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Willem II, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

May 27, 1541- Execution of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury, daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, at the Tower of London; buried at St. Peter ad Vincula, Tower of London
Margaret was the niece of King Edward IV of England and one of the few survivors of the Plantagenets after the Wars of the Roses.  She was executed during the reign of King Henry VIII.  Beatified by the Roman Catholic Church in 1886, she is known as Blessed Margaret Pole.
Unofficial Royalty: Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury

May 27, 1626 – Birth of Willem II, Prince of Orange in The Hague, Dutch Republic, now in the Netherlands
Willem married Mary, Princess Royal, the daughter of King Charles I of England. In 1650, Mary was pregnant with her first child when her husband Willem II fell ill with smallpox. He died on November 6, 1650, at the age of 24. Eight days later, Mary gave birth to her only child Willem III, Prince of Orange who went on to marry his first cousin Mary, the eldest surviving child of the future King James II of England. Following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 in which James II was deposed, they jointly reigned as King William III and Queen Mary II.
Unofficial Royalty: Willem II, Prince of Orange

May 27, 1652 – Birth of Elizabeth Charlotte (Liselotte) of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans, second wife of Philippe, Duke of Orléans, at Heidelberg Castle in Heidelberg, then in the Electorate of the Palatinate, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
In 1671, Liselotte became the second wife of Philippe, Duke of Orléans, brother of King Louis XIV of France, and the couple had three children. Liselotte was well-connected genetically. Her paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of King James I of England and the granddaughter of Mary, Queen of Scots. Liselotte’s paternal aunt Sophia of the Palatinate, Electress of Hanover was the heiress presumptive to Queen Anne of Great Britain in accordance with the Act of Settlement 1701 but Sophia died two months before Queen Anne died. Upon Queen Anne’s death, Liselotte’s first cousin succeeded to the British throne as King George I of Great Britain.
Unofficial Royalty: Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, Duchess of Orléans

May 27, 1690 – Birth of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria
Josef Johann Adam became the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein upon the death of his father Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein on October 11, 1721.  He married four times and had a total of eight children but only two children, including his successor Johann Nepomuk Karl, Prince of Liechtenstein, survived childhood. Josef Johann Adam died, aged 42, on December 17, 1732.
Unofficial Royalty: Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein

May 27, 1707 – Death of Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan, better known as Madame de Montespan, mistress of King Louis XIV of France, in Bourbon-l’Archambault, France; buried in the Chapel of the Cordeliers convent in Poitiers, France
A prominent figure in the French court, Madame de Montespan soon set out to become the primary mistress of King Louis XIV, and replace mistress, Louise de La Vallière. Before long, she developed an intimate relationship with the King, and pushed Louise out of his life. By 1669, she had become his primary mistress and they would have seven children together. By 1691, Madame de Montespan was no longer in favor with King Louis XIV and left the French court for a convent in Paris. Louis XIV gave her a generous pension and she spent the remainder of her life supporting numerous hospitals and charities. On May 27, 1707, Madame de Montespan died at Bourbon-l’Archambault, France and was buried in the chapel of the Cordeliers convent in Poitiers, France.
Unofficial Royalty: Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, Marquise de Montespan

May 27, 1723 – Death of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and 1st Duke of Lennox, 1er Duc d’ Aubigny, the illegitimate son of King Charles II of England and Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth, in Sussex, England; buried in Westminster Abbey
Wikipedia: Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and Lennox (Unofficial Royalty article coming soon.)

May 27, 1756 – Birth of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria in Schwetzingen, Electorate of the Palatine, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Full name: Maximilian Maria Michael Johann Baptist Franz de Paula Joseph Kaspar Ignatius Nepomuk
Maximilian IV Joseph, Prince-Elector of Bavaria allied his electorate with Napoleon and adopted many of the French beliefs of the Enlightenment. It was this loyal service to Napoleon through which Maximilian’s electorate was created the Kingdom of Bavaria with Maximilian as its king. He officially became the Maximilian I Joseph, the first King of Bavaria on January 1, 1806.
Unofficial Royalty: King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria

May 27, 1770 – Death of Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, Queen of Denmark and Norway, wife of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway, at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark; buried in Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
Sophia Magdalene survived her husband by twenty-four years. She lived for the entire reign of her son King Frederik V and was alive for the first four years of the reign of her grandson King Christian VII. Her summers were spent at Hirschholm Palace and the winters at Christiansborg Palace. At her request, Sophia Magdalene was buried in a simple ceremony in Frederik V’s Chapel at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, Queen of Denmark and Norway

May 27, 1819 – Birth of King George V of Hanover, born Prince George of Cumberland, son of King George III’s fifth son Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland (later King Ernst August of Hanover) in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany
Full name: George Frederick Alexander Charles Ernest Augustus
George was born three days after the eventual heir, Alexandrina Victoria (Queen Victoria), who was ahead of her first cousin in the succession by being the child of King George III’s fourth son.  After Queen Victoria acceded to the throne in 1837, Prince George remained second in the line of succession after his father until Queen Victoria’s first child was born.  Today his descendant Prince Ernst August of Hanover is the senior male-line descendant of King George III and the Head of the House of Hanover.
Unofficial Royalty: King George V of Hanover

May 27, 1848 – Death of Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Vicarage Place in Kensington, London, England; buried at Kensal Green Cemetery in London, England
Known for giving birth to an illegitimate son, Sophia was one of the daughters of King George III who never married.  When her niece Victoria became Queen, Sophia wrote to Victoria, “My dear Victoria, The awful day is arrived which calls you to fill the most exalted and important station in our country.” Sophia remained close to her niece for the remainder of her life. Two days after her death, Sophia’s banker brought a letter to Queen Victoria in which Sophia stated she wished to be buried in Kensal Green Cemetery in Kensal Green, London close to where her brother Prince Augustus, Duke of Sussex had been buried, and that she wished her funeral to be as private as possible. Her funeral was private and she was temporarily laid to rest in the cemetery’s vault while a tomb was built. A year later, Sophia’s remains were transferred to the tomb.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Sophia of the United Kingdom

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Victoria Mary of Teck, Queen of the United Kingdom; Credit – Wikipedia

May 26, 946 – Assassination of Edmund I, King of the English in Pucklechurch, South Gloucestershire, England; buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Somerset, England
Edmund I, King of the English was stabbed to death at a royal hunting lodge in Pucklechurch, north of Bath, England while celebrating the feast of St. Augustine of Canterbury. Recent research indicates that Edmund may have been the victim of political assassination.
Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Edmund I, King of the English
Unofficial Royalty: Edmund I, King of the English

May 26, 1583 – Death of Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, favorite of James VI, King of Scots (later also King James I of England), in Paris, France
Esmé Stewart was a French nobleman of Scottish ancestry who moved to Scotland to try to acquire the title Earl of Lennox because the current Earl of Lennox Robert Stewart, Esmé’s uncle, was in his 50s and childless.  Esmé first came to Scotland in 1579, the homeland of his family, and was introduced to his first cousin once removed, thirteen-year-old James VI, King of Scots. Esmé, having been raised in France and being a member of the Stewart family, fascinated James, and Esmé quickly became a favorite.
Unofficial Royalty: Esmé Stewart, 1st Duke of Lennox, favorite of King James I of England

May 26, 1768 – Birth of Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg, Countess of Hochberg, morganatic second wife of Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden; born in Karlsruhe, Margraviate of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Luise Karoline was the second, and morganatic, wife of the future Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden. Luise Karoline and Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Baden had five children. At the time of the marriage, Karl Friedrich created Luise Karoline Baroness of Hochberg, and their children were not included in the line of succession. In 1817, Karl Friedrich and Luise Karoline’s children were elevated to Prince/Princess of Baden, and in the following year, the Baden Congress formally confirmed their succession rights.
Unofficial Royalty: Luise Karoline Geyer von Geyersberg, Countess of Hochberg

May 26, 1796 – Birth of Alois II, Prince of Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria
Full name: Alois Maria Josef Johann Baptista Joachim Philipp Nerius
In 1831, Alois married Countess Franziska Kinsky of Wchinitz and Tettau, and the couple had eleven children including two sovereign Princes of Liechtenstein. Upon the death of his father Johann I Josef, Prince of Liechtenstein in 1836, Alois became the reigning Prince of Liechtenstein. In 1837, Alois went to the United Kingdom on a diplomatic mission and attended the coronation of Queen Victoria. Like his father and grandfather, Alois continued modernizing his estates and reorganizing their administration. Prince Alois II was the first reigning prince to visit the Principality of Liechtenstein, as we know it today, but he did not live there.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Alois II, Prince of Liechtenstein

May 26, 1822 – Birth of Auguste Reuss of Köstritz, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 1st wife of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in Klipphausen, Kingdom of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Auguste Mathilde Wilhelmine
In 1849, Auguste married Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II, and the couple had six children including Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Marie who married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia. Three years after giving birth to her youngest child, Auguste, aged 39, died on March 3, 1862. The cause of Auguste’s death is unclear. At that time, there were mentions of “heart disease associated with a bronchial ailment” and “fever.” It is quite possible that she died from tuberculosis which was widespread at the time.
Unofficial Royalty: Auguste Reuss of Köstritz, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

May 26, 1826 – Birth of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, Duchess of Nassau, first wife of Adolphe, Duke of Nassau, the future Grand Duke Adolphe I of Luxembourg, in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia
In 1844, 17-year-old Elizabeth married 26-year-old Adolphe, Duke of Nassau in St. Petersburg, Russia. The newlyweds remained in Russia for a while before traveling to the Duchy of Nassau where they lived at Biebrich Castle in Wiesbaden, now in the German state of Hesse. Elizabeth died at age 18 in childbirth along with her baby daughter. Her husband built an Orthodox church for her remains in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now in the German state of Hesse.  The church was built on a hill and was visible from Adolphe’s residence so he could always see where Elizabeth was buried.
Unofficial Royalty: Elizabeth Mikhailovna of Russia, Duchess of Nassau

May 26, 1867 – Birth of Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, Queen Mary of the United Kingdom, wife of King George V of the United Kingdom, at Kensington Palace in London, England
Full name: Victoria Mary Augusta Louisa Olga Pauline Claudine Agnes
Mary was a great-granddaughter of King George III and a first cousin once removed of Queen Victoria.  She was first engaged to Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence (known as Prince Eddy), the oldest son and eldest child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII) and Princess Alexandra of Denmark. After his death from pneumonia, Mary married his brother, the future King George V. Mary and George had five sons and one daughter. Queen Mary lived long enough to see her granddaughter Elizabeth become Queen of the United Kingdom. She died on March 24, 1953, at age 85 of lung cancer (although her illness was referred to as “gastric problems”) just ten weeks before the coronation. Before her death, Queen Mary had insisted that the coronation go ahead as scheduled.
Unofficial Royalty: Mary of Teck, Queen of the United Kingdom

May 26, 1934 – Death of Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta, Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and pretender to the former throne, in Cannes, France; buried in the Cimetière du Grand Jas in Cannes, France
Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta, was a younger half-brother of King Francesco II, the last reigning King of the Two Sicilies. Upon Francesco’s death in 1894, Alfonso became Head of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and pretender to the former throne.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta

May 26, 1946 – Death of Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont in Arolsen, Hesse, Germany
Friedrich was the last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, abdicating on November 13, 1918. He was the only son of Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and Helena of Nassau. Friedrich had six sisters, through his sister Emma, he was the uncle of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and through his sister Helena, he was the uncle of Charles Edward, the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Upon the death of his father in 1893, Friedrich became the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In 1895, Friedrich married Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe and they had four children. Friedrich abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and the Arolsen Forest. Both Friedrich and his wife Bathildis lived through World War II. While neither Friedrich nor Bathildis joined the Nazi Party, their eldest son Josias did and after World War II, Josias was a convicted Nazi war criminal for crimes in connection to the Buchenwald concentration camp. Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, died on May 26, 1946, at the age of 81 in Arolsen, Germany.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

May 26, 1962 – Birth of Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, Consort and 2nd wife of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, born Yuvadhida Polpraserth in Bangkok, Thailand
Sujarinee Vivacharawongse, as she is now known, was a consort and the second of the four wives of King Vajiralongkorn of Thailand, then the Crown Prince. Originally an actress, she became the Crown Prince’s consort in 1977, during his marriage to his first cousin. Sujarinee and Vajiralongkorn had four sons and one daughter. After a very long ordeal, Vajiralongkorn divorced his first wife and married Sujarinee in 1994. In 1996, Sujarinee fled to the United Kingdom with her five children. Vajiralongkorn accused her of adultery and managed to retrieve their daughter and bring her back to Thailand. Sujarinee and the couple’s four sons were stripped of their royal titles and the couple’s marriage was dissolved. After the end of her marriage, Sujarinee and her sons used the royal surname Vivacharawongse and lived in the United States. Her only daughter, Princess Busyanambejra (later changed to HRH Princess Sirivannavari) returned to Thailand to live with her father.
Unofficial Royalty: Sujarinee Vivacharawongse

May 26, 1968 – Birth of King Frederik X of Denmark at the Rigshospitalet in Copenhagen, Denmark
Full name: Frederik André Henrik Christian
Frederik is the elder son of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark. At the time of his birth, his mother was heiress-presumptive to her father, King Frederik IX. In 2004, Frederik married Australian Mary Donaldson, four years after meeting her at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia. The couple has four children.  In her New Year’s Speech on December 31, 2023, Queen Margrethe II announced that she would step down as Queen of Denmark on January 14, 2024 – the 52nd anniversary of her accession. On that day her elder son became King Frederik X of Denmark.
Unofficial Royalty: King Frederik X of Denmark

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Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine; Credit – Wikipedia

May 25, 1690 – Birth of Johann Josef Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein in Vienna, Austria
Johann Josef Adam succeeded his father Anton Florian, Prince of Liechtenstein in 1721. He married four times. His first two wives died at a young age without any surviving children. His fourth wife survived him but their children died in infancy. With his third wife, Countess Maria Anna Katharina of Oettingen-Spielberg, Johann Josef Adam had two surviving children including his successor. Eventually, Josef Johann Adam retired from active politics to devote himself to the administration of his vast estates and the Principality of Liechtenstein which had been devastated by the debts left by his father. Despite pressure from within Liechtenstein, Josef Johann Adam refused to establish a more liberal government and continued with the absolutism of his father’s reign.
Unofficial Royalty: Johann Josef Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein

May 25, 1786 – Death of King Pedro III of Portugal, husband and uncle of Queen Maria I of Portugal, co-reigned alongside her until his death, at the Queluz Royal Palace in Queluz, Portugal; buried at the Pantheon of the Royal House of Braganza in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora in Lisbon, Portugal.
Pedro III, King of Portugal was co-monarch with his wife and niece Maria I, Queen of Portugal. However, the regal authority was vested entirely in Maria, the rightful heir to the throne. Since female succession to the throne of Portugal had never happened before, Maria’s father King José I of Portugal decided that she would marry his younger brother Pedro, the first male in the line of succession. Despite the 17-year age gap, the couple had a happy marriage and had six children.
Unofficial Royalty: Pedro III, King of Portugal

May 25, 1846 – Birth of Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, at Buckingham Palace in London, England
Full name: Helena Augusta Victoria
Helena took a very active role in royal duties and engagements when this was not nearly as common as it is today. In addition, she was very involved in charity work, particularly in the area of nursing. Helena served as president of the Royal British Nurses Association and was one of the founding members of the British Red Cross.  She was also the founding president of the Royal School of Needlework. Helena and her husband Christian of Schleswig-Holstein celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary in 1916, the first in the family since King George III and Queen Charlotte in 1811.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Helena of the United Kingdom

May 25, 1843 – Birth of Anna of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, 2nd wife of Friedrich Franz II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, in Bessungen, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany
Full name: Maria Anna Wilhelmine Elisabeth Mathilde
Anna was the sister of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine who married Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.  Sadly, just a week after giving birth to her only child, 21-year-old Anna died of puerperal fever (childbed fever).
Unofficial Royalty: Anna of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

May 25, 1862 – Death of Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, first wife of Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine, in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany; buried at St. Ludwig’s Catholic Church in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse
The eldest daughter of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, Mathilde Karoline married the future Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine but the couple had no children. Mathilde Karoline died of cancer at the age of 48 in 1862. Because she had remained Catholic after her marriage – the Grand Ducal family was Lutheran – she is buried at St. Ludwig’s Catholic Church in Darmstadt.
Unofficial Royalty: Mathilde Karoline of Bavaria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine

May 25, 1865 – Birth of King Friedrich August III of Saxony in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Friedrich August Johann Ludwig Karl Gustav Gregor Philipp
Friedrich August began his military career at age 12, entering the Saxony Army as a second lieutenant, and serving with various regiments over the next 27 years before his accession to the throne in 1904. In 1891, he married Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany, and they had seven children. However, the marriage was not happy. The marriage quickly broke down, as Luise was unwilling to conform to the strict protocols of the Saxony court, and Friedrich August failed to stand up for her or support her. She began an affair with their children’s tutor and caused quite a scandal. Friedrich August’s father threatened to have her interned at a mental asylum in 1902, which led to Luise fleeing the country while pregnant with their youngest child. The marriage ended in divorce, by royal decree of King Georg in 1903. Friedrich August III was the last King of Saxony, abdicating on November 13, 1918, at the end of World War I. Friedrich August retired to Sibyllenort Castle in Lower Silesia (now Poland) where he would live the rest of his life. He died there on February 18, 1932, after suffering a stroke.
Unofficial Royalty: King Friedrich August III of Saxony

May 25, 1878 – Death of Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1868 – 1870, in London, England; buried in the Argyll Mausoleum at the Kilmun Parish Church in Kilmun, Scotland
Born Elizabeth Leveson-Gower, daughter of George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, she married George Campbell, 8th Duke of Argyll. Their eldest son John Campbell 9th Duke of Argyll married Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise.
Unofficial Royalty: Elizabeth Campbell, Duchess of Argyll

May 25, 1966 – Birth of Princess Laurentian of the Netherlands, wife of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands, born Petra Laurentien Brinkhorst in Leiden, the Netherlands
Laurentien is the wife of Prince Constantijn, the youngest son of former Queen Beatrix, and the younger brother of King Willem-Alexander. She married Prince Constantijn in 2001 and the couple has three children. Laurentian is very involved in the fight against illiteracy in the Netherlands. In 2004, she founded the Stichting Lezen & Schrijven (Reading & Writing Foundation), to prevent and reduce functional illiteracy in the Netherlands and worldwide.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Laurentian of the Netherlands

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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

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

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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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