The Duchess of Cambridge announces her new charity commitments

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge has officially unveiled which four charities she will become patron of, in her new life as a member of the British Royal Family, all of whom have a traditionally heavy schedule of involvements with national charities.

The Duchess is to become patron of Action on Addiction, the National Portrait Gallery, the East Anglia's Children's Hospices, and The Art Room, reflecting her interest in social issues, art and children's health. The  least-known of the four, The Art Room, is an Oxford-based charity which seeks to engage with 5-16 year-olds with behavioural issues. Julie Beattie, the founder and director of The Art Room, said she and the entire organisation were "overwhelmed and thrilled" by the Duchess's decision to become their royal patron. She went on to say that "it will raise the profile of the charity and get people to see the work we are doing." The Duchess is understood to have spent the time since her marriage deciding carefully which charities to begin her royal career with.

The official announcement was made by the Court at Saint James's Palace.

Her Royal Highness will celebrate her thirtieth birthday on Monday.

The kindness of Marie-Antoinette

The site Vive la reine (via Tea at Trianon) reports on one eye-witness account of Marie-Antoinette's compassion towards the less-fortunate. Although it's a side of the Queen almost never reported in modern accounts of her, Marie-Antoinette's kindness and empathy was considered to be one of her most dominant (and endearing) features by her close friends and servants. One of Marie-Antoinette's modern biographers writes, "Marie Antoinette further established her public reputation for sweetness and mercy by stopping her carriage for over an hour to aid an injured postilion. She would not continue until she had established the presence of a surgeon. She then insisted on a stretcher for the injured man ... This behaviour was much acclaimed... When a peasant wine-grower was gored by a stag during the royal hunt, [Marie Antoinette] conveyed the unfortunate man in her own coach, while making arrangements for the family he left behind and for his ruined crops. Wide publicity was given to this scene [and]... For once publicity did not lie. The impulse of compassion was genuine enough and was deeply rooted in Marie Antoinette's character. 'She was so happy at doing good and hated to miss an opportunity to do so,' wrote Madame Campan of a much later occasion when some country people addressed to her a petition on the subject of a predatory game-bird, reserved for the King's sport, which was destroying their crops. Marie Antoinette ordered the bird to be destroyed. Six weeks later, when the arrival of a second petition made her aware that her orders had not been carried out, she was upset and angry... [but] Marie Antoinette's insistence on personal involvement in humanitarian exercises - a tradition in which she had been brought up in Vienna - was privately thought to be rather unnecessary at Versailles."

The illustration above shows Marie-Antoinette with the Bellegarde family, after she secured Monsieur de Bellegarde's liberation from jail after he was imprisoned on unjust charges.

"Marie Antoinette reigned not only by her grace, but by her goodness. … She obtained a new hearing in the case of Messieurs de Bellagarde and de Moustiers, who had been pursued by the spite of the Duc d’Aiguillon; and when their innocence had been established, the two prisoners, set at liberty, came with their wives and children to thank their benefactress, she replied modestly that justice alone had been done, and that one should congratulate her only on the greatest happiness arising from her position - that of being able to lay before the king just claims.

As a token of gratitude, Madame de Bellegarde had a picture painted in which she was represented with her husband kneeling before the queen … the queen was greatly touched, and placed the picture in her apartment." 

-The Life of Marie Antoinette, Volume 1 by Maxime de la Rocherterie

New biography of an Irish Catholic pioneer

The Irish Times has offered a generally positive review of Finola Kennedy's new biography of her late godfather, Frank Duff, the founder of the Legion of Mary. Duff founded the society in 1921, with its primary aim being to encourage devotion to the Virgin Mary and to provide practical charitable solutions to the problems of Ireland's many disadvantaged. Based heavily on the teachings of Saint Louis de Montfort, under Duff's leadership the Legion of Mary founded many organisations and establishments which were far, far ahead of their time in early and mid-century Ireland. He strongly opposed the industrial schools for abandoned children from lower-class backgrounds, a position which seems almost prescient when the catalogue of physical abuse inflicted upon Irish children in the industrial schools came to light towards the end of the twentieth century. In contrast to other sections of Catholicism in Ireland at the time, who favoured approaches like the infamous Magdalene laundries to "solve" the problem of mothers giving birth outside of wedlock, Duff and the Legion of Mary established the Regina Coeli (Queen of Heaven) Hostel in 1930 for unwed mothers to raise their children in a safe and welcoming Christian environment. To tackle Dublin's homeless problem, the Legion set up the Morning Star Hostel and in the 1940s, when Ireland was being excoriated by their northern neighbours in Ulster for remaining neutral in the fight against Nazism, Duff established several ecumenical outreach programmes to work with Irish Protestants on projects of common interest. He also tackled prostitution and Dublin's legion of brothels. An inspiring and gracious man, Frank Duff passed away in 1980, at the age of ninety-one and today the Legion of Mary is the largest apostolic organisation of the Catholic laity anywhere in the world, with over ten million members.

Catriona Crewe, who reviews the book for the Times, is herself the head of Special Projects for the National Archives of Ireland and chair-person of the SAOL project, which works with women tackling drug addiction in Dublin today. Crewe finds much to praise in Kennedy's biography of her celebrated godfather, with the book reminding the reader why there is so much to "admire [in] Frank Duff’s idealism, practical efficacy and achievements". However, Crewe also criticises the book's failure to engage with "the arrogance, hauteur and often fabulous stupidity" of the Catholic hierarchy in Ireland, as it threw obstacle after obstacle in Duff's way because it distrusted lay initiatives and was determined, at all costs, to hold onto its control of all social and charitable projects in Ireland. As Crewe wryly observes, "One would have thought that a lay Catholic organisation with a mission to help the poor and a special devotion to the Virgin would have enlisted the support and formal endorsement of its local prelates almost from the moment of its inception."

Duff's life stands at an interesting point in Irish history, because it shows that vibrancy and effective piety were possible in Irish Catholic social organisations, even as it hurtled towards the appalling moral crises of its recent history. One cannot help but feel that if Duff had been slightly gutsier, as Catriona Crewe suggests, or if there had been more men like Frank Duff and less like Archbishop McQuaid, then the horror of what came next might have been avoided. However, moving beyond the Irish historical perspective of Duff's life, the achievements made by the Legion of Mary, both then and today, are a tribute both to his own inspirational life and vision, but also of the usefulness the Legion continues to have, even nine decades after it was first founded.

The full review by Catriona Crewe can be accessed HERE.

Anne Boleyn's most famous portrait 'at risk'

With the exception of a badly damaged silver medal, minted in 1534 to mark the pregnancy that tragically turned out to be her first miscarriage, there are no known surviving portraits of Anne Boleyn painted from life - despite the valiant efforts of certain historians to identify dubious and unlabelled portraits. As late as 1736, a full-length 16th century painting said to be of the queen was held in the private collection of Lord and Lady Lumley, but it has since vanished. However, there are literally dozens of portraits dating from the late 16th century and early 17th showing Anne in a variance of the same costume - dark hair, French hood, black velvet dress, gold and pearl initialled jewellery. All of which seems to lend credence to the idea put forward that at some point in her life, Anne probably did pose for a portrait in this costume and that it formed the inspiration for the dozens of slightly varying copies of it, which now survive.

The version of the portrait which tallies most closely with eyewitness physical descriptions of Anne Boleyn is probably this one. However, the portrait above has arguably become the most famous and iconic of all the portraits said to represent Elizabeth I's mother. The hair colour is slightly too light, but David Starkey wrote in praise of the sitter's enigmatic smile which, he felt, "captured something of her sexuality." Lady Antonia Fraser, in her study of Henry's marriages, wrote that the portrait captured the "prim and provocative" side of Anne's personality.

The portrait, currently housed in the National Portrait Gallery in London, was taken down for carbon dating to see how close to Anne's lifetime it had been painted. The scientific tests confirmed what many historians had long speculated - that the National Portrait Gallery portrait of Anne dated from the end of the 16th century, about half a century or so after Anne's death and well into the reign of her daughter, Elizabeth, by which point there was naturally a rise in the demand for portraits of the Queen's mother. 

However, the tests also revealed that this famous painting is disintegrating and in dire need of major conservation work before the gallery can put it back on public display. In a statement, the NPG said: -

“It is in a particularly vulnerable and unstable condition as a result of structural problems with the wooden panel. Vertical cracking has occurred across the picture causing minor paint loss where the wood has split (see the photograph taken in raking light). We need to act now as the damage is being caused by the long term effects of an unsuitable cradle (an applied wooden panel support) which must be removed. Therefore this important and much loved painting needs urgent conservation treatment to ensure it can be put back on public display.”

For many people, myself included, the NPG portrait of Anne is the first one they can remember seeing as a portrait of Anne. Although I do not believe it is the most physically accurate depiction of her, I do agree with the NPG that it is "important and much loved". It is an iconic representation of Anne, which has been used in countless textbooks, biographies, histories, learning aids and memorabilia. More importantly, the testing does indicate that it, and the portrait in which Anne is seen in a very similar attire clutching a rose, were most likely painted as copies of an original which was itself painted when Anne was alive.

For any of those interested in making a donation (however small) to aid in the portrait's restoration and conservation, you can do so by clicking here. Then click on "Queen Anne Boleyn" from the drop-down menu of the paintings needing restoration option and choose the amount you would like to donate. You'll then be taken through the NPG payment processing.

The Princess Royal at 60

Lord Belmont in Northern Ireland carries news on the official birthday portrait of Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal (above), who turned 60 today.

The Daily Mail gives an account of Princess Anne's dress.

I very briefly had the opportunity to be presented to Her Royal Highness at the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland's Garden Party at Hillsborough Castle in 2009 and I have to say from that very, very brief meeting she seemed down-to-earth and charming, with a very wry sense of humour.