What did the Romans ever do for us: The authorized version of history is designed to keep you stupid

 

 

What did the Romans ever do for us? Archaeologists using laser scanners and robots to find out by mapping dozens of ancient aqueducts Explorers are mapping Rome's hidden waterways using robots and GPS The ancient waterways carried water from Germany to North Africa Study is based on map made by British Roman archaeologist Thomas Ashby A hidden network of aqueducts under Rome have been revealed thanks to state-of-the-art technology. Armed with laser rangefinders, GPS technology and remote control robots, a group of speleologists, who are archaelogists with specialist cave-exploring experience, are mapping the ancient structures for the first time. They abseil down access wells and clamber through crevices to access the 11 aqueducts that supplied Rome, which still run for hundreds of miles underground and along stunning viaducts. Exploring: 'Speleo-archaeologists' make their way through a perfectly preserved tunnel in a section of the Acqua Claudia aqueduct, in the grounds of a Franciscan convent in Vicovaro, Rome Narrow: The team abseil down access wells and clamber through crevices to access the 11 aqueducts that supplied Rome Ancient: A hidden network of 2,000 year old aqueducts under Rome have been revealed thanks to state-of-the-art technology The mission of these 'speleo-archaeologists' is to update the last above ground map of the network which was created at the beginning of the 20th century by British Roman archaeologist Thomas Ashby. Alfonso Diaz Boj, a member of Sotterranei di Roma (Underground Rome), said he was 'proud' of the study. Among the areas mapped by the group is the perfectly preserved tunnel section of the Acqua Claudia on the grounds of a Franciscan convent in Vicovaro near Rome. Mr Diaz Boj said: 'It combines what was the birth of archaeology as a science with the latest instruments available.' The pick marks of the Roman diggers can still be seen in the limestone of the tunnel completed in 38 AD by the Emperor Claudius and a lawyer of calcification about half a metre off the ground shows where the water level would have been. 'These aqueducts may not be as beautiful as a statue or like some architecture but I think they are important, they are very beautiful,' Mr Diaz Boj continued. Maps: Their study of the aqueducts is based on the map made by Thomas Ashby, director of the archaeological British School at Rome, between 1906 and 1925 Down you go: The aqueducts can be accessed in various hidden locations near Rome including a doorway near the Villa Medici that leads down a spiral staircase to the water Access: People in the streets above may be completely unaware of the hidden history beneath their feet Stunning: The Acqua Claudia runs 54 miles from the Simbruini Mountains to the heart of Rome and supplied 2,200 litres of water a second The ancient waterways were true feats of engineering, which relied solely on gravity to ensure a flow of water from Germany to North Africa - across what was once the Roman Empire. Their strategic significance is underlined by the fact that Rome had a special magistrate to oversee their maintenance and that the Visigoths cut them off when they were laying siege to the city. The Acqua Claudia runs 54 miles from the Simbruini Mountains to the heart of Rome and supplied 2,200 litres of water a second. Only one of the aqueducts is still operational today - the Acqua Vergine - which can be accessed in various hidden locations near Rome including a doorway near the Villa Medici that leads down a spiral staircase to the water. The Acqua Vergine runs for just over 12 miles and ends up in the Trevi Fountain, photographed every day by crowds of tourists. 'Underground Rome is a final frontier,' said Riccardo Paolucci, another explorer, as he examined a viaduct in a valley near Vicovaro that carried the water further towards the city. 'Water was a fundamental service for hygiene. In a city like Rome, which had a million inhabitants, there were very few epidemics,' he said. 'There was a concept of service for the people, for the city. It is a key concept that is maybe lacking not just in modern Rome but globally.' Mr Diaz, Mr Paolucci and the others from Sotterranei di Roma work together with Rome's archaeological authority, helping them understand what can be seen above the ground from what is underneath and inaccessible without specialist equipment. Preserved: The Romans built curved sections deliberately to slow the water down Graffiti: Ashby's signature can be seen scrawled on the wall of a section of the Acqua Marcia aqueduct alongside graffiti and poems dating back to the 17th century from visitors who stumbled on the ancient waterway Tours: The group also organises guided tours and courses, including one on the aqueducts starting next month, and are earning an international reputation 'We are who we are because of what we have inside and Rome is what it is because of what is underneath it,' said Mr Paolucci, a specialist potholer who is also called to emergency incidents or whenever a sinkhole opens up in the city. The group also organises guided tours and courses, including one on the aqueducts starting next month, and are earning an international reputation. They were commissioned to map the underground remains of ancient Ephesus in Turkey. Their study of the aqueducts is based on the map made by Thomas Ashby, director of the archaeological British School at Rome, between 1906 and 1925. Abseil: Mr Diaz Boj said the study  'combines what was the birth of archaeology as a science with the latest instruments available.' Sotterranei di Roma (Underground Rome) explore the hidden waterways Statue: The Babuino Fountain which draws its water from the Acqua Felice, one of the aqueducts in Rome Ashby's signature can be seen scrawled on the wall of a section of the Acqua Marcia aqueduct, which also transits through Vicovaro, alongside graffiti and poems dating back to the 17th century from visitors who stumbled on the ancient waterway. 'Ashby's maps were ahead of their time,' Mr Diaz said. 'He went to the villages, to the local trattorias, he spoke to farmers, to hunters. He found what he found thanks to local knowledge,' he added. 'It is a technique that we still use today.' Working: Only one of the aqueducts is still operational today - the Acqua Vergine The pick marks of the Roman diggers can still be seen in the limestone of the tunnel completed in 38 AD by the Emperor Claudius Important: The aqueducts' strategic significance is underlined by the fact that Rome had a special magistrate to oversee their maintenance and that the Visigoths cut them off when they were laying siege to the city

The authorized version of history is designed to keep you stupid. It starts in ancient Greece with “The Father of Lies” Herodotus and ends with that vile convicted criminal Dr. Zahi Hawass making it up as he goes along on your television. The whole concoction is now a metaphorical desperate man clinging to a tree. A tsunami of reality borne on an untamed cyber sea is crashing down upon him. A hundred feet beneath the waves of Japans Ryukyu Islands lay a step pyramid carved into solid stone. All who have dived on it know it is an artificial structure. Yet those who have never dived on it claim it must be a natural formation because it would have to have been constructed at least twelve thousand years ago, before the glaciers melted and at a time when “there were only hunter gatherers that lived in caves and were incapable of building anything.” Nothing could be further from the truth. Let us begin in the “New World” where they have horded “their gold.” Academia claims this “is a natural formation.” Incompetence? I think not more like the blatant application of theAsch Paradigm. High in the Andean mountains lays Tiahuanaco where diorite blocks some weighing in excess of 400 tons, are precisely cut and fitted like the pieces in a LEGO Erector Set. Diorite is even harder than granite and impossible to work with even now. The blocks typically weighing in at between 100 to 150 tons were quarried on the opposite shore of the lake, ten miles away. The primitive building techniques of the Inca are easily distinguished from the original edifice which has been torn apart by some unknown cataclysmic energy. Some of the original structures were buried in up to six feet of sediment. The altitude is over 12,000 feet and rain is practically unheard of in the area falling at the rate of less than nine inches a year. The overhead soil erosion which would be necessary to cause the kind of emersion in the soil that Tiahuanaco was found in is physically impossible. Sea horses which are only found in salt water are unaccountably found in the fresh water of Lake Titicaca. It has recently been discovered that the ruins extend into and under the water of the lake. Diorite blocks cut with precision beyond even the finest craftsman of today. The method by which the original blocks were fitted together A hundred years ago Professor Arthur Posnansky made an intensive fifty year study of the ruins. In his 4 volume work titled Tiahuanaco, The cradle of American Man, first published in 1945. He presentsarcheoastrology evidence why the Kalasasaya temple in Tiahuanaco must be at least 15,000 years old. Unearthed at the site was a 7 foot tall idol of an ancient Andean God that the Inca now call Viracocha. Serpents are depicted ascending each side of the statue.  The academic dissembling of exactly who or what Viracocha originally was is mind numbing and that is exactly the way they want it. But one thing is certain. Viracocha was a serpent God, a sun God.  He is always depicted with a radiant head and serpents prominently displayed even in sites as old as Tiahuanaco. Viracocha, over the Gateway of the Sun at Tiahuanaco, clutching a serpent in each hand. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. A few hundred miles to the northwest of Tiahuanaco sits Ollantaytambo allegedly built by the Incas in the Fifteenth century. Ollantaytambo is nothing if not a stone indictment of academia for its role as a willing accomplice in the subjugation of the human race. The Inca’s primitive technique of stacking much smaller and ill fitted rocks can be easily discerned from the perfectly formed and fitted Andesite, boulders, an extremely hard igneous rock, that constitute the foundations of the ruins. Observe the pebbles stacked at the top and in the background. Nobody is that stupid. They are deliberately lying! It is common practice to build upon the ruins of ancient cities. Mexico City is built atop Tenochtitlán Rome is built atop Rome. Nietzsche said beware the fish eyed scholar. Hitler knew just what to do with him. An objective examination reveals the original, and much older, constructions at Ollantaytambo were destroyed by cataclysmic energy just like Tiahuanaco. Ollantaytambo is called The temple of the Condor because of a natural wedge shaped stone that has been fashioned into a makeshift sacrificial alter by adding a carved stone condor head to drink the blood of victims as it runs down into a well below the beak. The Condor is the largest vulture in the world. Academic hacks will tell you that the Condor is the symbol of the Inca sky God but common sense should tell you that the vulture is the symbol of death. All through the Andes great blocks of extremely hard stone have been worked with a craftsmanship that defies explanation even using the cutting methods employed by modern craftsman. The truth is that the “Incan Empire” never really even existed. They were nothing but a bunch of half naked savages squatting on land that was not and still is not there’s. A hand full of Spanish warriors walked right through them. The gold that “Francisco Pizarro took from them” was not theirs anyway. He was sent there to requisition both the real estate and everything on it by their masters and the Inca royalty knew it, as they still do today. The same scenario took place with the Aztec. But none of you will ever meet an Inca princess, let alone get her to hint at the truth to you, so let me go on with my story and prove it to you. To their great credit the Inca are not liars like academia. They have been telling anyone who would listen from the start that they built none of these things. In Inca legend Ollantaytambo was founded by a brother and sister sent by the Sun God. They had in their possession a golden wedge which was able to burrow into the ground of its own accord and somehow enable the siblings to build the city. In Isaiah 13, 12, the twenty-first century addition of the King James Bible, Yahweh launches into one of his endless tirades bellowing “I will make a man more rare than fine gold; even a man more than the golden wedge of Ophir.” In The Talmud,  Tractate Gittin Folio 68, Solomon enlists the help of the prince of Demons Asmodeus to find the Shamir which Moses brought out of Egypt. The Shamir had the ability to split rocks. In the Bible Solomon had an alliance with king Hiram of the ancient Phoenician seaport of Tyre. The King constructed a fleet for Solomon so that he could sail to the mysterious lands of Ophir where he extracted huge quantities of gold. The gold made Solomon the richest King on earth. The ships plied the earth and once every 3 years brought Solomon copious amounts of wealth from all the far flung corners of the world. Aside from the first temple Solomon is also credited with building another temple in Lebanon where the mysterious Temple of Baalbek now marks the veil of history that has been erected and tended to by academia. Lebanon’s Baalbek; another inconvenient site for academia’s talking chimps. By their own traditions Jews have always been Magi who command demons through the power of their demon God. In the Testament of Solomon, supposedly a firsthand account, Solomon used a ring engraved with Gods “secret” name to command the demons to build the first temple. Even in the oldest of their Talmudic traditions Shir Hashirim Rabba 1:5 which scholars can date back almost to the time when Moses and the Sanhedrin of criminally insane Qabalists looted Egypt. It says “everyone helped in the construction of this Temple – even the spirits, the hobgoblins, the angels.” But let’s go back to the New World, or shall I call it Ophir? Let’s see exactly where it was that the wandering Jew was wandering. It was first mentioned in De mirabilibus auscultationibus,  a collection of natural history facts attributed to Aristotle, that the Carthaginians were building colonies in a land beyond the pillar of Hercules. A land that had navigable rivers and since there are no islands with navigable rivers in the Atlantic the author could have only been referring to America. Didorus Siculus or Didorus of Sicily next gives vivid details of its discovery and colonization by the Phoenicians in his massive 40 volume work Bibliotheca historica. What should be taken into account but never is because of academic dissembling is that the Jews were a force to be reckoned with in the ancient world. Rome’s first order of business, in order to become an empire, was to sack the Jewish outpost on Rome’s own doorstep; Carthage. This was only achieved after the Punic Wars; blood soaked conflicts which lasted almost a hundred years. Perhaps a million maybe more died in this conflict. Carthage inflicted 80,000 deaths upon Rome’s legions in the battle of Cannes alone. Because the Romans knew how dangerous Jews are being founded by Jews themselves, as you shall see if you read on, they slaughtered every man, woman and child in the city when they finally did sack Carthage. The Jew never gives up, ever, that’s what it means to be a Jew. The Western world was now at war with the Jewish world. The two empires sat across from each other like WWI soldiers occupying opposing trenches. The dye had been cast. Three desperate wars for survival would ensue lasting over twenty years. The Mithridatic Wars would only be concluded when Rome under Pompey the Great defeated the forces of the Armenian Empire under Mithridates VI also known as Mithridates the Great or the Poison King because of his penchant for drinking poison to toughen himself up. The homicidal Jew king fled with the remnants of his army to the furthest corner of what was left of his empire in what is now called Georgia. Where, after personally murdering his own son the king of Scythia for what he perceived as disloyalty, he committed suicide. Now Rome was free to attack the heart of the malignancy. They did so by occupying Jerusalem the same year the Mithridatic Wars were concluded; 63 BCE. What followed was two hundred years of practically unremitting bloodshed. Josephus, who is one of the few historians who can be trusted, where they didn’t redact his work to include Jesus, says 1,100,000 Jews alone were killed in the first uprising. With legion upon legion slaughtered. Masada, whose defenders committed suicide rather than give up, was the closing battle. It was no aberration. Jews always fought till they were utterly annihilated with the women and children fighting in the streets of Jerusalem right alongside their men. The festivities were not just confined to the land. The Jews had their own navy which according to Josephus controlled the sea off the coasts of Syria, Phoenicia and Egypt, hardly the simple goat herders of Hollywood history and the religion the Jews concocted for their slaves; Christianity. There were two more major uprising with innumerable small ones between. Finally culminating with Bar-Kochba rebellion from 132 –135. There were 580,000 Jews killed in that one according to Cassius Dio. He tells us many Romans also “perished.”  Rome was victorious but by then the Jew had infected her with his homogenized religion for “goyim;” Mithraism. They would tweak it a bit, probably laughing when they cast a Jewish carpenter in the role of Sol Invictus, then rename it Christianity. For now on the Pontifex Maximus would wear a Yarmulke and the western world would serve its Jewish masters only challenged once in over 1700 years by Hitler and the NAZI’s. A child could see the resemblance of the Step Pyramids built in America to the Ziggurat’s built in the Mesopotamian valley. There is a vast preponderance of archeological evidence attesting to a Semitic presence in the New World right up until the time when European colonization seemed to cast an unwanted light upon it. Yet the Davenport tablets, Dighton Rock, and Grave Creek Stone have all been attacked with what can only be described as a zeal born of panicked desperation. Leading this kamikaze attack is the Smithsonian Institute and the monkeys on Wikipedia that are trained to serve the ancient Jewish agenda of deception. They even have names for the orders of demons who help them to do this; Chaigidiel those who obstruct and Satharialthose who conceal God. Whenever a Semitic artifact is found in America the academic hacks will invariably clamor in unison that it is most certainly a hoax because there is no supporting evidence of a Semitic presence in western hemisphere prior to Columbus. Yet Salvatore Michael Trento of the Middletown Archeological Research Center, an organization composed of many practicing geologists and anthropologists, spent years cataloguing and researching these enigmas. He is adamant about his conclusions that “they were built and inscribed by Celtic and Phoenician Old World Traders.” Coins that were found in Kentucky and Missouri in 1932, 1952, and 1967 commemorating the Bar-Kochba rebellion and dated from 132 –135 AD have been ignored or dismissed as frauds. The explanation for this one is so absurd that it’s actually worth noting. The coins were minted, distributed by Sunday school teachers as a reward for good attendance then lost and found by sharp eyed observers. They admit its conjecture and they don’t know who minted the perfect replicas and what Sunday school teacher handed them out. But again it must be because they say it must be. The Newark Holy Stones are arbitrarily dismissed, even though many scholars have attested to their authenticity, because their discoverer David Wyrick expressed a belief that the lost tribes of Israel settled in America. Only the Mormons are allowed to say things like that because as we shall see they are a renegade branch of Masonic Judaism themselves. The Smithsonian has been destroying evidence of Jewish occupation of pre Columbian America for years and laws such as The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act have been passed to stop them. But there is a smoking gun in this case that not even Wikipedia can gloss over.  It is a documented fact that nine museum certified Egyptian mummy’s dating from between 1070 B.C. to 395 A.D. tested positive for nicotine and cocaine, substances only found in the New World. These were rigorous scientific studiesconducted by German scientists under Svetla Balabanova in the early nineties. Academia, this time led by Oxford, openly expressed apoplexy. When they could not explain the mummy’s condition without admitting contact between the pre-Columbian Old and New Worlds the mummy’s were sequestered in the vaults of the Munich museum. When she attempted to conduct her own independent analysis the Keeper of Egyptology at the Manchester Museum in England, Professor Rosalie David Obe, renowned author and the world’s foremost expert on mummification, was refused access to them “on grounds of religious respect.” The Bat Creek Stone was excavated in 1889 from an undisturbed burial mound in Eastern Tennessee by the Smithsonian’s own mound survey project. Cyrus Thomas the director of the project whined to anyone who would listen that the curious inscription on the stone was “beyond question letters of the Cherokee alphabet.” In the 1960’s scholars, Henriette Mertz and Corey Ayoob, noticed a little discrepancy: Thomas had been reading the stone upside down. When properly orientated the only thing that is “beyond question” is that the inscription is ancient Semitic. Semitic languages scholar Cyrus Gordon later confirmed that it is from the first or second century A.D. Gordon translated the inscription as reading LYHWD, or “for Judea.” He noted that the broken letter on the far left is consistent with Mem, in which case the word would read LYHWD[M], or “for the Judeans.” Subsequent carbon dating of surrounding biological matter yielded dates from 200 to 750CE it should be noted that Cyrus Thomas said of the Davenport tablets that they were “anomalous waifs,” that had absolutely no supporting or contextual evidence to aide in their authenticity. The Los Lunas Decalogue Stone besides serving as evidence for pre-Columbian occupation of the Americas by the Jews also serves as a warning for Zombie archeologists contemplating a resurrection. The boulder which sits on the side of Hidden Mountain in New Mexico not far from Chaco Canyon, which is very important as we shall see, bares an ancient Hebrew inscription of the 10 commandments. Discovered in 1933 by one of their own; Professor Frank Hibben an archaeologist from the University of New Mexico. Hibben’s held degrees from both Yale and Harvard but saw his distinguished career systematically dismantled and his credibility constantly questioned. The chimps of academia made it a point to dig up half of Alaska’s tidal zones in a relentless effort to discredit some of his findings at Cook Inlet. Hibben it turns out had misidentified the strata in which he had unearthed evidence contradicting America’s inhabitance before academia’s cherished bench mark of Clovis Spear Points. Clovis Culture is archeologically identified by the presence of Clovis Spear Points. According to academia’s chimps man migrated from Siberia across the frozen straights of the Bearing Sea some 14,000 years ago into the “New World.”  He then fanned out across the Western Hemisphere settling from north to south. Academia insists this format must be followed by anyone looking to make a dime in the field. Yet repeatedly verified carbon dates for the Pedra Furada sites in Brazil show people in South America some 45,000 – 60,000 years ago. No one has ever even found a Clovis Spear Point in Siberia or anywhere else in Asia. The points actually appear to be a slight modification of the 30,000 year old Solutrean Spearpoint from Europe. “Clovis spear points” only appear in America some 13,000 years ago and then disappear a few thousand years later along with much of the fauna in the Western Hemisphere. Little is known about the past of the enigmatic Yuchi tribe of the Southeastern United States except that they were once a large and very powerful tribe who frequently acted as high priests for surrounding tribes. They call themselves children of the sun and were decimated by the neighboring Cherokee in 1714. The Cherokee were instigated and armed by Whites. The Yuchi’s appearance and language was and is, respectively, like no other tribe in the southeast. They are thought to be responsible for the mysterious serpentine mounds that dot the area. The snake swallowing the cosmic egg is the most ancient and hollowed of all symbols representing the inevitable final victory of Lucifer over the demiurge, a restoration of what was before the demiurge was created by the Goddess in error. The Feast of Succot has been observed in Judaism since the first days of Solomon’s Temple. It is observed in the harvest season of fall, on the 15th day of the seventh month of the Jewish calendar. It is celebrated for eight days during which the celebrants live in booths, covered with branches, leaves, and fronds while they meditate on the ancient patriarchs. The Yuchis celebrate a harvest festival which is identical to the Feast of Succot. Every year on the fifteenth day of the harvest month they live in booths with roofs open to the sky, covered with branches, leaves and foliage. During this festival they dance around a fire and call upon the name of God. Dr. Cyrus H. Gordon who translated the Bat Creek stone was convinced after sitting in on the Indians festival that they were celebrating the Feast of Succot. He exclaimed to a friend sitting next to him “They are speaking the Hebrew names for God!” The Yuchi language is extraordinarily complicated and difficult to learn. Incredibly enough the dinosaur or great lizard figures prominently in Yuchi stories and ceremonies as does the snake. The word for dinosaur consists of no less than five morphemes; sothl’an ahsh’ee chahthlah’a meaning respectively lizard, face, orifice, red, and big. The word for snake spirit is Shawano.

Extremes In ‘Debutantes When Glamour Was Born,’:The English debutante who staged Nazi orgies as a gift of love to Hitler

 

The debutantes at the 54th Anniversary of the International Debutante Ball and dinner dance in the Grand Ballroom of the Waldorf-Astoria.

 

‘DebutantesWhen Glamour Was Born,’ Debutantes, with their inimitable frilly dresses, diamond yards, and perfectly-coiffed hair.   It includes photos of Jackie Bouvier (who would later become Jackie Kennedy), Lauren Bush, and Tricia Nixon, as well as the expected smattering of girls bearing lofty last names like Vanderbilt and du Pont. Grand debut: Rizzoli's new book follows the evolution of debutante balls, like this photo of Mary Henderson during her 1959 debut in Boston (Henderson later married a member of the well-appointed Purdue family) The book’s foreword, written by Oscar de la Renta, sheds light on the shift in debutante mentality. Oscar de la Renta’s break-out career moment actually came courtesy of a socialite--Beatrice Lodge, the daughter of the then-U.S. ambassador to Spain, John A. Henry Cabot Lodge. A photo of Beatrice wearing de la Renta’s custom design for her 1956 debut at the American embassy in Madrid landed on the cover of Life magazine. It’s an accolade that de la Renta says ‘changed the course of my life.’ But de la Renta is also careful to point out the debutante’s transitionary role in modern society. Perfect curtsey: The book's cover bares a photo of Mazie Cox mid-curtsey at her 1963 society debut at the Waldorf-Astoria The practice of debutante balls and social debuts was very much started with match-making, marital intentions. ‘To “debut” then meant that a young woman was eligible to marry,’ de la Renta writes. The book notes that social debuts can be historically traced all the way back to the Egyptian court preparing the infamous Cleopatra for her ascent to the throne. Later, in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the decadent European high courts presented young women ‘in such a decorous fashion…as if she were put on a sales block and sold to the highest bidder,’ writes David Patrick Columbia, creator of The New York Social Diary website, in the book’s introduction. Large affair: Rizzoli's new book details the grandest of society balls, like the event pictured above, held in 1963 at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Tea time: Above, debutante Victoria Leiter prepares for her 1968 tea dance in Washington D.C. More recently, debutantes have served as artistic focal points to society photographers like Horst P. Horst and Slim Aarons, both of whom have work featured in Rizzoli’s new tome. Modern debutantes, writes de la Renta, ‘are much more in control of their destinies,’ compared to the fates of their historical predecessors. ‘They know their femininity is a tremendous asset,’ he elaborated of the tradition’s changes. In line: Debutante balls were often considered the best way for proper girls to find a fiance, as displayed above where Alexandra Cutchins's father presents her at the 1961 Pendennis Club Bachelor's Ball in Louisville, Kentucky Dressed to kill: Debutantes signature long white gloves and flowing dresses are an irreplaceable part of the social tradition Dance all night: Dancing is also part of the debutante ball equation Debutante balls were once considered de rigueur among the world’s highly-articulated wealthy, with social junctions being staged across the United States and abroad. Despite society’s onetime reliance on the tradition, debutante balls have since been whittled down in number to just a few, choice annual events. The most noteworthy is the famous Bal de Crillon, held at Paris’s Hotel de Crillon. It’s there that teenage society girls, hailing from a small group of chosen families (whose population is equal parts old money and new), make their debut on the arm of a handsome peer While teenage girls across the nation settle down in front of their homework this evening, over at one of London's finest hotels a quite different scene will be playing out. Dripping in £5million pounds of jewellery and arriving in chauffeur-driven Maserati sports cars, 300 single young men and women - most aged 17 and 18 - will flock to one of the capital's finest hotels. Here for the much-anticipated Queen Charlotte's Ball - a social event dating back 200 years where young ladies would traditionally seek out their husband-to-be - the well-heeled attendees, dressed in lavish white tie, will toast with champagne and cocktails as they dance into the night. Career girl: Lauren Fuller, 17, will be attending tonight's Queen Charlotte's Ball but she will not be on the lookout for a husband But while women of past years would relish the opportunity to meet eligible men, it appears that today's women have a different motive for attending the event held at the exclusive Savoy Hotel: to progress their careers. Attracting bankers, property tycoons and school-goers every one of the £250 tickets to the canapé reception and four-course dinner were immediately snapped up, attracting such widespread interest that China is now arranging its own version for 400 guests in Shanghai. QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S BALL Founded in 1780 by George III in honour of his wife. Would attract debutantes  - from the French meaning 'female beginner' Originally girls were presented at court to the Queen, in order that they could meet a suitable marriage partner, usually the brothers of the debs known as the 'debs delights' The last debutantes were presented at court in 1958 as Princess Margaret said: 'Every tart in London was getting in' But despite replicating the glitz and glamour of a bygone era  - think champagne on tap, gourmet cuisine and the traditional 7ft white cake - reasons for reserving a seat have changed. Instead of looking for partners, girls such as Lauren Fuller, 17 - who want to study at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts - are more concerned with the career potential such an event offers. What's more, for these girls, marriage is strictly off the menu. 'I'm going to be an actress...Nowadays as a teenager you don't have an arranged marriages or whatever,' Miss Fuller told the Independent. A pupil at the £14,000-a-year More House School in Knightsbridge, Miss Fuller is the face of Mikimoto, the jewellery line worn by stars such as Sarah Jessica Parker and a key sponsor of the event, loaning out £5million worth of pearls and precious designs for the evening. And Phillipa Lepley - once the bookies favourite to design Kate Middleton's bridal gown - will be providing dresses costing up to £20,000 to 20 lucky girls. Flashback: Debutantes receive their slices of cake at The Queen Charlotte's Ball at Grosvenor House in the 1950s Organiser Jennie Hallam-Peel agrees that the event has changed over the years, moving from very much a marriage market to becoming a platform for career networking. She added: 'Girls are different now only in the fact that none of them wants to marry young and all are intent on independent careers.' Girls are different now only in the fact that none of them wants to marry young and all are intent on independent careers Dating back to 1780 the Queen Charlotte's Ball began when George III held a May ball to fund a new maternity hospital named after his wife. It then became an annual occasion, taking place in September where mothers would present their daughters - usually aged 17 to 18 - to the Queen at court and allow them to meet suitable bachelors. The formal process was brought to an end and the last debutantes were presented to the Queen in 1958, after many claimed the ritual had lost its exclusivity. As Princess Margaret said: 'We had to put a stop to it - every tart in London was getting in.' Tonight's guests will be greeted by a descendent of the Russian Imperial family Princess Olga Romanov and the Duke and Duchess of Somerset and proceeds will benefit the Children's Trust. Last year's ball was held at the Treasury House of the Inner Temple with guests including Nancy Dell'Olio. Plunging necklines, swishy skirts and firmly fixed hair jostles for attention. Enormous chandeliers twinkle overhead, the orchestra flexes its muscle, champagne chinks in hundreds of glasses. You should expect nothing less at a Viennese ball. These grand events are the cream of Vienna’s social calendar. There are more than 450 of them a year, hosted by all sorts of different trades - from the famous Opera ball to the Bonbon ball, Pharmacists’ ball, Lawyers’ ball - and even a weightlifters’ ball. Strictly well behaved: Debutantes at the Coffemaker's ball - there are more than 450 events each year And you needn’t be in a trade or even a member of Vienna’s high society to attend. Everyone is welcome. I am at the Coffee makers’ do, held the night after the Opera ball, where Hilary Swank and Gina Lollobrigida were guests. It’s organised by the city’s coffee house owners, who file in (along with the aristocrats and politicians) looking suitably sparkly. We’re in the Hofburg Palace, the gracefully sprawling home of the Habsburgs, filled with grand staircases, high ceilings, all a fitting backdrop for twirling, whirling and cutting a dash. Taking to the floor: Jenny and a dance partner prepare to dazzle There are between 5000 and 6000 guests in all manners of finery - satin fish tails, gloves, ruched bodices, full-on gowns, tiaras. Ball-goers travel from around the world. One lady, who is on her second of the season, has flown over from Munich and tells me that each ball requires eight hours of getting ready time. Quite an investment. For Austrians, dancing is part of life, and the curriculum. They take lessons as young teens, and, debut at balls such as these. No embarrassing shuffles and sloppy embraces here. They quadrill, waltz, lift with grace. The girls debuting are dressed in white, the boys are in tails. They all look very young, but composed. No one falls out of the Hofburg’s heavy doors at the end of the night. Hours of watching Strictly haven’t make me an expert in the ballroom but, thankfully, I’m in a floor length gown by Issa, which conceals what my feet are doing. My partner even tells me I’m not that bad for a beginner. That must be down to the very dapper Thomas Schäfer-Elmayer, Vienna’s expert on etiquette - and dance - who runs the Elmayer Dance School in the city. The morning before the ball, he teaches me the steps to success. The waltz has only three steps, but the Viennese version goes at quite a lick. It was once banned for being too frivolous. There’s plenty to do in Vienna aside from dance. Eat sacher torte, the city’s famously rich chocolate cake, drink coffee in some of the many coffee houses, or visit the extraordinary Kunst Historiches musuem, which is home to art work by Rembrandt, Brueghel, Vermeer, Velazquez, Titian, Tintoretto - almost every Great you can imagine. Grand: For hundreds of years, Vienna's Hofburg Palace was the centre of the Habsburg empire There’s more modern art up the road in the Musuem Quartier, where the Leopold Musuem has several works by Egon Schiele. But spending the evening at a ball in one of the city’s most regal venues is a pretty hot ticket. And not as expensive as you might think - entry is £107 and this is by no means the preserve of the very posh or the very wealthy. Couples of all ages are here to dance. There are some serious movers whipping round. The 2am quadrille, when everyone’s doing a smarter version of the hokey cokey, is rambunctious fun. Though I blame that for my black and blue toes the following day. The ball feels like a smart wedding reception but one where everyone is on best behaviour. Etiquette rules in Vienna and quite right too. Debutante Mollie Lindholm-Saltskog (left) poses in her ball gown and long gloves. Right, Maria Austin smiles as she is announced as Debutante of the Year Debutantes Eeman Alansari (left) , aged 20, from Dubai and Nicole Gilmer, from California pose as they await the arrival of guests

The English debutante who staged Nazi orgies as a gift of love to Hitler She lost her virginity to Oswald Mosley on a billiard table... Then she targeted the Fuhrer Unity Mitford's scandalous liaisons are unveiled in a new biography Aristocratic family tried to paint relationship with Hitler as youthful fancy Author claims to have credible sources saying her antics were not naive At 18 years old she is said to have met Oswald Mosley, who was married, at a party in 1932 when he was having an affair with her married sister, Diana Letters reveal she boasted about her anti-semitism as a young woman She met with Hitler once a fortnight between 1935 and September 1939 Late one night in pre-war Munich, a young English woman, dressed all in black and accompanied by six SS officers in full uniform, climbed the dark stairs to her apartment. Once inside she lit two large church candles either side of her bed, their glow revealing enormous swastika banners at its head and silver framed portraits of Adolf Hitler on side tables. After sliding off her boots and gauntlet-style gloves, she stepped out of her long black skirt and blindfolded herself with a Nazi armband before lying down, spread-eagled, on the bed. One man bound her hands and feet to its four corners while another, in what was obviously a familiar ritual, wound up the gramophone and dropped the needle on to a record of Horst-Wessel-Lied, the Nazi anthem. Romantic? Author David Litchfield claims there was nothing innocent about Unity Mitford's desire for the Fuhrer. They are pictured here together in Bayreuth, Germany, in 1936, a year after meeting This was the cue for the other officers to remove their boots, belts and uniforms. Then, as the pounding marching song broke the silence, they took it in turns to enjoy the entirely willing object of their desire. So passed another typical evening for Unity Mitford, according to a startling new biography of the aristocrat’s daughter who scandalised Thirties Britain by becoming a member of Adolf Hitler’s most intimate circle. After the war, a sympathetic spin on her relationship with the Fuhrer was attempted by the Mitfords, whose endearingly eccentric family life was depicted in the much-loved novels of her sister, Nancy. The family maintained that Unity’s adoration of Hitler was the foolish attachment of a rather silly young girl. But author David Litchfield refutes the notion that there was anything naive or romantic about it. Indeed, he maintains that these Nazi-themed orgies were devised by Unity and carried out with Hitler’s connivance on condition that she titillate him with the details afterwards. All this was part of a form of sadomasochistic worship of the Fuhrer which would eventually see him demand that she make the ultimate sacrifice and offer up to him her own life. Enraptured: Unity Mitford (left), is pictured with her sister Diana Mitford and members of the Nazi Party Extraordinary as this all sounds, Litchfield claims to have credible sources. His mother, Kathleen Atkins, knew Unity Mitford as a child, while his paternal grandmother, Milly Howard-Brown, was part of her set in Hitler’s Germany. He also draws on the memories of his friend, Baroness Gaby Bentinck, whose industrialist father, Heinrich Thyssen, funded much of Hitler’s rise to power. She, too, moved in the same circles as Unity Mitford — but are these allegations just high-class hearsay, or might there be something in them?  Of Unity’s fascination with all matters sexual there is no doubt, if Litchfield is to be believed. Growing up at Swinbrook House, near the Oxfordshire village of Burford, one of her favourite artists was Hieronymus Bosch, famous for numerous paintings of Purgatory featuring explicitly sexual and violent images. Soon she was producing similarly shocking artwork of her own, according to David Litchfield’s mother Kathleen. The daughter of the local doctor, she recalled Unity showing her a notebook on the front of which were two copulating figures. She also claimed that on one occasion the teenage Unity raised her skirt in the local post office to demonstrate her preference for not wearing knickers. Along with her five sisters, Unity was described by one admirer as ‘astonishingly beautiful . . . very marvellous or Grecian’, and before long she reportedly had her first sexual experience. Atkins claimed this was with Oswald Mosley, the British fascist leader — and father of Max Mosley, former president of the International Automobile Federation.  Heritage: Unity Valkyrie Mitford was named after Richard Wagner's Die Valkyrie, after her father Bertie struck up a friendship with the fascist composer when they discovered they shared political views Unity Mitford at the 1938 Nuremberg Nazi celebration with Julius Streicher (left). The picture was taken by Hitler's personal photographer. Unity laughed to her friends about how Jews were humiliated at these dinners Oswald was referred to by one biographer as ‘gallant, confident, rich and darkly good-looking’. Unity met him in the summer of 1932 when he and her sister Diana, both married to other people, were in the middle of an affair. By Kathleen Atkins’ account, it did not stop 18-year-old Unity losing her virginity to him at a ball to mark the end of her debutante season. This is said to have happened on a billiard table in the early hours, and Atkins suggests Diana may even have encouraged her future husband’s intimacy with her sister. It chimes with suggestions of Diana’s voyeuristic interest in Unity’s love life during their time together in Nazi Germany. Hitler’s rise to power there seemed to Unity to be part of her destiny. As her parents David and Sydney Mitford, the ‘Farve’ and ‘Muv’ beloved of Mitford fans, liked to boast, she had been conceived in the unlikely sounding Canadian town of Swastika, Ontario. Unity Mitford was even once called 'a perfect specimen of Aryan womanhood' by the Fuhrer himself ‘It was such fun to have supper with Streicher as he’d have the Jews in after the meal. They’d be brought up from the cellar and be made to eat grass to entertain the guests.’ - Unity told her friend Rosemary Peto That was the location for a goldmine owned by her grandfather Bertie Mitford, whose decision to invest in a place with such a name was swayed by his enthusiastic support for Aryan supremacy and German nationalism in the days before the World War I. His political views also led him to become friendly with the family of the German composer Richard Wagner, whose patriotic works would later make him a favourite of Hitler. And it was at Bertie Mitford’s suggestion that his new granddaughter Unity, born in 1914, should take as her middle name the title of one of Wagner’s most famous operas, Die Valkyrie. This was a decision which, as we will see, would have the darkest consequences for the Honourable Unity Valkyrie Mitford. When she was 19, she could often be seen happily striding around the village of Burford and greeting locals with a Nazi salute and the words ‘Heil Hitler’, and she seized a chance to travel to Germany with Diana for the Nuremberg party rally of 1933. Although Unity would not meet Hitler for another two years, she was enraptured as they watched him address the choreographed cast of thousands. ‘The first moment I saw him, I knew there was no one I would rather meet,’ she said. In no doubt as to where her destiny lay, she persuaded her parents to let her attend a finishing school in Munich, not to be ‘finished’ but to learn German in preparation for the meeting with Hitler which she was determined she would eventually have. Young ambitions: Unity (top left and right) persuaded her parents to let her attend finishing school in Munich ahead of the meeting she was determined to have with Hitler. As a child growing up with her sisters (pictured from left: Nancy, Deborah and Diana), Unity was enraptured by the marching, musics and uniforms of the Nazis That she mastered the language very quickly is significant in David Litchfield’s view. ‘The family later distanced themselves from Unity’s involvement with Hitler by insisting that she had been a rather unintelligent, clumsy lump of a girl,’ he writes. ‘In fact, she was clearly highly intelligent.’ In her language teacher Frau Baum, Unity found not just a skilful tutor but also a loyal Nazi who exacerbated her own already aggressive anti-Semitism. ‘I want everyone to know that I am a Jew hater,’ Unity wrote in a letter to one German propaganda sheet. Once boasting that an elderly and heavily laden-down old Jewish lady had asked her for directions to the railway station and that she had delighted in sending her in the opposite direction, she began ingratiating herself into like-minded Nazi circles. After one meal with Julius Streicher, who was executed after the war having been described at the Nuremberg trials as a ‘number one Jew-baiter’, she told her friend Rosemary Peto about a particularly cruel form of after-dinner entertainment. ‘It was such fun to have supper with Streicher as he’d have the Jews in after the meal,’ she said. ‘They’d be brought up from the cellar and be made to eat grass to entertain the guests.’ Diana Guinness (second from right), pictured here with sister Unity Mitford and her sons in 1935. She was married to Bryan Guinness, Baron of Moyne and owner of the Guinness Brewing Company before marrying Oswald Mosley after a long extra-marital affair. It is said Unity lost her viriginity to Oswald two years earlier Such atrocious gatherings were all part of Unity’s attempts to get closer to Hitler and she developed an uncanny instinct for turning up wherever he happened to be. According to her sister Diana, who had also decided to move to Munich and learn German, she worked this out simply by reading the newspapers or looking to see if there were policemen in the square outside his flat. But Litchfield contends in his book that a far more likely source of information became evident when Diana returned unexpectedly early one night to the apartment shared by the two sisters. He claims it was then that Diana heard the sound of carnal activity above the strains of the Nazi anthem — and this had been corroborated by both Gaby Bentinck and Litchfield’s grandmother Milly Howard-Brown. ‘Later, with considerable pride, and no hint of shame, Unity admitted that sex with the SS officers was her Eucharist,’ he writes. And it was these soldiers who told her where Hitler would turn up. ‘Her bed, draped with swastika flags and surmounted by iconic images of the Fuhrer, was the altar devoted to her messiah, on which she gave her body to those closest to him, his personal warriors. She explained that remaining blindfolded minimised her personal involvement.’ Unity described the day she met Hitler in a letter to her father: 'The most wonderful and beautiful day of my life' As for Diana’s reaction, Litchfield suggests that she found her role as a voyeur exciting. ‘By mutual consent they would often repeat the process. From time to time she also took SS lovers, but only one at a time.’ This sex with the ‘Storms’, as the sisters called storm-troopers, apparently took an ever more dangerous twist for Unity when, after many months of hoping that Hitler might notice her as she lunched repeatedly at his favourite restaurant, he finally called her over to his table on February 9, 1935. Describing it in a letter to her father as ‘the most wonderful and beautiful day of my life’, she recalled that they talked for only half an hour, but she clearly made an impression. Her diary reveals that between then and September 1939, they met at least 140 times — approximately once a fortnight. ‘After he had given one of his hysterical performances at yet another party rally, he returned home exhausted,’ writes David Litchfield. ‘With insufficient energy even to talk, they listened to music together, particularly recordings of Wagner’s Ride Of The Valkyries.’ A shrouded tale: Lesley Anne Down filming the life story of Unity Mitford in a BBC series, Unity. Biographer David Litchfield claims her route into a sexual liaison with the Nazis was far more calculated than many believe Their relationship appears to have been platonic until one occasion when, as Unity bragged to Gaby Bentinck, she was surprised to see champagne in an ice bucket and lighted candles in his apartment. Convinced her beloved Fuhrer was about to seduce her, Unity was surprised when, after pouring them both a glass, he asked for details of her erotic encounters with his storm-troopers. Naively, she was shocked he knew of them, but his intimate questions suggested that, far from being angry, he was fascinated and even aroused. Particularly so when she confessed she only thought of him during these acts, and they were a symbol of her submission to his control. On his orders, the sessions with the ‘Storms’ continued, as did Unity’s erotic re-tellings of them in private audiences with Hitler. And from these sadomasochistic scenarios in which she offered herself bound and helpless to his henchmen at a shrine to him, the two developed a deadly fantasy inspired by her middle name. Derived from a Norse legend, the word Valkyrie described the immortal female figures who decide who shall be slain in battle, and then bring them to the kingdom of the dead, ruled over by the god Odin. Unity's life was also the subject of a Channel 4 documentary. But Litchfield claims the real story is yet to come out Casting himself in the role of Odin, Hitler would come to see Unity as his own personal Valkyrie and, according to David Litchfield, persuade her they could only be together when they were both in the after-life. This idea was encouraged by bisexual Hungarian aristocrat Count Janos Almasy, once the lover of Unity’s brother Tom but soon to become her partner in what she described to Gaby Bentinck as ‘savage fornication’. This took place in his castle on the Austro-Hungarian border. And like both Hitler and Unity, Almasy was fascinated by the occult practice of necromancy — the power of being able to control life and death — and his particular thrill was to deprive his lovers of oxygen at the point of orgasm by means of a silk noose. According to Gaby Bentinck, it was Unity’s enthusiasm for ‘gaspers’ as she called them which endeared her to Janos but he appears to have had little regard for her survival, encouraging her to take her life as Hitler had demanded. For Unity, it was to be the supreme sacrifice and the ultimate experience. As for Hitler, Litchfield speculates that, while he yearned for the frisson of causing her to take her own life, he was undecided when this should happen, as he was still enjoying her mortal company. The moment appears to have come over a lunch in Munich on August 5, 1939, less than a month before his forces invaded Poland. Unity later told Kathleen Atkins that while the rest of the company were talking among themselves, Hitler turned to her and announced quietly that if war broke out, it would be impossible for him to spend time with her and that she must now wait for him  ‘on the other side’. She did not see Hitler again before September 4 when, after confirmation that Britain was at war with Germany, she sat on a Munich park bench and shot  herself in the head with a silver  pistol, only for the bullet to be deflected by the bone of her skull. While it ploughed its way through her brain and ended up near the back of her head, it did not kill her — and, following a visit to her in hospital, Hitler arranged for her to be stretchered back to England on a train travelling via Switzerland. There was understandable public outrage when it was announced that the woman who had been openly consorting with Britain’s enemies would not face charges or even be interviewed by the security agencies. Nazi culture: Diana Mitford at the Nuremberg Rally in 1936 - one of many she attended - with Michael Burn Neither did she seem to show any signs of regret as she began recovering to what appeared to be almost full health. For her, the most traumatic thing in the years leading up to her death was the news that at the end of the war Hitler had taken his own life while she, his Valkyrie, remained mortal. At her own end in 1948 she succumbed to meningitis, thought to have been caused by an infection in her old bullet wound. Unrepentant to the end, she no doubt believed that Hitler and his Valkyrie might still be reunited in the after-life. For those who believe in such things, their rendezvous could only be in Hell — and for the dictator and the debutante who became his disciple, even as he sent millions of innocents to their graves, that seems scarcely punishment enough.

Prince Philip dubbed it 'bloody daft' and critics say that the idea of debutantes presenting themselves to the aristocracy is outdated and elitist, but for certain sections of British society the Queen Charlotte's Ball at the Royal Courts of Justice is the ultimate summer event. Dubbed the 'crowning event of the London Season' the guest list is hand-picked with care: only young women from the richest families are invited to the  ball where, after months of careful preparation and spending thousands of pounds on each ticket, the young debutantes are able to show off their skills in poise and elegance. In the past debutante balls were seen as a rite of passage for the young women of the upper classes, an opportunity to introduce themselves to society and seek out a potential suitor, but for today's debutantes the Season is seen as an opportunity to wear a designer gown, party their way around Europe, and do a little something for charity. Today the debutantes, all aged between 17 and 20, follow the traditional Queen Charlotte's cake in to the ballroom where the girls perform special curtsies to their hosts (not, as popularly believed, to a massive cake) before being judged on their posture, elegance and pace by the room. The event involves meetings with aristocracy, etiquette classes, and charity fund-raising, and the 'deb of the year' is chosen according to 'who has worked hardest’ during fund-raising activities throughout the season and shown the most enthusiasm (she is usually the prettiest too, although that is not an official judging requirement). High society: Debutantes make their way to the main hall during the Queen Charlotte's Ball at the Royal Courts of Justice Queen Charlotte's Ball is the pinnacle event in the London Season. Pictured right, the young ladies rehearse their curtsey Trepidation: Debutantes wait nervously in line to be presented to guests The young women spend months preparing for their dramatic entrance in to the ballroom and go to several dress fittings to make sure their couture gowns cling perfectly Tradition and modernity: Debutantes use their smart phones to photograph each other as they await the arrival of guests THE SOCIAL EVENT OF THE SEASON Queen Charlotte's Ball was introduced by King George III in 1780 as a way to celebrate his wife’s birthday. Up until 1958, young debutantes used to be presented to the Queen at Buckingham Palace, until Prince Philip pointed out that it was ‘bloody daft’. Not only did parents hope their daughters would meet a suitable young man, the Season aimed to equip the young women with poise, confidence and social skills needed for their married lives. The white dresses worn by the debutantes are a nod to the virginity that was once required of a bride. They are also a reminder of the outfits worn by Queen Charlotte's ladies, who all would have been single women. As well as Prince Phillip's dismissal, the Queen felt such an elitist event was at odds with her desire for a more modern monarchy. Her sister, Princess Margaret, was also reportedly not a fan. She is reported to have said: 'We had to put a stop to it - every tart in London was getting in.' Glitter: The modern group of meticulously selected debutantes continue the tradition and celebrate their year of charity fund raising, etiquette classes and debut at The Queen Charlotte's Ball The young ladies, usually aged between 17 and 20, attend the grand ball where they are presented to guests and curtsey towards the Queen Charlotte Cake The London Season is rich in history and was formed over two hundred years ago Guests take to the dance floor at the glittering event It used to take place before the Queen, but now Queen Charlotte's Ball takes place at the Royal Courts of Justice Guidance: Ball coordinator Lukas Kroulik directs debutantes as they rehearse The young attendees rest their feet in the run up to the event Selfie: A debutante takes a picture of herself to capture the moment No austerity here: Tickets to the event cost thousands. Pictured right, debutantes Olivia Kielbafinki-Podlaszewfka (left) and Jennifer Ward, both aged 19 Former debutante Patricia Woodal and Ball coordinator Lukas Kroulik direct debutantes as they rehearse King George III introduced the Queen Charlotte's Ball in 1780 to celebrate his wife's birthday and debutantes were traditionally presented to the King or Queen until 1958 Totter: Debutantes rehearse walking in their dress shoes Beauty: Lauren Evans, aged 23, has her make up applied Jennifer Ward has her hair styled before the event begins Alley-oop: Lukas Kroulik gives a helping hand to debutantes as they get to their feet after relaxing on the floor Dazzling smile: Debutante Jennifer Ward, 19, waits in line to be presented to guests during the Queen Charlotte's Ball Debutantes Eeman Alansari (left) , aged 20, from Dubai and Nicole Gilmer, from California pose as they await the arrival of guests Debutante Nicole Gilmer, from California. the event now attracts women from throughout the globe Debutante Mollie Lindholm-Saltskog (left) poses in her ball gown and long gloves. Right, Maria Austin smiles as she is announced as Debutante of the Year Miss Austin stands next to the ball cake after receiving her accolade Crowning achievement: Stylists select tiaras for debutantes Debutantes (left to right) Elosie Knight, Yasmin Banks and Nicole Gilmer, all aged 17, wait for the arrival of their ball gowns