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Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil, Queen of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia
December 2, 1767 – Birth of Leopold I, Prince of Lippe in Detmold, County of Lippe-Detmold, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Full name: Wilhelm Leopold
As a child, Leopold’s lack of strength of character, lack of interest, lack of concentration, and a tendency to mental disorders became apparent. In 1782, Leopold’s father died and the fourteen-year-old succeeded him. In 1790, Leopold’s mental disorders interfered with his role as reigning prince and he was deemed legally incapacitated and placed under guardianship. In 1795, the guardianship was conditionally lifted after Leopold’s condition improved. Leopold married Princess Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg in 1796 and the couple had two sons. Because of Leopold’s tenuous mental condition, Pauline became his governmental adviser and colleague. Within the next few years, Leopold developed intestinal tuberculosis, and his mental disorders returned with memory loss. He died at the age of 34 and his five-year-old son Leopold II, Prince of Lippe succeeded him with his mother Pauline very capably acting as Regent of the Principality of Lippe.
Unofficial Royalty: Leopold I, Prince of Lippe
December 2, 1826 – Death of Archduchess Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil, Queen of Portugal, wife of Pedro I of Brazil/Pedro IV of Portugal, at São Cristóvão Palace in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; first buried at the Church of the Ajuda Convent in Rio de Janeiro, reinterred in 1954 at the Monument to the Independence of Brazil in São Paulo, Brazil
Known as Leopoldina, she was the daughter of Emperor Franz I of Austria and the second of his four wives, Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily. In 1817, she married Pedro, Crown Prince of Portugal and Prince of Brazil, son of King João VI of Portugal. At that time, Brazil was ruled as a kingdom united with Portugal. The couple had seven children. In 1821, Pedro became the Regent of Brazil. In August 1822, Pedro appointed Leopoldina Regent of Brazil while he was away on a trip. While Pedro was away, Leopoldina received news that Portugal intended to recall Pedro and relegate Brazil to the status of a colony. Leopoldina met with the Council of State and signed the Decree of Independence, declaring Brazil independent from Portugal. Pedro I was declared Emperor of Brazil and Leopoldina became Empress of Brazil. In 1826, 29-year-old Leopoldina died from puerperal fever (childbed fever) after a miscarriage.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Leopoldina of Austria, Empress of Brazil, Queen of Portugal
December 2, 1849 – Death of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen of the United Kingdom, wife of King William IV of the United Kingdom, at Bentley Priory in Stanmore, Middlesex, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, in Windsor, England
After twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of George, Prince of Wales, died delivering a stillborn son, the unmarried, aging sons of King George III began a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession. One of the sons was William, Duke of Clarence (the future King William IV). William had never married but had lived for 20 years with actress Dorothea Jordan. Soon after Princess Charlotte of Wales died, negotiations began for the marriage of William to Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, and the engagement was announced on April 19, 1818. William was 52 and Adelaide was 25. Adelaide loved children but was destined not to have one of her own. Sadly, Adelaide had babies who died in early infancy, a miscarriage, and two stillbirths. A child of William and Adelaide would have succeeded to the throne as William’s two elder brothers (George IV and Frederick, Duke of York) had no surviving children. Adelaide wrote to her widowed sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent, “My children are dead, but your child lives, and she is mine too.” That child was the future Queen Victoria. In 1830, Adelaide’s husband William became king upon the death of his brother King George IV. He reigned for only seven years and was succeeded by his niece Victoria. Adelaide survived William by 12 years, dying at the age of 57.
Unofficial Royalty: Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen of the United Kingdom
December 2, 1865 – Birth of Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, the second, morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, in St. Petersburg, Russia
Olga first married Major General Erich Augustinovich von Pistohlkors, an officer of the Imperial Guard and an aide to Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich. As a friend of Pistohlkors, Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich often spent evenings with him and his wife Olga. Paul appreciated Olga’s elegance and lively spirit and an affair began. Pistohlkors turned a blind eye to the affair. Olga gave birth in 1897 to a son then known as Vladimir von Pistohlkors because his mother was still married to Pistohlkors. Eventually, Olga divorced her husband and Paul asked for permission to marry Olga from his nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia but Nicholas II denied permission. Paul made a morganatic marriage to Olga on October 10, 1902. Paul was banished from Russia, dismissed from his military commissions, and all his property was seized. Ten years later, Nicholas II relented and decided to pardon his only surviving paternal uncle. Grand Duke Paul’s titles and properties were returned and Nicholas II recognized Paul’s marriage to Olga. Olga and Paul had one son and two daughters. During the Russian Revolution, her son Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley was one of the five Romanovs executed on July 18, 1918, with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna. On January 28, 1919, her husband Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich along with three other Grand Dukes were executed by a firing squad in the courtyard of the Peter and Paul Fortress.
Unofficial Royalty: Olga Valerianovna Karnovich, Princess Paley
December 2, 1915 – Birth of Prince Mikasa of Japan, son of Emperor Taishō of Japan, at the Tokyo Imperial Palace in Tokyo, Japan
Prince Mikasa was the youngest of the four sons of Emperor Taishō and Empress Teimei, and the youngest brother of Emperor Hirohito (Shōwa). He studied archaeology, Middle Eastern studies, and Semitic languages at the University of Tokyo. From 1954 until he died in 2016, he directed the Japanese Society for Middle East Studies. He also held visiting and guest faculty appointments in Middle Eastern studies and archaeology at universities in Japan and abroad. In 1941, Prince Mikasa married Yuriko Takagi, daughter of Japanese noble Viscount Masanari, who was known as Princess Mikasa after her marriage. The couple had three sons and two daughters. All three sons predeceased their parents. Prince Mikasa died of heart failure on October 27, 2016, at the age of 100, a little more than a month before his 101st birthday. At the time of his death, he was the world’s oldest royal, the longest-lived member of the Japanese Imperial Family, and the last of the five Japanese princes in the line of succession. Today, there are only three princes in the line of succession. See The Japanese Succession Crisis. Prince Mikasa lived during the reigns of three emperors: his father Emperor Taishō, his brother Emperor Hirohito, and his nephew Emperor Akihito.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Mikasa of Japan
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