince Gabriel  => King Philippe  =>King Albert II =>King Leopold III  => King Albert I => Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders => King Leopold I Names King Philippe stated in an i

Readers of this blog know already that I love big jewelry or bling. My admiration for the Manchester Tiara was therefore endless.  The Tiara is on display at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. But what is the history of this wonderful bling? Fit for a duchess The Manchester Tiara once belonged to Consuelo Montagu, Duchess of Manchester.  The Duchess was a celebrated society figure, belonging to the intimate circle of Edward VII of the United Kingdom, formerly the Prince of Wales.  Shortly before her death, she entertained King Edward and Nicholas II, the Tsar of Russia, while the Tsar was on a visit to England. However she wasn't born to become such an important woman. Or perhaps she was. Birth Consuelo Yznaga was born in 1853, in New York City, as the second of four children of diplomat Antonio Modesto Yznaga del Valle and wife Ellen Maria Clement of Ravenswood Plantation. Her father was from an old Cuban family that owned a large plantation and sugar mills in the vicinity

Kortrijk sometimes known in English as Courtrai or Courtray is a Belgian city and municipality in the Flemish province of West Flanders. In the Middle Ages, Courtrai grew significantly thanks to the flax and wool industry with France and England and became one of the biggest and richest cities in Flanders.  The city is often referred to as City of Groeninge or City of the Golden Spurs, referring to the Battle of Courtrai or the Battle of the Golden Spurs which took place on 11 July 1302 on the Fields of Groeninge in Courtrai.  In 1820 the Treaty of Kortrijk was signed, laying out the still-current borders between France and Belgium. Throughout the 19th and 20th century, the flax industry flourished and remains important within the Belgian textile industry today. To be honest, I only knew Kortrijk due to its railway station and the  direct train ways to Oostende, Bruges, Roeselare and other cities in the region. I never stayed in Kortrijk before. Huge time to search for an hotel and to