Monthly Archives: August 2014

September 1914: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

House of Ligne
Timeline: September 1, 1914 – September 30, 1914
A Note About German Titles
September 1914 – Royals Who Died In Action


House of Ligne

Ligne coat of arms

Coat of Arms of the House of Ligne; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In both August 1914 and September 1914, a member of the House of Ligne was killed in action fighting with the Belgian army: Georges Alexandre Lamoral, Prince de Ligne who was a grandson of Eugène, 8th Prince of Ligne and Henri Baudouin Lamoral, Prince de Ligne who was the son of Ernest,10th Prince de Ligne. The House of Ligne is one of the oldest Belgian
noble families. It dates back to the 11th century and the name Ligne comes from a village that is now part of Ath, Belgium.  In 1601, Lamoral, Count of Ligne received the hereditary title of Prince de Ligne from Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor.  Since then there have been 14 Princes de Ligne.  The present Prince de Ligne, Prince Michel, is a first cousin of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg.  Château de Belœil in Belœil, Hainaut, Belgium has been the residence of the Prince de Ligne since 1394.

Ligne home

Château de Belœil ; Photo Credit – Wikipedia


Timeline: September 1, 1914 – September 30, 1914

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A Note About German Titles

Most of the royals who died in action during World War I were German. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperial_German_Army German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to our Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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September 1914 – Royals Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or from The Peerage.  If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Ligne prince_died wwi

Henri Baudouin Lamoral, Prince de Ligne; Photo Credit – www.noblesseetroyautes.com

Henri Baudouin Lamoral, Prince de Ligne

Werner, Freiherr von Reibnitz

  • son of Karl, Freiherr von Reibnitz and Anna von der Hagen
  • born August 6, 1892 in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony (Germany)
  • 1914, married Theodora Quilling, had issue
  • killed in action at Klein-Beynuhnen, East Prussia (Germany) at the First Battle of the Masurian Lakes on September 11, 1914, age 22
  • http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00181244&tree=LEO

Friedrich, Freiherr Senfft von Pilsach

Hermann, Graf von Bocholtz-Asseburg

  • son of Hermann Konstantin Hubert, Graf von Bocholtz-Asseburg and Antonie, Gräfin Droste zu Vischering von Nesselrode-Reichenstein
  • born March 1, 1880 in Wallhausen, Kingdom of Württemberg (Germany)
  • 1908, married Gräfin Maria Franziska Huberta Apollonia Wolff-Metternich zur Gracht, had issue
  • killed in action near Chivy, France of September 26, 1914, age 34
  • http://www.genealogics.org/getperson.php?personID=I00067415&tree=LEO

Pius Maria Alfred, Graf von Hompesch-Bollheim

Crown Princess Katherine of Serbia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

 

Katherine is the second wife of Alexander, Crown Prince of Serbia, the last heir apparent to the throne of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, and the current pretender to the former throne of Serbia.

Katherine Clairy Batis was born in Athens, Greece on November 13, 1943, the daughter of Robert Batis (1916 – 2011) and Anna Dosti (died in 2010). She received her primary and secondary education in Athens, Greece, and Lausanne, Switzerland. Katherine studied business at the University of Denver in Colorado and the University of Dallas in Texas and then worked in business for several years in the United States. She was previously married to Jack W. Andrews and has two children from that marriage:

  • David Andrews, married Angeliki Margariti, had one son
  • Alison Andrews, married Dean Russel Garfinkel, had four children
Katherine_Serbia_wedding

Katherine and Crown Prince Alexander; Photo Source: Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor

In 1984, Katherine met Crown Prince Alexander in Washington, DC. They were married in a civil ceremony on September 20, 1985, and in a religious ceremony on September 21, 1985, at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in London, England. King Constantine II of Greece was the best man and Prince Tomislav, the paternal uncle of Crown Prince Alexander, was the witness. Katherine and Alexander have no children but Katherine is stepmother to Alexander’s three sons from his previous marriage to Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans Bragança:

Crown Princess Katherine spends much time working with charitable organizations. In 2001, she founded the HRH Crown Princess Katherine Foundation whose mission is, “We work for the benefit of all those in need, regardless of ethnicity or religion since we believe that there are no borders in suffering.”

Katherine_Serbia_hospital

Crown Princess Katherine (right) visiting a child in the hospital; Photo: The Crown Princess Katherine Foundation

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Prince Radu of Romania

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Prince Radu of Romania; Credit – By Nuță Lucian from Cluj-Napoca, Romania – Transylvania Open 2024 finalists ceremony, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=147897589

Radu Duda is the husband of Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, the eldest of the five daughters of the late former King Michael I of Romania who abdicated in 1947 when Romania ceased to be a monarchy. King Michael named his eldest daughter as the heir to the throne with the title of Crown Princess of Romania with the caveat that if the monarchy is ever restored in Romania, the Salic Law forbidding female succession should be abolished. King Michael has bestowed upon his eldest daughter’s husband the style and title His Royal Highness Prince of Romania. Following her father’s death in December 2017, Margareta became Head of the House of Romania and is formally styled as Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown.

Radu was born on June 7, 1960,  in Iaşi, Romania to Rene Duda and Gabriela Duda née Constandache. He graduated from the University of Drama and Film in Bucharest, Romania in 1984. Radu worked with abandoned children in an orphanage using art therapy. That was where, in 1994, he met Margareta who was visiting the art therapy program, supported by the Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation.  On September 21, 1996, in Lausanne, Switzerland, Radu married Margareta. The couple does not have any children.

Crown Princess and Prince Radu of Romania wedding 1996 (5)

Photo source: ProAlba

Prince Radu has helped organize and plan official tours undertaken by King Michael, played a role in integrating Romania into NATO, and is a special representative of the Romanian government for integration, cooperation, and sustainable development. He has written several books on the culture and history of Romania. Radu lectures and speaks on Romania’s integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures, defense, security, geopolitics, diplomacy, culture, economics, and education. He is particularly interested in the issue of ethnic minorities, especially the Romani (or Romany) minority known to English-speaking people as “Gypsies” (or Gipsies)

Margareta and Radu live at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, Romania, and undertake public engagements in Romania and in other countries that help contribute to the successful modernization of Romania, reconcile with the past, and link Romania to other countries.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Crown Princess Marie-Chantal of Greece

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Embed from Getty Images 

Marie-Chantal is the wife of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, the eldest son of King Constantine II of Greece who was deposed in 1973. Marie-Chantal Claire Miller was born on September 17, 1968, in London, England. Her parents are Robert Miller, a billionaire entrepreneur and co-founder of Duty-Free Shops, and María Clara Pesantes Becerra. Her father was born American but is now a British citizen, and her mother was born in Ecuador. Marie-Chantal was an American citizen but renounced her American citizenship in 2011.

Marie-Chantal has an older and a younger sister and the trio was often referred to as “The Miller Sisters” in the newspaper society pages.

Marie-Chantal_sisters

Marie-Chantal on the left with her sisters:  Photo: www.instawebgram.com

Marie-Chantal grew up in Hong Kong, the location of the corporate headquarters of her father’s business. In Hong Kong, she attended the Peak School, an English language international primary school.  When she was nine years old, Marie-Chantal went to the Institut Le Rosey, an exclusive boarding school in Rolle, Switzerland. In 1982, she began to attend Ecole Active Bilingue in Paris, France where she continued until her senior year. Marie-Chantal then attended The Masters School, a private, coeducational boarding school in Dobbs Ferry, New York. She began to attend New York University in New York City in 1993 but dropped out a year later when Crown Prince Pavlos proposed marriage.

Marie-Chantal and Pavlos met on a blind date arranged by a friend in 1992. The marriage proposal occurred on a ski lift in Gstaad, Switzerland over the Christmas holiday in 1994. Prior to the wedding, Marie-Chantal converted from Roman Catholicism to Greek Orthodoxy. The couple was married on July 1, 1995, at St. Sophia’s Cathedral in London, England. The wedding celebrations were extravagant and expensive. The wedding ceremony, receptions, and celebrations combined reportedly cost the Miller family 8 million dollars. The wedding dress alone reportedly cost $225,000. More royalty attended Marie-Chantal and Pavlos’ wedding than the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

 

The couple has five children:

Marie-Chantal_family

Marie-Chantal with her family in 2014; Photo: The Royal Post

Marie-Chantal and Pavlos have lived in New York City and London, where Pavlos has worked as an investment consultant. Marie-Chantal has her own business, Marie-Chantal, an international children’s wear brand.

Marie+Chantal+Claire+Pavlos+Commemorative+jabxBYRLXupl

March 6, 2014: Crown Princess Marie-Chantal on the right attending services commemorating the 50th anniversary of King Paul I of Greece’s death, with her husband Crown Prince Pavlos and his aunt Queen Sofia of Spain; Photo: Zimbio

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Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

Crown Prince Alexander II of Serbia is the son of King Peter II of Yugoslavia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and is the current pretender to the former Serbian throne. He was born on July 17, 1945, in Suite 212 of Claridge’s Hotel in London, England where his parents lived in exile. Under the orders of Prime Minister Winston Churchill, the British government ceded sovereignty of the suite to Yugoslavia for the day so the new Crown Prince could be born on Yugoslav soil. He was baptized at Westminster Abbey, and his godparents were King George VI and then-Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II.

Just four months after his birth, Yugoslavia was declared a republic, his father deposed and the family stripped of their citizenship and properties. They settled in various places, including France, Switzerland, and eventually the United States. Alexander’s parents’ marriage was increasingly strained, with constant struggles to find sources of income, King Peter’s numerous affairs, as well as his mother’s fragile health. Because of this, Alexander was raised predominantly by his maternal grandmother Aspasia Manos, the widow of King Alexander of Greece.

He attended the Institut Le Rosey in Switzerland, Culver Military Academy in the United States, Gordonstoun in Scotland, and Millfield in England. He then attended the Mons Officer Cadet School in England, earning his commission in the British Army in 1966. He served in the 16th/5th The Queen’s Royal Lancers, with tours in West Germany, Italy, the Middle East, and Northern Ireland before leaving the military in 1972 to pursue a career in International Business.

Prince Alexander, Prince Philip and Hereditary Prince Peter photo: © Royal Family of Serbia

Prince Alexander, Hereditary Prince Philip, and Prince Peter.  photo: The Royal Family of Serbia

Crown Prince Alexander married Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans Bragança on July 1, 1972. The couple divorced on February 19, 1985. They had three sons:

photo: Order of Sartorial Splendor

Alexander and Katherine Clairy Batis – photo: Order of Sartorial Splendor

The Crown Prince then married Katherine Clairy Batis in a civil ceremony held on September 20, 1985, with a religious ceremony the following day at St. Sava Serbian Orthodox Church in London, England. The new Crown Princess has two children from a previous marriage.

Alexander and his family visited Yugoslavia for the first time in 1991 and returned for several more visits in the next decade. Following the uprisings in 2000, they took up permanent residence in the country, still called Yugoslavia at the time. In February 2001, the government granted the family Yugoslavian citizenship (which had been stripped from them in 1947), and the following month returned the use of many of the royal family’s former properties. Alexander and his family took up residence at the Royal Palace, part of the Royal Compound in the Dedinje area of Belgrade.

Although the country, known as Serbia since 2003, is still a republic, Crown Prince Alexander remains an advocate for the restoration of the monarchy. While keeping out of the political arena, the Crown Prince focuses his time and efforts on humanitarian issues and encouraging peace among the various political factions in the country. He travels extensively throughout the world and is often in attendance at major royal functions in Europe. Through his descent from Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, King Christian IX of Denmark and Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, he is related to many of Europe’s other royal families.

Embed from Getty Images 
Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine attend a dinner for foreign Sovereigns to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace on May 18, 2012

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Margareta of Romania, Custodian of the Crown of Romania

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania; Credit – Wikipedia

Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania is the eldest of the five daughters of King Mihai I of Romania and Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma. She has claimed the headship of the House of Romania since her father’s death on December 5, 2017. Margareta was born on March 26, 1949, in Lausanne, Switzerland, where her father was living in exile. Her parents had met in London during the festivities of the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh in 1947 and married the following year. The Duke of Edinburgh was one of Margareta’s godparents.

Margareta has four younger sisters:

  • Princess Elena of Romania (born 1950), married  (1) Robin Medforth-Mills, had two children, divorced  (2) Alexander McAteer, no children
  • Princess Irina of Romania (born 1953), married  (1) John Kreuger, had two children, divorced  (2) John Wesley Walker, no children; In 2013, Irina was stripped of her title, styles and rights to the throne following involvement with illegal cockfighting and arrest. She was restored to her original royal style and title by her elder sister Margareta, Custodian of the Crown of Romania, in August 2020.
  • Princess Sophie of Romania (born 1957), married and divorced Alain Michel Biarneix, had one daughter
  • Princess Marie of Romania (born 1964), married and divorced Kazimierz Wiesław Mystkowski

Following her primary and secondary education in Switzerland, Margareta had planned to attend the Ecole des Beaux-Artes in Paris, France. However, she was persuaded to first spend a year in Florence with her grandmother, Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark, during which she decided to pursue a more academic education. She attended and graduated from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland. While a student at Edinburgh, she was romantically involved with the future British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Following university, Margareta worked with several universities, specializing in public health policy and medical sociology. She then worked with the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and the UN’s International Fund for Agricultural Development.  In 1989, she returned to Switzerland to work with her father and causes relating to Romania. In 1990, she established The Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation to foster and support civil society in Romania.

photo: Order of Sartorial Splendour

Margareta and Radu Duda on their wedding day Photo: Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor

In 1994, through The Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation, Margareta met her future husband, Radu Duda. He was the director of an art therapy program for orphans supported by Margareta’s foundation. They were married on September 21, 1996, in Lausanne, Switzerland. The couple has no children and resides at the Elisabeta Palace in Bucharest, Romania.

During the time of the Romanian monarchy, succession to the throne was limited to males, and therefore, Margareta and her sisters were not eligible to succeed. However, in December 2007, King Mihai made changes to the house laws to ensure the succession of the current family. He established the Fundamental Rules of the Royal Family of Romania, changing the line of succession to allow his daughters to succeed. Princess Margareta was named as Crown Princess and Custodian of the Romanian Crown, and his heir as Head of the House of Romania. King Mihai also requested that if the monarchy was ever restored, equal primogeniture be used for the line of succession.  Following her father’s death in December 2017, Margareta became Head of the House of Romania and is formally styled as Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown.

Embed from Getty Images 
Margareta and her husband at the funeral of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg in 2019

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Romania Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Embed from Getty Images 

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece is the eldest son of the late former King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. He was born on May 20, 1967, at Tatoi Palace just north of Athens, Greece. His paternal grandparents are  King Paul of Greece and Princess Frederica of Hanover, both descendants of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal. His maternal grandparents are  King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden, a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

He has four siblings:

A coup forced the royal family to flee the country seven months after Pavlos was born.  They settled in Rome, Italy for several years before moving to England in 1974.

Pavlos and his cousin Felipe of Spain while attending Georgetown University, 1995 photo: Washington Life Magazine

Pavlos and his cousin Felipe of Spain while attending Georgetown University, 1995.  photo source: Washington Life Magazine

Pavlos attended the Hellenic College of London, founded by his parents, and then graduated from the United World College in 1986. He attended the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, followed by a three-year commission with the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. Following his military career, he enrolled in Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Washington DC, earning his Bachelor’s Degree in 1993 (International Relations, Law and Organization) and his Master’s Degree in 1995 (Foreign Relations and Economics). While at Georgetown, his roommate was his first cousin, the future King Felipe VI of Spain.

 

On July 1, 1995, Pavlos married Marie-Chantal Miller at St Sophia’s Cathedral in London, England. Marie-Chantal is the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur Robert Warren Miller and María Clara Pesantes Becerra. The wedding celebrations were extravagant and expensive. The wedding ceremony, receptions, and celebrations reportedly cost the Miller family 8 million dollars. The wedding dress alone reportedly cost $225,000. More royalty attended Marie-Chantal and Pavlos’ wedding than the wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales and Lady Diana Spencer.

They have five children:

Pavlos and his family lived in New York City and London, where Pavlos has worked as an investment consultant. In 1997 Pavlos founded Griphon Asset Management. The following year, he co-founded Ivory Capital Group LLC. In 2002, he co-founded Ortelius Capital Partners LLC, and in 2003, he co-founded Brigantine, a value-based equity firm.

The Crown Prince and his family, March 2014. photo: Royalista.com

The Crown Prince and his family, March 2014. photo source: Royalista.com

Pavlos and his family retain close ties to their Spanish and Danish cousins, and the British Royal Family. King Charles III of the United Kingdom is a godparent to Pavlos and his eldest daughter Maria-Olympia. Prince William, The Prince of Wales is a godparent to Pavlos’ eldest son, Constantine-Alexios.

Pavlos’ father, the former King Constantine II of the Hellenes died on January 10, 2023, aged 82, Pavlos succeeded him as Head of the House of Glücksburg-Greece and titular King of the Hellenes.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

updated 1/10/2023

Queen Sofia of Spain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

 

Note: Queen Sofia was named Sophia, the Latin version of her Greek name Σοφία. When she married, her name was changed to the Spanish variant Sofía and in English, it generally is Sofia which will be used throughout this article.

Queen Sofia, the wife King Juan Carlos I of Spain, was Queen Consort of Spain from her husband’s accession on November 22, 1975 until June 19, 2014, when King Juan Carlos abdicated in favor of his son, King Felipe VI. Sophia Margarita Victoria Federica was born on November 2, 1938, at Villa Psychiko, in the suburbs of Athens, Greece. Her parents were King Paul of Greece and Princess Frederica of Hanover, both descendants of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal who married Friedrich III, German Emperor.

  • Queen Victoria -> Victoria, Princess Royal -> Princess Sophie of Prussia -> King Paul I of Greece -> Queen Sofia of Spain
  • Queen Victoria -> Victoria, Princess Royal -> Wilhelm II, German Emperor -> Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia -> Princess Frederica of Hanover -> Queen Sofia of Spain

Sofia was christened Sophia Margarita Victoria Federica on January 9, 1939, in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at the Royal Palace in Athens, Greece. Her godparents were:

Sofia. eldest of her parents’ three children, had a younger brother and a younger sister:

Constantine II_birth family

Sofia in the middle with her family around 1947; Credit – www.britannica.com

In April of 1941, during World War II, Germany and Italy invaded Greece and Sofia’s family was forced to flee. The family lived in Alexandria, Egypt, and Cape Town, South Africa before returning to Greece in 1946. King George II of Greece, Sofia’s uncle, died childless in 1947, so Sofia’s father became King and her brother Constantine became Crown Prince.

While in Alexandria, Egypt, Sofia attended El Nasr Girls’ College. She finished her secondary education at Salem School in Salem, Germany and when she returned to Greece, she studied childcare and music. Sofia also studied at Fitzwilliam College, the University of Cambridge in England. In the 1960 Rome Summer Olympics, Sofia represented Greece as a reserve member of the sailing team. Her brother Constantine won a Gold Medal in Sailing: Mixed Three Person Keel/Dragon Class in those Olympics. Sofia is fluent in five languages: Greek, German, Spanish, French, and English.

It was on an August 1954 cruise aboard the Agamemnon, a 5,500-ton luxury liner owned by Greek line Nomikes, funded by Sofia’s father and reportedly the idea of her mother, that Sofia first met her future husband Juan Carlos of Spain. See Unofficial Royalty: Agamemnon, 1954: Cruise of the Kings.  Sofia and Juan Carlos met again in 1961 when Prince Edward, Duke of Kent married.

A year later in Athens, on May 14, 1962, Sofia and Juan Carlos were married in three ceremonies: a Roman Catholic ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Dionysius the Areopagite, a civil ceremony at the Royal Palace, and the last, a Greek Orthodox ceremony at the Metropolitan Cathedral of the Annunciation.

Sofia_wedding

Photo Credit – 02varvara.wordpress.com

Juan Carlos and Sofia have three children:

Sofia_family

Queen Sofia and her family in 1976; Credit- http://www.casareal.es

At the time of Sofia’s marriage, Spain was ruled by the dictator General Francisco Franco and her husband had no official title or position in Spain. In 1969, General Franco recognized Juan Carlos as his successor and bestowed upon him the title of Prince of Spain. Juan Carlos became King of Spain in 1975 upon the death of General Franco.

Besides traveling in Spain and around the world on official engagements, Queen Sofia has been active in several charities. She is the executive president of The Queen Sofia Foundation, which is involved with social and humanitarian assistance, benefiting children, the elderly, immigrants, the disabled, and those affected by natural disasters.

Among the other organizations, Queen Sofia works with are:

In June 2014, Sofia’s husband King Juan Carlos announced his intent to abdicate in favor of their son Felipe. On June 18, 2014, Juan Carlos signed the law granting the abdication which would take effect just after midnight. The following day, his son was formally sworn in as King Felipe VI of Spain.

On August 3, 2020, former King Juan Carlos informed his son King Felipe VI of his decision to leave Spain because of increased media coverage concerning his business dealings in Saudi Arabia which were being investigated by the Spanish and Swiss legal systems. Initially, the Royal Household declined requests to publicly disclose Juan Carlos’ location. However, on August 17, 2020, the Royal Household confirmed that Juan Carlos was in the United Arab Emirates. Queen Sofia remained in Spain, staying at her home, Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, and continued with her activities. See Why did former King Juan Carlos leave Spain? for more information.

Queen Sofia and King Juan Carlos at the funeral of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg in 2019

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Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Margarita Sakskoburggotska, wife of former Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Margarita with het husband Simeon; Credit – Wikipedia

Margarita is the wife of Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria, who reigned from 1943 to 1946 as a child. Simeon was exiled from Bulgaria as a child, and never formally renounced his claim to the throne, but his wife and children never received titles from Bulgaria. Outside of Bulgaria, Margarita is sometimes styled Tsaritsa Margarita of Bulgaria, and while in Bulgaria she is usually styled Margarita Sakskoburggotska. Sakskoburggotska is Bulgarian for Saxe-Coburg- Gotha. The first Tsar of Bulgaria was Simeon’s grandfather Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, whose father was a first cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Doña Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela was born on January 6, 1935, in Madrid, Spain. She was the youngest of two children of Don Manuel Gómez-Acebo y Modet and Doña María de las Mercedes Cejuela y Fernández. Margarita’s family was wealthy and her father was a lawyer involved with commercial and banking companies. In 1936, at the start of the Spanish Civil War, Margarita’s parents and her maternal grandmother were arrested by Spanish Republicans and were executed. Because of what happened to their family, Margarita and her brother José Luis received the Suffering for the Motherland Medal from Francoist Spain.

Orphaned before she was two years old, Margarita, along with her brother José Luis Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela (died 2010) were placed in the care of their paternal grandmother Doña Margarita Modet y Amalgro. After her death, the two children were placed in the guardianship of two uncles. Margarita is a first cousin of the late Luis Gómez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada, Duke of Badajoz, husband of Infanta Pilar, sister of King Juan Carlos I of Spain.

In 1958, Margarita first met Simeon as he prepared to go to the United States to attend the Valley Forge Military Academy and College in Pennsylvania. When the couple decided to marry, they were faced with some religious issues. Margarita was Roman Catholic and Simeon was Bulgarian Orthodox. The Roman Catholic Church required that the non-Catholic partner must declare in writing that the children of the marriage be baptized as Catholic. Simeon could not follow this rule without violating the Bulgarian constitution. After some roadblocks in solving the problem, the Second Vatican Council began meeting in Rome and one of the issues the Council dealt with was relations between the Catholic and the Orthodox Church. These circumstances largely contributed to the successful outcome of Margarita and Simeon’s case.

On January 20, 1962, the Roman Catholic wedding, the first of the three wedding ceremonies, took place in Lausanne, Switzerland. The civil ceremony conducted by the mayor of Lausanne then took place. The next day relatives and Bulgarians from all over the world met at the beautiful L’église russe (Russian Church) in Vevey, Switzerland for the Orthodox wedding ceremony. At the time, Margarita joked, “It is very hard and almost impossible to dissolve a triple wedding.”

After their marriage, the couple resided in Madrid, Spain where all five of their children were born.

  • Kardam, Prince of Turnovo (1962 – 2015), married Miriam Ungría y López, had issue
  • Kyril, Prince of Preslav (born 1964), married María del Rosario Nadal y Fuster de Puigdorfila, had issue
  • Kubrat, Prince of Panagyurishte (born 1965), married Carla María de la Soledad Royo-Villanova y Urrestarazu, had issue
  • Konstantin-Assen, Prince of Vidin (born 1967), married María García de la Rasilla y Gortázar, had issue
  • Princess Kalina (born 1972), married Antonio “Kitín” Muñoz y Valcárcel, had issue

Margarita_family

Margarita with her family; Photo Credit – http://www.styleforum.net

In 1996, several years after the fall of the communist regime in Bulgaria, Margarita visited Bulgaria for the first time, accompanied by her husband. Their stays in Bulgaria became more frequent until 2001 when the former Tsar Simeon II of Bulgaria became Prime Minister of Bulgaria when his party won 120 of the 240 seats in Parliament. Since then Margarita and Simeon have lived in Bulgaria. The couple currently resides in what was Simeon’s boyhood home, Vrana Palace, near Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria. Vrana Palace was returned to Simeon and his sister Maria Luisa by the Constitutional Court of Bulgaria in June 1998.

 

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Bulgaria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, Queen Fabiola of Belgium

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Fabiola

Queen Fabiola of Belgium; Photo Credit – www.telegraph.co.uk

Queen Fabiola was Queen of the Belgians from the time of her marriage in 1960 until the death of her husband King Baudouin of the Belgians in 1993. Doña Fabiola Fernanda Maria de las Victorias Antonia Adelaïda de Mora y Aragón was born to a Spanish aristocratic family in Madrid, Spain on June 11, 1928. Fabiola was the fifth of the six children of Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández, Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marquess of Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora and his wife Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz, Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío. Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was her godmother.

Fabiola had six siblings:

  • Doña Maria de las Nieves de Mora y Aragon married Alfonso Escrivá de Romani y Patiño, Count of  Sástago, had seven children
  • Don Gonzalo de Mora y Aragon, 5th Marquess of Casa Riera (1919 – 2006), married Doña Mercedes Narváez Coello de Portugal, had fourteen children
  • Doña Ana Maria de Mora y Aragón (1921 – 2006), married Don Jaime de Silva y Agrela, 17th Duke of Lécera, had eigth children
  • Don Jaime de Mora y Aragón (1925 – 1995), married Margit Ohlson, one adopted son
  • Doña Maria-Luz de Mora y Aragón (1929 – 2011) , married Don José Maria Ruiz de Bucesta y Osorio de Moscoso, 13th Duke of Medina de las Torres , had three children

Fabiola trained as a nurse and worked in a Madrid hospital. She was fluent in six languages: Spanish, French, Dutch, English, German, and Italian. Fabiola was also the author of a children’s book Los Doce Cuentos Maravillosos (The Twelve Marvelous Tales), a book of 12 fairy tales, published in 1955 in her native Spain. The book was later translated into other languages and made into an attraction at a Dutch amusement park. See Unofficial Royalty: Queen Fabiola’s Indian Water Lilies.

On December 15, 1960, Fabiola married King Baudouin of the Belgians, who had been king since the abdication of his father King Leopold III in 1951 The couple married at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, Belgium. Fabiola wore a beautiful Art Deco tiara, the Nine Provinces Tiara, that had been a gift of the Belgian people to her husband’s mother Princess Astrid of Sweden upon her marriage to King Leopold III.

Fabiola_wedding

Photo Credit – http://orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

Unfortunately, King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola lost five children to miscarriages and upon King Baudouin’s unexpected death in 1993,  his younger brother succeeded him as King Albert II.  King Albert abdicated in 2013 in favor of his elder son King Philippe.

Fabiola_Baudouin

Queen Fabiola and King Baudouin; Photo Credit – royalementblog.blogspot.com

Queen Fabiola was active in a number of charities including:

On December 5, 2014, Queen Fabiola, aged 86, died at her home Stuyvenberg Castle in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium. She was buried with her husband at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, the traditional burial site of the Belgian monarchs.

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