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King Olav V of Norway; Credit; Wikipedia

January 17, 1719 – Death of Sophie Amalie Moth, mistress of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway, at her estate Jomfruens Egede in Fakse on the island of Zealand in Denmark; first buried at the Church of Our Lady in Copenhagen, Denmark, in 1734, Sophia Amalie and her eldest son by King Christian V, Christian Gyldenløve, were reinterred at Saint Peter’s Church in Copenhagen, Denmark
Sophie Amalie was recognized as Christian V’s official mistress and was created Countess of Samsøe. Christian V and Sophie Amalie had six children who were all publicly acknowledged. Following the practice of his grandfather and father, Christian also gave his illegitimate children the surname Gyldenløve which means Golden Love. All the children also had Christian or Christiane among their names in honor of their royal father. The current Danish noble family of the Danneskiold-Samsøe descends from the eldest son of Sophie Amalie and King Christian V. Sophie Amalie and her children were financially secure because of the funds received from King Christian V and the crown treasury. King Christian V was an active participant in the children’s upbringing, education, and marriage negotiations. After the death of King Christian V in 1699, Sophie Amalie left the Danish court and retired to Jomfruens Egede, an estate she had purchased in 1674 in Fakse on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark. Twenty years later, Sophie Amalie died on January 17, 1719, aged 64.
Unofficial Royalty: Sophie Amalie Moth, Mistress of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway

January 17, 1755 – Birth of Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg in Riesenberg, Kingdom of Prussia now Prabuty, Poland
Full name: Peter Friedrich Ludwig
In 1781, Peter married Friederike of Württemberg, and they had two sons. In 1785, Peter’s uncle, Friedrich August I, Duke of Oldenburg, died and was succeeded by his son Wilhelm. However, Wilhelm was mentally incapacitated, and Peter was appointed Regent. Peter established a new government for the Grand Duchy, introduced general conscription, and established the Oldenburg Infantry Regiment. Upon his cousin’s death in 1823, Peter became the reigning Grand Duke of Oldenburg. Just short of six years after assuming the throne, Peter suffered a stroke and died
Unofficial Royalty: Peter I, Grand Duke of Oldenburg

January 17, 1764 – Birth of Maria Carolina of Savoy, Electoral Princess of Saxony, 1st wife of the future Anton, King of Saxony, at the Royal Palace of Turin in the Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy
Full name: Maria Carolina Antonietta Adelaide
The daughter of Vittorio Amadeo III, King of Sardinia, Duke of Savoy and Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain, Maria Carolina was the first wife of the future Anton, King of Saxony.  She married Anton on October 24, 1781. Around December 14, 1782, Maria Carolina became ill with smallpox, and died on December 28, 1782, at the age of 18.
Unofficial Royalty; Maria Carolina of Savoy, Electoral Princess of Saxony

January 17, 1779 – Birth of Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily, Queen of Sardinia, wife of Carlo Felice, King  of Sardinia, at Caserta Palace in the Kingdom of Naples, now in Italy
Maria Cristina was the daughter of Ferdinando IV, King of Naples and Sicily (later Ferdinando I, King of the Two Sicilies) and Maria Carolina of Austria. Her maternal grandmother was Maria Theresa, the sovereign ruler of the Habsburg territories from 1740 until her death in 1780, and was the only female to hold the position. In 1807, Maria Cristina married the future Carlo Felice, King of Sardina but their marriage was childless. In 1821, Carlo Felice’s brother Vittorio Emanuele I was not willing to grant a liberal constitution so he abdicated the throne of Sardinia in favor of Carlo Felice who reigned until his death in 1831. Maria Cristina survived her husband by eighteen years, dying on March 11, 1849, aged 70.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Cristina of Naples and Sicily, Queen of Sardinia

January 17, 1861 – Death of Lola Montez, mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria, in Brooklyn, New York; buried at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York
Lola Montez was a dancer, courtesan, and mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. She was born Marie Dolores Eliza Rosanna Gilbert on February 17, 1821, in Ireland. Starting in 1842, using the stage name Maria de los Dolores Porrys y Montez, also known as Lola Montez, she pretended to be a Spanish dancer from Seville, Spain. She also accepted favors from wealthy men in return for sex and was widely regarded as a courtesan. Lola became famous for her Spider Dance, which involved her shaking imaginary tarantulas out of her clothes and stamping on them. She then raised her skirt so high that the audience could see that she wore no underwear. In 1846, 25-year-old Lola became the mistress of the 60-year-old King Ludwig I of Bavaria. At the start of the Revolutions of 1848 in the German states, Lola was forced to flee, living in Austria, Switzerland, France, and London, working as an entertainer and lecturer. In 1851, Lola went to the United States where she was surprisingly successful. In 1852, on Broadway, she played herself in a theater revue, Lola Montez in Bavaria. She toured the east coast until 1853 when she went to San Francisco where her performances created a sensation. By 1860, Lola was exhibiting the third-stage effects of syphilis. She died on January 17, 1861, aged 39, in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City.
Unofficial Royalty: Lola Montez, mistress of King Ludwig I of Bavaria

January 17, 1870 – Birth of Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria, first wife Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, in Rome, Italy
Full name: Maria Luisa Pia Teresa Anna Ferdinanda Francesca Antonietta Margherita Giuseppina Caroline Bianca Lucia Apollonia
Maria Luisa was the eldest child of Robert I, Duke of Parma and his first wife Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1893, she married the reigning Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria. They had four children including Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria. Maria Luisa’s marriage, which had been strictly for political and dynastic reasons, was not a happy one. Having given birth to three children, and expecting a fourth within five years had taken a toll on her already frail health. 29-year-old Maria Luisa developed pneumonia while pregnant with her youngest child, and died on January 31, 1899, just a day after giving birth.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria

January 17, 1882 – Birth of Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, Princess Nicholas of Greece, daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and wife of Prince Nicholas of Greece, in St. Petersburg, Russia
Elena was the only daughter of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia and Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Through her father, she was the granddaughter of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, niece of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and first cousin of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia. 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. The couple had three daughters including Princess Marina of Greece who married Prince George, Duke of Kent. Because of the political situation in Greece, members of the Greek royal family, including Elena and her husband, were often in exile. The Greek monarchy was restored in 1935, and the following year, Elena and Nicholas returned to Greece. Having suffered from declining health for several years, Prince Nicholas died in 1938. Elena remained in Greece throughout World War II. Along with her sister-in-law, Princess Andreas of Greece (the former Princess Alice of Battenberg), Elena worked with the Red Cross during World War II to organize shelters and nurses in the poor neighborhoods of Athens. Elena lived out the rest of her life in Greece, enjoying a close relationship with King Paul and Queen Friederike, and a particularly close bond with the future King Constantine II.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia, Princess Nicholas of Greece

January 17, 1905 – Death of Caroline Reuss of Greiz, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, first wife of Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany; buried in the Weimarer Fürstengruft in the Historical Cemetery of Weimar in Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in Thuringia, Germany
In 1903, Caroline married Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The wedding was attended by the groom’s second cousin, Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia and his wife Augusta Viktoria, as well as his first cousin, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her husband Prince Hendrik. Caroline was against the arranged marriage, and it was only through the insistence of Wilhelm II and his wife Augusta Viktoria that she went through with the ceremony. The couple had no children, and their marriage lasted less than two years. Caroline died on January 17, 1905, at just 20 years old. Officially, the cause of death was pneumonia, but there were many rumors that she died by suicide.
Unofficial Royalty: Caroline Reuss of Greiz, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

January 17, 1908 – Death of Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany in Salzburg, Austria; buried in the Tuscan Vault at Imperial Crypt in Vienna, Austria
Ferdinando was the son of Leopoldo II, Grand Duke of Tuscany and his second wife Maria Antonia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1856, Ferdinando married Princess Anna of Saxony, daughter of Johann, King of Saxony. Anna gave birth to a daughter in 1858. However, a year later, Anna miscarried a daughter due to typhoid fever and died four days later. In 1859, the Grand Ducal family was forced to flee Florence because of the wars caused by the Italian unification movement. Leopoldo II abdicated in favor of his son Ferdinand IV who was Grand Duke of Tuscany in name but never really reigned. Ferdinando was unable to return to Florence to claim his throne, and an elected Tuscan National Assembly formally deposed him. The Grand Duchy of Tuscany was annexed to the Kingdom of Sardinia in 1860, as a part of the unification of Italy and in 1861, Vittorio Emanuele II, King of Sardinia was proclaimed the first King of the new, united Kingdom of Italy. Ferdinando spent the rest of his life in exile in the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. In 1868, Ferdinando married Princess Alicia of Bourbon-Parma and the couple had ten children. Ferdinando died at the age of 72.
Unofficial Royalty: Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany

January 17, 1991 – Death of King Olav V of Norway at the Royal Lodge (Kongsseteren) in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway; buried at the Akershus Fortress in Oslo, Norway
The son of Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of the United Kingdom, he assumed the name Olav when his father became King Haakon VII of Norway in 1905. He was the paternal grandson of King Frederik VIII of Denmark and Princess Louise of Sweden, and the maternal grandson of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom and Princess Alexandra of Denmark.  An avid skier and sailor, Olav represented Norway in the 1928 Olympic Games, winning a Gold Medal in the sailing competition, and remained active in sailing his whole life. In 1929, Olav married his first cousin Princess Märtha of Sweden. They had three children including the current King of Norway, Harald V. In April 1954, Crown Princess Märtha died of cancer, having been ill for some time. Three years later, Olav became King of Norway, following the death of his father. Olav, already much loved by the Norwegian people, became even more popular during his reign. He was often found among his people – driving around town, stopping in shops, taking the train to the ski slopes unaccompanied – gaining him the nickname “The People’s King”. King Olav V died of a heart attack on January 17, 1991, at the age of 88.
Unofficial Royalty: King Olav V of Norway

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Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught; Credit – Wikipedia

January 16, 1245 – Birth of Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester, son of King Henry III of England, at the Palace of Westminster in London, England
Edmund was named after his father’s favorite saint, Edmund the Martyr, King of East Anglia who was killed in 869 by Vikings on the orders of Ivar the Boneless and his brother Ubba. A couple of 14th-century chroniclers misinterpreted “Crouchback” as meaning Edmund had a physical deformity, but it is probable that “Crouchback” refers to his participation in the Ninth Crusades when he would have worn a cross on his back. Edmund first married Aveline de Forz, Countess of Aumale and Lady of Holderness in 1269, but she died childless five years later. In 1276, Edmund married Blanche of Artois, widow of King Henri I of Navarre, and they had three sons. Edmund was a loyal supporter of his brother King Edward I of England who succeeded to the throne in 1272. In 1271, Edmund had accompanied his elder brother Edward on the Ninth Crusade to Palestine. In 1277, Edmund was appointed commander of Wales. In 1282, Edmund ambushed and executed Llewellyn ap Gruffydd, Prince of Gwynedd, the last native and sovereign Prince of Wales. This lead to the final defeat and annexation of Wales in 1283.
Unofficial Royalty: Edmund Crouchback, Earl of Lancaster and Leicester

January 16, 1362 – Birth of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, 9th Earl of Oxford, favorite of King Richard II of England
In 1376, Robert married Philippa de Coucy, daughter of Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy and Isabella of England, the eldest daughter of King Edward III of England. Robert was often at court in his role as Lord Great Chamberlain and as the husband of King Richard II’s first cousin. He quickly became a favorite of the young king and a member of the Privy Council. Robert became very unpopular with the other nobles and his close relationship with Richard II was one of the causes for the emergence of organized opposition to Richard called the Lords Appellant. In 1387, the Lords Appellant launched an armed rebellion against King Richard II and defeated an army under Robert de Vere at the Battle of Radcot Bridge on the River Thames, outside Oxford. Robert fled to France and was attainted, found guilty of treason, lost his titles and land, and sentenced to death in absentia. In 1392, in Louvain, Duchy of Brabant, now in Belgium, 30-year-old Robert de Vere died in exile and poverty from the wounds received while hunting a wild boar.
Unofficial Royalty: Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, Marquess of Dublin, 9th Earl of Oxford

January 16, 1831 – Birth of Alexander, Prince of Lippe in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany
Full name: Karl Alexander
As the fifth of the six sons of Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, Alexander was not expected to succeed to the throne. He served as a captain in the army of the Kingdom of Hanover, and in 1851, when he was 20-year-old, he had a fall from his horse. Over the subsequent years, he developed the first signs of a mental disorder. In 1870, due to the worsening of his mental disorder, Alexander was legally declared incapacitated. The following year, it became necessary to place Alexander in the St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium, a private sanatorium for men with nervous and mental disorders, near Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, where he spent the remainder of his life. When Alexander’s father Leopold II died in 1851, he was succeeded by his eldest son as Leopold III. The childless Leopold III died in 1875 and he was succeeded by his next brother Woldemar who was also childless. During Woldemar’s reign, Alexander became Woldemar’s only surviving brother, the last of the line of the House of Lippe, and therefore his heir. When Woldemar died in 1895, his incapacitated brother Alexander succeeded him as Prince of Lippe, with a regency. There was a huge disagreement about who should be regent and who should be Alexander’s successor, so huge that Wilhelm II, German Emperor became involved. (Read more about it in Alexander’s article.)
Unofficial Royalty: Alexander, Prince of Lippe

January 16, 1836 – Birth of Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies in Naples, Kingdom of the Two Sicilies
Full name: Francesco d’Assisi Maria Leopoldo
Francesco II was the last King of the Two Sicilies. In 1859, he married Maria Sophie of Bavaria. The couple had one daughter. Three months after his marriage Francesco’s father died and he became King of the Two Sicilies. During the reign of Francesco II, Giuseppe Garibaldi’s 1860-1861 invasion called the Expedition of the Thousand led to the fall of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which then was annexed to the new Kingdom of Italy in 1861. After losing his throne, Francesco lived in Rome but in 1870, the annexation of the Papal States to Italy, including Rome, forced Francesco and Maria Sophie to find refuge in Austria, France, and Bavaria. Maria Sophie purchased Garatshausen Castle on Lake Starnberg in the Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria from her brother Ludwig, and the castle became their home.
Unofficial Royalty: Francesco II, King of the Two Sicilies

January 16, 1928 – Death of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen at Schloss Altenstein in Bad Liebenstein, Germany where he was buried
Bernhard III was the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a scholar, a Field Marshal in the Prussian army, and the husband of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Charlotte of Prussia. He was interested in the Greek language and was the author and translator of several works. Between 1873 and 1894, he made numerous study trips to Greece and Asia Minor, where he visited archaeological sites and had worked with well-known archaeologists. In 1878,  Bernhard married Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the eldest daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal, and the sister of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Bernhard and Charlotte had one child. After his abdication in 1918 at the end of World War I, Bernhard lived his remaining years at Schloss Altenstein in Bad Liebenstein, now in Germany. His wife Charlotte died in 1919. Bernhard survived her by nine years, dying at the age of 76,
Unofficial Royalty: Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

January 16, 1935 – Death of Alicia of Parma, Titular Grand Duchess of Tuscany, wife of Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany at Schloss Schwertburg in Schwertburg, Austria; first buried in Schwertburg, and in 2007, her remains were reburied in the cemetery of the parish church in St. Gilgen, near Salzburg, Austria.
Alicia was the daughter of Carlo III, Duke of Parma and Princess Louise Marie Thérèse of France, who was a granddaughter of King Charles X of France. Alicia’s father was assassinated in 1854 and her six-year-old brother Roberto became Duke of Parma. Roberto lost his throne in 1859 during the Italian unification movement. In 1868, Alicia became the second wife of the former Ferdinando IV, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Ferdinando lost his throne due to the Italian unification and was in exile like Alicia’s family. Alicia and Ferdinando had ten children. Ferdinando and Alicia lived at the Villa Tuscany in Lindau, Austria during the summer, and during the winter they lived in a wing of the Salzburg Residenz, formerly the residence of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg. Both residences were provided by Ferdinando’s second cousin Franz Joseph I, Emperor of Austria. Alice’s husband Ferdinando Ferdinando died in 1908, at the age of 72. Alicia survived him by twenty-seven years, dying on January 16, 1935, aged 85.
Unofficial Royalty: Alicia of Bourbon-Parma, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

January 16, 1942 – Death of Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught, son of Queen Victoria, at Bagshot Park in Surrey, England; buried at the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore in Windsor, England
Arthur had a 40-year military career and participated in many missions in various parts of the British Empire. In 1879, Arthur married Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia and the couple had three children. Through their daughter Margaret, who married the future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden, Arthur and Louise Margaret are the ancestors of the Danish and Swedish royal families. Two of their great-grandchildren are current monarchs: Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden. In 1911, in order to strengthen the links between the British monarchy and Canada, Arthur was appointed the first Governor-General of Canada who was a member of the Royal Family. After his time in Canada, Arthur returned to the British Army and served for the rest of World War I. Louise Margaret, who had been ill during their stay in Canada, died of influenza and bronchitis in 1917, at the age of 56. Arthur withdrew from public life in 1928 and died on January 16, 1942, at his home Bagshot Park in Surrey, England at the age of 91. His sister Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll also died at the age of 91, making both Arthur and Louise the longest-lived of Victoria and Albert’s children.
Unofficial Royalty: Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught

January 16, 1957 – Death of Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone, husband of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Alice of Albany, at Kensington Palace in London, England; buried at the Royal Burial Grounds at Frogmore in Windsor, England
Born Prince Alexander of Teck, and called Alge, his mother was Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, a male-line granddaughter of King George III and a first cousin of Queen Victoria.  His sister was Queen Mary, wife of King George V. In 1904, Alge married Princess Alice of Albany, the daughter of Queen Victoria’s hemophiliac son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany. Alice and Alge had two surviving children, a son Rupert and a daughter May. In 1928, 20-year-old Rupert died from an injury received in a car accident which he probably would have recovered from had he not been a hemophiliac. Upon the orders of King George V, during World War I, Alge and other royal family members relinquished the use of all German titles and dignities. Alge became Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone. From 1924-1930, Alge was Governor-General of South Africa and he was the Governor-General of Canada from 1940-1946. In 1946, Alge retired and he and Alice took a grace and favor apartment at Kensington Palace in London. Alge died on January 16, 1957, at Kensington Palace at the age of 82. His wife Alice survived him by 24 years, dying on January 3, 1981, one month short of her 98th birthday, the last surviving grandchild of Queen Victoria.
Unofficial Royalty: Alexander Cambridge, 1st Earl of Athlone

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