May 24, 1819: Birth of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Empress of India

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Duke of Clarence, Duke of Kent, Empress of India, Kensington Palace, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, King George III of the United Kingdom, King George IV of the United Kingdom, King William IV of the United Kingdom, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince Edward, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, The Prince Regent, Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; May 24, 1819 – January 22, 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from June 20, 1837 until her death in 1901. Her reign of 63 years and 216 days is known as the Victorian Era and was longer than any of her predecessors. She is the second longest reigning British Monarch. It was a period of industrial, political, scientific, and military change within the United Kingdom, and was marked by a great expansion of the British Empire. In 1876, the British Parliament voted to grant her the additional title of Empress of India.

Victoria’s father was Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn, the fourth son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Charlotte of see Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Until 1817, King George’s only legitimate grandchild was Edward’s niece Princess Charlotte of Wales, the daughter of George, Prince Regent (who would become George IV).

Charlotte’s death in 1817 precipitated a succession crisis that brought pressure on the Duke of Kent and his unmarried brothers to marry and have children. In 1818, the Duke of Kent married Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a widowed German princess with two children—Carl (1804–1856) and Feodora (1807–1872)—by her first marriage to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen. Her brother Leopold was Princess Charlotte’s widower and later the first King of Belgium. The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child, Victoria, was born at 4:15 a.m. on May 24, 1819 at Kensington Palace in London.

Victoria was christened privately by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Manners-Sutton, on June 24, 1819 in the Cupola Room at Kensington Palace. She was baptised Alexandrina after one of her godparents, Emperor Alexander I of Russia, and Victoria, after her mother. Additional names proposed by her parents—Georgina (or Georgiana), Charlotte, and Augusta—were dropped on the instructions of Kent’s eldest brother, the Prince Regent.

At birth, Victoria was fifth in the line of succession after the four eldest sons of George III: George, Prince Regent (later George IV); Frederick, Duke of York; William, Duke of Clarence (later William IV); and Victoria’s father, Edward, Duke of Kent. Prince George had no surviving children, and Prince Frederick had no children; further, both were estranged from their wives, who were both past child-bearing age, so the two eldest brothers were unlikely to have any further legitimate children.

William and Edward married on the same day in 1818, but both of William’s legitimate daughters died as infants. The first of these was Princess Charlotte, who was born and died on March 27, 1819, two months before Victoria was born. Victoria’s father died in January 1820, when Victoria was less than a year old. A week later her grandfather, King George III, died and was succeeded by his eldest son as George IV. Victoria was then third in line to the throne after Frederick and William. She was fourth in line while William’s second daughter, Princess Elizabeth, lived, from December 10, 1820 to March 4, 1821.

After the deaths of her father and grandfather in 1820, she was raised under close supervision by her mother and her comptroller, John Conroy. She inherited the throne aged 18 after her father’s three elder brothers died without surviving legitimate issue. Victoria, a constitutional monarch, attempted privately to influence government policy and ministerial appointments; publicly, she became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality.

Victoria married her first cousin Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. Their children married into royal and noble families across the continent, earning Victoria the sobriquet “the grandmother of Europe” and spreading haemophilia in European royalty. After Albert’s death in 1861, Victoria plunged into deep mourning and avoided public appearances. As a result of her seclusion, British republicanism temporarily gained strength, but in the latter half of her reign, her popularity recovered. Her Golden and Diamond jubilees were times of public celebration. Victoria died in 1901 at Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, at the age of 81. The last British monarch of the House of Hanover, she was succeeded by her son King Edward VII of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

April 23 1744: Birth of Charlotte Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön

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Augustenborg Castle, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Charlotte Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, Christian VII of Denmark-Norway, Countess Louise Frederikke af Danneskiold-Samsøe, Duke Friedrich Christian I of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, King Christian VI of Denmark-Norway, King Frederik V of Denmark, Kingdom of Denmark and Norway

Charlotte Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (April 23, 1744 – October 11, 1770), was a Princess of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön (or Holstein-Plön), a cadet branch of the Danish royal family. She was born at Plön to Friedrich Charles, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön and his wife Countess Christiane Armgard von Reventlow, the fourth of their five children.

As her only brother died an infant in 1740 the small, partitioned-off Danish duchy of Plön was destined to revert to the royal domain of King Christian VI of Denmark-Norway on their father’s death. Thus her parents were freed from the custom of stinting their daughters’ dowries to maximize the patrimony of a male heir.

Consequently and unusually only one of the four sisters was enrolled in a nunnery: the eldest, Sophie (1732-1757), became canoness in 1753, and a year later deaconess of Quedlinburg Abbey, while the other three princesses were all allowed to marry.

Charlotte Amalie was the first of her sisters to wed, marrying at Reinfeld on May 26, 1762 her cousin, Friedrich Christian I, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He was the eldest son of Christian August, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (1696–1754) and his wife Countess Louise Frederikke af Danneskiold-Samsøe (1699–1744).

In 1754, his father died and Friedrich Christian inherited Augustenborg Castle and Gråsten. However, these estates were deeply in debt. He waived his claims on the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein and in return King Frederik V of Denmark (who was also Duke of Schleswig and Holstein) granted him a favourable settlement.

Two years later, as a near, agnatic kinsman of his father-in-law, Friedrich Christian renounced any claim he might have had to the Plön duchy and in return received from the Danish crown the castle of Sonderburg, the domain of Gammelgaard with Gundestrup and the fiefs of Ronhave, Langenvorwerk, Kekinisgaard and Maibullgaard, all located on the isle of Ahlsen or nearby on that of Sundeved in the Sonderburg region.

They had seven children:

1. Louise Christine Caroline (February 16, 1763 – January 27, 1764).

2. Louise Christine Caroline (February 17, 1764 – August 2, 1815).

3. Friedrich Christian II (September 28, 1765 – June 14, 1814), married Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark. Louise Augusta of Denmark and Norway (July 7, 1771 – January 13, 1843) was the daughter of the Queen of Denmark-Norway, Caroline Matilda of Great Britain. Though officially regarded as the daughter of King Christian VII, it is widely accepted that her biological father was Johann Friedrich Struensee, the king’s royal physician and de facto regent of the country at the time of her birth. She was referred to sometimes as “la petite Struensee”; this did not, however, have any effect on her position.

4. Friedrich Charles Emil (March 8, 1767 – June 14, 1841), Danish general, married in Leipzig September 29, 1801 without the consent or recognition of either the Duke or the King, Sofie Eleonora Fredericka von Scheel (1776–1836), daughter of Jürgen Eric von Scheel and Anna Drothea von Ahlefeldt.

5. Christian August (July 9, 1768 – May 28, 1810), Danish general, and later selected Crown Prince of Sweden and changed his name to Carl August, however, he died before inheriting the throne.

6. Sophie Amelie (August 10, 1769 – October 6, 1769).

7. Charles Wilhelm (October 4, 1770 – February 22, 1771).

The couple spent some of her wealth to build the new Augustenburg Palace.

Charlotte Amalie died in Augustenburg on October 11, 1770 aged 26, seven days after the birth of her last child.

April 15, 1646: Birth of Christian V, King of Denmark and Norway

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Elected King, Elector Georg Wilhelm of Brandenburg, Hereditary Succession, King Christian V of Denmark-Norway, King Frederick III of Denmark-Norway, Landgrave Wilhelm VI of Hesse-Cassel, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg

Christian V (April 15, 1646 – August 25, 1699) was king of Denmark and Norway from 1670 until his death in 1699.

Early years

Prince Christian was born on April 15, 1646 at Duborg Castle in the city of Flensburg, then located in the Duchy of Schleswig. He was the first legitimate child born to the then Prince Frederik of Denmark by his consort, Sophie Amalie of Brunswick-Calenberg. Sophie Amalie’s parents were Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Calenberg, and Anne Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt. Nothing is known of her childhood.

Prince Frederik was a younger son of King Christian IV, but the death of his elder brother Christian, Prince-Elect of Denmark in June 1647 opened the possibility for Frederik to be elected heir apparent to the Danish throne.

After the death of King Christian IV in 1648, Frederik thus became King of Denmark and Norway as Frederik III. Prince Christian was elected successor to his father in June 1650. This was not a free choice, but de facto automatic hereditary succession. Escorted by his chamberlain Christoffer Parsberg, Christian went on a long trip abroad, to Holland, England, France, and home through the Holy Roman Empire.

On this trip, he saw absolutism in its most splendid achievement at the young Louis XIV’s court, and heard about the theory of the divine right of kings. He returned to Denmark in August 1663. From 1664 he was allowed to attend proceedings of the State College. Hereditary succession was made official by Royal Law in 1665. Christian was hailed as heir in Copenhagen in August 1665, in Odense and Viborg in September, and in Christiania, Norway in July 1666. Only a short time before he became king, he was taken into the Council of the Realm and the Supreme Court.

Accession

On February 9, 1670, King Frederik III died at the age of 60 at the Copenhagen Castle after a reign of 22 years. At the death of his father, Christian immediately ascended the thrones of Denmark and Norway as the second absolute monarch at the age of just 24. He was formally crowned on June 7 the following year in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, which thereafter became the traditional place of coronation of Denmark’s monarchs during the days of the absolute monarchy. He was the first hereditary king of Denmark-Norway, and in honor of this, Denmark-Norway acquired costly new crown jewels and a magnificent new ceremonial sword.

Well-regarded by the common people, he was the first king anointed at Frederiksborg Castle chapel as absolute monarch since the decree that institutionalized the supremacy of the king in Denmark-Norway. Christian fortified the absolutist system against the aristocracy by accelerating his father’s practice of allowing both Holstein nobles and Danish and Norwegian commoners into state service.

As king, he wanted to show his power as absolute monarch through architecture, and dreamed of a Danish Versailles. He was the first to use the 1671 Throne Chair of Denmark, partly made for this purpose. His motto was: Pietate et Justitia (With piety and justice).

Marriage

Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Cassel (April 27, 1650 – March 27, 1714) was born on April 27, 1650, in Cassel, Hesse, in the Holy Roman Empire. Her parents were Wilhelm VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel and Hedwig Sophia of Brandenburg, the daughter of Georg Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg and Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate.

Charlotte Amalie’s mother was a religiously strict adherent of the Reformed Church and politically oriented toward Brandenburg, both views which were to be shared by her daughter. She was well educated in finances, geography, the languages German, French and Italian, and philosophy. French was to be her preferred written language, though she spoke German with her more intimate friends.

Crown Prince Christian of Denmark and Norway was sent to meet Charlotte Amalie in Hesse in 1665 as a marriage prospect arranged by Danish Queen Sophie Amalie, who desired a daughter-in-law that she could control and expected this to be the case for a member of the reformed church who would be religiously isolated in Lutheran Denmark. However, the negotiations were drawn out because of religious concerns.

In the marriage contract, Charlotte Amelie was not required to convert and managed to secure the right to keep her faith after her wedding to Christian, who as ruler of Denmark would become the head of the state Lutheran Church, a term which was contested and met some resistance before it was accepted.

As Queen of Denmark and Norway by marriage to King Christian V, she did not have much political influence, she was a successful businesswoman in her many estates and protected foreign Protestant non-Lutherans from oppression. She gained popularity for defending Copenhagen from Swedish forces in 1700.

Christian V had eight children by his wife and six by his Maîtresse-en-titre, Sophie Amalie Moth (1654–1719), whom he took up with when she was sixteen. Sophie was the daughter of his former tutor Poul Moth. Christian publicly introduced Sophie into court in 1672, a move which insulted his wife, and made her countess of Samsø on December 31, 1677.

At the death of Christian V on August 25, 1699, the Crown Prince of Denmark succeeded as King Frederik IV of Denmark-Norway. Frederik IV married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, herself a great-great-granddaughter of Frederik II of Denmark. They were crowned on April 15, 1700 in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace.

April 6, 1573: Birth of Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg

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Anna of Denmark, Anna of Saxony, Coburg Taler, Dorothea of Denmark, Duke August of Saxony, Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Emperor Ferdinand I, King Christian III of Denmark and Norway, Margaret of of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Wilhelm the Younger

Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg (April 6, 1573 – August 7, 1643), was a German noblewoman member of the House of Welf and by marriage Duchess of Saxe-Coburg.

Born in Celle, she was the ninth of fifteen children born from the marriage of Wilhelm the Younger, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Dorothea of Denmark, the youngest child of King Christian III of Denmark-Norway and Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.

Life

Margaret’s future husband, Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg was born at Grimmenstein Castle in Gotha on June 12, 1564 as the middle of three sons of Duke Johann Friedrich II, Duke of Saxony and his wife Countess Palatine Elisabeth of Simmern-Sponheim. Because of the Holy Roman Empire’s sanctions (Reichsexekution) against Gotha, his father, Duke Johann Friedrich II of Saxony, lost his dominions and freedom on April 15, 1567.

Later, Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor used the two surviving sons of Johann Friedrich II against their uncle Johann Wilhelm; in 1572 the Division of Erfurt was made. The duchy of Saxony was divided into three parts. The older son, Johann Casimir, received Coburg, and the younger, Johann Ernst, received Eisenach. Johann Wilhelm retained only the smaller part, the limited region of Weimar, but he added to his duchy the districts of Altenburg, Gotha and Meiningen.

Between 1578 and 1581 Johann Casimir studied at the University of Leipzig. On May 6, 1584 he became engaged, without the consent of his father, with his cousin Anna of Saxony, the daughter of Elector August of Saxony and Princess Anna of Denmark a daughter of King Christian III of Denmark and Norway and his wife Dorothea of Saxe-Lauenburg.

The marriage between Johann Casimir and Anna of Saxony finally took place in Dresden on January 16, 1586, and she received 30,000 Thalers as a dowry, as well as the city of Römhild as her Wittum (Dower land). The cheerful and high-spirited Duchess soon produced magnificent festivities in her new court.

However, the marriage soon failed: John Casimir preferred hunting to marital life. By the end of September 1593, the Duchess was caught in adultery by her husband. John Casimir immediately ordered the arrest of Anna and her lover, Ulrich of Lichtenstein.

Despite the letters which Anna wrote to her husband and her relatives asking for mercy, on December 12, the Schöppenstuhl (High Court Chamber) in Jena formally annulled her marriage and sentenced both lovers to beheading by sword. For Duchess Anna and her lover Ulrich of Lichtenstein the death sentence was commuted, suddenly, to life imprisonment.

Ulrich of Lichtenstein died in prison twenty years later, on December 8, 1633, just three days after being granted his freedom.

Only after the death of the Elector Augustus of Saxony on February 11, 1586 was Duke John Casimir at the age of 22 years able to undertake with his brother John Ernest the government of his principality.

In Coburg on September 16, 1599, Margaret married Johann Casimir, Duke of Saxe-Coburg as his second wife. Margaret and Johann Casimir’s first wife, Anna of Saxony, were first cousins.

For the wedding of Margaret of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Duke Johann Casimir of Saxe-Coburg most of the wedding guests stayed before and during the marriage festivities at Heldburg Castle. Gilded state coaches, which belonged to the dowry of her mother Dorothea, were used for the occasion; they are one of the oldest still functioning coaches in the world and currently displayed at the Veste Coburg.

Johann Casimir celebrated his marriage with the famous Coburg Taler: on the obverse showed a kissing couple with the inscription WIE KVSSEN SICH DIE ZWEY SO FEIN (A well kiss between two), while on the reverse, showed a nun with the inscription: WER KVST MICH – ARMES NVNNELIN (who kiss you now, poor nun?). This nun was Anna of Saxony, his first wife, whom he repudiated and imprisoned for adultery.

Johan Casimir and Margaret had a happy marriage, but they had no children. After Johann Casimir’s death in 1633 Saxe-Coburg was inherited by his brother Johann Ernst. Margaret returned to her homeland, Celle, where she died ten years later, aged 70. She was buried in the Stadtkirche, Celle.

Was He A Usurper? King Richard III. Part I.

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Anne Neville, Cecily Neville, Duke of Gloucester, Duke of York, Fotheringhay Castle, House of York, King Edward IV of England, King Henry VI of England, King Richard III of England and Lord of Ireland, Richard Plantagenet, Wars of the Roses

From the Emperor’s Desk: I would like to get back to the series on examining who was or was not a usurper to the English or British throne. The next person to focus on is King Richard III. This should be a no-brainer because he is famously known for usurping the throne from his 12-year-old nephew. However, I would like to focus on some evidence and information that may cast a little doubt on this. First I would like to provide a little background information on Richard.

Richard III (October 2, 1452 – August 22,1485) was King of England from June 26, 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty. His defeat and death at the Battle of Bosworth Field, the last decisive battle of the Wars of the Roses, marked the end of the Middle Ages in England.

Richard was born on October 2, 1452, at Fotheringhay Castle in Northamptonshire, the eleventh of the twelve children of Richard, 3rd Duke of York, and Cecily Neville, and the youngest to survive infancy.

King Richard III of England and Lord of Ireland

Like his father and brother, King Edward IV, Richard was born with a strong claim to the throne. Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (also named Richard Plantagenet) was a leading English magnate and claimant to the throne during the Wars of the Roses. He was a member of the ruling House of Plantagenet by virtue of being a direct male-line descendant of Edmund of Langley, King Edward III’s fourth surviving son.

However, it was through his mother, Anne Mortimer, a descendant of Edward III’s second surviving son, Lionel of Antwerp, that Richard inherited his strongest claim to the throne, as the opposing House of Lancaster was descended from John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the third surviving son of Edward III.

Richard’s mother, Cecily Neville, also strengthened the House of York’s claim to the English throne. Cecily Neville was the youngest of the 22 children of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, in this case born to his second wife Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland.

Her paternal grandparents were John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby, and Maud Percy, daughter of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy. Her maternal grandparents were John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and his third wife Katherine Swynford. John of Gaunt was the third surviving son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault

The future King Richard III’s childhood coincided with the beginning of the ‘Wars of the Roses’, a period of political instability and periodic open civil war in England during the second half of the fifteenth century, between the Yorkists, who supported Richard’s father (a potential claimant to the throne of King Henry VI from birth), and opposed the regime of Henry VI and his wife, Margaret of Anjou, and the Lancastrians, who were loyal to the crown.

Crown of Richard III (made for his funeral)

In 1459, his father and the Yorkists were forced to flee England, whereupon Richard and his older brother George were placed in the custody of their aunt Anne Neville, Duchess of Buckingham, and possibly of Cardinal Thomas Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury.

His eldest brother Edward inherited the Yorkist claim when his father, Richard, Duke of York, died at the Battle of Wakefield on December 30, 1460. After defeating Lancastrian armies at Mortimer’s Cross and Towton in early 1461, Edward deposed King Henry VI and took the throne as King Edward IV of England.

His marriage to Elizabeth Woodville in 1464 led to conflict with his chief advisor, Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick, known as the “Kingmaker”. In 1470, a revolt led by Warwick and Edward’s brother George, Duke of Clarence, briefly re-installed Henry VI.

When their father and elder brother Edmund, Earl of Rutland, were killed at the Battle of Wakefield, Richard and George were sent by their mother to the Low Countries. They returned to England following the defeat of the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton.

Richard and George participated in the coronation of their eldest brother King Edward IV on June 28, 1461, when Richard was named Duke of Gloucester and made both a Knight of the Garter and a Knight of the Bath. Edward appointed him the sole Commissioner of Array for the Western Counties in 1464 when he was 11. By the age of 17, he had an independent command.

Richard married Anne Neville on July 12, 1472. Anne had previously been wedded to Edward of Westminster, Prince of Wales and only son of Henry VI, to seal her father’s allegiance to the Lancastrian party, Edward died at the Battle of Tewkesbury on May 4, 1471, while Warwick had died at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471.

Richard’s marriage plans brought him into conflict with his brother George. John Paston’s letter of February 17, 1472 makes it clear that George was not happy about the marriage but grudgingly accepted it on the basis that “he may well have my Lady his sister-in-law, but they shall part no livelihood”.

The reason for George not supporting the marriage was the inheritance Anne shared with her elder sister Isabel, whom George had married in 1469. It was not only the earldom of Warwick that was at stake; Richard Neville had inherited it as a result of his marriage to Anne Beauchamp, 16th Countess of Warwick. The Countess, who was still alive, was technically the owner of the substantial Beauchamp estates, her father having left no male heirs.

The Croyland Chronicle records that Richard agreed to a prenuptial contract in the following terms: “the marriage of the Duke of Gloucester with Anne before-named was to take place, and he was to have such and so much of the earl’s lands as should be agreed upon between them through the mediation of arbitrators; while all the rest were to remain in the possession of the Duke of Clarence”.

The date of Paston’s letter suggests the marriage was still being negotiated in February 1472. In order to win George’s final consent to the marriage, Richard renounced most of the Earl of Warwick’s land and property including the earldoms of Warwick (which the Kingmaker had held in his wife’s right) and Salisbury and surrendered to George the office of Great Chamberlain of England. Richard retained Neville’s forfeit estates he had already been granted in the summer of 1471: Penrith, Sheriff Hutton and Middleham, where he later established his marital household.

Michael Hicks has suggested that the terms of the dispensation deliberately understated the degrees of consanguinity between the couple, and the marriage was therefore illegal on the ground of first degree consanguinity following George’s marriage to Anne’s sister Isabel.

There would have been first-degree consanguinity if Richard had sought to marry Isabel (in case of widowhood) after she had married his brother George, but no such consanguinity applied for Anne and Richard. Richard’s marriage to Anne was never declared null, and it was public to everyone including secular and canon lawyers for 13 years.

In 1482, King Edward IV backed an attempt to usurp the Scottish throne by Alexander Stewart, 1st Duke of Albany, brother of James III of Scotland. Gloucester invaded Scotland and took the town of Edinburgh, but not the far more formidable castle, where James was being held by his own nobles. Albany switched sides and without siege equipment, the English army was forced to withdraw, with little to show for an expensive campaign, apart from the capture of Berwick Castle.

Edward’s health began to fail, and he became subject to an increasing number of ailments; his physicians attributed this in part to a habitual use of emetics, which allowed him to gorge himself at meals, then return after vomiting to start again. He fell fatally ill at Easter 1483, but survived long enough to add codicils to his will, the most important naming his brother Richard, Duke of Gloucester, as Protector after his death. King Edward IV died on April 9, 1483 and was buried in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. His twelve-year-old son succeeded him as King Edward V of England and Lord of Ireland.

History of the Kingdom of Greece: Part IX, Second Reign and Abdication of King Constantine I

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Anatolia, Balkan War of 1913, Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir, King Alexander of the Hellenes, King Constantine I of the Hellenes, king George II of the Hellenes, Plebiscite, Prime Minister Venizelos, princess Sophie of Prussia, World War I

As mentioned in my last entry, King Alexander died on October 25, 1920, after a freak accident: he was strolling with his dogs in the royal menagerie, when they attacked a monkey. Rushing to save the poor animal, the king was bitten by the monkey and what seemed like a minor injury turned to sepsis. He died a few days later. The following month Prime Minister Venizelos suffered a surprising defeat in a general election.

Greece had at this point been at war for eight continuous years: World War I had come and gone, but yet no sign of an enduring peace was near, as the country was already at war against the Kemalist forces in Asia Minor. Young men had been fighting and dying for years, lands lay fallow for lack of hands to cultivate them, and the country, morally exhausted, was at the brink of economic and political unravelling.

Constantine I, King of the Hellenes

The pro-royalist parties had promised peace and prosperity under the victorious Field Marshal of the Balkan Wars, he who knew of the soldier’s plight because he had fought next to him and shared his ration.

Following a plebiscite in which nearly 99% of votes were cast in favor of the return of the King, Constantine returned as king on December 19, 1920. This caused great dissatisfaction not only to the newly liberated populations in Asia Minor, but also to the British and even more the French, who opposed the return of Constantine.

The new government decided to continue the war. The inherited, ongoing campaign began with initial successes in western Anatolia against the Turks. The Greeks initially met with disorganized opposition.

In March 1921, despite his health problems, Constantine was landed in Anatolia to boost the Army’s morale and command personally the Battle of Kütahya-Eskişehir.

However, an ill-conceived plan to capture Kemal’s new capital of Ankara, located deep in barren Anatolia, where there was no significant Greek population, succeeded only in its initial stages. The overextended and ill-supplied Greek Army was routed and driven from Anatolia back to the coast in August 1922.

Constantine with his family, ca. 1910. Top left: the king holding the toddler Princess Irene. Top right: the future George II. Left: Queen Sophia. Center: Princess Helen. Right: the future Alexander I. Front: the future Paul I. Princess Katherine not yet born.

Following an army revolt by Venizelist officers, considering him as key responsible for the military defeat, King Constantine abdicated the throne again on September 27, 1922 and was succeeded by his eldest son, as King George II of the Hellenes.

Second exile and death

Constantine spent the last four months of his life in exile in Italy and died at 1:30 am on January 11, 1923 at Palermo, Sicily of heart failure. His wife, Sophie of Prussia, was never allowed back to Greece and was later interred beside her husband in the Russian Church in Florence.

After his restoration on the Greek throne, George II organized the repatriation of the remains of members of his family who died in exile. An important religious ceremony that brought together, for six days in November 1936, all members of the royal family still alive. Constantine’s body was buried at the royal burial ground at Tatoi Palace, where he remains.

The Life of Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark: later Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia

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Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia, Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, King George I of the Hellenes, Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, Rand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, Winter Palace

Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark: August 30, 1870 – September 24, 1891), later known as Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia and was a member of the Greek royal family and of the Russian imperial family. She was the daughter of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia. She died of childbirth complications.

Early life

Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark was born on August 30, 1870 at Mon Repos, the summer residence of the Greek royal family on the island of Corfu. She was the third child and eldest daughter of King George I of Hellenes and his wife, Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia.

Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark

Alexandra’s father was not a native Greek, but he had been born a Danish prince named Christian Wilhelm of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, a son of Christian IX, King of Denmark, and he had been elected to the Greek throne at the age of seventeen. Five of his sons (Constantine, George, Nicholas, Andrew and Christopher), and two daughters (Alexandra and Maria), attained adulthood.

Alexandra’s mother, Grand Duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, (whom I just featured on this blog) was the daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich of Russia and his wife Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg (whom I also just featured on this blog).

The Greek royal family was not wealthy by royal standards and they lived with simplicity. King George was a taciturn man, but contrary to the general approach of the time, he believed in happy rambunctious children. The long corridors of the royal palace in Athens were used by Alexandra and her siblings for all types of play and sometimes a “bike ride” would be led by the King himself. Raised by British nannies, English was the children’s first language, but they spoke Greek between themselves. They also learned German and French.

Alexandra, nickname “Aline” within her family, or Greek Alix, to distinguish her from her aunt and godmother, Alexandra of Denmark, at the time The Princess of Wales and husband of the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, had a sunny disposition and was much loved by her family. “She had one of those sweet and lovable natures that endeared her to everybody who came in touch with her,” recalled her brother, Nicholas. “She looked young and beautiful, and ever since she was a child, life looked as it had nothing but joy and happiness in store for her.”

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia

Alexandra’s playmates were her brother Nicholas and her sister Maria, who followed her in age. Alexandra spent many holidays in Denmark visiting her paternal grandparents King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark. In Denmark, Alexandra and her siblings met their Russian and British cousins in large family gatherings.

Marriage and children

When she was eighteen years old, she was married to Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia, her maternal first cousin once removed and the youngest child and sixth son of Emperor Alexander II and his first wife, Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine.

Grand Duke Paul’s father, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, and Princess Alexandra’s grandfather, Grand Duke Constantine were brothers.

They had become close when Grand Duke Paul spent winters in Greece due to his frequent respiratory illnesses. The Greek royal family also frequently spent holidays with the Romanov family on visits to Russia or Denmark. Their engagement was announced on November 10, 1888. The wedding took place on June 17, 1889 in St. Petersburg, at the chapel of the Winter Palace.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich of Russia,

They had two children:

Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (1890–1958)
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (1891–1942)

Death

Seven months into her second pregnancy, Alexandra took a walk with her friends on the bank of the Moskva River and jumped directly into a boat that was permanently moored there, but fell as she got in. The next day, she collapsed in the middle of a ball from violent labour pains.

She gave birth to her son, Dimitri, lapsed into a fatal coma, and she died six days later in the Romanovs’ estate Ilyinskoe near Moscow. The Grand Duchess was buried in the Peter and Paul Cathedral, St. Petersburg. Her grieving husband had to be restrained from throwing himself into the grave with her.

Her husband later morganatically remarried Olga Karnovich. Alexandra’s son would be involved in the murder of Grigori Rasputin, a favorite of Empress Alexandra Feodorvna, in 1916.

In 1939 during the reign of her nephew King George II of the Hellenes, the Greek government obtained permission from the Soviet government under Joseph Stalin to rebury Princess Alexandra in Greece. Her body was removed from the vault in Leningrad and transferred by a Greek ship to Athens. It was finally laid to rest near the Tatoi Palace. Alexandra’s marble tombstone over an empty tomb is still in its place in the Peter and Paul Cathedral.

The “Alexandra Maternity Hospital” (now “Alexandra General Hospital”) in Athens was later named in her memory by another nephew, King Paul; it was affiliated with the University of Athens with a special remit to research and combat postpartum maternal mortality. Alexandras Avenue in Athens was also named after her.

The Life of Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg. Conclusion.

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From The Emperor’s Desk: I got a new Tablet a few days earlier than expected!

Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark

In June 1889, Alexandra’s 18-year-old granddaughter, Princess Alexandra of Greece and Denmark, returned to Russia to marry Grand Duke Paul, who was the younger brother of Emperor Alexander III. Towards the end of the wedding celebrations, Constantine suffered a stroke. This was followed in August 1889 by a severe stroke, which left him unable to walk or speak.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia

For the remaining three years of his life Constantine lived with his wife in her favourite palace Pavlovsk, having a wing of the building to himself. He was confined to a bath chair, and Alexandra saw to it that Constantine was denied contact with his mistress and illegitimate offspring.

Alexandra’s grandson, Christopher of Greece, wrote in his memoirs that Constantine became so frustrated with being under Alexandra’s control that he one day grabbed her by the hair and beat her with his stick. Seeing as Christopher would have only been four years old at the time of Constantine’s death, it is difficult to know the full truth of this story.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia

Despite his illness, Constantine tried to amuse himself as best he could. His grand-nephew Cyril Vladimirovich remembered skating parties at Pavlovsk, where Constantine would watch from his sledge, and how he always “smelt of cigars”. Cyril found Alexandra a formidable woman, with her “high pitched voice….driving about in an open carriage with a kind of awning over it, which could be opened and closed like an umbrella.

“I have never seen anything quite the same anywhere else, and think that she was the only person in the world who had such an ingenious cover to her carriage”.

Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna of Russia in old age

When Constantine died, in January 1892, Alexandra arranged for his mistress Anna to visit Pavlovsk and pray at Constantine’s bedside.

Eleven years later, Alexandra herself suffered a stroke in 1903, eight years before she died and she lived out her days at the Marble Palace in Saint Petersburg. She died on July 6, 1911.

February 15, 1710: Birth of King Louis XV of France and Navarre

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Louis XV (February 15, 1710 – May 10, 1774), known as Louis the Beloved was King of France and Navarre from September 1, 1715 until his death in 1774.

Louis XV was the great-grandson of Louis XIV and the third son of Prince Louis, Duke of Burgundy (1682–1712), and his wife and cousin, Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, who was the eldest daughter of Victor Amadeus II, Duke of Savoy, and Princess Anne Marie d’Orléans.

Princess Anne Marie d’Orléans was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, younger brother of Louis XIV, and Henrietta of England, the youngest daughter of Charles I of England and Henrietta Marie de Bourbon of France and the daughter of Louis XV ‘s great-great-great grandfather King Henri IV of France and Navarre.

Prince Louis, Duke of Burgundy

The future King Louis XV was born in the Palace of Versailles on February 15, 1710 and was immediately styled the Duke of Anjou.

At the time of his birth the possibility that the infant Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou, of ever becoming the next king seemed rather remote as Louis XIV’s eldest son and heir, and the Duke of Anjou’s paternal grandfather Louis, Le Grand Dauphin, was expected to assume the throne upon the old king’s death.

King Louis XV of France and Navarre

Next in line to the throne behind the Grand Dauphin was his eldest son Prince Louis, known as Le Petit Dauphin, and the Duke of Anjou’s father.

Prince Louis, Duke of Anjou had an elder brother, named Louis, Duke of Brittany ahead of him in the line of succession. An even older brother, also named Louis, Duke of Brittany (25 June 1704 – 13 April 1705) died of convulsions.

Disease, however, steered the line of succession forward three generations and sideways: on April 14, 1711 the Grand Dauphin, died of smallpox , and less than a year later, on February 12, 1712 the future king’s mother, Marie Adélaïde of Savoy, who had been stricken with measles, died, followed six days later by Louis’s father, Le Petit Dauphin, her devoted husband who would not leave her side during her illness.

With the death of both the Grand and Petit dauphins, Louis’s elder brother immediately became Dauphin of France, but just over two weeks further still, on March 7, it was found that both the elder Louis and the younger Louis had also had the measles.

King Louis XV of France and Navarre

The two brothers were treated in the traditional way, with bloodletting. On the night of 8–9 March, the new Dauphin, age five, died from the combination of the disease and the treatment. The governess of Louis, Madame de Ventadour, forbade the doctors to bleed the two year old Duke of Anjou by hiding him in a palace closet where she cared for him alone; where he survived despite being very ill.

When Louis XIV himself finally died on September 1, 1715, Louis, at the age of five, trembling and crying and against all probability, inherited the throne as King Louis XV.

Until the King reached maturity (then defined as his 13th birthday) on February 15, 1723, the kingdom was ruled by his grand-uncle Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, as Regent of France. Cardinal Fleury was chief minister from 1726 until his death in 1743, at which time the king took sole control of the kingdom.

On October 25, 1722 King Louis XV was crowned King at the Cathedral of Reims. On February 15, 1723, the king’s majority was declared by the Parlement of Paris, officially ending the regency. Philippe continued to manage the government, and took the title of Prime Minister in August 1723, but while visiting his mistress, far from the court and medical care, he died in December of the same year.

Marie Leszczyńska

Following the advice of his preceptor Fleury, Louis XV appointed his cousin Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon, to replace the late Duke of Orléans as prime minister.

Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon was the second child and eldest son of Louis III, Prince of Condé, and Louise Françoise de Bourbon, the eldest daughter of King Louis XIV and his mistress Madame de Montespan.

One of the first priorities of the Duke of Bourbon was to find a bride for the King, to assure the continuity of the monarchy, and especially to prevent the succession to the throne of the Orléans branch of the family, the rivals of his branch.

A list of 99 princesses was prepared, among them being Princess Anne of Great Britain, Infanta Barbara of Portugal, Princess Charlotte Amalie of Denmark, Elisabeth Therese of Lorraine, Enrichetta d’Este and Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon’s own sisters Henriette Louise de Bourbon and Élisabeth Alexandrine de Bourbon were considered.

In the end, the 21-year-old Marie Leszczyńska, daughter of Stanislaus I, the deposed king of Poland, was chosen.

Marie Leszczyńska, was the second daughter of King Stanislaus I Leszczyński of Poland and his wife, Countess Catherine Opalińska.

The marriage was celebrated in September 1725 when the king was 15 and Marie was 22. Louis was said to have fallen in love with Marie instantly, and consummated his marriage to her seven times on their wedding night.

Though the King loved his wife he still had many Mistresses, most notably, Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour (December 29, 1721 – April 15, 1764), commonly known as Madame de Pompadour. She was the official chief mistress of King Louis XV from 1745 to 1751, and remained influential as court favourite until her death.

Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, Marquise de Pompadour

Madame de Pompadour took charge of the king’s schedule and was a valued aide and advisor, despite her frail health and many political enemies. She secured titles of nobility for herself and her relatives, and built a network of clients and supporters. She was particularly careful not to alienate the Queen, Marie Leszczyńska.

On February 8, 1756, the Marquise de Pompadour was named as the thirteenth lady-in-waiting to the queen, a position considered the most prestigious at the court, which accorded her with honors.

Reign

The reign of King Louis XV was 59 years (from 1715 to 1774) and was the second longest in the history of France, exceeded only by his predecessor, Louis XIV, who had ruled for 72 years (from 1643 to 1715).

In 1748, Louis returned the Austrian Netherlands, won at the Battle of Fontenoy of 1745. He ceded New France in North America to Great Britain and Spain at the conclusion of the disastrous Seven Years’ War in 1763.

He incorporated the territories of the Duchy of Lorraine and the Corsican Republic into the Kingdom of France. Historians generally criticize his reign, citing how reports of his corruption embarrassed the monarchy, while his wars drained the treasury and produced little gain.

King Louis XV in 1773 the year before he died.

A minority of scholars dispute this view, arguing that it is the result of revolutionary propaganda. His grandson and successor Louis XVI would inherit a kingdom in need of financial and political reform which would ultimately lead to the French Revolution of 1789.

King Louis XV Louis died at 3:15 in the morning on May 10, 1774. His son and heir, Prince Louis, La Dauphin died in 1765 and he was succeeded by his eldest surviving grandson Louis Augusté who became King Louis XVI. The new King’s consort was Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria.

February 7, 1301: Edward of Caernarfon is Created Prince of Wales

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King Edward II of England and Lord of Ireland was born in Caernarfon Castle in North Wales on April 24, 1284, the son of King Edward I of England and Lord of Ireland and Infanta Eleanor of Castile daughter of King Fernando III of Castile and Joan, Countess of Ponthieu.

Edward of Caernarfon was born in North Wales less than a year after Edward I had conquered the region. The king probably chose Caernarfon Castle deliberately as the location for Edward’s birth as it was an important symbolic location for the native Welsh, associated with Roman imperial history, and it formed the centre of the new royal administration of North Wales.

King Edward II of England and Lord of Ireland

One of the last independent Princess of Wales was Llywelyn ap Gruffydd (Llywelyn the Last), who was killed at the Battle of Orewin Bridge in 1282.

His brother, Dafydd ap Gruffydd, was executed the following year. After these two deaths, Edward I of England invested his son Edward of Caernarfon as the first English Prince of Wales on February 7, 1301.

The title was later claimed by the heir of Gwynedd, Owain Glyndŵr (Owain ap Gruffydd), from 1400 until 1415 (date of his assumed death) who led Welsh forces against the English. Since then, it has only been held by the heir apparent of the English and subsequently British monarch. The title is a subject of controversy in Wales.

Coat of Arms of the Prince of Wales

According to conventional wisdom, since 1301 the Prince of Wales has usually been the eldest living son (only if he is also the heir apparent) of the King or Queen Regnant of England (subsequently of Great Britain, 1707, and of the United Kingdom, 1801).

The title is neither automatic or heritable; it merges with the Crown when its holder eventually accedes to the throne, or reverts to the Crown if its holder predeceases the current monarch, leaving the sovereign free to grant it to the new heir apparent (such as the late prince’s son or brother).

King Charles III of the United Kingdom

Since 1301, the title ‘Earl of Chester’ has generally been granted to each heir apparent to the English throne, and from the late 14th century it has been given only in conjunction with that of ‘Prince of Wales’. Both titles are bestowed to each individual by the sovereign and are not automatically acquired.

The current sovereign, King Charles III of the United Kingdom, was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on July 26, 1958. He was the longest serving Prince of Wales for 64 years and 44 days from his creation as Prince of Wales in 1958 until his accession to the throne on September 8, 2022.

HRH The Prince of Wales

King Charles III was also heir apparent for longer than any other heir to the throne in British history.

Upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, on September 8, 2022, Charles became King and the title, along with other titles connected to the Prince of Wales merged with the Crown. The following day, King Charles III bestowed the title Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester upon his elder son, Prince William, Duke of Cornwall and Cambridge.