Britain's Royals

An old picture Princess Anne, the Princess Royal (at title usually conferred upon the eldest daughter of a British king) wearing a beautiful naturalistic tiara, depicting cattails and flowers.

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Princess Katherine, Prince George (looking sweetly at the family dog), and Prince William, 2014.

Kate and William on a visit they made to the US.

The Duchess with Prince George in September 2014.

The one photo of the Duchess wearing the diamond lotus leaf tiara of Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother's. The Queen has a large store of jewels in the vaults under Buckingham Palace that haven't been worn in decades, but perhaps that will change when Catherine and William take the throne. It was always a mystery why Princess Diana, as the Crown Princess of Great Britain, had only two tiaras at her disposal: one borrowed from her family, and one which was a wedding gift from the Queen.

Prince George's Christening

Prince George of Cambridge, the future King of England, was christened today! He is pictured above, held by his father, Prince William. Princess Catherine laughs with her grandmother-in-law, the Queen.

Baby George is held by his mother, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

Little Prince George.

The prince, third in line to the throne, was baptized by the Archbishop of Canterbury.

The christening was private, with only senior royals, four members of the Middleton family, the seven godparents and their spouses among the 22 guests.

Prince George, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, was born in London on 22 July.

The godparents, announced earlier, are Oliver Baker, Emilia Jardine-Paterson, Earl Grosvenor, Jamie Lowther-Pinkerton, Julia Samuel, William van Cutsem and Zara Tindall (the Princess Royal's daughter). 

Russians from a lost age

Emperor Alexander II of Russia with his Danish-born wife, Empress Marie Fedorovna.

The Empress Yekaterina the Great. The young Grand Duchess was a pure, shy girl when she came to Russia, and soon became corrupted by the court of the Empress Elisabeth. Empress Catherine hated her husband, and usurped the throne from him.

The beautiful Empress Marie Fedorovna. She is wearing her trademark diamond kokoshnik.

Empress Marie, in a signed photo from 1989.

Identical sisters: Empress Marie and her sister, Queen Alexandra of Denmark, often dressed together in society to amuse themselves.

After the deaths of their husbands and long years of hardships, the two sisters had grown much apart, but nevertheless bought and shared a house together in Hvidore, Denmark, in their later years. Alexandra died in 1925, Maria in 1928, ten years after the assassination of her son, Nikolai II, and his family.