Gertrude Bell

Tags

France, Gertrude Bell, Iraq, Jordan, Middle East, Syria, UK

When I arrived in Jordan in 1994, I was interested in learning more about the political history of the region, a complex history of a cosmopolitan and multicultural world. This world had known stability under Ottoman-Turk rule but the First World War would change all that forever and give us the region we know today. For 500 years the Ottoman-Turks ruled a vast Empire from Istanbul the Sultan was the shadow of God on Earth, this empire covered parts of Europe, extended over what is called the Middle-East up to the border with Persia/Iran and extended to Egypt, the Sudan, Libya and Tunisia. This was truly a multi-ethnic and multi-religious empire. By the end of the 19th century many weaknesses had started to appear in its governance and European powers were out to exploit these weaknesses to their own advantage. Britain, France, Germany and Russia until 1917 had agendas on how to reshape the region. The Sultan made the fatal mistake of supporting the German Empire against France and Britain in the First World War. The British and the French use the chaos in the region created by the war to undermine Ottoman rule and promise to the Arab populations and their Princes that large spoils would come their way if they revolted against their Turkish masters. British and French imperial policies were not devised for the benefit of local populations and events in the 20th century in Iraq, Syria and Jordan has shown us that Europe created a mess in this region with consequence we still live with today.  Gertrude Bell in her recommendations thought this was the best course to follow and could not see what was going to happen once the Arabs wanted their independence from British rule. The borders of those countries, the design of their flags, the imposition of Monarchies, the framework for their governing bodies and the appointment of officials to posts, the marginalization of the Kurdish people and the division of their ancestral land between the new countries of Iraq, Syria and Jordan, the divide and conquer between Shia majority and Sunni minority in Iraq, all these recommendations made by Bell and endorsed by the British government led to serious problems in the years that would follow and Gertrude Bell bears the weight of those decisions.

She was heavily influenced by her upper class titled background, coming from a wealthy family, involved in the steel industry, educated at Oxford, schooled into world politics from an early age by her politician grandfather in the age of imperial expansion. Like many people of her time and class she did not see the Arab people as capable of governing themselves and needing the guidance of European rulers.

Gertrude Bell was the woman who would as an agent of the British government have enormous influence in the creation of new countries namely, Iraq, Jordan and Syria. Later France would through a secret treaty with Britain create Lebanon under the pretext of protecting Maronite Christians.

I was able to find the books written by Gertrude Bell during her time in the region and these books were widely read and very popular in shaping perceptions of the Arab people and the Bedouin tribes. I found them instructive and fascinating in understanding the unfolding of events. The world she visited and travelled through has changed a great deal in 120 years and it is sad to realize that it was a much gentler world. The European powers were there for mercantile reasons and  oil monopolies also played into the equation.

Gertrude Margaret Lowthian Bell, CBE (1868-1926) was an English writer, traveller, political officer, administrator, and archaeologist who explored, mapped, and became highly influential to British imperial policy-making due to her knowledge and contacts, built up through extensive travels in Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor, and Arabia. Along with Colonel T.E.Lawrence, Bell helped support the Hashemite dynasties in what is today Jordan as well as in Iraq until its overthrow.

She played a major role in establishing and helping administer the modern state of Iraq, using her unique perspective from her travels and relations with tribal leaders throughout the Middle East. During her lifetime she was highly esteemed and trusted by British officials and exerted an immense amount of power. She has been described as “one of the few representatives of His Majesty King George V Government remembered by the Arabs with anything resembling affection” I would say with a certain generation of Arabs prior to 1970. In today’s world she has entered the world of mythical figures of a long gone era.

If you are interested her books and books on her life can be found easily on Amazon. Gertrude Bell committed suicide in 1926 by overdose of sleeping pills and is buried in the Anglican Cemetery in Baghdad.

 

 

 

David Roberts, R.A.

Tags

culture, Egypt, history, Jordan, paintings, Roberts, UK

Back in 1989 in Cairo, Egypt, I started to collect David Roberts work. At the time I did not know much about Roberts and I liked what I saw because it was an historical recollection of what Egypt was like as an old Kingdom then under Ottoman rule and as seen by tourists on the Grand Tour.

David Roberts was a Scottish painter, born in Stockbridge which is part of the city of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1796 and died in London in 1864.  Stockbridge is an elegant neighbourhood filled with Georgian and Victorian terraced houses.

Roberts is especially known for The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia, a prolific series of detailed lithograph prints of Egypt and the Near East that he produced from sketches he made during long sojourn in the region.

Roberts was a member of the Royal Academy.

Apprenticed for seven years to be a house painter and decorator. During this time he studied art in the evenings. After his apprenticeship was complete, Roberts’s first paid job came in the summer of 1815, when he moved to Perth to serve as foreman for the redecoration of Scone Palace, where Scottish Kings were crowned until 1296.

His next job was to paint scenery for James Bannister’s circus on North College Street. This was the beginning of his career as a painter and designer of stage scenery.

In 1822 the Coburg Theatre, now the Old Vic in London, offered Roberts a job as a scenic designer and stage painter. He sailed from Leith with his wife Margaret and their six-month-old daughter Christine and settled in London. After working for a while at the Coburg Theatre, Roberts moved to the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane to create dioramas and panoramas.

While he built his reputation as a fine artist, Roberts’s stage work had also been commercially successful. Commissions from Covent garden for opera stage sets came regularly.

The painter J.M. William Turner persuaded Roberts to abandon scene painting and devote himself to becoming a full-time artist. Roberts set sail for Egypt on 31 August 1838. His intent was to produce drawings that he could later use as the basis for the paintings and lithographs to sell to the public. Egypt was much in vogue at this time, and travellers, collectors and lovers of antiquities were keen to buy works inspired by the East or depicting the great monuments of ancient Egypt.

Roberts made a long tour in Egypt, Nubia, the Sinai, the Holy Land, Jordan and Lebanon. Throughout, he produced a vast collection of drawings and watercolour sketches.

Muhammad Ali Pasha received Roberts in Alexandria on 16 May 1839, shortly before his return to the UK.

The scenery and monuments of Egypt and Holy Land were fashionable but had hitherto been hardly touched by British artists, and so Roberts quickly accumulated 400 subscription commitments, with Queen Victoria being subscriber No. 1. Her complete set is still in the Royal Collection. The timing of publication just before photographs of the sites became available proved fortuitous.

I bought my first Roberts in an old shop just off Tahrir Square in Cairo and near J. Groppi pastry shop on Talat Harb Sq.. The first one, Plate 238 entitled Cairo from the Gate of the Citizenib, looking towards the desert of Suez. Published in London 1 Dec 1856 by Day & Son, 17 Gate Street, London. I did learn that Roberts did give some fancy names to sites when he was not sure what the actual name was as in this case it is the Sayeda Zeinab Mosque and gate. Also because he belonged to the Orientalist school of painters, romanticize views to make them more attractive to his European viewers and clients. Many of his paintings and lithographs were made as advertisement to promote the Grand Tour to wealthy people who could travel in style for 3 months to a year. The London Illustrated News used a lot of his work to promote areas of the British Empire one could safely visit.

When I was posted to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan I started to look for lithographs of the Holy Land to add to my collection. One is entitled Jerusalem, from the Mount of Olives. By today’s standard it would be difficult to see this view given that old Jerusalem is surrounded not by modern suburbs.

From Jordan, I have views of Petra and of the roman city of Jerash. In all 10 lithographs. It is interesting to see them and examine them, so you get a view of the world some 180 years ago and how it appeared to people like Roberts.

Happy Birthday!

Tags

Birthday, Canada., Denmark, Germany, Greece, Prince Philip, Royal Family, UK

June 10, 2020.

Today HRH Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh celebrates his 99 Birthday.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born in the villa Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, itself a branch of the House of Oldenburg, he was a prince of both Greece and Denmark by virtue of his patrilineal descent from King George I of Greece and King Christian IX of Denmark and he was from birth in the line of succession to both thrones;  Philip’s four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised in the Greek Orthodox rite at St George’s Church in Corfu.

The Greek-Turkish War 1919-1922 went badly for Greece, and the Turks made large gains. On 22 September 1922, Philip’s uncle, King Constantine I, was forced to abdicate and the new Greek military government arrested Prince Andrew, along with others. His family were banished from Greece, the British naval vessel HMS Calypso evacuated Prince Andrew’s family, with Philip carried to safety in a cot made from a fruit box. Philip’s family went to France.

Because Philip left Greece as a baby, he does not speak Greek. In 1992, he said that he “could understand a certain amount”. Philip has stated that he thought of himself as Danish, and his family spoke English, French, and German.

In 1928, he was sent to the United Kingdom to attend school living with his maternal grandmother, Victoria Mountbatten, Dowager Marchioness of Milford-Haven, at Kensington Palace. In the next three years, his four sisters married German princes and moved to Germany, his mother was diagnosed with schizophrenia and placed in an asylum, and his father took up residence in Monte Carlo with his new mistress. Philip had little contact with his mother for the remainder of his childhood. It was his uncle Lord Louis Mountbatten who became his tutor. In March 1947, Philip had abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles, had adopted the surname Mountbatten and became a British subject.

The day before the wedding, King George VI bestowed the style of Royal Highness on Philip and, on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. Consequently, being already a Knight of the Garter, between 19 and 20 November 1947. He married Princess Elizabeth in 1947 and on her accession to the Throne in 1952 the now Queen Elizabeth announced that the Duke was to have “place, pre-eminence and precedence” next to her “on all occasions and in all meetings, except where otherwise provided by Act of Parliament”.

Philip was not crowned in the Coronation service, but knelt before Elizabeth, with her hands enclosing his, and swore to be her “liege man of life and limb”. On 22 February 1957, she granted her husband the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom, and it was gazetted that he was to be known as “His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh”. Philip was appointed to the Queen’s Privy Council for Canada on 14 October 1957, taking his Oath of Allegiance before the Queen in person at her Canadian residence, Rideau Hall in Ottawa.

HRH Prince Philip,  his Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Canadian Regiment

Official 99th Birthday portrait taken this week at Windsor Castle.

Coat of Arms of HRH Prince Philip

Un po’ di musica

Tags

Arts, composer, culture, Germany, Prussia, UK

When things look dark, I look to the age of the Baroque (1600-1750) and I think of Georg Frideric Handel (1685- 1759) born in Halle, Brandenburg. He worked for the Prince Elector of Hanover who would later become George I of England. In England he worked for the Duke of Chandos and Queen Anne. On the accession of  George I, his old patron re-hired him. His career as Court composer continued with George II & Queen Caroline. He lived at the same time as Frederic II the Great (1712-1786) in the Age of Enlightenment. It was a golden age for the Arts, Music, decorative and architectural style, an age of Princes who promoted their Court by encouraging artists and musicians. Handel was one of many popular, talented and well known musician of the time, Princes invited him to come and work for them.

Artist: Jan Peerce, tenor (with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra conducted by Hans Schwieger) Title: “Love Sounds the Alarm” from Handel’s “Acis and Galatea” (HWV 49) Album: “Jan Peerce sings Handel Arias” Label: Westminster Cat No: WTC 163 Release Year: 1962

Today Sunshine

Tags

Barbican, Eastend, London, Museum of London, Spitalfield, UK

Well yes today we had glorious sunshine at 6C but it was brilliant and despite the wind, very nice. I went for a walk along mostly deserted streets and if I encounter someone, we both were good about keeping a wide distance as required by Health PEI. The snow and ice is mostly gone now, it’s Spring but with no one around to enjoy it.

Listened to the Queen’s message today to the people of Canada, the UK and the Commonwealth. Four minutes long, calm and reassuring, asking that we all practice self-discipline, good fellowship and show resolve. Good days will return, she said. Observe the guidance given to you by the Health Authorities. Here in PEI we have been very lucky with 22 cases and 6 now recovered and no deaths. I really believe our Provincial Government has done a lot immediately and our Premier is following to the letter recommendations of our Chief Medical Officer.  Our Prime Minister and the Government of Canada is doing their utmost to offer economic support to Canadians.

Talking of observing the guidance of our Health Authorities I was just reading an article on the Mausoleum of the Museum of London at the Barbican. If you have ever been to the Barbican you will see this big rotunda from the outside but it is not clear what it is and for most people it draws a blank. I follow a blog which is devoted to London’s East end and Spitalfield. The author is a wealth of knowledge on the area and all the intricacies of one of the oldest neighbourhoods of London going back to Roman times.

Many years ago one of the largest cemeteries in London was Spitalfield, the word Hospital was deformed to Spital, there was St-Mary’s Spital in the area and also a large market. It is or was I should say, a poor area of the city and full of immigrants from Eastern Europe and elsewhere. It was also a beehive of commercial activities, in the last 40 years as the markets moved the area has become gentrified and changed a lot.  The cemetery of Spitalfield was in use since the 11th century, so when it was moved for re-development all the dead moved to the Barbican and the remains were turned over to archeologists, medical forensic experts and historians. Thousands of remains are neatly classified and documented in boxes in the rotunda (mausoleum) of the Museum of London at the Barbican.

What was discovered was that humans use to be a lot tougher to kill than we are today. If you survived the first 5 years of life you had it made. Many children in the Middle-Ages had tuberculosis but most survived, people suffered horrible injuries and survived, life was brutal and short but the lack of hygiene toughened people up with all kinds of immunities. You just made due and got on with life, the tolerance to pain was also much higher than it is today. It looks like our manic cleanliness habit has made us vulnerable. It is said that people today whose ancestors survived the plague centuries ago have developed in their genetic profile more resistance to some form of cancers and HIV infections. This part of the Museum of London is not open to the public only researchers have access to the dead who now rest there. Strangely enough, the curator confided that from time to time workmen come into the area to do repair or maintenance and many are unnerved to be surrounded by thousands of dead people. If you are interested in this blog, I highly recommend it, a part of London we do not think about when visiting.

LINK:  https://spitalfieldslife.com

 

 

 

 

A reply from JP

Tags

Guido, JP, LGBT, life, London, Southwark, UK

Yesterday I wrote that JP’s blog had disappeared and was wondering what had happened. I am not the only one who was wondering. Tonight after dinner I looked at my blog and saw of all things, a comment from JP. Very kind of him to have left a comment and much appreciated. Here it is for all of you to read.

itsmyhusbandandme

2 hoursitsmyhusbandandme.wordpress.com

Dear Larry

I also saw Steven on Blogger posted a blog about my blog’s “demise”. I really do hope you’ll direct him, and those other people on other blog platforms who left such lovely comments, over here to your blog. I tried to leave a message on his site but couldn’t. I don’t think WordPress and blogger will cross over in that way.

Let me explain.

I started my blog in 2015. I haven’t written about this before but at the time I started blogging, my husband Guido had been diagnosed with a rare form of leukaemia. I wrote as a weird form of creative escape. Not from my husband, but the circumstances we found ourselves in. It made me SO angry! But it also gave me a lot of energy. I read a lot. I wrote a lot. And, I discovered all these amazing people writing such terrific blogs. Yours, the lovely Will, and many more over the years.

On my blog I opened the door to our lives so that everyone could read about love, chaos, gay life, recipes, and our own type of madness. I wanted others to come to a blog where nothing horrible happened. It would be fun, a laugh – an escape, just as it had been for me writing it.

5 years on? Guido is stable. Not cured, but stable. My interior design business has taken off. We have 2 restaurants. Busy awkward and difficult lives. And rather than blog numbers going up – they went down. But… As a result of my blog I’ve started writing for a magazine. We move on. As we all do. Who knows what will happen in the future.

A few days ago I tried to archive my blog but accidentally hit the delete button! Thankfully I still have my writing as a personal record but it’s gone from on line. I’m sorry about that. But, perhaps it was meant to be? In a clogged up blogshere it makes a space for others to write about their lives.

Steven said that reading my blog gave him hope that he too might one day meet a wonderful man and fall in love. Goodness. What a wonderful epitaph Itsmyhusbandandme.wordpress.com will be when that happens. Not if but when!

I give a special shout out to Anne Marie. My online sister. I love your passion.

Larry – good luck and love to you and Will. Keep blogging.

JP x

 

City changes

Tags

humanity, life, London, photos, Travel, UK, urban

This photo taken in London just recently shows how the city is changing in terms of its architecture and urban design. The photo shows a cluster of tall modern towers next to the ancient Tower of London, it is utterly strange to me and not an image shown in tourism promotion. If those modern towers had been built across the river I would have said ok there is distance and perspective but in this case, no I do not like it at all.

Royal Family Troubles

Tags

cambridge, Canada., Cornwall, harry, meghan, Sussex, the Queen, UK

We all know now that Prince Harry and his wife Duchess Meghan have made their announcement on Instagram no less about their branching into a new role living between Canada and the UK . This announcement was made without any prior notice to the Queen, Harry’s grandmother and to his father Prince Charles. The Queen learned of Harry and Meghan’s plans watching the evening news on television. It is beyond word how disrespectful and hurtful to show such callous behaviour. Harry should know better it is after all his family, Meghan well I am not so sure coming from a very dysfunctional family.

Trouble was brewing since the marriage of this pair, Meghan comes from a very different background and culture and was obviously unprepared for a role within the Royal Family. Others like her had difficulties, think of Sophie Countess Wessex, Fergie Duchess of York and Diana, in comparison Meghan has had a easy time of it. I understand it is very difficult to understand how the institution of the Royal Family functions for a common mortal. However she was given support and her Father-in-Law Prince Charles was helpful and generous to her, the Queen also ensured that she was made welcome and allowed her to ease herself into the role of a Royal Family member.

There was plenty of trouble with staff and then with housing, moving from Kensington Palace to Frogmore Cottage after a 3 million pound renovation paid for by Grandmother the Queen. Meghan was dubbed difficult Meghan. Other problems surfaced when Meghan realized that her husband was not so important after all, now that Prince William and Catherine have 3 children, George, Charlotte and Louis. Harry is now 6th in line and very unlikely to ever become king. The Sussex are reduced to a role of representing the Crown, being nice, kind and helpful that is their role now. It is also obvious that Harry and Meghan do not like to be held to account. The Media noticed that they promote the environment but at the same time take private jets to their destinations. Harry is bored stiff by Official functions which are part and parcel of life at Court.

After getting their 6 weeks vacation on Vancouver Island in Canada to think and reflect based on preliminary discussions they had with Prince Charles, Prince William, the Queen and advisors on their future role and despite being told to be patient by the Queen at Christmas time while a formula was being devised to accommodate them, Harry and Meghan went ahead with their announcement. This matter is complicated because it involves funding despite their saying that they would be financially independent at this time their personal private wealth is about $45 million dollars US.  There is also the matter of their security given that they are internationally protected persons, meaning that security detail must accompany them everywhere. That is also paid for by taxpayers. If they move to Canada or if they visit the USA who would pay?

Currently they were receiving the Sovereign’s Grant which covered 5% of their expenses and the rest came from Prince Charles through the Duchy of Cornwall. Now the Grant is gone and the portion paid by Charles is in jeopardy given that the British Government, Parliament and the public will have a word to say about it. Would taxpayers agree to fund a Prince who is no longer part of the institution? Not likely it has been reported this morning that 67% of Brits are against any monies coming their way now. You cannot only perform some functions part of the year and merchandize your brand, it would lead to conflict of interest charges. Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex tried it 30 years ago and it was a fiasco.

Meghan as of today is now back in Vancouver with baby Archie, which was left behind with his nanny and staff while the couple returned to London to make their announcement. There is no plans for her to return to the UK. Harry is now scheduled to meet with his father and later with the Queen who is said to be extremely upset. Many in the public are asking why is Her Majesty being put through this at her age, she will be 94 in April. Prince Philip is ill and 98, Harry refused to return to England at Christmas time to be with his grand parents. Many are asking who is advising Harry to behave in this fashion? Fingers are pointed at Meghan, there is really no one else to explain this change in him towards his family since his marriage.

Another important point that is being missed is that we are dealing here with a dynasty, lineage and succession is everything or the only thing. Many noticed on the Christmas Day message from the Queen, the pictures on her desk, her father King George VI, Prince Charles and Camilla, Prince William, Catherine and their children. In the background Prince Philip but no Harry or Meghan. The truth, the Sussexes are not that important anymore in the line of succession. Their role is very different from that of Prince William and Catherine. It is a simple reality and nothing to do with excluding anyone.

The latest photo issued by Buckingham Palace show that succession, in front of the Throne you have the Queen, Prince Charles who will succeed her, Prince William his son and heir and Prince George. That is the future, maybe this is what Meghan failed to understand, the rigidity of the system, a system that cannot be changed because it represents stability, continuity and tradition for the nation and the Commonwealth.

As for Harry and Meghan, whatever happens now, we can wish them good luck as they fade from public view. Many are predicting that it will not go well for them, you cannot divorce yourself from your family and like his great uncle the Duke of Windsor, Harry may find life to be very lonely on the outside.

A blogger in London

Tags

Bethnal green, Gentle author, London, Shoreditch, Spitalfield, Stepney, UK

For some time now I have been reading The Gentle Author who has a blog on an area of London I do not know at all. When you travel to London usually travellers will stay in an around the famous spots and those widely known around the world and miss out on the equally fascinating but not well known unless you happen to live in the Capital and have all the time in the world to explore.

The Gentle Author specializes in unknown places of London but once you read about it you want to see for yourself. Recently he was re-publishing stories he had written about people in the East End of London around Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Shoreditch, Stepney, a cosmopolitan area of the City, poor and not necessarily affluent. However by reading The Gentle Author  one understands there are lots of treasures to see and appreciate outside of the well trodden path.

Recently there was the story of Malplaquet House a Georgian house at 137–139 Mile End Road, Stepney, London. The four-storey house was built as one of three in 1742 by Thomas Andrews. Here is the link to his blog:

https://spitalfieldslife.com

On 22 October The Gentle Author wrote about the Dead Man of Clerkenwell, a fascinating story and well worth reading, do have a look. He has also written books on topics of interest to him, his most recent on Facadism the modern way of saving historical facade of buildings but demolishing everything else behind. Canada is not spared this architectural fashion. Think of Sherbrooke Street in Montreal in the area of the Musée des Beaux-Arts. Or in other cities like Toronto where giant condo buildings are built behind or on top of much older buildings who are dwarfed by the modern additions.

I find his blog has a way to make you think of what is around you and appreciate it more.

The Duke

Tags

Canada., duty, Royal Family, UK

Found this clip an interview or interviews with HRH Prince Philip who is now 97. He has been in the news lately, more so than since he has retired from public duty. A long life of public service and here answering questions on life.