Philippe duc d'Orléans
an active yachtsman and as Philippe VIII the Orléanist Pretender to the throne of France from 1894 to 1926, publishes "une crosiere au Spitzberg, yacht Maroussia," in 1904 [Paris, Imprimerie de Chaix, 1904].
The current Orléanist Pretender is Henri comte de France and duc de Paris, whose nephew Charles-Philippe d'Orléans duc d'Anjou will marry his beautiful fiancée Diane duchesse de Cadaval this month.
Or if you prefer, the Bonapartist imperial succession goes to the very handsome young Jean-Christophe prince Napoléon.
So June already, and the exhibition on the poor dear queen Marie-Antoinette continues until the end of the month at the Grand Palais. Here is the latest report from our Paris Correspondent:
"Mon cher, the experience might have been too much for one as sensitive as you. It starts on an upper level of the Grand Palais - nothing but splendour, the clothes, the portraits, an unbelievable moonlit landscape stage set for a ballet the dear queen attended, furniture, porcelain all displayed in a breathtaking enfilade, room after room while the music she had commissioned played -- heaven! Then the spectator descends a long curving staircase to a lower empty chamber to confront a wall of shattered mirror -- very effective. One's knees begin to buckle. Then into the dark final rooms displaying the vicious cartoons, the pitiful crude dressing table the poor Queen was forced to use while imprisoned in the Temple, the plain sad little nightdress she wore... The exhibition ends with J.L. David's cruel portrait sketch of her on her final journey in the tumbrel -- grown men (of a certain persuasion) wept openly -- we must never allow a Queen to be treated this way again. Your correspondent needed two large martinis at the Closerie des Lilas afterward, and even then could barely touch his steak tartarre."
Needless to say, if you are in Paris, you don't want to miss this show. And if you can get to Granville, I urge you to catch the exhibition at the musée Christian Dior entitled "Dandysmes" devoted to male attire. There you will see Oscar Wilde's dress shirt and the suspenders (braces) worn by Honoré de Balzac. And a collection of bowties displayed in a glass case like butterflies. One is white and fluffy, one a fragile pink and white tartan, and one a deep turquoise trimmed with fur. Another kind of heaven.
The current Orléanist Pretender is Henri comte de France and duc de Paris, whose nephew Charles-Philippe d'Orléans duc d'Anjou will marry his beautiful fiancée Diane duchesse de Cadaval this month.
Or if you prefer, the Bonapartist imperial succession goes to the very handsome young Jean-Christophe prince Napoléon.
So June already, and the exhibition on the poor dear queen Marie-Antoinette continues until the end of the month at the Grand Palais. Here is the latest report from our Paris Correspondent:
"Mon cher, the experience might have been too much for one as sensitive as you. It starts on an upper level of the Grand Palais - nothing but splendour, the clothes, the portraits, an unbelievable moonlit landscape stage set for a ballet the dear queen attended, furniture, porcelain all displayed in a breathtaking enfilade, room after room while the music she had commissioned played -- heaven! Then the spectator descends a long curving staircase to a lower empty chamber to confront a wall of shattered mirror -- very effective. One's knees begin to buckle. Then into the dark final rooms displaying the vicious cartoons, the pitiful crude dressing table the poor Queen was forced to use while imprisoned in the Temple, the plain sad little nightdress she wore... The exhibition ends with J.L. David's cruel portrait sketch of her on her final journey in the tumbrel -- grown men (of a certain persuasion) wept openly -- we must never allow a Queen to be treated this way again. Your correspondent needed two large martinis at the Closerie des Lilas afterward, and even then could barely touch his steak tartarre."
Needless to say, if you are in Paris, you don't want to miss this show. And if you can get to Granville, I urge you to catch the exhibition at the musée Christian Dior entitled "Dandysmes" devoted to male attire. There you will see Oscar Wilde's dress shirt and the suspenders (braces) worn by Honoré de Balzac. And a collection of bowties displayed in a glass case like butterflies. One is white and fluffy, one a fragile pink and white tartan, and one a deep turquoise trimmed with fur. Another kind of heaven.
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