1.
Jean-Baptiste van Loo
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Jean-Baptiste van Loo was a French subject and portrait painter. He was born in Aix-en-Provence, and was instructed in art by his father Louis-Abraham van Loo and he was patronized by the prince of Carignan, who sent him to Rome, where he studied under Benedetto Luti. He was much employed painting for churches in Rome, and in particular executed a greatly praised Scourging of Christ for the church of Santa Maria in Monticelli, at Turin he painted Charles Emmanuel II, Duke of Savoy and several members of his court. He also painted Sir Robert Walpole, whose portrait by van Loo in his robes as chancellor of the exchequer is in the National Portrait Gallery, London, and the prince and princess of Wales. He did not, however, practise long in England, for his health failing he retired to Paris in 1742, and afterwards to Aix and his likenesses were striking and faithful, but seldom flattering, and his heads are forcible in coloring. His younger brother, Charles-André van Loo, was also a painter, two of his sons were notable painters, Louis-Michel van Loo and Charles-Amédée-Philippe van Loo. John Giles Eccardt, one of his apprentices, also became a portrait painter in Britain. This article incorporates text from a now in the public domain, Chisholm, Hugh. Media related to Jean-Baptiste van Loo at Wikimedia Commons
2.
Hanover
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At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, the Electorate was enlarged to become a Kingdom with Hanover as its capital. From 1868 to 1946 Hanover was the capital of the Prussian Province of Hanover and it is now the capital of the Land of Lower Saxony. Since 2001 it has been part of the Hanover district, which is a body made up from the former district. With a population of 518,000, Hanover is a centre of Northern Germany. Hanover also hosts annual commercial trade fairs such as the Hanover Fair, every year Hanover hosts the Schützenfest Hannover, the worlds largest marksmens festival, and the Oktoberfest Hannover, the second largest such festival in Germany. In 2000, Hanover hosted the world fair Expo 2000, the Hanover fairground, due to numerous extensions, especially for the Expo 2000, is the largest in the world. Hanover is of importance because of its universities and medical school, its international airport. The city is also a crossing point of railway lines and highways. Hanover is the traditional English spelling, the German spelling is becoming more popular in English, recent editions of encyclopaedias prefer the German spelling, and the local government uses the German spelling on English websites. The traditional English spelling is used in historical contexts, especially when referring to the British House of Hanover. Hanover was founded in times on the east bank of the River Leine. Its original name Honovere may mean high bank, though this is debated, Hanover was a small village of ferrymen and fishermen that became a comparatively large town in the 13th century due to its position at a natural crossroads. As overland travel was difficult, its position on the upper navigable reaches of the river helped it to grow by increasing trade. In the 14th century the churches of Hanover were built. The beginning of industrialization in Germany led to trade in iron and silver from the northern Harz Mountains, in 1636 George, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, ruler of the Brunswick-Lüneburg principality of Calenberg, moved his residence to Hanover. The Dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg were elevated by the Holy Roman Emperor to the rank of Prince-Elector in 1692, thus the principality was upgraded to the Electorate of Brunswick-Lüneburg, colloquially known as the Electorate of Hanover after Calenbergs capital. Its electors would later become monarchs of Great Britain, the first of these was George I Louis, who acceded to the British throne in 1714. The last British monarch who ruled in Hanover was William IV, semi-Salic law, which required succession by the male line if possible, forbade the accession of Queen Victoria in Hanover
3.
Cavendish Square
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Cavendish Square is a public square in the West End of London, very close to Oxford Circus, where the two main shopping thoroughfares of Oxford Street and Regent Street meet. It is located at the end of Wigmore Street, which connects it to Portman Square, part of the Portman Estate. One side is faced by the rear of the flagship John Lewis shop and it was first laid out for the 2nd Earl of Oxford by architect John Prince, beginning in 1717 as the first development on the Earls London estate. It was named after the Earls wife Henrietta Cavendish-Holles, but the bursting of the South Sea Bubble delayed further work and it included various nobles London residences, including the Duke of Portland, the Duke of Chandos, Princess Amelia, and the Lane Baronets. A blue plaque unveiled in 1951 commemorates H. H. Asquith, the Royal College of Nursing has its headquarters in Cavendish Square, and the West London Synagogue is also sited there. Near to Harley Street, the square is noted as a site for medical practices such as those of James Paget. The artist Robert William Sievier lived on the square, and David Williams, founder of the Royal Literary Fund, ran a chapel there. Frances Fanshawe, wife of Rev. Dr. Abraham Blackborne, grandson of Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London, died at her home on Margaret Street, Cavendish Square, in 1795 and was buried at Kew. Cavendish Square features in Robert Louis Stevensons novel Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde as the home of Dr Lanyon, the bronze statue on the south side of the square is of William George Frederick Cavendish Bentinck. Known simply as Lord George Bentinck, he was MP for Kings Lynn, the statue is by Thomas Campbell and was erected in 1848. Underground at Cavendish Square, there is a car park with spaces for 521 cars and 83 motorcycles, operated by Q-Park, it is designated their car park for Oxford Street. The car park is unusual as it has the form of a double helix, cars are parked on either side of a continuously descending right-hand helix with one-way traffic. Since there is no lift, parking near the beginning of the descending helix. But since it is impossible to see in advance whether there are any spaces remaining in the top coils of the ascending helix, in the 19th century, numbers 11,12 and 13 had become a convent with a tunnel underneath the road. Following bomb damage in the Second World War the sisters commissioned the architect Louis Osman to restore the houses and he approached Jacob Epstein for a Virgin and Child that would levitate above the arch and specified that it should be cast in lead which was plentiful from the bombed roofs. However, Osman had failed to inform the superior that the sculptor was Jewish. However, the Arts Council congratulated her on her choice of artist. Epsteins work was unveiled in 1953, 1a - the Representative Office of Flanders 4 - the Embassy of East Timor 5 - As of 27 February 2017 it is currently the office location of the award-winning firm Lifescience Dynamics Limited
4.
Soho
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Soho is an area of the City of Westminster and is part of the West End of London, England. Since the 1980s, the area has undergone considerable gentrification and it is now predominantly a fashionable district of upmarket restaurants and media offices, with only a small remnant of sex industry venues. Soho is a small, multicultural area of central London, a home to industry, commerce, culture and entertainment, record shops cluster in the area around Berwick Street, with shops such as Phonica, Sister Ray and Reckless Records. On many weekends, Soho is busy enough to warrant closing off some of the streets to vehicles, Westminster City Council pedestrianised parts of Soho in the mid-1990s, but later removed much of the pedestrianisation, apparently after complaints of loss of trade from local businesses. The name Soho first appears in the 17th century, Most authorities believe that the name derives from a former hunting cry. James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, used soho as a call for his men at the Battle of Sedgemoor on 6 July 1685. The Soho name has been imitated by other entertainment and restaurant districts such as Soho, Hong Kong, Soho, Málaga, SOHO, Beijing, SoHo, London, Ontario, Canada, and Palermo Soho, Buenos Aires. SoHo, Manhattan, gets its name from its location SOuth of HOuston Street, however, apart from Oxford Street, all of these roads are 19th-century metropolitan improvements, so they are not Sohos original boundaries. Soho has never been a unit, with formally defined boundaries. The area to the west is known as Mayfair, to the north Fitzrovia, to the east St Giles and Covent Garden, and to the south St Jamess. According to the Soho Society, Chinatown, the area between Leicester Square to the south and Shaftesbury Avenue to the north, is part of Soho, Soho is part of the West End electoral ward which elects three councillors to Westminster City Council. In 1536, the land was taken by Henry VIII as a park for the Palace of Whitehall. In the 1660s, ownership of Soho Fields passed to Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans and he was granted permission to develop property and quickly passed the lease and development to bricklayer Richard Frith. Soho was part of the ancient parish of St Martin in the Fields, as the population started to grow a new church was provided and in 1687 a new parish of St Anne was established for it. The parish stretched from Oxford Street in the north, to Leicester Square in the south and it therefore included all of contemporary eastern Soho, including the Chinatown area. The western portion of modern Soho, around Carnaby Street was part of the parish of St James, building progressed rapidly in the late 17th century, with large properties including Monmouth House, Leicester House, Fauconberg House, Carlisle House and Newport House. Soho Square was first laid out in the 1680s on the former Soho Fields, firth built the first houses around the square, and by 1691,41 had been completed. It was originally called King Square in honour of Charles II, several upper-class families moved into the area
5.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
6.
Westminster Abbey
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It is one of the United Kingdoms most notable religious buildings and the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English and, later, British monarchs. Between 1540 and 1556, the abbey had the status of a cathedral, since 1560, however, the building is no longer an abbey nor a cathedral, having instead the status of a Church of England Royal Peculiar—a church responsible directly to the sovereign. The building itself is the abbey church. According to a tradition first reported by Sulcard in about 1080, a church was founded at the site in the 7th century, at the time of Mellitus, construction of the present church began in 1245, on the orders of King Henry III. Since the coronation of William the Conqueror in 1066, all coronations of English and British monarchs have held in Westminster Abbey. There have been at least 16 royal weddings at the abbey since 1100, two were of reigning monarchs, although, before 1919, there had been none for some 500 years. The first reports of the abbey are based on a tradition claiming that a young fisherman called Aldrich on the River Thames saw a vision of Saint Peter near the site. This seems to be quoted to justify the gifts of salmon from Thames fishermen that the abbey received in later years, in the present was, the Fishmongers Company still gives a salmon every year. The proven origins are that in the 960s or early 970s, Saint Dunstan, assisted by King Edgar, between 1042 and 1052, King Edward the Confessor began rebuilding St Peters Abbey to provide himself with a royal burial church. It was the first church in England built in the Romanesque style, the building was completed around 1090 and was consecrated on 28 December 1065, only a week before Edwards death on 5 January 1066. A week later, he was buried in the church, and, nine years later and his successor, Harold II, was probably crowned in the abbey, although the first documented coronation is that of William the Conqueror later the same year. The only extant depiction of Edwards abbey, together with the adjacent Palace of Westminster, is in the Bayeux Tapestry, construction of the present church was begun in 1245 by Henry III who selected the site for his burial. The abbot and monks, in proximity to the royal Palace of Westminster, the abbot often was employed on royal service and in due course took his place in the House of Lords as of right. The abbey built shops and dwellings on the west side, encroaching upon the sanctuary, the abbey became the coronation site of Norman kings. The Confessors shrine subsequently played a part in his canonisation. The work continued between 1245 and 1517 and was finished by the architect Henry Yevele in the reign of Richard II. Henry III also commissioned the unique Cosmati pavement in front of the High Altar, Henry VII added a Perpendicular style chapel dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in 1503. Much of the came from Caen, in France, the Isle of Portland
7.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
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