Diana, Princess of Wales, was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of King Charles III and mother of Princes William and Harry. Her activism and glamour made her an international icon, and earned her enduring popularity.
Don Juan, also known as Don Giovanni (Italian), is a legendary, fictional Spanish libertine who devotes his life to seducing women. Famous versions of the story include a 17th-century play, El burlador de Sevilla y convidado de piedra by Tirso de Molina, a 1787 opera, Don Giovanni, with music by Mozart and a libretto by Lorenzo da Ponte, and a satirical, epic poem, Don Juan, by Lord Byron.
Carlos, Prince of Asturias, also known as Don Carlos, was the eldest son and heir apparent of King Philip II of Spain. His mother was Maria Manuela of Portugal, daughter of John III of Portugal. Carlos was mentally unstable and was imprisoned by his father in early 1568, dying after half a year of solitary confinement. His fate was a theme in Spain's Black Legend, and inspired a play by Friedrich Schiller and an opera by Giuseppe Verdi.
James Lifford Hewitt is a former cavalry officer in the British Army. He came to public attention in the mid-1990s after he disclosed an affair with Diana, Princess of Wales, while she was still married to then-Prince Charles.
Agustín Moreto y Cavana, was a Spanish Catholic priest, dramatist and playwright.
Annus horribilis is a Latin phrase, meaning "horrible year". It is complementary to annus mirabilis, which means "wonderful year".
John of Austria was the natural son born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles V late in life when he was a widower. Charles V met his son only once, recognizing him in a secret codicil to his will. John became a military leader in the service of his half-brother, King Philip II of Spain, Charles V's legitimate heir, and is best known for his role as the admiral of the Holy Alliance fleet at the Battle of Lepanto.
DonaIsabel, nicknamed "the Redemptress", was the Princess Imperial of the Empire of Brazil and the Empire's regent on three occasions. Born in Rio de Janeiro as the eldest daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil and Empress Teresa Cristina, she was a member of the Brazilian branch of the House of Braganza. After the deaths of her two brothers in infancy, she was recognized as her father's heir presumptive. She married a French prince, Gaston, Count of Eu, in an arranged marriage and they had three sons.
Life Is a Dream is a Spanish-language play by Pedro Calderón de la Barca. First published in 1636, in two different editions, the first in Madrid and a second one in Zaragoza. Don W. Cruickshank and a number of other critics believe that the play can be dated around 1630, thus making Calderón's most famous work a rather early composition. It is a philosophical allegory regarding the human situation and the mystery of life. The play has been described as "the supreme example of Spanish Golden Age drama". The story focuses on the fictional Segismundo, Prince of Poland, who has been imprisoned in a tower by his father, King Basilio, following a dire prophecy that the prince would bring disaster to the country and death to the King. Basilio briefly frees Segismundo, but when the prince goes on a rampage, the king imprisons him again, persuading him that it was all a dream.
Ruth Sylvia Roche, Baroness Fermoy, was a friend and confidante of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and the maternal grandmother of Diana, Princess of Wales. She was one of the Queen Mother's ladies-in-waiting.
Concert for Diana was a benefit concert held at the newly built Wembley Stadium in London, United Kingdom in honour of Diana, Princess of Wales, on 1 July 2007, which would have been her 46th birthday. 31 August that year brought the 10th anniversary of her death. The concert was hosted by Diana's sons, Prince William and Prince Harry, who helped to organise many of the world's most famous entertainers and singers to perform. Proceeds from the concert went to Diana's charities, as well as to charities of which William and Harry are patrons.
Alexandra Shân "Tiggy" Pettifer is a British former nanny and companion to Prince William and Prince Harry. She was a personal assistant to Charles III from 1993 to 1999. She has used her married name since her marriage to Charles Pettifer in 1999.
The funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, started on Saturday 6 September 1997 at 9:08 am in London, when the tenor bell of Westminster Abbey started tolling to signal the departure of the cortège from Kensington Palace. The coffin was carried from the palace on a gun carriage by riders of the King's Troop and escorted by mounted police along Hyde Park to St James's Palace, where Diana's body had remained for five days before being taken to Kensington Palace. The Union Flag on top of the palace was lowered to half mast. The official ceremony was held at Westminster Abbey in London and finished at the resting place in Althorp.
Philip II of Spain has inspired artistic and cultural works for over four centuries, as the most powerful ruler in the Europe of his day, and subsequently a central figure in the "Black Legend" of Spanish power. The following list covers representations of him in drama, opera, film, novels, and verse. A small selection of the many artistic portrayals of Philip is shown in gallery form.
Donna Diana is a comic opera in three acts by Emil von Reznicek. The libretto, written by the composer, is based on a German translation by Carl August West titled Donna Diana oder Stolz und Liebe of the Spanish comedy El desdén, con el desdén by Agustín Moreto y Cavana.
The Walls Have Ears is a play written by the Spanish playwright Juan Ruiz de Alarcón. It was first staged in 1617, but it was not published until 1628 in the first part of Alarcón's collected plays. A manuscript of the work was discovered in 1882 in the Library of the Duke of Osuna. It is one Alarcón's of best known plays.
Diana: Her True Story is a 1993 biographical drama television film based on the life of Diana, Princess of Wales. It is based on the book of the same name by Andrew Morton, who also served as screenwriter and producer of the adaptation.
Traidor, inconfeso y mártir is an 1849 Spanish three-act play by José Zorrilla, who also wrote Don Juan Tenorio. It is a historical drama in the Spanish Romantic style and is loosely based on a historical incident in which a Spanish baker, Gabriel de Espinosa, was prosecuted as an imposter for the missing King Sebastian of Portugal.
Diana, Princess of Wales, the first wife of Prince Charles, and mother of Prince William and Prince Harry, owned a collection of jewels, both as a member of the British royal family and as a private individual. These were separate from the coronation and state regalia of the Crown Jewels. Most of her jewels were either presents from foreign royalty, on loan from Elizabeth II, wedding presents, purchased by Diana herself, or heirlooms belonging to the Spencer family.
Charles and Diana: Unhappily Ever After is a dramatic television movie of 1992 telling the real-life story of the failed marriage of Charles, Prince of Wales, and his first wife, Diana, Princess of Wales.
