More of the interminable list of celebs descended from royalty….!

Perhaps the author of this Colombian article would have benefited from a good editor, but I think I’ve interpreted the gist of it. Three in the list of celebs leapt out at me, so to speak. Firstly Hilary Duff. Can someone tell me how Alexander Spotswood, Lieutenant Colonel in the British Army could be the…

The ruby that isn’t a ruby was worn at a battle that didn’t happen….?

    Aha, so it isn’t a ruby, see this article. Well, we knew that! But for all its associations with the Black Prince, Henry V and Richard III (to say nothing of later monarchs) it seems our present queen “….often likes to think of it being worn by Henry IV during the battle of…

Here’s one that wasn’t made in Dundee …

Henri IV that is. We have written about him before but, this time, we even have a recording of the facial reconstruction process.

A mysterious Early Modern marriage

It happened in Fontainebleau on this day in 1539. The groom was Cibaud de Tivoley, Seigneur de Brenieu, and the bride was described as “Marguerite de la Pole – Suffolk”. Two of the guests were Eleanor of Austria, wife of Francois I, and Gabriel, Marchesse di Saluzzo, both of whom were cousins of Lord Richard…

The French Wars of Religion – another angle

On this day in 1567, Pierre de Brenieu was among those killed at the battle of St. Denis, where Catholic forces under (the very definitely male) Anne de Montmorency overcame the Hugenot rebels under Louis de Bourbon, Prince de Conde’, although Montmorency was mortally wounded. de Brenieu’s brother, Claude, was a casualty at Ivry on…