Two popes canonised

Three monarchs were present at an open air mass in St Peter's Square in the Vatican City this morning as the late popes John XXIII and John Paul II were canonised by the current Pope.
John Paul II, who reigned from 1978 till his death in 2005, was beatified in 2011 and his canonisation is the fastest since saints ceased being declared by local acclamation and became the exclusive prerogative of the reigning pontiff nearly a thousand years ago. John XXIII, whose pontificate lasted from 1958 to his death in 1963, was beatified in 2000.
The Catholic Church normally requires two so-called "miracles" for someone to be declared saints, but Pope Francis chose to waive this rule in the case of John XXIII, as he has done in other recent cases. It is assumed that Pope Francis may feel some sort of identification with the folksy, easy-going, much-loved John XXIII.
It is the first time that two popes have been canonised at the same time and it has been suggested that Pope Francis chose to canonise the progressive John XXIII together with the conservative John Paul II, whose canonisation he "inherited" from his predecessor, in order to appeal to progressives as well as conservatives, although this has been denied by the Vatican, which insists that they do no make such political considerations.
The canonisation mass drew huge crowds to the Vatican, and among the guests were members of several Catholic royal families. The King and Queen of Spain, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and the Sovereign Prince and Princess of Liechtenstein headed the guest list, while the King of the Belgians was represented by his parents, King Albert and Queen Paola. It was interesting to note that Queen Paola, like Queen Sofía and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa, exercised the privilège du blanc, which gives the wives of Catholic monarchs the right to wear white rather than black in the presence of the Pope. However, Queen Paola wore black for a private audience with Pope Francis yesterday (while her daughter, Princess Astrid, wore a white jacket over a black dress). Princess Marie of Liechtenstein wore black, indicating that the privilege has still not been extended to the consort of the Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein.
The only Protestant royal house represented was the British (although Britain is officially a Protestant country there are now almost more Catholics than Anglicans in Britain), which sent the Duke of Gloucester, a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II, and his wife.
The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg were accompanied by their daughter-in-law, Hereditary Grand Duchess Stéphanie, and two of their sons, Louis and Sébastien. Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, who is his country's ambassador to the Holy See, attended with his Luxembourgian wife Margaretha (their was the last marriage between two reigning European royal houses), their son Josef-Emanuel, and one of their daughters (Maria-Anunciata, I believe).
Also in attendance were Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, President Bronislaw Komorowski of Poland and his predecessor but one Aleksander Kwasniewski, and President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe.

Museum Liechtenstein closes down

Of the royal collections of Europe, the princely collection of Liechtenstein is second only to the Royal Collection in Britain and since 2004 parts of it have been exhibited in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace (Gartenpalais Liechtenstein) in Vienna. However, as from the beginning of this year the Museum Liechtenstein has sadly closed its doors to ordinary visitors.
In the future it will only be possible to visit the palace when taking part in occasional guided tours of the collection. The focus will from now rather be on renting out the palace to corporate events and so on. The reason for this sad development seems to be that one had hoped for 300,000 visitors per year, but only managed to attract some 45,000.
Meanwhile the Liechtenstein Mansion (Palais Liechtenstein) in the centre of Vienna, which was the main residence of the Sovereign Prince of Liechtenstein until 1938, is being restored. The plan was that it would serve as a second branch of the Museum Liechtenstein, but this too will now not be generally open to the public after the restoration is completed next year.
The closing of the Museum Liechtenstein means that the website of the princely collections has now also changed to www.palaisliechtenstein.com. The new website will be launched in February.
The photo shows a detail of the ceiling fresco in the Great Hall of the Liechtenstein Garden Palace. The fresco was done by Andrea Pozzo between 1704 and 1708 and shows the entry of Hercules into Olympus.

What to see: The Liechtenstein Gold Coach

The princely family of Liechtenstein owns one of the greatest art collections in Europe. Parts of it are on display in the Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna, in whose vestibule one may also see one of the best surviving examples of eighteenth century French rococo carriage-making.
This golden coach, designed by the architect Nicolas Pineau (1684-1754), was made in Paris in 1738 on the orders of Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein, who had been appointed the Holy Roman Empire’s ambassador to the court of Louis XV by Emperor Karl VI.
It is a so-called berlin, a new sort of carriage which was developed in the second half of the seventeenth century, and soon gained popularity for use in cities and for ceremonial events. It is 610 centimetres long and weighs 1,400 kilos. The painted decor, possibly by the studio of François Boucher, represents the four seasons.
The Prince of Liechtenstein arrived in Paris in December 1737 and immediately began planning for his official arrival – it says something of the importance accorded to this kind of ceremony that the preparations lasted for an entire year.
The ceremonial entry into Paris eventually took place on 21 December 1738, followed by a public entry to Versailles on the 23rd. The procession was made up of no less than 23 carriages and the Duke of Luynes recorded in his memoirs how he had been impressed by the “extraordinarily rich” carriage of the ambassador.
The new gold coach was however empty on this occasion, as the ambassador, according to the court etiquette, rode in one of the French royal carriages together with the introducer. The gold coach was again seen at Versailles when it was used for Princess Anna Maria’s audience with Queen Marie on 4 May 1739.
Such carriages were mostly sold to local agents when the ambassador’s tenure ended as one generally avoided transporting them over long distances. That Prince Joseph Wenzel took his new carriage with him back to Vienna says something about its quality.
In 1760 Prince Joseph Wenzel used the coach when he went to Parma to act as a proxy for the future Emperor Joseph II at his wedding to Princess Isabella of Parma. It was again used when he escorted the Princess into Vienna the following month. In 1764 he also took it with him to Frankfurt when he acted as Joseph II’s ambassador at the imperial election.
It was first displayed in a museum as a work of art in the twentieth century.