My Spirit
​​"She was born illegitimate on June 1, 1926, in the charity ward at Los Angeles General Hospital. Her mother, Gladys Baker
(nee Monroe) would call her Norma Jeane Mortenson but she would later use the name Baker too. The identity of her
father was uncertain. Gladys entered on Norma Jeane's birth certificate that the father was Edward Mortenson, a variation
on her ex husband Edward Mortensen's name, spelled with an 'e'. As time went on it is thought to have been a man who
worked with Gladys named Charles Stanley Gifford. Both men were long gone before Norma Jeane put in an appearance.
She was a beautiful infant, but unlike most children, she was placed into foster care when she was thirteen days old. She had
a very tough childhood, had little connection with her mother until a few years later when Gladys had saved up enough
money to mortgage a small house for them both to live. This would not last as Gladys could not cope with her mounting
debts, and her frail state of mind got her certified paranoid schizophrenic and she ended up institutionalized. Once again
Norma Jeane, by this time a very pretty child, ended up in various foster homes. Among the many things she would be
faced with would be sexual abuse and exploitation by the people who were supposedly looking after her. At 9 she was
placed in the Los Ang​eles Orphans Home by her guardian Grace Mckee, who had recently married "Doc" Goddard. Norma
Jeane had a strong spirit and made the most of what she had. One of the other kids remembered her as being a very
generous person who would never say no to you if you asked her for something. She lost herself in movies and would watch
films with Jean Harlow, Greta Garbo, Joan Crawford and her favourite, Clark Gable. Outside her window she could see
RKO Studios and would cry as she knew her mother had worked there. She would also lose herself in daydreams of what it
must be like to work there & having people know you and love you. In 1937 Norma Jeane was rescued by Gladys' best
friend Grace McKee Goddard when she took Norma Jeane out of the orphanage to live with her and Doc Goddard.
She grew into a popular teenager, the boys gave her the attention she had craved all her life. And the girls took note too.
She excelled at English and did well at sports. For the next 5 years Norma Jeane would have the security that had eluded
her until this time. She also lived with and bonded deeply with Grace's Aunt Ana Lower. Marilyn would later refer to Aunt
Ana as the first person she truly loved. By Christmas 1941 Grace and Doc Goddard decided to move to West Virginia the
following year without her. It was a difficult time as without Grace, Norma Jeane would have to move back to the
orphanage. However, Grace came up with the idea of Norma Jeane marrying the handsome boy next door, James
Dougherty. In December 1941, Grace asked Jim to escort Norma Jeane to a company Christmas dance. By March 1942
they were going steady and by May they were engaged. In June, Norma Jeane Baker became Mrs James Dougherty, less
than three weeks after she turned 16. As Jim went overseas for the war effort, Norma Jeane did her bit by working in a
plane parts factory spraying fuselages. It was there that an US Army photographer named David Conover, taking photos of
the working women back home for the Army, discovered Norma Jeane. These would be the first professional photos ever
taken of Norma Jeane, which almost immediately led to her being signed to The Blue Book Model Agency. With a new
career and a husband overseas, Norma Jeane grew restless and requested a divorce from Dougherty with dreams of
stardom in her head. By 1946, Norma Jeane had made the cover of several national & international magazines and was one
of the most popular models. By now she had desires to act. She caught the attention of 20th Century Fox head of talent,
Ben Lyon and signed a 6 month contract. He changed her name to Marilyn after actress Marilyn Miller and she choose
Monroe, her mother's maiden name."
Later in august 1962 she was killed in cold blood ,in her private bedroom of her private house , by the hands of Eunice Murray her housekeeper and Kennedy Clan.
Marilyn Monroe
Queen Cleopatra
Queen Cleopatra of Egypt is the most well known of all the ancient egyptian queens. Cleopatra was born in Alexandria in 69 B.C. during the reign of the Ptolemy family to Ptolemy XII. Cleopatra appears to have been a popular name in the family, as her mother bore the name as well as an older sister, making the ​new daughter Cleopatra the Seventh, although she is rarely referred to as such. Cleopatra and her family were not Egyptian, but rather Macedonian, descended through a general of Alexander the Great. Cleopatra would become the first ruler of her family who could actually speak the Egyptian language.
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In keeping with ancient Egyptian tradition, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt married her then 12 year old brother. The marriage was not truly legitimate, however and considering the young age of her new husband and co-inheritor of the throne, Cleopatra rule Egypt independently and as she wished. This lasted for only three short years before Cleopatra received the same fate as her father and was exiled, along with another younger sister. Her 15 year old brother and husband remained to rule Egypt. Cleopatra escaped to Syria, however she did not intend to give up without a fight.
The events that soon followed are quite legendary. Cleopatra's brother, Ptolemy, became involved with a bitter war between Julius Caesar, and a former friend, Pompey. Ptolemy took sides with Caesar and had Pompey killed, hoping to curry favor with the Roman leader. The plan backfired on him. Julius Caesar was so enraged by the murder of Pompey; he immediately took control of the Egyptian palace and ordered Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Ptolemy to present themselves to him.
The history of Cleopatra is one that has been the subject of novels and movies and is filled with deception, intrigue and romance. The historical biography of Cleopatra suggests she obtained the throne of Egypt through some rather violent means. When her father was briefly exiled following a rebellion, an older sister took the throne. Following their father's return and reclaim of the throne, the sister was put to death. The second of the three women in the family to carry the same name, Cleopatra VI, died around the same time as well; although the cause remains a mystery. This left Cleopatra the Seventh as the oldest child in her family, with a brother who was several years younger. About four years later, their father died and Cleopatra took control of the throne. She was only about 17 years old at the time.
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Queen Cleopatra had been encamped just on the other side of the Egyptian and Syrian border. When she received the news that she was to enter Egypt and report to Caesar, she astutely realized she would be easy prey for supporters of her brother's regime. In a scene that has been replayed in countless movies, Cleopatra allowed herself to be smuggled into Egypt in a rug. The affair between Queen Cleopatra of Egypt and Caesar is thought to have begun when she was presented to him, wrapped in the rug. For more than 3 years the couple enjoyed a scandalous affair and Cleopatra gave birth to a son. Following the birth of the child, she joined Julius Caesar in Rome, but quickly departed when he was killed, fearing for her own life.
Absolute chaos ensued in the Roman Empire following the assassination. One of the three men poised to take the throne of Rome, Mark Anthony ordered Cleopatra back to Rome for questioning. Once again displaying her political savvy and intelligence, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt made plans to seduce Mark Anthony. She donned the garb of Venus, the Goddess of Love and was completely successful in her attempt to seduce her would be inquisitor. Of all the costumes Egyptian Cleopatra has been portrayed in, this is the most famous. The full costume of Cleopatra, dressed as Venus, is vividly remembered when Elizabeth Taylor wore a reproduction in her famous portrayal of the queen. The film was so successful in memorializing the queen and her seductive costume, that historical Cleopatra costumes have remained popular ever since
Queen Isabel of Castile
Isabella of Castile was a powerful queen as Europe passed from the Late
Middle Ages to the Renaissance. When she was eighteen she already favored jewels
and beautiful gowns which she wore throughout her life. She had beautiful blue eyes and chestnut hair and was just striking. Isabella was queen of Castile from 1474 to 1505, and she had to fight a civil war to secure her throne. Her marriage to Ferdinand II of Aragon began a thirty five year joint rule of a unified Spain by the Catholic Monarchs. Ferdinand and Isabella succeeded as joint sovereigns to the throne of Castile on the death of Isabella's half brother Henry IV in December of 1474. From 1481 the "Catholic Kings," as Ferdinand and Isabella were known, ruled both kingdoms jointly, but it was a union of crowns not countries. The two kingdoms maintained their separate laws, institutions and governments. In 1478, they established the Spanish Inquisition as a royal council under royal control. In 1492 The Inquisition persuaded the Catholic Kings to expel the Jews whose conversion to Christianity was doubtful.
It was typical of Isabella's political vision that she agreed to finance the expedition of Christopher Columbus which brought the New World and wealth to Spain. If it weren't for Queen Isabella of Spain, Christopher Columbus would never been able to set sail. Isabella took an interest in the Native Americans of the new lands and when some of them were brought back to Spain as slaves she had them returned and freed, she wanted the Indians to be treated fairly.
Isabella had five children: Isabel, John, Joan, Maria, and Catherine. Of her five children, two of them were deceased before Isabella, also her grandson and heir passed on, which brought many sorrows during her last few years. Also her daughter Joanna Juana la Loca was mentally unstable and her son Charles, after Ferdinand's death, became Holy Roman Emperor. Catherine was the first wife of Henry VIII of England and mother of Mary I of England.
Through all of this Isabella found the time for education, which was very important to her. She learned Latin at age thirty five. Also, she wanted scholars to set up palace schools at her court. She also educated her sons and daughters. Isabella lived a life as a mother, wife, Catholic and queen. Her dream was for continued rule for her family, which was successful, and greatness for her country
Queen Marie Antoinette
As Queen of France, Marie Antoinette had no official role and no legitimate political power — her main job was to produce a male heir to continue her husband's royal line. Like the marriage, the coronation of Louis XVI was greeted warmly by the French people, who had great hopes that after the fifty-year reign of Louis XV, the young King would bring new ideas, much-needed reforms, and a fresh approach to governing France in a rapidly-changing world.
This goodwill quickly eroded as the King's economic policies failed, while his Queen failed to produce an heir. He seemed to lose interest in government, as she became aggressively social, attending the Opera and dances in the capital, gambling and partying late into the night at Versailles. In public and at court she was seen only in the latest and most expensive fashions. Rumors about her alleged secret lovers and out-of-control spending increased.
Illegal presses began printing pamphlets showing the queen as an ignorant, adulterous spendthrift. Some speculated in print that the King's brother, the comte d'Artois, was taking the King's place in his wife's bed. Louis XVI was the first French king in two hundred years not to have a royal mistress; Marie Antoinette was the first queen to believe that she could be both wife and mistress to her husband. However, by cultivating fashion, taste, and the arts while failing to produce a legitimate heir, Marie Antoinette looked to all the world like a mistress, not a wife, and one whose sexuality was directed away from the King. All the ire that had been directed at Madame de Pompadour and Madame du Barry, Louis XV's most famous mistresses, was now redirected at the only target available: the Queen who acted like a mistress, but who was not satisfied, it seemed, with the King.
Marie Antoinette's first child, Marie Therese Charlotte, was finally born in December 1778, followed by Louis Joseph in 1781, Louis Charles in 1785 and Sophie Béatrix in 1786. As she grew older, the Queen became less extravagant, devoting herself to her children, two of whom died in childhood. In fact, her first son, the dauphin, died on June 4, 1789. This meant that the Queen was in mourning for her son when the Tennis Court Oath was signed on June 20, the Bastille fell on July 14, and still when the Great Fear spread throughout the countryside in August.
In October 1789, the royal family was forced to leave Versailles for the Tuileries palace in the heart of Paris, where they lived in prison-like isolation. Marie Antoinette secretly requested help from other European rulers, including her royal siblings in Austria and Naples. On the night of June 20, 1791, the royal family attempted to flee. Their escape plan was said to have been engineered by Axel von Fersen, the Swedish count who was rumored to be one of the Queen's lovers. It is incontestable that Marie Antoinette's brother awaited the royal family just across the border and that he was accompanied by troops ready to invade. They were caught in the small town of Varennes, half-way to the border, and brought back to Paris, prisoners now of the Revolutionary government.
On the night of August 10, 1792, militants attacked the royal palace where Marie Antoinette and her family were being held and forced the Legislative Assembly to "suspend" the King. Little more than a month later, on September 20, the new National Convention was convened, and two days later it voted to declare France a republic, thus abolishing the monarchy. From that moment on, Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette were no longer King and Queen, but, like many others, imprisoned citizens suspected of treason.
Marie Antoinette became a widow when her husband was guillotined to death after being tried and convicted of treason in January 1793. Her two remaining children were subsequently taken from her. After a brief trial, Marie Antoinette herself was convicted of treason and also of sexual abuse of her son in October 1793. On October 16, she too was executed by guillotine. She was 37 years old.
Queen of Sheba
Monarch of a south-Arabian tribe, and contemporary with Solomon, whom she visited. The Queen of Sheba, hearing of the wisdom and wealth of Solomon, visited him at Jerusalem, accompanied by a brilliant retinue. There she found that his fame, great as it was, fell far short of the truth, and after exchanging costly presents with him, she returned to her own land, marveling at what she had seen and heard (I Kings x. 1-13). According to Josephus, she was the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and brought to Palestine the first specimens of the balsam, which grew in the Holy Land in the historian's time ("Ant." viii. 6, §§ 5-6). The country over which she ruled is usually supposed to have been the district of Saba in southern Arabia, but despite thorough explorations by recent travelers and scholars, no reference to any Queen of Sheba has been found in the numerous Sabean inscriptions. R. Jonathan (c. 250 C.E.) asserts that the phrase 
does not refer to a queen, but to a kingdom, and hence to a king, whose contemporary is said to have been Job (B. B. 15b).
These are all the known historical references to the mysterious Oriental princess, and neither of the two Talmuds contains any other allusions. The legends connected with her name seem, therefore, to have originated in Abyssinia, and especially in Arabia, both of which countries were rivals for her renown, and from them the traditions concerning her entered Jewish circles. The kings of Abyssinia trace their descent back to a certain Menelik, the reputed son of the Queen of Sheba and Solomon (Ewald and Winer). The African traveler Hugues le Roux claims to have discovered in an Abyssinian manuscript in the Geez dialect the earliest version of the story of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba, which had been known previously only through popular tradition ("Deutsche Literaturzeitung," 1904, col. 1826). The present (1905) ruler of Abyssinia, at the time of his victory over the forces of Italy, actually declared himself to be a descendant of the Judean lion. A study on the legend in question as it exists in the tradition of Axum, a place of pilgrimage to the west of Adua, was published by Littmann in 1904.
The Temanites, the inhabitants of Arabia Felix, have better grounds for claiming the Queen of Sheba, whom they have adorned with the rich imagery of Oriental imagination. Solomon has become very popular among the Arabs through the tradition which associates his name with hers, and this legend serves to introduce the story of Mohammed and the califs. Solomon commanded the Queen of Sheba to come to him as a subject, whereupon she appeared before him (Koran, sura xxvii. 30-31, 45). His throne, which was renowned in early Arabian legend, originally belonged to this queen, who is called Bilḳis in the commentaries on the Koran. She recognized the throne, which had been disguised, and finally accepted the faith of Solomon. Imagination runs riot in this story, in which spirits, animals, and other creatures appear as the servants of the Jewish king (ib. xxvii. 34; comp. also the other Arabic sources quoted by Grünbaum, "Neue Beiträge zur Semitischen Sagenkunde," pp. 211-221).
Jewish tradition has many points in common with the Arabian legend. The story of the Queen of Sheba is found in detail in the Second Targum to Esther (literal translation of the greater portion by Grünbaum, l.c. pp. 211 et seq.). There, as in the Koran, it is the hoopoe that directed Solomon's attention to the country of Sheba and to its queen. The dust of that land was more precious than gold, and silver was like dirt in the streets; the trees dated from the Creation and the waters came from paradise, whence came also the garlands which the people wore. The hoopoe carried Solomon's letter under its wing to the queen, who resided at Kitor. In the letter Solomon commanded her to appear before him, otherwise his hosts of beasts, birds, spirits, devils, and demons of the night would take the field against her. In terror she consulted with her elders and princes, who, however, knew nothing of Solomon. Notwithstanding their ignorance, she loaded her ships with costly woods, precious stones, and pearls, and sent to Solomon 6,000 boys and girls, all born in the same hour, all of the same height and appearance, and all clothed in purple. In the letter to Solomon which they bore with them, she declared that although the journey from Kitor to Jerusalem usually took seven years to accomplish, she wouldcomply with his mandate and visit him within three years. He in his turn sent a youth "like the dawn" to meet her, and on her arrival he received her in a glass house. Thinking that Solomon was sitting in the water, she lifted up her skirt, whereupon he noticed hair on her feet, and said: "Thy beauty is a woman's beauty, but thy hair a man's hair; hair adorneth man, but disfigureth woman."
The Queen of Sheba propounded to Solomon the following three riddles to test his wisdom: "What is a well of wood, a pail of iron which draws up stones and pours out water?" Solomon answered, "A tube of cosmetic." "What is that which comes from the earth as dust, the food of which is dust, which is poured out like water, and which looketh toward the house?" Solomon answered, "Naphtha." "What is that which precedeth all, like a general; which crieth loudly and bitterly; the head of which is like a reed; which is the glory of the rich and the shame of the poor, the glory of the dead and the shame of the living; the joy of the birds and the sorrow of the fishes?" Solomon answered, "Flax." Other riddles are quoted in the Midrash (Prov. ii. 6; Yalḳ. ii., § 1085): "Seven depart, nine enter; two pour, one drinks." Solomon answered, "Seven days of woman's uncleanness, nine months of pregnancy; two breasts of the mother at which the child is nourished." "A woman saith unto her son, 'Thy father is my father, thy grandfather my husband; thou art my son; I am thy sister.'" Solomon answered, "This mother is one of the daughters of Lot, who were with child by their father" (comp. Gen. xix.). Arabic tradition also tells of Solomon solving riddles and of other proofs of his wisdom, and contains in general most of the stories found in Jewish tradition (Grünbaum, l.c.).
The story of the Queen of Sheba was current likewise in Europe. Although legends regarding her are frequent in Jewish circles, the Jews have derived their views of the famous queen from the Christians, adding nothing of their own. The story of the queen has been dramatized in Goldmark's well-known opera "The Queen of Sheba"