Monthly Archives: July 2013

Wedding of Lady Davina Windsor and Gary Lewis

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Lady Davina Windsor and Gary Lewis, Photo Credit – www.smh.com.au

July 31, 2004 – Wedding of Lady Davina Windsor, daughter of HRH The Duke of Gloucester, and Gary Lewis, at Kensington Palace in London, England, divorced in 2018

In 2000 in Bali, Indonesia, a young British woman on vacation from her university studies met a man from New Zealand on a surfing vacation.  The two fell in love and on July 31, 2004, Lady Davina Windsor, daughter of HRH The Duke of Gloucester, married Gary Lewis, a Maori builder and former sheep shearer.

The Lady Davina Elizabeth Alice Benedikte Windsor was born on November 19, 1977, at St. Mary’s Hospital in London, the same hospital where Prince William, Prince Harry, Prince George of Cambridge, and Princess Charlotte of Cambridge were born.  Lady Davina’s father Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester is a first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II and a grandson of King George V. Her mother was born Birgitte Eva Henriksen in Odense, Denmark, and took her mother’s name, van Deurs, when her parents separated.  Lady Davina has two siblings: an older brother Alexander Windsor, Earl of Ulster, and a younger sister Lady Rose (Windsor) Gilman.  She attended Kensington Preparatory School in the Notting Hill section of London and then St. George’s School in Ascot near Windsor Castle.  Lady Davina graduated from the University of the West of England with a degree in media studies.

Gary Christie Lewis was born on August 15, 1970, in Gisborne, New Zealand.  He is the son of Larry Lewis, a champion sheep shearer in the 1980s, and Vikki Smiler who worked as a maid.  Gary is a Maori, the indigenous Polynesian people of New Zealand.  His uncle is the prominent Maori author Witi Ihimaera who wrote The Whale Rider which became a film of the same name.  Gary grew up on the East Cape of New Zealand, one of New Zealand’s poorest areas where Maoris make up 70% of the population and high unemployment.  He attended the village school in the Maori settlement of Te Wharau before attending Lytton High School in Gisbourne.  He is a carpenter who runs a property renovation business and a surfing enthusiast and has a son from a previous relationship, Ari who was born in 1992.

Lady Davina and Gary’s engagement was announced in the Court Circular of March 26. 2004: “The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester are delighted to announce the engagement of their daughter, The Lady Davina Windsor, to be married to Mr. Gary Lewis, son of Mr. Larry Lewis and Mrs. Vikki Carr.”  Gary’s grandfather Tom Smiler remarked, “All I know is he is in England somewhere with a girl and she is related to the Queen or something like that.  It is wonderful.”

The wedding was a private affair held in the Chapel Royal at Kensington Palace, where Lady Davina grew up, and her great-great-great-grandmother Queen Victoria was born.  Except for the bride’s immediate family, no members of the royal family attended, but one of the guests was Captain Mark Phillips, former husband of Princess Anne. Thirty-six members of the groom’s family came from New Zealand to attend the wedding.   The bride’s 102-year-old grandmother Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, was too infirm to attend the wedding.  She died later in the same year.

Lady Davina Windsor is accompanied by her father the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen's cousin, on her way to the chapel at Kensington Palace, London, Saturday July 31, 2004. The 26-year-old, who is 20th in line to the throne, wed 33-year-old Maori renovator Gary Lewis, a former sheep shearer from Gisbourne, New Zealand. (AP Photo/ Chris Young, POOL)

Lady Davina Windsor is accompanied by her father the Duke of Gloucester, the Queen’s cousin, on her way to the chapel at Kensington Palace, London, Saturday, July 31, 2004 (AP Photo/ Chris Young, POOL)

The bride, who wore a cream satin bustier dress with a lace over-blouse, was given away by her father HRH The Duke of Gloucester.  The bridesmaids included Lady Davina’s sister, Lady Rose Windsor, and the best man was  Nick Harvey, an old friend of the groom’s from New Zealand.  The wedding ceremony was conducted by the Reverend Prebendary Willie Booth and the groom’s 12-year-old son from a previous relationship, Ari, gave a reading of a Gaelic prayer.

The newlywed couple with Gary Lewis’ son Ari, Photo Credit – en.academic.ru

The couple had two children: a daughter Senna Kowhai born on June 22, 2010, and a son Tāne Mahuta born on May 25, 2012.  Tāne Mahuta is named after the Tāne Mahuta, a giant kauri tree in the Waipoua Forest of Northland Region in New Zealand.  Lady Davina does not carry out official functions but does attend British Royal Family events such as royal weddings.  Sadly, the couple divorced, amicably, in 2018.

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King Otto of Greece

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

King Otto, 1867. Photo: Wikipedia

Prince Otto of Bavaria was born at Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, Austria on June 1, 1815, the second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

Otto had eight siblings:

In 1832, the Convention of London established Greece as a kingdom, and the Great Powers appointed Otto to be the new kingdom’s first king. He was actually the second choice – the throne was initially offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who declined, choosing instead to become the first King of the Belgians. Only 17 at the time, Otto arrived in his new country on a British warship, accompanied by 3,500 Bavarian troops and his advisors, who would form a Regency Council to rule Greece until Otto’s majority. He quickly made steps to endear himself to the Greek people, even taking on the Greek version of his name – Othon.

In many ways, Otto stood no chance of truly being accepted by the Greek people. Although he deemed that his heirs would be raised in the Greek Orthodox faith, he himself refused to convert from  Roman Catholicism. Tasked with making Greece a viable and flourishing kingdom, heavy taxes were imposed to get the necessary funds to do so. Neither of these went over well with the population.

His marriage in 1836 to Amalia of Oldenburg at first seemed to calm the waters, as she was initially welcomed by the Greek people. However, she quickly became involved in the politics of the Kingdom, and her refusal to give up her Protestant faith and the couple’s lack of an heir led to her becoming greatly disliked by the people.

Having dismissed the Regency Council in 1835, Otto ruled as an absolute monarch for a few years, until uprisings from the Greek people, demanding a Constitution. His original Bavarian troops having left Greece, the King had no recourse but to give in to the demands and allow for a constitution and convention of a Greek National Assembly.

Throughout his reign, King Otto had the full support and backing of the three Great Powers. This would begin to change in 1850. The Athens home of a British subject was vandalized by a group of antisemitic Greeks, while the authorities watched and did nothing to stop it. This became known as the Pacifico Affair. The British quickly responded, demanding retribution and compensation for the victim. The British Royal Navy was sent in to block off Piraeus, the primary port in Athens. This led to tension between the three Powers, but the British held firm for several months until the Greek government finally agreed to settle the affair with Don Pacifico. Several years later, King Otto’s intent to join Russia in her battle against Turkey (supported by the other two Powers) in the Crimean War, proved to be another significant event in Otto’s reign. Again, the British blocked off the port of Piraeus, forcing Greece to reconsider and remain neutral.

While away from Athens in 1862, a coup led to the formation of a provisional government, and Otto was deposed. Under the advice of the Great Powers, Otto accepted the situation, and he again boarded a British warship and returned to Bavaria. He would continue to wear his Greek uniforms and secretly gave most of his fortune to support the Greek troops in the Cretan Rebellion of 1866. He spent his exile living at the New Palace in Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria,  now in the German state of Bavaria, where he died on July 26, 1867. Otto was buried in the Wittelsbach Royal Crypt at the Theatinerkirche in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. At his specific request, he was buried in his Greek uniform.

Tomb of King Otto at the Theatinerkirche, Munich. Photo: Wikipedia

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Greece Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, Credit – Wikipedia

In the summer of 1689, Princess Anne was nearing the end of her seventh pregnancy.  Anne, who was married to Prince George of Denmark, was the younger of the two surviving children of King James II and his first wife Lady Anne Hyde.  Earlier in 1689, Mary, Anne’s elder sister, had become joint monarch with her husband and first cousin Willem III, Prince of Orange after the Glorious Revolution had overthrown her father King James II.  King William III and Queen Mary II were childless, so Anne was the next in the line of succession.

Anne’s six previous pregnancies had resulted in two miscarriages, two stillbirths, and two live births.  Unfortunately, Mary and Anna Sophia, the two children who were born alive, died, probably of smallpox, within six days of each other in 1687. The House of Stuart needed an heir for its survival.   Anne gave birth to a live child on July 24, 1689, at 5 AM at Hampton Court Palace.  The baby was christened William Henry three days later and was declared, but never created, Duke of Gloucester by his godfather King William III.  The other godparents were King Christian V of Denmark, his uncle, and the Marchioness of Halifax. After William’s birth, his mother went on to have ten unsuccessful pregnancies: two premature babies who lived for about two hours, four stillbirths, and four miscarriages.

When William was born, he was described as “a brave lively-like boy” by George Melville, 1st Earl of Melville, but shortly thereafter, he had convulsions that caused the doctors to worry that he would die.  Little William was given his own household at Campden House near the Kensington gravel-pits because of the purer air.  Here he was taken outside every day in a tiny coach pulled by Shetland ponies.  William did not walk or talk until the age of three, and as he grew older it became more apparent that there was something wrong.

Some modern medical experts feel that William had hydrocephalus, a condition in which there is an excessive accumulation of fluid in the brain.  Some symptoms of hydrocephalus are an enlarged head, problems with balance, poor coordination, difficulty walking, slowing or loss of developmental progress, lethargy, drowsiness, and irritability.  Certainly, some of these symptoms can be seen in the writings of William’s devoted Welsh servant Jenkin Lewis: “[William’s] head was grown very long and was so big round that his hat was big enough for most men [William was five years old]…[it] made it difficult to fit his head with a peruke [wig].  Although he was active and lively yet he could not go up and down stairs without help, nor raise himself when down; and he tottered when he walked…”

William loved stories of war and had a troop of local boys called “Horse Guards” whom he loved to drill before King William and Queen Mary.  William was close to his aunt and uncle and his childless aunt enjoyed showering him with gifts of toys.  His education had been delayed due to his speech difficulties, but eventually, a tutor was appointed and William had lessons in geography, mathematics, Latin, and French. On his seventh birthday, William was installed as a Knight of the Order of the Garter at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.  When William was eight, he began lessons in government and religion and was making good academic progress.

William in the robes of the Order of the Garter, Credit – Wikipedia

William celebrated his eleventh birthday at a party held at Windsor Castle.  Jenkin Lewis, his servant, reported, “He complained a little the next day, but we imputed that to the fatigues of a birthday so that he was much neglected.”  In the evening, William complained of a sore throat and chills.  Two days later, he was no better and had developed a fever and was delirious.  The doctors suspected smallpox, but no rash appeared, so they used the usual treatments of the time, bleeding and blistering, which no doubt, made William’s condition worse.  William died on the morning of July 30, 1700, at Windsor Castle.  His body was taken to the Palace of Westminster where it lay in state in his apartments.

William was interred in the Henry VII Chapel at Westminster Abbey during the evening of August 7, 1700.  His uncle, King William III wrote to the Duke of Marlborough, that William’s death was “so great a loss to me as well as to all of England, that it pierces my heart.”  Indeed, the House of Stuart had no Protestant heir and it was William’s death that caused Parliament to enact the 1701 Act of Settlement giving the British throne to Sophia of Hanover and her Protestant heirs, a granddaughter of King James I, who was the nearest Protestant in the line of succession.  Upon the death of Queen Anne, William’s mother, Sophia of Hanover’s son ascended to the British throne as King George I.

So what killed William?  There was an autopsy done on William’s body the day after his death and a detailed post-mortem report written.  Frederick Holmes in his book The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty reprinted the report and analyzed it.  Holmes writes, “This autopsy report painstakingly describes inflammation and infection in the throat and larynx, with a grossly swollen neck and pus expressed from lymph nodes in this region.  The lungs are described as both being full of blood, likely this was pus or fluid stained with blood.  Put in context with the clinical course of the illness, this is a picture of an acute bacterial infection of the throat with an associated pneumonia in both lungs.”  Holmes further writes, “Interestingly, the surgeons opened the head and took fluid from the ventricles (the cavities within the brain), and found it to be greatly increased in amount…This confirms the diagnosis of hydrocephalus…”

When Virginia’s General Assembly created Williamsburg as the colony’s capital in 1699, it ordered that its main street “in honor of his Highness William Duke of Gloucester shall for ever hereafter be called and knowne by the Name of Duke of Gloucester Street.”  If you visit Colonial Williamsburg, you can walk on Duke of Gloucester Street which runs from the House of Burgesses to the main entrance of The College of William and Mary.  It’s called DOG Street by the locals and college students.  My son is a William and Mary alumni so I’ve spent lots of time on DOG Street.

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.

Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

by Emily McMahon and Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Credit – Wikipedia

Duchess Luise of Mecklenburg, Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie) was born in Hanover, Electorate of Hanover now in Lower Saxony, Germany on March 10, 1776.  She was third of the five daughters and the sixth of the ten children of Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his first wife Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Luise had nine siblings:

The family was connected to the British royal family as Carl’s sister Charlotte was the wife of King George III. During her childhood, Luise spent part of her early childhood at Leineschloss, the home of the Hanoverian kings. At the time, her father was the Governor-General of Hanover.  King George III was king and never visited Hanover so the residence was made available to the family.

Following her mother’s death in childbirth in 1782, Luise and her siblings were raised mostly by their maternal grandmother, Marie Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg. who  Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt, the brother of the reigning Landgrave Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt. Maria Louise Albertine made a comfortable home for the family in Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt now in Hesse, Germany, and her grandchildren grew quite fond of her. In her grandmother’s care, Luise was given her lessons and religious instruction primarily in French, but she later grew very fond of German literature. She was also encouraged to devote herself to acts of charity.

Luise and her sister Frederica attracted the attention of two Prussian princes. Luise was betrothed to the future King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, while Frederica was engaged to his brother Ludwig Karl.  Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm married on December 24, 1793, and her sister married Ludwig Karl two days later. It was hoped that the double marriage would improve the bond between the two German states.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm in 1794; Credit – Wikipedia

Luise was wildly popular in Prussia from the start, and descriptions of her from this time speak of her grace, goodness, and beauty. The marriage was a happy one, and the couple raised their family rather quietly at Paretz Palace west of Berlin.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm had nine children:

Luise with her husband and children, circa 1806; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Wilhelm became King of Prussia in 1797. As queen, Luise traveled around Prussia with her husband, becoming more well-known and well-liked. Luise took it upon herself to stay well-versed in the affairs of the country, earning her the respect of her husband’s advisers. Friedrich Wilhelm similarly trusted his wife’s intelligence and good judgment, treating her as an unofficial adviser.

Prussia declared war on France in 1806. Following a resounding defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Friedrich Wilhelm and Luise fled with their family to Königsberg in eastern Prussia. When Napoleon requested a meeting with Friedrich Wilhelm to discuss peace terms, Friedrich Wilhelm brought the pregnant Luise along to garner some sympathy from the French emperor. Napoleon was charmed when the pregnant queen begged him for mercy for Prussia. Napoleon did not budge in his terms for peace, but Luise was even more beloved in Prussia.  Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm were absent from Berlin for three years following the war with the French.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm meeting with Napoleon; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 19, 1810, while visiting her father at Schloss Hohenzieritz in Hohenzieritz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 34-year-old Luise died in her husband’s arms from an unidentified illness. The harshness of the French occupation may have hastened her death, as she often suffered from long bouts of ill health. Her grieving husband later instituted the Order of Louise in her name and her family mourned her death each year on July 19.  Luise was buried in the garden of Charlottenburg Palace, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany where a mausoleum was built over her grave.  Friedrich Wilhelm  III survived his wife by thirty years and was buried by her side.

Sarcophagus of Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Prussia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2013

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse and by Rhine was born on November 1, 1864, in Bessungen, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany.  Ella, as she was called by her family, was the second daughter and the second of the six children of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (a daughter of Queen Victoria) and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and also the sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia.

Ella in 1865; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Ella had six siblings:

Ella’s family in 1876, two years before the death from diphtheria of Ella’s mother and sister May: Her brother Friedrich, who was a hemophiliac, had died in 1874 after a fall. The photo shows Ella’s father Ludwig holding May, Victoria at his side, Ernest and Irene at the front, Ella with her hand on Irene’s shoulder and leaning against her mother, and Ella’s mother Alice holding on to Alix (the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), Photo: Wikipedia

Ella and her siblings received a very strict education and were encouraged to be humble.  They were brought up in a modest lifestyle for royalty, sweeping the floors and cleaning their own rooms, while their mother sewed clothes for her children.  The children spoke English with their mother and German with their father.

Ella was 14 years old in 1878 when her mother died, following an outbreak of diphtheria in the family which also took the life of her youngest sister, four-year-old May. Ella had been sent away to her paternal grandmother’s home at the beginning of the outbreak and was the only member of her family to remain unaffected. Much of the next years were spent, along with her sisters, under the supervision of their grandmother, Queen Victoria. The Queen had taken a particular interest in the children following Alice’s death, overseeing almost every aspect of their lives.

Victoria, Ella, Irene, and Alix grieving for their mother, February 1879; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Ella was charming and considered to be beautiful, so it is not surprising that she had a number of suitors.  Her first cousin, the future Wilhelm II, German Emperor, proposed to Ella, but she turned him down.  Another suitor who also got a “No” from Ella was Wilhelm’s first cousin, the future Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden, who was favored by Ella’s grandmother Queen Victoria.

The Hessian court had a special relationship with the Russian court since Ella’s great-aunt Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna after her marriage) had married Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia.  The Empress regularly visited her homeland and was usually accompanied by her two youngest sons, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich. Ella and Sergei, who was seven years older, got to know each other and eventually fell in love.  Queen Victoria was strongly against the idea of marriage, primarily due to her strong distaste for all things Russian. Despite the misgivings of the two families, Sergei was intent on making Ella his bride. In 1883, during a visit to the Hessian family’s hunting lodge Schloss Wolfsgarten, Sergei proposed and Ella accepted. The engagement was announced publicly in February 1884 when Sergei was again visiting Darmstadt.

Ella and Sergei in 1884; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The couple married on June 15, 1884, at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. As Ella had not yet converted to the Russian Orthodox religion, there were two ceremonies, one Lutheran and one Russian Orthodox. The wedding was attended by many royals from around Europe, with the noticeable exception of Queen Victoria. Instead, she was represented by two of her sons, The Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh who had married Sergei’s sister. After her marriage, Ella was known as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Ella in 1885; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Following the wedding, the couple spent their honeymoon at Ilinskoye, Sergei’s country estate outside of Moscow, and then settled at the Sergeivsky Palace in St. Petersburg. In addition to these two homes, they also had a home on the grounds of Peterhof, and a house on the bank of the Moskva River. Serge and Ella did not have any children of their own. However, they later took in the children of Sergei’s brother Paul, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger), and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. The children’s mother had died in 1891 in childbirth, and they spent much time with Sergei and Ella. In 1902, when Paul entered into a morganatic marriage and was banished from Russia, he was not permitted to take the children, and they were formally put under the guardianship of Sergei and Ella.

Sergei with his foster children: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The couple were very close with Sergei’s brother, Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), and were often asked to represent them at royal events elsewhere in the world. In 1887, they represented the Emperor at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and the following year attended the consecration of the church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem, which was built in memory of the brothers’ mother, the late Empress Maria Alexandrovna.  In 1894, Ella’s youngest surviving sister Alix married Sergei’s nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia.  Alix and Nicholas had first met at Ella and Sergei’s wedding.

In 1891, Alexander III appointed Serge Governor-General of Moscow, and in the following years was also appointed to the Imperial State Council and made Commander of the Moscow military district.  Sergei’s nephew Nicholas became Emperor upon his father’s death in November 1894.  Over the next 11 years, Sergei would become more and more disenchanted with the policies and decisions of his nephew. Finally, after massive losses in the Russo-Japanese War, Sergei resigned from his position as Governor-General on January 1, 1905.

On February 17, 1905, Grand Duke Sergei left the Nicholas Palace in Moscow in his carriage, en route to the Governor General’s mansion where he was in the process of clearing out his office. He had just come through one of the gate towers when an assassin threw a nitroglycerin bomb into the carriage from just a few feet away. The bomb landed in Sergei’s lap and exploded. The Grand Duke was killed instantly, his body literally blown to pieces. The assassin, Ivan Kalyayev, who was injured in the attack, was promptly arrested and later executed. Ella, having heard the blast from the Nicholas Palace, rushed to the scene and began to gather what was left of her husband’s body.

Four years after her husband’s assassination, Ella sold all her jewelry and with the proceeds opened the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and became its abbess.  A hospital, pharmacy, and orphanage were opened on the convent’s grounds, and Ella and her Russian Orthodox nuns spent their time serving the poor of Moscow.

Ella in her nun’s habit; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After the Russian Revolution, Ella was arrested in 1918 by the Bolsheviks and was sent away to the Urals where she was later joined by five other Romanovs: Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich: Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich, and a son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich:  Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley.   Also in the group were Varvara Yakovleva, a nun from Ella’s convent, and Feodor Remez, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary.  On May 20, 1918, they were all taken to Alapaevsk where they were kept in the Napolnaya School.

On July 18, 1918, the day after the shooting of Emperor Nicholas II and his family,  Ella and all of the people with her were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk by the Bolsheviks. All except Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich survived the fall.  Hand grenades were thrown down after them killing Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary, Feodor Remez.   According to the personal account of Vassili Ryabov, one of the killers, the singing of hymns was heard after the grenade explosions.  Ryabov threw another grenade into the mine shaft, but the singing continued.  Finally, wood and brush were set on fire and thrown into the mine shaft.

Romanovs killed with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna who was 53 years old when she died; All photos from Wikipedia

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, 48 years old, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, 32 years old, son of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich who was a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Igor Konstantinovich, 24 years old, son of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich who was a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Vladimir Paley, 21 years old, son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, a son of Emperor Alexander II. photo: Wikipedia

Three months later, White Army soldiers found the remains of the victims.  Ella’s remains eventually were interred at the St. Mary Magdalene Convent on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem along with the remains of her fellow nun Varvara Yakovleva.  Princess Alice of Battenberg, the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the niece of Ella, asked to be buried with her aunt.  Princess Alice had founded a nursing order of Greek Orthodox nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, which was modeled after her aunt’s order of nuns. When Princess Alice died in 1969, she was interred at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, but her remains were transferred to St. Mary Magdalene Convent in 1988.

Tomb of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna; Photo Credit – Автор: Deror Avi – собственная работа, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6527236

Ella was canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 1981, and in 1992 by the Moscow Patriarchate as New Martyr Elizabeth.  She is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London, England.  Ella’s convent was closed in 1920 during the Soviet regime, but the convent was re-opened in 1994 and the sisters there continue doing the work Ella started.

Statue of Elizabeth (far left) and other martyrs of the 20th century at Westminster Abbey in London; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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.

Recommended Books

  • Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia – Hugo Mager
  • The Life and Death of Ella, Grand Duchess of Russia: A Romanov Tragedy – Christopher Warwick

Abdication of King Leopold III of the Belgians

by Susan Flantzer

King Leopold III with his son Baudouin, Photo Credit: Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.

On July 21, 2013, King Albert II of the Belgians abdicated in favor of his son Philippe.  In his televised abdication speech, King Albert II said, “I realize that my age and my health are no longer allowing me to carry out my duties as I would like to…After a reign of 20 years I believe the moment is here to hand over the torch to the next generation. Prince Philippe is well prepared to succeed me.”

King Albert’s father, King Leopold III, also abdicated, but under very different circumstances.

King Leopold III was born in Brussels, Belgium on November 3, 1901, the eldest son of King Albert I  and Elisabeth of Bavaria.  Leopold had two younger siblings, Charles, who would later serve as Prince Regent of Belgium and Marie José, who married King Umberto I of Italy.

On November 4, 1926, Leopold married Princess Astrid of Sweden, a granddaughter of King Oscar II of Sweden, in a civil ceremony in Stockholm, Sweden.  On November 10, 1926, the couple married in a religious ceremony at the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels, Belgium.  Leopold and Astrid had a very happy marriage. Leopold’s mother Queen Elisabeth said about the marriage, “It is a marriage of love…tell it to our people. Nothing was arranged. Not a single political consideration prevailed in our son’s decision.”   For more information, see Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Leopold III and Astrid of Sweden.

Leopold and Astrid had three children:

  • Joséphine-Charlotte (11 October 1927 – 10 January 2005), married Grand-Duke Jean of Luxembourg, had issue
  • King Baudouin (7 September 1930 – 31 July 1993), married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, no issue
  • King Albert II (born 6 June 1934), married Paola Ruffo di Calabria, had issue

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In 1934, Leopold’s father died in a mountain climbing accident and Leopold became king at the age of 32.  In August of 1935, King Leopold and Queen Astrid had gone on vacation in Switzerland with their two elder children.  On August 29, 1935, their last day of vacation, Leopold and Astrid decided to go on an outing.  Leopold was driving their convertible, Astrid was in the front seat, and the chauffeur was sitting in the back seat.  As Astrid pointed out something to her husband, the car went off the road, down a steep slope, and slammed into a tree.  Astrid was thrown out of the car and was slammed into another tree.  Leopold was also thrown out the car, but had only minor injuries, and the chauffeur was uninjured.  Astrid died, aged 29, from her injuries at the accident scene.  Leopold deeply mourned her death.

In 1939, when World War II started, Belgium’s allies France and the United Kingdom asked Belgium to join them.  However, Belgium decided to declare itself a neutral country.  Germany invaded Belgium on May 10, 1940, and on May 28, King Leopold as Commander-in-Chief of the Belgian Armed Forces surrendered.  Leopold had remained in Belgium to face the Germans, while the government leaders had withdrawn to France.  Although Leopold was encouraged by the government to leave Belgium, he decided to remain in Belgium saying, “Whatever happens, I have to share the same fate as my troops.”  Leopold decided to surrender to the Germans against the wishes of his government and this is one of the reasons that would ultimately lead to his abdication.  The Belgian Prime Minister Hubert Pierlot said that the King’s decision to surrender was not only a military decision but also a political decision and that the king had acted without his ministers’ advice, and therefore his actions were against the Belgian Constitution.  King Leopold’s decision to surrender was decried by British Prime Minister Winston Churchill and French Prime Minister Paul Reynaud.

King Leopold was held under house arrest by the Germans at the Royal Palace of Laeken in Brussels.  He had a meeting with Adolf Hitler on November 19, 1940 in which he wanted Hitler to issue a public statement about Belgium’s future independence.  However, Hitler’s plans did not include any independent countries and he refused.

While still under house arrest, King Leopold married Lilian Baels on September 11, 1941 in a secret, religious ceremony which was not legal because in Belgium a civil marriage is required.  The couple had intended to wait until after the war for the civil ceremony, but Lilian was pregnant and so a civil marriage was held on December 6, 1941. Nevertheless, legally in Belgium, the civil ceremony must be held before the religious ceremony and the marriage was unpopular with many Belgians.  Lilian was known as the Princess of Réthy.

Leopold and Lilian had three children:

In 1944, King Leopold, the Princess of Réthy, and Leopold’s three children by Queen Astrid, and his eldest child by the Princess of Réthy were deported to Germany where they were kept in harsh conditions and guarded by 70 members of the SS (Schutzstaffel). The family was liberated by American troops in 1945.  For more information, see Deportation to Nazi Germany.

The king did not return immediately to Belgium. Due to opposition from a segment of the population, Prince Charles, Count of Flanders, the king’s brother, who had served as regent since 1944, continued to rule as regent due to Leopold III’s “impossibility of reigning”.  King Leopold was exonerated of treason in 1946, however, many Belgians continued to question his loyalty.  In 1950, a referendum was held concerning the king’s return to Belgium, and 57% were in favor of his return.

King Leopold III returned to Belgium on July 20, 1950 and a few days later there was a violent general strike.  To avoid making the situation more dangerous and tearing his country apart, King Leopold made a decision on August 1, 1950 to abdicate in favor of his son 21-year-old son Prince Baudouin.  The abdication took effect on July 16, 1951.  For more information, see Royal Question.

Leopold III signing the abdication papers, Photo Credit: http://crossoflaeken.blogspot.co.uk

After the abdication, Leopold and Lilian continued to live at the Royal Palace of Laeken until King Baudouin’s marriage to Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragon in 1960, when they moved to the Château d’Argenteuil, a government-owned estate in Brabant, Belgium.  Leopold, an amateur anthropologist and entomologist, traveled the world and explored those interests. King Leopold III died on September 25, 1983 at the age of 81 a few hours after emergency heart surgery at Leuven University Hospital in Leuven, Belgium.  Leopold was buried in the royal crypt at the Church of Our Lady in Laeken, Brussels next to his first wife Queen Astrid.  When Lilian, Princess of Réthy died in 2002, she was buried next to them.  See Unofficial Royalty Belgian Royal Burial Sites.

Wikipedia: Leopold III of Belgium

Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Scandal followed Alexander in one way or another for much of his life. Born in Darmstadt in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany, on July 15, 1823, Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil was the third son of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmina of Baden. At the time of Alexander’s birth, the couple had been living apart for some time. Alexander’s biological father may have been August Ludwig, Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy, his mother’s chamberlain and lover. August is believed to have fathered Wilhelmina’s youngest four children. Nevertheless, Ludwig claimed all of Wilhelmina’s children as his own.

Alexander had four siblings:

In 1841, Alexander accompanied his sister Marie on her journey to Russia to marry the future Alexander II. After the wedding, Alexander stayed for a time in Russia, where he became close to his sister’s imperial in-laws. Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia was so impressed by Alexander that he considered marrying the Hessian princes to one of the daughters of his brother Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich.

However, Alexander had fallen in love with Julia Hauke, one of Marie’s ladies-in-waiting and the daughter of the former minister of war. Although forbidden by Nicholas I to marry, the couple married anyway in 1851 as Julia was already pregnant with their first child. The marriage forced the couple to leave Russia, but the two were allowed to settle in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. However, the marriage was viewed as morganatic which removed any future children from the Hesse and by Rhine line of succession. Julia was granted the title of Countess of Battenberg, a castle in Hesse and by Rhine. Eventually, the two regained some of their favor in Russia and Hesse and Hesse and by Rhine.

Julia and Alexander; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander and Julia had five children.  Through their son Louis, they are the ancestors of the British Royal Family and through their son Henry, they are ancestors of the Spanish Royal Family.

Alexander’s second son, also named Alexander, was named Prince of Bulgaria in 1879, with help from his uncle, Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. The younger Alexander ruled Bulgaria under considerable turmoil until 1886 when he was forced to resign. In the following years, Alexander was the object of affection of Victoria of Prussia, another granddaughter of Queen Victoria. A possible marriage between Alexander and Victoria was long debated in Prussia but was eventually vetoed due to Alexander’s now-sour relationship with Russia. The younger Alexander eventually made his own morganatic marriage to actress Johanna Loisinger.

Alexander died of cancer at the age of 65 on December 15, 1888, in Seeheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany. He was first buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt.  In 1894, his remains were moved to the newly built Mausoleum on the grounds of Heiligenberg Castle, where his wife’s remains were also interred after her death in 1895.  In 1902, the mausoleum was converted to a memorial chapel, and Alexander and Julia’s remains were moved to a gravesite just outside of the mausoleum.

In the foreground, the graves of Alexander and his wife Julia; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Wedding of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones and Daniel Chatto

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013

The bride and groom met on a movie set.  He was an actor and she was a wardrobe assistant.  He was the son of an actor and a theatrical agent.  She was the daughter of a princess and the granddaughter of a king. He played a prince (one of her cousins) in a film.

Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Armstrong-Jones was born on May 1, 1964, at Kensington Palace in London, England.  Her parents were Princess Margaret, the younger daughter of King George VI, and Antony Armstrong-Jones.  Her father was created Earl of Snowdon and Viscount Linley on October 6, 1961, so Sarah is entitled to the courtesy title Lady Sarah.  Sarah has an older brother, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon.

Sarah and her brother attended Bedales School where Sarah developed an interest in art.  Her interest in art led her to attend Camberwell College of Arts followed by coursework in Printed Textiles at Middlesex Polytechnic, before completing her studies at Royal Academy Schools where she won the Winsor & Newton Prize for emerging artists in painting and drawing in 1988 and the Creswick Landscape Prize in 1990.

Daniel Chatto St. George Sproule was born on April 22, 1957, at the Princess Beatrice Hospital in Richmond, London, England.  His father was actor Thomas Chatto Sproule (stage name Thomas Chatto) and had a career in television, commercials, and on the stage.  His mother was the theatrical agent Ros Chatto, born Rosalind Thompson. Daniel studied English at Oxford University and graduated in 1979.  In 1987, Daniel’s name was legally changed to Daniel St. George Chatto.  With both of his parents in show business, it was not unusual for Daniel to try his hand at acting.  One of his roles was as Prince Andrew in an American TV movie Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story.  His acting career lasted from 1981-1988.  See his filmography at Internet Movie Database: Daniel Chatto.

In 1983, Daniel had a small role in the film Heat and Dust which was filmed in India.  Sarah was working on the film as an uncredited wardrobe assistant and it was on the film set that the couple first met.
Internet Movie Database: Heat and Dust
Wikipedia: Heat and Dust (film)

Sarah and Daniel’s romance blossomed in 1986, three years after their first meeting, and the two were often spotted going to the theater or art galleries.  By 1989, Daniel had given up acting for art and had his own successful show at the Cadogan gallery in 1992. The two took painting trips together and shared a love of books and travel.

The couple’s wedding on July 14, 1994, was a small,  low-key affair at St. Stephen’s Walbrook, a small 17th-century church in London built by Sir Christopher Wren.  The church was chosen by Sarah and Daniel because they wanted a romantic and intimate place to get married. There was seating for only 200 people, and children were not invited due to the dimensions of the church.  The bride chose not to use a royal carriage, red carpet, or have bells ringing.   Daniel was so worried about being punctual that he arrived at the church 90 minutes before the beginning of the ceremony. Sarah arrived with her father Lord Snowdon, and her three bridesmaids: her half-sister Lady Frances Armstrong-Jones, her cousin Zara Philips and her friend Tara Noble Singh.  The bride’s arrival was almost overshadowed by the arrival of the bride’s more recognizable relatives, the Prince and Princess of Wales, who were appearing at the same place, although not together,  for the first time since Prince Charles’s admission of adultery the previous month.

The bride’s and bridesmaids’ dresses were designed by Jasper Conran.  Many consider Sarah’s dress to be one of the most beautiful royal wedding dresses.  The dress was made with yards of draped white georgette fabric with a ruched bodice and a three-meter train.  The bridesmaids’ dresses were nearly identical.   Sarah’s veil was held in place with the Snowdon Floral Tiara, a gift to Princess Margaret from her husband for their wedding. To enhance the floral effect, some greenery was added amongst the diamond flowers.

8/28/14: An update about Lady Sarah’s tiara from The Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor. See
Tiara Thursday: The Snowdon Floral Tiara

Embed from Getty Images 

Lady Sarah wearing the Snowdon Floral Tiara, Photo Credit – orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

As the bride entered the church, the hymn “Ye Holy Angels Bright” was sung.  The ceremony was adapted from the “Book of Common Prayer” of 1928. Other hymns sung during the ceremony were “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er The Sun” and “Alleluia! Sing to Jesus.”  After their marriage vows, the couple exchanged simple gold rings. The ceremony took only 30 minutes and the newlyweds caught everyone by surprise when they left the church unannounced.  Even the driver was not at his place which made the couple laugh while they waited for the car.  After the ceremony, there was a reception at Clarence House which the Princess of Wales did not attend.  The couple spent their honeymoon in India, which was where they first met.

Photo Credit – orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

The couple had two children: Samuel David Benedict Chatto born July 28, 1996, in London, England and Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto born February 5, 1999, in London, England.  Arthur Chatto and his cousin Charles Armstrong-Jones, both grandsons of Princess Margaret, served Queen Elizabeth II as Pages of Honor.

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Caroline of Baden, Queen of Bavaria

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

source: Wikipedia

Princess Caroline of Baden, Queen of Bavaria

Princess Caroline of Baden was the second wife of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. She was born Friederike Caroline Wilhelmine on July 13, 1776, in Karlsruhe, Margraviate of Baden, later the Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg,  the daughter of Carl Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Caroline had seven siblings, including a twin sister Amalie:

source: Wikipedia

Caroline and her family had numerous additional ties to the Russian, German, and Swedish thrones. Caroline grew up with her family in Karlsruhe, with a deep love of and talent for painting. On March 9, 1797, in Karlsruhe, shortly before her 21st birthday, Caroline married Maximilian, Duke of Zweibrücken (the future King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria). Maximilian was twenty years older than Caroline and had been widowed the previous year. In addition to the four surviving stepchildren from Maximilian’s first marriage, Caroline and her husband had seven children including two sets of twins:

Within two years of their marriage, Maximilian became Elector of Bavaria, and in 1806, following the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, Maximilian and Caroline became the first King and Queen of the newly established Kingdom of Bavaria. Caroline had remained a Protestant when she married the Catholic Maximilian and was not required to convert when her husband became King. A deeply religious woman, she remained Lutheran and had her own chaplain. Despite this, her children were raised Catholic.

source: Wikipedia

As Queen, she had a strong sense of duty and was known as a very dignified Queen and hostess. She also played a prominent role in helping her husband develop the arts and culture in Munich.

Tombs of King Maximilian I and his second wife, Queen Caroline, at the Theatinerkirche in Munich. Photo: © Susan Flantzer

Widowed in 1825, Queen Caroline survived her husband by just over sixteen years. She died on November 13, 1841, in Munich. Because she had remained Protestant, her funeral and burial in the Catholic Theatinerkirche were not without their problems. The Protestant clergy was not allowed to enter the church, so the funeral service was held outside. This also prevented any ceremony when Caroline’s coffin was placed in the tomb. Meanwhile, the attending Catholic clergy wore street clothes rather than their religious vestments. The undignified treatment of his stepmother even angered Ludwig I, King of Bavaria whose own vehemently pro-Catholic views were forever changed.

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Bavaria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Prince John of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Prince John of the United Kingdom, 1918; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince John Charles Francis was the fifth son and the sixth and youngest child of King George V of the United Kingdom and Queen Mary.  He was born on July 12, 1905, at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England.  At the time of his birth, his parents were the Prince and Princess of Wales, so he was styled His Royal Highness Prince John of Wales until his father became king in 1910 and then he was styled His Royal Highness The Prince John. He was called Johnnie in the family.

John had four brothers and one sister:

John was christened on August 3, 1905, at St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham Estate. His godparents were:

John and his siblings in 1912, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

For the first four years of his life, John appeared healthy, but at the age of four he suffered his first epileptic seizure, and his condition gradually worsened.  John grew up with his four brothers and one sister, moving with the family from one royal residence to another until 1917 when doctors advised that he be separated from his siblings because his seizures upset them.  Most likely it was because John’s condition had deteriorated. Besides epilepsy, it is quite possible that John also had a mild form of autism.

A household was set up for John at Wood Farm on the Sandringham Estate and John lived there under the care of his nanny Charlotte Bill who was called Lala.  Other staff at Wood Farm included John’s tutor Henry Peter Hansell, Thomas Haverly, a coachman who took John on outings in the country or to the sea, and to the ‘big house’ at Sandringham, a cook named Kate Bennett, whose niece Hilda Simpson was the live-in maid.  Photos show John riding a bicycle and a horse without assistance.  He had his own garden plot, “Prince John’s Garden.”

A young girl named Winifred Thomas, who suffered from asthma and had been sent to the country to live with her aunt and uncle, was John’s companion.  Winifred visited John nearly every day and the two went on walks and took care of the garden.  Later in life, Winifred recounted John’s excitement at watching zeppelins passing over Sandringham in 1916 and his pleasure in meeting ‘a real, live soldier’, her father Sergeant Frederick Thomas who visited that same year. She also remembered his mother, Queen Mary, as a loving and interested parent who spent a lot of time with her son.  John’s grandmother Queen Alexandra also visited him often.

Lalla Bill and Prince John; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Until the early 20th century, epilepsy was often considered a psychological or behavioral dysfunction, and people with epilepsy were routinely confined to asylums.  It appears that John was well looked after at Wood Farm and while it may have seemed cruel to separate him from his family’s everyday life, had he been born to an ordinary family, his fate would probably have been worse. The evidence suggests that he remained a happy child while at Wood Farm.

After John turned 13, his seizures became more frequent and severe.  On the morning of January 18, 1919, John had a very severe seizure and died peacefully in his sleep at 5:30 that afternoon, most likely from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy or SUDEP at Wood Farm in Wolferton in Norfolk, England.  Queen Mary wrote in her diary, “The news gave me a great shock, tho’ for the poor little boy’s restless soul, death came as a great release.”  John was buried at St. Mary Magdalene Church on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England next to his uncle of the same name who lived only one day.  His grandmother Queen Alexandra wrote to Queen Mary, “Now our two Johnnies rest side by side.”

Grave of Prince John, Photo Credit – findagrave.com

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