Category Archives: Former Monarchies

First Cousins: James I, King of England/James VI, King of Scots

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

James I, King of England/James VI, King of Scots (1566 – 1625)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

James was born in Edinburgh Castle in Edinburgh, Scotland. He was the only child of Mary, Queen of Scots and her second husband and first cousin Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, both grandchildren of Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and sister of King Henry VIII of England. James’ paternal grandparents were Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas, the only child of Margaret Tudor and her second husband Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus. James’ maternal grandparents were James V, King of Scots, son of Margaret Tudor and her first husband James IV, King of Scots, and his second wife Marie of Guise, the eldest daughter Claude of Lorraine, Duke of Guise, head of the House of Guise, and his wife Antoinette de Bourbon.

Before James’ first birthday, his father was murdered by an explosion and his mother was forced to abdicate in James’ favor. Mary was forced to flee to England, where she was subsequently imprisoned by Queen Elizabeth I of England. She remained imprisoned for 21 years, until she was implicated in a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth I and beheaded. James married Anne of Denmark, the eldest daughter of King Frederik II of Denmark and Sophia of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. James and Anne had seven children, but only three survived childhood including King Charles I and Elizabeth Stuart who was the grandmother of the first Hanover king, King George I.

Since none of the children of King Henry VIII of England had children, James was the senior heir of King Henry VII of England through his eldest daughter Margaret Tudor. On her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth I gave her assent that James should succeed her. Upon the death of Elizabeth I, James was King James VI of Scotland and King James I of England. During James’ reign, the Golden Age of Elizabethan literature and drama continued, with writers such as William Shakespeare, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Sir Francis Bacon and English colonization started in North American with the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. Several years after he became King of England, James ordered his beheaded mother’s remains exhumed from Peterborough Cathedral and reburied in Westminster Abbey. He built a beautiful marble tomb with an effigy in a chapel directly opposite the chapel where the tomb of Queen Elizabeth I is located.

James I had no maternal first cousins because all his maternal uncles died young and he had no maternal aunts.  He had only one first cousin, the daughter of his father’s brother and she has an interesting story (below).

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Paternal Uncle of King James I: Children of Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas

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Maternal Uncles of King James I: Children of James V, King of Scots and his second wife Marie of Guise

  • James, Duke of Rothesay (1540 – 1541), died in infancy
  • Arthur, Duke of Albany (born and died April 1541), died in infancy

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Maternal Half Uncles of King James I: Children of Marie of Guise and her first husband Louis II d’Orléans, Duke of Longueville

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Paternal First Cousin: Child of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish

Lady Arbella Stuart (1575 – 1615)

Lady Arbella Stuart was the only child of Charles Stuart, 1st Earl of Lennox and Elizabeth Cavendish. Her paternal grandparents were Matthew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Lady Margaret Douglas, the only child of Archibald Douglas, 6th Earl of Angus, and Margaret Tudor, daughter of King Henry VII of England and widow of King James IV of Scotland. Arbella’s maternal grandparents were Elizabeth Hardwick, known as Bess of Hardwick, and Sir William Cavendish, the second of Bess’ four husbands. Arbella’s paternal uncle was Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, the second of the three husbands of Mary, Queen of Scots. Like her husband, Mary, Queen of Scots was also a grandchild of Margaret Tudor.

Arbella was born in either Nottinghamshire or Hackney, both in England. By the time of her birth, her eight-year-old first cousin James VI, King of Scots had been King of Scots for seven years. In England, Queen Elizabeth I sat upon the throne. Both Arbella and James VI were Elizabeth I’s first cousins twice removed. Since none of the children of King Henry VIII of England had children, the line of Henry VII’s eldest daughter Margaret Tudor was the senior line and Arbella and James VI were both considered as possible heirs to the English throne. Some considered that Arbella had the stronger claim because she had been born in England. On her deathbed, Queen Elizabeth I gave her assent that James should succeed her.

Because Arbella was high up in the line of succession, she had a number of marriage prospects but they all came to naught.  In 1610, King James I heard rumors that Arbella was planning to marry William Seymour, then known as Lord Beauchamp, later 2nd Duke of Somerset. At that time, the rules of primogeniture placed Arbella fourth in the line of succession after James’ three surviving children and placed William Seymour sixth in the line of succession.

William was a descendant of Mary Tudor, King Henry VII’s younger surviving daughter. (Henry VII → Mary Tudor → Frances Brandon → Lady Catherine Grey → Edward Seymour → William Seymour). King James I saw a marriage between two potential Tudor pretenders to the throne as a threat to the fledgling English Stuart dynasty. Nevertheless, Arbella and William married in secret, without the permission of the king. When King James found out about the marriage, he ordered that Arbella be held in the custody of William James, Bishop of Durham and William to be imprisoned in the Tower of London for life.

In June 1611, William escaped from the Tower. He planned to meet Arbella, who also had escaped her captivity, and flee to Flanders, now in Belgium. However, bad weather and other circumstances prevented their meeting. Arbella was recaptured and taken to the Tower of London. William safely reached Flanders and was never reunited with Arbella.

Arabella was kept in confinement in the Tower but was never charged with a crime. Her health deteriorated and she hoped, to no avail, that her cousin James would release her. Eventually, Arbella gave up hope that she would be released. Refusing both medical attention and food, she died at the age of 39.

King James I refused to give his cousin Arbella a funeral and she was buried without ceremony in the vault of her aunt by marriage and first cousin once removed Mary, Queen of Scots in Westminster Abbey. In the 19th century, during a search for the tomb of King James I, Arbella’s coffin was found in the vault of Mary, Queen of Scots directly on top of Mary’s coffin.

William Seymour

As for William Seymour, he eventually returned to England, was elected a Member of Parliament and became a member of the House of Lords when he succeeded his grandfather as Earl of Hereford. He was a Royalist commander during the English Civil War. When the monarchy was restored, his service to the Royalist cause was recognized by King Charles II. All William’s former positions were restored including his great-grandfather’s Dukedom of Somerset, which had been forfeited in 1552 when Edward Seymour, 1st Duke of Somerset, Lord Protector of England during the minority of his nephew King Edward VI, had been executed. William became the 2nd Duke of Somerset.

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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.

Works Cited

    • Lundy, D. (2019). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
    • Unofficial Royalty. (2019). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
    • Wikipedia. (2019). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Draga Mašin, Queen of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

Draga Mašin was the wife of King Alexander I of Serbia, the last ruler of Serbia from the House of Obrenović. Alexander’s reign ended with his and Draga’s brutal assassinations. Born Draga Lunjevica on September 23, 1864, in Gornji Milanovac, Serbia, she was the fourth of the five daughters and the sixth of the seven children of Panta Lunjevica and Anđelija Koljević. Panta Lunjevica supported the House of Obrenović and served as a high government administrative official. Draga had two brothers: Nikola and Nikodije and four sisters: Hristina, Đina, Ana, and Vojka.

At the age of nine, Draga was sent to Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, to attend school. There she completed her elementary and secondary education and then attended the Women’s Institute. She learned several foreign languages including Russian, French, and German. While in Belgrade, Draga began writing novels and short stories. Even though her father was wealthy enough to support her, Draga started to earn her own money. She translated books for money and had stories published in foreign magazines.

A younger Draga; Credit – Wikipedia

After Draga completed her education, her parents began to prepare for her marriage. Their choice of a husband for Draga was Svetozar Mašin, a close friend of Draga’s father and a well-known mining engineer, thirteen years older than his intended bride. Svetozar’s father was a respected physician and had served in the court of two Obrenović rulers Prince Mihailo Obrenović III and King Milan I of Serbia, then the current ruler. Draga and Svetozar Mašin were married on August 28, 1883, at the Parliamentary Church in Belgrade.

Because Draga’s husband was a friend of King Milan I of Serbia, Draga was often at court and became acquainted with many people including Queen Natalija, King Milan’s wife. Draga and Svetozar’s marriage lasted only three years. On May 21, 1886, 35-year-old Svetozar Mašin died from a heart attack, according to a doctor’s report. Draga inherited Svetozar’s pension and his name. Svetozar’s brother Alexander Mašin, an army officer, was so opposed to this that he later accused Draga of killing his brother and became one of the conspirators in the plot that assassinated Draga and her second husband King Alexander I of Serbia.

After her husband’s death, Draga continued to write novels and short stories and do translations. She was an editor of the magazine “Housewife” and a member of the Serbian Journalist Society. Draga lived in her husband’s state-owned apartment until she was forced to move out. Both her parents died, making Draga’s financial situation difficult. She tried to arrange a marriage for herself but to no avail.

Queen Natalija; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1888, King Milan I of Serbia and his wife Queen Natalija divorced. Queen Natalija bought the Villa Sasino in Biarritz, France. Since Queen Natalija was acquainted with Draga, she invited Draga to join her and become her lady-in-waiting. They traveled together by train to Russia, visited Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and his family, and then traveled to Biarritz, the spa resort on the Bay of Biscay, on the Atlantic coast of France. In Biarritz, Draga accompanied Queen Natalija to various social events and took care of her wardrobe, jewelry, and cosmetics.

King Alexander I of Serbia, 1894; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1889, King Milan I suddenly abdicated the throne without an apparent reason and his twelve-year-old son Alexander became king. Several years later, in March 1895, Queen Natalija’s 18-year-old King Alexander I of Serbia arrived in Biarritz. After Draga saved King Alexander from drowning, Draga and Alexander began to see each other. Queen Natalija did not object to Alexander having an affair with Draga, who was twelve years older than Alexander, because she wanted her son ready for marriage to a high-ranking princess. However, the love that developed between Alexander and Draga was much stronger than Alexander’s parents thought. Alexander asked his mother to return to Belgrade and leave him alone with Draga. Queen Natalija did so, thinking it was just a passing adventure. Alexander tried to persuade Draga to leave his mother’s service, saying he would take care of her and her family. However, Draga remained in the service of Queen Natalija until 1897 when she returned to Belgrade.

In Belgrade, everyone knew about the affair of Alexander and Draga. Draga appeared at every important court function and was praised for her tact, elegance, beauty, wit, and restraint. However, everyone also thought that it was just an affair. On July 8, 1900, 24-year-old King Alexander suddenly announced his engagement to 36-year-old Draga. The proposed marriage was met with shock and great opposition. Draga was of unequal birth but more importantly, since Alexander was an only child, he needed to have a child to secure the succession and there were doubts that Draga could provide an heir.

Alexander and Draga; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander’s father Milan was out of the country and making arrangements for the marriage of Alexander to Princess Alexandra of Schaumburg-Lippe. Prime Minister Vladan Đorđević was visiting the Paris Universal Exhibition at the time of the announcement. Both Milan and Đorđević immediately resigned their positions, and Alexander had difficulty forming a new cabinet. Alexander’s mother also opposed the marriage and subsequently was banished from the kingdom along with Alexander’s father who died the following year from pneumonia in Vienna.

On August 5, 1900, King Alexander married Draga at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia. On the morning of the wedding, thousands of people appeared at Draga’s house, calling out to her. King Alexander wore a military uniform with epaulets and decorations and Draga wore a white lace wedding dress with a brilliant diadem on her head. Two metropolitans, several bishops, and twenty-six archimandrites performed the Serbian Orthodox wedding ceremony. After the wedding, upon leaving the church, the people shouted, “Long live the King! Long live the Queen!”

On May 8, 1901, King Alexander announced that Queen Draga was pregnant and that Serbia would soon have an heir to the throne. However, it soon became apparent that Queen Draga was not pregnant. Whether Draga deliberately told a lie about being pregnant or whether she was the victim of a delusion by a doctor is not known. The incident completely undermined the reputation of King Alexander and Queen Draga.

Queen Draga; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 25, 1903, irritated by the independence of the Senate and the Council of State, King Alexander suspended the constitution for thirty minutes which was enough time to publish decrees dismissing and replacing the members of the Senate and councilors of state. This act greatly increased dissatisfaction in the country. In addition, the Serbian Government had decided to proclaim Prince Mirko of Montenegro, who was married to Natalija Konstantinovic, the granddaughter of Princess Anka Obrenović, an aunt of King Milan, as heir-presumptive to the Serbian throne, but King Alexander had his own ideas. Rumors began to circulate that Nikodije Lunjevica, one of the two unpopular brothers of Queen Draga, was to be proclaimed heir-presumptive to the throne.

The army had had enough. A conspiracy, the May Coup, was organized by the military to replace King Alexander I of the House of Obrenović with Prince Peter Karađorđević of the rival House of Karađorđević,  Serbia still used the Julian Calendar (Old Style) which was behind the Gregorian Calendar (New Style) that most other countries were using. The coup occurred on the night of May 28-29 Old Style (hence the May Coup) but on the night of June 10-11 New Style.

Illustration of the assassination from an Italian newspaper; Credit – Wikipedia

King Alexander, aged 26, and Queen Draga, aged 38, were brutally shot, mutilated, and thrown out a window at the Stari Dvor (Old Palace), the royal residence of the House of Obrenović which now houses the City Assembly of Belgrade, Serbia. Queen Draga’s two brothers, Nikodije and Nikola Lunjevica, were executed by a firing squad on the same day. Draga and her husband were secretly buried at St. Mark’s Church in Belgrade, Serbia. The assassination resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović. Prince Peter Karađorđević was then proclaimed as the new King of Serbia and the House of Karađorđević reigned until the monarchy was abolished in 1945.

Embed from Getty Images 
The graves of King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga at St. Mark’s Church in Belgrade, Serbia

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.

Serbia/Yugoslavia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Draga Mašin. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Draga_Ma%C5%A1in [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019). King Alexander I of Serbia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-alexander-i-of-serbia/ [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. (2019). Драга Обренович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].
  • Sr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Драга Обреновић. [online] Available at: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%94%D1%80%D0%B0%D0%B3%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B [Accessed 10 Nov. 2019].

King Alexander I of Serbia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

King Alexander I of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

King Alexander I of Serbia was the last ruler of Serbia from the House of Obrenović. His reign ended with his and his wife’s brutal assassinations. The only surviving child of King Milan I of Serbia and his wife Natalija Keschko, Alexander was born on August 14, 1876, in a special maternity ward personally financed by his father. A brother, Sergei, was born in 1878 but he died soon after his birth.

Alexander with his parents in 1880; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander’s parents had an unsuccessful marriage. His father had affairs and the couple had political differences. King Milan favored alliances with Austria-Hungary which the Russophile Queen Natalija could not tolerate. Young Alexander became a weapon his parents used in their personal vendetta against each other.

Alexander with his father King Milan in 1888; Credit – Wikipedia

In May 1887, King Milan I and Queen Natalija, after years of personal and political conflicts, decided to separate. Queen Natalija took Alexander with her to a voluntary exile in the Crimea. Two months later, they returned to Serbia only to leave again for the Austrian-Hungarian Empire in August 1887. King Milan wanted to reconcile with his wife so that his son and heir would return to Serbia. He traveled to Budapest for a meeting with Queen Natalija and thought he had made the proper arrangements. However, instead of returning with her son to Serbia, Queen Natalija traveled to Wiesbaden in the Duchy of Nassau, now Hesse, Germany. At the request of King Milan, local police intervened, took Alexander away from his mother, and returned him to Serbia, under the control of his father. In 1888, Alexander’s parents divorced but the couple reconciled in 1893, and the divorce was overturned.

The Boy King, King Alexander I, 1889; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 6, 1889, the seventh anniversary of the elevation of the Principality of Serbia to the Kingdom of Serbia, King Milan unexpectedly abdicated in favor of his twelve-year-old son who became King Alexander I of Serbia. Because Alexander was a minor, a regency council would be in place until his eighteenth birthday. On June 15, 1889, the young King Alexander I of Serbia was anointed by Metropolitan Mihailo Jovanović, a political enemy of Alexander’s father who had exiled him, at the 13th-century Žiča Monastery near Kraljevo, Serbia, the traditional coronation site of Serbian rulers. Both Milan and Natalija were forced into exile. Natalija lived mostly in Biarritz, France, and Milan lived in Paris, France.

In 1893, 17-year-old King Alexander proclaimed himself of age and dismissed the regency council to take royal authority for himself. The following year, King Alexander abolished the 1889 liberal constitution and restored the former conservative 1869 constitution. Alexander’s mother returned to Serbia in 1895 and then in 1897 permanently. In 1897, Milan returned to Serbia and Alexander appointed him Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which he completely reformed and modernized.

King Alexander and Draga Mašin; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 8, 1900, 24-year-old King Alexander suddenly announced his engagement to 36-year-old Draga Mašin, a widow and a former lady-in-waiting to his mother. The proposed marriage was met with great opposition. Draga was of unequal birth but more importantly, since Alexander was an only child, he needed to have a child to secure the succession and there were doubts that Draga could provide an heir. Milan was out of the country and making arrangements for the marriage of Alexander to Princess Alexandra of Schaumburg-Lippe. Prime Minister Vladan Đorđević was visiting the Paris Universal Exhibition at the time of the announcement. Milan and Đorđević immediately resigned from their positions, and Alexander had difficulty forming a new cabinet. Alexander’s mother also opposed the marriage and subsequently was banished from the kingdom along with Alexander’s father who died the following year from pneumonia in Vienna. On August 5, 1900, King Alexander married Draga Mašin at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia.

King Alexander attempted to reconcile the political forces in Serbia by granting a new liberal constitution that introduced into Serbia for the first time a two-chamber national legislature system. On May 8, 1901, King Alexander announced that Queen Draga was pregnant and that Serbia would soon have an heir to the throne. However, it soon became apparent that Queen Draga was not pregnant. Whether Draga deliberately told a lie about being pregnant or whether she was the victim of a delusion by a doctor is not known. The incident completely undermined the reputation of King Alexander and Queen Draga.

Queen Draga in the Serbian national costume; Credit – Wikipedia

On March 25, 1903, annoyed by the independence of the Senate and the Council of State, King Alexander suspended the constitution for thirty minutes which was enough time to publish decrees dismissing and replacing the members of the Senate and Councilors of State. This act greatly increased dissatisfaction in the country. In addition, the Serbian Government had decided to proclaim Prince Mirko of Montenegro, who was married to Natalija Konstantinovic, the granddaughter of Princess Anka Obrenović, an aunt of King Milan, as heir-presumptive to the Serbian throne, but King Alexander had his own ideas. Rumors began to circulate that Nikodije Lunjevica, one of the two unpopular brothers of Queen Draga, was to be proclaimed heir-presumptive to the throne.

The army had had enough.  A conspiracy, the May Coup, was organized by the military to replace King Alexander I of the House of Obrenović with Prince Peter Karađorđević of the rival House of Karađorđević.  Serbia still used the Julian Calendar (Old Style) that was behind the Gregorian Calendar (New Style) that most other countries used. The coup occurred on the night of May 28-29 Old Style (hence the May Coup) but on the night of June 10-11 New Style.

The Stari Dvor (Old Palace) where Alexander and Draga were assassinated. They were thrown out the open window after being shot and mutilated; Credit – Wikipedia

King Alexander, aged 26, and Queen Draga, age 38, were brutally shot, mutilated, and thrown out a window at the Stari Dvor (Old Palace), the royal residence of the House of Obrenović which now houses the City Assembly of Belgrade, Serbia. Queen Draga’s two brothers, Nikodije and Nikola Lunjevica, were executed by a firing squad on the same day. Draga and her husband were secretly buried at St. Mark’s Church in Belgrade, Serbia. The assassination resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović. Prince Peter Karađorđević was then proclaimed as the new King of Serbia and the House of Karađorđević reigned until the monarchy was abolished in 1945.

Embed from Getty Images 
The graves of King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga at St. Mark’s Church in Belgrade, Serbia

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.

Serbia/Yugoslavia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Alexander I of Serbia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_I_of_Serbia [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].
  • Pt.wikipedia.org. (2019). Alexandre I da Sérvia. [online] Available at: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_I_da_S%C3%A9rvia [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. (2019). Александр Обренович. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D1%80_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87 [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].
  • Sr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Александар Обреновић. [online] Available at: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B0%D1%80_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B [Accessed 9 Nov. 2019].

Natalija Keschko, Queen of Serbia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Natalija Keschko, Queen of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

Natalija Keschko, Queen of Serbia, the wife of Milan I, the first King of Serbia, was born on May 14, 1859, in Florence, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. She was the eldest of the four children of Petre Ivanovich Keschko, a Russian Imperial Army colonel, originally from Bessarabia, and Princess Pulcheria Sturdza from a Moldavian noble family.

Natalija had two sisters and one brother:

  • Maria Keschko (1861 – 1935), married Prince Grigore Ghica-Brigadier
  • Ekaterina Keschko married Prince Eugen Ghica-Comănești
  • Ioniță Keschko

Because Natalija’s mother suffered from tuberculosis, the family spent much time abroad, especially in Florence, where the climate was milder. After her father died in 1865 and her mother died in 1874, Natalijia and her three younger siblings were raised by their maternal aunt Princess Ekaterina Moruzi and her husband Prince Constantin Moruzi. Natalija graduated from a boarding school for the daughters of aristocratic families in Paris, France.

Milan Obrenović; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 17, 1875, at St. Michael’s Cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia, 16-year-old Natalija married her second cousin, 21-year-old Milan Obrenović IV, Prince of Serbia. In 1882, the Principality of Serbia was elevated to the Kingdom of Serbia and Milan and Natalija became the first King and Queen of Serbia. Natalija and Milan had two sons but only the eldest survived:

Milan, Natalija and their son Alexander, circa 1880; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage was unsuccessful. Milan had affairs and the couple had political differences. Milan favored alliances with Austria-Hungary which the Russophile Natalija could not tolerate. The couple separated in 1886 and divorced in 1888. Natalija publically rejected the divorce and declared that she still considered herself Milan’s wife. Natalija left Serbia taking her son Alexander with her. Eventually, Milan succeeded in obtaining the custody of his son and Alexander returned to Serbia. The couple reconciled in 1893 and the divorce was overturned.

In 1889, Milan suddenly abdicated the throne without apparent reason and his twelve-year-old son Alexander became king under a regency council. Natalija was forced into exile and lived mostly in Biarritz, France. She returned to Serbia in 1895. Milan lived in Paris, France until 1897 when he returned to Serbia. He became Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which he completely reformed and modernized.

King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1900, 24-year-old King Alexander suddenly announced his engagement to 36-year-old Draga Mašin, a widow and a former lady-in-waiting to his mother. There was much opposition to the marriage, including from both of his parents who were ultimately banished from Serbia by their son. Natalija returned to France and Milan eventually settled in Vienna, Austria where he died the next year on February 11, 1901, at the age of 46 from pneumonia.

On the night of June 10-11, 1903, a group of army officers who supported the rival House of Karađorđević led a coup d’état in which King Alexander and Queen Draga were brutally assassinated at the Stari Dvor (Old Palace), the royal residence of the House of Obrenović which now houses the City Assembly of Belgrade, Serbia. The assassination resulted in the extinction of the House of Obrenović. Prince Peter Karađorđević was then proclaimed as the new King of Serbia. The House of Karađorđević reigned until the monarchy was abolished in 1945.

After the horrible events of 1903, Natalija found some comfort in the Roman Catholic faith, to which she had converted in 1902.  After the assassination of her son and his wife, Natalija was the only member of the Obrenović dynasty. She donated the Obrenović inheritance to the University of Belgrade and churches and monasteries in Serbia. Natalija became a nun and died on May 8, 1941, at the age of 81 at the Monastery of Saint-Denis near Paris, France, and was buried at the Cemetery of Lardy in Seine et Oise, France.

Grave of Natalija Keschko, Queen of Serbia; Credit- By krischnig – Own workOriginal text: selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48472059

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.

Serbia/Yugoslavia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Natalie of Serbia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natalie_of_Serbia [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019). King Milan I of Serbia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-milan-i-of-serbia/ [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].
  • Sr.wikipedia.org. (2019) Наталија Обреновић. [online] Available at: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%98%D0%B0_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].

King Milan I of Serbia

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

King Milan I of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

The first King of Serbia, Milan Obrenović was born on August 22, 1854, in Mărășești, then in Moldavia, Ottoman Empire, now in Romania. He was the only surviving child of Miloš Obrenović and Marija Obrenović, born Elena Maria Catargiu. Milan’s father was a member of the House of Obrenović which vied for control of Serbia, often violently, with the House of Karađorđević. His mother was from a noble family with Moldavian and Romanian roots. Milan’s family had lived in exile in Moldavia since 1842 when his uncle Mihailo Obrenović III, reigning Prince of Serbia was deposed by the rival House of Karađorđević.

Milan’s parents divorced a year after his birth. His mother became the mistress of Alexandru Ioan Cuza, Prince of Moldavia, Prince of Wallachia, and later the first Sovereign Prince of Romania, and the couple had two sons, Milan’s half-brothers. They were adopted by their biological father and his wife Elena Rosetti because they could not have children. In 1861, when Milan was seven years old, his father died fighting the Turks as a foreign mercenary in the Romanian Army.

Milan’s half-brothers:

  • Alexandru Ioan Cuza (1862 or 1864 – 1889), married Maria Moruzi, no children
  • Dimitrie Cuza (1865–1888), unmarried, died by suicide

Milan’s uncle Mihailo Obrenović III, Sovereign Prince of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

The House of Obrenović was restored to the Serbian throne in 1858. When he was six-years-old, Milan’s care and education had been taken over by his paternal uncle Mihailo Obrenović III, once again the Sovereign Prince of Serbia. After receiving his early education from a governess, Milan was sent to the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris, France.

In 1868, Milan’s childless uncle Mihailo Obrenović III, Sovereign Prince of Serbia was assassinated. The plot behind the assassination has never been proven but the sympathizers of the House of Karađorđević were suspected of being behind the assassination. Fourteen-year-old Milan became the Sovereign Prince of Serbia but because he was a minor there was a regency until his eighteenth birthday in 1872.

Natalija in 1875; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 17, 1875, at the St. Michael’s Cathedral in Belgrade, Serbia, 21-year-old Milan married his 16-year-old second cousin Natalija Keschko, the eldest of the four children of Petre Ivanovich Keschko, an Imperial Russian Army colonel, originally from Bessarabia, and Princess Pulcheria Sturdza from a Moldavian noble family.

Milan and Natalija had two sons but only the eldest survived:

The marriage was unsuccessful and the couple separated in 1886 and divorced in 1888. Natalija publically rejected the divorce and declared that she still considered herself the king’s wife. Natalija left Serbia taking her son Alexander with her. Eventually, Milan succeeded in obtaining the custody of his son and Alexander returned to Serbia. The couple reconciled in 1893 and the divorce was overturned.

Milan, Natalija, and their son Alexander circa 1880; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1882, the Principality of Serbia was elevated to the Kingdom of Serbia, so Milan became the first King of Serbia. Milan devoted his energy to improvements in Serbia particularly in communications and the development of natural resources. However, this led to heavy taxation and increased military service, making Milan unpopular.

In 1889, Milan suddenly abdicated the throne without apparent reason and his twelve-year-old son Alexander became king. Milan lived in Paris, France until 1897 when he returned to Serbia. He became Commander-in-Chief of the Army, which he completely reformed and modernized.

Milan in his later years; Credit – Wikipedia

However, in 1900, any positive relations between Milan and his son King Alexander ended. Milan and his wife strongly opposed his son’s marriage to Draga Mašin, a widow and a former lady-in-waiting to his mother, who was twelve years older than Alexander. Milan resigned his post as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and subsequently, King Alexander banished both his parents from Serbia. Milan eventually settled in Vienna, Austria where he died the next year on February 11, 1901, at the age of 46 from pneumonia. He was buried at the Krušedol Monastery in Vojvodina, Serbia. His son King Alexander I of Serbia and his wife Queen Draga were brutally assassinated in 1903 resulting in the extinction of the House of Obrenović.

Milan’s wife Natalija survived him by forty years. She converted to Roman Catholicism and became a nun. Natalija died on May 8, 1941, at the age of 81 at the Monastery of Saint-Denis near Paris, France, and was buried at the Cemetery of Lardy in Seine et Oise, France.

Tomb of King Milan I of Serbia; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Serbia/Yugoslavia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Milan I of Serbia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milan_I_of_Serbia [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].
  • Sr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Милан Обреновић. [online] Available at: https://sr.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9C%D0%B8%D0%BB%D0%B0%D0%BD_%D0%9E%D0%B1%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%9B [Accessed 8 Nov. 2019].

Admiral Perikles Ioannidis, second husband of Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Perikles Ioannidis with his wife Princess Maria of Greece (on the left) and his mother-in-law Dowager Queen Olga of Greece (on the right); Credit – Wikipedia

The second husband of Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark, Perikles Ioannidis was born on November 1, 1881, in Corinth, Greece. He attended school in his hometown and then entered the Hellenic Naval Academy, graduating with the rank of Ensign.

Perikles was a fervent monarchist and supported King Constantine I of Greece in his disagreements with Prime Minister Eleftherios Venizelos called the National Schism.  Eventually, their disagreement over how Greece should participate in World War I led to Venizelos forcing King Constantine I from the Greek throne and into exile. Perikles was sentenced to three years in prison because he supported the king. After the November 1920 parliamentary elections were won by the monarchist People’s Party, Perikles was released from prison and recalled to the navy where he attained the rank of admiral.

Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark was the daughter of King George I of Greece (born Prince Vilhelm I of Denmark) and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. Maria had married Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia in 1900. George and Maria’s marriage was never particularly happy. Maria was not in love with her husband, despite his apparent devotion to her. She had never wanted to leave Greece and soon found excuses to leave Russia and her husband. She spent more time in Greece and elsewhere in Europe, often using her daughters’ health as the reason for her travels. Maria and her two daughters were in England when World War I broke out and chose not to return to Russia. They never saw George again. On January 28, 1919, George was killed by a firing squad with three other Grand Dukes of Russia at the Fortress of Peter and Paul in St. Petersburg, Russia.

In 1920, Maria was able to return to Greece when her eldest brother King Constantine I was brought back to power. She traveled aboard a Greek destroyer commanded by Perikles. Maria was determined to marry a Greek and a romance developed. Perikles and Maria married two years later, on December 16, 1922, in Wiesbaden, Germany. They had no children.

Maria with her daughters, circa 1918; Credit – Wikipedia

Upon his marriage, Perikles acquired two stepdaughters, the daughters of Maria and her first husband:

The couple settled in Athens but In 1924, the Second Hellenic Republic was declared and the monarchy was abolished. They lived many years in exile, first in the United Kingdom until 1925, and then in Italy until 1935. In 1935, Perikles and Maria returned to Greece when the monarchy was restored with Maria’s nephew King George II upon the throne. Perikles and Maria’s marriage did have its issues. Perikles had mistresses and often gave his mistresses jewelry stolen from his wife. Maria lost money playing backgammon and Perikles was forced to carefully monitor their expenses. Maria died of a heart attack at the age of 64 in Athens, Greece on December 14, 1940. She was buried at the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace near Athens.

Statue of Admiral Perikles Ioannidis in Rhodes one of the islands of the Dodecanese; Credit – By Thanasis Christodoulou – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46619481

In 1947, upon the return to Greece of the Dodecanese, a group of Greek islands that had been occupied during World War II, Perikles was named military governor until the establishment of a civilian government in 1951. Perikles then returned to Athens where he spent the remainder of his life devoted to philanthropy and public service. He was president of the Piraeus Yacht Club and a benefactor of the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece. He bequeathed his collection of photographs and historical items to the Historical and Ethnological Society of Greece and the society’s collection is now housed at the National Historical Museum in Athens.

Admiral Perikles Ioannidis survived his wife by twenty-five years, dying in Athens, Greece on February 7, 1965, at the age of 83. He was buried with his wife Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark in the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace.

Grave of Perikles Ioannidis and Princess Maria in the Royal Cemetery at Tatoi Palace Credit – Par Kostisl — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25382837

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.

Works Cited

  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2019). Periklís Ioannídis. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perikl%C3%ADs_Ioann%C3%ADdis [Accessed 7 Nov. 2019].
  • Mehl, Scott. (2019). Princess Maria of Greece. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/princess-maria-of-greece/ [Accessed 7 Nov. 2019].
  • Pt.wikipedia.org. (2019). Perikles Ioannidis. [online] Available at: https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perikles_Ioannidis [Accessed 7 Nov. 2019].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. (2019). Иоаннидис, Периклис. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%98%D0%BE%D0%B0%D0%BD%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B8%D1%81,_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%BB%D0%B8%D1%81 [Accessed 7 Nov. 2019].

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

The first husband of Princess Maria of Greece who was the daughter of King George I of Greece, Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia was executed by the Bolsheviks along with his brother Nicholas and two other Russian Grand Dukes. George was born on August 23, 1863, in Bielyi-Kliutsch, in the Tiflis Governorate of the Russian Empire, now in the country of Georgia. He was the third of the six sons and the fourth of the seven children of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia and his wife Grand Duchess Olga Feodorovna, born Princess Cecilie of Baden. George’s paternal grandparents were Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, born Princess Charlotte of Prussia, daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. His maternal grandparents were Grand Duke Leopold of Baden and Princess Sofia of Sweden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden.

George had five brothers and one sister:

Grand Duke George; Credit – Wikipedia

George grew up in present-day Georgia where his father was the Governor-General of the Russian provinces of Transcaucasia. Educated by private tutors, George had a Spartan upbringing that included sleeping on army cots and taking cold baths.

While George did have a military career and served as a General in the Russian Army, he was a passionate coin collector. His collections of Russian coins and medals included practically every coin ever used in the Russian Empire and he wrote ten books on coins. One of them, Catalogue of Imperial Russian Coins 1725–1891, was reprinted in the United States in 1976 and is still an important reference for coin collectors. In 1895, George was appointed the curator of the Alexander III Museum, today the Russian Museum in St Petersburg. His knowledge of coins was invaluable in increasing the museum’s coin collection. In 1909, George donated his collection to the museum.

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Princess Maria of Greece, circa1900; Credit – Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2927293

On April 30, 1900, in Corfu, Greece, George married Princess Maria of Greece, the daughter of his first cousin Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia and her husband King George I of Greece, born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark. The couple had two daughters. George’s daughter Princess Xenia married millionaire William Leeds and lived in an estate on Long Island in New York State for years. For a few months in 1927, Xenia took in a woman claiming to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the youngest daughter of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, later found to be Anna Anderson, an impostor.

George, Maria, and their two daughters; Credit – Wikipedia

George and Maria’s marriage was never really happy. Maria was not in love with her husband despite his apparent devotion to her. She had never wanted to leave Greece and soon found excuses to leave Russia and her husband. She spent more time in Greece and elsewhere in Europe, often using her daughters’ health as the reason for her travels. Maria and her two daughters were in England when World War I broke out and chose not to return to Russia. They never saw George again.

In March 1918, all the male members of the Romanov family were ordered to register at Cheka (Soviet secret police) headquarters and then were sent into exile in internal areas of Russia. George was sent to Vologda, a town north of Moscow, with his brother Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and their first cousin Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich. They could move freely around town and visit each other.

George’s brother Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich; Credit – Wikipedia

George’s brother Nicholas, known in the family as Bimbo, was the eldest child in the family.  Although he had a career in the Russian army, his passion, even in childhood, was Russian history. In 1905, Nicholas left the military and pursued his interest in history full-time. Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia granted him unlimited access to the Romanov Family Archives and Library. Grand Duke Nicholas was the author of many historical books about Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia and the Napoleonic Wars. He was chairman of the Russian Historical Society and headed the Russian Geographical Society and the Society for the Protection and Preservation of Art and Antiquities. In 1915, Moscow University awarded Nicholas an honorary doctorate in Russian history.

However, an incident on June 13, 1918, during the execution of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, the brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, changed the way the remaining Romanovs were treated. It appeared to his executioners that Michael had been trying to escape after the gun that was intended for him misfired. The incident was used to justify the necessity of keeping all exiled Romanovs under a strict regime of imprisonment.

On July 1, 1918, George, his brother Nicholas, and their cousin Dmitri were arrested in Vologda where they had been exiled. They were sent back to St. Petersburg to the Shpalernaia Prison where they would remain for most of their incarceration. On August 13, 1918, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, the youngest of the eight children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and the uncle of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, was arrested and joined the three other Grand Dukes at Shpalernaia Prison in St. Petersburg. The four Grand Dukes were all first cousins as their fathers were all sons of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Each Grand Duke was held in a cell, only seven feet by three feet. Each day, they were all allowed to gather in the courtyard for exercise and the Grand Dukes could exchange a few words.

Grand Duke George somehow managed to smuggle letters to his wife Maria in England. The last letter was dated November 27, 1918. Maria unsuccessfully tried to buy freedom of her husband and the other three Grand Dukes for fifty thousand pounds through the Danish ambassador in St. Petersburg. Queen Alexandrine of Denmark, a niece of Nicholas and George, tried unsuccessfully to obtain the release of the four Grand Dukes, also through the Danish ambassador’s intervention. On December 6, 1918, Grand Duke Paul’s health, which was already bad, declined sharply, and he was transferred to a prison hospital.

The writer Maxim Gorky had been a supporter of Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks but after seeing the terror of the new regime, he changed his mind. Princess Paley, Grand Duke Paul’s wife, asked Gorky to intercede on behalf of the four Grand Dukes. In January 1919, Gorky went to Lenin to plead the case of the four Grand Dukes. Gorky pleaded the merits of each Grand Duke. When Gorky came to Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, he said, “Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich is a historian.” Lenin replied, “The Revolution does not need historians.” Gorky did not give up and eventually, Lenin promised to release the four Grand Dukes. Gorky, with the release document signed by Lenin, rushed to the station in Moscow to catch the train to St. Petersburg. When he reached St. Petersburg, Gorky saw the headline in the newspaper, “Four Grand Dukes Shot” and he nearly fainted.

Unlike the execution of Nicholas II and his family and the execution of Elizabeth Feodorovna and the five other Romanovs, there are no written eyewitness accounts of the execution of the four Grand Dukes. What is known is based on versions of second-hand information.

Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg; The Peter and Paul Cathedral with its golden spire can be seen in the middle; Photo Credit – By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51488758

On January 27, 1919, Grand Duke Paul was transferred from the prison hospital to another prison. He was kept there until 10 pm when he was driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress, originally built by Peter the Great to protect his new city of St. Petersburg and the site of the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the burial place of the Romanovs. At 11:30 pm on January 27, 1919, Grand Dukes Dmitri, Nicholas, and George were awakened in their cells at Shpalernaya Prison and were driven to the Peter and Paul Fortress. When Dmitri, Nicholas, and George arrived at the Fortress, they were roughly pushed from the truck into the Trubetskoy Bastion where prisoners arrested by the Bolsheviks were held. The Grand Dukes were told to remove their shirts and coats, despite the frigid January temperature.

The Trubetskoy Bastion in the late 1920s; Photo Credit – Автор: Анонимный автор – http://encspb.ru/object/2804023013, Общественное достояние, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26266039

Grand Duke Dmitri Konstantinovich, Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich, and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich were escorted toward a ditch in the courtyard. As they passed the Peter and Paul Cathedral where their ancestors were buried, they each made the sign of the cross. Guards appeared carrying Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich on a stretcher. The three Grand Dukes were lined up before the ditch, in which there were already bodies. Nicholas Mikhailovich, who was carrying his cat, handed it to a soldier, asking him to look after it. Grand Duke Paul was shot on his stretcher. Grand Dukes Nicholas, George, and Dmitri were all killed by the same blast, causing them to fall into the ditch.  The four Grand Dukes were the last of the eighteen Romanovs killed as a result of the Russian Revolution.

Most likely, the ditch is the burial place of the four Grand Dukes. In 2004, in the Grand Ducal Burial Mausoleum adjoining the Peter and Paul Cathedral, a commemorative plaque was placed with the names of four Grand Dukes shot nearby in the Peter and Paul Fortress. In 2009, during the construction of a road to a parking lot at the Peter and Paul Fortress, nine unmarked mass graves were discovered and a total of 112 remains were unearthed.  Perhaps eventually the remains of the four Grand Dukes will be identified.

In 1981, Grand Duke Paul, Grand Duke Dmitri, and Grand Duke George were canonized as New-Martyrs of Russia by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia. Grand Duke Nicholas was the only Romanov who had been executed by the Bolsheviks not to be canonized by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia.

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.

Works Cited

  • Angelfire.com. (2018). ROYAL RUSSIA NEWS. THE ROMANOV DYNASTY & THEIR LEGACY, MONARCHY, HISTORY OF IMPERIAL & HOLY RUSSIA. [online] Available at: http://www.angelfire.com/pa/ImperialRussian/blog/index.blog/1450058/excavations-for-grand-dukes-remains-to-resume-at-peter-and-paul-fortress/.
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia (1863–1919). [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Duke_George_Mikhailovich_of_Russia_(1863%E2%80%931919).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019). January 28, 1919 – Execution of Four Russian Grand Dukes. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/execution-of-four-grand-dukes/.
  • https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/princess-maria-of-greece/
  • Perry, J. and Pleshakov, K. (2008). The flight of the Romanovs. New York: Basic Books.
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. (2018). Расстрел великих князей в Петропавловской крепости. [online] Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D1%81%D1%81%D1%82%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BB_%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%BA%D0%B8%D1%85_%D0%BA%D0%BD%D1%8F%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%B2_%D0%9F%D0%B5%D1%82%D1%80%D0%BE%D0%BF%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%BB%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B9_%D0%BA%D1%80%D0%B5%D0%BF%D0%BE%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B8.

First Cousins of Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

Queen Sofia of Spain (born 1938)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

Queen Sofia, the wife King Juan Carlos I of Spain, was Queen Consort of Spain from her husband’s accession in 1975 until his abdication in 2014 in favor of their son, King Felipe VI. Born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark on November 2, 1938, at Villa Psychiko, in the suburbs of Athens, Greece, She married the future King Juan Carlos of Spain, a descendant of Queen Victoria via her youngest daughter Princess Beatrice, and had two daughters and one son.

 

King Constantine II of Greece (1940 – 2023)

King Constantine II of Greece was the King of Greece (styled King of the Hellenes) from 1964 until the monarchy was abolished in 1973. He was born on June 2, 1940, at Villa Psychiko, in the suburbs of Athens, Greece. In 1964, Constantine married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, the youngest daughter of King Frederick IX of Denmark, and a descendant of Queen Victoria via her son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught. Constantine and Anne-Marie had five children.

Sofia was the eldest of the three children and Constantine was the second of the three children and the only son of King Paul of Greece and Princess Frederica of Hanover, both descendants of Queen Victoria’s eldest child Victoria, Princess Royal who married Friedrich III, German Emperor. Sofia and Constantine’s paternal grandparents were King Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophie of Prussia. Their maternal grandparents were Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Queen Sofia of Spain and King Constantine II of Greece have fifteen first cousins. They share their first cousins with their sister Princess Irene of Greece.

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Paternal Aunts and Uncles of Queen Sofia of Spain, born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark and King Constante II of Greece: Children of King Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophie of Prussia

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Maternal Aunts and Uncles of Queen Sofia of Spain, born Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark and King Constante II of Greece: Children of Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia

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PATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Paternal First Cousins: Children of King Alexander of Greece and Aspasia Manos

Princess Alexandra of Greece, Queen of Yugoslavia (1921 – 1993)

Princess Alexandra of Greece was the only child of King Alexander of Greece and his commoner wife Aspasia Manos, the daughter of Petros Manos, who had served as Master of the Horse to Alexander’s father King Constantine I. Aspasia would not be recognized as Queen. King Alexander died after contracting septicemia from a monkey bite. Aspasia was four months pregnant at the time, and gave birth to their daughter, Alexandra, in March 1921. Princess Alexandra married King Peter II of Yugoslavia and they had one son Crown Prince Alexander. After World War II, the Yugoslav monarchy was abolished and Alexandra and Peter separated.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Helen of Greece and King Carol of Romania

King Michael of Romania (1921 – 2017)

King Michael of Romania, also known as Mihai, was King of Romania twice, from 1927 – 1930, and then from 1940 – 1947, when the monarchy was abolished. Michael married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma, the daughter of Prince René of Bourbon-Parma and Princess Margaret of Denmark. The couple had five daughters. Michael worked as a commercial pilot and also worked for an aircraft equipment company. It would be 43 years before he set foot on Romanian soil again. Eventually, the Romanian government restored Michael’s citizenship and returned several properties to the royal family. When Michael died in 2017, he was the second oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh was older by four months.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Irene of Greece and Prince Aimone, Duke of Aosta

Prince Amadeo, Duke of Aosta (1943 – 2021)

Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta was a claimant to the head of the House of Savoy, the former royal family of Italy. Amedeo married Princess Claude of Orléans, the daughter of Prince Henri of Orléans, Count of Paris, the Orléanist claimant to the French throne. The couple had two daughters and one son before divorcing. Amedeo married again to Silvia Paternò di Spedalotto but the couple had no children.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Katherine of Greece, The Lady Katherine Brandram and Major Richard Brandram

Paul Brandram’s christening: Lady Katherine Brandram and her husband with their son, held by Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent

Paul Brandram (1948 – 2020)

Paul Brandram grew up in England. He married Jennifer Steele and they had two daughters and one son before divorcing after eighteen years of marriage. He made a second marriage to Katherine Moreton.

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MATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Maternal First Cousins: Children of Ernst August IV, Prince of Hanover, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick and Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Princess Marie of Hanover, Countess of Hochberg (born 1952)

Princess Marie of Hanover married Count Michael of Hochberg and had two sons.

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Ernst August V at the wedding of his son Christian, 2018; Credit – www.zimbio.com

Prince Ernst August V of Hanover (born 1954)

Ernst August V is among the senior male-line descendants of King George III of the United Kingdom. This line is directly descended from King George III’s son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, who became King of Hanover due to the Salic Law which forbade female succession following the death of his brother King William IV and the accession of Queen Victoria. Ernst August V is the Head of the House of Hanover and pretender to the thrones of the Kingdom of Hanover and the Duchy of Brunswick.

Ernst August first married Chantal Hochuli, the daughter of Johann Gustav Hochuli, a Swiss millionaire from his family’s chocolate company and architect. The couple had two sons and divorced. He then married Princess Caroline of Monaco and had one daughter. While initially very happy, the couple, still legally married, now leads separate lives.

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Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover, held by his mother after his christening. Also in the photo is his father and his elder brother Prince Ernst August

Prince Ludwig Rudolph of Hanover (1955 – 1988)

Prince Ludwig Rudolph married Countess Isabelle von Thurn und Valsassina-Como-Vercelli and the couple had one son. Ludwig died by suicide shortly after discovering the body of his wife, who had died from a drug overdose.

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Princess Olga of Hanover (born 1958), unmarried

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Princess Alexandra with her husband

Princess Alexandra of Hanover, Princess of Leiningen (born 1959)

Princess Alexandra of Hanover married another descendant of Queen Victoria, Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen.  The couple had two sons and one daughter.

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Prince Heinrich of Hanover (born 1961)

Prince Heinrich of Hanover is a historian and publisher. He writes under the name Heinrich von Hannover. He married Thyra von Westernhagen whose family is from the landed nobility of Thuringia, Germany and who studied forestry at university. The couple had two sons and one daughter.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Georg Wilhelm of Hanover and Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark (sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)

Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover (1947 – 1981)

Welf married Wibke van Gunsteren and they had one daughter. Welf and his wife became disciples of the Indian mystic Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh also known as Osho.  They took the names Vimalkirti (“Spotless Splendor”) and Wibke Prem Turiya (“Spiritual love”) and moved with their daughter to Poona, India to live in Osho’s ashram.  In 1979, the couple divorced but continued to live together in India.  Welf died at a clinic in Poona, India from a cerebral hemorrhage after collapsing during a morning karate practice session.  After Welf’s death, his daughter was brought to England by her grandparents so she could have a normal education.

Welf Ernst and his siblings Georg and Friederike are also first cousins of the children of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward.

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Prince Georg of Hanover (born 1949)

Prince Georg of Hanover married Victoria Anne Bee, daughter of Robert Bee and Eleonore Gräfin Fugger von Babenhausen. The couple had two daughters.

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Princess Friederike of Hanover, Mrs. Jerry Cyr (born 1954)

Princess Friederike of Hanover is a godchild of her aunt by marriage, Queen Elizabeth II. She attended Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada and remained in Canada. Friederike married Jerry William Cyr, son of Gordon Paul Cyr and Emma Grandbois in Vancouver, Canada. The couple had one daughter and one son.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Christian Oscar of Hanover and Mireille Dutry

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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.

Works Cited

  • Lundy, D. (2019). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2019). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
  • Wikipedia. (2019). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2019

The Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1954 until his death, Friedrich Josias was born at Callenberg Castle now in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany on November 29, 1918. His birth occurred just three weeks after the Workers’ and Soldiers Council of Gotha, deposed his father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. His father signed a declaration relinquishing his rights to the throne but he still remained Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Christened Friedrich Josias Carl Eduard Ernst Kyrill Harald, he was the youngest of the five children and the youngest of the three sons of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg.

Friedrich Josias’ father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Friedrich Josias was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.  His mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. His maternal grandfather was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark. His maternal grandmother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from her mother’s first marriage.

Left to right: Prince Hubertus, the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Caroline Mathilde, Prince Johann Leopold, Prince Friedrich Josias on the lap of the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Princess Sibylla

Friedrich Josias had four elder siblings:

Friedrich Josias was first educated by tutors at home and then attended the Casimirianum Coburg in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany from 1929 to 1934. He then attended the Schnepfenthal Salzmann School, a boarding school in Gotha, Germany, founded in 1784, graduating in 1938.

In 1938, Friedrich Josias joined the German Army and participated in the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939. In 1941, he participated in the German occupation of Poland and France and fought in campaigns in Yugoslavia and the Soviet Union.

In 1932, Friedrich Josias’ elder brother Johann Leopold made an unequal marriage against the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha House Act of March 1, 1855, and had to renounce succession rights for himself and any children from the marriage. His brother Hubertus was designated the heir to his father as Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. However, after Hubertus was killed in action in an airplane crash during World War II in 1943, Friedrich Josias became the heir to Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

In 1944, Friedrich Josias became an adjutant to Field Marshal Erwin Rommel who was in charge of the German campaign in North Africa. Later in 1944, he was transferred to the staff of General Hermann von Hanneken, the supreme commander of the German forces in Denmark. In May 1945, Friedrich Josias was captured by British forces in Denmark and remained in captivity until he was released that autumn when he returned to Coburg.

Friedrich Josias married his first cousin Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth on January 25, 1942.  The couple divorced on September 19, 1946.

Friedrich Josias and Viktoria-Luise had one son who succeeded his father as the Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha:

On February 14, 1948, Friedrich Josias made a second marriage to Denyse Henriette de Muralt in San Francisco, California. The couple divorced in 1964 and had three children:

  • Maria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1949 – 2016), married Gion Schäfer, had two daughters
  • Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (born 1951), married Friedrich-Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen, had one son and one daughter
  • Adrian of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1955 – 2011), married (1) Lea Rinderknecht, had two sons (2) Gertrud Krieg

Friedrich Josias and his third wife Katrin

Friedrich Josias married one last time, on October 30, 1964, in Hamburg, Germany to Katrin Bremme. The couple had no children. His third wife Katrin survived him by twenty-three years, dying in 2011.

In 1946, Friedrich Josias went to Stockholm, Sweden. There he stayed for a while with his elder sister Sibylla who was married to Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, the second in line to the Swedish throne after his father, the future King Gustaf VI Adolf. Prince Gustaf Adolf, the father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, would have himself become King of Sweden had he not died tragically in an airplane crash in 1947. In Sweden, Friedrich Josias worked for Johnson Line AB, a Swedish shipping company.

In 1948, Friedrich Josias accepted a position with W.R. Grace and Company, another shipping company, in San Francisco, California, and later in Santos, Brazil and Hamburg, Germany. As per his father’s wish, he ended his employment with W.R. Grace and Company and to work for the Foundation of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family and the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Foundation for Art and Science. Upon the death of his father in 1954, Friedrich Josias became Head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

From 1958 – 1964, Friedrich Josias again worked for the Swedish shipping company Johnson Line AB, this time in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Upon his return to Germany, he first lived in Hamburg. Beginning in 1967, he spent his time in Coburg, now in Bavaria, Germany and Grein, Austria. During the last years of his life, Friedrich Josias was in ill health and his son Andreas took over many of his duties. He died on January 23, 1998, in a hospital in Amstetten, Austria at the age of 79 and was buried in the family cemetery in the forest of Schloss Callenberg in Coburg, Bavaria, Germany.

The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Friedrich Josias Prinz von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Josias_Prinz_von_Sachsen-Coburg_und_Gotha [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Friedrich Josias, Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Josias,_Prince_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].
  • Thepeerage.com. (2019). Person Page. [online] Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/p10859.htm#i108581 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2019].

Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – https://www.stadtgeschichte-coburg.de

Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, known as Calma, was born on June 22, 1912, at Callenberg Castle in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, now in Bavaria, Germany. She was the younger of the two daughters and the fourth of the five children of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his wife Viktoria Adelheid of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Calma’s father was the posthumous son of Queen Victoria’s youngest son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Therefore, Calma was a great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.  Her mother was the daughter of Friedrich Ferdinand, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and his wife Princess Karoline Mathilde of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Her father was the eldest son of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and a nephew of King Christian IX of Denmark.  Calma’s mother was a granddaughter of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria from their mother’s first marriage.

Calma had four siblings:

The Christening of Caroline Mathilde; Credit – Wikipedia

Calma was christened Caroline Mathilde Helene Ludwiga Augusta Beatrice on July 25, 1912, at Callenberg Castle.

Her godparents were:

Wedding of Princess Caroline Mathilde and Count Friedrich Wolfgang Otto of Castell-Rüdenhausen at Schloss Greinburg; Credit – By Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-R14380 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5368325

Calma married Count Friedrich Wolfgang of Castell-Rüdenhausen, son of Hugo Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen and Clementine of Solms-Sonnenwalde, on December 14, 1931, at Greinburg Castle on the Danube in Austria. The marriage was not a happy one. Eventually, Calma left Friedrich, amid much controversy and scandal, and they were officially divorced on May 2, 1938. In 1940, during World War II, Friedrich was killed in action while flying over England.

Calma and Friedrich had three children:

  • Count Bertram Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen (born 1932), married Felicita von Auersperg, had two children
  • Count Conradin Friedrich of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1933 – 2011), married Marta Catharina Lonegren, had two children
  • Countess Viktoria Adelheid of Castell-Rüdenhausen (born 1935), married Sir John Miles Huntington-Whiteley, 4th Baronet, had three children

On June 22, 1938, in Berlin, Germany, Calma married Captain Max Schnirring, a famous pilot whose aviation career began during World War I. He had been friends with the famous “ Red Baron” Manfred von Richthofen. Max was one of the first pilots for Deutsche Luft Hansa, a precursor to today’s Lufthansa. He also worked as a training supervisor for Focke-Wulf and as a test pilot for Arado. He had crashed four times during his test flights without serious injury. However, during a test flight on July 6, 1944, he crashed in a field near Parow, a village a few miles north of Stralsund in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Max died the next day, at the age of 49, in a hospital in Stralsund, Germany.

Calma and Max had three children:

  • Calma Barbara Schnirring (born 1938), married (1) Richard Darrell Berger, had six children (2) James Cook, adopted a daughter
  • Dagmar Schnirring (born 1940), married (1) Heinrich Walz, had two children, divorced in 1989 (2) married Eberhard Schäl, no children
  • Peter Michael Schnirring (1943 – 1966), unmarried

Calma married a third time on December 23, 1946, to Karl Otto Andree. The couple had no children and divorced on October 10, 1949.

After the end of World War II, Calma’s father Charles Edward was placed under house arrest at his residence the Veste Coburg because of his Nazi sympathies. In 1949, a denazification appeals court classified Charles Edward as a Nazi Follower, Category IV. He was heavily fined and almost bankrupted. Calma had a difficult time adjusting to her family’s circumstances and became estranged from some of her children. To make ends meet, she became a shoemaker. She had numerous relationships with different men and one relationship caused her to spend some time in prison.

Calma became involved with an engineer and factory owner named Alexander Glascow who had left his wife and five children for her. Glascow was accused of having sex with two underage girls who worked at his factory. One of the girls, just 15-years-old, became pregnant. Calma did not want to lose Glascow and became involved in the situation. She arranged for one of her sons to be named the father and further arranged for the pregnant girl to have an abortion, which was illegal. Unfortunately, the girl died during the abortion. Calma and Glascow were charged with committing a “continuing crime of acquiescence to a serious abortion crime”. On December 21, 1956, both Calma and Glascow were convicted and both spent about six months in prison.

Calma died on September 5, 1983, at the age of 71 in Erlangen, Germany. She was buried in the family cemetery in the forest of Schloss Callenberg.

The Saxe-Coburg and Gotha family cemetery in the forest of Callenberg Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Works Cited

  • Australia, K., profile, V. and Australia, K. (n.d.). H.H. Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1912 – 1983). [online] Royalchristenings.blogspot.gr. Available at: http://royalchristenings.blogspot.gr/2014/08/hh-princess-caroline-mathilde-of-saxe.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2018). Princess Caroline Mathilde of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Caroline_Mathilde_of_Saxe-Coburg_and_Gotha [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. (n.d.). Carolina Matilde de Sajonia-Coburgo-Gotha. [online] Available at: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carolina_Matilde_de_Sajonia-Coburgo-Gotha [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Parow-info.de. (n.d.). Flugkapitän Max Otto Schnirring. [online] Available at: https://www.parow-info.de/c/Schnirring.html [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].
  • Stegemann, W. (2013). Caroline Prinzessin von Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha saß 1956 im Dorstener Amtsgerichtsgefängnis | DORSTEN-transparent.de. [online] Dorsten-transparent.de. Available at: http://www.dorsten-transparent.de/2013/01/caroline-prinzessin-von-sachsen-coburg-und-gotha-sas-1956-im-dorstener-amtsgerichtsgefangnis/ [Accessed 23 Jan. 2019].