The Prince Charles card arrived today. It was mailed on July 22 from Luxembourg.
News and commentary about the reigning royal houses of the United Kingdom, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Spain, Monaco -- and the former European monarchies as well.
@ Marlene A Eilers Koenig |
People ... a lot of people, apparently, in the United Kingdom, are not happy with the recent "political" comments made by the Duke and Duchess of Sussex in the United States.
From the monarchy's official website: "As Head of State, The Queen has to remain strictly neutral with respect to political matters. By convention, The Queen does not vote or stand for election, however, Her Majesty does have important ceremonial and formal roles in relation to the government of the UK."
In other words, the Queen and members of the Royal Family do not speak out on political matters. Her Majesty and her family (the ones with the HRH) also do not vote. This is by choice, not by law.
The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who are now ensconced in a lovely home in Montecito, California, are not discussing British politics. They spoke about the importance of voting in the November elections. They didn't tell Americans how to vote but encouraged Americans to use their right at the polls to vote.
Of course, these comments -- and other comments -- have upset several people. Piers Morgan, Jeremy Vine, as well as the usual roundup of blowhards. But why are they upset? Meghan is American. She lives in California and she has the right to talk about voting. Harry is not commentating on British politics. The Palace issued a statement pointing out, rightly, that the duke and duchess are not working royals.
Harry and Meghan remain the whipping boys of the British tabloids because they chose to leave the Royal Family and contribute to society in other ways. (Before some people come at me for what some might see as a racist comment -- let me share what is stated in the Oxford English Dictionary.)
King Harald V of Norway was admitted to the University Hospital in Oslo earlier today, according to the palace.
The 83-year-old king's duties will be taken over temporarily by his son, Crown Prince Haakon, who has visited his father in the hospital. Queen Sonja and Princess Martha Louise have also visited the king.
King Harald, who succeeded his father, King Olav V on January 17, 1991, was admitted to the hospital following breathing difficulties.
In a statement to the press, the palace said: “The king is now being examined. COVID-19 is already excluded."
Embed from Getty Images
What wonderful news. Baby Brooksbank will be Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh's ninth great-grandchild.
Princess Eugenie posted earlier today on her Instagram account: "Jack and I are so excited for early 2021."
The baby will be 11th in the Order of Succession. He or she will not have a title and will have the surname Brooksbank.
September 24, 1950
The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven died today at Kensington Palace earlier, reports the New York Times. She was 87 years old.
She was the eldest surviving granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The Dowager Marchioness's three surviving children, Princess Alice of Greece, Crown Princess Louise of Sweden, and the Earl Mountbatten of Burma were at her bedside when she died after a three-week illness.
HGDH Princess Victoria Alberta Elisabeth Mathilde Marie of Hesse and By Rhine was born at Windsor Castle on April 5, 1863, the eldest of seven children of Princess Alice, who was Queen Victoria's second daughter, and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine. Queen Victoria was present at her birth.
Victoria was 15 years old when she contracted diphtheria. Except for her sister, Elisabeth, everyone in the family became ill. Already worn out, Princess Alice nursed all of her children but was unable to save her youngest daughter, Marie, who died on November 16.
Alice soon caught the disease and succumbed on December 14, the anniversary of her father, Prince Albert's death. She was 35 years old.
Years later, Princess Victoria wrote: My mother's death was an irreparable loss ... My childhood ended with her death, for I became the eldest and most responsible."
In the summer of 1883, Princess Victoria became engaged to her first cousin once removed, Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854-1921). Louis was the eldest child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by the Rhine, Grand Duke Ludwig's younger brother, and his wife, Countess Julia von Hauke, who had served as lady-in-waiting to Tsesarevna Maria Alexandrovna of Russia. The future consort of Alexander II, Marie was born a princess of Hesse and By Rhine, and Grand Duke Ludwig's aunt.
Alexander's marriage was treated as morganatic as Julia was not of equal rank. Alexander's brother, Grand Duke Ludwig III created Julia H Ill H Countess of Battenberg in 1851. Seven years later, the Grand Duke elevated Julia and her children to the rank of Prince or Princess of Battenberg with the style of Serene Highness.
Although her father disapproved of her engagement, Victoria who espoused liberal views, unusual for a princess of her generation, and Prince Louise were married at Darmstadt on April 20, 1884. This was a love match. Prince Louis, who had acquired British nationality several years before his marriage, was an officer in Britain's Royal Navy. He rose to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet and served as First Sea Lord from 1912 through 1914 when he was forced to resign due to his German ancestry.
Prince and Princess Louis were firm favorites of Queen Victoria. They divide their time between homes in England and at Schloss Heiligenberg at Jugenheim, just south of Darmstadt.
The couple had four children: Alice, who was born in 1885 at Windsor Castle and the widow of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Crown Princess Louise of Sweden (1889) (the wife of Crown Prince Gustav Adolf), George (1892-1938), and Louis (1900), now Earl Mountbatten of Burma.
World War I forced the separation of Victoria from most of her immediate family. Two of her sisters, Elisabeth and Alix were in Russia. Ella was the widow of Grand Duke Serge, a younger son of their great-aunt, Empress Maria Alexandrovna, and Alix who took the name Alexandra Feodorovna when she joined the Orthodox Church, was married to Emperor Nicholas II. Another sister, Irene, was married to Prince Heinrich of Prussia, the younger brother of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Victoria's only surviving brother, Ernst Ludwig, was the Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine.
Before the outbreak of the war, Victoria and her family would often visit Germany and Russia.
By the end of the war, Ella, Nicholas, Alexandra, and their five children were all dead, murdered by the Bolsheviks. Imperial Germany collapsed. The Kaiser went into exile in the Netherlands. Prince and Princess Henry remained in Germany at their home in Schleswig-Holstein. Although he never abdicated, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig lost his throne in November 1918 as the monarchies, grand duchies, and princely states within Imperial Germany were swept away in a wave of republican sentiment. The grand duke died in October 1937.
On July 14, 1917, Victoria's first cousin, King George V, renounced all of his German titles and changed the Royal Family's name from Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Other members of the Royal family did the same. Louis and Victoria adopted Mountbatten, the anglicized version of Battenberg. Four months later, King George V created Louis as Marquess of Milford, Earl of Medina, and Viscount Alderney. Victoria had been given the option of keeping her own title of Princess, but she chose to be styled as the Marchioness of Milford Haven.
After receiving word of his cousin's death, King George V ordered a week of mourning. The Dowager Marchioness's body will be brought to Whippingham on the Isle of Wight, where she will be buried later this week. The Swedish court and the royal family honored the Crown Princess' mother with two weeks of mourning.
The Dowager Marchioness of Milford Haven is survived by three of her children, Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Crown Princess Louise of Sweden, and the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, eight grandchildren: Margarita, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Theodora, Margravine of Baden, Princess Georg Wilhelm of Hanover, Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Lady Tatiana Mountbatten, David, 3rd Marquess of Milford Haven, Patricia, Lady Brabourne, and the Lady Pamela Mountbatten and numerous great-grandchildren, including Prince Charles and Princess Anne of Edinburgh, the children of the Duke of Edinburgh and Princess Elizabeth.
She is also survived by her younger sister, Princess Irene, and numerous nieces and nephews.
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2021/01/recollections-by-victoria-marchioness.html
all photos: © Cour grand-ducale / Sophie Margue |
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume and Hereditary Grand Duchess Stephanie joined other members of the Luxembourg Grand Family at the celebration of the baptism of their four-month-old son Charles Jean Philippe Joseph Marie Guillaume on September 19 at L'abbaye St Maurice in Clervaux in the northern part of Luxembourg.
The little prince wore the Nassau family christening gown, which had also been worn by grandfather, Hereditary Grand Duke and other family members. His two godparents are his paternal uncle, Prince Louis of Luxembourg, and his maternal aunt Countess Gaëlle de Lannoy.
While watching the video of the celebration, I noticed the omission of a baptismal font, where the parents, godparents, and the officiating priests would gather and the ceremony would include the priest pouring water over the infant, and baptizing him in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Is it possible due to COVD-19 that Charles was already baptized, perhaps in a private ceremony at his parents' home, Schloss Fischbach? The Unity Candle shows his birthdate, rather than the baptismal date.
Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa were among the guests that also included Prince Felix and Princess Claire and their two children, Princess Amalia and Prince Liam, Prince Sebastian, and members of the de Lannoy family.
Hereditary Grand Duke Guillaume's younger sister, Princess Alexandra, was the only member of the immediate family who did not attend the ceremony.
H Ill H Maria Josef Hubert Ernst Amadeus Vincenz Benediktus Antonius Konrad Apolinarius Count of Neipperg died at Schwaigern on September 12, 2020. He was 102 years old.
Josef Hubert and Theresa, Count and Countess of Neipperg (1990) Marlene A. Eilers Koenig Collection |
The count was born at Schwaigern on July 22, 1918, the third of fourth child of H Ill H Count Anton Ernst of Neipperg and Countess Anna of Silva-Tarouca. He became heir apparent, following the death of his older brother, Hereditary Count Karl Reinhard, who had been killed in action in Russia in July 1941.
Josef Hubert succeeded his father as Count on December 28, 1947. He was married twice. His first marriage to Countess Maria of Ledebur-Wicheln (1920-1984) took place in Munich on February 3, 1951. They were the parents of eight children: Hereditary Count Karl Eugen, Count Reinhard, Countess Maria Anna (a nun, known as Sister Marianna), Countess Franziska, Count Stephan, Count Christoph, Countess Barbara, and Count Johannes.
Two years after the death of Countess Maria, Josef Hubert married HSH Princess Therese of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst (1938).
The Count is survived by his widow, his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.
Karl Eugen has succeeded as the Count of Neipperg. He was born at Schwaigern on October 20, 1951. On July 30, 1977, he married HI & RH Archduchess Andrea of Austria, daughter of HI & RH Archduke Otto.
They have five children, Hereditary Count Philipp, Count Benedikt, Count Dominik, Countess Hemma, and Countess Katharina.
Princess Tatiana von Preussen and her husband, writer Philip Womack, are the parents of twin daughters, Xenia Alexandra Selena and Amalia Maria Brigid, who were born at St. Mary's Paddington. The twin girls are the second and third children for Tatiana, an architect, and Mr. Womack. They have a son, Arthur Frederick Richard Womack von Preussen, who was born November 21, 2015.
@VPPR |
The Princess is the daughter of Prince Andrew von Preussen, second son of the late Prince Friedrich of Prussia, third son of Crown Prince Wilhelm and Crown Princess Cecilie of Prussia, and Lady Brigid Guinness, daughter of the 2nd Earl of Iveagh
Victoria - Victoria - Wilhelm II - Crown Prince Wilhelm - Friedrich - Andrew - Tatiana - Xenia and Amalia
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-wedding-of-princess-tatiana-von.html
http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/01/royal-engagement-von-preussen-womack.html
HRH Princess Maria Pia |
Princess Maria Pia, Prince Vittorio Emanuele and Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy |
HRH Prince Welf Heinrich of Hanover |
HRH Prince Welf Heinrich of Hanover |
TRH Princess Beatrix, Irene, Margriet & Christina of the Netherlands |
TRH The Count and Countess of Paris & their family |
TRH Princess Maria Pia, Prince Vittorio Emanuel and Princess Maria Gabriella |
These are the final images that I recently received as a gift ... so many thanks.