I can't tell you enough how much of a royalty nut I am. So it's pretty obvious that watching The Crown has been high on my to-do list, despite the busy schedule, yes. The first season ended ages ago, and the second season will air come November so I tried my best to catch up. Hewego...

***

This scene here made such as an impact for me. Philip always seems to be whining and complaining to Elizabeth about how he misses his career in the Navy and we barely hear the King making a comment about it. But here he just goes straight to the point with Philip and tells him that all the titles given to him are not his job. She, Elizabeth, is the job and "doing this for her, doing this for me", is the greatest act of patriotism.

Amen to that.

I cried so much during the first episode, you'd think I was related to the Windsors. And King George hasn't even died yet! I can only imagine how I'll be on the next episodes.

XO,

Carissa

Anyone who loves books about royalty and historical fiction will have heard about Philippa Gregory. She has penned several books on that theme; The Other Boleyn Girl is among them. My personal favorites are The Lady Of The Rivers, The White Queen and The White Princess; the last two have been adapted as TV series.

This recent read of mine, The Constant Princess had been sitting on my reading list for a while. I couldn't even figure out who the story was about based on the title. When I found out that it was about Katherine of Aragon, I sort of felt lazy to read on. I felt that her life won't be an interesting topic. The mere mention of her name conjures thoughts of a frumpy queen who was dumped by the dashing Henry VIII because she couldn't give him a longed-for heir. When I finished rereading The Other Boleyn Girl, I remembered that I also had The Constant Princess so I decided to read it too while I was still high on the Tudor drug.

Portrait of Katherine of Aragon by Michael Sittow, c 1502. Photo Credit: englishhistory.net

The Alhambra Palace: Photo Credit : traveldigg.com

Interior Dome in The Alhambra Palace. Photo Credit: traveldigg.com

👑The Constant Princess👑

It's an apt title because she really is constantly the tough one despite all the trials and hardships that she went through. For starters, being a kid raised in a military camp is already tough; she saw and experienced many things that a child ought not to see. As a teenager she served as her parents' pawn to fulfill an alliance with England and married not out of love but of obligation. She eventually found love in her husband but he too was taken away from her. After Arthur's death, her future became uncertain. She waited about seven years more, before she was married to Henry VIII, only after the death of his father. During those 7 years, she was  basically neglected by the royal court and was forced to live in destitution. But Catalina was headstrong and she believed that Harry would choose to marry her in the end. Her persistence paid off and eventually she fulfilled her and Arthur's dream and she became Queen of England. On their first night as husband and wife, she convinced Henry that she was still a virgin.

Even as she was Queen, she still received opposition from Henry's grandmother, Margaret Beaufort. until her death. Henry was an ambitious king and he wanted to reclaim lands in France and so he went into war. Meanwhile, England's neighbor Scotland had been a troublesome lot and they kept raiding the borders. So while Henry was campaigning in France, Katherine served as Regent and was busy defending the kingdom against Scotland. I daresay her parents would've been proud of her victory.

Henry and Katherine's marriage was fraught with miscarriages, stillbirth and infant death. More than two decades after their marriage, Henry was doubting that God was punishing him for marrying his brother's wife. He has also been having mistresses but Katherine chose to look the other way and never complained. When Anne Boleyn, a lady-in-waiting came into the picture, she recognized that there could be trouble because it was clear that Anne didn't just want Henry but was also after her crown.

On the epilogue of The Constant Princess, Katherine says these words as she recognizes the gravity of the words she told Henry more than twenty years ago when she had to convince him that she was a virgin untouched on the first night of their marriage. The same words have been used by the The King and Anne Boleyn's camp to discredit her; to further prove that God does not approve of their marriage that is why they have never been blessed with a male heir. The same reason was also used as grounds for divorce.

We know from history that Katherine was treated badly after the "divorce". Much like her life after Arthur's death, she was sent away to a faraway castle way from the court. She was not allowed to see her daughter, the Princess Mary and was barely able to communicate with her. She died alone and I wished she had a far better life at the end. But if I were to believe what's written in the book and bank on the story that Arthur was indeed her one and only true love, then I'd be happy to think that they fulfilled their promise of meeting again in "Al-Yanna": the word that means garden, secret place, and paradise.

I deeply revere the memory of Queen Katherine.

XO,

Carissa

My love for anything royal goes beyond the real world; it encompasses the fictitious world too! Not so long ago I featured The Selection Series here in my blog. I was swept off by the love story, and the gowns and palaces and the Prince. A friend (Hi Kara!) sent me a message and she said that if I enjoyed Kiera's Selection I might also enjoy Victoria Aveyard's Red Queen. I finished reading the book in less than 24 hours; maybe less than 12 hours actually. I couldn't put it down; not when I had no idea about what was going to happen next or what the plot was because I decided not to read any review beforehand. It was a complete leap of faith for me. Diving headfirst was suuuuuurely fun!

Red Queen//Victoria Aveyard

There were so many familiar elements in this story, so I didn't have to fumble around. To begin with, we have a kick ass girl for a protagonist. It is set in the near future (year 320 NE...the book offers no answers as to what NE stands for) in a place called the Kingdom of Norta. I guess Norta is still in planet Earth though, although I can imagine there has been some geopolitical changes over the years. The social status is divided into two: Silvers and Reds. The Silvers are the ruling class and they possess different superhuman abilities.  To name a few, there are telkies (use telekinesis), nymphs (control water), strongarms (superhuman strength), swifts (amazingly fast), greenys (can bend nature to their will), etc. The Reds in turn, since they do not have such abilities, have become enslaved.

(c)inspiredbybooks1.tumblr.com//victoriaaveyard.com

We have our protagonist Mare Molly Barrow, who is a Red from the Stilts. She thinks herself a no good and she picks pockets for a living. Her sister Gisa and her best friend Kilorn are both apprenticed so they don't have to go to war as soldiers when they turn 18. Three of her brothers are already fighting in the war and she is fated to follow the same path. In a twist of fate, her best friend looses his apprenticeship and in an effort to help him out, her sister also looses her prospects of an apprenticeship.  A distraught Mare goes to a local tavern and there she meets a boy named Cal. Despite trying to rob him of a coin, he acts kindly towards her and sympathizes with her life.

Things take a 360 for Mare on the next day when she is suddenly summoned to the Hall of the Sun (the palace) to serve the King himself. She arrives in time to witness the Queenstrial, an event where the Silver ladies of the different Houses show off their abilities in a bid to win the Prince's "heart" and in turn gets the chance to rule the kingdom someday at his side. She also finds out that the Cal she met at the tavern was actually the Crown Prince Tiberias the Seventh and heir to the Kingdom of Norta and the Burning Crown or yes, 'Cal' for short. She also sees the King Tiberias, Queen Elara (Cal's step-mum) and Cal's younger brother Maven. Cal, Maven and their father can control flame whilst Queen E can probe other's minds.

The last girl to present herself for the Queenstrial was Lady Evangeline of House Samos, a magnetron (controls metal). In her bid to show off, she tries to move the metal pipes and tips the boxes in the arena. Mare's life is endangered as she was inside one of those boxes and she takes a fall. Instead of just falling though, some sort of miracle happened. She produces a shield of lightning that cushions her fall; her uniform is singed but she was unharmed. She was seized by the sentinels and the vicious Queen Elara probes her mind and finds out that she is indeed a Red with Silver-like abilities. Evangeline is chosen as betrothed to Prince Cal and Mare is chosen for Prince Maven. Mare is given a new identity since King Tiberius couldn't stand to expose her as a Red who can call up a lightning. She became Lady  Mareena Titanos, long lost daughter of a former Silver general who died on the battlefront. She was "found and raised by Reds" and was unawares of who she was or what she was capable of until that fateful day at the arena. She earns the nickname "Lightning Girl".

That is what I have learned for sure upon finishing the book. At first I thought Cal was nice for helping Mare find a job at the palace. As the story was unfolding it didn't appear to me that he cared enough for the Reds or that he didn't intend to give them the equality and the better treatment that they craved for. Maven was different. He expressed his desire to help the Reds. He also wanted equality for them. He sympathized with the rebels and together with Mare, arranged for some of the rebel attacks to take place at the palace. Even so, Mare was still torn between the two, especially that Cal expressed his feelings towards her. He even helps Mare to go on a visit to the Stilts when she was homesick. On her visit she finds out that one of her brothers, Shade, who was fighting in the war had died.

Mare makes some friends (and enemies) at the palace; Lucas Samos her personal guard and Julian Jacos, one of her mentors, was kind to her. Julian especially warns Mare with this quote, in reference to Maven. Julian also discovers that Mare isn't the only Red in history to have Silver-like abilities. There have been others like her before but they have all been killed. There were also others like her who were still alive and are also in danger of being found and disposed by Silvers. Mare entrusts this info to Mavey (how cute!).

The climax brings us to the middle of a rebel attack and in the midst of the chaos, Mare asks Cal to choose between being with her (and her rebel inclination) or waging war against the rebels. This is also the part where Maven shows his true color. All his efforts to help the rebels were for a show. He was just as vicious as his mum. Together with their other allies, they have perfectly orchestrated the downfall of King Tib himself, as well as his heir Prince Cal. Maven takes the crown for himself and tries to get rid of his brother and Mare.

Mare and Cal escapes, but it was a close call. They end up at the rebel's lair.


And I end up with my disappointment for even thinking that Maven was better than Cal. Big LOL. And I was like...this ending totally sucks. I know that there is a book two but this cannot be ending, it's just too sad. Voila! There was indeed a saving grace at the end. Mare's brother Shade, whom we all thought was dead, was actually alive. Just like Mare, he also has an ability - he's a teleporter and his enemies couldn't catch him because he, well, just vanishes out of thin air.

Words of wisdome from Prince Maven Calore. How nice. (c)themazegvardian.tumblr.com

Like, literally.
After all, it won't hurt to see some crowns, gowns, jewels, and palaces here and there. It's always fun to see some historical drama unfold. Oh, the power struggle too!
Always great to see a female protagonist slayin' it.
So here they are...My title's quiet up front, ain't it?! Ha ha

The White Queen

Reign

Victoria

This one hasn't aired yet but I already feel like binge-watching it because it is about one of my most favorite monarchs: Queen Victoria. I have seen the movie The Young Victoria in the past, as portrayed by Emily Blunt. I doubt it if there would be much difference in the story line since it would be covering the same period but since this one is an eight-part series I think we can have the luxury to be a bit more detailed about the story. Moreover, that crown and the intricately braided hair underneath it is also something to look forward to. (^,^)

The White Princess

The Crown

I've seen the trailer of The Crown and I must admit that I am quiet surprised. I've seen dozens and dozens of photos of the young Queen Elizabeth II and she always strikes me as someone confident and happy about her role. On the trailer, I saw a girl who trembles a lot. Well, if you would become queen at 25 maybe you would tremble too. And having Winston as Prime Minister, that would be unnerving. And with the popularity of the monarchy in shambles, maybe it's all too much for a young girl. More than 60 years later and here we are; the British Monarchy is a well admired institution and we can only credit it to the hardworking QE II who also leads by example. Vivat Regina!


There there, these are my five queens...that's three Elizabeths, one Victoria and one Mary.  I didn't mean to make it look like an all girls squad but I've always been drawn towards them. If you happen to look for some cute guys, I'm pretty sure you can spot some of them in these shows too *cough* MAX IRONS (King Edward IV in The White Queen) *cough*. Ha ha. Or maybe checkout those old episodes of The Tudors. Seriously though, the royalty nut aspect of me is pretty hardcore. I've constructed Queen Victoria's Family Tree in the past; that one left my old roomies scratching their heads. I was once obsessed with the Romanov Family. I still kind of am. I sometimes catch myself daydreaming over tiaras.

I did say something about being a royalty nut, didn't I? Well, yeah it's true. One of my favorite hobbies is to stare at tiaras, particularly on The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor Blog  where they have a segment called Tiara Thursdays. *sigh*  This little fondness of anything royal may have started when I was introduced to Princess Diana and how she was pegged as the ordinary girl, barely out of her teens, who was swept off her feet by a real-life Prince Charming! Of course, and still unknown to many, she was no ordinary girl after all because she's a member of the nobility being a spawn of the aristocratic Spencer family. She may not have been royalty but her father was an earl; she was raised in fancy Althorp.  

Enter Kate Middleton and we may have found a truer sense of a commoner marrying a prince; you know, someone a prince meets while going to the Uni, and all that.
But did you know that Kate may just be one of the latest addition to the list of commoners marrying a future king? You'd be surprised because it's a trend going on in European royalty. Here's the rundown.

William and Kate on their wedding day. (c) http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com/

HM Silvia, The Queen of Sweden

Silvia Renate Sommerlath, as she was known before she met the future King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, spent time between Germany and Brazil, the respective countries of her parents, during her younger years. She majored in Spanish at the Munich School of Interpreting,  and after graduating, she worked at the Argentinean Consulate in Munich. She also  worked as a hostess trainer with the Organising Committee for the Munich Olympic Games between 1971 and 1973 and  became Deputy Head of Protocol of the Organising Committee for the Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.

At the 1972 Olympics she met Crown Prince Carl Gustaf. They got married four years later, when was already king  and she has been a Queen Consort for four decades. They have three beautiful kids (because hey, it's never too bad to be blue-blooded and partly Brazilian-blooded at the same time).

The newly weds. Got off that traditional carriage and drove around in an Aston Martin. Oh, why not? XO, Cassie, The Royalty Nut

I don’t know if you’ve heard of her because she isn’t a character who gets discussed so much on a mainstream level. I got curious about her when I watched the TV adaptation of  The White Queen, another book by Philippa Gregory. I asked myself if what kind of woman would have the guts to go toe to toe with King Edward IV’s mother, Duchess Cecily of York when she is just a mere wife of a baron. Further readings about her life gave me all the answers. So many kings and queens are descended from her so I think she's a rock star!