c. August 11, 1081 or 1086: Birth of Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor

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Bertha of Savoy, Henry I of England, Holy Roman Emperor Henry IV, Holy Roman Emperor Henry V, Investiture Controversy, Matilda of England, Pope Gregory VII, Pope Paschal II

Heinrich V. (c. August 11, 1081 or 1086 – May 23, 1125) was King of the Romans (from 1099 to 1125) and Holy Roman Emperor (from 1111 to 1125), as the fourth and last ruler of the Salian dynasty. He was made co-ruler by his father, Heinrich IV, in 1098.

Heinrich V was probably born on August 11 in 1081 or 1086. However, only the date of his accolade (Schwertleite) at Easter 1101 can be confirmed. This ceremony usually took place at the age of 15.

There were three children born of Emperor Heinrich IV and his wife Bertha of Savoy (died in 1087).

Bertha of Savoy was a daughter of Count Otto I of Savoy (also called Eudes or Odo; c. 1023 – c. 1057/1060) and his wife Adelaide of Susa (c. 1014/1020 – 1091) from the Arduinici noble family, and as such a member of the Burgundian House of Savoy. She thereby was the sister of Count Peter I of Savoy (d. 1078), Count Amadeus II of Savoy (d. 1080), and Adelaide (d. 1079), consort of the German anti-king Rudolf of Rheinfelden.

Heinrich and his two older siblings, Conrad and Agnes, survived childhood; two other siblings had died early. Heinrich seems to have spent the first years of his life primarily in Regensburg. His mentor was Conrad Bishop of Utrecht.

At the time of Heinrich’s birth, his father, Emperor Heinrich IV, had already been engaged in many years of drawn out conflicts with the pope, the imperial bishops, and secular princes for the preservation of his rule.

Henry IV had never paid much attention to the advice, or the rights and privileges of the landed nobility. Saxony, as the centre of resistance, was joined by the southern duchies of Bavaria, Swabia and Carinthia.

These southern duchies again sought the support of Pope Gregory VII, the chief advocate of church reform ideas. Gregory’s central demand was that the emperor must refrain from investing abbots and bishops, a practice that had been essential for the Imperial Church System since Emperor Otto I.

Gregory VII excommunicated Heinrich IV in 1077. By repenting at Canossa, Heinrich managed to get absolved. In 1080 and 1094, however, Heinrich IV was excommunicated again. In 1102, the church ban was again declared over him and his party, including his son, Heinrich V. The conflict divided the empire from the church.

Heinrich IV therefore sought to strengthen his influence in the south. His daughter, Agnes, was engaged to Friedrich I of Swabia, who in 1079 obtained the Duchy of Swabia.

Friedrich I (c. 1050 – c. July 21, 1105) was Duke of Swabia from 1079 to his death, the first ruler from the House of Hohenstaufen.

The emperor also sought to secure his royal succession. Heinrich IV chose his eldest son, Conrad, to be his heir and arranged to have Conrad crowned king of the Romans in Aachen in 1087. After Conrad defected to the Church Reform Party in Italy in 1093, his royalty and inheritance were revoked at a court in Mainz and transferred to his younger brother, Heinrich V in May 1098.

The latter had to take an oath never to rule over the father. On January 6, 1099, Heinrich V was crowned king of the Romans in Aachen, where he was required to repeat the oath. His brother, Conrad, died in Florence on July 27, 1101.

The continued existence of the Salian dynasty now depended on Heinrich V, the only living son of the emperor. The co-regency of son and father proceeded without obvious problems for six years. Contrary to previous ruling sons, Heinrich V was not involved in government affairs.

In Emperor Heinrich IV’s conflicts with the imperial princes and the struggle against the reform papacy during the Investiture Controversy, young Heinrich V allied himself with the opponents of his father.

He forced Heinrich IV to abdicate on December 31, 1105 and ruled for five years in compliance with the imperial princes. He tried, unsuccessfully, to withdraw the regalia from the bishops and in order to at least preserve the previous right to invest he captured Pope Paschal II and forced him to perform his imperial coronation in 1111.

Once crowned emperor, Heinrich V departed from joint rule with the princes and resorted to earlier Salian autocratic rule. After he had failed to increase control over the church, the princes in Saxony and on the Middle and Lower Rhine, in 1121 the imperial princes forced Heinrich V to consent with the papacy.

Investiture Controversy was an important issues in the reign of Heinrich V and will be addressed in another blog post.

From 1108 on Heinrich V made official proposals for a marriage with a princess of the English royal family, seeking to increase the authority of the Salian king and secure his throne. His engagement with the eight-year-old princess Matilda took place in Utrecht at Easter of 1110.

The Anglo-Norman King Henry I of England paid the extraordinarily high sum of 10,000 or 15,000 pounds of silver as dowry. In return, his daughter’s marriage to Heinrich V enormously increased his prestige.

On July 25, 1110 Matilda was crowned Roman-German Queen in Mainz by the Archbishop of Cologne. Four years later the wedding celebrations also took place in Mainz on January 7, 1114 amid great splendor and the attention of princes from all over the empire.

The Salians appropriated the occasion to reaffirm unanimity with the imperial nobles after the conflicts in recent years. Duke Lothair of Supplinburg appeared barefoot and in penitent clothing at the wedding. He was forgiven for his participation in the inheritance disputes of Carniola after performing a Deditio (submission).

This occasion is the only known case of a Deditio during Heinrich V’s reign, which historians have compared to the amicable set of rules and conflict management and settlement of the Ottonian dynasty.

On the other hand, Heinrich had Count Ludwig of Thuringia captured and imprisoned for his participation in the Saxon rebellion, which upset many princes. Heinrich V’s impertinent demonstrations of power greatly diminished the overall atmosphere of the festivity. Some princes left the festival without permission, as others used the opportunity for conspiracies.

The marriage to Matilda produced no male heirs. The chronicler Hériman of Tournai mentions a child of Heinrich and Matilda that died soon after birth. A single source mentions a daughter of Heinrich named Bertha, who was probably illegitimate. She married Count Ptolemy II of Tusculum in 1117. The emperor’s bond with the nobility of Rome through marriage was unique. In his conflict with the Pope and the struggle for domination in Italy, the Tusculan marriages of imperial partisans would receive particular honor.

Eventually, affairs in Italy compelled Heinrich V to leave and appoint duke Friedrich II of Hohenstaufen and his brother Conrad, the future king Conrad III as administrators.

August 2, 1674: Birth of Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France.

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Duchess of Berry, Françoise-Marie de Bourbon, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Louis XV of France and Navarre, Marie Louise Élisabeth d'Orléans, Philippe II of Orleans, Regent of France

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Charles; August 2, 1674 – December 2, 1723), was a French royal, soldier, and statesman who served as Regent of the Kingdom of France from 1715 to 1723. He is also referred to as le Régent.

Philippe Charles was the son of Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, (September 21, 1640 – June 9, 1701), was the younger son of King Louis XIII of France and Navarre and his wife, Infanta Anne of Austria.

Philippe Charles’ mother, Infanta Anne of Austria, she was the eldest daughter of King Felipe III of Spain and his wife (his first-cousin, once-removed) Archduchess Margaret of Austria. Anne of Austria held the titles of Infanta of Spain and of Portugal (since her father was king of Portugal as well as Spain) and Archduchess of Austria.

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans, Regent of France

Despite her Spanish birth, she was referred to as Anne of Austria because the rulers of Spain belonged to the senior branch of the House of Austria, known later as the House of Habsburg, a designation relatively uncommon before the 19th century.

Philippe Charles’ father Philippe I Duke of Orléans, who’s older brother was the “Sun King”, Louis XIV of France and Navarre. Philippe I was styled Duke of Anjou from birth, Philippe became Duke of Orléans upon the death of his uncle Gaston in 1660.

In March 1661, Monsieur Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, married his first cousin Princess Henrietta of England, known as Madame at court; she was the sister of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland.

The marriage was stormy; Henrietta was a famed beauty, sometimes depicted as flirtatious by those at the court of Versailles. Nonetheless, the marriage produced three children: Marie Louise, later Queen of Spain; Philippe Charles, Duke of Valois, who died in infancy; and Anne Marie, who became Queen of Sardinia.

Madame Henriette died at Saint-Cloud in 1670; rumors abounded that she had been poisoned by her husband or his long-term lover, the Chevalier de Lorraine; the two would remain together till the death of the Duke of Orléans in 1701.

In the following year, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans wed Princess Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, only daughter of Charles I Ludwig, Elector Palatine, and Landgravine Charlotte of Hesse-Cassel.

The new Duchess of Orléans, who had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism just before entering France, was popular at court upon her arrival in 1671.

In 1673 the Duke Philippe and Duchess Elisabeth Charlotte had a son named Alexandre Louis, another short-lived Duke of Valois. The next year, the Duchess gave birth to Philippe Charles d’Orléans, the future Regent, at the Château de Saint-Cloud, some ten kilometers west of Paris.

As the grandson of King Louis XIII of France, Philippe Charles was a petit-fils de France. This entitled him to the style of Royal Highness from birth, as well as the right to be seated in an armchair in the king’s presence.

At his birth, he was titled Duke of Chartres and was formally addressed as Monseigneur le Duc de Chartres. As the second living son of his parents, his birth was not greeted with the enthusiasm the Duke of Valois had received in 1673.

In 1676, his three year old, older brother, Alexandre Louis d’Orléans, Duke of Valois died at the Palais-Royal in Paris, making Philippe Charles the new heir to the House of Orléans; the future heirs of the Duke of Orléans would be known as the Duke of Chartres (Duc de Chartres) for the next century.

His distraught mother was pregnant at the time with Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans (1676–1744), future Duchess and regent of Lorraine. Élisabeth Charlotte and Philippe would always remain close.

The Duke of Chartres grew up at his father’s “private” court held at Saint-Cloud, and in Paris at the Palais-Royal, the Parisian residence of the Orléans family until the arrest of (his grandson) Philippe Égalité in April 1793 during the French Revolution. The Palais-Royal was frequented by, among others, Marie Anne Mancini, Duchess of Bouillon, part of Philippe’s father’s libertine circle.

On February 18, 1692, the 18 year old Philippe Charles married his 14 year old first cousin Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter (légitimée de France) of King Louis XIV and his maîtresse-en-titre, Françoise-Athénaïs de Rochechouart, Marquise de Montespan.

Françoise Marie de Bourbon

King Louis XIV offered a dowry of two million livres with his daughter’s hand (not to be paid until the Nine Years’ War was over), as well as the Palais-Royal for the bridegroom’s parents. Upon hearing that her son had agreed to the marriage, Philippe Charles’s mother slapped his face in full view of the court and turned her back on the king as he bowed to her.

The young couple, mismatched from the start, never grew to like each other, and soon the young Philippe Charles gave his wife the nickname of Madame Lucifer. In spite of this, they had eight children.

There were contemporary rumors of an incestuous relationship between the Philippe Charles and his daughter, Marie Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans, Duchess of Berry. These rumors were never confirmed, although Philippe Charles reacted to them by demonstrating affectionate behavior towards her at court. The rumors were also used by the opposition during his period as regent, and were the inspiration of libelous songs and poems

Court life

On the death of his father in June 1701, Philippe Charles inherited the Dukedoms of Orléans, Anjou, Montpensier and Nemours, as well as the princedom of Joinville. Philippe I, Duke of Orléans had died at Saint-Cloud after an argument with Louis XIV at Marly about Chartres’ flaunting his pregnant mistress, Marie-Louise de Séry, before Françoise Marie. It has also been claimed that Philippe became so infuriated with Louis for not paying his daughter’s dowry that he suffered a stroke.

After inheriting his father’s titles Philippe Charles became known as Philippe II, Duke of Orléans.

Marie Louise Élisabeth d’Orléans, Duchess of Berry

In 1715 with the death of Louis XIV and the accession of his grandson as King Louis XV, Philippe II was named regent of France during the minority of Louis XV, his great-nephew and first cousin twice removed, the period of his de facto rule was known as the Regency (French: la Régence) (1715–23).

Philippe II, Duke of Orléans had a difficult time gaining the regency. I have written about that before and will repost that information tomorrow.

Throughout his life Philippe II had many mistresses; his wife came to prefer living quietly at Saint-Cloud, the Palais-Royal, or her house at Bagnolet. His most famous mistress was arguably Marie-Thérèse de Parabère, who was his main mistress during almost the entire regency, with other high profile affairs being those with Madame de Sabran, Madame d’Averne and Marie-Thérèse Blonel de Phalaris.

Upon the death of the Henri Jules, prince de Condé in 1709, the rank of Premier Prince du Sang passed from the House of Condé to the House of Orléans. Philippe was thus entitled to the style of Monsieur le Prince. But the rank of petit-fils de France being higher than that of premier prince, Philippe did not change his style; nor did his son or other heirs make use of the Monsieur le Prince style, which had been so long associated with the cadet branch of the Princes de Condé that the heads of the House of Orléans preferred to be known at court by their ducal title.

Philippe II, The Duke of Orléans died at Versailles in 1723.

July 28, 1540: King Henry VIII of England, Lord of Ireland marries his fifth wife, Catherine Howard

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Catherine Howard, Duke Wilhelm I-V of Jülich-Cleves-Berg, Execution, Francis Dereham, Hans Holbein the Younger, Henry VIII of England and Lord of Ireland, Privy Council, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Culpeper

King Henry VIII considered the matter of the need for a politically aligned marriage. As a new Protestant nation England needed Protestant allies. Chancellor, Thomas Cromwell suggested Anne, the 25-year-old sister of the Duke Wilhelm I-V of Jülich-Cleves-Berg who was seen as an important ally in case of a Roman Catholic attack on England, for the duke fell between Lutheranism and Catholicism.

Hans Holbein the Younger was dispatched to Cleves to paint a portrait of Anne for the king. Despite speculation that Holbein painted her in an overly flattering light, it is more likely that the portrait was accurate; Holbein remained in favour at court.

Henry VIII, King of England and Lord of Ireland

After seeing Holbein’s portrait, and urged on by the complimentary description of Anne given by his courtiers, the 49-year-old king agreed to wed Anne. However, it was not long before Henry wished to annul the marriage so he could marry another. Anne did not argue, and confirmed that the marriage had never been consummated.

Anne’s previous betrothal to the Duke of Lorraine’s son François provided further grounds for the annulment. The marriage was subsequently dissolved, and Anne received the title of “The King’s Sister”, two houses, and a generous allowance. It was soon clear that Henry had fallen for the 17-year-old Catherine Howard, the Duke of Norfolk’s niece. This worried Cromwell, for Norfolk was his political opponent.

Shortly after, the religious reformers (and protégés of Cromwell) Robert Barnes, William Jerome and Thomas Garret were burned as heretics. Cromwell, meanwhile, fell out of favour although it is unclear exactly why, for there is little evidence of differences in domestic or foreign policy.

Despite his role, he was never formally accused of being responsible for Henry’s failed marriage. Cromwell was now surrounded by enemies at court, with Norfolk also able to draw on his niece Catherine’s position.

Cromwell was charged with treason, selling export licences, granting passports, and drawing up commissions without permission, and may also have been blamed for the failure of the foreign policy that accompanied the attempted marriage to Anne. He was subsequently attainted and beheaded.

Marriage to Catherine Howard

Catherine Howard

On July 28, 1540 (the same day Cromwell was executed), Henry VIII married the young Catherine Howard, a first cousin and lady-in-waiting of Anne Boleyn. He was absolutely delighted with his new queen and awarded her the lands of Cromwell and a vast array of jewellery.

Soon after the marriage, however, Queen Catherine had an affair with the courtier Thomas Culpeper. She also employed Francis Dereham, who had previously been informally engaged to her and had an affair with her prior to her marriage, as her secretary.

The Privy Council was informed of her affair with Dereham whilst Henry was away; Thomas Cranmer was dispatched to investigate, and he brought evidence of Queen Catherine’s previous affair with Dereham to the king’s notice.

Though Henry originally refused to believe the allegations, Dereham confessed. It took another meeting of the council, however, before Henry believed the accusations against Dereham and went into a rage, blaming the council before consoling himself in hunting.

When questioned, the queen could have admitted a prior contract to marry Dereham, which would have made her subsequent marriage to Henry invalid, but she instead claimed that Dereham had forced her to enter into an adulterous relationship. Dereham, meanwhile, exposed Catherine’s relationship with Thomas Culpeper and Francis Dereham were both executed, and Catherine too was beheaded on February 13, 1542.

Queen Caroline Matilda of Denmark and Norway part II.

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Caroline Matilda of Great Britain, Copenhagen, Dowager Princess of Wales, Johann Friedrich Struensee, King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway, Louise von Plessen, Queen of Denmark and Norway, Royal physician

Queen Caroline Matilda became close to her Overhofmesterinde, Louise von Plessen, who regarded the King’s friends, such as Conrad Holck and Enevold Brandt, as immoral and acted to isolate Caroline Matilda from her spouse. This was not difficult, as Christian VII did not like her.

The couple were further estranged when Louise von Plessen advised Caroline Matilda to claim to be indisposed when the King expressed a wish for physical intimacy, with the thought that distance would make the King more eager; instead, though, it only made him more unwilling.

At the end, and after being persuaded by his old tutor Reverdil, Christian VII consummated his marriage for the sake of the succession, and after the Queen gave birth to Crown Prince Frederik on January 28, 1768, he turned his interest to the brothels of Copenhagen.

Caroline Matilda, Queen of Denmark and Norway.

Though Caroline Matilda was not interested in politics, after the birth of an heir, she came to play a key role at the court. Her dislike of her husband’s favourites increased when, in 1768, Holck managed to exile Louise von Plessen from court, leaving the Queen even more isolated. She refused to accept von Plessen’s successor, Anne Sofie von Berckentin, whom she suspected had taken part in the plot to exile Plessen. Thus, Plessen was not replaced until Margrethe von der Lühe agreed to accept the post in 1768.

In May 1768 Christian VII took a long tour of Europe, including stays in Altona, Paris, and London. During his absence, Caroline Matilda took care of her son and aroused attention when she took walks in Copenhagen; this was considered scandalous, as royal and noble Danish women normally only travelled in town by carriage.

Caroline Matilda spent the summer at Frederiksborg Castle with her son before returning to Copenhagen in the autumn. During the absence of the King, there were rumours about an affair of the Queen with a certain La Tour, a handsome actor and singer from the French-language theater Hofteatret. La Tour was the lover of her lady-in-waiting Elisabet von Eyben, but he was known to receive gifts from “a higher hand” and it was said that his visits to von Eyben’s chamber were in fact visits to the Queen.

The allegation of an affair is not considered to have been true, but La Tour was exiled after the return of King Christian VII, perhaps because the rumour was damaging enough in itself. In addition to von Eyben, Caroline Matilda made friends with Christine Sophie von Gähler, Anna Sofie Bülow, and Amalie Sofie Holstein, who were known for their love affairs. According to the letter writer Luise Gramm, they encouraged her to participate more in social life, dance, and flirt.

Affair and Scandal

Royal physician Johann Friedrich Struensee

The King returned to Copenhagen on January 28, 1769, bringing with him Johann Friedrich Struensee as Royal Physician. He had met Struensee in Altona at the beginning of his travels. During 1769, the King’s mental health deteriorated, but Struensee could apparently handle the King’s instability, to the great relief of the King’s advisers, and Christian VII developed a confidence in him.

During 1769, Struensee encouraged the King in his attraction to Birgitte Sofie Gabel, reportedly because he believed a relationship with an intelligent woman would make the King more mentally stable and his insanity easier to handle, but this project failed, and the attempt to provide the King with a mistress made the Queen hostile toward Struensee.

Struensee then encouraged the King to improve his relationship with Caroline Matilda, and Christian VII showed his attention to her with a three-day birthday celebration on July 22, 1769. The Queen was well aware that Struensee was behind her husband’s improved behavior.

Her gratitude was reflected in her new interest in the charming doctor. In the summer of 1769, Caroline Matilda had an attack of dropsy, and at the insistence of her husband, she turned to Struensee. He advised the Queen that entertainment and exercise were the best medicine; this advice helped Caroline Matilda, and Struensee gained credibility with her.

Her confidence in him was further strengthened when Struensee successfully inoculated the infant Crown Prince Frederick against smallpox. The attraction that had arisen between the Queen and Struensee amused the King.

In January 1770, Struensee was given his own rooms at Christiansborg Palace. In the meantime, the King became more and more passive, isolated and uninvolved in government as his mental health deteriorated. He entrusted more and more of the daily state affairs to Struensee, as he had by then become accustomed to trusting him.

By the spring of 1770, Struensee had become the Queen’s lover. Later, during the divorce proceedings between Caroline Matilda and Christian VII, courtiers who accompanied the Queen during this time reported that they had suspected an affair since at least late 1769.

The rumours forced the Queen to limit her contact with Struensee for a while, but not for long: by the summer of 1770 Caroline Matilda and Struensee were known to be close throughout the capital and the provinces. When the royal couple made a tour through the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein and the German border, accompanied by Struensee, he and the Queen were observed behaving in a suspicious manner towards each other, and rumors started spreading that they were lovers.

With the help of Caroline Matilda, Struensee was able to expel Holck and other political enemies from court, including Margrethe von der Lühe, Holck’s sister and Royal Mistress of the Robes, who, despite her blood relation with Caroline Matilda’s enemy, was close to her.

In the summer of 1770, Caroline Matilda’s mother, the Dowager Princess of Wales, made a visit to the continent, where for various reasons she wanted to communicate with her daughter. The meeting was originally scheduled in Brunswick, but later was moved to Lüneburg, where Caroline Matilda saw her mother not earlier than August 1770.

It was the last meeting between them; reportedly, the Queen received her in breeches, which at that time was regarded as scandalous. During this meeting, Struensee was constantly at the Queen’s side, so the Dowager Princess of Wales had no opportunity to talk freely with her daughter and could only instruct Woodford, the British Minister to Saxe-Lauenburg, to caution Caroline Matilda about her behaviour. In the end, neither Woodford nor the Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh (who visited his sister in the same year in Copenhagen) succeeded in this purpose.

In September 1770 came the fall of the Chancellor Count Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff, reportedly thanks to the intrigues of both Struensee and Caroline Matilda; when the Dowager Princess of Wales asked her daughter about these rumours, the Queen responded to her mother’s lamentations with an arrogant phrase: “Pray, madam, allow me to govern my own kingdom as I please!”

On December 18, Struensee became Maître des Requêtes (“Master of Queries”; Privy Counsellor), and in July 1771 when he entered the cabinet it was declared that his orders would have the same effect as if they were signed by the King himself; on July 22, (the day of the Queen’s birthday) the signatures of Struensee and his assistant Count Enevold Brandt were officially announced.

From then, Struensee’s authority became paramount, and he held absolute sway between March 20, 1771 and January 16, 1772: this period is known as the “Time of Struensee”.

June 28, 1914: Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este at Sarajevo

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Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Assassination, Bosnia and Herzegovina, causes of World War I, Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria, Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Gavrilo Princip, Imperial Germany, Mary Vetsera, Sarajevo, Serbia, Sophie Chotek, The Black Hand

Archduke Franz Ferdinand Charles Ludwig Joseph Maria of Austria-Este (December 18, 1863 – June 28, 1914) was the heir presumptive to the throne of Austria-Hungary. His assassination in Sarajevo was the most immediate cause of World War I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand was the eldest son of Archduke Charles Ludwig of Austria, the younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s mother was Archduke Charles Ludwig’s second wife, Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1875, when he was eleven years old, his cousin Francis V, Duke of Modena, died, naming Franz Ferdinand his heir on condition that he add the name “Este” to his own.

Crown Prince Rudolph of Austria died in 1889 part of a murder-suicide with his mistress Mary Vetsera at his hunting lodge in Mayerling. With the death of his father Archduke Charles Ludwig in 1896 from Typhoid, Archduke Franz Ferdinand became the heir presumptive to the Austro-Hungarian throne.

His courtship of Sophie Chotek, a lady-in-waiting, caused conflict within the imperial household. To be eligible to marry a member of the imperial House of Habsburg, one had to be a member of one of the reigning or formerly reigning dynasties of Europe. The Choteks were not one of these families. Deeply in love, Franz Ferdinand refused to consider marrying anyone else.

Finally, in 1899, Emperor Franz Joseph agreed to permit Franz Ferdinand to marry Sophie, on the condition that the marriage would be morganatic and that their descendants would not have succession rights to the throne. Sophie would not share her husband’s rank, title, precedence, or privileges; as such, she would not normally appear in public beside him. She would not be allowed to ride in the royal carriage or sit in the royal box in theaters.

Franz Ferdinand held significant influence over the military, and in 1913 he was appointed inspector general of the Austro-Hungarian armed forces.

On Sunday, June 28, 1914, at about 10:45 am, Franz Ferdinand and his wife were assassinated in Sarajevo, the capital of the Austro-Hungarian province of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The perpetrator was 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, a member of Young Bosnia and one of a group of assassins organized and armed by the Black Hand.

Earlier in the day, the couple had been attacked by Nedeljko Čabrinović, who had thrown a grenade at their car. However, the bomb detonated behind them, injuring the occupants in the following car. On arriving at the Governor’s residence, Franz angrily shouted, “So this is how you welcome your guests – with bombs!”

After a short rest at the Governor’s residence, the royal couple insisted on seeing all those who had been injured by the bomb at the local hospital. However, no one told the drivers that the itinerary had been changed.

When the error was discovered, the drivers had to turn around. As the cars backed down the street and onto a side street, the line of cars stalled. At this same time, Princip was sitting at a cafe across the street. He instantly seized his opportunity and walked across the street and shot the royal couple. He first shot Sophie in the abdomen and then shot Franz Ferdinand in the neck.

Franz Ferdinand leaned over his crying wife. He was still alive when witnesses arrived to render aid. His dying words to Sophie were, “Don’t die darling, live for our children.” Princip’s weapon was the pocket-sized FN Model 1910 pistol chambered for the .380 ACP cartridge provided him by Serbian Army Military Intelligence Lieutenant-Colonel and Black Hand leader Dragutin Dimitrijević.

The archduke’s aides attempted to undo his coat but realized they needed scissors to cut it open: the outer lapel had been sewn to the inner front of the jacket for a smoother fit to improve the Archduke’s appearance to the public. Whether or not as a result of this obstacle, the Archduke’s wound could not be attended to in time to save him, and he died within minutes. Sophie also died en route to the hospital.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand’s assassination led to the July Crisis that gripped all of Europe. The assassinations, along with the arms race, nationalism, imperialism, militarism of Imperial Germany and the alliance system all contributed to the origins of World War I, which began a month after Franz Ferdinand’s death, with Austria-Hungary’s declaration of war against Serbia. The assassination of Franz Ferdinand is considered the most immediate cause of World War I.

May 23, 1052: Birth of King Philippe I of the Franks

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Anna Yaroslavana of Kiev, Bertha of Holland, Excommunication, Grand Prince of Kiev and Prince of Novgorod, King of the Franks, Philippe I, Pope Urban II, Yaroslav the Wise

Philippe I (May 23, 1052 – July 29, 1108), called the Amorous, was King of the Franks from 1060 to 1108. His reign, like that of most of the early Capetians, was extraordinarily long for the time. The monarchy began a modest recovery from the low it reached in the reign of his father and he added to the royal demesne the Vexin and Bourges.

Early life

Philippe was born May 23, 1052 at Champagne-et-Fontaine, the son of King Henri I and his wife Anna Yaroslavana of Kiev, daughter of Yaroslav the Wise, Grand Prince of Kiev and Prince of Novgorod, and his second wife Ingegerd Olofsdotter of Sweden.

Unusual for the time in Western Europe, the name Philippe was of Greek origin, being bestowed upon him by his mother. Although he was crowned king at the age of seven, until age fourteen (1066) his mother acted as regent, the first queen of France (Franks) ever to do so. Baldwin V of Flanders also acted as co-regent.

Personal rule

Following the death of Baldwin VI of Flanders, Robert the Frisian seized Flanders. Baldwin’s widow, Richilda, requested aid from Philippe, who was defeated by Robert at the battle of Cassel in 1071.

Philippe first married Bertha of Holland in 1072. Bertha was the daughter of Count Floris I of Holland and Gertrude of Saxony. Bertha had six siblings and both of her parents came from large families. Her father ruled a territory vaguely described as “Friesland west of the Vlie”, which is where Bertha spent her childhood.

Although the marriage produced the necessary heir, Philippe fell in love with Bertrade de Montfort, the wife of Fulk IV, Count of Anjou.

He repudiated Bertha (claiming she was too fat) and married Bertrade on May 15, 1092. In 1094 following the synod of Autun, he was excommunicated by the papal representative, Hugh of Die, for the first time; after a long silence, Pope Urban II repeated the excommunication at the Council of Clermont in November 1095.

Several times the ban was lifted as Philippe promised to part with Bertrade, but he always returned to her; in 1104 Philippe made a public penance and must have kept his involvement with Bertrade discreet. In France, the king was opposed by Bishop Ivo of Chartres, a famous jurist.

Philippe appointed Alberic first Constable of France in 1060. A great part of his reign, like his father’s, was spent putting down revolts by his power-hungry vassals. In 1077, he made peace with William the Conqueror, King of the English and Duke of Normandy who gave up attempting the conquest of Brittany.

In 1082, Philippe I expanded his demesne with the annexation of the Vexin, in reprisal against Robert Curthose’s attack on William’s heir, William Rufus. Then in 1100, he took control of Bourges.

It was at the aforementioned Council of Clermont that the First Crusade was launched. Philippe at first did not personally support it because of his conflict with Pope Urban II. Philippe’s brother Hugh of Vermandois, however, was a major participant.

Death

Philippe died in the castle of Melun and was buried per his request at the monastery of Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire – and not in St Denis among his forefathers. He was succeeded by his son, Louis VI, whose succession was, however, not uncontested.

Louis’s half-brother, Philippe, Count of Mantes, prevented him from reaching Rheims, and so Daimbert, Archbishop of Sens, crowned him in the cathedral of Orléans on August 3. Ralph the Green, Archbishop of Rheims, sent envoys to challenge the validity of the coronation and anointing, but to no avail.

May 6, 1954: Death Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia

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Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia, Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, King Christian X of Denmark, Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Princess Charlotte of Prussia

Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (September 20, 1886 – May 6, 1954) was the last German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia as the wife of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, the son of German Emperor Wilhelm II.

Cecilie was a daughter of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia was the daughter of Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia was the fourth son and seventh child of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia.

On August 16, 1857, Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia married Princess Cecilie of Baden (1839–1891), daughter of Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden and Sophie of Sweden.

Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was the son of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his first wife Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz.

Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and her husband, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia were cousins. Both were descendants of Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia, and Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (from a collateral branch of the Mecklenburg Royal House).

Cecilie was a granddaughter of Charlotte of Prussia the eldest surviving daughter and fourth child of Friedrich Wilhelm III, King of Prussia, while her husband was a great-grandson of Charlotte’s brother, Wilhelm I, German Emperor and King of Prussia.

She was brought up with simplicity. and her early life was peripatetic, spending summers in Mecklenburg and the rest of the year in the south of France. After the death of her father, she traveled every summer between 1898 and 1904 to her mother’s native Russia.

She spent most of her childhood in Schwerin, at the royal residences of Ludwigslust Palace and the Gelbensande hunting lodge, only a few kilometres from the Baltic Sea coast. Her father suffered badly from asthma and the wet damp cold climate of Mecklenburg was not good for his health.

As a result, Cecilie spent a large amount of time with her family in Cannes in the south of France, favoured at the time by European royalty, including some whom Cecilie met such as Empress Eugénie and her future husband’s great-uncle, Edward VII.

During the winter visit of 1897, Cecilie’s sister, Alexandrine, met her future husband, Crown Prince Christian, later Christian X of Denmark, shortly before the death of their father at the age of 46. After returning to Schwerin, Cecilie spent time with her widowed mother in Denmark.

The wedding of her sister took place in Cannes in April 1898. After the death of her father, she traveled every summer, from 1898 to 1904, visiting her relatives in Russia. Cecilie lived there in Mikhailovskoe on Kronstadt Bay, the country home of her maternal grandfather, Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia.

Engagement

Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany in 1905.

During the wedding festivities of her brother Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in Schwerin in June 1904, the 17-year-old Duchess Cecilie got to know her future husband, Wilhelm, German Crown Prince.

German Emperor Wilhelm II had sent his eldest son to the festivities as his personal representative. Taller than most women of her time at 182 centimetres (over 5’11”), Cecilie was as tall as the German Crown Prince. Wilhelm was struck by her great beauty, and her dark hair and eyes.

On September 4, 1904, the young couple celebrated their engagement at the Mecklenburg-Schwerin hunting lodge, Gelbensande. The Emperor as an engagement present had a wooden residence built nearby for the couple. On September 5, the first official photos of the couple were taken.

Wedding

The wedding of Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the German Crown Prince Wilhelm took place on June 6, 1905 in Berlin. Arriving from Schwerin at Berlin’s Lehrter Station, the future Crown Princess was greeted on the platform with a gift of dark red roses.

She was greeted at Bellevue Palace by the entire German Imperial Family and later made a joyeuse entrée through the Brandenburg Gate to a gun salute in the Tiergarten. Crowds lined the sides of the Unter den Linden as she passed on the way to the Berlin Royal Palace.

Emperor Wilhelm II greeted her at the palace and conducted her to the Knight’s Hall where over fifty guests from different European royal houses awaited the young bride including Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria as well as representatives from Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. On her wedding day, Emperor Wilhelm II presented his daughter-in-law with the Order of Louise.

The wedding ceremony took place in the Royal Chapel and also the nearby Berlin Cathedral. The royal couple received as wedding presents jewellery, silverware and porcelain. At the wish of the bride, Richard Wagner’s famous wedding march from Lohengrin was played along with music from The Meistersinger from Nuremberg conducted by Richard Strauss.

On her wedding day, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became Her Imperial and Royal Highness The German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia. She was expected to one day become German Empress and Queen of Prussia.

German Crown Princess

As German Crown Princess, Cecilie quickly became one of the most beloved members of the German Imperial House. She was known for her elegance and fashion consciousness. It was not long before her fashion style was copied by many women throughout the German Empire.

However, her husband was a womanizer and the marriage was unhappy.

After the fall of the German monarchy, at the end of World War I, Cecilie and her husband lived mostly apart. During the Weimar Republic and the Nazi period, Cecilie lived a private life mainly at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam.

With the advance of the Soviet troops, she left the Cecilienhof in February 1945, never to return. She settled in Bad Kissingen until 1952 when she moved to an apartment in the Frauenkopf district of Stuttgart. In 1952, she published a book of memoirs. She died two years later, on May 6, 1954, which would have been her husband’s 72nd birthday.

May 6, 1910: Death of King Edward VII of the United Kingdom

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Alice Kappel, Emperor of India, German Emperor Wilhelm II, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Prince Albert Edward, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Prince of Wales, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland

Edward VII (Albert Edward; November 9, 1841 – May 6, 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from January 22, 1901 until his death in 1910.

Edward was born at 10:48 in the morning on 9 November 9, 1841 in Buckingham Palace. He was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on January 25, 1842. He was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the royal family throughout his life.

As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall and Duke of Rothesay at birth. As a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony. He had the style of Royal Highness as the son of the sovereign.

He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on December 8, 1841, Earl of Dublin on January 17, 1850, a Knight of the Garter on November 8, 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on May 24, 1867. In 1863, he renounced his succession rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother Prince Alfred.

During the long reign of his mother, he was largely excluded from political influence and came to personify the fashionable, leisured elite. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial public duties and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and of the Indian subcontinent in 1875 proved popular successes, but despite public approval, his reputation as a playboy prince soured his relationship with his mother.

Once widowed, Queen Victoria effectively withdrew from public life. Shortly after Prince Albert’s death, she arranged for Edward to embark on an extensive tour of the Middle East, visiting Egypt, Jerusalem, Damascus, Beirut and Istanbul. The British Government wanted Edward to secure the friendship of Egypt’s ruler, Said Pasha, to prevent French control of the Suez Canal if the Ottoman Empire collapsed.

Edward and Alexandra on their wedding day, 1863

It was the first royal tour on which an official photographer, Francis Bedford, was in attendance. As soon as Edward returned to Britain, preparations were made for his engagement, which was sealed at Laeken in Belgium on September 9, 1862. Edward married Alexandra of Denmark at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, on 10 March 1863. He was 21; she was 18.

Alexandra was the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark and Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

The couple established Marlborough House as their London residence and Sandringham House in Norfolk as their country retreat. They entertained on a lavish scale.Their marriage met with disapproval in certain social circles because most of Queen Victoria’s relations were German, and Denmark was at loggerheads with Germany over the territories of Schleswig and Holstein.

When Alexandra’s father inherited the throne of Denmark in November 1863, the German Confederation took the opportunity to invade and annex Schleswig-Holstein. The Queen was of two minds as to whether it was a suitable match, given the political climate. After the marriage, she expressed anxiety about their socialite lifestyle and attempted to dictate to them on various matters, including the names of their children.

Edward was related to nearly every other European monarch, and came to be known as the “uncle of Europe”. German Emperor Wilhelm II and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia were his nephews; Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, Crown Princess Margaret of Sweden, Crown Princess Marie of Romania, Crown Princess Sophia of Greece, and Empress Alexandra of Russia were his nieces; King Haakon VII of Norway was both his nephew and his son-in-law; kings Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of the Hellenes were his brothers-in-law; kings Albert I of Belgium, Ferdinand of Bulgaria, and Carlos I and Manuel II of Portugal were his second cousins.

Edward doted on his grandchildren, and indulged them, to the consternation of their governesses. However, there was one relation whom Edward did not like: Wilhelm II. His difficult relationship with his nephew exacerbated the tensions between Germany and Britain.

Edward had mistresses throughout his married life. He socialised with actress Lillie Langtry; Lady Randolph Churchill; Daisy Greville, Countess of Warwick; actress Sarah Bernhardt; noblewoman Lady Susan Vane-Tempest; singer Hortense Schneider; prostitute Giulia Beneni (known as “La Barucci”); wealthy humanitarian Agnes Keyser; and Alice Keppel. At least fifty-five liaisons are conjectured. How far these relationships went is not always clear. Edward always strove to be discreet, but this did not prevent society gossip or press speculation. Edward never acknowledged any illegitimate children. Alexandra was aware of his affairs, and seems to have accepted them.

When Queen Victoria died on January 22, 1901, Edward became King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of India and, in an innovation, King of the British Dominions. He chose to reign under the name of Edward VII, instead of Albert Edward—the name his mother had intended for him to use—declaring that he did not wish to “undervalue the name of Albert” and diminish the status of his father with whom the “name should stand alone”.

As king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War of 1899–1902. He re-instituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised.Edward VII fostered good relations on Britain and other European countries, especially France, for which he was popularly called “Peacemaker”, but his relationship with his nephew, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, remained poor.

The Edwardian era, which covered Edward’s reign and was named after him, coincided with the start of a new century and heralded significant changes in technology and society, including steam turbine propulsion and the rise of socialism.

Edward habitually smoked twenty cigarettes and twelve cigars a day. In 1907, a rodent ulcer, a type of cancer affecting the skin next to his nose, was cured with radium. Towards the end of his life he increasingly suffered from bronchitis. He suffered a momentary loss of consciousness during a state visit to Berlin in February 1909.

In March 1910, he was staying at Biarritz when he collapsed. He remained there to convalesce, while in London Asquith tried to get the Finance Bill passed. The king’s continued ill health was unreported, and he attracted criticism for staying in France while political tensions were so high. On April 27, he returned to Buckingham Palace, still suffering from severe bronchitis. Alexandra returned from visiting her brother, George I of the Hellenes, in Corfu a week later on May 5th.

On May 6, Edward VII suffered several heart attacks, but refused to go to bed, saying, “No, I shall not give in; I shall go on; I shall work to the end.” Between moments of faintness, his son the Prince of Wales (shortly to be King George V) told him that his horse, Witch of the Air, had won at Kempton Park that afternoon. The king replied, “Yes, I have heard of it. I am very glad”: his final words.At 11:30 p.m. he lost consciousness for the last time and was put to bed. He died 15 minutes later.

Alexandra refused to allow Edward’s body to be moved for eight days afterwards, though she allowed small groups of visitors to enter his room. On May 11, the late king was dressed in his uniform and placed in a massive oak coffin, which was moved on May 14, to the throne room, where it was sealed and lay in state, with a guardsman standing at each corner of the bier.Despite the time that had elapsed since his death, Alexandra noted the King’s body remained “wonderfully preserved”. On the morning of May 17, the coffin was placed on a gun carriage and drawn by black horses to Westminster Hall, with the new king, his family and Edward’s favourite dog, Caesar, walking behind.

Following a brief service, the royal family left, and the hall was opened to the public; over 400,000 people filed past the coffin over the next two days. As Barbara Tuchman noted in The Guns of August, his funeral, held on May 20, 1910, marked “the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last.” A royal train conveyed the king’s coffin from London to Windsor Castle, where Edward was buried at St George’s Chapel.

When Edward VII died the British Government was in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords.

The Life of Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine

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Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, Élisabeth Charlotte d'Orléans, Carl Ludwig of the Palatine, Duchess of Lorraine, Duke of Orleans, Elisabeth Charlotte of the Palatine, Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, House of Habsburg-Lorraine, King Louis XVI of France and Navarre, Louis XIV of France and Navarre, Regent. Philippe I

Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans (September 13, 1676 – December 23, 1744) was a petite-fille de France, and duchess of Lorraine and Bar by marriage to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine. She was regent of Lorraine and Bar during the minority (1729–1730) and absence of her son (1730–1737), and suo jure Princess of Commercy 1737–1744.

Among her children was Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor, a co-founder (and patrilineal agnatic ancestor) of the royal House of Habsburg-Lorraine. She was the Grandmother of Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Philippe I, Duke of Orléans

Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans was born at the Château de Saint-Cloud outside Paris. She was the daughter of Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, Monsieur, and of his second wife Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatine, the daughter of Carl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine and his wife Charlotte of Hesse-Cassel *

Her father Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, was the only sibling of King Louis XIV of France and Navarre. As a petite-fille de France, she was entitled to have the style of Her Royal Highness, as well as the right to an armchair in the presence of the King.

At birth, she was given the style Mademoiselle de Chartres, taken from the name of one of her father’s appanages. After the marriage of her two older half-sisters, Marie Louise and Anne Marie, born of the first marriage of their father to Henrietta Anne of England, she was known as Madame Royale, according to her status as the highest-ranking unmarried princess in France.

Elisabeth Charlotte, Duchesse d’Orléans with her two surviving children, including her daughter Élisabeth Charlotte

As a child, Élisabeth-Charlotte was described by her mother as ‘so terribly wild’ and ‘rough as a boy’. To her father’s displeasure, she shared the frank opinions of her mother.

Marriage

Her mother wanted her to marry with the same level of prestige as that of her sisters. When her cousin’s wife, the Dauphine, (Maria Anna Christine Victoria of Bavaria 1660 – 1690 was Dauphine of France by marriage to Louis, Grand Dauphin, son and heir of Louis XIV) suggested she should marry the Dauphine’s younger brother Joseph Clemens of Bavaria, Élisabeth Charlotte said, “I am not made, madame, for a younger son.”

As her mother despised the king’s illegitimate children, the chances of such an alliance were remote; however, in 1692, to the ‘horror’ of the Duchess of Orléans, such a mismatch occurred when her eldest son, the Duke of Chartres (future Philippe II, Duke of Orléans) married Françoise Marie de Bourbon, the youngest legitimised daughter of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan.

Élisabeth’s mother initially wanted her daughter to marry King William III of England, who was the widower of Queen Mary II of England, but, due to William being a Protestant, the marriage did not materialise.

Other candidates considered were Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I; Joseph was highly regarded, and, had the marriage taken place, the union would have been a way of reconciling the Bourbons and their traditional rivals, the Habsburgs.

Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans, Duchess of Lorraine

Even her widowed first cousin Monseigneur, Louis, the Grand Dauphin, was considered, as were his son, Louis, Duke of Burgundy, and another cousin, the legitimised Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, eldest son of Louis XIV and Madame de Montespan. The latter, much to the relief of Madame did not occur as the Duke of Maine married Mademoiselle de Charolais (Louise Bénédicte de Bourbon-Condé) in May 1692.

Élisabeth Charlotte was finally married on October 13, 1698 at the Palace of Fontainebleau to Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine, and of the Archduchess Eleonora Maria Josefa of Austria the daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand III and his wife, Eleanora of Mantua.

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine is the direct male ancestor of all rulers of the Habsburg-Lorraine dynasty, including all Emperors of Austria.

The marriage was the result of the Treaty of Ryswick, one of its conditions being that the Duchy of Lorraine, which had been for many years in the possession of France, be restored to Leopold Joseph, a son of Charles V, Duke of Lorraine.

Thus, Élisabeth Charlotte was but an instrument to cement the peace treaty. Her mother later said that her daughter “was a victim of war”.

Duchess of Lorraine
The marriage was seen as a brilliant match by the House of Lorraine but was regarded by some as unworthy of a petite-fille de France. Despite this, the bride carried to the House of Lorraine a dowry of 900,000 livres.

Leopold, Duke of Lorraine

The jealousy of some members of the royal family prompted certain princesses to use as pretext the death of Louis Constantin de Bourbon, prince de Dombes (17 November 1695 – 28 September 1698), son of Louis Auguste, Duke of Maine, to attend the marriage ceremonies by proxy or in mourning clothes.

To everyone’s surprise, what had been expected to be an unhappy union turned out to be a marriage of love and happiness at first. Élisabeth Charlotte turned out to be a caring mother and gave birth to fifteen children, of whom five survived into adulthood. Three of them died within a week in May 1711 due to a smallpox outbreak at the Château de Lunéville, the country seat of the dukes of Lorraine.

In 1708, after ten years of marriage her husband turned his attentions to another, Anne-Marguerite de Ligniville, princesse de Beauveau-Craon. Embarrassed, Élisabeth Charlotte, on her mother’s advice, remained silent and continued to live in the Château de Lunéville with her husband and his mistress.

During this time, Élisabeth Charlotte was herself ill, suffering from serious coughing, fainting, and fever. Lunéville remained the favourite of Duke Leopold Joseph until his death in 1729. Yet the couple had five more children, one of whom, François of Lorraine, would become Holy Roman Emperor, Franz I, and the father of Queen Marie Antoinette.

Élisabeth Charlotte was religiously intolerant and supported the persecution of non-Catholics. She persuaded her husband to issue many oppressive laws against Protestants and Jews. During this time over 280 religious dissenters burned at the stake in persecutions.

In June 1701, her father died after having a heated argument with Louis XIV at Versailles about the Duke of Chartres. Her brother thus became the new Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and head of the House of of the House of Orléans.

Her mother was left at the mercy of Louis XIV, who forbade her from visiting foreign soil. As a result, Élisabeth Charlotte was only able to see her mother when she went to Versailles. Despite this, Élisabeth Charlotte and her mother kept in contact through letters. Their correspondence was destroyed in a fire at the Château de Lunéville in 1719.

Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor, son of Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans and father of Archduchess Marie Antoinette of Austria, wife of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

On the death of Louis XIV in 1715, her brother became the Regent of France for the five-year-old King Louis XV. In 1718, during a brief visit to the French court in Paris, her niece, the Dowager Duchess of Berry, gave a lavish reception in her honour at the Palais du Luxembourg.

Upon leaving France, her husband, Leopold, Duke of Lorraine, was accorded the style of His Royal Highness, usually reserved for members of foreign dynasties headed by a king.

Louis XV’s coronation at Reims Cathedral on 25 October 25, 1722 was the only occasion on which Élisabeth Charlotte’s youngest child, Anne Charlotte, would see her grandmother, who died a few weeks later on December 8; Élisabeth Charlotte’s brother died the following December, still ruling France as regent.

Regent of Lorraine

Her husband died in 1729, leaving his wife Regent of Lorraine for their son, Duke François Stephen. He interrupted his education in Vienna to return home in 1730 for the investiture of his mother as regent, then returned to Austria.

Élisabeth Charlotte tried to engage her daughter Anne Charlotte to King Louis XV; this project failed due to the intrigues of Louis Henri, Duke of Bourbon; Élisabeth Charlotte then tried to arrange the marriage of Anne Charlotte to her nephew Louis, Duke of Orléans, who had been recently widowed, but the devout duke chose not to remarry.

Princess of Commercy

Unable to prevent her son from giving up the duchy of Lorraine to Stanisław Leszczyński when he married the Habsburg heiress, Maria Theresa of Austria, Élisabeth Charlotte moved into the Château d’Haroué in nearby Commercy, which was erected into a sovereign principality for her to reign over during her dowager years.

In 1737, her daughter, Élisabeth Thérèse d’Orléans married Carlo Emmanuel III of Sardinia. Elisabetta Teresa, as she was known in Italy, died in childbirth in 1741 after giving birth to Élisabeth Charlotte’s grandson, Benedetto, Duke of Chablais.

On January 7, 1744 her youngest son, Prince Charles Alexander of Lorraine, made a “marriage of love” with Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, who died in childbirth on December 16, 1744.

Élisabeth Charlotte died of a stroke at the age of sixty-eight on December 23, 1744, one week after her daughter-in-law and grandchild. She was the last of her siblings to die and had outlived most of her children. Nine months after her death, her son François Stephen became Holy Roman Emperor Franz I.

She was buried in the funerary chapel of the Dukes of Lorraine in the Saint-François-des-Cordeliers church in Nancy.

* Carl I Ludwig, Elector Palatine, grandfather of Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans (and the subject of this blog post) was the elder brother of Sophia of the Palatine, Electress of Hanover the mother of King George I of Great Britain. Carl I Ludwig’s mother was Princess Elizabeth (Stuart) of England the daughter of King James I-VI of England Scotland and England. This also means that Princess Elizabeth (Stuart) of England was the aunt of Henrietta Anne of England the first wife of Élisabeth Charlotte d’Orléans father, Philippe I Duke of Orléans!

The Lady Mary Tudor, Countess of Derwentwater

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Charles II of England, Countess of Derwentwater, Illegitimate, Lady Mary Tudor, Mary "Molls" Davis, Royal Warrant

Lady Mary Tudor, Countess of Derwentwater (October 16, 1673 – November 5, 1726) was an actress and natural daughter of King Charles II of England by his mistress, Mary “Moll” Davies, an actress and singer.

Charles II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland

Early life and title

Mary grew up in a house on the south-west side of St James Square, close to St James’s Park and Whitehall palace, and from an early age she was surrounded by the high society of The Restoration.

Mary followed in her mother’s footsteps, and began acting at a young age. She was a part of the many performances put on at Charles II’s elaborate court. At age nine, she sang the part of the Roman god of desire, erotic love, attraction and affection, Cupid, alongside her mother, who was starring as Venus, in the play Venus and Adonis.

Mary “Moll” Davis

On December 10, 1680, seven-year-old Mary, was, in recognition of her paternity, granted by a Royal Warrant, by King Charles II of England the name Tudor (as a nod to their mutual collateral descent from the Tudor family) and the precedence of the daughter of an Earl.

In September 1683, she was issued an annuity of £1500 (roughly equivalent to £230,238 in 2020), and a year later, on February 21, 1684, her precedence was heightened to that of a daughter of a Duke.

Marriages and children

On August 18, 1687, Lady Mary married Edward Radclyffe, 2nd Earl of Derwentwater (9 December 1655 – 29 April 1705) by whom she had four children:

James Radclyffe, 3rd Earl of Derwentwater (1689–1716)
Lady Mary Tudor Radclyffe
Charles Radclyffe (September 3, 1693 – December 8, 1746)
Hon. Francis Radclyffe

Mary separated from Lord Derwentwater in 1700, reportedly due to her unwillingness to convert to Roman Catholicism.

On May 23, 1705, shortly after Lord Derwentwater’s death, she married secondly, to Henry Graham. Graham died on January 7, 1707. A few months later, on 26 August 26, 1707 Lady Mary married Major James Rooke.

Death

Lady Mary died in Paris on November 5, 1726, aged 53.