Monthly Archives: June 2017

Wedding of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Prince Rainier III of Monaco married Grace Kelly on April 18, 1956, in a civil ceremony in the Throne Room of the Prince’s Palace in Monaco-Ville, Monaco, and in a religious ceremony on April 19, 1956, at St. Nicholas’ Cathedral in Monaco-Ville, Monaco.

Prince Rainier’s Family Rainier family

His Serene Highness Prince Rainier Louis Henri Maxence Bertrand Grimaldi was born on May 31, 1923, in Monaco. His parents were Count Pierre de Polignac and Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois. Princess Charlotte was born Charlotte Louise Juliette Louvet, the illegitimate daughter of Marie Juliette Louvet, a cabaret singer, and Prince Louis II of Monaco. Prince Louis had no legitimate children and to prevent a cousin from succeeding to the Monegasque throne, in 1911 a law was passed recognizing Charlotte as his daughter and as a member of the princely family. Later, legislation made Charlotte legitimate, allowed her father to adopt her, and gave her the surname Grimaldi, and the title Duchess of Valentinois for life. Charlotte was, in effect, her father’s heiress presumptive.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Grimaldis have a number of major and minor royal ancestors including King James IV of Scotland (via three of his illegitimate daughters); Stéphanie de Beauharnais, Napoleon Bonaparte’s adopted daughter and later the Grand Duchess of Baden; William I (the Silent), Prince of Orange; King Charles IX of Sweden; Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor; Claude de Lorraine, duc de Guise; and Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, a mistress of King Charles II of England.

Rainier’s father, Count Pierre de Polignac, was the son of Count Maxence de Polignac, a French aristocrat, and Susana María de la Torre y Mier, whose family were descendants of Mexican nobility. On the de Polignac side of his family, Pierre was a descendant of Yolande de Polastron, Duchesse de Polignac, a favorite of Queen Marie Antoinette of France, and Gabrielle de Rochechouart de Mortemart, older sister of Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart de Mortemart, better known as Madame de Montespan, the most celebrated mistress of King Louis XIV of France.

Charlotte and Pierre were married in a civil ceremony on March 19, 1920, and had a religious ceremony the following day. The day before the wedding an ordinance changed Pierre’s surname to Grimaldi and his coat of arms to those of the princely house. Pierre had been made a citizen of Monaco the month before the wedding. After the religious ceremony, he was known as Prince Pierre of Monaco, Duke of Valentinois. In addition to their son Rainier, the couple had a daughter Antoinette Louise Alberte Suzanne who was born December 28, 1920. Charlotte and Pierre’s marriage was an unhappy one. They separated on March 20, 1930, and were divorced by the ordinance of Prince Louis II on February 18, 1933.

On the day before Prince Rainier’s twenty-first birthday, Princess Charlotte renounced her claim to the throne of Monaco in favor of her son. Five years later, upon the death of his grandfather, Prince Louis II on May 9, 1949, Rainier became Rainier III, Sovereign Prince of Monaco. He died on April 6, 2005, after ruling Monaco for nearly 56 years.

For more information about Rainier see:

Grace Kelly’s Family

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Grace Patricia Kelly was born on November 12, 1929, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her parents were John Brendan Kelly, the son of Irish immigrants, and Margaret Katherine Majer, the daughter of German immigrants. Grace’s mother Margaret, a former fashion model, had studied physical education at Temple University in Philadelphia and was the first woman to be head of the Physical Education Department at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Grace’s father, known as Jack, had won three gold medals in rowing in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics. Jack had started his work career as a bricklayer and after serving in World War I, he created a bricklaying business that made him a millionaire.

Besides Grace, the Kellys had three other children: Margaret Katherine, known as Peggy, born on June 13, 1925; John Brendan, Jr., known as Kell, born on May 24, 1927, and Elizabeth Anne, known as Lizanne, born June 25, 1933. Grace’s brother Kell followed his father’s athletic footsteps and competed in rowing at the 1948, 1952, and 1956 Summer Olympics. He won a bronze medal in the 1956 Olympics. Interestingly, Grace’s son Albert participated in bobsledding in the Winter Olympics of 1988, 1992, 1994, 1998, and 2002 and has been a member of the International Olympic Committee since 1985.

Grace Kelly was a well-known film actress before her marriage. Among her films are: High Noon with Gary Cooper, Mogambo with Clark Gable, three Alfred Hitchcock films: Dial M for Murder with Ray Milland, Rear Window with James Stewart, and To Catch a Thief with Cary Grant, The Country Girl with Bing Crosby and William Holden for which Grace won an Academy Award for Best Actress, and her last film High Society with Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra.

Tragically, Princess Grace died on September 14, 1982, from injuries received in an automobile accident.

For more information about Grace see:

 

Engagement and Ring

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Since much of both Grace and Rainier’s lives were in the public eye, a private courtship was something of a task, especially considering the distance between the United States and Monaco. After meeting the Prince in Monaco during the Cannes Film Festival in May of 1955, Grace corresponded quietly with Rainier until he made a trip to the United States in December of that year. He asked Grace to marry him over the Christmas holiday, and on January 5, 1956, their engagement was announced in a press conference held at her family’s home in Philadelphia.

When Rainier proposed to Grace during the Christmas holiday of 1955, he gave her a “friendship” ring: a band set with diamonds and rubies. He also told her he was having a ring created especially for her.

An engagement ball was held in their honor at the Waldorf-Astoria hotel in New York on January 6, 1956, but by January 17th, Grace was due in Hollywood to begin filming “High Society” for MGM. When she went to California, Rainier went with her for a short time. In the film, Grace plays a young woman engaged to be married. She had selected a large, emerald cut, paste diamond engagement ring from MGM’s prop department to wear for the film, and when asked about her engagement ring, Grace would often flaunt the paste ring, claiming it was hers. During filming, the ring from Prince Rainier arrived, and Grace was astounded to find it remarkably similar to the paste ring she’d been wearing. She switched the rings immediately; which means the lovely diamond she’s seen polishing on a throw pillow in the movie is her actual engagement ring.

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Before filming ended in February, Rainier returned to Monaco, and Grace began throwing herself actively into wedding plans and closing her New York apartment. She would not see Rainier again until she arrived in Monaco in April.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

Grace’s Trip to Monaco

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Because air travel was not, in 1956, what it is today, Grace Kelly traveled to her wedding in Monaco by ship. She boarded the U.S.S. Constitution with her family, her bridal party, their families, and assorted friends for the voyage. There were 66 members of the party, plus the Weimaraner puppy Grace received as a wedding gift and her pampered poodle, Oliver.

Grace and her party boarded the ship at New York’s Pier 84 on April 4, 1956. Grace had intended to have a small press conference to announce her departure. Unfortunately, the media was overly anxious to get a few words and a few photos. Approximately 250 members of the press swarmed Grace as she stood on deck. Eventually, she was escorted away to the bridal suite by security, and the press was removed, in some cases bodily, to the dock.

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Grace at sea

The voyage lasted eight days. The days were spent visiting with friends and family and making last-minute preparations. Each evening there was a cocktail reception, followed by dinner and a party. Grace’s friends and family were fond of word games, cards, and charades and all these were played with great gusto.

Early on the morning of April 12, Prince Rainier boarded his yacht, the Deo Juvante, and set out into the Bay of Hercules. At approximately 9:45, the Constitution dropped anchor in the Bay, and the Prince’s yacht moved forward to meet it. As Grace’s party waited on deck, they could hear bands on the shore and on nearby boats playing American tunes and every window in Monte Carlo appeared to be open and filled with people. At that moment, a seaplane belonging to Aristotle Onassis flew over the harbor, dropping thousands of red and white carnations, the colors of Monaco, on the ships and crowds below. A gangway was extended between the two ships, and the Prince stepped forward to meet his fiancée. The whole country of Monaco held its breath… and was terribly disappointed when they actually saw Grace. For her arrival, she had chosen a navy blue coatdress and a broad-brimmed white hat. It was beautiful, but it prevented the crowds from seeing her face. The Prince, however, seemed overwhelmed by her appearance. After clasping her hand warmly and taking a moment to wave at the people both on boats and ashore, the Deo Juvante turned toward Monaco.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Trousseau

Grace began shopping for her trousseau at Neiman Marcus in Dallas. The exclusive store made suits, several gowns, numerous street dresses, and an entire wardrobe of sports clothes especially for her.

Her shopping continued in Los Angeles where she purchased negligees, nightgowns, and other lingerie items in pink, peach, and black. Other items such as stockings were purchased in New York, in addition to a number of everyday dresses and shoes. “Not too high in the heel,” the media noted of Grace’s new shoes, probably because she and Rainier were close in height. While in New York, Grace had many elegant hats made by prominent millinery designer, Mr. John. Last on the list were sable, mink and leopard skin coats.

When Grace Kelly left America for Monaco, she had four enormous steamer trunks and fifty-six other pieces of luggage holding not only her beautiful new clothes but a few well-worn sweatshirts and pairs of jeans, too.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Wedding Attendants

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For the civil ceremony that took place on April 18, 1956, Grace and Rainier had five official witnesses. Grace’s sister Peggy and Rainier’s sister, Princess Antoinette, acted as her witnesses, and Rainier had his cousin Count Charles de Polignac, his good friend Lieutenant Colonel Jean-Marie Ardant, and Grace’s brother Kell.

For the religious ceremony on April 19, 1956, Grace asked six American friends and one of her sisters to attend her. Grace’s sister, Margaret (Peggy) Kelly Davis, was her matron of honor. The bridesmaids included Bettina Thompson Gray and Sally Parrish Richardson, with whom Grace had attended The American Academy of Dramatic Arts; Maree Frisby Pamp, who had known Grace since high school; Carolyn Scott Reybold, who had lived in the same residence hotel with Grace as they began their acting careers in New York; Rita Gam Lumet, another young actress from New York; and Judith Balaban Kanter who was, at that time, married to Grace’s agent, Jay.

The Prince had also asked his cousin, Count Charles de Polignac, Lieutenant Colonel Ardant, and John (Kell) Kelly to stand for him at the religious ceremony. In addition to these men, he had four spiritual advisors. One of them, Father Tucker, a priest from the United States, acted as “stage director” for Grace’s non-Catholic attendants. It was he who told them when to stand, to sit, and to kneel during the course of the ceremony and wedding Mass.

There were also four flower girls, Peggy’s daughters Meg and Mary Lee, and Princess Antoinette’s daughters Christine and Elisabeth, and two pages, Rainier’s cousin Sebastian Von Furstenberg, and Antoinette’s son, Christian.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Wedding Attire

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Civil Ceremony Attire

For the civil ceremony, Grace wore a two-piece dress of light pink taffeta overlaid with champagne lace. She accessorized the dress with matching Cuban heeled shoes, a pleated chiffon turban adorned with flowers, and white gloves. The Prince wore a morning coat, gray trousers, white waistcoat, and gray silk tie. The gentlemen witnesses wore dark suits, and the ladies wore tea-length dresses and hats.

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Grace’s wedding gown for the religious ceremony was a gift from MGM. It was created by Helen Rose, MGM’s costume designer and personal friend of Grace. The nearly 320 yards of lace used for the bodice and train was antique and had been purchased from a museum for an estimated $2,500. In addition, Ms. Rose used 25 yards of silk peau de soie, 25 yards of silk taffeta, and approximately 100 yards of silk tulle. The gown had a high, stiffened lace collar with a close-fitting bodice and arms. It buttoned down to a silk cummerbund and then descended in a perfect bell shape to the floor. The back of the gown was a marvel, the silk skirt dividing in such a way that the antique lace and tulle seemed to flow from the waist into a long, graceful train. The three petticoats beneath were so well made that the designer admitted they could have been worn separately as evening dresses. Each was decorated with tiny blue bows, “something blue”. The bodice and Grace’s lace Juliet cap were re-embroidered with seed pearls, as were her shoes. Ninety yards of tulle tied with bows of taffeta and lace constituted her veil.

rainier_brideandgroom_attire

Rainier wore a dress uniform he had designed himself, which included a black tunic with gold leaves on the cuffs, sky blue trousers with a gold stripe down the side, and a dark blue tricorn hat with a white ostrich plume. The tunic was graced with medals representing the Prince’s links with Italian and French military history, and across his chest hung the red and white sash representing the Order of St. Charles.

The bridesmaids wore pale yellow organdy dresses which had been custom-made at Neiman Marcus, with yellow organdy hats and wrist-length white gloves. The pages were dressed in white suits with trousers banded at the knee, and the four flower girls wore mid-calf length dresses of white broderie anglaise from Neiman Marcus, short white socks, and white shoes from J.C. Penney.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Wedding Guests

Given the diverse backgrounds of the bride and groom, the guest list for their wedding ceremonies was equally unusual. Representatives of dozens of nations and royal families were in attendance, including Sir Guy Salisbury-Jones representing the British royal family, Conrad Hilton who represented President Eisenhower, and Francois Mitterrand, then Minister of Justice, representing France. The Aga Khan, in his wheelchair, made the trip to Monaco, accompanied by his wife and guards who protected them 24 hours a day.

Ex-King Farouk of Egypt and Randolph Churchill, personal friends of the Prince’s, were present. Churchill and the Duchess of Westminster were invited guests who also provided insights on the pageantry to the British press. Conversely, Hollywood columnist Dorothy Kilgallen was a reporter first and a guest second.

Aristotle Onassis, who had showered Monaco with flowers when Grace arrived, was also there for the religious ceremony accompanied by his wife, Tina. Barney Balaban, a founder of Paramount Pictures, and his wife made the trip from America. Their daughter, Judy Kanter, was one of Grace’s bridesmaids. Somerset Maugham, along with other luminaries, boarded small buses for the trip to the church since parking was unavailable. Monseigneur Paul Marella, the Apostolic Nuncio of Paris, represented Pope Pius XII and carried blessings from the Pontiff.

Also included were Grace’s showbiz friends. Broadway producer Gant Gaither and actor Donald Buka made the trip with the Kelly family aboard the U.S.S. Constitution. Grace’s close friend from Hollywood, Rupert Allen, sat with Ava Gardner, whom Grace had befriended when they worked on “Mogambo”. Actress Gloria Swanson also attended along with MGM publicist Morgan Hudgins and Mr. and Mrs. David Niven.

The most prominent guest at both ceremonies was the world. MGM, in exchange for releasing Grace from her contract, was permitted to film both events for broadcast on television and the silver screen.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Ceremony

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Because of the intricacies of Monegasque law, Grace and Rainier were married twice, once in a civil ceremony and once in a religious ceremony. The civil ceremony took place on April 18, 1956, in the Throne Room of the palace. At eleven o’clock, Monsieur Marcel Portanier, President of the State Council of Monaco began the ceremony by asking Prince Rainier if he had permission to proceed. After Rainier answered, “Oui,” Monsieur Portanier read the Articles of the Civil Code detailing the rights and obligations of the pair, followed by the vows, and a list of the Prince’s 142 official titles. Once they were finished, they had to go through the entire 40-minute ceremony again for the MGM cameras present.

The religious ceremony took place the following day. At 10:30 a.m., Grace and her attendants arrived at the church which was filled with white lilacs and lilies of the valley. When Rainier arrived a few minutes later, the ceremony began. As with many weddings, there were a few small glitches. One page dropped Rainier’s ring, and the Prince struggled to put Grace’s ring on her finger. The Choir School of the Cathedral sang Bach’s “Uxor Tua” and Purcell’s “Alleluia”. After both Grace and Rainier had quietly answered “Yes” to the vows posed to them, Monseigneur Paul Marella, representative of Pope Pius XII, gave a blessing from the Pope and the ceremony was complete.

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The Blessing from the Pope

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Reception

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Since Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly had two wedding ceremonies, they also had two receptions. For the first reception, following the civil ceremony, the courtyard of Monaco’s pink palace was opened and approximately 3,000 Monegasques sipped champagne and ate cake along with the members of the wedding party and other family members.

The second wedding reception, following the religious ceremony, was much more elaborate and limited to the 600 guests who attended the service. The luncheon buffet included caviar, smoked salmon, shrimp, ham, salami, soup, cheese, jellied eggs, salmon with cucumber salad, cold lobster, and chicken, accompanied by champagne. Because seating space was limited, attendees had to juggle not only their plates and glasses, but also gloves, programs, hats, handbags, or anything else they had been carrying.

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Grace and Rainier’s wedding cake was a culinary masterpiece. There were six tiers in all, making it taller than both the bride and groom. The first level was decorated with three-dimensional replicas of Monaco’s pink palace carved from sugar. Each of the other layers held scenes from Monaco’s history crafted gently into the sides, and between the fourth and fifth layers, the Monegasque crest was duplicated in red and white spun sugar. The top held two cherubs standing upon clouds of filigreed icing, with a replica of the crown of Monaco suspended above their heads.

As with so many royals, the Prince and Princess used Rainier’s ceremonial sword to cut the cake which was then packaged in white faille boxes decorated with white and gold rope and the intertwined initials “R” and “G”, tied with a golden cord, and distributed amongst the guests.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

The Honeymoon

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Leaving for the honeymoon

Following the religious ceremony on April 19, 1956, Grace and Rainier sailed into the sunset aboard the royal yacht, Deo Juvante. They did not get very far at first. Once the yacht had left the Bay of Hercules, Rainier and the crew gave in to Grace’s obvious illness and anchored the ship for the night to allow her a chance to adjust. Unfortunately, it proved to be a bit more than seasickness, and Grace spent the first week of her honeymoon with the flu. After that, the couple spent several weeks cruising the Riviera, the coast of Spain where they met and spent time with friends, and Corsica, where days were spent lounging on sun-drenched beaches.

Sources:
“The Bridesmaids: Grace Kelly, Princess of Monaco, and Six Intimate Friends” by Judith Balaban Quine
“Princess Grace” by Sarah Bradford
“Rainier and Grace: An Intimate Portrait” by Jeffrey Robinson
“Grace: The Secret Lives of a Princess” by James Spada

Children

Rainier, Grace and their three children; Photo source: The Telegraph

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.

Wedding of King Hussein I of Jordan and Lisa Halaby (Queen Noor al-Hussein)

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Image by © Genevieve Chauvel/Sygma/Corbis

King Hussein I of Jordan and Lisa Halaby, known as Queen Noor al-Hussein after her marriage, were married on June 15, 1978, at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan, home of the Queen Mother Zein, the mother of King Hussein, and the traditional site of Jordanian royal marriages.

King Hussein’s Background

King Hussein in 1950; Photo Credit – By Willem van de Poll – Nationaal Archief, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30224627

Hussein bin Talal was born November 14, 1935, in Amman, Jordan, the eldest son of the future King Talal bin Abdullah and Zein al-Sharaf Talal. At the time, Hussein’s grandfather was the Emir of Transjordan, becoming Abdullah I, the first King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan in 1946 (the name was later changed to simply ‘Jordan’). Hussein began his education in Amman, after which he attended Victoria College in Alexandria, Egypt. He then attended the Harrow School in England before enrolling in the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst.

On July 21, 1951, Prince Hussein was accompanying his grandfather King Abdullah I to a mosque in Jerusalem when the king was killed by an assassin’s bullet. Hussein was at his side and was hit too, but a medal that had been pinned to Hussein’s chest at his grandfather’s insistence deflected the bullet and saved his life.

With his father now becoming King, Hussein was named Crown Prince in September 1951. His father King Talal suffered from mental illness and was forced to abdicate just a year later. The 16-year-old Crown Prince became King Hussein I with a regency council established until he reached the age of 18.

King Hussein’s mother Queen Zein played a major role in the early years of her son’s reign, guiding him in both political and personal matters. She arranged his first marriage, when Hussein was just 19 years old, to Sharifa Dina bint ‘Abdu’l-Hamid, a third cousin of his father. The couple separated and were divorced in 1957. They had one daughter: Princess Alia (1956).

The King married a second time in 1961 to the British-born Antoinette Gardiner, who took the title HRH Princess Muna al-Hussein. This marriage, too, ended in divorce in 1971. The couple had four children: King Abdullah II (1962), Prince Feisal (1963), and twins Princess Aisha (1968) and Princess Zein (1968)

In December 1972, the King married Alia Baha ad-Din Toukan, the daughter of a Jordanian diplomat. Upon marriage, she became HM Queen Alia al-Hussein. Tragically, Queen Alia was killed in a helicopter crash in 1977. The couple had two children, as well as an adopted daughter: Princess Haya (1974), Prince Ali (1975), and Abir Muhaisen (1972, adopted in 1976).

Lisa Halaby’s Background

Lisa Najeeb Halaby was born on August 23, 1951, in Washington DC in the United States, the eldest child of Najeeb Halaby and Doris Carlquist. Her father, of Syrian descent, held several prominent positions including head of the Federal Aviation Administration and CEO of the airline Pan Am. Coming from an affluent family, Lisa attended private schools: The National Cathedral School in Washington DC, The Chapin School in New York City, and Concord Academy in Massachusetts. She went on to attend Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey, as a member of the first coeducational class, graduating in 1974 with a degree in architecture and urban planning.

The Engagement

In the winter of 1976, Lisa Halaby traveled with her father Najeeb Halaby, then the chairman of the International Advisory Board for Royal Jordanian Airlines, for a ceremony celebrating the purchase of Royal Jordanian Airline’s first Boeing 747. There she met King Hussein and his wife Queen Alia. Around the time of Queen Alia’s tragic death in a helicopter crash on February 9, 1977, Lisa agreed to fill in for an ill manager of her father’s aviation company in Jordan, Arab Air Services, which provided aviation design, engineering, and technical support to Middle East countries.

By the middle of 1977, the ill employee had returned to work and Lisa had been accepted to Columbia University’s School of Journalism. However, she received an interesting job offer. Ali Ghandour, the founder and chairman of Royal Jordanian Airlines, offered Lisa a job heading up a department within Royal Jordanian Airlines to coordinate planning, design, and maintenance of the airline’s facilities in Jordan and throughout the world. It would be a challenging job, but Lisa accepted the challenge, a challenge that would change her life.

In the course of her work, Lisa’s path occasionally passed the path of King Hussein. On April 6, 1977, Lisa’s father insisted that she accompany him to an audience with King Hussein. At the audience, King Hussein asked Lisa if she could come to his home Hashimaya to take a look at some construction problems. A lunch appointment was made for the next day. Little did Lisa know that the next day would be the start of a whirlwind courtship. In her autobiography, Queen Noor wrote: “Hash, 12:30 reads my diary entry for April 7. What it does not say is that I did not get home until 7:30 that evening.”

One week after that first lunch, King Hussein invited Lisa for a weekend at Aqaba, a seaport popular with tourists, with his children and a group of friends. After the weekend, Hussein and Lisa had numerous dinners at his home Hashimaya. They watched videos of films, went on motorcycle rides, and Hussein flew her in his helicopter, but most of all they talked and shared their thoughts and feelings.

On April 28, 1978, King Hussein said that he wanted to see Lisa’s father, and Lisa knew what he meant. The next day, King Hussein went out of the country on official business, but when he returned, he mentioned Lisa’s father in every conversation and finally, with a few chosen words, proposed marriage. For eighteen days, Lisa agonized over the decision, but finally, on May 18, 1978, Lisa agreed to marry King Hussein. Hussein called Lisa’s father at his home in Alpine, New Jersey, and said, “I have the honor to ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage.”

The Wedding

Zahran Palace; Photo Credit – The Royal Hashemite Court

King Hussein I of Jordan and Lisa Halaby were married on June 15, 1978, at Zahran Palace in Amman, Jordan, home of Queen Mother Zein, the mother of King Hussein, and the traditional site of royal marriages. King Hussein wanted the marriage to occur as soon as possible but was persuaded to allow some time for family members to come to Amman. King Hussein gave Lisa a new, Arabic name: Noor al-Hussein, “Light of Hussein.”

King Hussein’s secretary commissioned a wedding dress from the French fashion house Dior. Two Dior designers came to Amman with sketches of elaborate wedding dresses, but Noor did not like the dresses. She wanted a simple dress that would be in line with Islamic ideals, so she showed the designers her favorite dress from her own closet, a Bohemian style Yves Saint Laurent boutique dress, and asked the designers to use that style as a model. The final design was a simple white silk crepe dress with a high neckline, long bell sleeves, and a plain long skirt.

During the brief engagement, Noor studied books on Islam and Jordanian history. Her parents had not brought her up in any particular religion. The Jordanian Constitution does not require that the King’s wife be Muslim, but there was no question in Noor’s mind that she would become Muslim. She became a Muslim on the morning of her wedding by proclaiming the testimony of faith: “I declare there is no God but Allah and Muhammad is His messenger.” King Hussein decided that Noor would receive the style and title Her Majesty Queen Noor al-Hussein. Only one other of King Hussein’s previous three wives, Queen Alia, had been so honored.

Noor prepared for her wedding in a simple manner. She persuaded the hairdresser to arrange her hair as simple as possible, a band of white flowers holding her long blond hair in place with a simple veil, and she wore no makeup. She partially followed the Western tradition and wore “something blue and something new.” The something blue was a wedding present from her father, a sapphire stick pin from Tiffany. The something new was a pair of diamond drop earrings from a set of jewelry, a gift from Crown Prince Fahd of Saudi Arabia. The diamond drop earrings were quite dramatic, so Noor decided to remove the drops and wear only the tops.

Photo Credit – www.kinghussein.gov.jo/

YouTube: King Hussein marries Lisa Halaby

While 500 guests waited on the lawn of the Zahran Palace, Hussein and Noor were married in an oriental-style sitting room in the palace. Noor was the only woman allowed and the witnesses were Noor’s father and brother and the male members of the Jordanian Royal Family. A Muslim wedding ceremony is basically a contract in which the bride and groom agree to the contract and sign it in front of witnesses. Noor and King Hussein sat on a damask settee during the ceremony. They repeated simple marriage vows in Arabic. Noor said: “I have betrothed myself to thee in marriage for the dowry agreed upon.” King Hussein replied: “I have accepted thee as wife, my wife in marriage for the dowry agreed upon.” No rings were exchanged, instead, the vows were sealed by the couple clasping their right hands and looking at each other.

A two-hour reception was held on the lawn of Zahran Palace. The couple emerged from the ceremony to cut the seven-tier, three feet high fruitcake wedding cake with a golden Hashemite sword and then mingled for ten minutes with family members that had gathered to congratulate them. Soft drinks were substituted for champagne at the reception as Islamic law prohibits alcohol. The armed forces band played lively music in the background

The guests included the elite of Jordanian society, the diplomatic corps, government officials, and senior officers of the armed forces. There were no foreign guests except the Halaby family, Mrs. Cyrus Vance, the wife of the then-American Secretary of State, and a handful of Noor’s friends from the United States. One of King Hussein’s former wives, the British-born Princess Muna, was also present.

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.

Works Cited

  • Khouri, Rami, and Rami Khouri. “Royal Wedding In Amman”. Washington Post. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 May 2017.
  • “King Hussein I Of Jordan”. Unofficial Royalty. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 May 2017.
  • Queen Noor. Leap Of Faith. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2003. Print.
  • “Queen Noor Of Jordan”. Unofficial Royalty. N.p., 2017. Web. 17 May 2017.

Wedding of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and Princess Margaret of Connaught

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

On Thursday, June 15, 1905, Prince Gustav Adolf of Sweden, the future King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden, and Princess Margaret of Connaught were married at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Gustaf Adolf’s Early Life

Gustaf Adolf (left) with his brother Wilhelm, c1885

Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (Oscar Fredrik Wilhelm Olaf Gustaf Adolf) was born on November 11, 1882 at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. At birth, he was created Duke of Skåne by his grandfather, King Oscar II. He was the eldest of three sons of the future King Gustav V and Victoria of Baden. Along with his two brothers – Prince Wilhelm and Prince Erik – Gustaf Adolf began his education at home, with a governess and then with tutors. In 1901, he began his formal education, studying history, economics, political science, and archeology at Uppsala University. He also received military training at the Military Academy Karlberg, becoming an officer in the Swedish Army. He would eventually rise to the rank of Lieutenant-General.

In 1907, Gustaf Adolf became Crown Prince upon his father’s accession to the Swedish throne. He would hold this title for nearly 43 years before becoming King himself in 1950.

For more information about Gustaf Adolf see:

Unofficial Royalty: King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden
Swedish Royal Court: King Gustaf VI Adolf

Margaret’s Early Life

Margaret (standing) with her parents and younger siblings, 1893. source: Wikipedia

Princess Margaret Victoria Charlotte Augusta Norah of Connaught (known in the family as Daisy) was born at Bagshot Park, Windsor, on January 15, 1882, the eldest of three children of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Strathearn and Princess Luise Margarete of Prussia. Her godparents included her grandmother, Queen Victoria and the German Emperor Wilhelm I.

Margaret and her siblings were raised at Bagshot Park and at Clarence House, her family’s home in London, and was educated privately at home. As a member of the British Royal Family, she often took part in family functions and events and served as a bridesmaid (along with her sister) at the wedding of the future King George V and Queen Mary in 1893.

Sadly, Margaret died before her husband became King of Sweden. She was eight months pregnant with her sixth child in 1920 when she underwent mastoid surgery. An infection set in, killing Margaret, at the age of 38, and her unborn child.

For more information about Margaret see:

Unofficial Royalty: Princess Margaret of Connaught
Swedish Royal Court: Princess Margareta

The Engagement

source: Wikipedia

Margaret and her sister, Patricia, were considered two of the most eligible princesses in Europe, and their parents set out to find suitable royal husbands. After visiting the court of King Carlos of Portugal, the family traveled to Cairo to attend a birthday banquet for Khedive Abbas Hilmi Pasha of Egypt in January 1905. Also invited was Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, who had been visiting his mother, Queen Victoria of Sweden, at her home in Capri. The couple met and were instantly smitten. Ironically, it was Margaret’s sister Patricia who had been rumored as a possible bride for Gustaf Adolf, but he quickly determined that he only had an interest in Margaret. Fully supported by Margaret’s parents, the Prince proposed on February 25, 1905, at a dinner at the British Consulate, and Margaret quickly accepted. The news came as a great surprise to the people of Sweden and was received with great joy by the Prince’s grandfather, King Oscar II.

On their way back to Britain at the end of March, the newly engaged couple – and her parents – stopped in Rome. There, they were invited to a grand dinner at the Quirinale Palace, hosted by King Vittorio Emanuele III and Queen Elena, in honor of their visit.

Pre-Wedding Festivities

Clarence House. photo: CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=735793

On June 9, the Duke and Duchess of Connaught hosted a Garden Party at Clarence House, where the wedding gifts were all displayed. The following day, the groom left Stockholm to travel to London, while his father and uncle, Prince Eugen, traveled on the 11th.

The festivities began with two large dinner parties held at Windsor Castle on June 12 and June 13. On June 14th, with all of the royal guests having arrived, a Garden Party was held at Windsor Castle, followed by a State Banquet that evening in St. George’s Hall, Windsor Castle.

Wedding Guests

Abbas II Hilmi Bey, The Khedive of Egypt, one of the wedding guests. source: Wikipedia

The wedding was attended by many of the British and Swedish Royal Families, as well as numerous foreign royal guests. Below is a partial listing of the guests.

The Groom’s Family
The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Sweden – the groom’s parents
Prince Wilhelm of Sweden – the groom’s brother
Prince Erik of Sweden – the groom’s brother
Prince Eugen of Sweden – the groom’s paternal uncle
Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg of Sweden – the groom’s paternal uncle and aunt

The Bride’s Family
The Duke and Duchess of Connaught – the bride’s parents
Prince Arthur of Connaught – the bride’s brother
Princess Patricia of Connaught – the bride’s sister

The British Royal Family
King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom
The Prince of Wales (future King George V)
The Princess Victoria
The Duchess of Albany
Princess Alice and Prince Alexander of Teck
The Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein
The Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll and the Duke of Argyll
The Princess Beatrice, Princess Henry of Battenberg
Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg

Royal Guests
Prince and Princess Christian of Denmark (future King Christian X and Queen Alexandrine)
The Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Baden
Prince and Princess Maximilian of Baden
Prince Georg of Brunswick-Luneburg
The Khedive of Egypt
Prince and Princess Friedrich Karl of Hesse
Prince and Princess Heinrich of Prussia
The Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha
Duke and Duchess of Sparta
Prince and Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Hereditary Prince and Princess of Wied

The Wedding Attendants

(l-r) Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess Mary of Wales (in front), Gustav Adolf, Margaret, and Patricia of Connaught

The bride’s attendants were:

  • Princess Patricia of Connaught – the bride’s sister
  • Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg – the bride’s first cousin
  • Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha – the bride’s first cousin
  • Princess Mary of Wales – the bride’s first cousin once removed

The Wedding Attire

Princess Margaret’s gown, made in France, was white satin with orange blossoms and myrtle, covered with white Irish lace. Instead of a tiara, she wore a floral crown that held her veil in place. The veil was a gift from the Ladies of Ireland and was later worn by her daughter, Ingrid, and all of Ingrid’s female descendants.

The flowers in her hair and the bridal bouquet featured daisies – a nod to her name (Margaret comes from Marguerite, which is the French word for daisy).

Gustaf Adolf wore full military uniform with several orders of chivalry:

  • The Star and Collar of the Order of the Seraphim (Swedish)
  • The Sash and Star of the Order of the Sword (Swedish)
  • The Necklet of the Order of the Polar Star (Swedish)
  • The Star and Collar of the Order of the Bath (British)

Wedding Gifts

An illustrated depiction of some of the wedding gifts

Included in the wedding gifts were some prominent pieces of jewelry, including three tiaras that are still in use today.

Princess Madeleine of Sweden wearing the Connaught Tiara. source: Zimbio

The Connaught Tiara was a gift from The Duke and Duchess of Connaught.  The all-diamond tiara features a looped garland of diamonds with several large diamonds suspended. The tiara remains part of the Swedish collection today.

 Queen Silvia of Sweden wearing the Edward VII Ruby Tiara

The Edward VII Ruby Tiara was a gift from King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom. The tiara of diamonds and rubies was later left to Margaret’s second son, Sigvard, and then bought back by King Carl XVI Gustaf, and remains part of the Swedish collection today.

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece wearing the Khedive Tiara. source: Zimbio

The Khedive of Egypt Tiara, as its name suggests, was a gift from the Khedive of Egypt, recognizing that the couple had first met while in Cairo. The diamond tiara was left to Margaret’s daughter, Ingrid, who became Queen of Denmark. Since then, it has been used as a wedding tiara by all of Ingrid’s female descendants. Upon Ingrid’s death, it passed to her youngest daughter, Queen Anne-Marie of Greece.

Sofiero Castle, photo by Abelson at English Wikipedia, CC BY 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12847343

In addition to the jewelry and other gifts, the couple also received Sofiero Castle, in Helsingborg, Sweden, as a gift from the groom’s grandfather, King Oscar II of Sweden. Oscar had the castle built in the 1860s, and later expanded in the 1870s.

The Ceremony

St. George’s Chapel, Windsor. photo by Aurelien Guichard from London, United Kingdom – Windsor Uploaded by BaldBoris, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15203080

The wedding was held at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle and was conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, assisted by the Bishop of Winchester, the Bishop of Oxford, and the Dean of Windsor. The bride was escorted by her father, The Duke of Connaught, while the groom was supported by his brother Wilhelm and his uncle Eugen.

Following the ceremony, the bride and groom, and their guests processed back to Windsor Castle where the marriage register was signed in the White Drawing Room. The King and Queen led their guests through the Red and Green Drawing Rooms, en route to the wedding luncheon.

The Wedding Luncheon

St. George’s Hall, Windsor Castle. photo by Joshua Barnett – http://www.flickr.com/photos/angel_malachite/3478010368/sizes/o/in/photostream/, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12061979

Following the wedding, The King and Queen hosted the wedding luncheon at Windsor Castle for the guests. The newly married couple, their families, and royal guests were seated in the State Dining Room, while other invited guests were in St. George’s Hall. The menu consisted of:

Zéphires de Crabes à la Suédoise
(soufflé of crabmeat, cheese, mushrooms and herbs)
—–
Côtelettes d’Agneau à la Clamart
(lamb cutlets with peas, lettuce and onions)

Chaufroix de Cailles à la Bernadotte
(breast of quail in aspic)
—–
Les Buffets de Viandes Froides
(buffet of cold meats)
—–
Poussins Rôtis sur Canapés
(roasted baby chicken with a Madeira sauce with truffles)

Salade à la Française
(cold roast beef with a dressing of parsley, onion, anchovy and mustard)
—–
Asperges d’Argenteuil, Sauce Mousseline
(white asparagus in a mousseline sauce)
—–
Flumeries aux Fraises
(chilled mousse on an oatmeal porridge with stewed strawberries)

Macédoine de Fruits au Champagne
(diced fruit in a champagne syrup)
—–
Pâtisseries Parisienne
(variety of small pastries)
Corbeilles aux Bouquets de la Mariée
(baskets made of sugar icing filled with flowers made of sugar and marzipan,
representing flowers from the bridal bouquet)

The wedding cake, as described in the New York Times, was:

“… five feet in height, consisting of three tiers, the lower tier being three feet in diameter. Overhanging each tier were four balconies, beneath which were figures, modeled in sugar, bearing wheat, the symbol of plenty. The tiers were borne by four silver Grecian columns, and on the top of the cake was a draped female figure supporting a porcelain vase, from which hung garlands of natural flowers.”

Following the luncheon, Gustav Adolf and Margareta (having taken on the Swedish version of her name) traveled to Saighton Grange in Cheshire, the home of the Earl and Countess Grosvenor, where they spent the night before traveling to Ireland for the rest of their honeymoon. The couple then returned to Sweden, arriving on July 8, 1905.

Children

Margaret and Gustaf Adolf with their four eldest children; Photo Credit – Wikipedia, United States Library of Congress’s Prints and Photographs Division

Gustav Adolf and Margaret had five children:

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.

Wedding of King Charles III and Camilla Parker Bowles

by Susan Flantzer and Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

The Prince of Wales (later King Charles III) and Camilla Parker Bowles (later Queen Consort Camilla) were married in a civil ceremony on April 9, 2005, at the Windsor Guildhall in Windsor, England followed by a Service of Prayer and Dedication at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England.

The Family of Prince Charles

HRH Prince Charles Philip Arthur George was born on November 14, 1948, at Buckingham Palace, London. Charles was the first child of HRH Princess Elizabeth and her husband of one year, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, born HRH Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. Elizabeth was the elder daughter and the first of two children of King George VI and Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, who was the youngest daughter and the ninth of ten children of Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne. Philip’s father was HRH Prince Andrew of Greece, the son of King George I of Greece (formerly Prince William of Denmark) and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. His mother was Her Serene Highness Princess Alice of Battenberg. Alice was the daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. During World War I, when King George V ordered his family to relinquish their German styles and titles, Prince Louis became Louis Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven. Princess Victoria’s mother was Princess Alice, a daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Therefore, Charles’ parents are both great-great-grandchildren of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.

Charles’ parents added another child to the family, Princess Anne, born on August 15, 1950. Ill with lung cancer, King George VI died on February 6, 1952, and the 25-year-old Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II. Her duties as Queen postponed additions to the family. Prince Andrew was born eight years later on February 19, 1960, and Prince Edward was born on March 10, 1964.

As soon as his mother became Queen, Charles was the heir apparent to the throne and as the monarch’s eldest son became Duke of Cornwall. In the Scottish peerage, he became Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles, and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland. Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on July 26, 1958. He was invested as Prince of Wales on July 1, 1969, at Caernarvon Castle in Wales.

On July 29, 1981, Prince Charles married Lady Diana Spencer in a lavish wedding held at St Paul’s Cathedral, London.  The couple had two sons – Prince William, born 1982, and Prince Henry (Harry), born 1984.  Charles and Diana divorced in 1996, and she was tragically killed the following year in a car accident in Paris.

The Family of Camilla Parker Bowles

Camilla with her mother

Camilla Rosemary Shand was born July 17, 1947, at King’s College Hospital in London.  She is the daughter of Major Bruce Shand and the Honourable Rosalind Cubitt, daughter of the 3rd Baron Ashcombe.  Camilla has a sister, Annabel Shand Elliot, and a brother Mark Shand.  In 1973, Camilla Shand married Brigadier Andrew Parker Bowles, and the couple had two children – a son Tom, born in 1974, and a daughter Laura, born in 1978.  Camilla and Andrew divorced in 1995.

The Engagement

Official Engagement photo, released by Clarence House

After many years of speculation, the engagement of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles was announced by Clarence House on February 10, 2005.  At this point, it was also announced that when Charles becomes King, “it is intended” that Camilla will use the title of Princess Consort instead of Queen.  It was announced that a civil marriage would take place on April 8th, followed by a Service of Prayer and Dedication at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.  This was later postponed until the 9th, allowing The Prince of Wales to attend the funeral of Pope John Paul II in Rome.

Upon marriage, Mrs. Parker Bowles took on all of Prince Charles’ titles, including Princess of Wales.  However, out of respect for the late Diana, Princess of Wales, it was decided that she would be styled HRH The Duchess of Cornwall.

The Ring

Prince Charles presented Camilla with a ring that had belonged to his beloved grandmother, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.  The 1930s Art Deco style ring, set in platinum, has an emerald cut diamond with three diamond baguettes on each side.  It is believed to have been part of the large collection of jewels inherited by The Queen Mother from Mrs. Ronald Greville.  At the time of the engagement, it was estimated to have a value of about £100,000.

The Wedding Attire

The Civil Ceremony
photo: John D. McHugh/AP

For the civil ceremony, Camilla wore a cream-colored silk chiffon dress, hemmed with vertical rows of appliqued woven disks.  This was topped with an oyster silk basket-weave coat with herringbone stitch embroidery.  Her hat, designed by Philip Treacy, was a straw hat overlaid with ivory French lace and trimmed with feathers.  The dress was designed by Robinson Valentine, London.

The Service of Prayer and Dedication

For the Service of Prayer and Dedication, she wore a floor-length pale blue and gold coat over a matching chiffon gown, designed by Robinson Valentine.  Her hat, again designed by Philip Treacy, was a headdress of gold-leafed feathers, tipped with Swarovski crystals, in her hair.

The Prince of Wales wore a traditional morning suit with gray pinstripe trousers.  He finished off his outfit with a heliborne from his gardens at Highgrove.

Mrs. Parker Bowles’ carried a small bouquet of flowers in shades of gray and cream, mixed with Lily of the Vally, all bound with the same silk as her dress.  Tucked in the bouquet was a small spring of myrtle, the traditional symbol of a happy marriage.

The Civil Marriage

The civil wedding ceremony took place on April 9, 2005, in the Guildhall, Windsor. Prince William and Tom Parker Bowles (Camilla’s son)  served as witnesses to the civil wedding ceremony, which was conducted by the Royal Borough’s Superintendent Registrar, Clair Williams.  The couple arrived in a Rolls-Royce Phantom VI from the Queen’s fleet, while the rest of the guests arrived by a small bus.  The ceremony took place in the Ascot Room within the Guildhall and lasted approximately 20 minutes.  Throughout the room were flowers cut from the Highgrove estate, as well as Raymill House, Camilla’s home nearby.  At the couple’s request, the flowers were donated to local hospices after the ceremony.  The couple exchanged rings, made of gold from the Clogau St David’s mine in Bontddu, North Wales, and designed by Wartski of London.  The Civil Ceremony was attended by members of both Charles’ and Camilla’s families.  The Queen did not attend, due to her position as Supreme Governor of the Church of England, and the church’s rules regarding the marriage of divorced people.  The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh did, however, attend the Service of Prayer and Dedication.

Guests at the civil ceremony included:

Family of Prince Charles

  • Prince William of Wales, the groom’s son
  • Prince Harry of Wales, the groom’s son
  • The Duke of York, the groom’s brother
  • Princess Beatrice of York, the groom’s niece
  • Princess Eugenie of York, the groom’s niece
  • The Earl and Countess of Wessex, the groom’s brother and his wife
  • The Princess Royal and Rear Admiral Timothy Laurence, the groom’s sister and her second husband
  • Mr. Peter Phillips, the groom’s nephew
  • Miss Zara Phillips, the groom’s niece
  • Viscount and Viscountess Linley, the groom’s first cousin and his wife
  • Lady Sarah Chatto and Mr. Daniel Chatto, the groom’s first cousin and her husband
  • Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy, the groom’s first cousin once removed

Family of Camilla Parker Bowles

  • Major Bruce Shand, the bride’s father
  • Mr. Tom Parker Bowles and Miss Sara Buys, the bride’s son and his partner
  • Miss Laura Parker Bowles and Mr. Harry Lopes, the bride’s daughter and her partner
  • Mr. Mark Shand, the bride’s brother
  • Mr. and Mrs. Simon (Annabel) Elliot, the bride’s sister and her husband
  • Mr. Ben Elliot, the bride’s nephew
  • Miss Katie Elliot, the bride’s niece
  • Mr. and Mrs. Luke (Alice) Irwin, the bride’s niece and her husband
  • Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Parker Bowles, the bride’s first husband and his second wife

Sources: BBC; Telegraph

The Service of Prayer and Dedication

At 2:30 that afternoon, a Service of Prayer and Dedication was held at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor, presided over by The Archbishop of Canterbury.  Nearly 800 guests were in attendance.  Following the service, the couple posed for photographs on the steps of the chapel, before greeting some of the public who had gathered outside the chapel. These included representatives from some of the couple’s charities and organizations. They were then driven back to Windsor Castle for a reception in the State Apartments.

Guest at the Service of Prayer and Dedication included:

British Royal Family and Relatives

  • The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh, the groom’s parents
  • Prince William of Wales, the groom’s son
  • Prince Henry of Wales, the groom’s son
  • The Duke of York, the groom’s brother
  • Princess Beatrice of York, the groom’s niece
  • Princess Eugenie of York, the groom’s niece
  • The Earl and Countess of Wessex, the groom’s brother and his wife
  • The Princess Royal and Vice Admiral Sir Tim Laurence, the groom’s sister and her second husband
  • Mr. Peter Phillips, the groom’s nephew
  • Miss Zara Phillips, the groom’s niece
  • Viscount and Viscountess Linley, the groom’s first cousin and his wife
  • Lady Sarah Chatto and Mr. Daniel Chatto, the groom’s first cousin and her husband
  • The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, the groom’s first cousin once removed and his wife
  • The Duke and Duchess of Kent, the groom’s first cousin once removed, and his wife
  • The Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, the groom’s first cousin once removed and his wife
  • Princess Alexandra, Lady Ogilvy, the groom’s first cousin once removed
  • Lord and Lady Romsey, the groom’s second cousin and his wife

Family of Camilla Parker Bowles

  • Major Bruce Shand, the bride’s father
  • Mr. Tom Parker Bowles and Miss Sara Buys, the bride’s son and his partner
  • Miss Laura Parker Bowles and Mr. Harry Lopes, the bride’s daughter and her partner
  • Mr. Mark Shand, the bride’s brother
  • Mr. and Mrs. Simon (Annabel) Elliot, the bride’s sister and her husband
  • Mr. Ben Elliot, the bride’s nephew
  • Miss Katie Elliot, the bride’s niece
  • Mr. and Mrs. Luke (Alice) Irwin, the bride’s niece and her husband
  • Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Parker Bowles, the bride’s first husband and his second wife

Foreign Royalty

  • King Hamad bin Isa bin Salman Al-Khalif of Bahrain
  • King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes
  • Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
  • Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine of Yugoslavia
  • Prince Constantijn and Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands
  • Princess Margarita and Prince Radu of Romania
  • Prince Turki bin Faisal Al Saud and Princess Nouf of Saudi Arabia
  • Prince Bandar bin Sultan of Saudi Arabia

Viceroys

  • The Governor-General of Antigua and Barbuda and Lady Carlisle
  • The Governor-General of Australia and Mrs. Jeffery
  • The Governor-General of Barbados and Mrs. Husbands
  • The Governor-General of Canada and John Ralston Saul
  • The Queen’s Representative in the Cook Islands and Lady Goodwin
  • The Governor-General of Grenada and Lady Williams
  • The Commonwealth Secretary-General and Clare de Lore
  • The Governor-General of New Zealand and Peter Cartwright
  • The Governor-General of Papua New Guinea and Lady Matane
  • The Governor-General of St. Christopher and Nevis

British Politicians

  • The Rt. Hon. Tony Blair, Prime Minister and Mrs. Blain
  • The Rt. Hon. Michael Howard, Conservative Party leader and Mrs. Howard
  • The Rt. Hon. Charles Kennedy, Liberal Democrat leader and Mrs. Kennedy
  • The Rt. Hon. Jack McConnell, First Minister of Scotland and Mrs. McConnell
  • The Rt. Hon. Rhodri Morgan, First Minister for Wales and Mrs. Morgan
  • The Rt. Hon. Paul Murphy, Secretary of State for Northern Ireland
  • The Honourable Nicholas Soames, Shadow Defence Secretary

Religious Representatives

  • Rowan Williams, The Archbishop of Canterbury and Mrs. Williams
  • The Rt, Rev. and Rt. Hon The Lord and Lady Carey of Clifton
  • The Rt. Rev. Dean of Windsor and wife
  • The Rev. Canon Doctor Hueston Finlay and Mrs. Finlay
  • The Rev. Canon Laurence Gunner and Mrs. Gunner
  • The Rev. Canon John Ovenden and Mrs. Ovenden
  • The Rev, Canon John White

Other Notable Guests

  • Rowan Atkinson, actor
  • Sanjeev Bhaskar, actor
  • Melvyn Bragg, Baron Bragg, broadcaster and author
  • Paddy Campbell, fashion designer
  • Phil Collins, singer
  • Jilly Cooper, novelist
  • Jonathan Dimbleby, British presenter
  • Edward Fox, actor and Joanna David
  • David Frost, broadcaster
  • Stephen Fry, actor
  • Valentino Garavani, fashion designer
  • Lady Annabel Goldsmith, socialite
  • Richard E. Grant, actor
  • Robert Harris, author
  • Ronald Harwood, playwright
  • Sir Stephen Lamport, former private secretary to the prince
  • Joanna Lumley, actress and ambassador for Prince’s Trust
  • Martina Milburn, chief executive of the Prince’s Trust
  • Simon Sebag Montefiore, biographer, novelist and journalist
  • William Rees-Mogg, former editor of The Times
  • Joan Rivers, comic
  • Prunella Scales, actress
  • William Shawcross, writer and broadcaster
  • Trudie Styler, actor and producer
  • Philip Treacy, milliner
  • Christopher Warren-Green, conductor
  • Timothy West, actor
  • Staff from Clarence House, Highgrove House, Birkhall, and Sandringham

Sources: BBC; Telegraph

The Reception

photo: Hugo Burnand, Pool/Getty Images

Following the service, the Queen hosted a reception in the State Apartments at Windsor Castle.  Items on the menu included smoked salmon, roast venison with Balmoral redcurrant and port jelly, egg and cress sandwiches, potted shrimp rolls, and mini Cornish pastries.  Mrs. Ethel Richardson, of Wales, provided 20 fruit cakes at the request of the Prince of Wales.  After a toast of Duchy champagne, the couple left to begin their honeymoon.  The wedding cake was made by Dawn Blunden, owner of a cake shop in Lincolnshire.

Source: BBC; Netty’s Royalty Page

The Honeymoon

Following the reception, the newlywed couple departed for Birkhall, Prince Charles’ home on the Balmoral Estate in Scotland.  Princes William and Harry had decorated the car which was taking them from the castle.  The words “Prince” and “Duchess” were written on the windshield, with “Just Married” written on the back.  Bunches of red, white, and yellow metallic balloons had also been tied to the car. The Prince and Duchess boarded a plane at RAF Northolt for their flight to Aberdeen.

Source: BBC; Netty’s Royalty Page

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.

Wedding of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg and Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Hereditary Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg (the future Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg) married Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla on February 14, 1981,  in a civil ceremony at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg, and then in a religious ceremony at the Cathedral of Notre Dame also in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg.

Henri’s Early Life

Henri (on the right in the back row) with his parents and siblings in 1971; Credit – Wikipedia

Henri was born on April 16, 1955, the second child of Hereditary Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and his wife, the former Princess Joséphine-Charlotte of Belgium. Henri had an elder sister, Marie-Astrid, and later had three younger siblings – Jean, Margaretha, and Guillaume. All of the children were born at Betzdorf Castle, the family’s home in eastern Luxembourg. Like his parents, Henri was raised Catholic.

Henri started his education in Luxembourg, and later graduated from secondary school in France. He then attended Sandhurst in Berkshire to complete military training. Following his time at Sandhurst, Henri earned a bachelor’s degree in political science at the University of Geneva in 1980. Henri also completed several internships with companies in the United States during his last two years of university studies. Through his education, Henri became fluent in German, French, Luxembourgish, and English. He also understands some Spanish.

During the 1970s, the decline in steel production hit Luxembourg’s mills and economy hard. Henri made a decision at that time to pursue investment by other countries as a means of boosting Luxembourg’s economy. This contributed to his decision to complete his chosen course of study and completion of foreign internships.

For more information about Henri see:

Maria Teresa’s Early Life

GD Maria Teresa_Luxembourg_birth family

Maria Teresa (on the left) with her family; Photo Credit – http://www.theroyalforums.com/

Maria Teresa Mestre y Batista-Falla was born on March 22, 1956, in Marianao, Havana, Cuba. Her parents were Jose Antonio Mestre y Alvarez and Maria Teresa de Mestre, descendants of Spanish nobility. Although they held no titles, Maria Teresa’s family had made a considerable fortune in banking and maintained an estate in Santander, Spain. Maria Teresa and her two brothers Antonio and Luis and her sister Catalina were all raised Catholic.

Following the rise of Fidel Castro to power in Cuba, Maria Teresa fled the country with her family in 1959 to New York City. The family stayed there until 1965 when they moved briefly to their home in Spain and later Switzerland. Maria Teresa’s father established himself as a banker in Switzerland during the following years.

Maria Teresa attended the Marymount School and L’École française during her time in New York. After moving to Geneva, Maria Teresa continued her studies at the Marie-José Institute in Gstaad. She completed her secondary education at the Marie-Thérèse School in Geneva, graduating in 1975. Maria Teresa also attained Swiss nationality while she was in high school.

Maria Teresa then entered the Graduate Institute of International Studies (part of the University of Geneva) where she earned a Bachelor of Political Science in 1980. During her years at the university, Maria Teresa concentrated her attention on gerontology, the care of children with learning difficulties, and the challenges experienced by women in the workplace. Along with her native Spanish, Maria Teresa became fluent in German, French, English, Italian, and later Luxembourgish.

For more information about Maria Teresa see:

The Question of a Commoner Spouse

Henri_Maria Teresa_Luxembourg_engagement

Henri, Maria Teresa, and the Luxembourg Princely Family at the time of the engagement; Photo Credit – www.luxarazzi.com

By the time Henri came of age, royals were still expected to find a spouse among other European royal families – or titled aristocracy if no suitable royal candidate existed. Henri’s own parents were rumored to have been involved with commoners before their own marriage – commoners they were allegedly forced to abandon to marry one another. But by the mid-1970s, royals with commoner spouses were becoming less unusual. The monarchs or heirs apparent were married to non-aristocratic spouses in all of the Scandinavian countries and in the Netherlands. Yet Jean and Joséphine-Charlotte still felt that the future grand duchess should be a royal or a noble.

Henri did have plenty of opportunities to meet a spouse whom his family would have found suitable. As with young royals of all generations, Henri was linked to other eligible princesses and nobles during his young adulthood. During his time at Sandhurst, Henri was rumored to be dating Princess Caroline of Monaco, then a student at St. Mary’s School in Berkshire. While the two were of similar age, royal, and Roman Catholic, Caroline later stated that she and Henri were never more than friends.

A few years later, Henri was linked to Catherine of Limburg-Stirum, a German noble and descendent of the Count of Paris. The two were seen together at a few weddings, but the relationship did not develop into anything serious.

Despite Maria Teresa’s accomplishments and the prominence of her family, Henri’s family was reportedly dismayed at his wish to marry her, as they had hoped he would choose a royal or noble spouse. There was also some question as to whether Maria Teresa was related to former Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista (she is not), which could have affected her suitability as a consort.

But so determined Henri was to marry Maria Teresa that it was rumored that Henri offered to renounce his claim to the grand ducal throne in order to do so. When it was clear that Henri refused to consider a royal spouse, Jean and Joséphine-Charlotte finally relented and let the couple announce their engagement. However, years later Maria Teresa said that she and Joséphine-Charlotte had always had a difficult relationship.

Courtship and Engagement

The happy couple with Henri’s parents; Photo Credit – http://royalweddings.hellomagazine.com

Maria Teresa and Henri met while completing their studies in Geneva. Occasionally both would end up working on class projects together or in the same study groups. It is unknown exactly how long the two knew one another before dating, but it is known that their relationship blossomed out of a strong friendship. Maria Teresa later said of their courtship, “The more time we spent together it was more clear to us that we would spend our lives together.”

Luxembourg Minister of State Pierre Werner announced the engagement of Henri and Maria Teresa on November 8, 1980. The announcement was made three weeks after the couple had finished their studies at the University of Geneva and apparently a day after the engagement was considered official. The Luxembourg public had known nothing of the couple’s relationship up to this point.

Henri and his parents officially introduced Maria Teresa to the press two days after announcing their engagement. At that time, the two announced that a spring 1981 wedding was being planned, but that the exact date and location were not yet known. During the press conference, Maria Teresa wore her new engagement ring of yellow gold set with a cabochon ruby.

Wedding Attire

Maria Teresa and Henri on their wedding day. Photo credit: Royal Order of Sartorial Splendor

Henri wore the black single-breasted high-necked uniform for the religious wedding. He complimented the uniform with the orange sash and eight-pointed plaque of the Order of the Gold Lion of the House of Nassau, the highest order in Luxembourg. Around his waist was a tasseled orange belt. This outfit has since become Henri’s standard outfit for most formal occasions.

For her dress, Maria Teresa chose a design by the French house Balmain, known as a leader in French fashion following World War II. Balmain had dressed several Hollywood clients, as well as Queen Sirkit of Thailand. Balmain continues to be a popular designer for the grand ducal family and other royalty around the world.

Maria Teresa’s wedding dress was made of white silk embossed with an intricate pattern. The floor-length dress had rather simple lines, with a bell skirt and subtle leg-o-mutton sleeves. It featured a jewel neckline and fitted bodice, with the cuffs, collar, and hem of the dress trimmed in fur, fitting for a winter wedding. The dress also had a train that descended from the shoulders and extended about two meters, meeting the length of Maria Teresa’s veil. The lace-trimmed veil featured a blusher worn by Maria Teresa during her walk down the aisle and part of the wedding service.

Maria Teresa wore attached to her veil the Congo Diamond Tiara, brought to Luxembourg from Belgium by her mother-in-law, Belgian princess Josephine-Charlotte. Josephine-Charlotte had worn the tiara, a gift from the people of Congo, during her own wedding ceremony. Maria Teresa’s sisters-in-law, Marie-Astrid and Margaretha, each wore the tiara on their own wedding days, both in 1982.

Maria Teresa’s wedding dress was later used to make a new dress for the statue of Our Lady of Luxembourg, Comforter of the Afflicted. The dress was first displayed on the statue in 2012, just before the wedding of Maria Teresa’s and Henri’s son Guillaume to Belgian noble Stephanie de Lannoy.

Wedding Ceremonies

Henri and Maria Teresa signing their wedding license. Photo credit: redcarpetwedding.org

As per Luxembourg law, Henri and Maria Teresa were married in a civil ceremony at the Grand Ducal Palace on the morning of February 14, 1981. The simple ceremony was conducted by Luxembourg City’s Mayor Camille Polfer, a close friend of the family.

The religious service took place about an hour after the civil ceremony at the capital city’s Notre Dame Cathedral. Maria Teresa’s sister Catalina (wearing a blue lace dress that echoed the design of her sister’s) served as a bridesmaid. Maria Teresa’s father led his daughter down the aisle.

Of the wedding day, Henri later remarked:

“This day I will always remember as the day that was such great joy. I will not conceal that I was a little excited about the enormous appeal, which had found our wedding in the media. At that moment, but in which my fiancee walked into the cathedral, any nervousness was gone, and I knew that we would now be forever by two for the tasks that would put life and my function to us to overcome together. This moment is one of my best memories.”

Although the couple married on February 14, both Henri and Maria Teresa later said that they were unaware of the Valentine’s Day holiday as it was not widely celebrated in Luxembourg at the time. The date was chosen due to a state visit scheduled a few weeks later in Luxembourg. Henri and Maria Teresa did not want to wait any longer than they had to marry, so the wedding was scheduled for February.

Following the wedding, the couple emerged from the cathedral and walked under a tunnel made of swords. Members of the Luxembourg Army in dress uniform held the swords.

Reception and Balcony Appearance

Henri, with Maria Teresa blowing kisses to the crowd from the balcony of the Grand Ducal Palace. Photo credit: Wort.lu

Despite the cold weather, Henri and Maria Teresa returned to the Grand Ducal Palace to wave and guests. The newlyweds appeared on the balcony of the palace – adorned in red velvet for the occasion – with both sets of parents. The couple shared a hug and kiss just before Maria Teresa blew kisses to the crowd below. A reception followed for the 700 wedding guests in the Grand Ducal Palace.

Wedding Guests

Henri_Maria Teresa_wedding guests

Some of the wedding guests; Photo Credit – www.theroyalforums.com

Over 700 guests attended the wedding and reception. Some of the more prominent guests included:

  • Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg
  • Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg
  • Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg
  • Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg
  • Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg
  • Princess Elisabeth of Luxembourg, Duchess of Hohenburg
  • Princess Marie-Adelaide of Luxembourg and Count Carl Josef Henckel of
    Donnersmarck
  • Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Luxembourg and Count Knud of Holstein-Ledreborg
  • Princess Alix of Luxembourg and Prince Antoine de Ligne
  • King Olav V of Norway
  • Hereditary Prince Hans-Adam and Hereditary Princess Marie Aglae of Liechtenstein
  • King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium
  • Prince Albert and Princess Paola of Liege (Belgium)
  • Prince Philippe of Belgium
  • Princess Astrid of Belgium
  • Prince Laurent of Belgium
  • Queen Margrethe (Henri’s godmother) and Prince Henrik of Denmark
  • Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco
  • Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
  • Former Queen Marie-Jose of Italy
  • Infanta Margarita of Spain and the Duke of Soria
  • Princess Margriet of the Netherlands and Pieter van Vollenhoven
  • Archduke Otto and Archduchess Regina of Austria
  • Princess Christina of Sweden, Mrs. Magnuson, and Mr. Tord Magnuson
  • Prince Franz of Bavaria
  • Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este
  • Archduke Carl Ludwig and Archduchess Yolande of Austria
  • Archduke Carl Christian of Austria
  • Archduke Rudolph and Archduchess Anna Gabriele of Austria
  • Princess Leonor of Brazil and Prince Michel de Ligne
  • Prince Ludwig and Princess Irmingard of Bavaria
  • Princess Francesca of Bourbon-Parma and Prince Eduard von Lobkowicz
  • Prince Eric and Princess Lydia of Bourbon-Parma
  • Prince Wauthier and Princess Régine de Ligne
  • Antoine de Ligne
  • Princess Christine de Ligne
  • Princess Sophie de Ligne
  • Princess Yolande de Ligne
  • Princess Sophie von Hohenberg
  • Countess Marie Charlotte Henckel von Donnersmarck
  • Count Flemming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg
  • Countess Monica of Holstein-Ledreborg
  • Countess Kamilla of Holstein-Ledreborg
  • Countess Tatiana of Holstein-Ledreborg
  • Countess Antonia of Holstein-Ledreborg

Children

Embed from Getty Images 
Henri and Maria Teresa with their five children

Henri and Maria Teresa had five children:

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Wedding of Prince Carl Philip of Sweden and Sofia Hellqvist

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT, source: Swedish Royal Court

Prince Carl Philip of Sweden married Sofia Hellqvist on June 13, 2015, in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden.

Prince Carl Philip’s Family

Swedish Royal Family at Solliden Palace, July 2014. Photo: Anna-Lena Ahlström/Swedish Royal Court

Swedish Royal Family at Solliden Palace, July 2014. Photo: Anna-Lena Ahlström/Swedish Royal Court

HRH Prince Carl Philip Edmund Bertil of Sweden, Duke of Värmland, was born on May 13, 1979, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm. He is the second child, and only son, of King Carl XVI Gustaf and the former Silvia Sommerlath. King Carl XVI Gustaf is the son of the late Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten, and the late Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Queen Silvia was born in Germany to Walter Sommerlath and the former Alice Soares de Toledo. She is of German and Brazilian descent and is a distant descendant of King Afonso III of Portugal. Prince Carl Philip has two siblings – Crown Princess Victoria (b 1977) and Princess Madeleine (b 1982). At the time of his birth, he was Crown Prince of Sweden. However, the Act of Succession was changed at the beginning of 1980, allowing for absolute primogeniture and making his elder sister, Victoria, Crown Princess and heir to the Swedish throne.

For more information about Carl Philip see:

Miss Sofia Hellqvist’s Family

Sofia and Carl Philip with their families, May 2015. photo: Swedish Royal Court

Sofia and Carl Philip with their families, May 2015. photo: Swedish Royal Court

Miss Sofia Kristina Hellqvist was born on December 6, 1984, at the Danderyd Hospital in Täby, Sweden. She is the daughter of Erik and Marie Hellqvist and has two sisters – Lina and Sara. After attending primary school in Sweden, Sofia attended both the New York Institute and English and Business, and Stockholm University. In 2010, she founded a non-profit organization, Project Playground, in South Africa, which strives to improve life for children. She served as Secretary-General until April 2015 and now serves as the organization’s Honorary Chairman.

The Engagement

photo: Swedish Royal Court

photo: Swedish Royal Court

Carl Philip and Sofia met in the summer of 2009, and by the spring of 2010, the media was beginning to speculate that the two were involved. In August 2010, the Royal Court confirmed that the two were in a relationship. Sofia has since attended many family functions, including the weddings of Carl Philip’s two sisters, although she was not seated with the royal family. They lived together in Stockholm for some time and maintained a rather private life.

On June 25, 2014, the Swedish Royal Court announced that the couple was engaged and that the wedding would take place on June 13, 2015, in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.

It was later announced that Sofia will become HRH Princess Sofia of Sweden, Duchess of Värmland, upon marriage.

For more information about Sofia see:

Pre-Wedding Festivities

The night before the wedding, the King and Queen hosted a private dinner.  Family and invited guests boarded the SS Stockholm which took them around the harbor to the island of Skeppsholmen where the dinner was held.  The dinner was held in an underground bunker that had once been used by the Swedish military.  It is now used as an exhibition space.

Wedding Guests

photo: Mattias Edwall/Swedish Royal Court

photo: Mattias Edwall/Swedish Royal Court

Along with the families of both the bride and groom, guests included representatives from several other royal families, members of the diplomatic corps and the Swedish government, and family friends. Below is a list of the families and royal guests. For a complete guest list, click here.

The Swedish Royal Family
HM The King
HM The Queen
HRH The Crown Princess and HRH Prince Daniel
HRH Princess Estelle
HRH Princess Madeleine and Mr. Christopher O’Neill
HRH Princess Leonore

The King’s Family
Princess Margaretha, Mrs. Ambler
Baroness Sybilla von Dincklage
Mr. James Ambler and Mrs. Ursula Ambler
HRH Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Hohenzollern
Mrs. Désirée von Bohlen und Halbach and Mr. Eckbert von Bohlen und Halbach
TSH Prince Hubertus and Princess Ute Marie von Hohenzollern
Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld and Baron Niclas Silfverschiöld
Baron Carl Silfverschiöld
Baroness Christina Louise De Geer and Baron Hans De Geer
Baroness Hélène Silfverschiöld and Mr. Fredrik Dieterle
Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson and Mr. Tord Magnuson
Mr. Gustaf Magnuson and Mrs. Vicky Magnuson
Mr. Oscar Magnuson and Mrs. Emma Magnuson
Mr. Victor Magnuson and Miss Frida Bergström
Countess Marianne Bernadotte af Wisborg
Count Bertil Bernadotte af Wisborg and Countess Jill Bernadotte af Wisborg
Mrs. Dagmar von Arbin
Countess Bettina Bernadotte af Wisborg and Mr. Philipp Haug
Mr. Emil Bernadotte af Wisborg

The Queen’s Family
Mr. Ralf de Toledo Sommerlath and Mrs. Charlotte de Toledo Sommerlath
Mrs. Carmita Sommerlath Baudinet and Mr. Pierre Baudinet
Miss Chloé Radigues de Chennevière
Mr. Thomas de Toledo Sommerlath and Ms. Bettina Aussems
Mr. Tim de Toledo Sommerlath and Mrs. Kristina de Toledo Sommerlath
Mr. Philip de Toledo Sommerlath
Miss Giulia de Toledo Sommerlath
Mr. Walther L. Sommerlath and Mrs. Ingrid Sommerlath
Mr. Patrick Sommerlath and Mrs. Maline Sommerlath
Mr. Leopold Lundén Sommerlath
Miss Chloé Sommerlath
Miss Anaïs Sommerlath
Miss Helena Christina Sommerlath and Dr. Jan Sohns
Ms. Maria Salles Souto Ferreira

Miss Sofia Hellqvist’s Family
Mr. Erik Hellqvist and Mrs. Marie Hellqvist
Miss Lina Hellqvist and Mr. Jonas Frejd
Miss Sara Hellqvist and Mr. Oskar Bergman
Mrs. Britt Rotman
Mr. Anders Rotman and Mrs. Laila Rönn Rotman
Mr. Victor Rotman and Miss Eleonora Caiazza
Mr. Johan Rotman
Mrs. Lena Rotman and Mr. Peter Nygren
Miss Hanna Nygren
Mr. Andreas Nygren
Mr. Lars Hellqvist and Mrs. Irena Hellqvist
Mr. Daniel Hellqvist
Mr. Martin Hellqvist

Royal Guests
HM Queen Mathilde of Belgium
HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
TRH Crown Prince Frederick and Crown Princess Mary of Denmark
TRH Prince Joachim and Princess Marie of Denmark
TRH Prince Nikolaos and Princess Tatiana of Greece
HIH Princess Takamado of Japan
HM Queen Máxima of the Netherlands
HM Queen Sonja of Norway
TRH Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit of Norway
HRH Princess Märtha Louise of Norway and Mr. Ari Behn
TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex
TRH Prince Leopold and Princess Ursula of Bavaria
TRH Prince Manuel and Princess Anna of Bavaria
HH Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The Wedding Attendants

photo: Mattias Edwall/Swedish Royal Court

photo: Mattias Edwall/Swedish Royal Court

The couple had four bridesmaids.

They wore white dresses of pure silk and Italian silk organza and carried bouquets which were copies of the bride’s bouquet, with various shades of cream and coral roses.

Prince Carl Philip’s best man was his close friend, Jan-Åke Hansson.  The two have known each other since attending boarding school together in the 1990s.

The Wedding Attire

The bride wore a dress of three shades of white, in silk crepe overlaid with Italian silk organza and lined with lace. The dress was made by Swedish designer, Ida Sjöstedt, and the lace by José María Ruiz. Her veil, of thin bridal tulle, was hand-embroidered in sheer cotton lace.

She carried a bouquet of various shades of cream and coral garden roses and a sprig of myrtle from Sofiero.  She also included a spring in her hair.  This is a tradition that goes back to Princess Margaret of Connaught, who brought a myrtle bush to Sweden when she married the future King Gustaf VI Adolf in 1905.  Since the 1935 wedding of her daughter, Ingrid, to the future King Frederik IX of Denmark, it has been a tradition for Swedish – as well as Danish – royal brides to include a spring of myrtle from this bush, either in their wedding bouquet or in their hair.

Her bridal look was completed with a new tiara of diamonds and emeralds.  This was a gift from King Carl Gustaf and Queen Silvia.

The groom wore the mess dress uniform (model 1878) of the Swedish Amphibious Corps, of which he is a Major.  He wore the sash and star of the Order of the Seraphim, as well as the star of the Order of the Polar Star on a black necklet.

The Ceremony

photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT, source: Swedish Royal Court

photo: Claudio Bresciani/TT, source: Swedish Royal Court

The ceremony took place in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace in Stockholm.  It was conducted by Chaplain to The King and Bishop Emeritus, The Right Reverend Lars-Göran Lönnermark, and pastor of the Royal Court Parish, The Reverend Michael Bjerkhagen. Preceded by the four bridesmaids, the bride entered on the arm of her father and was joined by Prince Carl Philip before approaching the altar.  The ceremony included two songs, favorites of the couple – Coldplay’s “Fix You”, performed by Salem Al Fakir, and Rhianna’s “Umbrella”, performed by David Pagmar. The newly married couple processed out of the Royal Chapel to a modern version of Joyful, Joyful, performed by Samuel Ljungblahd and the By Grace Gospel Choir.

Following the service, Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia traveled through the streets of Stockholm in an open coach, before returning to the Royal Palace for the wedding banquet.  Upon arriving, a 21-gun salute was fired from Skeppsholmen.

The Wedding Banquet

The wedding banquet was held in the Vita Havet Assembly Rooms in the Royal Palace, followed by dancing in King Karl XI’s Gallery.  The couple was seated at the head table, with their parents and siblings, and Queen Margrethe of Denmark.

Menu

White asparagus “Princess Sofia”
cooked in elderflower juice with roe from Älvdalen,
asparagus and chive emulsion
*
Langoustine simmered with coriander served with grilled scallop,
yuzu dressing, wood sorrel and split peas
*
Fried, lightly cured Hjälmaren pike-perch with grilled spring vegetables, caramelised crème fraîche and smoked butter
*
Peach and raspberry tartelette with white chocolate,
champagne and peach sorbet

Wine

Aperitif
Champagne Diebolt-Vallois Brut Tradition
*****
Pommery Grand Cru Millésimé 2005 Champagne
*
Trimbach Riesling Vieilles Vignes de Prince 2011 Alsace
*
Radford Dale “Freedom” 2012 Pinot Noir Elgin
*
Château Suduiraut 2002 Sauternes

During the banquet, speeches were given by The King, Mr. Erik Hellqvist, and Prince Carl Philip. Princess Sofia also spoke briefly, introducing a song specifically for her new husband.  It was performed by Molly Sandén, accompanied by Danny Saucedo, and it is reported that Sofia herself wrote the lyrics.

Following the meal, the couple cut their very modern wedding cake, created by The Swedish National Pastry Team.  This was followed by dancing in King Karl XI’s Gallery.

 

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.

Wedding of King Philippe of Belgium and Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

On December 4, 1999, King Philippe of the Belgians, then the Duke of Brabant and heir to the Belgian throne, married Jonkvrouw Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz in Brussels, Belgium. The civil ceremony was held at the Town Hall of Brussels, followed by the religious ceremony at the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula. The bride would be the first Belgian-born future Queen in the history of the Belgian monarchy.

Philippe’s Early Life

Prince Philippe of Belgium was born on April 15, 1960, at the Château du Belvédère in Laeken, Belgium. He is the eldest child of King Albert II of the Belgians and the former Paola Ruffo di Calabria and has one sister – Princess Astrid – and one brother, Prince Laurent. His primary and secondary education was at St. Michael’s College in Brussels, studying in French, and then the Saint-André de Bruges Abbey in Bruges, studying in Dutch. He then enrolled at the Royal Military Academy in Brussels, qualifying as a fighter pilot. He then served with the Paracommando Regiment (now the Immediate Reaction Cell), qualifying as a paratrooper and assuming command of a paratrooper and commando platoon. During this time, he also took several courses at the Royal Higher Defense Institute. Philippe then attended Trinity College at the University of Oxford, and the Graduate School at Stanford University in California, earning a Masters degree in political science in 1985.

He became Duke of Brabant, and heir to the Belgian throne, in 1993 when his uncle, King Baudouin, died suddenly and his father became King. At that time, he also became the Honorary Chairman of the Belgian Foreign Trade Board, a role that his father had held for over 30 years. Over the next twenty years, he represented Belgium at over 70 economic missions around the world, in addition to supporting, and representing, his father at countless royal events.

For more information about Philippe see:

Mathilde’s Early Life

Mathilde as a toddler

Mathilde d’Udekem d’Acoz was born on January 20, 1973, in Uccle, Belgium, the daughter of Jonkheer Patrick d’Udekem d’Acoz and Countess Anna Maria Komorowska. Mathilde has four younger siblings – Marie-Alix, Elisabeth, Hélène, and Charles-Henri. She was raised at the Château de Losange, near the village of Villers-la-Bonne-Eau in the Luxembourg province of Belgium. The château had been purchased by Mathilde’s grandfather in 1958 as a home for her father.

She attended primary school at l’École Notre-Dame in Bastogne and then secondary school at the Institut de la Vierge Fidèle in Brussels. From 1991-1994, she attended the Institut Libre Marie Haps in Brussels, graduating magna cum laude with a degree in speech therapy. She continued her studies at the Université Catholique de Louvain, studying psychology, and also had her own speech therapy practice in Brussels until her wedding. Mathilde is fluent in four languages.

For more information about Mathilde see:

The Engagement

source: Paris Match

When their engagement was announced in September 1999, it came as a huge surprise to the Belgian people. They had first met in 1996 and had been involved ever since, but it was not until the announcement that anyone knew anything about the relationship. Following the official announcement, the couple, along with their families, gathered at the Castle of Laeken for a photocall with the media and gave a brief interview.

source: Glamour

Philippe gave Mathilde an engagement ring designed by Wolfers jewelers in Brussels. The ring features a large oval Burmese ruby set in gold, ringed with diamonds on a thick band set with more diamonds,

Wedding Guests

The Belgian Royal Family
King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium
Queen Fabiola of Belgium
Princess Astrid and Prince Lorentz of Belgium with their children
Prince Laurent of Belgium
Prince Alexandre and Princess Léa of Belgium
Princess Esmeralda of Belgium and Salvador Moncada

The Queen’s Family
Prince Fabrizio and Donna Luisa Ruffo di Calabria
Prince Fulco and Princess Melba Ruffo di Calabria
Prince Augusto and Princess Irma Ruffo di Calabria
Prince Alessandro Ruffo di Calabria
Don Antonello and Donna Rosa Maria Ruffo di Calabria
Don Lucio Ruffo di Calabria
Donna Claudia Ruffo di Calabria
Flavia Porcari Li Destri
Donna Marielli Ruffo di Calabria

The Bride’s Family
Count Patrick and Countess Anna Maria d’Udekem d’Acoz
Countess Elisabeth d’Udekem d’Acoz
Countess Hélène d’Udekem d’Acoz
Count Charles-Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz
Count Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz
Count Raoul and Countess Francoise d’Udekem d’Acoz
Count Michel and Countess Dominique Komorowski
Countess Marie Komorowski and Gérard Braun
Jean-Michel and Rose Maus de Rolley
Countess Gabrielle Komorowski
Alain and Christine de Brabant
Prince Alexandre Sapieha
Prince Stefan Sapieha

Royal Guests
The Duke and Duchess of Angoulême
Archduke Carl Christian and Archduchess Marie-Astrid of Austria
Archduke Simeon and Archduchess Maria of Austria
Archduke Carl Peter and Archduchess Alexandra of Austria
Archduke Carl Ludwig of Austria
Archduchess Margherita of Austria-Este
Archduke Gerhard of Austria-Este
Archduke Martin of Austria-Este
Duke Franz of Bavaria
Duke Max Emanuel and Duchess Elizabeth in Bavaria
Duchess Helene in Bavaria
The Duke of Braganca
Prince Kardam and Princess Miriam of Bulgaria
Queen Margrethe II and Prince Henrik of Denmark
King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece
Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako of Japan
Princess Rahma bint el-Hassan of Jordan
Prince Hans-Adam II and Princess Marie of Liechtenstein
Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein
Prince Nikolaus and Princess Margaretha of Liechtenstein
Princess Astrid of Liechtenstein
Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg
Hereditary Grand Duke Henri and Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa of Luxembourg
Prince Jean of Luxembourg
Prince Guillaume of Luxembourg
Hereditary Prince Albert of Monaco
Lalla Sumaya of Morocco
Lalla Hasna of Morocco
Princess Alix Napoléon
Prince Jérôme Napoléon
Prince Dipendra of Nepal
Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
The Prince of Orange
Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
King Harald V and Queen Sonja of Norway
Crown Prince Haakon of Norway
Princess Märtha Louise of Norway
King Mihai and Queen Anne of Romania
The Duke and Duchess of Savoy
Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy
Queen Sofia of Spain
The Prince of Asturias
King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia of Sweden
The Duke of Vendôme
The Prince of Wales
Prince Dimitri of Yugoslavia

The Wedding Attendants

The large wedding party – all decked out in red velvet outfits with lace collars – consisted of:

  • Princess Luisa Maria of Belgium
  • Princess Astrid of Liechtenstein
  • Chiara van Voorst
  • Marie-Hedwige Komorowska
  • Bénédicte de Brabant
  • Sofia Ricasoli
  • Flavia Porcari
  • Prince Joachim of Belgium
  • Adrian Beissel von Gymnich

(also in the photo are Prince Amedeo and Princess Maria Laura of Belgium)

The Wedding Attire

Mathilde chose the Belgian designer Édouard Vermeulen to design her dress. Much thought went into the design of the gown, ensuring that it would have a significant visual presence in the cathedral without overwhelming the bride. The weather was also a factor. As the wedding was in mid-December, a winter coat-dress was designed. Worn over a simple sheath dress, the coat was made of silk-crepe and featured long sleeves and a tall collar, with a 4-½ meter train.

Mathilde wore a veil made of Brussels lace which was a family heirloom. It was made for the 1877 wedding of Queen Paola’s grandparents and was worn by successive generations of Paola’s family, including her own wedding in 1959. Mathilde’s two sisters-in-law also wore this lace veil at their weddings.

source: Paris Match

Topping off Mathilde’s wedding ensemble was another loan from Queen Paola – Queen Elisabeth’s Diamond Bandeau. The tiara was originally owned by Philippe’s great-grandmother, Queen Elisabeth (formerly Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria). Queen Elisabeth had given the tiara to her daughter-in-law, Queen Astrid (born a Princess of Sweden) when she gave birth to Philipp’s father, King Albert II. It was later gifted to Albert’s wife, Queen Paola, and remains in her personal collection.

She carried a large bouquet of greens with white roses, lilies, and amaryllis – the same flowers which were used to adorn the cathedral.

Prince Philippe wore his uniform as a colonel in the Belgian Air Force with the sash and star of the Order of Leopold, Belgium’s most senior order of chivalry.

The Civil Ceremony

The wedding day started out with the civil ceremony, held at the Town Hall of Brussels at 10 am. While most of the wedding guests were arriving at the Cathedral for the religious ceremony, the bride and groom and their immediate families made their way to the Town Hall for the required civil ceremony.

In the presence of their immediate families and several close friends, Philippe and Mathilde were married in the Gothic Hall by the mayor of Brussels, François-Xavier de Donnéa de Hamoir in a brief ceremony which was conducted in Flemish, French, and German – the three national languages of Belgium. The ceremony was broadcast to the crowds outside, who cheered loudly when Philippe answered ‘Ja’, and even more loudly when Mathilde gave her response ‘Oui’, bringing smiles to the faces of those gathered inside as well.

The marriage register was then signed by Philippe and Mathilde, and then their witnesses:

For the Groom
The Hereditary Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
Archduke Simeon of Austria

For the Bride
Elisabeth d’Udekem d’Acoz
Stéphanie de Radigues de Chennevière

Now legally married, Philippe and Mathilde appeared on the balcony of the Town Hall to the cheers of the crowds gathered below, giving them the first kiss of the day.

The Religious Ceremony

photo: SudPresse

After the civil ceremony, Philippe and Mathilde and their families processed by car to the Cathedral of Saint Michael and Saint Gudula for the religious ceremony. Over 1200 guests were already assembled, and the church was decorated with over 25,000 roses, lilies, and amaryllis, matching the bride’s bouquet. The bride was walked down the aisle by her father, and joined Philippe at the altar. Following a traditional Catholic service, with several readings and numerous musical interludes, the couple gave their vows and exchanged rings. Their witnesses for the religious ceremony were:

For the Groom
Prince Laurent of Belgium
Count Charles-Henri d’Udekem d’Acoz
Christiaen Alting von Geusau
Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein

For the Bride
Countess Hélène d’Udekem d’Acoz
Agnès du Park
Helene, Duchess in Bavaria

Post-Wedding Celebrations

After returning to the Royal Palace, Philippe and Mathilde appeared on the balcony to the cheers of the crowds gathered below. They were also joined by the King and Queen and the bride’s parents. Then, after the official wedding photos were taken, they joined 750 of their guests for a luncheon featuring champagne and caviar, venison, and lobster.

That evening, a gala reception for 2,000 people – members of the government, the diplomatic corps, and other organizations – was held at the Royal Castle of Laeken, which is now the couple’s primary residence. Later that evening, the couple departed for their honeymoon, the details of which were closely guarded to ensure their privacy.

Children

Embed from Getty Images 
Philippe and Mathilde with their four children in 2018

Philippe and Mathilde had two daughters and two sons:

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.

Wedding of Queen Victoria of The United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2017

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha were married at the Chapel Royal at St. James’ Palace in London, England on February 10, 1840.

Queen Victoria’s Family

Queen Victoria with her mother; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 6, 1817, a great tragedy struck the British Royal Family. Twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of George, Prince of Wales, the future King George IV, died after delivering a stillborn son. At the time of her death, Charlotte, who was second in line to the throne, was the only legitimate grandchild of King George III, despite the fact that thirteen of his fifteen children were still alive. Her death left no legitimate heir in the second generation and prompted the aging sons of George III to begin a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession.

George III’s eldest son (Charlotte’s father) and his second son Frederick, Duke of York, were in loveless marriages, and their wives, both in their late forties, were not expected to produce heirs. William, Duke of Clarence, age 53, married 26-year-old Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen. 50-year-old Edward, Duke of Kent, married 32-year-old widow Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saafeld. Victoria was the sister of Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess Charlotte’s widower, and the future Leopold I, King of the Belgians. Twenty-one-year-old Augusta of Hesse-Kassel married 44-year-old Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. It was then the scramble to produce an heir began.

Within a short time, the three new duchesses, along with Frederica, wife of Ernest, Duke of Cumberland, became pregnant. Augusta, Duchess of Cambridge gave birth to a son on March 26, 1819, and Adelaide, Duchess of Clarence had a daughter the following day. Victoria, Duchess of Kent produced a daughter on May 24, 1819, and three days later Frederica, Duchess of Cumberland had a boy. Adelaide’s daughter would have been the heir but she died in infancy. The child of the next royal duke in seniority stood to inherit the throne. This was Alexandrina Victoria, daughter of Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria. The baby was fifth in line to the throne after her uncles George, Frederick, and William, and her father Edward.

The baby’s father, Edward, Duke of Kent died on January 23, 1820, eight months after her birth. Six days later, King George III’s death brought his eldest son to the throne as King George IV. Frederick, Duke of York, died in 1827, bringing the young princess a step closer to the throne. George IV died in 1830 and his brother William IV succeeded him. During William IV’s reign, little Drina, as she was called, was the heiress presumptive. There was always the possibility that King William IV and Queen Adelaide would still produce an heir, but it was not to be. William died on June 20, 1837, and left the throne to his 18-year-old niece, who is known to history as Queen Victoria.

Sources:
“Brewer’s British Royalty” by David Williamson
“Her Little Majesty” by Carolly Erickson
“Royal Weddings” by Dulcie M. Ashdown

Prince Albert’s Family

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Franz Albrecht August Karl Emanuel of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, better known by his anglicized name Albert, was born at Rosenau Castle near Coburg, in the Duchy of  Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Bavaria, on August 26, 1819. Albert was the second son of the reigning Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. In 1825, the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became extinct and the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty were rearranged. Albert’s father then became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Albert became a Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Albert’s parents had marital problems shortly after his birth. Ernst was a notorious womanizer and Louise also sought affection elsewhere. The couple separated in 1824 and divorced in 1826. After Louise’s early death from cancer in 1831, Ernest married his niece, Marie of Württemberg. Albert grew up at Rosenau Castle with Ernst, his older brother. The two brothers were complete opposites. Ernst grew up to be a womanizer like his father. Albert was serious-minded with a great love for the arts and sciences.

The Coburg family had strong ties to the British Royal Family. Albert and Ernst’s uncle Leopold had married Princess Charlotte of Wales, who died tragically in childbirth. Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, their aunt, married George III’s son, Edward, Duke of Kent, and was the mother of Princess Victoria. Augusta Reuss of Erbesdorf, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, grandmother of Victoria and Albert, suggested the possibility of marriage between them in a letter to her daughter Victoria, Duchess of Kent, in 1821, when the children were but two years old. Later, the idea was taken up by their uncle Leopold, who became the first King of the Belgians in 1831.

First cousins Victoria and Albert met for the first time in 1836 when Albert and Ernst visited England. Seventeen-year-old Victoria seemed instantly infatuated with Albert. She wrote to her uncle Leopold, “How delighted I am with him, and how much I like him in every way. He possesses every quality that could be desired to make me perfectly happy.”

In October 1839, Albert and Ernst again visited England, staying at Windsor Castle with Victoria, who was now Queen. On October 15, 1839, the 20-year-old monarch summoned her cousin Albert and proposed to him. Albert accepted, but wrote to his stepmother, “My future position will have its dark sides, and the sky will not always be blue and unclouded.”

Sources:
“Brewer’s British Royalty” by David Williamson
“Her Little Majesty” by Carolly Erickson
“Uncrowned King” by Stanley Weintraub
“Royal Weddings” by Dulcie M. Ashdown

The Wedding 

The wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert; Credit – Wikipedia

Queen Victoria proposed to her cousin Albert on October 15, 1839. He accepted, and the couple was married in the Chapel Royal at St. James’ Palace on February 10, 1840, at 1 pm. Traditionally, royal weddings took place at night, but this wedding was held during the day so the Queen’s subjects could see the couple as they traveled down The Mall from Buckingham Palace the short distance to St. James’ Palace.

WEDDING GUESTS

The Bride’s Family

  • The Dowager Duchess of Kent (Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld), the bride’s mother
  • Prince Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen and the Princess of Leiningen, the bride’s half-brother and his wife
  • Ernst Leopold, Hereditary Prince of Leiningen, the bride’s half-nephew
  • The Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (Princess Feodora of Leiningen) and Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the bride’s half-sister and her husband
  • Carl Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the bride’s half-nephew
  • Queen Adelaide, widow of the bride’s paternal uncle King William IV
  • Princess Augusta Sophia, the bride’s paternal aunt
  • King Ernst August and Queen Frederica of Hanover, the bride’s paternal uncle and aunt
  • George, Crown Prince of Hanover, the bride’s first cousin
  • Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex and Cecilia Underwood, 1st Duchess of Inverness, the bride’s paternal uncle and aunt
  • Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Duchess of Cambridge (Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel), the bride’s paternal uncle and aunt
  • Prince George of Cambridge, the bride’s first cousin
  • Princess Augusta of Cambridge, the bride’s first cousin
  • Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, the bride’s first cousin
  • Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the bride’s paternal aunt
  • Princess Sophia, the bride’s paternal aunt

The Groom’s Family

(Note: Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were first cousins.  Victoria’s mother and Albert’s father were siblings and so they share Saxe-Coburg-Gotha first cousins, aunts, and uncles)

  • Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his second wife Marie of Württemberg, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the groom’s father and stepmother, and the bride’s maternal uncle and aunt
  • Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the groom’s brother, and the bride’s first cousin
  • Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia (Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld), the groom’s paternal aunt, and the bride’s maternal aunt
  • Prince Ferdinand and Princess Maria Antonia of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, the groom’s paternal uncle and aunt, and the bride’s maternal uncle and aunt
  • King Consort Ferdinand (Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry) and Queen Maria II of Portugal, the groom and bride’s first cousin and his wife
  • Prince August and Princess Clémentine of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry (Princess Clémentine of Orléans), the groom and bride’s first cousin and his wife
  • Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, the groom and bride’s first cousin
  • Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry, the groom and bride’s first cousin
  • King Leopold I (Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld) and Queen Louise-Marie of the Belgians (Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans), the groom’s paternal uncle and aunt, and the bride’s maternal uncle and aunt
  • Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, the groom and bride’s first cousin
  • Prince Philippe of Belgium, the groom and bride’s cousin
  • The Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Princess Karoline Amalie of Hesse-Kassel), the groom’s maternal step-grandmother

Wedding Attire

Victoria’s Wedding Dress; Credit – Wikipedia

Bridesmaid’s Dress; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Albert wore the uniform of a British field marshal, over which hung the collar of the Order of the Garter, an honor that had recently been bestowed on him by Victoria. Victoria’s wedding dress was of rich white satin, trimmed with orange flower blossoms. On her head, she wore a wreath of the same flowers, over which was a veil of Honiton lace. She wore her Turkish diamond necklace and earrings and Albert’s wedding present of a sapphire brooch.

While Queen Victoria may have popularized the white wedding dress, she was not the first royal bride to wear one. Documentation from the 1406 wedding of Philippa of England, daughter of King Henry IV of England, and Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway indicates that Philippa wore a tunic and cloak in white silk bordered with gray squirrel and ermine, making her the first documented princess to wear a white wedding dress. In 1558, when Mary, Queen of Scots married the first of her three husbands, the future (and short-reigned) François II, King of France, she also wore white defying the tradition that white was the color of mourning for Queens of France.

Bridesmaids

The twelve bridesmaids, all daughters of peers of the realm, were simply dressed in tulle and white roses. Each bridesmaid received a gold brooch in the shape of an eagle covered in turquoise, rubies, and pearls with a diamond beak, designed by Victoria herself.

  • Lady Mary Howard, daughter of Henry Howard, 13th Duke of Norfolk
  • Lady Caroline Gordon-Lennox, daughter of Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond
  • Lady Adelaide Paget, daughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
  • Lady Eleanora Paget, granddaughter of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
  • Lady Elizabeth Howard, daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle
  • Lady Wilhelmina Stanhope, daughter of Philip Stanhope, 4th Earl Stanhope
  • Lady Sarah Villiers, daughter of George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey
  • Lady Elizabeth Sackville-West, daughter of George Sackville-West, 5th Earl de la Warr
  • Lady Ida Hay, daughter of William Hay, 18th Earl of Erroll
  • Lady Frances Cowper, daughter of Peter Cowper, 5th Earl Cowper
  • Lady Mary Grimston, daughter of James Grimston, 1st Earl of Verulam
  • Lady Jane Pleydell-Bouverie, daughter of William Pleydell-Bouverie, 3rd Earl of Radnor

The simple ceremony took place at the altar and was performed by William Howley, Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward Venables-Vernon, Archbishop of York, and Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London. There had been no rehearsal and the chapel was really too small for the large wedding party. The bridesmaids stepped on each other’s dresses and kicked each other’s heels. At times it appeared Albert was not quite sure what he should be doing, and he seemed rather awkward and embarrassed.

After the Wedding

The Wedding Cake; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Following the ceremony, the couple returned to Buckingham Palace for a wedding breakfast. Hundreds of wedding cakes were distributed, mainly to members of the royal family. The main wedding cake was more than nine feet in diameter, but only sixteen inches high. This remarkable piece of Victoriana consisted of Britannia gazing at the royal couple while they pledged their vows at the top of the cake. At their feet were two turtledoves and a dog. The letters “V & A” were visible as well as Cupid writing the date of the wedding on his tablet.

After the wedding breakfast, the couple changed into their traveling outfits. Prince Albert wore a dark suit, while Victoria was attired in a white satin cloak trimmed with swansdown, and a textured white velvet bonnet with plumes of feathers and a deep fall of Brussels point lace. They set off for Windsor Castle, where they spent their two-day honeymoon.

Sources:
“Victoria & Albert: A Family Life at Osborne House” by The Duchess of York
“Prince Albert: A Biography” by Robert Rhodes James
“Queen Victoria” by Cecil Woodham-Smith
Wikipedia: Wedding of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

The Honeymoon

View from Coopers Hill, with Runnemede and Windsor Castle, engraved by E. Radclyffe after a picture by Thomas Allom, published 1842; Credit -Wikipedia

Newlyweds Victoria and Albert set off in a coach for Windsor Castle for a short honeymoon. There were so many well-wishers along the route that their arrival at Windsor was delayed. Victoria had a “sick headache” and had to lie down on a sofa. Despite this, she described her wedding night as “bliss beyond belief” and confided to her diary, “we did not sleep much.”

Anna Russell, The Duchess of Bedford, one of Victoria’s Ladies of the Bedchamber, observed that Albert seemed to be “not a bit” in love with Victoria and gave the impression of “not being happy.” He spent the afternoon lying down recovering from the previous day’s and night’s activities. After a very short stay at Windsor Castle, the couple returned to London where Victoria resumed her duties.

Sources:
“Brewer’s British Royalty” by David Williamson
“Her Little Majesty” by Carolly Erickson
“Uncrowned King” by Stanley Weintraub

Children of Victoria and Albert

Carte-de-visite photomontage, circa 1861 by John Mayall; Credit- Wikipedia

Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had nine children.

Unofficial Royalty: Queen Victoria’s Children and Grandchildren

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.

Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Consort

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

NPG x24138; Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha by Vernon Heath, printed and published by Samuel E. Poulton

Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha by Vernon Heath, published by Samuel E. Poulton, albumen carte-de-visite, 1861 NPG x24138 © National Portrait Gallery, London

The husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Prince Franz Albrecht August Karl Emanuel of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, better known by his anglicized name Albert, was born at Rosenau Castle near Coburg, in the Duchy of  Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Bavaria, on August 26, 1819. Albert was the second of the two sons of the reigning Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. In 1825, the House of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became extinct and the Saxon Duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin Dynasty were rearraged. Albert’s father then became the Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Albert became a Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Albert was christened with the German names Franz Albrecht August Karl Emanuel but was called Albrecht, Albert in English. His godparents were:

Albert had one brother who was fourteen months older:

Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, with her children, Albert and Ernst; Credit – Wikipedia

Since Albert and Ernst were close in age, they were also close companions during their childhood. However, their childhood was marred by their parents’ disastrous marriage, separation, and divorce. Albert’s mother and father were very different and drifted apart soon after Albert’s birth. Albert’s father was a notorious womanizer and as a result, his young wife Louise (who was 17 years younger than her husband) sought consolation with Baron Alexander von Hanstein, who was the Duke’s equerry. Louise was exiled from court in 1824 and divorced in March of 1826. Seven months later, Louise secretly married von Hanstein. She died in 1831 at the age of 30 from cancer of the uterus. After Louise’s exile from court in 1824, it is probable that she never saw her sons again. In 1831, the Duke married again to Duchess Marie of Württemberg, his niece who was the daughter of his sister Antoinette. The Duke and Marie had no children, but Marie had a good relationship with her stepsons (who were also her first cousins) and maintained a correspondence with Albert throughout their lives.

Albert was first educated at home by a caring tutor, Johann Christoph Florschütz, who had a lifelong correspondence with Albert. Albert then studied with private tutors in Brussels, Belgium (where his paternal uncle was King Leopold I of the Belgians), and then studied at the University of Bonn, which many German princes attended. While at the University of Bonn, Albert studied law, political economy, philosophy, and art history. In his free time, he played music and excelled in gymnastics, fencing, and riding.

The Coburg family had strong ties to the British royal family. Albert’s uncle Leopold (the previously mentioned King of the Belgians) had married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of King George IV, who had died in childbirth. His aunt Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld had married King George III’s son, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, and was the mother of the future Queen Victoria. Plans for a possible marriage between first cousins Victoria and Albert had first been mentioned by their grandmother the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg in letters to her daughter the Duchess of Kent in 1821. The idea was later taken up by their uncle Leopold.

In 1836, the cousins met for the first time when Ernst and Albert were taken by their father on a visit to England. Seventeen-year-old Victoria seemed instantly infatuated with Albert. She wrote to her uncle Leopold, “How delighted I am with him, and how much I like him in every way. He possesses every quality that could be desired to make me perfectly happy.” In October of 1839, Albert and Ernst again visited England, staying at Windsor Castle with Victoria, who was now Queen. On October 15, 1839, the 20-year-old monarch summoned her cousin Albert and proposed to him. Albert accepted, but wrote to his stepmother Marie, “My future position will have its dark sides, and the sky will not always be blue and unclouded.” The couple was married in the Chapel Royal at St. James’ Palace on February 10, 1840, at 1 p.m. Traditionally, royal weddings took place at night, but this wedding was held during the day so the Queen’s subjects could see the couple as they traveled down The Mall from Buckingham Palace.

NPG D11227; The Bridal Morn (Queen Victoria; Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) by Samuel William Reynolds Jr, after Frederick William Lock

The Bridal Morn (Queen Victoria; Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) by Samuel William Reynolds Jr, after Frederick William Lock, mezzotint, published 1844 NPG D11227 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Shortly after his marriage, Albert wrote to a friend, “I am only the husband and not the master in my house.” Albert was expected to be ready at a moment’s notice to go to his new wife to read aloud, play the piano, be petted, or blot her signature. Victoria was delighted to parade Albert before her court and, as she confided to her diary, to have him put her stockings on her feet. It was during Victoria’s early pregnancies that Albert showed a talent for diplomatic dealings with her ministers and an ability to understand complex government documents. Soon Albert was dealing with more and more of Victoria’s governmental duties and they worked with their desks side-by-side. As Albert’s influence over Victoria grew, she began to defer to him on every issue.

Victoria was quite temperamental and had a strong sexuality which Albert apparently met, as evidenced by the birth of nine children. Albert was somewhat prudish and his high moral standards would never allow extramarital affairs. He found marriage to Victoria a full-time job which exhausted him physically and mentally. Victoria rewarded Albert by creating him Prince Consort in 1857.

All of Victoria and Albert’s nine children grew to adulthood. However, their youngest son, Leopold, was afflicted with the genetic blood clotting disease hemophilia and two of their daughters, Alice and Beatrice, were hemophilia carriers.

Albert and Victoria had nine children:

Victoria and Albert’s children and grandchildren married into other European royal families giving Victoria the unofficial title of “Grandmother of Europe.” Their grandchildren sat upon the thrones of Germany/Prussia, Greece, Norway, Romania, Russia, Spain, and the United Kingdom as monarchs or consorts. Through these marriages, Victoria and Albert’s daughters and granddaughters transmitted the genetic disease hemophilia into other royal families. Victoria and Albert’s descendants currently sit upon the thrones of Denmark, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom.

Victoria and Albert and their nine children in 1857; Credit – Wikipedia

Victoria and Albert, whose primary residences were Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, felt they needed residences of their very own. Albert’s architectural talents are evident in the seaside Italian style palace Osborne House on the Isle of Wight and in Balmoral, a castle in the Scottish highlands. Osborne and Balmoral became their favorite homes. Following Victoria’s death, Osborne was given to the state and served as a Royal Navy training college from 1903-1921. Today it is open to the public as a home of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. Balmoral Castle remains the private property of the monarch and is used by the British Royal Family for their summer holidays.

Balmoral Castle; Credit – By Stuart Yeates from Oxford, UK – Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=728182

Besides helping Victoria privately with her paperwork, Prince Albert took on a number of public roles. He became President of the Society for the Extinction of Slavery. Slavery had already been abolished throughout the British Empire but was still legal in a number of places including the United States and the French colonies. After being appointed Chancellor of Cambridge University, Albert was able to have the curriculum modified to include modern history and the natural sciences in addition to the traditional mathematics and classics.

Albert’s interest in applying science and art to the manufacturing industry led to the Great Exhibition of 1851.  Prince Albert, along with Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant and an inventor, organized the exhibition. In the wake of the Industrial Revolution, the exhibition allowed countries to show their modern and technological achievements. Queen Victoria opened the exhibition in a specially designed glass building known as the Crystal Palace on May 1, 1851. It was a huge success and a surplus of £180,000 was used to purchase land in South Kensington, London on which was established educational and cultural institutions, including what would later be the Victoria and Albert Museum.

NPG D16397; The Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851. Plate 2. The Foreign Nave by Joseph Nash

The Great Industrial Exhibition of 1851. Plate 2. The Foreign Nave by Joseph Nash, hand-coloured lithograph, published 1851, NPG D16397 © National Portrait Gallery, London

After years of mismanagement by the previous Hanover monarchs, Albert managed to modernize the royal finances and investments, and under his watch, the revenues of the Duchy of Cornwall, the hereditary property of the Prince of Wales, steadily increased. Today’s British royal family can thank Prince Albert for their financial situation.

On March 16, 1861, Queen Victoria’s mother died. Because of Victoria’s grief, Albert took over many of her duties despite the fact that he was chronically suffering from stomach problems. In the fall, Victoria and Albert learned that their 20-year-old eldest son Bertie (the future King Edward VII) was having an affair with an Irish actress. Devastated by this news, Albert traveled to Cambridge to discuss the matter with his son. On November 25, 1861, the two walked together in the pouring rain while Albert explained how horrified he and the Queen felt about the situation. Victoria later blamed her son for Albert’s final illness – “That boy…I never can, or ever shall look at him without a shudder.”

When Albert returned to Windsor Castle, he complained of shoulder, leg, back, and stomach pain and could not eat or sleep. He was examined by doctors who assured Victoria that Albert would be better in two or three days. Even while Albert was feeling ill, he was still working. When the Trent Affair, the forcible removal of Confederate diplomats from a British ship by Union forces during the American Civil War, threatened war between the United States and the United Kingdom, Albert intervened on November 30, 1861, to soften the British diplomatic response. His action probably prevented war between the United States and the United Kingdom.

However, Albert’s condition continued to worsen. Victoria continued to hope for a recovery, but finally, on December 11, the doctors told her the dismal prognosis. At 10:50 PM on December 14, 1861, Albert died in the presence of his wife and five of their nine children.

Sir William Jenner, one of Prince Albert’s doctors, diagnosed his final illness as typhoid fever, but Albert’s modern biographers have argued that the diagnosis is incorrect. Albert had been complaining of stomach pains for two years and this may indicate that he died of some chronic disease, perhaps complications from Crohn’s disease, kidney failure, or cancer.

L0021975 The last moments of HRH the Prince Consort.

The last moments of HRH the Prince Consort, Credit: Wellcome Library, London

Left a widow with nine children at the age of 42, the Queen’s grief was immense. She withdrew from public life and wore black for the 40 years that she survived Albert. The Blue Room in Windsor Castle where Albert had died was kept as it had been when he was alive, complete with hot water brought in the morning, and linen and towels changed daily. Among themselves, Queen Victoria’s family called December 14 “Mausoleum Day”. They were expected to attend the annual memorial service in the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore where Albert was buried. After her death on January 22, 1901, at the age of 81, Victoria was interred alongside her beloved Albert in the Royal Mausoleum.

Sarcophagus of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert at the Royal Mausoleum at Frogmore, Credit – www.findagrave.com

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.

House of Hanover and Queen Victoria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Wedding of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Henri de Laborde de Monpezat

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Princess Margrethe of Denmark (the future Queen Margrethe II of Denmark) and Count Henri de Laborde de Monpezat were married on June 10, 1967, at Holmens Kirke in Copenhagen, Denmark. Each video below is between four and seven minutes.

Margrethe’s Early Life

Margrethe (right) with her sister Benedikte, c. 1946. Photo credit: nordic-aputsiaq.blogspot.com

Margrethe Alexandrine Thorhildur Ingrid was born at Copenhagen’s Amalienborg Palace on April 16, 1940, the eldest of three daughters of King Frederik IX of Denmark and his Swedish wife, Ingrid. Named for her deceased maternal grandmother, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Margrethe was also the name of the first queen regnant of Denmark and engineer of the long-running Kalmar Union. Young Margrethe also carried the names of her paternal grandmother, mother, and, uniquely, an Icelandic name. As her she was born just a week after the German invasion of Denmark during World War II, Margrethe was known from birth as “the ray of sunshine in occupied Denmark.”

After it became clear that Ingrid and Frederik would not have a son, preparations were made to enable Margrethe to eventually rule Denmark after her father. The 1953 Danish Act of Succession allowed daughters to succeed to the throne in the absence of direct male heirs. Although Margrethe was released from school the day the act was passed to celebrate, Ingrid was required to phone her daughter’s teacher to request permission.

Margrethe attended the North Foreland Lodge (a girls’ boarding school) in Hampshire, England, for a year. Her parents purposely selected a school that catered to the middle class so Margrethe would be spending time with ordinary girls. Margarethe had a rather varied experience in higher education, studying at Girton College at Cambridge University, Aarhus University, the Sorbonne, the London School of Economics, and the University of Copenhagen. Margrethe later said on several different occasions that she particularly enjoyed the anonymity that came with studying outside of Denmark.

A gifted linguist, Margrethe eventually became fluent in Danish, Swedish, French, German, and English. On a visit to the Faroe Islands, Margrethe was even able to converse in decent Faroese. She also enjoyed cooking – which she often did herself as a student – but lamented that she had little time to devote to it. Margrethe also enjoyed visual art, and her paintings, drawings, and costumes would later be used and displayed in various exhibitions and productions after she became queen.

Although she studied a variety of subjects, Margrethe was always drawn to archeology. She developed a love of the discipline from a young age, possibly as a result of her maternal grandfather, Gustav VI of Sweden, taking her along on expeditions in Italy when she was a child. Before she became queen, Margrethe had assisted on expeditions in Thailand, Egypt, and Sudan.

Margrethe also served in the Women’s Auxiliary Air Corps in her young adulthood, where she became an able markswoman. She also took lessons in jiu-jitsu and judo and excelled at the high jump, swimming, and tennis. Shortly after her 18th birthday in 1958, Margrethe began serving as regent during her father’s occasional absences from Denmark. She attended her first opening of the Danish Parliament in October 1958.

For more information about Margrethe see:

Unofficial Royalty: Queen Margrethe II

Henri’s Early Life

Margrethe, Henrik, Mary, and Frederik in front of Henrik’s childhood home in Hanoi, Vietnam

Henri was born on June 11, 1934, in Talence, France. His parents, Count André de Laborde de Monpezat and Renee Doursenot, were members of the French nobility. Renee had previously been civilly married to another man before her marriage to Andre; her first marriage allowed Renee to marry Andre religiously in 1934, but the couple did not marry civilly until 1948. Henri had six siblings, including a sister who died in childhood.

Henri began his education at home with a private tutor, continuing on at a Jesuit school in Bordeaux, France. Henri spent several years of his childhood in Vietnam, then under French control, where his father ran a newspaper. He attended a French school in Hanoi, where he took interest in Vietnamese and Chinese languages.

Henri’s love for Southeast Asia continued into his adolescence and adulthood, as he continued his education at schools in Saigon and Hong Kong. Henri studied political science at the Sorbonne, as his wife did years later. He also studied at Paris University, earning a master’s degree in French literature. Henri was awarded a diploma in Oriental languages from Ecole Nationale de Langues Oriental before serving in the French military in Algeria.

After his time in the military, Henri entered the French foreign services. In 1963, he began working at the French embassy in London. At the time he met Margrethe, Henri was working as the third secretary in the Department of Oriental Affairs at the embassy.

Henri’s developed a wide variety of interests ranging from flying planes to collecting Chinese porcelain to sailing. Like his future wife, Henri was multi-lingual from early on. In addition to French, Danish, and English, Henri speaks fluent Mandarin Chinese and Vietnamese.

For more information about Henrik see:

Unofficial Royalty: Prince Henrik of Denmark

“He came, he saw, you conquered.”

Henri and Margrethe, c. 1966. Photo credit: bimg.dk

When asked once by a journalist as a young woman when she would find her husband, the amused Margrethe replied, “Wouldn’t it be fairer to ask when will he be finding me?” Margrethe had no way of knowing that her husband would indeed find her rather than the other way around. Before her engagement, Margrethe also confirmed during an interview with the press that the Danish constitution would not have to be amended if she were to marry a commoner.

While studying at the London School of Economics in 1965, Margrethe was invited to a dinner at the French embassy. As an employee of the embassy at the time, Henri was expected to attend but was ambivalent about meeting the Danish princess by whom he was to be seated. Henri later said that to his surprise he found Margrethe interesting from their first meeting, but was a bit intimidated by her and said little during the dinner as a result. Margrethe said she had no real impression of Henri from their first meeting.

Margrethe and Henri were both guests at a wedding shortly after the first dinner. The two chatted at the wedding reception and on the plane ride back to London, as they were seated together once again. Upon their return to London, Margrethe and Henri gradually began seeing more and more – and growing mutually fonder – of one another.

The couple kept a low profile for more than a year, made easier by the fact that Margrethe’s anonymity in Britain. The couple was so private that upon the news that an engagement announcement was imminent, most Danes had no idea their princess had been exclusively dating anyone. Frederik was later to say to his daughter of her courtship with Henri, “He came, he saw, and you conquered.”

The Engagement

Henri and Margrethe on the balcony of Amalienborg Palace when their engagement was announced. Photo credit: dr.dk

Margrethe received from Henri a Van Cleef and Arpels engagement ring featuring two large square-cut diamonds set at a diagonal. Set on a yellow gold band, the diamonds were said to be six karats each.

On October 4, 1966,  the Danish Parliament gave their approval of the marriage. It was noted that even the socialist candidates consented to the marriage with the message that this did not indicate their approval of the monarchy in general. Upon approval of the marriage by Parliament, Danish premier Jens Otto Krag wished the couple luck and a happy marriage on behalf of the public.

The following morning, Frederik formally asked the State Council for approval of the marriage of the heir to the throne. The approval was granted as expected. Henri and Margrethe took a group photo with Frederik and members of the State Council following the decision.

In celebration of parliamentary and state council approval of their marriage, Margrethe and Henri appeared on the balcony at Amalienborg with both sets of parents. A crowd of 5,000 happy Danes had gathered to cheer for the couple. Margrethe told that crowd that she and Henri “shall never forget this day,” while Henri expressed his appreciation in Danish with the words, “Thank you a thousand times.”

After the balcony appearance, Frederik drove his daughter and her fiancé around Copenhagen in an open car to wave at the spectators. The trip ended at Fredensborg Palace, where lunch and a press conference were held. During the press conference, Henri repeated his thanks to the Danish people, remarking that he planned to become one “hundred percent Dane” following his marriage. A banquet for the families and government officials was held that same evening, along with a private orchestra performance. King Frederik conducted the performance (he was an able conductor) which was later broadcast on Danish radio.

Wedding Preparations

Margrethe and Henri during their engagement. Photo credit: newroyaldaydiscussion.blogspot.com

When the engagement was initially announced, it was speculated the wedding would take place on May 24, the wedding anniversary of Margrethe’s parents. The ceremony was originally scheduled to take place on May 25, 1967, but was later postponed to June 10, 1967, due to Margrethe’s sister Anne Marie’s pregnancy. Anne Marie gave birth to Crown Prince Pavlos on May 20. The religious ceremony was scheduled to take place at Holmens Kirke in Copenhagen, which was at one time a naval blacksmith’s workshop. Margrethe was also baptized at Holmens Kirke.

Erik Jenson, Bishop of Aalborg, would conduct the religious service. Bishop Jenson also formally received Henri into the Danish Folk (Lutheran) Church. Following the wedding, Henri would now be known by the Danish version of his name (Henrik) and convert from Roman Catholicism to the Danish Folk Church.

On Margrethe’s insistence, there would be no special ceremonies at the church marking a royal wedding. The ceremony would last approximately 20 minutes and consist of the same rites and practices in any other Danish wedding. When asked if Henri would say his vows in French, Bishop Jensen replied that as this would be a Danish wedding, all vows would be said in Danish.

Arrangements for twelve days of receptions, galas, tours of Copenhagen, and theater performances were made for guests. The wedding was paid for entirely by the royal family and private donations. Preparations were made to televise the wedding – a somewhat new phenomenon – in Denmark as well as France, Belgium, Switzerland, Sweden, and Norway.

Although Margrethe’s and Henri’s pairing attracted little controversy in Denmark, the European anti-royalist Provos threatened to throw ketchup at the royal coach during the processional and release mice in the church. The group had also been responsible for numerous demonstrations, fights, and had thrown smoke bombs during the wedding of Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands in 1966. Additional police officers from around Denmark were brought to the capital to assist with security.

Festivities in Copenhagen and the Bornholm Deer

In the weeks of early wedding planning, the residents of the Danish island of Bornholm contacted Frederik with a unique proposal to feed the guests at the upcoming wedding. At the time, the island had a considerable overpopulation of deer. In hopes of reducing the herd, the islanders proposed that the wedding menu include venison and invited Frederik (an avid hunter) and his entourage to the island. Frederik took up the Bornholm residents’ offer and in a few days’ time was able to kill enough deer to feed several hundred guests.

Henri arrived in Copenhagen at the end of May in preparation for the wedding celebrations. Like her mother had done before her marriage to Frederik, Margrethe drove to the airport and picked up her fiancé on her own. The couple and the Danish royal family attended a banquet that evening with various diplomats attending the wedding. During the first few days after Henri’s arrival, Margrethe and Henri attended numerous sporting events, concerts, and even a special reception held to thank those who helped with the wedding arrangement, planning, and decoration. Henri also quietly converted from Roman Catholicism to the Danish Lutheran Evangelical Church during this time.

The wedding coincided with Copenhagen’s 800th-anniversary celebrations, making the decorations all the more festive. The streets of Copenhagen were decorated with flowers and Danish and French flags. Crowds followed Margrethe and Henri at nearly every stop and event celebrating the coming wedding.

Henri, Margrethe, and the King and Queen attended a reception at the Copenhagen City Hall the day before the wedding. Copenhagen Mayor Urban Hansen and other city officials toasted the couple and wished them a happy marriage before presenting Henri and Margrethe with a set of china.

Before boarding the Danish royal yacht (the Dannebrog) for a tour of the Copenhagen harbor, Henri addressed a crowd of several thousand Danes who had gathered to watch the event. Speaking in Danish, Henri gave his appreciation to the Danish public for their kind reception and well-wishes. The speech was broadcast in Denmark by radio and television. The Dannebrog was flanked by not only several Danish Royal Navy ships but a few Swedish and Norwegian vessels as well. Several Royal Danish Air Force planes flew over as the couple cruised the harbor, their trails spelling out Henri’s and Margrethe’s initials.

King Frederik and Queen Ingrid held events in celebration of the couple nearly every night in the week preceding the wedding. The Copenhagen Royal Theater also gave a special performance to entertain visiting royal guests, in which Frederik and Ingrid lent their theater box to their daughter and her fiance. Additional events included a ball at the French Embassy and a dinner and dance at Fredensborg for the couple and their close friends.

Margrethe’s sister Benedikte and her fiancé, Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, greeted most of the royal guests at the airport. Many of the royal guests stayed at Fredensborg Palace (the summer residence of the royal family), or at Storekro, north of the city.

The Wedding Ceremony

 

The wedding was held in the late afternoon of June 10, 1967, with the majority of wedding guests leaving Amalienborg between 3:30 and 4:30. The wedding procession started at Amalienborg Palace and stretched all the way to Holmens Kirke. Two thousand police officers were assigned to watch the streets along the procession out of concern for anti-royalist protests. Crowds lined the streets of the entire parade route as royal hussars led Margrethe and Frederik, who were traveling in a state coach. Father and daughter waved to the crowd as they passed.

Upon arrival at Holmens Kirke, Margrethe was helped out and her train and veil straightened by her bridesmaids. Margrethe and her father entered to the song “Sicut Cervus,” a sixteenth-century hymn of Psalm 42. Henri smiled as Frederik led his eldest daughter down the aisle of Holmens Kirke, which had been decorated with white and purple bouquets of flowers.

When she reached the altar, Margrethe leaned in as Henri planted a kiss on her cheek. The ceremony was brief for a royal wedding, but typical for such services in the Danish Lutheran Evangelical Church. Along with the couple’s exchange of vows and a sermon, the congregation sang two hymns. Margrethe admired the ring after Henri placed it on her finger, then turned around to give a smile to her parents.

As the wedding ceremony drew to a close, the new couple turned to bow and curtsey to the King and Queen as the bridesmaids again straightened Margrethe’s train and dress. Margrethe and Henri exited the church to “Toccata from Symphony No. 5” amid a 21 gun cannon salute, crowds of spectators throwing confetti and rice, and the bells of Holmens Kirke ringing around them. A 252 gun salute was fired at the close of the service, accompanied by a group of jets forming the letters “M” and “H” in the sky over Copenhagen. Margrethe gave Henri a daisy from her bouquet as the couple climbed into the coach to head to Amalienborg.

The Wedding Attire

Margrethe (and her long train!) with Henri on their wedding day. Photo credit: orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

Margrethe’s dress was designed by Danish dressmaker Jørgen Bender, who was well-known in the Danish royal court. The close-fitting, long-sleeved white silk gown featured a square neckline and deep pleats at the hips, which created a flared skirt. On the front of the dress was a piece of heirloom lace that had originally belonged to Margrethe’s grandmother, Margaret of Connaught, the former Crown Princess of Sweden. The 20-foot silk train of the dress fell from Margrethe’s shoulders and featured squared corners similar to the collar.

On the bodice of her dress, Margrethe also wore another favorite from her mother’s family – the diamond daisy brooch. A nod to Queen Ingrid’s mother (the British Princess Margaret of Connaught, also known as Daisy), this brooch had also been worn by Ingrid on her own wedding day in 1935, a wedding gift from her father. The bridesmaids wore circlets of daisies in their hair, and daisies were the prominent flowers in Margrethe’s bouquet, along with stephanotis.

For her tiara, Margrethe chose the tiara worn by her mother on her wedding day, the Khedive of Egypt Tiara. The Cartier-designed tiara was given to Margrethe’s grandmother Margaret in 1905 as a wedding gift from the Khedive of Egypt. It features numerous diamond laurel leaf swirls anchored at seven peaks with larger diamonds. The Khedive tiara has subsequently been worn by all of Queen Ingrid’s married female descendants on their special days. Attached to the tiara was the veil of point de Venise lace that had also been handed down from Margaret to Ingrid to Margrethe.

Henri wore a classic bridegroom’s attire featuring a black morning coat with cutaways, matching trousers, and a white straight-end bowtie. He also wore the light blue sash and star of the Order of the Elephant, the highest order in Denmark. Henri received the order on the day of the wedding.

After the Ceremony

Henri and Margrethe, dancing their first waltz at the reception. Photo credit: orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

Margrethe and Henri rode in the carriage through Copenhagen, accompanied by 44 mounted hussars. The new couple waved to the crowds flanking the streets along the route, just as the bride and her father had done during the processional. During the recessional, a hussar accompanying the couple was thrown to the ground after his horse bolted, but he was not seriously injured.

The couple appeared on a balcony at Amalienborg Palace along with their parents to wave to the crowd of 25,000 below. Frederik thanked the spectators for their enthusiasm and gave his congratulations to the new couple. As Margrethe began to address the spectators, she was overcome with emotion and left the balcony in tears.

A garden reception was held for 400 guests in a pavilion in the courtyard of nearby Fredensborg Palace. The candlelight reception featured a five-course dinner – including the Bornholm venison – catered by the Kesby family of the Richmond Hotel. At the reception, Henri gave a speech to the bride and her family in Danish, again indicating his love for his new wife and adopted country as well as his intention to serve Denmark to the best of his ability. This marked the first public occasion in which Henri gave a lengthy speech in his new language.

The bride and groom began the wedding ball by performing their first dance as a married couple, a waltz. After several hours of dancing and talking among their guests, Henri and Margrethe changed to more comfortable going-away attire. The couple said goodbye to their families in the early hours of June 11, boarding the Dannebrog to begin their honeymoon.

The couple honeymooned on the Mexican island of Cozumel, spending part of their time in a villa owned by former Mexican president Adolfo Lopez Mateos. Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands had stayed at the villa during their honeymoon the previous year.

Wedding Guests and Attendants

Margrethe and Henri with their wedding party and royal guests. Photo credit: orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

The wedding was attended by 900 guests, a number of whom were royal and prestigious, including three kings, two queens, fourteen princesses, and thirteen princes from around Europe.

One of the most notable absences was King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie (Margrethe’s youngest sister) of Greece. 1967 was the year of a coup d’etat in Greece, leaving the family more or less in captivity and unable to travel to Denmark. It was initially believed that Anne-Marie would be allowed to attend alone while the Danish government advised Constantine not to attend, but in the end, neither made it to the celebrations. Ingrid, upset that her youngest daughter and her family would not be present, put up numerous pictures of the couple and their children around the palace during the reception.

The couple had four young teenage girls serve as bridesmaids. The bridesmaids were Kristin Dahl, Countess Desiree of Rosenborg (daughter of Count Flemming), Anne Oxholm Tillisch, and Carina Oxholm Tillisch. Each of the bridesmaids wore short-sleeved blue dresses with circlets of daisies in their hair.

Notable guests included:

  • King Frederik IX and Queen Ingrid of Denmark
  • King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden
  • King Olav of Norway
  • Princess Sibylla of Sweden
  • Crown Prince Harald of Norway
  • Count and Countess Carl Johan Bernadotte
  • Prince Bertil of Sweden
  • Count Sigvard and Countess Marianne Bernadotte
  • Princess Margaretha of Denmark
  • Prince Knud and Princess Caroline-Mathilde of Denmark
  • Princess Elisabeth of Denmark
  • Prince Ingolf of Denmark
  • Count Christian and Countess Alexandra of Rosenborg
  • Prince Viggo of Denmark
  • Prince George and Princess Anne of Denmark
  • Prince Rene and Princess Margrethe of Bourbon-Parma
  • Prince Gorm of Denmark
  • Count Fleming and Countess Ruth of Rosenborg
  • Crown Prince Carl Gustav of Sweden
  • Princess Christina of Sweden
  • Princess Brigitta of Sweden and Prince Johann Georg of Hohenzollern
  • Princess Margaretha of Sweden and John Ambler
  • Princess Desiree of Sweden and Baron Niclas Silfverschiold
  • King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of Belgium
  • Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands
  • Crown Princess Beatrix and Prince Claus of the Netherlands
  • Grand Duke Jean and Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg
  • Prince Louis Ferdinand and Princess Kira of Prussia
  • Duke Christian and Duchess Barbara of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
  • Princess Marina, Duchess of Kent (the British royal representative)
  • President Urho Kekkonen of Finland
  • President Ásgeir Ásgeirsson of Iceland
  • Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
  • Princess Benedikte of Denmark
  • Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofia of the Asturias
  • Princess Tatiana Radziwill and Jean Fruchaud
  • Captain Alexander Ramsay of Mar (cousin of Queen Ingrid)
  • Francoise Bardin (sister of Henri)
  • Countess Catherine de Laborde de Monpezat
  • Countess Maurille de Laborde de Monpezat
  • Count Etienne de Laborde de Monpezat
  • Count Jean-Baptiste de Laborde de Monpezat

Children

Embed from Getty Images 
Margrethe and Henrik with their two sons

Margrethe and Henrik had two sons:

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