Charity of the Dauphine

Before becoming Queen of France, Marie-Antoinette was known for her mercy and sweetness. From Vive la Reine:

Mme la Dauphine, who had returned, got out of her carriage, ran toward the woman, and held out some perfume to her nose, which made her come out of her faint. Mme la Dauphine gave her all the money she had with her, but what was even more admirable was the kind and consoling way in which HRH talked to the poor woman. Finally, Mme l'Archiduchesse, who was touched, shed tears and, at that moment, caused more than a hundred spectators to do the same….

Then, having called for her carriage, Mme la Dauphine gave orders that the peasant woman be taken in it back to her cottage which was in a neighboring hamlet.* Her Royal Highness waited right there for her carriage to return; she asked about the care of the wounded man … I cannot describe to Your Majesty the greatness or intensity of the sensation caused by the event, not only among the courtiers, but even more among the people of Fontainebleau….

The public in Paris [seems very moved;] whenever Mme la Dauphine’s name comes up, it evokes a universal cry of joy and admiration.
–Ambassador Mercy to Maria Theresa, 12 November 1773
(Read more.)

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China’s New Defense Mobilization Law Prepares Chinese Civilians And Companies For War

 From WLT Report:

It appears China is preparing for war. A new law enacted by China that will take effect in October will allow the Chinese government to easily transition into a wartime economy during a military conflict. The new law will essentially allow the Chinese Armed Forces to have unfettered access to all companies and civilian resources in the time of a war.

The Military Times reported more on the move by China:

China’s armed forces will get every possible resource from the home front if needed during a war, according to a change in the law to take effect in October.

And its militarily less endowed neighbors such as Taiwan and the Philippines would bear the brunt of a fully kitted People’s Liberation Army, which the updated National Defense Mobilization Law says may draw from deep within the civilian population for resources, analysts say.

Australia, Japan and the United States also would note Beijing’s revised law as they’re most likely to become involved in any Taiwan “contingency” or conflict in the South China Sea, said Carl Thayer, an Asia specialist and emeritus professor at the University of New South Wales in Australia.

Australia, India and the United States have their own issues with Beijing, he added.

(Read more.)

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The De-Christianization of France

 From The War on Beauty:

France has been in a process of de-Christianization since the Revolution in 1789 when Catholicism was outlawed and replaced with a new atheistic cult called ‘The Cult of Reason.’ A lot of people were surprised by the recent mockery of the Last Supper at the Olympic Games, but this isn’t the first time there has been an outright assault on the Catholic Church in France, nor is this the worst instance (shockingly).

After the Catholic monarchs and Ancien Régime were violently couped in 1789, a new anti-religious, and clearly satanic totalitarian government came to power and immediately severed all ties with the Church. Along with the persecution of the aristocracy, normal French people/ peasants, including thousands of clergy were martyred for not renouncing their Catholic beliefs.

This was the first big move in shifting France away from a faith-based society to one that worships reason, science, and man’s own ‘intelligence’ as the new God. The new regime went so far as to remove all crosses and religious symbols in the country including from graveyards, ceased all Catholic schooling, and not only closed all churches but forcibly confiscated them from the diocese to fund the new government. (Read more.)

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Heavenly Earth: Images of Saint Francis at La Verna

A 2018 exhibition. Today is the feast of the stigmata of St. Francis. From The Leaven:

WASHINGTON (CNS) — St. Francis of Assisi’s reception of the stigmata, the wounds of Christ, at La Verna in Italy and its depiction by artists beginning in the 15th century is the focus of a National Gallery of Art exhibit. “Heavenly Earth: Images of Saint Francis at La Verna” includes 30 pieces of Franciscan art centered on the miraculous 13th-century event. The exhibit was to open Feb. 25. Ginger Hammer, an assistant curator at the museum in Washington, said the display focuses on an “unprecedented event in Western spirituality.” No one in recorded history had experience such an occurrence before St. Francis did in 1224.

It happened while St. Francis was meditating on the passion of Christ during one of his regular retreats in the mountain wilderness. “He wanted to understand the very suffering that Christ endured. The result of his prayers reportedly is that a seraph, or six-winged angel, approached him enfolding the image of Christ on the cross. When the seraph departed, the actual wounds of Christ’s passion were transferred to the body of Francis,” Hammer told Catholic News Service Feb. 20 during a media preview. “That had never happened before and it was quite remarkable that through his own endeavors something mystical of this magnitude could happen to a human being,” she said.

A Franciscan sanctuary and museum complex mark the La Verna site today and continues to welcome pilgrims. The event was so extraordinary that artists over the centuries have tried to capture it to share with others. The exhibit focuses on work in various media from the 15th through 18th centuries. (Read more.)

More information at the National Gallery of Art website, HERE. Share

Trump Took Iran at Its Word — History Will Reward Him

 From Tierney's Real News:

The leaking and finger-pointing on Iran by MAGA disloyalists have begun. The Wall Street Journal reports that in February, then-Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard warned President Donald Trump that if he attacked, “Tehran would rush to close the Strait of Hormuz, destabilizing the global energy market.” Her admonition “echoed warnings Trump was receiving from all corners,” the Journal wrote, including from top military leaders who expressed “concerns about the weapons stockpile and readiness problems for an overstretched force” and from Vice President JD Vance, who “promoted a more cautious approach” focused on negotiations that would be “less costly than a war with unwieldy consequences.”

The message of the leakers is clear: Had Trump only listened to us, we would not be in this mess.

In fact, these self-serving leaks actually show the opposite — by demonstrating what a courageous decision Trump made. Virtually alone, surrounded by naysayers, Trump acted to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon.

Indeed, Trump not only ignored the words of the naysayers; he did something few presidents before him have ever done: He listened to the words of the enemy.

The most tragic mistake that world leaders made over the past century was the failure to take the words of the monsters of history seriously. These tyrants repeatedly stated precisely what they intended to do, but their ideas were assumed to be too foolish, or too fantastic, to be serious.

In the early 1900s, Vladimir Lenin published a pamphlet called “What Is To Be Done?,” in which he laid out his plans to overthrow the Russian czar and establish a “dictatorship of the proletariat.” The world didn’t take his words seriously, and the totalitarian empire he founded spawned communist revolution across the globe that killed an estimated 100 million people and brought the world to the brink of nuclear annihilation.

In the 1920s, Adolf Hitler published “Mein Kampf,” in which he laid out his plan to establish a thousand-year Reich in Germany and eradicate the Jews. The world didn’t take his words seriously, and his Nazi regime built gas chambers, set the world aflame and killed 17 million people.

In the late 1990s, Osama bin Laden issued a fatwa declaring war on the West, calling on all Muslims to wage “jihad against the enemies of God, your enemies the Israelis and Americans.” The world didn’t take his words seriously, and on Sept. 11, 2001, his followers flew airplanes into the Pentagon and World Trade Center.

In 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin published a 7,000 word manifesto explaining that Ukraine had been stolen from Russia, its “historical motherland,” and promising to reunite them. The world didn’t take his words seriously, and a few months later he launched the largest land invasion in Europe since World War II — a war that has resulted in more than 2 million dead and wounded among military personnel and civilians so far. (Read more.)

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The Cost of John Dee’s Sorcery

 While Catholic practices were banned in England as being superstitious, Queen Elizabeth I consulted a wizard. From Sebastian Morello:

There is at present an entire revisionist historiography being developed which explains Henry VIII’s break from Rome not by reference to his desire for a divorce from Catherine of Aragon, but to his failure to secure for himself the Imperial throne of the Holy Roman Empire at the election in 1519. Instead, Charles Habsburg was elected, becoming Emperor Charles V, and Henry was intensely bitter about it. He thought he should be Emperor of Christendom, especially as he had demonstrated that he was a most loyal son of the Church amid the rise of Protestantism, even receiving from the pope the title ‘Defender of the Faith’. When he broke with Rome fifteen years later, he was already talking about his kingdom not as a region of a wider civilisation called Christendom, but as its own island empire over which he was both supreme temporal and spiritual lord.

It took the courtier, spy, and wizard John Dee to explain to Henry’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I, that having broken with that great empire of Christendom, the Kingdom of England (which also included Wales and Ireland) had before it two possible futures: it could fizzle out into obscurity, or it could expand across the seas and make for itself its own empire, a counter-empire if you will. This counter-empire would expand across the whole world. It would be based not on the baptism of nations in fulfilment of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19), but rather on the demands of Mammon. Dee came up with a name which would be lasting: he coined the term ‘the British Empire’.

Dee and the warlock, scryer, and speaker of the secret Enochian language Edward Kelly travelled through Europe. Together they stayed for considerable lengths of time at the Imperial court and other royal courts, uncovering the spiritual and temporal sources of the empire with which Dee’s future creation would compete.

Kelly claimed—and I have no reason to disbelieve him—to have been led by what he described as a ‘spiritual creature’ to a container of red powder hidden in the ruins of Glastonbury Abbey. From this powder, he made a tincture which gave him power to alchemically transmutate base metal into gold without any need of the Philosopher’s Stone. Kelly demonstrated the potency of this tincture on numerous occasions, and by it he deeply impressed Dee. (Read more.)

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Chloridia

  

From Tony Riches: "Time travel back to the court of King Charles I with a glimpse of my research - the fascinating full text of Chloridia : rites to Chloris and her nymphs, a Shrovetide masque performed by the queen at Whitehall Palace." (Complete text HERE.)

Costume sketch for masque by Inigo Jones for Henrietta Maria

More on masques, HERE.

Queen Henrietta Maria

 

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What We Fail to Teach, Someone Else Will

 From Elizabeth Johnston:

Last Friday marked 25 years since the September 11 terrorist attacks. A growing number of Americans were not alive when the attacks occurred, and even more were too young to remember them.

Last week, the New York City Council approved a resolution calling upon New York State to incorporate September 11 instruction into schools. The Council also approved the commemorative naming of 26 streets and public places in honor of people who were killed and families affected by the attacks. The Council said the purpose is to pass the lessons of that day to generations who never experienced it.

But that should not be the responsibility of schools alone.

Our children need to understand the evil that occurred that morning, but they also need to hear about the courage that followed it. Tell them about the firefighters who climbed the stairs while everyone else was running down. Tell them about the passengers of Flight 93 who knew they might die but chose to protect others. Tell them about neighbors helping strangers, churches opening their doors, and Americans praying together.

History is more than dates children memorize for a test. It is the inherited memory of a people. When one generation stops telling the truth about what happened, the next generation becomes vulnerable to those who would rewrite it.

Sit down with your children this week and ask what they know about September 11. Show them age-appropriate accounts of the day. Pray for the families who still carry that grief. Talk about courage, sacrifice, evil, patriotism, and the value of every human life.

“Never forget” is not a slogan. It is an assignment passed from one generation to the next. (Read more.)

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A Simple (French) Way of Eating

 From Léonce:

What was passed down to me, first. And then what I learned over time, through experience, curiosity, and a conscious return to common sense. When I really thought about it, I realised that my way of eating rests on three very simple principles.

1. I cook almost everything I eat, using mostly whole or minimally processed ingredients.
2. I very rarely buy ultra-processed foods.
3. And when I feel like eating something sweet, I make it myself.

My kitchen is therefore built around basic ingredients: seasonal fruits and vegetables (organic when possible) whole bread, cheeses, plain yogurts, eggs, butter, flour, sugar, milk (often plant-based, oat milk for instance), pasta, fish, carefully chosen meat, spices, herbs, garlic, onions, shallots, and always a good dark chocolate for homemade cakes. With very little, you can do a great deal. Endless variations, countless meals.

I believe this way of eating comes from my mother, who has always cooked a lot, and from my grandmother before her. When we were children, industrial biscuits were rarely allowed at home. Instead, there was almost always a homemade cake: a chocolate cake, an apple tart, chocolate mousse, pastries made for no particular reason. My father grew a vegetable garden. Seasonal fruits and vegetables were simply part of daily life. I grew up this way, without it ever being framed as a rule or a restriction. It was simply normal.

Even today, my meals follow a fairly traditional structure. Two to three meals a day, depending on the day, my mood, the rhythm of the week. I sometimes skip breakfast if I am not hungry. Other days, especially on weekends, I take my time: pastries from the day before, French toast, waffles, crêpes, chocolate cookies, always homemade. There is something deeply reassuring in these gestures: the anticipation of flavours, even before tasting them, the smell of warm butter in the kitchen, a cake left to cool on the counter while the house slowly grows quiet.

During the week, lunch is often simple, sometimes eaten quickly. In the evenings and on weekends, I like to cook more. Since my years living and working in London, I have lost the very French habit of long lunch breaks, but dinner remains an important moment. The one thing I very rarely do is snack between meals. I was always taught that eating between meals dulls the appetite for the next one. I kept this habit. If I am hungry earlier than expected, I simply eat earlier. (Read more.)

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Guichette

Anna Gibson posts on the eldest child and only daughter of the Royal Governess Madame de Polignac. She was Aglaé de Polignac, the Duchesse de Guiche, whom Marie-Antoinette nicknamed "Guichette." To quote:

Aglaé Louise Françoise Gabrielle de Polignac (7 May 1768 - 30 March 1803) was the first child and only daughter of Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron and Jules de Polignac. In 1780, she was married to the Antoine Louis Marie de Gramont, duc de Guiche. They had three children.

In 1784, the talented Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun painted the 16 year old Aglaé in a simple, pastoral dress that was popularized in the 1780s by the rise of country and hamlet inspired fashions. (Read more.)

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Trump Unveils Plan to Make It ‘Legally Impossible’ for the Next President to Reopen the Border

 From The Daily BS:

Donald Trump says closing the border isn’t enough.

He wants to make it much harder for the next president to open it again.

Trump unveiled a proposed “No Invasion of Our Country Act” during his address to the Republican midterm convention in Dallas, arguing that his border policies need to be protected from being dismantled by a future administration.

“We will make it legally impossible for any future president to destroy our country by having the right to open the border again,” Trump told the crowd.

“We will pass a No Invasion of Our Country Act.”

The announcement takes direct aim at one of the biggest vulnerabilities of presidential immigration policy: What one president does through executive authority, another president can often undo.

That is precisely what happened after Trump’s first term.

President Joe Biden reversed a number of Trump’s immigration and border policies after entering office in 2021. Trump, upon returning to the White House in January 2025, moved aggressively in the opposite direction again.

Now Trump wants Congress involved.

Putting border restrictions into federal statute could make them substantially more difficult for a future president to reverse simply by signing a new executive order.

But Trump’s promise that the legislation would make it “legally impossible” for another president to reopen the border is considerably more sweeping than what is currently known about the proposal.

A future Congress can amend or repeal federal law, and presidents retain constitutional and statutory authority over immigration enforcement. The precise effect would depend upon the actual legislative language — and that language has not yet been publicly fleshed out in detail. (Read more.)

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The Secrets of Elegance

One must subscribe to read the entire article but what is available is quite interesting. From The Habsburg Way:

It is a common error among the ambitious, or the self-conscious, to confuse elegance for luxury.

To assume that what looks expensive must look good, and conclude therefore that in order to look good, we must spend extravagantly. On the other hand, there are those who are fearful of their own status, and exaggerate roughness through language or clothing to signal that they are ‘one of the people’.

We all know tackiness or scruffiness when we see it, but how can we avoid both and actually embody elegance?

For the answer, we must turn to one of the most popular writers of 19th century France, who achieved the rare feat of being highly conservative, highly eccentric and highly charismatic all at once. In 1830, Honoré de Balzac indeed began his Treatise On Elegant Living to both lampoon the tackiness of post-revolutionary France’s new elites, while also reflecting on why they were getting this so wrong.

So, here is how to stop trying to look elegant, and start being elegant, from the father of ‘elegantology’ itself…(Read more.)

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Henrietta Maria and Her Mother, Marie de’ Medici

 

 My guest post for Tony Riches.

First of all, I would like to thank Tony Riches for opening his popular blog to other historical writers so that we may share our research. I am the author of a biography of Marie-Antoinette as well as six historical novels. The latest two novels are about Queen Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I and they are entitled My Queen, My Love and Generalissima. They are part of an unfinished trilogy; the third installment Avalon will be out sometime in 2027 or 28. 

In my readings about Henrietta of France, I have found that her mother Marie de’ Medici played an enormous role not only in her upbringing but in her ongoing political decisions, as well as shaping her faith, her love of the arts, of music, theater, and architecture. Queen Marie has ended up playing a much larger role in my novels than I originally would ever have imagined, due to the sheer force of her personality as much as to her real adventures, which included leading rebellions against her son, climbing out of windows to escape the royal guards, and hiding with her entourage of dwarves in a German brewery. All of this followed a glittering career of being Queen Mother Regent of France. Most of the Queen’s life is captured in the spectacular series of twenty-four huge paintings by Rubens, now at the Louvre. (Read more.)

 

Books available HERE.

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No Winged Hussars This Time

From Unlicensed Punditry:

It is 2026 and the Ottoman Empire is still at the gates, only now, there are people who don’t care because they have no concept of what living in an Ottoman civilization (or under the Taliban’s interpretation of sharia law) looks like.

We should not believe it wasn’t this way before 9/11 because there have always been haters of this nation, not because it didn’t give them of its bounty, but because, in their opinion, it didn’t give them enough.

9/11 changed that – albeit temporarily.

For a while, the bitchers, whiners and anti-Americans were too afraid to be exposed as making common cause with 7^th Century savages who figured out how to use the very freedoms against us that the anti-Americans take for granted. They saw the anger that average Americans rightly focused on Islamic terrorists – and they also saw the fear in those who were not confident enough in America’s goodness to stand up.

That soon faded and America’s ADHD returned. Not only did the anger wane, it became tiresome, but the fear subsided as well. Twenty-five years ago, there were no marches to “free Palestine”, a state and a people who do not exist and protest featuring open hatred of Israel, a state and people who do exist.

Over the span of just a few years, we not only forgot who the enemy was, we hold seminars to protect Muslims from “Islamophobia” and openly import them while actively denying Islam’s role in the murder of thousands of people here in America and abroad. We even elect the radical among them to office.

The tolerance we have for Mamdani, Omar, El Sayed, Rashida Tlaib, and other agitators has eclipsed our outrage that we were attacked on our home soil on 9/11, that outrage has become performative. (Read more.)

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Habsburg Royal Jewels on Display in Canada

 From The Royal Watcher:

Last year, Archduke Karl von Habsburg revealed that the legendary Florentine Diamond and fifteen other historic Jewels of the House of Habsburg long thought sold, stolen or lost had been hidden for decades in a Bank Vault in Canada since the Second World War. Now, the legendary Jewels of the House of Habsburg have gone on display at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts in Quebec City.

Starting September 4, 2026, the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (MNBAQ) will be displaying prestigious jewels associated with the Habsburg family for the first time in Hidden Treasure: A Century of Mystery, revealing a story with a strong Québec connection.

After a century, the last Austrian Emperor´s family has announced plans to publicly display its personal jewelry, a collection that has been considered lost for decades. During their escape from persecution by the Nazi regime at the outbreak of the Second World War, members of the Habsburg family, one of the most influential and enduring dynasties of European history, managed to save important pieces of the family’s private jewelry and bring them to safety in Québec, Canada, in 1940. The items have been kept safe in the country ever since.

(Read more.)

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Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel

Marie de' Medici had great devotion to Mary under her title of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, giving a reproduction of the statue to her daughter Henrietta Maria for one of her chapels in London where it was used by the Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary. From Wikipedia:

Even before the official approbation of the cult of Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel, pilgrims took particles of the oak tree with them as pious souvenirs. Several stories of miracles attributed to the intercession by the Virgin relate of the thaumaturgic power of this Scherpenheuvel or Montague wood. Following the approbation, Archbishop Hovius ordered the tree to be cut down. It was divided in several parts. Some remained with the sanctuary; one particularly large piece was given to Albert and Isabella. Most of this Montague wood was used to make images of the Virgin Mary. Distributed as gifts among princes, nobles and clergy, they helped to disseminate the cult of Scherpenheuvel.^[13]

Quite a few Belgian churches and convents came to possess an image carved in Montague wood. Well known examples remain in the Church of St. Charles Borromeo in Antwerp, the Church of St. Hilonius in Izegem and the chapel of the Capuchins in Enghien. In the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the statue of the national patron saint, Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted or Our Lady of Luxembourg, is believed to contain Montague wood. A smallish statue of the Virgin and Child in Montague wood was taken by St. Marguerite Bourgeoys to Montreal and stands presently on her tomb in the Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours Chapel.^[14]

Some places of worship became closely associated with the cult of Scherpenheuvel. In the vicinity of their château of Mariemont, Albert and Isabella founded the priory of Montaigu in the present day municipality of Morlanwelz. In the town of Gray a statue of the Virgin made out of Montague wood became the object of a regional devotion. Likewise in the Franche-Comté, the statue donated to the priory of Bellefontaine in Brussey came to attract many pilgrims.^[15] In the proximity of the Spanish Court, the Convent of Las Descalzas Reales obtained an altar dedicated to Nuestra Señora de Monteagudo.

The House of Lorraine had a particular devotion for Scherpenheuvel. Cardinal Charles of Lorraine, prince-bishop of Strasbourg, founded a chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel in the noviciate of the Jesuits at Nancy. After his death in 1607, his sister Antoinette completed the project with an altarpiece depicting the ducal family venerating Our Lady of Scherpenheuvel. The chapel served as the repository of the embalmed hearts of the members of the House of Lorraine until 1720.^[16] The cult was also greatly favored by the French Queen Marie de' Medici. During her regency, the Discalced Augustinians obtained a statue in Montague wood at their church of Notre-Dame-des-Victoires. During her exile, she donated one statue in Montague wood to the city council of Cologne and another to the monastery of the Discalced Carmelites of that city. While serving the Catholic household of her daughter, Queen Henrietta Maria, the Queen's Chapel of St James's Palace likewise had an altar with a Madonna in Montague wood.^[17] (Read more.)

 

(Image Source) 

A history of the original statue, HERE.

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How Iran-Backed Pirates in Yemen Are Raising Your Gas Price

 From Tierney's Real News:

Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthis just seized the strategic port of Mocha (Mokha), pushed into the coastal town of Dhubab, and took Perim Island (also known as Mayyun) in the heart of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Multiple reports confirm the group now effectively controls Yemen’s entire Red Sea coastline and the critical island that splits the narrow strait’s shipping lanes.

The stretch between Perim and Ras Siyyan in Djibouti is the most narrow point of strait, measuring just 20 km. This will give the Houthis excellent opportunities to block this maritime trade route leading up to the Suez Canal. If the Houthis decide to expand their naval blockade from just Saudi ships to all international cargo vessels, then all maritime trade will have to be rerouted around Africa again.

Bab el-Mandeb is the southern gateway connecting the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden—the “other” strait that has become Saudi Arabia’s primary remaining outlet for crude. It normally carries about 10–12% of global seaborne trade and, pre-crisis, 8–9+ million barrels per day of oil and products. India, China, Japan, South Korea and others depend on it for Middle Eastern and Russian crude.

The Houthi forces have publicly stated that their blockade explicitly targets Saudi-linked shipping. Despite their public assurances that wider international commercial traffic is safe, energy markets react to the geographic proximity of heavy weapons to a channel that is only 18 miles wide. (Read more.)

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More Irish Than the Irish

 From Medievalists:

Rausakeera Rath, or Ringfort, is central to the history of Mayo. It should perhaps be considered a crucible of Irish history. The Royal Rath is situated near the village of Kilmaine, County Mayo, and is centrally positioned with commanding views over the flatlands of Ellistron in the townland of Rausakeera North. Its origins are ancient, dating from the early Iron Age period (c. 600 BC – AD 400). In December 1595, a large ceremonial gathering took place at Rausakeera which would mark the end of the old Gaelic order in Ireland and lead to the total subjugation of the country by English colonists. The purpose of the pageant was the inauguration of “The Mac William.”

Mac William (Mac Uilleiam, son of William) was a pseudo-Gaelic title which passed solely through the Hiberno-Norman De Burgo, de Burgh or Burke/Bourke family. The William in question was William de Burgh, who arrived in Ireland in 1185 under the patronage of King Henry II of England, styled Lord of Ireland. By 1400, William’s progeny had spread across Ireland, with the highest concentrations being in Galway, Mayo, Limerick and Tipperary. By 1574, Galway could boast 110 castles in Burke hands and 64 in Mayo. In the Barony of Kilmaine, in an area of just 10 miles by eight, there were 41, which included 12 castles held by the MacJonyn or MacSheoinin clan, a derivative of Little John, a son of John de Burgo, later anglicised to Jennings. (Read more.)

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St. Joseph and Emperor Leopold I

Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I is shown kneeling before the Child Jesus, Who blesses him from the arms of His foster-father St. Joseph. (Via The World of the Habsburgs.) Leopold is known as the "Baroque Emperor" and was a first cousin of Louis XIV of France, as their mothers were sisters. He was also a former brother-in-law of Louis' Queen, Maria Teresa of Austria (Spain), for he had been married to her younger sister, the Infanta Margarita, painted by Velasquez. Also from The World of the Habsburgs:

Leopold I was a defining figure in the history of the Habsburg dynasty. His reign saw the consolidation of the Monarchy after the Thirty Years’ War and the decisive victories against the Ottoman Empire that enabled the Habsburg Monarchy to become one of the leading Great Powers in Europe.

Leopold himself was however a shy, indecisive character who effaced himself behind his imperial persona. He was not a ‘radiant’ monarch, being almost grotesquely ugly and afflicted with an extreme example of the Habsburg jaw. It is said that he had his physical deficits emphasized in portraits of himself out of humility. The emperor compensated for his personal shortcomings with the nimbus of his sublime office. Leopold’s adversary Louis XIV once remarked that it was not the emperor in person that he feared but his ‘miracle’.

Leopold was steeped in the majesty of imperial office, emphasizing its religious aspect above all else. The victory over the Ottoman Empire which had put a stop to its westward expansion served pro-Habsburg propaganda as an ideal instrument to stylize Emperor Leopold as the protector of Christendom. Thus as the donor of the Plague Column on the Graben in Vienna, Leopold is represented kneeling in humility as he recommends his realm to the heavenly powers. On another occasion the emperor referred to himself as the ‘least and most unworthy servant of the Holy Virgin Mary’.

[...]

One positive aspect of his personality was his pronounced artistic gifts, in particular for music. He was himself an enthusiastic musician and the author of several compositions, the quality of which should not be underestimated. Opera was his great passion. Important occasions at court were staged as allegorical Baroque spectacles with no expense spared. (Read more.)

More on Emperor Leopold's wives and children, HERE.

Marriage of Leopold I to his third wife Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Emperor Leopold's third wife, was very devout and had wanted to be a Carmelite nun. Instead she became the mother of seven children and a wife who helped her husband rule a great empire. She had her sons educated by the Jesuits. She was the grandmother of Empress Maria Theresa and great-grandmother of Marie-Antoinette. More about Empress Eleonore, HERE.

Eleonore and Leopold

 

Here is my book, in which I discuss the Habsburg patrimony in the life of Marie-Antoinette.

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Less Than Two Years of Trump Tariffs and Tax Cuts Generated $11.2 Trillion in US Investment

 From The Enterprise:

This month, in Donaldsonville, Louisiana, Hyundai and POSCO broke ground on a $5.8 billion electric-arc mill built to pour 2.7 million tons of automotive sheet metal a year. It is the first purpose-built automotive mill of its kind in the country, and it anchors Hyundai’s $26 billion American program. Officials put the local effect at 1,300 direct jobs and roughly 4,000 indirect ones, with the first coil targeted for 2029. The steel is meant for vehicle bodies assembled in Alabama and Georgia, coil that would otherwise have been stamped from imported steel. Contractors are already on the site in Ascension Parish.

The week before, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick sat down on CNBC and put a number on the wider map. The United States, he said, now holds $1.2 trillion in commitments to build semiconductors on American soil. When this administration took office, America produced less than 2% of the world’s chips. The path Lutnick described runs toward 40%, and toward 50% if Intel’s foundry holds. 

 Liberation Day tariffs put a charge on access to the American consumer and turned the world’s richest market from a free good into a scarce one. The July 2025 tax law then changed the plant’s return. 100% expensing of equipment and qualified production property lets a firm deduct the full cost of a factory in the year it builds it. Power finished the argument for the projects that swallow electricity. American energy abundance made the American data center and the American fab among the few sites that can feed an AI load at scale. European industrial power is still expensive, and several Asian grids cannot promise the same firm load on a construction calendar, which is why data centers and leading-edge semiconductor fabs keep landing here. Reciprocal trade frameworks did the last piece of work. Tariff relief became a multi-year investment vehicle from Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Europe’s industrial champions. Lutnick stated the bargain plainly. If you make it here, you don't pay tariffs, but if you don't, be prepared to pay to enter the greatest market in the world. Kevin Hassett, the president’s economic adviser, added the tax half. Tariffs are pushing people to onshore activity, and expensing is making them want to invest like crazy. (Read more.)

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Meet Hildegard of Bingen, the German Mystic Who Destigmatized Women’s Health

 From Literary Hub:

For Hildegard of Bingen, the German mystic, scientist, composer, and philosopher, women’s maternal bodies were not corrupting and degrading, but strong, nurturing, and creative. Hildegard, who was born at the end of the eleventh century, is the first known female medical writer in Europe during the High Middle Ages. Most of the era’s discourse about human generation came from monks and theologians who vowed never to have any contact with women’s bodies. But Hildegard introduced into the Christian medical tradition compassionate and celebratory theories about physical maternity that were inspired by her own bodily experiences and those of the women she cared for.

Hildegard was a Catholic abbess of the Benedictine Order. The tenth child of a noble family, Hildegard was tithed to the Disibodenberg, a monastery nestled between two rivers in Germany’s Rhineland‑Palatinate region, when she was born. After being cloistered when she was eight, she took her vows at fourteen and became a nun. Hildegard prized virginity as the highest state of womanhood, and she never experienced biological motherhood. But her commitment to spiritual motherhood did not stop her from thinking seriously about conceiving, bearing, and birthing. (Read more.)

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Symbolism and Virtue in the Legend of Lancelot

 From Ancient Origins:

However, his love for Guinevere stood against all else. Lancelot gives himself entirely over into the service of the lady he loves, alas to the detriment of all his knightly ideals and goals. Also, in accordance to the popular trends of the time, Lancelot exhibits towards her the  fine amor , meaning a pure  love that was a major attribute of proper chivalric behavior. 

Nevertheless, throughout the Arthurian cycle, Lancelot is presented with numerous challenges that serve as tests to his chivalry. In one episode, he is seduced and tricked into sleeping with the daughter of the so-called Fisher King, Elaine - while she was pretending to be Guinevere. From this union is born Galahad, another great hero of the Arthurian cycle, who grows up to be an ideal and pure knight.

Throughout the development of the story of Lancelot, it becomes clear that increasingly important  Christian beliefs come to play a big role in the story. Purity, sinlessness, and penitence all come to characterize this tale. Galahad, sinless and pure, replaces his father who succumbed to his passions and love for Guinevere. As the story progresses, Lancelot’s affair with the king’s wife completely tears the royal court apart. The supporters of Lancelot and those of  King Arthur  descend into a bitter and bloody war. (Read more.)

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A Look Back at Two 9/11 Investigations

 From Sharyl's Substack:

I did many stories for CBS on the Islamic extremist terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya on 9/11/12. That scandal was three-fold:

Dying for Security: The poor American who were murdered had begged for security beforehand. The State Dept. under Hillary Clinton had received specific warnings about a 9/11 terrorist attack on that installation and others but drew down security rather than reinforcing it.

Dying to be Rescued: I was able to show that the Americans could have been rescued— or at least genuine attempts made, as the assaults went on for so long. But the Obama administration turned back rescuers on several fronts. The poor victims were left helpless. They never had a chance.

The Coverup: I also proved many facets of an elaborate coverup at the highest levels just prior to President Obama’s re-election to a) pretend it wasn’t related to 9/11, particularly because Obama claimed he’d send terrorists on the run b) pretend the attackers weren’t terrorists, but rioters-gone-amok c) pretend the attacks were “spontaneous” rather than preplanned with lots of warnings d) coverup the repeated security requests and denials e) coverup the availability of rescue operations that were turned back. (Read more.)

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Justice Without Vengeance

 From Sensus Fidelium:

A Catholic reflection on mental illness, psychiatric medication, moral responsibility, and the online appetite for condemnation

There are crimes so terrible that words seem almost indecent beside them. Children are dead. A husband or wife is left with a home emptied of the people who made it a home. Grandparents bury grandchildren. Families who expected ordinary joys instead spend the rest of their lives asking a question that may never be answered: How could this have happened?

That is where any discussion of the Lindsay Clancy case must begin, not with politics, pharmaceutical companies, courtroom personalities, or social-media arguments, but with Cora, Dawson, and Callan Clancy. They were innocent children whose lives were taken. Nothing said about their mother’s mental condition can restore them or make what happened less objectively horrific.

But beginning with the victims does not require us to end with vengeance.

The recent mistrial in Lindsay Clancy’s case came after jurors were unable to agree on whether she was criminally responsible when she killed her three children in January 2023. Her defense maintained that postpartum psychosis and bipolar disorder had deprived her of the ability to appreciate the wrongfulness of her actions. Prosecutors argued that she remained capable of planning, choosing, and understanding what she was doing. The disagreement was not about whether the children died by her hand. It was about the condition of the mind and will behind that hand. Associated Press

That distinction is uncomfortable. It is also profoundly Catholic. (Read more.)

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The King's Pearl

Charles I as Prince of Wales

History of a pearl earring. In the 17th century men often wore jewelry. Above is the portrait of Charles which Henrietta Maria received as a betrothal gift. She kept it at her bedside until her death. To quote:

Today pearls are among the most common of precious "jewels." But before the development of cultured pearls and farming in the early 20th c., all pearls were natural pearls. These rare treasures could be discovered only by accident and at considerable peril. Natural pearls had great mystique and luminous beauty as well as value, which made them favorites of queens – and kings.

One of the most famous pearls of the 17th c. belonged to King Charles I of England (1600-1649). While the origins of this single pearl earring are unknown, Charles is first shown wearing it in a miniature...as the fifteen-year-old Prince of Wales. The pearl soon became what fashion-folk today call a "statement piece", and one that he was seldom without.

Charles's large teardrop-shaped pearl – an especially rare and desired shape –was made into a single dangling earring with a tiny gold crown as the cap, topped with an orb and cross that was most fitting for a future king. Since Queen Elizabeth's reign, fashionable English gentlemen had worn single earrings as a sign of courtly swagger and bravado, qualities that the young prince was woefully lacking: Charles was slight and short (only 5'3"), he limped from childhood rickets, he stammered, and he suffered from acute shyness. Perhaps the sizable jewel gave him the confidence that nature had not.

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Pfizer and the CIA Privately Cited High Population Immunity in May 2020

 From Brownstone Insights:

The Santa Clara study from April 2020 by Jay Bhattacharya found a 2.8% seroprevalence level. It was far higher than the existing estimates. He was denounced and hounded for daring to say what we know now: the infection fatality rate was very low and prevalence was very high. The implication: we would get through this with no great disruption necessary.

The attacks on the study were brutal but he was just doing science at a time when few others were making sense. Even BuzzFeed, a reliable venue for deep-state actors, slammed Jay and insinuated corruption.

Now, in this new release, we find Gottlieb telling the CIA that the virus spread is far higher than most anyone believed at the time. If the R-naught is 3, that means every one person would infect three more, which, according to the math, would mean a herd immunity level of 67 percent. At that rate of spread and resulting immunity, pandemic conditions would turn endemic in a matter of weeks, certainly by the end of summer if not sooner, all else equal. (Read more.)

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Forgotten Catholics of the Civil War South

 From Sensus Fidelium:

Irish immigrants marched in gray uniforms. French Creoles filled the pews of New Orleans. German Catholics worshipped across Texas. Jesuit priests served as chaplains. Religious sisters staffed hospitals. Bishops struggled to shepherd their flocks through one of the darkest periods in American history. Although Catholics remained a minority in most of the South, they were far from insignificant. Their story has too often been overlooked.

One of the best modern studies of Southern Catholic life during the Civil War is historian Gracjan Kraszewski’s Catholic Confederates: Faith and Duty in the Civil War South. Kraszewski argues that many Southern Catholics did not see themselves as outsiders living within the Confederacy. Instead, they identified deeply with their states and communities, viewing their Catholic faith and their Southern loyalties as compatible. He describes this process as the “Confederatization” of Southern Catholics—a perspective that helps explain why Catholic clergy, religious, and laypeople participated so fully in Confederate society. His work challenges the common assumption that the Civil War was solely a Protestant story. (Read more.)

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Madame Elisabeth: A Consoling Angel

From Detroit Catholic:

Called a "consoling angel," the sister of King Louis XVI decided to stay on the side of her family even when death was imminent for doing so in the midst of the horrors of the French Revolution. On the 230th anniversary of her death under the guillotine on May 10, 1794, "Madame Elisabeth" is one step closer to beatification as the historical commission for her sainthood cause wrapped up its work May 2. The diocesan phase of her sainthood cause was reopened in 2017. Since then, Fr. Xavier Snoëk, the postulator, has spared no effort to raise awareness of the noble lady.

She was "an original and very modern young woman … pious and exuberant at the same time," Father Snoëk told OSV News. "She read a lot while being passionate about science and mathematics. She was also very athletic. She loved the outdoors and was an excellent horseback rider." (Read more.)

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The Falling Man

 From Tierney's Real News:

One of the most famous photographs in human history became an unmarked grave, and the man buried inside its frame—the Falling Man—became the Unknown Soldier in a war whose END we have not yet seen.

Never forget that 19 radical Islamic terrorists, funded by the Globalist NWO, the Global Communist Party, the Muslim Brotherhood & the terror state of Iran, did something we never thought possible on US soil. They slaughtered 3,000 innocent Americans and maimed 20,000 more.

9/11 was perpetrated by the same evil cabal behind the GREAT RESET and the RED-GREEN axis - who today are trying to finish the job, enslave us & overthrow us through fear and scare us into submission!

Since September 11, 2001, America has suffered hundreds more Jihadi attacks and Communist false flags and thousands more have died. Their atheist, Communist, Islamist & Satanist partners in America are kneeling before false idols, rioting in our streets, mocking our God, burning our flag and looting, torching & destroying our traditions and our country. That's what evil does - kills, burns, loots & destroys.

The fake news media and Globalist Islamo-Communist pirates who hate America want you to blame yourself, not the terrorists. They want you to replace the memory of 9/11 with January 6th - a phony 'insurrection' and military coup they engineered themselves to hurt America and remove Trump from office. Our enemies want you to forget the truth, and rewrite the past. (Read more.)

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Ancient Cave Art Discovery

 From BBC:

Researchers believe the first known humans to set foot on Ireland thousands of years ago were most likely from Wales, following the "exciting" discovery of ancient cave art.

During the most recent Ice Age, when much of the British Isles were beneath a vast continental glacier, the depleted sea levels opened a "lost land bridge" between modern-day Pembrokeshire and the south-east tip of Ireland, around Rosslare.

According to rock expert Dr George Nash, from Liverpool University, the opportunities presented by this pathway would have been too good for hunter gatherers to ignore.

Now, alongside an international team of experts, Nash has located eight cave sites in south-west Ireland featuring rock art dating back from at least 15,000 years ago, around 5,000 years before the previous oldest example of humans in Ireland.

Nash, who coordinated the Lost Land Bridge Project, said there would have been a forested and grassland plateau around 46 miles (76 km) coast-to-coast.

With summertime temperatures typically -10°C to -20°C, Nash said the pathway would have supported wild horses, mammoth, bison, reindeer and other large herbivores, which fed off the hardy sedges, mosses and lichens growing through the fertile, but near-frozen soil. (Read more.)

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A Guide to the Children of James VI and I and Anne of Denmark

The first Prince of Wales from the House of Stuart was named for his grandfather, Lord Darnley. (Yes, the Lord Darnley.) To quote author Linda Root:

Many historians wrongly refer to Henry Frederick Stuart as the Prince of Wales from the time he arrived in England in 1603.  This is incorrect.  He was not invested with that title until 1610.  His predecessor was Edward Tudor, the boy king Edward VI (1537-1553)  Upon Henry Frederick's  birth in Scotland he was given the customary title of a male Scottish heir apparent, Duke of Rothesay, as well as several lesser grants appropriate to the Scottish heir. However, when he arrived in England he was also conferred the English title Duke of Cornwall.  He had to wait seven more years to become Prince of Wales.  Referring to him as Prince of Wales during his early childhood should be a cause of embarrassment to a any historian or historical novelist who refers to him as Wales prior to 1610 and yet, it is a common mistake.  It is the way he is most often remembered although he only lived two years to enjoy the title. (Read more.)

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U.S Median Income: $90K. Canadian? $60K.

 From Welcome to Absurdistan:

Canadians tug their forelocks and intone: Carney will fixit. No, idiots, he won’t. He broke us in 2008. He’s behind the ten bankrupting years of the stinking Trudeau clown. He broke the Bank of England, he drove Britain into the disaster it is now. He is the Undertaker of Prosperity. He is extracting our wealth and shoveling it to his investors. Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s former chief economist, and Andy Burnham’s chief adviser, now advises both men. On what? How to get out of the catastrophic bet they made on Net Zero, ESG and DEI.

Carney was point man on carbon capture/climate mitigation. He inveigled half of Europe and Asia into his fund. He has to make his investors whole. He needs a climate deal - he needs those taxes, he needs those (failed) green energy pension investments, he needs the $20 billion in climate mitigation funding for the only infrastructure project he has approved.

Like his best friend, Andy Burnham and North Sea Oil, the British and Canadian taxpayers are paying for their mistakes. Andy Burnham’s first order of business was to open Britain’s North Sea oil. The immediate benefit was to the funds who are heavily invested in climate mitigation. Like Canada’s pipeline, the only people who will profit are Carney’s investors. The British and Canadian taxpayers will make them whole. I’d put money on Carney placing carbon costs on the Keystone. A lot of money. (Read more.)

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Inverted Morality

 I always disliked the changes Disney made to the delightful fairy-tale The Snow Queen by Hans Christian Andersen. From Classical Ideals:

The story of The Snow Queen (1844) by Hans Christian Andersen begins with an evil mirror, crafted by the devil himself. Its deviousness lies in the fact that it shows things the opposite of what they are. Good looks evil, beauty looks ugly and conversely, evil looks virtuous and ugliness looks good.

At the beginning of the story, while the devils carry this mirror up and up to heaven in order to laugh at God Himself by inverting His reflection, they drop it and it breaks into a trillions of pieces. Some of these pieces land on earth and pierce the eyes of people to invert their vision, and into their hearts to invert their sense of morality. Though this story was written nearly two hundred years ago, well before the internet and its devices captured society so profoundly, its message feels urgently relevant. So many of society’s ideas about morality, heroism and virtue seem not merely wrong, but completely inverted. 

One of the most egregious examples of this, ironically, is in Disney’s retelling of the Snow Queen, Frozen (2013). The villain of the Snow Queen becomes the heroine in Frozen as Elsa, a misunderstood princess with superpowers she “just hasn’t learned to control yet”. Frozen shows selfishness as freedom, permissiveness as love.

(Read more.)

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Umbrellas: The Aesthetics of 19th-Century Urban Life

 

From The History Avenue:

 Appearing in Ancient Egypt around the 25th century BC, umbrellas evolved and took on different purposes. In Ancient Egypt, Akkad, and Persia, for example, umbrellas served as status symbols, often tied to regal processions. In Ancient Greece, fashionable ladies used umbrellas as a style statement. In Rome, maidservants also used umbrellas to protect high-status women from the sun. There are rare mentions of umbrellas used for protection from rain. During the Middle Ages and the 16th and 17th centuries, umbrella popularity declined. Umbrellas were mostly reserved for clergy and religious processions. Records also note Italian riders using them as protection from rain. 

In the 18th century, things changed. Umbrellas were mostly used by women to protect themselves from rain. There was also a common perception that umbrella users were “vulgar” and didn’t have their own carriage to escape from rain. Apart from women, the most frequent users of umbrellas were the lower classes, who saw them as protection from sudden downpours or long, slow autumn rains. The first lightweight folding umbrella in Europe was introduced by French merchant Jean Marius, who had a shop in Paris. Princess Palatine purchased a model in 1712 and introduced it to her aristocratic friends. Very soon, umbrellas became a hit fashion statement in Paris. This paved the way for luxury umbrellas where the handle was especially important. The makers of umbrellas paid a lot of attention to crafting special handles depicting animals and having special shapes made from precious materials and carefully ornamented. In England, Jonas Hanway, a merchant and the founder of Magdalen Hospital, was the first person who braved public ridicule by carrying an umbrella in public. By the end of the 18th century, umbrellas were widely accepted by English gentlemen. (Read more.)

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Hamas Counts Its Dead Children as Wins, and American Students Are Celebrating Their Victories

 From The Enterprise:

In 2023, with roughly 1.4 million Gazans displaced and some 641,000 of them crowded into 150 UN shelters running at nearly 3 times their intended capacity, Ismail Haniyeh appeared on Al-Mayadeen television and said it plainly. Speaking of the women, children, and elderly of Gaza, the chairman of Hamas’s political bureau declared, “We are the ones who need this blood.” That blood, he said, awakens the revolutionary spirit. It is worth noting that Haniyeh’s net worth was between $3 and $4 billion.

Two years of American argument have treated those deaths as if they arrived by accident, or as if the only live question were whether Israel has been careful enough. Haniyeh told his audience the deaths were useful to him.

Urban guerrillas have always fought in cities. That fact, by itself, proves almost nothing. Human shielding is the deliberate placement of fighters and weapons among civilians so that the enemy must either hold fire or kill innocents. The laws of war forbid it because it exploits the protections those laws give civilians. Hamas has gone further. Its leaders have treated the resulting deaths as a political harvest: mobilization at home, pressure on governments that watch the footage. Photographs of rubble cannot prove that intent. Hamas’s own recorded words can.

The words are not new. In February 2008, years before this war, Hamas parliamentarian Fathi Hammad boasted on Al-Aqsa TV that “death has become an industry” and praised human shields assembled from women, children, and the elderly. On October 24, 2023, Ghazi Hamad told Lebanese television that Hamas was proud to sacrifice martyrs and promised to repeat the October 7 attack again and again. The next raid was already priced in. (Read more.)

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A Long-lost Ancient Egyptian City

 From Live Science:

A 3,200-year-old Egyptian inscription found near an ancient military road may indicate the location of a long-lost city, archaeologists have announced. Found at the site of Tell Abu Seifi (also spelled Seify), the inscription mentions Ramesses II, who reigned from about 1279 to 1213 B.C. It says that Horus, a falcon-headed ancient Egyptian god associated with the sky and war, is the "Lord of the City of Mesn," representatives of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities said in a translated statement.

The team also found the remains of a temple dedicated to Horus at the archaeological site, they said in the statement. Unfortunately, "the temple was almost completely destroyed," making it difficult to get much information from it, Hesham Hussein, the director general of Delta and Sinai Archaeology at Egypt's Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities and a leader of the research team, told Live Science in an email. (Read more.)

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The Cloud of Witnesses

A marvelous painting showing Madame Royale in exile, walking down a long road with her uncle Louis XVIII, as the Blessed Trinity, the saints, the angels and her own family, watch over her from above. Share

Prescription Psych Meds

Updated from a few days ago. I disagree that the Clancy murders can be compared to someone killing someone when high or when drinking and driving. Lindsay was taking medication not for recreation but so she could function. From Tierney's Real News:

Addiction to prescription psych meds is the biggest issue we have in America right now and nobody talks about it. They start giving them to toddlers at 2 years old. Ativan is booze in a pill, Adderall is Meth in a pill, Oxy is heroin in a pill, anti-depressants are cocaine in a pill, seroquel is a chemical lobotomy in a pill. A whole generation will be like Lindsay if we don't wake up soon. Not kidding. I've been in recovery for 30 years and the rooms are filled with pill heads like Lindsay who have been medicated into insanity and violence. They are taught to not use street drugs or alcohol but taking boat loads of prescription psych meds is just fine. At treatment centers they hook addicts and alcoholics on 5 different pills. Walk in with one addiction and leave with 5! Creating a lifetime addiction to psych meds! I swear they use psych meds to create all the MKULTRA psychotic "trans" killers for false flags. Prove me wrong…(Read more.)

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Five Great-grandchildren of King Edward VII

 From Tatler:

Following the death of King Harald V on 28 August at the age of 89, the sprawling family tree of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra has grown a little smaller. The late Norwegian monarch was a great-grandson of the British King and Queen, who reigned between 1901 and 1910. Now, just five of their great-grandchildren remain. Scattered across Britain and Norway, they are the last living members of a royal generation. So, who exactly are Edward VII’s surviving great-grandchildren? (Read more.)

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Emmel Castle

  

 

From The Irish Times:

Back in 1991, the Irish actor Patrick Bergin scared the bejaysus out of cinema audiences when he co-starred with Julia Roberts in Sleeping with the Enemy. His role as the coercive and creepy stalker husband to Roberts, then on the cusp of her megawatt fame, deservedly remains a classic. Very shortly after, he bought Emmel Castle in Co Offaly, which he and his wife, Helen Goldin, are now putting on the market 35 years later.

“It’s a big place for two of us, and we are not getting younger,” Goldin says. “We would like to be able to walk to a shop. Everything is a drive here. The nearest restaurant is in Nenagh. We have been very happy here, but it needs young people.”

Emmel is indeed a large property, although if you wanted a quick snack, the Barack Obama Plaza is much closer to it than Nenagh. For a start, Emmel Castle is set on 20 acres, with a number of outbuildings with slate roofs. There is also a courtyard, a bellcote and a walled garden.

A flight of stone steps leads up to the front door, which Bergin throws open to welcome us in suitably dramatic manner. There is a big fire roaring in the drawingroom where we enter, with some of Bergin’s many awards and pieces of his acting memorabilia on display. At one point in the visit he shows us a toy bow and arrow, still with its original packaging, with a picture featuring himself. It was merchandise that tied in with the 1991 movie Robin Hood, directed by John Irvin, which starred Bergin and Uma Thurman. (Read more.)

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