@Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace |
Victoria is a double descendant of Queen Victoria. Vctoria - Arthur - Margaret - Gustaf Adolf Carl Gustaf - Victoria Victoria -Leopold -Charles Edward - Sibylla - Carl-Gustaf - Victoria
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.
@Andrew Parsons/Kensington Palace |
Kelly Louise Doreen Knatchbull and her husband, Alexander Leon Geldard Cooke, are the parents of a daughter, Aria Evelyn Knatchbull Cooke. They were married on August 25, 2022.
Kelly, 35, is the daughter of Hon. Michael-John Knatchbull, the second child of the late Patricia, 2nd Countess Mountbatten of Burma, and the late John, 7th Baron Brabourne, and his first wife, Melissa Owens.
A native of Leeds, Alexander, 39, is a partner with Hamilton Hodell, a talent agency. Kelly is also a talent agent and an actress. She was named in honor of the HMS Kelly, a British warship whose captain was her great-grandfather, Louis, the 1st Mountbatten of Burma. One of Kelly's godparents is HRH The Princess Royal.
Michael-John, a film producer, and King Charles III are second cousins.
Victoria - Alice - Victoria - Louis - Patricia - Michael-John - Kelly - Aria
HSH The Princess of Hohenlohe-Oehringen died in Neuenstein on November 15, 2023. She was 84 years old.
Katharina von Siemens was born on Christmas Eve, 1938 in Berlin. She was the daughter of Peter von Siemens and Julia Lienau. On June 14, 1959, at Geiselgasteig, near Munich. Katharina married HSH Hereditary Prince Kraft Hans Konrad of Hohenlohe-Oehringen.
Prince Kraft succeeded his father, Prince August, as the 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Oehringen and 5th Duke of Ujest.
The Princess of Hohenlohe-Oehringen is survived by her husband, Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Oehringen, two children, HSH Princess Christina, Frau Schultze, and HSH Kraft, Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe--Oehringen. Her eldest child, HSH Princess Margarita, Hereditary Princess of Leiningen, was killed in an auto accident in February 1989.
Eight grandchildren also survive her: HSH Princess Theresa of Leiningen, Constantin, Nicolaus, and Philipp Schultze and TSH Prince Christian-Kraft, Prince Ferdinand, Prince Tassilo, and Princess Philippa of Hohenlohe-Oehringen.
all four images: Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection |
Fans of the Princess of Wales' blood pressure soared tonight when the first photos of Catherine in a car heading toward Buckingham Palace. The Prince and Princess of Wales were attending the State Banquet in honor of the South Korean President, Yoon Suk Yeol.
I normally do not write about jewels. I will leave that topic to Lauren Kiehna, the person behind the Court Jeweller blog, who is an acknowledged expert on royal jewels. When it comes to writing about royal jewels, Lauren is the go-to source. No one does it better. For more information about the jewels worn at tonight's State Banquet, please click the first link. The second link is Lauren's post about the history of the Strathmore. The last time it was worn was in the late 1930s.
https://www.thecourtjeweller.com/2018/02/the-strathmore-rose-tiara.html
I looked through my postcard collections to see if I had any postcards of the late Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother wearing the tiara. I do!
@Archdiocese of Salzburg |
Baron Victor von Baillou, a retired lawyer, died on November 10, 2023, at his home in Salzburg, Austria. He was 91 years old.
He was a descendant of an apothecary, Friedrich Jakob Merck, who in 1688 bought the Engel Apotheke in Darmstadt, Germany. One of his descendants, Emanuel Merck, took over the pharmacy in 1816. He studied pharmacy in Vienna and Berlin and discovered how to isolate alkaloids. By the 1850s, the Merck family's pharmacy was developing into what would become the oldest pharmaceutical company in the world. Merck's headquarters is in Darmstadt, Germany.
[Georg Merck emigrated in 1891 to the United States to establish an American subsidiary. During the First World War, the United States confiscated Merck and established it as an independent company, now known as Merck & Co., and is much larger than its former parent. The Merck family continues to have majority ownership of the German Merck.]
Victor Franz Clemens Raoul Emil Wilhelm von Baillou was born on June 27, 1931, in Vienna, Austria. He is the second of three sons of Baron Clemens Otto Johann Hermann Julia Maria von Baillou von Baillou (1903-1978) and Magdalene Merck (1900-1976). Magdalene's father, Wilhelm "Willy" Ernst Merck (1860-1932), was a noted chemist, who according to his obituary in Nature magazine (March 4, 1933). In 1886, he graduated from Kiel University. His thesis "embodied the results of his studies on cocaine and he had been able to effect a partial synthesis of this alkaloid by the methylation of benzoylecgonine, a by-product obtained during the extraction of cocaine."
Willy's father, Georg Franz Merck (1825-1873) was also a noted chemist. He was the son of (Heinrich) Emanuel Merck.
Baron Victor studied law and worked for many years at Merck in Darmstadt. He was also a noted philanthropist. In May 2022, he received the Great Decoration of Honor in Gold with Star of the Order of Merit of Saints Rupert and Virgil from the Archdiocese of Salzburg. Archbishop Franz Lackner noted Victor's "generous support of educational projects in the archdiocese and beyond."
From 2001 to 2015, Baron Victor was the Salzburg delegate to the Order of Malta.
On Baron Victor von Baillou married HI & RH Archduchess Alexandra of Austria in a civil ceremony in Mondsee, Austria, following her divorce from her first marriage to HRH Duke Eugen Eberhard of Württemberg. A Roman Catholic wedding took place on December 29, 1973, following the annulment of her first marriage on November 7.
Baron Victor and Archduchess Alexandra in Darmstadt in 1984. Photo by Marlene Eilers Koenig |
Archduchess Alexandra is a daughter of HRH Princess Ileana of Romania and HI & RH Archduke Anton of Austria.
The couple's only child was a stillborn son, born March on March 24, 1976.
Baron Victor is survived by his wife, Archduchess Alexandra.
November 18, 2023
HRH Princess Marie Cristina "Christa" of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies died in Brazil at the age of ninety. She was born HRH Princess Maria Christina Giusta Elena Giovanna of Savoy-Aosta, the younger daughter of HRH Prince Amedeo Umberto Isabella Luigi Filippo Maria Giuseppe Giovanni, Duke of Aosta and Princess Anne of Orléans. Her older sister, Princess Margherita, died in 2022.
Maria Cristina's baptism |
Maria Cristina's father died on March 3, 1942, in a British prisoner-of-war camp in Nairobi, Kenya.
The first communion for Princess Maria Cristina and her older sister, Princess Margherita, at the Vatican during the second world war |
The princess was born at Miramar Castle, near Trieste on September 11, 1933. On January 29, 1967, in Jacarézinho, Brazil, she married HRH Prince Casimir Maria Alfons Gabriel of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the fifth child of HRH Prince Gabriele Maria Giuseppe Carlo Ignazio Antonio Alfonso Pietro Giovanni Gerardo di Majella et Omni Sancti of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies and his second wife, Princess Cecilia Lubomirska. Prince Casimir was born in Warsaw on November 8, 1938.
The couple settled in Brazil, where they raised four children, Prince Luis Alfonso (1970), Princess Anna Cecilia, Countess Rodolphe Vincens de Causans, (1971), Princess Elena Sofia (1973), and Prince Alexander Henriques (1974), a Roman Catholic priest since 2007.
The Princess is survived by her husband, Prince Casimir, their four children, and six grandchildren, Anna Sophia, Maria Isabel, Luisa Fernanda, and Paulo Afonso Borbone-Dos Sicilias and Count Amedeo and Countess Victoria Vincens de Causans.
She is also survived by numerous nieces and nephews, including Prince Lorenz of Belgium (Archduke Lorenz of Austria), who was her godson. Her first cousins included the late Prince Amedeo, Duke of Aosta, and Prince Michael of Greece and Denmark.
The princess will be buried in Sartirana Lomellina, Italy, where she had a home.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cz4WfRRMRem/
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2020/08/the-aosta-sisters.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2022/01/hi-rh-archduchess-margherita-of-austria.html
In London tonight was the British premiere of Napoleon starring Joaquin Phoenix as the French emperor and Vanessa Kirby as Empress Josephine.
Among the guests on the red carpet were Prince and Princess Napoleon (Jean-Christophe and Olympia).
Prince Jean Christophe, the current head of the family, is the great-great-great-grandnephew of Napoleon I. He is a descendant of Napoleon's younger brother, Prince Jerome, King of Westphalia. Through his mother, Princess Beatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, he is a descendant of King Louis XIV of France.
The couple have one son, Prince Louis Charles Riprand Victor Jérôme Marie Napoléon, who was born on December 7, 2022.
Jean-Christophe is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner at Leon Capital in London.
all photos from Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection |
HH Princess Carin of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Duchess of Saxony, died in Coburg on November 11. 2023. She was 77 years old and had suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years.
The daughter of businessman Adolph Wilhelm Marin Dabelson and Maria Margarete Callan, Carin was born in Hamburg on July 16, 1946. She studied at the Hamburg Foreign Language School and earned a degree in interpreting in 1965. She was working as an interpreter at the Japanese Trade Center in Hamburg when she met Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the only child of Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the head of the former ducal house and his first wife, Countess Viktoria-Luise of Solms-Baruth. Andreas had spent his childhood in Louisiana with his mother and her second husband, Richard Whitten.
In his memoir, I did it my way... Prince Andreas recounted how he met his wife. "I was young, could afford a good life and wanted to have someone to share good times with. A friend of mine, who was dating Carin's sister, arranged for a double date. It was a blind date. I liked what she was wearing, and I felt very attracted to her."
They began dating in 1966, and their relationship continued "for several years" but Prince Andreas could not make up his mind about marriage. Andreas introduced Carin to his paternal grandmother, Duchess Viktoria Adelheid of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She approved of Carin although Carin was a commoner. Viktoria Adelheid's eldest son, Prince Johann Leopold lost his dynastic rights because his marriage was not approved by his father, Duke Carl Eduard.
Andreas wrote about his grandmother: "But after everything she lived through, she was willing to " accept the marriage.
Andreas' father gave his consent as well, based on the Saxe-Coburg and Gotha 1855 House Law.
Prince Andreas and Carin Dabelstein were married in a civil ceremony on June 18, 1971, in Hamburg. Six weeks later, on July 31, the couple was married in a Lutheran church, also in Hamburg.
Andreas and Carin settled in Coburg as Andreas began to learn more about his own inheritance which included several castles in Germany, Austria, and forestry. When Friedrich Josias died in 1998, Andreas succeeded as the head of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
In 1997, Carin was diagnosed with Multiple sclerosis. She was, according to her husband, "consumed by a debilitating and terrible illness." He was able to provide his much-loved wife with "the best care possible....She is never alone and the nursing staff helping us to take care of her are marvelous and deeply dedicated to making her as comfortable as possible." Prince Andreas also has serious health issues. Since 2011, he has suffered from Parkinson's Disease.
Princess Carin was patron for several organizations including Help for the Disabled Child Association, the Friends of Friedenstein, and a new shooting range in the local rifle club, according to the Neues Press. She enjoyed "reading a good book, listening to music, and spending time with her family."
Princess Carin is survived by her husband, Prince Andreas, their three children, Princess Stephanie, Frau Stahl (1972) Hereditary Prince Hubertus (1975) and his wife, Hereditary Princess Kelly, and Prince Alexander (1977), and three grandchildren, Princess Katharina, (2014), Prince Philipp (2015) and Princess Madeleine (2017).
Funeral arrangements have not been announced.
https://sachsen-coburg-gotha.de/
HSH Karl Johannes Nepomuk Norbert Friedrich Antonius Wratislaw Menas, 12th and 7th Prince of Schwarzenberg died in a Vienna hospital on November 12, 2023. He was 85 years.
The prince was best known as Karel Schwarzenberg, a former Czech foreign minister and chancellor under President Vaclav Havel, who had been hospitalized in Prague since August, suffering from kidney and heart problems. Earlier this week, he had been flown to a clinic in Austria.
The Czech Foreign Ministry confirmed the death. “It is with deep sadness and respect that we remember Karel Schwarzenberg, who left us today.” As a two-time foreign minister and Vaclav Havel’s chancellor, he shaped our foreign policy and always proved with his actions that he was a true democrat.”
He was born in Prague on December 10, 1937, the second child and eldest son of HSH Karl Friedrich Maria Joseph Johan Nepomuk Cyrill Method, 6th Prince of Schwarzenberg, and HSH Princess Antonie of Fürstenberg.
After the Communists took over Czechoslovakia in 1948, Karl and his family fled to Austria. He was born into a family of immense wealth. Czech and German were spoken at home, even after the family was living in Austria. He studied law and forestry in Austria and Germany but never finished his degree as he took over the family properties in Austria.
In 1967, Karl married Countess Therese zu Hardegg auf Glatz u. im Machlande. They had three children: HSH Prince Johannes (1967), HSH Princess Anna Caroline (1968), and HSH Prince Karl Philipp (1979), who was adopted by Austrian businessman Thomas Prinzhorn, and is known as Karl Philipp Prinzhorn. This is because Prinee Karl was not Karl Philipp's biological father.
The couple divorced in 1988 and remarried on July 15, 2008.)
He succeeded his father as the 7th Prince of Schwarzenberg in 1986, becoming the head of the junior line of the princely family. Prince Heinrich of Schwarzenberg (1903-1965) adopted him as the heir to the senior Princely line. Heinrich was heir to his older brother, Joseph, 11th Prince of Schwarzenberg (1900-1979) who never married. When Heinrich died, Prince Karl became the heir to Prince Joseph., bringing together the two branches of the Schwarzenberg family.
Czech playwright Vaclav Havel led the Velvet Revolution which led to democratic elections in Czechoslovakia. In December 1992, the dissolution of Czechoslovakia led to two independent nations, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. Prince Karl described Havel's election as the "happiest day of his life."
Titles cannot be used in the Czech Republic. The prince was known as Karel Schwarzenberg. He served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs on two separate occasions, from 2007-2009 and again from 2010-2013.
In 2013, he ran for the "largely ceremonial" position as Czech president but lost in a run-off vote to Milos Zeman.
He founded the Czechoslovak Documentation Center which was in his castle in Bavaria. The collection focused on "banned literature and other materials related to anti-totalitarian resistance and thinking during the communist regime," according to the Associated Press. The collection is now housed in the National Museum in Prague.
He succeeded Vaclav Havel as the second Czech Patron of the English College of Prague and was joint patron with King Charles III.
Prince Karl is survived by his widow, Princess Therese, his three children, six grandchildren, his two sisters, Princess Marie Eleonore, Frau von Bredow and Princess Anna, Baroness von Hasthaus, and numerous nieces and nephews including Prince Ferdinand, the son of the late Prince Friedrich (1940-2014.
The new Prince of Schwarzenberg is Karl's elder son, Hereditary Prince Johannes Nepomucenus Andreas Heinrich Joseph Karl Ferdinand Johannes Evangelist die Heiligen Drei Könige Achaz Michael Maria. His first marriage to Diana Orgovanyi-Hanstein ended in divorce in 2015. Since 2017, he has been married to Donna Francesca Riario Sforza. Both marriages are childless, and the new Prince's heir is his first cousin Prince Ferdinand Karl Friedrich Johan Nepomuk Jakob Alexius.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2023/07/prince-ferdinand-zu-swarzenberg-marries.html
The late Prince was a citizen of Switzerland and the Czech Republic. He owned Schloss Schwarzenberg, in Scheinfeld, Bavaria, Palais Schwarzenberg in Vienna as well as properties in Austria and the Czech Republic. Schloss Schwarzenberg has been a boarding school since 1968.
He was "known for his use of slightly archaic and often earthy Czech."
The Schwarzenberg Palace in Prague was also a family residence until 1948 when the Communists confiscated it. It is now an art gallery.
https://huntingbond.com/palais-schwarzenberg-vienna/
Princess Irene of Prussia died today at her home at Hemmelmark near Kiel, reports the New York. The Princess was 87 years old.
Her nephew, Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine announced the death.
Princess Irene Louise Marie Anna of Hesse and by Rhine was the third daughter of Princess Alice of Great Britain and Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine. She was born in the New Palace in Darmstadt on July 11, 1866. She was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.
The Princess grew up in Darmstadt with her sisters, Victoria, Ella, and Alix, and her younger brother, Ernst Ludwig, who succeeded his father as Grand Duke in 1892. The four sisters were known as the Four Graces and were expected to have grand marriages. Irene's eldest sister, Victoria, married her father's first cousin, Prince Louis of Battenberg, who rose to the highest positions in the Royal Navy and was created Marquess of Milford Haven in 1917 after he relinquished his German titles. Ella and Alix married into the Russian Imperial family. In 1884, Ella married Grand Duke Serge of Russia, and a decade later, Alix, the youngest sister, married Nicholas II.
Grand Duke Serge was assassinated in 1905. Nicholas, Alexandra, their five children, and Grand Duchess Ella were murdered by the Bolsheviks in July 1918. The Marchioness of Milford Haven, who was the Duke of Edinburgh's grandmother, died in 1950.
On May 24, 1888, Princess Irene married her first cousin, Prince Heinrich of Prussia. He was the second son of Emperor Friedrich III and Princess Victoria of Great Britain, who was Princess Alice's sister. The marriage took place at Charlottenburg Palace.
Queen Victoria was not pleased when she was informed that her grandchildren were getting married as they had neglected to tell her about their romance before Heinrich proposed.
The couple had three sons, Prince Waldemar (1889-1945), Prince Sigismund (1896) and Prince Heinrich (1900-1904). Prince Waldemar and Prince Heinrich suffered from hemophilia, a disease that they inherited from their mother, who carried the gene.
Following the abdication of Heinrich's brother, Kaiser Wilhelm II. When the Revolution broke out in November 1918, Irene and Heinrich got into a car and "fled from Kiel under fire" from Naval mutineers. Irene was shot in the arm. Her husband "narrowly escaped death" from a bullet that pierced his coat.
After the First World War and the establishment of the German Republic, Irene and Henry retired to Hemmelmark and "devoted themselves to good works.
all images from Marlene A Eilers Koenig's collection |
Prince Heinrich died on April 20, 1929.
Throughout her life, Irene was devoted to charitable work. She was the Honorary Chairman of the German Red Cross.
In 1950, she moved to a cottage on the Hemmelmark estate to allow the main house to be used as a home for aged Red Cross workers. She remained in the cottage "where she lived modestly and worked unremittingly until her death."
Her granddaughter, Princess Barbara of Prussia was at her side when she died. Barbara's father, Prince Sigismund farms in Costa Rica.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2019/04/prince-heinrich-of-prussia-1862-1929.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/05/princess-irene-leaves-home-for-her.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/11/princess-henry-starts-her-journey-to.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/08/prince-henry-of-prussia-to-visit-granny.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/05/royal-wedding-in-berlin.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/02/prince-and-princess-henry-about-to.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/02/prince-and-princess-henry-about-to.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/12/irene-to-learn-of-sons-illness.html