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Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

July 18, 1501 – Birth of Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden, wife of King Christian II of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, in Brussels, Duchy of Burgundy, now in Belgium
The daughter of Philip, Duke of Burgundy and Juana I, Queen of Castile and Aragon, Isabella was born an Archduchess of Austria and an Infanta of Castile and Aragon. Isabella’s brother was the powerful Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor who was also King of Spain. Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England, was her maternal aunt, and Catherine and Henry VIII’s only surviving child, Queen Mary I of England was her first cousin. In 1514, Isabella married Christian II, King of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden who was deposed in 1523 causing them to the rest of their lives in exile. Even with family support, they had a difficult time, with many worries, and a lack of money. In late 1525, Isabella became seriously ill and died on January 19, 1526, at the age of 24.
Unofficial Royalty: Isabella of Austria, Queen of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

July 18, 1552 – Birth of Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, Margrave of Moravia, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria
Rudolf never married. In 1568, as part of the Habsburg marriage policy, sixteen-year-old Rudolf had been betrothed to his first cousin, two-year-old Isabella Clara Eugenia of Spain, the daughter of Rudolf’s maternal uncle King Felipe II of Spain. Isabella Clara Eugenia had to wait more than twenty years before Rudolf declared that he had no intention of marrying anybody. In 1572, Rudolf’s father Maximilian II passed the crown of Hungary to his son, and in 1575, Rudolf was also granted the crown of Bohemia and the Habsburg hereditary territories. Rudolf was elected King of the Romans in 1575, ensuring that he would succeed his father as Holy Roman Emperor. Rudolf is considered an ineffective ruler whose mistakes directly led to the Thirty Years’ War (1618 – 1648), one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history.
Unofficial Royalty: Rudolf II, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, Margrave of Moravia, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now in Austria

July 18, 1712 – Birth of Karl Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in Meiningen, Duchy of Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany
Karl Friedrich’s father died in November 1724, making his elder brother, Ernst Ludwig II, the reigning Duke. As both brothers were underage, their two uncles, Friedrich Wilhelm and Anton Ulrich, oversaw the running of the duchy. Ernst Ludwig II died in 1729, and Karl Friedrich became the reigning Duke. Despite his uncles’ guardianship ending in 1733 when Karl Friedrich reached his majority, he continued to leave the daily running of the duchy to his uncles and his court officials. In poor health, he was unable to walk had to be carried and driven everywhere, and had little interest in anything requiring responsibility.
Unofficial Royalty: Karl Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

July 18, 1793 – Birth of Marie Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco, wife of Florestan I, Prince of Monaco, in Coulommiers, France
Full name: Marie-Louise Charlotte Gabrielle
Prince Florestan of Monaco attended his half-sister’s wedding celebrations and met Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, the half-sister of the groom. Because Florestan’s family did not approve of the marriage, the wedding was quiet and modest. Florestan and Maria Caroline had two children including Charles III, Prince of Monaco. Florestan succeeded his brother Honoré V, who had never married. During Florestan’s reign, the real power lay in the hands of his wife Maria Caroline. She took over the finances of Monaco and ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her. When Marie Caroline’s son Charles III succeeded his father, she continued to have a role in governing as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year-long reign. The idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865 and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco

July 18, 1918 – Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and five other Romanovs in Alapaevsk, Russia; her remains were reburied at the Church of Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem
The day after the execution of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and his family, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (age 53) and five other Romanovs, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich (age 59), Prince Ioann Konstantinovich (age 32), Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich (age 28), Prince Igor Konstantinovich (age 24), and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (age 21) along with Varvara Alexeievna Yakovleva, a nun from Elizabeth’s convent, and Feodor Semyonovich Remez, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary, were executed by the Bolsheviks. They were thrown down an abandoned mine shaft that was partially filled with water and then grenades were thrown down the mine shaft.
Unofficial Royalty: Execution of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia and five other Romanovs

July 18, 1920 – Death of Prince Joachim of Prussia, son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, at Villa Leignitz in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany; first buried in the Friedenskirche in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam before being moved to the nearby Antique Temple in 1931
After World War I and the fall of all the German monarchies, Prince Joachim struggled to accept his status as a commoner and became greatly depressed. On the evening of July 18, 1920, he shot himself with a revolver at Villa Leignitz in Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, Germany. He was found by his elder brother August Wilhelm and taken to the Saint Joseph Hospital in Potsdam, where he died the following day.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Joachim of Prussia

July 18, 1938 – Death of Marie of Edinburgh, Queen of Romania, wife of King Ferdinand I of Romania, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, at Peles Castle, Sinaia in Romania, buried at the Monastery of Curtea de Arges, Romania
Marie was the daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia. Just after the beginning of World War I, her husband’s uncle King Carol I of Romania died and Ferdinand ascended the Romanian throne. Drawn quickly into the war, Queen Marie threw herself into her charitable work, rallying support for the war effort, and serving tirelessly as a nurse. In 1919, after World War I, she represented Romania at the Paris Peace Conference, replacing the Romanian delegation that had left due to extreme conflict with the French prime minister. Marie is often credited with smoothing the situation and helping to bring about Romania’s huge gains at the end of the conference.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie of Edinburgh, Queen of Romania

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