Waiting for the arrival

Monte-Cristo is ready to welcome young King Basil, Reich Duchess Lynda and Reich Duke Wilhelm with our ceremony of official greeting.

Our prestigious guests could not come and honour us at a more favorable time: the weather is fine but not too hot, as happens sometimes in the deep of summer despite the proximity of the sea (everywhere in the Presipality "On sent la mer d’ici! "). Thus the young and fair Monte-Cristans are wearing their traditional costume, the (in)famous «trikini» (becomes the ‘monokini’ when barefooted).

As part of the Season Festival of the Open Air Opera, this week offers each afternoon a representation of Purcell’s Faerie Queene after an appetizer of -diverse - of his other pieces. Our special guest of the Year, the Bluebird Ballet from Mitteland, performs on several on them.
Given the taste of our welcoming population for music and enjoyement, by a decades-old unwritten tradition foreign musicians, players of bagpipe or hurdy-gurdy (and any instrument if they play good music) come to Monte-Cristo at the time of the festival –from whole Europe and all around the Mediterranean Sea- to perform for free in the streets and squares and in the Grand Parc Recreatif (somewhat to the annoyance of the timid animals in the attached Zoo).
A special this year, the Palace has invited the Mehter Takımı as part of the ‘cultutal exchanges’ covering our convoluted diplomatic efforts to revive the alliance between Versailles and Istanbul.

The Great Hall of the Musee des Arts et Sciences currently harbors our famous Annual Exposition d’Arts Orientaux, enriched of new pieces. The staff of the Presipapal Library is selecting the portfolios and books our Guests will receive as souvenirs.

We hope Her Highness Reich Duchess Lynda will greatly honour our gentle People by kindly agreeing to tour the City and Peninsula as Special Head of the jury for our Spring competitions of Flowered Streets, Squares, Hamlets and Villages. Hopefully Her Highness will not be disturbed by the fact that here, even when presenting their works to the Jury, most of young gardeners wear only a straw hat (for the boys, respectuously held in hands), a green apron and wooden shoes.

In the meantime, given their ruling responsabilities facing serious matters related to our troubled times, the Prince and the Reich Duke will be given demonstrations of our recent achievements in military research and development.
They will also have the unique opportunity to witness the drill and evolutions of the Peshawar Lancers, an exotic mercenary outfit at the moment in transit on our peninsula.
Each of your Guests will be presented with an annotated copy of Maurice de Saxe’s Reveries: the Marechal gave us several copies of of a ‘secret’ edition printed under his direction (and far better than the posthumous edition).
As a mark of trust and friendship, various pieces of information recently gathered by our Service will be revealed and the march, 12 ‘Secret Synthesis’ commented upon.

Then to end the days on a relaxing tone, we offer for instance the Musical Plays at the Casino: while at the Great Theatre & Concert Hall a gothic drama retelling a popular German legend is performed in alternance with an amusing (if somewhat controversial by foreign standards) comedy, a smaller theatre offers more sophisticated shows.
But, honestly, we would not encourage our Guests to gamble in this establishment…

We have to confess to be less well equipped as for answering the possible spiritual needs of our Guests. But they would benefit, if they wish, from interviews with another honored visitor: Cardinal Maximilian von Roskilde is still our wiling ‘prisoner’. As we understand it, this Holy Man sees his sojourn in our jail as the fulfilment of some kind of ex-voto, a self-imposed mortification in thanksgiving for the happy conclusion of his chaotic sea journey.


We will invite Young King Basil to open the last night Grand Bal d’‘Au Revoir’.




Thus we are waiting for for the arrival of Reich Duchess Lynda, Reich Duke Wilhelm and Prince Basil in full confidence to offer them a pleasant –both enjoyable and and instructive- staging stage in their Grand Tour, in a peaceful and secure haven sheltereed from obscure plots and away from all wars, known or occult…

We’ll leave to our Sovereign Guests to comment, if they wish, on their sojourn in our Country.