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King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

King Gustav IV Adolf became king at the age of 13 when his father was assassinated and his reign lasted until he was deposed 17 years later in a coup. He was born at the Royal Palace of Stockholm on November 1, 1778, the elder of the two sons of King Gustav III of Sweden and Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and his first wife Princess Louise of Great Britain, daughter of King George II of Great Britain.

The marriage of Gustav Adolf’s parents remained unconsummated for ten years. There were various theories regarding the cause including his mother’s strict religious upbringing and introverted character, his father’s sexuality, and the possibility that either or both Queen Sophia Magdalena and King Gustav III had some kind of physical problem. Eventually, Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila acted as a sexual instructor for the couple. The instruction resulted in the birth of Gustav Adolf. When it became known that Munck participated in the reconciliation between the royal couple, there were rumors that he was Gustav Adolf’s father.

Gustav Adolf had one younger brother who died in infancy:

  • Prince Carl Gustav, Duke of Småland (1782–1783)

Gustav Adolf in 1785; Credit – Wikipedia

At the time of his birth, Gustav Adolf was put under the care of Maria Aurora Uggla, a lady-in-waiting and confidant of Queen Sophia Magdalena. As Crown Prince, Gustav Adolf began his education before he was three years old with Count Fredrik Sparre. When he was ten-years-old, Gustav Adolf received the Royal Order of the Seraphim.

On March 16, 1792, King Gustav III was shot by Jacob Johan Anckarström during a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. Thirteen days later, on March 29, 1792, King Gustav III died of his wounds at the Royal Palace of Stockholm at the age of 46. His 13-year-old son succeeded him as King Gustav IV Adolf.  Prince Carl, Duke of Södermanland, the young king’s paternal uncle, served as regent until 1796. Carl was not willing or not capable of managing state affairs and he entrusted the power of government to his confidant Count Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm.  Nils von Rosenstein, the first permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, served as Gustav Adolf’s tutor.

King Gustav IV Adolf in 1793; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1795, Gustav Adolph was betrothed to Duchess Louise Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The engagement was arranged by Count Gustaf Adolf Reuterholm, the confidant of the regent Prince Karl, who wished to keep his influence after Gustav Adolf was declared of legal majority by having a queen indebted to him for her position. Gustav Adolf was initially positive about marrying Louise Charlotte and the engagement was celebrated in the courts of Sweden and Mecklenburg-Schwerin. However, Empress Catherine the Great of Russia wanted her granddaughter Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna of Russia to be Queen of Sweden and made her dislike of the engagement known. Because of this, many people told Gustav Adolf that Louise Charlotte, whom he had not seen, was not beautiful. When Gustav Adolf was declared of legal majority in 1796, he broke off the engagement to Louise Charlotte. Her father demanded compensation. In 1803, the matter was finally settled when the Swedish city of Wismar in Germany was turned over to Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Around the time of his betrothal to Louise Charlotte, Gustav Adolf had fallen in love with Ebba Modée, a maid of honor to Hedwig Elizabeth Charlotte of Holstein-Gottorp, the wife of Gustav Adolf’s uncle Prince Karl. He offered to call off his engagement to Louise Charlotte, abdicate, and elope with her to Bohemia. She declined and encouraged him to go on his trip to Russia in 1796, where he was to be engaged to the Grand Duchess Alexandra Pavlovna. However, the Russian engagement fell through because Gustav Adolph refused to allow his prospective bride to continue to practice her Russian Orthodox religion.

Gustav Adolf and Frederica, circa 1797-1800; Credit – Wikipedia

After all the problems with prospective brides, Gustav Adolf arranged his own marriage. During his 1796 visit to Russia, he met the former Louise of Baden who was married to the future Alexander I, Emperor of Russia. Louise had a sister Frederica and since Gustav Adolf thought Louise was beautiful, he expected the same of her sister. He visited Frederica and her parents, Karl Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden and Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, in August 1797, and immediately Gustav Adolf and Frederica became engaged. On October 6, 1797, Frederica of Baden was married by proxy to King Gustav IV Adolf in Stralsund in Swedish Pomerania with Swedish Baron Evert Taube standing in for the king. Baron Taube accompanied Frederica to Sweden where a second wedding ceremony was held on October 31, 1797, in the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

The couple had five children:

In 1805, Gustav Adolf joined the Third Coalition against Napoleon. His campaign went poorly and the French occupied Swedish Pomerania. In 1807, Russia made peace with France. A year later, Russia invaded Finland, which was ruled by Sweden, attempting to force Gustav Adolf to join Napoleon’s Continental System. In just a few months, almost all of Finland was lost to Russia. In 1809, Sweden surrendered the eastern third of Sweden to Russia, and the autonomous Grand Principality of Finland within the Russian Empire was established.

Provoked by the disaster in Finland, a group of noblemen started a coup d’état that deposed King Gustav IV Adolf. On March 13, 1809, a group of conspirators led by Carl Johan Adlercreutz broke into the royal apartments at Gripsholm Castle and imprisoned Gustav Adolf and his family. Prince Karl, Gustav Adolf’s uncle, agreed to form a provisional government, and the Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, gave their approval for the coup. Gustav Adolf abdicated on March 29, 1809, thinking if he did so, his son would become king. However, on May 10, 1809, the Riksdag proclaimed that all members of Gustav Adolf’s family had forfeited their rights to the throne. After accepting a new liberal constitution, Prince Karl was proclaimed King Karl XIII of Sweden on June 6, 1809. In December 1809, Gustav Adolf and his family were sent into exile.

The arrest of Gustav Adolph; Credit – Wikipedia

Gustav Adolf and his family settled in Frederica’s home country, the Grand Duchy of Baden. However, the couple became incompatible and divorced in 1812. In the divorce settlement, Gustav Adolf renounced all his assets in favor of his mother and his children. He also renounced the custody and guardianship of his children. Two years later, Frederica placed her children under the guardianship of her brother-in-law, Alexander I, Emperor of Russia. Frederica settled in Bruchsal Castle in Baden. She acquired several other residences in Baden and a country villa, Villamont, near Lausanne, Switzerland, where she died in 1826.

Colonel Gustafsson, the former King Gustav IV Adolf, circa 1830; Credit – Wikipedia

Gustav Adolf ultimately settled in a small hotel in St. Gallen, Switzerland where he lived in great loneliness. He used several titles in exile: Count Gottorp, Duke of Holstein-Eutin, and Colonel Gustafsson. On February 7, 1837, Gustav Adolf suffered a stroke and died at the age of 58. He was originally buried at Eichhorn Castle in Moravia (now in the Czech Republic) where his son, the Austrian Lieutenant Field Marshal Gustav, Prince of Vasa lived.  In 1881, his great-granddaughter Princess Victoria of Baden married Crown Prince Gustaf of Sweden, the future King Gustaf V. At the suggestion of the Crown Prince’s father King Oscar II of Sweden, Gustav Adolf’s body was returned to Sweden and interred in the Riddarholm Church, the traditional burial place of the Swedish Royal Family until fairly recently.

Tomb of King Gustav IV Adolf; Photo 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.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Gustav IV. Adolf (Schweden). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_IV._Adolf_(Schweden) [Accessed 24 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_IV_Adolf_of_Sweden [Accessed 24 Sep. 2017].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. (2017). Gustav IV Adolf. [online] Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_IV_Adolf [Accessed 24 Sep. 2017].

King Gustav III of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2017

King Gustav III of Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

King Gustav III of Sweden is best known for being mortally wounded during a masked ball at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm, Sweden, and dying thirteen days later. The incident was the subject of Giuseppe Verdi’s 1859 opera Un Ballo in Maschera (A Masked Ball).  Gustav was the eldest son of King Adolf Frederik of Sweden and Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, daughter of King George I of Great Britain.   He was the first cousin of Empress Catherine II (the Great) and the nephew of King Friedrich II of Prussia (the Great). Gustav was born on January 24, 1746, at the Wrangel Palace on Riddarholmen islet in Gamla Stan, the old town of Stockholm, Sweden. Wrangel Palace was the official Stockholm residence of the Swedish royal family from 1697 until 1754 when the Royal Palace of Stockholm was completed.

Wrangel Palace in the 1600s. The palace was rebuilt in 1802 after a fire. Credit – Wikipedia

Gustav had three younger siblings:

King Gustav III and his brothers (left to right): King Gustav III of Sweden, Prince Frederick Adolf and King Carl XIII of Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

Until he was five years old, Gustav was under the care of a governess, Hedvig Elisabet Strömfelt. During the reign of his father, the Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) held all the power and they appointed Gustav’s governors. King Adolf Frederik often expressed his dissatisfaction with this arrangement, sometimes even in the presence of his son. Despite this, Gustav’s governors Carl Gustaf Tessin and Carl Fredrik Scheffer were among the most important Swedish statesmen of the time.

Past wars and the result of the 1743 election caused tension between Denmark and Sweden. To foster friendship between the two countries, a betrothal was arranged in 1751 between two five-year-olds, Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden and Princess Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, the eldest daughter of King Frederik V of Denmark and his first wife Princess Louisa of Great Britain, daughter of King George II of Great Britain. The betrothal was arranged by the Swedish parliament, not the Danish and Swedish royal families. The proposed match was disliked by both mothers. Gustav’s mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika had long been in conflict with the Swedish parliament and would have preferred a marriage with her niece, Philippine of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Sophia Magdalena’s mother Queen Louise of Denmark feared that her daughter would be mistreated by her mother-in-law Queen Louisa Ulrika.

Sophia Magdalena by Carl Gustaf Pilo, 1765; Credit – Wikipedia

Gustav III of Sweden by Alexander Roslin, 1772; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 1, 1766, Gustav and Sophia Magdalena were married by proxy at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark with the bride’s half-brother Frederik representing the groom. Sophia Magdalena then traveled to Sweden where she married Crown Prince Gustav in person on November 4, 1766, at the Royal Chapel at the Royal Palace of Stockholm.

The wedding attire of Gustav and Sophia Magdalena at the Royal Armory, a museum in the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage was not a happy one. Sophia Magdalena was quiet and serious and found it difficult to adapt to the pleasure-loving Swedish court. The interference of Gustav’s jealous mother, Queen Louisa Ulrika, did not help the situation. Sophia Magdalena dutifully performed her ceremonial duties, but she did not care about social life and would rather exist in peace and quiet with a few friends.

In 1771, King Adolf Frederick of Sweden died and Gustav succeeded his father as King Gustav III of Sweden. Gustav and Sophia Magdalena’s coronation was held on May 29, 1772, at the Storkyrkan (The Great Church) in Stockholm.

Unfinished painting of Gustav III’s coronation by Carl Gustaf Pilo (Sophia Magdalena can be seen sitting on the right); Credit – Wikipedia

In 1772, Gustav arranged for a coup d’état known as the Revolution of 1772 or Coup of Gustav III. The coup d’état reinstated an absolute monarchy and ended parliamentary rule.  Gustav imprisoned opposition leaders and established a new regime with extensive power for the king.

Gustav III (center right) at the Revolution of 1772 by Pehr Hilleström; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage of Sophia Magdalena and Gustav remained unconsummated for ten years. There were various theories regarding the cause including Sophia Magdalena’s strict religious upbringing and introverted character, Gustav’s sexuality, and the possibility that either or both Sophia Magdalena and Gustav had a physical problem. Eventually, Count Adolf Fredrik Munck af Fulkila acted as a sexual instructor for the couple. The instruction resulted in the birth of a son. When it became known that Munck participated in the reconciliation between the royal couple, there were rumors that he was the father of Sophia Magdalena’s son. The couple eventually had another son, but he did not survive childhood:

Gustav III, Sophia Magdalena, and Crown Prince Gustav Adolf in Haga Park by Cornelius Høyer, 1784–1785; Credit – Wikipedia

Like many 18th-century monarchs, Gustav III was influenced by the French Age of Enlightenment philosophers. He was well-acquainted with the philosophy of Voltaire, well-known for his advocacy of freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and separation of church and state. Gustav was determined to reconcile his strengthened royal power with the ideas of tolerance and freedom of the Enlightenment. He regarded himself as a true friend of the freedom of the press and encouraged publications on socially useful subjects. However, when the opposition to him grew stronger, Gustav restricted what could be written about him. In 1774, a new freedom of the press regulation was issued which contained many restrictions compared to the previous regulation of 1766.

In the 1780s, Gustav III was preoccupied with foreign policy: a growing hatred of Denmark and a desire to conquer Norway. In 1788, he began a war against Russia, the Russo-Swedish War, but had to retreat because of a mutiny in the army. In 1789, he resumed the war with varying success. The war ended in 1790 with the Treaty of Värälä. The war with Russia had destroyed Sweden’s economy, and a conspiracy developed when Gustav decided to attack France.

The Russo-Sweden War and the implementation of the Union and Security Act in 1789, which gave the king more power and abolished many of the privileges of the nobility, contributed to the increasing hatred of Gustav III, which had existed among the nobility since the 1772 coup. In the winter of 1791-1792, a conspiracy was formed within the nobility to kill the king and reform the government. Among the conspirators were Jacob Johan Anckarström, a Swedish military officer, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn, colonel of the Svea Life Guards,  Count Adolph Ribbing, Count Claes Fredrik Horn and Baron Carl Fredrik Pechlin, a former major general in the Swedish army and a member of the Riksdag.

The murder was to take place on the evening of March 16, 1792, at a masked ball held at the Royal Opera House in Stockholm. Gustav and his friends ate a light supper at the opera house before joining the masked ball. Towards the end of the supper, a letter arrived for Gustav. At the last moment, Carl Pontus Lilliehorn regretted his part in the conspiracy and sent an anonymous letter to Gustav warning him of the murder plans. Gustav’s friend Count Hans Henric von Essen begged him not to go to the masked ball. However, Gustav had received many threatening letters and ignored the warning.

Gustav’s masquerade dress; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Gustav, wearing a mask, a triangular hat, a Venetian cape, and the star of the Royal Order of the Seraphim, walked arm in arm with von Essen to the masked ball. Gustav was easily recognized because of the Royal Order of the Seraphim and was surrounded by conspirators Jacob Johan Anckarström, Count Claes Fredrik Horn, and Count Adolf Ludvig Ribbing. One of the conspirators said to him in French: “Bonjour, beau masque” (“Good-day, fine masked man”). Anckarström then shot Gustav in the back. von Essen ordered the doors to be closed and all guests were questioned which led to the arrest of several of the conspirators. It was decided that a limited number of the conspirators would be charged and that Jacob Johan Anckarström would be the scapegoat. He was beaten for three days before he was beheaded, mutilated, and dismembered. Carl Pontus Lilliehorn, who wrote the anonymous warning letter, was released and exiled. Other conspirators were either imprisoned or exiled.

King Gustav III had not been shot dead as the conspirators had hoped and continued functioning as the head of state while he recovered. However, suddenly he weakened and, as often happened in the days before antibiotics, his wound became infected, and sepsis, a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs, developed. On March 29, 1792, thirteen days after being shot, King Gustav III of Sweden died at the age of 46. He was succeeded by his 13-year-old son King Gustav IV Adolf. King Gustav III was given a magnificent funeral at Riddarholm Church in Stockholm where he was also buried.

Tomb of King Gustav III; Photo 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.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Gustav III of Sweden. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_III_of_Sweden [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. (2017). Gustav III. [online] Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gustav_III [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. (2017). Mordet på Gustav III. [online] Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mordet_p%C3%A5_Gustav_III [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Sophia Magdalena of Denmark, Queen of Sweden. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/sophia-magdalena-of-denmark-queen-of-sweden/ [Accessed 23 Sep. 2017].

King Adolf Frederik of Sweden

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

The first Swedish king of the House of Holstein-Gottorp, King Adolf Frederik was born Prince Adolf Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp on May 14, 1710, at Gottorp Castle in Gottorp, Duchy of Schleswig now the city of Schleswig, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. He was the second of the six sons and the fifth of the ten children of Christian August of Holstein-Gottorp, Prince of Eutin and Albertina Friederike of Baden-Durlach.

Adolf Frederik had nine siblings including the mother of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia:

In 1727, the seventeen-year-old Adolf Friedrich was elected Prince-Bishop of Lübeck, then a state of the Holy Roman Empire, succeeding his brother Karl August. After the death of his first cousin Karl Friedrich, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp in 1739, Adolf Friedrich became the administrator of the duchy for his cousin’s 11-year-old son Karl Peter Ulrich. Karl Peter Ulrich’s mother was Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia, the elder surviving daughter of Peter the Great. When his mother’s sister Elizabeth succeeded as Empress of Russia, she named her nephew her successor. Now called Peter, he married Adolf Friedrich’s niece Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst. Emperor Peter III of Russia reigned briefly until he was deposed by his wife who reigned as Empress Catherine II (the Great.)

In 1743, after the Russo-Swedish War (1741-1743) which ended in Sweden’s defeat, negotiations were held with Empress Elizabeth of Russia. She agreed to restore part of Finland to Sweden if her heir’s uncle, Adolf Friedrich of Holstein-Gottorp, was made heir to the childless King Frederik I of Sweden. Thereafter, Adolf Friedrich was known by the Swedish version of his name, Adolf Frederik.

Adolf Frederik; Credit – Wikipedia

The powers that be decided that Adolf Frederik should marry either Princess Louisa Ulrika of Prussia or her youngest sister Anna Amalia. The princesses were the daughters of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and his wife Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, daughter of King George I of Great Britain, and the only sibling of King George II of Great Britain. The Swedish ambassador to Prussia inspected both sisters and recommended Louisa Ulrika. The sisters’ brother King Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia, who had succeeded to the Prussia throne in 1740, described Louisa Ulrika as arrogant and divisive and recommended Anna Amalia, described as kind-hearted and more suitable. Friedrich’s real reason for recommending Anna Amalia is that he wanted a sister who would gain influence in Sweden and considered his youngest sister to be more manageable. After getting the opinion of the groom Adolf Fredrik, the Swedish government insisted on Louisa Ulrika and King Friedrich II of Prussia gave his approval. Louisa Ulrika was taught about Sweden, converted to Lutheranism, and was advised to refrain from any involvement in politics.

On July 17, 1744, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Fredrik were married by proxy in Berlin with the bride’s brother August Wilhelm standing in for the groom. Louisa Ulrika was escorted to Sweden by the Swedish ambassador and his wife. On August 18, 1744, she was welcomed by King Frederik I at Drottningholm Palace, where the second wedding ceremony was held the same day, followed by a ball and a court reception.

Louisa Ulrika by Antoine Pesne, circa 1744; Credit – Wikipedia

King Adolf Fredrik of Sweden by Antoine Pesne; Credit – Wikipedia

Following a stillbirth, Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Fredrik had four children:

The three sons of King Adolf Frederik: King Gustav III of Sweden, Prince Frederick Adolf and King Carl XIII of Sweden by Alexander Roslin, 1771; Credit – Wikipedia

Adolf Fredrik was introverted, gentle, and submissive, and Louisa Ulrika was pleased with him because she immediately felt secure in the fact that she was his superior. Already during their first day together, she was meddling in politics, informing Adolf Fredrik that her brother Friedrich had plans for an alliance between Sweden, Russia, and Prussia, and asked Adolf Fredrik to raise the subject with the Prussian envoy, which he agreed to do. Upon the death of King Frederik I of Sweden on March 25, 1751, Adolf Frederik succeeded to the Swedish throne. At the time of her wedding in 1744, King Fredrik I gave Louisa Ulrika the ownership of Drottningholm Palace, not too far from the Swedish capital of Stockholm. Louisa Ulrika and Adolf Fredrik continued to reside at the palace during their reign (1751–1771). In 1777, Louisa Ulrika sold Drottningholm Palace to the Swedish state. Currently, it is the home of the Swedish Royal Family.

Adolf Frederik in coronation robes; Credit – Wikipedia

During his twenty-year reign, Adolf Fredrik had no real power. The Riksdag (Swedish Parliament) held the power. Adolf Fredrik tried to change this twice, unsuccessfully. In the Coup of 1756, Queen Louisa Ulrika and her confidants planned to abolish the rule of the Riksdag and reinstate an absolute monarchy in Sweden. The attempted coup was exposed and several confidants of the royal family were executed.

During the December Crisis (1768), King Adolf Frederik refused to sign state documents and formally resigned from the throne. It was thought that this action would bring about the assembling of a new Riksdag, during which reform to increase the king’s powers could be introduced. On December 20, 1768, the Riksdag was assembled and promised new reforms. King Adolf Frederik agreed to retake the throne, the crisis was averted, and the government could function again. However, the Riksdag did not assemble until 1769, and the only action it took regarding the royal house was to give it an increased allowance.

At the age of 60, King Adolf Fredrik died on February 12, 1771, at the Royal Palace in Stockholm after eating an extremely large meal and then suffering a stroke. In Sweden, he is remembered as “the king who ate himself to death.” He was buried at Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm.

Tomb of King Adolf Frederik; Photo 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.

Works Cited:

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Adolf Friedrich (Schweden). [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Friedrich_(Schweden) [Accessed 17 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Adolf Frederick, King of Sweden. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Frederick,_King_of_Sweden [Accessed 17 Sep. 2017].
  • Sv.wikipedia.org. (2017). Adolf Fredrik. [online] Available at: https://sv.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Fredrik [Accessed 17 Sep. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Louisa Ulrika of Prussia, Queen of Sweden. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louisa-ulrika-of-prussia-queen-of-sweden/ [Accessed 17 Sep. 2017].

Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Countess of Flanders

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2017

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was one-half of the couple who secured the future of the Belgian royal dynasty.  Marie Luise Alexandrine Karoline was born on November 17, 1845, at Schloss Sigmaringen, the seat of the Principality of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen now located in Sigmaringen in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.  She was the younger of the two daughters and the youngest of the six children of Sovereign Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Prime Minister of Prussia, and Princess Josephine of Baden, daughter of Grand Duke Karl of Baden.  In 1869, the Sovereign Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen also became the Sovereign Prince of Hohenzollern-Hechingen and assumed the title Prince of Hohenzollern.

Marie had five older siblings:

Marie, seated on the left, and her sister Stephanie, standing, 1858: Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Unlike the Hohenzollerns who ruled in Prussia, Marie’s family was Roman Catholic. She was considered as a wife for the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, but her religion barred any possibility of marriage as she would not convert to the Church of England.  On April 25, 1867, at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg, Marie married Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders,  the third son but second surviving son of Leopold I of the Belgians and Marie-Louise of Orléans.

Marie on her wedding day; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Philippe and Marie had five children:

Philippe and Marie settled in the Palace of the Count of Flanders in Brussels, which Philippe bought and renovated. During the first several years of the couple’s married life, there were several family tragedies. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the husband of Philippe’s sister Charlotte, was deposed and executed by a firing squad. Charlotte descended into a mental illness that would plague her for the rest of her life. In 1869, ten-year-old Leopold, Duke of Brabant, the only son and heir of Philippe’s brother King Leopold II, fell into a pond, caught pneumonia, and died. Hoping for a crown prince because only males could inherit the throne, Leopold II and his wife had another child, but the long-awaited crown prince did not materialize as the child was a girl.

It was Philippe and Marie who secured the future of the Belgian dynasty. Philippe was the heir presumptive to the Belgian throne until his death in 1905. Philippe’s elder son Baudouin was second in line to the throne until his death in 1891 from influenza. Then Marie and Philippe’s younger son Albert became second in line to the throne. Eventually, Albert succeeded his uncle King Leopold II upon his death in 1909 as King Albert I.

Marie and Philippe, 1880; Credit – Wikipedia

Marie was an accomplished artist and her artwork was exhibited at the Brussels Fair and at the World Exhibition of 1893 in Chicago. Her literary salon attracted many authors and was a popular part of Brussels’ social life for forty years.  She was also well known for her charitable work.  Marie gradually took on the role of the first lady of the court after her sister-in-law Queen Marie-Henriette left the court due to marriage problems and her sisters-in-law married. Her husband Philippe died on November 17, 1905, at the age of 68. He was buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium

Marie lived to see her son become King Albert I of Belgium in 1909.  She died in Brussels, Belgium on November 26, 1912, from pneumonia and was buried with her husband at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken.

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.

Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Prince Philippe of Belgium, Count of Flanders; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Philippe of Belgium (Philippe Eugène Ferdinand Marie Clément Baudouin Léopold Georges) was born on March 24, 1837, at the Royal Castle of Laeken near Brussels, Belgium. He was the third of the three sons and the third of the four children of Leopold I, King of the Belgians and his second wife Louise-Marie of Orléans. Prince Philippe is the ancestor of the current Belgian royal family as his son succeeded to the Belgian throne as King Albert I.

Philippe had two elder brothers and one younger sister:

Philippe (in the middle) with his brother Leopold and his sister Charlotte; Credit – Wikipedia

Philippe’s father was born Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and first married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom and the second in the line of succession to the British throne. Sadly, 21-year-old Princess Charlotte of Wales died in childbirth along with her son. In 1831, Leopold became King of the Belgians after Belgium became independent from the Netherlands. King Leopold I was the uncle of both Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, and therefore his son Philippe, Victoria, and Albert were first cousins. Philippe’s mother was the daughter of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Philippe in 1863; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

When he was three-years-old, Philippe was created Count of Flanders and on his 18th birthday, he received the Grand Cordon of the Order of Leopold. In 1866, Philippe refused the offer of the throne of Romania which was later accepted by his future brother-in-law Prince Karl of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen who reigned as King Carol I of Romania.

Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen on her wedding day; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 25, 1867, at St. Hedwig’s Cathedral in Berlin, Philippe married Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, daughter of Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Prime Minister of Prussia, and his wife Princess Josephine of Baden.

Philippe and Marie had five children:

Philippe and Marie settled in the Palace of the Count of Flanders in Brussels, which Philippe bought and renovated. During the first several years of the couple’s married life, there were several family tragedies. In 1867, Emperor Maximilian of Mexico, the husband of Philippe’s sister Charlotte, was deposed and executed by a firing squad. Charlotte descended into the mental illness which would plague her for the rest of her life. In 1869, ten-year-old Leopold, Duke of Brabant, the only son and heir of Philippe’s brother King Leopold II, fell into a pond, caught pneumonia, and died. Hoping for a crown prince because only males could inherit the throne, Leopold II and his wife had another child, but the long-awaited crown prince did not materialize as the child was a girl.

It was Philippe and Marie who secured the future of the Belgian dynasty. Philippe was the heir presumptive to the Belgian throne until his death in 1905. Philippe’s elder son Baudouin was second in line to the throne until his death in 1891 from influenza. Then Philippe’s younger son Albert became second in line to the throne. Eventually, Albert succeeded his uncle, King Leopold II, upon his death in 1909 as King Albert I.

Marie and Philippe, 1880; Credit – Wikipedia

Philippe led a comfortable life in the intimacy of his Brussels palace surrounded by his objets d’art, his superb horses, and his precious library of 30,000 books. Philippe, age 68, died on November 17, 1905, at his palace in Brussels. He was buried at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium

Church of Our Lady of Laeken; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Philippe,_Count_of_Flanders [Accessed 15 Sep. 2017].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2017). Philippe de Belgique (1837-1905). [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippe_de_Belgique_(1837-1905) [Accessed 15 Sep. 2017].
  • It.wikipedia.org. (2017). Filippo del Belgio (1837-1905). [online] Available at: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filippo_del_Belgio_(1837-1905) [Accessed 15 Sep. 2017].

Princess Clémentine of Belgium, Princess Napoléon

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Princess Clémentine of Belgium, Princess Napoléon; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Clémentine of Belgium (Clémentine Albertine Marie Léopoldine) was born at the Royal Castle of Laeken in Belgium on July 30, 1872. She was the third of the three daughters and the youngest of the four children of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Archduchess Marie-Henriette of Austria. In 1869, when Leopold and Marie-Henriette’s only son Leopold died, King Leopold blamed Queen Marie-Henriette for their son’s death. Little Leopold had fallen into a pond, caught pneumonia, and died. Hoping for a crown prince because only males could inherit the throne, Queen Marie-Henriette became pregnant again, but the long-awaited crown prince did not materialize as the child was a girl, Clémentine. Clémentine’s parents completely separated after her birth.

Clémentine had three older siblings:

Even before the death of their brother, Clémentine’s siblings had a difficult childhood. The marriage of their parents started unhappy, remained unhappy, and the couple lived mostly separate lives. King Leopold had many mistresses and he made no real attempt to have a successful marriage. Queen Marie-Henriette was cold and inaccessible. Their mother showed no interest in the children and their father, who was only interested in his business in the Belgian Congo, did not spend time with his daughters.

By the time Clémentine was eight-years-old, both her sisters had married and she was the only child left at home. She grew up alone under the guidance of governesses who taught her French, German, music, history, and literature. Clémentine had a close relationship with her sister Stéphanie. The two sisters maintained a faithful correspondence and considered each other their best friend. Clémentine’s relationship with her father improved. In 1894, she got her own coach and could come and go without the permission of her mother. By 1895, Queen Marie-Henriette moved to Spa, Belgium where she lived out the rest of her life at Hôtel du Midi, the home she had bought there. Clémentine replaced her as the first lady of the Belgian court.

Clémentine fell in love with her first cousin Prince Baudouin of Belgium. Baudouin was the elder son of Prince Philippe, Count of Flanders, brother of King Leopold II who had become heir to the Belgian throne after the death of Leopold’s only son. Therefore, Baudouin was second in the line of succession. It appears that Clémentine and Baudouin were informally betrothed. Although accounts differ as to whether or not Baudouin was in favor of this arrangement, it was generally seen as the best way of uniting the cadet and main branches of the Belgian Royal Family. However, Baudouin died of influenza in January 1891 at the age of 21.

Clémentine first met Prince Victor Bonaparte in 1888, when the prince visited Brussels. The prince had become head of the House of Bonaparte upon the death in 1879 of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, the only child of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French. Clémentine confided to one of her sisters that she was attracted to Victor, but her father opposed the match because it could compromise the relations between the Kingdom of Belgium and the Republic of France. King Leopold’s refusal caused many arguments between father and daughter. In 1903, Clémentine once again asked permission to marry Victor and her father again refused. Clémentine persisted but was threatened with disinheritance by her father.

In 1909, after her father had died, Clémentine received permission to marry Victor from the new Belgian monarch King Albert I, her first cousin and Prince Baudouin’s younger brother. On November 14, 1910, at the Castle of Moncalieri in the Kingdom of Italy, 38-year-old Clémentine married 48-year-old Victor. Clémentine later wrote to her sister Stephanie: “My good husband, gentle, adoring, tender, loving, intelligent, connoisseur of people and things. He is beautiful, this Prince. Napoleon is a love, I adore him.”

Victor and Clementine; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Clémentine and Victor had two children:

Clémentine and Victor initially settled in Brussels because the Republic of France did not allow pretenders to the throne to live in France. During World War I, Clémentine, Victor, and their children lived with the former Empress of the French, Eugenie, the widow of Emperor Napoleon III, at her home Farnborough Hill in Farnborough, Hampshire, England. Following the end of the war, the family returned to Brussels. Prince Victor died on May 3, 1926, in Brussels, Belgium.

Clémentine initially remained in Belgium after her husband’s death. However, she was greatly saddened by a major political crisis in Belgium, The Royal Question, and therefore, lived the majority of the rest of her life in France. The Royal Question (1945 to 1951) concerned whether King Leopold III could resume his royal powers and duties as King of the Belgians despite allegations that his actions during World War II were contrary to the Belgian Constitution. The crisis was eventually resolved in 1951 by the abdication of Leopold in favor of his elder son King Baudouin I.

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The last ten years of Clémentine’s life were happy and peaceful. She enjoyed her many grandchildren and received the Legion of Honor for her 80th birthday. On March 8, 1955, Clémentine died at the age of 82, at her home in Nice, France, the Villa Clairvallou. She was buried with her husband at the Imperial Chapel of Ajaccio in Ajaccio, Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. The Imperial Chapel was built by Cardinal Joseph Fesch, the half-brother of Napoleon Bonaparte’s mother Letizia, so that Letizia and any other members of the Bonaparte who desired so, could be buried there.

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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

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Clementine von Belgien. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_von_Belgien [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Princess Clémentine of Belgium. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Cl%C3%A9mentine_of_Belgium [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2017). Clémentine de Belgique. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cl%C3%A9mentine_de_Belgique [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].
  • Nl.wikipedia.org. (2017). Clementine van België. [online] Available at: https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clementine_van_Belgi%C3%AB [Accessed 14 Sep. 2017].

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, Crown Princess of Austria

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of the heir to the Austrian throne who apparently died in a suicide pact with his mistress, Princess Stéphanie of Belgium was born on May 21, 1864, at the Royal Palace of Laeken in Belgium.  Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte was the second of the three daughters and the third of the four children of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Archduchess Marie-Henriette of Austria.

Stéphanie had three siblings:

The marriage of Stéphanie’s parents started out unhappy, remained unhappy, and the couple lived mostly separate lives. King Leopold had many mistresses and he made no real attempt to have a successful marriage. Queen Marie-Henriette was cold and inaccessible. Stéphanie and her siblings had a difficult childhood. Their mother showed no interest in the children and their father, who was only interested in his business in the Belgian Congo, did not spend time with his daughters. In 1869, when Stéphanie’s only brother Leopold died, King Leopold blamed Queen Marie-Henriette for their son’s death. Little Leopold had fallen into a pond, caught pneumonia, and died. Hoping for a crown prince because only males could inherit the throne, Queen Marie-Henriette became pregnant again, but the long-awaited crown prince did not materialize as the child was a girl, Clémentine. Stéphanie’s parents completely separated after the birth of Clémentine.

Rudolf and Stéphanie  – official engagement photograph, 1881; Credit – Wikipedia

Stéphanie’s marriage was planned by the royal courts of Belgium and Austria. Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, the only son of Emperor Franz Joseph I and his wife Elisabeth of Bavaria, was under pressure from his parents to marry. Stéphanie who was still a teenager and Roman Catholic, met the criteria of the Emperor although the Empress did not think Stéphanie was good enough for her son because the Belgian monarchy had existed only since 1830. Nevertheless, during a trip to Belgium in March 1880 at the invitation of King Leopold II, Rudolf proposed to Stéphanie to the great joy of her parents. Stéphanie was sent to Vienna to learn the etiquette of the imperial court, but within the month, her ladies-in-waiting realized that she had not yet reached puberty. Stéphanie suffered great humiliation as the wedding was postponed and she was sent back to Belgium. Eventually, the couple married on May 10, 1881, at the Augustinerkirche, the parish church of the Imperial Court of the Habsburgs, a short walk from Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Stéphanie was not quite 17-years-old and Rudolf was 22-years-old.

Augustinerkirche in Vienna; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

Stéphanie and Rudolf had one child:

Stéphanie and her daughter Elisabeth Marie; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage was happy at first, but shortly after the birth of their daughter, the relationship between Stéphanie and Rudolf began to deteriorate. It is likely that Rudolf infected Stéphanie with a sexually transmitted disease, causing her to be infertile and unable to provide a male heir for the Austrian throne. Both Stéphanie and Rudolf began affairs with other people in the following years and intermittently spoke of divorce.

On January 30, 1889, at Mayerling, a hunting lodge in the Vienna Woods which Rudolf had purchased, Rudolf shot his 17-year-old mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera and then shot himself in an apparent suicide plot. Stéphanie was widowed at the age of 24. Rudolf wrote in his farewell letter to Stéphanie: Dear Stéphanie! You are free from my presence and plague; be happy in your way. Be good for the poor little one, who is the only thing left of me. The custody of Stéphanie’s daughter Elisabeth Marie was taken over by her grandfather, Emperor Franz Joseph. Elisabeth Marie remained close to her grandfather until he died in 1916.

Stéphanie in 1890; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After the shock of Rudolf’s death, Stéphanie traveled and spent a great deal of time with her sisters Louise and Clémentine. She avoided Vienna as much as possible and when at court, she was unable to completely fulfill her duties. Stéphanie’s father and Emperor Franz Joseph tried in vain to marry Stéphanie to Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the Emperor’s nephew and the heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, to disrupt Franz Ferdinand’s relationship with Countess Sophie Chotek von Chotkow und Wognin. Because Sophie was not a member of a reigning or formerly reigning family, she could not marry a member of the Imperial Family. Franz Ferdinand refused to give Sophie up and eventually, the Emperor allowed the morganatic marriage. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand and Sophie in June 1914 was one of the causes of World War I.

Stéphanie and Count Elemér Lónyay, her second husband; Credit – www.findagrave.com

After an unhappy first marriage, Stéphanie married for love. On March 22, 1900, she married Hungarian Count Elemér Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény. Following the marriage, Stéphanie’s daughter Elisabeth broke off all contact with her mother. Stéphanie lost her imperial and royal titles because the marriage was unequal and incurred the wrath of her father.

When her mother Queen Marie-Henriette died in 1902, Stéphanie traveled to Brussels to attend the funeral, but when she tried to say goodbye to the coffin, her father King Leopold II had her removed from the chapel. After the death of her father King Leopold II in 1909, Stéphanie and her sister Louise tried to claim their share of the billions their father had earned in the Belgian Congo, initially his private property, but they lost their case in court. In 1934, Stéphanie disinherited her daughter, who had divorced Prince Otto zu Windisch-Graetz and was living with (and later married) a Socialist, Leopold Petznek. Stéphanie published her memoirs “I was to be an Empress” in 1937.

Stéphanie in 1911; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Until the end of World War II, Stéphanie and her second husband lived peacefully at Oroszvar Castle now in present-day Slovakia. After the arrival of the Soviet Army in 1945, the couple left their castle to take refuge in the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma in Hungary, where on August 23, 1945, Stéphanie died at the age of 81. Her husband Count Elemér Lónyay died in Budapest, Hungary on July 20, 1946. The couple was buried together at the Abbey of Pannonhalma.

Stéphanie’s tomb; Photo 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.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Stephanie von Belgien. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephanie_von_Belgien [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Princess Stéphanie of Belgium. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_St%C3%A9phanie_of_Belgium [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2017). Stéphanie de Belgique. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/St%C3%A9phanie_de_Belgique [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].

Wedding of Princess Anne, Princess Royal and Timothy Laurence

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2017

Photo Credit – www.dailymail.co.uk

Princess Anne married Timothy Laurence on December 12, 1992, at Crathie Kirk in Crathie, Scotland near Balmoral Castle.

Princess Anne’s Early Life

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Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise was born at Clarence House in London, England on August 15, 1950. She was the second child of the four children and the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born a Prince of Greece and Denmark). Anne had one elder brother Charles and two younger brothers, Andrew and Edward.

At the time of Anne’s birth, her mother was Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh and the sovereign was her grandfather, King George VI. The children of a daughter of a British sovereign would not usually have been accorded the style Royal Highness or the titles Prince/Princess as in the case of Anne’s own children. However, on October 22, 1948, Anne’s grandfather King George VI issued letters patent allowing the children of his eldest daughter and heiress presumptive, to use the style and title of a royal prince or princess. Therefore, Anne was Her Royal Highness Princess Anne of Edinburgh at birth.

King George VI died on February 6, 1952, and his elder daughter Princess Elizabeth became Queen. Upon her mother’s accession to the throne, Anne was styled Her Royal Highness The Princess Anne. Anne was too young to attend her mother’s coronation, but she did make an appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace as can be seen in the above photo.

Catherine Peebles who was the governess of Prince Charles was also Anne’s governess and she was responsible for Anne’s early education. In 1959, a Girl Guides company, 1st Buckingham Palace Company was formed at the palace to allow Anne to socialize with other girls. Similar Girl Guide companies had been formed at Buckingham Palace for Anne’s mother and her aunt Princess Margaret. From 1963-1968, Anne attended Benenden School, an independent boarding school for girls in Kent, England.

From a young age, Princess Anne was passionate about riding and she soon became an excellent equestrienne. In 1971, Anne won the European Eventing Championship and was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year. For more than five years Anne competed with the British eventing team, winning a silver medal in both individual and team disciplines in the 1975 European Eventing Championship. In the 1976 Montreal Summer Olympics, Anne competed as a member of the British equestrian team.

Princess Anne married Captain Mark Phillips, a fellow equestrian, on November 14, 1973, at Westminster Abbey in London, England. The couple had two children: Peter (born 1977) and Zara (born 1981). Anne and her first husband separated in 1989 and their divorce was finalized on April 23, 1992.

For more information, see Unofficial Royalty: Princess Anne, The Princess Royal

Timothy Laurence’s Early Life

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Timothy James Hamilton Laurence was born on March 1, 1955, in Camberwell, South London, England, the son of Guy Laurence and Barbara Symonds. His father was a Commander in the Royal Navy and then a salesman for a marine engine manufacturer. Timothy grew up in Kent, England along with his older brother Jonathan.

Timothy began his education at The New Beacon Preparatory School in Sevenoaks, Kent, England. He then attended Sevenoaks School also in Sevenoaks, Kent, England, founded in 1432. Timothy attended University College, Durham on a Naval Scholarship where he was the editor of the student newspaper and captain of the cricket team. He graduated with a Bachelors degree in geography and then completed his naval training at the Britannia Royal Naval College Dartmouth.

Timothy served on a number of Royal Navy ships as a navigating officer and then as a commander. From 1986-1989, he had his first staff appointment as Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II. An equerry must be a senior officer in the British Armed Services. Timothy also served in various posts in the Ministry of Defence. He retired from the Royal Navy in 2010 with the rank Vice Admiral.

For more information, see Unofficial Royalty: Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence

The Couple

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Timothy Laurence smiling at Princess Anne at the 1989 Royal Ascot Races. Anne is in the white outfit. The little girl is Anne’s daughter Zara.

Timothy first met his future wife, Anne, Princess Royal when he was Equerry to Queen Elizabeth II. As the Queen’s Equerry for three years, Timothy learned the ways of the Royal Family. He often ate with the family, accompanied them on outings, cruised with them on the royal yacht, and made the formal introductions when important guests came to visit. Anne’s marriage to Mark Phillips was in trouble and Timothy caught her eye. However, it was not until 1989, when four of Timothy’s love letters were stolen from Anne’s briefcase at Buckingham Palace that the romance came to light. In the same year, Anne separated from her first husband, but the courtship with Timothy remained discreet. The couple was seldom seen together until Anne’s divorce became final in April 1992.

The couple’s intention to marry was announced by Buckingham Palace on December 5, 1992, just a week before the wedding. A Palace spokesperson said, “Due to the level of speculation about the matter, we decided to confirm that The Princess Royal and Commander Laurence are planning to marry, but I cannot say where and when.”

Timothy gave Anne a ring with a cabochon sapphire surrounded by three small diamonds on either side.

The Wedding

Photo Credit – http://www.hellomagazine.com

The small, private wedding was held on December 12, 1992, at the tiny Crathie Kirk in Crathie, Scotland where the British Royal Family worships when they are staying at Balmoral Castle. The couple chose to marry in Scotland as the Church of England did not at that time allow divorced persons whose former spouses were still living to remarry in its churches. The Church of Scotland does not consider marriage to be a sacrament and has no objection to the remarriage of divorced persons.

Princess Anne arrived at Crathie Kirk accompanied by her father Prince Philip and her 11-year-old daughter Zara who acted as her bridesmaid. Anne was dressed in a simple white suit with white blossoms in her hair and Timothy was wearing his Royal Navy uniform. Before about 30 guests, the bride and groom exchanged vows to stay together “until God shall separate us by death.” After the ceremony, the newlyweds emerged from the church to the cheers of about 500 well-wishers. Press and photographers were barred from the church but they lined the road from Balmoral Castle to Crathie Kirk.

Among the guests were Queen Elizabeth II, Prince Philip, The Queen Mother, Princess Margaret, Anne’s three brothers: Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward, Anne’s two children: Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips. Two prominent members of the Royal Family were absent: The Princess of Wales, whose formal separation from her husband had been announced a few days earlier, and The Duchess of York who was separated from her husband Prince Andrew. The Princess of Wales sent her best wishes to Anne. Aides indicated she did not attend because she did not want Anne’s wedding to become a media circus.

After the wedding, the newlyweds and their guests had a short celebration at Craigowan Lodge on the Balmoral Estate.

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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

  • latimes. (2017). Britain’s Princess Anne Remarries: Wedding: Scottish ceremony brings a tiny bit of joy to a year that saw more than one royal marriage fail.. [online] Available at: http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-13/news/mn-4165_1_princess-anne [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
  • Nytimes.com. (2017). In Quiet Scottish Ceremony, Anne Marries Naval Officer. [online] Available at: http://www.nytimes.com/1992/12/13/world/in-quiet-scottish-ceremony-anne-marries-naval-officer.html?mcubz=3 [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Anne, Princess Royal. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/anne-the-princess-royal/ [Accessed 26 Aug. 2017].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2017). Vice Admiral Sir Timothy Laurence. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/timothy-laurence-husband-of-anne-the-princess-royal/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].
  • UPI. (2017). Princess Anne to marry former royal attendant. [online] Available at: https://www.upi.com/Archives/1992/12/05/Princess-Anne-to-marry-former-royal-attendant/4441723531600/ [Accessed 31 Aug. 2017].

Princess Charlotte of Belgium, Empress Carlota of Mexico

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2017

Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Charlotte of Belgium (Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine), who later became Empress of Mexico as the wife of the ill-fated Archduke Maximilian of Austria, Emperor of Mexico, was born at the Castle of Laeken in Belgium on June 7, 1840. She was the only daughter and the youngest of the four children of Leopold I, King of Belgians and his second wife Princess Louise-Marie of Orléans.

Princess Charlotte at age two by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, 1842; Credit – Wikipedia

Charlotte’s father was born Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and first married Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of the future King George IV of the United Kingdom and the second in the line of succession to the British throne. Sadly, 21-year-old Princess Charlotte of Wales died in childbirth along with her son. Leopold named his daughter Charlotte after his first wife. In 1831, Leopold had become King of the Belgians after Belgium became independent from the Netherlands. King Leopold was the uncle of both Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, and therefore his daughter Charlotte, Victoria, and Albert were first cousins. Charlotte’s mother was the daughter of Louis-Philippe I, King of the French, and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies.

Charlotte’s family; Credit – Wikipedia

Charlotte had three older brothers:

When Charlotte was ten-years-old, her mother died from tuberculosis and a close family friend, Countess Denise d’Hulst, became Charlotte’s governess. Charlotte received religious instruction from Father Victor-Auguste-Isidor Deschamps, brother of the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, and later Cardinal-Bishop of Mechelen. Before her sixteenth birthday, Charlotte had two suitors for her hand in marriage: Prince George of Saxony, the future King of Saxony, and Queen Victoria’s candidate King Pedro V of Portugal. However in May 1856, Charlotte met Archduke Maximilian of Austria, a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, and she fell in love with him. The couple married at the Royal Palace of Brussels in Belgium on July 27, 1857. Unfortunately, Charlotte and Maximilian had no children.

Charlotte and Maximilian during their first year of marriage; Credit – Wikipedia

Emperor Franz Joseph appointed his brother Maximilian to the position of Viceroy of the Kingdom of Lombardy-Venetia, now part of Italy, but then part of the Austrian Empire. There the couple built Miramare Castle in Trieste.  In 1859, Emperor Franz Joseph, angered by his brother’s liberal policies, dismissed him as Viceroy. Shortly thereafter, Austria lost control of most of its Italian possessions, and Maximilian and Charlotte then retired to Miramare Castle.

Miramare Castle; Photo Credit – By Valleo61 – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22924475

In 1859, Mexican monarchists approached Maximilian with a proposal to become Emperor of Mexico which Maximilian did not accept. After the French intervention in Mexico in 1861, Maximilian changed his mind. At the invitation of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, after the French capture of Mexico City and a French-staged referendum that supposedly confirmed the will of the people, Maximilian agreed to accept the crown. On April 10, 1864, in the great salon of Miramare Castle, a Mexican delegation officially informed Maximilian of the results of the referendum, without telling him that the French army had intimidated the voters. Maximilian declared to the Mexican delegation that he accepted the crown from the hands of the Mexican nation and swore to ensure by all means the well-being, prosperity, independence, and integrity of the nation.

The Mexican Delegation appoints Maximilian of Austria Emperor of Mexico by Cesare-Dell’Acqua, 1864; Credit – Wikipedia

Emperor Maximilian and Empress Carlota, as Charlotte was now called, landed at Veracruz, Mexico on May 21, 1864, and received a cold reception from the townspeople. Veracruz was a liberal town and the liberal voters were opposed to having Maximilian being their Emperor. He had the backing of Mexican conservatives and Napoleon III, but from the very beginning, he found himself involved in serious difficulties. The liberal forces led by Benito Juárez, the former president who had been deposed by the French, refused to recognize his rule. There was continuous warfare between the French troops and the forces of Juárez who wanted a republic.

After the end of the American Civil War, the French withdrew their troops from Mexico under pressure from the United States. After that, Maximilian could not hold out against the popular Juárez as his request for help from Europe remained unanswered. Charlotte traveled to Europe to ask for help from Napoleon III and Pope Pius IX, but the only hope she got was a promise from the Pope to pray for her and her husband. Maximilian then wanted to leave Mexico but changed his mind after receiving a letter from his mother, which prompted him to stay.

Maximilian and his last troops barricaded themselves in the city of Queretaro, which fell after a siege on May 14, 1867. Maximilian was condemned to death by a court of war and on June 19, 1867, he was executed by a firing squad. Before the shooting, Maximilian assured the soldiers that they were only doing their duty, gave them gold coins, and asked them to aim precisely and spare his face, so that his mother could identify his body.

Édouard Manet’s Execution of Emperor Maximilian (1868–1869); Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Eventually, Maximilian’s remains were returned to Austria, where seven months after his execution, on January 18, 1868, they were buried in the Kaisergruft (Imperial Crypt) in the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

Tomb of Maximilian; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

After Charlotte’s unsuccessful visit to the Pope in 1866, her brother Philippe, Count of Flanders took her to Miramare Castle. There Charlotte began to have suspicions that everyone wanted to poison her and she was kept in the guest house at Miramare guarded by Austrian security agents. When Charlotte’s sister-in-law Queen Marie-Henriette of Belgium arrived at Miramare Castle, she found Charlotte in such a state that she decided to bring her back to Belgium. Charlotte was examined by doctors who declared her insane. Today, it is impossible to determine the exact nature of her mental illness.

Charlotte in mourning, 1867; Credit – Wikipedia

Charlotte spent the rest of her life at Bouchout Castle in Meise, Belgium where her brother King Leopold II oversaw her care. Over the years, her mental illness seemed to lessen and Charlotte developed a passion for collecting objects that had belonged to her husband. Charlotte died from pneumonia at Bouchout Castle on January 19, 1927, at the age of 86, and was buried in the Royal Crypt at the Church of Our Lady of Laeken, the burial place of the Belgian Royal Family.

Charlotte’s grave marker; Photo 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.

Works Cited

  • De.wikipedia.org. (2017). Charlotte von Belgien. [online] Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_von_Belgien [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Carlota of Mexico. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carlota_of_Mexico [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2017). Maximilian I of Mexico. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximilian_I_of_Mexico [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. (2017). Charlotte de Belgique. [online] Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_de_Belgique [Accessed 12 Sep. 2017].

December 1917: Royalty and World War I

by Susan Flantzer

  • Captain The Honorable Cecil Edwardes
  • Timeline: December 1, 1917 – December 31, 1917
  • A Note About German Titles
  • December 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

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Captain The Honorable Cecil Edwardes

Mark IV Tank; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Captain The Honorable Cecil Edwardes was born on May 31, 1876, the third of the four sons and the seventh of the nine children of William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington and his wife Grace Johnstone-Douglas. Cecil had eight siblings:

  • William Edwardes, 5th Baron Kensington (1868 – 1900), unmarried, was killed in action during the Boer War
  • Hon. Gwendolen Edwardes (1869 – 1940), married Captain William Stirling-Home-Drummond-Moray, 20th Lord of Abercairny, had five children
  • Hon. Sibyl Edwardes (1871 – 1955), married William Edward de Winton, had five children
  • Hon. Grace Edwardes (1872 – 1957), married John Lane, had seven children
  • Hugh Edwardes, 6th Baron Kensington (1873 – 1938), married Mabel Pilkington, had four children
  • Hon. Winifred Edwardes (1875 – 1962), married Captain Walter Koe, no issue
  • Major Hon. George Edwardes (1877 – 1930), married Olive Kerr, had four children
  • Hon. Isobel Edwardes (1879 – 1934), married Major Frederick Whitfield Barrett, had two children

In 1901, Cecil married Canadian opera singer Marie Louise Lucienne Martin. Born in Montreal, Canada and known professionally as Louise Edvina, she sang at Covent Garden in London, the Montreal Opera Company, the Boston Opera Company, the Chicago Opera Company and the Metropolitan Opera in New York City.

Cecil and Louise had two daughters:

  • Marie Edwardes (1902 – ?)
  • Lumena Edwardes (1903 – 1944), unmarried

Louise Edvina; Photo Credit – https://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca

The Edwardes family had a residence at St. Bride’s Hill, Pembrokeshire, Wales and Cecil lived there with his family. Cecil had served with the Royal Navy, but at the beginning of World War I had been commissioned into the Scottish Horse, a regiment of the British Army’s Territorial Army.

In 1916, the Royal Tank Corps was formed and the British first used tanks in September 1916 at the Battle of Flers–Courcelette during the Battle of the Somme. Cecil transferred to the Royal Tank Regiment in 1916 and served with H Battalion.

During the Battle of Cambrai in France (November 20 – December 7, 1917), the Royal Tank Corps saw much action. 476 tanks were used in the battle and 179 were lost, including the tank of Cecil Edwardes. Six tanks from H Battalion took the town Fontaine, four miles from Cambrai, getting into the village 30 minutes before infantry of the Seaforth Highlanders and Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders from the 51st Division followed up and occupied it. However, Cecil was killed when his tank was knocked out during the initial advance.

Captain Joseph Hassell, who served with Cecil, related this story about his death: “Edwardes had a premonition of his death. He told us the day before the action of this – settled up all his affairs. He was immensely popular and eight officers went up the day after his death, got his body out of the tank and carried him back for burial. In the absence of a Padre, I conducted such a burial service as was practicable.”

The exact date of Cecil’s death is unknown and the place of his grave is unknown, so he is remembered on the Cambrai Memorial to the Missing in Louverval, France.

Cambrai Memorial to the Missing; Photo Credit – http://www.cwgc.org/find-a-cemetery/cemetery/79300/CAMBRAI%20MEMORIAL,%20LOUVERVAL

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Timeline: December 1, 1917 – December 31, 1917

 

German soldiers recovering a British Mark IV tank, the type of tank Cecil Edwardes was in when he was killed; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

  • November 20 – December 7 – Battle of Cambrai in France
  • December 1 – Battle of El Burj, a phase of the Battle of Jerusalem
  • December 7 – The United States declares war on Austria-Hungary
  • December 16 – Russia signs a preliminary armistice with Germany
  • December 20–21 – Battle of Jaffa near the Auja River in Jaffa, a phase of the Battle of Jerusalem

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire. The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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December 1917 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website. If a person has a Wikipedia page or a website page with biographical information, their name will be linked to that page.

Captain The Honorable Cecil Edwardes

Private Lord Edward Beauchamp Seymour

Grave of Private Lord Edward Seymour; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com