#prince wilhelm of Denmark

[foreverinthepagesofhistory]

King George I of Greece, aka “Willy”, with his granddaughter Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark, 1903

[loiladadiani]

Photographs: 1. Grand Duke Mikhail Nicholayevich and his wife, Grand Duchess Olga Fyodorovna, with their two eldest children, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna; 2 and 3: Anastasia as a young girl; 4 and 5: Anastasia as a young woman. In one of the photos, she is wearing Russian court dress; 6. Anastasia with her brother Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich (Miche-Miche); 7. Anastasia with her brother Grand Duke Georgiy Mikhailovich; 8. Anastasia with her brother Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovichl 9. Anastasia with her youngest brother, who died at twenty, Grand Duke Alexis Mikhailovich; 10. Anastasia with her brother Grand Duke Alexander "Sandro" Mikhailovich; 11. Anastasia with her niece Princess Irina Alexandrovna; 12 and 13; Two photos of Anastasia with her fiancee/husband Grand Duke Frederick Francis III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 14. Anastasia with her three children; 15 and 16: Two pictures of Anastasia; 17: Anastasia's three children and their spouses: From left to right: Her daughter Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with the future King Christian X of Denmark, Her son, Frederick Francis IV with Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland, and her daughter Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with Crown Prince Wilhelm; 18. Her illegitimate son Alexis Louis de Wenden; 19: Villa Wenden in Nice; 20. The formidable Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna.

The other Anastaisa

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna was born in 1860, the second child and only daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Nicholaevich and Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna (nee Princess Cecilie of Baden.) Anastasia was a granddaughter of Nicholas I. The better-known Anastasia (the daughter of Nicholas II) would be born a little over a half-century later, promising to be just as indomitable as her predecessor (she did not have the chance to fulfill that promise.)

Stasi (as her brothers called Anastasia Mikhailovna) was her father's favorite child. Her brothers worshipped her. Her mother was the disciplinarian of the house. The boys were allowed to see their sister only on Sundays.

Anastasia married Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, at 19. Frederick Francis was Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, the Elder's brother. He had very poor health throughout his life; he had asthma and multiple allergies and rashes, and he needed to live during extended periods in the warmer climate of the Mediterranean rather than in Northern Europe; this was just fine with Anastasia, who would never adjust to her adoptive country or gain the affection of the people there. The couple established Villa Wenden in the South of France, and she would live in that area of the world most of her life. Frederick's homosexuality was known throughout Europe, but the couple seemed to have gotten along well. Anastasia spent lavishly at the casinos, and Frederick Francis was glad to provide her with the funds. When the Grand Duke died, she said: "On this day, I have lost my best friend."

They had three children, and all married very well:

Duchess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1879 –1952); married King Christian X of Denmark. They had two sons.

Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1882 –1945), married Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland. They had five children.

Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886 –1954.) She married Wilhelm, the German Crown Prince. They had six children.

Up to the death of her husband, Anastasia's life had transcurred without scandal. However, a few years later, she began an affair with Vladimir Alexandrovitch Paltov, her secretary. She soon became pregnant by him and attempted to hide that fact by claiming she was suffering from a tumor. She claimed to have chickenpox when she delivered the child. Her son, Alexis Louis de Wenden, was born in Nice in 1902. She was able to bring him up herself and wrote to him daily when he was away at school. After the scandal became public, she was advised never to live near her daughter, now the Crown Princess of Germany (she was given special permission to visit her daughter for the birth of her first grandson.)

After her father had a stroke, he went to live with Stasi in Villa Wenden. As the senior member of the Romanov clan, "Uncle Misha" received many visitors, including the Tsar. At least one of her brothers was in residence at Villa Wenden at any given time. When her father died in 1909, Anastasia inherited an enormous fortune. She continued to live as she wished, gambling heavily, going to the theater, and dancing.

World War I split the family apart. Her son was the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, her daughter was the German Emperor's daughter-in-law, she was a Russian Grand Duchess, and her Russian family was fighting on the opposite side. She settled in neutral Switzerland. The war cost her son and daughter their (prospective) crowns. After the war, she returned to Nice. There she founded a charity to help Russian exiles. Vladimir Paltov was the charity's president, perhaps indicating that the relationship continued. She lived in Villa Fantasia in Eze, which is near Cannes.

Anastasia died suddenly after suffering a stroke in 1922. She rests in Ludwigslust next to her husband. All of her children have living descendants today, including her illegitimate son. She certainly lived as she wished. Which is something that the other Anastasia would have probably done should she have been given the chance.

[skamenglishsubs]

Subtext and Culture, Young Royals, Season 3, Episode 2

Episode 2 starts days or maybe a week after episode 1. The curfews and phone ban is in place, so Wilhelm and Simon make the most of their one hour of phone sex talking.

Blink and you miss it: Wilhelm snapped a quick instant picture of himself and Simon at the palace in the last episode, using the camera we saw on his desk. The heart is still on his hand, so maybe it's the next day, or maybe he's been filling it in every day.

Cinematography: Intense red light typically symbolizes their mutual love, and this scene is overflowing with it.

Lost in translation: They both finish the phone call with "puss", which means kiss, but not exactly. It's more platonic, something you can say and do with your parents, or your kids, or end phone calls with. The other word for kiss, "kyss", is more romantic/sexual, and would be super weird to end a phone call with. Simon is using that word when he says he would kiss Wilhelm's collar bone birth mark.

Subtext: Of course Vincent doesn't believe anyone was bullied. He's the biggest bully, but what he does is just a joke, or the other guy deserved it. This is gonna be a recurring theme™ in this episode, how various characters look back on and remember, or choose not to remember, what happened to them.

Subtext: If you didn't pick up this meaningful glance, you're blind. The initiation porno was totally real, and Nils and August clearly remember it, and weren't as flippant about it as Vincent.

Culture: In Sweden, inner city schools are typically better and have richer students than the poorer schools out in the suburbs. This is the exact opposite of the typical US school demographical pattern.

Subtext: Wilhelm avoids Farima's question by evading it. Note that it does make sense that she doesn't know what's going on at these schools since she's an employee, she's not upper-class herself. Wilhelm's parents know though since they attended Hillerska, but they would of course never admit it either.

Culture: Ironically, this is exactly how the real-world Danish royal family handled the Herlufsholm scandal in 2022 involving prince Christian. Only when the media storm in Denmark got too intense did they pull him out of the school, while furiously denying knowledge of the abuse or that he was involved in any way.

Cinematography: We're in the cursed music room, but the light is soft and golden, and the scene is just cute. No fight this time.

Subtext: We're touching the theme™ again, but from Simon's perspective. He has the same outsider perspective we have; speaking up about abuse is always good, and if the school's closing because of it, that's an obviously good thing. There's plenty of scenes in this episode showing that most Hillerska students don't share this perspective, they really love their school, as fucked up as it is.

Subtext: Although it sounds like a rehearsed PR line and Felice is thinking about her girl group here, it's gonna come true for her and Sara.

Subtext: Yuck. No further comment.

Cinematography: The immediate cut to Felice getting her aggressions out in gym class shows us exactly what she thought of what the principal said and how much it pissed her off.

Blink and you miss it: Simon audibly sniffs Wilhelm's hair.

Blink and you miss it: Micke made dinner for both of them, but in her depression, Sara ignores the cooked food (Pyttipanna, btw), and makes herself a cucumber sandwich instead.

Subtext: Micke is a man on a mission, and he is constantly steering the conversation towards helping Sara get her driver's license. For him, it's a way to make up for having been a shitty parent.

Culture: Sweden has long been a holdout of stick-shift cars, and if you don't do your practical test in a stick-shift, you'll get a restricted license, so it's not out of the ordinary for Micke to be teaching Sara how to drive one. However, automatics have seen a sharp rise in the last decade, and in 2024 automatics will finally overtake them.

Culture: The green ÖVNINGSKÖRNING sign is compulsory in Sweden if a car is being driven by someone on a learner's permit, with a parent or friend as the instructor. There's also a red version of the sign, which indicates it's a student driver with a professional instructor in a dual control car.

Cinematography: The room is filled to the brim with things to do, there's a bazillion board games, they have books, magazines, fidget thingies, they're drowning in stuff, and yet the girls are still soooooo boooored just because they don't have their phones. Except Madison, who is knitting.

Subtext: Here comes the theme™ again, and Fredrika is firmly in camp denial. Everyone else is just lying and exaggerating! The wheels are starting to turn in Felice's head though.

Subtext: Nils and August are finally talking about the initiation without Vincent being present, and they can finally be honest about what they actually thought about it. It happened, they didn't like.

Subtext: Their idea of fixing it however is not to go out publicly and talk about it, but to just quietly stop the tradition, hoping they'll be the last ones. (Since there are no second-year students in the show, we have no idea what happened to them, so we're just gonna ignore that.)

Subtext: And here comes the reason that August wanted to put a stop to it. He was completely humiliated by it, and he doesn't want anyone else to know that he was humiliated, because that just makes it worse. This is also the reason that traditions like this keep on going, no-one wants to blow the whistle on it, because everyone was abused, everyone was a victim, it's hard for abuse victims to speak up.

Cinematography: The talk with Nils triggered an anxiety attack for August, and being inside his small room doesn't exactly help. Him going so close to the camera that he almost bumps into it really shows how he feels like the walls are closing in on him.

Culture: This, kids, is a standard Swedish landline telephone jack. For the longest time I thought phone jacks looked like this everywhere, but it turns out that this particular design was only used in Sweden and Iceland(!?!). You won't find these in newer buildings because landlines are pretty much dying out, and if there are phone jacks they'll probably be using the much more common RJ-11 standard.

Culture: This, kids, is an Ericsson Diavox phone. The former government phone monopoly in Sweden, Televerket, only allowed certified and approved phones to be used on the network, and they only approved a very small set of phones, so everyone had pretty much the same phones in their homes. However, in the 1980's the market started getting flooded with "illegal" phones from other countries, so the monopoly simply stopped enforcing the rule, and you could finally, finally, plug in that novelty Garfield phone that you always wanted.

Blink and you miss it: Sara is studying for her driving test, and she's reading about driving in the dark.

Subtext: We're gearing up for the main plotline of the season, dropping more hints that maybe Wilhelm's image of Erik wasn't complete, and what August says sows some seeds of doubt in him.

Subtext: This song is objectively not very good, please don't kill me, but it is very sixteen-year-old-boy-just-singing-from-his-heart, not thinking about the text.

Subtext: Simon isn't wearing anything purple, but just after he posts his song video, he picks up a purple shirt, drops it immediately, and then the camera lingers on it. Colour theory goes brrrrrrrr. He thought about Wilhelm, and then stopped because his music is more important to him or something?

Subtext: Unlike Simon, Wilhelm immediately understands how problematic the text is for him, and how people will interpret it...

Subtext: ...but since he doesn't want to hurt Simon's feelings, he lies about why he thinks the song was a very, very bad idea. And he cushions it by telling Simon that he thinks the song is jätte-jätte-bra. Giant-giant-good.

Subtext: Yes, but also no, and someone from the court really should have given Simon some media training and explained to him why he has to be very careful about what he posts. But it's drama fuel, which is why this disaster is allowed to happen.

Subtext: A nice little throwback to season 1, this is exactly what Erik told Wilhelm in the first episode, about making sure that their public image is carefully curated.

Subtext: That's some on-the-nose foreshadowing there, since Felice is one of the main causes for the school ultimately closing.

Subtext: We're back to the theme™, Fredrika is saying pretty much the same thing as Vincent. It didn't happen, and if it did, it wasn't that bad.

Subtext: However, Felice isn't playing along this time, she's starting to speak up about the issues, and the result is a long, awkward silence, because her friends are not willing to do the same.

Subtext: Wilhelm and the rest of the rich kids are of course all wearing pretty expensive high-end hiking gear, in contrast with Simon who is simply wearing one of his usual hoodies and his usual winter jacket that we've seen before. That's a damn fine jacket from Fjällräven, btw, the same company that makes the weirdly globally popular Kånken backpacks.

Blink and you miss it: Henry is getting dragged for his actually quite reasonable objection to the tent groupings.

Subtext: Felice physically distances herself from her friends, and joins Simon and Wilhelm, in a nice little foreshadowing of the show's ending.

Blink and you miss it: Did you miss the line in last episode where Ayub said they were also gonna go camping at Talludden with their classmates from Marieberg? Well, here they are, because they pitched their tents nearby, and decided to go check out the Hillerska camp. It's not just Rosh and Ayub randomly walking through the woods.

Subtext: In season 2, we learned that Stella has a crush on Fredrika that she thinks is one-sided, but Fredrika sure has some kind of reaction to seeing Stella being close with Rosh. Jealousy, perhaps? Not clear at this point in time.

Subtext: Read the room Fredrika, for fuck's sake. At least Wilhelm has started learning to recognize privilege. The other rich kids probably recognize their privilege, but they're mostly just enjoying how much better they are than the poor regular kids.

Subtext: But Wilhelm's still got a lot more to learn. Yes, technically he is forced to spend his summer studying, and technically it is a kind of work, but the underlying reasons are completely different. If he skips it or fails, nothing bad will happen to him, unlike the Marieberg kids who rely on their summer jobs to have any sort of spending money.

Lost in translation: Wilhelm's dad says that the queen is going to be "sjukskriven", which is more serious than someone deciding on their own to take some time off or to use some sick days. It means that a doctor has evaluated you and decided that you are not fit to work, and that if you're a regular person, you are eligible for sick pay for the foreseeable future.

Cinematography: Yeah, mommy is really sick and Wilhelm is feeling the weight of responsibility, but take a look at that sunrise! It's so pretty! Wilhelm is completely in shadow because trouble whatever, but look at how that light just pops, with the sky and the water and the sun on the trees! Beautiful!

[thatsmybook]

Just rewatching the documentary and just before 4 mins in, Lisa is explaining to Omar her thought process for what will be the main dilemma/ crux of the show, and it made me realise what exactly Simon was saying when he broke up with Wille at the end of Episode 5. He was saying: I've seen what the monarchy does to you and how it hurts you, I've experienced it myself, so I have additional empathy for how that must feel for you. Also, I, too, am being hurt by it (see all of season 3 when he's not smiling with Wille). I thought I could try it out for your sake to see if I could handle it because you're worth it.

But after spending the birthday day with Prince Wilhelm and the Royal Court, he sees that it will continue to hurt both of them, and there will be no respite, things will only get worse. He has seen Wille get worse right in front of him on that day. It is poisoning Wille, and he is becoming someone he doesn't recognise. Simon decides that he does not want that to happen to either of them. The only thing he can do is leave the system so it can stop hurting him. Unfortunately, because Wille is entwined with Prince Wilhelm, it means he has to leave Wille too.

To me, by staying with Wille, Simon is condoning bad behaviour or the status quo by just going along with everything the Royal Court says while they both slowly deteriorate. So though he leaves Wille to save himself, he is also saving Wille because he is showing Wille that this is not alright, boundaries have to be put in place somewhere and Wille needs to start setting some boundaries for himself too. If Wille thought that Simon would stick around to support him and occasionally be someone he could lash out to, then he may not have felt the need to save himself from the monarchy. Because Simon is around to hold him up.

So for King Wilhelm truthers, Simon is required to know his place as an aid to the King, whilst suppressing his own pain and never putting pressure on the King by asking for help with his own issues. There is never a time when they would be equal in their relationship, even in private, because everything about Simon's values, ambitions, and passions would have to be deleted. King Wilhelm's needs would come first. This is what class does. It sets up hierarchies of certain humans' needs being more important than others and even that certain humans are superior/supreme to others. Therefore, to function, it needs lackeys who know their place to serve those on top. Hillerska, as an institution, is a mirror of Simon's relationship as a partner for the next king. Hillerska being closed is the equivalent of Lisa abolishing the monarchy. (By the way, there's a real-life incident of the 16 year old Prince of Denmark having to be removed from his elite school when issues of sexual abuse and other scandals came to light. This happened in 2022).

On a side note, this made me think about the Duke's role as consort and imagine that that would be Simon's role to model himself on. If we want Wille to remain as a Crown Prince and have his boyfriend, do we want Simon to become as bland and ineffective as the Duke is, where all of his focus is solely on the Queen's needs. Smoothing over any rough patches with innane conversation and totally neglecting and not 'seeing' his child. Simon deserves to be himself, as does Wille.

[groenendaelfic]

Faroe Gone Final Chapter Sneak Peak

So there's still lots of editing I need to do before I can post the whole thing, but with tomorrow looming I thought I'd share something "happy" and "cheerful" to distract y'all.

Have fun reading the beginning of the final chapter and hope you enjoy! 😇

Simon doesn't know if it's the sudden fog, his tears, or the fact that all he wants to do is be a fool and turn back around again��the first one, definitely the first one—but he drives back to Tórshavn at almost a snail's pace.

It doesn't matter. He has well over a day until the ferry makes its return journey to Denmark and nothing else to do except go over his time with Wilhelm again and again, replaying the good times and the pleasurable times and wondering if he could have said or done anything to change the outcome of his journey—other than realizing that all of his feelings were mere nostalgic illusion and fantasy, which of course turned out to not be the case.

Quite the opposite. Real Wilhelm was so much more than what Simon made him out to be in his head. There's so much he's missed. So much he doesn't know yet and which he desperately wants to find out.

It hurts, and yet there's nothing else Simon can do, no other choice which wouldn't hurt more sooner or later.

No. Simon tried. He did the best he could and that is enough. It has to be enough.

Simon had to leave while he still could.

The road ahead of him is empty, no one else in sight. No people, no cars, no sheep. Nothing except the wet, cold fog swallowing up everything and a rushing noise in his ears which might be the wind or the ocean or Simon himself.

Simon blinks away another tear and keeps driving, turning up the heat and hoping it will help.

It doesn't.

On the next island he passes a camper van. It's parked, and Simon thinks he can make out a brave tourist trying to take a picture, but he isn't sure. It's not as if there's much to see except an endless wall of grayish white.

Maybe that's the fascination.

Wilhelm told him that there are thirty-seven words for fog in the Faroese language, and while Simon laughed and told him to stop kidding, he's sure he's already experienced half of them, and it's only been two days.

Okay, that might be an exaggeration, but contemplating the uselessness of taking pictures of fog is a lot more bearable than lingering on the fact that he'll never get to be with Wilhelm again, never feel that satisfied ache in his muscles, not like this, and really how long can a grown man cry before he's all out of tears?

Pretty long he guesses.

Simon once stopped Ayub's baby daughter from attempting a daring escape on all fours, and Simon swears she was crying forever. Not that he blames her.

Crying is cathartic if it's anything, but if she could produce that many tears because of nothing more than a foiled plan to explore the stairway, then how many will Simon be able to shed before he's all wrung out? He’s a lot taller than her after all and guaranteed to not forget the reason for his tears even after being presented with some candy.

Simon doesn't want to know.

Simon wants to keep driving through this fog forever, because all that's waiting for him at its end is the mundanity of his never-changing life and a scandal revealing the Crown Prince to have been the victim of underage revenge porn thanks to his second cousin and presumed successor, and that is guaranteed to make it worse, to drag Simon’s name back into public awareness.

He should probably call home and warn his mom, warn Sara, but facing them will be torture of an entirely different kind, and also the investigative journalist they chose is a good one, one bound to build a case and not blindly believe her sources before going public, so there is still time.

Not too much though, as there is an impending deadline if the Royal Court and the Prime Minister are to be believed, or at least Simon would really prefer news of August’s deeds to overshadow him being taken into the line of succession.

Not that he’s so naive as to think a mere article can do more than delay the proceedings at best—although one can always hope—and ideally the journalist and whoever else gets a say in choosing the right time will see it the same way, but all of that is still more than half a week away, so why burden his family before he absolutely has to?

No, he's not going to call home yet, but maybe he should reserve a room before he gets back to the capital.

He decides to do it the old fashioned way and pulls over at the next opportunity. A viewpoint, or so he presumes the sign a few meters away from him would tell him if only it was clear enough to see.

He wipes at his cheeks and opens his phone. There are plenty of options for him to stay at. Small, privately owned places, holiday homes with kitchens and living rooms, quaint little hotels doing their best to sell their Nordic, rustic charm to tourists wealthy enough to make it there, and of course a camping ground, because unlike Sweden, the Faroe Islands don't allow one to set up camp anywhere else.

Simon doesn't choose any of them. He wants a warm but bland room, boring and inoffensive and as likely to be in Tórshavn as on the other side of the world.

Something as far from Wilhelm's colorful and most definitely handmade and expensive wooden furniture as he can get, and so he books himself a room at the first—and only—international hotel chain he can find, something he'd never do otherwise, and pretends that he's looking forward to it. The hotel has a fitness center after all and well over a hundred rooms. Simon is almost going to feel like back home in Uppsala.

Not.

He sighs and makes sure he received a confirmation for his booking, before he throws his phone onto the passenger seat and sighs again.

Somehow, magically, or rather because he's on a windy archipelago in the middle of nowhere, the fog is starting to clear. He can see a few meters of grass now, and then a cliff, and below it the cold, dark ocean pretending at being calm.

Simon wants the fog back, but when has he ever gotten what he wanted, and by the time he's back on the road he swears he can see a tiny patch of blue sky up ahead.

The hotel is on the outskirts of town and exactly as impersonal as Simon hoped it would be. He isn't hungry, and so he goes straight to his room and falls face first into bed.

The sheets are white and the pillows are white and they smell bland and clean and inoffensive, nothing at all like Wilhelm, and why would they?

Simon hates them. Simon also hates the hotel, but it's not as if he's in the mood for sightseeing, and as he isn't willing to take a shower yet—what? He's alone, no one's going to smell him, and isn't that the entire problem?—all that's left to do is turn on the TV, because he's for sure not touching his phone again any time soon.

Not when that would mean having it confirmed with every passing minute that he was a fool to leave Wilhelm his number. Wilhelm isn't going to call, but Simon would rather live in denial for as long as he can.

The TV does not greet him with an info screen as Simon expected, but an English speaking news channel, the volume turned up way too loudly, and Simon turns it off again as fast as he can.

Wallowing in self pity it is then.

Unfortunately Simon's usual answer to bouts of self-pity—angrily jerking off to thoughts of Wilhelm—is not an option right now, because Wilhelm is the entire reason for his misery, and so he grudgingly reaches for his phone after all and starts up a game which would work much better on a computer screen.

He's just about to finish off the newest boss, when a text message pops up.

If I do it, it reads. Then can we

The sentence stops halfway through, and Simon almost has a heart attack.

The delay in his reaction is enough for him to be killed instead, but it's not as if Simon notices.

Wilhelm. It has to be Wilhelm.

He taps the message, and while that makes it larger, it doesn't change the words.

He almost calls Wilhelm back right away, because Wilhelm is swaying, is reconsidering, and Simon wants that, he wants it so bad, to have Wilhelm back in his arms and his life, but also Simon already told Wilhelm that he can't be the only reason Wilhelm returns, that this is a life changing decision if there was ever any, and that Wilhelm needs to make it for himself and not for a hope of them maybe working out, and so he doesn't.

Instead he waits an excruciating minute and then another, just in case Wilhelm wants to add something or pressed send too soon, but no further message follows.

Simon curses and swears and kicks up his feet, because now he has hope again and that is great, but also torture. He doesn't want Wilhelm to get the wrong impression, doesn't want him to think that Simon wouldn't be willing to pick right up where they left off if he could—in the bedroom that is, not when it comes to fighting—and maybe they could also go on a date which has been nineteen years in coming.

Simon wants that. Simon really wants that. How can he not, now that he's had a taste, has spent time with Wilhelm, just Wilhelm, has had breakfast with him and done chores with him and played with his dog. Simon wants Wilhelm back, now more so than ever.

Simon knows he's an idiot, thinking of romance and dating when he just left the love of his life behind, and even if he hadn't, a returning Wilhelm would have much different things on his mind. He'd have to. He'd have no other choice. Things like his dying mother and the throne and the public reacting to his return after ten years in exile.

Wilhelm wouldn't have time for Simon, no matter how much Wilhelm would want him. Not for weeks and not for months. Simon would have to sneak into an assortment of palaces with the eyes of the entire nation on nothing but them if he wanted any time with Wilhelm at all, and Simon wouldn't want that. Simon doesn't want secrecy and sneaking and lies. Not that'd even be an option, what with the press and curious bystanders everywhere.

There is another option of course. The only one Wilhelm would ever consider coming back for. The one which at first glance sounds perfect because it means being with Wilhelm and standing by his side. It would also mean giving up everything else in Simon's life though, but what has he really got to lose? Why stop being foolish now?

Wilhelm told Simon that he's it for him. Wilhelm loves him. Simon's already traveled across an ocean. What's one tiny text message compared to that? Why can't he be selfish just this once and fuck the risk and the idiocy and the fear of what will be in one year? In five? In ten?

It all might end in disaster, but it might also not, and why should he be miserable if there's even the slightest chance at some fleeting happiness. After all it's not as if the email Wilhelm sent isn't bound to upend Simon's life anyway, and it's not as if Wilhelm is actually going to come.

Simon wants to be happy.

Simon wants to be happy and now there's a chance for it and so why not take it? He's done stupider things before, like coming here in the first place, so he might as well go all the way.

He doesn't text Wilhelm a yes, doesn't make any promises. He texts one word and one word alone, followed by a number, the name of the hotel and his room number, and maybe that's the biggest promise of all.

He doesn't regret it. He couldn't stay, not without making his inevitable departure even worse, but now he's done his part and the ball is in Wilhelm's court, all the balls are, and Simon is here and waiting.

For a ferry. For Wilhelm. For the life they could have had.

Fuck.

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

Since we are officially half-way through the first round, here are some statistics for you:

Proportionally, the country that has been the most victorious is Russia, sitting at a 86% success rate (Prince Metternich ruined their perfect 100%)

The least victorious country so far is England, with a measly 38% success rate.

Five of the total 13 fictional characters have been eliminated.

The countries that have been eliminated are: Denmark, Sweden, Sardinia and the Papal States. They each had one nominee who lost in the first round.

Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia is the only crowned head of state to successfully make it through the first round on the left side of the bracket. Which included Napoleon I.

The largest margin of victory goes to Ida St. Elme, who absolutely trounced George Canning. The smallest margin goes to Richard Sharpe, who squeaked out a win with (what by my calculation was) two votes.

[best-hohenzollern-ruler]

Friedrich der Große (r. 1740 - 1786)

'Old Fritz'

Friedrich's relationship with his father, Friedrich Wilhelm I, is an oft-discussed topic. It was marked by public and private abuses and emotional and physical in nature. While the King's beheading of the then-crown prince's friend was the culmination of this treatment, it was consistent over Fritz's adolescence. Denigrated for his effeminacy, physically assaulted, and denied all earthy respite; it is little wonder that Fritz attempted to flee his father's persecution the first chance he had.

In 1740, Friedrich led Prussia against its first bout against Austrian tyranny. Did we have any claim to Silesia? Not a one. Did we agree to the Pragmatic Sanction? Technically, yes. Did that matter to Old Fritz? It did not, and for that he brought Prussia out of the scrapheap and into history! Because of him Prussia will live on for centuries! ...What the hell is a Kaliningrad?

Many rumors abounded about Friedrich's paramours and proclivities. It's the burden of every great man to endure these sorts of challenges, you see. Some say his testicles were malformed or, even, nonexistent. Some say everything was in fine working order and he sired bastard children with a Madame von Wreech. Some - and this is most absurd, you will agree - even posit that he was a homosexual. I understand hating your wife all too well, but that does not mean 'fortune is a woman and I am not that way inclined' suggests anything improper! ...Voltaire wrote what (Note: I am concerned for your health -L)

Friedrich III (r. March 1888 - June 1888)

The 99-Day King

Surprisingly for a Hohenzollern, Friedrich took a relatively liberal stance to politics. Even more shocking was his pacifist streak that led him to oppose our wars against Denmark, Austria, and France. Do not let his heart fool you; even a Prussian pacifist is nothing to sneer at. In all three conflicts, he commanded his troops capably and treated his opponents with the utmost dignity.

There were many hopes pinned to Friedrich's reign, put there both by himself and his supporters. Alas, he ascended to the throne when he was already terminally il with laryngeal cancer. Push and push as liked, what reforms could a dying emperor make? The most significant aspect of his reign is what it may have been - and what it could have avoided.

We have received a letter, whose author only identified herself as an 'American woman.' It reads: 'I know Fritz is going to beat Fritz, but please look at him. Isn't he the most dreamy Hohenzollern you've ever seen? Those piercing eyes, that strong nose, that beard you could lose your hand in. So what if he didn't like his son? That a crime now in this family? Fritz, your wife is gone, but I know one English maiden who's still seeking a good man. HEY-O!' (Note: Burn this debauchery -L)

[graceofromanovs]

GODPARENTS OF GRAND DUKE ALEXEI MIKHAILOVICH

Grand Duke Alexei Mikhailovich was born on 28 December 1875 in Tbilisi, Tbilisi Governate, Russian Empire (now Georgia). He was the the sixth son and youngest child of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia, himself the youngest son of Emperor Nicholas I. He was the only Grand Duke to bear the name and patronymic of a Tsar: Alexei Mikhailovich. On 11 January (New Style) 1876, he was christened at Tbilisi by the Palace Priest and Confessor of Their Imperial Highnesses. He had seven godparents, as listed:

ALEXANDER II, EMPEROR OF RUSSIA - his uncle, the Russian Emperor stood as one of the godparents. He became the Emperor of All Russia in 1855. Alexander’s most significant reform as emperor was the emancipation of Russia’s serfs in 1861, for which he is known as Alexander the Liberator.

GRAND DUCHESS MARIA PAVLOVNA OF RUSSIA, GRAND DUCHESS CONSORT OF SAXE-WEIMAR-EISENACH - his aunt was one of his godparents. One of the daughters of Emperor Paul I, the grand duchess married a German prince Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach in 1804. She was an intellect, interested in both arts and sciences. German poet and novelist Johann Wolfgang von Goethe hailed her as one of the worthiest women of his time. She was the great-grandmother of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Queen Victoria of Sweden.

GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS MIKHAILOVICH OF RUSSIA - his uncle, was one of his godparents. Trained for the military, as a Field Marshal he commanded the Russian army of the Danube in the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878.

GRAND DUCHESS MARIA PAVLOVNA OF RUSSIA - known as 'Maria Pavlovna the Elder', was the wife of his first cousin Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich, and stood as one of his godparents. Born as Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, her ancestors included Emperor Paul I of Russia. Upon her marriage to the grand duke, she became a prominent hostess in Saint Petersburg.

GRAND DUKE ALEXEI ALEXANDROVICH OF RUSSIA - his first cousin and namesake, one of the sons of Emperor Alexander II, was one of his godparents. Chosen for a naval career, Alexei Alexandrovich started his military training at an early age. By the age of 20 he had been appointed lieutenant of the Imperial Russian Navy, eventually becoming general-admiral.

GRAND DUCHESS ANASTASIA MIKHAILOVNA OF RUSSIA, GRAND DUCHESS OF MECKLENBURG-SCHWERIN - his sister, was one of his godparents. In 1879, when Alexei Mikhailovich was only four years-old, his only sister married a German prince, Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (the elder brother of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the Elder). Their children included Queen Alexandrine of Denmark and Crown Princess Cecile of Prussia. She was a strong-willed, independent and unconventional woman. She never became used to her new country where she was unpopular. 

GRAND DUKE MICHAEL MIKHAILOVICH OF RUSSIA - one of his older brothers stood as another of his godparents. As Romanov tradition demanded, he followed a military career. He served in the Russo-Turkish War in 1877, became a Colonel and was adjutant at the Imperial court. In 1891 he contracted a morganatic marriage with Countess Sophie von Merenberg, a morganatic daughter of Prince Nicholas William of Nassau and a granddaughter of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. For contracting this marriage without permission, their first cousin Emperor Alexander III stripped him of his military titles and banished the couple from the Russian Empire. Alexei Mikhailovich never saw his brother again after his banishment.

Source

[charlotte-of-wales]

Happy 24th birthday to Princess Alexandra of Hanover!

Born on 20 July 1999, Alexandra Charlotte Ulrike Maryam Virginia is the of Princess Caroline of Monaco and Ernst August, Prince of Hanover, as well as a niece to Prince Albert II of Monaco and a granddaughter to Prince Rainier III and Grace Kelly. She is currently thirteenth in the line of succession to the Monegasque throne.

On her father's side, she is a descendant of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and King Christian IX of Denmark. Through her father, she was in the line of succession to the British throne until 2018, when she was confirmed into the Catholic Church.

She has half-siblings from her parents' previous marriages. From her father's previous marriage, she has two half-brothers, Hereditary Prince Ernst August and Prince Christian of Hanover. From her mother's previous marriage, she has two half-brothers, Andrea and Pierre Casiraghi, and one half-sister, Charlotte Casiraghi.

[ltwilliammowett]

Portrait of Lieutenant Adolph Wilhelm Berger (1829-1898). By Carl Wigand 1850s.

The daguerreotype here shows Adolph Wilhelm Berger in the uniform of a Prussian naval officer with the rank of "Leutnant z. See II. Klasse". His promotion in 1855 was probably why he visited the studio of Carl Wigand to take a souvenir with him from Berlin. His training began in 1848 on the U.S. "St. Lawrence", which Adolph Berger and four other Prussian cadets boarded in Bremerhaven in 1848 so they could learn the ins and outs of the U.S. Navy.

The American Captain Paulding advised the German states on building naval forces, among other things, during this mission. In July 1849, the frigate returned to Bremerhaven via Southampton, Lisbon and Cadiz, and discharged the cadets, as Prussia was at war with Denmark at the time. Further training took place in 1863/64 with the Royal Navy aboard H.M.S. "Black Prince".

In the German-Danish War of 1864, Berger served on the "Arcona" and was severely wounded. In the following years between 1867-1877 he commanded the "Musquito", "Niobe", "Hansa", "Renown" and the armed frigate "Friedrich Carl". Berger's career culminated with the rank of vice admiral.

[othervee]

This is an interesting week for Real Life Royal Things.

First, because we recently discovered that one of our alumni is a real live princess (of a country that is not Sweden!) Just seeing the way we all talk about her - it's always "Boss met with the princess while he was there" and "The princess got back to me about that..." We're all a bunch of well-educated people from various countries and I don't think there are any fervent monarchists among us, but I reckon we all get a secret little thrill from saying it; it's that fairytale magic in real life. And in a parallel with YR, apparently one of the reasons she chose to study here rather than in her own country was that she craved the social obscurity which she wouldn't get in her home country or at a more elite institution. Which she certainly succeeded in, since the institution was apparently unaware that she was a royal!

Second, we have had a fair bit of media here about the Danish abdication & coronation, mainly because the new queen consort was born in Australia and our journos are always desperate to play it up whenever one of us is on the world stage. There is suddenly a lot of interest focused on the new crown prince (local example), whereas before last week I doubt most Australians could have told you how many children the couple had, let alone any of their names. I am imagining how we would cover the Wilhelm/Simon news here (or for that matter, the Erik news). I can easily imagine an article like the above about Wilhelm.

Apparently there's been an elite-private-school abuse scandal in Denmark too. They've also happened here. They happen everywhere, I guess. How bloody ridiculous.

[loiladadiani]

Princes in sailor suits

Even today, once in a while, we’ll see a little boy (or girl) walking down the boardwalk on a beach, or playing by a lake, wearing a little sailor suit. Of course, they are not the uniforms they used to be. But they are still just as flattering and still out there.

Here are several pictures of young princes wearing their sailor suits: Tsarevich Alexis; Prince Lennart of Sweden, son of Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna the younger and Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Sodermanland; Prince John, youngest son of George V and Queen Mary; Prince George of Greece and Denmark; George Donatus and Louis, sons of Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse; Prince Feodor Alexandrovich, son of the daughter of Tsar Alexander III, Xenia Alexandrovna, and Grand Duke Alexander; Prince Ioann and Prince Gavriil Konstantinovich and between them, Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark.

And to cap the post, two of our present royalties, looking their handsomest wearing sailor suits.

[kams-rps]

Character Info

Name: Hans Westergaard Age: 23 [Frozen], 24 [Frozen Fever], 26 [Frozen II] Birthday: June 15th Home Country: The Southern Isles [similar to real-world Denmark] Race (Ethnicity): Caucasian (Southern Islian [similar to real-world Danish]) Physicality: Height: 5′ 11″ / 71 in. / 180 cm Body type: athletic Body shape: triangular Complexion: Northern European fair Hair color: auburn Hair type: thick, soft, fluffy, straight Eye color: hazel-green Family: Lauris (father), Adela (mother (deceased)), Klaus (older brother), Wilhelm (older brother), Clement (older brother), Gerard (older brother), Victor (older brother), Frederich (older brother), Reginald (older brother), Nikolas (older brother), Marten (older brother), Edmund (older brother), Derrick (older brother), Damian (older brother) Personality: intelligent, clever, charming, utilitarian, apathetic, cunning, manipulative Style: enjoys fine things, but appreciates what little he has Distinctions: disowned thirteenth son of King Lauris, ex-prince, ex-captain (Southern Isles Royal Navy), ambidextrous, cheek scar, burn scars

Extra: After his actions in Arendelle, Hans was sent home for judgment. He was stripped of his title, disowned from the family, and sentenced to the life of a stable hand. Hans is well aware that his punishment is due to his sullying of the Westergaard name and not his actions in and of themselves. If he had succeeded in becoming the king of Arendelle, his family would not have cared what he had done to achieve that success.

Hans has built many layers of defenses around his core self over a lifetime of emotional and physical pain and neglect. At this point in time, he wouldn't be able to identify what parts of his personality are learned/forced and what parts are natural/genuine. After his punishment, Hans became completely apathetic to everything and is simply going through the motions of daily survival.

Hans has a habit of distracting himself from things he can't control with things he can control, though this can manifest in both good and bad ways. Currently, however, he is too empty and exhausted to care.

CONTENT WARNINGS: death, violence, torture, burns, scars

History: Queen Adela passed away while giving birth to Hans. This caused Derrick and Damian (3.5 years old at the time) to hate him for taking their mother away, since she had been personally raising the twins (unlike her other ten sons).

Like all Westergaards, Hans was raised in a utilitarian fashion. Everything must be examined rationally, every emotion must be banished in order to execute impeccable logic. “By any means necessary” had been essentially a mantra for the Westergaards since the founding of the country. Westergaards were expected to do whatever it took to maintain order and prosperity in the kingdom while keeping the power of the monarchy as high as possible. Individual humans were nothing more than tools to achieve these results.

In typical Westergaard fashion, Hans was either ignored or criticized by his father and older brothers, and bullied mercilessly by the twins. Hans saw the way his father was respected and obeyed, and concluded that the only way he would be able to escape being at someone else's mercy was to become a powerful and revered king. He devoted himself to this goal, studying fervently and learning everything he possibly could that might be useful for such an endeavor.

When Hans was twelve, the twins broke an expensive vase and intended to blame it on Hans, as they had similarly done in the past. Hans finally snapped and whipped a shard of the vase at them, striking Derrick and slicing his left cheek. This resulted in an all-out brawl between the two boys, only ending when their father happened to be the first one to find them. Hans was punished much less severely than he expected, with his father even advising him, "Learn to fight with your mind. Leave violence as a last resort."

The twins completely changed their behavior, and Hans slowly began to trust them over the next six months, until one hot summer day they invited him to go swimming with them. The trio went to the private beach on the edge of the castle grounds. Hans genuinely had fun and bonded a bit with Damian. When it was time to wrap things up, Hans had his back turned as he was changing out of his swimsuit, and was knocked unconscious. He awoke to Derrick pressing a hot lantern grate to his right cheek. Derrick nonchalantly explained that this was revenge for his own scar, which now distinguished him from his twin. Hans was restrained and couldn't fight back or protect himself, and the beach was too far away from anything else for his cries for help to be heard. Derrick emptied a container of lantern oil onto Hans' torso, then struck a match and tossed it into the oil. Hans blacked out while screaming in pain.

Hans regained consciousness in the castle infirmary, and spent the next three years recovering. He never saw any of his family during that time. About a month before he turned sixteen, Hans entered the Southern Isles Royal Navy as a midshipman. He rose five ranks in three-and-a-half years, becoming a captain three months after his nineteenth birthday. At his next review, he was recommended for promotion to commodore with training to become a rear admiral. However, just after his fourth anniversary, he was summoned home by his father. The given reason was the deaths of King Agnarr and Queen Iduna; the marriageable princes needed to be present for the chance of impressing the mourners that would be traveling to and from Arendelle. However, Hans suspected that Frederich [prince #6] had made the suggestion to their father so that Hans would not achieve nor surpass his elder brother's rank [Frederich was gifted the rank of commodore and had no desire to work toward a promotion]. The navy granted Hans an indefinite leave just before his twentieth birthday, since he had been summoned back to the Isles' capital by the king and thus couldn't return to active duty without the king's permission. King Lauris always had a reason to deny Hans' requests to return, even as months turned into years.

The last time Hans asked for permission to return to the navy was just after he turned twenty-two. King Lauris denied the request once again, with a new reason: the Westergaards had received an invitation to Princess Elsa's coronation as queen the following year, and each of Hans' older brothers were unable to attend for one reason or another. Hans was ordered to be the Southern Isles' representative at the event, but given the lack of progress with getting back to his naval career, he knew he would have chosen to go even if it hadn't been forced upon him. Hans accepted his father's orders and turned his focus back to his original goal: becoming a king.

Official references: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15

Artwork credit: 1) @vasira96 2) @dariakonnova 3) @theoasiswinds 4) @itsalezzia 5) @danvama 6) myself 7) @lumieluna 8) @jabberwockyface

[mask131]

Fragments of fright (9)

From Richard Cavendish’s The Great Book of the Supernatural

THE MESSENGERS OF THE AFTERLIFE

Most people do not know when they will die - but a few of them are apparently warned of their imminent demise, thanks to the appearance of a ghost. This messenger of the afterlife can be a wraith, or a mysterious animal, and many families are proud of "owning" one.

The Hohenzollern dynasty, which reigned successively over the Brandeburg, Prussia and Germany (until the abdication of the kaiser Wilhelm II at the end of WWI) was boasting the existence of a "family ghost". This specter tied to their bloodline was a White Lady - a female ghost dressed in white, with a mourning armband, usually seen before the death of a member of the family, and appearing in the royal residences of Berlin or other Germany regions. It was believed that she might be the ghost of a princess of the 15th century, who was cruelly abused by her husband, who was a Hohenzollern. The dynasty of the Hesse of Darmstadt (Germany) also had its death herald - a Black Lady this time, in a mourning outfit, her face hidden by a dark veil. This ghost was supposed to be the archduchess Maria-Anna, wife of the archduke Ferdinand.

In the Danish royal family meanwhile, disasters were believed to be announced by the apparition at Gurre, south of Helsingor (a location that inspired the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet), of the ghost of king Valdemar IV, who ruled on the Denmark in th 14th century and died at Gure in 1375. Another strange fact of the history of the Danish crown concerns the queen Astrid, killed in 1935 by a car accident. Some times after her death, she supposedly appeared before numerous people during a spiritism séance organized at Copenhague by the medium Einar Nielsen. A picture of her "manifestation" was apparently taken - but unfortunately, these kind of pictures are very easy to falsify and thus do not make an actual, solid proof of the ghost's apparition.

The Hasburgs, who ruled over the Austro-Hungarian Empire, were traditionally warned of any upcoming tragedy by the appearance of a group of great white birds circling in the sky. They were seen in 1889, soon before the double suicide of the heir-prince Rudolf and his mistress in Mayerling. Later, the emperor Franz-Josef the First also saw them in 1898, on the eve of the murder of his beloved Elisabeth. Finally, these sinister birds were spotted in 1914, before the Sarajevo attack which killed the archduke Franz-Ferdinand and caused World War I.

The most famous of these "messengers of death" is without a doubt the Irish banshee, which makes the pride and glory of the greatest and oldest families of the island. The banshees howls and wails with a melancholic voice through the night, crying the death of a family's member soon before it actually happens. She can appear as a beautiful maiden with a red shirt, or a green dress under a gray cloak ; or she can appear as an old hag. This "dual face", the beautiful maiden and the ugly hag, were the usual manifestations and appearances of the great goddesses of the pre-Christian Celtic religion, of which the banshee seems to be a remnant. It seems that getting rid of a banshee is hard, since there are records of them still wailing near the old domains of families that left Ireland a long time ago. A few years before the publication of this book, an American that was visiting the Aran island in the Galway bay, organized a party, with lot of music and dancing. As the night was ending, the young man returned home, playing accordion. The noise he made distressed the neighborhood, and someone had to go explain to a poor frightened old man that what he heard wasn't the screams of a banshee, but the sounds of a drunk playing very badly the accordion. Reassured, the old man knew three more weeks of peace... Until he heard the ACTUAL wails of the banshee, and soon after died.

According to a very old tradition, the death of the bishops of Salisbury is announced by the arrival of mysterious white birds flyig over the plain. Other bad omens - not necessarily meaning "death" - are the black dogs, or rather the black hounds, usually of an enormous size, that supposedly haunt the British countryside. Peel's castle, on the isle of Man, is the lair of one of those monsters, the Moddy Dhu, whose mere sight causes a person's death. You will also be doomed to die if you meet the Shriker dog, which hides in the Burnley cemetery (Lancashire). Many more sinisters black hounds are believe to wander on the paths leading to cemeteries. In a lot of popular beliefs and local folklore, dogs are associated with death, probably because in the distant past hungry dogs used to dig up corpses to eat them. There could also be something related to the strong belief that dogs are able to sense entities invisible to humans. Ghosts of dogs are particularly dreaded in the East-Anglia, where strikes the formidable Black Shuck, whose only eye shines in the darkness.

During World War II, an American air-pilot and his wife lived in Walberswick, in the Suffolk, and they had there a terrifying experience. During one whole night, an enormous black dog tried to enter in their house, and they only prevented it from doing so by piling up furniture in front of the door, that the animal nearly split open. At dawn, the beast left, but without leaving any prints in the mud surrounding the house. This event happened during a storm night - which reminds one of the old beliefs claiming that storms are caused by the mad run in the countryside of a pack of infernal hounds, whose howls causes death, madness and misfortune. In some regions, these hounds are led by the "Wild Hunter". In Denmark, it is king Valdemar that leads the pack, in Normandy the Devil himself ; in northern England it is "Gabriel's hounds" led by the Angel of Death, while in the Dartmoor the dogs follow sir Francis Drake riding a hearse. All these legends inspired without a doubt Conan Doyle when he wrote one of Sherlock Holmes' most famous adventures - The Hound of the Baskervilles.

[lucidpantone]

Hi! What is your opinion on Wille's looks at the very end of season 2? Right after he smiles to Simon there is so much going on in his eyes I can't figure it out

He seems happy then sad then questioning what he's done and seems worried? but then again the little smirk I mean I'm lost 😭 but I think that also the whole point hahaha

What do you think?

Hey dear!!

I think its exactly as you described. Like yay fuck the firm! but also fuck what did I just do...... but also finally I dont have to hide who I am, but also fuck august, but also I just became the first openly queer monarch like shit is about to hit the fan hard. Like just imagine if Prince Christian who is set to become king of denmark told us today "btw am gay" at some school event over instagram shit would be wild.

Also tho I think wilhelm is sorta of welcoming the onslaught because at least he can speak his truth a bit he has been so caged up since Erik's death he isnt stupid he grew up royal he knows him coming out will change his entire life and that of his family and the monarchy. Also tho I think Simon saying I love you definitely motivated him I think its more about the symbolism of that i love you versus wilhelm thinking naively simon loves me let me throw everything in the fire. So what I mean is Wilhelm has almost no agency as prince he literally doesnt even select his own clothing. Simon's love is one of the only things he got to select entirely on his own and experience with his own agency. And tho of course his press team will try to control his relationships entire narrative its still with a person he chose and chose him back. I think this sample of self directive inspiration sorta of made him decide ok i am going to take the reigns of my own future and just take a leap of faith.

[napoleonic-sexyman-tournament]

With two days left to submit nominees, here is where the list stands:

France:

Jean Lannes

Josephine de Beauharnais

Thérésa Tallien

Jean-Andoche Junot

Joseph Fouché

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand

Joachim Murat

Michel Ney

Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte (Charles XIV of Sweden)

Louis-Francois Lejeune

Pierre Jacques Étienne Cambrinne

Napoleon I

Marshal Louis-Gabriel Suchet

Jacques de Trobriand

Jean de dieu soult.

François-Étienne-Christophe Kellermann

Louis Davout

Pauline Bonaparte, Duchess of Guastalla

Eugène de Beauharnais

Jean-Baptiste Bessières

Antoine-Jean Gros

Jérôme Bonaparte

Andrea Masséna

Antoine Charles Louis de Lasalle

Germaine de Staël

Thomas-Alexandre Dumas

René de Traviere (The Purple Mask)

Claude Victor Perrin

Laurent de Gouvion Saint-Cyr

François Joseph Lefebvre

Major Andre Cotard (Hornblower Series)

Edouard Mortier

Hippolyte Charles

Nicolas Charles Oudinot

Emmanuel de Grouchy

Pierre-Charles Villeneuve

Géraud Duroc

Georges Pontmercy (Les Mis)

Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont

Juliette Récamier

Bon-Adrien Jeannot de Moncey

Louis-Alexandre Berthier

Étienne Jacques-Joseph-Alexandre Macdonald

Jean-Mathieu-Philibert Sérurier

Catherine Dominique de Pérignon

England:

Richard Sharpe (The Sharpe Series)

Tom Pullings (Master and Commander)

Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington

Jonathan Strange (Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell)

Captain Jack Aubrey (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Horatio Hornblower (the Hornblower Books)

William Laurence (The Temeraire Series)

Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey

Beau Brummell

Emma, Lady Hamilton

Benjamin Bathurst

Horatio Nelson

Admiral Edward Pellew

Sir Philip Bowes Vere Broke

Sidney Smith

Percy Smythe, 6th Viscount Strangford

George IV

Capt. Anthony Trumbull (The Pride and the Passion)

Barbara Childe (An Infamous Army)

Doctor Maturin (Aubrey/Maturin books)

Scotland:

Thomas Cochrane

Colquhoun Grant

Austria:

Klemens von Metternich

Friedrich Bianchi, Duke of Casalanza

Franz I/II

Archduke Karl

Marie Louise

Franz Grillparzer

Wilhelmine von Biron

Poland:

Wincenty Krasiński

Józef Antoni Poniatowski

Józef Zajączek

Maria Walewska

Władysław Franciszek Jabłonowski

Adam Jerzy Czartoryski

Antoni Amilkar Kosiński

Zofia Czartoryska-Zamoyska

Stanislaw Kurcyusz

Russia:

Alexander I Pavlovich

Alexander Andreevich Durov

Prince Andrei (War and Peace)

Pyotr Bagration

Mikhail Miloradovich

Levin August von Bennigsen

Pavel Stroganov

Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna

Karl Wilhelm von Toll

Dmitri Kuruta

Alexander Alexeevich Tuchkov

Barclay de Tolly

Fyodor Grigorevich Gogel

Ekaterina Pavlovna Bagration

Prussia:

Louise von Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Gebard von Blücher

Carl von Clausewitz

Frederick William III

Gerhard von Scharnhorst

Louis Ferdinand of Prussia

Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Alexander von Humboldt

Dorothea von Biron

The Netherlands:

Ida St Elme

Wiliam, Prince of Orange

The Papal States:

Pius VII

Portugal:

João Severiano Maciel da Costa

Spain:

Juan Martín Díez

José de Palafox

Inês Bilbatua (Goya's Ghosts)

Haiti:

Alexandre Pétion

Sardinia:

Vittorio Emanuele I

Denmark:

Frederik VI

Sweden:

Gustav IV Adolph