Monthly Archives: April 2014

Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones Chatto

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

 

Lady Sarah Frances Elizabeth Armstrong-Jones was born May 1, 1964, at Kensington Palace, the second child and only daughter of The Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones, Earl of Snowdon.

Sarah was christened in the Private Chapel at Buckingham Palace on  July 13, 1964. Her godparents were:

  • Prudence, Lady Penn, Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
  • Jane Stevens, her mother’s Lady-in-Waiting
  • Marigold Bridgeman, her mother’s friend
  • David Fane, 15th Earl of Westmorland
  • Antony Barton, her father’s friend

Sarah has an older brother:

Sarah attended Bedales School where she developed an interest in art. Her interest in art led her to attend the 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.

 

On July 14, 1994, at St Stephen’s, Walbrook, London, Sarah married Daniel Chatto, son of actor Thomas Chatto Sproule (stage name Thomas Chatto) and theatrical agent Ros Chatto, born Rosalind Thompson. 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 Sarah’s cousin Prince Andrew in an American TV movie Charles & Diana: A Royal Love Story.

 

Sarah and Daniel had two sons:

  • Samuel David Benedict Chatto (born 1996)
  • Arthur Robert Nathaniel Chatto (born 1999)

Both Sarah and her husband continue to pursue their careers as painters and their work can be seen at the websites of the galleries that represent them:

In addition, Lady Sarah has served as Vice-President of the Royal Ballet since 2004, an organization of which her mother was Patron for many years.

Having always been close to The Queen, Lady Sarah and her family typically attend all the family functions and often spend the holidays with the Royal Family. Here she is seen in 2019 accompanying her aunt Queen Elizabeth II to a church service at Crathie Church near Balmoral in Scotland.

 

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King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Photo: Sara Friberg, Kungl. Hovstaterna / Sara Friberg, The Royal Court of Sweden

In the spring of 1946, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, wife of Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, was pregnant for the fifth time.  The couple was parents of four daughters, none of whom could be in the line of succession to the throne due to the succession laws at that time.  Prince Gustaf Adolf’s grandfather King Gustaf V was the reigning King of Sweden and his father, the future King Gustaf VI Adolf, was the Crown Prince.  As his father’s eldest son, Prince Gustaf Adolf was second in the line of succession.  On April 30, 1946, Princess Sibylla gave birth to a son at Haga Palace.  The newborn prince was third in the line of succession to the Swedish throne after his grandfather and father.

Prince Carl Gustaf was a descendant of Queen Victoria through both of his parents.  His paternal grandmother was Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of Queen Victoria’s son Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught.  His maternal grandfather was Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the posthumous son of Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria’s youngest son.

Four Generations: The infant Prince Carl Gustaf held by his great-grandfather King Gustaf V. Seated on the left is the prince’s grandfather, Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf (the future King Gustaf VI Adolf), and standing is the prince’s father, Prince Gustaf Adolf; Photo: Swedish Royal Court

The infant prince was christened Carl Gustaf Folke Hubertus on June 7, 1946, in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden.  He was given the title Duke of Jämtland on the day of his christening. His godparents were:

Carl Gustaf with his parents and four elder sisters; Credit – Wikipedia

Carl Gustaf has four elder sisters:

On January 26, 1947, when Carl Gustaf was only nine months old, his father died in an airplane crash at Kastrup Airport near Copenhagen, Denmark. At that time, Carl Gustaf became second in the line of succession behind his grandfather.  Carl Gustaf’s great-grandfather King Gustaf V died on October 29, 1950, and his grandfather became King Gustaf VI Adolf while four-year-old Carl Gustaf became Crown Prince.

Until he was six years old, Carl Gustaf was educated at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.  In the fall of 1952, he began school at the Broms School, a private school in Stockholm.  He then attended the Sigtunaskolan Humanistiska Läroverket, a boarding school in Sigtuna, Sweden, and graduated from its upper secondary school in 1966.

After completing school, Carl Gustaf spent two and a half years in the Swedish Army, Navy, and Air Force.  The Crown Prince passed the Naval Officer Examination in 1968 and served as an officer on various ships in the Swedish Navy. He later completed a command course at the Swedish National Defense College.

From 1968-1969, Carl Gustaf attended a program at the University of Uppsala where he studied history, sociology, political science, financial law, and economics.  Next, the Crown Prince followed a specially designed program of field trips to national and local institutions, industries, factories, laboratories, and schools.  He studied the Swedish judicial system, social welfare organizations, trade unions, and employer associations.  The program included a special emphasis on the work of the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament), the Government, and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.  To gain international experience, Carl Gustaf worked at the Swedish mission to the United Nations in New York, the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency in Africa, the Hambro Bank, the Swedish Embassy, and the Swedish Chamber of Commerce, all in London, and at the Alfa Laval factory in Nevers, France.

At the 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Germany, Carl Gustaf met Silvia Sommerlath who was serving as an interpreter and hostess.  She was born in Heidelberg, Germany to German businessman Walther Sommerlath and his Brazilian wife Alice Soares de Toledo.  Previously, Silvia worked at the Argentinean Consulate in Munich and she was Deputy Head of Protocol of the Organizing Committee for the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria.  Carl Gustaf has said that the couple immediately “clicked” upon meeting.  While the couple was courting, Carl Gustaf’s grandfather, King Gustaf VI Adolf, died on September 15, 1973, and Carl Gustaf became king at the age of 27.  He was invested as King Carl XVI Gustaf in the Hall of State at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on September 19, 1973.

 

The engagement of King Carl Gustaf and Silvia Sommerlath was announced on March 12, 1976.  The couple was married at Stockholm’s Storkyrkan Cathedral on June 19, 1976. The night before the wedding the Swedish group ABBA performed the first live Swedish television performance of their song Dancing Queen at a gala in honor of Carl Gustaf and his queen-to-be.

Embed from Getty Images 
Princess Madeleine, Princess Sofia, Prince Carl Philip, Helena Norlen, King Carl XVI Gustaf, Queen Silvia, Andreas Norlen, Crown Princess Victoria, Princess Estelle, and Prince Daniel  celebrate Sweden’s national day in 2019

King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia have three children:

Drottningholm Palace; Photo Credit – © Susan Flantzer

The King and his family moved to Drottningholm Palace, a short distance from Stockholm, in 1980.  The official offices remain at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.  On April 26, 2018, King Carl XVI Gustaf became the longest-reigning monarch in Swedish history surpassing King Magnus IV who reigned for 44 years and 222 days from July 8, 1319 – February 15, 1364.

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Kingdom of Sweden Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Princess Muna al-Hussein of Jordan

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Antoinette Avril Gardiner, the daughter of Walter Gardiner and Doris Sutton, was born April 25, 1941 in Chelmondiston, Suffolk, England. Her father was in the British Army, and at one point was stationed in Jordan.

It was in Jordan, while Antoinette was working as a secretary on the production of the film Lawrence of Arabia that she met her future husband, King Hussein I of Jordan.

 

The couple married on May 25, 1961, in Amman, Jordan. Having converted to Islam, she took on the name Muna-al Hussein. The following year, upon the birth of their first child, she was created HRH Princess Muna-al Hussein of Jordan. Unlike Hussein’s other wives, she was never created Queen of Jordan. The couple had four children including twin daughters:

  • King Abdullah II (born 1962), married Rania al Yassin, had four children
  • Prince Feisal (born 1963), married (1) Alia Tabbaa, had four children, divorced (2) Sara Bassam Qabbani, no children, divorced (3) Zeina Lubbadeh, had two children
  • Princess Aisha (born 1968), married (1) Zeid Saadedine Juma, had two children, divorced  (2) Ashraf Banayoti, divorced
  • Princess Zein (born 1968), married Majdi Farid Al-Saleh, had three children

Princess Muna with her two sons Feisal and Abdullah, 1964: Credit – Wikipedia

In 1971, the couple divorced, and she retained her titles. In 1999, upon Hussein’s death, her son Abdullah became King of Jordan. Princess Muna has been very involved in the development of nursing in Jordan and remains active in various organizations related to the field of nursing and healthcare in Jordan. Currently, she serves as President of the Jordanian Nursing Council.

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Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Adeliza of Louvain, Queen of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

Adeliza of Louvain, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 25, 1120, William Ætheling, the only legitimate son of King Henry I of England, died in the sinking of the White Ship.  King Henry I holds the record for the British monarch with the most illegitimate children with at least 25, but at the time of his son’s death, his only surviving legitimate child was a daughter Matilda, often called Maud(e), who was married to Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor.  King Henry’s wife Matilda of Scotland had died in 1118 and he needed a male heir, so a second marriage became a necessity.  King Henry I of England, aged 53, married the 18-year-old Adeliza of Louvain on January 24, 1121, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.  Negotiations for the marriage probably started before the White Ship disaster.

Adeliza was the eldest child of Godfrey I, Count of Louvain and his first wife Ida of Chiny.  Today Louvain (French)/Leuven (Dutch) is the capital of the province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium and is located about 16 miles from Brussels.   Adeliza was beautiful (she was called the “fair maid of Brabant”) and charming.  She was not interested in playing a political role in England but rather focused her activities on the arts and literature, particularly French poetry.

Adeliza had five siblings:

Adeliza and the wives of King Henry VIII of England probably had a similar amount of pressure put on them to produce a male heir.  However, her marriage to King Henry I was childless.  She was present on the day in January 1126 when King Henry I named his daughter Matilda as his heir and had his Anglo-Norman barons swear to recognize Matilda and any future legitimate heirs.  Matilda, whose first husband had died, married Geoffrey of Anjou.  Their son eventually became King Henry II of England after a long civil war called The Anarchy, precipitated by Matilda’s cousin Stephen taking the throne when King Henry I died.

In late 1135, King Henry I was in Normandy dealing with a rebellion by the barons in southern Normandy. Henry traveled to the castle at Saint-Denis-en-Lyons, Normandy (now called Lyons-la-Forêt) for some hunting.  According to the chronicler Henry of Huntingdon, Henry ate some lampreys, little eels, which disagreed with him.  Over the next week, his condition, possibly ptomaine poisoning, worsened.  On December 1, 1135, King Henry I of England died at the age of 67.  Henry’s body was brought back to England where he was buried at Reading Abbey.  Adeliza was present at the dedication of Henry’s tomb on the first anniversary of his death.  Reading Abbey, along with Henry’s tomb, was destroyed in 1538 during King Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the Monasteries.

After King Henry I’s death, Adeliza went to live at Arundel Castle, part of her dower lands.  In 1138, Adeliza married William d’Aubigny, 1st Earl of Lincoln and 1st Earl of Arundel and the couple had seven children.   Among  Adeliza and William’s descendants are the well-known Howard family and the Dukes of Norfolk.  Arundel Castle remains the principal seat of the Duke of Norfolk.

Arundel Castle; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

In 1150, Adeliza left her family and retired to Affligem Abbey in Flemish Brabant ( now in Belgium) near where she grew up. She died at Affligem Abbey on April 23, 1151, at the age of 48, and was buried at the abbey.  Her second husband William d’Aubigny survived her by 25 years.

Tomb of Adeliza of Louvain; Credit – http://www.findagrave.com

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England: House of Normandy Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King Carol I of Romania

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

King Carol I of Romania; Credit – Wikipedia

King Carol I of Romania was born on April 20, 1839, at Sigmaringen Castle in Sigmaringen, Principality of Hohenzollern, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. At the time, he was Prince Karl Eitel Friedrich Zephyrinus Ludwig of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, second son of Karl Anton, The Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Princess Josephine of Baden.

Carol had five siblings:

When Karl was 11 years old, his father abdicated as the sovereign Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, and the principality was annexed by Prussia. Karl embarked on a military career, becoming an officer in the Prussian forces. Due to political unrest in what was then called the Romanian United Principalities, the former Ruling Prince (Domnitor) – Alexander Ioan Cuza – was forced to abdicate in February 1866. Due largely to the familial relationship with the French Emperor Napoleon III and the Prussian monarchs, Karl was elected by the Romanian government to become the new Ruling Prince on April 20, 1866 – his 27th birthday.

Karl arrived in Romania on May 10, 1866, and declared his allegiance to his new country, taking on the more Romanian spelling of his name – Carol. Soon after the country established its first Constitution, and formally changed the name to Romania – beginning the steps toward eventual independence from the Ottoman Empire.

Carol and Elisabeth of Wied, circa 1870s; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1861, while he was still Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Carol had met Princess Elisabeth of Wied.  After meeting again in 1869 when Carol was touring Europe searching for a bride, the couple was married in Neuwied, Principality of Wied, now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany on November 15, 1869. They had one daughter – Maria – born on September 8, 1870. Maria died of scarlet fever on April 9, 1874, and Elisabeth never fully recovered from the loss of her only child.

Carol with his wife and their only child in1873; Credit – Wikipedia

In the Russo-Turkish War of 1877, Romania declared independence from the Ottoman Empire and joined forces with Russia. The following year, Romania was formally established as an independent nation under the Treaty of Berlin. Three years later, on March 15, 1881, the Romanian parliament declared Romania a Kingdom, and Karl became King Carol I. His coronation was held on May 10, 1881, the 15th anniversary of his arrival in Romania. He was crowned with the Steel Crown, made from the steel of a cannon captured from the Ottomans during the Russo-Turkish War.

Following a reign of more than 48 years, King Carol I died on October 10, 1914, in Sinaia, Romania. He is buried in the royal crypt at the Monastery of Curtea de Argeș in Curtea de Argeș, Romania. King Carol I was succeeded by his nephew, King Ferdinand I, the second son of his elder brother Leopold.

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Romania Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau

April 18, 1972 – Birth of Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau

Princess Annette of Orange-Nassau was born Annette Sekrève, daughter of Ulrich Sekrève and his wife Jolanda de Haan, on April 18, 1972 in The Hague. She received a Masters Degree in Psychology in 1996 from The University of Groningen. It was while at university that she met her future husband.

On July 6, 2000, she married Prince Bernhard of Orange-Nassau, son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, in a civil ceremony held in Utrecht. A religious service was held two days later at St Martin’s Cathedral in Utrecht.

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The couple reside in Amsterdam with their three children:
– Isabella van Vollenhoven (2002)
– Samuel van Vollenhoven (2004)
– Benjamin van Vollenhoven (2008)

While not taking on any official role, Princess Annette and her husband are typically in attendance at formal family events within the Dutch royal family.

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Irene of Greece, Duchess of Aosta

by Emily McMahon
© Unofficial Royalty 2014

Irene of Greece, Duchess of Aosta; Credit – Wikipedia

Born in Athens, Greece on February 13, 1904, Irene was the second of the three daughters and the fifth of the six children of King  Constantine I of Greece and Princess Sophie of Prussia, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The name Irene is derived from the Greek word for peace and the princess may have been given that name due to the so-called Macedonian Struggle, a period of violent skirmishes, guerilla warfare, and political assassinations in the Balkans that began the year of her birth. 

Irene had five siblings:

Photo circa 1910, Top left: Constantine holding Irene, Top right: the future George II, Left: Sophia, Center: Helen, Right: the future Alexander I, Front: the future Paul I, Katherine is not yet born; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The Greek royal family spent a significant amount of time in exile during Irene’s childhood. After her father’s death in 1922, Irene moved with her mother and younger sister permanently to Italy. Irene lived in Florence with her mother and younger sister in a somewhat ordinary villa. During Irene’s time in Florence, she trained as a nurse in a local hospital. She was also seen out at local dance halls and cafes and generally living the life of a typical young adult of the time. She was fond of the Scottish Highlands, regularly taking trips there with Helen. In late 1926, Irene and Katherine simultaneously came down with appendicitis, but both made quick recoveries.

Irene was linked for some time to Tsar Boris III of Bulgaria. Following her sister Helen’s disastrous experience as the wife of King Carol II of Romania, Irene was said to have declared that she would not marry a Balkan royal. Irene was engaged to Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe, her distant cousin, in October 1927. The engagement was broken off reportedly due to Irene’s dislike of Germany.

Irene and her sister Katherine served as bridesmaids for their cousin Marina when she married George, Duke of Kent in 1934. As royal weddings tend to encourage gossip about other possible couples, talk of a future husband for Irene began to simmer again. She was mentioned as being linked to Nicholas of Romania, a family with whom her own already had two links. Her sister Helen and brother George both married into the Romanian royal family. In the late 1930s, Irene was named as a possible bride to the widowed Leopold III, King of the Belgians. Neither of these prospective marriages progressed beyond talks.

Irene was also instrumental in encouraging “Green Week” in Athens, a time when many trees were planted on the streets of the city to encourage natural beauty and shade. Her brother George II liked the idea and appealed to ambassadors of several different countries for donations of trees.

Irene again became engaged in May 1939 to Prince Aimone of Savoy, 4th Duke of Aosta. Aimone was the son of Emanuele Filiberto, Duke of Aosta and Hélène of Orléans, once a potential bride for both Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Nicholas II of Russia. Aimone was descended from Ferdinand VII of Spain, Louis-Philippe of France, and Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, and was at one time thought to marry Infanta Beatriz of Spain. The engagement between Irene and Aimone was considered to be “a love match without political significance,” although there was some speculation that the marriage was arranged to ease tension over Italian troops being stationed near the Greek border. The two had known one another for some time, as the Greeks in exile in Italy had become close with the Savoy family.

The couple married in Florence at the Cathedral of Santa Maria del Fiore on July 1, 1939, in the company of numerous other royals. The ceremony was said to have been gorgeous, with the streets filled with flowers and scores of spectators. Aimone’s and Irene’s wedding was one of the last royal weddings before the outbreak of World War II in Europe.

The couple had one son:

Prince Aimone; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Aimone was named King of Croatia in 1941. Croatia had been established as a puppet monarchy in control of Italy and Greece. He intended to rule under the name Tomislav II, but Aimone accepted the throne mostly out of duty. The region was unstable due to border disputes and the war in Europe; the theoretical monarch of Croatia also held little power as the Ustaše fascist organization controlled the country. Aimone abdicated the throne in 1943 on the orders of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy.

At the beginning of World War II, Irene began serving with the International Red Cross in the Soviet Union. In July 1944, after the Allies’ armistice with Italy, Irene, her infant son, her sister-in-law and her two nieces were interned by the Germans at the Hotel Ifen in Hirschegg, Austria, They were liberated by the French in May 1945.

After the fall of the Italian monarchy in 1946, Irene and Amadeo escaped to Switzerland while Aimone fled to Argentina. The couple was effectively separated after this time, having spent little time together during the preceding years. Aimone died in Buenos Aires in 1948.

Irene with her son Amadeo in 1959; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Following her husband’s death in 1948, Irene established herself at Villa Domenico in Fiesole, Italy, near her sister Helena, who lived in Villa Sparta. Irene died on April 15, 1974, after a long illness, at her home in Fiesole, Italy. She is buried at the Basilica of Superga in Turin, Italy.

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James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth, Illegitimate Son of King Charles II of England

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2014

James Scott, 1st Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite fathering many illegitimate children with his mistresses, King Charles II of England had no children with his wife Catherine of Braganza. King Charles II is an ancestor through his mistresses of many British aristocrats and of several women who married into the British Royal Family. Lucy Walter and King Charles II are ancestors of Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Barbara Palmer, Duchess of Cleveland and King Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales and Sarah, Duchess of York. Louise Renée de Penancoet de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth and King Charles II are ancestors of Diana, Princess of Wales, Queen Camilla, and Sarah, Duchess of York.

In 1648, Charles, Prince of Wales (the future King Charles II of England), the eldest son of King Charles I of England, traveled to The Hague, The Netherlands where his sister Mary, Princess Royal and her husband Willem II, Prince of Orange lived.  Charles hoped to persuade them to contribute financially to the royalist cause in the Second English Civil War which ultimately ended with the beheading of King Charles I of England.  While in The Hague, the 18-year-old Charles had a brief affair with Lucy Walter.

Lucy Walter was born around 1630 at Roch Castle near Haverfordwest, Wales to William Walter and Elizabeth Prothero.  During the English Civil War, the Walter family supported the royalist forces and in 1644 Roch Castle was captured by the parliamentary forces and burned.   The Walter family fled and Lucy found herself in London and soon set sail for The Hague where she met Charles.  On April 9, 1649, Lucy gave birth in Rotterdam, then in the Principality of Orange, now in The Netherlands, to a son named James.  Charles did acknowledge the child, but some thought that Colonel Robert Sidney, a younger son of the 2nd Earl of Leicester, was the father.

A DNA test in 2012 concluded that James’ descendant Richard Montagu Douglas Scott, the 10th Duke of Buccleuch, shared patrilineal DNA with a descendant of the royal Stuarts, proving that James Scott, Duke of Monmouth was the son of King Charles II of England.  There was also a controversy over whether Charles had secretly married Lucy Walter. Their son claimed his parents had married, but King Charles II said the only woman he had ever married was his queen, Catherine of Braganza.  Charles and Catherine’s marriage was childless, but Charles had at least 15 illegitimate children with his mistresses, and James was the eldest of Charles’ children.

When James was about nine years old, he was brought to Paris and placed in the care of his paternal grandmother Henrietta Maria of France, who had returned to her home country during the English Civil War.   James lived in the household of William Crofts, 1st Baron Crofts who had followed Charles into exile after the execution of King Charles I of England.  At this time, James took the surname Crofts.  In 1662, two years after his father was restored to the English throne, James was brought to England.

On February 14, 1663, 14-year-old James was created Duke of Monmouth, Earl of Doncaster, and Baron Scott of Tinsdale.  The next month, he was created a Knight of the Garter.  On April 20, 1663, James married Anne Scott who was the 4th Countess of Buccleuch in her own right.  On their wedding day, the couple was created Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch.  Thereafter, James used Scott as his surname but was usually called Monmouth.  The couple had seven children and Sarah, Duchess of York and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester are among their descendants. For more details about the descendants of the Duke of Monmouth.

Children of James and Anne:

Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and her sons; Credit – Wikipedia

At the age of 16, James began to serve in various military and government roles.  He served in the Royal Navy under his uncle the Duke of York (the future King James II of England) and was captain of a horse troop of the 1st Life Guards.  In 1670, James became a Privy Councilor.  His father King Charles II sent James as an ambassador to Paris and Utrecht in 1672.  That same year, he commanded British troops sent to help King Louis XIV of France (his father’s first cousin) in a campaign against the Dutch.  Other roles included Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland, Master of the Horse, Chancellor of Cambridge University and Captain-General of all the land forces of England, Scotland, and Wales.

James, Duke of Monmouth commanding the British against the Dutch in 1672; Credit – Wikipedia

Because King Charles II had no legitimate children, his Catholic brother James, Duke of York was heir to the throne.  In 1678, there was a popular outcry for a Protestant heir, and James, Duke of Monmouth was touted as that heir. King Charles II issued a proclamation that he had married only Catherine of Braganza to squelch the possibility that his son James was a legitimate heir.  James was then sent out of England to Scotland to suppress an uprising.  His success in Scotland only made James more popular, and he was sent to the Netherlands into temporary exile.  When James returned to England, his popularity had not decreased and he was met with bonfires and bells ringing.  King Charles II refused to see his son and deprived him of most of his positions.  Charles ordered his son into exile, but James defied his father and went on a tour of the West Country to determine his support there.  Over the next several years, there were several failed attempts at reconciliation between father and son.  In 1683, James was used as a tool in the unsuccessful Rye House Plot to assassinate King Charles II and James, Duke of York.  James was obliged to go into exile in the Netherlands and he was there when his father, King Charles II, died on February 6, 1685, and his uncle became King James II.

Upon his father’s death, James, Duke of Monmouth asserted his claim to the throne and planned an invasion of England and Scotland.  He landed at Lyme Regis, Dorset, England on June 11, 1685, and proclaimed himself king on June 20, 1685.  On July 6, 1685, the armies of uncle and nephew met at the Battle of Sedgemoor where the army of James, Duke of Monmouth was defeated.  James had left the battlefield disguised as a peasant and was discovered hiding in a ditch three days later.

James, Duke of Monmouth had previously been attainted of treason by Parliament on June 16, 1685, and was to “suffer Paines of Death and Incurr all Forfeitures as a Traitor Convicted and Attainted of High Treason.” He groveled at the feet of his uncle King James II, begging for his life.  James was sent to the Tower of London and beheaded on Tower Hill on July 15, 1685. It took several blows of the ax to behead him.  36-year-old James, Duke of Monmouth was buried in the Chapel of St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London.

The Act of Attainder forfeited his English peerages, but his Scottish peerages were not affected and continued to be held by his widow and their descendants.  The subsidiary titles of the Duke of Monmouth peerage were restored to Monmouth’s grandson, Francis Scott, 2nd Duke of Buccleuch.  Ironically, King James II’s reign lasted only until 1688, when he was overthrown in the Glorious Revolution by his Protestant daughter Queen Mary II and his nephew and Mary’s husband King William III.

Execution of James, Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

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Lord Frederick Windsor

photo: Zimbio

photo: Zimbio

Lord Frederick Michael George David Louis Windsor was born April 6, 1979 at St Mary’s Hospital in Paddington, London. He is the son of Prince Michael of Kent (a grandson of King George V and cousin of Queen Elizabeth II) and the former Baroness Marie-Christine von Reibnitz.

He was raised at Kensington Palace in London, and Nether Lypiatt Manor, his parents’ former country house in Gloucestershire. He attended school at Wetherby School, Sunningdale School, Eton College, and Magdalen College, Oxford.

photo: Zimbio

photo: Zimbio

On September 12, 2009 Lord Frederick married Sophie Winkleman in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. The couple have two daughters:

  • Maud Elizabeth Daphne Marina Windsor, born August 15, 2013 in Los Angeles
  • Isabella Alexandra May Windsor, born January 16, 2016 in London

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Prince Alexander of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2014

photo: Wikipedia

Prince Alexander Joseph of Battenberg (known as Sandro) was born on April 5, 1857, in Verona, Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, now in Italy. His parents were Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia von Hauke. Julia had been a lady-in-waiting to Alexander’s sister, Marie of Hesse and by Rhine, the future Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia (wife of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia), and the couple met while Alexander was visiting St Petersburg, Russia. As the Emperor would not condone a relationship between the two, they left Russia and were married in 1851 in Breslau, Kingdom of Prussia, now Wroclaw, Poland. Because their marriage was morganatic, Julia did not gain any of her husband’s titles and their children would not be eligible for succession to the Hesse Grand Ducal throne. However, her brother-in-law, Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine granted the title Countess of Battenberg to Julia and the children of the marriage. A few years later, this was elevated to Princess of Battenberg.

Alexander had four siblings:

Prince Alexander often visited his aunt in Russia and became close to his uncle by marriage Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. It was this relationship that saw Alexander’s future role as a sovereign. Bulgaria became a principality of the Ottoman Empire under the terms of the Treaty of Berlin in 1878. Alexander II proposed Alexander for the newly created throne, and he was unanimously elected as Prince of Bulgaria in April 1879. He arrived in his new homeland in July 1879, swearing allegiance to the new Bulgarian Constitution.

After a contentious reign, often caught between the conflicting goals of the Bulgarian politicians and the Russian Emperor, Alexander fell victim to a military coup on August 20, 1886. He was forced to sign his abdication before being rushed out of the country and handed over to the Russians. Following a counter-coup a few weeks later, Alexander returned to Bulgaria. However, with the Austrian, German and Russian governments all working against him, he formally, and freely, relinquished the Bulgarian throne on September 7, 1886, and left Bulgarian the following day.

On February 6, 1889, Alexander married opera singer Johanna Loisinger, at which point he assumed the title Count von Hartenau, which he used for the remainder of his life. The couple had two children:

  • Assènne Ludwig Alexander, Count von Hartenau (1890–1965), married Bertha Husa-Ramos, no children
  • Marie Therese Vera Zvetana, Countess von Hartenau (1893–1935), married CharlesErcula Boassevan, no children

Johanna Loisinger with her two children circa1894, Credit – Wikipedia

The couple lived in Graz, Austria where Alexander held a post in the Austrian Army. He died at his home in Graz, Villa Hartenau, on October 23, 1893. He was initially buried in Graz, but later his remains were returned to Bulgaria and a State Funeral was held at the St Nedelya Church in Sofia, at the direction of the new Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria. Soon after, he was entombed at the newly built Battenberg Mausoleum in the center of Sofia, Bulgaria.

Bulgaria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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