1. There is a French Canadian aristocracy - who knew?
"Rebecca Grant, a distant cousin of the Queen, sang at the recent Coronation Party in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. ... A member of the band Jive Aces, Rebecca is the singer/actress daughter of the 12th Baron de Longueuil, a French-Canadian title inherited from an ancestor who was Governor General of New France. It’s said to be the only French colonial title recognised by the Queen."
I hope it is true that an indigenous aristocracy survives in Canada thanks to its French heritage.
Are there any English colonial titles at all?
2. In Nuremberg, where the names were cool but the customs uncool:
"In October 1553, the erratic and unpopular Prince Albrecht Alcibiades von Brandenburg-Kulmbach suspected three local gunsmiths of plotting against his life. Invoking an ancient custom, he commanded a hapless bystander to execute them on the spot. Frantz's father, Heinrich, had no option but to carry out the commission and, tainted by the act, no options thereafter but to become a professional executioner."
From a short but interesting piece in the Literary Review.
3. His Tremendousness Giorgio Carbone
"As His Highness Giorgio I, Prince of Seborga, Carbone did not draw a salary, but he could help himself to cheese and ham from the village shop without paying." It's a short obituary, but still finds room for a Princess Yasmine von Hohenstaufen Anjou Plantagenet.
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