Friday, February 06, 2009

Croatia Online - Royal Visit


Her Royal Highness, Princess Anne, made an official visit to Croatia this week, taking in a number of functions and activities in Zagreb and Split.
According to the Croatian media, the visit seems to have been very well received.
To a Croatia loving Brit it's a source of great pride that "the powers that be" have organised a visit to Croatia from such a senior member of the Royal Family. It's also a matter of continuing amazement as to how the British Royal Family, in general, manage to fit so much into a short space of time, and still appear genuinely interested in everyone they meet and everything they see.
President Mešić’s present to the Princess Royal was also of some interest - a pair of earrings made from "Šibenik Buttons". These are very ornate traditional buttons, often used on Klapa singers' costumes, and revived as an original souvenir of Croatia.
You can see more about the visit on the following links:
Finally, for Royalty and Croatia lovers, below is an extract from a small book Croatia Online's editor wrote, on Croatia, for Boat International.
Royalty in Croatia

In the early 1100’s Biograd was the crowning place of Hungarian Kings, but fame gave way to devastation not once, but twice. The Venetians razed it to the ground in 1115 and it was demolished again in 1646 as the inhabitants retreated from the Turks.

British Royalty has many links with Croatia, starting with Richard the Lion Heart who was shipwrecked off the coast when he returned from the Crusades. Zadar’s Royal significance is by virtue of its Maraschino, the cherry liqueur made by Maraska. Queen Victoria and George IV sent warships for it and the Prince of Wales, later to become King George VI, made a personal visit to the distillery in 1887 to collect his. More recently Rab became notorious when King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson allegedly took full advantage of its naturist beaches in 1936, before the abdication.
Today's photo shows Princess Anne at the Regent Esplanade in Zagreb meeting Martina Žubčić, a Taekwondo Expert, accompanied by Tomislav Kaznačić of the British Embassy in Croatia - source www.javno.com:Pixsell.

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