A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in deciding. Constitutional monarchies differ from absolute monarchies in that they are bound to exercise powers and authorities within limits prescribed by an established legal framework. Constitutional monarchies range from countries such as Liechtenstein, Monaco, Morocco, Jordan, Kuwait, and Bahrain, where the constitution grants substantial discretionary powers to the sovereign, to countries such as Australia, the United Kingdom, Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, Belgium, Sweden, Malaysia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Japan, where the monarch retains significantly less personal discretion in the exercise of their authority.
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position in her own right. She was the sovereign of Austria, Hungary, Croatia, Bohemia, Transylvania, Mantua, Milan, Lodomeria and Galicia, the Austrian Netherlands, and Parma. By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress.
Louis XVI was the last King of France before the fall of the monarchy during the French Revolution. He was referred to as Citizen Louis Capet during the four months just before he was executed by guillotine. He was the son of Louis, Dauphin of France, son and heir-apparent of King Louis XV, and Maria Josepha of Saxony. When his father died in 1765, he became the new Dauphin. Upon his grandfather's death on 10 May 1774, he assumed the title King of France and Navarre until 4 September 1791, when he received the title of King of the French until the monarchy was abolished on 21 September 1792.
A Commonwealth realm is a sovereign state in the Commonwealth of Nations that has Elizabeth II as its monarch and head of state. Each realm functions as an independent state, equal with the other realms and nations of the Commonwealth.
LisaGay Hamilton is an American actress who has portrayed roles in films, television, and on stage. She is best known for her role as attorney Rebecca Washington on the ABC legal drama The Practice (1997-2003). She also portrayed Melissa Thoreau on the TNT comedy-drama Men of a Certain Age (2009-2011), Celia Jones on the Netflix series House of Cards (2016), Suzanne Simms on the Hulu series Chance (2016), and Kayla Price on the Hulu series The First (2018).
Mary Daly was an American radical feminist philosopher, academic, and theologian. Daly, who described herself as a "radical lesbian feminist", taught at the Jesuit-run Boston College for 33 years. Daly retired in 1999, after violating university policy by refusing to allow male students in her advanced women's studies classes. She allowed male students in her introductory class and privately tutored those who wanted to take advanced classes.
The monarchy of New Zealand is the constitutional system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of New Zealand. The current monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, ascended the throne on the death of her father, King George VI, on 6 February 1952. Elizabeth's eldest son, Charles, Prince of Wales, is heir apparent.
"Fly Like a Bird" is a song by American singer and songwriter Mariah Carey, first released on February 13, 2006 by Island Records a promotional single from her tenth studio album, The Emancipation of Mimi (2005). Written and produced by Carey and James "Big Jim" Wright, the song is influenced by Gospel, soul, and R&B music genres. Its arrangement is built on piano chords and guitar melodies, and features Carey's pastor Clarence Keaton, who recites two Biblical verses during the song's introduction and bridge. Carey described "Fly Like a Bird" as the most personal and religious track from The Emancipation of Mimi, with its lyrics featuring a veritable prayer to God: "Fly like a bird, take to the sky, I need you now Lord, carry me high!".
Aucassin et Nicolette is an anonymous medieval French fictional story. It is the unique example of a chantefable, literally, a "sung story", a combination of prose and verse.
The monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Antigua and Barbuda. The current Antiguan and Barbudan monarch and head of state, since the independence of Antigua and Barbuda on 1 November 1981, is Queen Elizabeth II. As sovereign, she is the personal embodiment of the Crown of Antigua and Barbuda. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled Queen of Antigua and Barbuda and, in this capacity, she and other members of the Royal Family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Antigua and Barbuda. However, the Queen is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role.
The monarchy of Australia is Australia's form of government embodied by the Australian sovereign and head of state. The Australian monarchy is a constitutional monarchy, modelled on the Westminster system of parliamentary government, while incorporating features unique to the Constitution of Australia.
The Queen is a 2006 British biographical drama film that depicts the death of Diana, Princess of Wales in 1997. Initially, the Royal Family regard Diana's death as a private affair and thus not to be treated as an official royal death. This is in contrast with the views of Prime Minister Tony Blair and Diana's ex-husband, Prince Charles, who favour the general public's desire for an official expression of grief. Matters were further complicated by the media, royal protocol regarding Diana's official status, and wider issues about republicanism.
Xian refers to a person or similar entity having a long life or being immortal. The concept of xian has different implications dependent upon the specific context: philosophical, religious, mythological, or other symbolic or cultural occurrence. The Chinese word xian is translatable into English as:
Frances Hardinge is a British children's writer. Her debut novel, Fly By Night, won the 2006 Branford Boase Award and was listed as one of the School Library Journal Best Books, while her 2015 novel The Lie Tree won the 2015 Costa Book Award, the first children's book to do so since Philip Pullman's The Amber Spyglass in 2001. She has also been shortlisted for and received a number of other awards for both her novels as well as some of her short stories.
Helen Macfarlane, born Barrhead, 25 September 1818, Renfrewshire, Scotland, died Nantwich, Cheshire, England 29 March 1860, was a Scottish Chartist feminist journalist and philosopher, known for her 1850 translation into English of The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels which was published in German in 1848. Between April 1850 and December 1850, Macfarlane wrote three essays for George Julian Harney's monthly, the Democratic Review and ten articles for his weekly paper, The Red Republican. In 1851 Macfarlane "disappeared" from the political scene. Until recent research by Macfarlane's biographer David Black and BBC Radio Scotland researcher and broadcaster Louise Yeoman, very little was known for sure about her early and later life. Yeoman writes of Macfarlane:
Nicola Davies is an English zoologist and writer. She was one of the original presenters of the BBC children's wildlife programme The Really Wild Show. More recently, she has made her name as a children's author. Her books include Home, which was shortlisted for the Branford Boase Award, and Poo (2004), which was illustrated by Neal Layton, and was shortlisted for a Blue Peter Book Award in 2006; in the United States, the book is published as Poop: A Natural History of the Unmentionable. Her children's picture book The Promise won the Green Book Award in 2015. She has also written several novels for adults under the pseudonym Stevie Morgan.
Ally Kennen is a British author of adventure novels for children and teens. Some of her books have been marketed as thrillers and they may be classed as horror fiction.
Ann Kelley is a British writer known best for children's books. The Burying Beetle made the Branford Boase Award shortlist and The Bower Bird was Costa Children's Book of the Year. Several collections of her poetry and photographs were published before she wrote the novels that are the first two in a trilogy.
Verna Allette Wilkins FRSL is a Grenada-born publisher and author, now resident in London. In 1987 she founded the children's books imprint Tamarind Books, "producing quality inclusive literature that featured Black, Asian and minority ethnic children and children with disabilities" out of her concern about the effect on children who did not see themselves represented in books. Tamarind was acquired 20 years later by the Random House Group and became part of Random House Children's Books. Wilkins is also the author of more than 40 picture books and biographies for young people.
Twilight Robbery is a children's or young adults' comic fantasy novel by Frances Hardinge, published on 4 March 2011 by Macmillan in the UK, and, under the name Fly Trap, by Harper Collins in the USA. It was shortlisted for the 2011 Guardian Children's Fiction Prize. It is the sequel to Fly by Night, featuring the same protagonist Mosca Mye. It is set in the same grotesque fantasy world of The Realm, which Hardinge describes as bearing some similarity to early 18th century England. The people follow the cult of numerous small deities, known as the Beloved, each sacred in just a few hours in the year. Everyone is named according to the Beloved in whose time they are born.
