Royals On Ice… literally

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2013

We all know of buildings, streets, or parks named after various royalty.  Even here in the United States, several cities and a few states take their names from royals of the past.  But last year was the first time that I remember an area of land being renamed.  In honor of Queen Elizabeth II’s Diamond Jubilee, It was decided that a large area within the British Antarctic Territory would be renamed Queen Elizabeth Land.  What I didn’t realize was that this wasn’t the first time she’d received such an honor.  In fact, she already has another ‘Land’… and a mountain range.  She’s also in good company!  Quite a few of her family are represented, including some of her European cousins.

Since the Antarctic Treaty of 1959, the continent is divided into several territories and dependencies:

British Royals
Queen Elizabeth II was first honored in 1931 when Princess Elizabeth Land was discovered and named for her in the Australian Antarctic Territory.  After becoming Queen in 1953, she was Patron of the Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition (1956-1958).  A mountain range was discovered in the Ross Dependency (NZ) and named The Queen Elizabeth Range in her honor.  A few years later, one of these peaks was named ‘Prince Andrew Plateau’, in honor of her son, Prince Andrew, now The Duke of York.

Going back, the first British Royal to be honored was Queen Victoria.  In 1841, an area bordering what is now the Ross Dependency was discovered and named Victoria Land.  A mountain range within the area was also named the Prince Albert Mountains, in honor of Victoria’s beloved husband.

Future generations were also recognized.  King Edward VII Land is a peninsula in the unclaimed territory known as Marie Byrd Land (named for the famed explorer’s wife) and was discovered in 1902.  Within the area are the Alexandra Mountains, named for his wife.  Queen Alexandra is also recognized with another mountain range, known as the Queen Alexandra Range, named for her around 1908.  Most of this area is overseen by the Ross Dependency.

King George V and Queen Mary are represented by George V Land and Queen Mary Land, both discovered and named in 1912, within the Australian Antarctic Territory.

King George VI is represented by George VI Sound and the George VI Ice Shelf.

German Royals
There is also Kaiser Wilhelm II Land, which was discovered in 1902, and named for the Kaiser who had funded the German expedition.  This is part of the Australian Antarctic Territory.

Russian Royals
Peter I Island was first sighted in 1821 on the initial Russian expedition to Antarctica and was named for Tsar Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great).  However, it wasn’t until 1929 that the island was first explored, by a Norwegian expedition.  They claimed the island and shortly after it officially became a Norwegian Dependency.

Alexander Island was also sighted on the first Russian expedition, and named for Tsar Alexander I of Russia.  It was initially named Alexander I Land, as it was believed to be part of the mainland.  In 1940, it was discovered that it was actually an island and renamed.  Alexander Island is the second-largest uninhabited island in the world.  It is claimed by the United Kingdom, as well as Argentina and Chile.

Norwegian Royals
But it’s the Queen’s Norwegian cousins who make up most of her neighbors.  Queen Maud Land is a dependency of Norway, initially named for Queen Maud in 1930.  The area was disputed for some years, as Germany had laid claim to an area called New Swabia, which included some of the same land.  Later, in 1961, the land became part of the Antarctic Treaty System and was formally claimed as a dependency of Norway.

Queen Maud Land is divided into 5 sections, all named for Norwegian Royals:

In addition, the waters off the coast of Queen Maud Land are known as the King Haakon VII Sea.

Queen Maud Land contains the Queen Maud Mountains, a major range that includes the Prince Olav Mountains, named for the future King Olav V.

Belgian Royals
And in a nod to the more distant relatives in Belgium, Queen Maud Land is the home of Princess Elisabeth Antarctica – a polar research station opened in 2009 and named for Princess Elisabeth of Belgium, daughter of Philippe, King of the Belgians.

*****UPDATE*****

In addition to the Antarctic regions, there’s also a few on the other end of the globe – the Arctic. Thanks to our own donald1941 for the additional info!

Franz Josef Land is an archipelago of 191 uninhabited islands in the Arctic Ocean. It was probably first discovered in 1865 by some Norwegian sealers, however, it wasn’t officially recognized until 1873. Two Austro-Hungarian explorers on the Tegetthof Expedition, Julius von Payer and Karl Weyprecht, officially explored the islands and named them the Franz Josef Land, after the Austrian Emperor. Since the expedition was not official, the islands never became Austrian colonies. In the 1920s, the islands were claimed by both the Soviet Union and Norway, with Norway naming them ‘Fridtjof Nansen Land’, after a Norwegian explorer who had visited the islands in the mid-1890s. In 1929, the Soviet flag was raised, and Franz Josef Land was declared part of the Soviet Union and is now part of the Russian Arctic National Park. Most of the islands were named during the initial expedition in 1874, honoring members of the Austrian Imperial Family and other aristocratic and noble families.

The Queen Elizabeth Islands are a group of over 2,100 islands within the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. They are primarily part of the Nunavut territory, with the rest being part of the Northwest Territories. Initially known as the Parry Archipelago, they were renamed in honor of Queen Elizabeth II upon her coronation in 1953.

Who Knew?!

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