First we have crown prince Filip and princess Mathilde of Belgium. The prince is wearing a military uniform, the most common costume for kings and princes. A sash is obligatory, bearing a prestiguous Grand Cross. Both Belgians wear the appropriate Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau on their orange sash with white and blue edge:

Quite similarly in style, albeit much more attractive than the thick Belgian guy, are Norwegian crown prince Haakon and princess Sophie: (by the way, there are generally only crown princes and no acting monarchs present, because during the inauguration King Willem Alexander must be the highest ranking person, obviously)

Next in line, Spain, with crown prince Felipe and the former TV presenter princess Letizia, who doesn't wear the Orange-Nassau sash, but rather a blue and white one, probably the Spanish Order of Charles III, as that ribbon is present in her coat of arms. Maybe the Dutch royals haven't had the opportunity to offer her their nice insignes, or she prefers the blue white colours on her dress.

And Prince Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie offer us the same kind of decorations, she probably wearing the Grand Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau.

We now see the non-European crown prince Billah and princess Sarah of Brunei. They wear a different sash, the Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown, a House order of Orange. We will discover that she is the only woman wearing a headscarf.

And here is a prince who has received that Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown already before the previous Dutch inauguration, crown prince Charles. Camilla probably hasn't entered the circle of friends of Orange yet, as she is wearing a Royal Victorian Order (my guess).

First prince in civil dress, now, Prince El Hassan bin Talal and princess Sarvath El Hassan of Jordan, both with the now familiar Order of Orange-Nassau.

The highest royal guests, crown prince Naruhito en princess Masako of Japan. He has a Order of the Crown, but she wears the Japanese Order of the Precious Crown, specially for female recipients. She must have chosen it for the appropriate colour!

Crown prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and prinses Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, they wear their own Order of the Royal House of Chakri.

Heredery prince Alois en heredery princess Sophie of Liechtenstein. I couldn't identify their red sash, was hoping it would be a Golden Fleece, that uses a red sash, and, being founded by the Burgundy House, was partially inherited by the Austrian Hapsburgs, but a complete list of members doesn't mention them.

Crown prince Frederik of Denmark has a nice hat, and a nice princess Mary. They wear the light blue Order of the Elephant over their left shoulder.

Swedish crown princess Victoria and prince Daniel have a similarly coloured Royal Order of the Seraphim over the right shoulder. And she has a nice hat.

Now two unchaperoned unveiled muslim princesses, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser al Misned from Qatar

and prinses Lalla Salma of Morocco. They don't need a sash, do they?

Categorieën: Cultuur Politiek

And, who knows? Maybe the horse will sing

2009-03-10 17:56

Nasrudin was caught in the act and sentenced to die. Hauled up before the king, he was asked by the Royal Presence: "Is there any reason at all why I shouldn't have your head off right now?" To which he replied: "Oh, King, live forever! Know that I, the mullah Nasrudin, am the greatest teacher in your kingdom, and it would surely be a waste to kill such a great teacher. So skilled am I that I could even teach your favorite horse to sing, given a year to work on it." The king was amused, and said: "Very well then, you move into the stable immediately, and if the horse isn't singing a year from now, we'll think of something interesting to do with you."

As he was returning to his cell to pick up his spare rags, his cellmate remonstrated with him: "Now that was really stupid. You know you can't teach that horse to sing, no matter how long you try." Nasrudin's response: "Not at all. I have a year now that I didn't have before. And a lot of things can happen in a year. The king might die. The horse might die. I might die.

"And, who knows? Maybe the horse will sing."

Categorieën: Cultuur ICT

A daguerreotype from 1846

2009-02-05 23:20

This evening there was a news item about a daguerreotype from 1846 from Surinam.

He is called Johannes Ellis, her name is Maria Louisa de Hart. He is born in 1812 in the Ghanese town Elmina, as the son of the Dutch governor and a Ghanese woman.

She is born in 1826 on the plantation Sardam on the Cotticariver in Surinam. Her father is a Jew from Amsterdam: Mozes Meyer de Hart. The planter has twelve children with the freed slave Carolina Petronella van de Hart. Maria is one of those children.

Maria is pregnant on this picture.
The Ellis couple departs for The Netherlands in 1860.

Their unborn son of the picture, Abraham George Ellis joins the Dutch Navy, fights in Atjeh in the Dutch East Indies, lives a while in South America and becomes Minister of the Navy in the Dutch government from 1902 to 1905.

He died in 1916 and was buried by a big crowd, among which the husband of the Dutch Queen.