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TOPIC: royal family

This Happened

This Happened — August 31: Death Of Lady Diana

Princess Diana died on this day in 1997.

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This Happened — July 29: Wedding Of Charles And Diana

Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer were married on this day in 1981 at St. Paul's Cathedral in London, England.

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This Happened — June 21: Prince William Is Born

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge, was born on this day in 1982 at St Mary's Hospital in London, United Kingdom.

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This Happened — June 1: Nepalese Royal Massacre

The Nepalese royal family massacre happened on this day in 2001. Nine members of the Nepalese royal family were killed in the Narayanhiti Palace in Kathmandu, Nepal. The victims included King Birendra, Queen Aishwarya, Crown Prince Dipendra, and other members of the royal family.

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This Happened

This Happened — May 19: Harry And Meghan, The Big Day

Five years ago today, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were married at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle, England.

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Geopolitics
Sean Lang

Why The King's Coronation Is (Still) A Celebration Of The British Empire

The coronation ceremony of King Charles III reflects how the monarchy has developed since Saxon times, but it still carries many vestiges of Britain’s imperial past.

-Analysis-

LONDON — In the 18th century, the royal title changed from “King of England” to “King of the United Kingdom”, as successive Acts of Union joined England, Scotland and Ireland into one political unit. However, the biggest change in the royal title came in 1876, when the Royal Titles Act made Queen Victoria Empress of India. This gave her authority even over those areas of India which were not formally subject to British rule.

To give this change of title a formal announcement in India, the British authorities staged what became the first of three durbars – ceremonial events held in the British Raj to formally proclaim the imperial title. Queen Victoria’s was held in 1877, the year following the act, but Edward VII’s and George V’s were held in conjunction with their coronations.

The viceroy of India in 1877, Lord Lytton, concocted the original durbar from a mixture of Persian, Mughal and English ceremonial traditions, as a formal proclamation of the queen’s title. When her son became Edward VII in 1901, a bigger durbar was organised to proclaim his imperial title – although, like his mother, Edward remained in London.

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Sources

This Happened—December 30: Roaring Lion Captured With A Click

The portrait of Winston Churchill was taken in 1941 by Armenian-Canadian photographer Yousuf Karsh in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, as he was set to address the Canadian members of Parliament following action taken in World War II.

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This Happened

This Happened— December 11: A Royal Abdicates

After the death of his father, George V, on January 20, 1936, Edward VIII became the King of England at 42 years old, but shockingly announced his decision less than a year later to abdicate the throne on this day in history.

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This Happened

This Happened—November 20: A Royal Wedding

Princess Elizabeth and Prince Phillip tied the knot in a royal wedding that sealed the couple together for more than 70 years, including Queen Elizabeth's record-setting reign.

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In The News
Chloé Touchard, Lisa Berdet, Lila Paulou and Anne-Sophie Goninet

Queen’s Funeral, 100 Dead In Kyrgyz-Tajik Clashes, Fossil Fuel Database

👋 Om suastiastu!*

Welcome to Monday, where world leaders and hundreds of thousands mourners bid farewell to Queen Elizabeth II, the death toll of the Kyrgyzstan-Tajikistan border conflict rises and the first public database on fossil fuel reserves is on its way. Meanwhile, Cuba's independent news outlet El Toque shows how migration has once again become the only way out of the ordeal that life on the island represents.

[*Balinese]

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Society
Chloé Touchard and Lila Paulou

Cover Queen: Elizabeth II’s Life In 38 Magazine Covers

From infancy to marriage, from coronation to globetrotting, through until her death, Queen Elizabeth graced the covers of countless magazines. Here's an international collection, from 12 countries around the world, from her baby cover of TIME magazine in 1929 to being bid farewell from Brazil last week.

Queen Elizabeth II’s life encompassed so many aspects, from time-honored royal tradition to behind-the-scenes family drama to public acts of kindness. But the Queen was also a tour deforce of modern celebrity management. Seventy years of royal apparitions and iconic looks from her British throne to consistent globetrotting made her the most famous woman in the world — decade after decade — without it ever going over the top.

Like her 1952 coronation, one of the first public events to be covered live on television, her death on Sept. 8 at 96, and Monday’s funeral, were those rare moments when the world came together to celebrate the life of a single person.


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Society
Sophia Constantino

Whispers In The Abbey: How Long Can King Charles III Hold On To The Crown?

It's passed down by bloodline, and Charles has publicly vowed to a life of service. But is a rather un-beloved old white man with a complicated past the right royal for this moment? Even if a monarchy is undemocratic by design, popular opinion matters today more than ever. Just look at the Spanish monarchy.

-Analysis-

Grappling with the loss of its Queen, Britain is simultaneously embarking on a rapid process of transition — and that begins with a face and few key words. Postage stamps, speeches, national anthems: all of it will change visage and verbiage from Queen to King, Her Majesty to His Majesty, as Elizabeth’s son Charles III takes power.

But these differences are just scratching the surface of potentially far deeper changes afoot, and a looming sense of trepidation only being whispered about, as the nation joins together to try to assure a smooth transition of royal power.

Yet there are questions that will only grow louder: Will the aging son pale in comparison to his mother’s lifelong standard? How far has society evolved since Elizabeth took the crown in 1952? Will Charles' past as prince come back to haunt him?

Put a tad more bluntly: How long will his reign last?

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