𝐍𝐎. 𝟏   ❛ 𝐝𝐨𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭 ❜   |   VARIOUS LOCATIONS, LATE 1990 - EARLY 1991

❧  𝐛𝐞𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠  /  𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐨𝐮𝐬  /  𝐧𝐞𝐱𝐭.

❛ In early March, the Office of the Crown released its first personal statement since the funeral. It resembled the releases that had followed other deaths: ' With the mourning period ended, our family is eager to return to public life. We have spent our time away in the traditional manner. Our ancestors understood the loss of a loved one demands total acknowledgment. Public ceremony is one component, but life cannot resume without granting the wound time to heal. This is reality for even those of us blessed with tremendous responsibility. We expect to always bear the scar of remembrance, just as we know the nation will, but we remain grateful for this time of recovery. Each of us has engaged in true reflection. We intend to recommit to Uspana and its People with clarity and appreciation. This is what our beloved Princess Safya would have wanted. '

❧ i did kinda phone this one in, but akjfsdh it's a nice montage, i think.

𝐬𝐜𝐞𝐧𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐞𝐝 ↓

In truth, the family’s practice of mourning varied enough to warrant a white lie to the public. Some did indeed take the traditional approach. Rodrigo, Matias, and Leonor all sequestered themselves away to a degree; they engaged in that esteemed “true reflection” with only their selves and their memories as company. For others, the dictates of tradition mattered less. Their mourning looked like clinging to routine, revisiting familiar places, seeking comfort in the presence of others. Beatriz returned to Yaas for the first time in years, welcoming for once the way her childhood haunted it. Contemplation could find its way into these activities—in the tranquil baking Olalla did or the letters Mateo wrote to his father—but not everyone was willing to allow it. They formed a spectrum in their grief, one that none policed or much noticed.

The only requirement was that they maintain privacy. Whether at Alam Palace, in the residential quarters of Nakawe Palace, or retreated to personal homes and hotel rooms, they were to be reclusive. An uneasy but time-honored truce existed with the media. Whether the respectable evening news journalists or the scrappy tabloid photographers, all kept their distance. The Crown’s official policy nonetheless remained: they were untrustworthy. The intrepid would seek gossip from launderers and groundskeepers and couriers. The foolish would trespass, slinking along unmarked trails and hoping for glimpses of impromptu promenades through gardens and on private beachfronts. Temporarily, the embargo held. Pop stars, politicians, actors, and socialites dominated the headlines. The media cultivated a surreal alternate reality for the public in which Princess Safya had never existed because Uspana had no royal family of which to speak. All the while, they stockpiled stories to inaugurate the eighty-first day.

have been feeling listless and unmoored re: sims stuff lately, but i got a healthy dose of inspiration from @warwickroyals & @prydainroyals this past week, so i did a little succession / magazine-ish thing :^) obviously beatriz's 2023 death would be commemorated in uspanian vogue !!!!! obviously !!!!

transcribed text below:

Fashion is a Royal (and Family) Affair

That Crown Princess Barbie is a student of Uspanian style isn’t a surprise. For this issue, she recounts the historical episode at the heart of our memorial for the late Queen Beatriz. Pictured above in private photos are: Mother Desideria in 1860; Mother Zuriñe in 1885; Mother Rowena and then-Crown Prince Alfonso in 1926.

THE “BIRDIE” ISSUE OF VOGUE USPANA debuted in 1973. At the time, the magazine was in its infancy. An issue shaped by the queen—and it was, from cover to cover, driven by her desires and presence—ensured longevity. It proved to be a bestseller. Clothes, too, flew off the racks as Uspana’s designers received a boost among popular consumers. A textiles renaissance commenced among women of a certain class who had been looking elsewhere for quality fabric. Then and now, this was the mission of the magazine: loyalty to Uspanian fashion. The Birdie issue was a testament to this, from the sensibilities it imparted to the sourcing of its materials. The queen’s favorite designers, stylists, and photographers filled the issue; it made them iconic, and they would continue to set national trends for decades to come. More importantly, the Birdie issue fit into a larger project underway during Beatriz’s reign. Foreign fashion’s creep into the Uspanian mainstream had started two centuries before Beatriz obtained the Crown, but it reached its cultural apex under the sway of her mother. Uspana’s people had long reviled Queen Rowena’s taste in one breath and wished to emulate it in the second. The two women were not seemingly opposed in a diametric sense. They overlapped under the label of “extravagant,” namely, but Beatriz was forgiven her excess. The Birdie issue, in retrospect, shows why. In an initial meeting with the queen, she told then-editor Lluc Soler that she cared deeply about a “revival” of traditional fashion in the country. Soler replied that traditional fashion was alive and well—“in the mountains, with the grandmothers.” Some in the annals have suggested that this retort led to control of the issue being ceded informally to a team with whom the queen preferred to work. (By 1975, Papan Ibarra had risen from those ranks to become the magazine’s new editor-in-chief, a position she occupied until 1991.) Nonetheless, a certain truth in Soler’s statement formed the foundation of the issue. It did draw heavy inspiration from those grandmothers in the mountains. This included people such as the queen’s own grandmother, Mother Zuriñe, who readily embraced the aesthetics of Yaas and was a master weaver in her own right. The cover reflected the elevated homage orchestrated within. On it, Birdie herself posed in a wool rebozo hand-dyed with cochineal. This garment was a perfect duplicate of the so-called suncloths the queen’s great-grandmother, Mother Desideria, wore on a regular basis in the late nineteenth century. Fittingly, it was also topped with a replica inspired by the time. One of the many jewelry pieces destroyed during the 1880s had been the Shield Flower tiara with its red fire opal set in gold and symbolic allusions to the sacrifice and self-immolation of Uspana’s founding mothers. Queen Beatriz wore tiaras on many occasions, but it was widely known that she preferred to wear the true Uspanian symbol of elite regalia: the jade necklace. For that reason, jade

BIRDIE, 1973 Shield Flower tiara by Xiuhcozcatl for the House of Tecuani. Rebozo by Quilatzli Castañeda. Necklace creator unknown. Fashion editor: Papan Ibarra.

had german and barbie on the brain ... i love them

cleaning out my drafts … eternal thank you to @funkyllama for our family ♥️

❧ 𝐥𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐚𝐲  /  1926 - 2043

this isn't the valentine's day thing i have been planning, but i wanted to post something the day of & got this idea. it's probably fair to say these are four of the top five couples :^) thank you to @dreamstatesims & @armoricaroyalty & @funkyllama for sharing their beautiful gorgeous hot and sexy babies w/ me !

per request of @trentonsimblr — & as always, barbie looks like a goddess because @dreamstatesims made her that way ♥️

just reminding everyone that they continue to be, as a family, Hot™

are u ever in town for a funeral & ur kids are totally oblivious ♥️ @funkyllama

this is purely a random Arnaut Appreciation Post / ft. portrait lighting hack i stole from @armoricaroyalty

reminding myself & everyone else that they have many children and full-time jobs

♥️ @dreamstatesims

are u ever the world's biggest mama's boy

alexa, play the addams family theme song slash boyfriend by justin bieber mash-up / perpetual thanks to @funkyllama & @dreamstatesims for the extra cuties

TRANSCRIPT:

[Overlapping conversations.]

German: Silly ones next! Obligatory.

Julian: Can we talk—now, just … before everything starts?

Yesenia: [Sighs.] Two minutes.

Julian: Start the clock. I can sweep you off your feet in a minute and a half. Yesenia: Julian, please—

Julian: I’ve done it before. Yesenia: If this is what you want to talk about, forget it. Let’s go inside.

Julian: Marcos is here, isn’t he? Yesenia: I don’t think that matters.

Julian: Me either. He knows what he signed himself up for, with us. Yesenia: Us? Come on. Julian: [Doing a poor Beatriz impression] “When we have history, we share stitches.” Yesenia: It’s not happening again.

Yesenia: I’m in Nakawe until tomorrow, and I’m going abroad after that. I’m not getting stuck with you. Whatever is happening with Marcos is not your concern. I said two minutes, and I meant it. This is over.

Julian: I know it’s serious. Yesenia: Excuse me? Julian: I can’t even hate him. He’s the good cousin. He’s just, like, good. So are you. Yesenia: Are those tears…? Julian: It’s called desperation, Yesenia.

Beatriz: They’re doing this in front of everyone? Leonor: So it appears.

Beatriz: If we wanted drama, I would have hired someone with talent.

Leonor: Can we go inside now, Mother Beatriz? Beatriz: Speak to that photographer over there first. Make sure he gets all of it. Leonor: [Sighs.] No drama, huh?

i don’t know what to say other than that i downloaded this very hot boat & wanted to use it, in the hottest sims world, with these hot sims (say the word and i’ll stop tagging you in these thrice-weekly posts @dreamstatesims​​ sdsfdkjgds)

me, looking respectfully at someone’s parents—

fantasizing about when my story gets to this point ... in SEVENTY (70) years 😭

❧  ft. @dreamstatesims‘s actual goddess, miss barbie

nothing will convince me that they  don’t  have a joint finsta  !!!!!!    /   at this point, let’s call this a slow motion Birthday Beach Bash™️ countdown ???

♥️ @dreamstatesims