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King Edward VII of the United Kingdom; Credit – Wikipedia
May 6, 1685 – Birth of Sophie Luise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen in Prussia, third wife of Friedrich I, King in Prussia, at Grabow Castle in Grabow, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Germany
Sophie Luise and her husband had no children. Being so much younger than her husband, and close in age to his children, Sophie struggled to find acceptance at the Prussian court. It did not help that her predecessor, Friedrich’s second wife Sophie Charlotte of Hanover, was greatly loved and admired by the Prussian people, and many saw Sophie Luise as a poor replacement. Sophie Luise became deeply religious and her devotion became obsessive and manic. During his final illness, her husband Friedrich awoke to find his wife standing before him, covered in blood and screaming at him. She had crashed through a glass door in a fit of hysteria while running from her apartments to his, apparently to confront him. Sophie Luise had no recollection of the event. Her husband sent her back to Mecklenburg to be with her family. She lived the rest of her life with her widowed mother.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophie Luise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Queen in Prussia
May 6, 1737 – Death of Lady Barbara FitzRoy, never publically acknowledged by King Charles II of England as his child by Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, died and buried at the English Priory of St. Nicholas in Pontoise, Normandy, France where she was a nun
There are questions about Lady Barbara’s paternity. Barbara Palmer had several lovers before Lady Barbara’s conception. Her mother claimed that she was King Charles II’s daughter but possibly she was the daughter of her mother’s second cousin and lover John Churchill, later the 1st Duke of Marlborough. Philip Stanhope, 2nd Earl of Chesterfield, who Lady Barbara resembled, was also a lover of Barbara Palmer. Roger Palmer, 1st Earl of Castlemaine, the husband of Lady Barbara’s mother, believed her to be his daughter, and left his estate to her. King Charles II informally recognized Lady Barbara by giving her the surname Fitzroy. 1689, 17-year-old Lady Barbara became a novice at the Benedictine English Priory of St. Nicholas in Pontoise, Normandy, France, taking the name Sister Benedicta. On April 2, 1691, Lady Barbara professed her final vows as a nun. In 1721, Lady Barbara became prioress of the convent. On May 6, 1737, Lady Barbara, aged sixty-five, died at the Benedictine English Priory and was buried in the church there.
Unofficial Royalty: Lady Barbara FitzRoy
May 6, 1747 – Birth of Georg I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in Hesse, Germany
In 1784, Georg married Augusta of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. They had had thirteen children but seven of their children died either in childhood or in their early twenties. In 1812, after the death of his childless elder brother, 65-year-old Georg succeeded him. Because of his age and perhaps illness, Georg knew that he would not be able to reign for long and died less than a year later.
Unofficial Royalty: Georg I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
May 6, 1769 – Birth of Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy
In 1790, when Ferdinando’s father Pietro Leopoldo I, Grand Duke of Tuscany was elected Holy Roman Emperor as Leopold II, he abdicated the throne of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany in favor of his second son Ferdinando who officially became Grand Duke of Tuscany. Ferdinando’s elder brother Franz would succeed to the Habsburg hereditary titles and be elected Holy Roman Emperor upon his father’s death in 1792. In 1790, Ferdinando married his double first cousin Luisa of Naples and Sicily, and they had five children. Luisa died in childbirth delivering a stillborn son in 1802. Twenty years after Luisa’s, death Ferdinando married Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony but the couple had no children. Ferdinando I, Grand Duke of Tuscany, aged 55, died three years later.
Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany
May 6, 1882 – Birth of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
Full name: Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst
The last German Crown Prince and Crown Prince of Prussia, Wilhelm married Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1905 and the couple had six children. After the German defeat in World War I, Wilhelm and Cecilie went into exile in the Netherlands with much of the rest of the German imperial family following the ending of the monarchy in 1918. Shortly afterward, the marriage of Cecilie and Wilhelm became a marriage in name only. When his father, the former Wilhelm II, German Emperor, died in 1941, Wilhelm became Head of the House of Hohenzollern.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany
May 6, 1910 – Death of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom at Buckingham Palace in London, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle
The habits of Edward VII, known in the family as Bertie, did not keep him in the best of health. He ate too much and usually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. He began to suffer from chronic bronchitis. In March 1910 while vacationing in Biarritz, France, Bertie collapsed and remained in Biarritz to recuperate. On April 27, 1910, he returned to Buckingham Palace but his condition worsened. After waiting 59 years to become king and reigning for just nine years, he lapsed into a coma and died peaceably just before midnight on May 6, 1910, at the age of 68.
Unofficial Royalty: King Edward VII of the United Kingdom
May 6, 1954 – Death of Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Crown Princess of Germany, wife of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, in Bad Kissingen, Germany; buried in the grounds at Hohenzollern Castle, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany
In 1905, Cecilie married Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany, the son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, and had six children. Shortly after the end of World War I and the fall of the German monarchies, the marriage of Cecilie and Wilhelm became a marriage in name only. After the death of her husband in 1951, Cecilie moved to an apartment in the Frauenkopf district in Stuttgart, Germany. That same year, her memoirs were published and she made a visit to England where she attended the christening of her granddaughter and enjoyed a final visit with Queen Mary. Later that year, her sister Queen Alexandrine of Denmark died and Cecilie never fully recovered from the loss. Cecilie died on what would have been her husband’s 72nd birthday.
Unofficial Royalty: Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Crown Princess of Germany
May 6, 1960 – Wedding of Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and Antony Armstrong-Jones at Westminster Abbey
In 1958, Margaret met Antony Armstrong-Jones (Tony) at a dinner party. A few months later, Tony was chosen to photograph Margaret. A relationship developed and in 1960, Margaret’s sister consented to the marriage. The couple had one son and one daughter. However, Margaret and Tony’s marriage was anything but calm and peaceful. The two very strong personalities, often at odds, led to volatile rows and many affairs for both of them. The couple divorced in 1978. Tony married again, but Margaret did not.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom and Antony Armstrong-Jones
May 6, 2019 – Birth of Prince Archie of Sussex, son of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, at Portland Hospital for Women and Children in London, England
Archie is the elder of the two children of The Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Under the 1917 Letters Patent, Archie was entitled to the style and title His Royal Highness Prince, when his grandfather King Charles III succeeded to the throne.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Archie of Sussex
May 6, 2023 – Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey in London, England
Unofficial Royalty: Coronation of King Charles III and Queen Camilla of the United Kingdom
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