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178-583: The Ritz London is a 5-star luxury hotel at 150 Piccadilly in London , England. A symbol of high society and luxury, the hotel is one of the world's most prestigious and best known. The Ritz has become so associated with luxury and elegance that the word "ritzy" has entered the English language to denote something that is ostentatiously stylish, fancy, or fashionable. The hotel was opened by Swiss hotelier César Ritz in 1906, eight years after he established

356-625: A chamberlain , the Albanian diplomats from Paris, and numerous bodyguards. Zog brought the royal gold and jewels with him, which were kept in the storeroom of the Ritz before being deposited in the Bank of England. Due to Zog's concerns about safety during air raids, the ladies' cloakroom was converted into a private shelter for the Albanians. Following an air raid, when a bomb fell between the Ritz and

534-667: A millennium ago . These people include the Swedish-speakers in mainland Finland – speaking a Swedish dialect commonly referred to as Finland Swedish (finlandssvenska which is part of the East-Swedish dialect group) and the almost exclusively Swedish-speaking population of Åland speaking in a manner closer to the adjacent dialects in Sweden than to adjacent dialects of Finland Swedish. Estonia also had an important Swedish minority which persisted for about 650 years on

712-530: A prow in both ends ( longships ). Which kings ( kuningaz ) ruled these Suiones is unknown, but Norse mythology presents a long line of legendary and semi-legendary kings going back to the last centuries BC. As for literacy in Sweden itself, the runic script was in use among the south Scandinavian elite by at least the second century AD, but all that has survived from the Roman Period is curt inscriptions on artefacts, mainly of male names, demonstrating that

890-709: A booking service. It was first owned by the state based automobile clubs including NRMA , RACV , RACQ , RAC , RAA and RACT . It was then organized by the Australian Automobile Association Tourism (AAA Tourism) as a peak body. However, the booking service in the motoring clubs was not continued and later the annual accommodation guide book ceased to be printed with the accommodation guide going online. AAA Tourism closed in 2013, but Star Ratings Australia continued as an inspection and star rating service only, as well as an accommodation website. In 2015 Star Ratings Australia became one of

1068-528: A butler for every room, was the first hotel widely described as a "seven-star" property. The hotel says the label originates from an unnamed British journalist on a press visit and that they neither encourage the term's use nor do they use it in their advertising. Similarly the Emirates Palace Hotel in Abu Dhabi (open since 2005) is sometimes described as seven star, but the hotel uses only

1246-588: A clientele who preferred nostalgia to comfort". Yet celebrities often held parties at the hotel, and the Rolling Stones were guests for many years. British Prime Ministers Harold Wilson , Edward Heath and Harold Macmillan often lunched at the Ritz; Heath would always reserve table 29 in the restaurant. In the 1970s, the hotel fell into a turbulent period. Terrorist threats from the Provisional Irish Republican Army became

1424-514: A few northern German territories: Swedish Pomerania , Bremen-Verden and Wismar . The Swedish armies may have destroyed up to 2,000 castles, 18,000 villages and 1,500 towns in Germany , one-third of all German towns. In the middle of the 17th century Sweden was the third largest country in Europe by land area, only surpassed by Russia and Spain. Sweden reached its largest territorial extent under

1602-451: A fiscal crisis in the early 1990s. Sweden's GDP declined by around 5%. In 1992, there was a run on the currency, with the central bank briefly increasing interest to 500%. The response of the government was to cut spending and institute a multitude of reforms to improve Sweden's competitiveness, among them reducing the welfare state and privatising public services and goods. Much of the political establishment promoted EU membership, and

1780-821: A five star rating. The Galleria in Milan , Italy was opened in 2007 and claims to have a seven star certificate from SGS Italy2008. However the SGS Italy (not the official tourism agency) only has five stars in the general hotel stars categorization, with the full title of the certificate being left unknown, just as the renewal process is unknown. Overall, as no traditional organization or formal body awards or recognizes any rating over five-star deluxe; such claims are predominantly used for advertising purposes. In recent years, alternative hotel ratings are starting to appear in an effort to promote sustainability or cultural diversity in international tourism. Green Key International

1958-505: A hotel types granting up to 5 stars. In India , the classification of hotels is based on two categories such as "Star" and "Heritage". Hotels in India are classified by Hotel and Restaurant Association Classification Committee (HRACC), Ministry of Tourism, India . In New Zealand , hotels and other tourism services are graded by Qualmark, which is owned by Tourism New Zealand , a government organisation. Historically, luxury hotels have used

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2136-512: A key role in the development of quality hotel services, as well as equitable and sustainable tourism , and the protection of the world's cultural and natural heritage. In addition, WHR will develop labels to promote hotels distinguished by specific features, such as a family and child-friendly disposition. A test period was scheduled for 2010. Some hotels have been advertised as seven-star hotels. The Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai , opened in 1998 with

2314-472: A modern parliamentary democracy, achieved by the time of World War I. As the Industrial Revolution progressed during the 20th century, people gradually began moving into cities to work in factories and became involved in socialist unions. A communist revolution was avoided in 1917, following the re-introduction of parliamentarism , and the country saw comprehensive democratic reforms under

2492-445: A narrow building site. The Architect and Contract Reporter noted that the limited space did not allow for the storage of materials on site. All mortar had to be mixed in the basement and the stone was dressed "on a platform with a watertight roof over the footway". The red-brick foundations of the earlier Walsingham House had to be blasted away to facilitate the foundations of the steel structure in concrete. The total estimated cost

2670-411: A role." Swedish people Swedes ( Swedish : svenskar ), or Swedish people , are an ethnic group native to Sweden , who share a common ancestry, culture , history and language . They mostly inhabit Sweden and the other Nordic countries , in particular Finland where they are an officially recognized minority, with Swedish being one of the official languages of the country, and with

2848-460: A sense that never applied to anywhere else".— Sir Michael Duff, 3rd Baronet on life at the Ritz as a young man in the 1930s. William Brownlow, 3rd Baron Lurgan , who succeeded Henry V Higgins as chairman of the Ritz upon his death in 1928, was especially keen on attracting American guests to the hotel. He was a close friend of the Earl of Carnavon and his American wife Catherine Wendell, and at times

3026-410: A single public standard; Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Italy, Malta, Netherlands, Portugal, Spain and Hungary all have laws defining the hotel rating. In Germany, Austria and Switzerland, the rating is defined by the respective hotel industry association using a five-star system. The classifications are: Tourist (★) | Standard (★★) | Comfort (★★★) | First Class (★★★★) | Luxury (★★★★★) The "Superior" mark

3204-525: A smaller building made as a home for Jules Ferry on Rue Bayard. Excavation for the hotel began by contractors Waring White Building Co. Ltd in June 1904, and it was completed by 1 October 1905, and opened the following May. The building progress was documented each month by The Builder's Journal and Architectural Engineer , and in one edition noted the difficulties of some of the aspects of construction such as hoisting 20-ton 39 feet (12 m) steel joists in

3382-692: A standard. Hotels are independently assessed in traditional systems and rest heavily on the facilities provided . Some consider this assessment method disadvantageous to smaller hotels, whose quality of accommodation could fall into one class but whose lack of an item such as an elevator would prevent it from reaching a higher categorization. The more common classification systems include "monkey" rating, letter grading, from "A" to "F", such as hotels and motels. Systems using terms such as Deluxe/Luxury, First Class/Superior, Tourist Class/Standard, and Budget Class/Economy are more widely accepted as hotel types, rather than hotel standards. Some countries have rating by

3560-479: A star and others optional. The main criteria are in quality management, wellness and sleeping accommodation. In the catalogue of criteria each entry is associated with a number of points – each Hotelstars level requires a minimal sum of points besides some criteria being obligatory for the level. The minimum requirement for the Superior flag requires the same sum of points as for the next Hotelstars level which however

3738-625: A stylish Parisian block of flats, over arcades that consciously evoked the Rue de Rivoli . Its architects were Charles Mewès , who had previously designed Ritz's Hôtel Ritz Paris , and Arthur Davis , with engineering collaboration by the Swedish engineer Sven Bylander . It was one of the earliest substantial steel frame structures in London, the Savoy Hotel extension of 1903-04 being the first in

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3916-555: A substantial diaspora in other countries, especially the United States . The English term "Swede" has been attested in English since the late 16th century and is of Middle Dutch or Middle Low German origin. In Swedish , the term is svensk , which is from the name of svear (or Swedes), the people who inhabited Svealand in eastern central Sweden , and were listed as Suiones in Tacitus ' history Germania from

4094-539: A week during the war years. In 1942, Winston Churchill , Dwight Eisenhower and Charles de Gaulle met in the Marie Antoinette suite of the hotel to discuss operations, Brendan Bracken , who served as an observer and mouthpiece on political society in London, and Anglo-American politician Ronald Tree spent much time at the Ritz, and Tree lived there during the winter of 1940. Laura Long, who would later become Laura Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough ,

4272-470: A workers strike in 1946, and the restaurant attracting significant criticism in its quality of cuisine. On one occasion, a group of patrons of the Ritz, known as the "Friends of the Ritz", met with Sir Bracewell Smith in Park Lane Hotel to complain about the standards; Smith himself dined at the Ritz and informed them that it was quite satisfactory. Several suicides also darkened the reputation of

4450-442: Is Swedish ( svenska [ˈsvɛ̂nːska] ) a North Germanic language, spoken by approximately 10 million people, predominantly in Sweden and parts of Finland, especially along its coast and on the Åland islands. It is, to a considerable extent, mutually intelligible with Norwegian and to a lesser extent with spoken Danish (see especially " Classification "). Along with the other North Germanic languages, Swedish

4628-602: Is The Palm Court, which hosts the famous "Tea at the Ritz". It is an opulently decorated cream-coloured Louis XVI setting, with panelled mirrors in gilt-bronze frames. The hotel has six private dining rooms – the Marie Antoinette Suite, with its boiserie , and the rooms within the Grade II* listed William Kent House, which is temporarily closed from January 2023. The Rivoli Bar, built in the Art Deco style,

4806-757: Is a descendant of Old Norse , the common language of the Germanic peoples living in Scandinavia during the Viking Era . It is the largest of the North Germanic languages by numbers of speakers. Standard Swedish , used by most Swedish people, is the national language that evolved from the Central Swedish dialects in the 19th century and was well established by the beginning of the 20th century. While distinct regional varieties descended from

4984-645: Is a described by Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin as a "painted trompe-l'oeil ceiling on which pinkish clouds drift across the blue sky encircled by a garlanded balustrade". Bronze chandeliers are also a feature, influenced by an 18th-century Augustin de Saint-Aubin engraving known as Le Bal Pare et Masque , and Le Festin by Moreau le Jeune , which was given by the City of Paris to the King and Queen on 21 January 1782. Hotel rating Hotel ratings are often used to classify hotels according to their quality. From

5162-541: Is a voluntary eco-classification awarded to around 2,900 hotels and other establishments in 57 countries by the Foundation for Environmental Education . Green Key Global is a voluntary eco-classification awarded to around 1,850 hotels and venues in 15 countries. In 2009, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts joined the Green Key Global program. Green Globe is a certification for sustainable tourism. Membership

5340-646: Is an umbrella organization for 39 associations from 24 European countries. At a conference in Bergen in 2004, the partners drafted a hotel classification system in order to harmonize their national standards. In 2007 HOTREC launched the European Hospitality Quality scheme (EHQ) which has since accredited the existing national inspection bodies for hotel rating. Under the patronage of HOTREC, the hotel associations of Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Netherlands, Sweden and Switzerland created

5518-399: Is based on the earlier German hotelstars system that had widely influenced the hotel classifications in central Europe, with five stars and a Superior mark to flag extras. Instead of a strict minimum in room size and required shower facilities (e.g. a bath tub in a four-star hotel) there is a catalogue of criteria with 7 qualification areas encompassing 247 elements, where some are mandatory for

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5696-632: Is reserved for companies and organizations who are committed to making positive contributions to the planet. The Green Building Initiative (GBI) acquired the U.S. rights to the Canadian Green Globes building assessment and certification for the program in 2004 and adapted it for the U.S. market. Salam Standard is a classification system for Muslim-friendly hotels. Hotels can get certified based on certain Muslim-friendly criteria such as offering prayer mats, removing alcohol from

5874-577: Is sometimes considered as the foundation of modern Sweden . Shortly afterwards he rejected Catholicism and led Sweden into the Protestant Reformation . Economically, Gustav Vasa broke the monopoly of the Hanseatic League over Swedish Baltic Sea trade. The Hanseatic League had been officially formed at Lübeck on the sea coast of Northern Germany in 1356. The Hanseatic League sought civil and commercial privileges from

6052-592: Is structurally and visually Franco-American in style, with little trace of English architecture, and it is heavily influenced by the architectural traditions of Paris . The facade is 231 feet (70 m) on the Piccadilly side, 115 feet (35 m) on the Arlington Street side, and 87 feet (27 m) on the Green Park side. At the corners of the pavilion roofs of the Ritz are large green copper lions,

6230-580: Is the Palm Court, an opulently decorated cream-coloured Louis XVI setting. It is decorated with lavish furnishings, including gilded Louis XVI armchairs with oval backs, which the architects had designed based on research into French neo-classical furniture design of the 1760s and 1770s, which were made by Waring and Gillow. The room, with its, "panelled mirrors of bevelled glass in gilt bronze frames" and "high coving ornamented with gilded trellis-work", according to Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin "epitomizes

6408-558: Is to flag extras beyond the minimum defined in the standard, but not enough to move the hotel up to the next tier ranking. The Swiss hotel rating was the first non-government formal hotel classification beginning in 1979. It influenced the hotel classification in Austria and Germany. The formal hotel classification of the DEHOGA (German Hotel and Restaurant Association) started on 1 August 1996 and proved successful with 80% of guests citing

6586-482: Is usually credited for introducing Christianity in 829, but the new religion did not begin to fully replace paganism until the 12th century. During the 11th century, Christianity became the most prevalent religion, and from 1050 Sweden is counted as a Christian nation. The period between 1100 and 1400 was characterized by internal power struggles and competition among the Nordic kingdoms. Swedish kings also began to expand

6764-636: The Aga Khan was involved with organising the Round Table Conference at the hotel, which was attended by Mahatma Gandhi and many others. On one occasion the Aga Khan took over the Palm Court to hold a meeting with his followers. In the 1930s, Aletto became the restaurant manager of the Ritz, a "popular and much-mimicked character" according to Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin. The future Edward VIII and his associates were often seen at

6942-676: The Anglo-Saxon elite had extensive contacts with Swedish elite. In the sixth century Jordanes named two tribes, which he calls the Suehans and the Suetidi , who lived in Scandza . The Suehans, he says, have very fine horses just as the Thyringi tribe ( alia vero gens ibi moratur Suehans, quae velud Thyringi equis utuntur eximiis ). The Icelander Snorri Sturluson (1179–1241) wrote of

7120-662: The Battle of Narva in 1700, one of the first battles of the Great Northern War , the Russian army was so severely decimated that Sweden had an open chance to invade Russia. However, Charles did not pursue the Russian army, instead turning against Poland–Lithuania and defeating the Polish king Augustus II and his Saxon allies at the Battle of Kliszow in 1702. This gave Russia time to rebuild and modernize its army. After

7298-670: The Byzantine Empire and the Abbasid Caliphate . It was abandoned c.  AD 975 , around the same time Sigtuna was founded as a Christian town some 35 km to the northeast. It has been estimated that the population in Viking Age Birka was between 500 and 1000 people. Archaeological finds indicate that Birka was still wealthy in the 9th and 10th centuries. Thousands of graves, coins, jewelry and other luxury items have been found there. St. Ansgar

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7476-624: The Daily Mail , the Daily Mirror and The Daily Telegraph were invited to the dinner along with newspapers which included the Berliner Tageblatt , The Sydney Morning Herald and The New York Times . Ritz's guest list also included the engineer and architects of the structure along with key staff members of the new hotel and their wives. The hotel was not immensely profitable in its opening years; smaller than many of

7654-668: The England Runestones . The last major Swedish Viking expedition appears to have been the ill-fated expedition of Ingvar the Far-Travelled to Serkland , the region south-east of the Caspian Sea . Its members are commemorated on the Ingvar Runestones , none of which mentions any survivor. What happened to the crew is unknown, but it is believed that they died of sickness. It is not known when and how

7832-679: The Geats to the south. It is believed that Swedish Vikings and Gutar mainly travelled east and south, going to Finland, the Baltic countries, Russia, Belarus , Ukraine the Black Sea and further as far as Baghdad . Their routes passed through the Dnieper down south to Constantinople , on which they did numerous raids. The Byzantine Emperor Theophilos noticed their great skills in war and invited them to serve as his personal bodyguard, known as

8010-539: The Hôtel Ritz Paris . It began to gain popularity towards the end of World War I, with politicians, socialites, writers and actors in particular. David Lloyd George held a number of secret meetings at the Ritz during the latter half of the war, and it was at the Ritz that he made the decision to intervene on behalf of Greece against the Ottoman Empire . Noël Coward was a notable diner at the Ritz in

8188-684: The Nordic Bronze Age which was followed by the Pre-Roman Iron Age . Like other North Germanic peoples , Swedes likely emerged as a distinct ethnic group during this time. Swedes enters written proto-history with the Germania of Tacitus in 98 AD. In Germania 44, 45 he mentions the Swedes ( Suiones ) as a powerful tribe ( distinguished not merely for their arms and men, but for their powerful fleets ) with ships that had

8366-634: The Pitted Ware culture . Prior to the first century AD there is no written evidence and historiography is based solely on various forms of archeology . The Proto-Germanic language is thought to have originated in the arrival of the Battle Axe culture in Scandinavia and the Germanic tribal societies of Scandinavia were thereafter surprisingly stable for thousands of years. The merger of the Battle Axe and Pitted Ware cultures eventually gave rise to

8544-732: The Visigoths and the Ostrogoths , and established powerful successor-states of the Roman Empire in the Iberian Peninsula and Italy respectively. Crimean Gothic communities appear to have survived intact in the Crimea until the late-18th century. The Swedish Viking Age lasted roughly between the eighth and 11th centuries. During this period, it is believed that the Swedes expanded from eastern Sweden and incorporated

8722-512: The varangian guard . The Swedish Vikings, called " Rus " are also believed to be the founding fathers of Kievan Rus . The Arabic traveller Ibn Fadlan described these Vikings as following: I have seen the Rus as they came on their merchant journeys and encamped by the Itil . I have never seen more perfect physical specimens, tall as date palms, blond and ruddy; they wear neither tunics nor caftans, but

8900-413: The 'kingdom of Sweden' was born, but the list of Swedish monarchs is drawn from the first kings who ruled both Svealand (Sweden) and Götaland (Gothia) as one province with Erik the Victorious . Sweden and Gothia were two separate nations long before that into antiquity. It is not known how long they existed, but Beowulf described semi-legendary Swedish-Geatish wars in the sixth century. During

9078-434: The 18-year-old Prince Aly Khan on a monthlong tour of the United States to help the young man forget a failed romance. When Criticos saw an unshaven man in coveralls entering the hotel, he called out to the man to stop him. When the man turned to face Criticos, he recognised him as King Boris of Bulgaria, who was a railroad buff and was returning from driving a special train. The social scene changed dramatically in London in

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9256-425: The 1809 loss of eastern Sweden to Russia which became the highly autonomous Grand Principality of Finland in Imperial Russia . In interest of reestablishing Swedish dominance in the Baltic Sea, Sweden allied itself against its traditional ally and benefactor, France, in the Napoleonic Wars . Sweden's role in the Battle of Leipzig gave it the authority to force Denmark-Norway, an ally of France, to cede Norway to

9434-442: The 1920s and 1930s. Owned by the Bracewell Smith family until 1976, David and Frederick Barclay purchased the hotel for £80 million in 1995. They spent eight years and £40 million restoring it to its former grandeur. In 2002, it became the first hotel to receive a Royal warrant from the Prince of Wales for its banquet and catering services. In 2020, it was sold to a Qatari investor. The Grade II listed building's exterior

9612-449: The 1960s, with Beatlemania and the sexual revolution, and British aristocracy in the capital was not what it had been. By this time the general impeccable standards of the Ritz had fallen. Peregrine Worsthorne noted the change: "Precisely that it was not all Ritzy, in the sense of being conspicuously luxurious...the glitter had long since faded and shabbiness set in. The place was usually empty, kept alive by memories of former glories and

9790-421: The American military in Iraq. Sweden also has a long history of participating in international military operations, including most recently, Afghanistan , where Swedish troops are under NATO command, and in EU sponsored peacekeeping operations in Kosovo , Bosnia and Herzegovina , and Cyprus . Sweden held the chair of the European Union from 1 July to 31 December 2009. The native language of nearly all Swedes

9968-411: The Arlington Street entrance on the east side to the restaurant on the west side, with finely woven Savonnerie carpets. Along it are several intricate horseshoe archways. A triangular-shaped staircase features in the building's southwest corner. The curving main staircase was built to allow women to make a "dramatic entrance and show off their gowns to best effect". The Ritz's most widely known facility

10146-503: The Barclay twins. The accounts indicated that the profitable hotel used a series of tax reliefs to reduce its corporation tax to zero. David Barclay's son, Aidan, stated that the company abided by UK law. In March 2020, it was sold to a Qatari investor. Authors Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin describe the Ritz as "the product of one of those near miraculous convergences of civilised patron and architects and craftsmen of genius working together in complete harmony both with each other and with

10324-413: The Berkeley in Piccadilly, shattering glass in the Ritz, most of the Albanian royal family moved to Chelsea , but Zog remained until the spring of 1941 until he was offered Lord Parmoor's house in Buckinghamshire . In total, the Ritz was damaged nine times during bombing raids, and the Restaurant had to be closed twice. Edvard Beneš would entertain guests at a private luncheon at the hotel several times

10502-444: The Centre Party). Between 1870 and 1914, Sweden began developing the industrialized economy that exists today. Strong grassroots movements sprung up in Sweden during the latter half of the 19th century ( trade unions , temperance groups, and independent religious groups), creating a strong foundation of democratic principles. In 1889 The Swedish Social Democratic Party was founded. These movements precipitated Sweden's migration into

10680-443: The Ghanaian High Commissioner in London and others in the restaurant. The event was picketed by Mosleyites, who in concern with human rights issues in Congo at the time, demonstrated outside of the hotel, displaying banners such as "RAPERS OF CHILDREN – GO HOME" and issuing racial epithets. Adjaye was attacked as he left the hotel, although it has been speculated that he was mistaken for Lumumba. George Criticos served as head porter of

10858-433: The Holy Roman states. Gustav Adolphus planned to become the new Holy Roman Emperor , ruling over a united Scandinavia and the Holy Roman states, but he died at the Battle of Lützen in 1632. After the Battle of Nördlingen , Sweden's only significant military defeat of the war, pro-Swedish sentiment among the German states faded. These German provinces excluded themselves from Swedish power one by one, leaving Sweden with only

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11036-428: The Hotel Ritz of Paris for Cesar in 1897–8, after which he met Arthur Davis, and began working together preparing designs for the Grand Petit Palais in the Paris Exhibition of 1900 . Both architects worked on the plans for the London Ritz in 1904–5. According to Montgomery-Massingberd and Watkin the exterior is both structurally and visually Franco-American in influence with little trace of English architecture. For them

11214-612: The Hotelstars Union. On 14 September 2009, the Hotelstars Union classification system was established at a conference in Prague. This system became effective in these countries in January 2010, with the exception of Hungary, Switzerland and the Netherlands, who have chosen later dates for the change. Later more countries have joined the HOTREC hotelstars system: Estonia (2011), Latvia (2011), Lithuania (2011), Luxembourg (2011), Malta (2012), Belgium (2013), Denmark (2013), Greece (2013), Liechtenstein (2015), Slovenia (2017), Azerbaijan (2020) and Georgia (2021). The European Hotelstars Union system

11392-445: The King of Sweden on 14 January 1814 in exchange for northern German provinces, at the Treaty of Kiel . The Norwegian attempts to keep their status as a sovereign state were rejected by the Swedish king, Charles XIII . He launched a military campaign against Norway on 27 July 1814, ending in the Convention of Moss , which forced Norway into a personal union with Sweden under the Swedish crown, which lasted until 1905. The 1814 campaign

11570-437: The King's personal chef. Ritz retained control of much of the hotel's operation for many years. He hired world-famous chef Auguste Escoffier to provide cuisine to match the opulence of the hotel's decorations; he placed a special bell in the entryway by which the doorman could notify the staff of the impending arrival of royalty. By 1929 the hotel was still being praised for its architecture; Professor Charles Reilly wrote about

11748-506: The Kingdom of Sweden had a much larger territory, especially during "The Era of Great Power" ( Swedish Empire ) in 1611–1718. Finland was a part of Sweden until 1809. Since there was no separate Finnish nationality at those times, it is not unusual that sources predating 1809 refer both to Swedes and Finns as "Swedes". This is particularly the case with New Sweden , where some of the Swedish settlers were of Finnish origin. Questionnaire surveys of Swedish embassies conducted by Swedes Worldwide,

11926-410: The Marie Antoinette Suite, with its boiserie , and the rooms within the Grade II* listed William Kent House, which is temporarily closed from January 2023. Marcus Binney states that the restaurant is "not only one of the most beautiful interiors in London, it can be claimed as the most beautiful restaurant in the world". César Ritz once commented that the room was so heavily designed in bronze that it

12104-488: The Palm Court contains two gilded wrought-iron lanterns, and the ceiling contains lion skin motifs. The room is done in soft apricot and has remained so since 1906. César Ritz chose the colour to flatter the complexions of women after weeks of experimentation with various hues. The Palm Court is the setting for the world-famous institution that is "Tea at the Ritz", once frequented by King Edward VII , Sir Winston Churchill , Judy Garland , Evelyn Waugh and Queen Elizabeth,

12282-481: The Philippines, the Department of Tourism has an accreditation system for hotels, apartment hotels and resorts. The current system which uses a "star system" which rates establishments from 1 to 5 stars was adopted in 2012. The rating of the aforementioned facilities are determined through a points system. Hotels, apartment hotels, and resorts are graded according to their service, facility quality and condition, and business practices. The Department of Tourism classifies

12460-439: The Queen Mother . It acquired its reputation as " the place for tea" in London after World War I . In the 1920s a small orchestra would play regularly on the court; film producer John Sutro for instance recalled that Hermione Baddeley once requested the violinist to "play something hot ". Between the Winter Garden and the central Grand Gallery is a screen featuring two Ionic columns. The hotel has six private dining rooms,

12638-436: The Ritz became integral to political and social life among the elite, and a number of eminent royals, aristocrats and politicians moved into the hotel. Camilla Russell, the wife of writer Christopher Sykes , stated that the Ritz "enjoyed a tremendous vogue during the war and was, even more than ever, much used as a meeting place", and at night was "crowded yet somehow safe". Angela, Countess of Antrim, Syke's sister, remarked that

12816-413: The Ritz brought back its weekly Sunday tea dances which were popular during the 1920s and 1930s. Because of demand, the hotel considered restricting afternoon tea at the Ritz to hotel guests only, as those staying at the Ritz were often unable to get a table. Many Londoners who would have been barred by this restriction voiced disapproval and the Ritz compromised by requiring reservations for afternoon tea at

12994-493: The Ritz during the latter half of the war, organised by Sir Basil Zaharoff , and it was at the Ritz that he made the decision to intervene on behalf of Greece against Turkey. The Duke of Marlborough recorded dining at the Ritz; "I lunched at the Ritz. The whole social world goes there, prices being cheap. All women there from M. Paget to the latest tart." A November 1917 article in the Daily Herald titled "How they starve at

13172-477: The Ritz for 45 years, retiring in 1960 for health reasons; he had been recommended for a job at the Ritz by Sir Basil Zaharoff . In his 1959 book, George of the Ritz , Criticos remembered some of the notable people and events during his years of service. Criticos once acted as an agent to the Aga Kahn at the racetrack, having been given US$ 45,000 by the monarch to place bets in his name. He was also asked to take

13350-537: The Ritz from his time as a Sub-Lieutenant onwards, and when his friend Charlie Chaplin arrived in London in September 1921 after a nine-year absence, great crowds gathered at Waterloo station and Chaplin had to be ushered to the hotel by some 40 policemen. He stayed in the first-floor Regal Suite and was photographed throwing carnations to his fans from the Arlington Street balcony. The Ritz became popular with film stars and executives when staying in London, although

13528-527: The Ritz in Building magazine in 1929, calling it the "finest modern structure" in the street, with "an elegance of general form". On 4 August 1914, Lady Diana Cooper 's future husband, Duff Cooper , then a Foreign Office official, dined at the Ritz with the Earl of Essex and his American wife, Adele Capell (née Grant) and Patrick Shaw-Stewart , and later that day announced that World War I had broken out to

13706-568: The Ritz in the 1930s. In 1932 the Evening Standard observed the Prince performing on the dance floor: "The Prince of Wales never misses an opportunity to raise the stand of his dancing... He danced three tangoes each of which lasted about thirty-five minutes!" In 1934, Edward's brother, the Duke of Kent, married Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark at the Ritz and scaffolding was put up in

13884-521: The Ritz in the postwar years, including that of horse trainer Peter Beatty from the sixth-floor window in October 1949, and that of French gangster Baron Pierre de Laitre, who strangled love interest Eileen Hill to death in his second-floor room in March 1953 when she refused to marry him, before killing himself by stuffing a silk sock down his throat. Nonetheless, the Ritz continued to be a social hub for

14062-469: The Ritz in the spring of 1916. The following year, she held a lavish dinner party with the likes of Osbert Sitwell , Gilbert Russell and Maud Nelke and Clare Tennant . In September 1917, a shell exploded in Green Park in close proximity to the Ritz, and according to Lord Ivor Churchill it broke all of the windows to adjacent Wimbourne House. David Lloyd George held a number of secret meetings at

14240-483: The Ritz was still under construction, a series of events highlighted the need for another luxury hotel in London. A 3   June 1905 Daily Mail news story reported it was both Derby Week and the height of the tourist season, making hotel accommodation almost impossible to find. The Savoy had to refuse reservations, while Buckingham Palace turned offices into makeshift hotel rooms for visitors. An estimated 2,500 more persons needing rooms were expected shortly with

14418-500: The Ritz was the ideal meeting place for "gathering news of husbands at the wars". Emerald Cunard took up residence in the Ritz for a period, but later moved to the Dorchester. In the summer of 1940, the Albanian royal family, including King Zog I , Queen Geraldine of Albania , Leka, Crown Prince of Albania , the King's six sisters, two nieces, three nephews and others moved into the hotel and were given their own floor, escorted by

14596-454: The Ritz" detailed the lavish meals on offer despite national food shortages. The story was extensively reprinted in leaflets and some historians believe that it pushed the government into introducing compulsory rationing . When asked to summarise hotels in London in the early 1920s, Barbara Cartland remarked that "The Ritz stood for stuffiness and standards, the Carlton was for businessman,

14774-570: The Ritz, as they left a birthday party for Parker-Bowles' sister. The couple returned to the hotel in November 2002 for the Prince's birthday party attended by Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip . In 2002, the Ritz became the first hotel to receive the Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales for banqueting and catering services. The Ritz acquired the adjoining Wimbourne House in 2005. On 27 January 2007, around 300 people were evacuated to

14952-633: The Savoy was rather fast, some other ones were frankly scandalous, and the Berkeley, where you could dance all night for ten shillings, was for the young". In 1921, Bonvin, the manager of the Ritz, died, and was replaced with J.S. Walters. Walters was a "tireless salesman" in promoting the hotel, especially in mainland Europe, and flaunted the hotel in the Tatler at a time when it was unpopular to do so. Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma frequented

15130-619: The Swedish Empire, Sweden was a very poor and scarcely populated country on the fringe of European civilization, with no significant power or reputation. Sweden rose to prominence on a continental scale during the tenure of king Gustavus Adolphus , seizing territories from Russia and Poland–Lithuania in multiple conflicts, including the Thirty Years' War . During the Thirty Years' War, Sweden conquered approximately half of

15308-468: The Swedish economy had deteriorated. It became the lifetime task of Charles' son, Charles XI , to rebuild the economy and refit the army. His legacy to his son, the coming ruler of Sweden Charles XII , was one of the finest arsenals in the world, a large standing army and a great fleet. Sweden's largest threat at this time, Russia, had a larger army but was far behind in both equipment and training. After

15486-623: The Swedish involvement in rescue missions at the internment camps and partly because Sweden served as a haven for refugees, primarily from the Nordic countries and the Baltic states . Nevertheless, internal and external critics have argued that Sweden could have done more to resist the Nazi war effort, even if risking occupation although doing so would likely have resulted in even greater number of casualties and prevented many humanitarian efforts. Sweden

15664-618: The Swedish referendum passed with 52% in favour of joining the EU on 13 November 1994. Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995. After over 200 years of neutrality, Sweden joined NATO on 7 March 2024, in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine . Sweden has had extensive cooperation with other European countries in the area of defence technology and defence industry. Among others, Swedish companies export weapons that are used by

15842-578: The Swedish-controlled territory in Finland, creating conflicts with the Rus who no longer had any connection with Sweden. Except for the province of Skåne , on the southernmost tip of Sweden which was under Danish control during this time, feudalism never developed in Sweden as it did in the rest of Europe. Therefore, the peasantry remained largely a class of free farmers throughout most of Swedish history. Slavery (also called thralldom )

16020-677: The United Kingdom hotels are rated from one star to five stars. The RAC pulled out of accommodation grading in 2008 so the only grading schemes in operation are those operated by the AA (Automobile Association) and the national tourist boards: Visit England, Visit Wales, the Scottish Tourist Board and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board. The schemes were all 'harmonised' to ensure consistency between

16198-728: The United States. In the early 20th century, more Swedes lived in Chicago than in Gothenburg (Sweden's second largest city). Most Swedish immigrants moved to the Midwestern United States , with a large population in Minnesota , with a few others moving to other parts of the United States and Canada. Despite the slow rate of industrialization into the 19th century, many important changes were taking place in

16376-506: The agrarian economy because of innovations and the large population growth. These innovations included government-sponsored programs of enclosure , aggressive exploitation of agricultural lands, and the introduction of new crops such as the potato. Because the Swedish peasantry had never been enserfed as elsewhere in Europe, the Swedish farming culture began to take on a critical role in the Swedish political process, which has continued through modern times with modern Agrarian party (now called

16554-424: The all-time masterpieces of hotel architecture" and compares it to a royal palace with its "grand vistas, lofty proportions and sparkling chandeliers". Waring & Gallow were responsible for many of the fine design work of the interiors The ground floor plan dated to 1906 illustrated a large main restaurant overlooking the terrace and garden, a large central Grand Gallery and Winter Garden, a circular vestibule beyond

16732-433: The aristocracy and attract the world's elite in the 1950s. It was very popular with the wealthy family of the Aga Khan, and oil magnate J. Paul Getty , reputedly the richest man in the world at the time, lived at the Ritz after the war. On one occasion a photographer working for Time and Life magazines staged an incident outside the hotel by arranging for the barrowboy to pour coppers onto the pavement as Getty emerged from

16910-493: The authorities". Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar , MP Harold Nicolson , Brian Howard , and Pauline Tennant were all regulars at the basement bar. The hotel was owned for some thirty years by the Bracewell-Smith family , who also had significant stakes in the nearby Park Lane Hotel . Although the family were quick to earn a profit from the hotel, there was a turbulent period in the years after World War II, with

17088-566: The beginning of the end for the Swedish Empire. Charles XII attempted to invade Norway 1716; however, he was shot dead at Fredriksten fortress in 1718. The Swedes were not militarily defeated at Fredriksten, but the whole structure and organization of the Norwegian campaign fell apart with the king's death, and the army withdrew. Forced to cede large areas of land in the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, Sweden also lost its place as an empire and as

17266-687: The building was made in Germany and is based on a model made in the early 1880s in Chicago to increase fire resistance. It was erected by Messrs Potts & Co. of Oxford Street . Fireproofing of the walls were conducted by the Columbian Fireproofing Company Ltd. of Pittsburgh and London, with steel-ribbed bars allowing for ventilation, while remaining sound proof and free from vibration. The internal walls consist of "hollow, porous, terra-cotta blocks" covered with plaster, and

17444-438: The capital. Many of the materials used in the construction of the hotel were US-made. The initial fees for suites ranged from 1½ guineas to 3½ guineas. After opening, a long-running feud between the hotel and Lord Wimbourne, a steel magnate who lived next door at Wimbourne House , lasted for years in a dispute over land. A number of locals were also concerned about the building and the impact it would have on their health. While

17622-551: The case in other areas (e.g. international accounting standards), hotel classification standards should result from a private and independent initiative. This may be the case of the World Hotel Rating (WHR) project, which notably aims to set international classification standards and rating criteria along the lines of a world star-rating system. It will also establish an information platform on the hotel industry that will be multilingual and multicultural. WHR intends to play

17800-531: The chief concern, and bomb scares were not uncommon. The oil crisis in the early 1970s directly affected business and prompted the Bracewell-Smith family to sell their stake to Trafalgar House on 5 April 1976 for £2.75 million. At the time of the sale, the hotel's occupancy rate was just 45 per cent; the Ritz Grill Room had been closed and it had lost quite a bit of money in recent times. In 1984,

17978-631: The coast and isles . Smaller groups of historical descendants of 18th–20th-century Swedish emigrants who still retain varying aspects of Swedish identity to this day can be found in the Americas (especially Minnesota and Wisconsin ; see Swedish Americans ) and in Ukraine. Currently, Swedes tend to emigrate mostly to the Nordic neighbour countries (Norway, Denmark, Finland), English speaking countries (United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, New Zealand), Spain, France and Germany. Historically,

18156-453: The coming visit of the King of Spain. Though the opening of the Savoy had brought about a marked change in how hotels provided services to its guests, Ritz was determined that his London hotel would surpass its competitor in their delivery. The Ritz installed two large lead-lined tanks on its roof to provide a steady stream of hot and cold water. The hotel's bathrooms were all spacious with each having its own heated towel bar. Every bedroom in

18334-403: The couple were freely given the entire second floor of the hotel to accommodate guests. Upon the death of Lord Lurgan in 1937, Carnavon was told that he had to begin paying for his staying at the hotel, but was given a "slight reduction for old time's sake". Carnarvon later remarked: "The Ritz has been my London home for over fifty years. I'm very fond of the place. Nobody knows it better". In 1931,

18512-495: The criteria used into seven dimensions or "business area" namely: Arrival & Departure, Public Areas, Bedrooms, Food & Beverage, Lounge Area, Kitchen Area, Amenities, and Business Practices, all common to the three categories except Kitchen and Lounge Area which is only applicable to apartment hotels. 1,000 points is the maximum number of points an establishment can attain. The HOTREC (Hotels, Restaurants & Cafés in Europe)

18690-586: The disastrous Battle of Kircholm being one of the highlights. One-third of the Finnish population died in the devastating famine that struck the country in 1696. Famine also hit Sweden, killing roughly 10% of Sweden's population. The Swedes conducted a series of invasions into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , known as the Deluge . After more than half a century of almost constant warfare,

18868-583: The dominant state on the Baltic Sea. With Sweden's lost influence, Russia emerged as an empire and became one of Europe's dominant nations. As the war finally ended in 1721, Sweden had lost an estimated 200,000 men, 150,000 of those from the area of present-day Sweden and 50,000 from the Finnish part of Sweden. In the 18th century, Sweden did not have enough resources to maintain its territories outside Scandinavia, and most of them were lost, culminating with

19046-599: The earliest known original area inhabited by their linguistic ancestors, is in the country of Sweden, situated on the eastern side of the Scandinavian Peninsula and the islands adjacent to it, situated west of the Baltic Sea in northern Europe . The Swedish-speaking people living in near-coastal areas on the north-eastern and eastern side of the Baltic Sea also have a long history of continuous settlement, which in some of these areas possibly started about

19224-543: The early stages of the Viking Age, a centre of trade in northern Europe developed at Birka on the island of Björkö , not far from where Stockholm was later constructed, in mid-latitude Sweden. Birka was founded around 750 AD as a trading port by a king or merchants trying to control trade. Birka was the Baltic link in the Dnieper Trade Route through Ladoga ( Aldeigja ) and Novgorod ( Holmsgard ) to

19402-511: The economic life of that city and made the port city of Stockholm into the leading commercial and industrial city of Sweden. Under the Hanseatic trade two-thirds of Stockholm's imports consisted of textiles and one third of salt. Exports from Sweden consisted of iron and copper. However, the Swedes began to resent the monopoly trading position of the Hansa (mostly German citizens) and to resent

19580-467: The elegantly frivolous comfort of Edwardian high life". There were originally large windows at either end of the court, then known as the Winter Garden, and were replaced with twenty panels of mirrors after 1972. The fountain of the court, known as "La Source", is made of Echaillon marble and is extravagantly sculpted. A nymph, gold in colour, is featured in a lair. A wrought-iron and glass roof of

19758-483: The emblem of the hotel. The Ritz has 111 rooms and 25 suites. The interior was designed mainly by London and Paris based designers in the Louis XVI style . Marcus Binney describes the great suite of ground-floor rooms as "one of the all-time masterpieces of hotel architecture" and compares it to a royal palace with its "grand vistas, lofty proportions and sparkling chandeliers". The Ritz's most widely known facility

19936-514: The exception of the Winter War when it declared itself non-belligerant . It's neutrality during the rest of the war has also been disputed. Sweden was under German influence for much of the war, as ties to the rest of the world were cut off through blockades. The Swedish government felt that it was in no position to openly contest Germany, and therefore made some concessions. Sweden also supplied steel and machined parts to Germany throughout

20114-636: The exterior "represents an evocative confluence of various Parisian architectural traditions"; the Piccadilly arcade echoes the arcaded ground floor in the Place Vendrome and the Rue de Rivoli, the steep mansarded skyline on the Green Park facade echoes Hector Lefuel 's work on the Pavillon de Flore of the Louvre , while the tall windows and wall panels of the facades resemble those of Mewès's earlier work on

20292-414: The fact that the peasantry had traditionally been free meant that more of the economic benefits flowed back to them rather than going to a feudal landowning class. This was not the case in other countries of Europe like Poland where the peasantry was still bound by serfdom and a strong feudalistic land owning system. During the 17th century Sweden emerged as a European great power . Before the emergence of

20470-577: The first century AD. The term is believed to have been derived from the Proto-Indo-European reflexive pronominal root, *s(w)e , as the Latin suus . The word must have meant "one's own (tribesmen)". The same root and original meaning is found in the ethnonym of the Germanic tribe Suebi , preserved to this day in the name Swabia . Like other Scandinavians , Swedes descend from the presumably Indo-European Battle Axe culture and also

20648-403: The first independent accommodation classification systems in the world to incorporate a consumer 'voice'. Their website also shows a Travellers' Rating which is presented in parallel to the independent Star Rating and is an aggregate of past guest ratings and reviews from more than 100 websites in 45 different languages. The rating is shown as a 10 point score. Weighting applies to the popularity of

20826-480: The funding for his new play, The Vortex . Arlen gave Coward a cheque for $ 250 without question, and The Vortex would go on to be his first major success. Coward's song, "Children of the Ritz", which featured in the 1932 revue Words and Music was penned while Coward was lunching in the Ritz with Beverley Nichols . Numerous authors began to meet at the Ritz during the same period, and it began to creep into literature itself. In Michael Arlen 's 1922 novel Piracy ,

21004-541: The garden for the celebration. The Queen Mother would also attend private parties at the Ritz during this period, as did King Boris of Bulgaria and Queen Marie of Romania . At one point, the Ritz hosted four reigning monarchs simultaneously: King Boris, King Farouk of Egypt, Spain's King Alfonso and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands . After the romance of Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson became public knowledge, both parties could be found at separate tables near

21182-439: The globe, entered a period of economic decline and upheaval, following the oil embargoes of 1973–74 and 1978–79. In the 1980s pillars of Swedish industry were massively restructured. Shipbuilding was discontinued, wood pulp was integrated into modernized paper production, the steel industry was concentrated and specialized, and mechanical engineering was robotized. Between 1970 and 1990 the overall tax burden rose by over 10%, and

21360-401: The golden nymph in the Palm Court of the hotel is mentioned. "It had a special atmosphere about it and the Palm Court was always filled before luncheon with 'society beauties', debutantes and their boyfriends, and famous actors and actresses—though the latter seldom seemed to actually lunch there. Bejewelled American ladies used to parade up and down the corridor awaiting their guests, The Ritz

21538-533: The growth was low compared to other countries in Western Europe. The marginal income tax for workers reached over 80% . Eventually government spent over half of the country's gross domestic product . Sweden GDP per capita ranking declined during this time. A bursting real estate bubble caused by inadequate controls on lending combined with an international recession and a policy switch from anti-unemployment policies to anti-inflationary policies resulted in

21716-489: The hotel and photographed just as he went to pick them up. Shell Oil heiress Olga Deterding lived at hotel for several years, and in one altercation with her lover she threw his trousers out of the window. In 1956 she tired of the high life and spent a period working at Albert Schweitzer 's leper colony in French Equatorial Africa . Film stars Rita Hayworth and Tallulah Bankhead were regular guests at

21894-506: The hotel commence putting on a Cabaret show. Advertised in the Evening Standard , the programme was an immediate success. In January 1936, Austrian comedian Vic Oliver was one of the entertainers hired to perform at the hotel for two weeks, and Cyril Fletcher appeared in the show for a month the following year. The BBC began broadcasting live performances from the restaurant of the hotel, with pianist Billy Milton and others. It

22072-411: The hotel has kept most of the names of many of its luminaries a secret in its records. Douglas Fairbanks was known though to frequent the Ritz in the 1920s, and director Alexander Korda 's talent scout held a table at the Ritz in the 1930s. Noël Coward , also a regular diner at the Ritz in the 1920s and 1930s, met with Michael Arlen in the restaurant in 1924 to discuss the urgent problem of generating

22250-522: The hotel stars as the main criteria in hotel selection. This implementation influenced the creation of a common European Hotelstars rating system that started in 2010 (see below). In France, the rating is defined by the public tourist board ( Atout France ) using a four-star system (plus "L" for Luxus), which has changed to a five-star system from 2009 on. In South Africa, the Tourist Grading Council of South Africa has strict rules for

22428-517: The hotel was described as a "very stout and solid building in the manner of the old Bastille, originally conceived no doubt with a fearful eye on class prejudice", and R. Firbank had a running gag in his novels about there being "fleas in the Ritz". Later, the hotel appears in Anthony Powell 's A Dance to the Music of Time . The narrator Nicholas Jenkins meets poet Mark Members at the Ritz, and

22606-414: The hotel was provided with its own working fireplace. Ritz shunned free-standing wardrobes due to his fear of dust settling on them; instead he built cupboards into the rooms with doors matching the panelling. Ritz's ideas of cleanliness and hygiene prompted him to originally have all bedrooms painted in white and all beds made of brass, not wood, for the same reasons. Anything new or potentially useful

22784-440: The hotel's flooring was also made fireproof. At the corners of the pavilion roofs of the Ritz are large green copper lions, the emblem of the hotel. The hotel was designed mainly by London and Paris based designers in the Louis XVI style , which is consistent throughout, giving the hotel its "special atmosphere of perfect appropriateness and elegant restraint". Marcus Binney describes the great suite of ground-floor rooms as "one of

22962-489: The hotel. Proper attire for tea is a must; the Ritz once refused to admit Mick Jagger for tea because he was not wearing a jacket and tie. The Barclay twins of The Ellerman Group of Companies purchased the hotel for £80 million from Trafalgar House , in October 1995, through their company Ellerman Investments . They spent eight years and £40 million restoring it to its former grandeur. Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles made their first public appearance together at

23140-479: The hotel; Hayworth was married to Prince Aly Khan between 1949 and 1953. Another notable resident of the Ritz during this period was Nubar Gulbenkian , an "expansive extrovert" who kept a permanent suite at the Ritz and made exorbitant demands for luxuries and foods, even if out of season. In January 1959, Patrice Lumumba , the Prime Minister of Congo, stayed at the hotel and met with Sir Edward Adjaye ,

23318-425: The income they felt they lost to the Hansa. Consequently, when Gustav Vasa or Gustav I broke the monopoly power of the Hanseatic League he was regarded as a hero to the Swedish people. History now views Gustav I as the father of the modern Swedish nation. The foundations laid by Gustav would take time to develop. Furthermore, when Sweden did develop and freed itself from the Hanseatic League and entered its golden era,

23496-402: The initial purpose of informing travellers on basic facilities that can be expected, the objectives of hotel rating have expanded into a focus on the hotel experience as a whole. Today the terms 'grading', 'rating', and 'classification' are used to generally refer to the same concept, that is, to categorize hotels. There is a wide variety of rating schemes used by different organizations around

23674-428: The iron would be shipped abroad. A large number of children inherited the Swedish crown over the course of the kingdom's existence. King Christian II of Denmark ordered a massacre in 1520 of Swedish nobles at Stockholm. This came to be known as the " Stockholm blood bath " and stirred the Swedish nobility to new resistance and, on 6 June (now Sweden's national holiday) in 1523, they made Gustav Vasa their king. This

23852-533: The joint Liberal-Social Democrat cabinet of Nils Edén and Hjalmar Branting , with universal and equal suffrage to both houses of parliament enacted for men in 1918 and for women in 1919. The reforms were widely accepted by King Gustaf V , who had previously ousted Karl Staaff 's elected Liberal government in the Courtyard Crisis because of differences in defence policy. Sweden remained officially neutral during World War I and most of World War II, with

24030-622: The membership in The Leading Hotels of the World to document regular inspection on an additional level. This organization was formed in 1928 and reorganized in 1971, introducing a worldwide inspection service. In Australia, the industry accommodation rating scheme and Star Rating trademarks, known as Star Ratings Australia, are owned by the Australian Tourism Industry Council. A Star Rating represents

24208-613: The men wear a garment which covers one side of the body and leaves a hand free. Each man has an axe, a sword, and a knife, and keeps each by him at all times. The swords are broad and grooved, of Frankish sort. The adventures of these Swedish Vikings are commemorated on many runestones in Sweden, such as the Greece Runestones and the Varangian Runestones . There was also considerable participation in expeditions westwards, which are commemorated on stones such as

24386-442: The nearby May Fair Hotel following a fire alarm in the hotel. No one was hurt in the blaze, which started in the basement casino kitchen's extraction vents. The Ritz casino only suffered "minor damage". Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was convalescing at the Ritz when she died following a stroke on 8 April 2013. There was criticism in 2012 because the Ritz had not paid any corporation tax since being taken over by

24564-417: The new hotels springing up in that period, it was not fashionable initially, and was resented by many of the London elite who considered it vulgar. It took £3628 in 1908, over a thousand pounds less than the previous year, and the hotel lost over £50,000 between 15 May 1906 and 31 July 1908, which led to the replacement of the manager Elles with Theodore Kroell and appointment of Charles Van Gyzelen as manager of

24742-457: The next holiday resort. When shopping for an online accommodation product, more than half of European consumers said that they are influenced by online customer reviews and online ratings, while just one-fifth of consumers see themselves as insusceptible to such reviews and ratings. Two in five European consumers also regard star ratings as an influencing factor when booking hotel rooms, whereas for about one in three consumers, star ratings don’t play

24920-463: The older rural dialects still exist, the spoken and written language is uniform and standardized. Some dialects differ considerably from the standard language in grammar and vocabulary and are not always mutually intelligible with Standard Swedish. These dialects are confined to rural areas and are spoken primarily by small numbers of people with low social mobility . Though not facing imminent extinction , such dialects have been in decline during

25098-413: The only way to prevent famine and rebellion; over 1% of the population emigrated annually during the 1880s. Nevertheless, Sweden remained poor, retaining a nearly entirely agricultural economy even as Denmark and Western European countries began to industrialize. Many looked towards America for a better life during this time. It is believed that between 1850 and 1910 more than one million Swedes moved to

25276-601: The party. Before the war began, the German and Austrian embassies both retained tables at the Ritz Restaurant. The hotel suffered during the war, and lost nearly £50,000 in 1915 alone; the ballroom was usually empty and lights went out by 10pm, but rooms were still in demand and the hoteliers believed it to be worth keeping open. Socialites such as Lady Cynthia Asquith , daughter-in-law of H. H. Asquith and Lord Basil Blackwood were documented in her diaries to have dined at

25454-428: The past century, despite the fact that they are well researched and their use is often encouraged by local authorities. According to recent genetic analysis, both mtDNA and Y chromosome polymorphisms showed a noticeable genetic affinity between Swedes and other Germanic ethnic groups. Paternally , through their Y-DNA haplogroups , the Swedes are quite diverse and show strongly of Haplogroup I1d1 at over 40% of

25632-410: The peasantry and some became laborers in the towns. Still, Sweden remained a poor and economically backward country in which barter was the means of exchange. For instance, the farmers of the province of Dalsland would transport their butter to the mining districts of Sweden and exchange it there for iron, which they would then take down to the coast and trade the iron for fish they needed for food while

25810-661: The people of south Scandinavia spoke Proto-Norse at the time, a language ancestral to Swedish and other North Germanic languages . The migration age in Sweden is marked by the extreme weather events of 535–536 which is believed to have shaken Scandinavian society to its core. As much as 50% of the population of Scandinavia is thought to have died as a result and the emerging Vendel Period shows an increased militarization of society. Several areas with rich burial gifts have been found, including well-preserved boat inhumation graves at Vendel and Valsgärde , and tumuli at Gamla Uppsala . These were used for several generations. Some of

25988-504: The population tested in different studies, followed by R1a1a and R1b1a2a1a1 with over 20% each and haplogroup N1c1 with over 5% at different regional variance. The rest are within haplogroups J and E1b1b1 and other less common ones. Maternally , through their mtDNA haplogroups , the Swedes show very strongly of haplogroup H at 25–30%, followed by haplogroup U at a 10% or more, with haplogroup J and T , K at around 5% each. The largest area inhabited by Swedes, as well as

26166-407: The primary factor in booking a hotel, but now, modern consumers also rely on the opinions of previous guests as expressed in online reviews . These reviews, based on personal experiences, have become increasingly important for other travellers when considering where to stay. "In today’s world, consumers rely heavily on online information when making purchasing decisions, be it for a new smartphone or

26344-599: The prime sites in London for their project. They began negotiations in 1901, and completed the transactions for the simultaneous purchase of the leasehold for the Walsingham House Hotel and the adjacent freehold estate of the Bath Hotel for £250,000 in 1902. Demolition of both of the hotels began in 1904. The building is neoclassical in the Louis XVI manner, built during the Belle Époque to resemble

26522-537: The princes and royalty of the countries and cities along the coasts of the Baltic Sea. In exchange they offered a certain amount of protection. Having their own navy the Hansa were able to sweep the Baltic Sea free of pirates. The privileges obtained by the Hansa included assurances that only Hansa citizens would be allowed to trade from the ports where they were located. They also sought agreement to be free of all customs and taxes. With these concessions, Lübeck merchants flocked to Stockholm, Sweden and soon came to dominate

26700-435: The quality and condition of guest facilities which is determined by 200 criteria. Star Ratings are awarded to hotels, motels, serviced apartments, self-catering, hosted accommodation and caravan-holiday parks. The scheme uses physical visits, reviews and mystery guest stays to make their accreditation on the accommodation's ratings. Australia's star ratings have been operating since the 1950s as both an accreditation as well as

26878-596: The reception room, the Marie Antoinette Suite near the restaurant, and numerous shops. The Grill Room had its own entrance on the right side of the entrance doors on Piccadilly, with a staircase leading down. The Grill Room was on the eastern side, and the Banqueting Hall lay at the western end, beneath the restaurant. Today this is home to the Ritz Club. A wide vaulted corridor, the Long Gallery, runs from

27056-624: The restaurant's door, in case a speedy exit was necessary. The Ritz suffered from the effects of the General Strike of 1926 , subsequently seeing competition from the likes of the Dorchester Hotel and Grosvenor House . The Great Depression brought a sharp decline in business to the hotel, and in the summer of 1931 staff wages were reduced—the chefs, kitchen workers and the directors had a 25% cut in their wages. To increase earnings, in 1935 Fred Cavendish-Bentinck recommended that

27234-414: The restaurant. The hotel also suffered a blow upon the death of King Edward in 1910, when 38 planned dinners and functions were cancelled, but began to prosper the following year, made fashionable by the Prince of Wales who regularly dined here. King Edward was particularly fond of the cakes made at the Ritz. The hotel would regularly send him a supply, but this was kept in confidence so as to not embarrass

27412-466: The riches were probably acquired through the control of mining districts and the production of iron. The rulers had troops of mounted elite warriors with costly armour. Graves of mounted warriors have been found with stirrups and saddle ornaments of birds of prey in gilded bronze with encrusted garnets. The Sutton Hoo helmet very similar to helmets in Gamla Uppsala, Vendel and Valsgärde shows that

27590-463: The room and offering halal restaurant recommendations; it is divided into 4 tiers (bronze, silver, gold and platinum). Archipelago Hotels, Indonesia's biggest hospitality firm, is a prominent member of the Salam Standard system. The advancement of technology and internet connectivity has caused shifts in the way hotel guests book their accommodations. In the past, official hotel ratings were

27768-430: The rule of Charles X after the treaty of Roskilde in 1658. The foundation of Sweden's success during this period is credited to Gustav I 's major changes on the Swedish economy in the 16th century, and his introduction of Protestantism . In the 17th century, Sweden was engaged in many wars, for example with the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth with both sides competing for territories of today's Baltic states , with

27946-461: The same height. Originating in semi-legendary Scandza (believed to be somewhere in modern Götaland , Sweden), a Gothic population had crossed the Baltic Sea before the second century AD. They reaching Scythia on the coast of the Black Sea in modern Ukraine, where Goths left their archaeological traces in the Chernyakhov culture . In the fifth and sixth centuries, they became divided as

28124-425: The schemes. This applies to all accommodation types apart from self-catering that the AA started offering in 2009. The AA criteria are available on its website. In addition to the usual black stars (ranging from one (the lowest) to five (the highest), the AA awards red stars to the highest-rated, which are deemed 'Inspectors' Choice'. Each of the national tourist boards have grading explanations on their web sites. In

28302-558: The second wife of John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough , the architectural writer James Lees-Milne , Harold Acton and writer Norman Douglas were regular diners at the Ritz during wartime. According to Alastair Forbes and Felix Hope-Nicholson , during World War II , the basement bar at the Ritz was reserved for gay and lesbian guests, while the one upstairs was for heterosexual guests. Hope Nicholson described it as "notoriously queer", and stated that "the Ritz bar became too chic, too popular and above all, too queer for

28480-424: The site presented initial problems for the builders. Davis dealt with this by "brilliant perspective effects" according to Binney, using curving walls to "cleverly conceal the rapidly diminishing space at the back of the hotel". The purpose of the arcaded front was to provide more space for the bedrooms above. Expensive Norwegian granite is the material on ground floor, with Portland stone above it. The steel frame of

28658-610: The sixth-century Swedish king Adils (Eadgils) that he had the finest horses of his days. The Suehans supplied black fox-skins for the Roman market. Then Jordanes names the Suetidi which is considered to be the Latin form of Svitjod . He writes that the Suetidi are the tallest of men—together with the Dani , who were of the same stock. Later he mentions other Scandinavian tribes as being of

28836-474: The social and architectural fashions of the day. The building has been regarded as a masterpiece from the day it was finished..." Both of the architects, Charles Mewès and Arthur J. Davis, were educated at the prestigious École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, and the education which they received is clear in the design of the buildings, particularly the Renaissance influence, delivering "an authentic fabric of traditional French classicism". Mewès had previously designed

29014-474: The source site and the date of the last guest review. The William Angliss Institute in Melbourne developed an independent benchmarking framework to show if a property has met or exceeded guest expectations. On 28 February 2017, Michael Reed, CEO of Australian Motoring Services, advised clients of the closure of Star Ratings Australia brand and asked to remove star rating and automobile club logos from their accommodation and promotional information by June 2017. It

29192-443: The success of invading Poland, Charles decided to make an invasion attempt of Russia which ended in a decisive Russian victory at the Battle of Poltava in 1709. After a long march exposed to cossack raids, Russian Tsar Peter the Great 's scorched-earth techniques and the extremely cold winter of 1709 , the Swedes stood weakened with a shattered morale and enormously outnumbered against the Russian army at Poltava. The defeat meant

29370-403: The war. However, Sweden supported Norwegian resistance, and in 1943 helped rescue Danish Jews from deportation to Nazi concentration camps . Sweden also supported Finland in the Winter War with volunteers and materiel . Toward the end of the war, Sweden began to play a role in humanitarian efforts and many refugees, among them many Jews from Nazi-occupied Europe, were saved partly because of

29548-499: The world. Many have a system involving stars , with a greater number of stars indicating greater luxury. Forbes Travel Guide , formerly Mobil Travel Guide , launched its star rating system in 1958. The AAA and their affiliated bodies use diamonds instead of stars to express hotel and restaurant rating levels. Food services, entertainment, view, room variations such as size and additional amenities, spas and fitness centers, ease of access and location may be considered in establishing

29726-437: Was available to the guests of the Ritz. César Ritz's health had declined after his 1902 collapse at the Carlton, but he was feeling well enough to assume an active role in the plans for the hotel's opening dinner on 24 May 1906. Unlike the opening of the Paris Ritz, which had catered to society, most of those invited to the Ritz, London opening were members of the national and international press. Major British newspapers such as

29904-415: Was designed in 2001 by interior designer Tessa Kennedy to resemble the bar on the Orient Express . Swiss hotelier César Ritz , the former manager of the Savoy Hotel , opened the hotel on 25 May 1906. It was built on the site which had been the Old White Horse Cellar , which by 1805 was one of the best known coaching inns in England. The financial backers of the Ritz felt that they had secured one of

30082-451: Was fortunate that the hotel was built from steel, or the "walls would collapse with the weight of all that bronze". Flanking the entrance to the main restaurant are two life-sized figures set in "bronze vert after Clodion , holding gilded bronze lustres with six lights each, mounted on pedestals of polished Echaillon marble ornamented with bronze". The restaurant and adjacent guest room were designed by P. H. Remon and Sons of Paris. The ceiling

30260-414: Was more like a club than a hotel; you were bound to see your friends there. To 'meet at the Ritz' was the obvious choice. It had the combination of elegance and cosiness. The Ritz had an essentially happy atmosphere which radiated from the staff. All the waiters knew everybody and became personal friends. The Ritz in those days had a courtesy and elegance unlike any other hotels; it was thought of as 'home' in

30438-484: Was not awarded due to at least one obligatory requirement being left out. For hotels with three to five stars, the Hotelstars Union will use "mystery guests" to check the service quality regularly. There is so far no international classification which has been adopted. There have been attempts at unifying the classification system so that it becomes an internationally recognized and a reliable standard, but they have all failed. It has been considered that, as it has been

30616-405: Was not common in Sweden, and what slavery there was tended to be driven out of existence by the spread of Christianity, the difficulty in obtaining slaves from the lands east of the Baltic Sea, and by the development of cities before the 16th century Indeed, both slavery and serfdom were abolished altogether by a decree of King Magnus IV Eriksson in 1335. Former slaves tended to be absorbed into

30794-399: Was officially a neutral country and remained outside NATO or Warsaw pact membership during the Cold War , but privately Sweden's leadership had strong ties with the United States and other western governments. Following the war, Sweden took advantage of an intact industrial base, social stability and its natural resources to expand its industry to supply the rebuilding of Europe. Sweden

30972-425: Was part of the Marshall Plan and participated in the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development ( OECD ). During most of the post-war era, the country was governed by the Swedish Social Democratic Party largely in cooperation with trade unions and industry. The government actively pursued an internationally competitive manufacturing sector of primarily large corporations. Sweden, like countries around

31150-420: Was said that competition from online travel agencies such as TripAdvisor and their customer rating system led to its demise. The brand was then transferred to the Australian Tourism Industry Council. In early 2019, Star Ratings were rebranded under the council's "Quality Tourism" Accreditation Program. Star Ratings in Australia stand for independently reviewed quality standards and are defined as such: In

31328-467: Was the last war in which Sweden participated as a combatant. There was a significant population increase during the 18th and 19th centuries, which the writer Esaias Tegnér in 1833 attributed to "peace, vaccine , and potatoes ". Between 1750 and 1850, the population in Sweden doubled. Sweden was hit by the last natural caused famine in Europe, the Famine of 1867-69 killed thousands in Sweden. According to some scholars, mass emigration to America became

31506-403: Was through the show that the Irving Berlin song " Puttin' On the Ritz " grew in popularity, performed by Joe Kaye 's Dance Band. In 1937, James Stephens shortly succeeded Lurgan as director of the Ritz before being replaced by Hans Pfyffer von Altishofen , who had been on the board of the Ritz Hotel Development Company from 1910 and was also the chairman of the Paris Ritz. During World War II,

31684-438: Was £345,227. 8s. 1d., with £102,000 going to Messrs Waring and Gillow, £49,000 to French decorators and over £15,000 to the English decorators. John P. Bishop and the Swedish-born Sven Bylander were consultant engineers during the building phase. The facade on the Piccadilly side is roughly 231 feet (70 m), 115 feet (35 m) on the Arlington Street side, and 87 feet (27 m) on the Green Park side. The irregularity of

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