King Umberto and the Doppleganger
In Monza, Italy, King Umberto I, went to a small restaurant for dinner, accompanied by his aide-de-camp, General Emilio Ponzia- Vaglia. When the owner took King Umberto's order, the King noticed that he and the restaurant owner were virtual doubles, in face and in build. Both men began discussing the striking resemblances between each other and found many more similarities.
- Both men were born on the same day, of the same year, (March 14th, 1844).
- Both men had been born in the same town.
- Both men married a woman with same name, Margherita.
- The restaurateur opened his restaurant on the same day that King Umberto was crowned King of Italy.
- On the 29th July 1900, King Umberto was informed that the restauranteur had died that day in a mysterious shooting accident, and as he expressed his regret, he was then assassinated by an anarchist in the crowd.
The 21 Problems Of King Louis XVI of France
When King Louis XVI of France was a child, he was warned by an astrologer to always be on his guard on the 21st day of each month. Louis never forgot the warning. During the 18th Century when he was in power, people believed in occult matters and kings consulted psychics and listened to the advice of astrologers before making decisions. King Louis never would do business on the 21st of the month.The irony of this story is that King Louis XVI and his wife, Marie Antoinette, were the last king and queen to ever rule over the people of France. Their reign toppled during the French Revolution (1789-1791). They were arrested in Varennes, while attempting to flee France, on September 21, 1791, and he was executed by guillotine on January 21, two years later. Marie Antoinette was executed by the same device on October 16 that same year.
Searching through the whole sordid rule of King Louis XVI fails to turn up any more unfortunate events dating on the 21st of the month, thus the astrologer's consultation was clearly zeroing in on the arrest and death of the king.
That the wicked king was overthrown on the 21st day of the month may have been bad news for the king, but for the people of France it marked a new beginning. There was obvious rejoicing in the streets.
Remember that there was a world paradigm shift occurring at about that time in history. The old monarchal rules were collapsing and new forms of government were rising up. It was happening all over Europe and Asia, where the movement was toward socialism and eventually communism.
The American Revolution occurred (1776-1783), and ironically, King Louis XVI was persuaded by the wily Benjamin Franklin to assist the overthrow of the British power. His decision to sent the Marquis de Lafayette with French forces to America to assist in the struggle.tipped the scales.
Little did King Louis know that the American Revolution then became the catalyst for the revolution that toppled his own rule within the decade.
The author of the part about King Louis, is, obviously, an idiot. "Remember that there was a world paradigm shift occurring at about that time in history. The old monarchal rules were collapsing and new forms of government were rising up. It was happening all over Europe and Asia, where the movement was toward socialism and eventually communism."
ReplyDeleteThe king was not overthrown because he was evil, or good. He wasn't overthrown by the poor, or for equality. He was overthrown by a burgeoning middle class that resented the restrictions on access to power. Things were changing, and for the better, but not fast enough (for them). That particular revolution was one of the most horrific, inhumane, murderous rampages man would see until Russia fell to just such madmen, then stayed under their control for decades, costing millions, tens of millions, their lives. Many, most, of the victims were truly innocent of that which they were tried, or not as if it mattered, and executed. Men, women, children.
Kings, communists, the choice is easy between the two. He, at least, has economic interests, even if just his own. Not even is pure democracy a thing to be desired. But you can't tell idiots. I just hope they get what they want, shortly after my death. (Used to tell my last lady that, a feminist lefty... it devastated her, for some reason. I can't figure lefties out, in some of their peculiarities anyway.)
Louis wasn't a bad guy, incompetent maybe, certainly not wicked.
ReplyDeleteThat can be applied more accurately to the the people that succeeded him - Marat, Danton, Robespierre, and, of course, Bonaparte.