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Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

April 27, 1650 – Birth of Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel, Queen of Denmark and Norway, wife of King Christian V of Denmark, in Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, now in Hesse, Germany
In 1667, Charlotte Amalie married the future King Christian V of Denmark and Norway and they had seven children. Charlotte Amalie’s husband succeeded his father in 1670 as Christian V, King of Denmark and Norway. During King Christian V’s reign, colonies were established in the Caribbean. The islands of Saint Thomas, Saint John, Saint Croix, and Water Island were originally a Danish colony called the Danish West Indies.  The city of Charlotte Amalie, on the island of St. Thomas, was named after Christian V’s wife. Denmark sold the islands to the United States in 1917 and now they are known as the United States Virgin Islands. The city of Charlotte Amalie is now the capital of the US Virgin Islands. King Christian V died in 1699 and was succeeded by his son King Frederik IV. On March 27, 1714, Charlotte Amalie, Queen of Denmark and Norway, aged 63, died of scarlet fever after being ill for six days.
Unofficial Royalty: Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. Queen of Denmark and Norway

April 27, 1701 – Birth of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia in Turin, Duchy of Savoy, now in Italy
In 1715, Carlo Emanuele’s fifteen-year-old elder brother Vittorio Amedeo died from smallpox and Carlo Emanuele became the heir to the throne and the Prince of Piedmont. He married three times but all three wives died young. With his first wife Anna Christine of Sulzbach, Carlo Emanuele had one child. He had six children with his second wife Polyxena of Hesse-Rheinfels-Rotenburg and three children with his third wife Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine. In 1731, two years after Carlo Emanuele’s mother died, his father Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia, married his mistress and abdicated the throne. Carlo Emanuele was a soldier-king who gained territory for his kingdom by fighting on the French side in the War of the Polish Succession and then on the Austrian side in the War of the Austrian Succession. His ancestors were avid art collectors and Carlo Emanuele was no different. He added many new paintings to the collection of the House of Savoy. On February 20, 1773, Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia died at the age of 71. He survived his three wives, his five siblings, and six of his ten children.
Unofficial Royalty: Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia

April 27, 1706 – Death of Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany; buried in the Castle Church at Elisabethenburg Palace in Meiningen
When Bernhard’s father died in 1675, instead of passing everything to his eldest son, he instead chose to divide his territory among his living sons. Each received part of the duchy and was expected to rule jointly – but under the authority – of the eldest one. Bernhard received Meiningen and the surrounding area, including the former principality of Henneberg. By 1680, the brothers had formally divided their lands, each becoming the ruler of the newly established duchies. Bernhard became the first reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Having moved to Meiningen and taking up residence at the Meiningen Castle, Bernhard soon made plans to build a new official residence in the city. The Elisabethenburg Palace was built between 1682-1692 and was named for his second wife. In addition to the new palace, Bernhard also established a court orchestra in 1690, and the Schlosspark in 1692. Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen died in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany, on April 27, 1706. He is buried in the Castle Church at Elisabethenburg Palace in Meiningen.
Unofficial Royalty: Bernhard I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

April 27, 1796 – Birth of Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony, Grand Duchess of Tuscany, second wife of Ferdinando III, Grand Duke of Tuscany at the Royal Palace in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony
Maria Ferdinanda’s younger sister Maria Anna was to marry the future Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany, son of Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany. However, Maria Anna was so terrified at the idea of meeting her bridegroom that she refused to leave Saxony unless her sister Maria Ferdinanda accompanied her. During the wedding celebrations, Maria Ferdinanda caught the eye of the groom’s father Ferdinand III, Grand Duke of Tuscany who was twenty-seven years older than Maria Ferdinanda. Four years later, when his son Leopoldo and his wife Maria Anna had not produced any children, Ferdinando decided to marry twenty years after the death of his first wife. He chose Maria Ferdinanda as his second wife and they were married in 1821 but their marriage remained childless. Maria Ferdinanda became a widow at the age of twenty-eight but she never remarried. In 1859, the Grand Ducal family was forced to flee Tuscany because of the wars caused by the Italian unification movement. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany became part of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861. Maria Ferdinanda lived partly in the Kingdom of Bohemia, part of the Austrian Empire, and also in Dresden at the court of her brother King Johann of Saxony. She survived her husband by forty-one years, dying at the age of 68.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Ferdinanda of Saxony, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

April 27, 1806 – Birth of Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain, fourth wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, in Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily, now in Italy
Full name: Maria Cristina Ferdinanda
Maria Christina was the daughter of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Infanta María Isabella of Spain, sister of King Ferdinand VII of Spain. In 1829, she became the fourth wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, who had been widowed three times, and the wife who finally gave him an heir. Soon after her marriage, Maria Christina became pregnant. In 1830, Ferdinand VII issued the Pragmatic Sanction, allowing daughters to succeed to the Spanish throne as well as sons. This meant that his younger brother Infante Carlos would be displaced in the line of succession by Ferdinand’s children of both genders. Ferdinand’s daughter succeeded him as Queen Isabella II of Spain.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain

April 27, 1831 – Death of Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia at the Palazzo Chablais in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy; buried at Hautecombe Abbey now in Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille, France
As the third son, Carlo Felice was not expected to succeed to the throne. In 1802, Carlo Felice’s brother Vittorio Emanuele became King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his brother Carlo Emanuele who was despondent after the death of his wife. There was a succession crisis in the Kingdom of Sardinia. The abdicated Carlo Emanuele was childless. The current king Vittorio Emanuele had five surviving daughters who could not succeed to the throne and his only son died at the age of three from smallpox. The three other brothers of Carlo Felice, Vittorio Emanuele, and Carlo Emanuele had all died unmarried. In 1807, Carlo Felice married Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily but their marriage was also childless. In 1821, liberal revolutions were occurring throughout Italy. However, Vittorio Emanuele I was not willing to grant a liberal constitution so he abdicated the throne of Sardinia in favor of his brother Carlo Felice. Upon the death of Carlo Felice, the main line of the House of Savoy became extinct. Upon the death of Carlo Felice aged 66, on April 27, 1831, he was succeeded by the senior male member of the House of Savoy-Carignano who reigned as Carlo Alberto I, King of Sardinia.
Unofficial Royalty: Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia

April 27, 1848 – Birth of King Otto I of Bavaria at The Residenz in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany
Full name: Otto Wilhelm Luitpold Adalbert Waldemar
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.
Unofficial Royalty: King Otto I of Bavaria

April 27, 1882 – Wedding of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, son of Queen Victoria, and Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Leopold was ecstatic when he wrote of the news of his engagement to his brother-in-law Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine, widower of his sister Alice: “…we became engaged this afternoon…Oh, my dear brother, I am so overjoyed, and you, who have known this happiness, you will be pleased for me, won’t you?… You only know Helena a little as yet – when you really know her, then you will understand why I’m mad with joy today.” Sadly, Leopold and Helena’s marriage lasted only two years. Helena was pregnant with their second child when Leopold died following a fall, apparently of a cerebral hemorrhage, the injuries having been exacerbated by his hemophilia.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Prince Leopold and Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont

April 27, 1912 – Birth of Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark, Hereditary Princess of Denmark,  wife of her first cousin Hereditary Prince Knud of Denmark, at Jægersborghus, a country house in Gentofte north of Copenhagen, Denmark
Full name: Caroline-Mathilde Louise Dagmar Christine Maud Augusta Ingeborg Thyra Adelheid Caroline-Mathilde was the granddaughter of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. In 1933, Caroline-Mathilde married her first cousin Prince Knud of Denmark. Knud was the younger son of King Christian X of Denmark who was the brother of Caroline-Mathilde’s father Prince Harald. Caroline-Mathilde and Knud had one daughter and two sons. From 1947 to 1953, Knud was the heir presumptive of his older brother King Frederick IX. Knud would have become king and Caroline Mathilde queen, but a 1953 change in the succession law caused Knud to lose his place in the succession to his niece, who became Queen Margrethe II upon the death of her father in 1972. After the change, Prince Knud was given the title of Hereditary Prince and Caroline Mathilde became Hereditary Princess.
Unofficial Royalty: Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark, Hereditary Princess of Denmark

April 27, 1931 – Death of Prince Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein, grandson of Queen Victoria, in Primkenau, Germany, now Przemków, Poland;  buried near the church in Primkenau
Prince Albert was the son of Princess Helena, daughter of Queen Victoria, and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. He never married but succeeded his childless first cousin, Ernst Günther, as titular Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenberg.  Shortly before his death, he recognized an illegitimate daughter, Valerie Marie.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Albert, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein

April 27, 1953 – Birth of Prince Alexis Romanoff in San Francisco, California
Known as Alex Romanoff, he is a great-great-great-grandson of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, and has been one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family since the death of his father Prince Andrew Romanoff in 2021.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Alexis Romanoff

April 27, 1967 – Birth of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands, at the University Medical Center in Utrecht, the Netherlands
Full name: Willem-Alexander Claus George Ferdinand
On January 28, 2013, Willem-Alexander’s mother Queen Beatrix announced her intention to abdicate in favor of him. Queen Beatrix signed the Instrument of Abdication at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam on April 30, 2013. Afterward, Willem-Alexander was inaugurated as King at the Nieuwe Kerk which is adjacent to the Royal Palace in Amsterdam.
Unofficial Royalty: King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands

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Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France; Credit – Wikipedia

April 26, 1575 – Birth of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, second wife of King Henri IV of France, at the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy
Marie was the daughter of Francesco I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Archduchess Joanna of Austria. The House of Medici had come to prominence in the 15th century, as founders of the Medici Bank, the largest bank in Europe, and later as Grand Dukes of Tuscany. Along with Marie, other prominent family members included Catherine de’ Medici, consort to King Henri II of France, and Popes Leo X, Clement VII, and Leo XI. Among her children are King Louis XIII of France and Henrietta Maria who married King Charles I of England.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France

April 26, 1648 – Birth of King Pedro II of Portugal at Ribeira Palace in Lisbon, Portugal
Following the death of his father João IV, King of Portugal, Pedro’s mother Luisa de Guzmán became regent for the new king 13-year-old Afonso VI, Peter’s elder, partially paralyzed, and mentally unstable brother. In 1662 Afonso put his mother away in a convent and assumed control of Portugal as Prince Regent.  He also had his brother’s marriage to Marie Françoise of Savoy annulled and then married her. Pedro officially became King of Portugal when his brother died in 1683. After his first wife died, Pedro married again to Maria Sophia of Neuberg because he had only one daughter with his first wife and wanted sons. On December 5, 1706, he had a seizure that resulted in a stroke and he died four days later.  Pedro was succeeded by was 17-year-old son João V, King of Portugal.
Unofficial Royalty: King Pedro II of Portugal

April 26, 1721 – Birth of Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, son of King George II of Great Britain, at Leicester House in London, England
Fans of Diana Gabaldon’s novels of The Outlander series and the television series of the same name know that the Battle of Culloden in 1746 resulted in a decisive defeat of the Jacobite forces that wanted to restore the heirs of Roman Catholic Stuart King James II of England/ VII of Scotland to the throne. Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland was the commander of the British troops at the Battle of Culloden and is known by the nicknames “The Butcher of Culloden” and “Butcher Cumberland.”
Unofficial Royalty: Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland

April 26, 1782 – Birth of Maria Amalia Teresa of the Two Sicilies, Queen of the French,  wife of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, at Caserta Palace in Caserta, Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy
While still very young, Maria Amalia was engaged to her first cousin, the Dauphin of France. His mother Queen Marie Antoinette was Maria Amalia’s maternal aunt. However, the French Revolution resulting in the deaths of her aunt and her first cousin changed these plans. Her youth was spent in upheaval – the events in France – particularly the execution of her aunt – and subsequent conflict during the First Coalition soon found the family fleeing Sicily for the safety of Naples. After spending two years in Austria, she returned to Naples in 1802.  Four years later, when Napoleon invaded, the family again fled, this time settling in Palermo where British forces protected them. In 1809, Maria Amalia married the future Louis Philippe I, King of the French and they had ten children. In 1830, King Charles X of France was overthrown during the July Revolution and forced to abdicate and Louis Philippe became king.  After her husband was forced to abdicate in 1840, the family left France and was welcomed in England by Queen Victoria, who gave them the use of Claremont House in Surrey, England.  After her husband’s death, Marie Amélie lived a very private life, spending time with her family and enjoying a close relationship with the British Royal Family. At the age of 83, Queen Marie Amélie died at Claremont House on March 24, 1866.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Amalia Teresa of the Two Sicilies, Queen of the French

April 26, 1826 – Death of Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Florida, the morganatic second wife of Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies, in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy; buried at the Church of San Ferdinando in Naples
Lucia was the daughter of Vincenzo Migliaccio, 8th Duke of Floridia, a Sicilian nobleman, and Dorotea Borgia dei Marchesi del Casale who was from a Spanish noble family. In 1791, Lucia married Benedetto Grifeo, Prince of Partanna, and the couple had seven children. Lucia’s husband died in 1812. In 1814, Maria Carolina, the wife of King Ferdinando I of the Two Sicilies died. Wanting to remarry, the 63-year-old Ferdinando turned his attention to the 44-year-old Lucia, whom he had met frequently at court. Because Lucia was not royal, the marriage caused a considerable scandal. Lucia did not receive the title of queen and any children from the marriage would not be in the line of succession. However, the marriage remained childless. Ferdinando died from a stroke in 1825, and Lucia survived her husband by a little more than a year, dying on April 26, 1826, aged 55.
Unofficial Royalty: Lucia Migliaccio, Duchess of Florida

April 26, 1864 – Death of Auguste of Austria, Princess of Bavaria, wife of Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria, in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany; buried at the Theatinerkirche in Munich
Auguste was the daughter of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany.  In 1844, she married Prince Luitpold of Bavaria, a younger son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. The couple had four children including Ludwig III, the last King of Bavaria. Auguste was a devoted mother to her four children, speaking to them only in Italian, and was a strong supporter of her husband and the Bavarian monarchy. In 1848, she publicly criticized her father-in-law King Ludwig I for his relationship with his mistress Lola Montez, and its negative effects on the monarchy.  On April 26, 1864, Princess Auguste died, aged 39, from tuberculosis which she had suffered from for many years.
Unofficial Royalty: Auguste of Austria, Princess of Bavaria

April 26, 1923 – Wedding of King George VI of the United Kingdom and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at Westminster Abbey in London, England
Although they had met at a tea party in 1916, Bertie, as George VI was known in the family, and Elizabeth had their first significant meeting on July 8, 1920, at the Royal Air Force Ball at the Ritz in London. Bertie had come to the ball with his equerry James Stuart, the youngest son of the Earl of Moray. Elizabeth and James were old friends from Scotland and shared a dance. Bertie questioned James about his dance partner and asked to be introduced. Although the meeting did not make much of an impression on Elizabeth, Bertie fell in love that evening and started courting Elizabeth. He first proposed to her in 1921 and was rejected because Elizabeth feared the changes in her life being a member of the Royal Family would require. Elizabeth served as a bridesmaid in the wedding of Bertie’s sister Mary in February 1922. The following month, Bertie again proposed to her and was turned down once more. On January 2, 1923, after taking Elizabeth to dinner at Claridge’s and the theater, Bertie proposed a third time. After talking to friends and relatives and expressing her feelings in the diary, Elizabeth agreed to marry Bertie on January 14, 1923, although she still had misgivings.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King George VI of the United Kingdom and Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon

April 26, 1994 – Death of Queen Zein of Jordan, born Zein al-Sharaf Bint Jamal, wife of King Talal of Jordan and mother of King Hussein I of Jordan, in Lausanne, Switzerland; buried at the Royal Cemetery, near Raghadan Palace within the Royal Compound (Al-Maquar) in Amman, Jordan
Queen Zein played a major role in the formation of the Jordanian state. In 1944, Zein founded the first women’s association in Jordan. She established the women’s branch of the Jordanian Red Crescent (affiliated with the Red Cross) in 1948 and organized assistance to Palestinian refugees during the Arab-Israeli war in 1949. She participated in the writing of the Jordan Constitution in 1952, which guaranteed women’s rights. After the assassination of King Abdullah I in 1951, Zein held the power while the newly proclaimed King Talal was treated outside the country. She again took the reins of power in August 1952, when her son Hussein was proclaimed king, until May 1953, when he turned eighteen and assumed full constitutional duties. During the reign of her son, King Hussein I, Zein was an influential figure behind the scenes.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Zein of Jordan

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Princess Mary of the United Kingdom; Credit – Wikipedia

April 25, 1284 – Birth of King Edward II of England at Caernarvon Castle in Wales
Edward was the first English Prince of Wales. The tradition of conferring the title Prince of Wales on the heir apparent of the monarch is usually considered to have begun in 1301 when King Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon with the title at a Parliament held in Lincoln. Since then, the title has been granted (with a few exceptions) to the heir apparent of the English or British monarch. Edward II succeeded his father King Edward I in 1307. The granting of favors to Edward II’s favorites greatly displeased the English nobility. His wife Isabella of France and her lover Roger Mortimer, 1st Earl of March decided to depose Edward II resulting in his forced abdication. Edward II and Isabella’s son was crowned King Edward III, and Isabella and Mortimer served as regents for the teenage king. King Edward II was sent to Berkeley Castle where castle records indicate he was well treated. The circumstances of what happened to him are uncertain. One theory is that he died at Berkeley Castle on September 21, 1327, murdered on the orders of Isabella and Mortimer. When King Edward III reached the age of 18, he conducted a coup d’état against Mortimer and Isabella resulting in the execution of Mortimer and the confinement of his mother at Castle Rising in Norfolk.
Unofficial Royalty: King Edward II of England

April 25, 1566 – Death of Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II of France, at the Château d’Anet near Dreux, Eure-et-Loir, France; buried in the funeral chapel on the grounds of the Château d’Anet
Diane de Poitiers was the royal mistress of King Henri II of France from around 1534 until the King died in 1559. During that time, she was considered to be the most powerful and influential woman in France, far surpassing the King’s wife Catherine de’ Medici.
Unofficial Royalty: Diane de Poitiers, mistress of King Henri II of France

April 25, 1775 – Birth of Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen of Portugal, wife of King João VI of Portugal, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Spain
Full name: Carlota Joaquina Teresa Cayetana
The daughter of Carlos IV, King of Spain, Carlota Joaquina married the future João VI, King of Portugal in 1785. The couple had nine children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain. In 1816, Carlota Joaquina’s husband became King of Portugal. In 1824, Carlota Joaquina plotted with her son Miguel to overthrow her husband and place Miguel on the throne. The plot was discovered and King João VI reprimanded his son Miguel, deposed him from command of the army, and exiled him.  Later in the year, another rebellion organized by Carlota Joaquina was discovered and she was placed under house arrest in the Palace of Queluz. In 1826, João VI died and it was suspected that he was poisoned. In 2000, a team of researchers exhumed the ceramic pot that contained João VI’s heart. An analysis of his heart detected enough arsenic to kill two people, confirming suspicions that João VI had been murdered. For the rest of her life, Carlota Joaquina remained confined in the Palace of Queluz, where she died alone and abandoned by her children on January 7, 1830, at the age of 56
Unofficial Royalty: Carlota Joaquina of Spain, Queen of Portugal

April 25, 1776 – Birth of Princess Mary of the United Kingdom, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Buckingham Palace in London, England
Princess Mary was one of three of the six daughters of King George III who eventually married.  At the age of 48, she married her paternal first cousin, Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the son of King George III’s brother, Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh. Mary was a great favorite with all the members of the royal family, particularly with her niece Queen Victoria. She died at age 81, the longest-lived and the last survivor of her parents’ fifteen children. Mary also has the distinction of being the only child of King George III to be photographed, – a photo with her niece Queen Victoria and two of Victoria’s children, Princess Alice and the Prince of Wales (future Edward VII) – which can be seen in the article linked below.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester

April 25, 1805 – Death of Anna Petrovna Lopukhina, mistress of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia, in Turin, First French Empire, now in Italy; buried in the St. Lazarus Church at the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, Russia
Anna was the mistress of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia for several years before his assassination in 1801. Anna had married Prince Pavel Gavrilovich Gagarin. After the death of Emperor Paul, the benefits that Pavel would reap from being married to Paul’s official mistress were now gone, and Pavel and Anna’s marriage deteriorated. Both Pavel and Anna had affairs. Anna’s affair was with Prince Boris Antonovich Chetvertinsky. On February 5, 1805, Anna gave birth to Boris Antonovich’s daughter. Six weeks later Anna, aged 27, died from tuberculosis. Her infant daughter died a few weeks later.
Unofficial Royalty: Anna Petrovna Lopukhina, mistress of Paul I, Emperor of All Russia

April 25, 1806 – Birth of Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick in Brunswick, Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, now in Lower Saxony, Germany
Full name: Wilhelm August Ludwig Maximilian Friedrich
Wilhelm was the second Duke of Brunswick, reigning from 1830 until 1884. Under Wilhelm’s regency, the Duchy of Brunswick was granted a new constitution that extended significant fundamental rights to the people. He quickly became much more popular than his brother had ever been. He let his government do much of the ruling, leaving his ministers to handle most of the government business, and spending much of his time at his estates. Wilhelm never married but he had a number of illegitimate children.
Unofficial Royalty: Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick

April 25, 1843 – Birth of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria, at Buckingham Palace in London, England
Full name: Alice Maud Mary
Alice was known as the family caregiver having nursed both her maternal grandmother and her father through their last days and then supported her widowed mother in her intense grief. Seven months after her father’s death, Alice married the future Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine in a somber marriage ceremony.  Alice was a hemophilia carrier. Her hemophiliac son Friedrich (Frittie) died after a fall. Two of Alice’s daughters were hemophilia carriers – Irene who transmitted the disease to two of her sons, and Alix, who married Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia, and transmitted hemophilia to her only son. Alice and her husband are the great-grandparents of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Sadly, Alice died, aged 35, on December 14, 1878, the 17th anniversary of her father’s death, of diphtheria after nursing her family through the disease. Her youngest child May had died from the disease a month earlier.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

April 25, 1885 – Death of Emma, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Islands, wife of King Kamehameha IV, in Honolulu, Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, now in the state of Hawaii; first buried at the Royal Mausoleum, Mauna ʻAla in Honolulu, later moved to the Kamehameha Tomb, an underground vault, under the Kamehameha Dynasty Tomb, on the grounds of the Royal Mausoleum
On June 19, 1856, 20-year-old Emma became Queen of the Hawaiian Islands when she married 22-year-old King Kamehameha IV. Emma and Alexander had one son, Prince Albert Edward Kauikeaouli Kaleiopapa a Kamehameha, named in honor of Queen Victoria’s eldest son Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII. Kamehameha IV met Queen Victoria’s husband Prince Albert on an around-the-world trip from 1849 to 1852. Queen Victoria agreed to become Albert Edward’s godmother by proxy. Queen Emma and Queen Victoria had a long-term friendship via letters. The two Queens met in the United Kingdom in 1865. Sadly, four-year-old Prince Albert Edward died at the age of four. A year later, Kamehameha IV died. In 1883, Emma had the first of several small strokes. On April 25, 1885, Emma died from a series of strokes, aged 49, in Honolulu.
Unofficial Royalty: Emma, Queen Consort of the Hawaiian Islands, wife of King Kamehameha IV

April 25, 1897 – Birth of Mary, Princess Royal, daughter of King George V of the United Kingdom, at Marlborough House in London, England
Full name: Victoria Alexandra Alice Mary
Mary was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary and the paternal aunt of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1922, Mary married the future Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood and the couple had two sons. Mary continued to carry out engagements during the reigns of her brother King George VI and her niece Queen Elizabeth II.  After her husband died in 1947, Mary lived at Harewood House with her elder son George, the 7th Earl of Harewood, and his family. On March 28, 1965, Mary went for a walk on the grounds of Harewood House with her elder son George and two of her grandsons. She stumbled and fell and her son helped her to a seat while his sons ran back to the house to get help. Before help arrived, Mary died peacefully in her son’s arms from a heart attack at the age of 67.
Unofficial Royalty: Mary, Princess Royal, Countess of Harewood

April 25, 1941 – Birth of Princess Muna al-Hussein of Jordan, second wife of King Hussein I of Jordan and mother of King Abdullah II of Jordan, born Antoinette Avril Gardiner in Chelmondiston, Suffolk, England 
It was in Jordan, while Antoinette was working as a secretary on the production of the film Lawrence of Arabia that she met her future husband, King Hussein I of Jordan. Antoinette converted to Islam and took the name Muna-al Hussein. The couple married in 1961 and had four children including King Abdullah II of Jordan. Unlike King Hussein’s other wives, she was never created Queen of Jordan.  In 1971, King Hussein and Princess Muna divorced but she retained her titles.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Muna al-Hussein

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Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

April 24, 1533 – Birth of Willem I of Orange-Nassau (the Silent), Prince of Orange, at Dillenburg Castle, then in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg in the Holy Roman Empire, now in Hesse, Germany
In the Netherlands, Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange is known as the Vader des Vaderlands (Father of the Fatherland), and the Dutch national anthem, the Wilhelmus, was written in his honor. He got his nickname “the Silent” (in Dutch De Zwijger) not because he was quiet, but because of his habit of holding his tongue in difficult situations. Willem is the founder of the House of Orange-Nassau and the ancestor of the Dutch monarchs, the British monarchs from King George I forward, and other European royal families.
Unofficial Royalty: Willem I, Prince of Orange

April 24, 1608 – Birth of Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans, son of King Henri IV of France, at the Palace of Fontainebleau in France
Gaston, Duke of Orléans could be considered the black sheep of his family. Twice he had to leave France for conspiring against the government of his brother King Louis XIII. When his brother refused to grant permission for Gaston to marry Marguerite of Lorraine after the death of his first wife, Gaston married her anyway and kept the marriage secret. Because of his participation against the government in a series of civil wars, Gaston was exiled to one of his homes for the last seven years of his life.
Unofficial Royalty: Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans

 Birth of April 24, 1777 – Birth of Maria Clementina of Austria, Duchess of Calabria, first wife of the future Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, at the Villa del Poggio Imperiale in Poggio Imperiale, Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy
Full name: Maria Clementina Josepha Johanna Fidele
In 1797, Maria Clementina married the future Francesco I, King of the Two Sicilies, and took on the female version of his title at that time, Duchess of Calabria. Maria Clementina and Francesco had two children but she died from tuberculosis on November 15, 1801, aged 24.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Clementina of Austria, Duchess of Calabria

April 24, 1783 – Death of Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, lover of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia, at Neskuchnoe, his estate near Moscow, Russia; buried at  the Orthodox Church of St. George Monastery in Velikiy Novgorod, Russia
Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov and his four brothers organized the coup d’etat that overthrew the husband of Catherine II the Great, Empress of All Russia (born Princess Sophie Auguste Friederike of Anhalt-Zerbst), and gave her the throne of the Russian Empire. He gave Catherine the famous Orlov Diamond, used in the scepter of the Romanov rulers, and was the father of at least one of Catherine’s children, Alexei Grigorievich Bobrinsky. Catherine and Orlov had a long relationship from 1759 – 1774, spanning the time Catherine was a Grand Duchess and Empress.
Unofficial Royalty: Count Grigory Grigoryevich Orlov, lover of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia

April 24, 1852 – Death of Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany; buried in the Karlsruhe Stadtkirche, and after World War II, his remains were moved to the Grand Ducal Chapel in the Pheasant Garden in Karlsruhe
In 1819, Leopold married Princess Sofia of Sweden. The couple had eight children including two Grand Dukes of Baden. Leopold became Grand Duke of Baden in 1830, upon the death of his unmarried brother Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden, and held the throne for just over 22 years.
Unofficial Royalty: Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden

April 24, 1865 – Death of Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, from cerebrospinal meningitis in Nice, France; buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia
Although Nicholas was born to succeed his father as Emperor of All Russia, it was not to be. He died from cerebrospinal meningitis, the same disease that had claimed the life of his elder sister Alexandra Alexandrovna when she was just six years old. Nicholas had been engaged to marry Princess Dagmar of Denmark, who was at his deathbed. There is an uncorroborated story that shortly before he died, Nicholas clasped together the hands of Dagmar and his brother, the future Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, begging them to marry. The couple did marry in 1866 and had six children including Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia, who was named in honor of his deceased uncle.
Unofficial Royalty: Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia

April 24, 1923 – Death of Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach at Schloss Heinrichau, the family’s estate in Heinrichau, Silesia, now Henryków, Poland; buried in the park at Schloss Heinrichau
From 1897 until 1909, Wilhelm Ernst was the heir presumptive to the Dutch throne. King Willem III of the Netherlands died in 1890, leaving the throne to his ten-year-old daughter Wilhelmina. As a grandson of Princess Sophie of the Netherlands, the younger sister of King Willem III, Wilhelm Ernst was the next person in the line of succession. Wilhelm Ernst was the last Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, abdicating on November 9, 1918. He was stripped of his throne and his properties and forced into exile.  He took up residence at Schloss Heinrichau, the family’s estate in Heinrichau, Silesia, now Henryków, Poland, where he died on April 24, 1923, aged 46.
Unofficial Royalty: Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

April 24, 1981 – Death of Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, in Langenburg, Germany; buried in the Hohenlohe-Langenburg family cemetery
Although Margarita and her sisters were not invited to their brother Philip’s wedding due to the strong anti-German sentiment so soon after World War II, she and Philip remained close. In 1950, she was named as one of the godparents of Philip’s daughter, Princess Anne. In 1953, Margarita, her surviving sisters, and their mother were prominent guests at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Margarita’s grandson Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Head of the House of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, was one of the thirty guests at the funeral of his great-uncle Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

April 24, 1986 – Death of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor, wife of The Duke of Windsor, the former King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, at Villa Windsor in Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France; buried next to her husband at the Royal Burial Ground, Frogmore in Windsor, England
The Duchess of Windsor survived her husband by fourteen years. Her funeral was held at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and was attended by her two surviving sisters-in-law: The Queen Mother and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and also Queen Elizabeth II, The Duke of Edinburgh, The Prince and Princess of Wales, Princess Anne, and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Edinburgh, and the Prince and Princess of Wales also attended the burial.
Unofficial Royalty: Wallis, The Duchess of Windsor

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Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English; Credit – Wikipedia

April 23, 1016 – Death of Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English, in London, England; buried at (old) St. Paul’s Cathedral (destroyed in the Great Fire of London)
Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English was from the Anglo-Saxon House of Wessex. He was a great-great-grandson of King Alfred the Great and the father of two kings, Edmund Ironside and Edward the Confessor. His nickname in Old English was unræd which means “no counsel” and describes the poor quality of advice that Æthelred received throughout his reign. Æthelred is number eight on the top ten list of longest-reigning British monarchs.
Unofficial Royalty: Æthelred II, King of the English

April 23, 1151 – Death of Adeliza of Louvain, Queen of England, second wife of King Henry I of England, at Afflighem in Flanders, now in Belgium; buried at the Abbey of Afflighem in Afflighem
Because Henry I’s only son died in the White Ship disaster, it was necessary for him to marry again after the death of his first wife. His second wife Adeliza and the wives of King Henry VIII of England probably had a similar amount of pressure put on them to produce a male heir.  However, Adeliza’s marriage to King Henry I was childless. After Henry I’s death, Adeliza married William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel and the couple had seven children.   Among  Adeliza and William’s descendants are the well-known Howard family and the Dukes of Norfolk. In 1150, Adeliza left her family and retired to Affligem Abbey in Flemish Brabant (now in Belgium) near where she grew up. She died at Affligem Abbey on April 23, 1151, at the age of 48, and was buried at the abbey.
Unofficial Royalty: Adeliza of Louvain, Queen of England

April 23, 1307 – Death of Joan of Acre, daughter of King Edward I of England, at Clare Castle in Clare, Suffolk, England; buried at Clare Priory in Clare, Suffolk, England
Joan was the daughter of King Edward I of England and his first wife Eleanor of Castile. She was born in Acre, Palestine while her parents participated in the Crusades. In 1290, Joan married Gilbert de Clare, 6th Earl of Hertford, 7th Earl of Gloucester, and probably the most powerful English baron. Gilbert was twenty-nine years older than Joan and had been previously married to Alice de Lusignan, the half-niece of King Henry III, but the marriage was annulled in 1285. Joan and Gilbert had four children. The couple’s marriage lasted only five years as Gilbert died in 1295, aged 52. Joan fell in love with Ralph de Monthermer, a squire in the service of the de Clare family. After Joan persuaded her father to knight Ralph, they secretly married in 1297. When Joan’s father found out about the marriage, Ralph was arrested but King Edward I relented and released Ralph from prison. Ralph managed to win the favor of his father-in-law and kept it until the end of King Edward I’s reign. Joan and Ralph had four children. Joan died on April 23, 1307, at Clare Castle in Clare, Suffolk, England at the age of 35. The cause of Joan’s death is unknown, but possibly she died during childbirth, a common cause of death at the time.
Unofficial Royalty: Joan of Acre, Countess of Hertford and Gloucester

April 23, 1464 – Birth of Jeanne of France, Queen of France, Saint Joan of Valois in Nogent-le-Roi, County of Dreux, now in France
Jeanne was the daughter of King Louis XI of France and the first of the three wives of King Louis XII of France.  After Jeanne and Louis XII’s marriage was annulled, Jeanne founded the monastic Order of the Sisters of the Annunciation of Mary and was canonized as a saint in 1950.
Unofficial Royalty: Jeanne of France, Queen of France, Saint Joan of Valois

April 23, 1625 – Death of Maurits, Prince of Orange, at The Hague, the Netherlands; buried at Nieuwe Kerk in Delft, the Netherlands
Maurits was the only surviving son and the fourth of the five children of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange and his second wife Anna of Saxony. In 1618, Maurits succeeded his childless half-brother Filip Willem. Maurits never married but he did have a number of illegitimate children.
Unofficial Royalty: Maurits, Prince of Orange

April 23, 1676 – Birth of King Fredrik I of Sweden at Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, now in Hesse, Germany
Fredrik I was King of Sweden from 1720 until his death in 1751. However, he was also Prince Consort of Sweden from 1718 to 1720 and Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel from 1730 until his death. Fredrik’s second wife Ulrika Eleonora, Queen of Sweden, in her own right, succeeded her unmarried brother Karl XII, King of Sweden in 1718 and reigned for two years before abdicating in favor of her husband Friedrich of Hesse-Kassel who reigned as Fredrik I, King of Sweden. At the beginning of his 31-year-reign, Fredrik was an active monarch. However, after the nobility had regained some power during the wars with Russia, Fredrik was not so much powerless as uninterested in the affairs of state.  Ulrika and her husband had no children. Fredrik I, King of Sweden survived his wife by ten years. After suffering several strokes, he died on March 25, 1751, aged 74.
Unofficial Royalty: King Fredrik I of Sweden

April 23, 1751 – Death of Prince Jacques I of Monaco at Hôtel Matignon in Paris, France
Born Jacques François Leonor Goyon de Matignon from a wealthy French noble family, Jacques was the husband of Louise-Hippolyte, Sovereign Princess of Monaco and was briefly the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Louise-Hippolyte and Jacques had nine children but only four survived to adulthood. The former Jacques I, Prince of Monaco, died, aged 61, on April 23, 1751, at his Paris home, the Hôtel de Matignon. He was buried at the Église Saint-Laurent, the burial site of Jacques’ birth family, in Torigni-sur-Vire in France, but his remains were lost during the French Revolution.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Jacques I of Monaco

April 23, 1800 – Birth of Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, wife of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe, in Sonderhausen, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia
Full name: Emilie Friederike Caroline
Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was the wife of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe. Emilie and Leopold had nine children including three reigning Princes of Lippe but none of their children had children. Leopold II had a passion for the theater and with the help of his wife Emilie, the Lippe Princely Court Theater was established in Detmold in 1825. The theater established by Leopold II and Emilie is still in existence today. Now called the Landestheater Detmold, it is a theater for operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and stage plays in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
Unofficial Royalty: Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Princess of Lippe

April 23, 1828 – Birth of King Albert of Saxony in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Friedrich August Albert Anton Ferdinand Joseph Karl Maria Baptist Nepomuk Wilhelm Xaver Georg Fidelis
In 1853, Albert married Princess Carola of Vasa, the daughter of Gustaf, Prince of Vasa (formerly The Crown Prince of Sweden). When Albert’s father King  Johann of Saxony died in 1873, he succeeded him as King of Saxony. For the most part, his reign was quiet and uneventful, as he focused primarily on military affairs and did not involve himself much in politics. Perhaps his greatest contribution was the establishment of the Albertstadt, a suburb in Dresden. In the late 1890s, he was appointed an arbitrator in the dispute over succession in the Principality of Lippe. Albert’s marriage was childless and he was succeeded by his younger brother Georg.
Unofficial Royalty: King Albert of Saxony

April 23, 1922 – Death of Lord Leopold Mountbatten, grandson of Queen Victoria, at Kensington Palace in London, England; buried at the Royal Burial Grounds at Frogmore near Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Leopold was the son of Princess Beatrice, daughter of Queen Victoria, and Prince Henry of Battenberg.  His mother was a hemophilia carrier and he inherited the disease from her.  Leopold never married. On April 22, 1922, Leopold had hip surgery at Kensington Palace. He appeared to be making a normal recovery but had a relapse, and died on April 23, 1922, at the age of 32.
Unofficial Royalty: Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Descendants

April 23, 1923 – Death of Luise of Prussia, Grand Duchess of Baden, daughter of Wilhelm I, German Emperor, wife of Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden, in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; buried in the Grand Ducal Chapel in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Luise was the daughter of Wilhelm I, King of Prussia and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. She had one older brother Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia. In 1856, Luise married the future Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden. The couple had three children including Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden and Victoria who married King Gustav V of Sweden. Luise became involved in charitable causes in Baden, particularly those that helped and promoted women. Luise’s husband died in 1907. Luise and her daughter Queen Victoria of Sweden, who was visiting, fled to Zwingenberg Palace in Zwingenberg, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The new Baden government then granted Luise permission to stay at Langenstein Castle, owned by the Swedish Count Douglas, who was related to the Baden Grand Ducal family through marriage. The Baden government ordered that Luise and her family be protected, primarily because her daughter was Queen of Sweden, and they did not want to cause diplomatic problems. In 1919, Luise was permitted to return to Neues Schloss (New Castle) in Baden-Baden, Baden-Württemberg, Germany where she died at the age of 85.
Unofficial Royalty: Luise of Prussia, Grand Duchess of Baden

April 23, 2018 – Birth of Prince Louis of Wales, son of Prince William, The Prince of Wales, at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, England
Full name: Louis Arthur Charles
Prince Louis is the second son of the two sons and the youngest of the three children of Prince William, The Prince of Wales. The Succession to The Crown Act 2013, which formally went into effect on March 26, 2015, put in place absolute primogeniture for those born after October 28, 2011. Now the eldest child becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender. This means that Prince Louis is now fourth in the line of succession after his father The Prince of Wales, his elder brother Prince George of Wales, and his elder sister Princess Charlotte of Wales. With the birth of Prince Louis, Princess Charlotte became the first princess not to be overtaken in the line of succession by her younger brother.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Louis of Wales

April 23, 2019 – Death of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg; buried in the Ducal Crypt at the Cathedral Notre-Dame of Luxembourg in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Grand Duke Jean was the eldest of six children of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and Prince Félix of Bourbon-Parma. During World War II, Jean joined the Irish Guards of the British Army on the advice of King George VI of the United Kingdom. After preliminary training, Jean completed his military education at the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and later was promoted to lieutenant. Jean landed near Bayeux, Normandy five days after D-Day. He took part in the Battle for Caen and the liberation of Brussels. On September 10, 1944, he took part in the liberation of Luxembourg before participating in the invasion of Germany. In 1953, Jean married Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium, daughter of Léopold III, King of the Belgians and the couple had five children. In 1964, Jean’s mother Grand Duchess Charlotte abdicated and he became Grand Duke. Grand Duke Jean reigned until 2000 when he abdicated in favor of his eldest son Henri. Jean died on April 23, 2019, at the age of 98, after being hospitalized with a pulmonary condition.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg
Unofficial Royalty: Funeral of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg

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Queen Isabella I of Castile and Leon; Credit – Wikipedia

April 22, 1355 – Death of Eleanor of Woodstock, daughter of King Edward II of England, at Deventer Abbey in Gueldres, now in the Netherlands; buried at Deventer Abbey
In 1332, 14-year-old Eleanor married 37-year-old Reinald II, then Count of Guelders and later Duke of Guelders. The couple had two sons and Eleanor was stepmother to Reinald’s four daughters from his first marriage. In  1343, 48-year-old Reinald II, Duke of Guelders died after a riding accident. Eleanor was named one of the Regents for her nine-year-old son Reinald III, Duke of Guelders, but the other Regents made the situation so difficult for her that she was forced to resign. In 1350, with encouragement from his mother, Eleanor’s younger son Edward began a civil war against his brother Reinald III for control of the Duchy of Guelders. When Eleanor attempted to reconcile with her son Reinald, he rejected her reconciliation attempts and confiscated her property. Eleanor was then forced to retire to the Cistercian where she died in poverty on April 22, 1355, aged 36.
Unofficial Royalty: Eleanor of Woodstock, Duchess of Guelders

April 22, 1451 –  Birth of Queen Isabella I of Castile and Leon at Madrigal de las Altas Torres in Avila, Spain
Isabella was the wife of King Ferdinand of Aragon and the mother of Catherine of Aragon, the first wife of King Henry VIII of England. Her great-grandfather was John of Gaunt, son of King Edward III of England. The marriage of Queen Isabella I of Castile and León (reigned 1474 – 1504) and King Ferdinand II (Fernando in Spanish) of Aragon (reigned 1479 – 1516) led to the political unification of the Kingdom of Aragon and the Kingdom of Castile and León into the Kingdom of Spain under their grandson King Charles I (Carlos in Spanish), King of Spain who later also became Charles V, Holy Roman Empire.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Isabella I of Castile and Leon

April 22, 1736 – Birth of Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden, the illegitimate son of King George II of Great Britain and his mistress Amalie von Wallmoden, in Hanover in the Electorate of Hanover, now in the German state of Lower Saxony

Unofficial Royalty: Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden

April 22, 1847 – Birth of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia
As the third son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, Vladimir was considered distant from the throne but in 1865, the death of his eldest brother Tsesarevich Nicholas Alexandrovich at the age of 21 changed that. Vladimir was then the second in the line of succession after his elder brother Alexander, the future Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia.  In 1874, Vladimir married Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and they had four sons and one daughter. On February 17, 1909, 61-year-old Vladimir died suddenly after suffering a major cerebral hemorrhage. Today, the most recognized claimant as the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia is through Vladimir’s line. Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousins, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and his sister and brother Princess Alexandra and Prince Michael, are Vladimir’s great-grandchildren through his daughter Elena who married into the Greek royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia

April 22, 1852 – Birth of Grand Duke Guillaume IV of Luxembourg, as Wilhelm Alexander, Hereditary Prince of Nassau in Biebrich Palace in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now Hesse, Germany
The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg was united with the Netherlands and King Willem I of the Netherlands was also Grand Duke of Luxembourg. This rule continued until the death of King Willem III of the Netherlands in 1890. His successor was his daughter Wilhelmina, who could not inherit the throne of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg due to the Salic Law which prevented female succession. Through the Nassau Family Pact, Wilhelm’s father Adolph became the Grand Duke of Luxembourg and Wilhelm became His Royal Highness The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg on November 23, 1890. Usually, Wilhelm is styled using the French for Wilhelm, Guillaume. In 1893, he married Infanta Maria Ana of Portugal and the couple had six daughters including two reigning Grand Duchesses of Luxembourg.
Unofficial Royalty: Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg

April 22, 1868 – Birth of Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, daughter of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, in Ofen (Buda), Hungary
Full name: Marie Valerie Mathilde Amalie
Valerie’s elder siblings had been raised by her paternal grandmother Archduchess Sophie, born a Princess of Bavaria, who was also the maternal aunt of Valerie’s mother Empress Elisabeth, also born a Princess of Bavaria. Empress Elisabeth was never close to her two elder surviving children. An older and wiser Empress Elisabeth decided that her youngest child Valerie would be hers and hers alone. Her obvious preference for Valerie can be seen by the nickname her mother gave her – die Einzige – the only one. In 1890, Valerie married Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria-Tuscany. The couple had ten children.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria

April 22, 1872 – Birth of Princess Margarete of Prussia, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, at Neues Palais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
Full name: Margarete Beatrice Feodora
Known as Mossy, she was the daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor, King of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal. She married Prince Friedrich Karl of Hesse. They had six sons including two sets of twins. Two of their sons were killed in action during World War I and one was killed in action during World War II. Christoph, the son who was killed in World War I, was the first husband of Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Margaret of Prussia, Landgravine of Hesse

April 22, 1897 – Death of Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1880–1883 and Acting Mistress of the Robes 1886, at Latimer House near Chesham, Buckinghamshire, England; buried in the Bedford Chapel at St. Michael’s Church in Chenies, Buckinghamshire, England
Born Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, she was the daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl De La Warr. She married Francis Russell, 9th Duke of Bedford
Unofficial Royalty: Elizabeth Russell, Duchess of Bedford

April 22, 1906 – Birth of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, eldest son of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden
Full name: Gustaf Adolf Oscar Fredrik Arthur Edmund
Prince Gustaf Adolf was the father of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and would have himself become King of Sweden had he not died tragically in an airplane crash at the age of 40. His only son, nine-month-old Carl Gustaf, became second in the line of succession and would succeed his grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, in 1973.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten

April 22, 1922 – Death of Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 3rd wife of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague, the Netherlands; buried at Schwerin Cathedral in Schwerin, Germany
In 1868, Marie married the widowed Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin as his third wife, and they had four children. Through their son Heinrich, who married Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Marie and her husband are ancestors of the Dutch royal family. Marie died while she was in The Netherlands for the 46th birthday celebrations of her son Heinrich.
Unofficial Royalty: Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

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Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom; Credit – Wikipedia

April 21, 1509 – Death of King Henry VII of England at Richmond Palace in Richmond, Surrey, England; buried at Westminster Abbey in London, England
King Henry VII was the son of Edmund Tudor, 1st Earl of Richmond, who died three months before his son’s birth, leaving a 13-year-old pregnant widow Lady Margaret Beaufort. Henry’s father Edmund Tudor was the eldest child of Owen Tudor and Catherine of Valois, widow of King Henry V of England. His mother Lady Margaret Beaufort was the only child of John Beaufort, 1st Duke of Somerset and Margaret Beauchamp of Bletso. Through her father, Lady Margaret was a descendant of King Edward III of England. At the time of Henry’s birth, the Wars of the Roses, the fight for the English throne between the House of Lancaster and the House of York, was two years old. His mother was a descendant of the House of Lancaster. In 1470, after the Lancastrian King Henry VI was murdered in the Tower of London, Henry’s uncle Jasper Tudor left England for France and took his nephew Henry with him to keep him safe. In 1485,  Henry Tudor sailed to Wales with a small French and Scottish force. He then marched towards England accompanied by his uncle Jasper Tudor and John de Vere, 13th Earl of Oxford. On August 22, 1485, at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last significant battle of the Wars of the Roses, the last king of the House of York and the Plantagenet dynasty, King Richard III of England, lost his life and his crown. The battle was a decisive victory for the House of Lancaster, whose leader 28-year-old Henry Tudor, Earl of Richmond, became the first monarch of the House of Tudor. In 1486, King Henry VII married Elizabeth of York, King Edward IV’s eldest child, thereby uniting the House of York and the House of Lancaster. Henry and Elizabeth had seven children including King Henry VIII of England. Through their daughter Margaret Tudor, they are the ancestors of the British royal family and many other European royal families.
Unofficial Royalty: King Henry VII of England

April 21, 1673 – Birth of Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress, wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, in Hanover, then in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, now in the German state of Lower Saxony
When the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I began having affairs at the age of 15, his mother thought the pious Roman Catholic Wilhelmine Amalie, who was five years older than Joseph, would be a positive influence on Joseph and he would then stop having affairs. The couple married in 1699, and had three children but their only son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday. Joseph did not stop his affairs, and the affairs combined with the death of his only son took a toll on his marriage. In 1705,  Joseph succeeded his father in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Six years later, Joseph died from smallpox. In 1722, after both her daughters had married, Wilhelmine Amalie retired to the convent she had founded for the Salesian nuns, the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary in Vienna where she died eleven days before her sixty-ninth birthday.
Unofficial Royalty: Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress

April 21, 1767 – Birth of Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess of Austria, first wife of the future Emperor Franz I of Austria, in Treptow an der Rega in Brandenburg-Pomerania, now Trzebiatów, Poland
Full name: Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise
At the age of 15, Elisabeth went to Vienna, Austria to prepare to become the bride of Archduke Franz, the nephew of Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph II. The Protestant princess was educated by nuns at the Church and Monastery of the Visitation and she converted to Roman Catholicism. Elisabeth married Archduke Franz (the future emperor) in 1788 but died two years later in childbirth after giving birth to a daughter who lived only four months.
Unofficial Royalty: Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess of Austria

April 21, 1815 – Birth of Louise Rasmussen, Countess Danner, former mistress and morganatic third wife of King Frederik VII of Denmark, in Copenhagen, Denmark
Louise, a dancer with the Danish Royal Ballet, became acquainted with the son of King Christian VIII, Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, who had already divorced two wives. Louise and Frederik had a relationship during the 1840s. In 1848, Frederik’s father died and he succeeded to the Danish throne as King Frederik VII. Upon becoming king, Frederik wished to marry Louise but the government was not in favor of the marriage. In 1849, King Frederik VII signed a new constitution, changing the monarchy from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional monarchy. The signing of the new constitution made Frederik so popular that the government granted him permission to morganatically marry Louise Rasmussen. Louise was not queen consort and was officially styled as Countess Danner. The marriage appears to have been a happy one but had much opposition and Louise was treated poorly in social circles. Frederik and Louise did not have any children. Frederik died in 1863 and Louise survived him by eleven years, dying in Genoa, Italy on March 6, 1874, at the age of 58. While King Frederik VII was buried at Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial place of the Danish Royal Family, Louise was not accorded a resting place near her husband. She was buried in a burial mound in the castle garden of her home Jægerspris Castle.
Unofficial Royalty: Louise Rasmussen, Countess Danner

April 21, 1829 – Birth of Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1870–1874
Born Anne Hay-Mackenzie, the only child of John Hay-Mackenzie of Newhall and Cromarty, she married George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 3rd Duke of Sutherland. In 1870, she succeeded her sister-in-law, Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, as Mistress of the Robes, and served until 1874. The position had also previously been held by her mother-in-law Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland four different times between 1837 and 1861.
Unofficial Royalty: Anne Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

April 21, 1843 – Death of Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex, son of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Kensington Palace in London, England; buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, England
Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex is infamously known for making two marriages in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act 1772. In 1793, a very pregnant Miss Augusta Murray and Mr. Augustus Frederick (the Duke of Sussex). Augusta gave birth to a son a month later. King George III was greatly angered by the marriage, and it was declared null and void in August 1794. Despite this, Augustus and Augusta continued to live together. Another child, a daughter was born in 1801. The two children, deemed illegitimate, used the last name D’Este as both their parents were descendants of the House of Este. After the death of Augusta in 1830, Augustus married again in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act, to a widow, Lady Cecilia Buggin. Because marriage was not considered legal, Cecilia could not take the style and title Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex, so instead, she assumed the surname Underwood, her mother’s maiden name, and was known as Lady Cecilia Underwood. The couple lived at Augustus’ apartments in Kensington Palace. Despite all of this, Augustus was respected by his niece Queen Victoria. He was given the honor of giving her away at her wedding. As a token of her gratitude, Queen Victoria created Augustus’ wife Cecilia Duchess of Inverness in her own right in 1840. On April 21, 1843, Augustus died from erysipelas at the age of 70. Because Augustus feared that his second morganatic wife would not be allowed to be buried in the Royal Vault at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, he left instructions that he be buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in Kensal Green, London, England, where his wife was later buried.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex

April 21, 1865 – Birth of Archduke Otto Franz of Austria, father of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria, in Graz, Austrian Empire, now in Austria
Otto Franz of Austria was the father of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria, and the brother of the ill-fated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria whose assassination in 1914 was one of the causes of World War I. Otto Franz married Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony and the couple had two sons. By 1900, it was clear that Otto Franz had contracted syphilis and he withdrew from public life. He was in agonizing pain for the last two years of his life and was forced to replace his nose with a rubber prosthetic due to the facial deformity caused by syphilis. On November 1, 1906, Archduke Otto Franz, aged forty-one, died.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduke Otto Franz of Austria

April 21, 1892 – Death of Alexandrine of Prussia, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, wife of Grand Duke Paul Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany; buried at Schwerin Cathedral
In 1822, Alexandrine married the future Grand Duke Paul Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and they had three children. Her husband became Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1837. He died five years later and was succeeded by the couple’s son Friedrich Franz II. At the time of her death, Alexandrine had been widowed for fifty years, lived through the reign of her son, and saw her grandson succeed to the Grand Ducal throne of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was also the last living grandchild of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and had seen the Prussian throne held by her father, two brothers, a nephew, and a great-nephew.
Unofficial Royalty: Alexandrine of Prussia, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

April 21, 1918 – Death of Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt at Ballenstedt Castle in the Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; initially buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; in 1958, under Communist East Germany, all remains of members of the House of Anhalt were reburied in the Ziebigker Cemetery in Dessau in a common grave; in 2019, Friedrich’s remains were reinterred in the Marienkirche in Dessau, the traditional burial site of the Dukes of Anhalt-Dessau
In 1889, Friedrich married Princess Marie of Baden but the couple had no children. Friedrich became the reigning Duke of Anhalt upon his father’s death in January 1904. He established a Court Theatre which would become very well-known throughout Europe and attracted some of the leading singers and musicians from around the world. Friedrich died on April 21, 1918, aged 61. In 1958, the remains of members of the House of Anhalt were removed from the Ducal Mausoleum secretly by night for political reasons. Dessau was then in Communist East Germany.  All the remains were reburied in the Ziebigker Cemetery in Dessau in a common grave, marked only by a simple wooden cross. In 2019, Friedrich’s remains were moved a second time and reinterred in the Marienkirche in Dessau, the traditional burial site of the Dukes of Anhalt-Dessau dating back to the 15th century. The Marienkirche was destroyed during World War II and has since been rebuilt.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt

April 21, 1926 – Birth of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom at 17 Bruton Street in London, England
Full name: Elizabeth Alexandra Mary
Destined to become the longest-reigning British monarch, Princess Elizabeth Alexandra Mary of York was born at 2:40 am on April 21, 1926, at 17 Bruton Street in Mayfair, London, the home of her maternal grandparents. She was the daughter of the future King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon (at the time, the Duke and Duchess of York), and was named in honor of her mother, her great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra, and her grandmother, Queen Mary. Her paternal grandparents were King George V and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, and her maternal grandparents were Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th and 1st Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, and Cecilia Cavendish-Bentinck. At the time of her birth, Elizabeth was third in the line of succession to the British throne, following her uncle The Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII and Duke of Windsor), and her father. She succeeded to the throne upon the death of her father on February 6, 1952. In 2022, Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her Platinum Jubilee, marking seventy years on the throne. Queen Elizabeth II died at 96 at Balmoral Castle, her home in Balmoral, Scotland, on September 8, 2022. She is the longest-reigning British monarch having surpassed her great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria on September 9, 2015. Queen Elizabeth II had reigned for 25,782 days or  70 years, 214 days. Only King Louis XIV of France, (reigned May 14, 1643 to September 1, 1715, for 26,407 days or 72 years, 110 days) has reigned longer. (Note: Lengths of reign are from a list of monarchs of states that were internationally sovereign for most or all of their reigns and have verifiable reigns by an exact date.)
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom

April 21, 1992 – Death of Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia and Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, in Miami, Florida; buried in the Grand Ducal Mausoleum at the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia, the first Romanov to be buried in Russia since the Russian Revolution
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia was the pretender to the throne of Russia from 1938 – 1992.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia

April 21, 2007 – Birth of Princess Isabella of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik X of Denmark, at Copenhagen University Hospital in Copenhagen, Denmark
Full name: Isabella Henrietta Ingrid Margrethe
Denmark changed its succession law in 2008 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 King Frederik X’s second-born child Isabella is second in the line of succession to the Danish throne after her elder brother Christian and is ahead of her younger brother Vincent.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Isabella of Denmark

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