Symbols.The scepter, the crown, the sword and the throne are the objects associated with the monarchy.An institution whose power has gone from being granted by God himself to be legitimized by the laws of each country.However, their symbols have remained unchanged.Of course, although the four named are the most obvious, there are some more that we are going to discover.
It is not a novelty for our readers that the outfits that use queens and princesses issue a message and symbolize something much more abstract and substantial than a mere sewn fabric.Last Monday, the queen of Spain, Doña Letizia, has given us a lesson on how to wear a banner of monarchical values: once again she turned to the closet of her predecessor, Queen Sofia, and took, for a meeting with the ambassadors,A suit released in 1977.This is a Valentino de Giffa Valentino embroidered with large flowers and green bottle skirt, high waist, tight hip and large volume.It was noted that it was a vintage outfit that had not resisted with noble the passage of time but that lacks importance since the message is precisely that: the transcendence beyond the fashions.We can criticize that Letizia La Pollera was great and long and the blouse a little ñoña but from the symbolic point of view there are no criticism;even more when there is an implicit message of sustainability and austerity.
When we imagine Kings, princes queens and princesses move from one palace to another do not come to mind precisely the wagons of the Roca line.We imagine, rather, gold floats and white steeds.And we are not wrong because although now modern airplanes and cars are at your disposal, for the great events and short distances they use historical carriages that are symbols of the greatness of each dynasty.Of greatness and even moral poverty.
The golden carriage
Without going further last week the king of the Netherlands settled a controversy around the Goude Koets, the iconic golden carriage of the Orange, announcing that it will not be used again.To know the reasons we must make some history.
Between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries the Netherlands invaded Africa, Asia and Central America and turned part of their territory into their own.It would not have been so serious if it were not because the treatment of the natives was bloodthirsty, because it is estimated that about 600.000 Africans were sold as slaves and because part of today's wealth comes from the excessive exploitation of these colonies.
Máxima and Guillermo Alejandro during a tour of Amsterdam in the golden carriage, after his wedding / © Korpa
This sense of the superiority of the white race is reflected, without shame, in the artistic manifestations of the time.When in 1898 Nicolaas Van der Waay is commissioned to decorate the doors of the carriage destined for Queen GuillerminA throne that is worshiped by black people who are kneeling in an attitude of submission.The triptych is known as "tribute to the colonies" and everyone seemed as normal until, for the first time in 1990, some voices rose to point out the sadly symbolic design.
However, no one pays attention to protest and continued to transport the then Reina Beatriz to Parliament.Also in him the streets of Máxima and Guillermo Alejandro newly married toured the streets of Amsterdam.
The kings of Spain at the reception of the diplomatic body / web
The debate was installed in two011 when a Dutch politic.Later the king was asked to be changed by others or that, at least, the triptych was covered, a request that was in no way took into account since "it would be to modify a cultural heritage".Anyway, the carriage ceased to be used in two015 since it needed to be restored and, from that year, it changed it to the glass float.
The King, somehow, kicked the issue forward and had the "luck" that when the car was ready to be used, the covid prevented the pomp of the budget day and the subject.But ... this year he finally decided to take the bull by the antlers and in a brief speech he expressed his desire that the Goude Koetz remained indefinite in the museum in which he is currently on display, well protected between crystals.This was expressed:
Clothing, floats and dishes are not simple objects but symbols that tell stories
"Our story contains much of what to be proud.At the same time, learning material also offers errors and avoiding them in the future.We cannot rewrite the past but we can try to reach an agreement together.This also applies to the colonial past.
It makes no sense to condemn and disqualify what has happened through the lens of our time.The simple prohibition of historical objects and symbols is certainly not a solution.Instead, we need a deeper and more permanent arranged effort in time.An effort that one instead of dividing us.
Sofia and Letizia, two queens with the same outfit / web
On exhibition
The restored gold carriage has been on display at the Amsterdam Museum since June last year.The exhibition will end in February but can only be used again when the Netherlands are ready.And that is not the case now.
"We cannot rewrite the past but we can try to reach an agreement together"
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— SolaFAJANA (Dr) Sat Oct 03 18:two1:36 +0000 two015
All citizens of this country should be able to feel the same and have fair opportunities.Everyone should be able to feel part of what is built in our country and feel proud of it.Also the Dutch with ancestors who were not free.While there are people living in the Netherlands who feel the pain of discrimination daily, the past will still project their shadow over our time and will not have finished.
Listening and understanding are indispensable conditions to achieve reconciliation and remove the pain from people's soul.
I know we are able to do that, even if it is a long and difficult path.I understand very well the different feelings of all.Only if we take this path to reconciliation together, the golden carriage can drive again on the day of the budget, the day we celebrate our democracy and our solidarity as a Dutch people."
A statement of intentions by the king who has understood the importance of symbols to sustain an institution as strong and at the same time as weak as the parliamentary monarchy.
Half a century on the throne
On January 14, the 50 years of Queen Margarita II on the throne were held in Denmark.We already advanced in previous editions that the great holidays had had to go through the health crisis but still the queen was entertained with a surprise dinner in which her two children, her dulls, her eight grandchildren and her sister, theBenedicta Princess.And dinner was not the only surprise but it was served in the Danica Flora Disp.
Es raro pensar en que un plato y una fuente tengan algún significado pero muchos de nosotros nos resistimos a tirar (aunque casi no lo usemos y esté “cachadita") la sopera de una tía segunda o la taza de té de porcelana china que trajeron los abuelos de Italia.Well ... that's what it's about.It is a symbol of tradition.
Vajilla, glassware and cutlery are very important in real galas
The Danica flora is, in fact, a compendium of drawings and nomenclature of flowers that grew in Denmark that began to be held in 1765 at the request of King Federico V. Cuando se completó, 1twotwo años después, el catálogo tenía 3two40 motivos florales y constituía un gran orgullo para la ciencia danesa.To this point it was a reference work that when it had to be congratulated with Catalina la Grande, Empress of all the Russia, the Danish king commissioned the Royal Danish Porcelain Factory to make a porcelain and filigree dishes in gold in which they will be painted, by hand, the same flowers that appeared in the book.
THE PAINTING
In principle the painting task was entrusted to a single man, Johann Christoph Bayer, who had also drawn the flowers in the catalog.But the poor left life and sight in it and took so many years that Empress Catalina died before he was over. La vajilla nunca cruzó las fronteras de Dinamarca y en 180two, con un servicio para 100 comensales finalizado, se detuvo la producción hasta sesenta años después en que, con buen tino, el trabajo de pintar flor por flor fue encomendado a 15 artesanos y no a uno solo como en el primer intento.
Some pieces of Vajilla Flora Danica / Web
Of the 1800 pieces are still preserved 1500.It had been used for the last time in 1990, at the gala dinner to celebrate the 90 years of Queen Ingrid, Margarita's mother.
Flora Danica, pride of national production and the royal family, was undoubted.And keep in mind that, if you also want to entertain someone, a replica of some pieces are on sale on the web www.Royalcopenhagen.com at impossible prices for our pockets with pesos.
Flora Danica is linked to royalty / web
The dishes, glassware and cutlery are very important in real galas.To the point that in 1986, when the then kings of Spain Juan Carlos and Sofia visited the Queen of England, they took the dishes with their initials (JSC) to be used in one of the dinners in which they were hosts.Felipe VI continues to use the same until today since the budget and the example of austerity that they want to transmit prevent that they can dream even a teaspoon.
Clothing, floats, dishes are not simple objects but symbols that tell stories of the past, strengthen the power of the present and intend to ensure the future of the monarchical institution.
