Harkmark Church and Cemetery, Mandal, Norway

Grave of my great-uncle Jakob Trygsland (1910-2001) and his wife Martha Trygsland, née Eikså (1912-2010).

One of the oldest graves at the cemetery - shopkeeper Thomas Knuthsen, who was born at the farm Dosta in Harkmark 16 December 1786 and died the same place on 11 October 1863.

Grave of Andrea Jørgensdatter, b. 18 July 1830, who after 15 1/2 years of marriage to L. Fredriksen, died on 25 December 1865.

The war memorial outside the cemetery walls. Engraved are the names of Thomas Skeie (d. 6 March 1943, he was in the US Army), Alf Fredriksen Harkmark (died in the concentration camp of Natzweiler(-Struthof) 5 January 1944) and Tarald Osnes (died in Dachau 31 March 1945). The red sign, if anyone wonders, says "The children's flower garden. Here all children can plant and water [the flowers]." It seems to be a project for local pupils. I have seen similar signs at other cemeteries.

Harkmark Church in Mandal in the county of Vest-Agder, Norway, celebrates its 400th anniversary this year. I have visited the cemetery on several occasions, but this was the first time since my great-aunt died. The church, which has 135 seats, is protected by law. A book about the church in connection with the anniversary will be published later this year. For photos of the church inside, go to the official website of Mandal parish. The anniversary service will take place on 22 September 2013, to be conducted by the bishop of Agder and Telemark, Stein Reinertsen.

The Royalty Weekend 2013 ... and more

On Saturday 6-7 April I attended for the second time the traditional Royalty Weekend conference, which took place at Ticehurst and Flimwell Church of England Primary School, Steellands Rise, Ticehurst in East Sussex, England. Just like in 2011, I write a few words about my impressions from the conference as well as from the other events during my stay in England.

The arms of the parish of Ticehurst (but not of the family carrying the same name).

This time I had opted for the B&B situated closest to the school, The Cherry Three Inn, which was as nice as the name suggested. The room I rented was nice (with free wifi!) and the food at the pub was excellent. For lunch I enjoyed a traditional English treat - lamb liver and bacon! Delicious! The pub owners, Michael and Joanne Hehir, made me feel more than welcome.

Definitely in the country side! Horses and sheep eating outside the Cherry Tree Inn.

The war memorial in High Street. Did I get a better picture this time than in 2011?

After the lunch I went for a walk in the little village of Ticehurst. In 2011, I didn't get to see the local church, St. Mary's, from the inside, so I had to make sure to explore it this time. A separate article will be published later. In the evening I joined several Royalty Weekend attendees for dinner at The Bull at Three Leg Cross. I attend the conference to get new input and get inspiration for all my royalty-related activities on among others my website and blog, but the social aspect of the «royalty-watchers'/historians' gathering» is nearly as important. It is really nice to meet old and new friends who share the interest in royal history and genealogy with me. So many knowledgeable people at the same place!

Outside The Bell, High Street.

Would you belive it - Ticehurst, a mecca for train lovers!

The food is of course also important, and The Bull certainly didn't disappoint. I never figured out what the soup of the day was made of, though - it was very green, but didn't taste so much spinach as one could have expected. I liked it, anyway! The chicken, ham and leek pie for the main course was great, and the vanilla cheesecake was heavy stuff. I might go for «sausages and mash» and «fruit crumble» next time around.

At the main door of Ticehurst and Flimwell Church of England Primary School.

When I attended the conference two years ago, we were treated by great spring weather with temperatures close to 20 Celsius degrees. When I arrived at Wadhurst railway station on Friday 5 April, sleet was in the air, and even if the weather got a little bit better during the weekend, it was still really cold. It was equally cold inside the school where the conference took place, but at least the hall where the talks and meals took place was endurable.

The editor of Royalty Digest Quarterly, Ted Rosvall, left, and the editor of The European Royal History Journal, Arturo E. Beéche, right, share the same market and had lots to talk about during the weekend.

Now back to being positive again: After the conference was opened by the compère, Revd. Richard Thornton, Ted Rosvall, the Bernadotte genealogist, founder of Rosvall Royal Books and editor of Royalty Digest Quarterly, gave the first lecture, this time with the topic The lesser-known and hidden-away royals. His run-through took us from the Bernadottes to Luxembourg (and Nassau), Prussia, Bavaria, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Montenegro, Serbia and Greece. Not all the royals were that «lesser known», at least to me, but it was a nice talk anyway, and with many great slights to watch. Towards the end of his talk Rosvall also mentioned that Queen Olga of the Hellenes' photo album was to be published soon with Prince Michael of Greece as the editor as well as the royalty portrait collection Personalities. Royalty and Celebrity in the 1870s by Harold Brown.

The writer and RDQ historical consultant Charlotte Zeepvat was the next one out with a great outline of the history of the House of Nassau through photographs, and what a fantastic subject title: «I didn't know they had royalty in Bahamas»! Yes, someone had actually said that!

After lunch, Revd. Richard Thornton challenged the audience with his «fiendish quiz». And «fiendish» it was indeed. Now, I like to think of myself as having knowledge of royalty above the average, but I soon realized that I belonged to the minor league among the many knowledgeable people in attendance! I didn't even bother to deliver the answer sheet afterwards! Ted Rosvall won the quiz as he said he would, with 27 1/2 of 40 points. Many people thought the quiz was too difficult, and it is still an open question whether the exercise will be repeated next year or not. But maybe if it was organised differently - in groups, perhaps - it could be better received?

After the quiz, Robert Golden, author of Relatively Royal (2000), The Golden Book of Royalty (2002) and Definitely Royal (2012) and a regular contributor to the magazine Majesty, held a talk themed The wider Royal Family: some of those I have known. My goodness what an impressive network he has! And so entertaining his presentation was! The lucky Golden is to attend the state funeral of King Peter II, Queen Alexandra and Queen Maria of Yugoslavia in May 2013, by the way.

Ian Shapiro, formerly with Argyll Etkin, now with his own business dealing with royal and historical memorabilia, was the last one out on Saturday with his talk about The hidden archive of Princess Irene of Prussia. The princess in question was Princess of Irene, née Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and a sister of among others Princess Alix (Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia) and Princess Elisabeth (married to Grand Prince Serge). The collection which Shapiro gave examples from, contains birthday and Christmas greetings - often illustrated by royals themselves - photos, telegrams, funeral programs, paper cuttings etc.

In the evening the group returned for yet another great dinner and nice talks.

Helen Rappaport opened the Sunday session with an update on her forthcoming book Four sisters, which deals with the daughters of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, and which is due in the spring of 2014.

The King Zog/Albanian Royal Family expert Neil Rees given several talks about the Zogu dynasty over the years, and this time he gave the story of the reburial of King Zog in Albania in 2012. I am happy (if one is allowed to use such a word about a cemetery visit) that I managed to visit King Zog's grave in Paris before his remains were moved to his homeland. I would very much like to visit the royal mausoleum one day. The key to the entrance can be received from the neighbour restaurant, I was told! Rees' book A Royal Exile: King Zog and Queen Geraldine of Albania (2010) is to be revised. His next project goes in a different direction, however, as he is to explore King Louis XVIII of France's exile at Hartwell House.

The around 75 people - some generalists, some experts on the Romanovs, the Zogus, the British Royal Family and others - will of course have their own impressions and favourites. I hope all the speakers take it the right way when I say that to me the highlight of the Royalty Weekend was Margreeth Pop-Jansen's presentation of A Remarkable Princess: Marianne of the Netherlands. What an interesting character the princess was!

There are many ways to tell stories about the royal families. One way goes through royal jewellery. Certainly not my field, but Christophe Vachaudez' presentation in words and pictures about Belgian royal jewels was well worth listening to and watching. His next book project is on the Luxembourg royal jewellery collection. The foundation-owned collection, it should be added, not the private one.

The last one out in this year's Royalty Weekend was Coryne Hall, whose latest book is Hvidøre: a Royal Retreat (2012). She is currently working on a book about royal women in nursing (Princess on the Wards. Links Between Royal Women and Nursing), which is to be published in 2014. She gave several examples in her presentation, including Princess Alice of Greece, mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Margarita of Baden and Princess Eleonore of Reuss-Köstritz, later Queen of the Bulgarians. Hall also showed the image of a stamp showing Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria, née Princess of Luxembourg, from 1970 President of Luxembourg's Red Cross youth organisation and a trained nurse as well. I would love to get hold of that stamp one day.

All in all I enjoyed the Royalty Weekend very much - even if some topics interested me more than others, I never had a boring moment. Some speakers used less time than expected, which gave more time for socializing and purchasing books, but perhaps one or two more topics - they didn't have to be that long - could have been pressed in? Anyway, thanks to Sue Woolmans for once again being the main responsible for putting it all together, and to Richard Thornton and the others who helped out.

As for now, next year's Royalty Weekend is planned to take place at the same venue on 26-27 April 2014. The dates have to be confirmed later, of course. Those days will most likely collide with my planned trip to Seattle and Vancouver, but 2015 is not that far away after all...

Currently there is a discussion at the Royalty Weekend's Facebook page whether the conference should be moved to another location more easily reachable than Ticehurst. I can understand the wish, as another venue might attract more people than the core group of royal fans, but at the same time I find Ticehurst to be a charming place. It is also a matter of keeping the costs down, and someone has to organise it all. People like Woolmans and Thornton - and before them Paul Minet & Co. of the bookstore in Ticehurst - are few and far between. In other words, I find it difficult to make up my mind about what I actually prefer. First of all I hope the conference will continue in the years to come!

As I have already mentioned, about 75 people attended the Royalty Weekend. It still amazes me that so many people from the great republic of the United States of America travel so far for this kind of conference! There were also people from Australia, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Denmark and Norway besides the many Britons. Have I forgotten any other nationalities?

Concerning the book sale, I didn't buy more than one during the weekend. There were several interesting titles, but I don't have much space at home for too many new books. I have to find a bigger place to live first. The last 2-3 years most purchases have been Kindle versions. Normally I prefer text books rather than photo books, but I actually ended up with Jean Louis Schlim's Prinzregent Luitpold. Erinnerungen aus königlichen Photo-Alben (August Dreesbach Verlag, Munich, 2012). The book had some useful genealogical tables as well. I considered to buy the photo book The Princely Family of Liechtenstein by Uve Harder (Van Eck Verlag, 2013) as well, but postponed it. I might drop by the van Hoogstraten bookstore in the Hague when I visit the Netherlands in September this year.

For some of us the social gathering continued on the train back to London and in a Chinese restaurant in the Soho area in the evening.

I had decided to spend a couple of days in London before returning to Norway, so on Monday 8 April I decided to visit the St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery and Kensal Green Cemetery to take photographs of the royal graves there. I will return with separate blog articles about these visits later on. Upon my return to central London, I was reunited with two Royalty Weekend attendees for lunch at a pub near The Ritz. During our burger meal the news of former prime minister Baroness Thatcher's death reached us, and we hurried down to the gate in Arlington Street to see what was going on. Not much, I have to say, but an impressive number of photographers and reporters had assembled to wait for the undertakers to bring the former prime minister's body out of the hotel. No-one had the slightest idea of when this move could take place (it didn't happen until the next morning!), so we did a detour to 10 Downing Street. Not much happened there either, so when I was on my own again, I returned to Arlington Street, with a break at Hatchard's bookshop.

Outside 22 Arlington Street, where Baroness Thatcher died on Monday 8 April 2013.

Hatchard's at Piccadilly was in the middle of a reorganisation process and looked rather chaotic, I must say. The royal books section had become even smaller since my last visit, and had been moved across the room, while the other biographies had been moved to the basement. No more space for book purchases, you say? I ended up with buying Pamela Hick's autobiography Daughter of Empire. Life as a Mountbatten (Weidenfeld & Nicholson, London, 2012), Helen Rappaport's Magnificent Obsession (Windmill Books, 2012, paperback edition) and Peter Conradi's The Great Survivors. How monarchy made it into the twenty-first century (Alma Books, updated paperback edition, 2013). I was interviewed by the author for the book a few years ago, but had forgotten all about it until a correspondent mentioned it to me a couple of weeks before I left for England. My list of books to read will take years go get through, I guess!

Hatchard's soon organised a Thatcher table near the main entrance. When I passed it later the same day after yet another stop outside 22 Arlington Street, I noticed through the door that more books had been added, but I didn't have the time to take another picture.

I mentioned earlier that I had lamb liver and bacon for lunch on Friday when I arrived in Ticehurst. My last dinner at this trip was also rather traditional: Steak and kidney pudding at the Hilton London Euston Hotel restaurant. But "as always" I spent the nights at Tavistock Hotel nearby.

London is a city I usually visit once a year, if I don't go to Norwich to watch football instead. In London there are certain shops I «have to» drop by. I will not bore the readers with too many details about my shopping rounds, but would like to mention the Twinings tea shop and the Stanley Gibbons stamps shop at the Strand. Yes, I can get hold of Twinings tea everywhere, but there is nothing like buying it in the old shop which Thomas Twining bought as far back as 1706! At Stanley Gibbons I wanted to buy the Sede Vacante stamps issued by the Vatican for the period between Pope Benedict XVI's abdication and Pope Francis' election earlier this year, but it turned out that the shop didn't have them. I have to get them from somewhere else. But they had the Sede Vacante stamps from 1978! But not 2005, as far as I could tell! I also added some Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother stamps issued by Tanzania to my collection.

After all the shopping on the last trip of my visit (Tuesday 9 April), I found time to visit the British Museum and the exhibition In search of Classical Greece. Travel drawings of Edward Dodwell and Simone Pomardi 1805–1806. Quite interesting! The exhibition closes on 28 April 2013, by the way.

I mentioned Norwich, where my favourite football team, Norwich City FC - the Canaries - come from. I visited the city twice last fall, but it still felt strange to go to England without going to a football match. When I attended the Royalty Weekend in 2011, the Canaries met Swansea City away and lost 0-3, but won promotion to the Premier League a month later, and were joined by the Swans. Funnily enough, the same teams played each other during this year's Royalty Weekend as well, now at Carrow Road in Norwich, and the game ended in a draw, 2-2. The Canaries still have a few games left to secure another season in the Premier League. So maybe next time I attend the Royalty Weekend, Norwich will finally beat the Swans?

Postscript 23 April 2013: A correspondent has kindly informed me that the soup I had at The Bull, which I thought was spinach soup although it didn't taste like spinach at all, was in fact a green pea soup! It must be added, as said above, that I enjoyed the soup, but just couldn't figure out what it was made of. Now I know!


Updated on Wednesday 17 April 2013 at 09:45 (superfluous link deleted), Wednesday 17 April 2013 at 19:40 (minor changes to the Ritz/Thatcher paragraph) and last time on Tuesday 23 April 2013 at 23:30 (postscript added, as well as a word that was missing from the Bul main meal description).

War memorial, Ticehurst, East Sussex, United Kingdom

 In proud thanksgiving 1939-1945.

The war memorial is located where High Street meets Church Street in Ticehurst. The Bell In can be seen in the background. The photos were taken in April 2011.

Ilford War Memorial Gardens, Redbridge, Greater London, United Kingdom

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(5) "To the glory of God and in honoured memory of the ex cadets of then Ilford Wing, Air Training Corps, who gave their lives for their country during the World War, 1939-1948."

(6) Ilford War Memorial Hall, erected 1927.

(7) See the website of the historian John Barnes for more details about Sir Fredric Wise, MP (1871-1928) and his wife Lucy Elizabeth, the daughter of Sir Thomas Wrightson Bart., MP of Neasham Hall, Darlington.

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In October 2011 I travelled with a group from Supporterunionen for Britisk Fotball (SBF) in connection with the association's 25th anniversary. Normally I am staying at the Tavistock Hotel near Russels Square on the Piccadilly Line when I am in London, but the SBF committee had settled for the Holiday Inn Express Hotel near Newbury Park tube station in Ilford (London Borough of Redbridge). A nice hotel in a nice area, although a bit too far from downtown London. But it was a good starting point for our excursion to Birmingham. The stay at Ilford also proved my view that you can find something interesting to see (and write a blog about) almost wherever you are in the world.

If you leave the hotel and walk down the road to the Newbury Park tube station, you will have to pass the Ilford War Memorial Gardens, and I decided to make a stop there on my last day of the visit. According to the information plaque, the land for the Memorial Gardens was purchased in the early 1920s from the proceeds of a public appeal launched at the end of WW1 to provide a memorial for the Ilford men killed during "the great war". It was decided that most of the money collected should be used to build a Children's Ward for the Ilford Emergency Hospital together with a Memorial Gardens, a monument and a Memorial Hall, which should record the names of the war dead and serve as the entrance to the Children's Ward.

The war memorial monument, which features a soldier bronze figure designed by the sculptor Newbury Abbott Trent (1885-1963), was unveiled on 11 November 1922, while the Memorial Hall situated in the north-east corner of the gardens, and the Children's Ward, were finished in 1927. The gardens also serve as a memorial to the 538 local servicemen and women and 552 civilians killed during WW2.

The Ilford War Memorial Hall, which records the names of 1.159 Ilford men killed during WW1, was opened by Lady Patricia Ramsay, formerly HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught (1886-1974), on 25 June 1927. According to the information board outside the hall, it was intended to serve both as a memorial and as the entrance hall to the new Children's Ward, known as the Walter Stevens Wing, of what was then the Ilford Emergency Hospital, later the King George V Hospital.

The Children's Ward was later demolished. The Memorial hall was never used as an entrance to the Childrens Hospital as originally intended, and when the hospital was closed in 1993, the Memorial Hall could easily have passed into history and become totally forgotten. Fortunately the historic significance of the building was recognized, and in 1995 both the hall and the monument were added to the statutory list of buildings of architectural or historic interest. The building was restored and the Council of the London Borough of Redbridge is today responsible for its unkeep. The Memorial Hall is open on Remembrance Day and at other times during the year (check out the website for more information).

Rhodes (city), Rhodes, Greece

(1) A part of the Grand Master's Palace (the Knights Hospitallers). It was just too crowded to get decent photos of the main part of the palace. it was not easy to get a good over view anyway.

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(6) At the top of Socrates Street.

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(9) A memorial for the 1604 Jews from Rhodes and Kos who were deported and killed in concentration camps. See the website of the Rhodes Jewish Museum for more information .

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(13) Kleftikos, "a very traditional dish with lamb, vine leafs, gently baked in the oven." The dinner was enjoyed at the restaurant Romeo, which is situated in Menekleous Street, a few metres off the main street Socrates. I can absolutely recommend this restaurant! Nice atmosphere and great food!

I visited the old town of Rhodes during my week-long stay at the Greek island of Rhodes in early October 2011. Except for a short excursion to the local cemetery outside the city walls I stayed in the old town, thus missing among others the Acropolis of Rhodes. A bit too crowded with tourists, but a lovely place to visit, and so rich of history, and under so many regimes - among others the Romans, the Knights Hospitallers, Ottomans and Italy, before becoming united with Greece in 1947. The diffferent architecture is of course marked by the different periods. As this was "an enlarged family trip", I didn't get to see everything I had hoped for, so I will not rule out the possibility of another visit later on. There are plenty of sights both in the city and at other parts of the island, and if you are just going for the sun and the beach you will seldomly be disappointed...

War memorials at Digitaltmuseum.no

Kulturnett.no (Culturenet.no) published earlier this week (21 November 2011) an interesting article about Norwegian war memorials which have been registered at Digitaltmuseum.no.

Forsvarsmuseet (The Armed Forces Museum) in Norway has kept a record of the war memorials in Norway since 1979. The survey was, however, rather insufficient and difficult of access. The Armed Forces carried out a national registration of all the war memorials with the help of the Home Guard districts. This registration work makes the basis for today's accessibility.

The survey of the war memorials can be viewed here.

According to the article historical objects, cultural monuments/relics or cultivated areas with defence-related relevance are not included in the Armed Forces' presentation of war memorials.

A war memorial is defined as a memorial of persons or events related to war occurrences and defence-related activity throughout history. A war memorial can be everything from a small plaque on a wall to a large monument in the middle of a city. There are war memorials of persons and events in every corner of Norway, symbolizing courage, resistance and the basic values of the Armed Forces. The vast majority of war memorials have been erected by initiatives of the local community. But the Armed Forces itself has also erected war memorials - both inside and outside military areas.

As of now about 2700 war memorials are included in the register.

I have over the years photographed many war memorials, often in connection with visits to cemeteries. The photos will be included in blog articles in due time. The photo at the top shows a war memorial outside Spangereid Cemetery in Lindesnes at the very south of Norway. Another photo of the memorial can be found at Digitaltmuseum.no. Named on the memorial are Sverre Gundersen (1916-1941), Norman E. Samuelsen (1919-1942) and Toralf Robertsen (1921-1943). The latter was a first cousin of my father-in-law and I wrote a few words about him in the Robertsen booklet published in August 2009 in connection with the Robertsen family reunion at Spangereid. Toralf, who had been a sailor since he was 15, was on board the ship D/S Christian Michelsen which was torpedoed on 26 September 1943.

Postscript 24 January 2017: The website Kulturnett.no was closed in 2013, so the three links in the first paragraph don't work any longer.

Updated on 24 January 2017 at 10.15 (postscript added).