© Unofficial Royalty 2024
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor as a boy (center) with his sisters Eleanor (left, future Queen of Portugal and France) and Isabella (right, future Queen of Denmark)
February 24, 1500 – Birth of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy at the Prinsenhof in Ghent, County of Flanders, Burgundian State, now in Belgium
Best known as Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles was one of the most powerful ever monarchs and had a large number of titles due to his vast inheritance of the Burgundian, Spanish, and Austrian realms. He was the second of the six children and the elder of the two sons of Philip of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, the ruler of the Burgundian State from the House of Habsburg, and Juana I, Queen of Castile and León from the House of Trastámara.
Unofficial Royalty: Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Lord of the Netherlands, Duke of Burgundy
February 24, 1557 – Birth of Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria
Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor (reigned 1612 – 1619) was also King of Bohemia (reigned 1611 – 1617), Archduke of Austria (reigned 1608 – 1619), Archduke of Further Austria, (1608 – 1619), King of Hungary and Croatia (reigned 1608 – 1618). In 1611, Matthias married his first cousin Anna of Tyrol. Although Matthias was 54 years old, he hoped to have children with his 26-year-old wife but their marriage was childless. Although Matthias and his wife Anna did not leave any children, they left the future Habsburgs a burial site. Matthias and Anna founded the Capuchin Church (German: Kapuzinerkirche) in Vienna, Austria, where the Imperial Crypt (German: Kaisergruft), the traditional burial site of the Habsburgs, is located.
Unofficial Royalty: Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia
February 24, 1729 – Death of Ernst Ludwig II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany, buried in the Castle Church at Elisabethenburg Palace in Meiningen
Although Ernst Ludwig was the third son, both of his elder brothers died before their father, making him heir to the ducal throne. He became Duke of Saxe-Meiningen upon his father’s death in November 1724. Just fifteen years old, his brief reign was overseen by his two uncles, Friedrich Wilhelm and Anton Ulrich. Ernst Ludwig died just five years later.
Unofficial Royalty: Ernst Ludwig II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
February 24, 1774 – Birth of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, son of King George III of the United Kingdom, at the Queen’s House, now Buckingham Palace, in London, England
Full name: Adolphus Frederick
Through his granddaughter, born Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom, Prince Adolphus is an ancestor of the British Royal Family. In 1818, Adolphus married Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel, a great-granddaughter of King George II of Great Britain. They had three children including Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the mother of Princess Victoria Mary of Teck.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge
February 24, 1777 – Birth of King José I of Portugal at Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal
To strengthen an alliance with Spain, a double marriage between Portugal and Spain was arranged between José and Mariana Victoria of Spain, daughter of Felipe V, King of Spain, and between José’s elder sister Barbara and Felipe V’s son and heir Fernando, Prince of Asturias, later Fernando VI, King of Spain. José and Mariana Victoria had four daughters including his successor Maria I, the first reigning Queen of Portugal.
Unofficial Royalty: King José I of Portugal
February 24, 1906 – Birth of Berthold, Margrave of Baden, Head of the House of Zähringen and pretender to the former Grand Ducal throne of Baden from 1929 until his death in 1963, in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
In 1931 in Baden-Baden, Berthold married Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, the second daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg (as well as the elder sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh). The couple was second cousins through their mutual great-grandfather, King Christian IX of Denmark. Berthold and Theodora had three children.
Unofficial Royalty: Berthold, Margrave of Baden
February 24, 1931 – Death of Friedrich August II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg at Schloss Rastede in Oldenburg, Lower Saxony, Germany; buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in St. Gertrude’s Cemetery in Oldenburg
Friedrich August was the last Grand Duke of Oldenburg, abdicating on November 11, 1918. In 1878, he married Princess Elisabeth Anna of Prussia, and the couple had one surviving daughter. After his first wife died in 1895, Friedrich August, needing a male heir and a mother for his surviving daughter, married Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They had five children. Friedrich August became Grand Duke of Oldenburg upon his father’s death in 1900. After his abdication, Friedrich August retired to Schloss Rastede where he took up farming. Claiming an “extremely precarious” financial situation, he petitioned the Oldenburg government for an annual allowance the year after his abdication. Friedrich August, aged 78, died at his home Schloss Rastede on February 24, 1931.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich August II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg
February 24, 1963 – Birth of Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro in Saint-Raphaël, Var, France
Prince Carlo is one of the current claimants to the headship of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and a pretender to the throne of the former kingdom. He succeeded his father in 2008.
Full name: Carlo Maria Bernardo Gennaro
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Carlo of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro
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