Last year we had Berlusconi and his bimbos, I mean his nice young lady friends and now we've got Putin's little picture of pulchritude Russian beauty Alina Kabayeva
In spite of posing on the cover of the latest issue of Russian Vogue,
The rumours later escalated when bloggers claimed Miss Kabayeva had subsequently given birth to Mr Putin's love child. Mr Putin has angrily claimed that there is "not one word of truth" in any of the allegations, while Miss Kabayeva's spokesperson has refused to discuss what she derided as "nonsense."
Usually I find that he-man Putin has a look on his face like the cat who ate the canary
But here he looks like a man totally besotted. In fact he looks more genuinely in love than the Royals.
The trad in me loves to see royal tradition at its best, especially in the ceremonious elegance of Crown Princess Victoria's wedding to commoner Daniel Westling. Certainly it was a fairy tale wedding, she a Crown Princess from the venerable Swedish royal family and he a fitness trainer with finesse. After eight years together it appears to be a love match. Helena Halme and the Preppy Princess have covered the big event in their blogs.
As expected it was a great gathering of royals in full regalia, including sashes and stomacher brooches not to mention some tremendous tiaras. Here we have Queen Silvia and Princess Madeleine of Sweden.
And here we have Princess Mathilda of Belgium and Princess Letizia of Spain.
The glowing bride wore an extraordinary antique crown of Neo-Classical cameos with an interesting provenance “Once owned by Napoleon’s Empress Josephine, it came to the Swedish royal family when Josephine’s granddaughter Josefina married the future King Oscar I in 1823. The pearl-covered diadem, heightened by seven cameos depicting mythological figures, has become traditional bridal headgear in the House of Bernadotte. Victoria’s mother, Queen Silvia, wore it on her own wedding day on June 19, 1976.” Note her cameo earrings too. I've seen cameos used in antique necklaces, earrings, rings and brooches but never before in a tiara.
Like me you probably aren't particularly impressed with the type of cameo jewelry that shows a female silhouette. What does impress me is a cameo with a Neo-Classical or historical motif like this antique Victorian Bacchante Cameo Brooch . Not only is it lovely with highly detailed carving, I love the theme because liking good wine, I'm a bit of a bacchante myself.
And, since it is highly unlikely that I will ever have the need to sport a cameo crown, I prefer something more wearable such as this antique Victorian Dionysus Cameo Pendant, another interesting piece for oenophiles.
Have a great weekend everyone and I hope that you get to enjoy spending time with your fathers for Father's Day.
If I was the ex-wife of Prince Andrew, I would settle down in a little manor house in the countrywith my children and my horses and dogs and my country kitchen with an aga and my cozy library with a fireplace and my afternoon tea on the terrace and my garden full of flowers and long lawns
I would live a happy life worthy of a James Herriot novel except for the addition of a really hot polo playing lover
But what I wouldn't be doing is selling access to my children's father
which makes me wonder
why did she need the money so badly that she had to stoop to such deplorable behavior?
Don't get me wrong, the royal family is really Windsor Inc and certainly money passes hands all the time, perhaps in the form of donations to certain charities, or investments in certain funds.
But her blatant selling out was just in such bad form.
