More royal names

Zara is the name of Princess Anne's daughter, and was considered very unusual for a royal child at the time of her birth. THe name's meaning is obscure, but is probably derived from the Arabic for flower, Zahr. Zara's children are called Mia, Lena and Lucas. Beatrice, the name of the late queen's second grand daughter is a royal name, used by Queen VIctoria for her youngest child. The name means bringer of joy or blessing... it is a Latinate name. There were a few Beatrices in the Royal family, in Victoria's day, and Sarah Duchess Of York chose the name, having written books about queen Victoria. The name can be abbreviated to Trixie, or Beatie or Bea. Beatrice's sister Eugenie was also given an old fashioned Victorian name Eugenie. It is unusual, but it was the name of Princess Beatrice's daughter, Victoria Eugenie, who became queen of Spain. She was named after the French Empress Eugenie who lived in England and was friends with queen Victoria. Beatrice's daughter has been named Siena Elizabeth, after the queen and presumably because the name Siena was liked by the parents. Eugenie's son has been named August which was one of the names of Prince Albert, the Prince Consort.

Royal brides names

The Georges married German princesses, and George II and George IV both married Carolines so the name began to be used among the upper classes. It is a feminine version of Charles as well and means man. Caroline of Anspach, the wife of George II was a clever woman and reasonably well liked, as she was a better ruler than her husband, who was devoted to her. Caroline of Brunswick was a foolish vulgar woman but her husband George IV was even worse than her, and he treated her so badly that she became very popular with the masses. The name is still popular, and can be abbreviated to Caro, Carrie, Linny, Lina. William IV married Princess Adelaide, a much younger German princess, who did not manage to have any children but who was a good wife, and was freindly with his many illegitimate children. The name means noble kind, it never became all that popular, but was used in Victorian times. It can be abbreviated as Addy, Della, and Laidy. Philippa of Hainault was the wife of Edward III - she produced a large family and was well loved, her name was used by many royals at the time. It means Horse lover and can be abbreviated to Phil, or Pippa.

Royal Brides Names

Brides marrying into the Royal family brought in new names which often became very popular. Queen Alexandra was of Danish and German origin, and as Princess of Wales and Queen she was well loved, for her kindliness, beauty and charity work. Her name was used by other British royals including Princess Alexandra of Kent, in the present day. Alexandra was known in the family as Alix. THe name became quite popular in the UK and has abbreviations such as Alex, Sandra, Lexi and Sandy. Another name from a foreign queen was Eleanor. Two medieval French princesses who married into the Royal family were called Eleanor and the name spread. It was used by many British Princesses and upper class women. Abbreviations include Ellie, and Nell. A much less popular name was the wife of Charles I, Henrietta Maria. Her name was so foreign sounding that she was known as Queen Mary, and her name never became popular. She was a deeply unpopular queen because of her Catholic French background. The name means Home ruler, and can be abbreviated to Hetty. Charlotte was a well liked name, which came into the Royal family via Queen Charlotte, wife of George III. She was a homely woman, but she was queen for a very long time and the name became popular among the upper classes. It is the feminine of Charles which means man, and can be abbreviated to Charlie, or Lottie. At present, there is of course Princess Charlotte the daughter of Prince William whose name may derive from her grandfather, Charles.

Royal names for women

There have been several queens in British history, the longest reigning of course were Victoria and hte late Elizabeth II. The others were Elizabeth I, the two Queen Marys, and Queen Anne. The name Victoria was new to the British royals, Victoria was named after her German mother Victoire, the name meant Victory. Victoria wanted all her female descendants to have her name but by the time Elizabeth II was born the family abandoned this practice and she was simply Elizabeth Alexandra Mary. Most of Victoria's daughters did have the Victoria in their names, they included VIctoria of Prussia, known as Moretta, Victoria Alberta of Hesse, Princess Victoria, Edward VII's daughter, who was called Toria and many others. Edward VII's three daughters were called Louise, after her grandmother, VIctoria after queen VIctoria and Maud, an old English name. The name Maud came from the Empress Maud or Matilda who was Henry I's daughter and the mother of Henry II. The name passed into the Norwegian royal family when Princess Maud married the King of Norway.

Royal Names

Charles is the third king of that name in the UK, but the name Charles is very popular among royals in Europe. The King of Sweden is Carl Gustav. The Former king of Romania was King Carol II... and Juan Carlos was the former king of Spain. The name means Man and has been well known in the UK for centuries. Several kings of France were also called Charles. Charles I and Charles II in the Uk were rather unsuccessful so the name was not used for a long time. Another Stuart name was James which was popular for Kings of Scotland. James I of England was the son of Mary queen of Scots.. and his grandson was James II who was forced into exile. The Stuarts were not popular in England wth the English, due to their absolutist tendencies. So the name James was not used again for a royal until Prince Edwards son in the 2000s. The name comes from the Hebrew Jacob, which means supplanter and is a bible name... Another Stuart name was Henry, which was not used for a long time until George V's son was christened Henry. Henry means home ruler and was also the name of Stuart and Plantagenet kings.

Royal Names again

I havent blogged about names for a long time, so I thought I'd write a little bit about royal names, especially the more unusual ones. Rupert is the name of the son of Elizabeth, Queen of Bohemia, a romantic figure who was the sister of Charles I. Her daughter Sophia was the mother of George I. Rupert was a famous cavalry officer who fought on the Royalist side in the Civil Wars. He settled in England and became interested in science like his cousin Charles II. The name is a Germanic version of Robert and means bright fame... but it has not been used by any other British royals. Another rarely used name is Stephen, which was the name of Henry Is nephew who claimed the throne when Henry died without a male heir. He engaged in a civil war with Maud, who was Henry's daughter and who also claimed the throne. HIs name was a Greek one and means crown, but has never been used by a British royal since. I hope to write some more blogs about royal names, soon.

Mary Lavelle Part IV

Mary and Juan go off for a day togehter and Don Pablo finds a postcard that Juan gave to Mary as a souvenir, but which she lost. He realises that there is something going on between his son and the beautiful Irish girl. He worries about his son and has come to love Mary. Juan and Mary find a secluded spot and make love, her first time. She tells him that she is going to go to London and find a job. He tells her he will see her again but she's not sure if this is the end of their romance. Meanwhile Don Pablo, who has heart trouble is fretting at home and forgets his pills, and he has a heart attack. Juan comes home to find his father dying, and Mary returns to Ireland. Both of them feel guilty that perhaps he knew of their love and it upset him.... and that he tried to stay alive to see Juan. The novel ends ambivalently, with only one happy couple, Pedro a Spanish shopkeeper and Rosie, Mary's Irish governess friend, who have defied the social conventions and married.

Rich Man Poor Man

This novel was filmed in the 1970s - one of the first big serials on US TV. It was enormously popular, and the book was a best seller. It is a novel starting in 1945 at the end of World War Two, a history of an immigrant family in America. Rudy, the older brother, is hard working and clever and becomes rich and successful. His brother Tom is an angry young man who becomes a boxer and mixes with Criminals. Their sister Gretchen becomes a journalist and then a film maker. Rudy's life goes well for many years and he seems successful but then he becomes Mayor Of Whitby, the town where he lives and makes a foolish decision when in a stand off with some students who are protesting about the War and using drugs. His wife has a drink problem and he himself ends up having to resign as mayor. Meanwhile Tom has bought a boat on the Mediterranean. He has made a bad marriage, but has a son, Wesley, whom he brings to France to live. Tom has finally achieved peace after his years of fighting and being angry with the world. He falls in love with an English girl, who becomes pregnant by him, and he marries her. But at their wedding, disaster strikes. Jean, Rudy's wife, starts drinking again and gets in trouble and Tom goes to rescue her. He is killed by the pimp who was trying to rape her. The book ends sadly with his funeral at sea.

Mary Lavelle Part III

Mary meets Luisa, Juan's wife, who is a charming beautiful woman. She meets Juan when she is out walking and they dance together, like the working people do, to music in a local square. Naive as she is, she can begin to feel that she's falling in love with him and he seems to be attracted to her and capable of arousing her in a way that John does not. They begin to admit their feelings to each other, and Mary knows that a divorce or separation would destroy Juan's chances of a poliitcal career, and hurt his very Catholic family. He is a Catholic but is more liberal on issues such as divorce, but he cares for his wife and does not want to hurt her. But he now cares for Mary as well. Agatha Conlon, one of the governesses, tells Mary that she must not do anything so foolish again with Juan as to dance with him in public. She admits to her friend that she has always been lonely and unhappy, and she now realies that it is because she has lesbian feelings and is in love with Mary herself. Agatha is very religious and feels guilty about her unnatural love, as she sees it. Mary is still Catholic but since coming to Spain she has become more questioning of the Church's stance on many things and she tries to assure Agatha that she is not shocked by her feelings. But she cannot resist her own love for Juan, though she knows it is hopeless. She tells Juan that she must go home to Ireland and get away from him and not mess up his marriage. She intends to tell her fiance that she does not love him, and to get hold of her small inheritance and try to find a job in London, where she can make a new life. She and Juan decide to spend one day together, and she tells him that she wants to become his lover.

Mary Lavelle Part II

Mary feels sorry for her fellow Irish women, who have such restricted lives, and she at least is comforted by the thought that John Loves her and wants to marry her. She finds that Dona Consuelo, the mother of her 3 charges, is not too happy with such a pretty governess. Her eldest daughter Pilar is nearly 18 and due to come out in society, and while she is pretty, Mary outshines her. Don Pablo, the father is a quiet rather sad man who loves his wife but has little in common with her, and he is a little disapproving of her for her social climbing. He loves his son Juan, who has recently married, and the daughters, Pilar Nieves and MIilagros, but his marriage has been a bit of a disappointment to him... and he regrets the fact that he has never been able to get involved in working for political reform in Spain. Consuelo is not unpleasant but she is a bit of a snob and did not want her husband to get involved in radical politics which would impinge on her own social climbing. Don Pablo's health has declined over the years and he leads a quiet life, writing and trying to educate working men. Juan however has become a radical and has now married a rich socialite who is willing to support his political work. Mary leads a quiet life, looking after the girls and trying to teach them some English, and writing home to John and her family. THen Juan and Luisa, his wife, come for a visit. Mary finds herself unable to resist an attraction towards the young man who is very handsome, though he is newly married with a son. She is unaware that Don Pablo also has become attracted to her beauty and innocent demeanour, the sort of romantic love he hoped to experience with his wife, but never did. He has no wish to seduce her, as he is an honourable man, but he has a feeling for her.

Mary Lavelle by Kate O Brien

This is one of Kate O'Briens most famous novels, which is set in Spain in the 1920s. Mary Lavelle is an Irish girl, whose family are respectably middle class but not well off. Her father is a doctor who is regretful that he has such a large family and tries to get them off his hands, and he is so grumpy and difficult that the boys all leave as soon as they can scrape a living in Ireland or abroad. Mary is very pretty and becomes engaged to a young man John, who works in his uncles's business, but is not earning much. He had been for 3 years in the British army, in the war and then returned to Ireland, where he fell in love with Mary but he wants to be a lot better off before he embarks on having a family. His uncle is well to do and John hopes to be his heir but for now his position is uncertain. Mary feels fondness for John but he has not succeeded in awakening her sexually. She tries to persuade him to get married but he wants to provide for her as well as he can. She suggests that she could go abraod and work as a chaperone/governess to Spanish children for a year or 2, to learn more about the world, and then they could consider marriage. He agrees to this, as Dr Lavelle, Mary's father, is not too pleased with the engagement because it means that Mary is still at home and there seems to be no sign of his being able to get rid of her from his house. Dr Lavelle's hostility makes John uncomfortable, and so Mary, through her convent school, gets a post in Spain, looking after the daughters of a Spanish gentleman, Don Pablo. She likes Spain when she arrives and makes a resolution to learn Spanish. She meets other governesses who are nearly all Irish Catholics, and who almost all seem hostile to the country. She makes friends with 2 of them, Agatha Conlon, who is very religious, and Rose OToole who is lively and fun loving, though around 40. Agatha tells her that most of the "Misses" cant go back to Ireland because they could never make a living there, but they are not happy in Spain. They have a comfortable life, but their chances of marriage are very slim, since they are mostly neither rich nor beautiful and the English speaking community in Spain, mostly mining engineers who have moved there to contribute to industrialising Spain, are mostly British, not Catholic and not about to humble themselves to marry a penniless Irish girl.

Godfather Part III

Michael returns to America and knows that now his destiny is to be his father's heir and take over the family business. He meets Kay and tells her that he still loves her. He loved Appolonia in a different more physical way. He and Kay get married and have 2 sons. Michael has told Kay that he can't tell her much about his business, but he wants to make the family legitimate and get out of being gangsters so they plan to move to Las Vegas. Kay is not sure if she believes about the family becoming a legitimate business, but she likes Vegas and Michael buys up a legitimate business, there, and since the Don has died of a heart attack, she begins to hope for a new life. Then, as they are in the throes of a permanent move to Vegas, Connie, Michael's sister and her husband Carlo are moving with them. But there are several gangland shootings and Connie comes to Kay, hysterically angry and tells her that Carlo has been murdered and Michael killed him. Kay is startled and Michael tells her Connie does not know what she is saying. But she realises that Michael is a Don now like his father and like his father, he has men killed. She leaves Michael and goes home. Tom Hagen, Michael's friend and lawyer, goes to her and tells her that Michael still loves her, and that she can still stay married to him but she must accept him as he is. She returns to Michael and then becomes a Roman Catholic, so that she can pray for her husband's soul. THe book has a rather bleak ending with Kay knowing that she is married to a killer. It is somewhat anti feminist in tone....but a fun read

Susan Howatch

Susan Howatch is one of my favourite authors and I've been re reading her books over and over again since the 1970s. She has always been a very private person, and not much is known about her. She was born in Surrey in 1940 and then studied law after leaving school. However, she found practical law very boring and gave it up after a year or so, to go to the US. In the early 1960s the UK was a dull and restrictive society and she found America more stimulating. She worked in a record company and then married and had a child. She began to write books at her kitchen table.... and her first long novel was the family Saga Penmarric which became a best seller. She wrote six short Gothic style novels in the early 70s, as training for the long saga and Penmarric made her a fortune. It was adapted for TV by the BBC later on. She then wrote Cashelmara a novel set in Victorian England and Ireland and based, like Penmarric on the history of the Plantagenet kings. Edward de Salis, the first narrator of the book is based on Edward I. After these 2 novels, she wrote 2 based on Ancient Rome, The Rich are Different, and Sins of the Fathers, which were loosely based on the story of Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, Mark Antony and Octavian. She returned to the UK after her marriage broke up and lived for a few years in Ireland. She then went back to England and found that while she was very rich and successful she was unhappy. She got interested in religion and began to study the history of the Church of England. She became interested in the relationship between science and religion and founded an award for the study of religion and science with some of the money she made in her Starbridge novels.

Godfather II by Mario Puzo

After he kills the Turk and his policeman, Mike has to be smuggled out of America, and is sent to Sicily where he can hide for a year or 2. In New York, the mafia families have an internal war, and Sonny, Michael's hot headed violent brother gets killed. Kay Adams is questioned by police who tell her that her boyfriend killed a policeman and a mob leader and is wanted for murder. She is appalled, since she beleives Michael is a gentle young man who would never harm anyone. Then she visits Mrs Corleone, who tells her that Michael is away and wont be back in America for some time and that she should find another young man and get married, that he's not the man for her. Kay is shaken that it seems Mrs Corleone believes her son is a killer. Michael spends some time in Sicily, where he is guarded by the local mafia leader, who controls an estate in the area. He has bodyguards and for a time he enjoys life there. He learns about Sicily, how most of the local people are desperately poor by American standards, and how nobody trusts the state at all so they have chosen to live under the protection of the Mafia even though they are exploited by them. Don Vito recovers from his shooting but his health is not what it was, and he cannot stop the war among the families which he knows will reduce mafia power. Fredo goes to Las Vegas where the family have hotels and casinos, and where they hope to move away from organised crime. He is considered unmanly by his father because he enjoys gambling and womanising.... and he may be a weak link in the family chain. Michael and his bodyguards go walking one day when he has been in Sicily for some time. He knows he will probalby be there for a couple of years, so he makes the best of his exile. Then he meets a local girl Appollonia who is dazzlingly beautiful and he falls in love with her. She is a simple inexperienced girl who knows little about life outside her village and has had little education but she and Michael fall in love and he marries her. He remains smitten with her, even though she is very unlike the much more intelligent and independent Kay. Then some months after their marriage, she is learning to drive his car when the car blows up. Michael finds out later that the killers were trying to kill him, and they think they have done so. Don Tomassino, the local leader, hides him away and then prepares to send him back to America, because the Corleones have persauded someone else to confess to the murder of Solozzo, and he can now go home.

Godfather

The Godfather is Mario Puzo's novel about the Mafia in America, in the mid 20th century. It became famous when Ford Coppola made it into a wonderful film which did well in the 1970s. The film covered the life of the Corleone family, from 1945, when the Don's daughter Connie married, and we see the Don in his role as mafia boss, punishing his enemies, and doing favours for his friends. He has 3 sons, Sonny who is hot tempered, Fredo, who is nervous and shy, and not doing well in the family business and Michael, who walked out on his family, when war broke out and chose to join the army. The don had hoped that his youngest son would shake off the stigma of being a mobster and go into some profession or legitimate business, but he did not want Michael risking his life in the war. Michael returns for the wedding with his American girlfriend Kay Adams, from New England. She is very different from the women of the Corleone family who are devoutly Catholic and who lived to keep house and raise children. She is a teacher, and is sleeping with Michael though they are not yet married. He tells her that his family are very different to him. She feels out of place at the wedding, though she isnt fully aware of the criminal nature of the family, but she is impressed when Johnny Fontaine a famous singer and actor, turns up, as he is one of the Don's godsons and has also come to ask a favour of him. Michael tells Kay that he has nothing to do with the family business and that he wants to become a college professor and lead a quiet life. However, things are about to change. Sonny wants his father to go into the drugs business and the Don dislikes the idea and does not want to use his political influence to set the Family up importing cocaine. This leads to tension within the family and disputes with other Italian mafia families, and the Don is shot. This infuriates Michael, in spite of his distancing himself from his father.. He loves him and decides that he must be the one to take revenge.. so he agrees to shoot a mobster and his tame policeman.

Glittering Images Part III

Charles has come to realise that because of his father's being a dull man and very strict, he has an attraction towards older men who are more amusing and charming, and he soon grows fond of Alan Romaine. He knows though that Eric has been his father all his life and that in spite of his limitations, he has done his best as a father. Charles can see that Jardine has gotten himself into a moral mess and that Lyle is suffering for it, and he is in love with Lyle. He and Jon discuss the matter and Lyle admits that she deliberately became pregnant to get out of the whole tangle but that she does care for Charles. He tells her that he loves her but he knows it will be difficult to make a marriage in the circumstances, where he has to take on someone else's child...but he wants to do it. He sees Jardine who admits he was in the wrong, and says that he will resign his bishopric on the excuse of ill health and that perhaps living a quiet country life, he and Carrie will get on better. However he is upset to hear about the baby but Charles feels that it would be wrong to allow him to go on seeing Lyle and the child at least till their marriage has had time to settle in. Jardine is upset by this but has no choice but to accept it. Charles feels shaken by all that has happened. He loves Lyle but is not sure how much she loves him. He has gained a new father figure, but has also found that he himself is now going to be a father to a child who is the offspring of another man. But he has Jon's advice and support so he hopes that he will be able to cope with it all.