I have been following royalty since the Diana/Fergie days. My favorite royal, sartorially speaking, is Queen Letizia, followed closely by that ageless scamp, Princess Astrid of Norway. I love following the less followed in the royal world. My general duties here in Handbagland are the Bits & Bobs and whatever Random Royaling arises.
A Classic Edition Princess of the highest order, Princess Benedikte is our current royal of the week. Post your favorite ensemble, gif, hat or whatever from her many years of Princessing. This is a royal who gives you lots and lots of room for choice.
It was difficult for me, but I finally decided I would just go with a recent best, which was her appearance at her sister, the Queen’s, birthday last year. It will have to tide us over since the fabulous 80th birthday celebrations for Daisy have been postponed (sob).
One of the few benefits of the present sequestering is that we get to see much more of the personal working spces of royals. Voyeur that I am, I love this. I know a few of you do, too, if the “guess the photo on the table” game we play whenever we post a photo of HerMaj at an audience is any indication. It’s also interesting to see how difference cultures and different tastes play out in royal decor.
Here’s a sampling of the interior of a few royal studies. You lucked out in that I did not include a photo of me in sweats at my Ikea desk. We’ll stick to the more glamorous people.
Belgium
I wonder, if like many of us, if Philippe is camped out temporarily at the dining room table?
The Queen holds her first ever audience with Prime Minister Boris Johnson from her study at Windsor. Not too many family photos in view, but I am intrigued by the many porcelain animal sculptures on disply.
William and Kate are at work,too, in what looks like Kensington Palace offices. I am speculating that it’s not Anmer since they are wearing the clothes they wore for their last appearance in London. Bonus points for guessing the books on Kate’s desk.
If you take even a cursory tour through Getty, you’ll see that WAX has been energized by this virus, and has been everywhere (six feet from everyone). He is great at this kinging business. It’s almost a shame to show him sitting, but this is a royal room post, so here we are. Who is in that photo behind him?
My favorite interiors are in this country. We featured Haakon yesterday in his office, but I think he likes to move around the palace. It looks like he is in the living room here, but correct me if you think I am wrong. He keeps up the sartorial standards, anyway. It’s also a good time to peek back at Harald in the best office ever.
We focused on the people yesterday, but today we’ll pull back so you can take in the room. In particular, look at that great carpet. I hope Iselen can clue us in on which palace we are gazing upon.
I hope one of our Swedish community members can identify which palace Victoria and Daniel are in here, because this is a great room for an audience. I am mentally moving everyone several feet apart in my mind, though. This was back a couple of weeks ago.
For the most part, the royals are not attending their usual activities. A new world is emerging and some of the world’s oldest and most traditional institutions are stepping up to the challenge.
Belgium
Mathilde encourages young people to read during quarantine, I approve that message and the bright yellow she is sporting.
The Duchess of Brabant has returned home and the family is reunited. The family continues their efforts to keep loneliness at bay for thos seniors confined to care centers by making breakfast and phone calls.
Maxima paid a visit to a plant nursery, lending the royal support to a company who has seen their business plummet during the crisis. I applaud the Namaste greeting, and the social distancing on display.
Felipe and Letizia have lent support to charities supporting relief efforts through video conferencing. Letizia was fortunately not diagnosed with the virus, and has returned to work.
The Swedish royals have stepped up to provide support to organizations still open and servicing customers. While the King and Queen remain isolated, Sofia and Carl have visited grocery stores, and Victoria and Daniel completed a series of visits, including one to a military field hospital.
Prince Charles has tested positive for the coronavirus. The Duchess of Cornwall has also been tested and does not have the virus. They remain in Scotland, in self-isolation at Birkhall. It is reported that Charles has a mild case, and that he remains “overall in good health”.
From Buckingham Palace: “The Queen remains in good health. The Queen last saw The Prince of Wales briefly after the investiture on the morning of 12th March and is following all the appropriate advice with regard to her welfare.”
There is a new article about Prince Albert, where he discusses his condition, the measures being taken in Monaco, and the Olympics.
We’ll leave the comments on this thread open for any further developments, but as we have been doing, let’s keep our commenting to Charles, Albert and their current situations. Thank you, everyone.
I have a confession: if I could have been anyone in history, I would have been Deborah Mitford Cavendish. Mostly because I would love to have the run of Chatsworth, although I understand managing it was a huge enterprise. I wouldn’t have minded the other perks, which included lots of diamonds. Let’s take a look.
In 2016 Sothebys held an an auction of a collection of Elvis memorabilia and personal items that belonged to Deborah. The brooch below was designed by Andrew, 11th Duke of Devonshire, and given to Debo on their diamond wedding anniversary, In the same lot were a set of aquamarine clips.
The beautiful butterfly brooch below, described by Getty as a diamond ruby pin (although it looks as if those stones are yellow to me), was dated to 1880.
A collection of Debo’s brooches that would make Max jealous! Bonus photo of the Duchess wearing an unidentified, but sparkly brooch, in her later years.
Which brings us to the famous two Devonshire tiaras. The Duchess is pictured below in 1961 wearing the Devonshire tiara while dining at the Dorchester. The tiara has been described by Sotheby’s as “Cast in silver and gold with numerous diamonds of various size and cuts, the tiara truly dazzles. But it’s also versatile: various pieces of the design can be removed, allowing the tiara to be work as a necklace or divided up into brooches.” Take your time to see it up close on the Sotheby’s site. It’s actually my favorite of the two, because the other is a monster.
Finally, we come to the skull crusher! The heavy, dramatic palmette tiara is beautiful to look at on a stand but must be a bit of a trial to wear. Mary Cavendish, the 10th Duchess of Devonshire, took the challenge on during the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.
There are few photos of Deborah wearing it. The most famous was taken during her 80th birthday party. She did have a funny anecdote of a case of inappropriate tiara wearing.
One memorable evening we were staying at Windsor Castle for a dance given by the Queen. I came down to dinner, got up as I thought our hostess and the other guests would be, the big tiara firmly in place. To my horror none of the other women wore theirs. It is far worse to be overdressed than underdressed a I sat through dinner wishing I was anywhere else. When the dancing began, I took it off, put it under a chair and enjoyed myself enormously. I suppose Windsor Castle in the only house where you could be sure of finding the blessed thing still there at bedtime.
Town and Country
Are you as intrigued with Debo’s life as I am? Post your thoughts and photos below.
