November 30: Today in Royal History

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King Christian VI of Denmark, Credit – Wikipedia

November 30, 1016 – Death of King Edmund II (Ironside) of England; buried at Glastonbury Abbey in Glastonbury, Somerset, England
Edmund was the third of the six sons of Æthelred II (the Unready), King of the English. Edmund was not expected to become king as he had two elder brothers but they both predeceased their father. Edmund became king upon the death of his father on April 23, 1016. Edmund was now king but had to fight to keep the Kingdom of England. He earned the added name “Ironside” because of his bravery in resisting the Danish invasion led by Cnut the Great. The war between Edmund and Cnut ended in a decisive victory for Cnut at the Battle of Assandun on October 18, 1016. Because Edmund’s reputation as a warrior was great, Cnut agreed to divide England, with Edmund taking Wessex and Cnut the rest of the country beyond the River Thames. However, Edmund died on November 30, 1016, and Cnut the Great became King of England.
Unofficial Royalty: King Edmund II of England

November 30, 1699 – Birth of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark
Christian married  Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach in 1721. The couple had one son and two daughters including Frederik V, King of Denmark and Norway. Christian became King of Denmark and Norway upon the death of his father Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway in 1730. Christian VI is known as a religious ruler and remained devoted to Pietism. His court was considered dull. Only religious music was played and dancing was not allowed. Christian was a shy person, anxious about responsibility and decisions, and uncomfortable about carrying out his ceremonial obligations as the king. He never traveled except for one trip to Norway in 1733. Christian died at the age of 46.
Unofficial Royalty: King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway

November 30, 1719 – Birth of Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales, wife of Frederick, Prince of Wales and mother of King George III of Great Britain, in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in Thuringia, Germany
In 1736, at the age of 16, and still very young for her age, clutching a doll, and knowing no English, Augusta arrived in England for her marriage to Frederick, Prince of Wales, the son of King George II of Great Britain. Frederick and Augusta had nine children including King George III who succeeded his grandfather King George II, and Caroline Matilda, Queen Consort of Denmark whose marriage was a tragic story. In 1751, Augusta’s husband died at the age of 44. At the time of Frederick’s death, his 32-year-old widow was pregnant with her ninth child. Augusta spent her years as a widow raising her nine children and improving the gardens at Kew Palace, which today are a world-class botanical garden. Her eldest son George succeeded his grandfather as king in 1760. Augusta died of cancer of the throat in 1772, at the age of 52.
Unofficial Royalty: Augusta of Saxe-Gotha, Princess of Wales

November 30, 1834 – Death of Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester, great-grandson of King George II, nephew and son-in-law of King George III, and husband of Princess Mary of the United Kingdom, at Bagshot Park in Surrey, England; buried in the Gloucester Vault at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
William Frederick was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge and like his father, Prince William Henry, 1st Duke of Gloucester (brother of King George III), had a career in the British Army, attaining the rank of Field Marshal in 1816. He was an advocate for the abolition of slavery, served as President of the African Institution, and was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. In 1816, 40-year-old William Frederick married his 40-year-old first cousin Princess Mary, the daughter of King George III.  Mary and William’s marriage was childless and the couple lived at Gloucester House in Piccadilly, London, and Bagshot Park, now the home of Queen Elizabeth II’s youngest child Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. William Frederik died at the age of 58 after being ill with a fever for fifteen days.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester

November 30, 1863 – Death of Kamehameha IV, King of the Hawaiian Islands, in Honolulu on the island of Oahu in the Kingdom of the Hawaiian Islands, now in the state of Hawaii; first buried in the Royal Mausoleum, Mauna ʻAla in Honolulu, later moved to thKamehameha Tomb, an underground vault, under the Kamehameha Dynasty Tomb on the grounds of the Royal Mausoleum
Birth name: Alexander Liholiho ‘Iolanian

Unofficial Royalty: Kamehameha IV, King of the Hawaiian Islands (article coming soon)

November 30, 1934 – Birth of Albert, Margrave of Meissen, disputed Head of the House of Saxony and pretender to the former throne of the Kingdom of Saxony, in Bamberg, Bavaria, Germany
Full name: Albert Joseph Maria Franz-Xaver, Prince of Saxony
Albert, Margrave of Meissen was briefly one of the disputed Heads of the House of Saxony, and pretender to the former throne of the Kingdom of Saxony.
Unofficial Royalty: Albert, Margrave of Meissen

November 30, 1965 – Birth of Crown Prince Akishino of Japan, son of Emperor Emeritus Akihito of Japan, brother of Emperor Naruhito of Japan, at the Imperial Household Agency Hospital, Tokyo Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan 
After his early education, Akishiono attended Gakushuin University in Tokyo, studying law and biology. He later studied at St John’s College, Oxford, England, and received a Ph.D. in ornithology from the Graduate University for Advanced Studies in Japan in 1996. In June 1990, Akishino married Kiko Kawashima. The couple had two daughters and one son. As his elder brother Emperor Naruhito has no sons, Akishino became the heir presumptive to the Chrysanthemum Throne upon Naruhito’s accession in 2019. Crown Prince Akishino is followed in the line of succession only by his son Prince Hisahito and his elderly uncle Prince Hitachi. This situation causes a succession crisis. Unless Emperor Naruhito has a son (unlikely) or the laws of succession are changed, it is very likely that Prince Hisahito will one day inherit the throne and that the line of succession will depend upon Hisahito marrying and producing sons.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Akishino of Japan
Unofficial Royalty: Japanese Succession Crisis

November 30, 1967 – Death of Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont at Schaumburg Castle, and was buried in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden (link in German), the burial site of the Waldeck-Pyrmont family in Rhoden, now in the German state of Hesse
Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont was the last heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont from 1946 until his death in 1967, and a convicted Nazi war criminal.
Unofficial Royalty: Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

November 30, 2011 – Death of Crown Prince Leka I of Albania, pretender to the Albanian throne, at Mother Teresa Hospital in Tirana, Albania; first buried at Sharra Cemetery in Tirana, Albania, in November 2012 his remains were reinterred in the newly rebuilt Royal Mausoleum in Tirana, Albania
Leka was the only child of  King Zog I of the Albanians who reigned from 1928-1939. Just two days after Leka’s birth, Fascist forces invaded Albania, and the family quickly fled into exile. They settled briefly in France before moving to England where they lived through the end of World War II and eventually moved to Egypt in 1946. During that time, Leka attended the British Boys School and Victoria College in Egypt before graduating from Aiglon College in Switzerland in 1956. In 1975, Leka married Susan Cullen-Ward and the couple had one son who is styled Crown Prince Leka II. Leka I and his family were allowed to return to Albania in 2002. When Leka I died in 2011 at the age of 72,  the government declared a National Day of Mourning, and he was given a state funeral, with full military honors.
Unofficial Royalty:  Crown Leka I Prince of Albania

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