Signs and symptoms.

Purpura, arthritis, and abdominal pain are known as the "classic triad" of Henoch–Schönlein purpura. Purpura occur in all cases, joint pains and arthritis in 80%, and abdominal pain in 62%. Some include gastrointestinal hemorrhage as a fourth criterion; this occurs in 33% of cases, sometimes, but not necessarily always, due to intussusception. The purpura typically appear on the legs and buttocks, but may also be seen on the arms, face and trunk. The abdominal pain is colicky in character, and may be accompanied by nausea, vomiting, constipation or diarrhea. There may be blood or mucus in the stools. The joints involved tend to be the ankles, knees, and elbows, but arthritis in the hands and feet is possible; the arthritis is nonerosive and hence causes no permanent deformity. Forty percent have evidence of kidney involvement, mainly in the form of hematuria (blood in the urine), but only a quarter will have this in sufficient quantities to be noticeable without laboratory tests. Problems in other organs, such as the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and lungs may occur, but is much less common than in the skin, bowel and kidneys.  Of the 40% of patients who develop kidney involvement, almost all have evidence (visible or on urinalysis) of blood in the urine. More than half also have proteinuria (protein in the urine), which in one eighth is severe enough to cause nephrotic syndrome (generalised swelling due to low protein content of the blood). While abnormalities on urinalysis may continue for a long time, only 1% of all HSP patients develop chronic kidney disease. Hypertension (high blood pressure) may occur. Protein loss and high blood pressure, as well as the features on biopsy of the kidney if performed, may predict progression to advanced kidney disease. Adults are more likely than children to develop advanced kidney disease.

Pathophysiology.

Henoch–Schönlein purpura is a small-vessel vasculitis in which complexes of immunoglobulin A (IgA) and complement component 3 (C3) are deposited on arterioles, capillaries, and venules (hence it is a type III hypersensitivity reaction). As with IgA nephropathy, serum levels of IgA are high in HSP and there are identical findings on renal biopsy; however, IgA nephropathy has a predilection for young adults while HSP is more predominant among children. Further, IgA nephropathy typically only affects the kidneys while HSP is a systemic disease. HSP involves the skin and connective tissues, scrotum, joints, gastrointestinal tract and kidneys. The genetic basis remains unclear except for involvement of the human leukocyte antigen region of the genome. It is hypothesized to involve autoimmunity triggered by infections, particularly Staphylococcus aureus, Mycoplasma and adenovirus.

Diagnosis.

The diagnosis is based on the combination of the symptoms, as very few other diseases cause the same symptoms together. Blood tests may show elevated creatinine and urea levels (in kidney involvement), raised IgA levels (in about 50%), and raised C-reactive protein (CRP) or erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) results; none are specific for Henoch–Schönlein purpura. The platelet count may be raised, and distinguishes it from diseases where low platelets are the cause of the purpura, such as idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura and thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.  If there is doubt about the cause of the skin lesions, a biopsy of the skin may be performed to distinguish the purpura from other diseases that cause it, such as vasculitis due to cryoglobulinemia; on microscopy the appearances are of a hypersensitivity vasculitis, and immunofluorescence demonstrates IgA and C3 (a protein of the complement system) in the blood vessel wall. However, overall serum complement levels are normal.  On the basis of symptoms, it is possible to distinguish HSP from hypersensitivity vasculitis (HV). In a series comparing 85 HSP patients with 93 HV patients, five symptoms were found to be indicative of HSP: palpable purpura, abdominal angina, digestive tract hemorrhage (not due to intussussception), hematuria and age less than 20. The presence of three or more of these indicators has an 87% sensitivity for predicting HSP.  Biopsy of the kidney may be performed both to establish the diagnosis or to assess the severity of already suspected kidney disease. The main findings on kidney biopsy are increased cells and Ig deposition in the mesangium (part of the glomerulus, where blood is filtered), white blood cells, and the development of crescents. The changes are indistinguishable from those observed in IgA nephropathy.  HSP can develop after infections with streptococci (β-haemolytic, Lancefield group A), hepatitis B, herpes simplex virus, parvovirus B19, Coxsackievirus, adenovirus, "Helicobacter pylori", measles, mumps, rubella, "Mycoplasma" and numerous others. Drugs linked to HSP, usually as an idiosyncratic reaction, include the antibiotics vancomycin and cefuroxime, ACE inhibitors enalapril and captopril, anti-inflammatory agent diclofenac, as well as ranitidine and streptokinase. Several diseases have been reported to be associated with HSP, often without a causative link. Only in about 35% of cases can HSP be traced to any of these causes.  The exact cause of HSP is unknown, but most of its features are due to the deposition of abnormal antibodies in the wall of blood vessels, leading to vasculitis. These antibodies are of the subclass IgA in polymers; it is uncertain whether the main cause is overproduction (in the digestive tract or the bone marrow) or decreased removal of abnormal IgA from the circulation. It is suspected that abnormalities in the IgA molecule may provide an explanation for its abnormal behaviour in both HSP and the related condition IgA nephropathy. One of the characteristics of IgA (and IgD) is the presence of an 18 amino acid-long "hinge region" between complement-fixating regions 1 and 2. Of the amino acids, half is proline, while the others are mainly serine and threonine. The majority of the serines and the threonines have elaborate sugar chains, connected through oxygen atoms (O-glycosylation). This process is thought to stabilise the IgA molecule and make it less prone to proteolysis. The first sugar is always N-acetyl-galactosamine (GalNAc), followed by other galactoses and sialic acid. In HSP and IgAN, these sugar chains appear to be deficient. The exact reason for these abnormalities is not known.

Classification.

Multiple standards exist for defining Henoch–Schönlein purpura, including the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification and the 1994 Chapel Hill Consensus Conference (CHCC). Some have reported the ACR criteria to be more sensitive than those of the CHCC.  More recent classifications, the 2006 European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) and Pediatric Rheumatology Society (PReS) classification, include palpable purpura as a mandatory criterion, together with at least one of the following findings: diffuse abdominal pain, predominant IgA deposition (confirmed on skin biopsy), acute arthritis in any joint, and renal involvement (as evidenced by the presence of blood and/or protein in the urine).

Differential diagnosis.

Henoch–Schönlein purpura may present with an atypical manifestation, which can be confused with papular urticaria, systemic lupus erythematosus, meningococcemia, dermatitis herpetiformis, and acute hemorrhagic edema of infancy.

Treatment.

As of 2017, the optimal way to treat Henoch–Schönlein purpura remains controversial. Analgesics may be needed for the abdominal and joint pains. Wound care is warranted if the skin death and ulcerations occur. It is uncertain as to whether HSP needs treatment beyond controlling the symptoms. Most people do not receive therapy because of the high spontaneous recovery rate. Experts disagree on whether to routinely use corticosteroids as treatment for HSP. However, if they are given early in the disease episode, the duration of symptoms may be shortened, and abdominal pain can improve significantly. Moreover, the chance of severe kidney problems may be reduced. A systematic review did not find any evidence that steroid treatment (prednisone) is effective at decreasing the likelihood of developing long-term kidney disease.  Evidence of worsening kidney damage would normally prompt a kidney biopsy. Treatment may be indicated on the basis of the appearance of the biopsy sample; various treatments may be used, ranging from steroids by mouth to a combination of intravenous methylprednisolone (steroid), cyclophosphamide and dipyridamole followed by prednisone. Other regimens include steroids/azathioprine, and steroids/cyclophosphamide (with or without heparin and warfarin). Intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) is occasionally used.  There is no good evidence that treating children who have HSP with antiplatelet agent prevents persistent kidney disease. There is also no evidence that treating children or adults with cyclophosphamide prevents severe kidney disease. Heparin treatment is not justified.

Prognosis.

Overall prognosis is good in most patients, with one study showing recovery occurring in 94% and 89% of children and adults, respectively (some having needed treatment). In children under ten, the condition recurs in about a third of all cases, usually within the four months of the initial attack. Recurrence is more common in older children and adults.

Kidney involvement.

In adults, kidney involvement progresses to end-stage kidney disease (ESKD) more often than in children. In a UK series of 37 patients, 10 (27%) developed advanced kidney disease. Proteinuria, hypertension at presentation, and pathology features (crescentic changes, interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy) predicted progression. About 20% of children that exhibit nephrotic or nephritic features experience long permanent renal impairment.  The findings on renal biopsy correlate with the severity of symptoms: those with asymptomatic hematuria may only have focal mesangial proliferation while those with proteinuria may have marked cellular proliferation or even crescent formation. The number of crescentic glomeruli is an important prognostic factor in determining whether the patient will develop chronic renal disease.  In ESKD, some eventually need hemodialysis or equivalent renal replacement therapy (RRT). If a kidney transplant is found for a patient on RRT, the disease will recur in the graft (transplanted kidney) in about 35% of cases, and in 11%, the graft will fail completely (requiring resumption of the RRT and a further transplant).

Epidemiology.

HSP occurs more often in children than in adults, and usually follows an upper respiratory tract infection. Half of affected patients are below the age of six, and 90% are under ten. It occurs about twice as often in boys as in girls. The incidence of HSP in children is about 20 per 100,000 children per year, making it the most common vasculitis in children.  Cases of HSP may occur anytime throughout the year, but some studies have found that fewer cases occur during the summer months.

History.

The disease is named after Eduard Heinrich Henoch (1820–1910), a German pediatrician (nephew of Moritz Heinrich Romberg) and his teacher Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793–1864), who described it in the 1860s. Schönlein associated the purpura and arthritis, and Henoch the purpura and gastrointestinal involvement. The English physician William Heberden (1710–1801) and the dermatologist Robert Willan (1757–1812) had already described the disease in 1802 and 1808, respectively, but the name "Heberden–Willan disease" has fallen into disuse. William Osler was the first to recognise the underlying allergic mechanism of HSP.

Henoch–Schönlein purpura (HSP), also known as IgA vasculitis, is a disease of the skin, mucous membranes, and sometimes other organs that most commonly affects children. In the skin, the disease causes palpable purpura (small, raised areas of bleeding underneath the skin), often with joint pain and abdominal pain. With kidney involvement, there may be a loss of small amounts of blood and protein in the urine (hematuria and proteinuria), but this usually goes unnoticed; in a small proportion of cases, the kidney involvement proceeds to chronic kidney disease. HSP is often preceded by an infection, such as a throat infection.

Die Purpura Schönlein-Henoch, auch Purpura Schoenlein-Henoch (Synonyme: "rheumatoide Purpura", "Immunkomplexpurpura", "Purpura anaphylactoides", "anaphylaktoide Pupura", früher auch "Peliosis rheumatica") ist eine immunologisch vermittelte Entzündung der kleinen Blutgefäße (Vaskulitis der Kapillaren sowie prä- und postkapillären Gefäße) unbekannter Ätiologie, die als Multisystemerkrankung bevorzugt Haut, Gelenke, Darm und Nieren betrifft. Sie tritt am häufigsten im Vorschul- und Schulalter nach einem vorausgehenden Atemwegsinfekt oder anderen Auslösern (z. B. Medikamenten) auf, beginnt akut und verläuft häufig in Form mehrerer Schübe. In der großen Mehrzahl der Fälle heilt die Erkrankung folgenlos aus. Benannt ist sie nach den deutschen Ärzten Johann Lukas Schönlein (1793–1864) und Eduard Heinrich Henoch (1820–1910). Die Purpura Schönlein-Henoch wurde in der Chapel-Hill-Konferenz 2012 in IgA-Vaskulitis umbenannt.


Geography.

Except for the municipality of Ayent, which lies on the north bank of the Rhône, the municipalities of Hérens are located in the Val d'Hérens on the south bank of the Rhône.

Municipalities.

It comprises the following municipalities:

History.

After the conquest of Lower Valais by the bishopric of Sion (1476), the, Val d’Hérens became subordinate to the reeve of Saint-Maurice. In 1560, it was incorporated into the tithing of Sion, with the exception of Val d'Hérémence, which remained a bailiwick of the Seven Tithings. Hérémence district was formed in 1798 (Helvetic Republic), transformed into its own tithing in the Rhodanic Republic of 1802, and into a "canton" within the French département du Simplon in 1810. In 1815, it was restored as a tithing (after 1848 called "district") within the canton of Valais of the restored Swiss Confederacy, with the addition of Ayent municipality. Arbaz and Savièse were detached from Hérémence under the revised constitution of 1839.  The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Azure, on three mounts Vert a Ram passant Argent horned Or between two Mullets Or in chief."  On 1 January 2011 the former municipalities of Vernamiège, Nax and Mase merged to form the new municipality of Mont-Noble. The municipality of Les Agettes on 1 January 2017 merged into Sion.

Demographics.

Hérens has a population () of. Most of the population () speaks French (8,582 or 95.0%) as their first language, German is the second most common (203 or 2.2%) and Portuguese is the third (100 or 1.1%). There are 40 people who speak Italian and 1 person who speaks Romansh. , the gender distribution of the population was 49.3% male and 50.7% female. The population was made up of 4,578 Swiss men (44.7% of the population) and 467 (4.6%) non-Swiss men. There were 4,748 Swiss women (46.4%) and 442 (4.3%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the district 5,042 or about 55.8% were born in Hérens and lived there in 2000. There were 1,210 or 13.4% who were born in the same canton, while 781 or 8.6% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 707 or 7.8% were born outside of Switzerland. , there were 3,544 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 4,616 married individuals, 625 widows or widowers and 244 individuals who are divorced.  There were 1,031 households that consist of only one person and 265 households with five or more people. Out of a total of 3,703 households that answered this question, 27.8% were households made up of just one person and there were 80 adults who lived with their parents. Of the rest of the households, there are 1,014 married couples without children, 1,189 married couples with children There were 161 single parents with a child or children. There were 66 households that were made up of unrelated people and 162 households that were made up of some sort of institution or another collective housing.  The historical population is given in the following chart:

Politics.

In the 2007 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 47.67% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (17.26%), the SVP (15.57%) and the FDP (11.21%). In the federal election, a total of 5,651 votes were cast, and the voter turnout was 71.8%.  In the 2009 Conseil d'Etat/Staatsrat election a total of 5,035 votes were cast, of which 245 or about 4.9% were invalid. The voter participation was 65.0%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 54.67%. In the 2007 Swiss Council of States election a total of 5,571 votes were cast, of which 285 or about 5.1% were invalid. The voter participation was 72.4%, which is much more than the cantonal average of 59.88%.

Religion.

From the, 7,939 or 87.9% were Roman Catholic, while 363 or 4.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 23 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.25% of the population), there was 1 individual who belongs to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 34 individuals (or about 0.38% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 3 individuals (or about 0.03% of the population) who were Jewish, and 15 (or about 0.17% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 4 individuals who were Buddhist, 1 person who was Hindu and 5 individuals who belonged to another church. 313 (or about 3.47% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 339 individuals (or about 3.75% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education.

In Hérens about 2,559 or (28.3%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 710 or (7.9%) have completed additional higher education (either University or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 710 who completed tertiary schooling, 58.3% were Swiss men, 28.0% were Swiss women, 6.8% were non-Swiss men and 6.9% were non-Swiss women.

The district of Hérens is a district in the canton of Valais in Switzerland. It has a population of (as of ).

Zum District d’Hérens () im Kanton Wallis (Hauptort Vex) gehören folgende Gemeinden: Das Tor zum Bezirk Ering bilden die berühmten Erdpyramiden von Euseigne, steile Gesteinstürme mit Felsbrocken als Krone. Dahinter öffnet sich ein kesselartiges, grünes Hochtal, eingerahmt von einem Gipfelkranz und dominiert von der mächtigen Dent Blanche. In den Bergdörfern Evolène, Les Haudères und Arolla haben sich die Walliser Traditionen erhalten.


Biography.

Born in Jesi in what is now the Province of Ancona (but was then part of the Papal States), he was commonly given the nickname "Pergolesi", a demonym indicating in Italian the residents of Pergola, Marche, the birthplace of his ancestors. He studied music in Jesi under a local musician, Francesco Santi, before going to Naples in 1725, where he studied under Gaetano Greco and Francesco Feo among others. On leaving the conservatory in 1731, he won some renown by performing the oratorio in two parts "" ("The Phoenix on the Pyre, or The Death of Saint Joseph"), and the "dramma sacro" in three acts, "Li prodigi della divina grazia nella conversione e morte di san Guglielmo duca d’Aquitania" ("The Miracles of Divine Grace in the Conversion and Death of Saint William, Duke of Aquitaine"). He spent most of his brief life working for aristocratic patrons like Ferdinando Colonna, Prince of Stigliano, and Domenico Marzio Carafa, Duke of Maddaloni.  Pergolesi was one of the most important early composers of "opera buffa" (comic opera). His "opera seria", "Il prigionier superbo", contained the two-act "buffa" intermezzo, "La serva padrona" ("The Servant Mistress", 28 August 1733), which became a very popular work in its own right. When it was performed in Paris in 1752, it prompted the so-called Querelle des Bouffons ("quarrel of the comic actors") between supporters of serious French opera by the likes of Jean-Baptiste Lully and Jean-Philippe Rameau and supporters of new Italian comic opera. Pergolesi was held up as a model of the Italian style during this quarrel, which divided Paris's musical community for two years.  Among Pergolesi's other operatic works are his first opera "La Salustia" (1732), "Lo frate 'nnamorato" ("The brother in love", 1732, to a text in the Neapolitan language), "L'Olimpiade" (January 1735) and "Il Flaminio" (1735, to a text in the Neapolitan language). All his operas were premiered in Naples, apart from "L'Olimpiade", which was first given in Rome.  Pergolesi also wrote sacred music, including a Mass in F and three "Salve Regina" settings. The Lenten Hymn ‘God of Mercy and Compassion’ by Redemptorist priest Edmund Vaughan is most commonly set to a tune adapted by Pergolesi. It is his "Stabat Mater" (1736), however, for soprano, alto, string orchestra and basso continuo, which is his best-known sacred work. It was commissioned by the Confraternita dei Cavalieri di San Luigi di Palazzo, which presented an annual Good Friday meditation in honor of the Virgin Mary. Pergolesi's work replaced one composed by Alessandro Scarlatti only nine years before, but which was already perceived as "old-fashioned," so rapidly had public tastes changed.  While classical in scope, the opening section of the setting demonstrates Pergolesi's mastery of the Italian baroque "durezze e ligature" style, characterized by numerous suspensions over a faster, conjunct bassline. The work remained popular, becoming the most frequently printed musical work of the 18th century, and being arranged by a number of other composers, including Johann Sebastian Bach, who reorchestrated and adapted it for a non-Marian text in his cantata "Tilge, Höchster, meine Sünden" ("Root out my sins, Highest One"), BWV 1083.  Pergolesi wrote a number of secular instrumental works, including a violin sonata and a violin concerto. A considerable number of instrumental and sacred works once attributed to Pergolesi have since been shown to be misattributed. Much of Igor Stravinsky's ballet "Pulcinella", which ostensibly reworks pieces by Pergolesi, is actually based on works by other composers, especially Domenico Gallo. The "Concerti Armonici" are now known to have been composed by Unico Wilhelm van Wassenaer. Many colorful anecdotes related by Pergolesi's 19th-century biographer, Francesco Florimo, were later revealed as hoaxes.  Pergolesi died on 16 or 17 March 1736 at the age of 26 in Pozzuoli from tuberculosis and was buried at the Franciscan monastery one day later.  Pergolesi was the subject of a 1932 Italian film biopic "Pergolesi". It was directed by Guido Brignone with Elio Steiner playing the role of the composer.

Pergolesi's works on screen.

Pergolesi's "Salve Regina" is a highlighted performance in the movie "Farinelli" (1994), in which Farinelli also performs "Stabat Mater Dolorosa" in the only duet. The first and last parts of Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater" were used in the soundtrack of the movie "Jesus of Montreal (Jésus de Montréal)" (1989); the fifth part ("Quis est homo") was used in the soundtrack of the movie "Smilla's Sense of Snow" (1997); the last part was also used in the movie "Amadeus" (1984) and in the movie "The Mirror" (1975) by Andrei Tarkovsky. The film "Cactus" (1986) by the Australian director Paul Cox also features Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater" on the soundtrack. "Nothing Left Unsaid", a 2016 documentary on Gloria Vanderbilt and Anderson Cooper, used the last movement ("Quando Corpus / Amen") of Pergolesi's "Stabat Mater".

Works.

The standard catalogue of Pergolesi's works was produced by Marvin Paymner in 1977, ascribing a unique P number to each item so that – for example – the well-known "Stabat Mater" is P.77.

Giovanni Battista Draghi (; 4 January 1710 – 16 or 17 March 1736), often referred to as Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (), was an Italian Baroque composer, violinist and organist. His best-known works include his Stabat Mater and the opera "La serva padrona" ("The Maid Turned Mistress"). His compositions include operas and sacred music. He died of tuberculosis at the age of 26.

Giovanni Battista Pergolesi (* 4. Januar 1710 in Jesi, Marche; † 16. März 1736 in Pozzuoli bei Neapel; auch "Pergolese" geschrieben) war ein italienischer Komponist des Barock und der neapolitanischen Schule.


Patterns.

Tortoiseshell cats have particolored coats with patches of various shades of red and black, and sometimes white. The size of the patches can vary from a fine speckled pattern to large areas of color. Typically, the more white a cat has, the more solid the patches of color. Dilution genes may modify the coloring, lightening the fur to a mix of cream and blue, lilac or fawn; and the markings on tortoiseshell cats are usually asymmetrical.  Occasionally tabby patterns of black and brown (eumelanistic) and red (phaeomelanistic) colors are also seen. These patched tabbies are often called a tortie-tabby, a torbie or, with large white areas, a caliby. Not uncommonly there will be a "split face" pattern with black on one side of the face and orange on the other, with a dividing line running down the bridge of the nose. Tortoiseshell coloring can also be expressed in the point pattern, referred to as a tortie point.

Genetics.

Tortoiseshell and calico coats result from an interaction between genetic and developmental factors. The primary gene for coat color (B) for the colors brown, chocolate, cinnamon, etc., can be masked by the co-dominant gene for the orange color (O) which is on the X Chromosome and has two alleles, the orange (X) and not-orange (X), that produce orange phaeomelanin and black eumelanin pigments, respectively. (NOTE: Typically, the X for the chromosome is assumed from context and the alleles are referred to by just the uppercase O for the orange, or lower case o for the not-orange.) The tortoiseshell and calico cats are indicated: Oo to indicate they are heterozygous on the O gene. The (B) and (O) genes can be further modified by a recessive dilute gene (dd) which softens the colors. Orange becomes cream, black becomes gray, etc. Various terms are used for specific colors, for example, gray is also called blue, orange is also called ginger. Therefore, a tortoiseshell cat may be a chocolate tortoiseshell or a blue/cream tortoiseshell or the like, based on the alleles for the (B) and (D) genes.  The cells of female cats, which like other mammalian females have two X chromosomes (XX), undergo the phenomenon of X-inactivation, in which one or the other of the X-chromosomes is turned off at random in each cell in very early development. The inactivated X becomes a Barr body. Cells in which the chromosome carrying the orange (O) allele is inactivated express the alternative non-orange (o) allele, determined by the (B) gene. Cells in which the non-orange (o) allele is inactivated express the orange (O) allele. Pigment genes are expressed in melanocytes that migrate to the skin surface later in development. In bi-colored tortoiseshell cats, the melanocytes arrive relatively early, and the two cell types become intermingled, producing the characteristic brindled appearance consisting of an intimate mixture of orange and black cells, with occasional small diffuse spots of orange and black.  In tri-colored calico cats, a separate gene interacts developmentally with the coat color gene. This spotting gene produces white, unpigmented patches by delaying the migration of the melanocytes to the skin surface. There are a number of alleles of this gene that produce greater or lesser delays. The amount of white is artificially divided into "mitted", "bicolor", "harlequin", and "van", going from almost no white to almost completely white. In the extreme case, no melanocytes make it to the skin and the cat is entirely white (but not an albino). In intermediate cases, melanocyte migration is slowed, so that the pigment cells arrive late in development and have less time to intermingle. Observation of tri-color cats will show that, with a little white color, the orange and black patches become more defined, and with still more white, the patches become completely distinct. Each patch represents a clone of cells derived from one original cell in the early embryo.  A male cat, like males of other therian mammals, has only one X and one Y chromosome (XY). That X chromosome does not undergo X-inactivation, and coat color is determined by which allele is present on the X. Accordingly, the cat's coat will be either entirely orange or non-orange. Very rarely (approximately 1 in 3,000) a male tortoiseshell or calico is born; these typically have an extra X chromosome (XXY), a condition known in humans as Klinefelter syndrome, and their cells undergo an X-inactivation process like in females. As in humans, these cats often are sterile because of the imbalance in sex chromosomes. Some male calico or tortoiseshell cats may be chimeras, which result from fusion in early development of two (fraternal twin) embryos with different color genotypes; these torties can pass only one color to their offspring, not both, according to which of the two original embryos its testes are descended from. Others are mosaics, in which the XXY condition arises after conception and the cat is a mixture of cells with different numbers of X chromosomes.

Folklore.

In the folklore of many cultures, cats of the tortoiseshell coloration are believed to bring good luck. Dating back to Celtic times, tortoiseshell cats have been perceived to bring good fortune into their homes. Even today, the Irish and Scottish believe stray tortoiseshell cats bring them luck. In the United States, tortoiseshells are sometimes referred to as "money cats".  One study found that tortoiseshell owners frequently believe their cats have increased attitude ("tortitude"); but little existing scientific evidence supports this. However, a 2015 study from U.C. Davis Veterinary Medicine Teaching Hospital surveying more than 1,200 cat owners established a link between a tortoiseshell coat pattern and a cat's inclination towards hissing, chasing, and biting their human companions. According to celebrity cat expert Jackson Galaxy, tortoiseshell cats tend to have a much more distinct personality.

Tortoiseshell is a cat coat coloring named for its similarity to tortoiseshell material. Like calicos, tortoiseshell cats are almost exclusively female. Male tortoiseshells are rare and are usually sterile.

Das Schildpattmuster besteht aus roten und schwarzen Fellpartien und kommt fast ausschließlich bei weiblichen Katzen vor. Bei Katern ist es sehr selten (0,43 % aller Schildpattkatzen sind Kater) und geht wegen eines zusätzlichen X-Chromosoms meist mit Unfruchtbarkeit einher. Es wird in der Fachsprache auch Tortie (von engl. "tortoise shell" „Schildkrötenpanzer“) genannt. Liegt gleichzeitig eine Tabby-Zeichnung vor, spricht man auch von Torbie (Zusammenziehung aus Tortie und Tabby).


History.

1948–1949: Foundation.

In September 1948, Israel's first president, Chaim Weizmann, attended a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Weizmann was scheduled to fly back to Israel in an Israeli government aircraft, but due to an embargo imposed on Israel at the time, this was not possible. An Israeli C-54 military transport aircraft was instead converted into a civilian plane to transport Weizmann home. The aircraft was painted with the logo of the "El Al/Israel National Aviation Company" and fitted with extra fuel tanks to enable a non-stop flight from Geneva to Israel. It departed from Ekron Air Base on 28 September and returned to Israel the next day. After the flight, the aircraft was repainted and returned to military use.  The airline was incorporated and

1950s: Adding cargo service and destinations.

A regular service to London was inaugurated in the middle of 1950. Later that year, El Al acquired Universal Airways, which was owned by South African Zionists.  El Al's cargo service was inaugurated in 1950 and initially relied on military surplus Curtiss C-46 Commando aircraft. The same aircraft type was used also for passengers transportation in certain routes. The same year the airline initiated charter services to the United States, followed by scheduled flights soon after.  In 1950–1951 El Al expanded its activities in Europe and added new destinations such as Vienna and Istanbul, Athens and Nicosia. On July 31 of 1950, the company celebrated the first anniversary of its regular flight

1960s: Turning profitable.

Despite the purchase of its Britannias and inauguration of non-stop transatlantic flights the airline remained unprofitable. When Efraim Ben-Arzi took over the company in the late 1950s, the Britannias were replaced in the next decade by the Boeing 707 and Boeing 720 jet airliners. The first year that El Al turned a profit was 1960. That year, more than 50 percent of the passengers flying into Israel arrived on El Al flights. On 15 June 1961, the airline set a world record for the longest non-stop commercial flight: an El Al Boeing 707 flew from New York to Tel Aviv, covering in 9 hours and 33 minutes. By this time, El Al was carrying 56,000 passengers a year—on a par with Qantas and ahead of established airlines like Loftleiðir. In 1961, El Al ranked 35th in the world in accumulated passenger distance. El Al's success continued into the late 1960s. In 1968, regular flights to Bucharest were inaugurated, and cargo flights began to Europe and the United States. The airline also established a catering subsidiary, Teshet Tourism and Aviation Services Ltd. All these ventures brought in a profit of $2 million that year.

Hijacking attempts.

In 1968, El Al experienced the first of many acts of terrorism that have been perpetrated against the airline. On 23 July, the only successful hijacking of an El Al aircraft took place, when a Boeing 707 carrying 10 crew and 38 passengers were taken over by three members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The aircraft, El Al Flight 426, which was en route from Rome to Tel Aviv, was diverted to Algiers by the hijackers. Negotiations with the hijackers lasted for 40 days. Both the hijackers and the passengers, including 21 Israeli hostages, were eventually freed. According to Sarah Levy, it was the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who saved Ariel

1970s: Going Boeing.

El Al acquired its first Boeing 747 jet in 1971. Many felt it was a risky purchase given the high cost of the plane and fear of attacks, but El Al operations flourished after the purchase. Another Boeing 747 was delivered in 1973 and was used to start non-stop service from Tel Aviv to New York (El Al – Boeing 707s had flown the eastward nonstop since around 1961).  El Al passengers and passengers from other airlines were attacked at Lod Airport in 1972, it was known as the Lod Airport massacre.  In the mid-1970s El Al began to schedule flights from airports outside of Israel that departed on the Jewish sabbath and landed in Israel after it had finished.

1980s: From receivership to profitability.

El Al flights to Cairo were inaugurated in April 1980, following the Israel–Egypt Peace Treaty. In late 1982, after a long period of labor disputes and strikes, El Al operations were suspended. The government-appointed Amram Blum to run the company, which lost $123.3 million in the fiscal year ending April 1983. The airline also sold its

1990s: End of receivership, Ethiopian Jews airlifted.

In January 1990, North American Airlines began providing feeder services to El Al's US destinations. El Al held a 24.9 percent stake in the airline until selling it back to Dan McKinnon in July 2003. By this time, El Al was operating a fleet of 20 aircraft, including nine Boeing 747s, and had begun replacing its aging Boeing 707s with the Boeing 757. Early that year, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, El Al inaugurated regular flights to Moscow. No airlifts from the former Soviet Union were possible at the time but permission was granted in 1991. Charter flights commenced in August 1991, with immigrants also occupying all available seats on El Al's scheduled routes. In cooperation with Aeroflot, El Al flew more than 400,000 Jewish immigrants to Israel within a three-year period.

21st century.

El Al's first Boeing 777 embarked on its maiden flight in March 2000. Later that year the controversy over flights on Shabbat erupted again, when the airline announced that it was losing US$55 million a year by grounding its planes on Saturdays. After privatization of the company began in June 2003, the policy regarding sabbath flights was expected to change.  The first phase of the long-delayed privatization of the company commenced in June 2003 and by Israel's Government Companies Authority, headed by Eyal Gabbai. 15 percent of El Al's shares were listed on the

Company affairs and identity.

Headquarters.

El Al's headquarters are located on the

Operations.

During 2005, the airline transported 3.5 million passengers, a rise from 3.2 million in 2004 and 2.8 million in 2003. 60% of the airline's passengers are Israeli. In 2006, El Al posted a $44.6 million loss on revenues of $1.665 billion. The company is facing four lawsuits, two of which have been approved as class actions, which could cost the company $176.2 million. El Al spends $100 million a year to conform with the airline security measures required by Israel's Shin Bet

Business trends.

The key trends for El Al Israel

Subsidiaries.

Up (defunct).

On 26 November 2013, El Al unveiled its now-defunct low cost airline "Up", which commenced operations on 30 March 2014, initially to Berlin, Budapest, Kiev, Larnaca and Prague using five Boeing 737-800s transferred from the El Al fleet. "Up" was founded by its parent El Al to be used on some routes to Europe where it replaced El Al itself. All "Up" flights were operated by El Al, using El Al's call sign

Sun d'Or.

The charter operations of the Group is carried out through Sun D'Or, a company fully owned by El Al. Sun D'Or operates as a tourist organizer for wholesalers and individuals and markets charter and scheduled flights, both by means of leasing full aircraft capacity to third parties, or aircraft parts' capacity to a number of partners for pre-negotiated prices,

Tamam.

Tamam (a company fully owned by El Al) is

Katit.

Katit (a company fully owned by El Al) is

Borenstein Caterers.

The main business of Borenstein, a company (fully owned by El Al) registered in the

Superstar Holidays.

Superstar (a company fully owned by El Al) is a tourist wholesaler that markets

Security.

As a prime target for terrorism, El Al employs stringent security procedures, both on the ground and on board its aircraft. These effective, though time-consuming and discriminatory procedures have won El Al's security reputation. In 2008, the airline was named by "Global Traveler" magazine as the world's most secure airline.

Onboard missile defense systems.

El Al planes have been fitted with anti-missile counter-measures since the early 2000s, with the initial system known as Flight Guard.  Since the early 2000s, El Al has been the only commercial airline to fit its planes with systems to defend against anti-aircraft missiles. In 2014, El Al began to fit some of its planes that fly

Airport security measures.

At Israel's Ben Gurion Airport, plainclothes and uniformed agents monitor the premises for explosives, suspicious behavior, and other threats. Armed security personnel also patrol El Al terminals overseas. Inside the terminal, passengers and their baggage are checked by a trained team. El Al security procedures require that all passengers be interviewed individually prior to boarding, allowing El Al staff to identify possible security threats. Passengers are asked questions about their place of origin, the reason for their trip,

Flight security measures.

Undercover agents (sometimes referred to as sky marshals) carrying concealed firearms sit among the passengers on every international El Al flight. Most El Al pilots are former Israeli Air Force pilots. The cockpits in all El Al aircraft have double doors to prevent entry by unauthorized persons. A code is required

Controversies.

Security controversy and passenger profiling.

The airline was criticized by Hungarian courts for refusing to search luggage with the passenger present, acting against Hungarian domestic laws stipulating that only authorized officials are able to undertake such searches.  In 2008, a civil case was brought to the Supreme Court of Israel by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which alleged that El Al's practice of ethnic profiling

Treatment of female passengers.

In September 2014 it was reported that there have been repeated incidents where some ultra-Orthodox male passengers refused to sit next to female passengers, sometimes delaying flights. As result, a petition was initiated with Change.org to pressure El Al to alter their policy of allowing ultra-Orthodox passengers on flights to negotiate switching seats. The petition reads: "Why does El Al Airlines permit female passengers to be bullied, harassed, and intimidated into switching seats which they rightfully paid for and were assigned to by El Al Airlines? One person's religious rights do not trump another person's civil rights."  Following the incidents, Iris Richman, founder of "Jewish Voices Together", a group created to address issues of religious pluralism in Israel and the U.S., encouraged passengers to protest this behavior through the US government, referencing "49 U.S. Code § 40127 – Prohibitions on discrimination: Persons in Air Transportation." According to this directive, she wrote, "An air carrier or foreign air carrier may not subject a person in air transportation to discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex or ancestry." Richman contacted the U.S. Department of

Other events.

In 2013, the media reported that an El Al flight unprecedentedly returned to the gate to retrieve an 11-year-old cancer patient, Inbar Chomsky, who was removed from the flight after she misplaced her passport. Just before takeoff, her passport was found in another

Destinations.

El Al serves destinations on four continents in 31 countries with a well-developed European network that also takes in important cities in Russia. The airline serves a number of gateway cities in North America and has expanded its service to cover central and southeast Asia (Bangkok, Mumbai) and the Far East (Beijing and Hong Kong). However, El Al's inability to overfly Saudi Arabian airspace, along with that of several other Arab and Muslim countries, has reduced their ability to further expand their route network in Asia. In 2018, Saudi Arabia granted permission to Air India to fly a five times weekly flight from Tel Aviv to New Delhi using Saudi Arabian airspace. If Saudi Arabia does not allow El Al to use their airspace, El Al might lose a large share of their Asian market due to other airlines having shorter and cheaper flights. However, the recent contacts between Israeli and Saudi officials may change the Saudi position. It also offers services to Johannesburg in South Africa and Zanzibar.  Prior to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the airline had plans to perform experimental direct flights between Tel Aviv and Melbourne. The service would have been the airlines` longest ever direct flight and the first direct connection between Israel and Australia.

Codeshare Agreements.

El Al codeshares

Fleet.

Current fleet.

, El Al has an

Former fleet.

El Al used to operate the

Livery.

El Al's historic, superseded livery featured a turquoise/navy blue stripe down the side of the aircraft, and a turquoise tailfin with the flag of Israel at the top. El Al's logo was featured above the front run of windows on each side of the plane in the turquoise/navy scheme. The new livery features a blue stripe with a thick silver border on the bottom that sweeps across the side of the aircraft near the wing, disappears over the top of the plane and reappears at the bottom of the tailfin. The El Al logo is part of the design, although it has been changed slightly since then. Most of El

Services.

Frequent flyer program.

Matmid is El Al's present frequent flyer program. King David club cards (red) were issued 1991. It was re-launched in 2004 following the merger of El Al's previous frequent flyer programs. It has five tiers: Matmid, Matmid Silver, Matmid Gold, Matmid Platinum and Matmid TOP Platinum. Points accumulated in the program entitle members to bonus

Lounge.

The King David Lounge is the name adopted by El Al for special airport lounges that serve the airline's premium class passengers. There are six King David Lounges worldwide at the key airports at Ben Gurion International Airport, John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York,

Cabin.

El Al offers four

In Flight Entertainment.

Personal AVOD screens are provided on all Boeing 777-200ER and Boeing 787s. Streaming with iPads and

Accidents and incidents.

Over its history, El Al has been involved in the following incidents and accidents, involving both the aircraft actually operated by the airline and its outstations abroad. Most of these incidents are related to Palestinian terrorism, particularly in the period between 1968 and 1990, and so incidents are separated by terrorist and non-terrorist incidents. Despite these attacks, EL Al has not lost a passenger on any passenger flight since 1955.

El Al Israel Airlines Ltd. (, ), trading as El Al (, "To the Skies" or "Skywards", stylized as ELעלALאל; ) is the flag carrier of Israel. Since its inaugural flight from Geneva to Tel Aviv in September 1948, the airline has grown to serve over 50 destinations, operating scheduled domestic and international services and cargo flights within Israel, and to Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, Africa, Australia and the Far East, from its main base in Ben Gurion Airport.

El Al (, ) ist die größte Fluggesellschaft Israels und hat ihren Sitz und ihre Basis auf dem Flughafen Ben Gurion in Lod bei Tel Aviv. Der Ausdruck "El Al" findet sich in der Bibel und bedeutet "nach oben", "zu Gott hin". Das IATA-Kürzel LY leitet sich vom ehemaligen Namen der Stadt Lod (Lydda) ab, in deren Nähe sich der Ben-Gurion-Flughafen befindet.


Taxonomy.

"Aster tenellus", that was figured by the early English botanist Leonard Plukenet in 1692, was the first species recorded that is now included in the genus "Felicia" (as "F. tenella"). This was followed in 1700 by "Aster fruticosus", again by Plukenet, repeated by Caspar Commelin in 1701, a species now called "Felicia fruticosa". Such names published before 1753, the year that was chosen as a starting point for the binominal nomenclature proposed by Carl Linnaeus, are not valid however. In 1761, John Hill erected the genus "Coelestina" widely considered a later synonym of "Ageratum", but the plant that was illustrated most likely is the same species as "F. amelloides". In 1763, Carl Linnaeus describes "Cineraria amelloides" ("F. amelloides"), the first valid name for a species assigned today to "Felicia". In 1763, French botanist Michel Adanson described a new genus, "Detris", without mentioning a species, but apparently having "F. amelloides" in mind. Peter Jonas Bergius, a botanist from Sweden, described "Aster hyssopifolius" in 1767, now known as "F. hyssopifolia". A year later, Dutch botanist Pieter Burman the Younger added "Aster aethiopicus" (now "F. aethiopica"). This is followed by "Aster cymbalariae" (William Aiton, 1789), "Leysseria ovata" and "Pteronia echinata" (Carl Peter Thunberg, 1800 and 1823), "Aster filifolius" (Étienne Pierre Ventenat, 1804), and "Cineraria bergeriana" (Kurt Polycarp Joachim Sprengel, 1826), now "F. cymbalariae", "F. ovata", "F. echinata", "F. filifolius" and "F. bergeriana".  In 1815, French Asteraceae specialist Henri Cassini begun his work to rearrange the genera of the Asteraceae, splitting off species that had been assigned to "Aster" up till that moment but are now accepted in "Felicia", starting with erecting "Agatacha". This name was probably a typographical error, since he replaced it by "Agathaea" in the following year. In 1817 he created "Charieis", and followed up with "Felicia" in 1818. He erected "Munychia" in 1825 to accommodate "Aster cymbalariae". Only of the species he assigned to his new genus "Diplopappus" (1819) none are currently included in "Felicia". At that moment in time, 17 species currently included in "Felicia" were known to science.  Because of the extensive collecting in the Cape Region by Drège, Ecklon and Zeyher, during the next decade the number of known species expanded rapidly. In 1832, Christian Friedrich Lessing moved most species Cassini distributed over his new genera back to "Aster", although he assigned "Cineraria bergerana" to "Elphegea", and created the new combinations "Diplopappus fruticosa" and "D. filifolia". A year later, Nees von Esenbeck considered the assignment of current "Felicia" species. He thought "Charieis" was synonymous to the older genus "Kaulfussia", agreed mostly with the split created by Cassini, includes the species of the section "Lignofelicia" in "Diplostephium" (Kunth, 1820), and created the genus "Detridium" for "Cineraria bergerana". Augustin Pyramus de Candolle in 1836 recognises "Agathaea", "Diplopappus", "Felicia" and "Munychia", together 49 species, most of which are assigned to "Felicia" today. Consecutive authors can roughly be divided in lumpers that brought together many species in "Aster", and splitters that proposed narrow taxa, and both groups eventually converged on Felicia in its current circumscription. Jürke Grau revised the genus in 1973 and described seventeen new species ("F. alba", "F. caespitosa", "F. canaliculata", "F. clavipilosa", "F. comptonii", "F. joubertinae", "F. merxmuellerii", "F. microcephala", "F. monocephala", " F. nigrescens", "F. nordenstamii", "F. oleosa", "F. stenophylla" and "F. tsitsikamae"), alongside eight new subspecies. Only four species have been described since: "F. flava" by Henk Jaap Beentje (1999), "F. martinsiana" (2007) by Santiago Ortiz, "F. josephinae" (2002) by John Manning and Peter Goldblatt, and "F. douglasii" in 2018 by Manning, Anthony Maggee and James Boatwright. Currently, 85 species have been assigned to "Felicia".  Although "Felicia" has been commonly used for a long time, it is not the oldest name. In principle, "Detris", as the earliest name, should have priority, but it was suppressed in favour of the widely used name "Felicia". In 2010, it was proposed to also conserve "Felicia" over "Agathaea", "Charieis" and "Coelestina", because these names also precede "Felicia" and should get priority otherwise.

Naming.

The genus is presumed to be named in honor of Fortunato Bartolomeo de Felice, an Italian-Swiss scientist.

Subdivision.

The genus "Felicia" is divided into six groups called sections. These are "Anhebecarpaea", "Dracontium", "Felicia", "Lignofelicia", "Longistylis" and "Neodetris". "F. douglasii" could not yet be assigned to any section.  The following taxa are assigned to the respective sections.

Phylogeny.

According to recent DNA-analysis, "Felicia" belongs to the tribe Asterinae. It is probably polyphyletic.

Reassigned species.

The species that were originally described as, or moved to "Felicia" or one of its synonyms, which since have been reassigned include the following:

Description.

The base number of chromosomes of the earliest common ancestor of "Felicia" is probably nine, with most species diploid (2n=18), but some taxa in the section "Felicia" are tetraploid (4n=36), such as "F. clavipilosa" subsp. "transvaalensis", "F. fascicularis", and "F. uliginosa". Divergent base chromosome numbers occur in the derived section "Neodetris", with eight (2n=16) in "F. amoena" and "F. elongata", six (2n=12) in "F. minima" and five (2n=10) in "F. heterophylla", "F. merxmuelleri" and "F. namaquana".  About 60% of the species currently assigned to "Felicia" are shrubs, high, very rarely up to, most of which belong to the sections "Lignofelicia", "Anhebecarpaea" and "Felicia". Hardly 20% are herbaceous perennials, which are often in the sections "Dracontium" and "Neodetris". Another 20% consists of annuals, many of which are assigned to the section "Neodetris", while "Longistylis" is entirely made up of annual species. All the woody and most herbaceous species are well-branched and bear many flowerheads, while the section "Dracontium" is rich in species with a leaf rosette and stems topped by a single head. Stressed specimens of annual "Felicia" species can sometimes have only one flower head per plant. Two related species in the section "Neodetris" growing on vertical rock faces have a pendulous habit: "F. petiolata" and "F. flanaganii".  Vegetative reproduction is rare, but rhizomes occur in "F. tenella", "F. wrightii", "F. amoena" and more or less in "F. uliginosa". A special type of vegetative reproduction can be found in "F. fascicularis" that has branches, which produce roots when in contact with soil. Several species develop short and long shoots, the combination of which creates a particular, well-recognisable habit in many species belonging to the sections "Lignofelicia" and "Felicia". All types of unbranched hairs may be found within the genus, including glandular hairs. "Felicia" has resin ducts.

Leaves.

Leaves are mostly alternately set along the stem, but opposite leaves do also occur, most prevalent in the section "Neodetris", while in the section "Longistylus", many species have opposite leaves in lower parts of the stem and alternately set leaves nearer to the top. Species in the sections "Lignofelicia", "Anhebecarpaea" and "Dracontium" never have opposite leaves. Leaves are not compounded, and mostly have an entire margin, although in all sections but "Anhebecarpaea", some species have leaves with up to moderate size teeth. Further incised leaves are restricted to "F. brevifolia" and its close relatives in section "Lignofelicia". Leaves are generally seated, and their foot may be widened, particularly when these are succulent. Leaves in other species assigned to "Lignofelicia" may be digit-shaped, not having a recognisable margin. Species with stalked leaves are rare and restricted to the sections "Felicia" and "Neodetris". Each leaf has between one and five primary veins, a number that is directly linked with the width of the leaf blade, and varies on the same plant. Leaves vary in consistency between species from soft to leathery. Resin canals are common in leaves of species of the sections "Lignofelicia", "Anhebecarpaea" and "Felicia", but do not occur in the other sections.  Most species have leaves with at least some hairs. Only "F. dentata" subsp. "nubica", "F. filifolia", "F. fruticosa" and "F. whitehillensis", and some forms of "F. muricata" are fully glabrous. On the other end of the spectrum, species in the section "Neodetris" are particularly hairy. Margins are often more hairy than the rest of the surface, which generally has a cartilageous seam or carries fine stiff bristle-like teeth.

Flowerhead.

The flowerheads have two rows of involucral bracts in almost all species of the section "Neodetris" (the exceptions being "F. cymbalariae", "F. denticulata", "F. dubia" and "F. tenera"), while the rest of the species have three or four rows of bracts. The communal base (or receptacle) on which the individual florets are implanted is lightly convex and lacks a receptacular bract (or palea) at the foot of each floret. Almost always, one row of female ligulate florets surrounds a centre of several rows of bisexual disc florets. Ligulate florets are sometimes absent in several taxa belonging to the section "Lignofelicia" ("F. filifolia" subsp. "bodkinii", "F. whitehillensis"), and in "F. macrorrhiza" ligulate florets are never present. This is also true for "F. ferulacea" of the section "Felicia". Ligulate florets are mostly bluish purple, particularly in the sections "Lignofelicia", "Anhebecarpaea" and "Felicia". In the section "Dracontium", the color of the ligulate florets ranges from pale to middle blue, while in the section "Neodetris" the range of bluish colors is even larger. In these two sections the color is never purplish. Yellowish ligulate florets are restricted to "F. mossamedensis" and some species in the section "Longistylis". In herbarium specimens, colors may change even when dried professionally, such as from bright yellow to green in the aptly named "F. smaragdina", from yolk yellow to bright yellow in "F. bohmii", and from white to pink in "F. welwitschii". Some species across the sections have white ligulate florets, and specimens with white florets occur in many species that usually have bluish ligulate florets. The tube of the florets is often densely set with glandular hairs. Disc florets are yellow when young, and may become reddish later. Few annual species have whitish to dark blue discs such as "F. heterophylla", "F. josephinae", and a form of "F. amoena" subsp. "latifolia".

Fruit.

As in all Asteraceae, the fruit does not open and only one of the compartments contains a single seed. The top of this so-called cypsela is ornamented with a single row of around thirty hair-shaped, long pappus bristles, but only approximately ten bristles in "F. bergerana" and six to eight in "F. annectens". An individual bristle hair consists of many cells and with few to many teeth along its margins. Pappus is particularly long in the section "Lignofelicia", such as in "F. comptonii", "F. heterophylla", "F. ovata", "F. venusta" and "F. welwitschii". In this section the long hair is often interspersed with short scales. "F. bechuanica" and "F. dentata" (section "Felicia") also have conspicuous short scales. Pappus with long barbes nearer to the base and shorter teeth nearer to the top occur in "F. tenella" and the section "Longistylus". A glabrous base and teeth higher up the pappus occurs in the sections "Dracontium" and "Neodetris". The tip of the pappus hair is wider in "F. echinata" and species in the section "Lignofelicia", but mostly ends pointy. In fresh plants, the pappus is mostly white to bone-colored, sometimes yellowish, yellow-brown in "F. dentata", although in herbarium specimens stronger colors may develop such as fox-red in "F. burkei". Fertilised and fully ripe cypselas may be long, dependend on the species. The color varies from yellow-brown (sections "Lignofelicia" and "Longistylus"), red-brown ("Anhebecarpaea"), dark brown ("Dracontium"), black ("Neodetris"), while species of the section "Felicia" may either be red-brown, dark brown or black. "F. ovata" has blackish green cypselas. They are ovate to elliptic, flattened, have two extending vascular bundles and are often covered in non-glandular hairs, characters that set "Felicia" apart from related genera, like "Aster". Cypsela hairs in "Felicia" have a split tip, such as is common among other related genera. The shaft of the hair consists of two parallel series of long cells that are attached to a foot that consist of two short basal cells. When dry, there is a bend joint between the foot and the shaft so that it points up and the hair is more or less pressed against the cypsela. When wet, the joint stretches and the hairs become erect. The cypsela hairs are mostly of uniform thickness, around long, with a short cleft, but some such as "F. anthemidodes" have very short hairs, while others such as in the section "Lignofelicia" have languid, silky hairs of up to long. Hairs at the base of the cypsela and on the vascular bundles are often different from the rest. The tip of the hair may be more heavy, making the split tip reminiscent of a set of horns, such as in "F. ovata", or the split is not fully executed, such as in the sections "Felicia" and "Neodetris", and the tip may be bullit-like with a furrow, such as in "F. clavipilosa".

Sections.

Anhebecarpaea.

The three species belonging to the section "Anhebecarpaea" are erect shrublets with overlapping, initially hairy leaves, large heads with hairless purplish ligulate florets and yellow disc florets, set at the tip of the stems in umbel-like inflorescences. The pappus bristles are all equal in length, firm, indehiscent and are set with many teeth, and the cypselas are yellow- to red-brown, those belonging to the ligulate florets hairless, those of the disc florets with short bristles. The three species are endemic to coastal areas of the Western and Eastern Cape.

Dracontium.

Species assigned to the section "Dracontium" are erect perennial herbs, with large leaves in a rosette at ground level and smaller bracts along a not or rarely shyly branched stem that carries one to four large heads with blue ligulate florets and yellow disc florets that are encircled by an involucre consisting of three worls of approximately equal sized bracts. The cypselas are brown, topped with one row of firm indehyscent pappus hairs and covered in short hairs. There are four species that are all restricted to the Drakensberg Mountains.

Felicia.

The taxa in the section "Felicia" may be woody shrublets or annual herb, nearly always with fully alternately set, thin to succulent, mostly narrow, variably hairy leaves, and many to few heads, always with ligulate florets, that are purple to white or seldomly yellow, and yellow disc florets that may turn reddish when aging, each head encircled by an involucre of three to four worls of overlapping bracts with resin ducts, the outer bracts clearly smaller. Short triangular style braches entirely set with papillae. Cypselas crowned with one row of soft, equal length, more or less dehyscent pappus hairs, and its surface initially with very short hairs, later often without. The twenty eight species and several subspecies occur in southern Africa, but are concentrated in the south-western Cape.

Lignofelicia.

The taxa that are included in the section "Lignofelicia" are erect, richly branching shrublets or low shrubs, with more or less succulent, mostly hairless (rarely set with simple hairs or glandular hairs), though always with a tuft of wooly hairs in the axils. Branches carry many small heads in the axils and at their tips, which consist of violet ligulate florets, or these may rarely be absent, and yellow disc florets, which may turn reddish with age. These are encircled by an involucre of four worls of bracts containing resin ducts, the outer ones smallest. The relatively large cypselas are crowned with a row of indehyscent teethed hairs of unequal length, and carry long silky hair on their surface. Most of the fifteen species occur in the south and southwestern Cape, few occur in other parts of South Africa, and one also occurs in Namibia.

Longistylus.

The section "Longistylus" consists of erect, branching, annual or biennial plants with oppositely set leaves lower and alternately set leaves nearer the top, both types hairy, lancet-shaped, with entire or toothed margins. Stems carry many, small heads with white or yellow ligulate florets and yellow disc florets, surrounded by an involucre of four worls of bracts. The small cypselas are crowned by pappus that consists of dehyscent, almost feathery bristles. The six species can be found from Namibia to southern Angola, and Zimbabwe through Malawi to Uganda.

Neodetris.

The species of the section "Neodetris" are erect, rarely creeping or hanging annual or perennial herbs or shrubs, mostly with flat, hairy leaves with an etire margin, sometimes with teeth and rarely with hairless or succulent leaves. The flower heads are small to relatively big, with blue or white, sometimes violet ligulate florets and yellow, very rarely reddish brown or dark blue, disc florets encircled by an involucre of two worls of bracts. The pappus that crowns the brown to black, medium size, shortly haired cypselas is mostly dehyscent, and pappus is absent in the ligulate florets. The 31 species are concentrated in the greater Cape area, extending from Lüderitz in Namibia to Durban.

Differences with related genera.

"Printzia" has tailed anthers and blunt style branches that are only downy at their tips, while "Felicia" has tail-less anthers and pointy style branches that are downy over the entire length. "Garuleum" lacks bristles on its cypselas and has finely pinnate leaves, while "Felicia" has cypselas crowned by one row of hair-like bristles and mostly entire leaves, sometimes with deep cutting teeth. "Amellus" has pappus consisting of scales and bristles, while "Felicia" only has bristles. The species of "Polyarrhena" have a strong likeness to the species of "Felicia" section "Anhebecarpaea", but have bisexual ligulate florets, that are white, and have a pink wash on the outer surface, and male or fully infertile disc florets, while in the section "Anhebecarpaea" ligulate florets are female and blue-purple in color and the disc florets are bisexual and do set seed.

Habitat and ecology.

Many taxa assigned to "Felicia" occur in fynbos and in the Karoo. Some are sand dune specialists, such as "F. amelloides" and "F. amoena", while others prefer to grow on rocky substrate, like "F. petiolata" and others in the section "Neodetris". The East-African annuals can be found in Miombo woodland, while a few, such as "F. uliginosa", strongly associate with wet habitats. Further taxa exemplified by "F. muricata" subsp. "cinerascens" and the annuals of Namibia, are very drought resistant. The taxon density of "Felicia" reduces from the south-west to the north-east.  "Felicia" is pollinated by insects such as butterflies, wasps and bees, and the flowers are also frequented by thrips. Yellow flower crab spiders sometimes use the central disc of the heads, where they are well camouflaged, and wait for insects to wander into their grasp.  Usually nearly all florets set seed, the involucre will open outward when ripe, and the wind will carry away the easily detaching cypselas, thanks to the hairy pappus. The semi-parasitic plant "Thesium namaquense", also called poison bush, may infect at least two of the species, "F. filifolia" and "F. muricata", and when these "Felicia's" are browsed repeatedly by the same animal, this may cause poisoning, particularly in sheep.

Felicia is a genus of small shrubs, perennial or annual herbaceous plants, with 85 known species, that is assigned to the daisy family (Compositae or Asteraceae). Like in almost all Asteraceae, the individual flowers are 5-merous, small and clustered in typical heads, and which are surrounded by an involucre of, in this case between two and four whorls of, bracts. In "Felicia", the centre of the head is taken by yellow, seldomly whitish or blackish blue disc florets, and is almost always surrounded by one single whorl of mostly purple, sometimes blue, pink, white or yellow ligulate florets and rarely ligulate florets are absent. These florets sit on a common base (or receptacle) and are not individually subtended by a bract (or palea). Most species occur in the Cape Floristic Region, which is most probably the area where the genus originates and had most of its development. Some species can be found in the eastern half of Africa up to Sudan and the south-western Arabian peninsula, while on the west coast species can be found from the Cape to Angola and one species having outposts on the Cameroon-Nigeria border and central Nigeria. Some species of "Felicia" are cultivated as ornamentals and several hybrids have been developed for that purpose.

Die Kapastern ("Felicia") sind eine Pflanzengattung innerhalb der Familie der Korbblütler (Asteraceae). Von den etwa 83 Arten sind 80 im Südlichen Afrika verbreitet und nur drei kommen auf der Arabischen Halbinsel vor.


Background and family life.

Born Mary Patricia Leneghan (), in Ardoyne, north Belfast, McAleese was the eldest of nine children. She is a Roman Catholic but grew up in a largely Protestant neighbourhood. Loyalists forced her family to leave the area when the Troubles broke out. She was educated at St Dominic's High School. She studied law at Queen's University Belfast, graduating in 1973 with first class honours. She was called to the Northern Irish Bar in 1974, and remains

Early career.

In 1975, she was appointed Reid Professor of Criminal Law, Criminology and Penology in Trinity College Dublin, succeeding Mary Robinson. Also in 1975, McAleese chaired a meeting at Liberty Hall that advocated a woman's right to choose and was quoted as saying that "I would see the failure to provide abortion as a human rights issue". She later claimed that she was given to understand that the nature of the meeting was to be a discussion among all sides and opinions.  During the same decade she was legal advisor to and a founding member of the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform. She left this position in 1979, to join RTÉ as a journalist and presenter, during one period as a reporter and presenter for their "Today Tonight" programme. However, in RTÉ, she and Alex White (then a TV producer and later a Labour Party TD) were attacked and criticised by a group led by Eoghan Harris, associated with the Workers' Party, over what they perceived as her bias towards republican groups in the North. McAleese was critical of the Provisional

Presidency.

McAleese is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women Presidents and Prime Ministers, whose mission is to mobilise the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

First term (1997–2004).

In 1997, McAleese defeated former Taoiseach Albert Reynolds in an internal party election held to determine the Fianna Fáil nomination for the Irish presidency.  Her opponents in the 1997 presidential election were Mary Banotti of Fine Gael, Adi Roche (the Labour Party candidate) and two Independents: Dana Rosemary Scallon and Derek Nally.  McAleese won the presidency with 45.2% of first preference votes. In the second and final count against Banotti, McAleese won 55.6% of preferences. On 11 November 1997, she was inaugurated as the eighth President of Ireland. Within weeks of this she made her first official overseas trip to Lebanon.  McAleese described the theme of her presidency as "building bridges". The first individual born in Northern Ireland to become President of Ireland, President McAleese was a regular visitor to Northern Ireland throughout her presidency, where she was on the whole warmly welcomed by both communities, confounding critics who had believed she would be a divisive figure. People from Northern Ireland,

Second term (2004–2011).

McAleese's initial seven-year term of office ended in November 2004, but she stood for a second term in the 2004 presidential election. Following the failure of any other candidate to secure the necessary support for nomination, the incumbent president stood unopposed, with no political party affiliation, and was declared elected on 1 October 2004. She was re-inaugurated at the commencement of her second seven-year term on 11 November 2004. McAleese's very high approval ratings were widely seen as the reason for her re-election, with no opposition party willing to bear the cost (financial or political) of competing in an election that would prove difficult to win.  On 27 January 2005, following her attendance at the ceremony commemorating the sixtieth anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp, she created friction by referring to the way some Protestant children in Northern Ireland had been raised to hate Catholics, just as European children "for generations, for centuries" were encouraged to hate Jews. These remarks provoked outrage among unionist politicians. McAleese later apologised, conceding that her comments had been unbalanced because she had criticised only the sectarianism found on one side of the community.  She was the Commencement Speaker at Villanova University in Villanova, Pennsylvania, on 22 May 2005. The visit prompted protests by conservatives because of the President's professing heterodox Roman Catholic views on homosexuality and women in priesthood. She was the commencement speaker at the University of Notre Dame on 21 May 2006. In her commencement address, among other topics, she spoke of her pride at Notre Dame's Irish heritage, including the nickname the "Fighting Irish".  She attended the funeral of Pope John Paul II on 8 April 2005, and the Papal Inauguration of Pope Benedict XVI on 24 April 2005.  McAleese attended the canonisation by Pope Benedict XVI in Rome of Charles of Mount Argus on 3 June 2007. She was accompanied by her husband, Martin, Cardinal Desmond Connell, Mary Hanafin, the Minister for Education and Science, together with bishops and other pilgrims. She later met the Pope and embarked on other official duties, including a trip to St. Isidore's College, a talk at the Pontifical Irish College and a Mass said especially for the Irish Embassy at Villa Spada chapel.  In August 2007, she spoke out against homophobia at the International Association of Suicide Prevention 24th Biennial Conference.  She paid a seven-day visit to Hollywood in December 2008, alongside Enterprise Ireland and the Irish Film Board on a mission to promote the Irish film and television industry. A reception held in her honour was attended by Ed Begley, Jr. and Fionnula Flanagan. She later met the Governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger.  On 21 January 2009, she signed into law the Anglo Irish Bank Corporation Act 2009, at a ceremony in Áras an Uachtaráin, facilitating the nationalisation of Anglo Irish Bank. Forbes named her among the hundred most powerful women in the world later that year. In November, she signed into law the National Asset Management Agency.  McAleese undertook an official two-day

Post-presidency.

Voluntary return of presidential allowance.

In May 2012, the Irish Times reported that she had voluntarily returned more than €500,000 in unused Presidential Allowance funds,

Tipperary Peace Prize.

Mary McAleese along with her husband

Canon law studies.

She was awarded a doctorate in Canon Law in 2018 (JCD) at Rome's Pontifical Gregorian University. In 2013, she said that she obtained a master's degree and licentiate in canon law and her interest grew because of her concern about what has

Appointments.

In 2012, McAleese was announced as the Chair of the European Commission High Level Group on the Modernisation of Higher Education in the European Union. Her work on the Commission earned her the Universitas21 2016 Gilbert Award.  In 2013, McAleese was appointed Chair of the Von Hugel Institute at the University of Cambridge.  In March 2013, McAleese was named as the Burns Scholar at Boston College, USA. In 2014, McAleese was appointed Distinguished Professor in Irish Studies at St Mary's University,

Catholic Church.

Canon Lawyer.

McAleese is an alumnus of the Pontifical Gregorian University where she obtained her Licentiate of Canon Law in 2014, and a Doctorate in 2018. On 22 September 2018, McAleese publicly defended her thesis on “Children’s Rights and Obligations in Canon Law” at the Pontifical Gregorian University. The defence was conducted in Italian. McAleese was questioned by Professor Robert J Geisinger S.J. and Professor Ulrich Rhode S.J. The Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, the Rector

Inclusion of women in the formation of the Catholic Faith.

In March 2018, McAleese asked “If you are going to exclude women in perpetuity from priesthood and if all decision-making, discernment and policy-making in the Church is going to continue to be filtered through the male priesthood, tell me how in justice and charity, but most importantly in equality, are you going to include the voices of women in the formation of the Catholic faith? What radical, innovative, strategic ideas do you have for their inclusion while being excluded for priesthood? And that’s the question they have not answered.  On the ordination of women, McAleese said

2018 Women's Day Conference.

McAleese was due to speak on a panel at a Voices of Faith conference in the Vatican on International Women’s Day in 2018 on Women in the Church. The conference had been held for the previous four years at the Vatican. Irish born Cardinal Kevin Farrell and Prefect of the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life banned McAleese from speaking in the Vatican. The organizers had not been given

Synod of Bishops on the Family.

Speaking before the opening of the Ordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family in October 2015, McAleese ridiculed the concept of 300 elderly celibates coming together to discuss family questions. Addressing a meeting of the Global Network of Rainbow (LGBT) Catholics on the eve of the Vatican's Synod on the Family, former president McAleese said: “In the days when I was president, we had workshops on various issues and if I wanted to look at an issue, I would consult the experts... But look at the Synod, I have to ask the question: If I wanted expertise on the

US Grand Jury Report Pennsylvania.

On 18 August 2018, McAleese speaking in the aftermath of the US Grand Jury Report on children abused by Roman Catholic Priests in Pennsylvania said the

World Meeting of Families 2018.

McAleese said in relation to the World Meeting of Families (held in Dublin in 2018): ““It's always been essentially a right

Alfons Auer Ethics Award.

On 23 August 2019, McAleese was announced as the winner of the Alfons Auer Ethics Award, from Tübingen University in Germany for her political dedication in building bridges across divisions

UN Convention on Rights of the Child.

On 5 November 2019, McAleese delivered the annual Edmund Burke lecture at Trinity College Dublin. McAleese’s lecture was entitled “The Future of Ireland: Human

Threat to leave Church.

McAleese has written to Pope Francis threatening to quit the Catholic Church if it comes to light the Vatican “failed to act to protect members of

LGBT Advocacy.

Background.

In 1975, McAleese and David Norris founded the Campaign for Homosexual Law Reform. McAleese was its legal advisor from 1975 until 1979 when she joined RTÉ as a current affairs journalist.  In a 2008 biography McAleese explained that she first became aware of the plight of gay people as a student in San Francisco in the early 1970s. She was 21 and studying law at Queen’s University Belfast. Her job

During Presidency.

In 2008, McAleese addressed a gay youth forum in Galway and encouraged people to confront those who make anti-gay remarks. McAleese said that being gay was “not a choice but a discovery”.  In 2010, McAleese addressed the LGBT Diversity National Conference in Dublin. She said “The toxic attitudes which were heard in homes, streets, workplaces even in schools and churches caused untold suffering and nothing is surer than the fact that those attitudes can have and

Male suicide.

In a radio interview discussing her book "Quo Vadis? Collegiality in the Code of Canon Law" on 28 September 2012, said she was concerned at the growing number of young men, and in particular young gay men, who take their own lives in Ireland. She said that when the research is broken down, it shows that young gay men are one of the most risk-prone groups in Ireland. McAleese said many of these young men will have gone to Catholic schools and they

Marriage Equality Referendum.

In May 2015, in advanced of the marriage equality referendum, McAleese described same-sex marriage as a "human rights issue" as she and her husband Martin called for a Yes vote in the upcoming referendum. In her first public comments on the issue, McAleese said the vote next month is "about Ireland's children, gay children" and said passing the referendum

Dublin Pride.

In June 2018, McAleese attended Dublin Pride for the first time along with her husband, son Justin and his husband Fionán Donohoe. This theme was 'We Are Family', and was a reference to Pope

LGBT Recognition.

In 2011, McAleese received the GALA Political Figure Award. In 2016, McAleese received the “Ally of the year” award from GALA’s.  In 2016, McAleese received

Brexit.

In June 2016, McAleese urged the British to vote to remain in the EU. McAleese warned that Britain’s departure could result in the return of border controls on the island of Ireland and a cause a “potential drift” in the peace process. McAleese said the “chances of customs controls being reconstituted are probably greater as they had been eliminated by EU laws, not Anglo-Irish efforts”. McAleese challenged claims by Boris Johnson and Michael Gove who frequently repeated claims that the position on the island of Ireland would not change. McAleese said, “I don’t know that to be (true) and they do not know that”.  In 2017, McAleese described Brexit as like “pulling a tooth with 10,000 roots”. She said that Northern Ireland will be the only part of the UK that will share a land boarder with an EU state post-Brexit and she feared that checks between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland would be an inevitable consequence of the UK leaving EU. McAleese said “the lawyer in me says our migration controls are very different, and they are going to be if Britain is no

Honours and awards.

Other honours and awards.

On 8 June 2013, a ceremony was held to rename a bridge on the

Mary Patricia McAleese (; ; ; born 27 June 1951) is an Irish politician who served as the eighth President of Ireland from November 1997 to November 2011. She is an award-winning Catholic academic and author and holds a licentiate and doctorate in Canon law. She was the second female president of Ireland. McAleese was first elected in 1997, succeeding Mary Robinson, making her the first woman in the world to succeed another woman as president. She was reelected unopposed for a second term in office in 2004. On both occasions she was elected as an independent, although she was previously a member of Fianna Fáil. McAleese is the first president of Ireland to have come from either Northern Ireland or Ulster.

Mary Patricia McAleese [] (irisch Máire Pádraigín Mhic Ghiolla Íosa []; * 27. Juni 1951 in Belfast, Nordirland, Vereinigtes Königreich) ist eine irische Journalistin und Politikerin. Von 1997 bis 2011 war sie die achte Präsidentin von Irland.


History.

Prehistory of the castle site.

The earliest Wendish defensive fortification called "Plune" dates to the 10th century and was located on the island of Olsborg in Lake Plön. It was destroyed in 1158. The rebuilding of the castle was carried out under Count Adolphus II of Holstein, and it served as a base during the colonization of the once-Slavic region. In 1173 the castle was moved to the Bischofsberg hill next to the small town of Plön - to the site of the present Plön Castle. In the 12th century Plön developed slowly into a market town and was given town rights in 1239. From 1290 to 1390 the hill castle was the seat of the Schauenburg line of Holstein-Plön and, after their extinction, was transferred to the Duke of Schleswig, Gerhard VI. Through the dukes of Schleswig, the small fortress was passed, four generations later, to the Danish royal family (Christian I was Duke of Schleswig and King of Denmark in personal union). During this period, however, Plön and its castle played no significant role in the country's history.  In the course of the Count's Feud between Lübeck and Denmark, the castle was burned down in 1534 during a raid by Lübeck. Following that a new, larger, building was built on the still partly Romanesque castle grounds. In 1564 King Frederick II of Denmark transferred to his brother, John the Younger, one third of his share of Schleswig and Holstein, in violation of the Treaty of Ribe, whereupon John founded the "titular duchy" ("abgeteiltes Herzogtum") of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg. Amongst his estates was Plön, including the castle. Under Duke John, an early mercantilist, town and castle experienced an economic boom. After John's death in 1622 the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg was divided among his six male heirs and new sub-duchies were formed; one of which was the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön.

Residence of the Dukes of Plön.

The first duke of this line was Joachim Ernest of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön, the second youngest son of Duke John. On the occasion of his marriage to the Gottorf princess, Dorothea Augusta, the new ruler decided to build a palace fit for himself and his family. The project was financed "inter alia" by the respectable dowry of the bride. In 1632 the old castle was demolished at the behest of the Duke of Plön and in its place the current castle was built in the Renaissance style. The new residence was completed in just three years in the middle of the Thirty Years War.  The castle was the residence ("Residenz") of the ducal family, but was never as important a place in state politics as Gottorf Castle. Because the dukes of Plön had other castles and summer residences, such as Traventhal House and the castles in Ahrensbök, Rethwisch and Reinfeld the Plön residence was not continuously occupied. Nevertheless, the building was one of the cultural centres of the duchy. Joachim Ernest established a library in the castle, which was expanded by his successors to 10,000 volumes. In addition, the Duke was very interested in physics and optics and collected various optical devices and instruments in his residence at Plön. After Duke Joachim Ernest, the castle went to his son, "Hans Adolf", who, however, as a general in the service of the Emperor, rarely stayed in Plön and the duchy was largely represented by his wife and mother. Joachim Frederick, who followed "Hans Adolf", also resided here. After he died in debt in 1722 without male heirs, the castle stood empty for seven years and some of the furniture was passed to his creditors.  The castle experienced its cultural heyday from 1729 onwards under the last duke, Frederick Charles. He introduced a baroque court and had the interior of the castle decorated in the rococo style. Frederick Charles extended the castle, erecting buildings around the castle courtyard that have survived to this day - the royal stables, the riding hall - as well as the garden palace, now known as the "Princes' House". The castle was the residence of the Dukes of Plön until the death of Frederick Charles, who died without male heirs in 1761. Upon his death the enfeoffment expired and the duchy returned to the Danish royal house. The building was occupied as a widow's residence by his wife, Christiane Armgardis, until her death in 1779. It subsequently served as the seat of the bailiff ("Amtmann"), and also from 1777 to 1823 as a residence for Peter Frederick William, the mentally deranged son of Frederick Augustus I of Oldenburg. The young man, who was unable to discharge his duties as a duke, was given the castle by his guardian, assigned to the Danish king Christian VII and was allowed to retain a large household. After his death, the castle was used temporarily as a courtly residence. In 1833 a grammar school was established in the castle.

Danish royal summer residence.

In 1840 the castle became the official summer residence of the King of Denmark, Christian VIII. He had Plön Castle renovated and the furnishing partly replaced in a Classicist style. At that time it was decorated in white plaster, reminiscent of Danish castles such as Gråsten and Fredensborg.

Cadet training and educational establishment.

After the Second Schleswig War of 1864, the castle fell into Prussian hands. In 1868, the interior furnishings were removed and most of them taken to Kiel Castle, where they were destroyed by fire in 1942 following an air raid. Plön Castle was rebuilt inside as barracks and subsequently served the Prussian Province of Schleswig-Holstein as a military school for cadets. The sons of the German Emperor, William II, were educated in Plön from the end of the 19th century and, for that purpose, the summer residence in the garden was extended to form the so-called Princes' House. An educational farm was set up on Princes' Island and Princes' Station was built in front of the castle on the newly laid railway line. At the suggestion of the Empress, Augusta Victoria, the chapel was given a new mural.  After World War I, military schools were banned by the Treaty of Versailles and the castle was used in the 1920s as a state educational institution ("Staatliche Bildungsanstalt"). In 1933 Plön Castle and the area around it was used as a National Political Institute, an elite school under the Nazi regime. Until the assassination of Ernst Röhm in 1934 it bore his name.  In 1945, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz stayed for a few days in Plön, where he established a temporary command post. Before fleeing to Flensburg, the castle was the administrative headquarters for parts of the Flensburg Government for a single day on 2 May 1945. The castle survived both world wars without suffering any wartime damage. Afterwards British occupation troops entered Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg as part of VIII Corps under General Evelyn Barker, and established their headquarters in the castle.

Boarding school.

In 1946, with the permission of the British military government, the Plön Castle State Boarding School ("Staatliche Internat Schloss Plön") for boys and girls was established in the castle. The boarding school utilised the entire castle grounds. The castle itself was used to accommodate the boys and the Princes' House the girls. The boat house and other outbuildings were purchased by the school. Lessons took place in the nearby Plön Castle Grammar School ("Internatsgymnasium Schloss Plön" now the "Gymnasium Schloss Plön") in "Prinzenstraße".  Its use as accommodation left its mark on the old castle, which became increasingly dilapidated. Advice in 1986/1988 showed that the site needed major investment and would only be saved from ruin by spending tens of millions of deutschmarks. By 1992 the castle was put on the market and in 1995 the outbuildings were sold. The sale was necessary because the state was unable to sustain the uneconomic running of the boarding school and the restoration of a historical monument.  In 2001 the boarding school was finally closed. The former pupils, teachers and staff still belong to an association, the "Verein der Butenplöner".

Film-set.

Whilst it was still a boarding school, the castle served as a film-set in several German shows:

Sale and reconstruction.

After several unsustainable bids to the future of the castle, Günther Fielmann submitted an offer in 2002. Because this offer included an elaborate argument of the various benefits to the public, Schleswig-Holstein's state parliament approved it in 2002 Consequently, the "Fielmann Akademie" foundation purchased the castle for 3.6 million Euro. Günther Fielmann summarised the state of the monument at that time:  Over four years the castle has been reconstructed in accordance with preservation and heritage orders. The total costs amounted to more than 35 million Euros Schleswig-Holstein supported the project with 11.8 million Euros. The reconstruction was completed in 2006.

Academy.

Today the castle is a public site of historical heritage hosting an elite optician academy. The first master classes already commenced in 2002 during the reconstruction period. Since the winter semester 2005/06 the academy offers a Bachelor's degree in optometry ("BSc Augenoptik / Optometrie") in cooperation with the Fachhochschule Lübeck. It also provides various courses for both skilled workers and executives of the optical industry. Per year more than 6,000 opticians are qualified. 24 lecturers teach at the academy.  The castle is used - to a large extent - by the academy. Some parts however serve as a museum: the Duke's historical Rokoko-rooms in the East wing of the castle have been intricately restored and can be viewed during daily tours. Recently the castle has also been the venue of various official and semi-official events. The great hall for example has been used for the "Conference of German Culture Ministers", the SPD's functionary conference and a convention of the ZDF. It has been repeatedly discussed as potential venue of the G8 forum. In 2008 and 2009 the castle hosted the Global Economic Symposium with participants like George Akerlof, Richard Evans and Joseph Stiglitz. There have been numerous classical concerts in the castle's chapel.

Plön Castle () in Plön is one of the largest castles in the north German state of Schleswig-Holstein and the only one located on a hill. The former "Residenz" of the Dukes of Schleswig-Holstein-Plön was built in the 17th century during the Thirty Years War and has had a colourful history in which it has, for example, been a school for military cadets and also a boarding school.

Das Plöner Schloss in Plön ist eines der größten Schlösser Schleswig-Holsteins und das einzige dort erhaltene in Höhenlage. Die frühere Residenz der Herzöge von Schleswig-Holstein-Plön wurde im 17. Jahrhundert während des Dreißigjährigen Krieges errichtet und erlebte eine wechselvolle Geschichte, in der das Schloss unter anderem auch als Kadettenschule und Internat diente.