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Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland; Credit – Wikipedia
June 5, 1296 – Death of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, son of King Henry III of England, in London, England; buried in Westminster Abbey in London, England
Edmund was a loyal supporter of his brother King Edward I of England. At the time of his death, he was the Lieutenant of Aquitaine and was conducting a siege of Bordeaux, the capital of Aquitaine, which the French had occupied. Edmund fell ill during the siege and died at the age of 51. He had declared that he would not be buried until his debts were paid. His body was embalmed at a Franciscan abbey in Bayonne (France) and was not brought back to England until early 1297. Edmund’s remains were kept in a Franciscan convent in London until March 24, 1301, when he was buried in the presence of his brother King Edward I at Westminster Abbey in Edward the Confessor’s Chapel.
Unofficial Royalty: Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester
June 5, 1341 – Birth of Edmund of Langley, Duke of York, son of King Edward III of England, in King’s Langley, Hertfordshire, England
Edmund married Infanta Isabella of Castile, the younger daughter of King Pedro the Cruel of Castile and the sister of Constance of Castile, the second wife of Edmund’s elder brother John of Gaunt. Isabella had accompanied her sister Constance to England when she married John of Gaunt. Through the marriage of Edmund’s younger son, Richard of Conisburgh, 3rd Earl of Cambridge to Anne de Mortimer, great-granddaughter of Edmund’s elder brother Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, the House of York made its claim to the English throne in the Wars of the Roses. Richard of Conisburgh and his wife were the parents of Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York, and the grandparents of King Edward IV and King Richard III.
Unofficial Royalty: Edmund of Langley, Duke of York
June 5, 1660 – Birth of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, favorite of Queen Anne of Great Britain, born Sarah Jennings at Holywell House in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England
Sarah is known for being a favorite of Queen Anne. Sarah and Anne became acquainted in childhood when Sarah was appointed a maid of honor to Anne’s stepmother Maria Beatrice of Modena. Sarah married John Churchill, an upcoming military leader, later 1st Duke of Marlborough. Sarah and her husband John had seven children. Their children and grandchildren married into the British aristocracy. Among their more famous descendants are British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill and Diana, Princess of Wales, and of course her son William, a future King of the United Kingdom.
Unofficial Royalty: Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough
June 5, 1757 – Death of Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, wife of Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia; first buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, now in the German state of Thuringia. In the early 1940s, her remains of were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt in the German state of Thuringia before the demolition of the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg
In 1744, 20-year-old Bernardina Christina married 23-year-old Johann Friedrich, who had become the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt just two months earlier. Bernadina Christina and Johann Friedrich had six children but only two daughters survived childhood. Bernadina Christina was active in charitable causes. In 1756, she founded the Bernardina Abbey for noblewomen in Rudolstadt. However, she did not live to see the inauguration of the abbey in 1757. On June 5, 1757, aged 33, Bernadina Christina died in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia.
Unofficial Royalty: Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
June 5, 1771 – Birth of King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland, son of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Buckingham Palace
Before the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837, the Hanover kings of the United Kingdom were also Electors and later Kings of Hanover in Germany. Because of Hanover’s Salic Law, which forbade female succession, Victoria could not become the monarch of Hanover. Her uncle Ernest Augustus became King of Hanover upon the death of his brother William. Ernst August V, Prince of Hanover, the husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco, is the senior direct male descendant of Ernest (and George III) and the pretender to the Hanover throne.
Unofficial Royalty: King Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, Duke of Cumberland
June 5, 1962 – Birth of Princess Astrid of Belgium, daughter of King Albert II of Belgium, at the Château de Belvédère in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Full name: Astrid Joséphine-Charlotte Fabrizia Elisabeth Paola Maria
Astrid is the sister of Philippe, the current King of the Belgians. She often represents her brother King Philippe on foreign visits and gives her services to many organizations. In 1984, Astrid married Archduke Lorenz of Austria-Este. Lorenz is the eldest son of Archduke Robert of Austria-Este, the second son of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria, and has been the Head of the House of Austria-Este since 1996. Astrid and Lorenz had five children.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Astrid of Belgium
June 5, 1965 – Death of Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland, son of King Gustaf V of Sweden, at Stenhammar Palace in Flen, Sweden; buried in the parish cemetery in Flen, Sweden
Wilhelm had an unsuccessful marriage to Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, a granddaughter of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, and the only daughter and the eldest of the two children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark. When Maria Pavlovna was only seventeen months old, her mother died shortly after giving premature birth to her second child. After her marriage, Maria was homesick in a strange country where the royal court was even more formal than the Russian court. Maria left her husband and son and returned to Russia which caused a great scandal in Sweden. The marriage was officially dissolved and then confirmed by an edict issued by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, Duke of Södermanland
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