The International Commission
and Association on Nobility
To promote the ideals of Nobility, Royalty and Monarchy in modern times.
MONARCHY TODAY
Monarchy, is a form of government in which a monarch, usually a single person, is the head of state. Monarchy is when a king, queen, or emperor that rule the country. Monarchy is one of the oldest types of government and has been in continuous existence for most of recorded history.
In most monarchies, the monarch holds their position for life and passes the responsibilities and power of the position to their children or family when they die. In a few republics the head of state, often styled president, might remain in office for life, but most are elected for a term of office, after which he or she must step down, and any successors must then also be elected. There are currently 31 monarchs reigning over 45 extant sovereign monarchies in the world; the disconnect in numbers between monarchs and countries is explained by the fact that the sixteen Commonwealth realms - vast geographic areas including the trans-continental realms of Canada and Australia - are separate realms of one Sovereign in personal union; and one other monarchy, Andorra, has two non-resident foreign (French and Spanish) co-monarchs, one of which is part of the government of a republic (the French one).
The term monarchy is also used to refer to the people (especially the dynasty, also known as royalty) and institutions that make up the royal or imperial establishment, or to the realm over which the monarch reigns. Monarchs serve as symbols of continuity and statehood. Today, the extent of a monarch's actual powers varies from monarchy to monarchy. In constitutional monarchies, wherein sovereignty rests formally with the crown but politically with 'the people' (usually the electorate, as represented by a parliament), the monarch now usually serves largely ceremonial functions, except in times of crisis. Many monarchies are constituted by tradition or by codified law, so that the monarch has little real political power; in others the monarch holds some power but is limited from exercising it by popular opinion or precedent; in still others the monarch holds substantial power and may exercise it without limit. However, the majority of monarchs today are bound by rule of law rather than rule of human will.
Monarchy is one of the oldest forms of government, with echoes in the leadership of tribal chiefs. Many monarchs once claimed to rule by divine right, or at least by divine grace, ruling either by the will of the god(s) or even claiming to be (incarnated) gods themselves (see theocracy). Monarchs have also been selected by election (either in a broad popular assembly, as in Germanic tribal states; or by a small body, such as in the Holy Roman Empire, and as in Malaysia and the UAE today; or by dynastic succession; or by conquest; or a combination of any number of ways). In some early systems the monarch was overthrown or sacrificed when it became apparent that divine sanction had been withdrawn.
Since 1800, most of the world's monarchies have been abolished by dismemberment or annexation, or have been transformed into republics; most current countries that are monarchies are constitutional ones. Among the few states that retain aspects of absolute monarchy are Brunei, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Swaziland and the Vatican City (the papal city-state, an electoral theocracy). In Jordan and Morocco, the monarch also retains considerable power. There are also recent (2003) developments in Liechtenstein, wherein the regnant prince was given the constitutional power to dismiss the government at will. Nepal had several swings between constitutional rule and direct rule related to the Maoist rebel movement and killings by a suicidal crown prince. In December 2007 the Nepalese government agreed to abolish the country's monarchy after the Constituent Assembly elections in 2008.
Monarchy Today
Over the past centuries, monarchies have had an unwritten rule that required the monarch and those in the line of succession to marry a spouse from a royal or at least noble family. In most cases, royal families arranged marriages to strengthen the power or influence of the royal house by making strategic alliances, and they did not take an individual's personal feelings or preferences into consideration. This attitude started to change a few decades ago, with more and more monarchs deciding to marry for love regardless of the status of their spouse, and allowing their heirs to do the same.
As a result, commoners joined the royal circle and had to become familiar with
the arcane rites and mystique that have always surrounded kings and queens, as well as the stress of living their lives in public and being the subject of relentless attention from the media.
While many of the current kings and queens fell in love with a royal or noble spouse, some decided to marry a commoner despite the prevailing royal preference for equal marriages. Some of the commoners who married into the current generation of rulers - Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg, Queen Sonja of Norway, and Empress Michiko of Japan. Other commoners - Queen Silvia of Sweden, Queen Rania of Jordan, and Lalla Salma of Morocco.
To look at the example of women who married into royal houses as commoners, we can see clearly that, regardless of their origins, the right person must be at the right place at the right time. Success or failure depends very much on the present circumstances of the monarchy, the monarchy's background and history, the attitude of the royal house and the public, and the traits of the future spouse. He or she needs to learn fast, handle the scrutiny of the media, and win the acceptance of the public, the key for the monarchy to survive.
Gone are the days when young women paraded before their Sovereign like vestal virgins adorned in white with feathers, trains, and fans to make their deep, reverential, and well-practiced curtseys. Today ladiethes may p
ractice in front of their mirrors night before they go to the Palace, but few take classes at the famous London finishing schools such as Lucie Clayton or dance classes at establishments such as Vacani's School of Dance, where The Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret learned to dance as children. The curtsey is a difficult maneuver to execute; if it goes right it looks excellent as you descend towards the ground while shaking hands with The Queen, but if it goes wrong you may end up falling over and making a fool of yourself in Her Majesty's gracious presence. According to Debrett's New Guide to Etiquette and Modern Manners, "Low sweeping curtseys, although usually well meant, are best reserved for the amateur dramatic stage and can be the subject of some amusement within Royal circles. Opt instead for a brief bob with the weight on the front foot."
Men are blessed with having only to bow, the simplest act. A correct bow involves a deep nod, not a bow from the waist. Bowing from the waist should be reserved for when you are in Japan.
What is happening in Nepal?
The Parliament of Nepal issued the King an eviction notice today: you’re not the king anymore, so get out of the Royal Palace in 15 days. His Majesty’s failure to timely vacate the premises, I presume, will result in further legal action being taken against him and may tend to damage his credit rating.
King Gyanendra has been "ruling" the country since 2001, when his nephew the Crown Prince went on a Virginia Tech-style rampage and shot up the Royal Palace, killing most of his family and eventually himself. (For several hours, it seems, he was King himself, having shot his father to death, before he checked himself out.) Gyanedra has proven very unpopular and in 2006 agreed to hand off the bulk of his governmental authority to Parliament.
What do Britain, Spain, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Norway have in common?
They´re all European countries, but they are also European remaining monarchies. That´s not counting one Grand Duchy (Luxembourg) and two principalities (Monaco and Liechtenstein). It´s a remarkable survival story despite revolutions, two world wars and the resulting global upheavals. Though they have little remaining political power, Europe´s royal houses retain a hold on social history, and in some cases Britain, Spain, the Netherlands on some relics of their earlier power. They are a puzzling phenomenon that´s deeply embedded in the national psyche.
In the past a royal marriage was an alliance of two monarchies. Princes married princesses, or at the very least members of the high aristocracy. But that was then. In the past five years all of European´s kings-in-waiting (which is what crown princes are) have dispensed with the old rules, and have wed commoners. European royals have married non-bluebloods before, but the new crop of future queens has crashed through the barriers of convention like a runaway train. Whether this change turns out to be a formula for survival or will spell doom for Europe´s monarchies in the 21st century remains to be.
We know the rules have changed radically when the heir to the British throne
can marry a divorced commoner, Camilla Parker-Bowles, and get away with it. Less than 60 years ago, Charles’ great uncle´s marriage to another non royal divorcee cost him his throne. The fact that King Edward VIII´s lover, Wallis Simpson, was a foreigner (American) didn´t help either. Even today British royalty still operates on a grander, more formal scale than any other existing monarchy; Britain´s monarch rides in a Rolls- Royce; her more informal royal cousins in the Netherlands and Sweden have been known to get about on bicycles. But from all accounts, Prince William, the next in line, is planning to take the changes still further by marrying former fellow student, Elizabeth Catherine (Kate) Middleton, 24, whose mother is a onetime airline stewardess and father the owner of a medium size party organizing business called Party Pieces.
WILL MONARCHY SURVIVE IN THE FUTURE?
WHY WE SUPPORT MONARCHY?
Today's monarchy is not an impediment for development of a country and it's very efficient and performing. And we benefit from the security provided by a permanent monarch. The Sovereign represents the people toward the government and this one has the responsibility to protect people from abuse of the government. On the other hand, in a constitutional monarchy, the King/Queen does not do everything he/she wants. He/she has some limits to respect and he/she has the traditional right to "advise, listen and warn" and he/she must be aware about all important decisions and files from the government. After First World War, many monarchies have been removed and those who stayed have been able to adapt their constitution to the modern life.
On the other hand, contrary to a Republic's President (like France, USA etc.) the Sovereign will insure the continuity in a time schedule. He/she is always aware about important files and he/she acts to push these files up to their conclusion. That is not the case for a president. When his period will be ended, he will return to the everyday's life and another President will come with his idea and knows how.
A Constitution regulates the powers of the King (or Queen) but powers of that person are very wide and the Monarch uses them at his (her) discretion, as often as necessary.
Yesterday like today all of those that were in the neighbored of the Royal Court were noble.
Many of them inherited their titles at birth, some others by the king himself. This practice exists today but with a wider range because of many changes in the International Protocol and Slavic Law or other Nobility´s rules. Now, more people can be honored.
In fact, after the last two World Wars, some royals and noble families were conscious that their number was decreasing. Changes had to be done to increase this number in a way to keep nobility well alive and active. For instance, even today, a non reigning Prince can transmit titles or create new one! It is also common practice today, that a nobleman marries a commoner. The wife will inherit her husband´s titles and their heirs too. In Middle Age it was not permitted and it was disgraceful to do so.
The International Commission and Association on Nobility strive to promote nobility and royalty and wish to bring all noble persons living on our toward a central point of meeting and brotherhood and to bring citizens toward an interest of nobility.
The institution of monarchy in Thailand
The institution of monarchy in Thailand is in many ways unique, often difficulty for outsiders to fully comprehend. Not only does it have a history going back more than seven hundred years, but it also continues to function with extraordinary relevance and vitality in the contemporary world.
Although the 1932 Revolution brought an end to absolute monarchy, the institution today can be said to be more powerful than ever in the sense of providing a unifying element for the country – a focal point that bridges together people from all backgrounds and shades of political thoughts and gives them an intense awareness of being Thai.
Intra-dynastic marriage of Georgian Royal Family
On 8 February 2009 the Royal wedding of Prince Davit Bagrationi Mukhran Batonishvili and H.R.H. Anna Bagrationi-Gruzinsky Batonishvili celebrated at Holy Trinity Cathedral of Tbilisi by H.H. Catholicos-Patriarch Illa II. The President of Georgia attended the ceremony.
An agreement resulting from the marriage of Prince brings to an end any possibility of dynastic dispute in Georgia, as the bride is a princess of the Bagrationi-Gruzinsky Royal House, a branch of the Bagrationi family which had previously claimed a hypothetical right to be the royal house of Georgia, and the marriage reunites the two branches of the family.
Prince Nugzar's daughter, Princess Anna, a divorced teacher and journalist with two daughters, married Prince David Bagration of Mukhrani, on 8 February 2009 at the Tbilisi Sameba Cathedral. The marriage united the Gruzinsky and Mukhrani branches of the Georgian royal family, and drew a crowd of 3,000 spectators, officials, and foreign diplomats, as well as extensive coverage by the Georgian media.
The dynastic significance of the wedding lay in the fact that, amidst the turmoil in political partisanship that has roiled Georgia since its independence in 1991, Patriarch Ilia II of Georgia publicly called for restoration of the monarchy as a path toward national unity in October 2007.Although this led some politicians and parties to entertain the notion of a Georgian constitutional monarchy, competition arose among the old dynasty's princes and supporters, as historians and jurists debated which Bagrationi has the strongest hereditary right to a throne that has been vacant for two centuries.Although some Georgian monarchists support the Gruzinsky branch's claim, others support that of the re-patriated Mukhrani branch. Both branches descend in unbroken, legitimate male line from the medieval kings of Georgia down to Constantine II of Georgia who died in 1505.
Whereas the Bagration-Mukhrani were a cadet branch of the former Royal House of Kartli, they became the genealogically seniormost line of the Bagrationi family in the early 20th century: yet the elder branch had lost the rule of Kartli by 1724.
HEAD OF GEORGIAN ROYAL HOUSE
Georgian Royal House, in particular, it should be written that the leader of Georgian Royal House is His Royal Highness Crown Prince Nugzar and not Prince David Mukhraneli.
The idea of restoration of monarchy is a most delicate issue and that is why on implementing this idea a great importance is attached to the legitimacy rule which is observed according to the international law. And legitimacy conditions observance of the rights of that one person (which is legitimate).
Due to lack of information awareness of the Georgian society and in certain cases because of competent but unjustly partial persons there takes place violation of rights of those whom the royal throne belongs to by law. And we declare convincingly once again that the royal throne of Georgia by law belongs to His Royal Highness Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nugzar_Bagration-Gruzinsky . This is confirmed by the memorandum carried out by the whole dynasty in 2006 in which once again there was recorded superiority of Prince Nugzar’s family in the royal ancestry. The only Prince Nugzar unites in himself the blood of the baptized kings of Western and E astern Georgia. He is genetically a legal heir of Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti Kingdoms. Also the last king of the united Kingdom of Georgia, Giorgi VIII, was only his immediate ancestor in the whole dynasty. That is why he is by right called HRH and Crown Prince.
HRH Crown Prince Nugzar is the son of Prince Petre Bagration-Gruzinsky of Georgia (1920-1984), a prominent poet and claimant to the headship of the Georgian dynasty from 1939 until his death, and his second wife Liya Mgeladze (b. 8 August 1926). Prince Nugzar is the director of the Tbilisi theatre of cinema artists.
On 18 December 2007 Nugzar met with Kristiina Ojuland, the Vice-President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) at the Mariott-Tbilisi Hotel in which Ojuland "paid homage to the Bagrationi dynasty, which has made an extraordinary contribution in support of Georgia".
The Head of the Royal House, the de jure King is His Royal Highness Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky
HRH Crown Prince Nugzar is the senior descendant by primogeniture in the male line of George XII, the last King of Georgia to reign. Historian Raul Chagunava, who has researched the Bagrationi family, believes Bagration-Gruzinsky is the rightful heir to the throne, while Nino Bagrationi, a 90-year-old direct descendant of King Solomon II of Imereti, also recognizes the claim of Bagration-Gruzinsky.
Since 1833, the Kartalinian-Kakhetian dynasts were accorded in Russia the title of Princes of Georgia and the style of Serene Highness (it worth mentioning that the same title was accorded by the Russian diplomacy even to the ruling Bagratide Kings). The Serene Princes of Georgia maintained the Royal tradition of the family in a private way, and made several unsuccessful efforts to have their dynastical status recognised by the Russian authorities. This branch managed to survive in the Soviet Georgia and is headed today by HSH Crown Prince Nugzar [I] of Georgia, de jure the King of Georgia (Kartalinia) and Kakhetia (born in 1950 and residing in Tbilisi). See History of the Royal Sovereign House of George. http://www.czipm.org/bagratides.html
As for David Mukhraneli, in spite of the fact that he married Prince Nugzar’s daughter, Princess Anna, per grade he remains a representative of the offshoot of the princes of Mukhrani. This offshoot was formed in the XVth century. His immediate ancestors never reigned in Georgia and that is why by law it is incorrect to call David Mukhraneli HRH. He like his ancestors over the centuries had the title of Prince and served the king and was called princes of Mukhrani.
Download the Genealogical table in which there are presented branches of lineage of His Royal Highness Crown Prince Nugzar Bagration-Gruzinsky and Prince David Mukhraneli.
ALBANIAN ROYAL FAMILY
Prince Leka (II) of Albania (Leka Anwar Zog Reza Baudouin Msiziwe Zogu, born March 26, 1982, Sandton, South Africa) is the only child of Leka, Crown Prince of Albania and the late Susan Cullen-Ward. Prince Leka is an official at the Albanian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. The prince is refered by some Albanian monarchists as Crown Prince Leka II, since they consider his father Leka I as King of the Albanians.
Leka is the son of the pretender to Albania's throne, Crown Prince Leka I, and his late wife, the former Susan Cullen-Ward.
At the time of his birth, the South African Government declared his maternity ward temporarily Albanian territory to ensure that Leka was born on Albanian soil.[1] He was named in honor of Egyptian president Anwar al-Sadat, his grandfather King Zog I, Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi of Iran, and Baudouin I, King of the Belgians (his godfather). Msiziwe is a Zulu honorific. Leka is a member of the Zogu dynasty founded by King Zog and also is a hereditary bey (Albanian tribal chieftain and traditional land owner) of the Gheg clan.
House of Zogu
The House of Zogu is a European dynasty founded by Zogu Pasha who migrated to Mati, Albania in the late 15th century and was then appointed Governor of Mati by the Ottoman Sultan, with the position of Governor then becoming hereditary among the Zogu clan. The ancestral home of the Zogus was Castle Burgajet.
The most famous member of the dynasty is Zog I, Skanderbeg III, who in 1928 was proclaimed King of the Albanians and ruled until he was deposed by Victor Emmanuel III of Italy and the Italian invasion in 1939. Victor Emmanuel subsequently assumed the Albanian throne.
The current head of the dynasty is King Zog's son Leka, Crown Prince of Albania, known as King Leka.
