Kate Middleton's Favourite Designers

And the big question this week is: "Who will design the wedding dress?" Could it be one of these designers?

How To Be A Serbian Princess

Would you like to be a princess? Perhap you should aim for one of the three Serbian prnces? They are extremely eligible and they all want wives! Become A Serbian Princess

Nadezhda Lamanova

I keep meaning to write separate articles for my blog. However, I just haven't had time so I will have to include another article for Suite 101: Nadezhda Lamanova

I hope that I will have more time soon!

Princess Belgiojoso and the Risorgimento

Princess Cristina Belgiojoso was a brave Italian woman who contributed greatly to the cause of Italian unification. You can read my article about her here: Cristina Belgiojoso

Re: Hiatus

I am really sorry that I haven't made many posts lately. I am going to have a break for about a month and I hope to write many pieces after that!

An Artistic Princess

Charlotte and Zenaide

While we were in Rome last year we went to see the Charlotte Bonaparte exhibition. This included impressive sketches and paintings by the princess, beautiful eighteenth century objects, and paintings by famous artists. This was very enjoyable, except that the receptionist didn't like Australians! (My English husband got much better treatment!)

The artistic princess was the daughter of Napoleon 1's older brother, Joseph, and his wife, Julie Clary. Born in France in 1802, young Charlotte grew up there. She remained mostly in Mortefontaine and Paris even while her father was the king of Naples and the king of Spain.

Charlotte soon showed a talent for art. She loved to spend her time painting and sketching. The princess was lucky enough to receive lessons from the famous artist, Jean

-Louis David, in Belgium.

After he was exiled, Joseph bought properties in America. He owned a house in Philadelphia and a large estate in New Jersey. He filled this with art and sculpture. Large landscaped gardens added beauty and serenity. The princess spent three years in America with her father. Here she painted portraits of society people and New Jersey landscapes. Some of these were exhibited at the Academy for Fine Arts in Philadelphia.

Charlotte was petite and attractive with fine dark eyes and hair. Many suitors called but her father was determined to marry her to a relative. She married her cousin, Napoleon-Louis, in 1826. The couple returned to Europe and lived in Rome. Here Charlotte studied engraving and lithography with Louis Leopold Robert.

Napoleon-Louis died during the struggle for unification of Italy. After this the princess lived with her mother in Florence. She became pregnant at 36, perhaps to a Polish count. The princess died tragically from complications of childbirth.

Princess Mathilde's Tudor Rose Brooch

One of Princess Mathilde's most beautiful pieces of jewellery was the tudor rose brooch. This large, glimmering brooch, created by the famous Parisian jeweler, Theodore Foster, in 1855, was in the shape of an open rose with two rose buds and eleven leaves. It had thousands of Brazilian green rose-cut diamonds mounted in silver-topped gold.

The gorgeous brooch was sold in 1904 after the Princess's death. Janesich, the Art Deco jeweler, acquired it. It was eventually sold by Cartier to Mrs Cornelius Vanderbilt, a society queen of New York. It came into the hands of the jeweler, Fred Leighton.

Model, Chandra North, looked extremely glamorous when she wore the lovely brooch as a hair ornament to an event in 1998. The brooch was sold by Christie's in 2004 for $701,900. You can see a picture of the brooch here: Tudor Rose Brooch