© Unofficial Royalty 2024
Louise-Marie of Orleans, Queen of the Belgians; Credit – Wikipedia
October 11, 1159 – Death of William of Blois, Count of Boulogne, son of King Stephen of England, in the County of Toulouse, now in France; buried at the Abbey of Montmorel in the Duchy of Normandy, now in France.
William was the youngest of the five children and the third but the second surviving of the three sons of Stephen I, King of England (born Stephen of Blois) and Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne in her own right. Circa 1148 – 1149, William married Isabel de Warenne, 4th Countess of Surrey in her own right but the couple had no children. William’s mother Matilda I, Countess of Boulogne in her own right died in 1152, and her eldest son succeeded her as Eustace IV, Count of Boulogne. When Eustace suddenly died in 1153, William became Count of Boulogne. In 1159 William accompanied King Henry II of England on an unsuccessful invasion of the County of Toulouse, now in France. William died October 11, 1159, aged circa twenty-two, from an illness on the return trip to England, while still in the County of Toulouse.
Unofficial Royalty: William of Blois, Count of Boulogne
October 11, 1671 – Birth of King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark
In 1695, Frederik married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. They had four sons and one daughter. Sadly, three sons died in infancy. Frederik had two bigamous marriages to his mistresses. The adultery and bigamy of Frederik IV and the effect it had upon Queen Louise deeply affected and disturbed their son Crown Prince Christian, the future Christian VI. Christian distanced himself from his father and he came to detest his father’s bigamous wives. After the death of Queen Louise in 1721, Frederik and Anna Sophie Reventlow were married in a second formal wedding conducted with great ceremony. Although the marriage was still scandalous, it was not declared morganatic and Anna Sophie was crowned Queen. Anna Sophie and Frederick IV had six children. Three were born before the legal marriage in 1721 but none survived. This was seen by many as divine punishment for their bigamy. The three children born after the 1721 marriage were styled as Prince/Princess of Denmark but none survived infancy.
Unofficial Royalty: King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway
October 11, 1721 – Death of Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria; buried at the Liechtenstein Crypt in Vranov near Brno, Czech Republic
In 1679, Anton Florian married Countess Eleonore Barbara von Thun-Hohenstein and the couple had eleven children including Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1712, Anton Florian’s nephew Hans-Adam I, Prince of Liechtenstein, died without a male heir. Anton Florian was the heir according to primogeniture. Still, he was not very popular with the family, and Hans-Adam I had named his second cousin once removed Josef Wenzel as his heir. In 1718, after negotiations, Anton Florian became Prince of Liechtenstein and Josef Wenzel concentrated on his military career.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Anton Florian of Liechtenstein
October 11, 1739 – Birth of Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, lover of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia, in the village of Chizhovo near Smolensk, Russia
Grigory and Catherine had known each other since 1762 but their sexual relationship began in the spring of 1774 when Grigory was 34 and Catherine was 44. Grigory and Catherine worked out a new relationship that preserved their affection toward each other and their political collaborations but allowed each of them to choose other sexual partners. That relationship lasted until Grigoryi died. He is considered Catherine’s great love. Trivia: The term “Potemkin Village” derives from Grigory Potemkin. It has come to mean, especially in a political context, any hollow or false construct, physical or figurative, meant to hide an undesirable or potentially damaging situation. The term comes from stories of a fake portable village built solely to impress Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia, by Grigory Potemkin, during her journey to Crimea in 1787.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, lover of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia
October 11, 1753 – Birth of Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark, son of King Frederick V of Denmark and his second wife, Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark
After the death of his father King Frederik V, Frederik’s half-brother from his father’s first marriage King Christian VII succeeded to the throne. Christian VII had many symptoms of mental illness. Frederik and his mother Juliana Maria were instrumental in a coup that would bring about the fall of Christian VII’s physician Johann Friedrich Struensee and discredit Christian’s wife Caroline Matilda of Wales who was having an affair with Struensee. They arranged for King Christian VII to sign an arrest warrant for Struensee after they had already arrested him. Struensee was executed and Caroline Matilda was exiled. After the fall of Struensee, Juliana Maria and her son Frederik took charge of the Council of State. Christian VII was only nominally king from 1772 onward.
Unofficial Royalty: Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark
October 11, 1850 – Death of Louise-Marie of Orleans, Queen of the Belgians, wife of King Leopold I of the Belgians, at Ostend, Belgium; buried at the Royal Crypt in the Church of Our Lady in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Louise-Marie was the eldest daughter and second child of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies. Among her ancestors are the Kings of France, Spain, Poland, Sicily and Naples, and Holy Roman Emperors. Marie Antoinette, Queen of France was her mother’s aunt. In 1831, Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, uncle of both Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, became the first King of the Belgians. Leopold had to marry again to provide for the Belgian succession and his choice was Louise-Marie. The couple had four children. In August 1850, during a memorial service for Louise-Marie’s father, it was noticed that Louise-Marie had difficulty walking and needed support from her husband to prevent her from falling. A month later, suffering from tuberculosis and feeling increasingly weak, she moved to Ostend, Belgium on the sea. Surrounded by her mother, her husband, and her children, Louise-Marie died at the age of 38.
Unofficial Royalty: Louise-Marie of Orleans, Queen of the Belgians
October 11, 1861 – Death of Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham, mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom, at the family estate Bifrons in Patrixbourne, Kent, England; buried at St. Mary’s Church in Patrixbourne, Kent, England
Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham was the last mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom, from 1820 until the King died in 1830. George IV was so devoted to her that he bequeathed her his plate and jewels, although she refused them when he died. He also provided housing at Windsor Castle and at the Brighton Pavilion for Elizabeth and her family and ensured they traveled with him when he moved from one residence to another. She was given full use of the King’s horses and carriages, and most of the large dinners held at her London townhouse were prepared in the kitchens of St. James’s Palace. To George IV, nothing was ‘off limits’ for his beloved Elizabeth. However, it would all end when George IV died at Windsor Castle in 1839. By the following day, Elizabeth had packed her belongings and left Windsor for her brother’s home before traveling to Paris, reportedly expelled from the country by the new King William IV. Elizabeth remained in Paris until the death of William IV in 1837. She returned to the family’s Bifrons estate in the village of Patrixbourne, near Canterbury, where she lived the remainder of her life.
Unofficial Royalty: Elizabeth Conyngham, Marchioness Conyngham, mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom
October 11, 1916 – Death of King Otto I of Bavaria at Schloss Fürstenried in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany; buried at St. Michael’s Church in Munich
Like his brother King Ludwig II of Bavaria, Otto was also mentally ill. After Ludwig and his doctor were found dead in a lake, Otto became King of Bavaria. However, because of his incapacity, Otto probably never understood that he had become king. His uncle Prince Luitpold who had been Regent of Bavaria during Ludwig II’s reign remained Regent during Otto’s reign. Otto remained in isolation at Fürstenried Palace for the rest of his life. When Prince Luitpold died in 1912, he was succeeded by his son Ludwig as Regent. The following year, Ludwig had the Bavarian constitution amended to allow King Otto to be formally deposed. In 1913, Otto was formally deposed and replaced by his cousin who took the throne as King Ludwig III. Otto died three years later, aged 68, as the result of a bowel obstruction.
Unofficial Royalty: King Otto I of Bavaria
October 11, 1927 – Birth of Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, wife of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, at the Royal Palace in Brussels, Belgium
Full name: Josephine-Charlotte Ingeborg Elisabeth Marie-José Marguerite Astrid
Joséphine-Charlotte was the eldest child and only daughter of Leopold III, King of the Belgians and Princess Astrid of Sweden. Her two younger brothers Baudouin and Albert II were both Kings of the Belgians. In 1953, Joséphine-Charlotte married Hereditary Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg, the eldest child of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma. The couple had five children including Henri, the current Grand Duke of Luxembourg. In 1964, Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicated, and Jean and Joséphine-Charlotte became the new Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg.
Unofficial Royalty: Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
October 11, 1954 – Birth of Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan of Oman, in Muscat, then in the Sultanate of Muscat and Oman, now in the Sultanate of Oman
On January 11, 2020, the day after the death of Haitham’s first cousin Sultan Qaboos of Oman, Haitham was named Sultan of Oman after a sealed letter from Qaboos was opened identifying whom he wished to take his place. On the same day, Haitham was sworn in as the Sultan of Oman during an emergency session of the Council of Oman at the Al-Bustan Palace in Muscat, Oman.
Unofficial Royalty: Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, Sultan of Oman
October 11, 1963 – Birth of Prince Feisal bin Al Hussein of Jordan, son of King Hussein I of Jordan and his second wife Princess Muna Al Hussein (the former Antoinette Gardiner), in Amman, Jordan
Prince Feisal is the younger brother of King Abdullah II of Jordan. In addition to his military duties with the Jordanian Air Force, Feisal has been President of the Jordan Olympic Committee since 2003, Founder and Chairman of Generations for Peace since 2007, and a Member of the International Olympic Committee since 2010.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Feisal bin Al Hussein
October 11, 1969 – Birth of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, son of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, at Utrecht University Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Full name: Constantijn Christof Frederick Aschwin
Constantijn is the youngest of the three sons of the former Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands. His eldest brother King Willem-Alexander is the current King of the Netherlands. Constantijn married Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst in 2001 and had two daughters and one son. He does not undertake many official duties for the Dutch monarchy. However, as a member of the Dutch Royal House, he and his wife are typically in attendance at major events, such as King’s Day and the annual Opening of Parliament.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.