Saturday, April 26, 2025

Waldburg-Zeil Heir to Marry


Both photos Linkedin


H Ill H Count Maximilian Aloysius Maria Anselm Franz Joseph Andreas Antonius Wunibald of Walzburg zu Zeil und Trauchberg, the future head of the house of Waldburg zu Zeil, is engaged to marry German banker Veronika Elisabeth Maria Müller-Wilmes.

 He was born in Stuttgart on February 10, 1992. He is the third child and eldest son of H Ill H Count Maria Clemens Franz  Erich Thomas  Wunibald of Walzburg zu Zeil und Trauchberg and HSH Princess Georgina Maria Agnes Philippine Elisabeth Ignatia of Liechtenstein.

Clemens is the Secretary General of the German Red Cross.   

Count Maximilian is based in Zurich, where he works as a Project Portfolio & Cost Controller for Generali Switzerland. He has a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees in Economics from St. Gallen University in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Taken by a friend at Countess Leonie von Waldburg-Zeil Hohenems' wedding


Miss Müller-Wilmes was born in July 1995. Her undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Economics from Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. She earned a Master of Science in Finance from the University of St. Andrews.  

She is the Head of Business Development at Asset Management, Züricher Kantonalbank, in Zürich.

Maximilian is the heir to his uncle, HSH Erich Wunibald Aloysius Georg, Prince of Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchberg, who is married to HRH Duchess Mathilde of Württemberg. They are the parents of five daughters. Succession to the title and the estates is based on Salic Law (males only.)

Erich and Clemens are first cousins, as are their wives. Mathilde is the daughter of the late Carl, Duke of Württemberg, whose sister, Duchess Maria Christina, is the mother of  Georgina. 

Thursday, April 24, 2025

An official representative at Prince Andreas' funeral

 



The King and the late Prince Andreas met on several occasions, but were not close relatives.  In his memoir, I did it my way ..., Prince Andreas wrote: "As for our English cousins, establishing links with them has been a bit more complicated. Three of the Queen's children (the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, and the Earl of Wessex) have been our guests in Coburg. They all accepted our invitations to attend opening ceremonies to various exhibitions, while also touring the birthplace of the Prince Consort, our closest common ancestor.  I met the Duke of Edinburgh several times, once in Langenburg, where we attended Kraft's [the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg], and then I have met him in Sweden.  I have not met The Queen yet, but would  like to one day."

Several years before the publication of his memoir, Andreas was invited to Buckingham Palace. His son and daughter-in-law, Prince Hubertus and Princess Kelly, accompanied him.  He described the visit as "both interesting and very exciting. While there, the Prince of Wales welcomed us and introduced us as his cousins from Germany.  Everyone was quite polite and welcoming.  It was a wonderful experience to have shared with my son and his wife.  I think that our branch of the family had not been invited to Buckingham Palace since Grandfather Coburg attended the funeral of his first cousin King George V in 1936."


@HH Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha/I did it my way


The late Prince's fervent hope was that the "links to our British cousins  continue strengthening in the future as our shared Coburg legacy is historically important."

Prince Michael of Kent attended the Queen Victoria exhibit in 2001, and his nephew, Lord Nicholas Windsor, and his wife, Paola, were guests at Prince Hubertus' wedding.

Unfortunately, the Court Circular referred to the late Prince as Prince Andrea, not Prince Andreas.


Victoria/Albert - Edward VII - George V - George VI - Elizabeth II  - Charles III

Victoria/Albert- Leopold - Charles Edward (Carl Eduard) - Friedrich Josias  - Andreas

Victoria/Albert -  Alice - Victoria - Alice - Theodora - Maximilian - Bernhard 

Tuesday, April 22, 2025

More from Easter Sunday at Windsor

 

All photos are the copyright of Ken Stone 

Jack Brooksbank, Princess Eugenie, Edo Mapelli Mozzi

The Duke of Edinburgh, the Earl of Wessex, the Duchess of Edinburgh, Princess  Eugenie, Jack Brooksbank & Princess Beatrice



Earl of Snowdon, Mr. Daniel Chatto and Lady Sarah Chatto, Jack Brooksbank, the King and Queen, Princess Beatrice and Edo Mapelli, Mozzi and the Duchess of Edinburgh

The Earl of Snowdon




Daniel Chatto and Lady Sarah Chatto 

Photos were taken on Easter Sunday by Ken Stone, who is a fabulous photographer, and I am always grateful when he allows me to use his photographs. 

Sunday, April 20, 2025

Easter at Windsor

 

King Charles III and Queen Camilla were joined by other members of the Royal Family for the Easter Service at St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, along with their children, remained in Norfolk for Easter, as the children were on spring break.   Charles and Camila rarely joined the late Queen for Easter, preferring to spend the holiday at Birkhall on the Balmoral estate.

The other members of the Royal Family included HRH The Princess Royal and Sir Tim Laurence,  TRH the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh and Lord Wessex, HRH Princess Beatrice and Mr. Edo Mapelli Mozzi, HRH Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank,,  the Earl of Snowdon, Mr. Daniel and the Lady Sarah Chatto, the Duke of York and Sarah, Duchess of York.


These photos were taken by a dear friend, Katrina Warne.  She is the copyright holder.  After the service, the King and Queen walked over to the crowd, although only the Queen shook hands with several members of the crowd.  Katrina said to the King: “You are looking very well, Your Majesty. "   He replied, “I try


Lord Wessex, Sarah, Duchess of York TRH The Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh

HRH The Princess Royal


Jack Brooksbank and HRH Princess Eugenue





Lord Snowdon, Daniel Chatto, Lady Sarah Chatto, Jack Brooksbank









I am grateful to Katrina for allowing me to use the photos.

Easter greetings from Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria

 


Saturday, April 19, 2025

A Habsburg Marriage Pfffft!

 


Family members have not confirmed the rumors, but it appears likely that Archduke Alexander of Austria and his wife, Natacha Roumiantzoff-Pachkevitch, are separated and getting a divorce ... or are already divorced.

Sources note that Natacha did not accompany her husband to the funeral of Archduchess Estelle of Austria, the wife of his first cousin, Archduke Carl Christian.  She has also resumed using her maiden name with her event planning company, RPZ Events.  She and her sister, Ivana, hosted an anti-Valentine's gala on February 14th.

Alexander is the fourth of five children of HI & RH Archduke Christian of Austria and HRH Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg.   In October 2024, he left his job as Public Relations Manager with the UAE Consulate in Geneva.  Four months later, in January 2025, he founded his own consulting firm, AdH Consulting, which provides seamless connections between the GCC and Europe.  

The divorce would be for their civil marriage, which is the legal ceremony in most European countries.  Their religious wedding  took place at St Pierre Church in Beloeil, Belgium 

The couple did not have any children.  

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2023/05/archduke-alexander-to-marry-in-september.html

Wednesday, April 16, 2025

Royal birthday Roundup

 

@Royal Palace, Brussels

King Philippe of the Belgians celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday. When he was born on April 15, 1960,  no one expected that he would succeed to the throne.  He was the eldest son of Prince Albert, Prince of Liege, and his wife, Donna Paola Ruffo di Calabria.  They were married on July 2, 1959, at St Michael and St Gudula Cathedral.


@www.ludion.be   Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection


He was born at the Château du Belvédère in Laeken and was given the names Philippe Leopold Louis Marie.  In December 1960, Philippe's uncle, King Baudouin, married Doña Fabiola Fernanda María-de-las-Victorias Antonia Adelaida de Mora y Aragón.  Fabiola suffered five miscarriages between 1961 and 1968.

King Baudouin died in 1993 and was succeeded by his younger brother, Prince Albert.  Prince Philippe, 33, became the heir apparent with the title Duke of Brabant.  He married a Belgian nobleman, Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz in December 1999.  They have four children: Princess Elisabeth, Duchess of Brabant (2001), Prince Gabriel (2003), Prince Emmanuel (2005), and Princess Eléonore (2008).


@Royal Palace, Brussels


Philippe succeeded to the throne following his father's abdication on July 21, 2013.


Kongehuset


Queen Margrethe II celebrates her 85th birthday.   She was born on April 16, 1940, in Amalienborg Palace, Copenhagen, the first of three daughters of King Frederik IX and Princess Ingrid of Denmark.  She was named Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid.  Her father succeeded to the throne in April 1947, and his heir was his younger brother, Prince Knud.  

Marlene A. Eilers Koenig Collection


The Danish succession was governed by Salic law, which excluded women from inheriting the throne. In 1953, Parliament passed an amendment to the Danish constitution, changing the succession to male primogeniture. Margrethe remained the heiress presumptive rather than the heir apparent, as a younger brother would have become the heir. King Frederik IX died in 1972 and was succeeded by his eldest daughter.

In 1967, she married Henri de Laborde de Monpezat.   They had two sons, Prince Frederik (1968) and Prince Joachim (1969)    


Kongehuset

Fifty-two years after she succeeded to the throne on January 14, 1972, Margrethe II abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Frederik (now King Frederik X).


© Maison du Grand-Duc / Sophie Margue



Grand Duke Henri (Albert Gabriel Félix Marie Guillaume) of Luxembourg is 70 today. He was born at Château de Betzdorf on April 16, 1955, the second of five children of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg and Princess Josephine-Charlotte of Belgium. He became the heir apparent in 1964 when his grandmother, Grand Duchess Charlotte, abdicated in favor of her eldest son, Jean. 


@Maison du Grand-Duc / Sophie Margue


Abdication is a traditon in Luxembourg. On October 7, 2000, Jean abdicated in Henri's favor.

The Grand Duke married Cuban-born María Teresa Mestre y Batista in 1981.  They have five children. Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume (1981), Prince Félix (1984), Prince Louis (1986), Princess Alexandra (1991), and Prince Sébastien (1992).


Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection

On October 3, 2025, Henri will abdicate in favor of his eldest son, Guillaume.






Monday, April 14, 2025

A New QVD Albie Dru


Embed from Getty Images 


 Lady Tatiana Dru gave birth to a son, Albie, in London on March 14, 2025.  This is the second child for Lady Tatiana and her husband, Alick Dru.  Their first child, Elodie Marina Florence, was born on September 20, 2023.

The newest descendant of Queen Victoria has been named Auberon James George.   He is called Albie.

All three names are family names.  Auberon and George are after Albie's grandfathers, and James honors Lady Tatiana's stepbrother, James Wentworth-Stanley, who took his own life in 2006.  

@Lady Tatiana Dru (Instagram)


Lady Tatiana is a "qualified, BACP-registered Integrative Psychotherapist" with her own practice in London.

https://tatianatherapy.com/home

Lady Tatiana's stepmother, Clare (Marchioness of Milford Haven), is one of the founders of James' Place. which helps "men in suicidal crisis find hope for the future."

https://www.jamesplace.org.uk/


https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2022/07/lady-tatiana-mountbatten-weds-alick-dru.html#google_vignette


Victoria - Alice - Victoria - George - David - George - Tatiana - Auberon

26 million and counting


 

Just before I woke up this morning, this blog - Royal Musings - reached the 26 million mark.  This means 26 million hits for Royal Musings since July 2008.

Holy Moly.

Serously, to my readers, many thanks!!




Fleur and Harper are absolutely chuffed for their mom. They think she deserves a selection of celebratory drinks!!!!!



Sunday, April 13, 2025

Family connections - but not close

Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images




For this post, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex are not the most important persons in this photo. I am drawn to the woman in the white suit, a distant cousin of the Duke of Sussex.   She worked for the UK's Foreign Service and was a part of the team that accompanied the royal couple to South Africa.

The woman is Tamara Leigh, the second of six children of Sir Edward Julian Egerton Leigh, KT, and Mary Goodman. Sir Edward is the Conservative MP for Gainsborough, a seat he has held since 1983. He is now the longest-serving Member of Parliament.

  Embed from Getty Images


Tamara and Harry are distant cousins and do not move in the same social circles. Her aunt, Catherine Goodman, however, is one of King Charles III and Queen Camilla's friends. Their friendship is through art, as Catherine, a noted artist, represented by Hauser & Wirth, and King Charles co-founded the Royal Drawing School. She and Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones, the King's first cousin, were roommates at the Camberwell School of Art and later the Royal Academy.   This friendship led to an introduction to Charles.



Tamara married Rajiv Shah at the Brompton Oratory in London on November 18, 2023. Their son Gabriel was born in London on September 11, 2024. He was baptized at the Brompton Oratory only weeks before the deaths of his great-grandparents, Philip and Sonia Goodman.

Born in the Seychelles, Shah holds bachelor's and master's degrees and a Ph.D. in law from Cambridge University.  He also earned a BS in Mathematics from the University of Warwick.  His most recent position was Special Adviser to the Rt Hon Rishi Sunak MP in the No 10 Policy Unit.  In 2023, the Catholic Herald named Shah and Sir Edward Egerton Leigh in a list of the United Kingdom's leading Catholics.

Sonia Goodman was born Countess Sophia Vladimirovna Kleinmichel in 1930. She was the only child of Countess Marie von Carlow and her second husband, Count Vladimir Petrovich Kleinmichel.   Countess Marie was the eldest of four children of HH Duke Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his morganatic wife, Natalia Feodorovna Vanljarskya.   

In the 1930s, Count Vladimir was an advisor to Grand Duchess Xenia of Russia, who lived in Frogmore Cottage, later the home of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex before they moved to the United States.

Natalia was a lady-in-waiting to Georg Alexander's mother, Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia, who married Duke Georg August of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, second son of Georg, Grand Duke of Mecklenberg-Strelitz and Princess Marie of Hesse-Cassel.  Duke Georg Alexander and Grand Duchess Catherine settled in Russia.   




The Grand Duchess "loved her husband deeply and selflessly."  The same selflessness did not extend to her son Georg Alexander when she learned he was in love with her lady-in-waiting and was determined to marry her. Natalia was dismissed from her position.    Georg Alexander and Natalia shared a love of music. His uncle, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, permitted the couple to marry. He bestowed the title, Countess of Carlow, on Natalia, which would also be used by her children.

Duke Georg Alexander



Natalia, Countess von Carlow


Countess Marie von Carlow was born in 1893 in St. Petersburg. In 1919, the Bolsheviks killed her first husband, Prince Boris Dimitrievich Galitzine, in front of her. She and her two young children eventually settled in England. In 1929, she married Count Vladimir Kleimmichel, another noble Russian refugee. Sophie was their only child.









On May 17, 1957, she married Philip Henry Russell Goodman, the son of  Sir Victor Martin Reeves Goodman and his first wife, Julian-Ottoline Morrell.    Julian-Ottoline was the only child of Philip Edward Morrell and Lady Ottoline Violet Ann Cavendish-Bentinck.    

Lady Ottoline and Cecilia, the Countess of Strathmore and Kinghorne (mother of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother) were first cousins.






Philip was the son of Sir Victor Martin Reeves Goodman, KCB (1899-1967) and his first wife, Julian-Ottoline Morrell (1906-1989).    Julian-Ottoline was the only child of Philip Edward Morrell and Lady Ottoline Violet Ann Cavendish-Bentinck.

On May 15, 1957, at St.Matthew's Church in Kensington,  Philip married Countess Sophia (Sonia) Vladimirovna Kleinmichel (1930), daughter of Count Vladimir Petrovich Kleinmichel and Countess Marie Catherine von Carlow. 

Tamara and Harry share a descent from Emperor Paul of Russia.

Paul I - Mikhail - Catherine  - George Alexander - Marie - Sophia - Mary - Tamara 

Paul I -Nicholas I - Konstantin  - Olga - Andrew - Philip - Charles  - Harry

Tamara and Prince Harry also share other lines of descent, through the third son of the 3rd Duke of Portland (Cavendish-Bentinck) and King Henry VII.

Lord Charles Frederick - Charles - Cecilia -Elizabeth - Elizabeth II - Charles - Harry

Lord Charles Frederick - Arthur - Ottoline - Julian -Philip -Mary - Tamara

Henry VII's lines of descent run through his two daughters, Margaret and Mary Tudor. Sophie is a descendant of Margaret, and Philip has lines of descent from both of Mary's daughters, Frances and Eleanor Brandon. Sophia's German lines of descent are through her great-grandson King James VI & I's granddaughter, Sophie, who married Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, and her son, King George I, and daughter, Sophie Charlotte, who married the King of Prussia.

Countess Marie von Carlow's older sister, Countess Catherine, married Prince Vladimir Galitzine. Their eldest son, Nicholas,'s first wife, Elizabeth, daughter of  Cyril Denzil Branch, was the sister of Denise Branch, who married Sir Neville Egerton Leigh.   Sir Neville was Sir Edward Egerton Leigh's father and Tamara's paternal grandfather.

Catherine's grandson, Prince Alexander Galitzine (son of her second son, Prince George), married Rohays Georgina Butter, the third child of Sir David Butter and Myra  Wernher. Through her mother, Rohays was also a Romanov. She was the granddaughter of Lady Zia Wernher, daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia. Lady Zia was one of the late Queen's friends.

Tamara and her family are mourning the deaths of her maternal grandparents, Philip and Sonia Goodman, who died within one week of each other.  

The couple, who were married for 67 years, are survived by their five daughters, Mary (Lady Leigh), Catherine Goodman, Elizabeth Jones, Sophia Goodman, and Xenia Wiehe; thirteen grandchildren, Natalia Leigh, Tamara Shah, Benedict Leigh, Marina Leigh, Nicholas Leigh, Theodore Leigh, Michael, Augustine and Anastasia Jones, Frederick, Alexander, Charlotte, and Sasha Wiehe; and two great-grandchildren, Sophia Leigh and Gabriel Shah.

Philip and Sonia Goodman lived in London.   Sonia was an active member of the Russian Orthodox Church.