CatherineB's New Writeupshttp://everything2.com/?node=New%20Writeups%20Atom%20Feed&foruser=CatherineB2003-06-05T13:34:32ZPrincess Caroline of Monaco (person)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/Princess+Caroline+of+MonacoCatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-06-05T13:34:32Z2003-06-05T13:34:32ZThe elder of the two princesses of <a href="/title/Monaco">Monaco</a>, Princess Caroline and her sister <a href="/title/Princess+St%25C3%25A9phanie+of+Monaco">Stéphanie</a> have consistently starred in one of continental Europe's most intricate royal <a href="/title/soap+opera">soap opera</a>s. A <a href="/title/Jamie+Lee+Curtis">Jamie Lee Curtis</a> lookalike and a divorce lawyer's dream, Caroline now seems to have taken over the role of responsible <a href="/title/matriarch">matriarch</a> vacated by their mother <a href="/title/Grace+Kelly">Princess Grace</a> after her tragic death in <a href="/title/1982">1982</a>.<br>
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Caroline was born in January <a href="/title/1957">1957</a>, only a year after the princess formerly known as <a href="/title/Grace+Kelly">Grace Kelly</a> had married Monaco's ruling Prince <a href="/title/Rainier+III">Rainier III</a>. Their 1956 ceremony had been a media event in its own right, paving the way for <a href="/title/Diana%252C+Princess+of+Wales">paparazzi-laden royal weddings</a> since; Caroline's first exposure to royal controversy came early, when Grace caused a stir on a tour to America by <a href="/title/breastfeeding">breastfeeding</a> little Caro.<br>
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Grace, in fact, set much store by fashionably progressive parenting, and raised Caroline and her brother…Eurovision Song Contest 2003 (thing)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/Eurovision+Song+Contest+2003CatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-05-23T12:33:08Z2003-05-23T12:33:08Z<p>The 48th <a href="/title/Eurovision+Song+Contest">Eurovision Song Contest</a>, which is to take place in the <a href="/title/Latvia">Latvia</a>n capital of <a href="/title/Riga">Riga</a> on <a href="/title/May+24%252C+2003">May 24, 2003</a>. For the second time in a row the event is being hosted by a member of the ex-<a href="/title/Soviet+bloc">Soviet bloc</a>, after the winsome <a href="/title/Marie+N">Marie N</a> won a <a href="/title/Eurovision+Song+Contest+2002">close victory</a> in <a href="/title/Tallinn">Tallinn</a> with a song borrowed from <a href="/title/Carmen+Miranda">Carmen Miranda</a> and a stage act inspired by <i><a href="/title/Victor%252FVictoria">Victor/Victoria</a></i>.<br>
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Marie, in fact, is one of the show's presenters this year, alongside <a href="/title/Renars+Kaupers">Renars Kaupers</a>, the lead singer of Latvian rock band <a href="/title/BrainStorm">BrainStorm</a>. Kaupers' boys provided Latvia's début entry in <a href="/title/Eurovision+Song+Contest+2000">2000</a>, coming away with a perfectly respectable third place after voters across Europe warmed to his rubber legs, seventies-revival dress sense and a guitarist whose idea of fashion extended only as far as a <a href="/title/Manchester+United">Manchester United</a> shirt.<br>
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The Latvian state broadcaster, unoriginally named <a href="/title/LTV">LTV</a>, has gone out of its way to show Latvia off to an estimated hundred million viewers, hoping to<!-- close unclosed tag --></p>…The death of Federico García Lorca (idea)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/The+death+of+Federico+Garc%25C3%25ADa+LorcaCatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-05-14T13:54:36Z2003-05-14T13:54:36ZThe Spanish poet and playwright, famous for his evocative and mysterious renditions of <a href="/title/Andaluc%25C3%25ADa">Andalucía</a>, was shot dead on August 19, 1936, a month after the outbreak of the <a href="/title/Spanish+Civil+War">Spanish Civil War</a>. His fame made him an emblematic martyr for the <a href="/title/Republican">Republican</a>s' cause, but Lorca was but one of the 80,000 victims of the repression wrought by <a href="/title/Francisco+Franco">Francisco Franco</a>'s Nationalist forces.<br>
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<b>Golden Age</b><br>
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Lorca was born in the village of <a href="/title/Fuente+Vaqueros">Fuente Vaqueros</a> in <a href="/title/1898">1898</a>, but when he was nine years old his family moved to <a href="/title/Granada">Granada</a>, the city which had been the <a href="/title/Alhambra">last capital</a> of Moorish Spain. Although he preferred to set his work in the countryside, he believed he had a special connection with historic Granada.<br>
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Indeed, he once wrote that his Granadine origin "<i>gives me a sympathetic understanding of those who are persecuted</i>", as the <a href="/title/The+Expulsion+of+the+Moriscos">500,000 Moors had been</a> when they were expelled in <a href="/title/1492">1492</a> as the culmination of the Spanish kings' centuries-long…Clare Short (person)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/Clare+ShortCatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-05-13T12:14:42Z2003-05-13T12:14:42ZAn outspoken <a href="/title/Labour+Party">Labour</a> politician, associated with the left wing of the 1990s party, who nonetheless remained in <a href="/title/Tony+Blair">Tony Blair</a>'s cabinet for six years as the minister for <a href="/title/international+development">international development</a>. To the surprise of her sympathisers, she emerged as a card-carrying <a href="/title/liberal+interventionism">liberal interventionist</a> during the <a href="/title/Operation+Allied+Force">Kosovo campaign</a>, but could not be persuaded to support the <a href="/title/war+on+Iraq+2003">war on Iraq</a>, and tendered her resignation in May <a href="/title/2003">2003</a>, delivering a damning attack on Blair's style of government.<br>
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<b>If You Mention Breasts</b><br>
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Short was born in February <a href="/title/1946">1946</a> in <a href="/title/Birmingham">Birmingham</a>, the second of seven children. Her father, an <a href="/title/Irish+nationalism">Irish nationalist</a>, came from <a href="/title/Crossmaglen">Crossmaglen</a> in <a href="/title/Northern+Ireland">Northern Ireland</a>, and she describes herself as an 'ethnic Catholic'. She argued in the 1980s that British troops should leave the province; more recently, she has claimed that her Irish Catholic background helped to dispel the suspicions that…José Antonio Primo de Rivera (person)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/Jos%25C3%25A9+Antonio+Primo+de+RiveraCatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-05-12T12:49:58Z2003-05-12T12:49:58ZThe leader of the Spanish fascist movement <a href="/title/Falange+Espanola">Falange Española</a>. His father had been a military dictator in his own right, and the Falange joyously fell in with the army's attempted coup of July <a href="/title/World+War+II+timeline%253A+1936">1936</a> which became the <a href="/title/Spanish+Civil+War">Spanish Civil War</a>. José Antonio's untimely death later that year would make him the iconic <a href="/title/martyr">martyr</a> of the Nationalist regime, while his old party became co-opted into <a href="/title/Francisco+Franco">Francisco Franco</a>'s state.<br>
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<b>Rising Son</b><br>
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José Antonio was born in <a href="/title/1903">1903</a> in <a href="/title/J%25C3%25A9rez+de+la+Frontera">Jérez de la Frontera</a>, the <a href="/title/sherry">sherry</a> capital of Spain around which his family's agricultural holdings were centred. As large landowners, or <i><a href="/title/latifundista">latifundista</a>s</i>, his family were at the heart of <a href="/title/Andalucia">Andalucia</a>n society, and his uncle had earned the hereditary title of Marqués de Estrella for his part in ending the <a href="/title/Second+Carlist+War">Second Carlist War</a> in <a href="/title/1878">1878</a>.<br>
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José's father, <a href="/title/Miguel+Primo+de+Rivera">Miguel Primo de Rivera</a>, had been a general too, and in <a href="/title/1923">1923</a> seized power in a classic military <i><!-- close unclosed tag --></i>…Queen Marie of Romania (person)http://everything2.com/user/CatherineB/writeups/Queen+Marie+of+RomaniaCatherineBhttp://everything2.com/user/CatherineB2003-05-05T10:46:03Z2003-05-05T10:46:03Z<p align="center"><i>"Oh, life is a glorious <a href="/title/song+cycle">cycle of song</a>,<br>
A medley of extemporanea,<br>
And love is a thing that can never go wrong,<br>
And I am Marie of Roumania"</i><br>
-<a href="/title/Dorothy+Parker">Dorothy Parker</a>, <i>Comment</i><br>
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"<i>I am the most beautiful queen in Europe."</i><br>
-Queen Marie of Romania</p>
The 1920s' very own celebrity royal, Marie of Romania brought a much-needed veneer of glamour to the remote monarchy. With her <a href="/title/People%2527s+Princess">tearful hospital visits</a>, charitable events and glitzy international jaunts, the <a href="/title/media+princess">media princess</a> of the <a href="/title/Jazz+Age">Jazz Age</a> was a blueprint for the <a href="/title/Diana%252C+Princess+of+Wales">starry-eyed young things</a> of later decades. At home, she manoeuvred through the intrigues of Romanian politics while engaging in a string of affairs and giving birth to Romania's proto-fascist King <a href="/title/Carol+II">Carol II</a>.<br>
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<b>Sleeping Beauty</b><br>
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The future Balkan queen was born in <a href="/title/Kent">Kent</a> in <a href="/title/1875">1875</a>, the nearest thing to an English princess that the nineteenth century could…