All posts tagged: Empress

Empress Eugénie’s damaged crown will be restored, museum vows

Empress Eugénie’s damaged crown will be restored, museum vows

Published by Sam Flores

The damaged crown of Empress Eugénie after it was dropped during the heist from the Louvre Museum on October 19, 2025. THOMAS CLOT / AFP The crown of French Empress Eugénie, which was abandoned by fleeing thieves who staged a brazen robbery at the Louvre last year, is nearly intact and will be fully restored, the museum said on Wednesday, February 4. The thieves who robbed the famed Paris museum last October made off with an estimated €88 million in jewels, but dropped the empress’s diamond- and emerald-studded crown as they escaped, leaving it crushed and broken. Investigators have yet to locate the other jewels, but recovered the dropped crown. The Louvre said in a statement the piece had been “badly deformed,” but remained “nearly intact” and would be restored to its original state, “without the need for reconstruction.” The museum said the crown was damaged when the thieves tried to remove it through a narrow hole they had sawed in the glass case where it was displayed. Read more Subscribers only Paris police Louvre …

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

The Poet Empress by Shen Tao

Published by Jenni Sidey

In a world where poetry wields the power to reshape reality and dynasties balance on the edge of blades, Shen Tao’s debut novel delivers a harrowing tale of survival, forbidden knowledge, and the transformative power of literacy. The Poet Empress by Shen Tao introduces readers to Wei Yin, a desperate village girl thrust into the deadly political machinations of the Azalea House, where being chosen as a prince’s concubine might be a death sentence disguised as an honor. A Heroine Forged in Desperation Wei Yin’s journey begins not with ambition but with grief. After burying her fifth sibling while her village starves under the weight of an empire-wide famine, she makes a choice that will alter the course of her life: she offers herself to the concubine selection for Prince Terren, the cruel heir known as the Winter Dragon. What follows is not a fairy tale but a brutal education in palace politics, where every smile conceals a dagger and survival requires becoming as dangerous as those who would destroy you. Tao crafts Wei with …

Empress Masako of Japan Will Reportedly Make a Rare State Visit This Summer

Empress Masako of Japan Will Reportedly Make a Rare State Visit This Summer

Published by Sam Flores

Japanese royalty Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako may have set their summer agenda. According to a new report by Japanese outlet Nippon TV, the couple is expected to make state visits to Belgium and the Netherlands in June, after receiving invitations from both European countries, government sources told the outlet this week. If the trip happens, it will mark the first visit to multiple countries on a single trip since then Crown Prince Naruhito and then Crown Princess Masako traveled to New Zealand and Australia in 2002. It would also be a rare public outing for the Empress, who has largely retreated from public life amid mental health concerns. Before marrying into the Japanese royal family in 1993, the Princess, then Masako Owada, studied at both Harvard and Oxford universities before working as a career diplomat. The New York Times reported that much of Masako’s malaise stemmed from public pressures to conceive a male heir. After a miscarriage, Empress Masako gave birth to a daughter, Princess Aiko, meaning “love,” in 2001. During this fraught period, …