Wednesday, February 12, 2025

Happy big brothers




 
Both photos @HRH Prince Carl Philip


Princes Alexander, Gabriel and Julian of Sweden meet their newborn sister, Princess Ines.

Mail Call

Here is a selection of Christmas and thank you cards I have received in the last few months.  I have chosen not to publish all the cards I have received, as some families do not want their photos published.









































Princess Astrid celebrates her 93rd birthday

 

all images Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection


Princess Astrid, Mrs. Ferner celebrates her 93rd birthday.  She is the second of three children of Olav V of Norway and Princess Martha of Sweden.  She is King Harald V's elder sister.






https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2022/02/princess-astrid-of-norway-celebrates.html

Monday, February 10, 2025

Princess Ines Marie Lilian Silvia

 

@H. K. H. Prinsessan Sofia/Kungl. Hovstaterna


10 February 2025

Princess Ines Marie Lilian Silvia, Duchess of Västerbotten

On Monday 10 February, a Council of State was held at the Royal Palace on the occasion of the birth of TRH Prince Carl Philip and Princess Sofia’s fourth child.

At the Council of State, HM The King informed the Government that the Princess, who is eighth in line to the Throne, will be named Ines Marie Lilian Silvia and known as Princess Ines.

Princess Ines has been granted the Duchy of Västerbotten.

In accordance with His Majesty The King’s decision of 7 October 2019 regarding changes in The Royal House, Princess Ines is a member of the Royal Family but not of The Royal House. The Princess will therefore not enjoy the style of Royal Highness.

Saturday, February 8, 2025

Alberta Sturges - the first American Countess of Sandwich



In due course -- following her father-in-law, the 11th Earl of Sandwich's funeral -- Viscountess Hinchingbrooke will be styled as Countess of Sandwich as her husband, Luke is the heir apparent.  

The heirs are not styled by their new title until after the funeral of the deceased peer.

Lady Hinchingbrooke is an American.  She was born Julie Fisher in Sugar Grove, Illinois, in 1972. In the early 2000s, Julie moved to London to work for a digital firm. By that time, she was a single mother of two young children.  She met Luke Montagu, Viscount Hinchingbrooke in 2003.   A year later, they married at Mapperton.  The couple have two sons, Hon. William and Hon. Nestor.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/nicoletrilivas/2020/05/17/julie-montagu-america-aristocrats-guide-to-great-estates-smithsonian-channel/

She appeared in Ladies of LondonMillion Dollar American Princess and was the host of the Smithsonian Channel's An American Aristocrat's Guide to Great Estates. Lady Hinchingbrooke now has her own YouTube Channel, American Viscountess.  

https://americanviscountess.com/

The soon-to-be-styled Countess of Sandwich is an eloquent, brilliant, funny stately home historian.  She is not, however, the first American to marry an Earl of Sandwich.

In June 1905, Miss Alberta Sturges became engaged to George George Charles Montagu, MP, the son of Rear Admiral the Hon Victor Montagu (1841-1916) and the nephew of the unmarried Edward George Henry Montagu, 8th Earl of Sandwich (1839-1916).    They married on July 25, 1905, at St Paul's Church, Knightsbridge.  

 Miss Sturges "possessed of a large fortune in her own right" was one of the Dollar Princesses who married into the British peerage.  The Duchess of Manchester (Helena Zimmerman) was a close friend.

Alberta was the daughter of William  Solomon Sturges (1824-1894) and Elizabeth "Betty" MacLeod (1857-1931). She was born in Chicago, Illinois   She had one brother, Hollister, and one half-sister, Frances Leggett.     A year after Sturges' death, Betty married Francis Howard Leggett, a wealthy New York grocer.    Leggett moved the family to London, where Alberta made her debut in 1901

Along with her mother, her aunt Josephine MacLeod, and her stepfather, Alberta was a devotee of a Hindu monk Swami Vivekananda.   Alberta's two daughters, Lady Mary Faith and Lady Elizabeth, were also followers of Hinduism.

Mr and Mrs George Sandwich segued into the positions of Earl and Countess of Sandwich when his uncle died in 1916.  The couple had four children:  Alexander Victor Edward Paulet Montagu (1906 – 1995); The Hon. William Drogo Sturges Montagu (1908-1940); Lady Mary Faith Montagu (1911=1983) and Lady Elizabeth Montagu (1917- 2006)

The family lived at Hinchingbrooke House, which the 9th Earl had transferred to his eldest son, Victor, the future 10th Earl.  During the Second World War, the house was used as a hospital.  In 1955, Victor sold the estate as he could no longer afford the maintenance.  The family moved to Mapperton in Dorset after the sale of Hinchingbrooke House.  The house is now a school.

https://historicengland.org.uk/services-skills/education/educational-images/hinchingbrooke-house-huntingdon-5802

The Countess of Sandwich died in Huntingdon on October 23, 1951.

https://mapperton.com/home/gilded-age-american-heiress-exhibtion/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z74LoE7MlnM

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c3gg2w16p2lo

https://www.doaks.org/resources/bliss-tyler-correspondence/annotations/alberta-sturges-montagu

The 11th Earl of Sandwich (1943-2025)

@Roger Harris



John Edward Hollister Montagu, 11th Earl of Sandwich  "passed away peacefully" on February 1, 2025, at Mapperton House in Dorset.  His family was with him when he died.

Lord Sandwich was 81 years old.

His eldest son, Lord Hinchingbroke, said:  “His career was in overseas development, humanitarian aid and human rights but he was also devoted to Mapperton and its community."

  Embed from Getty Images


Lord Sandwich was the eldest son of Alexander Victor Edward Paulet Montagu (1906-1995) and his first wife, Maud Rosemary Peto (1916–1998), who divorced in 1958.  In 1961, Rosemary abandoned the Montagu surname and the courtesy title, Viscountess Hinchingbrooke, and reverted to her maiden name by deed poll. She was a goddaughter of Queen Maud of Norway.

At the time of his birth, Lord Sandwich was second in line to the earldom, His father was styled Viscount Hinchingbroke until 1962 when the 9th Earl died, and Victor succeeded as the 10th Earl.

In 1964, the 10th Earl disclaimed his peerage for life, according to the Peerage Act (1963), as he wanted to continue his Parliamentary career. He served in five Parliaments as the Tory MP for South Dorset.  When his father died, the new Earl gave up his seat to move into the  House of Lords.  After disclaiming the earldom, he was known as Victor Montagu. In the 1964 General Election, he ran for the seat in Accrington but did not win his seat.  

Victor Montagu's decision to disclaim his peerage did not apply to his children who retained their courtesy titles, including John, styled as Viscount Hinchingbrooke.  Victor died in 1995, and John succeeded as the 11th Earl.

In 1968,  Lord Hinchingbroke married  Susan Caroline Hayman, daughter of an Anglican priest Perceval Ecroyd Cobham Hayman.  They had three children: Luke Timothy Charles Montagu (December 5, 1969), the Hon. Orlando William Montagu (1971), and Lady Jemima Mary Abrashi, who is married to Fisnik Abrashi, the Director of Global Customer Engagement at the Associated Press.   

The late Lord Sandwich sat in the House of Lords from 1995 through May 2024.  He was seated as a hereditary peer until November 1999. and then served as an elected peer. 


  Embed from Getty Images

Lord Sandwich and his second son, Orlando, established a fast-food restaurant chain, the Earl of Sandwich with 50 restaurants in the United States, Canada, France, South Korea, and the Philippines.  The fourth earl is credited with inventing the sandwich when he put meat between two pieces of bread.

He is survived by his wife, Caroline, their three children, Lord Hinchingbrooke, Orlando, and Jemima, and his nephew, Timothy, and at least five grandchildren, Hon William and Hon. Nestor Montagu,  Walter and Nancy Montagu and Lettice Montagu Abrashi.   

William and Nancy are the children of Orlando Montagu and Lady Honor Wellesley, daughter of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington.

Lord Sandwich's eldest son, Luke succeeds as the 12th Earl of Sandwich. He is married to Julie Fisher, an American, and they have two sons.  According to peerage tradition, Luke will not be styled as the Earl of Sandwich until after the funeral.  At that time, his elder son, William will have the courtesy title Viscount Hinchingbrooke.


https://www.bridportnews.co.uk/news/24918633.family-share-heart-warming-tribute-earl-sandwich/

https://mapperton.com/visit/house/


 



Friday, February 7, 2025

60 Years ago - Prince Michael of Greece married Marina Karella

 

Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection.

February 7, 1965


Prince Michael of Greece today married Miss Marina Karella, a Greek commoner.   The Greek Orthodox wedding ceremony took place in the Athens palace ballroom where a "mobile chapel had been erected in the ballroom."  This chapel had been "consecrated for the veteran Greek Navy cruiser Averoff."

Marina Karella is the heiress "to a vast industrial fortune," according to The Times. She is in her own right a "talented artist."

King Constantine II was the best man. The wedding was described as a "close family affair."

  Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images 

 As Miss Karella is a commoner, Prince Michael renounced his rights and the rights of his descendants to the Greek throne " before obtaining the king's permission to marry a commoner.  His wife will not have a royal title.  She will be known as "Marina, the consort of Prince Michael."

The 25-year-old bride was given away by her father, a well-known textile manufacturer." She studied art in Athens and Paris and has "gained a reputation as a successful stage designer for Athenian theatres."   She wore a "silk gown in Empire style with a 10ft long veil edged with Brussels lace, " designed by Jacques Heime of Paris The veil was held in place "by an eighteenth-century diamond and pearl tiara." 

  Embed from Getty Images

Prince Michael, 26, currently serves in the Greek army but has said that he will resign his commission to "pursue his studies to obtain a doctorate in political science. 

He is the son of the late Prince Christopher of Greece and Denmark and the late Princess Francoise of Orléans.  

It was on October 19th when King Constantine II gave his permission for Michael and Marina to marry. At the time, Michael was third in line to the throne, after Crown Princess Irene, the king's younger sister.

The guests at the wedding included Queen Anne Marie, Crown Princess Irene, Princess Katherine and her husband, Major Richard Brandram, Princess Andrew, and Queen Frederika, who "escorted the bridegroom to the altar.   The Times also noted "that members of the French nobility attended, "  including the Count and Countess of Paris.


Princess Francoise

Prince Christopher and Princess Francoise


Michael was only a year old when his father, Prince Christopher died.  After his mother died in 1853, Michael lived with his uncle, the Count of Paris, and his family until he moved to Athens for compulsory military service.     He and Marina share a common interest in the theater, and met when she was "in charge of designs for a production of Gogel, "The Diary of a Madman."

  Embed from Getty Images



The couple had no plans for a honeymoon and would live in Michael's home in Ekali, 11 miles north of Athens.


https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/07/hrh-prince-michael-of-greece-and.html

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-funeral-of-prince-michael-of-greece.html



Nikolaos and Chrysi - official photos


@Nicky Economou (all photos)



On Friday, February 7, 2025, at 18:00, the Greek Orthodox wedding of Nikolaos De Grèce and Chrysi Vardinogianni took place at the Holy Church of St. Nicholas Rangavas in Athens. The ceremony was led by His Eminence, Metropolitan of Kissamos & Selinos, Amphilochios, and attended by close relatives and friends.

The groom’s siblings, Pavlos, Alexia, and Theodora, and his nephew Konstantinos-Alexios were among the couple's best men and bridesmaids.