May 22: Today in Royal History

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Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg; Credit – Wikipedia

May 22, 1409 – Death of Blanche of England, Countess Palatine, daughter of King Henry IV of England, in Haguenau (now in France), buried at the Church of St. Aegidius in Neustadt, Electorate of the Palatinate, now in Germany
After King Henry IV deposed his first cousin, King Richard II, it was important for him to legitimize his rule. Ruprecht III, Elector Palatine and King of the Romans, was a needed ally. A marriage was arranged between Ruprecht’s eldest surviving son and heir, Ludwig, Count Palatine, the future Ludwig III, Elector Palatine, and Henry IV’s eldest daughter, Blanche. Blanche and Ludwig had one child, Ruprecht, Count Palatine, nicknamed Ruprecht the Englishman. On May 22, 1409, Blanche, aged seventeen, died while pregnant with her second child, possibly from the plague.
Unofficial Royalty: Blanche of England, Countess Palatine

May 22, 1770 – Birth of Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom, at Buckingham Palace
Elizabeth was considered the most attractive of King George III’s daughters. She was known for her humor, intelligence, and artistic ability. Elizabeth started by copying drawings (some of which are in the Royal Collection) and later published lithographs and etchings, mostly of mythological scenes. Some of the interior decorations of the Queen’s House (now Buckingham Palace) were designed and made by Elizabeth. At Frogmore House, she helped design the garden buildings and painted the flower murals at the Queen’s Cottage at Kew. Elizabeth was one of George III’s daughters who managed to get married. In 1818, at the age of 48, she married the future Friedrich VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Homburg.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom, Landgravine of Hesse-Homburg

May 22, 1782 – Death of Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, first wife of Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, in Hanover, Electorate of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony, Germany; buried in the New Crypt at the Johanniterkirche in Mirow, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Three days after giving birth to the last child of her ten children, Friederike died from complications of childbirth. Her tenth child, Auguste Albertine, died in infancy. Two years later, her husband married her younger sister Charlotte, who also died in childbirth.
Unofficial Royalty: Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt, Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

May 22, 1832 – Death of Maria Karoline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony, first wife of the future King Friedrich August II of Saxony, at Schloss Pillnitz in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany; buried in the Wettin Crypt at the Dresden Cathedral
Marie Karoline suffered from epilepsy, often plagued with seizures that more or less left her incapacitated for long periods. She became Crown Princess of Saxony in 1830 when her father-in-law relinquished his rights to the throne in favor of his son Friedrich August, who was also proclaimed Prince Co-Regent with his uncle, King Anton. Marie Karoline died at the age of 31 due to complications of epilepsy.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Karoline of Austria, Crown Princess of Saxony

May 22, 1859 – Death of Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies in Caserta, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, now in Italy, and was buried at the Basilica of Santa Chiara in Naples
In 1759, upon the death of his childless half-brother King Ferdinand VI of Spain, Ferdinando’s father, King Carlos IV of Naples and Sicily, succeeded him as King Carlos III of Spain. Because of treaties, Carlos could not be the sovereign of all three kingdoms. His eldest son Felipe was excluded from the succession because of intellectual disability, and his second son Carlos was the heir apparent to the Spanish throne. That left the third son Ferdinando to become King of Naples and King of Sicily. In 1768, Ferdinando married Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria. As part of the marriage contract, Maria Carolina was to have a place on the council of state after the birth of her first son. From 1777 on, Maria Carolina was the de facto ruler of the Kingdoms of Naples and Sicily. Ferdinando was deposed twice: once by the revolutionary Parthenopean Republic for six months in 1799 and again by Napoleon in 1805, before being restored in 1816. In 1820, after riots in Sicily, Ferdinando was forced to sign a constitution and appoint his son Francesco as regent of Sicily. This only lasted until 1821, when Austrian troops friendly to Ferdinando occupied Naples. Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies died on May 22, 1859, aged 49, from a strangulated hernia after hesitating for months to have surgery.
Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando II, King of the Two Sicilies

May 22, 1871 – Death of Leopold IV Friedrich, Duke of Anhalt in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany; buried in the Marienkirche in Dessau, after the church was destroyed by bombing during World War II, the Duke’s remains were moved to the Berenhorst crypt in the Historical Cemetery in Dessau
In 1817, Leopold Friedrich became the reigning Duke of Anhalt-Dessau upon his grandfather’s death. In 1847, he inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen upon the death of a distant cousin. After nearly six years as the reigning Duke of two separate duchies, they were united in 1853 as the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau-Köthen. Ten years later, he also inherited the Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg from another distant cousin. With all of the Anhalt duchies back under one ruler, they were united as the Duchy of Anhalt in 1863.
Unofficial Royalty: Leopold IV Friedrich, Duke of Anhalt

May 22, 1897 – Death of Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1852–1853, Acting Mistress of the Robes 1892–1895, and Lady of the Bedchamber 1854–1897, in Dunkeld, Scotland; buried alongside her husband in the family’s cemetery beside the ruins of St. Bride’s Church in Old Blair, a village adjacent to Blair Castle
Born Anne Home-Drummond, the daughter of Henry Home-Drummond, a Scottish politician, she married George Murray, 6th Duke of Atholl.
Unofficial Royalty: Anne Murray, Duchess of Atholl

May 22, 2004 – Wedding of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano at the Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid, Spain
Letizia was the anchor for the daily evening news program Telediario 2, the most-watched newscast in Spain. In November 2002, while covering the Prestige oil tanker disaster, Spain’s largest environmental disaster, Letizia’s life would change forever. Felipe, Prince of Asturias, the heir to the Spanish throne, flew to the area offering his support to the communities affected by the oil spill. Although the couple had met the year before at a mutual friend’s dinner party, it was during this terrible disaster that they fell in love. Their relationship was kept a closely guarded secret until the engagement was announced on November 1, 2003.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano

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Royal News Recap for Tuesday, May 20, 2025

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Royal News Recaps are published Mondays-Fridays and on Sundays, except for Thanksgiving in the United States, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve. The Royal News Recap for Sundays will be a weekend recap. If there is any breaking or major news, we will add an update as necessary.

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Unofficial Royalty

Japan

Jordan

Multiple Monarchies

Netherlands

Spain

Norway

Sweden

United Kingdom

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May 21: Today in Royal History

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King Henry VI of England; Credit – Wikipedia

May 21, 1471 – Death (murder? starvation?) of King Henry VI of England in the Tower of London in London, England; buried at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
After the final decisive Yorkist victory at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, where King Henry VI’s son Edward, Prince of Wales was killed, Henry IV was taken to the Tower of London. He died on May 21, 1471, probably murdered on orders from King Edward IV.
Unofficial Royalty: Assassination of Henry VI, King of England
Unofficial Royalty: King Henry VI of England

May 21, 1481 – Death of King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden at Copenhagen Castle in Copenhagen, Denmark; buried at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark
Christian I, the first Danish monarch of the House of Oldenburg, that would reign in Denmark for over 400 years, was buried in the Chapel of the Magi, which he had built as a family burial chapel for the House of Oldenburg, at Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial site for the Danish royal family in Roskilde, Denmark. While the tombs of King Christian III, King Frederik II, and their queen consorts are in the Chapel of the Magi, the graves of King Christian I and his wife Queen Dorothea are marked with simple stones because the chapel itself was to be considered their memorial monument.
Unofficial Royalty: King Christian I of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden

May 21, 1527 – Birth of King Felipe II of Spain at Palacio de Pimentel in Valladolid, Spain
Besides being King of Spain, Philp (Felipe in Spanish) was also King of Portugal, King of Naples and Sicily, Duke of Milan, Lord of the Seventeen Provinces of the Netherlands, and jure uxoris (by right of his wife) King of England and Ireland during his marriage to Queen Mary I of England (the second of his four wives) from 1554 until Mary died in 1558.  Philip married four times, was a widower four times, and had children with three of his wives. He built the Royal Site of San Lorenzo de El Escorial (known as El Escorial) near Madrid, which served as a monastery, basilica, royal palace, burial pantheon, library, museum, university, school, and hospital. Today, it is still the traditional burial site of the Spanish royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: King Felipe II of Spain

May 21, 1801 – Birth of Sofia of Sweden, Grand Duchess of Baden, daughter of King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden and wife of Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden, in Stockholm, Sweden
Full name: Sofia Vilhelmina Katarina Maria Lovisa Charlotta Anna
Sofia married Leopold of Baden, her grandfather’s half-brother. The marriage was arranged by her great-grandfather Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden to help strengthen Leopold’s right to the throne of Baden. Leopold had been born from Karl Friedrich’s second, morganatic marriage and had only recently been elevated to Prince and Margrave of Baden, and formally acknowledged as having succession rights. Sofia and Leopold had eight children, including two Grand Dukes of Baden.
Unofficial Royalty: Sofia of Sweden, Grand Duchess of Baden

May 21, 1806 – Birth of Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, Queen Victoria’s Mistress of the Robes 1837–1841, 1846–1852, 1853–1858, and 1859–1861
Born The Honourable Harriet Howard, daughter of George Howard, 6th Earl of Carlisle, Harriet did not have an affair with Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, as depicted in the television series Victoria. The real Harriet was twelve years older than Ernst, and her husband, George Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, 2nd Duke of Sutherland, did not die until 1861. Harriet and her husband had a successful, loving marriage and had eleven children.
Unofficial Royalty: Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland

May 21, 1806 – Death of Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias, first of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez; buried at the Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real in El Escorial, Spain
Maria Antonia married her first cousin, Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne. Her two pregnancies in 1804 and 1805 ended in miscarriages. After four years of marriage, Maria Antonia, aged 21, died from tuberculosis.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias

May 21, 1829 – Death of Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now in Hesse, Germany; buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in St. Gertrude’s Cemetery in Oldenburg, Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, now in Lower Saxony, Germany
The Duchy of Oldenburg was elevated to a Grand Duchy at the Congress of Vienna. Peter established a new government for the Grand Duchy, introduced general conscription, and established the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment. Just short of six years after assuming the throne, Peter suffered a stroke and died
Unofficial Royalty: Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg

May 21, 1864 – Birth of Stéphanie of Belgium, Crown Princess of Austria, wife of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, at the Royal Palace of Laeken in Brussels, Belgium
Full name: Stéphanie Clotilde Louise Herminie Marie Charlotte
The wife of the heir to the Austrian throne who died in a suicide pact with his mistress, Stéphanie of Belgium, was the daughter of Leopold II, King of the Belgians, and Archduchess Marie-Henriette of Austria. Stéphanie’s marriage with Crown Prince Rudolf was happy at first, but shortly after the birth of their only child, a daughter, the relationship began to deteriorate. Rudolf likely infected Stéphanie with a sexually transmitted disease, causing her to be infertile and unable to provide a male heir for the Austrian throne. Both Stéphanie and Rudolf began affairs with other people in the following years and intermittently spoke of divorce. The marriage ended when Rudolf shot his 17-year-old mistress, Baroness Mary Vetsera, and himself in an apparent suicide plot.
Unofficial Royalty: Stéphanie of Belgium, Crown Princess of Austria

May 21, 1873 – Birth of Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, wife of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, in Ratibořice, then in the Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic
Bathildis was the wife of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. The couple married in 1895 and had four children. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, Friedrich abdicated and negotiated an agreement with the new government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home, Arolsen Castle, and the Arolsen Forest.  Bathildis and her husband Friedrich lived through World War II. While neither joined the Nazi Party, their eldest son Josias, his wife Altburg, and their eldest child Margarethe were members of the Nazi Party. Josias was a convicted Nazi war criminal and was sentenced to life imprisonment for crimes in connection to the Buchenwald concentration camp. His sentence was eventually reduced, and he was released early due to health reasons. Bathildis’ husband Friedrich died in 1946. She survived her husband by sixteen years, dying on April 6, 1962, aged 88.
Unofficial Royalty: Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont

May 21, 1889 – Birth of Prince Leopold of Battenberg, after 1917 Lord Leopold Mountbatten, grandson of Queen Victoria, at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Full name: Leopold Arthur Louis
Leopold was the son of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom and Prince Henry of Battenberg.  His mother was a hemophilia carrier, and he inherited the disease from her.  Leopold never married and died following emergency surgery.
Unofficial Royalty: Lord Leopold Mountbatten
Unofficial Royalty: Hemophilia in Queen Victoria’s Family

May 21, 2013 – Death of Count Christian of Rosenborg, grandson of King Christian X of Denmark and first cousin of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark, at Gentofte Hospital in Gentofte, Denmark; buried at Lyngby Church in Lyngby, Denmark
Christian was born Prince Christian of Denmark, the younger son of Hereditary Prince Knud. In 1971, he lost his royal title and style upon marriage to a commoner without the monarch’s permission.
Unofficial Royalty: Count Christian of Rosenborg

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Royal News Recap for Monday, May 19, 2025

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Royal News Recaps are published Mondays-Fridays and on Sundays, except for Thanksgiving in the United States, Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. The Royal News Recap for Sundays will be a weekend recap. If there is any breaking or major news, we will add an update as necessary.

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Unofficial Royalty

Denmark

Netherlands

United Kingdom

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Disclaimer:Please be advised that any media article titles or content that appear in the Royal News which identify members of royal families with their maiden names, nicknames, incorrect style or title, etc., come directly from the media source and not from Unofficial Royalty. We encourage you to contact the media sources to express your concern about their use of the incorrect name, style, title, etc. Contact information can usually be found at the bottom of each media source’s main page.

May 20: Today in Royal History

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Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece; Credit – Wikipedia

May 20, 1802 – Birth of Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont, wife of Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, at Schaumburg Castle in the Principality of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, now in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany
Through her mother, Emma was a descendant of King George II of Great Britain and Willem IV, Prince of Orange.  In 1845, Emma’s husband died, and she served as Regent of the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont until her son Georg Viktor reached his majority in 1852. Emma was the grandmother of Princess Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont, who became Queen of the Netherlands when she married King Willem III of the Netherlands, and therefore she is an ancestor of the Dutch royal family.
Unofficial Royalty: Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont

May 20, 1875 – Death of Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece, wife of King Otto of Greece, at the Neue Residenz in Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Germany; buried at the Theatine Church in Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Amalia’s husband, born a Prince of Bavaria, had been appointed king of the newly created Kingdom of Greece in 1833. In 1862, after a coup deposed Otto, Amalia and Otto left for the Kingdom of Bavaria, where they lived out the rest of their lives.
Unofficial Royalty: Amalia of Oldenburg, Queen of Greece

May 20, 1967 – Birth of Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, son of the late former King Constantine II of Greece and Head of the House of Glücksburg-Greece, at Tatoi Palace, north of Athens, Greece
Pavlos is the eldest son of former King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. A coup forced the royal family to flee the country seven months after Pavlos’ birth. They settled in Rome for several years before moving to England in 1974. In 1995, Pavlos married Marie-Chantal Miller, the daughter of billionaire entrepreneur Robert Warren Miller. The couple had five children. Pavlos’ father, the former King Constantine II of the Hellenes, died on January 10, 2023, aged 82, and Pavlos succeeded him as Head of the House of Glücksburg-Greece.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece

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Grand Ducal Burial Chapel in Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2025

Grand Ducal Burial Chapel in Karlsruhe; Credit – Wikipedia – Von Ikar.us,

History

Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, previously Margrave of Baden-Durlach and Margrave of Baden; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1738, ten-year-old Karl Friedrich succeeded as Margrave of Baden-Durlach upon his grandfather’s death. Baden-Durlach was one of the branches of the Margraviate of Baden, which had been divided several times over the previous 500 years. When August Georg, the last Margrave of Baden-Baden, died in 1771 without heirs, Karl Friedrich inherited the territory. This brought all the Baden territories together, and Karl Friedrich became Margrave of Baden. When the Holy Roman Empire ended in 1806, Karl Friedrich declared himself sovereign, as Grand Duke, of the newly created Grand Duchy of Baden.

From 1538, Saint Michael’s Church in Pforzheim was the burial site of the Ernestine line of the House of Baden. Until 1860, almost all members of that branch of the House of Baden were buried at St. Michael’s Church. The Evangelische Stadtkirche Karlsruhe (Evangelical City Church Karlsruhe in English) was built between 1807 and 1816, during the reign of Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, on the Market Square in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, intended the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe to be the burial site for members of the Grand Ducal family. However, he died in 1811, before the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe was complete, and was interred at Saint Michael’s Church in Pforzheim. Ludwig I, Grand Duke of Baden, was the first family member interred at the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe. After 1888, most family members were interred at the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel in Karlsruhe. The Stadtkirche Karlsruhe was severely damaged during World War II. In 1946, all those buried there were moved to the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel in Karlsruhe, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

Why was the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel built?

Prince Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 23, 1888, twenty-two-year-old Prince Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden, the younger son of Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden and his wife, born Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Wilhelm I, German Emperor, died. Newspapers printed the official announcement: “A few days ago, the prince, who was previously in the best of health, suffered a lung infection, which unfortunately brought an end to this young, precious life.”

However, German writer, journalist, and publisher Wolf Graf von Baudissin (link in German) reported his memories of the prince’s death in 1909. He was a member of the infantry regiment in Freiburg, where Prince Ludwig Wilhelm was studying at the university. Baudissin wrote:

“When we paraded around the square, the young Prince Ludwig von Baden very often appeared as an observer […]. He was a tall, slender, noticeably handsome and rarely amiable person […]. One day, he died of a lung infection. Quite suddenly, entirely unexpectedly.

Two days prior, I had seen him on the street […] His death has made us all wholeheartedly sad, we were truly shocked. […] We ensigns regularly ate in the mess with the officers at midday. Of course, the death of Prince Ludwig was the sole topic of conversation in the days following, and though everyone was careful around us, […] suddenly we knew it nonetheless: The prince had not died a natural death, but had fallen in a duel.

I am bound on my honor not to name his opponent. But even despite that, today everyone knows who met the cheerful and fun-loving prince, weapon in hand, demanding a reckoning for his sister’s stolen honor.”

The Grand Ducal Burial Chapel surrounded by the forest; Credit – Von Johannes Werner – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=126730664

Prince Ludwig Wilhelm’s grieving parents wanted his grave located away from the noise of the city, “in the deep seclusion of the forest world” where they could visit without attracting public attention.

The Grand Ducal Burial Chapel, dedicated on June 29, 1896, was built within the Karlsruhe Palace complex, in the middle of the Hardtwald, a forest in Karlsruhe. On the map above, “Schloss” is the location of the Karlsruhe Palace. In the northeast, “Großherzogliche Grabkapelle” is the location of the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel.

Exterior of the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel

A view of the exterior of the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel; Credit – By Joschkade – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=30356235

Shortly after Prince Ludwig Wilhelm died, a competition for the design of a burial chapel was announced. Freiburg building inspector and architect Franz Baer (link in German) won the competition. However, he eventually had to resign due to illness. He was succeeded by architect Friedrich Hemberger (link in German) and his son Hermann Hemberger, who increasingly assumed more responsibility in the construction management.

The Grand Ducal Burial Chapel, built from 1889 to 1896, was modeled after the Mausoleum at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin, which was built for Queen Luise of Prussia, born Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the paternal grandmother of Prince Ludwig’s mother, born Princess Luise of Prussia.

The exterior is decorated with forest-themed motifs by Karlsruhe sculptor Wilhelm Sauer (link in German) to symbolically represent its forest location and integrate it into the forest. The height of the church tower was intended to make the chapel visible from Karlsruhe Palace. Two fountains are located on the sides of the burial chapel.

Interior of the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel

The upper church is light-filled with stacked rows of columns. The upper part of the columns is carved from shimmering black labradorite. The columns support sandstone consoles and a wooden barrel vault with ornate transverse arches. Four angel heads made of light-yellow limestone adorn the crossing. Decorative forms such as foliage friezes and capitals can be found throughout the interior. Stone lizards hide in the leaves of the apse frieze. Among the artists involved in the interior design were artists from Karlsruhe: sculptor Hermann Volz (link in German), who designed the grave monuments, his student Wilhelm Sauer (link in German), who designed the busts for the crossing pillars, and Hermann Binz (link in German), who designed the griffin heads in the crypt.

Cenotaphs of Grand Duke Friedrich I & his wife Grand Duchess Luise; Credit – Thomas Steg, Karlsruhe, Selbst fotografiert, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17869659

The upper church contains large cenotaphs, empty tombs, designed by sculptor Hermann Volz, of Grand Duke Friedrich I, his wife Grand Duchess Luise, and their son Prince Ludwig Wilhelm. Their actual tombs are in the crypt on the lower level, along with the tombs of other members of the Grand Ducal Family.

Cenotaph of Prince Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden; Credit – Thomas Steg, Karlsruhe, Selbst fotografiert – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17869783

Burials in the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel

From the upper church, wide steps lead down into the crypt. Behind a two-part, wrought-iron gate is the crypt, a bright and welcoming room containing the coffins of Baden family members.

Below are the family members who died before 1888 and were originally buried in the crypt of the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe (Evangelical City Church in Karlsruhe). After the Stadtkirche Karlsruhe was severely damaged during World War II, all those buried there were moved to the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel in Karlsruhe in 1946, and they have remained interred there.

Below are the other family members who died after 1888 and are buried in the Grand Ducal Burial Chapel.

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

  • Autoren der Wikimedia-Projekte. (2005). Kirchengebäude in Karlsruhe. Wikipedia.org; Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gro%C3%9Fherzogliche_Grabkapelle_Karlsruhe
  • Baden Royal Burial Sites. (2017). Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/grand-duchy-of-baden/baden-royal-burial-sites/
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2025). Evangelical City Church Karlsruhe. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/evangelical-city-church
  • Großherzogliche Grabkapelle – Stadtwiki Karlsruhe. (2020). Stadtwiki.net. https://ka.stadtwiki.net/Gro%C3%9Fherzogliche_Grabkapelle
  • Großherzogliche Grabkapelle Karlsruhe: Staatliche Schlösser und Gärten Baden-Württemberg. (2024). Grabkapelle-Karlsruhe.de. https://www.grabkapelle-karlsruhe.de/

Royal News Recap for Saturday, May 17 and Sunday, May 18, 2025

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Royal News Recaps are published Monday to Friday and Sunday, except for Thanksgiving in the United States, Christmas Eve, and New Year’s Eve. The Royal News Recap for Sundays will be a weekend recap. If there is any breaking or major news, we will add an update as necessary.

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Unofficial Royalty

Belgium

Japan

Jordan

Monaco

Multiple Monarchies

Norway

United Kingdom

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May 19: Today in Royal History

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Anne Boleyn, Queen of England; Credit – Wikipedia

May 19, 1536 – Execution of Anne Boleyn, second wife of King Henry VIII of England, at the Tower of London in London, England; buried at St. Peter ad Vincula at the Tower of London
King Henry VIII wanted a male heir. After giving birth to a daughter and then miscarrying a male, Anne’s fate was sealed. Henry was determined to be rid of her, and her fall and execution were engineered by Thomas Cromwell, Henry’s chief minister. Many historians believe that the case charging Anne with adultery with her brother George Boleyn and four other men (Francis Weston, Henry Norris, William Brereton, and Mark Smeaton) was completely fabricated. Anne was found guilty of adultery, incest, and high treason.
Unofficial Royalty: Anne Boleyn, Queen of England

May 19, 1568 – Birth of Leonora Dori Galigaï, favorite of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, in Florence, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy
Leonora Dori Galigai and later, her husband Concino Concini, were favorites of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, the second wife of Henri IV, King of France. Neither Leonora nor Concino had a happy ending. In 1588, Ferdinando I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany appointed twenty-year-old Leonora as the maid to his thirteen-year-old niece Marie de’ Medici. In late 1600, when Marie traveled to France to become the second wife of Henri IV, King of France, Leonora was included in her retinue as lady-in-waiting and wardrobe attendant. In 1610, King Henri IV was assassinated, and his wife Queen Marie was appointed Regent for their eldest son, the eight-year-old King Louis XIII of France. Leonora exploited her friendship with Queen Marie, encouraging the rapid rise of her husband’s career. In April 1617, Concino organized an unsuccessful coup d’état, resulting in the execution of Leonora and Concino.
Unofficial Royalty: Leonora Dori Galigaï, favorite of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France

May 19, 1744 – Birth of Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of the United Kingdom, wife of King George III of the United Kingdom, in Mirow, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany
Full name: Charlotte Sophia
George and Charlotte’s marriage was very happy, and George remained faithful to Charlotte. Between 1762 and 1783, Charlotte gave birth to 15 children, and all survived childbirth. Only two of the children, who died from smallpox, did not survive childhood. The only disruption in the family’s domestic lives was George’s attacks of illness. We now know that he probably suffered from porphyria, and his attacks severely worried Charlotte. Charlotte is the second longest-serving consort in British history. Only her descendant, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II, served longer as a consort.
Unofficial Royalty: Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of the United Kingdom

May 19, 1797 – Birth of Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain, second of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, at the Palace of Queluz in Portugal
Full name: Maria Isabel Francisca
Maria Isabel married her maternal uncle Ferdinand VII of Spain, who was 13 years older than her. Ferdinand’s first wife had died childless ten years earlier. The marriage was made to strengthen relations between Spain and Portugal, and of course, to provide heirs to the throne. Maria Isabel gave birth to a daughter who only lived for five months.  There were terrible complications when 21-year-old Maria Isabel went into labor with her second child, a daughter who was in breech position and died in utero. Maria Isabel had lost consciousness and appeared to have stopped breathing, so the doctors believed she had died. When they began to cut her open to remove the dead child, she let out a cry of pain, fainted, and bled to death.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain

May 19, 1896 – Death of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria; buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria
Karl Ludwig was the father of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian throne, whose assassination in 1914 sparked World War I.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria

May 19, 2018 – Wedding of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle in Windsor, England
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s personal relationship started in June 2016 when they were introduced by a mutual friend. Their engagement was announced on November 27, 2017. Meghan was the second American and the first person of mixed-race heritage to marry into the British royal family. The couple has one son and one daughter.
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle

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May 18: Today in Royal History

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Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

May 18, 1797 – Birth of King Friedrich August II of Saxony in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, now in Saxony, Germany
Full name: Friedrich August Albrecht Maria Clemens Joseph Vincenz Aloys Nepomuk Johann Baptista Nikolaus Raphael Peter Xavier Franz de Paula Venantius Felix
Friedrich August’s reign was relatively uneventful. He typically deferred to his ministers to make any decisions. Friedrich August preferred to spend his time developing his collection of fossils and other items, establishing a vast natural history collection. In this quest, he traveled extensively, including a visit to the United Kingdom in 1844, where he was a guest of Queen Victoria.
Unofficial Royalty: King Friedrich August II of Saxony

May 18, 1829 – Death of Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain, third wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez in Spain; buried at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo El Real in Spain
Full name: Maria Josepha Amalia Beatrix Xaveria Vincentia Aloysia Franziska de Paula Franziska de Chantal Anna Apollonia Johanna Nepomucena Walburga Theresia Ambrosia
Ferdinand VII was under pressure to produce an heir because he had no surviving children from his first two marriages. He married the nearly 16-year-old Maria Josepha Amalia on October 20, 1819. There were rumors that Maria Josepha Amalia’s devout Roman Catholicism caused her to believe that sexual relations between spouses were wrong and that it took Pope Pius VII to convince her that such relations were permissible.  Nevertheless, the marriage remained childless, and Maria Josepha Amalia died of a fever at the age of 25.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain

May 18, 1856 – Death of Lord Adolphus FitzClarence, illegitimate son of King William IV of the United Kingdom, at Newburgh Priory in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England; buried at St. Michael’s Church in Coxwold, North Yorkshire, England
Adolphus was the fifth of the ten children and the third of the five sons of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom and his mistress Dorothea Jordan. He joined the Royal Navy when he was twelve, had a naval career, and attained the rank of Rear Admiral. Fifty-four-year-old Adolphus suffered a paralytic seizure on or a few days before May 17, 1856, and died unmarried on May 18, 1856.
Unofficial Royalty: Adolphus FitzClarence, Illegitimate Son of King William IV of the United Kingdom

May 18, 1868 – Birth of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia at the Alexander Palace at Tsarskoye Selo, Russia
Nicholas was raised with his brother George, in a relatively simple manner, considering their status. George and Nicholas slept in cots, woke up at 6:00 AM, took cold baths, and ate simple, plain meals. Their rooms were furnished with simple furniture. Both brothers were fluent in Russian, English, French, German, and Danish. The boys enjoyed shooting and fly fishing with their English tutor. Nicholas succeeded his father in 1894 and married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine shortly afterward. Nicholas and Alexandra, as she was known after her marriage, had four daughters and a son who was afflicted with hemophilia. Nicholas and his entire family were murdered during the Russian Revolution.
Unofficial Royalty: Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia

May 18, 1869 – Birth of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria
Full name: Rupprecht Maria Luitpold Ferdinand
Rupprecht was Crown Prince of Bavaria from 1913 until the end of the Bavarian monarchy in 1918. From his father’s death in 1921, he became the pretender to the former Bavarian throne and Head of the House of Wittelsbach. Through his direct descent from King Charles I of England, he also became heir to the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland in the Jacobite Succession.
Unofficial Royalty: Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

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Royal Birthdays & Anniversaries: May 18 – May 24

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Prince Constantijn 7 Princess Laurentian of the Netherlands; Credit – orderofsplendor.blogspot.com

24th wedding anniversary of Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands and Laurentien Brinkhorst; married at Grote of St Jacobskerk in The Hague, The Netherlands on May 19, 2001
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands

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The Duke and Duchess of Sussex; Photo Credit – https://www.royal.uk, photo by Alex Lubomirski

7th wedding anniversary of Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex and Meghan Markle; married at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on May 19, 2018
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle

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King Felipe VI and Queen Letizia of Spain; Credit – http://www.casareal.es

21st wedding anniversary of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano; married at the Cathedral Santa María la Real de la Almudena in Madrid, Spain on May 22, 2004
Unofficial Royalty: Wedding of King Felipe VI of Spain and Letizia Ortiz Rocasolano

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Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein; Credit – Daniel Ospelt/Vaterlandmagazin

30th birthday of Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein, eldest son of Prince Alois of Liechtenstein, Hereditary Prince of Liechtenstein; born in Portland Hospital in London, England on May 24, 1995
Full name: Joseph Wenzel Maximilian Maria
Joseph Wenzel is third in line as Jacobite pretender to the British crown after his grandfather and mother.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Joseph Wenzel of Liechtenstein
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne

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17th wedding anniversary of Prince Joachim of Denmark and Marie Cavallier; married at Møgeltønder Church near Schackenborg Manor in Denmark on May 24, 2008
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Joachim of Denmark
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Marie of Denmark

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