Maria Cristina di Savoia: Italian queen beatified

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Beatification, King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, Maria Cristina di Savoia, Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy

Queen Maria Cristina of Savoy (1812-36), whose husband, King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, ruled the largest of the Italian kingdoms before national unification, was beatified in Naples on 25 January 2014.

TRH the Duke and Duchess of Noto, The Duchess of Calabria, the Duke and Duchess of Castro, the Duke of Capua, the Duchesses of Palermo and Capri, Archduchess Maria and Archduke Simeon of Austria, Princess Ines de Borbon Dos Sicilias de Carelli Palombi, Princess Beatrice de Bourbon-Deux Siciles, Prince Casimiro di Borbone-Due Sicilie and his sons Prince Luigi Alfonso and the Rev Alessandro di Borbone-Due Sicilie, the Duke of Braganza, the Duke and Duchess of Savoy (Amadeo and Silvia), Princess Maria Gabriela of Savoy, Archduke Martin of Austria-Este, Prince Serge of Yugoslavia, Countess Maria Beatrix von und zu Arco-Zinneberg, her daughter Countess Margherita and Prince Manfred of Windisch-Graetz, attended the Beatification and afterwards paid homage at the tomb of the Blessed Queen.

Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples. Courtesy of Manuel Beninger

In his homily at the Mass of beatification, Cardinal Angelo Amato, the prefect of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, discussed the queen’s innocence, modesty, and mortification with respect to food and entertainment, as well as her love for the poor and sick. All Christians, the prelate emphasized, are given opportunities to become holy, whatever their state of life.

Following his Sunday Angelus address, Pope Francis described Queen Maria Cristina as a “woman of deep spirituality and great humility. She was able to bear the suffering of her people, becoming a true mother of the poor,” he added. “Her extraordinary example of charity shows that the good life of the Gospel is possible in every environment and social status.”

see Regina di Cuore; “Credo, Domine! Credo, Domine!”

Conference invitation: the formative years of King Michael and Queen Marie – 15 Jan. ’14

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Conference invitation, Diana Mandache, Eastwell Manor, King Michael of Romania, Queen Marie of Romania, Valentin Mandache

Valentin and I would like to invite you to the new conference from the already traditional series inaugurated last year at the Liberal Cafe in Bucharest, on the royal and architectural history of Romania.

The subjects this year are the following:

Diana Mandache:

“King Michael as a school pupil: curriculum, marks, field trips”

Valentin Mandache:

“Eastwell Manor: the birthplace of Queen Marie”

The event is organised by the National Liberal Party’s Bloggers’ Club, and is scheduled to take place on Wednesday 15 January, starting at 6.30 pm (The Liberal Cafe: 9, Doamnei Street, Lipscani quarter, just across the road from the National Bank).

Conference: *King Michael as a school pupil, *Eastwell Manor: the brithplace of Queen Marie

There will be shown and discussed photographs and period newsreel footage about the school pupil Michael, from the Regency period and then as a Crown Prince, and architectural photographs of Eastwell Manor, images of Queen Marie during her childhood and as an adult visiting her birthplace, and how these formative years in such significant circumstances and environments influenced those two royal figures later in their life.

Conference: *King Michael as a school pupil, *Eastwell Manor: the brithplace of Queen Marie

The Bloggers’ Club of the National Liberal Party and the presenters are looking forward to welcoming you at the conference!

Happy New Year, 2014!

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Diana Mandache, Marie Alexandrovna, Queen Marie of Romania

My best wishes for you all in the New Year! In 2014 I will start working to a second volume of the correspondence between Marie Alexandrovna and her daughter Marie of Romania,  entitled ‘My Dear Mama’. The first volume ’Dearest Missy‘ was published by RRB in 2011. I hope it’s a good news for my readers! Diana

(Photo: Princess Marie of Romania on ski in the forest above Sinaia, 1910)

Compliments of the Season!

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Diana Mandache

Merry Christmas and a prosperous 2014 to all my readers!

Diana Mandache

King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album by Diana Mandache (2013)

King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album, DM

King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album by Diana Mandache (2013)

New Book: King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album

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King Michael of Romania, Regele Mihai, Romanian Royal Family

King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album, hardback, 352 pages, Litera Publishing, Bucharest, 21 Nov. 2013.

The book is structured in three main chapters: education and formative years (i.e. school documents, Michael’s herbarium, photographs with his colleagues, at the Baccalaureate etc); ceremonies and solemnities peculiar to the Parliament and the Throne Hall, parades, religious ceremonies, visits and receptions, charity functions, menus and dinners etc; spare time activities such as holidays, hunting or the King’s hobbies. This volume contains a selection of 454 pictures, many of them never published, with detailed captions pointing out in detail aspects of the King’s life and reign, and a multitude of previously unpublished documents sourced from several Romanian archives, including pieces issued by the communist regime and its political police services. The introduction and the text that accompany the images, and also the analyses of the written archive documents, are methodically researched and structured making them easy to read or make reference to.

Contents:

• Introduction
• Formative years
• Ceremonies
• Spare time
• Annexes
• Sources

King Michael of Romania. A Historical Album presents for the first time condensed within 352 pages the life of the monarch for the period starting with 1921 until the communist forced abdication in 1947 and subsequent imposed exile.

Order here

Prince George’s Christening Official Photos

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British Royal Family, Prince George of Cambridge

The official portrait for the christening of Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge, photographed in The Morning Room at Clarence House in London, 23 October  2013. PICTURED: (back, left-right) HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, HRH Prince of Wales, HRH The Duchess of Cornwall, HRH Prince Harry of Wales; (front, left-right) HM Queen Elizabeth II, HRH Duchess of Cambridge carrying HRH Prince George with HRH Duke of Cambridge. Prince George is wearing an outfit made of delicate Honiton lace and white satin by Angela Kelly, an exact replica of the one worn before him by every baby born to the British Royal family since 1841. The Duchess is wearing Alexander McQueen dress and a Jane Taylor hat.  Photo by Jason Bell.

HM Queen Anne of Romania: 90th Birthday Anniversary

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Queen Anne of Romania, Romanian Royal Family

HM King Michael of Romania & HM Queen Anne of Romania, attending the book launch  ‘Marie of Romania.Images of a Queen‘(DM) Foto (c)

 A very Happy Birthday to HM Queen Anne of Romania, 18 September 2013

Queen Anne of Romania, daughter of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margrethe of Denmark, celebrates today her 90th anniversary!

Point De Vue, 24 Oct 1991

New Book: The Assassination of the Archduke

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand

In The Assassination of the Archduke, Greg King and Sue Woolmans offer readers a vivid account of the lives – and cruel deaths – of Franz Ferdinand and his beloved Sophie. Combining royal biography, romance, and political assassination, the story unfolds against a backdrop of glittering privilege and an Imperial Court consumed with hatred, taking readers from Bohemian castles to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps in a compelling, fascinating human drama. As moving as the fabled romance of Nicholas and Alexandra, as dramatic as Mayerling, Sarajevo resonates with love and loss, triumph and tragedy in a vibrant and powerful narrative. It lays bare the lethal circumstances surrounding that fateful Sunday morning in 1914, examining not only the Serbian conspiracy that killed Franz and Sophie but also insinuations about the hidden powers in Vienna that may well have sent them to their deaths. With a Foreword from the Archduke’s great-granddaughter, Princess Sophie von Hohenberg, and drawing on a wide variety of unpublished sources and with unique access to previously restricted Hungarian and Czech archives, including Sophie’s diaries and family papers, King and Woolmans have written the most comprehensive account of this momentous event available in English. In doing so, they offer readers an intriguing and startlingly revisionist look at this most famous of Archdukes, his family, and their momentous collision with destiny in 1914.

King Carl XVI Gustaf: ‘For Sweden – With the Times’

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King Carl XVI Gustaf, Swedish Royal family

40 years on the throne, 40 years serving Sweden

The King’s 40th jubilee is being commemorated at several of our royal palaces. At Gripsholm Castle, there will be a cavalcade of images depicting King Carl XVI Gustaf’s forty eventful years as King of Sweden and Head of State. This year’s main exhibition at the Royal Palace of Stockholm will open on 13 September, depicting King Carl XVI Gustaf’s forty eventful years as King of Sweden and Head of State, in the palace’s Hall of State and the magnificent Royal Apartments. In 1973, at the age of just 27, the then Crown Prince Carl Gustaf ascended to the throne. He thereby became the world’s youngest king, in one of the world’s oldest monarchies. This year, King Carl XVI Gustaf has been Sweden’s Head of State for 40 years.

 King Carl XVI Gustaf:

One of the best things about significant years is that they provide the opportunity to look forwards as well as backwards. Forty years is a very long time, and so much has happened. I was a relatively young man of 27 when I ascended to the throne, and I saw the world through the eyes of a 27-year-old. Now, 40 years later, I have a certain amount of experience to draw on. And the world around us has changed on many levels and in many different ways; even in terms of the proximity of the immediate family circle, in Sweden and in the world. It is sometimes said in jest that everything was so much better before, but that simply isn’t true. In many ways, the world has become a better place in which to live for most people, but there is still a great deal of poverty and need in the world.

I have tried to live according to my motto by being sensitive to the currents in society, and to the demands, needs and expectations placed on a monarch with the times. For me, it’s a matter of living in harmony with developments in Sweden and the whole of the ever-changing world that we are a part of.

 

Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, Prince Daniel of Sweden, Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, Queen Silvia of Sweden and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden attend the opening of the Exhibition ’40 years on the throne serving Sweden’ at The Royal Palace on September 13, 2013 in Stockholm.

See Also ‘Dinastia Bernadotte: Jubileul Regelui Carl XVI Gustaf’

http://dianamandache.com/dinastia-bernadotte-jubileul-regelui-carl-xvi-gustaf/