Viola Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga and her husband, violinist Charlie Siem, are expecting their first child. This will be the second grandchild of Princess Bianca of Savoy-Aosta and Count Giberto Arrivabene-Valenti-Gonzaga. Viola's younger sister, Vera, and husband, Briano dei Conti Martinoni Caleppio became the parents of a son, Dardo who was born on June 5 in Milan.
Viola and Charlie Siem were married on April 22, 2023.
Victoria - Victoria - Sophie - Irene -Amedeo - Bianca - Viola
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| @Hamerkop |
Just a few days ago, I reported the engagement of Countess Hemma von Khevenhüller-Metsch and Count Vincent von Matuschka. And now the family is celebrating another engagement as Hemma's first cousin, Count Franz Christoph recently popped the question to the Belgian Countess Tatiana de Liedekerke.
Hemma and Franz Christoph and their future spouses live and work in London.
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Count Maria Franz Christoph Karl is the second of four children of Count Maria Karl Maximilian Georg Hubertus von Khevenhüller-Metsch and Leila Gailly de Taurines. He was born in Mistelbach on March 26, 1995.
Franz Christoph received a bachelor's degree in business administration from Hult International Business School, in Cambridge, Mass., in August 2020. He is a Business Development Executive at Darktrace, a British cybersecurity firm.
Countess Tatiana is the second of three children of Count Michel de Liedekerke and his first wife, Countess Irina Christiana Maria zu Stolberg-Stolberg, the youngest of three children of Count Wilhelm zu Stolberg-Stolberg and Princess Irene von Isenberg-Birstein. She was born in Brussels on September 15, 1997. She and her siblings were raised in London, where her father works in finance. Count Michel is a Director of Clerville Investment Management Ltd.
Irina's older sister, Countess Isabel-Juliana is the wife of Léopold, 13th Duke of Arenberg..
She attended UCL, earning a BA in International Relations and German and spent a year abroad in Berlin, studying social sciences and German at Humboldt University.
In September 2022, she received a Master of Science in Climate Change, Management and Finance from the Imperial College Business School. She is an Associate Consultant for Climate Change and Carbon Markets at Hamerkop Climate Impacts Ltd.
She graduated from Ampleforth College, a Roman Catholic boarding school in England.
According to her company profile, Tatiana's "interests lie in scaling carbon finance to enable mitigation projects that also improve the resilience of vulnerable communities and ecosystems."
She is fluent in English, French, and German, and has "volunteered in a refugee camp in Calais and a homeless housing organization."
Archduke Josef Albrecht of Austria and Countess Sophie von Schaesberg were married on August 26, 2023, at St. Johannes Baptist church in Sünching Bavaria
More than five hundred guests attended the "big. colorful family celebration," Countess Sophie, wearing a wedding gown designed by Lorenzo Capile, and her father arrived at church in a carriage shortly before noon. The wedding ceremony took just over an hour, and at 1:12 p.m. Josef Albrecht and Sophie emerged from the church as husband and wife.
The couple with their family and guests walked several hundred feet from the church to Sünching Castle for the reception. Sophie's maternal grandfather owns the castle, which he inherited from his grandmother, Countess Seinsheim in 1958. He lives in the castle with his wife and daughter, Antoinette.
Josef Albrecht, 29, and Sophie, 25, met at a birthday party in Portugal in 2019. He proposed to Sophie in late 2021 at a Pittsburgh Steelers- Chicago Bears football game. The Archduke used to play American football.
The bride was given away by her father, Johannes, Count von Schaesberg. Her sister, Countess Marie-Dorothee von Schaesberg, and Archduke Josef Albrecht's brother Archduke Paul, were the witnesses to the wedding.
Sophie's mother, Baroness Antoinette von Hoenning-O'Carroll, and the Count of Schaesberg are divorced. Their marriage was annulled in 2011. Archduke Josef Albrecht is the eldest son of Archduke Josef Karl of Austria and Princess Margarete of Hohenberg.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2022/01/an-imperial-engagement.html
The five hundred wedding guests included Princess Luisa of Belgium, Lord Downpatrick, the Duke and Duchess of Braganza and their son, Infante Afonso, the Prince of Thurn und Taxis and his mother, Princess Gloria, the Hereditary Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, Archduke Michael and Archduchess Christina of Austria, the Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Prince and Princess Dominic of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Archduchess Maria of Austria (widow of the late Archduke István of Austria, Prince and Princess Wenzel of Liechtenstein, Count Paul von Schönborn with his family, the Duke of Croy and his children, Count and Countess Drechsel, the Prince and Princess of Oettingen-Wallerstein, Princess Reuss, Theodor Ritter Mautner Markhoff and his wife, Marie Antoinette, Archduke Karl of Austria with his wife, Christian, and his three children (from his first marriage), Archduke Ferdinand, Archduchess Eleonore and Archduchess Gloria, The Duke of Württemberg, the Princess of Castell-Rüdenhausen, the Margrave and Margravine of Meissen and German actor Alexander Held.
The bridesmaids and best men were Clara Jebsen, Countess Marie Dorothee von Schaesberg, Emanuel Mendez de Vigo, Archduke Ferdinand of Austria, Archduke Frederic of Austria, Baron Johannes Gemmingen Hornberg and Archduke Paul of Austria. The bride's flower girls and pages were Flora Hagen, Laszlo delle Piane, Sophie Reitzenstein, Count Carl Louis and Count Nikolai von Schaesberg, Constantin, Sophia, and Lucia Yep.
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| Baron Franz-Ferdinand von Feilitzsch and The Duke of Württemberg |
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| Archduke Karl and his wife, Christian |
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| The Prince of Thurn und Taxis |
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| Alexander Held, a German actor |
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| the Margrave and Margrave of Meissen |
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| Princess Albrecht of Hohenberg, grandmother of the groom, Antoinette Countess of Schaesberg and Archduke Josef Karl of Austria |
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| The Prince and Princess of Oettingen Wallerstein |
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| The Prince of Thurn und Taxis with his mother and sister |
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| Father Dichgans is the son of Countess Eleonore of Waldburg zu Zeil und Trauchberg and Josef Dichgans. His maternal grandmother was Princess Eleonore of Bavaria |
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| Archduke Karl of Austria and his wife Christian |
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| The Prince of Thurn und Taxis |
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| Count and Countess von Drechsel |
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| The Prince of Beira with his sister, Infanta Maria Francisca, and her fiance Duarte de Sousa Araújo Martins. |
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| The Duke of Croy with his daughter |
The couple will be spending their honeymoon in the United States. Afterward, they will divide their time between Schloss Sünching and Budapest, where the Archduke works in commodities trade. Sophie recently completed a computer science degree in Madrid and has plans to work in IT.
The copyright belongs to a friend. Thank you for allowing me to use the photos.
King Charles III and Queen Camilla are at Balmoral until after September 8. This week other members of the Royal Family are heading to Scotland to spend time together. Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and their husbands and children are already at the castle. The Prince and Princess of Wales will arrive by the weekend.
The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal and her family will also be at Balmoral in the coming weeks.
On October 19, Russell Myers, the Mirror's Royal Correspondent wrote: "The King will tell the Prince and Princess of Wales of his intention to carve out precise roles for them as well as himself and Queen Camilla." The focus will be on the Commonwealth.
A source told Myers: “His Majesty is very clear. The Commonwealth must be at the very heart of his reign. He sees it as his utmost duty to fulfill the sincere wish of his late mother, that one of his central roles must be to ensure not only the survival but the robustness (of the organization).”
The King will lay out plans for the next year. He wants to highlight the Princess of Wales' "star quality."
Tours, which take months to plan, will be announced later this year. One can assume that the first tours will be to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand.
The Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will continue to carry out engagements.
But what about the bread-and-butter engagements in the United Kingdom, which have included visiting local communities and supporting local organizations? This does not mean unveiling plaques every other week, but members of the Royal Family need to be seen outside London more often, not just a quick visit here or there.
The Prince and Princess of Wales will be at the forefront of the King's plan. William is the next in line and will have a much shorter apprenticeship than his father.
There are now eleven working royals: the King and Queen, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra, the Hon. Lady Ogilvy. The latter two royals are now in their late eighties. The duke will celebrate his 88th birthday in October. Alexandra will turn eighty-seven on Christmas Day.
The Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra continue to carry out a limited number of engagements, although both are in poor health. They are conscious of their duty to the Crown, but their retirement as working royals is inevitable.
Why not replace them with Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie? In the late 1990s, the Way Ahead group, which included senior royals and advisers, devised a plan to slim down the royal family. One of the ideas that received approval was that the York princesses would not become working royals. The two princesses have their own patronages, but they are not included in the Royal Family's patronages database and they do not have their own pages on the Royal Family's official website.
Princess Beatrice is one of the Counsellors of State, replacing Charles when he succeeded to the throne. It is a position in name only as the King supported legislation that added the Duke of Edinburgh and the Princess Royal to the Counsellors of State (for their lifetimes). Because of this legislation, Beatrice won't be asked to serve as a Counsellor.
In 2012, Beatrice accompanied the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh to York for the annual Maundy Thursday service. Princess Eugenie accompanied her grandmother to the Maundy Thursday service at St. George's Chapel in 2019.
In 2013, the British Government sent the two Princesses to Berlin and Hanover for the GREAT initiative promoting the UK abroad.
The two princesses have attended numerous state events, such as Thanksgiving services and Queen Elizabeth's funeral, but have not been invited to gala events such as a State Dinner.
For several years, the two princesses rode in a carriage during the Trooping the Colour and appeared on the balcony with other members of the Royal Family. The last time they took part in the Trooping was in 2019.
https://www.royal.uk/charities-and-patronages?mrf=2&page=7
[The Way Ahead group had also advocated for removing the Princesses' royal titles and having them styled as daughters of a duke. This idea was shelved but implemented in 1999 when Prince Edward married. His children, according to the official announcement released the morning of his marriage, included this statement: The Queen has also decided, with the agreement of The Prince Edward and Miss Rhys-Jones, that any children they might have should not be given the style of His or Her Royal Highness, but will have courtesy titles as sons or daughters of an Earl."]
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex's decision to head west across the Pond to find fame and fortune left a void in the royal ranks. As the heir to the throne, William's plate will be filled with more patronages. In the not-so-distant future, some of the late Queen Elizabeth II's patronages will be passed to working members of the Royal Family. Elizabeth II was patron of nearly six hundred organizations, many of which were inherited from her father, King George VI. It is unlikely that all the patronages will pass to the King and other members of the Royal Family.
Had Harry and Meghan remained as working royals, they too would be adding to their patronage portfolios. After his father became king, Harry's role would have increased, but always as a support to his father and older brother. He and Meghan would have continued to focus on diverse issues.
Harry may have been the King's first appointment to the Most Noble Order of the Garter.
Harry and Meghan would have retained their 24-hour security as senior working royals. After the king's accession, the Sovereign Grant would have covered their working expenses.
It would be a good move for Beatrice and Eugenie to become part-time working royals, doing 5-10 engagements per month. Most working royals have police protection only when they are carrying out engagements. The PPOs protecting the Duke of Kent and Princess Alexandra could be reassigned to the York Princesses.
The Princesses could share a private secretary and a small office with Buckingham Palace staff. The Sovereign Grant would cover the costs. I cannot crunch numbers but the expenses would be far less than for a full-time working royal.
Their engagements would be based in the United Kingdom, and they would not undertake foreign engagements.
Beatrice and her husband Edo Mapelli Mozzi have two homes, an apartment in St. James's Palace and a £3.5 million farmhouse in the Cotswolds, which they bought in 2022. They pay fair market value rent for the St. James's Palace apartment, which Beatrice shared with Princess Eugenie before they both married.
Eugenie and her husband, Jack Brooksbank, and their two sons, August, and Ernest, live in Ivy Cottage on the Kensington Palace. Jack works in marketing, sales, and promotion for the Costa Terra Golf and Ocean Club in Comporta.
The two princesses often stay with their parents, the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park.
Both princesses have jobs. Since 2016, Princess Beatrice has been the Vice President, Partnerships & Strategy at Afiniti, a software company, where Prince Harry's childhood friend, Thomas "Skippy" Inskip, is the Chief Commercial Officer.
[The link for Beatrice's page on Afiniti's website no longer works.]
Princess Eugenie is an Associate Director at Hauser & Wirth, a Swiss contemporary art gallery. She is based at their London gallery. She is also the co-founder with Julia de Boinville of the Anti-Slavery Collective.
The two Princesses would be delighted to step in and take on several official engagements each month. This will help the King and the Prince and Princess of Wales. The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal, and the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester will continue their work; the presence of two younger Princesses of the Blood can help to relieve the burden of an increasing number of royal engagements.
They will have a seamless entry into royal duties if given the opportunity by the King because Beatrice and Eugenie know the ropes.
If his daughters become working royals, the Duke of York will remain an out-of-sight, out-of-mind pariah. He won't be able to tag along. And that's how it should be.
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| Engagement - August 1, 1990 |
HRH Duke Philipp of Württemberg and his estranged wife, HRH Duchess Marie of Württemberg (nee Duchess in Bavaria) have begun the legal process to end their civil marriage which took place on June 28, 1991, at Schloss Altshausen. Their religious wedding was on July 27, 1991, at Tegernsee. In Germany, the civil ceremony is the legal wedding.
Duke Philipp. 58, is the fourth of six children of the late HRH Carl, Duke of Württemberg, and HRH Princess Diane of Orléans. Duchess Marie, 54, is the second of five daughters of Duke Max in Bavaria and Countess Elizabeth Douglas. They have four children: Duchess Sophie (1994), Duchess Pauline (1997), Duke Carl Theodor (1999), and Duchess Anna (2007).
They have one grandchild, Olympia Andigné who is the daughter of Duchess Sophie and her husband Maximilian de Andigné.
The couple has been living apart for some years. I wrote about the confirmation of their separation in January.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2023/01/an-engagement-wedding-and-separation.html
Countess Hemma Marie Louise Franziska von Khevenhüller-Metsch and Count Vincenz von Matuschka are engaged to be married.
Countess Hemma is the eldest of four daughters of Count Georg Christoph Heinrich Hubertus von Khevenhüller-Metsch and Countess Stephanie zu Castell-Castell. She was born in Vienna on July 17, 1994.
The bride-to-be is the Head of Events & Client Development for Thaddeus Ropac, an Austrian gallerist "who specializes in international art." Ropac has galleries in London, Paris, Salzburg, and Seoul. The countess is based at the London Gallery. Before joining Ropac in November 2021, Hemma worked in Christie's press office for two years. She has a bachelor's degree in fine arts from Parsons Paris -- the New School, specializing in Art History, Theory & Criticism.
Count Vincent Wilhelm Alexander Victor von Matuschka was born on January 17, 1993, in Düsseldorf. He is the eldest child of Count Wilhelm Nikolaus Pius von Matuschka and the late Maria-Luisa von Voss.
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| @University of London |
A mixed-media artist and painter, Vincent studied Fine Art at Chelsea College of Art & Design in London and received a Master of Fine Arts from Goldsmiths. Most of his work "aims to break conventional expectations by confronting the audience with contrasts and humour"
The couple lives in London. Vincent's younger brother, Caspar, is engaged to marry Countess Leonie zu Waldburg-Zeil.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2023/02/a-countly-engagement-waldburg-zeil.html
Count Vincent's great-grandfather, Count Michael Maria Anton Wolfgang von Matuschka was a German politician who took part in the failed July 20, 1944, plot to kill Adolf Hitler. He was arrested by the Gestapo and executed by hanging on September 14, 1944.
https://www.avemarie.art/history
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| Celeste Reynolds Leiningen |
HSH Princess Tatiana of Leiningen and her husband, Clayton Reynolds are the parents of a daughter, Celeste Ines Myrna Reynolds Leiningen, who was born on August 13, 2023, at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital in Oakville, Ontario, Canada. This is the second child for Tatiana and Clayton. Their first child August Rhodes Robert Reynolds Leiningen was born on June 14, 2021, at the same hospital.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2021/06/the-newest-qvd-august-rhodes-robert.html
Celeste is the third grandchildren of TSH Prince Hermann and Princess Deborah of Leiningen - and another great-grandchild for HRH Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2021/12/a-new-qvd-thomas-baker-leiningen.html
Victoria - Alfred - Victoria - Melita - Maria - Karl - Hermann - Tatiana - Celeste
Juliet and Simon Rood are the parents of a daughter, Xanthe Victoria Ingrid, who was born on August 2, 2023. Xanthe is the first daughter and third child. She has two older brothers, Albert (Albie) and Edmund (Edo).
She is the second daughter of the Hon. Katharine Nicolson, Mistress of Saltoun, and Captain. Mark Nicolson.
Xanthe's names honor her heritage. Juliet's brother, Alexander Ramsay is known as Xander. Victoria is Juliet's second name, also one of the names of her great-grandmother, Lady Patricia Ramsay (nee HRH Princess Patricia of Connaught.) Ingrid honors the late Queen Ingrid of Denmark who was one of the Hon. Katharine Nicolson's godparents. Ingrid was Lady Patricia's niece.
Juliet's marriage was the last to receive approval from Queen Elizabeth II, according to the Royal Marriages Ac. In 2013, the RMA was superseded by the Succession to the Crown Act.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2015/02/queen-approves-marriage-of-cousin-at.html
Victoria - Arthur - Patricia - Alexander - Katharine - Juliet - Xanthe
It was also reported that HH Prince Constantin of Schleswig-Holstein and Countess Sophie von der Schulenberg had their first child, Prince Tassilo, approximately three weeks ago. The couple and their newborn son attended the wedding of Immanuel Jebsen and Donata von Behr in Denmark on August 12. In February, I wrote that the couple was engaged and expecting their first child in the summer of 2023 but did not expect to marry until 2024. it is not known if they married in a civil ceremony before the birth of their son.
Christoph is the second son of Duke Christoph of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Elisabeth zur Lippe-Weissenfeld.
Victoria - Alfred - Alexandra - Marie Melita - Peter - Christoph - Constantin - Tassilo
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| Countess Camilla with her father, Count Maximilian von Drechsel |
Nicolaus Berlin and Countess Camilla von Drechsel were married on June 24, 2023, at St Quirinius Church in Tegernsee. Nicolaus is the son of Tilo Berlin and Countess Filippa von Goesss and Camila is the daughter of Count Maximilian von Drechsel and Franziska Monforts v. Hobe. The bride is a descendant of King Maximilian I of Bavaria.
A reception followed at the bride's family home in Gmund-am-Tegernsee. The best men were Cecil Prinz von Croy, Johannes de Waal, Count Moritz von Drechsel and Pedro dos Santos Ribeiro. The bride was attended by Princess Alexandra of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Helena Constantino, Laura Berlin, Countess Milana von Drechsel, and several flower girls and page boys, Leopold Constantino, Count Albert von Hoyos, Filippa von Oppenheim Ribeiro, and Clementine Kruis.
The groom's uncle, Count Moritz von Goess is married to Duchess Fleur of Württemberg.
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| Princess Flamina of Hohenzollern and her husband Baron Károly von Stipsicz de Ternova |
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| Countess Sigweis and Count Stephan von Niepperg |
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| Duchess Marie of Württemberg (2nd from left, Countess and Count of Waldburg zu Zeil) |
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| Duchess Marie of Württemberg, and the Prince and Princess of Waldburg zu Zeil |
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| Tilo Berlin and Countess Filippa von Goess, parents of the groom. |
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| Count Zeno, Countess Livia, Duchess Fleur (nee Württemberg) Count Moritz and Countess Flamnia von Goess |
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| Duchess Anna in Bavaria with her husband, Andreas von Maltzan and Countess Nicola von Keglevich |
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| Duchess Anna in Bavaria with her husband, Andreas von Maltzan |
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| The Prince and Princess of Quadt |
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| Countess Franziska von Drechsel, mother of the bride and her son, Philipp |
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| Prince August and Princess Mia of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg |
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| Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein |
I have had these photos since late June, but the photographer asked me to delay publication until she gave me the okay. She was waiting for the official publication of the photos before allowing me and another blogger to publish her photos. I wanted to do it last week, but I was still catching up with other things.
The photographer is the copyright holder.
As I try to find new rhythms and patterns in retirement, I did not notice that I have now reached twenty-one million (really) visitors in the past two months. I'm not sure when it happened, but it did happen.
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| Harper and I will make sure you keep busy |
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| Are you writing about me? |
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| You can type and scratch my tummy at the same time |
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