Author Archives: Susan

Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Isabella’s first of three husbands, King John of England; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella, 3rd Countess of Gloucester was the first wife of King John of England. Born circa 1173/1174, Isabella was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two daughters of William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester and Hawise de Beaumont of Leicester. Isabella’s paternal grandparents were Robert FitzRoy, 1st Earl of Gloucester, an illegitimate son of King Henry I of England, and Mabel FitzRobert, Countess of Gloucester. Her maternal grandparents were Robert de Beaumont, 2nd Earl of Leicester and Amica de Gael.

Isabella had three elder siblings:

In 1176, King Henry II of England betrothed his youngest son John to Isabella of Gloucester. As Isabella was only three and John was only nine, the marriage had to be delayed. Isabella’s father William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester was a first cousin of King Henry II as his father was the illegitimate son of King Henry I, Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester and King Henry II’s mother Empress Matilda was the legitimate daughter of King Henry I. Robert Fitzroy, 1st Earl of Gloucester was Matilda’s chief military support during the long civil war called The Anarchy with their cousin Stephen of Blois (King Stephen of England) for the English throne. Isabella stood to inherit part of her father’s estate along with her two elder sisters because their only brother had died. However, King Henry II disinherited Isabella’s elder sisters so that Isabella would become Countess of Gloucester in her own right and John would eventually receive the whole Gloucester estate. In 1183, when her father died, Isabella became the Countess of Gloucester in her own right.

John’s father King Henry II died on July 6, 1189, and John’s elder brother succeeded their father as King Richard I of England. On August 29, 1189, John and Isabella of Gloucester were married at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, England and John assumed the Earldom of Gloucester in the right of his wife. Isabella and John were second cousins as they were both great-grandchildren of King Henry I of England. For that reason, Baldwin of Forde, Archbishop of Canterbury declared the marriage null by reason of consanguinity. Roman Catholic Canon Law prohibited marriage between a couple who were within four degrees of consanguinity. As second cousins, Isabella and John were within three degrees. An appeal was made to Rome and the Archbishop of Canterbury was overruled by Pope Clement III.

On April 6, 1199, John’s childless brother King Richard I died of gangrene from an arrow wound, and John became King of England. He was crowned at Westminster Abbey on May 27, 1199. John’s next order of business was to have his marriage to Isabella annulled. Isabella and John were ill-matched and the marriage had produced no children. Isabella had not been acknowledged as queen and the marriage was easily annulled using the grounds of consanguinity. John kept Isabella’s lands and Isabella did not contest the annulment. After the annulment, John granted the title of Earl of Gloucester to Isabella’s nephew Amaury IV, Count of Évreux. When Amaury died without children in 1213, Isabella once again became Countess of Gloucester in her own right and held the title until her death in 1217. In 1200, John married Isabella of Angoulême, the only child of Aymer III, Count of Angoulême, and therefore destined to be Duchess of Angoulême in her own right. John and Isabella of Angoulême had five children including John’s successor King Henry III.

Isabella’s third husband Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella married two more times. On January 20, 1214, she married Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex. King John charged Geoffrey 20,000 marks to buy her in marriage and to obtain her title, jure uxoris, a Latin term that means “by right of his wife” and so Geoffrey was the 4th Earl of Gloucester. The marriage resulted in no children and Geoffrey died in 1216 in a tournament. In September 1217, Isabella married Hubert de Burgh, 1st Earl of Kent. However, the next month, on October 14, 1217, Isabella died at age 43 and was buried at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England. Isabella’s nephew Gilbert de Clare, the son of her sister Amice and Richard de Clare, became the 5th Earl of Gloucester.

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. 2022. Geoffrey FitzGeoffrey de Mandeville, 2nd Earl of Essex – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_FitzGeoffrey_de_Mandeville,_2nd_Earl_of_Essex> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Isabella, Countess of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella,_Countess_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. William FitzRobert, 2nd Earl of Gloucester – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_FitzRobert,_2nd_Earl_of_Gloucester> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • Unofficial Royalty. 2016. King John of England. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-john-of-england/> [Accessed 25 June 2022].
  • Williamson, David, 1996. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell.

Antoinette de Merode, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Antoinette de Mérode, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/

Antoinette Ghislaine de Merode, the wife of Charles III, Prince of Monaco, was born on September 28, 1828, in Brussels, then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, and after 1831 in the Kingdom of Belgium. She was the sixth of the seven children and the fourth of the five daughters of Werner Jean-Baptiste Merode, Count of Merode (1797 – 1840), a Belgian politician from a Belgian noble family, and Countess Victoire de Spangen Uyternesse (1799-1845).

Antoinette had six siblings:

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

On September 26, 1846, her 18th birthday, in Brussels, Belgium, Antoinette married the 27-year-old future Charles III, Prince of Monaco, then the Hereditary Prince of Monaco and Marquis of Baux. Charles was the son of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz. It was a double wedding, as Antoinette’s elder sister Louise married Carlo Emmanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince of Cisterna at the same time.

Late 19th-century drawing of the Château de Marchais; Credit – Wikipedia

Although they sometimes were in Monaco, Charles and Antoinette preferred to live in France, where Antoinette had acquired the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France. The Château de Marchais still belongs to the Princely Family of Monaco.

Charles and Antoinette had one child:

Antoinette’s mother-in-law Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Antoinette’s mother-in-law Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco showed her the ropes of French society and soon Antoinette was well known in the Parisian society of the Second Empire, ruled by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Napoléon III, Emperor of the French. In 1855, when Queen Victoria and Prince Albert visited France, Antoinette and Charles attended the magnificent ball in their honor at the Palace of Versailles. Antoinette was so affected by this that she decided her son Albert, who was only seven years old, would marry into the British royal family. This did not happen but Albert’s first wife was the daughter of the British William  Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton.

Charles’ father Florestan, Prince of Monaco died on June 20, 1856, and he was succeeded by his 38-year-old son as Charles III, Prince of Monaco. Antoinette was now Princess of Monaco. During his early reign, Charles had begun to lose his eyesight. He depended greatly on his wife Antoinette as his condition continued to worsen.

However, in 1862, Antoinette was diagnosed with cancer, and the advice and assistance of Charles’ mother Maria Carolina became vital. Even though Antoinette was very ill, she was more concerned about her husband and mother-in-law. She insisted to her husband that his 70-year-old mother must not take on too much work. In the last stages of her illness, Antoinette had been moved to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France in the belief that the country air might help her. However, she soon asked to return to Monaco where she would be near her husband, her son, and her mother-in-law. Antoinette traveled from France to Monaco in a coach accompanied by a doctor and two maids. Three months later, on February 10, 1864, 35-year-old Antoinette died.

Antoinette’s grave; Credit – Credit – www.findagrave.com

Antoinette was buried in the crypt of the Church of Saint Nicholas in Monaco. Later in Charles III’s reign, construction began on a new and larger church, the Cathedral of Monaco, which was built on the site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 but the current cathedral was built over the areas of the previous church and the old burial site so that the sovereign princes and consorts originally buried at the Church of Saint Nicholas are now buried in the Cathedral of Monaco.

Charles never remarried. Because of his blindness, he was a recluse for the last decade of his life. He survived his wife Antoinette by twenty-five years, dying at the age of 71 from pneumonia on September 10, 1889, during a visit to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France, with his sister Princess Florestine at his bedside. He was interred in the crypt of the Cathedral of Monaco, still not yet completed.

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

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Mérode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_M%C3%A9rode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, S., 2022. Charles III, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/charles-iii-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-caroline-gibert-de-lametz-princess-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Merode — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_Merode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Werner de Merode (1797-1840) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_de_Merode_(1797-1840)> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • geni_family_tree. 2022. Antoinette Ghislaine Comtesse de Mérode-Westerloo. [online] Available at: <https://www.geni.com/people/Antoinette-de-M%C3%A9rode-Westerloo/5294493014970050473> [Accessed 7 May 2022].
  • Nl.wikipedia.org. 2022. Werner de Merode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Werner_de_Merode> [Accessed 7 May 2022].

Infante Alfonso of Spain

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Infante Alfonso of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

Fourteen-year-old Infante Alfonso was killed by a gun on March 29, 1956, while in a bedroom with his elder brother, the future King Juan Carlos I of Spain. What happened in that bedroom, who pulled the trigger, and whether or not it was an accident are still unclear.

Alfonso Cristino Teresa Ángelo Francisco de Asís y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón Dos-Sicilias was born on October 3, 1941, in Rome, Italy, where his family had settled after the Spanish monarchy was overthrown in 1931 and Spain became a Republic. He was the youngest of the four children and the second of the two sons of Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona and Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Alfonso’s paternal grandparents were King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. His maternal grandparents were Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and his second wife Princess Louise of Orléans.

Alfonso had three elder siblings:

Juan Carlos, Juan, Count of Barcelona, and Alfonso in 1950; Credit – Von Paco Marí – This image belongs to the Marín Collection and was provided to GureGipuzkoa by Hauxe Quelle: Kutxa Fototeka (Kutxa Photograph Library). The image has been delivered under a CC-BY-SA 3.0 license and can be found here. CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56196709

In the summer of 1942, the family moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where Alfonso’s paternal grandmother Queen Victoria Eugenie lived in exile. Four years later, the family moved to Estoril, Portugal, where a permanent family home was established. In 1950, Alfonso and his brother Juan Carlos were sent to study in San Sebastián, Spain where a private school had been established at the Miramar Palace. By 1956, Alfonso was continuing with his high school studies, while his brother Juan Carlos had begun military training at the General Military Academy in Zaragoza, Spain.

In March 1956, 14-year-old Alfonso and 18-year-old Juan Carlos traveled to Portugal to spend the Easter holidays in Estoril with their parents and two sisters. On March 29, 1956, Holy Thursday, the entire family attended Mass in the morning. In the afternoon, Alfonso participated in a local junior golf tournament. The whole family attended evening Mass at 6:00 PM. After returning home, Alfonso and Juan Carlos went upstairs to their bedroom. Around 8:30 PM, Alfonso was shot with a .22 caliber revolver. When the boys’ father went upstairs, he found his youngest son had been shot in the head and was lying in a pool of blood. Despite his father’s efforts to revive him, Alfonso died in his father’s arms.

The Spanish Embassy in Portugal issued an official press release:

While His Highness the Infante Alfonso was cleaning a revolver last evening with his brother, a shot was fired hitting his forehead and killing him in a few minutes. The accident took place at 20.30 hours, after the Infante’s return from the Maundy Thursday religious service, during which he had received Holy Communion.

Which of the two brothers pulled the trigger may never be publically known but at that time Juan Carlos was said to have admitted to family and friends that he felt responsible. As a military cadet, he would have been aware of the danger of loaded guns. Alfonso also would have been aware of the danger because he participated in hunting. It seems certain that both boys would have been repeatedly told not to clean loaded guns. Even the origin of the gun is in doubt. According to one story, the gun was given to Alfonso by Francisco Franco, the dictator of Spain. According to another story, Juan Carlos received the gun as a gift from Francisco Moreno y Zuleta, Count de los Andes while he was studying at the military academy. The boys’ mother said that Juan Carlos and Alfonso brought a small pistol back from Spain but they never told her who gave it to them. Afterward, the boys’ father, Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona, threw the gun into the ocean.

Tomb of Infante Alfonso of Spain; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Alfonso’s funeral, conducted by Monsignor Fernando Cento, the Apostolic Nuncio to Portugal, was held on March 31, 1956, Holy Saturday. He was buried at the municipal cemetery in Cascais, Portugal. Alfonso remained buried in Portugal for thirty-six years until, at the request of his father, his remains were transferred to Spain, during the reign of his brother King Juan Carlos I. On October 15, 1992, six months before the death of his father Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, Alfonso was interred in the Pantheon of Infantes at the Royal Basilica of San Lorenzo de El Escorial in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain, in a strictly private ceremony attended by Alfonso’s brother King Juan Carlos, Queen Sofia, Alfonso’s father and mother, his two sisters, and a small group of close relatives.

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. 2022. Infante Alfonso of Spain – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infante_Alfonso_of_Spain> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Es.wikipedia.org. 2022. Alfonso de Borbón (1941-1956) – Wikipedia, la enciclopedia libre. [online] Available at: <https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alfonso_de_Borb%C3%B3n_(1941-1956)> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Independent. 1992. Juan Carlos lays to rest a haunting Spanish tragedy. [online] Available at: <https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/juan-carlos-lays-to-rest-a-haunting-spanish-tragedy-1557621.html?fbclid=IwAR3AEUoXNkeovi2ZpBIYqEgFaQjmrR6il56JZj_9zyEvokMarAEhU6HgR1o> [Accessed 24 June 2022].
  • Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1956. Don Juan’s Son Is Killed In Spanish Gun Accident. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1956/03/30/94288384.html?pageNumber=3> [Accessed 24 June 2022].

Dresden Cathedral (Katholische Hofkirche) in Dresden, Germany

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Dresden Cathedral; Credit – Wikipedia

Dresden Cathedral is a Roman Catholic church in Dresden in the German state of Saxony. During the time of the Electorate of Saxony and the Kingdom of Saxony, it was called the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony (in German: Katholische Hofkirche). Always the most important Catholic church in Dresden, in 1964, Dresden Cathedral was elevated to the status of co-cathedral, a cathedral church that shares the function of being a bishop’s seat with another cathedral. Dresden Cathedral is a co-cathedral of the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen with St. Peter’s Cathedral in Bautzen, Germany. It also serves as a parish church.

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History of Dresden Cathedral

Dresden Cathedral, circa 1840; Credit – Wikipedia

The House of Wettin split into two ruling branches in 1485: the Ernestine branch and the Albertine branch. The Albertine branch, while less prominent, ruled most of Saxony and briefly ruled Poland. In 1697, Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony converted to Roman Catholicism to obtain the Polish crown. From 1697 to 1706, and again from 1709 until his death in 1733, he reigned as King of Poland as Augustus II while remaining Elector of Saxony. This conversion to Roman Catholicism caused concern in Protestant Saxony, which increased when his grandson the future Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony (who also reigned as Augustus III, King of Poland), also converted in 1712.

Upon his conversion in 1697, Friedrich August I had guaranteed religious freedom for the people of the Electorate of Saxony. However, he did not dare to displease his mostly Protestant subjects by building a Catholic church in Dresden. Instead, he discreetly practiced his Catholic faith in the Dresden Castle chapel. In 1708, Friedrich August I had a ballroom the Opera House at the Taschenberg in Dresden, converted into a Catholic church. He supported the rebuilding of the Frauenkirche, originally a Catholic church until the Reformation, when it became a Protestant church. This gave further assurance to the people of Saxony that Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony would not force upon them the principle of cuius regio, eius religio – whose realm, their religion – meaning that the religion of the ruler was to dictate the religion of those ruled.

It was not until Friedrich August I’s son Friedrich August II succeeded him as Elector of Saxony in 1733 that the Catholic Court Church (Katholische Hofkirche) was commissioned in 1736, initially under strict secrecy. At first, it was referred to as “a certain building”. Because of the conversion of the ruling family of Saxony, it was necessary to build a Roman Catholic church in Dresden to provide a Roman Catholic burial site for members of the Albertine branch. Friedrich August II’s father, Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony who had converted to Roman Catholicism to become King of Poland, had been buried at the Roman Catholic Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland. His wife Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth remained Lutheran and was buried in a Lutheran church. Christiane Eberhardine was called Sachsens Betsäule (Saxony’s pillar of prayer) by the Protestant people of Saxony for her refusal to convert to Catholicism and her loyalty to the Protestant faith.

The church was designed by Italian architect Gaetano Chiaveri and construction was carried out from 1739 to 1755. Initially, the Catholic Court Church was for the use of the Elector of Saxony, his family, and high-ranking officials and it was connected with a walkway to Dresden Castle, the residence of the family of the Elector of Saxony, and later, the King of Saxony. The Catholic Court Church was consecrated as the Court Church of the Most Holy Trinity on June 29, 1751, four years before the church was entirely completed, by Archbishop Alberico Archinto, Apostolic Nuncio to Poland.

Dresden Cathedral’s destroyed roof after the 1945 bombing; Credit – Wikipedia

During the joint British and American bombing of Dresden during World War II, from February 13 – February 15, 1945, the church was hit by bombs and badly damaged. As early as June 1945, mass was celebrated in the Benno Chapel and later in the left aisle. In 1962, the nave could be used again and the restoration was completed by 1965.

From March 2020 to February 2021 the cathedral was closed for extensive renovation work including the rebuilding of the walkway from the church to Dresden Castle. The nave was temporarily scaffolded up to the ceiling to repair damage and dirt on the ceiling and walls. The sacristy was completely redesigned and the cathedral received new lighting and a new speaker system.

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The Exterior of Dresden Cathedral

An aerial view of Dresden Cathedral; Credit – Von Carsten Pietzsch – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31879551

The cathedral was built in the late Baroque style. The structure of the free-standing, high central nave and the lower ambulatory aisle which completely surrounds the nave, are clearly visible from the outside. The ambulatory aisle served as a procession area. Any form of outdoor Catholic worship was forbidden in Protestant Saxony, and Catholic processions were banned.

Statues of saints; Credit – By Ad Meskens – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41602816

A striking feature of Dresden Cathedral is the seventy-eight larger-than-life statues of saints on the façade and the balustrades designed by the Italian sculptor Lorenzo Mattielli and the Dresden sculptors Paul and Jakob Mayer. The saints were chosen by Maria Josepha of Austria, Electress of Saxony, Queen of Poland, the Italian Jesuit and court confessor Ignatius Guarini (link in German), and the church architect Gaetano Chiaveri. Male and female saints are depicted and include apostles, evangelists, church fathers, founders of religious orders, important Jesuits, patron saints from the Saxon, Bohemian, Habsburg, and Polish regions, and allegorical figures.

During the bombing of Dresden in February 1945, sixteen statues were completely destroyed, eighteen were severely damaged, and numerous others had minor damage. From 1961 to 1972, the damaged statues were restored. The destroyed figures were replaced with copies from 1968 to 2002. Since 2002, unstable statues have been replaced with copies.

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The Interior of Dresden Cathedral

The nave looking toward the high altar; Credit – Von Jörg Blobelt – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62227414

The interior is divided into a nave, two aisles, and four corner chapels. A feature unique to Dresden Cathedral is the procession ambulatory, which runs around the entire nave. It was integrated into the church, at the time of construction, because Dresden was a Protestant city and the Catholic processional services had to take place inside.

The High Altar

The High Altar; Credit – Von Jörg Blobelt – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=62227415

The high altar, made from marble and gilded bronze ornaments, was created by the Italian sculptor Andrea Salvatore di Antonio Aglio. The altarpiece, the large painting above the high altar, depicts the Ascension of Jesus Christ by Dresden court painter Anton Raphael Mengs.

The Left Aisle

The Martyrs Altar; Credit – By Ricardalovesmonuments – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110287469

At the end of the left aisle was originally an altar dedicated to Saint Francis Xavier but it was destroyed in the 1945 Dresden bombing. It was replaced by the Martyrs’ Altar commemorating three World War II martyrs whose ashes were originally interred in the Old Catholic Cemetery in Dresden (link in German). The three urns with their ashes were transferred on February 5, 2011, in a procession from the Old Catholic Cemetery to Dresden Cathedral where they are kept permanently on the Martyrs’ Altar.

  • Blessed Alois Andritzki (1914 – 1943), a German Roman Catholic priest who was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime and was killed by lethal injection in the Dachau concentration camp, beatified (the last step before sainthood) in 2011 at Dresden Cathedral
  • Bernhard Wensch (link in German) (1908 – 1942), a German Roman Catholic priest who was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime, died in the Dachau concentration camp
  • Aloys Scholze (link in German) (1893 – 1942), a German Roman Catholic priest who was a vocal critic of the Nazi regime, died in the Dachau concentration camp

Tje baptismal font by sculptor Balthasar Permoser; Credit – By SchiDD – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=111691972

Also in the left aisle is the baptismal font with a gilded metal lid created by sculptor Balthasar Permoser in 1721.

The Right Aisle

Statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary holding the Infant Jesus, surrounded by angels by German sculptor Herman Leitherer; Credit – By Ricardalovesmonuments – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110287485

At the end of the right aisle was originally an altar dedicated to Saint Ignatius of Loyola but it was destroyed in the 1945 Dresden bombing. An altar dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary replaced the original altar. In the wall niche above the altar is a statue of Mary holding the Infant Jesus, surrounded by angels created, by German sculptor Herman Leitherer (link in German) in 1987, inspired by the Mühlhausen altar in Bamberg Cathedral.

The Four Corner Chapels

Four chapels are located at the four corners of Dresden Cathedral. All four chapels suffered damage during the Dresden bombing in February 1945. Three of the corner chapels have been restored close to their original. An exception is the Memorial Chapel commemorating the victims of World War II which is an entirely new chapel.

The Sacrament Chapel

The Sacrament Chapel; Credit – By Mogadir – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43707533

The Sacrament Chapel, dedicated to the Eucharist (Holy Communion), is located at the southwest corner and is used for silent worship. The Founder’s Crypt, where the Electors and Kings of Saxony from 1694 to 1827 and some family members are interred, is located under the Sacrament Chapel.

The reproduction of The Institution of the Eucharist by the German painter Gerhard Keil; Credit – By Jörg Blobelt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98058798

The original altarpiece, the painting over the altar, The Institution of the Eucharist (by French painter Louis de Silvestre, 1752), was destroyed in the Dresden bombing. It was replaced in 1984 with a reproduction by the German painter Gerhard Keil (link in German).

The reproduction of the ceiling fresco Adoration of the Eucharistic; Credit – By Jörg Blobelt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=77116515

The ceiling fresco Adoration of the Eucharistic (by Italian painter Stefano Torelli, 1755) was also destroyed and was recreated.

The Cross Chapel

The Cross Chapel; Credit – By Ad Meskens – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41624986

The Cross Chapel is located at the northwest corner. It is where weekday masses for the cathedral parish are celebrated. The Royal Crypt, where the two Kings of Saxony from 1830 to 1873 and their wives are interred is located under the Cross Chapel.

The altarpiece, Crucifixion of Christ (by French painter Charles François Hutin, 1753), was restored after the Dresden bombing but the ceiling fresco painted by Benjamin Theil in 1787 was damaged and was only partly restored.

The Benno Chapel

The Benno Chapel; Credit – By Ricardalovesmonuments – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=110287472

The Benno Chapel is located at the southeast corner. It is dedicated to Saint Benno of Meissen (circa 1010 – 1106) who was named Bishop of Meissen in 1066. Benno, venerated since the 13th century, was canonized as a saint in 1523. Saint Benno is the patron saint of the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen and also the city of Munich in Bavaria, Germany.

Reproduction of Bishop Benno Proclaiming the Christian Faith to the Sorbs; Credit – By Jörg Blobelt – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98058793

The original altarpiece Bishop Benno Proclaiming the Christian Faith to the Sorbs, a West Slavic ethnic group who lived in Saxony and Brandenburg (by Stefano Torelli, 1752), and the ceiling fresco (by Austrian painter Franz Anton Maulbertsch, 1770 ) were destroyed in the Dresden bombing and reproductions were made.

Reliquary made by German sculptor Paul Brandenburg containing Saint Benno of Meissen’s miter; Credit – Bistum Dresden-Meissen (Diocese of Dresden-Meissen)

On the altar is a reliquary made by German sculptor Paul Brandenburg (link in German) in 1997 containing Saint Benno of Meissen’s miter, the traditional headdress of a bishop, which is venerated as a relic.

The Memorial Chapel

Friedrich Press’ Pietà and altar in the Memorial Chapel; Credit – Bistum Dresden-Meissen (Diocese of Dresden-Meissen)

The Memorial Chapel is located on the northeast corner and is the new chapel that was built to replace the one that was destroyed in the Dresden bombing. The original chapel was dedicated to Saint Johann Nepomuk (circa 1345 – 1393) who was tortured and drowned after being thrown into the Vltava River (Moldau River in German) from Charles Bridge in Prague, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, by order of King Wenceslaus IV of Bohemia after a dispute.  Johann Nepomuk was the confessor of King Wenceslaus IV’s second wife Sophia of Bavaria, Queen of Bohemia and apparently, he refused to reveal her confession.

Since 1976, the chapel has been a memorial for the victims of the Dresden bombing in February 1945 that killed up to 25,000 people. Displayed in the Memorial Chapel is a modern Pietà, a work of art depicting the Virgin Mary cradling the dead body of Jesus after his body was removed from the cross. Sculpted by German sculptor Friedrich Press (link in German) (1904 – 1990), the Pietà in the Memorial Chapel is the largest sculpture ever made from Meissen porcelain. The altar in the Memorial Chapel is also the work of Friedrich Press. During the Nazi regime, Press’ works were officially considered “degenerate art.” After World War II, nearly all of his works were religious-related art.

High up on the walls of the Memorial Chapel are the words of the sermon during the last mass before the bombing. Also on the walls are the names of 52 priests from the Diocese of Dresden-Meissen who were killed by the Nazis.

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Burials in the Founders Crypt

The Founders Crypt; Credit – By Mogadir – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43489343

The Founders Crypt is located under the Sacrament Chapel in the south of the cathedral. The Electors and Kings of Saxony from 1694 to 1827 are interred here. The crypt contains nine coffins including the coffins of three children of Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony, during whose reign the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony was built. The three coffins are the oldest in the entire burial crypt and were moved from their original burial site in 1751.

The heart of Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony, who reigned also as Augustus II (the Strong), King of Poland in a niche in the Founders Crypt; Credit – By Mogadir – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43489045

In addition, the heart of Friedrich August I, Elector of Saxony, who reigned also as Augustus II (the Strong), King of Poland rests in a niche in the Founders Crypt. His body was buried in Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, Poland.

Burials in the Royal Crypt

The Royal Crypt; Credit – By User:Kolossos – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2452678

The two Kings of Saxony from 1830 to 1873 and their wives are interred in the Royal Crypt under the Cross Chapel of the cathedral. The Royal Crypt is the smallest burial place in the church but the sarcophagi are the most ornate. The bronze sarcophagi were decorated in the Neo-Baroque style and each weigh five tons. King Johann’s sarcophagus is decorated with the owl of the Greek goddess Athena in honor of his knowledgable and studious nature. King Johann was an avid student of literature, and under a pseudonym, published numerous translations into German, including Dante’s Divine Comedy.

Burials in the New Crypt

The New Crypt; Credit – By Mogadir – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=43488502

The two Kings of Saxony from 1873 to 1918, along with some of their relatives are interred in the New Crypt under the southeast aisle of the cathedral. The most recent burial in the cathedral is that of Georg, Crown Prince of Saxony son of Friedrich August III, King of Saxony, who became a Roman Catholic priest and renounced his succession rights.

Burials in the Great Crypt

The Great Crypt; Credit – royaltyguide.nl

Twenty-five coffins of members of the electoral and royal families of Saxony from 1763 to 1898 are interred in the Great Crypt under the northwest aisle of the cathedral.

  • Joseph of Saxony (1754 – 1763), son of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony
  • Karl Maximilian of Saxony (1752 – 1781), son of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony
  • Maria Carolina of Savoy, Electoral Princess of Saxony (1764 – 1782), 1st wife of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Friedrich August of Saxony (born and died 1796), son of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Maria Ludovica of Saxony (1795 – 1798), daughter of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Maria Johanna of Saxony (1798 – 1799), daughter of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Maria Theresa of Saxony (born and died 1799), daughter of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Carolina of Bourbon-Parma, Hereditary Princess of Saxony (1770 – 1804), wife of Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Saxony
  • Franz Xaver of Poland and Saxony (1730 – 1806), son of Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony/Augustus III, King of Poland
  • Maria Elisabeth of Poland and Saxony (1736 – 1818), daughter of Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony/Augustus III, King of Poland
  • Maria Anna of Saxony (1761 – 1820), daughter of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony
  • Maria Kunigunde of Poland and Saxony (1740 – 1826), daughter of Friedrich August II, Elector of Saxony/Augustus III, King of Poland
  • Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Saxony (1767 – 1827) 2nd wife of Anton, King of Saxony
  • Maria Karoline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony (1801 – 1832), 1st wife of Friedrich August II, King of Saxony
  • Anton, King of Saxony (1755 – 1836), son of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony
  • Maximilian, Hereditary Prince of Saxony (1759 – 1838), son of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony, renounced his succession to the throne in favor of his son Friedrich August II
  • Ernst of Saxony (1831 – 1847), son of Johann I, King of Saxony
  • Maria Augusta of Saxony (1827 – 1857), daughter of Johann I, King of Saxony
  • Marie Johanna Amalie of Saxony (1860 – 1861), daughter of Georg, King of Saxony
  • Sidonia of Saxony (1834 – 1862), daughter of Johann I, King of Saxony
  • Maria Augusta of Saxony (1782 – 1863), daughter of Friedrich Augustus I, King of Saxony
  • Elisabeth of Saxony (1862 – 1863), daughter of Georg, King of Saxony
  • Amalie of Saxony (1794 – 1870), daughter of Prince Maximilian of Saxony, granddaughter of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony
  • Maria Anna of Portugal, Princess of Saxony (1843 – 1884), wife of Georg, King of Saxony
  • Maria Alix Carola of Saxony (born and died 1898), daughter of Friedrich August III, King of Saxony

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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

  • Bistum-dresden-meissen.de. 2022. Geschichte der Kathedrale. [online] Available at: <https://www.bistum-dresden-meissen.de/wir-sind/kathedrale/geschichte/geschichte-der-kathedrale> [Accessed 13 May 2022].
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Katholische Hofkirche – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katholische_Hofkirche> [Accessed 13 May 2022].
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Liste der Bestatteten in der Wettiner-Gruft der Katholischen Hofkirche – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liste_der_Bestatteten_in_der_Wettiner-Gruft_der_Katholischen_Hofkirche> [Accessed 13 May 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Dresden Cathedral – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dresden_Cathedral> [Accessed 13 May 2022].

Charles III, Prince of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Honoré Grimaldi was born on December 8, 1818, in Paris, France. During his reign as Charles III, Prince of Monaco, the famous Casino de Monte-Carlo was established and the construction of the Cathedral of Monaco began. He was the only son and the eldest of the two children of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz. Charles’ paternal grandparents were Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco and Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. His maternal grandparents were Marie Francoise Henriette le Gras de Vaubercy (1766 – 1845) and the second of her three husbands Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765 – ?).


Charles’ parents Florestan, Prince of Monaco and Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles had one younger sister:

Charles was raised in France. In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Prince of Monaco, Monaco had become a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families. In January 1793, during the French Revolution, Charles’ great-grandfather Honoré III, Prince of Monaco was officially declared deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France.

After the defeat of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Prince Joseph of Monaco petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia, now part of Italy.

In 1841, when Charles’ father Florestan became Prince of Monaco upon the death of his unmarried brother Honoré V, neither 56-year-old Florestan nor his son 23-year-old son and heir Charles had ever been to Monaco. Florestan was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his intelligent and capable wife Maria Caroline.

By 1842, Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco. He realized that his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Carolina replied with a scathing letter. Charles did make a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Charles and his mother Maria Carolina came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

Antoinette de Mérode, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/

On September 28, 1846, in Brussels, Belgium, Charles married 18-year-old Countess Antoinette de Mérode, the daughter of Count Werner de Mérode, a Belgian politician, and Countess Victoire de Spangen Uyternesse. Although they sometimes were in Monaco, Charles and Antoinette preferred to live in France, where Antoinette had acquired the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France. The Château de Marchais still belongs to the Princely Family of Monaco.

Charles and Antoinette had one child:

Charles III, Prince of Monaco by François-Auguste Biard, 1869 ; Credit – Wikipedia

After a reign of nearly fifteen years, Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856. He was succeeded by his 38-year-old son as Charles III, Prince of Monaco. At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia with little prospect of financial security. Despite the issues Charles had with his mother, Maria Caroline had prepared him to reign as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. Charles had the benefit of his mother’s advice for most of his reign as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year long reign.

The land in orange shows the part of Monaco that was annexed to France, leaving Monaco with a sliver of land less than one square mile on the Mediterranean Sea.; Credit – By Notscott – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4375559

During Charles’ early reign, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which made up nearly the entirety of Monaco’s territory, had become tired of heavy taxation. Menton and Roquebrune declared their independence, hoping for annexation by the Kingdom of Sardinia, but France protested. The unrest continued until Charles gave up his claim to Menton and Roquebrune which were formally ceded to France in exchange for 4 million francs. In 1860, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the French Empire under Napoleon III, Emperor of the French concluded the Treaty of Turin. Under the treaty, the Sardinian army pulled out of Monaco and Monaco became a French protectorate once again. This lasted for only one year. The Franco-Monégasque Treaty of 1861 recognized the independence of Monaco.

Casino de Monte-Carlo before 1878; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite receiving 4 million francs for the annexation of Menton and Roquebrune, the loss of revenues from Menton and Roquebrune greatly affected Monaco’s financial situation. It should not be surprising that to solve Monaco’s financial issues, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. She recalled visiting Hesse-Homburg, a small sovereign landgraviate in central Germany that was prosperous because of a gambling casino. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect. At the time of the building of the casino, Monaco’s population was approximately 1,000. Within three years, thousands of people from England and other European countries had built homes in Monaco.

During his early reign, Charles had begun to lose his eyesight. He depended greatly on his wife Antoinette as his condition continued to worsen. However, in 1862, Antoinette was diagnosed with cancer, and the advice and assistance of Charles’ mother Maria Carolina became vital. Antoinette, aged 35, died on February 10, 1864. Charles never remarried. In 1869, upon the death of her husband, Charles’ sister Florestine came to Monaco to help care for her brother.

The Cathedral of Monaco; Credit – By User:Berthold Wernerld Werner – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15613011

Besides the Casino de Monte-Carlo, another important contribution Charles made to Monaco was a new cathedral. He decided to build a new and larger church on the original site of the Church of Saint Nicholas. The original church was demolished in 1874 and the first stone of the new church was laid in 1875. The new Cathedral of Monaco, completed after Charles III’s death, was dedicated to Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception with Saint Nicholas of Myra and Saint Benoît (Saint Benedict of Nursia) as secondary patron saints. Sometimes the cathedral is called St. Nicholas Cathedral after the original church.

Despite dealing with the effects of aging, Maria Caroline remained sharp-minded and capable and was a constant force in the life of her son Charles. Maria Caroline survived her husband Florestan, Prince of Monaco by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879. She was interred at the new larger church that was still under construction, the Cathedral of Monaco, that her son Charles III was building.

Grave of Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – www.findagrave.com

By the end of his life, Charles was richer than he ever dreamed but he was also ill and lonely. Because of his blindness, he had been a recluse for the last decade of his life. Charles III, Prince of Monaco, aged 71, died from pneumonia on September 10, 1889, during a visit to the Château de Marchais in Aisne in northern France, with his sister Princess Florestine at his bedside. He was interred in the crypt of the Cathedral of Monaco, still not yet completed.

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

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Mérode – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_M%C3%A9rode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III, Prince of Monaco – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III,_Prince_of_Monaco> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/maria-caroline-gibert-de-lametz-princess-of-monaco/> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Antoinette de Merode — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antoinette_de_Merode> [Accessed 6 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III (prince de Monaco) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_(prince_de_Monaco)> [Accessed 6 May 2022].

Basilica of Superga in Turin, Italy

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Basilica of Superga; Credit – Di Antoniors81 – Opera propria, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26674899

The Basilica of Superga is a Roman Catholic church located in Turin (Torino in Italian), Italy. The Royal Crypt, built under the Basilica of Superga, is one of the traditional burial places of the members of the House of Savoy. Two Kings of Italy (who came from the House of Savoy), Vittorio Emanuele II and Umberto I, were interred in the Pantheon in Rome. The earlier generations of the House of Savoy as well as Carlo Felice, King of Sardinia and Umberto II, the last King of Italy, are buried in Hautecombe Abbey, the ancestral burial site of the House of Savoy, now in Saint-Pierre-de-Curtille near Aix-les-Bains in Savoy, France.

The House of Savoy had been Counts and then Dukes of Savoy, since the 11th century and ruled from the city of Turin, now in northern Italy. Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy became King of Sicily in 1713 as a result of his participation in the War of the Spanish Succession. However, in 1720, Vittorio Amedeo II was forced to exchange the Kingdom of Sicily for the less important Kingdom of Sardinia after objections from the Quadruple Alliance (Great Britain, France, Habsburg Austria, and the Dutch Republic).

Sardinia, now in Italy, is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily but the Kings of Sardinia of the House of Savoy ruled from Turin, the capital of the Duchy of Savoy. They styled themselves as Kings of Sardinia because the title was superior to their original lesser title as Dukes of Savoy. However, they retained the regnal numerical order of the Dukes of Savoy. The children of the Kings of Sardinia were styled “of Savoy.”

Vittorio Emanuele II became the last King of Sardinia upon the abdication of his father in 1849. He then became a driving force behind the Italian unification movement along with Giuseppe Garibaldi, a general and nationalist, and Giuseppe Mazzini, a politician and journalist. Garibaldi conquered Naples and Sicily, the territories of the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, while the Sardinian troops occupied the central territories of the Italian peninsula, except Rome and part of Papal States. With all the newly acquired land, Vittorio Emanuele II was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy in 1861.

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History of the Basilica of Superga

Photo taken by Italian photographer Giacomo Brogi, circa 1850 – 1851; Credit – Wikipedia

The Basilica of Superga, now in Turin, Italy, is located at the top of the Superga, a 2,205 ft/672-meter hill. During the 117-day 1706 Siege of Turin in the War of the Spanish Succession, over 44,000 French soldiers surrounded the fortified citadel of Turin defended by about 10,500 Savoy soldiers. On August 28, 1706, Vittorio Amedeo II, Duke of Savoy (later the first King of Sardinia) and his cousin Prince Eugenio of Savoy-Carignano climbed the Superga hill to better examine the position of troops so they could develop battle strategies. On September 2, 1706, Vittorio Amedeo II and Eugenio once again climbed the Superga. They entered a small church on the hill where Vittorio Amedeo II prostrated himself in front of a wooden statue of the Virgin Mary as Madonna delle Grazie, Our Lady of Grace, and vowed that if the Virgin Mary allowed him to be victorious in, the Siege of Turin, he would build a magnificent church at the top of the hill dedicated to her. On September 7, 1706, the forces of Vittoria Amadeo II and Eugenio won a victory.

 

Vittorio Amedeo II kept his vow and commissioned Italian architect Filippo Juvarra to design the magnificent church at the top of the Superga. The Basilica of Superga, designed in the Rococo and Neoclassical styles, was constructed from 1717 to 1731. On November 1, 1731, the Basilica of Superga was consecrated and dedicated to Our Lady of Grace whose original wooden statue that Vittorio Amadeo II had prostrated himself before is kept in the Chapel of the Vow on the left side of the main altar of the Basilica of Superga.

The memorial to the victims of the Superga air disaster at the Basilica of Superga; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 4, 1949, an airplane carrying the Italian football (soccer) team Torino Football Club nicknamed Il Grande Torino, was returning to Turin, Italy after traveling to Lisbon, Portugal where the team had played the Portuguese football (soccer) team Benfica. At around 5:00 PM, the airplane was flying over the outskirts of Turin and was preparing for landing, when pilot Pierluigi Meroni, a World War II flying veteran, was warned that the weather in Turin was poor with fog, showers, and strong wind gusts. Minutes later, the airplane crashed into the retaining wall at the back of the Basilica of Superga. All thirty-one passengers which included players, coaching staff, team officials, journalists, and the flight crew were killed. Only three players who did not travel with the team because of injury or illness escaped the disaster. The walls damaged by the impact of the airplane are still visible, as it was decided not to rebuild them. This tragic event is commemorated by a museum and a plaque on the rear building, and a solemn mass is celebrated at the basilica every May 4 in memory of the victims.

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The Exterior of the Basilica of Superga

The Basilica of Superga; Credit – Wikipedia

During the construction, building materials were carried up the hill by donkeys. The hill was leveled by about 131 feet/40 meters to create a flat area for the basilica’s construction. A staircase leads to a large portico supported by eight Corinthian columns inspired by the Pantheon in Rome. Atop the basilica is a 213-foot/65-meter high Baroque-style dome with two symmetrical bell towers on either side.

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The Interior of the Basilica of Superga

The interior of the Basilica of Superga; Credit – Di Paris Orlando – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=74180912

The interior was designed with a Greek cross plan, a church plan in the form of a Greek cross, with a square central mass and four arms of equal length. The diagram below shows the difference between the Greek cross plan and the more widely used Latin cross plan.

Greek cross (Church of Saint Sava) and Latin cross (St. Paul’s Cathedral) in church floorplans; Credit – Wikipedia

The Main Altar; Credit – Di Incola – Opera propria, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32157514

The interior has six chapels, four altars, and the main altar which is decorated with sculptures and monuments in Carrara marble. In the Vow Chapel is the original wooden statue of the Madonna delle Grazie, Our Lady of Grace, the statue Vittorio Amedeo II knelt in front of, and asked for the grace to defeat the French army.

The wooden statue of the Madonna delle Grazie; Credit – Wikipedia

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Burials at the Basilica of Superga

The Hall of the Queens – Notice the burial niches; Credit – Basilica of Superga

The original plans for the Basilica of Superga included a burial crypt but the plans were temporarily shelved because of funding issues. In 1774, forty-three years after the consecration of the Basilica of Superga, Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia commissioned architect Francesco Martinez, grandson of the original architect Filippo Juvara, to build a burial crypt. In 1778, the burial crypt was consecrated and arrangements began for the reburial of some royal remains that had been interred in other burial sites.

The Royal Crypt is divided into five rooms, including the Hall of Kings, the Hall of the Queens, and the Hall of Children, where children and princes and princesses who never reigned were interred. While there are some tombs, most burials are in niches along the walls of the rooms as seen in the above photo.

Traditionally, at the death of the sovereign, his remains were placed in the center of the Hall of Kings. Upon the death of the next sovereign, the previous sovereign’s remains were then moved to one of the niches. The last sovereign buried at the Basilica of Superga was Carlo Alberto I, King of Sardinia. He died in 1849 and his tomb remains in the center of the Hall of Kings because his successors became Kings of Italy and were buried elsewhere.

Hall of the Kings (First Room)

Tomb of Carlo Alberto, King of Sardinia in the Hall of Kings; Credit – Wikipedia

Second Room

Hall of the Queens (Third Room)

The funeral of Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta, 5th Duke of Aosta on July 1, 2021 at the Basilica of Superga

Fourth Room

Hall of the Children (Fifth Room)

  • Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (born and died 1705), son of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia
  • Vittorio Amadeo, Prince of Piedmont (1699 – 1715), son and heir of Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sardinia, died in his teens from smallpox, first buried in the Cathedral of Saint John the Baptist in Turin, moved to the Basilica of Superga
  • Vittorio Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta (1723 – 1725), son of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, moved from his original burial site in 1790
  • Carlo Francesco Romualdo of Savoy, Duke of Chablais (born and died 1733), son of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, moved from his original burial site in 1790
  • Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, Duke of Aosta (1731 – 1735), son of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, moved from his original burial site in 1790
  • Maria Vittoria of Savoy (1740 – 1742), daughter of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia
  • Carlo Francesco of Savoy, Duke of Aosta (1738 – 1745), son of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, moved from his original burial site in 1790
  • Maria Elisabetta Carlotta of Savoy (1752 – 1753), daughter of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, moved from her original burial site in 1790
  • Amedeo Alessandro of Savoy (1754 – 1755), son of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia,
  • Maria Anna Vittoria of Savoy (1683 – 1763), daughter of Luigi Tommaso of Savoy-Soissons, Count of Soissons, wife of Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen, marriage dissolved, moved from her original burial site in 1921
  • Maria Luisa Gabriella of Savoy (1729 – 1767), daughter of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, first buried at the convent of St. Andrew in Chieri, Kingdom of Sardinia, moved to the chapel in the cemetery at the church of St. George in Chieri in 1811, and then moved to the Basilica of Superga in 1823
  • Maria Cristina of Savoy (1760 – 1768), daughter of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia
  • Eleonora Maria Teresa of Savoy (1728 – 1781), daughter of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia
  • Maria Adelaide of Savoy (1794 – 1795), daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia
  • Maria Felicita of Savoy (1730 – 1801), daughter of Carlo Emanuele III, first buried in the Basilica of the Holy Apostles in Rome, moved to the Royal Basilica of Superga in 1858
  • A daughter (1800 – 1801), daughter of Vittorio Emanuele I, King of Sardinia, moved from her original burial site in 1939
  • Benedetto of Savoy, Duke of Chablais (1741 – 1808), son of Carlo Emanuele III, King of Sardinia, first buried at the Church of San Nicolo dei Cesarini in Rome, moved to the Royal Basilica of Superga in 1926
  • Maria Anna of Savoy, Duchess of Chablais (1757 – 1824), daughter of Vittorio Amedeo III, King of Sardinia, wife and niece of Benedetto of Savoy, Duke of Chablais
  • Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy (born and died 1852), son of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, King of Italy
  • Carlo Alberto of Savoy, Duke of Chablais (1851 – 1854), son of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, King of Italy
  • Vittorio Emanuele of Savoy (born and died 1855), son of Vittorio Emanuele II
  • Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte (1822 – 1891), husband of Maria Clotilde of Savoy, a daughter of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, King of Italy
  • Maria Clotilde of Savoy, Princess Napoleon (1843 – 1911), daughter of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, King of Italy, wife of Prince Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte
  • Prince Louis Bonaparte (1864 – 1932), son of Napoléon-Jérôme Bonaparte and Maria Clotilde of Savoy, grandson of Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia, King of Italy
  • Lydia di Arenberg, Duchess of Genoa (1905 – 1977), wife of Prince Filiberto of Savoy, 4th Duke of Genoa
  • Adalberto of Savoy-Genoa, Duke of Bergamo (1898 – 1982), son of Tommaso, 2nd Duke of Genoa
  • Filiberto of Savoy, 4th Duke of Genoa (1895 – 1990), son of Tommaso, 2nd Duke of Genoa

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

  • Basilicadisuperga.com. 2022. The Basilica – Basilica di Superga. [online] Available at: <http://www.basilicadisuperga.com/en/places/the-basilica/> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • Basilicadisuperga.com. 2022. The Royal Tombs – Basilica di Superga. [online] Available at: <http://www.basilicadisuperga.com/en/places/the-royal-tombs/> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2022. Superga – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superga> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Basilica of Superga – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_of_Superga> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2021. Kingdom of Sardinia Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/kingdom-of-sardinia-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Basilique de Superga — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilique_de_Superga> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2022. Basilica di Superga – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basilica_di_Superga> [Accessed 3 May 2022].
  • It.wikipedia.org. 2022. Cripta Reale di Superga – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cripta_Reale_di_Superga#Elenco_dei_Savoia_attualmente_tumulati_a_Superga> [Accessed 3 May 2022].

First Cousins: Louis XIV, King of France

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Louis XIV, King of France (1638 – 1715)

(All media credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

Louis XIV, King of France was the longest-reigning French monarch, reigning for 72 years from 1643 until his death in 1715. He was born on September 5, 1638, at the Château de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France, the elder of the two sons of Louis XIII, King of France and Anne of Austria, Infanta of Spain. His paternal grandparents were Henri IV, the first King of France from the House of Bourbon, and his second wife Marie de’ Medici. Louis XIV’s maternal grandparents were Felipe III, King of Spain and Margaret of Austria. In 1660, Louis XIV married his double first cousin Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain, daughter of King Felipe IV of Spain and Elisabeth of France. The couple had six children but only the eldest, Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, survived infancy or childhood, but he predeceased his father. Louis XIV had at least thirteen illegitimate children with his mistresses. Many of his children by his mistresses were legitimized and given titles.

Louis XIV was a firm believer in the divine right of kings. He became one of France’s most powerful sovereigns and established France as one of the leading powers in Europe. After the death of his wife in 1683, King Louis XIV married his mistress Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon. Because the marriage was morganatic, she was never publicly acknowledged as his wife or as Queen.

After reigning for 72 years and 100 days, King Louis XIV died on September 1, 1715. He had outlived most of his immediate legitimate family. His only legitimate son to survive infancy, Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, had died in 1711. Barely a year later, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, Le Petite Dauphin, the eldest of Le Grand Dauphin’s three sons and then heir to Louis XIV, followed his father in death. The Duke of Burgundy’s elder surviving son Louis, Duke of Brittany joined them a few weeks later. Thus, on his deathbed, Louis XIV’s heir was his five-year-old great-grandson, Louis, Duke of Anjou, the Duke of Burgundy’s younger son, who succeeded his great-grandfather as King Louis XV.

Louis XIV, King of France had 30 paternal first cousins and 19 maternal first cousins which he shared with his only sibling Philippe I, Duke of Orléans.

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Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Henri IV, King of France and his second wife Marie de’ Medici

Maternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Felipe III, King of Spain and Archduke Margaret of Austria

Note: Felipe III’s children were known as “of Austria” because the Spanish monarchs at the time were members of the House of Habsburg

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Paternal First Cousins

Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Elisabeth of France and Felipe IV, King of Spain

Maria Margarita of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1621)

Maria Margarita was born on August 14, 1621, and died the next day.

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Margarita Maria Caterina of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1623)

Margarita Maria Caterina was born on November 25,  1623, and died on December 22, 1623.

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Maria Eugenia of Austria, Infanta of Spain (1625 – 1627)

Maria Eugenia was born on November 21, 1625, and died on August 21, 1627.

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Isabella Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1627)

Isabella Maria Theresa was born on October 31, 1627, and died the next day.

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Balthasar Carlos of Austria, Infante of Spain, Prince of Asturias (1629 – 1646)

Balthasar Carlos was the heir apparent to the Spanish throne until his death. He died from smallpox at the age of sixteen on October  9, 1646.

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Francisco Fernando of Austria, Infante of Spain (born and died 1634)

Francisco Fernando died on the day of his birth, March 12, 1634.

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Maria Anna Antonia of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1636)

Maria Anna Antonia was born on January 17, 1636, and died on December 5, 1636.

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Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain, Queen of France (1638 – 1683)

Maria Theresa married her double first cousin, Louis XIV, King of France. The youngest of eight children, she was the only one of her siblings to reach adulthood. Maria Theresa and Louis XIV had six children but only the eldest, Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, survived to adulthood, but he predeceased his father. Maria Theresa was very devout, often inviting members of the King’s court to come and pray with her. Intensely private, she was humiliated by her husband’s numerous, and very public, affairs and his man illegitimate children.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Christine Marie of France and Vittorio Amedeo I, Duke of Savoy

Prince Luigi Amadeo of Savoy (1622 – 1628)

Luigi Amedeo died in childhood.

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Princess Luisa Cristina of Savoy (1629 – 1692)

Upon the death of her father in 1637 a dispute arose between Luisa Cristina’s mother Christine Maria and paternal uncles Prince Tommaso of Savoy and Cardinal-Prince Maurizio of Savoy over the appointment of a regent and the inheritance of the duchy. The two brothers conspired against Christine Marie as regent, claiming the regency between the two of them. Eventually, with the help of her brother King Louis XIII of France,  Luisa Cristina’s mother Christine Marie became Regent for her five-year-old son Francesco Giacinto, Duke of Savoy and when he died in 1638, she became Regent for her other son Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy. Luisa Cristina was soon engaged to Maurice as part of a reconciliation with Christine Marie. To appease her 49-year-old uncle Maurizio, 13-year-old Luisa Cristina was married to him in 1642. Maurizio had left the clergy earlier that year. Luisa Cristina and Maurizio had no children. Maurizio died in 1657 from a stroke leaving Luisa Cristina a widow at the age of twenty-seven.

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Francesco Giacinto, Duke of Savoy (1632 – 1638)

Upon the death of his father, Francesco Giacinto was Duke of Savoy from 1637 to 1638 under the regency of his mother Christine Marie. On October 4, 1638, six-year-old Francesco Giacinto died from a fever.

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Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy (1634 – 1675)

In 1638 at the death of his older brother six-year-old brother Francesco Giacinto, Duke of Savoy, four-year-old Carlo Emanuele became the Duke of Savoy under the regency of his mother Christine Marie. Even after he reached the age of majority, he allowed his mother to continue ruling for him. Carlo Emanuele preferred a life of pleasure. Only upon the death of his mother in 1663, did Carlo Emanuele, at the age of 29, assume power. He wanted to marry Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours but his mother disagreed and encouraged him to marry his cousin Françoise Madeleine d’Orléans, daughter of his maternal uncle Gaston, Duke of Orléans.  He did so in 1663. Later that year, Christine Marie died and then Françoise Madeleine died in 1664. In 1665, Carlo Emanuele married Marie Jeanne Baptiste of Savoy-Nemours, and they had one son, Vittorio Amedeo II, who became the first King of Sardinia.

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Princess Margherita Yolande of Savoy, Duchess of Parma (1635 – 1663)

Margherita Yolande’s mother Christine Marie began a correspondence with the French court to secure a marriage between Margherita Yolande and her first cousin King Louis XIV of France. However, Cardinal Mazarin, the chief minister to Louis XIII and Louis XIV, convinced Louis XIV to marry another first cousin Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain, for political reasons. Instead, Margherita Yolande married Ranuccio II Farnese, Duke of Parma in 1660. The couple had two children who both died: the first was a stillborn daughter and the second was a son who live only one day. Sadly, Margherita Yolande died while giving birth to her second child.

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Princess Enrichetta Adelaide of Savoy, Electress of Bavaria (1636 – 1676)

Enrichetta Adelaide and her sister Caterina Beatrice were twins but Caterina Beatrice died when she was nine months old. In 1650, fourteen-year-old Enrichetta Adelaide married fourteen-year-old Ferdinand Maria, Hereditary Prince of the Electorate of Bavaria. The following year, Ferdinand Maria became Elector of Bavaria upon the death of his father. Enrichetta Adelaide and Ferdinand Maria had seven children including Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria who married her second cousin Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child of Louis XIV, King of France and Maria Theresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain.

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Princess Caterina Beatrice of Savoy (1636 – 1637)

Caterina Beatrice was the twin of Enrichetta Adelaide. She was born on November 6, 1636, and died on August 26, 1637.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans and his first wife Marie de Bourbon, Duchess de Montpensier

Princess Anne Marie Louise d’Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier (1627 – 1693)

In 1626, Prince Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans was married against his will to the immensely wealthy Marie de Bourbon, Duchess of Montpensier in her own right. On May 29, 1627, Marie gave birth to a daughter and then died a few days later due to childbirth complications. Her infant daughter Anne Marie Louise inherited her mother’s fortune and titles. Known as the Grande Mademoiselle, Anne Marie Louise never married and when she died in 1693, she left her fortune to her first cousin Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, King Louis XIV’s only sibling.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Gaston of France, Duke of Orléans and his second wife Marguerite of Lorraine

Princess Marguerite Louise d’Orléans, Grand Duchess of Tuscany (1645 – 1721)

In 1661, Marguerite Louise married Cosimo III de’ Medici, the future Grand Duke of Tuscany. The couple had three children but the marriage was not a happy one. In June 1675, Marguerite Louise and her husband separated and she retired with a pension to a convent on the outskirts of Paris that housed noble ladies separated from their husbands. She died in 1721 without ever again seeing her husband, who died two years later.

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Princess Élisabeth Marguerite d’Orléans, Duchess of Guise (1646 – 1696)

In 1667, Élisabeth Marguerite married Louis Joseph de Lorraine, Duke of Guise and the couple had one son who died at the age of four. In 1671, returning from a visit to the court of Charles II, King of England, Louis Joseph fell ill with smallpox and died. Élisabeth Marguerite never remarried.

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Princess Françoise Madeleine d’Orléans, Duchess of Savoy (1648 – 1664)

In 1663, influenced by her paternal aunt Christine Marie, Dowager Duchess of Savoy, Françoise Madeleine was married to her first cousin Carlo Emanuele II, Duke of Savoy. Françoise Madeleine died unexpectedly on  January 14, 1664, aged fifteen.

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Prince Jean Gaston d’Orléans, Duke of Valois (1650 – 1652)

The only son in the family, Jean Gaston had very frail health and was never able to walk or speak. He died from diarrhea a week short of his second birthday.

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Princess Marie Anne d’Orléans (1652 – 1656)

Born on November 9, 1652, Marie Anne died at the age of three on August 17, 1656.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Henrietta Maria of France and Charles I, King of England

Prince Charles James of England, Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay (born and died 1629)

Charles James was born prematurely on May 13, 1629, after his mother had been frightened by a large dog jumping at her. He died the same day as his birth.

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Charles II, King of England (1630 – 1685)

Charles II was still young when the English Civil War broke out between his father King Charles I and the Parliamentarian and Puritan forces. The execution of King Charles I on January 30, 1649, made Charles the de jure King. Charles lived in exile until 1660, when Parliament formally invited him as King Charles II, to be the English monarch in what has become known as the Restoration. In 1662, Charles married Catherine of Braganza, the daughter of King João IV of Portugal. Despite fathering many illegitimate children with his mistresses, Charles had no children with Catherine. It is thought that Catherine did have at least three miscarriages.

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Mary, Princess Royal, Princess of Orange (1631 – 1660)

Mary was the first Princess Royal. Her mother Queen Henrietta Maria, daughter of King Henri IV of France, wanted to imitate the way the eldest daughter of the King of France was styled Madame Royale. In 1641, nine-year-old Mary married Willem, Hereditary Prince of Orange, who would have his 15th birthday in a couple of weeks. In 1647, Mary’s husband became Willem II, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, upon the death of his father. In 1650, Mary was pregnant with her first child when her husband Willem II died at the age of 24. Eight days later, on November 14, 1650, Mary gave birth to her only child Willem who was Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands at birth. In 1660, on a visit to England, 29-year-old Mary fell ill with smallpox. Her son Willem was just ten years old and had lost both parents to smallpox. Willem would later marry his first cousin Mary, the daughter of King James II of England. After James II was deposed in 1688, Willem and Mary would jointly reign in England as King William III and Queen Mary II. Sadly, Mary would also die of smallpox at the age of 32.

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James II, King of England (1633 – 1701)

James’ first wife was Lady Anne Hyde, the daughter of one of his brother’s strongest supporters, Edward Hyde, 1st Earl of Clarendon. James and Anne had eight children, but only two survived childhood, and both were Queen Regnants: Queen Mary II and Queen Anne. Anne and James secretly converted to Roman Catholicism. King Charles II insisted that James’ surviving daughters Mary and Anne be raised in the Church of England. In 1671, Anne died of breast cancer at the age of 34. King Charles II allowed his brother James to make a second marriage with the fifteen-year-old Catholic Mary Beatrice of Modena in 1673. Mary Beatrice had several miscarriages and stillbirths and had seven live births, but only two of these children survived childhood. King Charles II died in 1685, and having no legitimate children, he was succeeded by his brother James. King James II set on a course of restoring Catholicism to England. This ultimately resulted in James II being removed from the throne during the Glorious Revolution of 1688. James, his second wife, and their son settled at the Palace of St. Germain-en-Laye near Paris, France where a court in exile was established. James spent the rest of his life in France.

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Princess Elizabeth of England (1635 – 1650)

Elizabeth was only seven-years-old when the English Civil War broke out. From that time until her death in 1650, Elizabeth and her brother Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester were basically held as prisoners of the English Parliament. Over the coming years, Parliament assigned their guardianships to several nobles. Elizabeth spent her time studying languages and theology. On  January 29, 1649, Elizabeth and Henry met with their father for the last time. King Charles I was beheaded the next day. Elizabeth wrote a moving account of her last meeting with her father. In 1650, Elizabeth’s eldest brother, the titular King Charles II, traveled to Scotland to be crowned. In response, Parliament moved Elizabeth to the Isle of Wight despite Elizabeth complaining that she was not well enough to travel. During the move to the Isle of Wight, Elizabeth caught a cold that quickly developed into pneumonia, causing her death at the age of fifteen.

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Princess Anne of England (1637 – 1640)

From her birth, Anne was not healthy. It is likely that she developed tuberculosis, causing her death when she was only three years old. Apparently, Anne was a precocious child. As she lay dying, her nurse told her to say her prayers. Anne replied that she could not say her long prayer, meaning the Lord’s Prayer, but that she could say her short prayer, “Lighten mine eyes, O Lord, lest I sleep the sleep of death.”

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Princess Catherine of England (born and died 1639)

Catherine was born on June 29, 1639, and died the same day, an hour after her christening.

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Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (1640 – 1660)

Henry was only two years old when the English Civil War broke out. Along with his elder sister Elizabeth, he was basically held as a prisoner of the English Parliament. Over the coming years, Parliament assigned their guardianships to several nobles. On  January 29, 1649, Elizabeth and Henry met with their father for the last time. King Charles I was beheaded the next day. In 1652, two years after the death of his sister Elizabeth, Henry was released and sent to his sister Mary in the Dutch Republic. Following the restoration of the monarchy in England in 1660, Henry accompanied his brother Charles II to England. However, in September 1660, Henry contracted smallpox during a London epidemic and died before Charles II’s coronation.

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Princess Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans (1644 – 1670)

About a month after Henrietta’s birth, her mother Henrietta Maria went to France to ask her nephew, King Louis XIV, for assistance for the Royalist side in the English Civil War. Henrietta was left in the care of Lady Dalkeith (born Anne Villiers, the daughter of Sir Edward Villiers). In 1646, Lady Dalkeith disguised herself and Henrietta as peasants and fled to France, reuniting Henrietta with her mother. Henrietta was brought up at the French court. In 1661, she married her first cousin Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, the only sibling of King Louis XVI of France. Philippe had homosexual affairs, but apparently, he was intent on fulfilling his dynastic responsibility of having children, and the couple had three children.

On June 29, 1670, Henriette-Anne drank a glass of iced chicory water and immediately felt severe pain in her side. She thought she had been poisoned and asked to be given an antidote. Henrietta died the next day at the age of twenty-six. There were rumors that her husband’s lover Philippe, Chevalier de Lorraine had poisoned her. An autopsy showed that she died from “cholera morbus caused by heated bile” which was a medical diagnosis at the time for acute gastroenteritis occurring in summer and autumn with severe cramps, diarrhea, and vomiting. Many of the autopsy observers disagreed with this diagnosis.

Henrietta is an ancestor of the royal families of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Spain. When the line of her brother King James II of England died out, the Jacobite claims to the British throne descended from her daughter Anne Marie d’Orléans, Queen of Sardinia. The Orléanist pretenders to the French throne and the Savoy pretenders to the Italian throne descend from Henrietta.

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Maternal First Cousins

Maternal First Cousins: Children of Felipe IV, King of Spain and his first wife Princess Elisabeth of France

See above – Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Elisabeth of France and Felipe IV, King of Spain

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Felipe IV, King of Spain and his second wife Archduchess Mariana of Austria

Margarita Teresa of Austria, Infanta of Spain, Holy Roman Empress (1651 – 1673)

Margarita Teresa was the first child of Felipe IV, King of Spain from his second marriage with his niece Archduchess Mariana of Austria, the daughter of his sister Maria Anna of Spain and Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor. In 1666, fifteen-year-old Margarita Teresa married Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who was her maternal uncle and paternal cousin. During her six years of marriage, Margarita Teresa gave birth to four children but only one survived infancy. Weakened by six pregnancies in six years (four living births and two miscarriages), 21-year-old Margarita Teresa died four months into her seventh pregnancy.

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Maria Ambrosia de la Concepción of Austria, Infanta of Spain (born and died 1655)

Maria Ambrosia lived for only two weeks. She was born on December 7, 1655, and died on December 21, 1655.

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Felipe Prospero of Austria, Infante of Spain, Prince of Asturias (1657 – 1661)

Felipe Prospero’s father Felipe IV, King of Spain, had no male heir since the death of Balthasar Charles, his son by his first wife, Elisabeth of France, eleven years earlier, and so the birth of Felipe Prospero was a joyous event. However, it soon became evident that Felipe Prospero had health issues and was frequently ill, possibly from a defective immune system from generations of inbreeding.  On November 1, 1661, he died following a severe epileptic attack, four weeks before his fourth birthday.

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Fernando of Austria, Infante of Spain (1658 – 1659)

Fernando was born on December 23, 1658, and died ten months later on October 22, 1659.

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Carlos II, King of Spain (1661 – 1700)

With the birth of Carlos, his father Felipe IV, King of Spain, had a male heir. However, due to inbreeding, Carlos had many problems. Of eleven marriages made by Spanish monarchs between 1450 and 1661, the vast majority were between close relatives. Carlos had the “Habsburg jaw”, and this was so pronounced in Carlos that he swallowed his food nearly whole because he could not thoroughly chew it. In 1665, the not-quite four-year-old Carlos became King of Spain upon the death of his father. His mother Archduchess Mariana of Austria served as regent.

Carlos was educated by priests, but because of his poor health, it was expected that he would not live long and so his education in government tasks was neglected. When Carlos was twenty, the papal nuncio described him: “He can’t straighten his body except when he walks, unless he leans against a wall, a table or something else. His body is as weak as his mind. From time to time he shows signs of intelligence, memory, and a certain liveliness, but usually, he has a slow and indifferent look, clumsy and indolent, seeming dumbstruck.” Carlos II married twice but both marriages were childless.

Carlos lived to be thirty-eight years old, the last King of Spain from the House of Habsburg. King Louis XIV of France’s son Louis, Le Grand Dauphin had the strongest genealogical claim to the throne of Spain because his mother Maria Teresa, Infanta of Spain had been the half-sister of Carlos II. However, neither Louis, Le Grand Dauphin nor his eldest son Louis, Duke of Burgundy, could be displaced from their place in the succession to the French throne. Therefore, Carlos II, King of Spain, in his will, named Louis, Le Grand Dauphin’s second son, 16-year-old Philippe, Duke of Anjou, as his successor. He reigned as Felipe V, the first of the Bourbon kings of Spain.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Maria Anna of Austria, Infanta of Spain and Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor

Ferdinand IV, King of the Romans (1633 – 1654)

In 1653, Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor had his eldest son Ferdinand crowned as King of the Romans as the de facto heir to the Holy Roman Empire, despite Holy Roman Emperor being an elected position.  A year later, the younger Ferdinand died from smallpox.

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Archduchess Mariana of Austria, Queen of Spain (1634 – 1696)

In 1649, 14-year-old Mariana married her 44-year-old uncle Felipe IV, King of Spain as his second wife in hopes of producing a male heir. Their children (listed above under Maternal First Cousins: Children of Felipe IV, King of Spain and his second wife Archduchess Mariana of Austria) were also first cousins of King Louis XIV through their father. Felipe IV was succeeded by his nearly four-year-old son Carlos II (see above). Because of Carlos II’s mental and physical condition, Mariana was regent for the rest of her life except for 1677 – 1679.

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Archduke Philipp August of Austria (1637 – 1639)

Philipp August was born on July 15, 1637, and died nearly two years later, on June 22, 1639.

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Archduke Maximilian Thomas of Austria (1638 – 1639)

Maximilian Thomas was born on December 21, 1638, and died six months later on June 29, 1639.

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Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (1640 – 1705)

Leopold I was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia. Elected in 1658, Leopold ruled the Holy Roman Empire until his death in 1705, becoming the longest-ruling Habsburg Holy Roman Emperor (46 years and 9 months). He married three times and had a total of sixteen children including Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, and Archduchess Maria of Austria who married her first cousin of João V, King of Portugal.

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Archduchess Maria of Austria (born and died 1646)

Maria was born and died on May 13, 1646.

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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

  • Lundy, D. (2022). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2022). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
  • Wikipedia. (2022 Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

First Cousins: Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia (1868 – 1917)

(All photos credits – Wikipedia unless otherwise noted)

Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia was born May 18, 1868, at Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, Russia. He was the eldest son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and Princess Dagmar of Denmark (Empress Maria Feodorovna). His paternal grandparents were Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his first wife Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna). His maternal grandparents were Christian IX, King of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Nicholas II married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and had four daughters and one son.

Nicholas II had 22 paternal first cousins and 33  maternal first cousins for a total of 55 first cousins. He shares his first cousins with his siblings Grand Duke Alexander Alexandrovich (died young of meningitis), Grand Duke George Alexandrovich, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich, and Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna.

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Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his first wife Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine

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Paternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his morganatic second wife Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya

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Maternal Aunts and Uncles: Children of Christian IX, King of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel

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PATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Paternal First Cousins: Children of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Princess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich of Russia (1875 – 1877)

Grand Duke Alexander Vladimirovich was born on August 31, 1875, and died nineteen months later on March 16, 1877.

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Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (1876 – 1938)

Kirill married his first cousin Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and had three children. Following the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, Kirill and his family left Russia. They settled first in Finland, before moving on to Munich and then Zurich. Eventually, they settled permanently in Saint-Briac, France, in the mid-1920s. In addition, they had inherited property in Coburg from his wife’s mother, which they retained until their deaths. Bolstered by a group of supporters, and the laws of the former Imperial Family (under which Kirill was the rightful heir to the throne), on August 31, 1924, Kirill declared himself Emperor of all the Russias. This claim was later taken by his son, Vladimir, and then Vladimir’s daughter, Maria Vladimirovna, who declared herself Head of the Imperial House in 1992.

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Grand Duke Boris Vladimirovich of Russia (1877 – 1943)

Boris had a military career and was known as a notorious playboy. After the Russian Revolution, he left Russia with his longtime mistress, Zinaida Rashevskaya, whom he married in exile. The couple had no children Eventually, he settled in France where he spent the rest of his life.

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Grand Duke Andrei Vladimirovich of Russia (1879 – 1956)

In 1921, Andrei married his mistress Matilde Kschessinskaya, one of the most famous ballerinas of the Maryinsky Ballet (now the Kirov Ballet) in St. Petersburg, Russia, known as Princess Romanovskaya-Krasinskaya after her marriage. Mathilde had an affair with Nicholas II before he married. While she was having an affair with Andrei, she was also involved with his cousin Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich. Mathilde’s son Prince Vladimir Romanovsky-Krasinsky could be the son of either Andrei or Sergei but Andrei officially adopted Vladimir. Andrei and Mathilde lived in the south of France until 1929 when they moved permanently to Paris, where Mathilde opened a ballet school.

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Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, Princess of Greece (1882 – 1957)

In 1902, Elena married her second cousin, Prince Nicholas of Greece, the son of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. They had three daughters including Princess Marina of Greece who married Prince George, Duke of Kent, son of King George V of the United Kingdom. Elena is the maternal grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousins Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent.

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Paternal First Cousins: Child of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia and his (probable) morganatic wife Alexandra Vasilievna Zhukovskaya

Count Alexei Alexandrovich Belevsky-Zhukovsky (1871 – circa 1931)

Alexei married twice: to Princess Maria Petrovna Troubetskaya with whom he had four children and later divorced, and then to Baroness Natalia von Schoeppingk, with who, he had no children. After the Russian Revolution, Alexei remained in the Soviet Union while his wife and children emigrated. He was killed by the Soviets in the Caucasus sometime in 1930, 1931, or 1932.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and Prince Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duke of Edinburgh

Prince Alfred of Edinburgh, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1874 – 1899)

In August 1893, Alfred’s father succeeded to the ducal throne of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and young Alfred became the Hereditary Prince. In January 1899, he was noticeably absent from the celebrations for his parents’ 25th wedding anniversary. The details surrounding his death were never formally given, and vary from source to source. Some say he was suffering from a breakdown, others a tumor, others tuberculosis. More than likely, he was suffering serious effects of syphilis he had contracted some years earlier. It is generally accepted that Alfred shot himself while the rest of the family was gathered for the anniversary celebrations. He survived the gunshot and was cared for at Schloss Friedenstein in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, before being moved, against the doctors’ recommendation, to the Martinnsbrunn Sanatorium in Gratsch, near Meran, Austria, where 24-year-old Alfred died.

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Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Queen of Romania (1875 – 1938)

In 1893, Marie married Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania. The couple officially had six children. The two youngest children are believed to have been fathered by Marie’s lover but were formally acknowledged by Ferdinand as his own. Being very free-spirited, Marie found the strict Romanian court to be stifling. Her husband’s uncle King Carol controlled every aspect of the couple’s lives. In 1914, Ferdinand became King of Romania upon the death of his uncle and reigned until his death in 1927. Marie spent her remaining years enjoying the company of her grandchildren and enjoying her homes at Bran Castle and Balchik Palace. Throughout the years, she had written her memoirs, which were published in several volumes.

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Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna of Russia (1876 – 1936)

In 1894, Victoria Melita married her first cousin Ernst II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. They were both grandchildren of Queen Victoria. The couple had one surviving child Princess Elisabeth who sadly died of typhoid at age 8. Victoria Melita and Ernst were terribly mismatched but waited until after the death of their grandmother Queen Victoria to divorce. In 1905, Victoria Melita married another first cousin Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, also a first cousin of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia (see above). The couple had two daughters and one son. Following the abdication of Nicholas II in 1917, the family left Russia. They settled first in Finland, before moving on to Munich and then Zurich. Eventually, they settled permanently in Saint-Briac, France, in the mid-1920s. In addition, they had inherited property in Coburg from Victoria Melita’s mother, which they retained until their deaths.

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Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1878 – 1942)

In 1896, that Alexandra married Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Alexandra and Ernst were second cousins – their grandmothers, Queen Victoria and Princess Feodora of Leiningen were half-sisters. The couple had two sons and three daughters. After her mother’s death in 1920, Alexandra inherited Palais Edinburg in Coburg, and, along with her sisters and leased Schloss Rosenau from the state until the late 1930s. In 1937, Alexandra joined her husband, and some of her children, as a member of the Nazi Party.

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Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Galliera (1884-1966)

In 1906, Beatrice’s cousin, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, married King Alfonso XIII of Spain in Madrid, Spain. It was at the wedding that Beatrice met her future husband, Alfonso XIII’s first cousin Infante Alfonso of Spain. The couple married in 1909, in Coburg. A civil ceremony was held at Schloss Rosenau, followed by a Catholic ceremony at St. Augustine’s Church, and a Lutheran ceremony at Schloss Callenberg. Unlike her cousin, Victoria Eugenie, Beatrice chose not to convert to Catholicism prior to her marriage. She did later convert in 1913. Beatrice and Alfonso had three sons.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia and his first wife Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, Princess of Sweden,
Princess Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin (1890 – 1958)

Maria Pavlovna was a first cousin of both Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. When Maria Pavlovna was only seventeen months old, her mother died shortly after giving premature birth to her second child, Maria Pavlovna’s brother. In 1908, Maria Pavlovna married Prince Wilhelm of Sweden, son of King Gustav V of Sweden. The couple had one son Lennart but the marriage was not a happy one. In 1913, Maria left her husband and son and returned to Russia which caused a great scandal in Sweden. Her marriage was officially dissolved and then confirmed by an edict issued by Nicholas II. In 1917, Maria Pavlovna married Prince Sergei Mikhailovich Putyatin and the couple had one son who died in 1919. Maria Pavlovna and Sergei Mikhailovich were able to leave Russia and they settled in Paris, France but they divorced in 1923. In 1929, Maria emigrated to the United States where she wrote her two best-selling- memoirs, The Education of a Princess and A Princess in Exile. She also worked for the department store Bergdorf Goodman in New York City purchasing fashionable clothing from France. Maria’s interest in photography got her jobs with Hearst and Vogue as a photojournalist. In 1937, Maria Pavlovna was reunited with her son Lennart at his estate on the island of Mainau in Lake Constance, Germany.

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Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia  (1891–1942)

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was one of the conspirators in the murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin and also a first cousin of both Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Shortly after Dmitri’s birth, his 21-year-old mother died from childbirth complications. Dmitri and his sister were brought up by English nannies and mostly lived with their paternal uncle and aunt, Grand Duke Sergei and Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia. Dmitri participated in the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm in the Equestrian Individual and Team Jumping events. After the murder of Rasputin, Dmitri was exiled to Persia (now Iran), a move that most likely saved his life during the Russian Revolution. In 1926, in the Russian Orthodox Church in Biarritz, France, Dmitri married the rich American heiress Audrey Emery, and the couple had one son.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and his morganatic second wife Olga Karnovich

Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (1897 – 1918)

Vladimir grew up in Paris and then attended the Corps des Pages, a military academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia. During World War I, he fought with the Emperor’s Hussars and was a decorated war hero. A talented poet from an early age, Vladimir published two volumes of poetry and wrote several plays and essays. Vladimir was one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna.

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Princess Irina Pavlovna Paley (1903 – 1990)

Both Irina’s father Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and her brother Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley, were killed by the Bolsheviks. Irina, her mother, and her sister Natalia later escaped to France in 1920. In 1923, Irina married her first cousin once removed, Prince Feodor Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, and the couple had one son. in Paris. During her marriage to Feodor, Irina began an affair with Count Hubert de Monbrison and gave birth to Hubert’s daughter. Irina and Feodor were divorced in 1936, and she married Hubert in 1950,

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Princess Natalia Pavlovna Paley (1905–1981)

After the Russian Revolution, Natalia first lived in France and later in the United States where she became a naturalized American citizen. She became a fashion model and briefly pursued a career as a film actress. In 1927, Natalia married Lucien Lelong, a French fashion designer. The couple had no children and divorced in 1937. Soon after the divorce, Natalia married John Chapman Wilson, an American theatre director and producer.  The couple had no children and the marriage lasted until Wilson’s death in 1961.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Prince George Alexandrovich Yurievsky and Countess Alexandra von Zarnekau

Alexander Georgiyevich Yuryevsky, Prince Yuryevsky (1900 – 1988)

Alexander was the paternal grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his morganatic second wife Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya. After the divorce of his parents, Alexander went to live with his paternal grandmother Princess Yurievskaya who had moved to Nice, France after the assassination of her husband Alexander II.  Alexander married Ursule Anne Marie Beer de Grüneck and the couple had one son.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya and Count Georg-Nikolaus von Merenberg

The surviving two children of Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya and Count Georg-Nikolaus von Merenberg: Countess Olga Ekaterina Adda von Merenberg and Count Georg-Michael von Merenberg, circa 1900

The children of Princess Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya are the paternal grandchildren of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his morganatic second wife Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya. Their father Count Georg-Nikolaus von Merenberg was the son of Prince Nicholas Wilhelm of Nassau (brother of the Grand Duke Adolph of Luxembourg) and Natalia Alexandrovna Pushkina), daughter of the Russian writer Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin.

Count Alexander-Adolf von Merenberg (1897 – 1898)

Alexander-Adolf was the twin of Count Georg-Michael von Merenberg but he died when he was six months old.

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Count Georg-Michael von Merenberg (1897 – 1965)

In 1926, Georg-Michael married Baroness Paulette von Koever de Györgys-Saint-Miklós. The marriage was childless and the marriage ended in divorce after two years. Georg-Michael married Elisabeth Müller-Ury in 1940 and the couple had one daughter. In 1941, Georg-Michael was drafted into the German Army and sent to the Eastern Front. He was an opponent of the Nazi Party and was tried twice by a military tribunal: the first time, for refusing to do the Nazi Party salute, the second time, for desecrating the Nazi Party symbol.

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Countess Olga Ekaterina Adda von Merenberg (1898 – 1983)

Olga married Count Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov and they had one son.

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Paternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yurievskaya and Prince Alexander Vladimirovich Baryatinsky

The children of Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Yurievskaya are the paternal grandchildren of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia and his morganatic second wife Princess Ekaterina Mikhailovna Dolgorukova, Princess Yurievskaya.

Prince Andrei Baryatinsky (1902 – 1944)

Andrei Alexandrovich was born in Paris, France and after the death of his father and grandfather, he inherited one of the richest fortunes in Russia. In 1925, he married  Marie Paule Jedlinski and they had one daughter.

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Prince Alexander Baryatinsky (1905 – 1992)

Alexander Alexandrovich was born in Paris, France. He was married twice but had no children

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MATERNAL FIRST COUSINS

Maternal First Cousins: Children of Frederick VIII, King of Denmark and Princess Louise of Sweden

Christian X, King of Denmark of Denmark (1870 – 1947)

Christian X married Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1898 and had two sons including Frederik IX, King of Denmark. In 1940, during World War II, Germany occupied Denmark. Unlike King Haakon VII of Norway (Christian’s brother, born Prince Carl of Denmark) and Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, both of whom went into exile during the German occupation of their countries, King Christian X remained in Denmark. He is remembered for his daily horse ride without a guard through the streets of Copenhagen during the Nazi occupation of Denmark, a symbol of Danish sovereignty.

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Haakon VII, King of Norway (1872 – 1957)

A Danish prince who became King Haakon VII of Norway and one of a few elected monarchs, he was born Prince Carl of Denmark. In 1896, Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales (who was also a first cousin of Nicholas II). The couple had one son, born Prince Alexander of Denmark, later King Olav V of Norway.

In 1905, upon the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway, the Norwegian government began searching for candidates to become King of Norway. Because of his descent from prior Norwegian monarchs, as well as his wife’s British connections, Carl was the overwhelming favorite. Before accepting, Carl insisted that the voices of the Norwegian people be heard in regards to retaining a monarchy. Following a referendum with a 79% majority in favor, Prince Carl was formally offered and then accepted the throne.  He took the name Haakon VII and his two-year-old son was renamed Olav and became Crown Prince of Norway.

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Princess Louise of Denmark, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe (1875 – 1906)

In 1896, Louise married Prince Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe and the couple had three children. Louise suffered from depression and homesickness and spent much time visiting her family in Denmark, staying for two to three months at a time. Her father also came and visited with her each year. She died at the age of 31, and although the official cause of her death was meningitis, it is suspected that Louise drowned herself in a lake. She had tried this before but had been saved by the palace gardener.

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Prince Harald of Denmark (1876 – 1949)

Harald served in the Royal Danish Army for most of his life and reached the rank of Lieutenant General. In 1909,  Harald married his second cousin Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg. Harald and Helena had five children.

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Princess Ingeborg of Denmark, Princess of Sweden ( 1878 – 1958)

In 1897, Ingeborg married Prince Carl of Sweden. Carl and Ingeborg had four children including Märtha who married her first cousin the future King Olav V of Norway (Märtha died before her husband became king) and Astrid who married King Leopold III of Belgium. The current royal families of Belgium, Luxembourg, and Norway descend from Carl and Ingeborg. Belgian Kings Baudouin and Albert II, Norwegian King Harald V, and Grand Duchess Josephine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, the wife of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg are all grandchildren of Carl and Ingeborg.

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Princess Thyra of Denmark (1880 – 1945)

Thyra never married and lived her entire adult life in an apartment on Amaliegade, a street in Copenhagen, Denmark, close to Amalienborg Palace, where the Danish royal family lived. She was considered very friendly and understanding, and her apartment was a popular meeting place for her siblings and her relatives.

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Prince Gustav of Denmark (1887 – 1944)

As a child, Gustav suffered from an illness that made him severely overweight. He had a brief career in the military. Gustav never married and he spent much of his life with his unmarried sister, Princess Thyra. Together, they often visited their brother King Haakon VII of Norway.

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Princess Dagmar Of Denmark, Mrs. Castenskiold (1890 – 1961)

In 1922, Dagmar married Jørgen Castenskjold, the son of Anton Castenskiold, the Royal Danish Court Chamberlain. Dagmar and Jørgen had five children.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Queen of the United Kingdom and Edward VII, King of the United Kingdom

Prince Albert Victor of the United Kingdom, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (1864 – 1892)

Prince Albert Victor, known as Eddy, was the eldest child of the then Prince and Princess of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Queen Alexandra, born Princess Alexandra of Denmark. Eddy, who was inattentive and lazy, never excelled in his studies. Perhaps this was due to his premature birth which can be associated with learning disabilities. On December 3, 1891, Eddy and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck (Mary or May) became engaged. The wedding was set for February 27, 1892, but on  January 14, 1892, Eddy died from pneumonia. The following year, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck married Eddy’s brother George, and they eventually became the beloved King George V and Queen Mary.

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George V, King of the United Kingdom (1865 – 1936)

After the death of George’s elder brother Prince Eddy (above), George, now second in the line of succession to the British throne, and Eddy’s fiancee Mary spent much time together. As time passed and their common grief eased, there was hope that a marriage might take place between them. The couple married on July 6, 1893, and eventually became the beloved King George V and Queen Mary. George and Mary had six children. During World War I, on July 17, 1917, King George V issued a proclamation changing the name of the British Royal Family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to the English Windsor, due to the anti-German sentiment.

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Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife (1867 – 1931)

In 1889, Louise married a husband from the British nobility. Seventeen years older than his bride, Alexander William George Duff was the only son of James Duff, 5th Earl Fife and Lady Agnes Hay, daughter of the 18th Earl of Erroll and Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence who was an illegitimate daughter of King William IV. Louise and her husband had two daughters. As the eldest daughter of King Edward VII, Louise was created Princess Royal during her father’s reign, in 1905.

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Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom (1868 – 1935)

Victoria’s elder sisters Louise and Maud escaped into marriage, leaving her at home as her mother’s constant companion. She had several suitors but her mother actively discouraged her from marrying anyone. Instead, Victoria remained a companion to her mother, Queen Alexandra, whom she lived with until the Queen’s death in 1925. Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia, Toria’s first cousin, described her as little more than “a glorified maid.” When her mother died, Victoria was 57 and was able to live her own life at last. She purchased a country home, Coppins, in Iver, Buckinghamshire, England. Toria became active in the village life of Iver and was the honorary president of the Iver Horticultural Society.

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Princess Maud of Wales, Queen of Norway

In 1896, Maud married her first cousin Prince Carl of Denmark (later King Haakon VII of Norway), who was also a first cousin of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. The couple had one son, born Prince Alexander of Denmark, later King Olav V of Norway. In 1905, upon the dissolution of the Union between Sweden and Norway, the Norwegian government began searching for candidates to become King of Norway. Because of his descent from prior Norwegian monarchs, as well as his wife’s British connections, Carl was the overwhelming favorite.  He took the name Haakon VII and his two-year-old son was renamed Olav and became Crown Prince of Norway. Maud and her husband made certain that their son was raised as a Norwegian, although Maud never became fluent in Norwegian. Maud never gave up her love for her native country and visited often. However, she did fulfill her duties as Queen of Norway. Maud became active in women’s rights and in the welfare of unmarried women.

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Prince Alexander John of Wales (born and died 1871)

Prince Alexander John of Wales was born prematurely at Sandringham House in Norfolk, England on April 6, 1872, at 2:45 p.m., and died the next day. He was christened privately in the evening after his birth. The christening was attended by his parents, The Prince and Princess of Wales, a lady-in-waiting, and a doctor who had been at the birth.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of George I, King of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia

Note: George I, King of Greece was born Prince Vilhelm of Denmark, the brother of Princess Dagmar of Denmark (Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia), Nicholas II’s mother.

 

Constantine I, King of Greece (1868 – 1923)

In 1889, Constantine married Princess Sophie of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest child of Queen Victoria. Sophie and Constantine had six children and there is a 23-year age gap between their eldest and youngest child. In 1913, Constantine’s father King George I was assassinated and he acceded to the Greek throne as King Constantine I. Constantine reigned until 1917 when he was forced to abdicate. He reigned for a second time, from 1920 – to 1922 when he was again forced to abdicate.

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Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869 – 1957)

In 1907, George married Princess Marie Bonaparte, daughter of Prince Roland Bonaparte, a grandson of Lucien Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon I’s brother. Marie was quite wealthy in her own right, having been left a vast fortune by her mother, Marie-Félix Blanc, the daughter of François Blanc who was the principal developer of Monte Carlo and the Monte Carlo Casino. George and Marie had a son and a daughter.

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Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia (1870 – 1891)

Alexandra’s family usually spent their vacations in Russia or Denmark with their British, Danish, and Russian relatives and so Alexandra had early contact with the family of Alexander II, Emperor of all Russia, including her future husband Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich who was the youngest child of Alexander II and his wife Empress Maria Alexandrovna, born Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. In 1888, Alexandra and Grand Duke Paul married and Alexandra became Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia. The couple had two children: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, who were also first cousins (through their father) of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Alexandra gave birth prematurely to her son, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and then she lapsed into a coma. She did not recover consciousness and died six days later on September 24, 1891, at the age of 21.

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Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark (1872 – 1938)

In 1902, Nicholas married his second cousin Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. Elena was the only daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia (a son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia) and Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Elena was also a first cousin of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. Nicholas and Elena had three daughters including Princess Marina of Greece who married Prince George, Duke of Kent, son of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas and Elena are the maternal grandparents of Queen Elizabeth II’s first cousins Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, Princess Alexandra of Kent, and Prince Michael of Kent.

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Princess Maria of Greece and Denmark, Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia (1876–1940)

In 1900, Maria married Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia. Maria and her husband had two daughters. When World War I began, Maria was living in Harrogate, England with her two daughters and chose to remain there and not return to Russia.  Her husband, like many in the Russian Imperial Family, was murdered by the Bolsheviks with three other Grand Dukes of Russia in January 1919, leaving Maria a widow. In 1920, Maria was able to return to Greece when her eldest brother, King Constantine I, was brought back to power. She traveled aboard a Greek destroyer commanded by Admiral Pericles Ioannidis, and a romance developed. The couple married two years later, on December 16, 1922, in Wiesbaden, Germany. They had no children.

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Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark (born and died 1870)

Olga died at the age of seven months.

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Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1882 – 1944)

At the coronation of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom in August 1902, Andreas first met Princess Alice of Battenberg. She was the eldest daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The couple married in 1903, and over the next 18 years, they had five children including Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. By the early 1930s, Andreas had less and less contact with his family. His wife suffered a nervous breakdown and was institutionalized, his four daughters had all married into former German royal families, and his son was attending school first in Germany and then in the United Kingdom. Somewhat at a loss, having been basically forced into a life of retirement, Andreas moved to the French Riviera. There, he enjoyed a life of leisure, spending much of his time living aboard the yacht of his mistress Countess Andrée de La Bigne.

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Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark (1888 – 1940)

In 1920, Christopher married Nancy Stewart Worthington Leeds, an American widow of a Cleveland tin manufacturer. The bride, who was a divorcee as well as a widow, was fifteen years older than Christopher. During her marriage to Christopher, Nancy was known as Princess Anastasia after she joined the Greek Orthodox Church. Sadly, Anastasia was diagnosed with cancer not long after the wedding and died in London in 1923. Six years later, Christopher made a more acceptable dynastic marriage to French Princess Francoise of Orleans, and the couple had one son.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Princess Thyra of Denmark, Crown Princess of Hanover and Ernst August II, Crown Prince of Hanover and 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale

Princess Marie Louise of Hanover and Cumberland, Margravine of Baden (1879 – 1948)

In 1900, Marie Louise married Prince Maximilian of Baden, later titular Margrave of Baden and they had a son and a daughter. Their son Prince Berthold of Baden married Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Berthold was the brother-in-law of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

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Georg Wilhelm, Hereditary Prince of Hanover (1880 – 1912)

Georg Wilhelm was an enthusiastic fan of automobile racing and took part in races several times. He was killed in a car accident after skidding on a newly laid road surface and hitting a tree while driving to the funeral of his uncle King Frederik VIII of Denmark. His valet was also killed in the accident.

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Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1882 – 1963)

In 1904, Alexandra married Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and they had five children. Following her husband’s abdication on November 14, 1918, after World War I, the family was forced to leave the Grand Duchy. They traveled to Denmark at the invitation of Queen Alexandrine, Friedrich Franz’s sister, and stayed for a year at Sorgenfri Palace. The following year, they were permitted to return to Mecklenburg and recovered several of their properties.

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Princess Olga of Hanover and Cumberland (1884 – 1958)

Olga never married and lived with her family in Gmunden, Austria. She was a companion to her parents until their respective deaths in 1923 and 1933. Shortly before Olga’s death in 1958, her nephew Prince Ernest August IV of Hanover and his wife Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg named their daughter after her.

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Prince Christian of Hanover and Cumberland (1885 – 1901)

Prince Christian fell ill with appendicitis which was not recognized and treated. He died at the age of 16 from the peritonitis caused by the appendicitis being untreated.

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Ernst August III, Prince of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick (1887 – 1953)

Ernst August was the last reigning Duke of Brunswick and the pretender to the throne of Hanover. In 1913, he married Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia. Their wedding was one of the last large gatherings of European royalty before World War I began the following year. Ernst August and Viktoria Luise had five children. Following his father’s death in 1923, Ernst August became head of the House of Hanover. However, he was unable to inherit his father’s British title, Duke of Cumberland, as that title had been suspended by the British government under the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917.

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Maternal First Cousins: Children of Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orléans

Prince Aage, Count of Rosenborg (1887 – 1940)

In 1914, Aage married Matilda Calvi dei conti di Bergolo. Due to the unequal marriage, he renounced his place in the line of succession to the Danish throne, forfeited the title Prince of Denmark, and assumed the style of Prince Aage, Count of Rosenborg. Aage and Matilda had one son, and they divorced in 1939. In 1922, Aage received permission from King Christian X of Denmark to leave the Danish army in order to join the French Foreign Legion.

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Prince Axel of Denmark (1888 – 1964)

Axel was a popular patron of sports. He was a longtime and active member of the  International Olympic Committee. In 1919, Axel married Princess Margaretha of Sweden, his first cousin once removed, and the couple had two sons. Axel and his wife often officially represented King Christian X and King Frederik IX at events abroad.

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Prince Erik, Count of Rosenborg (1890 – 1950)

In 1924, Erik married Lois Frances Booth, a Canadian. Due to the unequal marriage, he renounced his place in the line of succession to the Danish throne, forfeited the title Prince of Denmark, and was styled Prince Erik, Count of Rosenborg. Erik and his wife had one son and one daughter and divorced in 1937.

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Prince Viggo, Count of Rosenborg (1893 – 1970)

In 1924, Viggo married American Eleonor Green. Due to the unequal marriage, he renounced his place in the line of succession to the Danish throne, forfeited the title Prince of Denmark, and was styled Prince Viggo, Count of Rosenborg. Viggo and Eleanor had no children.

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Princess Margrethe of Denmark, Princess of Bourbon-Parma (1895 – 1992)

Margrethe’s parents Prince Valdemar of Denmark and Princess Marie of Orléans had agreed that all their sons would be raised Lutheran, their father’s religion, and all their daughters Roman Catholic, their mother’s religion. Margrethe was the first Danish princess since the Reformation raised a Roman Catholic. In 1921, she married Prince René of Bourbon-Parma, and the couple had three sons and one daughter including Princess Anne of Bourbon-Parma who married King Michael I of Romania.

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Works Cited

  • Lundy, D. (2022). Main Page. [online] Thepeerage.com. Available at: http://www.thepeerage.com/. (for genealogy information)
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2022). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com. (for biographical and genealogy information)
  • Wikipedia. (2022 Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/.  (for biographical and genealogy information)

Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Maria Carolina Gibert de Lametz, Princess of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on July 18, 1793, in Coulommiers, France, Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, wife of Florestan, Prince of Monaco, was the only child of Marie Francoise Henriette le Gras de Vaubercy (1766 – 1845) and the second of her three husbands Charles-Thomas Gibert (1765 – ?) who was a lawyer. Marie Francoise’s first husband Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy had died in 1789. She then married Charles-Thomas Gibert and the couple divorced in 1797.

Maria Caroline had an elder half-brother from her mother’s first marriage to Augustin Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy:

  • Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy, Baron Musnier de Mauroy (1788 – 1851), married Amélie d’Aumont, had two sons

After divorcing Maria Caroline’s father, Marie Francoise married her third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz (1762 – 1836), Chevalier d’Empire and Knight of the Legion of Honor. The marriage did not produce any children but Antoine Rouyer de Lametz officially adopted his wife’s daughter Maria Caroline and she added “de Lametz” to her name.

In 1814, Marie Caroline’s half-brother Louis Pierre Musnier de Mauroy married Amélie d’Aumont at the Château de Lametz (link in French), the home of his mother’s third husband Antoine Rouyer de Lametz. Amélie d’Aumont was the illegitimate daughter of Louise d’Aumont, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye in her own right. Louise d’Aumont had also been Hereditary Princess of Monaco as the wife of the future Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco but the couple had divorced in 1798 before Honoré IV became Sovereign Prince of Monaco.

Florestan, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Florestan of Monaco, Louise d’Aumont’s younger son with Honoré IV, Prince of Monaco, attended his half-sister’s wedding celebrations and met Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz, the half-sister of the groom. Florestan spent the summer of 1815 at the Château de Lametz and the couple decided to marry. Because Florestan’s family did not approve of the marriage, the wedding, on November 27, 1816, was quiet and modest.

Florestan and Maria Caroline had two children:

Florestan and Maria Carolina lived in France. In 1641, during the reign of Honoré II, Monaco had become a French protectorate, and the Princes of Monaco became vassals of the Kings of France while remaining sovereign princes. Many successive Princes of Monaco and their families spent most of their lives in France and intermarried with French and Italian noble families. In January 1793, during the French Revolution, Honoré III, Prince of Monaco was officially declared deposed and the Principality of Monaco was annexed by France.

After Napoleon’s defeat in 1814 and the Bourbon Restoration which saw Louis XVIII, a younger brother of the beheaded King Louis XVI, become King of France, Florestan’s uncle Joseph petitioned King Louis XVIII to restore the Principality of Monaco to the Grimaldi family. Florestan’s father Honoré IV finally became Sovereign Prince of Monaco in 1814. The independence of Monaco lasted for only one year. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, an international diplomatic conference that reconstituted the European political order after the downfall of  Napoleon I, declared that Monaco would be a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia.

Florestan’s mother Louise, d’Aumont was Louise was the great-great-great-granddaughter of Hortense Mancini, Duchess of Mazarin, Duchess of Mayenne, Duchess of Meilleraye, the mistress of King Charles II of England, and one of the two heirs of her uncle Cardinal Jules Mazarin, the First Minister of King Louis XIV of France. Louise was the heir of Hortense Mancini’s titles and the Mazarin family wealth. When Florestan’s mother Louise died in 1826, she left her entire fortune to her younger son Florestan because her elder son Honoré V had an illegitimate child. Maria Caroline was a skillful businesswoman. She handled the finances of the family, and successfully managed the fortune Florestan inherited from his mother.

Florestan’s elder brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

Because Florestan’s brother Honoré V, Prince of Monaco had never married, Florestan was the heir to the throne of Monaco. After a reign of twenty-two years, Honoré V, Prince of Monaco died on October 2, 1841, in Paris, France, aged 63, and was succeeded by his brother Florestan.

Florestan had lived in France his entire life and had never been to Monaco. He was ill-prepared to assume the role of Sovereign Prince. During his reign, the real power lay in the hands of his wife Maria Caroline. She took over the finances of Monaco just as she had done with the family finances. Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

By 1842, Maria Carolina’s son Charles was disturbed by his mother’s takeover of Monaco. He realized that his father was content with the situation and would not intervene. Charles wrote a stern letter to his mother criticizing her actions and threatening to request the Kingdom of Sardinia (Monaco was still a protectorate of the Kingdom of Sardinia) to force his father Florestan to abdicate in his favor. Maria Caroline replied with a scathing letter. Charles did make a request to Sardinia that was squelched by his mother. Maria Carolina and her son Charles came to an understanding. For the rest of Florestan’s reign, Maria Caroline ruled Monaco with an iron fist because her indecisive and politically disinclined husband left all affairs of state to her.

Charles III, Prince of Monaco; Credit – Wikipedia

After a reign of nearly fifteen years, Florestan, Prince of Monaco died, aged 70, on June 20, 1856, in Paris, France. He was succeeded by his 38-year-old son Charles III, Prince of Monaco. At the time of Florestan’s death, Monaco was a weakened country with little prospect of financial security. However, Charles III had been well prepared by his mother Maria Caroline to reign as the Sovereign Prince of Monaco. He had the benefit of his mother’s advice for most of his reign as she was alive for twenty-three years of his thirty-three-year long reign.

During Charles III’s early reign, the towns of Menton and Roquebrune, which made up 95% of Monaco’s territory, were formally ceded to France, which resulted in France’s formal recognition of Monaco’s independence. However, rebellions in these towns had exhausted Monaco’s military resources for decades.

Casino de Monte-Carlo before 1878; Credit – Wikipedia

It should not be surprising that to solve Monaco’s financial issues, the idea of opening a gambling casino in Monaco and developing Monaco into a seaside resort was Maria Caroline’s idea. She recalled visiting Hesse-Homburg, a small sovereign landgraviate in central Germany that was prosperous because of a gambling casino. The Casino de Monte-Carlo, named after Charles III as Carlo is the Italian for Charles (Monte-Carlo = Mount Charles in English), opened in 1865, nine years after the death of Florestan, and saved Monaco from bankruptcy. Fearing that the citizens of Monaco would squander their money on gambling, Maria Carolina had the idea to ban all citizens of Monaco from gambling at the casino. That rule is still in effect.

At the time of the building of the casino, Monaco’s population was approximately 1,000. Within three years, thousands of people from England and other European countries had built homes in Monaco. Maria Caroline remained an advisor to her son for the rest of her life. Her assistance was especially needed after her son Charles III began to go blind and his wife Antoinette de Mérode died from cancer in 1864 at the age of 35.

Grave of Maria Caroline, Princess of Monaco; Credit – https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/7832623/caroline-gilbert_de-lametz#view-photo=2562571

Maria Caroline survived her husband Florestan, Prince of Monaco by twenty-three years, dying at the age of 86, on November 25, 1879, in Monaco. She was interred at the new larger church that was still under construction, the Cathedral of Monaco, that her son Charles III was building to replace the Church of Saint Nicholas.

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

  • Edwards, Anne, 2017. The Grimaldis of Monaco. Blue Ridge Summit: Lyons Press.
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  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Maria Caroline Gibert de Lametz – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Caroline_Gibert_de_Lametz> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2022. Florestan, Prince of Monaco. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/florestan-prince-of-monaco/> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Caroline Gibert — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Gibert> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Charles III (prince de Monaco) — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_III_(prince_de_Monaco)> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Fr.wikipedia.org. 2022. Florestan — Wikipédia. [online] Available at: <https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florestan> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Geneanet. 2022. Family tree of Louis Pierre MUSNIER de MAUROY. [online] Available at: <https://gw.geneanet.org/peter781?lang=en&p=louis+pierre&n=musnier+de+mauroy> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Thepeerage.com. 2022. Person Page – Marie Francoise Le Gras de Vaubercy. [online] Available at: <http://www.thepeerage.com/p74097.htm#i740962> [Accessed 27 April 2022].
  • Wikitree.com. 2022. Marie-Louise Charlotte Gabrielle (Gibert) de Monaco (1793-1879) | WikiTree FREE Family Tree. [online] Available at: <https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Gibert-4> [Accessed 27 April 2022].

Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2022

Grand Church of the Winter Palace by Edward Petrovich Hau, 1866; Credit

The most important church in the lives of the Romanovs was the Grand Church located in the Winter Palace. The Winter Palace, on the banks of the Neva River in Saint Petersburg, served as the official residence of the Russian Emperors and Empresses from 1732 to 1917. This writer has visited the Winter Palace and it is truly awe-inspiring. Today, part of the Winter Palace houses the State Hermitage Museum, one of the world’s premier art museums. The Winter Palace’s monumental scale was intended to reflect the might and power of Imperial Russia and it is still a mighty and powerful building. It is said to contain 1,786 doors, 1,945 windows, 1,500 rooms, and 117 staircases.

The Winter Palace from the Neva River. The golden cupola of the Grand Church can be seen on the left side; Credit – By Alex ‘Florstein’ Fedorov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=49250446

Aerial view of the Winter Palace; The golden cupola of the Grand Church can be seen on the left side; Credit – By Andrew Shiva / Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51992181

The Grand Church, a Russian Orthodox church that had cathedral status, was the site of most christenings, weddings, conversions of foreign princesses marrying into the family, and memorial services. Funerals were usually held at the Cathedral of St. Peter and St. Paul, the burial site of the Romanovs from Peter I (the Great) to Nicholas II, (with the exception of Peter II and Ivan VI) located in the Peter and Paul Fortress across the Neva River from the Winter Palace.

Before the founding of St. Petersburg by Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia in 1703, the seat of power and the important churches were in the Moscow Kremlin. Male rulers of the Rurik dynasty and the early Romanov dynasty along with close male relatives and some Russian noblemen were interred at the Archangel Cathedral. Women of the Rurik dynasty and women of the early Romanov dynasty along with some Russian noblewomen were interred at the Ascension Cathedral of the Ascension Convent. Assumption Cathedral was the site of the coronations of the sovereign Tsars, Emperors, and Empresses of Russia, and some consorts from 1547 to 1896. It remained the coronation cathedral after the founding of St. Petersburg.

View of the Small Church in the Winter Palace by Eduard Hau, 1862; Credit – Wikipedia

A second smaller church, the Sretenskaya Church or Small Church of the Winter Palace, was conveniently located near the residential wing of the Winter Palace and was used by the Imperial Family for private worship. Today the former church displays Russian Orthodox church vestments of the 17th – early 20th centuries from the State Hermitage Museum collection.

The display of Orthodox church vestments in the former Sretenskaya Church; Credit – Автор: Netelo – собственная работа, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106021534

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History of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace

View of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace by Alexey Vasilievich Tyranov, 1829 before the fire of 1837; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1753, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia ordered the construction of a new (and the present) Winter Palace with a large church. Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli, an Italian architect who worked mainly in Russia, was responsible for the design of the palace and the church. He designed the Grand Church in the Baroque style with an interior similar to a palace hall. Construction on the church began in 1753 and was completed in 1762. On July 12, 1763, Archbishop Gavriil Kremenetsky of St Petersburg consecrated the Grand Church. In 1807, Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia issued a decree giving the Grand Church the status of a Court Cathedral.

Fire in the Winter Palace by Pierre Marie Joseph Vernet, 1838; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 29, 1837, a fire broke out after smoke from an unswept chimney spread through a vent in a partition between the wooden and main walls in the Field Marshal’s Hall. The wall began to smolder and a fire broke out in the ceiling of the Small Throne Room. The fire lasted about 30 hours, and the Winter Palace smoldered for almost three days. Most of the second and third floors of the Winter Palace were severely damaged. The two-year restoration was led by Russian architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov. Some of the decorations of the Grand Church were able to be saved and Stasov was able to recreate the style of Francesco Bartolomeo Rastrelli’s original plans. The Grand Church was reconsecrated on March 25, 1839, in a ceremony conducted by Metropolitan Filaret Drozdov of Moscow in the presence of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia and his family,

After the Russian Revolution, in May 1918, the Grand Church was officially closed for worship. In 1938, the iconostasis, the pulpit, the lantern, and the altar canopy were removed and the former church became one of the State Hermitage Museum’s exhibition spaces.

Restoration work done from 2012 until 2014 was described by the State Hermitage Museum as a “recreation of the original design of the Court Cathedral” with “the icons, the candelabra, the standard lamps and pieces of the iconostasis, the pulpit, the lantern, and the altar canopy returned to their original place.”

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The Interior of the Grand Church of the Winter Palace

Orthodox churches are set up differently than other Christian churches. They are divided into three main parts: the narthex, the nave, and the sanctuary. The narthex is the connection between the church and the outside world. It used to be the practice that non-Orthodox people had to remain in the narthex but this practice has mostly fallen into disuse. The congregation stands in the nave during services. Traditionally there is no sitting during Orthodox services and so Orthodox churches usually do not have pews or chairs.

The iconostasis after the fire of 1837; Credit – By Januarius-zick – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42460200

In Orthodox Christianity, an iconostasis is a wall of icons, religious paintings, that divides the sanctuary from the nave. The sanctuary is where the Eucharist or Divine Liturgy is performed behind the iconostasis. The iconostasis usually has three doors, one in the middle and one on either side. The middle doors are traditionally called the Royal Doors and are only used by the clergy.

The gilded stucco walls; Credit – By Januarius-zick – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42460204

The Grand Church is divided by Corinthian columns into three sections and is brightly lit by large windows on opposite sides. Above the central area is a dome. The walls are richly embellished with gilded stucco in a Rococo design.

The pulpit; Credit – By Januarius-zick – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42460653

After the fire of 1837, architect Vasily Petrovich Stasov made every effort to restore the church as it was before the fire although there were few drawings to guide him. The gilded iconostasis, canopy, and pulpit were carved according to the original drawings. Some of the icons saved during the fire were returned to their places. The Royal Doors had survived the fire and were placed in the new iconstasis. After being repaired, the original silver chandelier was returned to its place in the dome.

The ceiling painting Ascension of Christ by Pyotr Vasilievich Basin; Credit – By Januarius-zick – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42460199

The new ceiling, painted by Russian painter Pyotr Vasilievich Basin depicts the Ascension of Christ and the lunettes, half-moon-shaped architectural spaces below the dome, depict the Four Evangelists, Saints Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, by Russian painter Fyodor Antonovich Bruni.

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Wedding of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia and Alix of Hesse and by Rhine by Laurits Tuxen, 1895; Credit – Wikipedia (Among those depicted in this painting against the wall and to the right of the window, from left to right: King Christian IX of Denmark, Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna,  Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, Queen Olga Konstantinovna of Greece, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Grand Duke George Alexandrovich and Prince Heinrich of Prussia)

The Grand Church of the Winter Palace was the family church of the Romanovs and was where most important religious rites of passage were held including christenings, weddings, and the conversions to Russian Orthodoxy of the foreign princesses marrying into the Romanov family.

The many weddings held at the Grand Church include:

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.

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Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2022. Grand Church of the Winter Palace – Wikipedia. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Church_of_the_Winter_Palace> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
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  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Сретенская церковь (Зимний дворец) — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A1%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F_%D1%86%D0%B5%D1%80%D0%BA%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%8C_(%D0%97%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%B8%D0%B9_%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%B5%D1%86)> [Accessed 26 April 2022].
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2022. Пожар в Зимнем дворце — Википедия. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%9F%D0%BE%D0%B6%D0%B0%D1%80_%D0%B2_%D0%97%D0%B8%D0%BC%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%BC_%D0%B4%D0%B2%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B5> [Accessed 26 April 2022].