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King Mihai (Michael) of Romania; Credit – Wikipedia

December 5, 1560 – Death of François II, King of France, King Consort of Scotland, first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the Hotel Groslot d’Orleans in Orléans, France; buried at the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France
The eldest of the ten children of Henri II, King of France and Catherine de’ Medici, 14-year-old François married 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots in 1558.  It was a marriage that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and also a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great-grandfather King Henry VII of England. A little more than a year after the wedding, a great tragedy occurred in France. King Henri II died from injuries he received in a joust during a tournament. François succeeded his father but after only a 17-month reign, François II, King of France, aged 16, died in great pain, possibly from mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis which turned into an abscess.
Unofficial Royalty: King François II of France, King Consort of Scotland

December 5, 1916 – Death of Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in Neustrelitz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; buried in the New Crypt at Johanniterkirche in Mirow, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Augusta was a granddaughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, first cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and aunt of Queen Mary, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom.  Even though Augusta lived in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz after her marriage, she and her husband visited London frequently, staying with the Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace,  and Augusta retained close ties with the British Royal Family. Prior to the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and his wife Queen Alexandra in 1902, Augusta was consulted on matters of ceremony and attire as she was almost the only person alive who could remember the coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide.  Her recollection of Queen Victoria’s coronation also proved invaluable. In the autumn of 1916, Augusta’s health began to fail. She lay in her bed for a month, sleeping most of the time. When she was awake, she was lucid and listened to letters or newspapers read aloud to her. Augusta sent a message to King George V: “Tell the king that it is a stout old English heart which is ceasing to beat.” She died at the age of 94. Augusta was the longest-lived grandchild of King George III of the United Kingdom and the last link to the British branch of the House of Hanover.
Unofficial Royalty: Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

December 5, 1927 – Birth of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (King Rama IX) at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts
King Bhumibol was born in the United States because, at the time of birth, his father Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was studying medicine at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1946, King Bhumibol became king at the age of 18. King Bhumibol’s brother King Ananda Mahidol was found shot dead in his bedroom in the Boromphiman Throne Hall at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, four days before he was scheduled to return to Switzerland to finish his doctoral degree in law at the University of Lausanne. The circumstances of King Ananda Mahidol’s death have never been fully explained. In 1950, Bhumibol married Sirikit Kitiyakara who was the daughter of the Thai ambassador to France. The couple had three daughters and one son. King Bhumibol Adulyadej died at the age of 88, following several years of illness.  At the time of his death, he was the world’s longest-reigning current monarch, having reigned for 70 years and 126 days.
Unofficial Royalty: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand

December 5, 1969 – Death of Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace in London, England; first buried in the Royal Crypt at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, reburied in 1988 at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel near her aunt Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia
Alice was the daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a grandchild of Queen Victoria. As a child, Alice was diagnosed with congenital deafness and learned to lip-read in both English and German. In 1903, she married Prince Andreas of Greece and Denmark and the couple had four daughters and one son, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Alice spent a period of time in a Swiss sanitorium after she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Alice’s husband moved to the French Riviera where enjoyed a life of leisure, spending much of his time living aboard the yacht of his mistress. In November 1947, Alice returned to the United Kingdom for her son’s wedding. Some of her jewels were used to create Elizabeth’s engagement ring, as well as a bracelet that Philip designed for her as a wedding gift. In 1948, Alice founded a nursing order of nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. She established a home for the order just north of Athens and trained on the Greek island of Tinos. In 1953, Princess Alice attended the coronation of her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, at Westminster Abbey. Alice left Greece in 1967 following the Colonels’ Coup and was invited by her son and daughter-in-law to take up residence at Buckingham Palace in London, England. She died there at the age of 84.
Unofficial Royalty: Alice of Battenberg, Princess Andreas of Greece

December 5, 2014 – Death of Queen Fabiola of Belgium, born Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, wife of King Baudouin of the Belgians, at Stuyvenberg Castle in Laeken, Belgium; buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Born to a Spanish aristocratic family, Fabiola was the fifth of the six children of Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández, Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marquess of Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora and his wife Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz, Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío. Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was her godmother. In 1960, Fabiola married King Baudouin of the Belgians, who had been king since the abdication of his father King Leopold III in 1951. Unfortunately, King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola lost five children to miscarriages and never had children. In 1993, King Baudouin died. Although King Baudouin had heart surgery in March 1992 this death from heart failure still came unexpectedly, and sent much of Belgium into a period of deep mourning. Fabiola survived her husband by twenty-one years, dying at the age of 86.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Fabiola of Belgium

December 5, 2017 – Death of King Michael (Mihai) of Romania at his home in Aubonne, Switzerland; buried at the new Archdiocesan and Royal Cathedral at Curtea de Argeș in Romania
Mihai was the only child of King Carol II of Romania and his second wife, Princess Helen of Greece. He was the last King of Romania, reigning from 1927 – 1930 and again from 1940 until his forced abdication in 1947. In 1947, Mihai married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma. The couple had five daughters. Their eldest daughter Margareta is the current Custodian of the Crown of Romania. Mihai was banned from Romania for 43 years. In 1997, the Romanian government restored Mihai’s citizenship and in the following years, several properties were returned to the royal family. In 2016, it was announced that King Mihai had been diagnosed with chronic leukemia and metastatic epidermoid carcinoma and that he was withdrawing from public life. Crown Princess Margareta took on his public duties. King Mihai’s wife Anne died on August 1, 2016, in a hospital in Morges, Switzerland, at the age of 92. King Mihai died at his residence in Switzerland on December 5, 2017, at the age of 96.
Unofficial Royalty: King Michael (Mihai) of Romania

December 5, 2023 – Death of Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein, son of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein; buried at the Cathedral of St. Florin in Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Prince Constantin was the third of the three sons and the third of the four children of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein and the late Princess Marie, born Countess Marie Aglaë of Wchinitz and Tettau. . He received a law degree from the University of Salzburg in Austria and has worked primarily in the financial field, holding positions at investment firms both in the United States and in Europe. Constantin married Countess Marie Gabriele Franziska Kálnoky de Kőröspatak and the couple had three children. Prince Constantin died on December 5, 2023, at the age of 51. A statement released by the Prince House of Liechtenstein said: “The Princely House regrets to announce that H.S.H. Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein passed away unexpectedly on 5 December 2023.” A private family funeral and burial took place at the Cathedral of St. Florin in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on December 10, 2023.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein

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