Hello my loves!

It's been a hot minute since I last wrote.

Don't worry, I'm here! I wanted to wait to get a good amount of questions before doing this post. And I had a Plant update scheduled to go after Queen Victoria's biography (written in my personal style, mind you) but since then, I got a LOT of plants, so I have to write the post in a time were I'm on a plant-buying hiatus.

Anyways, with that out of the way, shall we begin replying to the questions my readers sent me?

I'll start with the ever so lovely BARBlE, she's been so sweet and supportive to me.

BARBlE: Of all the tiaras you know, which one is your favorite?

A: As you can imagine, I absolutely love and worship royal jewelry, so it is very hard for me to tell people what my favorite tiara is. Somedays I love the "Cambridge Lover's knot tiara" from the British Royal Family, or the "Vladimir tiara," the "Spanish Floral tiara" or the "Spanish Cartier tiara," sometimes the Swedish "Braganza tiara" or the "Leuchstenberg tiara," it's so hard! My taste changes with my mood. But I can definitely say my favorites are the Spanish "Cartier Loop tiara" from the Spanish Royal Family. and the "Danish Ruby tiara" from the Danish Royal Family. They are all very impressive jewelry and are hard to compete with each other.

RoyaleAnna23: What is the true reason you think royalty has so captured your imagination? Is it the pomp and the glamorous fashions, their poise and old-school elegance, the high standards of behavior/conduct they embody, or something else entirely?

A: Well dear, you basically stated almost all of my reasons to love them, You're right.

It is definitely the pomp, the glamor, the fairy tale that they embody that captivates me. I love looking at the vintage photos of past royals (1900 to the '70s) when royals would all gather in state occasions which were also family occasions because many royals are related to each other in some way or another. This goes back to the medieval times were princesses married for duty and alliance and not exactly love. Let's see an example.

if Queen A and King B have a son who's going to be King C, and a daughter who is Queen D, the daughter would many times be brought up to be a lady, to love and respect her nation, and all they knew was that their duty was to serve the country, and for that, they had to marry a king or prince they never saw. So now, Daughter D is Queen D of a certain country. That queen's children will marry other country's children and so on and so forth, mostly for political reasons.

Although in today's eyes this seems barbaric, in those times it was seen as the right thing. And I also love that in royals. The dedication to their country, the sense of duty they convey, the respect and value of her family's and her new country's principles and traditions... it's fantastic. 

Anyways, back to my point. I love seeing pictures of royals gathering, the men in their impressive uniforms with lots of medals and the women in their inherited tiaras, the infinite rows of diamonds they wore back in the day, the jewelry's craftmanship, and to see the jewels glitter as the wearer moves from one room to another, possibly to be seated at a fabulous giant table with illustrious people, the long Russian balls at court, the beautiful court dresses the Russian ladies wore, the etiquette, the titles, the glitter, the history... every one of these things fascinate me.

 A good example of royal duty is in my country, Portugal. Back in 1886 when the then Prince of Beira, heir to the throne, Prince Carlos married the French Princess Amélie (or Amélia). Because she was from the Orleans branch, the venue and church had blue iris flowers, the flower that represented the Orleans, and lavender, Portugal's national flower. Even at the latest Portuguese royal wedding in 1995, the Duke and Duchess of Braganza's wedding had symbolism. She wore Portuguese embroidery on her dress from the region of Niza and wore the D. Luis Diadem, the tiara given to Queen Amélia on the occasion of her wedding to king Carlos by the king at the time, D. Luis I.

Princess Amélia at the time, had requested for her veil to display the coat of arms of both families, and to me, that celebrates not only their love for each other and each other's families, but also the love for the nation. For royals it was and still is very important to represent their nations in the best way possible. Royals embody tradition and continuity so it's no surprise that many royal brides today still wear the veil of their grandmother (Denmark) or wear the same tiara on their special days (Sweden). The continuity and tradition gives their people a sense of security and closeness.  I love these little gestures that make royalty so lovable. They are the physical representation of duty and devotion.

They ARE the fairy tale. They need to be, in order to survive, because let's be honest. it's for the fairy tale aspect that we love the royals, we don't necessarily regard them as political figures when we're too busy drooling over their jewels and dresses and amazings balls.

Because of the time we live in, the gatherings I spoke about are much more private and sober, not so much pomp, the glamor is toned down because royals don't want to get in their people's bad side.

The King and Queen of Spain didn't escape the public's scrutiny when she was offered a new tiara by the jewelry brand Ansorena. It was stated that Prince Philip (now king) bought it for her, but it was finally revealed in 2015 that it was given to her by the brand themselves. In today's world it is very tricky for royals to accept gifts, especially Spain, because at the time they were going through an economic crisis.

I really wish we could be treated to a proper ball with lots of glittering jewels, orders, and flowy gowns, but coronavirus came to make it worse and royals are now going out as little as possible.

For example, British royals who are much more low-key now and I wish people would stop judging the whole royal family for one element's horrible doings. If people want Prince Andrew to be judged for his behavior, let it be done! But don't accuse his family which has done nothing but good to the country in the best way they can. (And by his family I mean his immediate family, not the 2000-year monarchy family.) One rotten apple does not mean all the fruit batch is rot, remember that. It's been a sad year for all of us in every shape or form.

RoyaleAnna23 was curious enough to ask me a second question:

You 've mentioned you are a history student. At what level (undergrad, Master's, PhD)? Do you plan to specialize academically or write a thesis in a topic related to royalty for your degree?

A: I don't usually talk about my accademic life because quite frankly it's not something I enjoy talking about, it's honestly so depressing, lol. And also because I'm not that good.

I am currently a history student, still in first year because I was in another course for 2 years and then it went wrong. I stopped the course and went to work to help my parents and then I came back and I am in a special nighttime course that prepares you for the exams to have a suitable grade to get you into the course you want. In my case: history. But when people ask me, I reply right away that I am already in History because I already have normal history classes, just as if I was having them during a normal daytime course. 

As many others would want, I plan on having a PhD and working at museums (preferably in a palace's museum). You know very well how I love royals and because of that, my dream is to be a tour guide at the National Palace of Ajuda, our last monarch's home.

It is a stunning (unfinished) 200-year-old palace. It is finally being finished, and the back will have a modern layout while inside there will be a permament Crown Jewel exhibition, which we are lacking. We live in a republic and the jewels of our glorious past are kept hidden. Such a silly thing to do. Among said jewels, you would probably spot the Queen Maria Pia's star tiara and matching necklace, Queen Amélia's emerald tiara and necklace, other unknown or never-seen-by-the-public jewels, medals, orders, swords, as well as silver and gold dinnerware and so much more. I can't wait!

As for a thesis, I'd love to write about Portuguese royals; I think they are still not very talked about, especially among today's generation. Younger people barely remember or care for royals or know we still have royals that don't reign. Most youngsters don't even know who D. Duarte Pio de Bragança is, which saddens me a lot.

I always try to tell my friends and people that know I love royals who come to me with doubts, about them. I include information about who they are, where they come from, what they represent, and what they do. Most of the times, people are shocked because they were unaware these people that contribute so much for the country are so unnoticeable.

They are officialy recognized by the government and do attend state dinners when foreign royals are invited, but we (and I mean "we" as the Portuguese and not necessarily ME) still don't know about half of the great things they do because we live in a republic. The media does as much as they can to hide the royals and barely talk about them or their doings on the news, probably to avoid turning more people into monarchists. I consider this a bit sneaky. 

Huremsultan.11: did you know that Egypt had a royal system for more than 150 years? And if so, do you know or like any of our queens and princesses?

A: Although I'm very - and I mean VERY - fascinated with ancient Egypt, I'm not up-to-date on Egyptian comtemporary or modern-era royals. I do know of Queen Nazli and the very beautiful Afghan Princess Noal Zaher, the wife of the Crown Prince Muhammad Daoud Pashtunyar Khan of Egypt. 

I think my readers might have noticed by now, I do have a tendency to like European royals. Not for discriminatory purposes or anything awful like that, but because I'm European. I'm used to them and grew up watching them on tv and reading about them on gossip magazines. I'm not blind when it comes to non-European royals though -- just not as interested as I would be with the European ones. They are still royals and are still fun to read about and to learn from. I enjoy the Japanese royal family, the royals from the last dynasty of China (Qing) and I follow Queen Rania of Jordan and the Crown Prince of Dubai on my Instagram.  I'm also very interested in past Hawaiian royalty because I love Hawaii and their culture. Queen Liliuokalani of Hawaii is my favorite Hawaiian monarch and she must have been quite a pleasant person because she is stil loved and worshipped by her people today with festivals held in her honor. 

This reminds me... did you know there are royals that I simply don't like? 

I'm talking about the Monaco Royal Family. I think the reason why I don't like them is because they do things a lot less traditionally and much more common and modern.

Princess Charlene does not inspire must confidence to me. I feel she looks depressed all the time, like she wants to leave the royals and be happy alone. Poor thing. 

And I absolutely hate the fact that they act as celebrities and not royals. They attend popular events way too frequently, their weddings look like cheap Hollywood weddings,  and Princess Charlotte Casiraghi's civil wedding dress, although beautiful, it was WAY too short for a daughter of a princess to wear, in my opinion. The poor girl doesn't even have a royal title, which contributes to their celebrity status.

Don't get me wrong, both the religious and civil wedding dresses were pretty, just not royalty-level pretty. They look like rich celebrities who married in an isolated estate surrounded by important rich people. The fairy tale aspect of that royal family is 0 in my opinion and I like to pretend they don't exist because honestly, to me, they look like a  European version of the Kardashians.

Sorry if this is too harsh, but it's my honest opinion. 

Huremsultan.11: what is your favorite piece of jewelry related to the Egyptian royal family?

I don't know much about Egypt's royaljewels. I've seen Princess Fawzia wearing a sort of kokoshnik-style tiara (by the way, she was a very pretty princess) and apparently it is called Princess Fawzia tiara. It's one of the most beautiful ones in their collection. I also adore Queen Nazli's rose necklace and earrings -- such massive roses! And I also like the Princess Shivakiar's Diamond and Pearl tiara, which is very reminiscent of the Khedive of Egypt tiara, a tiara given as a wedding gift to Princess Margaret of Connaught of Denmark by the Khedive of Egypt, and one of my favorite spiral design tiaras. 

And finally we have TrendyLolitaita's question.

TrendyLolitaita:  Why do you ignore the super bad impact of royals in your blogs?

A: I think reading my blog posts, it's obvious why I do so. I love them. It makes no sense to me to trash talk them or mention their bad actions. No one does it when talking about things they love. 

And I don't have to. People know by now that my posts are and will always be MY opinion, therefore, they always one-sided. You simply can't expect me to write bad things or address the bad things they have done and demand that I do so no more than I can demand you love them as I do. 

If people are looking for truely unbiased history, they should look into history books. I write with the heart. I love and admire royals, I look up to them and love the good aspects they embody as I already mentioned earlier and it does not and will never make sense to me as to why people demand me to write about the negative aspects of something that I love just because you don't like them.

I'm tired of people saying "you shouldn't or can't glorify royals!" YES, I can, it's a free world and I'm not harming you while doing so.

I am a depressive, lonely person by nature and royals are one of the very few things that makes me happy. It makes me happy to see the Duchess of Cambridge in a new tiara, it makes me happy to find a new photo of Queen Victoria, or to watch a royal wedding, birthday celebration or state dinner. It really does. Royals were the reason I survived bullying all my childhood. I remember being happy to get home after classes and my classmates were tough on me, only to watch royalty-related stuff. 

I love them more than words can explain and they do me so good on a very personal level. I have a safety bubble filled with royal glamor and fairy tales and some of my readers love trying to burst my bubble. 

When readers comment negatively - which they are free to do so because it's public -  it can make me depressed and sad.  I don't have intentions to write to please a few readers that aren't happy or hate what I write about. If you don't like royals, why waste your time commenting mean "constructive opinions" for people that don't want your opinions and only get sad about it?

It's clear as water that I do not appreciate when the same group of readers comes for me in every royalty-related post I write because they are anti-monarchist and pick on the fact that I didn't mention their bad actions or bad impact. Please just stop it because that won't happen. Please waste your energy with people willing to change to suit your views.

It's fine when you comment something negative as long as it's your opinion (even though I can't understand why would you waste time in being negative when you have a choice to ignore it as a whole) and not a constant reminder of "facts" that I don't mention on my posts.I love royals and I'm not harming people because of it. I don't see why should you harm me? In case you're wondering, harassment and cruel posts you claim are "just stating the facts" can be harmful to me. 

Comment all you want but do it NICELY. Remember I'm a (rather sensitive) person behind a screen and I might not have as many coping skills as you think I have, just because I'm a StarBogger and that means I should have. It certainly does not and many harsh things the same people say over and over gets stuck in my head and no one deserves to feel like I do because you can't ignore something you don't like. 

Hopefuly this serves a general disclaimer for any of my future posts, that ALL my blog posts about royalty are MY opinion and are in no way to be intended as truthful history. (Not that what I write are lies, they are just colored by my views and opinions.) 

Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed my very honest opinion. I'm also so sorry if I came across as angry. I'm not, I swear. Just tired of people attacking me. 

Well, see you lovelies in my next post!