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King Felipe V of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia
July 9, 1511 – Birth of Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway, wife of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, at Lauenburg Castle, Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, now in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany
Dorothea’s homeland, the Duchy of Saxe-Lauenburg, was one of the first states of the Holy Roman Empire to accept the Protestant Reformation and so Dorothea came to her marriage as a Lutheran. In 1525, in Lauenburg, fourteen-year-old Dorothea married the twenty-three-year-old future King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, son of Frederik I, King of Denmark and Norway. Dorothea’s dowry of 15,000 guilders was considered extremely small. The groom’s father Frederik I, who had only reluctantly given his permission to the marriage, did not attend the wedding. Frederik I was the last Roman Catholic Danish monarch. All subsequent Danish monarchs have been Lutheran. Christian already had Lutheran views and, as King, would turn Denmark Lutheran. Perhaps, Frederik I’s refusal to attend his son’s wedding was due to religion and the small dowry.
Unofficial Royalty: Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg, Queen of Denmark and Norway
July 9, 1746 – Death of King Felipe V of Spain, the first Bourbon King of Spain, born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou; son of Louis of France, Le Grand Dauphin, and grandson of King Louis XIV of France, at El Escorial in Madrid, Spain; buried at Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso near Segovia, Spain
In 1700, Carlos II, King of Spain died childless with no immediate Habsburg heir. Philippe’s father 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 Philippe’s father nor his elder brother, 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 16-year-old Philippe of Anjou, Duke of Anjou as his successor. Felipe and his first wife Maria Luisa of Savoy had four sons but only two survived childhood, they both became Kings of Spain and they both had childless marriages. With his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, Felipe had six children including his successor Carlos III. Felipe suffered from mental instability and as he grew older, his mental issues worsened and his wife Elisabeth became the de facto ruler of Spain. Only the singing of the Italian castrato opera singer Farinelli (born Carlo Maria Michelangelo Nicola Broschi) brought any peace to Felipe. Felipe died of a stroke at the age of 62.
Unofficial Royalty: King Felipe V of Spain
July 9, 1835 – Death of Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Countess of Mensdorff-Pouilly in Tuschimitz, Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic; buried in the park of Schloss Preitenstein, the family residence of the Mensdorff-Pouilly family, now in the Czech Republic
Sophie was the sister of Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians, and an aunt to both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Countess of Mensdorff-Pouilly
July 9, 1836 – Birth of Sophia of Nassau, Queen of Sweden, wife of King Oscar II of Sweden at Biebrich Palace in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now in Hesse, Germany
Full name: Sophia Wilhelmine Marianne Henriette
In 1857, Sofia married the future King Oscar II of Sweden and the couple had four sons. Queen Sofia was instrumental in establishing organized nursing schools in Sweden. A follower of Florence Nightingale, she learned much from a visit to the United Kingdom in 1881 and began her project upon returning to Sweden. In 1882, she arranged formal classes for nurses at the Sabbatsberg Hospital. Two years later, she opened the Sophiahemmet University College, and in 1889 it became the Sophiahemmet, a combined school for nurses and hospitals. When Queen Sofia died in 1913, she was the longest-serving Queen of Sweden, until surpassed in 2011 by Queen Silvia, wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf, and is the last to hold the title of Dowager Queen. Queen Sofia is the ancestor of the current sovereigns of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, and Sweden.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophia of Nassau, Queen of Sweden
July 9, 1857 – Birth of Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany
Full name: Friedrich Wilhelm Ludwig Leopold August
Friedrich became Grand Duke upon his father’s death in September 1907 and continued his father’s liberal policies. When the German Emperor abdicated in 1918, riots broke out throughout the German Empire, and Friedrich and his family were forced to flee Karlsruhe Palace, for Zwingenberg Castle in the Neckar valley. They then arranged to stay at Langenstein Castle, where Friedrich formally abdicated the throne of Baden on November 22, 1918.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden
July 9, 1863 – Death of Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar, advisor to Queen Victoria and Prince Albert from 1837-1847, in Coburg, the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-and Gotha, now in Bavaria, Germany; buried in the Stockmar family tomb at Glockenberg Cemetery in Coburg; later Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal and her husband had a tomb erected for Stockmar in the Neo-Renaissance style
Unofficial Royalty: Baron Christian Friedrich von Stockmar
July 9, 1916 – Death of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe, first husband of Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich II, German Emperor, King of Prussia and granddaughter of Queen Victoria, in Bonn, Kingdom of Prussia, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany; buried in the family mausoleum in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany
Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe was the first husband of Princess Viktoria of Prussia (Moretta), a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. In 1890, Prince Adolf met Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, during a visit to Princess Marie of Wied, the mother of Queen Elisabeth of Romania. On November 19, 1890, he married Viktoria, known as Moretta, in Berlin. After an extended honeymoon in Egypt and Greece, the couple took up residence in the Palais Schaumburg in Bonn. Moretta has a miscarriage early in the marriage and the couple remained childless.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe
July 9, 1929 – Birth of King Hassan II of Morocco at the Royal Palace in Rabat, Morocco
From the 1960s to the late 1980s, Morocco’s human rights record was extremely poor. In Morocco, those years are known as the Years of Lead. Thousands of dissidents were jailed, exiled, or disappeared. During this time, Morocco was one of the most repressive and undemocratic countries in the world. Due to pressure from other countries and human rights groups and the threat of international isolation, King Hassan began to gradually democratize Morocco. Political reforms in the 1990s resulted in the establishment of a two-house legislature in 1997 and Morocco’s first opposition-led government came to power in 1998. On July 23, 1999, King Hassan II of Morocco died, aged 70, from pneumonia in Rabat, Morocco. Over forty heads of state and other dignitaries attended his funeral.
Unofficial Royalty: King Hassan II of Morocco
July 9, 1985 – Death of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg at Fischbach Castle in Fischbach, Luxembourg; buried in the Ducal Crypt at the Notre-Dame Cathedral in Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg was the sovereign from January 14, 1919, until November 12, 1964, when she abdicated in favor of her son Jean. During World War II, Germany invaded Luxembourg and Charlotte and her family spent most of the war in the United States. Charlotte returned to her homeland, and the family took up residence at Fischbach Castle, which had suffered significantly less damage than the other royal properties – Berg Castle and the Grand Ducal Palace. Her focus now became rebuilding Luxembourg and bringing the tiny nation to a more prominent profile in Europe. Through the remainder of her reign, she entertained world leaders and paid visits to many others. Her efforts to gain Luxembourg a place on the world’s stage were successful.
Unofficial Royalty: Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg
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