Yearly Archives: 2013

Willem III, King of the Netherlands, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Willem III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg;  Credit: Wikipedia

Willem III, King of the Netherlands and Grand Duke of Luxembourg was born on February 19, 1817, in the Palace of the Nation (now the building that houses the Belgian legislature) in Brussels, which was then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.  He was the eldest of the five children of King Willem II of the Netherlands and Anna Pavlovna of Russia, daughter of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia.

Willem had four siblings:

Willem II and Anna Pavlovna with their family. From left to right: the future Willem III, Alexander, Willem II, Anna Pavlovna, Sophie, and Hendrik; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 18, 1839, in Stuttgart, Kingdom of  Württemberg, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Willem married his first cousin Princess Sophie of Württemberg, the daughter of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg and Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna of Russia.  King Otto I of Greece had been an early candidate for a husband for Sophie. However, Sophie’s father had no confidence in the newly established Greek monarchy and Willem was chosen. Sophie met Willem for the first time in 1838 after both fathers had already agreed upon the marriage. Willem fell in love with Sophie, but she saw nothing in him. She tried to resist the marriage, but it was in vain. Sophie’s father thought Willem was an excellent match for his daughter and Willem’s father did not want to abandon the commitment to the marriage.

Willem and Sophie had three sons, but they all predeceased their father:

Prince Maurits (left) with his brother Prince Wilhelm;  Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Alexander; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage of Sophie and Willem was ultimately unsuccessful. Willem had numerous extramarital affairs and had numerous illegitimate children. Sophie let him know that she thought him inferior to her and unfit to serve as king. She was convinced she could do better ruling the country as a regent. Sophie tried to divorce her husband, but because of national interests, this was impossible. In 1855, an agreement was made that Sophie would have her own quarters at Noordeinde Palace and that she would spend the summers at Huis ten Bosch Palace without her husband.

Queen Sophie; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 3, 1877, Queen Sophie died at the age of 58. Willem was eager to marry again to ensure the future of the House of Orange. One of his three children (all sons), Prince Maurits, had died in 1850 and neither of the other two sons was married.  At the suggestion of his only sister, he contacted George Victor, Sovereign Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Princess Helena of Nassau, who had several marriageable daughters. In July 1878, Willem visited the family at their summer home where he met 23-year-old Princess Pauline and 20-year-old Princess Emma. His eyes first fell on Pauline, but soon he chose Emma and proposed to her. Willem was 61 years old, 41 years older than Emma. Emma had lessons in the Dutch language and Dutch history before her marriage because she wanted to come to her new country as a Dutch woman. The couple was married on January 7, 1879, in Emma’s birthplace Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in Hesse, Germany. Emma had a positive influence on Willem and the marriage was extremely happy. The last decade of Willem’s life was the best years of his reign.

Queen Emma and King Willem III; Credit – Wikipedia

Willem and Emma had one daughter:

Queen Emma with her daughter Wilhelmina; Credit – Wikipedia

The Netherlands followed the Sem-Salic Law which allowed for female succession only if there were no male dynasts. In September 1879, Willem’s eldest son Prince Willem died, leaving only one son.  At the time of Wilhelmina’s birth, her half-brother Prince Alexander and the King’s uncle Prince Frederik were alive, so Wilhelmina was third in the line of succession. Prince Frederik died in 1881 and upon the death of Prince Alexander in 1884, Wilhelmina became the heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, and Emma was appointed to be Regent if Wilhelmina came to the throne before her majority.

Funeral of King Willem III; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1888, King Willem III’s health began to decline. When it became apparent that Willem could no longer reign, Emma was sworn in as Regent on November 20, 1890. On November 23, 1890, 73-year-old King Willem III died at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn, the Netherlands. He was buried at Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, the Netherlands.

Ten-year-old Wilhelmina became Queen. Emma took over as Regent for her daughter until Wilhelmina’s eighteenth birthday in 1898. The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg could not be inherited by a woman at that time and it passed to a distant cousin Adolphe, Duke of Nassau who was also Queen Emma’s maternal uncle.

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Kingdom of the Netherlands Resources at Unofficial Royalty

November 20, 1992 – Fire seriously damages Windsor Castle

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Aerial view of Windsor Castle, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On November 24, 1992, in a speech at the Guildhall in London marking the 40th anniversary of her accession, Queen Elizabeth II said “1992 is not a year on which I shall look back with undiluted pleasure. In the words of one of my more sympathetic correspondents, it has turned out to be an ‘Annus Horribilis‘.”   Indeed it was a horrible year for the Queen.  In March 1992, it was announced that the Duke and Duchess of York would separate.  In April, the Princess Royal divorced her husband, Captain Mark Phillips.  In June, the Princess of Wales’ tell-all book, Diana, Her True Story by Andrew Morton, was published.  Just two weeks after the Guildhall speech, on December 9, Prime Minister John Major announced to Parliament that the Prince and Princess of Wales would separate, something the Queen must have known about at the time of her speech.  And on November 20, just four days before the Guildhall speech, a fire seriously damaged Windsor Castle, the Queen’s oldest home with the most history.

Windsor Castle, an official residence of the British monarch, has been a royal residence for over 900 years and has the distinction of being the world’s longest-occupied castle and the world’s largest occupied castle.  William the Conqueror chose the site, high above the River Thames, because it was a day’s march from London and therefore could guard the western approaches to London.  The outer walls of today’s castle are in the same place as those of the original castle, as is the central mound supporting the Round Tower and the Upper Ward, where monarchs have had their private apartments since the fourteenth century.  Originally built out of wood, much of Windsor Castle was rebuilt in stone in the 1170s by Henry II. In the 1360s, Edward III built St. George’s Hall for the use of the knights of his newly founded Order of the Garter.  St.  George’s Chapel, dedicated to the patron saint of the Order of the Garter, was begun by Edward IV in 1475 and completed by Henry VIII.  Eleven British monarchs and other members of the British Royal Family are buried in St. George’s Chapel.

Plan of Windsor Castle, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Key to Plan
A: The Round Tower
B: The Upper Ward, The Quadrangle
C: The State Apartments
D: Private Apartments, overlooking the East Terrace
E: South Wing, overlooking The Long Walk
F: Lower Ward
G: St. George’s Chapel
H: Horseshoe Cloister
L: The Long Walk
K: King Henry VIII Gate (principal entrance)
M: Norman Gate
N: North Terrace
O: Edward IV Tower
T: The Curfew Tower

Windsor Castle on fire, Photo Credit – www.windsorexpress.co.uk

On November 20, 1992, at 11:33 AM, a fire began in the Private Chapel when a spotlight left too close to curtains by a painter, started the fire.  The location of the fire was shown on a map of the castle by an indicator light and the chief officer of the castle’s fire brigade immediately sounded the public fire alarm.  The fire was initially in the Brunswick Tower, but soon many other indicator bulbs lit up, as the fire spread to neighboring rooms, including the State Apartments which are the rooms the public is allowed to visit.  Prince Andrew was the only member of the Royal Family at the castle and advised the Queen of the fire via mobile phone and then helped in the removal of valuable items.  By 12:20 PM, the fire had spread to St. George’s Hall, built in the 1360s and the largest of the State Apartments, and the roof of St. George’s Hall would later collapse.  The Queen arrived at 3 PM and stayed at the castle for an hour, returning again the following morning.  Prince Charles visited in the evening and Prince Andrew briefed the press at 3 PM.

Queen Elizabeth II looks shocked as she views the fire damage, Credit – www.huffingtonpost.co.uk

It took 15 hours and one-and-a-half million gallons of water to put out the fire. Nine principal rooms and over 100 other rooms over an area of 9,000 square meters were damaged or destroyed by the fire, approximately 20% of the area of the castle.  There were no deaths or serious injuries, but Christopher Lloyd, the Surveyor of The Queen’s Pictures, suffered a suspected heart attack, five firefighters were taken to the hospital with minor injuries, and a decorator in the Private Chapel suffered minor burns while rescuing paintings.  Firefighters, castle staff, and some local people were able to save many valuable items including furniture and works of art from the endangered apartments, including a 150-foot long table, a 120-foot long carpet from the Waterloo Chamber, 300 clocks, a collection of miniatures, many thousands of valuable books and manuscripts, and old Master drawings from the Royal Library.

The restoration of the damaged areas took five years and was completed six months ahead of schedule on 20 November 1997 at a cost of £37 million (US $59.2 million), £3 million below budget.  70% of the cost of restoration was to be met by charging the public entry fees to the Windsor Castle precincts, and to Buckingham Palace. Queen Elizabeth II contributed £2 million.

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November 16, 1937 – Deaths of the Grand Ducal Family of Hesse and by Rhine

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Hesse-family

The Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess with their sons. Photo: personal collection

On November 16, 1937, a scheduled flight left Germany, bound for London. It was scheduled to stop in Brussels, however, the weather did not allow for a safe landing and the pilot continued on to Ostend with the intent of landing there. Unfortunately, the weather was just as bad, with almost no visibility. While attempting to land, the plane clipped a chimney on a factory near the airport. The plane was torn apart and crashed. The seven passengers, the pilot, and three crew members were all killed.

Onboard the plane were most of the members of the Grand Ducal Family of Hesse and by Rhine –  Hereditary Grand Duke Georg Donatus, his wife the former Princess Cecilie of Greece, their two elder children, Ludwig and Alexander, and Georg Donatus’ widowed mother, the Dowager Grand Duchess Eleonore. They were heading to London for the wedding of Georg Donatus’ younger brother Prince Ludwig to Margaret Geddes scheduled for November 20, 1937. Traveling with the family were Lina Hahn, the children’s nurse, and Baron Joachim Riedesel zu Eisenbach, the intended best man at Ludwig’s wedding. The couple’s youngest child Johanna had remained in Darmstadt. The Hereditary Grand Duchess Cecilie was heavily pregnant with her fourth child at the time and the remains of her unborn son were found amongst the wreckage. This has led to speculation that she may have gone into labor while in flight, which would explain the pilot’s attempt to land in Ostend despite the weather conditions. It is also possible that the distress and trauma of the crash caused her to give birth to the stillborn child.

Once news of the plane crash reached London, a wedding was quickly arranged for Prince Ludwig and Margaret on October 17, after which the couple flew to Belgium to visit the crash site and make arrangements to bring the remains home to Darmstadt. The wedding was already overshadowed by grief. Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig, the father of Ludwig and Georg Donatus had just died a few weeks earlier. Despite this, it was decided that the wedding would go on as scheduled.

The funeral was held several days later, attended by Prince Ludwig and his new wife, and most of Cecilie’s family. These included her parents, Prince Andrew of Greece and Princess Alice of Battenberg; her three sisters with their husbands – Margarita, The Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Theodora, The Margravine of Baden, and Sophie, Princess Christoph of Hesse; her brother Philip, the future Duke of Edinburgh; her maternal uncle, Lord Louis Mountbatten (later Earl Mountbatten of Burma), and her maternal grandmother, The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven. The family was all buried in the burial ground next to the New Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe, Darmstadt, Hesse, Germany.

The Grand Ducal couple’s young daughter Johanna was adopted by her uncle Ludwig and his wife Margaret. However, less than two years later, she contracted meningitis and died. She is buried with the rest of the family.

Princess Johanna with her aunt and uncle Prince Ludwig and Princess Margaret; Photo: The Esoteric Curiosa

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Saint Margaret of Scotland, Queen of Scotland

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2013

Saint Margaret of Scotland, stained glass window at St. Margaret’s Chapel at Edinburgh Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite being called Saint Margaret of Scotland, Margaret was born an Anglo-Saxon princess around 1045 in Hungary.  Her father was Edward the Exile (also called Edward Ætheling), the son of King Edmund Ironside (King Edmund II).  Edmund Ironside succeeded his father Æthelred II the Unready as King of England on April 23, 1016. Edmund’s reign was short-lived.  During his seven-month reign, Edmund battled against the Danish Cnut the Great for control of England.  After a victory for the Danes at the Battle of Assandun on October 18, 1016, Edmund was forced to sign a treaty with Cnut which stated that all of England except Wessex would be controlled by Cnut.  When one of the kings died, the other would take all of England, that king’s son being the heir to the throne.  Edmund Ironside died on November 30, 1016, and Cnut became king of all England.

Edmund Ironside had two very young children, Edward and Edmund. According to the English monk and chronicler John of Worcester, King Cnut sent the two children to King Olaf Skötkonung of Sweden to be murdered, but instead, the king sent them to Kyiv where his daughter was the queen.  Sometime in the 1040s, Edward and Edmund, now adults, both traveled to Hungary and helped the exiled Andrew of Hungary become King of Hungary. Edmund died in Hungary before 1054.  Edward the Exile married Agatha,  whose background is uncertain.  Edward and Agatha had three children who were all born in Hungary:  Margaret (born circa 1045), Edgar the Ætheling (born circa 1051), and Cristina (born in the 1040s).

In 1057, Edward the Confessor, the childless King of England, discovered that his nephew Edward the Exile was still alive and summoned him to England in 1057 as a potential successor.  However, Edward died within two days of his arrival in England and the cause of his death has never been determined.  Murder is a possibility, as he had many powerful enemies.  His three children were then raised in the court of Edward the Confessor, who died in January 1066.  At that time Edgar was considered too young to be king and the Witenagemot elected Harold Godwinson king mainly because he could defend England against foreign claimants to the English throne.  In October 1066, William of Normandy (the Conqueror) invaded England and defeated Harold at the Battle of Hastings.  Following Harold’s death in battle, the Witenagemot elected Edgar the Ætheling, the last of the House of Wessex, as King of England.  As William of Normandy’s position grew stronger, it became evident to those in power that King Edgar should be abandoned and that they should submit to William.

In 1068, Edgar, along with his mother Agatha and sisters Margaret and Cristina, fled to Northumbria.  Agatha wanted to return to Hungary, but a storm blew their ship off course. They sought refuge from King Malcolm III of Scotland, the Malcolm in the play Macbeth by William Shakespeare.  Malcolm’s first wife Ingebjorg Finnsdotter died around 1069, and shortly thereafter he married Margaret.  Margaret and Malcolm had eight children, six sons and two daughters.  Bearing in mind that William the Conqueror’s new dynasty in England was not secure, Margaret and Malcolm gave Anglo-Saxon royal names to four of their sons and named the other two sons after Alexander the Great and the biblical  King David.  Their daughter Edith married King Henry I of England and is the ancestor of the British and other European royal families.

Margaret introduced continental fashions, manners, and ceremonies to the Scottish court, thereby increasing economic ties and communication between Scotland and the European continent.   Malcolm sought Margaret’s advice on matters of state, and with other English exiles, Margaret was influential in introducing English-style feudalism and parliament to Scotland.

Margaret had been religious since childhood and her strong faith influenced her husband.  Margaret taught Malcolm how to control his temper and encouraged his religious faith by reading him Bible stories. She and the king prayed together and fed the hungry, serving as role models to the people of Scotland.  Margaret personally supervised the religious studies and education of her children.

In her private life, Margaret exhibited great piety.  She had certain times of the day for prayer and reading the Bible. She ate sparingly and slept little to have time for prayers. During Lent and Advent, Margaret always awakened at midnight for Mass.  After Mass, she would wash the feet of six poor people and give them alms. Beggars always surrounded her in public and she never refused them. Her biographer Turgot, Bishop of St. Andrews recorded that she never sat down to eat without first feeding nine orphans and 24 adults.

On November 13, 1093, Margaret’s husband Malcolm and her eldest son Edward were killed at the Battle of Alnwick. Malcolm’s eldest son from his first marriage King Donald II of Scotland succeeded him. After King Donald II was killed in battle in 1094, Margaret and Malcolm’s three sons succeeded to the Scottish throne.

Weakened from her constant fasting and austere life, Margaret was already ill when her husband and eldest son went off to battle.  She died at Dunfermline just three days after her husband and son’s death and was buried in Dunfermline Abbey which she and her husband had founded.  Margaret was canonized as a saint in 1250 by Pope Innocent IV.  On June 19, 1250, following her canonization, Margaret’s remains were disinterred and placed in a reliquary at the high altar of Dunfermline Abbey. Malcolm’s remains were reburied next to Margaret.  During the Scottish Reformation in 1560, Dunfermline Abbey was sacked and fell into disrepair.  St. Margaret’s remains, along with those of her husband, were transferred to a chapel in El Escorial, near Madrid, Spain but the location of the remains is now unknown.  Upon the orders of Queen Victoria, the tomb of Saint Margaret and King Malcolm III was restored during the 19th century.

A depiction of Saint Margaret’s original tomb at Dunfermline Abbey; Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Abdication of Grand Duchess Charlotte; Accession of Grand Duke Jean

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

“I feel I have reached the age to retire, and I think that Jean is the age to take over.
After all, I am 68 now.”
– Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg

 

On November 12, 1964, in the presence of her family and members of the government, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg signed the declaration of abdication after a reign that lasted nearly 46 years. Her eldest son Jean became the new reigning Grand Duke of Luxembourg. Nearly 36 years, Jean himself would abdicate in favor of his eldest son Grand Duke Henri. (You can read more about that here)

Charlotte was never expected to become Grand Duchess. She was the second of six daughters of Grand Duke Guillaume IV and his wife, Infanta Marie Anne of Portugal. At the time, only male descendants could succeed to the throne. However, having only daughters, Grand Duke Guillaume IV made a change to the house laws allowing his daughters to succeed him should there be no male heir. Upon his death in 1912, his eldest daughter, Marie-Adelaide, became Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. This change applied only to the daughters of Guillaume. It would not be until 2011 that Luxembourg adopted absolute primogeniture, allowing all children, in order of birth, to succeed to the throne.

Marie-Adelaide’s reign lasted only until 1919. During World War I, she was perceived as being too “friendly” with the Germans who had occupied Luxembourg. While remaining with her constitutional role, her actions, or perceived actions, led to many in the government to call for her abdication. Ceding to this pressure, she abdicated on January 14, 1919, and her younger sister Charlotte became the new Grand Duchess.

Charlotte’s reign saw her become a much-loved leader in the country and a voice of strength and unity during World War II. When the Germans occupied Luxembourg, Charlotte, having learned from her sister’s experience during the First World War, chose not to remain in the country and with her family, fled the country. She established her government-in-exile in London where she continued to give radio broadcasts to the people of Luxembourg. She and her family returned in 1945, where she worked effortlessly to rebuild and restore Luxembourg and propel the small Grand Duchy onto the world’s stage.

After nearly 20 more years, Charlotte decided that it was time to pass the torch to her son Jean. While remaining the head of state, in 1961 Charlotte handed over much of her constitutional duties to Jean, who served as Lieutenant Representative. Finally, in 1964, she formally abdicated in his favor.

Following the brief ceremony at the Grand-Ducal Palace, at which Charlotte signed the declaration of abdication, her son Jean was formally enthroned at a ceremony in the Hall of the Chamber of Deputies, where he swore allegiance to the Constitution of Luxembourg. A Te Deum was then held at the Cathedral Notre Dame de Luxembourg, and the family appeared several times on the balcony of the Grand-Ducal Palace.

Grand Duchess Charlotte passed away at her home, Fischbach Castle, in July 1985. She was 89.

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Death of Princess Charlotte of Wales in childbirth and its impact on the British succession

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Princess Charlotte of Wales; Credit – Wikipedia

Not many people remember Princess Charlotte of Wales, but I think it is important that she be remembered and that it is understood how her death affected the British succession.

Princess Charlotte of Wales was the only child of George, Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, and the only legitimate grandchild of King George III. She married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld, the future uncle of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and the future Leopold I, King of the Belgians. Charlotte suffered two miscarriages in the early months of her first two pregnancies, but the third pregnancy in 1817 gave Charlotte and Leopold hope. After a labor of over 50 hours, Charlotte delivered a stillborn son. Several hours later, twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte died of postpartum hemorrhage on November 6, 1817. Had Charlotte lived, she would have succeeded her father as Queen of the United Kingdom. Charlotte was mourned by the British people like the mourning of Diana, Princess of Wales. Her pregnancy and delivery were grossly mismanaged and the doctor in charge, Sir Richard Croft, who later died by suicide.

Memorial to Charlotte at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor; Credit – http://www.stgeorges-windsor.org/

At the time of her death, Charlotte, who was second in line to the throne, was the only legitimate grandchild of King George III, even though eleven of his fifteen children were still living. Charlotte’s death left no legitimate heir in the second generation and prompted the aging sons of King George III to begin a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession.

King George III’s eldest son (Charlotte’s father) and his second son Frederick, Duke of York, were in loveless marriages, and their wives, both in their late forties, were not expected to produce heirs. The third son William, Duke of Clarence, age 53, married 26-year-old Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. 50-year-old Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son, married 32-year-old widow Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld. Victoire was the sister of Leopold, Princess Charlotte’s widower. 21-year-old Augusta of Hesse-Kassel was married to 44-year-old Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, the seventh son. It was then the scramble to produce an heir began.

Within a short time, the three new Duchesses, along with Frederica, wife of the fifth son Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, became pregnant. Augusta gave birth to a son on March 26, 1819; Adelaide had a daughter the following day. Victoire produced a daughter on May 24, 1819, and three days later Frederica had a boy. Adelaide’s daughter would have been the heir but the little princess died in infancy. The child of the next Royal Duke in seniority stood to inherit the throne. This was Alexandrina Victoria, daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld. The baby stood fifth in line to the throne after her uncles George, Frederick and William, and her father Edward.

The baby’s father Edward died on January 23, 1820, eight months after her birth. Six days later, King George III’s death brought his eldest son to the throne as King George IV. Frederick, Duke of York, died in 1827, bringing the young princess a step closer to the throne. King George IV died in 1830 and his brother William (IV) succeeded him. During King William IV’s reign little Drina, as she was called, was the heiress presumptive. There was always the possibility that King William IV and Queen Adelaide would still produce an heir but it was not to be. William died on June 20, 1837, and left the throne to his 18-year-old niece, who is known to history as Queen Victoria.

Read more about Queen Victoria and her family at House of Hanover: Queen Victoria Index.

Queen Victoria’s coronation portrait, Credit – Wikipedia

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Princess Nora of Liechtenstein

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Embed from Getty Images 

Her Serene Highness Princess Norberta (Nora) Elizabeth Maria Assunta Josefine Georgine et omnes sancti was born on October 31, 1950, in Zurich, Switzerland, the fourth of the five children and only daughter of Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein and Countess Georgina von Wilczek.

Princess Nora has four brothers:

After her primary schooling in Liechtenstein, Nora attended the University of Geneva and the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She has worked for the World Bank and the International Institute for Environment and Development and speaks French, English, German and Spanish.

In June 1988, Princess Nora married Don Vicente Sartorius y Cabeza de Vaca, the 4th Marquess of Mariño, a former Olympic bobsledder. He passed away in July 2002. The couple had one daughter:

  • María Teresa Sartorius y de Liechtenstein (born 1992)

Embed from Getty Images

Princess Nora has been actively involved in both the Liechtenstein and International Olympic organizations. She served as President of the Liechtenstein Olympic Committee from 1982-1992 and has been President of Special Olympics Liechtenstein since 2002. She has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1987.

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Catherine of Valois, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Catherine of Valois, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

“On Shrove Tuesday 1669, I to the Abbey went, and by favour did see the body of Queen Catherine of Valois, and had the upper part of the body in my hands, and I did kiss her mouth, reflecting upon it I did kiss a Queen: and this my birthday and I thirty-six years old and I did kiss a Queen.” Samuel Pepys, an English naval administrator and Member of Parliament who is most famous for the diary he kept during the years 1660-1669, wrote this in his diary on his 36th birthday.

The queen was Catherine of Valois, wife of King Henry V of England, mother of King Henry VI of England, and grandmother of Henry Tudor who became King Henry VII of England. During renovations of Westminster Abbey in the reign of King Henry VII, Catherine’s tomb was destroyed (some say to distance her grandson Henry VII from his illegitimate ancestry) and her remains were placed in a wooden coffin and kept above ground.  Abbey vergers charged a shilling to remove the coffin’s lid so curious visitors could view Catherine’s corpse.  Her coffin remained a public spectacle for over 200 years until it was buried in the Villiers Vault in the St. Nicholas Chapel of Westminster Abbey in 1778.  In 1878, Catherine’s remains were re-buried in a new altar tomb of Henry V’s Chantry in Westminster Abbey.

Tomb of Catherine of Valois; Credit – https://www.westminster-abbey.org/abbey-commemorations/royals/henry-v-and-catherine-de-valois/

Catherine of Valois was born a French princess on October 27, 1401, the tenth of the twelve children of King Charles VI of France and Isabeau of Bavaria.  Once known as Charles the Beloved, Catherine’s father became known as Charles the Mad when he began to suffer bouts of insanity in 1392 which continued throughout his life.  During one bout, Charles thought he was made of glass and acted in ways that caused him to protect himself so that he would not break.  Catherine’s son King Henry VI of England also suffered from similar bouts and it is possible that they were both suffering from porphyria, which is a hereditary disease believed to have plagued King George III of Great Britain, a descendant of Catherine of Valois through one of her sons by Owen Tudor.

Catherine had eleven siblings:

Most notable of Catherine’s seven siblings who reached adulthood is King Charles VII of France, the Dauphin helped by Joan of Arc during the Hundred Years War, and Isabella of Valois, the second wife and widow of King Richard II of England.  King Henry IV  had usurped the throne from his cousin King Richard II.  It is thought that Richard starved to death in captivity on or around February 14, 1400, but there is uncertainty over the date and manner of his death. King Henry IV then decided the widowed Queen Isabella should marry his son, the future King Henry V of England, but she refused. Knowing her husband was dead, she went into mourning, ignoring King Henry IV’s demands. Eventually, Isabella was allowed to return to France where she married a second time and died in childbirth at the age of 19.

King Henry IV had started negotiations to marry Catherine to his heir Henry, but he died before the negotiations were completed.  The new king, Henry V, continued the marriage negotiations.  He was eager to regain all the French land that previous English kings had lost over the centuries and reign in England and France. He intended to accomplish this either by conquest or marriage.  As a dowry, King Henry V demanded two million crowns and the return of Normandy and Aquitaine.  The French refused and King Henry V declared war.  According to contemporary writers, Catherine took pride in the fact that she was worth fighting for and was eager to marry Henry.  After many defeats including the great English victory at the Battle of Agincourt, the French agreed to the marriage.  A peace treaty was agreed upon in May 1420 and one of the provisions was that King Charles VI of France would acknowledge King Henry V of England as his heir.  Catherine and Henry were married at Troyes Cathedral in France on June 2, 1420. Despite the peace treaty, fighting continued and Catherine spent the first few months of her marriage accompanying Henry from battle to battle.

Marriage of King Henry V of England and Catherine of Valois; Credit:  Wikipedia

Eventually, the couple returned to England, and Catherine was crowned Queen of England at Westminster Abbey on February 23, 1421.  By the summer, Catherine was pregnant and Henry was returning to France to continue his military campaigns.  Henry was superstitious and had warned Catherine against giving birth at Windsor Castle.  Catherine did not listen to him and on December 6, 1421, gave birth to a boy at Windsor Castle:

Upon hearing the news of his son’s birth, King Henry V said to his chamberlain Lord Fitz-Hugh, “I, Henry born at Monmouth, shall small time reign and much get, but Henry born at Windsor shall long reign and lose all.”  Within nine months, his prophecy came true.  On August 31, 1422, King Henry V died of dysentery, nine days before his 36th birthday, having reigned nine years, and his son King Henry VI at the age of nine months started his 40 years on the throne.  Catherine was left a widow at the age of 21.

The two surviving brothers of King Henry V played important roles during the minority of King Henry VI.  John, Duke of Bedford, was appointed Regent of the Realm and was in charge of the ongoing war in France. During Bedford’s absence, the government of England was headed by King Henry V’s other surviving brother, Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester, who was appointed Protector and Defender of the Realm. His duties were limited to keeping the peace and summoning Parliament.

Because Catherine was still quite marriageable, Parliament passed a bill setting the rules for the remarriage of a queen dowager.  The bill stated that if a queen dowager married without the king’s consent, her husband would lose his lands and possessions, but any children of the marriage would not suffer any consequences.  A “Catch 22” which would seem not to allow Catherine to marry any time soon stated that permission could only be granted once the king had reached his majority.  At the time of the bill’s passage, Henry VI was six years old.

With Catherine being a young widow and with apparently no chance of remarriage, it should not seem unusual that an amorous relationship would be likely.  Owen ap Maredudd ap Tudor (in Welsh  Owain ap Maredudd ap Tewdwr) was a Welsh soldier and courtier, descended from a daughter of the Welsh prince Rhys ap Gruffudd.  He served in Catherine’s household and their relationship began when Catherine was living at Windsor Castle.  There is much debate as to whether Catherine and Owen married.  No documentation of marriage exists and even if they did marry, their marriage would not have been legal due to the act regarding the remarriage of a queen dowager.  From the relationship between Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois descended King Henry VII of England and the Tudor dynasty. The British royal family and many other European royal families descended from their great-granddaughter Margaret Tudor.

It is uncertain how many children Catherine and Owen had. The following four can be verified:

Catherine died at the Abbey of St. Saviour in Bermondsey, London, England on January 3, 1437, following the birth of her last child and was buried in Westminster Abbey. After her death, Catherine’s two sons Edmund and Jasper went to live with Katherine de la Pole, Abbess of Barking, sister of William de la Pole, 1st Duke of Suffolk.  Katherine de la Pole persuaded King Henry VI to take an interest in the boys, who were his half-brothers. King Henry VI eventually gave his two Tudor half-brothers the rank of Earl and issued an edict that the legitimization of his two Tudor half-brothers was unnecessary.

Owen Tudor became an early casualty of the Wars of the Roses between the House of Lancaster and the House of York. On February 2, 1461, Owen, at the age of 60, unsuccessfully led the Lancastrian forces at the Battle of Mortimer’s Cross against the Yorkists led by Edward, Earl of March (the future King Edward IV). Owen was beheaded at Hereford along with other prisoners and was buried there. Before his execution, he is alleged to have said that “the head which used to lie in Queen Catherine’s lap would now lie in the executioner’s basket”.

Catherine’s son with King Henry V, King Henry VI, reigned in England from 1422 to 1461 and again from 1470 to 1471.  From 1455 onward, the Wars of the Roses tore the country apart literally and emotionally.  After the Yorkist victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury where King Henry VI’s only child Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales was killed, King Henry VI ultimately lost his crown to the Yorkist King Edward IV. Henry was imprisoned in the Wakefield Tower at the Tower of London and died, most likely by murder, during the night of May 21/22, 1471.

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England: House of Lancaster Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German Empress, Queen of Prussia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg; German Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

The first wife of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg was born on October 22, 1858, in Dolzig Palace in Sommerfeld, Prussia (now Lubsko, Poland).  A great-niece of Queen Victoria, a niece of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the husband of Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Helena, and a descendant of Danish and British kings, Augusta Victoria was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia.  Her full German name was Auguste Viktoria Friederike Luise Feodora Jenny, but she was known as Dona.  Her father was Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, a great-grandson of King Christian VII of Denmark, and his wife Princess Caroline Matilda of Wales, sister of King George III of Great Britain.  Her mother was Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the daughter of Queen Victoria’s half-sister, Princess Feodora of Leiningen.

Dona was the eldest surviving child of her parents’ seven children and grew up with her four surviving siblings.

Dona’s siblings:

Because of the Schleswig-Holstein Question, the family had lived in several places: Dona’s birthplace, Dolzig Palace in Sommerfeld, Prussia (now Lubsko, Poland), in Gotha, which was one of the two capitals of the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, and in Primkenau, formerly in Germany but now in Poland. (Note: I am not attempting to explain the Schleswig-Holstein Question, referring readers to the Wikipedia link above and quoting British Prime Minister Lord Palmerston: “The Schleswig-Holstein question is so complicated, only three men in Europe have ever understood it. One was Prince Albert, who is dead. The second was a German professor who became mad. I am the third and I have forgotten all about it.”)

In 1868, when she was ten years old, Dona first met Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, who was only a few months younger than her and was the eldest child of the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia (the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal).  In the years that followed, Dona fell in love with her cousin Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen and was sent to England to visit relatives to quash the romance. Wilhelm had proposed to his first cousin, Princess Elisabeth (Ella) of Hesse and by Rhine. Ella, however, turned him down and later would marry into the Russian Imperial Family and be murdered by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

Dona and Wilhelm were reacquainted in the summer of 1878 in Potsdam, Prussia.  The Prussians did not look favorably upon Dona as a possible wife for Wilhelm.  There were questions about whether the marriage would be equal because Dona’s father was not a sovereign. Furthermore, there were political complications from the Prussian annexation of Schleswig-Holstein when Dona’s father had claimed them.  However, Chancellor Otto von Bismarck was a strong proponent of the marriage because he believed it would end the dispute between the Prussian government and Dona’s father.  The engagement was announced on June 2, 1880, and the couple married on February 27, 1881, in Berlin.

Dona and Wilhelm, Credit – Wikipedia

Dona and Wilhelm had a very happy marriage.  Wilhelm was a man who needed to be pampered, and since Dona adored him, she had no trouble pampering him.  She had more artistic interests than he did, but they shared very conservative political views and a deep religious faith. Dona had to endure a rough start to her married life because of her in-laws, who did not think her rank was sufficient for the wife of a future emperor.

The couple had seven children, six sons and one daughter:

The year 1888 is called “The Year of Three Emperors” in German history.  Wilhelm’s grandfather Wilhelm I died on March 9, 1888, and was succeeded by Wilhelm’s father Friedrich III.  He was already gravely ill with cancer of the larynx and lived only three months more, dying on June 15, 1888, when Wilhelm succeeded to the throne.

As German Empress (Kaiserin in German), Dona enjoyed the traditional roles of a consort, serving as a hostess and working with charities.  Her relationship with her mother-in-law improved, although Dona carefully guarded their grandmother’s liberalism from her children.  Dona was with her mother-in-law when she died of cancer of the spine in 1901, and thereafter, there was no question who was the first lady in Germany.  After Wilhelm became German Emperor, he especially needed Dona due to his notorious stress and erratic personality.  Unlike any other person, she had a calming and comforting effect on him.  However, Dona’s attention to her husband meant that she often neglected to take care of herself.  The German people adored Dona even more than her husband.  World War I put a terrible strain on Dona because of the strain it put on Wilhelm.  Nevertheless, Dona did all she could to give aid and comfort to her family and the German people.

Augusta Viktoria in 1920; Credit – Wikipedia

Dona’s health had started to fail even before Wilhelm lost his throne in the aftermath of World War I. In 1918, Dona and Wilhelm went into exile in the Netherlands, eventually settling at Huis Doorn, a small manor house near Doorn in the province of Utrecht.  In July 1920, Viktoria Luise, Dona’s daughter, visited her parents at Huis Doorn, where she received a report from her mother’s doctor saying that two days previously her mother “suffered a heart spasm.”  Several days later, Joachim, Dona and Wilhelm’s youngest son, died by suicide.  According to Viktoria Luise’s autobiography The Kaiser’s Daughter, the family feared for Dona’s health and decided to tell her that Joachim’s death was due to an accident.  Dona never got over her son’s death.

In November of 1920, Dona’s condition worsened.  She died on April 11, 1921.  Viktoria Luise writes in her autobiography about how she learned of her mother’s death.  She was traveling to Doorn to visit her parents…”I had to stop over in Nuremberg and there I happened to glance at an advertising pillar where a crowd of passerby was gathered.  Instinctively, my gaze fastened on the posters and I was startled to see an “extra” which proclaimed the news of the death of the Kaiserin.”

Dona had wanted to be buried in Germany, but this meant that Wilhelm would never be able to visit her grave as he was exiled.  The German government agreed to the burial but insisted that the special train that carried Dona’s coffin only travel at night and that there should be no announcement of the arrangements.  Dona’s sons, Adalbert and Oskar, accompanied her remains back to Germany while Viktoria Luise remained at Doorn to comfort her father.  Dona was still popular with the German people, and even though there were no announcements about the arrangements, the 600-kilometer route through Germany was lined with people.  Viktoria Luise writes: “…thousands upon thousands lined the railway tracks, which were leading their revered Princess home. Every time the train stopped, hundreds and thousands of people in their mourning clothes, waited to say farewell.  Church choirs sang, and bands played the music of hymns.  And along the countryside, waiting by railway embankments, farmers’ wives sank to their knees and prayed.”

Temple of Antiquities; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The train reached Potsdam, where Dona was buried at the Temple of Antiquity, built by Frederick the Great to house his collection of antique artifacts, coins, and antique gems.  More than 200,000 people lined the funeral cortege’s route.  Wilhelm remarried and survived Dona by 20 years.  When he died in 1941, he was buried in a mausoleum on the grounds of Huis Doorn.

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Prussia Resources at Unofficial Royalty