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January 27, 1859: Birth of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia

27 Friday Jan 2023

Posted by liamfoley63 in Abdication, Empire of Europe, Featured Monarch, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession, This Day in Royal History

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Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Dr. August Wegner, Emperor Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, Physician Sir James Clark, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Princess Royal, Wilhelm II

Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; January 27, 1859 – June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor (German: Kaiser) and King of Prussia, reigning from June 15, 1888 until his abdication on November 9, 1918.

Wilhelm was born in Berlin on January 27, 1859—at the Crown Prince’s Palace—to Victoria, Princess Royal “Vicky”, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. His father was Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (“Fritz” – the future Emperor Friedrich III).

At the time of his birth, his granduncle, Friedrich Wilhelm IV, was king of Prussia. Friedrich Wilhelm IV had been left permanently incapacitated by a series of strokes, and his younger brother Prince Wilhelm was acting as regent.

Upon the death of King Friedrich Wilhelm IV in January 1861, Wilhelm’s paternal grandfather (the elder Wilhelm) became King of Prussia, and the two-year-old Wilhelm became second in the line of succession to Prussia.

After 1871, Wilhelm also became second in the line to the newly created German Empire, which, according to the constitution of the German Empire, was ruled by the Prussian King. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, after his maternal uncles and his mother.

Traumatic birth

Shortly before midnight on January 26, 1859, Wilhelm’s mother experienced labour pains, followed by her water breaking, after which Dr. August Wegner, the family’s personal physician, was summoned. Upon examining Victoria, Wegner realised the infant was in the breech position; gynaecologist Eduard Arnold Martin was then sent for, arriving at the palace at 10 am on January 27.

After administering ipecac and prescribing a mild dose of chloroform, which was administered by Victoria’s personal physician Sir James Clark, Martin advised Fritz the unborn child’s life was endangered. As mild anaesthesia did not alleviate her extreme labour pains, resulting in her “horrible screams and wails”, Clark finally administered full anaesthesia.

Observing her contractions to be insufficiently strong, Martin administered a dose of ergot extract, and at 2:45 pm saw the infant’s buttocks emerging from the birth canal, but noticed the pulse in the umbilical cord was weak and intermittent.

Despite this dangerous sign, Martin ordered a further heavy dose of chloroform so he could better manipulate the infant. Observing the infant’s legs to be raised upwards and his left arm likewise raised upwards and behind his head, Martin “carefully eased out the Prince’s legs”.

Due to the “narrowness of the birth canal”, he then forcibly pulled the left arm downwards, tearing the brachial plexus, then continued to grasp the left arm to rotate the infant’s trunk and free the right arm, likely exacerbating the injury. After completing the delivery, and despite realising the newborn prince was hypoxic, Martin turned his attention to the unconscious Victoria.

Noticing after some minutes that the newborn remained silent, Martin and the midwife Fräulein Stahl worked frantically to revive the prince; finally, despite the disapproval of those present, Stahl spanked the newborn vigorously until “a weak cry escaped his pale lips”.

January 13, 1865: Birth of Princess Marie of Orléans, Princess of Denmark

13 Friday Jan 2023

Posted by liamfoley63 in Featured Royal, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Castles & Palaces, Royal Genealogy, Royal Mistress, Royal Titles, royal wedding, This Day in Royal History

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Bernstorff, King Christian IX of Denmark, King George I of Greece, King Louis Philippe of the French, Prince George of Greece and Denmark, Prince Waldemar of Denmark, Princess Marie Bonaparte, Princess Marie of Orléans

Princess Marie of Orléans (January 13, 1865 – December 4, 1909) was a French princess by birth and a Danish princess by marriage to Prince Waldemar. She was politically active by the standards of her day.

Background

Marie was the eldest child of Prince Robert, Duke of Chartres, and his wife, and first cousin, Princess Françoise d’Orléans. Her father was the second son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans, and Duchess Helena of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Princess Marie of Orléans

Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans (1810 – 1842) was the eldest son of King Louis Philippe I of the French and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily.

Princess Françoise of Orléans was the daughter of Prince François d’Orléans, Prince de Joinville, and Princess Francisca of Brazil.

Princess François d’Orléans, Prince de Joinville (1818 – 1900) was the third son of King Louis Philippe I of the French, and his wife Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily

Born during the reign in France of her family’s rival, Emperor Napoléon III, she grew up in England, where her family had moved in 1848. She moved to France with her family after the fall of Napoleon in 1871.

Marriage

After obtaining papal consent from Pope Leo XIII, Marie married Prince Waldemar of Denmark, the youngest son of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel, on October 20, 1885 in a civil ceremony in Paris.

They had a religious ceremony on 22 October 1885 at the Château d’Eu, the residence of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris. The wedding was believed by one source to have been politically arranged, and in France, it was believed that the Prince Philippe of Orléans, Count of Paris (the bride’s uncle) was personally responsible for the match. However, the same source claimed that “there was every reason to believe that [it was] a genuine love match”.

They were third cousins, once-removed.

Prince Waldemar of Denmark

She remained a Roman Catholic, he a Lutheran. They adhered to the dynastic arrangement usually stipulated in the marriage contract in such circumstances: sons were to be raised in the faith of their father, daughters in that of their mother.

The couple took up residence at Bernstorff Palace outside Copenhagen, in which Waldemar had been born. Since 1883, he had lived there with his nephew and ward Prince George of Greece, a younger son of Waldemar’s elder brother Wilhelm, who had become King of the Hellenes in 1863 as George I. The king had taken the boy to Denmark to enlist him in the Danish navy and consigned him to the care of his brother Waldemar, who was an admiral in the Danish fleet.

Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée, Princess Marie Bonaparte, the profound attachment he developed for his uncle Waldemar from that day forward.

Prince George of Greece and Denmark

Prince George of Greece and Denmark, was the second of the five sons of King George I of the Hellenes and was introduced to Marie Bonaparte on July 19, 1907 at the Bonapartes’ home in Paris. Although homosexual, he courted her for twenty-eight days, confiding that from 1883, he’d lived not at his father’s Greek court in Athens, but at Bernstorff Palace near Copenhagen with Prince Waldemar of Denmark, his father’s youngest brother.

It was into this household and relationship that Marie came to live. In 1907, when George brought his bride to Bernstorff for the first family visit, Marie d’Orléans was at pains to explain to Marie Bonaparte the intimacy which united uncle and nephew, so deep that at the end of each of George’s several yearly visits to Bernstorff, he would weep, Waldemar would feel ill, and the women learned to be patient and not intrude upon their husbands’ private moments.

On this and subsequent visits, the Bonaparte princess found herself a great admirer of the Orléans princess, concluding that she was the only member of her husband’s large family in Denmark and Greece endowed with brains, pluck, or character.

During the first of these visits, Waldemar and Marie Bonaparte found themselves engaging in the kind of passionate intimacies she had looked forward to with her husband George who, however, only seemed to enjoy them vicariously, sitting or lying beside his wife and uncle.

Princess Marie Bonaparte

On a later visit, George’s wife carried on a passionate flirtation with Prince Aage, Waldemar eldest son. In neither case does it appear that Marie objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention.

George criticized Marie to his wife, alleging that she was having an affair with his uncle’s stablemaster. He also contended that she drank too much alcohol and could not conceal the effects. But Marie Bonaparte found no fault with Marie d’Orléans; rather she admired her forbearance and independence under circumstances which caused her bewilderment and estrangement from her own husband.

Prince George of Greece and Denmark with his wife Princess Marie Bonaparte

Life and influence

Marie was described as impulsive, witty, and energetic, and introduced a more relaxed style to the stiff Danish court. She never fully learned to speak Danish. The marriage was friendly. She gave her children a free upbringing, and her artistic taste and Bohemian habits dominated her household.

She was informal, not snobbish, believed in social equality, expressed her own opinions, and performed her ceremonial duties in an unconventional manner. In 1896, she wrote to Herman Bang: “I believe that a person, regardless of her position, should be herself”. She liked both to ride and to drive and was known for her elegance.

Princess Marie of Orléans and Denmark with her tattoo

She was the official protector of the fire brigade and let herself be photographed in a fire brigade uniform, which was caricatured, and as a support to her spouse’s career as a marine, she had an anchor tattooed on her upper arm. She once said regarding complaints about her unconventional manners: “Let them complain, I am just as happy nevertheless”.

She had asked the permission of the court to leave the house without a lady-in-waiting, and she had mainly spent her time with artists. She painted and photographed and was a student of Otto Bache and Frants Henningsen. She participated in the exhibitions at Charlottenborg in 1889, 1901 and 1902 and was a member of the Danish Arts Academy.

She refused to obey the expectation on royal women to stay away from politics. In 1886, Waldemar declined the throne of Bulgaria with her consent. She belonged to the political left and participated in convincing the king to agree to the reforms of 1901, which led to an appointment of a Venstre government, and the de facto introduction of parliamentarism.

In 1902 she rejected the idea of offering the Danish West Indies to the United States. She also saw to the interests of France: she was credited by the French press with having influenced the Franco-Russian alliance in 1894 and the peace in the French-German Colonial conflict over Morocco in 1905. She assisted her friend H.N. Andersen, the founder of the East Asiatic Company, with contacts in his affairs in Thailand. She was a popular person in Denmark.

Marie’s husband and three sons were in India en route to Siam when they received word that she had died at Bernstorff.

The Life of Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt

12 Thursday Jan 2023

Posted by liamfoley63 in Abdication, Empire of Europe, Featured Royal, Grand Duke/Grand Duchy of Europe, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Divorce, Royal Genealogy, Royal Titles

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Bellevue Palace, Duke Eduard of Anhalt, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Johannes-Michael Freiherr von Loën, King of Prussia, Prince Charles Franz of Prussia, Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia, Prince Joachim of Prussia, Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt

Princess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt (June 10, 1898 – May 22, 1983)

Her Highness Princess Marie-Auguste was born in Ballenstedt, Anhalt, Germany, to the then Prince Eduard of Anhalt and his wife Princess Louise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, the daughter of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and his wife, Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen. Her father was a son of Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, and a younger brother of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.

Her father, Eduard succeeded his brother Duke Friedrich II of Anhalt on April 21, 1918, but his brief reign came to an end five months later with his own death on September 13, 1918. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Prince Joachim Ernst under the regency of Eduard’s younger brother, Prince Aribert.

Prince Joachim Ernst’s brief reign came to an end on November 12, 1918 with his uncle abdicating in his name following the German revolution. The duchy became the Free State of Anhalt and is today part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt. Duke Joachim Ernst joined the ruling Nazi Party in 1939. He died at the Buchenwald concentration camp after World War II as a prisoner of the Soviet Union.

Princess Marie-Auguste was raised in Dessau, the capital of the duchy of Anhalt. She had five siblings, but her elder sister Friederike and brother Leopold died while infants. Marie-Auguste was an elder sister of Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt.

First marriage and Divorce

On March 11, 1916 in Berlin, Marie-Auguste married Prince Joachim of Prussia, the youngest son of German Emperor Wilhelm II and his wife Princess Victoria Augusta of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

Prince Joachim of Prussia

Marie-Auguste and Joachim, who was Wilhelm’s last unmarried child, had been officially engaged since October 14 of the previous year. The wedding was celebrated at Bellevue Palace, and was attended by Joachim’s father and mother Empress Augusta Victoria, the Duke and Duchess of Anhalt, as well as other relatives. They had a simple Lutheran ceremony.

The couple shared common ancestry in King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia who was Princess Marie-Auguste’s great-great-great grandfather through Prince Ludwig Charles of Prussia the second son and third child of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Princess Marie-Auguste and her son Prince Prince Charles Franz of Prussia

Prince Joachim of Prussia was a great-great-great grandson of King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt through the couples eldest son King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.

The couple had one son, Prince Charles Franz Josef Wilhelm Friedrich Eduard Paul (December 15, 1916 – January 23, 1975). Their grandson, Prince Franz Wilhelm of Prussia, married Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, a pretender to the Imperial Russian throne.

Following the German Revolution in November 1918, German Emperor Wilhelm II was forced to abdicate, thus depriving Joachim of his titles and position. Unable to accept his new status as a commoner, he fell into a deep depression.

The relationship between Joachim and Marie-Auguste had already started to deteriorate. The couple were divorced soon after the end of the First World War. The direct causes of the divorce are not known to the public.

According to one report, Marie-Auguste had previously abandoned her husband and child to run away with another man, had been forcibly brought back home on the orders of the Emperor, and had filed for divorce as soon as the war ended, when she saw that her husband’s family were at their lowest ebb.

Only weeks after the divorce was finalized, Joachim shot himself in Potsdam on July 18, 1920. One source reports that he had been in financial straits and suffered from “great mental depression”. His own brother Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia commented that he suffered from “a fit of excessive dementia”.

After Joachim’s suicide, Marie-Auguste’s son Charles Franz was taken into the custody of his paternal uncle Prince Eitel Friedrich. As the acting head of the House of Hohenzollern, he claimed this right, due to the fact that Emperor Wilhelm had issued an edict placing Hohenzollern powers in Eitel’s hands.

This action was later declared to have been unlawful, and in 1921, Marie-Auguste was given full custody of her son, despite that fact that she had previously run away from her husband and despite numerous servants having testified against her, with Eitel’s counsel arguing that Marie-Auguste was unfit to have custody of Charles Franz.

However, she appeared in court and pleaded that she was heartbroken, which may have helped to win the case for her. In 1922, Marie-Auguste sued her former father-in-law for the financial support that had been promised in the marriage contract between her and Prince Joachim. Wilhelm’s advocate argued that the laws of the House of Hohenzollern were no longer in force, so there was no longer a financial obligation to support her.

Second marriage and divorce

On September 27, 1926, she married Johannes-Michael Freiherr von Loën (b. 1902), a childhood friend. They were divorced in 1935, and Marie-Auguste reverted to her maiden name.

In 1980, Princess Marie-Auguste legally adopted the businessman Hans Lichtenberg, who subsequently took the name Frédéric Prinz von Anhalt. According to Prinz von Anhalt, who thereafter proceeded to sell knighthoods and marriages related to his new station, he gave her $4,000 a month (German sources say 2000 Deutsche Mark a month) in financial support.

Death

Princess Marie-Auguste died on May 22, 1983 at Essen, North Rhine-Westphalia, West Germany.

January 8, 1864: Birth of Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale.

08 Sunday Jan 2023

Posted by liamfoley63 in Bishop of Rome and the Catholic Church, Duchy/Dukedom of Europe, Featured Royal, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, This Day in Royal History

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Pope Leo XIII, Prince Albert Victor, Prince Albert-Victor of Wales, Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, Princess Hélène of Orléans, Princess Margaret of Prussia, Princess of Wales, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Duke of Clarence and Avondale

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (January 8, 1864 – January 14, 1892)

Prince Albert Victor was born two months prematurely on January 8, 1864 at Frogmore House, Windsor, Berkshire. He was the first child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Princess Alexandra of Denmark.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra, with their new-born son, Albert Victor, 1864

Following his grandmother Queen Victoria’s wishes, he was named Albert Victor, after herself and her late husband, Albert. Albert Victor was known to his family, and many later biographers, as “Eddy”. As a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales from birth.

The Prince and Princess of Wales

When young, he travelled the world extensively as a naval cadet, and as an adult he joined the British Army but did not undertake any active military duties.

Prince Albert Victor’s intellect, sexuality, and mental health have been the subject of speculation. Rumours in his time linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel; however, there is no conclusive evidence that he ever went there, or was indeed homosexual.

Prince Albert Victor of Wales

Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, or that he was otherwise involved in the murders, but contemporaneous documents show that Albert Victor could not have been in London at the time of the murders, and the claim is widely dismissed.

Though he learned to speak Danish, progress in other languages and subjects was slow. Sir Henry Ponsonby thought that Albert Victor might have inherited his mother’s deafness. Albert Victor never excelled intellectually.

Possible physical explanations for Albert Victor’s inattention or indolence in class include absence seizures or his premature birth, which can be associated with learning difficulties, but Lady Geraldine Somerset blamed Albert Victor’s poor education on Dalton, whom she considered uninspiring.

Prince Albert Victor of Wales

On his return from a tour of India, Albert Victor was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone on May 24, 1890, Queen Victoria’s 71st birthday.

Potential brides

Albert Victor with Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, his fiancée, photographed in 1891

In 1889, Albert Victor’s grandmother Queen Victoria expressed her wish that he marry his paternal cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, who was one of her favorite granddaughters.

Princess Alice of Hesse and by Rhine

In Balmoral Castle, he proposed to Alix, but she did not return his affections and refused his offer of engagement. He persisted in trying to convince Alix to marry him, but he finally gave up in 1890 when she sent him a letter in which she told him “how it grieves her to pain him, but that she cannot marry him, much as she likes him as a Cousin.”

In 1894, she married Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, another of Albert Victor’s cousins. Nicholas’s mother, Princess Dagmar of Denmark and Prince Albert Victor’s mother, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, were sisters.

After her proposed match with Alix fell through, Victoria suggested to Albert Victor that he marry another first cousin, Princess Margaret of Prussia.

Princess Margaret of Prussia was the youngest child of Friedrich III, German Emperor, and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom. As such, she was the younger sister of Emperor Wilhelm II and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Princess Margaret of Prussia

On May 19, 1890, she sent him a formal letter in which she expressed her opinions about Margaret’s suitability to become Queen: “Of the few possible Princess (for of course any Lady in Society would never do) I think no one more likely to suit you and the position better than your Cousin Mossy … She is not regularly pretty but she has a very pretty figure, is very amiable and half English with great love for England which you will find in very few if any others.”

Although Albert Victor’s father approved, Queen Victoria’s secretary Henry Ponsonby informed her that Albert Victor’s mother “would object most strongly and indeed has already done so.” Because of Alexandra’s strong anti-German feelings, which she had after Denmark was defeated in a war against Prussia in 1864, she didn’t want any of her children to marry Germans. Nothing came of Queen Victoria’s suggestion.

Princess Margaret married Prince Friedrich Charles of Hesse (formerly Hesse-Cassel), the elected King of Finland, making her the would-be Queen of Finland had he not decided to renounce the throne on December 14, 1918.

By this time however, Albert Victor was falling in love with Princess Hélène of Orléans, a daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, a pretender to the French throne and his wife Princess Marie Isabelle of Orléans was the daughter Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa Fernanda was the daughter of King Fernando VII of Spain and his fourth wife Princess Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.

The Count and Countess of Paris and thier children were living in England after being banished from France in 1886.

Princess Hélène of Orléans

At first, Queen Victoria opposed any engagement because Hélène was Roman Catholic. Once Albert Victor and Hélène confided their love to her, the Queen relented and supported the proposed marriage. Hélène offered to convert to the Church of England, and Albert Victor offered to renounce his succession rights to marry her.

To the couple’s disappointment, her father refused to countenance the marriage and was adamant she could not convert. Hélène travelled personally to intercede with Pope Leo XIII, but he confirmed her father’s verdict, and the courtship ended.

When Albert Victor died, his sisters Maud and Louise sympathized with Hélène and treated her, not his fiancée Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, as his true love. Maud told her that “he is buried with your little coin around his neck” and Louise said that he is “yours in death”. Hélène later became Duchess of Aosta.

By 1891, another potential bride, Princess Victoria Mary of Teck, was under consideration. Mary was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s first cousin Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Duchess of Teck. Queen Victoria was very supportive, considering Mary ideal—charming, sensible and pretty.

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Princess Victoria Mary of Teck

On December 3, 1891 Albert Victor, to Mary’s “great surprise”, proposed to her at Luton Hoo, the country residence of the Danish ambassador to Britain. The wedding was set for February 27, 1892.

Just as plans for both his marriage to Mary and his appointment as Viceroy of Ireland were under discussion, Albert Victor fell ill with influenza in the pandemic of 1889–1892. He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on 14 January 14, 1892, less than a week after his 28th birthday.

His parents the Prince and Princess of Wales, his sisters Princesses Maud and Victoria, his brother Prince George, his fiancée Princess Mary, her parents the Duke and Duchess of Teck, three physicians (Alan Reeve Manby, Francis Laking and William Broadbent) and three nurses were present. The Prince of Wales’s chaplain, Canon Frederick Hervey, stood over Albert Victor reading prayers for the dying.

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale

The nation was shocked. Shops put up their shutters. The Prince of Wales wrote to Queen Victoria, “Gladly would I have given my life for his”. Princess Mary wrote to Queen Victoria of the Princess of Wales, “the despairing look on her face was the most heart-rending thing I have ever seen.” His younger brother Prince George wrote, “how deeply I did love him; & I remember with pain nearly every hard word & little quarrel I ever had with him & I long to ask his forgiveness, but, alas, it is too late now!”

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale

George took Albert Victor’s place in the line of succession, eventually succeeding to the throne as George V in 1910. Drawn together during their shared period of mourning, Prince George later married Mary himself in 1893. She became queen consort on George’s accession.

Albert Victor’s mother, Alexandra, never fully recovered from her son’s death and kept the room in which he died as a shrine.

December 27, 1459: Birth of John I Albert, King of Poland

27 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Duchy/Dukedom of Europe, Famous Battles, Featured Monarch, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal House, Royal Succession, Royal Titles, This Day in Royal History

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Archduke of Austria, Elizabeth of Austria, Elizabeth of Luxembourg, Emperor Sigismund, Jagiellonian Dynasty, John I Albert, King Albrecht II of the Romans (Germany), King Casimir IV of Poland, King of Poland and Duke of Głogów

John I Albert (December 27, 1459 – June 17, 1501) was King of Poland from 1492 until his death in 1501 and Duke of Głogów (Glogau) from 1491 to 1498. He was the fourth Polish sovereign from the Jagiellonian dynasty, the son of Casimir IV and his wife Elizabeth of Austria, the daughter of King Albrecht II of the Romans (Germany), Archduke of Austria, and his wife Elizabeth of Luxembourg, daughter of Emperor Sigismund. The exact date of her birth is unknown and has been variously provided between 1436 and early 1439.

Several rulers were crowned King of the Romans (king of Germany) but not emperor, although they styled themselves thus, among whom were: Conrad I and Heinrich the Fowler in the 10th century, and Conrad IV, Rudolf I, Adolph and Albrecht I and Albrecht II.

As a kin to the House of Habsburg, John Albert was groomed to become Emperor in the Holy Roman Empire, a plan which ultimately failed. He was well-educated and tutored by scholars such as Johannes Longinus and Callimachus, whom he subsequently befriended. Heavily influenced by the Italian Renaissance, John Albert sought to strengthen royal authority at the expense of the Catholic Church and the clergy.

John I Albert, King of Poland and Duke of Głogów

In 1487, he led a force against the Ottoman Empire and defeated the Tatars of the Crimean Khanate during the early phase of the Polish–Ottoman War. In the aftermath of the Bohemian–Hungarian War, John Albert unsuccessfully attempted to usurp Hungary from his elder brother Vladislaus but was instead granted the Duchy of Głogów to calm his ambition.

John Albert ascended to the Polish throne in 1492 whilst his younger brother Alexander was elected Grand Duke of Lithuania by an independent Lithuanian assembly, thus temporarily breaking a personal union between the two nations. He was proclaimed king through an oral ballot orchestrated by Cardinal Frederick Jagiellon.

To secure his succession against the Piast princes from the Duchy of Masovia, he dispatched an army to the electoral proceedings which alienated the higher nobles and magnates. He later invaded Masovia to deprive Conrad III of his ancestral holdings and curtail internal opposition to his rule.

In 1497, John Albert launched a personal crusade into Moldavia to uphold Polish suzerainty, establish control over Black Sea ports and dethrone Stephen III in favour of John Albert’s brother Sigismund. The campaign’s failure greatly hindered Polish expansion into southeastern Europe.

A catastrophic Moldavian Campaign was a major blunder which psychologically scarred John Albert for life and likely affected his health. He died suddenly on June 17,1501 in Toruń, where he agreed to negotiate with the Teutonic Knights.

The most likely cause of death was syphilis, though the monarch also suffered from other ailments and battle wounds. The king’s body was embalmed for the journey, and on June 29, the funeral cortège left Toruń for the royal capital of Kraków. His heart was embedded inside the Toruń Cathedral, but its exact location remains unknown.

John Albert was laid to rest on July 28, 1501 at Wawel Cathedral in Kraków, in one of the dedicated chapels adjacent to the cathedral’s nave. The Late Gothic red-marble headstone with the king’s effigy and ledger was sculpted by Stanisław Stwosz, the son of Veit Stoss.

John Albert remains a largely forgotten and overlooked figure in Polish historiography. His relatively short reign ended in a major military setback, and he was criticised during his lifetime for embracing absolutism and attempting to centralise the government.

He is credited for creating a bicameral parliament comprising the Senate and the Sejm, which granted lower-class gentry the right of expression in the matters of state. Conversely, he limited the movement of peasants, confining them to nobles’ estates for life.

John Albert never married and remained a lifelong bachelor. It is uncertain whether he fathered any illegitimate children, however, it is evident that the king was a libertine who led a promiscuous life. Even during his lifetime John was known to be a notorious womaniser and a dissolute.

December 24, 1837: Birth of Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, Empress of Austria

24 Saturday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Empire of Europe, Featured Monarch, Featured Royal, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, royal wedding, This Day in Royal History

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Archduchess Sophie of Austria, Archduke Franz Charles of Austria, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, Duchess Helene in Bavaria, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Hungary and Croatia, Queen of Bohemia, Sophie of Bavaria

Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria (December 24, 1837 – September 10, 1898) was Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary, Bohemia and Croatia from her marriage to Emperor Franz Joseph I on April 24,1854 until her assassination in 1898.

Born Elisabeth Amalie Eugenie on December 24, 1837 in Munich, Bavaria, she was the third child and second daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria, the half-sister of King Ludwig I of Bavaria. Her mother was the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife Caroline of Baden as their fifth child, The birth of Ludovika was known to be difficult.

Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria

Elisabeth was born into the royal Bavarian House of Wittelsbach. Nicknamed Sisi (also Sissi), she enjoyed an informal upbringing.

Sisi’s father, Maximilian was considered to be rather peculiar; he had a childish love of circuses and traveled the Bavarian countryside to escape his duties. The family’s homes were the Herzog-Max-Palais in Munich during winter and Possenhofen Castle in the summer months, far from the protocols of court. Sisi and her siblings grew up in a very unrestrained and unstructured environment; she often skipped her lessons to go riding about the countryside.

Emperor Franz Joseph was the eldest son of Archduke Franz Charles of Austria (the younger son of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II) and his wife Princess Sophie of Bavaria.

Young Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria

In December 1848, Franz Joseph’s uncle Emperor Ferdinand abdicated the throne at Olomouc, as part of Minister President Felix zu Schwarzenberg’s plan to end the Revolutions of 1848 in Hungary. Franz Joseph then acceded to the throne.

It was generally felt in the Imperial Court that the Emperor should marry and produce heirs as soon as possible. Various potential brides were considered, including Princess Elisabeth of Modena, Princess Anna of Prussia and Princess Sidonia of Saxony.

Although in public life Franz Joseph was the unquestioned director of affairs, in his private life his mother still wielded crucial influence. Sophie wanted to strengthen the relationship between the Houses of Habsburg and Wittelsbach—descending from the latter house herself—and hoped to match Emperor Franz Joseph with her sister Ludovika’s eldest daughter, Helene (“Néné”), who was four years the Emperor’s junior.

Duchess Helene (“Néné”) in Bavaria

Although the couple had never met, Emperor Franz Joseph’s obedience was taken for granted by the Archduchess, who was once described as “the only man in the Hofburg” for her authoritarian manner.

The Duchess Ludovika and Helene were invited to journey to the resort of Bad Ischl, Upper Austria to receive Emperor Franz Joseph’s formal proposal of marriage. The then fifteen year old Sisi accompanied her mother and sister, and they traveled from Munich in several coaches.

They arrived late as the Duchess, prone to migraines, had to interrupt the journey; the coach with their gala dresses never did arrive. Before leaving for Bad Ischl, the Bavarian court had gone into mourning over the death of the Queen-Dowager’s (Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen) brother Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg so they were dressed in black and unable to change to more suitable clothing before meeting the young Emperor.

While black did not suit eighteen year old Helene’s dark coloring, by contrast, it made her younger sister look more striking.

Helene was a pious, quiet young woman, andnshe and Franz Joseph felt ill at ease in each other’s company.

Emperor Franz Joseph was instantly infatuated with her younger sister Sisi, a beautiful girl of fifteen, and insisted on marrying her instead. He did not propose to Helene, but instead, he defied his mother and informed her that if he could not have Elisabeth (Sisi), he would not marry at all.

Sisi

Sophie acquiesced, despite her misgivings about Sisi’s appropriateness as an imperial consort. Five days later, their betrothal was officially announced. When Emperor Franz Joseph decided to marry Elisabeth instead of Helene, she became very distraught.

The couple was married eight months later in Vienna, at the Augustinerkirche, on April 24, 1854. Emperor Franz Joseph was 24 years old and Empress Elisabeth was 16 years old at the time of thier marriage.

The marriage was finally consummated three days later, and Elisabeth received a dower equal to US$240,000 today.

In 1858, Helene married Maximilian Anton, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis. After nearly nine years of marriage, Maximillian died due to a chronic kidney disease, leaving the Thrun and Taxis throne into the hands of Helene until their son, Prince Maximilian Maria, reached majority.

The marriage of Emperor Franz Joseph and Sisi would eventually prove to be an unhappy one; though Franz Joseph was passionately in love with his wife, the feeling was not mutual. Elisabeth never truly acclimatized to life at court, and was frequently in conflict with the imperial family.

Sisi was surprised to learn she was pregnant and gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Archduchess Sophie of Austria (1855–1857), just ten months after her wedding.

The elder Archduchess Sophie, who often referred to Elisabeth as “a silly young mother,” not only named the child (after herself), without consulting the mother, but she took complete charge of the baby, refusing to allow Elisabeth to breastfeed or otherwise care for her own child. When a second daughter, Archduchess Gisela of Austria (1856–1932), was born a year later, the Archduchess took the baby away from Elisabeth as well.

The fact that she had not produced a male heir made Elisabeth increasingly unwanted in the palace. One day, she found a pamphlet on her desk with the following words underlined:

…The natural destiny of a Queen is to give an heir to the throne. If the Queen is so fortunate as to provide the State with a Crown-Prince this should be the end of her ambition – she should by no means meddle with the government of an Empire, the care of which is not a task for women… If the Queen bears no sons, she is merely a foreigner in the State, and a very dangerous foreigner, too. For as she can never hope to be looked on kindly here, and must always expect to be sent back whence she came, so will she always seek to win the King by other than natural means; she will struggle for position and power by intrigue and the sowing of discord, to the mischief of the King, the nation, and the Empire…

Her mother-in-law is generally considered to be the source of the malicious pamphlet. The accusation of political meddling referred to Elisabeth’s influence on her husband regarding his Italian and Hungarian subjects. When she traveled to Italy with him, she persuaded him to show mercy toward political prisoners.

Empress Elisabeth of Austria, Queen of Bohemia, Hungary and Croatia

In 1857, Elisabeth visited Hungary for the first time with her husband and two daughters, and it left a deep and lasting impression upon her, which many historians attribute to the fact that in Hungary, she found a welcome respite from the constraints of Austrian court life.

It was “the first time that Elisabeth had met with men of character in Franz Joseph’s realm, and she became acquainted with an aristocratic independence that scorned to hide its sentiments behind courtly forms of speech… She felt her innermost soul reach out in sympathy to the proud, steadfast people of this land…” Unlike the Archduchess, who despised the Hungarians, Elisabeth felt such an affinity for them that she began to learn Hungarian. In turn, the country reciprocated in its adoration of her.

Sisi is known as one of the most beautiful women of 19th century Europe. In addition to her rigorous exercise regimen, Elisabeth practiced demanding beauty routines.

At 173 cm (5 feet 8 inches), Elisabeth was unusually tall. Through fasting and exercise such as gymnastics and riding, she maintained her weight at approximately 50 kg (110 pounds) for most of her life.

In deep mourning after her daughter Sophie’s death, Elisabeth refused to eat for days – a behavior that would reappear in later periods of melancholy and depression. Whereas she previously had supper with the family, she now began to avoid this; and if she did eat with them, she ate quickly and very little.

Whenever her weight threatened to exceed fifty kilos, a “fasting cure” or “hunger cure” would follow, which involved almost complete fasting. Meat itself often filled her with disgust, so she either had the juice of half-raw beefsteaks squeezed into a thin soup, or else adhered to a diet of milk and eggs.

Elisabeth emphasised her extreme slenderness through the practice of “tight-lacing”. During the peak period of 1859–60, which coincided with Franz-Joseph’s political and military defeats in Italy, her sexual withdrawal from her husband after three pregnancies in rapid succession, and her losing battle with her mother-in-law for dominance in rearing her children, she reduced her waist to 40 cm (16 inches) in circumference.

Daily care of her abundant and extremely long hair, which in time turned from the dark blonde of her youth to chestnut brunette, took at least three hours. Her hair was so long and heavy that she often complained that the weight of the elaborate double braids and pins gave her headaches.

Elisabeth was an emotionally complex woman, and perhaps due to the melancholy and eccentricity that was considered a given characteristic of her Wittelsbach lineage (the best-known member of the family being her favorite cousin, the eccentric King Ludwig II of Bavaria), she was interested in the treatment of the mentally ill. In 1871, when the Emperor asked her what she would like as a gift for her Saint’s Day, she listed a young tiger and a medallion, but: “…a fully equipped lunatic asylum would please me most”.

On August 21, 1858, Elisabeth finally gave birth to an heir, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria (1858–1889). The 101-gun salute announcing the welcome news to Vienna also signaled an increase in her influence at court. This, combined with her sympathy toward Hungary, made Elisabeth an ideal mediator between the Magyars and the emperor.

Her interest in politics had developed as she matured; she was liberal-minded, and placed herself decisively on the Hungarian side in the increasing conflict of nationalities within the empire.

At the young age of sixteen the marriage thrust her into the much more formal Habsburg court life, for which she was unprepared and which she found uncongenial. Early in the marriage, she was at odds with her mother-in-law, Archduchess Sophie, who took over the rearing of Elisabeth’s daughters, one of whom, Sophie, died in infancy.

The birth of a son to the imperial couple, Crown Prince Rudolf, improved Elisabeth’s standing at court, but her health suffered under the strain. As a result, she would often visit Hungary for its more relaxed environment. Since she had developed a deep kinship with Hungary she was instrumental in helping to bring about the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary in 1867.

The death of Elisabeth’s only son and his mistress Mary Vetsera in a murder–suicide at his hunting lodge at Mayerling in 1889 was a blow from which the Empress never recovered. She withdrew from court duties and travelled widely, unaccompanied by her family. In 1890, she had the palace Achilleion built on the Greek island of Corfu.

The palace featured an elaborate mythological motif and served as a refuge, which Elisabeth visited often.
In 1897, her sister, Sophie, died in an accidental fire at the Bazar de la Charité charity event in Paris. While travelling in Geneva in 1898, Elisabeth was mortally wounded by an Italian anarchist named Luigi Lucheni. Her tenure of 44 years was the longest of any Austrian Empress.

December 23, 1910: Birth of Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Countess of Barcelona

23 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Abdication, Featured Noble, Featured Royal, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal Succession, Royal Titles, royal wedding, This Day in Royal History

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Countess of Barcelona, Francisco Franco, House of Bourbon, House of Bourbon-Two-Sicilies, Infante Juan of Spain, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies

Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Countess of Barcelona (December 23, 1910 – January 2, 2000) was a Spanish noblewoman who married Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, the claimant to the Spanish throne.

María was born in Madrid, daughter of Prince Carlos of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Infante of Spain, a grandson of King Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies, and his second wife, Princess Louise of Orléans, daughter of Prince Philippe, Count of Paris, a pretender to the French throne.

Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Countess of Barcelona

She was granted, at birth, the rank and precedence of an infanta of Spain, although not the actual use of the title itself, her own being Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Her family moved to Seville, when her father was made Captain General of that province. When the Second Spanish Republic forced them into exile, they lived in Cannes and later in Paris, where she studied art at the Louvre.

On January 14, 1935, at a party, in Rome, hosted by King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy for the wedding next day of Infanta Beatriz of Spain, daughter of King Alfonso XIII, to Alessandro Torlonia, 5th Prince of Civitella-Cesi, she met the brother of the bride, her second cousin and future husband, the Infante Juan of Spain, fourth son and designated heir of Alfonso XIII and his wife Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Infante Juan became heir apparent to the defunct Spanish throne after the renunciations of his two older brothers, Infante Alfonso and infante Jaime, in 1933. To assert his claim to the throne, following his father’s death he used the title of Count of Barcelona, a sovereign title associated with the Spanish crown.

Marriage of Princess María de las Mercedes of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, and Infante Juan of Spain, Count of Barcelona

They married in Rome on October 12, 1935. When her husband took up the title Count of Barcelona as a title of pretence on March 8, 1941, María became the Countess of Barcelona. They had four children.

Issue

1. Infanta Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz (July 30, 1936 – January 8, 2020)

2. King Juan Carlos I of Spain (born January 5, 1938)

3. Infanta Margarita, Duchess of Soria (born March 6, 1939)

4. Infante Alfonso of Spain (October 3, 1941 – March 29, 1956)

They lived in Cannes and Rome, and, with the outbreak of World War II, they moved to Lausanne to live with Infante Juan’s mother Queen Victoria Eugenie. Afterwards, they resided at Estoril, on the Portuguese Riviera.

Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona

When General Francisco Franco declared Spain a monarchy in 1947, he characterized it as a “restoration”. However, Franco was afraid that Juan would roll back the Spanish State because he favoured a constitutional monarchy, which would restore parliamentary democracy. As a result, in 1969, Franco passed over Juan in favour of Juan’s son, Juan Carlos, who Franco believed would be more likely to continue his dictatorship after his death.

In 1953, the Countess represented the Spanish Royal Family at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.

In 1976, one year after the monarchy was restored in Spain in the person of her son, Juan Carlos, they returned to Spain. She mediated between her son and her husband, estranged since Juan Carlos had been designated heir by Franco.

In 1977 Infante Juan, Count of Barcelona, formally renounced his rights to the Spanish throne eight years after being displaced as recognised heir to the throne by Franco. In return, his son officially granted him the title of Count of Barcelona, which he had claimed for so long.

After his death in 1993, he was buried with honours due a king, under the name Juan III (his title if he had become king) in the Royal Crypt of the monastery of San Lorenzo del Escorial, near Madrid.

The Countess of Barcelona broke her hip in 1982 and the left femur in 1985, which forced her to use a wheelchair for the rest of her life. She became a widow in 1993 with the death of her husband the Count of Barcelona.

The Countess of Barcelona was a fervid fan of bull fighting and of the Andalusian culture. In 1995, her granddaughter Infanta Elena married in Seville in part because the Countess’ love for the city.

The Countess of Barcelona died of a heart attack in the Royal Residence of La Mareta, in Lanzarote, where the royal family had gathered to celebrate the New Year. She was buried with the honors of a queen at the Royal Crypt of the monastery of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, near Madrid.

December 23, 1777: Birth of Alexander I, Emperor of Russia

23 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Empire of Europe, Featured Monarch, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession, This Day in Royal History

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Emperor Alexander I of Russia, Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, Emperor Paul of Russia, Empress Catherine II the Great of Russia, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia, Louise of Baden, Napoleonic Wars

Alexander I (December 23, 1777 – December 1, 1825) was the Emperor of Russia between 1801 and 1825. Alexander was the first King of Congress Poland, reigning from 1815 to 1825, as well as the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland, reigning from 1809 to 1825.

Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia

Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia was born in Saint Petersburg to Grand Duke Paul Petrovich, later Emperor Paul I, and Maria Feodorovna, (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) a daughter of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and his wife, Princess Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

Alexander and his younger brother Constantine were raised by their grandmother, Empress Catherine II. Some sources allege that she planned to remove her son (Alexander’s father) Paul I from the succession altogether. Andrey Afanasyevich Samborsky, whom his grandmother chose for his religious instruction, was an atypical, unbearded Orthodox priest.

Samborsky had long lived in England and taught Alexander (and Constantine) excellent English, very uncommon for potential Russian autocrats at the time.

On October 9, 1793, Alexander married Princess Louise of Baden, a daughter of Charles Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife, Landgravine Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Louise grew up in a close, warm family environment in Karlsruhe during the long reign of her grandfather Charles Friedrich, Margrave of Baden. Princess Louise came to Russia in November 1792, when she was chosen by Empress Catherine II of Russia as a bride for her eldest grandson, Grand Duke Alexander Pavlovich of Russia, the future Emperor Alexander I.

Princess Louise of Baden, Empress Elizabeth Alexeievna of Russia

Louise converted to the Orthodox Church, took the title of Grand Duchess of Russia and traded the name Louise Maria for Elizabeth Alexeievna. She married Alexander when he was fifteen and she was fourteen. Initially the marriage was happy. Elizabeth was beautiful, but shy and withdrawn. She had two daughters, but both died in early childhood. During the reign of her father-in-law, Emperor Paul I, Elizabeth supported her husband’s policies and she was with him on the night of Paul’s assassination.

Emperor Paul of Russia was assassinated on March 23, 1801. Paul’s successor on the Russian throne, his 23-year-old son Alexander, was actually in the palace at the time of the killing; he had “given his consent to the overthrow of Paul, but had not supposed that this would be carried out by means of assassination”. General Nikolay Zubov announced his accession to the heir, accompanied by the admonition, “Time to grow up! Go and rule!” Alexander I did not punish the assassins, and the court physician, James Wylie, declared apoplexy the official cause of death.

Emperor Alexander I ruled Russia during the chaotic period of the Napoleonic Wars. As prince and during the early years of his reign, Alexander often used liberal rhetoric, but continued Russia’s absolutist policies in practice. In the first years of his reign, he initiated some minor social reforms and (in 1803–04) major, liberal educational reforms, such as building more universities.

Alexander appointed Mikhail Speransky, the son of a village priest, as one of his closest advisors. The Collegia was abolished and replaced by the State Council, which was created to improve legislation. Plans were also made to set up a parliament and sign a constitution.

Emperor Alexander I of Russia

In foreign policy, Alexander changed Russia’s position relative to France four times between 1804 and 1812 among neutrality, opposition, and alliance. In 1805 he joined Britain in the War of the Third Coalition against Napoleon, but after suffering massive defeats at the battles of Austerlitz and Friedland, he switched sides and formed an alliance with Napoleon by the Treaty of Tilsit (1807) and joined Napoleon’s Continental System.

Alexander fought a small-scale naval war against Britain between 1807 and 1812 as well as a short war against Sweden (1808–09) after Sweden’s refusal to join the Continental System. Alexander and Napoleon hardly agreed, especially regarding Poland, and the alliance collapsed by 1810.

Alexander’s greatest triumph came in 1812 when Napoleon’s invasion of Russia proved to be a catastrophic disaster for the French. As part of the winning coalition against Napoleon, he gained territory in Finland and Poland. He formed the Holy Alliance to suppress revolutionary movements in Europe that he saw as immoral threats to legitimate Christian monarchs. He also helped Austria’s Klemens von Metternich in suppressing all national and liberal movements.

Emperor Alexander I of Russia

During the second half of his reign, Alexander became increasingly arbitrary, reactionary, and fearful of plots against him; as a result he ended many of the reforms he made earlier. He purged schools of foreign teachers, as education became more religiously driven as well as politically conservative. Speransky was replaced as advisor with the strict artillery inspector Aleksey Arakcheyev, who oversaw the creation of military settlements.

Alexander died of typhus December 1, 1825 while on a trip to southern Russia. He left no legitimate children, as his two daughters died in childhood. Neither of his brothers wanted to become Emperor. A period of great confusion followed. Next in line to the imperial throne was his brother Grand Duke Constantine. However, despite Grand Duke Nicholas having proclaimed Constantine as Emperor in Saint Petersburg, Constantine had no desire for the throne and abdicated his rights to the throne.

Grand Duke Constantine Pavlovich of Russia

However, since news traveled slowly in those days, the confusion lasted until Constantine, who was in Warsaw at that time, finally confirmed his refusal of the imperial crown. Additionally, on December 25, Nicholas issued the manifesto proclaiming his accession to the throne, dating his accession starting with the death of Alexander I on December 1st.

Emperor Nicholas I of Russia

With the confusion over who was to be the next emperor, the Northern Society scrambled in secret meetings to convince regimental leaders not to swear allegiance to Nicholas. These efforts would culminate in the Decembrist revolt, when liberal minded Russian army officers led about 3,000 soldiers in a protest against Emperor Nicholas I’s assumption of the throne. The uprising, which was suppressed by Nicholas I, took place in Peter’s Square in Saint Petersburg.

Because Emperor Alexander I’s sudden death in Taganrog, under allegedly suspicious circumstances, it caused the spread of the rumors and conspiracy theories that Alexander did not die in 1825, but chose to “disappear” and to live the rest of his life in anonymity.

December 23, 1750: Birth of Friedrich August I of Saxony

22 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Empire of Europe, Famous Battles, Featured Monarch, Imperial Elector, Kingdom of Europe, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Succession, Royal Titles, This Day in Royal History

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Confederation of the Rhine, Countess Palatine Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, Elector Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II, King Frederick Augustus I of Saxony, King Stanislas II Augustus of Poland, Kingdom of Poland, Napoleon Bonaparte, Queen of Saxony

From the Emperor’s Desk: In this post I will be just dealing with how Friedrich August became King of Saxony. I will also reference his marriage and other family connections.

Friedrich August I (December 23, 1750 – May 5, 1827) was a member of the House of Wettin who reigned as the last Elector of Saxony from 1763 to 1806 (as Friedrich August III) and as King of Saxony from 1806 to 1827. He was also Duke of Warsaw from 1807 to 1815.

Throughout his political career Friedrich August tried to rehabilitate and recreate the Polish state that was torn apart and ceased to exist after the final partition of Poland in 1795. However he did not succeed, for which he blamed himself for the rest of his life. Nevertheless, his efforts at reestablishing an independent Polish nation did endear him to the Polish people.

Family Background

Friedrich August was the second (but eldest surviving) son of Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony and Maria Antonia Walpurgis, Princess of Bavaria, Archduchess Maria Amalia of Austria and Elector Charles Albert of Bavaria who became Holy Roman Emperor Charles VII between 1742 and 1745.

Because he was underage at the time of his father’s death in 1763, Elector Friedrich August III’s mother served as Regent until 1768. His uncle, Prince Franz Xavier, functioned as his representative. Through his father’s side, he was descended from two kings of Poland, and through his mother’s side Siemowit, the first confirmed duke of Poland.

Friedrich August I, King of Saxony

Renunciation of the Polish throne

In 1765 Prince Franz Xavier ceded the Polish throne to Stanislas II Augustus on behalf of the underage Elector. However, when a Polish Constitution was ratified by the Polish Sejm Elector Friedrich August III was named successor to Stanislas II Augustus.

At the same time, the head of the Saxon Royal House was established as heir to the Polish throne (Article VII of the Polish Constitution). Elector Friedrich August III declined to accept the crown upon Stanislas II Augustus’s death in 1798, because he feared becoming entangled in disputes with Austria, Prussia and Russia, who had begun to partition Poland in 1772.

In fact, a full partition of Poland among the neighboring powers of Austria, Prussia, and Russia had already taken place by 1795.

Foreign policy up to the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire

In August 1791, Elector Friedrich August III arranged a meeting with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia at Pillnitz Castle. The move was intended partly to offer support for the French monarchy in the face of revolutionary agitation in France.

The Declaration of Pillnitz warned of the possibility of military action against the French revolutionary government, a provocation that provided the latter with grounds to declare war on Austria in April 1792. Friedrich August III himself did not sign the Declaration.

Saxony wanted nothing to do with the defensive alliance against France formed between Austria and Prussia. Nonetheless, a proclamation of the Reichstag of the Holy Roman Empire issued in March 1793, obliged Elector Friedrich August III to take part.

There was great concern in Saxony in April 1795 when Prussia suddenly concluded a separate peace with France in order to facilitate the partition of Poland. Saxony dropped out of the coalition against France in August 1796 after France had advanced east into the German lands and additional conditions for the Holy Roman Empire to conclude a separate peace were agreed.

Both the peace agreement with France and Saxony’s participation in the Congress of Rastatt in 1797 served to demonstrate Elector Friedrich August III’s loyalty to the conventional constitutional principles of the Holy Roman Empire. The Congress of Rastatt was supposed to authorize the surrender to France of the territories on the left bank of the Rhine in return for compensation for the rulers relinquishing territory.

However, at Rastatt and again in 1803 at the issuance of the Final Report of the Empire Delegation [the law of the Holy Roman Empire that laid out the new order of the Empire], Saxony refused to agree to territorial adjustments, since these were designed to benefit Bavaria, Prussia, Württemberg, and Baden.

Countess Palatine Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, Queen of Saxony

Foreign policy until the peace with Napoleon

Elector Friedrich August III also did not participate in the creation of the Confederation of the Rhine, which led to the final dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire. With respect to the Prussian idea of a north German empire, within which Saxony was supposed to be raised to a kingdom, he appeared reserved.

However, after September 1806, in response to the Berlin Ultimatum, which demanded the withdrawal of French troops from the left bank of the Rhine, Napoleon advanced as far as Thuringia. At that point, Friedrich August III joined with Prussia.

However, at the twin battles of Jena and Auerstedt in 1806 Napoleon inflicted a crushing defeat on the Prusso–Saxon troops. The Prussian government and army then withdrew headlong to the east. Friedrich August III, left without any information concerning Prussian intentions, and with Napoleon’s troops about to occupy Saxony, was forced to conclude peace.

On December 11, 1806 in Poznań a treaty was signed by authorized representatives of both sides. According to its terms, Saxony was forced to join the Confederation of the Rhine and to surrender parts of Thuringia to the recently organized Kingdom of Westphalia.

As compensation, Saxony was given the area around Cottbus and was raised to the status of a kingdom alongside the Confederation states of Bavaria and Württemberg. Elector Friedrich August III of Saxony became King Friedrich August I of Saxony.

Marriage

In Mannheim on January 17, 1769 (by proxy) and again in Dresden on January 29, 1769 (in person), Friedrich August III married the Countess Palatine Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld, sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. During their marriage, Amalia gave birth to four children, but only one daughter, Princess Maria Augusta of Saxony (1782 – 1863) survived to adulthood.

Countess Palatine Amalie of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld was the daughter of Count Palatine Friedrich Michael of Palatinate-Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld-Bischweiler and his wife, Countess Palatine Maria Francisca of Palatinate-Sulzbach.

Friedrich August and Amalie (being the sister of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria) were the Aunt and Uncle to the Bavarian Princesses that made important dynastic marriages with two of thier nieces marrying Kings of Saxony.

Maximilian I Joseph’s second wife was Caroline of Baden, eldest child of Charles Ludwig, Hereditary Prince of Baden, and his wife Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Princess Elisabeth Ludovika (“Elise”) (1801 – 1873) twin sister of Amalie Auguste. Married King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia.

Princess Amalie Auguste (1801 – 1877) twin sister of Elisabeth Ludovika. Married Johann I of Saxony.

Princess Marie Anne (1805 – 1877) twin sister of Sophie. Married King Friedrich August II of Saxony.

Princess Sophie (1805 – 1872) twin sister of Marie Anna. Married Archduke Franz Charles of Austria, mother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico.

Princess Ludovika (1808 – 1892), married Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria. They were the parents of
Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria wife of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary.

December 18, 1626: Birth of Christina, Queen of Sweden. Part II.

19 Monday Dec 2022

Posted by liamfoley63 in Featured Monarch, Kingdom of Europe, Regent, Royal Birth, Royal Genealogy, Royal House, Royal Titles, This Day in Royal History

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Axel Oxenstierna, Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, Chancellor of Sweden, King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden, Peace of Westphalia, Queen Christina of Sweden, Thirty Years War

In 1644, Christina was declared an adult, although the coronation was postponed because of the Torstenson War. In the Treaty of Brömsebro Denmark added the isles of Gotland and Ösel to Christina’s domain while Norway lost the districts of Jämtland and Härjedalen to her. Under Christina’s rule, Sweden, now virtually controlling the Baltic Sea, had unrestricted access to the North Sea and was no longer encircled by Denmark–Norway.

Chancellor Axel Oxenstierna soon discovered that Queen Christina’s political views differed from his own. In 1645, he sent his son, Johan Oxenstierna, to the Peace Congress in the Westphalian city of Osnabrück, to argue against peace with the Holy Roman Empire. Christina, however, wanted peace at any cost and sent her own delegate, Johan Adler Salvius.

Christina, Queen of Sweden

The Peace of Westphalia was signed between May and October 1648, effectively ending the European wars of religion. Sweden received an indemnity of five million thalers, used primarily to pay its troops.

Sweden further received Western Pomerania (henceforth Swedish Pomerania), Wismar, the Archbishopric of Bremen, and the Bishopric of Verden as hereditary fiefs, thus gaining a seat and vote in the Diet of the Holy Roman Empire and in the respective diets (Kreistag) of three Imperial Circles: the Upper Saxon Circle, Lower Saxon Circle, and Lower Rhenish-Westphalian Circle; the city of Bremen was disputed.

Shortly before the conclusion of the peace settlement, Queen Christina admitted Salvius into the council, against Oxenstierna’s wishes. Salvius was no aristocrat, but Christina wanted the opposition to the aristocracy present.

In 1649, with the help of her uncle, Johann Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, Queen Christina tried to reduce the influence of Oxenstierna, when she declared her cousin Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg as her heir presumptive. Carl Gustaf was the son of Johann Casimir, Count Palatine of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg and Catherine of Sweden, the daughter of King Carl IX of Sweden and his first spouse Maria of the Palatinate-Simmern.

The following year, Queen Christina resisted demands from the other estates (clergy, burghers, and peasants) in the Riksdag of the Estates for the reduction of the number of noble landholdings that were tax-exempt. She never implemented such a policy.

King Carl X Gustaf of Sweden

Already at the age of nine Christina was impressed by the Catholic religion and the merits of celibacy. She read a biography on the virgin queen, Elizabeth I of England, with interest. Christina understood that it was expected of her to provide an heir to the Swedish throne.

Her first cousin and future successor, Carl Gustaf of Zweibrücken-Kleeburg, was infatuated with her, and they became secretly engaged before he left in 1642 to serve in the Swedish army in Germany for three years.

Christina revealed in her autobiography that she felt “an insurmountable distaste for marriage” and “for all the things that females talked about and did.” She once stated, “It takes more courage to marry than to go to war.”

As she was chiefly occupied with her studies, she slept three to four hours a night, forgot to comb her hair, donned her clothes in a hurry and wore men’s shoes for the sake of convenience. (In fact, her permanent bed-head became her trademark look in paintings.)

When Christina left Sweden, she continued to write passionate letters to her intimate friend Ebba Sparre, in which she told her that she would always love her. However, such emotional letters were relatively common at that time, and Christina would use the same style when writing to women she had never met, but whose writings she admired.

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