© Unofficial Royalty 2024

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, Credit – Wikipedia

December 7, 1545 – Birth of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, son of Matthew Stuart, 4th Earl of Lennox and Margaret Douglas (daughter of Margaret Tudor), at Temple Newsham in Yorkshire, England
Lord Darnley was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots and the father of King James VI of Scotland/James I of England. Like his wife Mary, Queen of Scots, Darnley was the grandchild of Margaret Tudor (daughter of King Henry VII of England and the older sister of King Henry VIII of England). Darnley had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII of England. In 1565, Darnley and Mary, Queen of Scots were married. They had one child, the future James VI, King of Scots who succeeded to the English throne upon the death of Queen Elizabeth I as King James I of England. In 1565, Mary while Mary was pregnant. Darnley, who was jealous of Mary’s friendship with her private secretary David Riccio, formed a conspiracy to do away with Riccio who was murdered in Mary’s presence. Mary’s marriage was all but over and she began to be drawn to James Hepburn, 4th Earl of Bothwell. Bothwell conspired with Archibald Campbell, 5th Earl of Argyll and George Gordon, 5th Earl of Huntly to rid Mary of her husband. 1567, Kirk o’ Field, the house where Darnley was staying, was blown up. Darnley and his servant were found dead near the house in an orchard outside the city walls.
Unofficial Royalty: Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley, King Consort of Scotland

December 7, 1786 – Birth of Countess Maria Walewska, mistress of Emperor Napoleon I of France, born Countess Maria Łączyńska in Kiernozia, Poland
Maria Walewska was a member of the Polish nobility, and from 1807 – 1810, was the mistress of the French Emperor Napoleon I, with whom she had one son.
Unofficial Royalty: Countess Maria Walewska, Mistress of Emperor Napoleon I of France

December 7, 1803 – Birth of Maria Josepha of Saxony, Queen of Spain, third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Maria Josepha Amalia Beatrix Xaveria Vincentia Aloysia Franziska de Paula Franziska de Chantal Anna Apollonia Johanna Nepomucena Walburga Theresia Ambrosia
In 1819, 16-year-old Maria Josepha married Ferdinand VII of Spain who had been widowed twice. Maria Josepha’s youth and inexperience made the adjustment to marriage difficult. There was much pressure upon Ferdinand VII to produce an heir. There were rumors that Maria Josepha Amalia’s devout Roman Catholicism caused her to believe that sexual relations between spouses was wrong and that it took Pope Pius VII to convince her that such relations were permissible. Nevertheless, the marriage remained childless and Maria Josepha Amalia died of a fever at the age of 25 in 1829.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Josepha of Saxony, Queen of Spain

December 7, 1805 – Death of Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark, son of King Frederick V of Denmark and his second wife Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark; buried at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
Frederik was the heir presumptive to the throne and acted as regent for his mentally unstable half-brother King Christian VII from 1772 to 1784.  In 1774, 21-year-old Hereditary Prince Frederik married 16-year-old Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The couple had five children including  King Christian VIII of Denmark. After King Christain VII’s son, the future King Frederik V, came of age, he ruled permanently as Prince Regent and Hereditary Prince Frederik lost his power. Hereditary Prince Frederik died in 1805, at the age of 52.
Unofficial Royalty: Hereditary Prince Frederik of Denmark

December 7, 1807 – Birth of Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in Amorbach, Principality of Leiningen, now in Bavaria, Germany
Full name: Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine
Feodora was the elder maternal half-sister of Queen Victoria. In 1828, Feodora married Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Kensington Palace in London, and the couple had six children. Victoria and Feodora wrote to each other religiously. Victoria and her mother visited Feodora and Feodora visited Victoria and their mother in England. Whenever she came, Victoria paid Feodora £300 for her expenses. After being widowed in 1860, Feodora moved to Baden-Baden, where, with some financial help from Queen Victoria, she purchased a cottage called Villa Friesenberg. Feodora came to England when Victoria needed her the most, in the summer of 1861 following the death of their mother and then in December 1861 following Prince Albert’s death.
Unofficial Royalty: Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

December 7, 1978 – Birth of Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand, daughter of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, at the Amphorn Sathan Residential Hall on the grounds of Dusit Palace in Bangkok, Thailand
An attorney and a diplomat, Princess Bajrakitiyabha, The Princess Rajasarini Siribajra, also known as Princess Pa, is the eldest of the seven children of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, and the only child of the King and his first wife Princess Soamsawali of Thailand. Sadly, the princess remains in a coma after collapsing and losing consciousness due to a severe heart arrhythmia on December 14, 2022.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand

December 7, 2003 – Birth of Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange, daughter and heir apparent of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, at Bronovo Hospital in The Hague, the Netherlands
Full name: Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria
Known as Amalia she is the heir-apparent to the Dutch throne. She is Princess of Orange, the title of the heir to the Dutch throne, the first time in nearly 600 years the title was held by a female. The Netherlands changed its succession law in 1983 to absolute primogeniture where the succession passes to the eldest child of the sovereign regardless of gender. Males and females have equal succession rights. This means that Amalia is the heir apparent and comes first in the line of succession as the eldest child.
Unofficial Royalty: Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

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Alexandrine of Baden, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

December 6, 1421 – Birth of King Henry VI of England at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
King Henry VI, from the House of Lancaster, is the youngest-ever English monarch. He is also on the top ten list of longest-reigning British monarchs, coming in at number seven. Henry VI’s father King Henry V, a warrior king, succumbed to dysentery, a disease that killed more soldiers than battle, leaving a nine-month-old son to inherit his throne. In 1445, Henry VI married Margaret of Anjou, the niece of King Charles VII of France. The couple had one son Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales who was killed at the Battle of Tewkesbury during the Wars of the Roses. Even before the birth of Henry’s son, factions were forming and the seeds of the Wars of the Roses were being planted. Henry’s wife Margaret Margaret believed her husband was threatened with being deposed by Richard Plantagenet, 3rd Duke of York who thought he had a better claim to the throne and would be a better king than Henry. Eventually, things came to a head between the Lancastrians and the Yorkists, and war broke out.  The Wars of the Roses did not end well for Henry VI. The final decisive Yorkist victory was at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where Henry’s son Edward was killed. Henry VI was sent to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from the Yorkist King Edward IV.
Unofficial Royalty: King Henry VI of England

December 6, 1685 – Birth of Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy, wife of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin at the Royal Palace of Turin, in the Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy
Marie Adélaïde of Savoy was the wife of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin, and the mother of Louis XV, King of France. King Louis XIV outlived both his son Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Grand Dauphin and his grandson Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin, and was succeeded by his five-year-old great-grandson King Louis XV when he died in 1715. On February 12, 1712, at the Palace of Versailles, 26-year-old Marie Adélaïde died from measles. Her husband Louis dearly loved his wife and stayed by her side throughout her illness. He caught the disease and died six days after her death, on February 18, 1712, aged 29.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, Duchess of Burgundy

December 6, 1686 – Death of Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, the third of the three wives of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, in Vienna, Archduchy of Austria, now the capital of Austria, at the age of fifty-six; buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna
Archduchess Maria Leopoldine of Austria, the second wife and first cousin of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor, died in childbirth in 1649. Ferdinand III’s stepmother, the Dowager Holy Roman Empress, also named Eleonora Gonzaga, was the second wife of his father Ferdinand II and Eleonora’s great aunt. It was Dowager Holy Roman Empress Eleonora who arranged the marriage between her stepson Ferdinand III and grand niece and goddaughter Eleonora. Twenty-year-old Eleonora and forty-two-year-old Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor were married in 1651 and had four children but only two daughters survived childhood. After the death of her husband, Eleonora did all she could to ensure that her seventeen-year-old surviving stepson would be elected Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor. Eleonora was highly respected by Leopold who consulted with her on many political and personal issues. Eleonora survived her husband by twenty-nine years, dying on December 6, 1686, in Vienna, Austria, at the age of fifty-six.
Unofficial Royalty: Eleonora Gonzaga of Mantua, Holy Roman Empress, 3rd wife of Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

December 6, 1734 – Death of Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham, favorite of Queen Anne of Great Britain, at Oates Hall, her husband’s family home, in High Laver, Essex, England; buried in the churchyard of All Saint Church in High Laver
Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham was the first cousin of Sarah Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough, born Sarah Jennings, and replaced Sarah as the favorite of Queen Anne of Great Britain. She remained Queen Anne’s favorite until Anne died in 1714. Abigail faithfully attended Anne during the last days of her life. However, upon Queen Anne’s death and the accession of the first Hanoverian monarch King George I, Abigail and her husband Samuel Masham, 1st Baron Masham were quickly evicted from their apartments in the various royal palaces. Even though Abigail and Samuel lost some income due to losing court positions, they were by no means poor. Just two weeks before Queen Anne’s death, Samuel had purchased a manor house three miles from Windsor, England where he retired with Abigail. Twenty years after Queen Anne’s death, 64-year-old Abigail died after a long illness.
Unofficial Royalty: Abigail Masham, Baroness Masham

December 6, 1792 – Birth of King Willem II of the Netherlands at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, Dutch Republic, now in the Netherlands
Full name: Willem Frederik George Lodewijk
When he was two years old, Willem’s family was forced into exile when the French invaded and occupied the Dutch Republic during the Napoleonic Wars. Willem spent his childhood at the Prussian court where he received military training, and served in the Prussian Army. He attended Oxford University in England. In 1811, he entered the British Army and was an aide-de-camp to Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington. Willem’s family returned to the Netherlands in 1813 after the French retreated. In 1816, Willem married Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia and the couple had five children. Willem came to the Dutch throne in 1840 when his father King Willem I abdicated due to constitutional changes he disagreed with, anger over the loss of Belgium, and his desire to make a morganatic second marriage with Henriëtte d’Oultremont after the death of his wife. During Willem II’s reign, the power of many monarchs diminished. The revolutions of 1848 and 1849, in which Louis-Philippe of France was deposed and other European monarchs were forced by violence to make concessions, made him fear for his throne. Willem decided to institute a more liberal government, believing it was better to grant reforms instead of having them imposed on him on less favorable terms later.
Unofficial Royalty: King Willem II of the Netherlands

December 6, 1792 – Birth of Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena and Reggio, wife of Francesco IV, Duke of Modena and Reggio, in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy
Full name: Maria Beatrice Vittoria Giuseppina
Maria Beatrice was the eldest of the seven children of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy. In 1812, 20-year-old Maria Beatrice married her 33-year-old maternal uncle Francesco IV, Duke of Modena and Reggio, and had four children. Like Maria Beatrice’s family, her husband Francesco had also been exiled since 1796 from the Duchy of Modena and Reggio due to the occupation of Napoleon’s French forces. After the fall of Napoleon in 1814, the couple was able to return and made their solemn entry into Modena on July 14, 1814. As the senior surviving descendant of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, daughter of King Charles I of England and sister of James II, King of England/James VII, King of Scots, Maria Beatrice became the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland after the death of her father Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia in 1824.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Beatrice of Savoy, Duchess of Modena
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

December 6, 1820 – Birth of Alexandrine of Baden, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, wife of Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Full name: Alexandrine Luise Amalie Friederike Elisabeth Sophie
Alexandrine was the eldest of the eight children of Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden and Princess Sophie of Sweden. In 1842, she married the future Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the elder brother of Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert. Before the marriage, Ernst was suffering from a venereal disease as a result of his many affairs. He had been warned that continued promiscuity could leave him unable to father children. Ernst had at least three illegitimate children, but his marriage was childless, perhaps due to Ernst passing the venereal disease to Alexandrine causing her to become infertile. Alexandrine was loyal and devoted to her husband despite his infidelities and believed their lack of children was her fault. In 1844, Ernst’s father died and he became Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Ernst was not well-loved by his people, but Alexandrine was. She supported many charities including the Ernst Foundation for needy students.
Unofficial Royalty: Alexandrine of Baden, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

December 6, 1892 – Birth of George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven, son of Prince Ludwig (Louis) of Battenberg (later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, at the Neues Palais in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany
Birth name: Prince George Louis Victor Henry Serge of Battenberg
Like his father, George had a career in the Royal Navy. In 1916, he married Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby, daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia and Countess Sophie von Merenberg.  The couple had two children. George was instrumental in the upbringing of his nephew Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh after Philip’s mother suffered a breakdown and his father was more or less separated from the family. George became Philip’s primary guardian, serving as a surrogate father and arranging for, and financing, Philip’s education. George died from bone marrow cancer at the age of 45.
Unofficial Royalty: George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven

December 6, 1971 – Death of Mathilde Feliksovna Kschessinskaya, prima ballerina assoluta, mistress of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia before his marriage, mistress of Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich of Russia, and mistress and wife of Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia, in Paris, France; buried at the Sainte-Geneviève-des-Bois Russian Cemetery in Paris, France
Mathilde Feliksovna Kschessinskaya was one of the most famous ballerinas of the Maryinsky Ballet (now the Kirov Ballet) in St. Petersburg, Russia. She was awarded the title prima ballerina assoluta, traditionally reserved only for the most exceptional ballerinas of their generation.  Mathilde, who was ambitious, used her connections to the Romanovs to promote her career. Mathilde and Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich escaped from Russia after the Russian Revolution and married in 1921. Mathilde had previously had one son whose father was either Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich’s or Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s. In 1926, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, Head of the Romanov Family, gave Mathilde and her son Vladimir the title and surname of the Prince/Princess of Krasinsky. In 1935, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich gave Mathilde and her son the surname Romanovsky-Krasinsky, and so they were formally styled Princess Maria Romanovsky-Krasinsky and Prince Vladimir Andreievich Romanovsky-Krasinsky. Mathilde opened a ballet studio in Paris and trained some of the most famous ballet dancers of the 20th century. She lived a long life dying in 1971, at the age of 99.
Unofficial Royalty: Mathilde Feliksovna Kschessinskaya

December 6, 1984 – Birth of Princess Sofia of Sweden, wife of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden, born Sofia Hellqvist in Täby, Sweden
Full name: Sofia Kristina
In August 2010, the Swedish Royal Court released a statement confirming that Sofia and Prince Carl Philip had a relationship. In the documentary The Year with the Royal Family, Prince Carl Philip explains how the couple met: “I was eating with friends in Baastad. Sofia was there with a friend and our friends knew each other. We started with a shy greeting and everything followed.” In April 2011, the couple moved in together at a private estate in Djurgården, Sweden and the Swedish Royal Court confirmed this two months later. Sofia and Prince Carl Philip became engaged on June 27, 2014, and were married on June 13, 2015, at the Royal Chapel in the Royal Palace of Stockholm. The couple had three children.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Sofia of Sweden

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King Mihai (Michael) of Romania; Credit – Wikipedia

December 5, 1560 – Death of François II, King of France, King Consort of Scotland, first husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, at the Hotel Groslot d’Orleans in Orléans, France; buried at the Basilica of St. Denis in Paris, France
The eldest of the ten children of Henri II, King of France and Catherine de’ Medici, 14-year-old François married 15-year-old Mary Queen of Scots in 1558.  It was a marriage that could have given the future kings of France the throne of Scotland and a claim to the throne of England through Mary’s great-grandfather King Henry VII of England. A little more than a year after the wedding, a great tragedy occurred in France. King Henri II died from injuries he received in a joust during a tournament. François succeeded his father but after only a 17-month reign, François II, King of France, aged 16, died in great pain, possibly from mastoiditis, meningitis, or otitis which turned into an abscess.
Unofficial Royalty: King François II of France, King Consort of Scotland

December 5, 1916 – Death of Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of Friedrich Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in Neustrelitz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; buried in the New Crypt at Johanniterkirche in Mirow, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Augusta was a granddaughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, first cousin of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and aunt of Queen Mary, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom.  Even though Augusta lived in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz after her marriage, she and her husband visited London frequently, staying with the Duchess of Cambridge at Kensington Palace. Augusta retained close ties with the British Royal Family. Before the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and his wife Queen Alexandra in 1902, Augusta was consulted on matters of ceremony and attire as she was almost the only person alive who could remember the coronation of King William IV and Queen Adelaide.  Her recollection of Queen Victoria’s coronation also proved invaluable. In the autumn of 1916, Augusta’s health began to fail. Augusta sent a message to King George V: “Tell the king that it is a stout old English heart which is ceasing to beat.” She died at the age of 94. Augusta was the longest-lived grandchild of King George III of the United Kingdom and the last link to the British branch of the House of Hanover.
Unofficial Royalty: Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

December 5, 1927 – Birth of King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand (King Rama IX) at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, Massachusetts
King Bhumibol was born in the United States because, at the time of birth, his father Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was studying medicine at Harvard Medical School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1946, King Bhumibol became king at the age of 18. King Bhumibol’s brother King Ananda Mahidol was found shot dead in his bedroom in the Boromphiman Throne Hall at the Grand Palace in Bangkok, four days before he was scheduled to return to Switzerland to finish his doctoral degree in law at the University of Lausanne. The circumstances of King Ananda Mahidol’s death have never been fully explained. In 1950, Bhumibol married Sirikit Kitiyakara, the daughter of the Thai ambassador to France. The couple had three daughters and one son. King Bhumibol Adulyadej died at the age of 88, following several years of illness.  At the time of his death, he was the world’s longest-reigning current monarch, having reigned for 70 years and 126 days.
Unofficial Royalty: King Bhumibol Adulyadej of Thailand

December 5, 1969 – Death of Princess Alice of Battenberg, mother of Prince Philip at Buckingham Palace in London, England; first buried in the Royal Crypt at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle, reburied in 1988 at the Convent of Saint Mary Magdalene in Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem, Israel near her aunt Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia
Alice was the daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a grandchild of Queen Victoria. As a child, Alice was diagnosed with congenital deafness and learned to lip-read in both English and German. In 1903, she married Prince Andreas of Greece and Denmark and the couple had four daughters and one son, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Alice spent a time in a Swiss sanitorium after she was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. Alice’s husband moved to the French Riviera where enjoyed a life of leisure, spending much of his time living aboard mistress’ yacht. In November 1947, Alice returned to the United Kingdom for her son’s wedding. Some of her jewels were used to create Elizabeth’s engagement ring and a bracelet Philip designed for her as a wedding gift. In 1948, Alice founded a nursing order of nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary. She established a home for the order just north of Athens and trained on the Greek island of Tinos. In 1953, Princess Alice attended the coronation of her daughter-in-law, Queen Elizabeth II, at Westminster Abbey. Alice left Greece in 1967 following the Colonels’ Coup and was invited by her son and daughter-in-law to live at Buckingham Palace in London, England. She died there at the age of 84.
Unofficial Royalty: Alice of Battenberg, Princess Andreas of Greece

December 5, 2014 – Death of Queen Fabiola of Belgium, born Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, wife of King Baudouin of the Belgians, at Stuyvenberg Castle in Laeken, Belgium; buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Laeken, Brussels, Belgium
Born to a Spanish aristocratic family, Fabiola was the fifth of the six children of Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández, Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marquess of Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora and his wife Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz, Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío. Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, was her godmother. In 1960, Fabiola married King Baudouin of the Belgians, who had been king since his father King Leopold III abdicated in 1951. Unfortunately, King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola lost five children to miscarriages and never had children. In 1993, King Baudouin died. Although King Baudouin had heart surgery in March 1992 this death from heart failure still came unexpectedly, and sent much of Belgium into a period of deep mourning. Fabiola survived her husband by twenty-one years, dying at the age of 86.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Fabiola of Belgium

December 5, 2017 – Death of King Michael (Mihai) of Romania at his home in Aubonne, Switzerland; buried at the new Archdiocesan and Royal Cathedral at Curtea de Argeș in Romania
Mihai was the only child of King Carol II of Romania and his second wife, Princess Helen of Greece. He was the last King of Romania, reigning from 1927 – 1930 and again from 1940 until his forced abdication in 1947. In 1947, Mihai married Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma. The couple had five daughters. Their eldest daughter Margareta is the current Custodian of the Crown of Romania. Mihai was banned from Romania for 43 years. In 1997, the Romanian government restored Mihai’s citizenship and in the following years, several properties were returned to the royal family. In 2016, it was announced that King Mihai had been diagnosed with chronic leukemia and metastatic epidermoid carcinoma and that he was withdrawing from public life. Crown Princess Margareta took on his public duties. King Mihai’s wife Anne died on August 1, 2016, in a hospital in Morges, Switzerland, at the age of 92. King Mihai died at his residence in Switzerland on December 5, 2017, at the age of 96.
Unofficial Royalty: King Michael (Mihai) of Romania

December 5, 2023 – Death of Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein, son of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein; buried at the Cathedral of St. Florin in Vaduz, Liechtenstein
Prince Constantin was the third of the three sons and the third of the four children of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein and the late Princess Marie, born Countess Marie Aglaë of Wchinitz and Tettau. He received a law degree from the University of Salzburg in Austria and has worked primarily in the financial field, holding positions at investment firms in the United States and in Europe. Constantin married Countess Marie Gabriele Franziska Kálnoky de Kőröspatak and the couple had three children. Prince Constantin died on December 5, 2023, at the age of 51. A statement released by the Prince House of Liechtenstein said: “The Princely House regrets to announce that H.S.H. Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein passed away unexpectedly on 5 December 2023.” A private family funeral and burial took place at the Cathedral of St. Florin in Vaduz, Liechtenstein on December 10, 2023.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein

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© Unofficial Royalty 2024

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

December 4, 1214 – Death of William I “the Lion”, King of Scots at Stirling Castle in Scotland; buried at Arbroath Abbey, in Arbroath, Scotland
William I, King of Scots, nicknamed “the Lion,” had the second-longest reign in Scottish history before the Act of Union with England in 1707. He reigned for 49 years, from 1165 – 1214, and was a contemporary of King Henry II of England and his sons King Richard I and King John. His standard, a red lion rampant with a forked tail on a yellow background became the Royal Standard of Scotland and is used today on the Royal Standard of the United Kingdom, quartered with the royal standards of England and Ireland. William became King of Scots upon the death of his brother in 1165. He married Ermengarde de Beaumont, a great-granddaughter of King Henry I of England (through an illegitimate child of Henry I), and the couple had four children. William died at about the age of 70.
Unofficial Royalty: William I, King of Scots

December 4, 1655 – Birth of King Karl XI of Sweden at Tre Kronor Castle in Stockholm, Sweden
Karl XI, King of Sweden was the only child of Karl X Gustav, King of Sweden. Karl X died at the age of 37 in 1660, from influenza and pneumonia and his four-year-old son Karl became King of Sweden. Karl XI’s mother Hedwig Eleonora of Holstein-Gottorp served as Regent of Sweden until her son reached his majority. In 1680, Karl married Ulrika Eleonora of Denmark. The couple had seven children but only three survived childhood, including two Swedish monarchs, King Karl XII and Queen Ulrika Eleonora.
Unofficial Royalty: King Karl XI of Sweden

December 4, 1711 – Birth of Bárbara of Portugal, Queen of Spain, wife of King Fernando VI of Spain, at Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal
Full name: Maria Madalena Bárbara Xavier Leonor Teresa Antónia Josefa
The daughter of João V, King of Portugal, Bárbara married King Fernando VI of Spain but the couple had no children except a stillborn son. Benevolent but weak, Fernando VI left the government mostly to others. Bárbara was the conduit through which the government ministers worked with Fernando VI. She was presented with all documents of state before they were given to Fernando VI because only she knew what should be said or hidden from him. Bárbara suffered from severe asthma for most of her life and became obese in the years before her death. Bárbara’s death at the age of 46,  broke Fernando’s heart. During the last year of his reign, probably at least partially caused by his wife’s death, Fernando VI rapidly lost his mental capacity. He lived at the Castle of Villaviciosa de Odón, near Madrid, where he died less than a year after Barbara’s death, on August 10, 1759, as the age of 45.
Unofficial Royalty: Bárbara of Portugal, Queen of Spain

December 4, 1727 – Death of Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the first wife of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia.; first buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, reburied in the 1940s in the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany
On February 8, 1720, in Saalfeld, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, 26-year-old Sophia Wilhelmina married 28-year-old Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Sophia Wilhelmina and Friedrich Anton had three children but only two survived childhood. The marriage of Friedrich Anton and Sophia Wilhelmina lasted only seven years as Sophia Wilhelmina died on December 4, 1727, aged 34, in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

December 4, 1784 – Birth of Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hereditary Princess of Denmark, first wife of the future King Christian VIII, at Ludwiglust Palace in Ludwigslust, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Charlotte Frederica was divorced from her husband after an alleged affair.  She was sent into exile and never again saw her son, the future King Frederik VII of Denmark. She finally settled in Rome where she converted to Roman Catholicism.  She died in Rome in 1840, at the age of 55. Charlotte Frederica was buried in a tomb paid for by her son and created by the Danish sculptor Jens Adolf Jerichau at the Teutonic Cemetery, a burial site adjacent to St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City that had been dedicated to the German-speaking residents of Rome. On July 11, 2019, the tomb of Charlotte Frederica and the adjacent tomb of Princess Sophia of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Bartenstein were opened to search for the remains of Emanuela Orlandi, a 15-year-old who disappeared in 1983. Not only was there no sign of Emanuela’s remains, but the remains of Princess Sophia and Duchess Charlotte Frederica were missing. It is possible that their remains were moved due to renovations at the end of the 1800s and again in the 1960s and 1970s.
Unofficial Royalty: Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Hereditary Princess of Denmark
Unofficial Royalty: The Strange Case of the Tombs of Two 19th Century Princesses and a 20th Century 15-Year-Old Missing Girl.

December 4, 1878 – Birth of Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, at the Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia
A younger brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, Michael was the first of the eighteen Romanovs executed during the Russian Revolution. Michael fell in love with  Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert (called Natasha), the wife of an officer from his army regiment. In 1910, Natasha gave birth to Michael’s son named George after Michael’s deceased brother. Michael knew that his brother would not grant permission to marry Natasha. Michael feared that his hemophiliac nephew Alexei would not survive and that he would become the heir which would make the possibility of his marriage to Natalia even more remote. By marrying Natasha before Alexei died, Michael would be removed from the line of succession early, preventing him from losing Natasha, so the couple was married in 1912. Michael was banished from Russia but in 1914, he reconciled with his brother Nicholas and was allowed to return to Russia.  It would have been better if Michael had remained in exile. On June 13, 1918, Michael and his British secretary Nicholas Johnson were executed by the Bolsheviks. Their remains have never been found.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia

December 4, 1999 – Wedding of King Philippe of the Belgians and Mathilde d’Udekem d’ Acoz, civilly at the Brussels City Hall and religiously at the Cathedral of Saint Michel and Saint Gudula in Brussels, Belgium
When Philippe and Mathilde’s engagement was announced in September 1999, it was a huge surprise to the Belgian people. The couple had first met in 1996 and had been involved ever since, but it was not until the announcement that anyone knew anything about the relationship.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King Philippe of the Belgians and Mathilde d’Udekem d’ Acoz

December 4, 2024 – Death of Princess Birgitta of Sweden, Princess of Hohenzollern, one of the four elder sisters of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, in Majorca, Spain; buried at the Royal Burial Ground in Haga Park in Solna, Sweden.
Princess Birgitta was the second of the five children and the second of the four daughters of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Sadly, her father Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten died in an airplane crash in 1947, when Princess Birgitta was ten years old. She married Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern in 1961 and they had three children. Princess Birgitta and her husband separated in 1990 but remained married. Prince Johann Georg lived in Munich, Germany while Princess Birgitta lived on the island of Majorca, in Spain.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Birgitta of Sweden, Princess of Hohenzollern

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