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King Carlos I of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

February 1, 1707 – Birth of Frederick, Prince of Wales, son of King George II of Great Britain and father of King George III of the United Kingdom, in Hanover, Electorate of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony, Germany
Frederick was one of the seven Princes of Wales who never became King. In 1736, he married Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. The couple had nine children including King George III of the United Kingdom and Caroline Matilda who married Christian VII, King of Denmark and Norway. In March 1751, Frederick became ill after he caught “a chill” while gardening. He became feverish and was bled and blistered, the medical treatment of the time. After a brief recovery, Frederick suffered a relapse and was again bled. On March 21, 1751, Frederick suffered a coughing fit and died suddenly. An autopsy found the cause of death to be a burst abscess in the lung. It was popularly believed that his death was caused by a blow from a cricket ball in his chest, but there is no proof of that.
Unofficial Royalty: Frederick, Prince of Wales

February 1, 1837 – Death of Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Ludwigslust Palace in Ludwigslust, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; buried in the vault at the Doberan Minster in Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
In 1775, Friedrich Franz married Princess Luise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and had six children. He also had numerous mistresses and fathered at least 15 illegitimate children. He maintained close contact with all of them, providing financial support and arranging for the best education possible for his sons. Friedrich Franz became the reigning Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1785, following the death of his childless uncle Friedrich II. After Napoleon’s defeat, the Congress of Vienna raised Friedrich Franz to Grand Duke in 1815. The remaining years of his reign focused on strengthening the education system in the Grand Duchy, legal reforms, and the abolishment of serfdom. Friedrich Franz I died of lung disease at the age of 81.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

February 1, 1864 – Death of Louise Marie Thérèse of France, Duchess of Parma, wife of Carlo III, Duke of Parma, at the Palazzo Giustinian in Venice; buried in the crypt of her grandfather King Charles X of France, at the Kostanjevica Monastery, now Pristava, Slovenia
Louise Marie Thérèse was the daughter of Prince Charles Ferdinand of France, Duke of Berry and Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Her paternal grandfather was King Charles X of France, grandson of King Louis XV and brother of King Louis XVI. In 1845, she married the future Carlo III, Duke of Parma and the couple had four children. The authoritarian policies of Louise Marie Thérèse’s husband Carlo III, Duke of Parma made him unpopular, and in 1854, he was assassinated. Louise Marie Thérèse and Carlo III’s six-year-old son Roberto became Duke of Parma with Louise Marie Thérèse as regent but had a short reign. In 1859, the Duchy of Parma was abolished during the Italian unification movement. Louise Marie Thérèse took her children to Venice, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, now in Italy where she spent the rest of her life in exile. She survived her husband by ten years, dying at the age of 44.
Unofficial Royalty: Louise Marie Thérèse of France, Duchess of Parma

February 1, 1908 – Assassination of King Carlos I of Portugal at the Terreiro do Paco in Lisbon, Portugal; buried at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal
In 1886, Carlos married Princess Amélie of Orléans, the daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, a pretender to the French throne, and the couple had two sons. Carlos became King of Portugal upon his father’s death in 1889. In June 1892, Portugal faced the first of two bankruptcies which further strengthened the Republican movement that placed the blame for the bankruptcy solely on the monarchy. As the King’s reign continued, the political landscape became more volatile. In 1906, he appointed João Franco as Prime Minister, despite the misgivings of many of his family and advisers. Franco asked the King to dissolve parliament, causing a huge campaign in Portugal claiming that the country was now a dictatorship. Public support for King Carlos quickly diminished, particularly as he strongly supported Franco. It would lead to his tragic death. On February 1, 1908, King Carlos I and his elder son Luís Filipe, Prince Royal were shot and killed by two gunmen while riding in an open carriage in Lisbon, Portugal.
Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Carlos I, King of Portugal and Luís Filipe, Prince Royal
Unofficial Royalty: King Carlos I of Portugal

February 1, 1965 – Birth of Princess Stephanie of Monaco at the Prince’s Palace in Monte Carlo, Monaco
Full name: Stephanie Marie Elisabeth
Stephanie is the youngest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco and Academy Award-winning American actress Grace Kelly. On September 13, 1982, while returning to Monaco from their home in Rocagel, France, Stephanie and her mother had a car accident. Princess Grace died the next day and Stephanie was hospitalized with a hairline fracture of a neck vertebra. Stephanie has been married and divorced twice. She had two children with her first husband her bodyguard Daniel Ducruet before their marriage who are included in the line of succession to the throne of Monaco because their parents eventually married. Stephanie also has a daughter who is not in the line of succession. It is assumed that Jean Raymond Gottlieb, her former head of security, is the father.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Stephanie of Monaco

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Marie Louise of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria, Credit – Wikipedia

January 31, 1756 – Birth of Maria Teresa of Savoy, Countess of Artois, wife of the future King Charles X of France, at the Royal Palace in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy
Maria Teresa was the daughter of King Vittorio Amadeo III of Sardinia and Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. In 1773, she married Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, a brother of King Louis XVI of France, and the couple had four children. In July 1789, just days after the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution, Marie Teresa and her family fled France, settling for some time in her native Savoy. They eventually moved to Graz, Austria, where Marie Thérèse died at the age of 33.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Teresa of Savoy, Countess of Artois

January 31, 1788 – Death of Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Young Pretender at Palazzo Muti, Rome; buried at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Charles Edward Stuart was the elder of the two sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender, who was the son of the exiled King James II of England/VII of Scotland. As the first-born son of the titular King James III of England/VIII of Scotland, Charles was styled as Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall from birth. Charles Edward Stuart was the instigator of the Jacobite rising of 1745, culminating in the Battle of Culloden. The superior British forces needed just 25 minutes to defeat the Jacobite forces in the Battle of Culloden. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded while the British losses were much lighter, with 50 dead and 259 wounded. After the Battle of Culloden, there were no further Jacobite uprisings. In 1766, when Charles’s father James Francis Edward died, Charles was still unmarried and his only sibling was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church. Charles decided to find himself a bride so the Stuart line could be continued. In 1772, 52-year-old Charles married 20-year-old Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern. The marriage was unsuccessful and produced no children. 67-year-old Charles Edward died of a stroke on January 31, 1788, at the Palazzo Muti in Rome. With the deaths of Charles Edward Stuart, and his younger brother Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart in 1807, the male line of the British Royal House of Stuart became extinct. The Jacobite line of succession to the British throne passed to King Carlo Emanuele IV of Sardinia through the line of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the youngest child of King Charles I of England. The Jacobite line of succession has proceeded over the years to the House of Savoy, the House of Austria-Este, and the House of Wittelsbach. It appears in the future, that it will proceed to the House of Liechtenstein.
Unofficial Royalty: Charles Edward Stuart, The Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

January 31, 1835 – Birth of Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands, born William Charles Lunalilo at the ʻIolani Palace in Honolulu, Oahu, Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, now in the state of Hawaii
Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands reigned for a little more than a year, from January 8, 1873, until he died on February 3, 1874. He suffered from tuberculosis since childhood and was an alcoholic which further exacerbated his health. On February 3, 1874, he died at the age of 39.
Unofficial Royalty: Lunalilo, King of the Hawaiian Islands

January 31, 1899 – Death of Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria, first wife of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, a day after the birth of her fourth child in Sofia, Bulgaria; buried at the Cathedral of St. Louis of France in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Maria Luisa was the eldest child of Robert I, Duke of Parma and his first wife Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1893, she married the reigning Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria. They had four children including Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria. Maria Luisa’s marriage, made strictly for political and dynastic reasons, was not happy. Having given birth to three children, and expecting a fourth within five years had taken a toll on her already frail health. 29-year-old Maria Luisa developed pneumonia while pregnant with her youngest child, and died on January 31, 1899, just a day after giving birth.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria

January 31, 1926 – Birth of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, Head of the House of Saxony and pretender to the former throne of Saxony from 1968 until he died in 2012, at Prüfening Abbey in Regensburg, Germany
Having no children, Maria Emanuel’s death in 2012 brought about a dispute over the headship of the family between several of his relatives.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen

January 31, 1938 – Birth of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, the Netherlands
Full name: Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard
Beatrix is the eldest of the four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. In 1966, Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg, a member of the German diplomatic corps, and the couple had three sons. As her mother Queen Wilhelmina had done, Queen Juliana also abdicated in favor of her daughter and Beatrix became Queen of the Netherlands on April 30, 1980. On April 30, 2013, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son Willem-Alexander. After her abdication, she was known as Princess Beatrix.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands

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King Charles I of England; Credit – Wikipedia 

January 30, 1628 – Birth of George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham, favorite of King Charles II of England
George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham and his brother Lord Francis Villiers were brought up in the household of King Charles I with Charles I’s sons, the future King Charles II and the future King James II. George and his brother Francis actively supported and fought with the Royalists during the English Civil War. After the death of his brother in a battle near Kingston upon Thames, George Villiers fled England and took refuge like many other royalists in the Netherlands. After the restoration of King Charles II, George held several positions including Lord Lieutenant of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Minister of State, and Master of the Horse. His endeavor to influence English politics was stymied by the Lord Chancellor Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon, and in 1667 George took an active part in the overthrow of Hyde. He then played an important role in the group of five royal advisors that called itself the CABAL, formed from the letters of its members’ names. George was one of the Restoration rakes which included John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester, Sir Charles Sedley, and Charles Sackville, 6th Earl of Dorset. Following the example of King Charles II, they distinguished themselves in drinking, sex, and witty conversation.
Unofficial Royalty: George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham

January 30, 1649 – King Charles I of England is beheaded for treason and other high crimes on a scaffold outside the Palace of Whitehall in London, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
During the English Civil War, Charles I was accused of treason against England by using his power to pursue his personal interest rather than the good of England. A High Court of Justice was appointed to try Charles for high treason in the name of the people of England.   He was declared guilty and sentenced to death. On the day of his execution, Charles walked the short distance from St. James’ Palace to the Palace of Whitehall where a scaffold had been built outside the Banqueting House. From the first floor of the Banqueting House, Charles stepped onto the scaffold from a window. Before his execution, Charles delivered a speech. After a conversation with the executioner which was recorded by an eyewitness (see the article about the execution below), Charles stretched out his hands, and the executioner, with one blow, severed his head from his body.
Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Charles I, King of England
Unofficial Royalty: King Charles I of England

January 30, 1730 – Death of Peter II, Emperor of All Russia in Moscow, Russia; buried at the Cathedral of the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin
In 1725, 52-year-old Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia died from a bladder infection without naming a successor. A coup arranged by Prince Alexander Menshikov proclaimed Catherine, Peter’s second wife, the ruler of Russia. Catherine I’s reign was only two years and even before her death, it was clear that the inheritance of Peter the Great’s grandson Peter could not be denied. Menshikov began to see this during the end of Catherine I’s reign. Through his efforts, Peter was named Catherine’s heir apparent, even though Catherine had two daughters. In 1727, 43-year-old Catherine I, Empress of All Russia died of tuberculosis and 11-year-old Peter became Emperor of All Russia.  On a frigid day, Peter II attended a parade. When he returned to the palace, he had a fever that developed into smallpox.  On January 30, 1730, the ill and delirious Peter ordered his sleigh to be readied so he could visit his sister Natalia who died from tuberculosis in 1728. Fourteen-year-old Peter died a few minutes later.
Unofficial Royalty: Peter II, Emperor of All Russia

January 30, 1757 – Birth of Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, wife of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
Full name: Luise Auguste
Luise was the daughter of the daughter of Ludwig IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Caroline of Zweibrücken. In 1775, she married Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and the couple had four children. The arranged marriage was purely dynastic and without any love. During the Napoleonic Wars, when French forces advanced on Weimar in 1806, Luise stood firm and remained there while most of the family fled or were off fighting in the war. She stood up to Napoleon himself to protect Weimar and its people from the fighting. Her efforts were successful, and Weimar remained mostly untouched. Several years later, at the Congress of Vienna in 1815, Luise’s efforts ensured that the duchy did not have to cede any territory, and was instead elevated to a Grand Duchy.
Unofficial Royalty: Luise of Hesse-Darmstadt, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

January 30, 1815 – Birth of Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet, Queen Victoria’s Physician-in-Ordinary from 1861 – 1890, in Chatham, Kent, England
Jenner took an interest in pathology, particularly in typhus and typhoid fever. Through his work, Jenner confirmed in 1849 that typhus and typhoid fever were two distinct diseases with very different causes. His work on the subject earned him an international reputation and had a huge impact on public health. With the importance of Jenner’s pathology work, his career quickly progressed. He taught pathological anatomy at the University College of London and became a staff doctor at University College Hospital. In 1861, his fame reached Queen Victoria who appointed him her Physician-Extraordinary. Jenner was one of the doctors who treated Prince Albert during his final illness. Despite his failure to save Albert, Jenner made a favorable impression on Queen Victoria, who appointed him her Physician-In-Ordinary in 1862. Queen Victoria and Jenner became lifelong friends, and in 1868, she created Jenner a Baronet. In December 1878, Jenner went to Darmstadt to attend Princess Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, Queen Victoria’s daughter who had become ill with diphtheria while nursing her family, also ill with the disease. Sadly, Alice died seventeen years to the day of her father’s death. In 1890, Jenner was forced to retire as Physician-In-Ordinary due to ill health. He went to live at his estate, Greenwood in Durley, Hampshire, England, where he died at the age of 83.
Unofficial Royalty: Sir William Jenner, 1st Baronet

January 30, 1889 – Death by suicide pact of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and Baroness Mary von Vetsera at Mayerling, Austria; Rudolf was buried at the Capuchin Church in the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria; Mary was secretly buried in a cemetery in Heiligenkreuz, Austria
Crown Prince Rudolf was the only son of Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria (Sisi). Rudolf married Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, daughter of King Leopold II of the Belgians, and they had one daughter. The marriage was happy at first, but shortly after the birth of their daughter, the relationship between Stéphanie and Rudolf began to deteriorate. Rudolf likely infected Stéphanie with a sexually transmitted disease, causing her to be infertile and unable to provide a male heir for the Austrian throne. Both Stéphanie and Rudolf began affairs with other people in the following years and intermittently spoke of divorce. On January 30, 1889, at Mayerling, a hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods, 30-year-old Rudolf shot his 17-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera, and then shot himself in an apparent suicide plot.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria
Unofficial Royalty: Baroness Mary von Vetsera, Mistress of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria

January 30, 1894 – Birth of Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria in Sofia, Bulgaria
Full name: Boris Klemens Robert Maria Pius Ludwig Stanislaus Xaver
Boris was the Tsar of the Kingdom of Bulgaria from 1918 until his death.  In 1930, he married Princess Giovanna of Italy and the couple had two children. With the outbreak of World War II, Boris tried to retain Bulgaria’s neutrality. After the threat of a German invasion, and with the promise of regaining territory formerly ceded to Greece, Boris signed a treaty aligning Bulgaria with the Axis powers.  In 1941, Boris signed into law the Law for Protection of the Nation, which imposed restrictions on Jewish Bulgarians. Despite signing the law, Boris helped to prevent the forced deportation of the Bulgarian Jews. In August 1943, Boris was summoned to a meeting with Hitler, who wanted Boris to deport Bulgarian Jews, and to declare war on Russia – both of which Boris strongly refused to do, making Hitler furious. Just weeks later, 49-year-old Boris died. The circumstances of his death remain mysterious, with many believing that Boris had been poisoned because of his refusal to concede to the demands of the Nazis.
Unofficial Royalty: Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria

January 30, 1953 – Death of Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick at Marienburg Castle in Hanover, Germany; buried in front of the Mausoleum in Herrenhausen Gardens in Hanover, Germany
The son of Ernst August II, Crown Prince of Hanover and Princess Thyra of Denmark, Ernst August was the last reigning Duke of Brunswick, abdicating on November 8, 1918. He was also the pretender to the throne of Hanover. In 1913, Ernst August married Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia. The wedding was one of the last large gatherings of European royalty before World War I began the following year, attended by 1,200 guests. The couple had five children. After his abdication in 1918, Ernst August and his family were able to remain in Hanover. He lived his remaining years at his various properties, including Cumberland Castle in Gmunden, Austria, Marienburg Castle in Hanover, Germany, and Blankenburg Castle in Harz, Germany. Ernst August III of Hanover, the last Duke of Brunswick died at the age of 66.
Unofficial Royalty: Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick

January 30, 1962 – Birth of King Abdullah II of Jordan in Amman, Jordan
King Abdullah II of Jordan is the eldest son of King Hussein I of Jordan and his second wife Antoinette Gardiner (Princess Muna). In 1993, Abdullah married Rania al-Yassin and the couple had four children. On February 7, 1999, Abdullah became King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, upon his father’s death. Just two weeks earlier, King Hussein had stripped his brother Prince Hassan of the title of Crown Prince and named Abdullah as his successor. King Abdullah II has continued his father’s legacy, working toward peace in the region and making the welfare of the Jordanian people a top priority.
Unofficial Royalty: King Abdullah II of Jordan

January 30, 1968 – Birth of King Felipe VI of Spain at the Nuestra Señora de Loreto Clinic   in Madrid, Spain
Full name: Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos de Borbón y de Grecia
King Felipe VI is the only son of King Juan Carlos of Spain and his wife Queen Sofia, born Princess Sophia of Greece. He is a descendant of Queen Victoria through both his father and his mother. In 1992, Felipe was a member of the Spanish Olympic Sailing Team at the Barcelona Summer Olympics. He was the flag bearer at the Opening Ceremonies and his Soling Class sailing team finished in sixth place. In 2004, Felipe married journalist Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano and the couple has two daughters. Felipe became King of Spain upon the abdication of his father in 2014.
Unofficial Royalty: King Felipe VI of Spain

January 30, 1993 – Death of Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, Queen of Yugoslavia in Sussex, England;  initially buried in the Royal Burial Grounds at Tatoi Palace in Greece with her parents, in 2013, her remains were returned to Serbia where they were re-buried in the Royal Mausoleum at Oplenac in Serbia
Alexandra was the posthumous child of King Alexander of Greece who had died five months before her birth from septicemia caused by an infected monkey bite, and Aspasia Manos. In 1944, she married King Peter II of Yugoslavia who was living in exile in London, England, and the couple had one son. The following year, the Yugoslav monarchy was abolished and King Peter II was formally deposed. The marriage was increasingly strained, with constant struggles to find sources of income and Peter’s numerous affairs. Alexandra and Peter eventually went their separate ways. He settled permanently in the United States while she returned to her mother’s home in Venice, Italy. After the death of her mother, Alexandra moved to the United Kingdom and would live there until her death, from cancer at the age of 72.
Unofficial Royalty: Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, Queen of Yugoslavia

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Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

January 29, 1584 – Birth of Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange in Delft, Holland, Dutch Republic, now in the Netherlands
Frederik Hendrik was the only child of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange and his fourth wife, French Huguenot Louise de Coligny. Louise’s father, Gaspard II de Coligny, was a French nobleman and admiral but is best remembered as a leader of the Huguenots (French Calvinist Protestants). He was killed during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 when thousands of Huguenots were murdered. In 1625, Frederik Hendrik became Prince of Orange upon the death of his elder half-brother Maurits, Prince of Orange. That same year Frederik Hendrik married Princess Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. They had nine children including Willem II, Prince of Orange who married Mary, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King Charles I of England. Their one child was Willem III, Prince of Orange, later King William III of England. Frederik Hendrik ruled the Dutch Republic for 22 years. His reign is included in the era known as the Dutch Golden Age in which Dutch trade, science, military, and art were among the most acclaimed in the world.
Unofficial Royalty: Frederik Hendrik, Prince of Orange

January 29, 1601 – Death of Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, Queen of France, wife of King Henri III of France, at the Château de Moulins in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region of France, first buried at the Convent of Capuchins in Paris,  in 1805, her remains were reburied at the Basilica of Saint-Denis near Paris, France
In 1575, Louise married King Henri III of France. Shortly after her marriage, Louise suffered a miscarriage with complications and she never had children. However, Louise and Henri did not give up on ​​having children. They went on many pilgrimages and took thermal cures hoping to have an heir. Despite Henri’s affairs, Louise and Henri both loved each other and Louise did an admirable job with her duties as Queen of France. Their marriage lasted fourteen years until King Henri III was assassinated. After the assassination of Henri III in 1589, Louise became permanently depressed, always dressed in white, the traditional mourning color of French queens, and was nicknamed the “White Queen.”  On January 29, 1601, Louise died at the age of 47.
Unofficial Royalty: Louise de Lorraine-Vaudémont, Queen of France

January 29, 1749 – Birth of King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark
Christian VII was the only surviving son of King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway and his first wife Princess Louisa of Great Britain, and a grandson of King George II of Great Britain. In 1766, Christian succeeded to the Danish and Norwegian thrones after the early death of his father at age 42. That same year he married his first cousin Princess Caroline Matilda of Wales, daughter of Christian’s deceased maternal uncle Frederick, Prince of Wales. The couple had two children, but probably Christian was not Louise Auguste’s father. Because of Carolina Matilda’s affair with Christian’s physician Johann Friedrich Struensee, Struensee was beheaded, and 20-year-old Caroline Matilda lost her title of Queen and was forcibly separated from her children whom she never saw again. She was sent to Celle in her brother’s Kingdom of Hanover and lived the rest of her life at Celle Castle. Christian VII’s reign was marked by mental illness and for most of his reign, he was only nominally king. His half-brother Hereditary Prince Frederik was regent of Denmark from 1772-1784. From 1784 until Christian VII’s death, Christian’s son, later Frederik VI, acted as regent. On March 13, 1808, King Christian VII died from a stroke at the age of 59.
Unofficial Royalty: King Christian VII of Denmark

January 29, 1794 – Birth of George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster, illegitimate son of King William IV of the United Kingdom and his mistress Dorothea Jordan, on Somerset Street, Portman Square in London, England
George was the first of ten children of King William IV of the United Kingdom and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. In 1819. George married Mary Wyndham, the daughter of George Wyndham, 3rd Earl of Egremont and his mistress Elizabeth Fox. The couple had seven children. George served as an army officer during the Peninsular War (1807–1814) and then served in India. He attained the rank of Major-General in the British Army. His father was proud of George’s military record but was very concerned with his drinking and gambling, issues which also affected some of William’s brothers. On March 20, 1842, at his home in Belgravia, London, 48-year-old George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster killed himself with a pistol given to him by his uncle King George IV when he was Prince of Wales. His suicide came as no surprise to his family, who had long been concerned about his mental condition.
Unofficial Royalty: George FitzClarence, 1st Earl of Munster

January 29, 1817 – Death of Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz in Greiz, Principality of Reuss-Greiz, now in Thuringia, Germany; buried at the Stadtkirche St. Marien, now in Greiz, Thuringia, Germany
Heinrich was the son of Heinrich XI, 1st Prince Reuss of Greiz and his first wife Countess Conradine Reuss of Köstritz. In 1786, he married Princess Wilhelmine Luise of Nassau-Weilburg and the couple had three sons. When his father died in 1800, Heinrich XIII succeeded as 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz. In 1802, a large fire destroyed much of Greiz, the capital of the Principality of Reuss-Greiz. Approximately 430 buildings were destroyed. Many other buildings were demolished to prevent the fire from spreading. Heinrich XIII oversaw the rebuilding of Greiz in the neoclassical style. Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz died on January 29, 1817, aged 69.
Unofficial Royalty: Heinrich XIII, 2nd Prince Reuss of Greiz

January 29, 1820 – Death of King George III of the United Kingdom at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
King George III is the longest-reigning British king, having reigned for 59 years, 96 days. His length of reign is surpassed only by two queens, both his descendants, his granddaughter Queen Victoria and his great-great-great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II. George established himself as one of the more popular Hanoverian kings.  He was admired for his respectable private life and gained sympathy for his illness.  He inherited the family’s love of music and was a patron of the arts and sciences.  George was very interested in agriculture and his creation of model farms at Windsor earned him the nickname “Farmer George” which he adored. The only disruption in his family’s domestic lives was George’s attacks of illness. There has been speculation that King George suffered from porphyria. George became so ill that Parliament needed to pass the Regency Act of 1811. The Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, acted as Regent until his father died in 1820.
Unofficial Royalty: King George III of the United Kingdom

January 29, 1844 – Death of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Thuringia, Germany; initially buried in the crypt of the Church of St. Moritz in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Bavaria, Germany; in 1860, his remains were re-interred in the Ducal Mausoleum in Glockenberg Cemetery in Coburg
In 1806, Ernst succeeded his father Franz Friedrich Anton as Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Ernst was long content with bachelorhood until his mother insisted he marry to provide the duchy with heirs. In 1817, Ernst married Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. The couple had two sons including Prince Albert, the husband of Queen Victoria. Ernst and Louise soon grew apart due to Ernst’s infidelities. After discovering Louise’s affair with her chamberlain in 1824, Ernst forced Louise out of the duchy. She was exiled and permanently cut off from her children. The couple was officially divorced in 1826 and Louise died of cancer in 1831. In 1825, while Ernst and Louise’s divorce proceedings were occurring, Friedrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Louise’s uncle, died without an heir. This necessitated a rearrangement of the Ernestine duchies. Ernst received Gotha and ceded Saalfeld to Saxe-Meiningen. He subsequently became Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. In 1832, Ernst married his niece Marie of Württemberg, the daughter of his sister Antoinette. The couple had no children and had little in common, but Marie had a loving relationship with her stepsons who were also her first cousins. Ernst died on January 29, 1844, at the age of 60.
Unofficial Royalty: Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

January 29, 1850 – Birth of Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 3rd wife of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in Raben Steinfeld, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Full name: Marie Karoline Auguste
In 1868, Marie married the widowed Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as his third wife. She was just 18 years old while Friedrich Franz was 45. They had four children together. Through their son Heinrich, who married Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Marie and her husband are ancestors of the Dutch royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

January 29, 1860 – Death of Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden, wife of Karl, Grand Duke of Baden, in Nice, France; buried St. Michael’s Church in Pforzheim, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Stéphanie was from the same family as the first husband of Napoleon’s wife Josephine, Alexandre, Vicomte de Beauharnais. Alexandre had been guillotined during the French Revolution. After the death of Stéphanie’s mother, Napoléon brought her to Paris and placed her under the care of his wife Joséphine. After becoming Emperor in 1804, Napoléon sought to strengthen alliances with several European dynasties by arranging several marriages of his extended family. One of these marriages was between Stéphanie and the future Karl I, Grand Duke of Baden in 1806. Before the marriage, Napoléon adopted Stéphanie and elevated her to an Imperial Highness and French Princess. Through her children’s marriages, Stéphanie’s descendants include the former Kings of Romania and Yugoslavia and the royal families of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Monaco. Stéphanie survived her husband by more than 41 years, dying at the age of 71.
Unofficial Royalty: Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Grand Duchess of Baden

January 29, 1870 – Death of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany in Rome, Papal States, now in Italy; buried at the Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria
Upon his father’s death on June 18, 1824, Leopoldo became Grand Duke of Tuscany. In 1859, the Grand Ducal family was forced to flee Florence because of the wars caused by the Italian unification movement, and the family took refuge in Austria. On July 21, 1859, Leopoldo II abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand IV who was Grand Duke of Tuscany in name but never really reigned. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy. In 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy. The former Grand Ducal Family of Tuscany settled in the Kingdom of Bohemia, then part of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire ruled by Leopoldo’s Austrian Habsburg relatives. In November 1869, Leopoldo and his wife made a pilgrimage to Rome, and Leopoldo died there on January 29, 1870, at the age of 72.
Unofficial Royalty: Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany

January 29, 1887 – Birth of Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia, son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, at the Potsdam City Palace in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
Full name: August Wilhelm Heinrich Günther Viktor
August Wilhelm was the son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia and Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein. In 1908, August Wilhelm married his first cousin, Princess Alexandra Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. The marriage ended 12 years later, and August Wilhelm was given full custody of their son. August Wilhelm became involved with the Nazi Party, much to the dislike of his family. After World War II, he was arrested by US forces for being a Nazi. In 1948, August Wilhelm was finally sentenced to 2-½ years of hard labor but was considered to have already served his sentence and he was released. However, just after his release, new charges were filed and another arrest warrant was issued from a court in Potsdam, East Germany, which was now in the Soviet zone. He was never physically arrested because he soon became seriously ill and died.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia

January 29, 1906 – Death of King Christian IX of Denmark at Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, Denmark; buried at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
Not born destined to be a king, King Christian IX was the father of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, King George I of Greece, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, and Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia. He was as much the “grandfather of Europe” as Queen Victoria was the “grandmother”. His grandchildren sat upon the thrones of Denmark, the United Kingdom, Russia, Greece, and Norway. He is the ancestor of six of the ten current European monarchs: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (and her husband Prince Philip), Queen Margrethe of Denmark, King Harald of Norway, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Philippe, King of the Belgians, and King Felipe VI of Spain. The late former King Michael of Romania and the late former King Constantine of Greece are also among his many descendants.
Unofficial Royalty: King Christian IX of Denmark

January 29, 1912 – Death of Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife, husband of Louise, Princess Royal (daughter of King Edward VII), in Aswan, Egypt; buried at the Private Chapel, Mar Lodge Mausoleum in Braemar, Aberdeenshire, Scotland
Duff as he was called, was the only son of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife and Lady Agnes Hay. In 1889, in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace, Duff married Princess Louise, the eldest daughter of the then Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII). Louise and Duff were third cousins via their mutual descent from King George III. Duff’s descent was via the future King William IV’s long-time relationship with actress Dorothea Jordan by whom he had ten children who married into the British aristocracy. The couple had three children but their only son was stillborn. Despite their age difference, the couple was well-matched and settled down to a life of country pursuits with the Duff managing his Scottish estates and Louise becoming an expert at salmon fishing. While sailing to Egypt, Duff and his family were shipwrecked off the coast of Morocco. The family all survived but the Duke developed pleurisy, which may have been a result of the shipwreck, and died.
Unofficial Royalty: Alexander Duff, 1st Duke of Fife

January 29, 1970 – Death of Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness, mistress of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, in New York, New York; buried next to her twin sister Gloria Vanderbilt at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California
Thelma was the identical twin sister of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the mother of Gloria Vanderbilt, a fashion designer and artist, and the mother of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper.
Unofficial Royalty: Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness, mistress of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

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