https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coronations_in_Europe
I was unable to find the text of the Spanish coronation and used some prayers from Queen Elizabeth's coronation in 1953. Although Queen Elizabeth was Protestant (the Church of England) and Spain is Roman Catholic, the Church of England broke off from the Roman Catholic Church under Henry XVIII and follows many Catholic traditions (except for the Pope). I myself was raised in the Episcopalian Church which is the "Church of England" in the United States. I have also been to many Roman Catholic services and find the Anglican and Roman Catholic services to be extremely similar. The main difference is that the Catholic church recognizes the Pope and the Anglican Church does not.
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The Royal Wedding
San Jerónimo el Real was the site of both the wedding in 1906 of Alfonso XIII and Victoria of Battenberg and the coronation of Juan Carlos I in 1975
“The rite of the nuptial Mass and blessing is this: The Mass has neither Gloria nor Creed. It counts as a votive Mass not for a grave matter; therefore it has three collects, its own, the commemoration of the day, and the third which is the one chosen for semi-doubles at that time of the year, unless there be two commemorations. At the end Benedicamus Domino and the Gospel of St. John are said. The color is white. The bridegroom and bride assist near the altar (just outside the sanctuary), the man on the right. After the Paternoster the celebrant genuflects and goes to the epistle side. Meanwhile the bridegroom and bride come up and kneel before him. Turning to them he says the two prayers Propitiare Domine and Deus qui potentate (as in the Missal) with folded hands. He then goes back to the middle and continues the Mass. They go back to their places. He gives them Communion at the usual time."
http://oce.catholic.com/index.php?title=Nuptial_Mass
Catholic Wedding Help:
http://www.catholicweddinghelp.com/topics/order-wedding-with-mass.htm
"Dear friends, you are about to commit yourselves to something remarkable and wondrous. In God's Providence you have met, and you have fallen in love with each other. You want to express that love in the life-long and exclusive commitment that is marriage; in fact your desire and resolve to do this is the expression of your acceptance of a call."
Fr Glen Tattersall is a priest of the Archdiocese of Melbourne. Together with his colleague, Fr John McDaniels, he is chaplain in the Archdiocese to those Catholics who worship in the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. The chaplaincy is based at St Aloysius' Church Caulfield. This article is taken from a homily preached by Fr Tattersall on the occasion of a wedding and nuptial Mass.
http://www.ad2000.com.au/articles/2009/decjan2009p20_3210.html
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Pope Pius X
Pope Pius X (6/2/1835-8/20/1914, aged 79), birth name Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, “combined within himself a strong sense of compassion, benevolence, poverty, but also stubbornness, and a certain stiffness. He wanted to be pastor and was the only pope in the 20th century who gave Sunday sermons every week. His charity was extraordinary, filling the Vatican with refugees from the 1908 Messina quake, long before the Italian government began to act on its own. He rejected any kind of favours for his family, his brother remained a postal clerk, his favourite nephew stayed on as village priest, and his three sisters lived together close to poverty in Rome. He often referred to his own humble origins, taking up the causes of poor people. I was born poor, I have lived poor, and I wish to die poor. Considered a holy person by many, public veneration of Pope Pius began soon after his death. Numerous petitions resulted in an early process of beatification. Pius X, like Pope Pius IX, was considered by some to be too outspoken or brusque.”
- Wikipedia
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Alejandro’s Dream
On his wedding night
Alejandro’s dream is inspired by Prayer, Stress, and Our Inner Wounds by Flora Slosson Wuellner, who provides wonderful guided meditations for healing and spiritual connection. Also quite powerful is “The Healing Waterfall: 100 Guided Imagery Scripts for Counselors, Healers, and Clergy” by Max Highstein.
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La Granja
King Alfonso XIII and Ena honeymooned for six weeks at the Palace of La Granja at San Idelfonso. “The Palace of La Granja has gardens covering over 1,500 acres. The gardens around the palace are one of the best examples of 18th century European garden design. The French designer René Carlier used the natural slope from the mountains to the palace grounds both as an aid for visual perspective and as a source of potential energy to make water shoot out of the 26 artistic fountains decorating the park.” - Wikipedia.
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“The Rose of Castille”
“The robe has a picture of the Virgin Mary on it and has since been examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the robe shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production.
Mary revealed herself, not to a member of the church hierarchy but to one who was poor, not to a European but to an indigenous person. Roman Catholics of Mexico, especially those who are among the many living in poverty there, treasure this powerful image of ‘Our Lady of Guadelupe.’ They see her as a champion of the poor and oppressed, a defender of children, and even a dragon-slayer (the dragon or "beast" is symbol of the devil).”
http://www.catholic.org/about/guadalupe.php, http://gbgm-umc.org/UMW/jesusandwomen/marymother.stm
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I can’t make these names up
The four-stroke piston engine was actually invented by Hippolyte Pixii, a Frenchman.
Bubbles (1931-2011) was not alive during the setting of “The Serenade”. Bubbles was actually alive when I began writing the book. I was so taken by his personality and nickname I had to include him. Bubbles “was the last titular Maharaja of Jaipur until 1971 when all titles, privileges, and privy purses associated with princely states in India were abolished by the 26th Amendment to the Constitution of India”.
Bubbles looked to be a very happy person by his photos. Unlike many of the Maharajas of the last century, Bubbles did not suffer an untimely death.
The Maharaja at the time of this novel was Maharaja Shri Sir Raj Rajendra Narayan Bhup Bahadur. The official title of the Maharaja of Jaïpur is His Highness Saramad-i-Rajaha-i-Hindustan Raj Rajendra Maharaja Dhiraj, Lieutenant-General Sir (personal name), GCSI (Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India), GCIE (Grand Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire), Maharaja of Jaipur.
the Duke of Valentinois
another real person
Albert 1, was the Duke of Valentinois, 1889-1919, the reader must allow him to be a little older than he actually was in 1903. The title is currently held by Albert II of Monaco, son of Prince Rainier III, Sovereign Prince of Monaco.
http://www.mumm-champagne.sparklingdirect.co.uk/
Mumm champagne has been produced Since 1827, I don't know how much a bottle would have cost. As early as 1890, Mumm was enjoyed in all the royal courts of Europe.
The courts of Austria-Hungary, Belgium, the Netherlands, Prussia, Denmark, Sweden, Norway and England, not to mention the Grand Dukes of Oldenburg and Hesse-Darmstadt, all appear in the Mumm accounts books of the 1890s. In 1902 Mumm was the leading Champagne house, selling 3 million bottles, of which one million went to the USA. Mumm quickly established its reputation thanks to its style and quality.
The emblem of Mumm was the famous Cordon Rouge. Introduced in 1875, the Mumm emblem echoes the red ribbon of the Légion d'Honneur,
In 1881 Cordon Rouge became the first champagne to arrive in the USA, inaugurating an export-oriented sales policy that has continued successfully ever since. http://www.mumm-champagne.sparklingdirect.co.uk/
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Art Nouveau
A real movement
Art Nouveau, 1890-1914, was a decorative and ornate style of arch
itecture and visual arts brought to the forefront with the 1900 World's Fair in Paris. Art Nouveau was a rebellion against the Industrial Revolution, deploring mass-produced goods and glorifying high standards of craftsmanship and design (wouldn’t we all prefer to have hand-made items?). Tiffany lamps were created in the Art Nouveau period. Art Nouveau was more than a method of production, however. There was a fantasy element to Art Nouveau, embracing the spirit world and myth. Shapes were often round and curlicue, emulating the natural world, plants, and flowers. Popular motifs were swans, beautiful women as wood-nymphs and fairies, dragonflies, and Japanese art. “Art Nouveau designers also believed that all the arts should work in harmony to create a ‘total work of art,’ or Gesamtkunstwerk: buildings, furniture, textiles, clothes, and jewelry all conformed to the principles of Art Nouveau.” Art Nouveau was replaced with Art Deco, Modernism, and Pentecostalism. Oh, wait, scratch that last one, Art Nouveau was not a religion. Or was it?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_Nouveau
Picasso’s “Life”
Picasso's "Life": 1903. The painting expressed a sympathy towards the miseries of the poor. The Adventurous World of Paris 1900-1914, by Nigel Gosling.
La Vie, 1903 by Pablo Picasso
https://www.pablopicasso.org/la-vie.jsp
More Opera banter
Gaston Louis Alfred Leroux (1868-1927) wrote “The Phantom of the Opera”, inspired by the Palais Garnier.
“But none of us can trace our royal lineage as far back as the Comte de Champagne” is an obvious reference to true old nobility while being a double entendre. The Comte de Champagne 950-1316, ruled the region of Champagne.
1904: Entente Cordiale: Britain and France sign the Anglo-French Entente Cordiale, ending centuries of hostility between the two countries. The Entente settles long-standing colonial disputes between the two countries in North America, Africa, and the Pacific, and continues the British policy of seeking alliances to secure its global interests.
Although Marc Chagall lived 1887-1985, he painted the dome of the Palais Garnier in1964. Jules-Eugene Lenepveu's copper ceiling was in place at the time of “The Serenade”. One post: “This is the horrendous ‘new’ Marc Chagall ceiling in the Opera theatre. It was installed in 1964 over the original, insanely beautiful one by Jules-Eugene Lenepvue.”
I can find no other description or photos of the former ceiling than: “Figures grinned and grimaced, laughed and jeered at MM.”
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The House of Bourbon
Franco
World War II
The House of Bourbon, not the House of Bonifácio, is the ruling family of Spain. “The House of Bourbon traces back to the 13th century. In 1268, Robert, Count of Clermont, sixth son of King Louis IX of France married Beatrix of Bourbon. The first Bourbon king of France was Henry IV, born 12/13/1553. The first Spanish branch was Philip V, son of Louis XIV, born 1683.” - Wikipedia
Alfonso XIII was the king of Spain who reigned 1886-1931. (b 5/17/86, d 2/28/41), son of Alfonso XII, family name de Borbón (not de Bonifácio, which means "Benefactor"), “married Scottish-born Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (1887-1969), called "Ena", a niece of King Edward XII of the United Kingdom and a favorite granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, who also brought hemophilia into the de Borbón family. After the birth of her children, Ena's relationship with Alfonso deteriorated. Alfonso was suspected of having numerous affairs, including Ena's British-born cousin, the Infanta Beatrice d'Orléans-Borbón. Ena devoted herself to work for hospitals and services for the poor, as well as to education. She was also involved in the reorganization of the Spanish Red Cross.” (Wikipedia)
Alfonso’s mother, Maria Christina of Austria, was appointed regent during Alfonso XIII’s minority. In 1902, at sixteen years of age, King Alfonso XIII assumed control of the state.
In 1939 Francisco Franco established a military dictatorship following the nationalist victory in the Spanish Civil War, ruling until 1975. “Upon his rise to power, Franco implemented policies that repressed political opponents and dissenters, whereby as many as between 60,000 and 400,000 died through the use of forced labor and executions in the concentration camps his regime operated. Franco’s government sided with the Axis powers of Hitler’s Nazi Germany and Mussolini’s fascist Italy during World War II.
Under the monarch, Alfonso XIII’s successor was Don Juan, Juan Carlos’ father. Juan Carlos was close to Franco and was hand-picked by him to rule upon his death. Franco passed over Don Juan in favor of his son, Juan Carlos, as the heir to the throne. Franco believed that Don Juan was too liberal and believed that Juan Carlos would continue the ultra-conservative Francoist state after his death. Juan Carlos, who everyone underestimated, surprised all by his transforming Spain from a fascist dictatorship into a democratic monarchy. I wonder if Juan Carlos’ “closeness” to Franco for decades was a learned act contrived with the purpose of returning democracy to the people. Certainly Juan Carlos fooled Franco as to his intentions.
Some interesting information about
The Bourbons
Which has nothing to do with my book
But who doesn’t like a little scandal?
The Bourbon line, which now rules Spain, originated with the French. Alfonso XII, who reigned 12/29/1874 - 11/25/1885, was handsome and dashing (far more attractive and charismatic than either of his parents Queen Isabella II, and allegedly, Francis of Assisi de Borbon, her King Consort.
Benevolent and sympathetic in disposition, Alfonso XII won the affection of his people by fearlessly visiting districts ravaged by cholera or devastated by earthquake in 1885. His capacity for dealing with men was considerable, and he never allowed himself to become the instrument of any particular party. During his short reign, peace was established both at home and abroad, finances were well regulated, and the various administrative services were placed on a basis that afterwards enabled Spain to pass through the disastrous war with the United States without the threat of a revolution. In November 1885, Alfonso died, just short of his 28th birthday, of tuberculosis presumably contracted while visiting the sick.
I don’t understand why all the good die young?
Alfonso XII’s true biological paternity is uncertain among historians, though his legal paternity is not: his mother was married to her (presumed homosexual) cousin Francis of Assisi de Borbon, the King Consort of Spain, at the time of Alfonso's conception and birth. Some theories suggest that Alfonso's biological father might have been either Enrique Puigmoltó y Mayans, captain of the Royal Guard or General Francisco Serrano.
Personally, I think the historians are crazy. And what are my credentials? I have eyes. Here is a photo of Francis of Assisi, Duke of Cádiz (the gay King Consort):
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Francis,_King_Consort_of_Spain#/media/File:Don_Francisco_de_As%C3%ADs.jpg
And here is a photo of his grandson, Alfonso XIII:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_XIII_of_Spain#/media/File:Alfonso_XIII_in_uniform_of_a_British_Field_Marshall.jpg
Tell me these two don’t look almost identical?
The moral of the story is: just because someone is gay does not mean they are unable to pro-create with the opposite sex. It happens all the time. Everyone knows this. No doubt there were lesbian women who did their duty by their husbands as well. But I digress. I just get tired of reading actual historical documents by authorities which put forth theories which seem ridiculous upon closer inspection. One must consider that there are always those trying to stir things up with gossip.
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Le Meurice
The current site of Le Meurice dates back to 1835. The king of Spain, Alphonso XIII, was one of the first people to book rooms at Le Meurice after the completed 1905-1907 renovation. “Alphonso XIII stayed regularly in Suite 106-8, bringing his own furniture. While dining on the 18th of October, 1908, King Alphonse XIII and his queen enjoyed the following menu: Consommé Viveur, Turbotin au Champagne, Cassolette
s de Queues d’Ecrevisse, Coeur de Filet de Boeuf La Vallière, Cailles aux Feuilles de Vigne, Salade Française, Soufflé Tolédo, Gourmandises.
In 1931, after Alphonse XIII was dethroned, he took refuge at Le Meurice under the name of the Duc de Tolède” (The Duke of Toledo) “with all of the royal family.
The Duke and Duchess of Windsor also retreated to Le Meurice. The king of Montenegro checked in after being chased from his kingdom, and the Shah of Iran was actually dethroned during his stay at Le Meurice.
Other famous guests have included President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the rulers of Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Greece, Iran, Italy, Serbia, Montenegro, Jordan, Romania, Russia, and Thailand.
The surrealist painter Salvador Dali spent at least one month per year at Le Meurice.” See Salvador Dali’s “The Last Supper”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Sacrament_of_the_Last_Supper
The Serenade: The Prince and the Siren Page 51