Recent content by MarcosFenn

King Carl XVI Gustav was still in his 20s when he became King of Sweden in 1973. How the time has flown!

You're entitled to your view, of course. It's a view which is influenced by the fact that the United States is a republic. Royalty is predicated on the tacit acknowledgement of past deferences and traditional respect. It's actually not about the individual's merits; rather, it's about respect...

The other ships withe swallow tailed flags in the picture are Swedish. Strange to think of Denmark and Sweden at war...

...who is not popular in Belgium...

Interestingly, the flag of Ohio is swallow tailed, and Americans are strongly republican. I wonder whether the swallow tail custom comes from?

It just goes to show just how long reigning Louis II's successor Rainier III was, who came to the throne in 1949 and died in 2005.

Okay...obvious; but Belgium's rapid industrialization before other Continental countries is an important part of its history. It's interesting that many railroad stations now operating were built before 1860, and were formally opened by Leopold I.

Belgium was the first Continental European country to become industrialized, and the railroad was an important part of this.

It is indeed interesting that, like, Andorra, San Marino has Captains-Regent, similar to Andorra's Co-Princes, but, unlike Andorra, is designated a Republic.

Interestingly there is also a German-speaking minority in Eastern Belgium, in the Ostakantone, where native German-speakers are citizens of the King of Belgium. it sounds similar to the situation of native German-speakers in southern Denmark who are citizens of the Danish Kingdom. The Belgian...

Thank-you! It seems all part of the unfolding narrative of, Where is Denmark? underlying the probably now settled Schleswig-Holstein question.

A proverbial can of worms would also be opened up with regard to many propertied families in the former German Democratic Republic and in western Poland, whose properties were expropriated. While it makes for genuinely poignant family history, for people with titles linked to land in Poland...

So was Toender formerly in the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein? If so, was Schackenborg's status upgraded to Royal when Schleswig was incorporated into the Kingdom proper?

Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels [Genealogical Handbook of the Nobility]. Freiherrlichen Häuser (in German). Band XXI. C. A. Starke. 1999. pp. 101–3.

Fascinating! I once wrote a piece about the Berlin Victory Column - Siegessaeule - which originally was supposed to commemorate Prussian achievements at Dybboel, but which subsequently acquired other bits, pieces and associations. It reminds me of Jorge Luis Borges's definition of history being...