Monarchy art

Detail from the painting ‘Portrait of Maximilian I of Mexico’, 1864, by Albert Gräfle. Oil on canvas, from the collection at Chapultepec Castle, Mexico City. Copy of the painting by the same name by Franz Xavier Winterhalter, illustrious German painter to the courts of Europe and Mexico.

And then there are those true stories of jewel robberies that are as silly as they are action-packed. And we only had to go back 350 years to find it.

Wedding Day. Queen Victoria in a beautiful ivory and gold wedding dress, with a flower crown and a lace veil.

If you believe that people were less eccentric in the past than they are today, think of their fashions and traditions. Maybe you’ll change your opinion. Bright Side has gathered a few things that our ancestors thought normal. We found out we’re not so odd after all.

Henry VII's or VIII's crown was recreated by palace officials using sources such as this crown shown sitting beside Charles I. Often painters took great liberties and simply made up their idea of a crown, since often the real object was unavailable to them, but many, who should know, think this crown is a very good likeness of the one that was melted down after Charles was beheaded and all the kings from Edward VII wore it up to Charles I; however, the arch reaches down to a fleur-de-lis!

Before the revolution, before the war, when the Romanov's celebrated a dynastic marriage, there was much extravagant traditio...

Right Honourable Arthur Oliver Villiers Russell (1869–1935), 2nd Baron Ampthill, GCSI, GCIE by Arthur Stockdale Cope (1857–1940), 1925, from Museum of Freemasonry