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Queen Victoria with her mother; Credit – Wikipedia

May 24, 1751 – Birth of Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia at the Royal Palace of Turin in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy
Carlo Emanuele IV abdicated the throne of Sardinia, was the Jacobite pretender to the thrones of England and Scotland, although he never claimed the title, and ended his life as a novice in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). Carlo Emanuele IV married Marie Clotilde of France, the sister of King Louis XVI of France, but they had no children. Carlo Emanuele IV succeeded to the throne of Sardinia upon the death of his father Vittorio Amedeo III in 1796. In 1798, the French occupied Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy, and forced Carlo Emanuele to give up all his territories on the Italian mainland. He withdrew to the island of Sardinia in 1799. When Marie Clotilde died from typhoid fever in 1802, Carlo Emanuele was so upset by her death that he decided to abdicate. He left the throne of Sardinia to his brother who reigned as Vittorio Emanuele I. Carlo Emanuele settled in Rome and the nearby town of Frascati, both now in Italy. In 1815, he took simple vows in the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits). He was never ordained as a priest but lived as a novice until his death at the age of 68.
Unofficial Royalty: Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

May 24, 1819 – Birth of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom at Kensington Palace in London, England
Full name: Alexandrina Victoria
Victoria’s children and grandchildren married into other European royal families giving Victoria the unofficial title of “Grandmother of Europe.” Her grandchildren sat upon the thrones of Germany/Prussia, Greece, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom as monarchs or consorts. Victoria’s descendants currently sit upon the thrones of Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. On September 23, 1896, Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest-reigning British monarch. On September 9, 2015, her great-great-granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II surpassed Queen Victoria as the longest-reigning British monarch.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

May 24, 1834 – Death of Luise of Stolberg-Goldern, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in Carlsruhe, Silesia, now Pokój, Poland, and was buried in the cemetery there
Luise and Karl Wilhelm, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen had no children, and just two years after their marriage, Karl Wilhelm died. Luise then married Duke Eugen of Württemberg and they had five children.
Unofficial Royalty: Luise of Stolberg-Goldern, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen

May 24, 1854 – Birth of Prince Louis of Battenberg, later 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, in Graz, Austria
Full name: Ludwig Alexander
Louis married Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. They are the maternal grandparents of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Despite his German roots, he became a naturalized British subject at the age of 16 when he joined the British Royal Navy, where he would spend his entire career. In 1917, King George V asked his extended family to relinquish their German titles. Louis gave up his Battenberg title and took the surname Mountbatten (the anglicized version of Battenberg). King George V then created him Marquess of Milford Haven in the Peerage of the United Kingdom.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Louis of Battenberg, Marquess of Milford Haven

May 24, 1872 – Birth of Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria in Salzburg, Austria, pretender to the Grand Ducal Throne of Tuscany
Full name: Joseph Ferdinand Salvator Maria Franz Leopold Anton Albert Johann Baptist Karl Ludwig Rupert Maria Auxilatrix
Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria was the Pretender to the Grand Ducal Throne of Tuscany from 1908 until 1921 when he married unequally and was forced to renounce his rights.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduke Giuseppe Ferdinando of Austria

May 24, 1874 – Birth of Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, at Neues Palais in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany
Full name: Marie Viktoria Feodore Leopoldine
Known as May, she was the daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.  She died of diphtheria at age four. Her mother succumbed to the same disease a couple of weeks later.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

May 24, 1935 – Wedding of King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden at Storkyrkan in Stockholm, Sweden
Despite an 11-year difference in age, Ingrid and Frederik were said to have been a couple for some time. Frederik’s and Ingrid’s supposed engagement was rumored repeatedly years before it actually occurred. The engagement was formally announced to the public on March 15, 1935. The wedding guests included 66 members of various European royal houses, ruling and defunct. Royal attendees included three kings, two queens, several crown princes and princesses, and a former grand duke and duchess.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King Frederik IX of Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden

May 24, 1995 – Birth of Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein, eldest son of Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, in London, England
Full name: Joseph Wenzel Maximilian Maria
Prince Joseph Wenzel is second in the line of succession to the throne of Liechtenstein after his father. Through his mother Sophie, born a Princess of Bavaria, and thus a member of the House of Wittelsbach, Prince Wenzel is third in line and the heir of his mother to the Jacobite succession to the British throne. The Jacobites sought to restore the British crown to King James II of England following his deposition in the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and subsequently, to his heirs.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

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Marie of Waldeck-Pyrmont, Princess of Württemberg; Credit – Wikipedia

May 23, 1482 – Death of Mary of York, daughter of King Edward IV of England, at Greenwich Palace in London, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
In 1481, negotiations began for a marriage between Mary and Frederik, Duke of Holstein and Schleswig (the future King Frederik I of Denmark and Norway), the youngest son of King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. However, at the end of 1481, Mary became seriously ill with an unknown illness and died, aged fourteen. She was interred on the north side of the altar in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England at the side of her younger brother George, who had died three years earlier at the age of two. Mary’s parents were interred in a tomb nearby – her father in 1483 and her mother in 1492.
Unofficial Royalty: Mary of York

May 23, 1857 – Birth of Marie of Waldeck-Pyrmont, Princess of Württemberg, first wife of the future King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in Hesse, Germany
Full name: Georgine Henriette Marie
Marie was the sister of Emma who married King Willem III of the Netherlands and Helena who married Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. In 1877, Marie married Prince Wilhelm of Württemberg, the future  King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, and the couple had two children. On April 24, 1882, Marie gave birth to a stillborn daughter, her third child, and suffered serious complications from childbirth. She died six days later.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie of Waldeck-Pyrmont, Princess of Württemberg

May 23, 1947 – Death of Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood, husband of Mary, Princess Royal, at Harewood House in Leeds, Yorkshire, England; buried at All Saints Church in Harewood, West Yorkshire, England
Henry married Princess Mary, the only daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom at Westminster Abbey in London, England on February 28, 1922. Despite their fifteen-year age difference and rumors that the marriage was not happy, their elder son George Lascelles, 7th Earl of Harewood said the marriage was a happy one. He wrote in his memoirs that they “got on well together and had a lot of friends and interests in common.”
Unofficial Royalty: Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood

May 23, 2013 – Death of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse, Head of the House of Hesse, in Frankfurt, Germany; buried in the family cemetery at the former Schloss Friedrichshof (now Schlosshotel Kronberg) in Kronberg im Taunus, Hesse
Moritz was head of the House of Hesse, and pretender to the former Grand Ducal throne of Hesse and by Rhine from 1980 until his death
Unofficial Royalty: Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse

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Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg ; Credit – Wikipedia

May 22, 1409 – Death of Blanche of England, Countess Palatine, daughter of King Henry IV of England, in Haguenau (now in France), buried at the Church of St. Aegidius in Neustadt, Electorate of the Palatinate, now in Germany
After King Henry IV deposed his first cousin King Richard II, it was important for him to legitimize his rule. Ruprecht III, Elector Palatine and King of the Romans was a needed ally. A marriage between Ruprecht’s eldest surviving son and heir Ludwig, Count Palatine, the future Ludwig III, Elector Palatine, and Henry IV’s eldest daughter Blanche was arranged. Blanche and Ludwig had one child, Ruprecht, Count Palatine, nicknamed Ruprecht the Englishman. On May 22, 1409, Blanche, aged seventeen, died while pregnant with her second child, possibly from the plague.
Unofficial Royalty: Blanche of England, Countess Palatine

May 22, 1770 – Birth of Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Buckingham Palace
Elizabeth was considered to be the most attractive of King George III’s daughters. She was known for her humor, intelligence, and artistic ability. Starting by copying drawings (some are in the Royal Collection), Elizabeth later published lithographs and etchings, mostly of mythological scenes. Some of the interior decorations of the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) were designed and made by Elizabeth. At Frogmore House, she helped design the garden buildings and she painted the flower murals at the Queen’s Cottage at Kew. Elizabeth also was one of George III’s daughters who managed to get married. In 1818, at the age of 48, she married the future Friedrich VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg

May 22, 1782 – Death of Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, first wife of Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in Hanover, Electorate of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony, Germany; buried in the New Crypt at the Johanniterkirche in Mirow, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Three days after giving birth to the last child of her ten children, Friederike died from complications of childbirth. Her tenth child Auguste Albertine died in infancy. Two years later, her husband married her younger sister Charlotte who also died in childbirth.
Unofficial Royalty: Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

May 22, 1832 – Death of Maria Karoline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony, first wife of the future King Friedrich August II of Saxony, at Schloss Pillnitz in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany; buried in the Wettin Crypt at the Dresden Cathedral
Marie Karoline suffered from epilepsy, often plagued with seizures that more or less left her incapacitated for long periods. She became Crown Princess of Saxony in 1830 when her father-in-law relinquished his rights to the throne in favor of his son Friedrich August, who was also proclaimed Prince Co-Regent with his uncle, King Anton. Marie Karoline died at the age of 31 due to complications of epilepsy.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Karoline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony

May 22, 1859 – Death of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies in Caserta, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now In Italy, and was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples
In 1759, upon the death of his childless half-brother King Ferdinand VI of Spain, Ferdinando’s father King Carlos IV of Naples and Sicily succeeded him as King Carlos III of Spain. Because of treaties, Carlos could not be the sovereign of all three kingdoms. His eldest son Felipe was excluded from the succession because of intellectual disability and his second son Carlos was the heir apparent to the Spanish throne. That left the third son Ferdinando to become King of Naples and King of Sicily. In 1768, Ferdinando married Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria. As part of the marriage contract, Maria Carolina was to have a place on the council of state after the birth of her first son. From 1777 on, Maria Carolina was the de facto ruler of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Ferdinando was deposed twice: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816. In 1820, after riots in Sicily, Ferdinando was forced to sign a constitution and appoint his son Francesco as regent of Sicily. This only lasted until 1821, when Austrian troops friendly to Ferdinando occupied Naples. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died on May 22, 1859, aged 49 from a strangulated hernia after hesitating for months to have surgery.
Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies

May 22, 1871 – Death of Leopold IV Friedrich, Duke of Anhalt in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; buried in the Marienkirche in Dessau, after the church was destroyed by bombing during World War II, the Duke’s remains were moved to the Berenhorst crypt in the Historical Cemetery in Dessau
In 1817, Leopold Friedrich became the reigning Duke of Anhalt-Dessau upon his grandfather’s death. In 1847, he inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen upon the death of a distant cousin. After nearly six years as the reigning Duke of two separate duchies, they were united in 1853 as the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen. Ten years later, he also inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg from another distant cousin. With all of the Anhalt duchies back under one ruler, they were united as the Duchy of Anhalt in 1863.
Unofficial Royalty: Leopold IV Friedrich, Duke of Anhalt

May 22, 1897 – Death of Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1852–1853, Acting Mistress of the Robes 1892–1895, and Lady of the Bedchamber 1854–1897, in Dunkeld, Scotland; buried alongside her husband in the family’s cemetery beside the ruins of St. Bride’s Church in Old Blair, a village adjacent to Blair Castle
Born Anne Home-Drummond, the daughter of Henry Home-Drummond, a Scottish politician, she married George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl.
Unofficial Royalty: Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl

May 22, 2004 – Wedding of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano at the Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid, Spain
Letizia was the anchor for the daily evening news program Telediario 2, the most-watched newscast in Spain. In November 2002 while covering the Prestige oil tanker disaster, Spain’s largest environmental disaster, Letizia’s life would change forever. Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir to the Spanish throne, flew to the area offering his support to the communities worst affected by the oil spill. Although the couple had met the year before at a mutual friend’s dinner party, it was during this terrible disaster that they fell in love. Their relationship was kept a closely guarded secret until the engagement was announced on November 1, 2003,
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano

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King Henry VI of England; Credit – Wikipedia

May 21, 1471 – Death (murder? starvation?) of King Henry VI of England in the Tower of London in London, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
After the final decisive Yorkist victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where King Henry VI’s son Edward, Prince of Wales was killed, Henry IV was taken to the Tower of London and died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from King Edward IV.
Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Henry VI, King of England
Unofficial Royalty: King Henry VI of England

May 21, 1481 – Death of King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden at Copenhagen Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark; buried at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
Christian I, the first Danish monarch of the House of Oldenburg, that would reign in Denmark for over 400 years, was buried in the Chapel of the Magi, which he had built as a family burial chapel for the House of Oldenburg, at Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial site for the Danish royal family in Roskilde, Denmark. While the tombs of King Christian III, King Frederik II, and their queen consorts are in the Chapel of the Magi, the graves of King Christian I and his wife Queen Dorothea are marked with simple stones because the chapel itself was to be considered their memorial monument.
Unofficial Royalty: King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

May 21, 1527 – Birth of King Felipe II of Spain at Palacio de Pimentel in Valladolid, Spain
Besides being King of Spain, Philp (Felipe in Spanish) was also King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, and jure uxoris (by right of his wife) King of England and Ireland during his marriage to Queen Mary I of England (the second of his four wives) from 1554 until Mary died in 1558.  Philip married four times, was a widower four times, and had children with three of his wives. He built The Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (known as El Escorial) near Madrid, which served as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, burial pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital. Today, it is still the traditional burial site of the Spanish royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: King Felipe II of Spain

May 21, 1801 – Birth of Sofia of Sweden, Grand Duchess of Baden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and wife of Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden, in Stockholm, Sweden
Full name: Sofia Vilhelmina Katarina Maria Lovisa Charlotta Anna
Sofia married Leopold of Baden, her grandfather’s half-brother. The marriage was arranged by her great-grandfather Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden to help strengthen Leopold’s right to the throne of Baden. Leopold had been born of Karl Friedrich’s second, and morganatic marriage, and had only recently been elevated to Prince and Margrave of Baden, and formally acknowledged as having succession rights. Sofia and Leopold had eight children, including two Grand Dukes of Baden.
Unofficial Royalty: Sofia of Sweden, Grand Duchess of Baden

May 21, 1806 – Birth of Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1837–1841, 1846–1852, 1853–1858, and 1859–1861
Born The Honourable Harriet Howard, daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle, Harriet did not have an affair with Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha as depicted in the television series Victoria. The real Harriet was twelve years older than Ernst and her husband George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland did not die until 1861. Harriet and her husband had a successful, loving marriage and had eleven children.
Unofficial Royalty: Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

May 21, 1806 – Death of Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias, first of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez; buried at the Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real in El Escorial, Spain
Maria Antonia married her first cousin Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne. Her two pregnancies in 1804 and 1805 ended in miscarriages. After four years of marriage, Maria Antonia, aged 21, died from tuberculosis.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias

May 21, 1829 – Death of Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now in Hesse, Germany; buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in St. Gertrude’s Cemetery in Oldenburg, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, now in Lower Saxony, Germany
The Duchy of Oldenburg was elevated to a Grand Duchy at the Congress of Vienna. Peter established a new government for the Grand Duchy, introduced general conscription, and established the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment. Just short of six years after assuming the throne, Peter suffered a stroke and died
Unofficial Royalty: Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg

May 21, 1864 – Birth of Stéphanie of Belgium, Crown Princess of Austria, wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, at the Royal Palace of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium
Full name: Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte
The wife of the heir to the Austrian throne who died in a suicide pact with his mistress, Stéphanie of Belgium was the daughter of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Archduchess Marie-Henriette of Austria. Stéphanie’s marriage with Crown Prince Rudolf was happy at first, but shortly after the birth of their only child, a daughter, the relationship began to deteriorate. Rudolf likely infected Stéphanie with a sexually transmitted disease, causing her to be infertile and unable to provide a male heir for the Austrian throne. Both Stéphanie and Rudolf began affairs with other people in the following years and intermittently spoke of divorce.
Unofficial Royalty: Stéphanie of Belgium, Crown Princess of Austria

May 21, 1873 – Birth of Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, wife of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, in Ratibořice, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic
Bathildis was the wife of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. The couple married in 1895 and had four children. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, Friedrich abdicated and negotiated an agreement with the new government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and the Arolsen Forest. Both Bathildis and her husband Friedrich lived through World War II. While neither joined the Nazi Party, their eldest son Josias, his wife Altburg, and their eldest child Margarethe were members of the Nazi Party. Josias was a convicted Nazi war criminal and was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes in connection to the Buchenwald concentration camp. His sentence was eventually reduced and he was released early due to health reasons. Bathildis’ husband Friedrich died in 1946. She survived her husband by sixteen years, dying on April 6, 1962, aged 88.
Unofficial Royalty: Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont

May 21, 1889 – Birth of Prince Leopold of Battenberg, after 1917 Lord Leopold Mountbatten, grandson of Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Full name: Leopold Arthur Louis
Leopold was the son of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Prince Henry of Battenberg.  His mother was a hemophilia carrier and he inherited the disease from her.  Leopold never married and died following emergency surgery.
Unofficial Royalty: Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Family

May 21, 2013 – Death of Count Christian of Rosenborg, grandson of King Christian X of Denmark and first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, at Gentofte Hospital in Gentofte, Denmark; buried at Lyngby Church in Lyngby, Denmark
Christian was born Prince Christian of Denmark, the younger son of Hereditary Prince Knud. In 1971, he lost his royal title and style upon marriage to a commoner without the permission of the monarch.
Unofficial Royalty: Count Christian of Rosenborg

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Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece; Credit – Wikipedia

May 20, 1802 – Birth of Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, wife of Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, at Schaumburg Castle in the Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Through her mother, Emma was a descendant of King George II of Great Britain and Willem IV, Prince of Orange.  In 1845, Emma’s husband died and she served as Regent of the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont until her son Georg Viktor reached his majority in 1852. Emma was the grandmother of Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont who became Queen of the Netherlands when she married King Willem III of the Netherlands, and therefore she is an ancestor of the Dutch royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont

May 20, 1875 – Death of Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, wife of King Otto of Greece, at the Neue Residenz in Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Germany; buried at the Theatine Church in Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Amalia’s husband, born a Prince of Bavaria, had been appointed king of the newly created Kingdom of Greece in 1833. In 1862, after a coup deposed Otto, Amalia and Otto left for the Kingdom of Bavaria where they lived out the rest of their lives.
Unofficial Royalty: Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece

May 20, 1967 – Birth of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, son of the late former King Constantine II of Greece and Head of the House of Glücksburg-Greece, at Tatoi Palace, north of Athens, Greece
Pavlos is the eldest son of former King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. Just seven months after Pavlos’ birth, a coup forced the royal family to flee the country. They settled in Rome for several years before moving to England in 1974. In 1995, Pavlos married Marie-Chantal Miller, the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur Robert Warren Miller. The couple had five children. Pavlos’ father, the former King Constantine II of the Hellenes, died on January 10, 2023, aged 82, and Pavlos succeeded him as Head of the House of Glücksburg-Greece.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece

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Anne Boleyn, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

May 19, 1536 – Execution of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII of England, at the Tower of London in London, England; buried at St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London
Henry VIII wanted a male heir. After giving birth to a daughter and then miscarrying a male, Anne’s fate was sealed. Henry was determined to be rid of her, and her fall and execution were engineered by Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister. Many historians believe that the case charging Anne with adultery with her brother George Boleyn and four other men (Francis Weston, Henry Norris, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton) was completely fabricated. Anne was found guilty of adultery, incest, and high treason.
Unofficial Royalty: Anne Boleyn, Queen of England

May 19, 1568 – Birth of Leonora Dori Galigaï, favorite of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, in Florence, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy
Leonora Dori Galigai and later, her husband Concino Concini, were favorites of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, the second wife of Henri IV, King of France. Neither Leonora nor Concino had a happy ending. In 1588, Ferdinando I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany appointed twenty-year-old Leonora to be the maid to his thirteen-year-old niece Marie de’ Medici. In late 1600, when Marie traveled to France to become the second wife of Henri IV, King of France, Leonora was included in her retinue as lady-in-waiting and wardrobe attendant. In 1610, when King Henri IV was assassinated and his wife Queen Marie was appointed Regent for their eldest son, the eight-year-old King Louis XIII of France. Leonora exploited her friendship with Queen Marie, encouraging the rapid rise of her husband’s career. In April 1617, Concino organized an unsuccessful coup d’état, resulting in the execution of Leonora and Concino.
Unofficial Royalty: Leonora Dori Galigaï, favorite of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France

May 19, 1744 – Birth of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of the United Kingdom, wife of King George III of the United Kingdom, in Mirow, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Full name: Charlotte Sophia
George and Charlotte’s marriage was a very happy one and George remained faithful to Charlotte. Between 1762 – 1783, Charlotte gave birth to 15 children, all of who survived childbirth. Only two of the children, who died from smallpox, did not survive childhood. The only disruption in the family’s domestic lives was George’s attacks of illness. We now know that he probably suffered from porphyria and his attacks severely worried Charlotte. Charlotte is the second longest-serving consort in British history. Only her descendant, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, served longer as a consort.
Unofficial Royalty: Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of the United Kingdom

May 19, 1797 – Birth of Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain, second of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain at the Palace of Queluz in Portugal
Full name: Maria Isabel Francisca
Maria Isabel married her maternal uncle Ferdinand VII of Spain, who was 13 years older than her. Ferdinand’s first wife had died childless ten years earlier. The marriage was made with the aim of strengthening relations between Spain and Portugal, and of course, with the goal of providing heirs to the throne. Maria Isabel gave birth to a daughter who only lived for five months.  There were terrible complications when 21-year-old Maria Isabel went into labor with her second child, a daughter who was in breech position and died in utero. Maria Isabel had lost consciousness and appeared to have stopped breathing, so the doctors believed she had died. When they began to cut her open to remove the dead child, she let out a cry of pain, fainted, and bled to death.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain

May 19, 1896 – Death of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria; buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria
Karl Ludwig was the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, whose assassination in 1914 sparked World War I.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria

May 19, 2018 – Wedding of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s personal relationship started in June 2016 when they were introduced by a mutual friend. The engagement of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was announced on November 27, 2017. Meghan was the second American and the first person of mixed-race heritage to marry into the British royal family. The couple has one son and one daughter.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle

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Nicholas II of Russia with his mother; Credit – Wikipedia

May 18, 1797 – Birth of King Friedrich August II of Saxony in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Friedrich August Albrecht Maria Clemens Joseph Vincenz Aloys Nepomuk Johann Baptista Nikolaus Raphael Peter Xavier Franz de Paula Venantius Felix
Friedrich August’s reign was relatively uneventful. He typically deferred to his ministers to make any decisions. Friedrich August preferred to spend his time developing his collection of fossils and other items, establishing a vast natural history collection. In this quest, he traveled extensively, including a visit to the United Kingdom in 1844 where he was a guest of Queen Victoria.
Unofficial Royalty: King Friedrich August II of Saxony

May 18, 1829 – Death of Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain, third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Spain; buried at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real in Spain
Full name: Maria Josepha Amalia Beatrix Xaveria Vincentia Aloysia Franziska de Paula Franziska de Chantal Anna Apollonia Johanna Nepomucena Walburga Theresia Ambrosia
Because he had no surviving children from his first two marriages, Ferdinand VII was under pressure to produce an heir. He married the nearly 16-year-old Maria Josepha Amalia on October 20, 1819. There were rumors that Maria Josepha Amalia’s devout Roman Catholicism caused her to believe that sexual relations between spouses were 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.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain

Fifty-four-year-old Lord Adolphus FitzClarence suffered a paralytic seizure on or a few days before May 17, 1856, and died unmarried on May 18, 1856, at Newburgh Priory in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England, the home of Sir George Orby Wombwell, 4th Baronet. He was buried in a vault under the chancel of St. Michael’s Church in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England.

May 18, 1868 – Birth of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, Russia
Nicholas was raised with his brother George who was three years younger. They were raised in a relatively simple manner considering their status. George and Nicholas slept in cots, woke up at 6:00 AM, took cold baths, and ate simple, plain meals. Their rooms were furnished with simple furniture. Both brothers were fluent in Russian, English, French, German, and Danish. The boys enjoyed shooting and fly fishing with their English tutor. Nicholas succeeded his father in 1894 and married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine shortly afterward. Nicholas and Alexandra, as she known after her marriage, had four daughters and a son who was afflicted with hemophilia. Nicholas and his entire family were murdered during the Russian Revolution.
Unofficial Royalty: Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia

May 18, 1869 – Birth of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria
Full name: Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand
Rupprecht was Crown Prince of Bavaria from 1913 until the end of the Bavarian monarchy in 1918. From his father’s death in 1921, he became the pretender to the former Bavarian throne and Head of the House of Wittelsbach. Through his direct descent from King Charles I of England, he also became heir to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the Jacobite Succession.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

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