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February 4, 1505 – Death of Jeanne of France, Queen of France, Saint Joan of Valois, in Bourges, Duchy of Berry, now in France; buried in the chapel of the convent she founded in Bourges. Her tomb was desecrated and her remains were burned by the Huguenots during the sacking of the city of Bourges.
Jeanne was the daughter of King Louis XI of France. In 1476, Jeanne married Louis of Orléans, the future King Louis XII of France. She was the first of the three wives of King Louis XII of France. The marriage was unhappy, the couple lived apart, and there were no children. Louis succeeded as King of France after the unexpected death of his cousin King Charles VIII in 1498. Jeanne and Louis XII’s childless marriage was annulled because Louis XII wanted to marry Charles VII’s widow Anne, Duchess of Brittany in her own right to gain control of Anne of Brittany’s funds and territories. After her marriage was annulled, Jeanne founded the monastic Order of the Sisters of the Annunciation of Mary and died in 1505 at the age of 40. She was canonized as a saint in 1950.
Unofficial Royalty: Jeanne of France, Queen of France, Saint Joan of Valois
February 4, 1694 – Death of Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of All Russia, second wife of Alexei, Tsar of All Russia, mother of Peter I the Great, Emperor of All Russia, at the Moscow Kremlin; first buried at the Ascension Convent, a Russian Orthodox nunnery in the Moscow Kremlin, in 1929 moved to the crypt of the Archangel Cathedral in the Moscow Kremlin
In 1671, Natalya married Alexei, Tsar of All Russia as his second wife. The couple had three children including Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia. Natalya had been brought up in the Moscow home of her distant relative, the Western-influenced statesman, diplomat, and reformer Artamon Sergeyevich Matveev. Mateev married a Western woman, Eudoxie Hamilton from Scotland. Because of Mateev’s influence, Natalya Kirillovna’s upbringing was freer and more Western than that of other Russian women of that time period and it certainly had an influence on her son Peter the Great who was greatly influenced by Western advisers and implemented major reforms to modernize Russia. Natalya Kirillovna died from heart disease at the age of 42 on February 4, 1694.
Unofficial Royalty: Natalia Kirillovna Naryshkina, Tsaritsa of All Russia
February 4, 1761 – Birth of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in the Imperial Free City of Frankfurt, now in Hesse, Germany
Full name: Georg Frederick Karl
Georg became Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in July 1782, upon the death of his childless brother Karl Wilhelm. Four months later, he married Princess Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. The couple had three children including Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen who married King William IV of the United Kingdom. One of the first things Georg did upon becoming Duke was to open the Ducal library and art collections to the public. He also oversaw the design of the new English Garden in Meiningen on the site of the former municipal cemetery and began to transform Meiningen into a prestigious royal city. Having always been in poor health, Georg I died at the age of 42, after developing a fever.
Unofficial Royalty: Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
February 4, 2002 – Death of Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg in Stockholm, Sweden; buried in the Royal Cemetery in Haga Park in Solna, Sweden
Sigvard was the second son of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife Princess Margaret of Connaught. He lost his style His Royal Highness and his title Prince of Sweden when he married a commoner. In 1951, Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg conferred on him the title of Count of Wisborg. Sigvard died in 2002, in Stockholm, Sweden. He was 94 years old, and for the last eight years of his life, he had been the eldest living great-grandchild of Queen Victoria, as well as her longest-lived descendant.
Unofficial Royalty: Sigvard Bernadotte, Count of Wisborg
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