Madame Tussaud and Marie-Antoinette

I have been reading about Madame Tussaud and her frightening time in the Revolution recently. Madame Tussaud: Witness to the Revolution is a detailed account of her story.

The Mistress of the Duke of Orleans

Courtesans are not to be admired, but they are certainly interesting! Here is the story of Grace Dalrymple Elliott.

Two Royal Proposals

Royal proposals often take place in beautiful and romantic settings. After all, royals can usually afford to pull out all the stops! Prince William and Prince Frederick certainly chose lovely places.

'No'!

Prince William proposed to Katherine on the slopes of Mount Kenya overlooking the glimmering lake. He probably flew her there by helicopter as well, which must have been exciting. He gave her his mother's sapphire ring to wear as her engagement ring.

Prince Frederick of Denmark chose 'the Eternal City' to propose. He proposed to his beautiful bride, who grew up in Australia, on a moonlit night in Rome. We don't know exactly where it was, however. Perhaps it was overlooking the panoramic view of the city from the Spanish Steps? CP Mary said in an interview that he made it very difficult for her to say

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge Star In Hollywood

An interesting article: Stars in L.A.

Queen Mary's Best Present

Queen Mary said that this beautiful doll's house was the best present that she ever received!

A Very Modern Royal Wedding

(This is from Just a Foot's Flickr stream).


Here is an article about the Duke and Duchess's very modern royal wedding. It compares their wedding with previous royal weddings.

The Victoria Lily

When Joseph Paxton on behalf of the Duke of Devonshire presented Queen Victoria with a beautiful, large and exotic water-lily, she must have been absolutely delighted! The gorgeous flower was named Victoria Regia after her - now it is known as the Victoria Amazonica. This strange tropical water-lily, which has leaves that can be up to 3 metres in diameter and extremely large flowers which can be 40 centimetres wide, must have looked incredible to Victoria. One wonders if she knew that the flowers, which only last a short time, are white on the first night and pink when they bloom for a second night.

The German scientist, Haenke, first discovered the 'Giant Water Lily' in 1801 along the Amazon River in South America. Before he reported his find, however, Sir Richard Schornburgk told the London Botanical Society about his noting of the flower in 1837 in British Guiana. The Victoria Amazonica

is Guiana's national flower.

Two English dukes took a great interest in this flower and held a competition to see who could first grow it in England. These dukes were the Duke of Devonshire and the Duke of Northumberland. Joseph Paxton, the Duke of Devonshire's landscape gardener, won the contest. He did this by creating a great conservatory and replicating the plant's warm, swampy environment. The ribbed undersurface of the plant and the veins on the leaves also inspired his design of the Crystal Palace.