September 27, 1590: Death of Pope Urban VII after a 12 day reign

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Bishop of Rome, Ferdinando I de' Medici, Giovanni Battista Castagna, Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pope Gregory XIII, Pope Sixtus V, Pope Urban VII, Roman Curia, Sovereign of the Papal States

Pope Urban VII (August 4, 1521 – September 27, 1590), born Giovanni Battista Castagna, was Bishop of Rome Pope of the Catholic Church, and sovereign ruler of the Papal States from September 15 to 27, 1590. His thirteen-day papacy was the shortest in history.

Giovanni Battista Castagna was born in Rome in 1521 to a noble family as the son of Cosimo Castagna of Genoa and Costanza Ricci Giacobazzi of Rome.

Castagna studied in universities all across Italy and obtained a doctorate in civil law and canon law when he finished his studies at the University of Bologna. Soon after he became auditor of his uncle, Cardinal Girolamo Verallo, whom he accompanied as datary on a papal legation to France.

He served as a constitutional lawyer and entered the Roman Curia during the pontificate of Pope Julius III as the Referendary of the Apostolic Signatura. Castagna was chosen to be the new Archbishop of Rossano on 1 March 1, 1553, and he would quickly receive all the minor and major orders culminating in his ordination to the priesthood on March 30, 1553 in Rome. He then received episcopal consecration a month after at the home of Cardinal Verallo.

He served as the Governor of Fano from 1555 to 1559 and later served as the Governor of Perugia and Umbria from 1559 to 1560. During the reign of Pius IV, he settled satisfactorily a long-standing boundary dispute between the inhabitants of Terni and Spoleto. Castagna would later participate in the Council of Trent from 1562 to 1563 and served as the president of several conciliar congregations.

He was appointed as the Apostolic Nuncio to Spain in 1565 and served there until 1572, resigning his post from his archdiocese a year later. He also served as the Governor of Bologna from 1576 to 1577. Among other positions, he was the Apostolic Nuncio to Venice from 1573 to 1577 and served also as the Papal Legate to Flanders and Cologne from 1578 to 1580.

Pope Gregory XIII elevated him to the cardinalate on December 12, 1583 and he was appointed as the Cardinal-Priest of San Marcello.

Papacy
Election

After the death of Pope Sixtus V, a conclave was convoked to elect a successor. Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany had been appointed a cardinal at the age of fourteen but was never ordained to the priesthood.

At the age of thirty-eight, he resigned from the cardinalate upon the death of his older brother, Francesco in 1587, to succeed to the title. (There were suspicions that Francesco and his wife died of arsenic poisoning after having dined at Ferdinando’s Villa Medici, although one story has Ferdinando as the intended target of his sister-in-law.) Ferdinando’s foreign policy attempted to free Tuscany from Spanish domination.

He was consequently opposed to the election of any candidate supported by Spain. He persuaded Cardinal Alessandro Peretti di Montalto, grand-nephew of Sixtus V, to switch his support from Cardinal Marco Antonio Colonna, which brought the support of the younger cardinals appointed by the late Sixtus.

Castagna, a seasoned diplomat of moderation and proven rectitude was elected as pope on September 15, 1590 and selected the pontifical name of “Urban VII”.

Activities

Urban VII’s short passage in the office gave rise to the world’s first known public smoking ban, as he threatened to excommunicate anyone who “took tobacco in the porchway of or inside a church, whether it be by chewing it, smoking it with a pipe or sniffing it in powdered form through the nose”.

Urban VII was known for his charity to the poor. He subsidized Roman bakers so they could sell bread under cost, and restricted the spending on luxury items for members of his court. He also subsidized public works projects throughout the Papal States. Urban VII was strictly against nepotism and he forbade it within the Roman Curia.

Death

Urban VII died in Rome on September 27, 1590, shortly before midnight, of malaria. He had reigned for 13 days. He was buried in the Vatican. The funeral oration was delivered by Pompeo Ugonio. His remains were later transferred to the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva, on September 21, 1606.

His estate, valued at 30,000 scudi, was bequeathed to the Archconfraternity of the Annunciation, for use as dowries for poor young girls.

September 21, 1411: Birth of Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York

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3rd Duke of York, Battle of Wakefield, Edward III of England, Edward IV of England, House of Anjou, House of Plantagenet, James III of Scotland, King Henry VI of England, Margaret of Anjou, Richard III of England, Richard of York

Richard of York, 3rd Duke of York (September 21, 1411 – December 30, 1460), 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.

Richard of York was born on September 21, 1411, the son of Richard, Earl of Cambridge (1385–1415), and his wife Anne Mortimer (1388–1411). Both his parents were descended from King Edward III of England (1312–1377): his father was son of Edmund, 1st Duke of York (founder of the House of York), fourth surviving son of Edward III, whereas his mother Anne Mortimer was a great-granddaughter of Lionel, Duke of Clarence, Edward’s second son.

After the death in 1425 of Anne’s childless brother Edmund, Earl of March, this ancestry supplied her son Richard, of the House of York, with a claim to the English throne that was arguably superior to that of the reigning House of Lancaster, descended from John of Gaunt, the third son of Edward III.

Richard had an only sister, Isabel. Richard’s mother, Anne Mortimer, died during or shortly after his birth, and his father the Earl of Cambridge was beheaded in 1415 for his part in the Southampton Plot against the Lancastrian King Henry V.

Within a few months of his father’s death, Richard’s childless uncle, Edward, 2nd Duke of York, was slain at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415, and so Richard inherited Edward’s title and lands, becoming 3rd Duke of York. The lesser title but greater estates of the Mortimer family, along with their claim to the throne, also descended to him on the death of his maternal uncle Edmund Mortimer, 5th Earl of March, in 1425.

Richard of York already held a strong claim to the English throne, being the heir general of Edward III while also related to the same king in a direct male line of descent. Once he inherited the vast Mortimer estates, he also became the wealthiest and most powerful noble in England, second only to the king himself. An account shows that York’s net income from Welsh and marcher lands alone was £3,430 (about £350,000 today) in the year 1443–44.

London.

In December 1459 the Duke York, the Earls of Warwick and Salisbury suffered attainder. Their lives were forfeit, and their lands reverted to the king; their heirs would not inherit. This was the most extreme punishment a member of the nobility could suffer, and the Duke of York was now in the same situation as Henry of Bolingbroke (the future King Henry IV) in 1398.

Only a successful invasion of England would restore his fortune. Assuming the invasion was successful, the Duke of York had three options: become Protector of England again, disinherit the king’s son so that York would succeed, or claim the throne for himself.

On June 26, Warwick and Salisbury landed at Sandwich. The men of Kent rose to join them. London opened its gates to the Nevilles on July 2. They marched north into the Midlands, and on July 10, they defeated the royal army at the Battle of Northampton (through treachery among the king’s troops), and captured Henry, whom they brought back to London.

The Duke of York remained in Ireland. He did not set foot in England until September 9 and when he did, he acted as a king. Marching under the arms of his maternal great-great-grandfather Lionel of Antwerp, 1st Duke of Clarence, he displayed a banner of the coat of arms of England as he approached London.

A Parliament called to meet on October 7, repealed all the legislation of the Coventry parliament the previous year. On October 10, the Duke of York arrived in London and took residence in the royal palace. Entering Parliament with his sword borne upright before him, he made for the empty throne and placed his hand upon it, as if to occupy it.

He may have expected the assembled peers to acclaim him as king, as they had acclaimed Henry Bolingbroke in 1399. Instead, there was silence. Thomas Bourchier, the Archbishop of Canterbury, asked whether he wished to see the king. York replied, “I know of no person in this realm the which oweth not to wait on me, rather than I of him.” This high-handed reply did not impress the Lords.

The next day, Richard advanced his claim to the crown by hereditary right in proper form. However, his narrow support among his peers led to failure once again. After weeks of negotiation, the best that could be achieved was the Act of Accord, by which York and his heirs were recognised as Henry’s successors.

However, in October 1460 Parliament did grant York extraordinary executive powers to protect the realm, and made him Lord Protector of England. He was also given the lands and income of the Prince of Wales, but was not granted the title itself or made Earl of Chester or Duke of Cornwall. With the king effectively in custody, York and Warwick were the de facto rulers of the country.

Final campaign and death

While this was happening, the Lancastrian loyalists were rallying and arming in the north of England. Faced with the threat of attack from the Percys, and with Margaret of Anjou, wife of King Henry VI, trying to gain the support of the new King of Scotland, James III, York, Salisbury and York’s second son, Edmund, Earl of Rutland, headed north on December 2.

They arrived at York’s stronghold of Sandal Castle on December 21, to find the situation bad and getting worse. Forces loyal to Henry VI controlled the city of York, and nearby Pontefract Castle was also in hostile hands. The Lancastrian armies were commanded by some of York’s implacable enemies such as Henry Beaufort, 3rd Duke of Somerset, Henry Percy, 3rd Earl of Northumberland and John Clifford, 9th Baron de Clifford, whose fathers had been killed at the Battle of Saint Albans, and included several northern lords who were jealous of York’s and Salisbury’s wealth and influence in the North.

On December 30, York and his forces sortied from Sandal Castle. Their reasons for doing so are not clear; they were variously claimed to be a result of deception by the Lancastrian forces, or treachery by northern lords who York mistakenly believed to be his allies, or simple rashness on York’s part.

The larger Lancastrian force destroyed York’s army in the resulting Battle of Wakefield. The Duke of York was killed in the battle. The precise nature of his end was variously reported; he was either unhorsed, wounded and overcome fighting to the death or captured, given a mocking crown of bulrushes and then beheaded.

Edmund of Rutland was intercepted as he tried to flee and was executed, possibly by Clifford in revenge for the death of his own father at the First Battle of St Albans. Salisbury escaped, but was captured and executed the following night.

York was buried at Pontefract, but his head was put on a pike by the victorious Lancastrian armies and displayed over Micklegate Bar at York, wearing a paper crown. His remains were later moved to Church of St Mary and All Saints, Fotheringhay.

Legacy

Within a few weeks of Richard of York’s death, his eldest surviving son was acclaimed King Edward IV and finally established the House of York on the throne following a decisive victory over the Lancastrians at the Battle of Towton. After an occasionally tumultuous reign, he died in 1483 and was succeeded by his twelve-year-old son, Edward V, who was himself succeeded after 86 days by his uncle, York’s youngest son, Richard III.

Richard of York’s grandchildren included Edward V and Elizabeth of York. Elizabeth married Henry VII, founder of the Tudor dynasty, and became the mother of Henry VIII, Margaret Tudor and Mary Tudor. All future English monarchs would come from the line of Henry VII and Elizabeth, and therefore from Richard of York himself.

September 21, 1957: Death of King Haakon VII of Norway

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Christian IX of Denmark, Crown Prince Olav of Norway, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Election, Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom., Frederik VIII of Denmark, Haakon VII of Norway, King Olav V of Norway, Maud of Wales, Prince Carl of Denmark

Haakon VII (August 3, 1872 – September 21, 1957) born Prince Carl of Denmark; he was the King of Norway from November 1905 until his death in September 1957.

Prince Carl was born on August 3, 1872 at his parents’ country residence, Charlottenlund Palace north of Copenhagen, during the reign of his paternal grandfather, King Christian IX.

He was the second son of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark (the future King Frederik VIII), and his wife Louise of Sweden. His father was the eldest son of King Christian IX and Louise of Hesse-Cassel, and his mother was the only daughter of King Carl XV of Sweden (who was also king of Norway as Carl IV), and Louise of the Netherlands.

At birth, he was third in the succession to the Danish throne after his father and older brother, but without any real prospect of inheriting the throne. The young prince was baptised at Charlottenlund Palace on September 7, 1872 by the Bishop of Zealand, Hans Lassen Martensen. He was baptised with the names Christian Frederik Carl Georg Valdemar Axel, and was known as Prince Carl (namesake of his maternal grandfather the King of Sweden-Norway).

HM King Haakon VII of Norway

Prince Carl belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (often shortened to Glücksburg) branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448; between 1536 and 1814 it also ruled Norway, which was then part of the Kingdom of Denmark-Norway.

The house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glücksburg (Lyksborg) branch held their small fief. The family had links with Norway beginning from the 15th century. Several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of Norway in union with Denmark and at times Sweden.

They included Christian I of Norway, Frederik I, Christian III, Frederik II, Christian IV, as well as Frederik III of Norway who integrated Norway into the Oldenburg state with Denmark, Schleswig and Holstein. His subsequent paternal ancestors had been dukes in Schleswig-Holstein. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, the first king of the Norwegian 1814 constitution and struggle for independence, was his great-granduncle.

Prince Carl was educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy and served in the Royal Danish Navy.

On July 22, 1896, in the Private Chapel of Buckingham Palace, Prince Carl married his first cousin Princess Maud of Wales. Princess Maud was the youngest daughter of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Denmark, eldest daughter of King Christian IX and Queen Louise. The wedding was attended by the bride’s grandmother, the 77-year-old Queen Victoria.

After the wedding, the couple settled in Copenhagen, where Prince Carl continued his career as a naval officer. The bride’s father gave them Appleton House on the Sandringham Estate as a country residence for his daughter’s frequent visits to England. It was there that the couple’s only child, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav (and eventually King Olav V of Norway), was born on July 2, 1903.

Princess Maud of Wales, Queen of Norway

After the Union between Sweden and Norway was dissolved in 1905, a committee of the Norwegian government identified several princes of European royal houses as candidates for the Norwegian crown.

Although Norway had legally had the status of an independent state since 1814, it had not had its own king since 1387. Gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. He also had a son, providing an heir-apparent to the throne, and the fact that his wife, Princess Maud, was a member of the British Royal Family was viewed by many as an advantage to the newly independent Norwegian nation.

The democratically minded Carl, aware that Norway was still debating whether to remain a kingdom or to switch instead to a republican system of government, was flattered by the Norwegian government’s overtures, but he made his acceptance of the offer conditional on the holding of a referendum to show whether monarchy was the choice of the Norwegian people.

King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway with Crown Prince Olav

After the referendum overwhelmingly confirmed by a 79 percent majority (259,563 votes for and 69,264 against) that Norwegians desired to retain a monarchy, Prince Carl was formally offered the throne of Norway by the Storting (parliament) and was elected on 18 November 18, 1905.

When Carl accepted the offer that same evening (after the approval of his grandfather Christian IX of Denmark), he immediately endeared himself to his adopted country by taking the Old Norse name of Haakon, a name which had not been used by kings of Norway for over 500 years.

Queen Maud of Norway with her great-niece Princess Elizabeth of York (future Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom)

In so doing, he succeeded his maternal great-uncle, Oscar II of Sweden, who had abdicated the Norwegian throne in October following the agreement between Sweden and Norway on the terms of the separation of the union.

On the morning of November 20, a large crowd gathered outside King Haakon VII and Queen Maud’s residence in Bernstorff’s Palace in Copenhagen. The attendees greeted the royal couple as they appeared in the window and started singing Ja, vi elsker dette landet.

Later the same day, King Christian IX of Denmark received a delegation from the Storting in an audience in Christian VII’s Palace at Amalienborg. The delegation conveyed the message that the king’s grandson had been elected King of Norway, while Christian IX expressed his consent to the election of Prince Carl.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom and King Haakon VII of Norway

As king, Haakon VII gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, in practice Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson.

Norway was invaded by Nazi Germany in April 1940. Haakon rejected German demands to legitimise the Quisling regime’s puppet government, and refused to abdicate after going into exile in Great Britain. As such, he played a pivotal role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the invasion and the subsequent five-year-long occupation during the Second World War. He returned to Norway in June 1945 after the defeat of Germany.

He became King of Norway when his grandfather Christian IX was still reigning in Denmark, and before his father and elder brother became kings of Denmark. During his reign he saw his father Frederik VIII, his elder brother Christian X, and his nephew Frederik IX ascend the throne of Denmark, in 1906, 1912 (also of Iceland from 1918 to 1944), and 1947 respectively. Haakon died at the age of 85 in September 1957, after having reigned for nearly 52 years. He was succeeded by his only son, who ascended to the throne as Olav V.

September 16, 1824: Death of Louis XVIII, King of France and Navarre

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Emperor of the French, French Revolution, House of Bourbon, King Felipe V of Spain, King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre, Napoleon Bonaparte, Princess Marie Joséphine of Savoy, Queen of France and Navarre, The One Hundred Days

Louis XVIII (November 17, 1755 – September 16, 1824) was King of France and Navarre from 1814 to 1824, except for a brief interruption during the Hundred Days in 1815. He spent twenty-three years in exile: during the French Revolution and the First French Empire (1804–1814), and during the Hundred Days.

Youth

Prince Louis Stanislas Xavier de Bourbon of France, styled Count of Provence from birth, was born on November 17, 1755 in the Palace of Versailles, a younger son of Louis, Dauphin of France, and his wife Maria Josepha of Saxony, daughter of Augustus III, Prince-Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, and Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (daughter of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg).

Louis, Count of Provence was the grandson of the reigning King Louis XV. As a son of the Dauphin, he was a Fils de France. He was christened Louis Stanislas Xavier six months after his birth, in accordance with Bourbon family tradition, being nameless before his baptism.

By this act, he also became a Knight of the Order of the Holy Spirit. The name of Louis was bestowed because it was typical of a Prince of France; Stanislas was chosen to honour his great-grandfather King Stanislaus I of Poland who was still alive at the time; and Xavier was chosen for Saint Francis Xavier, whom his mother’s family held as one of their patron saints.

King Louis XVIII of France and Navarre

At the time of his birth, Louis Stanislas was fourth in line to the throne of France, behind his father and his two elder brothers: Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy, and Louis Augusté, Duke of Berry. The former died in 1761, leaving Louis Augusté as heir to their father until the Dauphin’s own premature death in 1765.

The two deaths elevated Louis Stanislas to second in the line of succession, while his brother Louis Augusté acquired the title of Dauphin.

On April 16, 1771, Louis Stanislas was married by proxy to Princess Maria Giuseppina of Savoy. The in-person ceremony was conducted on May 14 at the Palace of Versailles. Marie Joséphine (as she was known in France) was a daughter of Victor Amadeus, Duke of Savoy (later King Victor Amadeus III of Sardinia), and his wife Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain who was the youngest daughter of Felipe V of Spain and of his second wife Elisabeth Farnese.

A luxurious ball followed the wedding on May 20. Louis Stanislas found his wife repulsive; she was considered ugly, tedious, and ignorant of the customs of the court of Versailles. The marriage remained unconsummated for years. Biographers disagree about the reason.

The most common theories propose Louis Stanislas’ alleged impotence (according to biographer Antonia Fraser) or his unwillingness to sleep with his wife due to her poor personal hygiene. She never brushed her teeth, plucked her eyebrows, or used any perfumes. At the time of his marriage, Louis Stanislas was obese and waddled instead of walked. He never exercised and continued to eat enormous amounts of food.

Despite the fact that Louis Stanislas was not infatuated with his wife, he boasted that the two enjoyed vigorous conjugal relations – but such declarations were held in low esteem by courtiers at Versailles.

He also proclaimed his wife to be pregnant merely to spite Louis Augusté and his wife Marie Antoinette, who had not yet consummated their marriage. The Dauphin and Louis Stanislas did not enjoy a harmonious relationship and often quarrelled, as did their wives.

Louis Stanislas did impregnate his wife in 1774, having conquered his aversion. However, the pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. A second pregnancy in 1781 also miscarried, and the marriage remained childless.

On September 21, 1792, the National Convention abolished the monarchy and deposed Louis XVI, who was later executed by guillotine. When his young nephew, nominally Louis XVII died in prison in June 1795, the Count of Provence proclaimed himself (titular) king under the name Louis XVIII.

Following the French Revolution and during the Napoleonic era, Louis XVIII lived in exile in Prussia, England, and Russia. When the Sixth Coalition finally defeated Napoleon in 1814, Louis XVIII was placed in what he, and the French royalists, considered his rightful position.

However, Napoleon escaped from his exile in Elba and restored his French Empire. Louis XVIII fled, and a Seventh Coalition declared war on the French Empire, defeated Napoleon again, and again restored Louis XVIII to the French throne.

Princess Marie Joséphine of Savoy, Queen of France and Navarre

Louis XVIII ruled as king for slightly less than a decade. The government of the Bourbon Restoration was a constitutional monarchy, unlike the Ancien Régime, which was absolutist. As a constitutional monarch, Louis XVIII’s royal prerogative was reduced substantially by the Charter of 1814, France’s new constitution.

His return in 1815 led to a second wave of White Terror headed by the Ultra-royalist faction. The following year, Louis dissolved the unpopular parliament, referred to as the Chambre introuvable, giving rise to the liberal Doctrinaires. His reign was further marked by the formation of the Quintuple Alliance and a military intervention in Spain.

Death

Louis XVIII’s health began to fail in the spring of 1824. He was experiencing obesity, gout and gangrene, both dry and wet, in his legs and spine. Louis died on 16 September 16 1824 surrounded by the extended royal family and some government officials. Since didn’t have a son or heir hewas succeeded by his youngest brother, Prince Charles Philippe, the Count of Artois, as King Charles X of France and Navarre.

Louis XVIII had no children and was the last French monarch to die while still reigning, as Charles X (1824–1830) abdicated and both Louis Philippe I (1830–1848) and Napoleon III (1852–1870) were deposed.

August 31, 1997: 25th Anniversary of the Death of Diana, Princess of Wales

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Althorp, Diana Spencer, Earl Spencer, George III of the United Kingdom, Prince Charles, Prince Henry, Prince William, Princess of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, the prince of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales (July 1, 1961 – August 31, 1997). Diana Frances Spencer was born on July 1, 1961, in Park House, Sandringham, Norfolk. She was the fourth of five children of John Spencer, 8th Earl Spencer (1924–1992), and Frances Spencer, Viscountess Althorp (née Roche; 1936–2004). The Spencer family has been closely allied with the British royal family for several generations; Diana’s grandmothers had served as ladies-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother.

The Spencers were hoping for a boy to carry on the family line, and no name was chosen for a week, until they settled on Diana Frances. The name Frances was chosen after her mother. Diana was the name chosen after Lady Diana Spencer (1710-1735) daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland (1675-1722) and his second wife, Anne Spencer, Countess of Sunderland (née Lady Anne Churchill) (1683-1716). This Lady Diana Spencer was a many-times-great-aunt and she was chiefly remembered for the unsuccessful attempt to arrange a marriage between her and Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (1707-1751) eldest son of King George III of the United Kingdom.

My favorite picture of Diana, Princess of Wales)

As Princess of Wales, Diana undertook royal duties on behalf of the Queen and represented her at functions across the Commonwealth realms. She was celebrated in the media for her unconventional approach to charity work. Her patronages initially centered on children and youth but she later became known for her involvement with AIDS patients and campaign for the removal of landmines.

She also raised awareness and advocated ways to help people affected with cancer and mental illness. As princess, Diana was initially noted for her shyness, but her charisma and friendliness endeared her to the public and helped her reputation survive the acrimonious collapse of her marriage.

Exceptionally photogenic, she was a leader of fashion in the 1980s and 1990s. Media attention and public mourning were extensive after her death in a car crash in a Paris tunnel in 1997 and subsequent televised funeral. Her legacy has had a deep impact on the royal family and British society.

August 26, 1850: Death of Louis Philippe I, King of the French

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Charles X of France, Comte de Neuilly, Duke of Orleans, French Revolution, General Assembly, Henri de Chambord, House of Bourbon, House of Bourbon -Orléans, July Monarchy, Louis Philippe I of the French, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Regent, Revolution of 1848

Louis Philippe I (October 6, 1773 – August 26, 1850) was King of the French from 1830 to 1848, and the penultimate monarch of France.

Early life

Louis Philippe was born in the Palais Royal, the residence of the Orléans family in Paris, to Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans and Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon, who was the daughter of Louis Jean Marie de Bourbon, Duke of Penthièvre and Princess Maria Teresa d’Este of Modena.

At the death of her brother, Louis Alexandre, Prince of Lamballe, Louise Marie Adélaïde de Bourbon became the wealthiest heiress in France prior to the French Revolution. She was descended from Louis XIV of France through a legitimized line.

Louis Philippe I, King of the French

As a member of the reigning House of Bourbon, Louis Philippe was a Prince of the Blood (Prince du sang), which entitled him the use of the style “Serene Highness“.

Louis Philippe was the eldest of three sons and a daughter, a family that was to have erratic fortunes from the beginning of the French Revolution to the Bourbon Restoration.

The elder branch of the House of Bourbon, to which the Kings of France belonged, deeply distrusted the intentions of the cadet Orléans branch, which would succeed to the throne of France should the senior branch die out. Louis Philippe’s father was exiled from the royal court, and the Orléans confined themselves to studies of the literature and sciences emerging from the Enlightenment.

As Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, he distinguished himself commanding troops during the Revolutionary Wars, but broke with the Republic over its decision to execute King Louis XVI. He fled to Switzerland in 1793 after being connected with a plot to restore France’s monarchy. His father Louis Philippe II, Duke of Orléans (Philippe Égalité) fell under suspicion and was executed, and Louis Philippe remained in exile for 21 years until the Bourbon Restoration.

In 1808, Louis Philippe proposed to Princess Elizabeth, daughter of King George III of the United Kingdom. His Catholicism and the opposition of her mother Queen Charlotte (born a Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz) meant the Princess reluctantly declined the offer.

HRH The Princess Elizabeth of the United Kingdom and Hanover

In 1809, Louis Philippe married Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, daughter of King Ferdinand IV-III of Naples and Sicily and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, the thirteenth child of Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Holy Roman Emperor Franz I

The ceremony was celebrated in Palermo November 25, 1809. The marriage was controversial because Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily’s mother, Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, was a younger sister to Queen Marie Antoinette, the wife of King Louis XVI.

HRH Princess Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily, Queen of the French

Louis Philippe’s father was considered to have a role in Marie Antoinette’s execution. Maria Carolina as the Queen of Naples was opposed to the match for this reason. She had been very close to her sister and devastated by her execution, but she had given her consent after Louis Philippe had convinced her that he was determined to compensate for the mistakes of his father, and after having agreed to answer all her questions regarding his father.

Bourbon Restoration (1815–1830)

After the abdication of Napoleon, Louis Philippe III, Duke of Orléans, returned to France during the reign of his fifth cousin Louis XVIII, at the time of the Bourbon Restoration. Louis Philippe had reconciled the Orléans family with Louis XVIII in exile, and was once more to be found in the elaborate royal court.

However, his resentment at the treatment of the Orléans family, the cadet branch of the House of Bourbon under the Ancien Régime, caused friction between him and Louis XVIII, and he openly sided with the liberal opposition.

Louis Philippe was on far friendlier terms with Louis XVIII’s brother and successor, Charles X, who acceded to the throne in 1824, and with whom he socialized. However, his opposition to the policies of Villèle and later of Jules de Polignac caused him to be viewed as a constant threat to the stability of Charles X’s government. This soon proved to be to his advantage.

King of the French (1830–1848)

1830, the July Revolution overthrew Charles X, who abdicated in favour of his son Louis Antoine, Duke of Angoulême, who shortly abdicated in favour of his 10-year-old nephew, Henri, Duke of Bordeaux.

King Louis Philippe I of the French

Charles X named Louis Philippe Lieutenant général du royaume, and charged him to announce his desire to have his grandson succeed him to the popularly elected Chamber of Deputies. Louis Philippe did not do this, in order to increase his own chances of succession.

As a consequence, because the chamber was aware of Louis Philippe’s liberal policies and of his popularity with the masses, they proclaimed Louis Philippe as the new French king, displacing the senior branch of the House of Bourbon. For the prior eleven days Louis Philippe had been acting as the regent for the young King Henri V his fifth cousin twice removed.

Maria Amalia, then Duchess of Orléans, with her son Ferdinand Philippe

Charles X and his family, including his grandson, went into exile in Britain. The young ex-king, the Duke of Bordeaux, who, in exile, took the title of Comte de Chambord, later became the pretender to the throne of France and was supported by the Legitimists.

Louis-Philippe was sworn in as King Louis Philippe I on August 9, 1830. Upon his accession to the throne, Louis Philippe assumed the title of King of the French – a title already adopted by Louis XVI in the short-lived Constitution of 1791. Linking the monarchy to a people instead of a territory (as the previous designation King of France and of Navarre) was aimed at undercutting the legitimist claims of Charles X and his family.

By an ordinance he signed on August 13, 1830, the new king defined the manner in which his children, as well as his “beloved” sister, would continue to bear the territorial designation of “Orléans” and the arms of Orléans, declared that his eldest son, as Prince Royal (not Dauphin), would bear the title Duke of Orléans, that the younger sons would continue to have their previous titles, and that his sister and daughters would only be styled Princesses of Orléans, not of France.

His ascent to the title of King of the French was seen as a betrayal by Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and it ended their friendship.

In 1832, his daughter, Princess Louise-Marie, married the first ruler of Belgium, Leopold I, King of the Belgians. Their descendants include all subsequent Kings of the Belgians, as well as Empress Carlota of Mexico.

King Louis Philippe I of the French. The only French monarch to be photographed

On February 24, 1848, during the February 1848 Revolution, King Louis Philippe abdicated in favour of his nine-year-old grandson, Philippe, comte de Paris. If he had reigned he would have been King Philippe VII of France, although some sources list him as King Louis Philippe II of France.

Fearful of what had happened to the deposed Louis XVI, Louis Philippe quickly left Paris under disguise. Unlike Louis XVI, who attempted to escape France in extravagant transportation, he instead rode in an ordinary cab under the name of “Mr. Smith.” He fled to England and spent his final years incognito as the ‘Comte de Neuilly’.

The National Assembly of France initially planned to accept young Philippe as king, but the strong current of public opinion rejected that. On February 26 the Second Republic was proclaimed. Louis Napoléon Bonaparte was elected president on December 10, 1848; on December 2, 1851, he declared himself president for life and then Emperor Napoleon III in 1852.

Louis Philippe and his family remained in exile in Great Britain in Claremont, Surrey, though a plaque on Angel Hill, Bury St Edmunds, claims that he spent some time there, possibly due to a friendship with the Marquess of Bristol, who lived nearby at Ickworth House.

The royal couple spent some time by the sea at St. Leonards and later at the Marquess’s home in Brighton. Louis Philippe died at Claremont on August 26, 1850. He was first buried at St. Charles Borromeo Chapel in Weybridge, Surrey. In 1876, his remains and those of his wife were taken to France and buried at the Chapelle royale de Dreux, the Orléans family necropolis his mother had built in 1816, and which he had enlarged and embellished after her death.

August 25, 1845: Birth of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

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Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, Duke in Bavaria, German Empire, Herrenchiemsee, House of Wittelsbach, King Ludwig II of Bavaria, King Maximilian II of Bavaria, Linderhof Palace, Marie of Prussia, Neuschwanstein Castle, Richard Wagner

Ludwig II (August 25, 1845 – June 13, 1886) was King of Bavaria from 1864 until his death in 1886. He is sometimes called the Swan King or the Fairy Tale King. He also held the titles of Count Palatine of the Rhine, Duke of Bavaria, Duke of Franconia, and Duke in Swabia.

Early life

Born at Nymphenburg Palace (located in what is today part of central Munich), he was the elder son of Maximilian II of Bavaria and Marie of Prussia, Crown Prince and Princess of Bavaria, who became King and Queen in 1848 after the abdication of the former’s father, Ludwig I, during the German Revolution.

His mother, Marie of Prussia, was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, a younger brother of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, and his wife, Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg.

In her youth, Marie was seriously considered as a wife for Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, (elder brother of Prince Albert , husband of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom) until her engagement to Maximilian was announced.

Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

His parents intended to name him Otto, but his grandfather insisted that his grandson be named after him, since their common birthday, August 25, is the feast day of Saint Louis IX of France, patron saint of Bavaria (with “Ludwig” being the German form of “Louis”). His full name was Ludwig Otto Friedrich Wilhelm. His younger brother, born three years later, was named Otto.

Like many young heirs in an age when kings governed most of Europe, Ludwig was continually reminded of his royal status. King Maximilian II wanted to instruct both of his sons in the burdens of royal duty from an early age. Ludwig was both extremely indulged and severely controlled by his tutors and subjected to a strict regimen of study and exercise. Some point to these stresses of growing up in a royal family as the causes for much of his odd behavior as an adult.

Ludwig was not close to either of his parents. King Maximilian’s advisers had suggested that on his daily walks he might like, at times, to be accompanied by his future successor. The King replied, “But what am I to say to him? After all, my son takes no interest in what other people tell him.” Later, Ludwig would refer to his mother as “my predecessor’s consort”. He was far closer to his grandfather, the deposed and notorious King Ludwig I.

Marie of Prussia, mother of Ludwig II, King of Bavaria

Ludwig ascended to the throne in 1864 at the age of 18. Two years later, Bavaria and Austria fought a war against Prussia lasting only a matter of weeks, which they lost. However, in the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, Bavaria sided with Prussia in their successful war against France.

Despite Ludwig’s reluctance to support the Unification of Germany, Bavaria and 21 other monarchies became part of the new German Empire with Wilhelm I, the King of Prussia and Ludwig’s cousin, as the German Emperor. Bavaria retained a large degree of autonomy within the Empire under the new Imperial Constitution.

The greatest stress of Ludwig’s early reign was pressure to produce an heir. This issue came to the forefront in 1867. Ludwig became engaged to Duchess Sophie in Bavaria, his cousin and the youngest sister of his dear friend, Empress Elisabeth of Austria, wife of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary.

Duchess Sophie in Bavaria was a daughter of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. The ninth of ten children born to her parents, she was known as Sopherl within the family.

King Ludwig II of Bavaria and his fiancé Duchess Sophie in Bavaria

Princess Ludovika of Bavaria was the sixth child of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his second wife, Caroline of Baden, and the mother of Empress Elisabeth of Austria.

Maximilian Joseph, Duke in Bavaria, was born at Bamberg, the only son of Duke Pius August in Bavaria (1786–1837) and his wife, Princess Amélie Louise of Arenberg (1789-1823).

Duke in Bavaria

After the Landshut War of Succession primogeniture was established in the House of Wittelsbach and therefore there could only be one Duke of Bavaria anymore, resulting in the actually quite unprecedented decision to create a title of Duke in Bavaria for the rest of the family, which all members of the House took for themselves, even the older Palatine branch – the other major Wittelsbach possession.

King Ludwig II and Duchess Sophie shared a deep interest in the works of Wagner. The engagement was announced on January 22, 1867; a few days earlier, Ludwig had written Sophie, “The main substance of our relationship has always been … Richard Wagner’s remarkable and deeply moving destiny.” Ludwig repeatedly postponed the wedding date, and finally cancelled the engagement in October.

Duchess Sophie in Bavaria

After the engagement was broken off, Ludwig wrote to his former fiancée, “My beloved Elsa! Your cruel father has torn us apart. Eternally yours, Heinrich.” (The names Elsa and Heinrich came from characters in Wagner’s opera Lohengrin.) Sophie later married Prince Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, grandson of French King Louis Philippe I, at Possenhofen Castle at which Ludwig II unexpectedly attended the reception.

Ludwig never married nor had any known mistresses. His diary, private letters, and other documents reveal his strong homosexual desires, which he struggled to suppress to remain true to the teachings of the Catholic Church. Homosexuality had not been punishable in Bavaria since 1813, but the unification of Germany under Prussian hegemony in 1871 instated Paragraph 175, which criminalized homosexual acts between males.

Throughout his reign, Ludwig had a succession of close friendships with men, including his aide-de-camp the Bavarian prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis, his chief equerry and master of the horse, Richard Hornig, the Hungarian theater actor Josef Kainz, and courtier Alfons Weber. Letters from Ludwig reveal that the quartermaster of the royal stables, Karl Hesselschwerdt, acted as his male procurer.

Ludwig’s original diaries from 1869 onward were lost during World War II, and all that remain today are copies of entries made during the 1886 plot to depose him. Some earlier diaries have survived in the Geheimes Hausarchiv (‘secret archives’) in Munich, and extracts starting in 1858 were published by Evers in 1986.

Linderhof Palace (my personal favorite)

Ludwig increasingly withdrew from day-to-day affairs of state in favour of extravagant artistic and architectural projects. He commissioned the construction of lavish palaces: Neuschwanstein Castle, Linderhof Palace and Herrenchiemsee. He was also a devoted patron of the composer Richard Wagner.

Ludwig spent all his own private royal revenues (although not state funds as is commonly thought) on these projects, borrowed extensively, and defied all attempts by his ministers to restrain him. This extravagance was used against him to declare him insane, an accusation that has since come under scrutiny.

Ludwig was taken into custody and effectively deposed on June 12, 1886, and he and his doctor were found dead on the following day. His death was ruled to be a suicide but this too has been disputed. Today, his architectural and artistic legacy includes many of Bavaria’s most important tourist attractions.

August 25, 1270: Accession of Philippe III as King of France

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Count of Orléans, dysentery, James I of Aragon, King Louis IX of France, King Philippe III of France, Ninth Crusade, Pope Urban IV, Treaty of Corbeil

Philippe III (May 1, 1245 – October 5, 1285), called the Bold was King of France from 1270 until his death in 1285.

Early life

Philippe was born in Poissy on 1 May 1245, the second son of King Louis IX of France and Margaret of Provence, the eldest of four daughters of Ramon Berenguer IV, Count of Provence, and Beatrice of Savoy.

Her younger sisters were Queen Eleanor of England (Henry III), Queen Sanchia of the Romans (Richard, Earl of Cornwall and King of the Romans), and Queen Beatrice of Sicily (Charles I). She was especially close to Eleanor, to whom she was close in age, and with whom she sustained friendly relationships until they grew old.

As a younger son, Philippe was not expected to rule France. At the death of his older brother Louis in 1260, he became the heir apparent to the throne.

Philippe’s mother Margaret made him promise to remain under her tutelage until the age of 30, however Pope Urban IV released him from this oath on June 6, 1263. From that moment on, Pierre de la Broce, a royal favourite and household official of Louis IX, was Philippe’s mentor. His father, Louis IX, also provided him with advice, writing in particular the Enseignements, which inculcated the notion of justice as the first duty of a king.

According to the terms of the Treaty of Corbeil (1258), concluded on March 11, 1258 between Louis IX and James I of Aragon, Philip was married in 1262 to Isabella of Aragon in Clermont by the archbishop of Rouen, Eudes Rigaud. She was the daughter of King James I of Aragon and his second wife Yolande of Hungary.

As Count of Orléans, Philippe accompanied his father on the Eighth Crusade to Tunis in 1270. Shortly before his departure, Louis IX had given the regency of the kingdom into the hands of Mathieu de Vendôme and Simon II, Count of Clermont, to whom he had also entrusted the royal seal.

After taking Carthage, the army was struck by an epidemic of dysentery, which spared neither Philippe nor his family. His brother Jean Tristan, Count of Valois died first, on August 3 and on August 25 King Louis IX died. To prevent putrefaction of his remains, it was decided to carry out mos Teutonicus, the process of rendering the flesh from the bones so as to make transporting the remains feasible.

Philippe, only 25 years old and stricken with dysentery, was proclaimed King Philippe III of France in Tunis. His uncle, Charles I of Naples, negotiated with Muhammad I al-Mustansir, Hafsid Caliph of Tunis. A treaty was concluded November 5, 1270 between the kings of France, Sicily and Navarre and the Caliph of Tunis.

Other deaths followed this debacle. In December, in Trapani, Sicily, Philippe III’s brother-in-law, King Theobald II of Navarre, died. He was followed in February by Philippe III’s wife, Isabella, who fell off her horse while pregnant with their fifth child. She died in Cozenza (Calabria). In April, Theobald’s widow and Philippe III’s sister, Isabella, also died.

Philippe III arrived in Paris on May 21, 1271, and paid tribute to the deceased. The next day the funeral of his father was held. The new sovereign was crowned king of France in Reims on August 15, 1271.

Philippe III inherited numerous territorial lands during his reign, the most notable being the County of Toulouse, which was annexed to the royal domain in 1271. With the Treaty of Orléans, he expanded French influence into the Kingdom of Navarre and following the death of his brother Peter during the Sicilian Vespers, the County of Alençon was returned to the crown lands.

After the death of Queen Isabella, he married on August 21, 1274 Marie of Brabant, daughter of the late Henri III, Duke of Brabant, and Adelaide of Burgundy, Duchess of Brabant.

Following the Sicilian Vespers, Philippe led the Aragonese Crusade in support of his uncle. Initially successful, Philippe III, his army racked with sickness, was forced to retreat and died from dysentery in Perpignan in 1285. He was succeeded by his son Philippe IV.

August 24, 1561: Marriage of Prince Willem I of Orange to Princess Anna of Saxony

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Anna of Saxony, House of Orange-Nassau, King Felipe II of Spain, Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel, Prince of Orange, René of Châlon, Stadtholder of the Netherlands, The United Provinces on f the Netherlands, Willem of Nassau-Dillenburg, Willem the Silent

Willem I the Silent (April 24, 1533 – July 10, 1584), was the main leader of the Dutch Revolt against the Spanish Habsburgs that set off the Eighty Years’ War (1568–1648) and resulted in the formal independence of the United Provinces in 1581. Born into the House of Nassau, he became Prince of Orange in 1544 and is thereby the founder of the Orange-Nassau branch and the ancestor of the monarchy of the Netherlands. In the Netherlands, he is also known as Father of the Fatherland.

Willem was born on April 24, 1533 at Dillenburg Castle in the County of Nassau-Dillenburg, in the Holy Roman Empire. He was the eldest son of Count Willem I of Nassau-Dillenburg and Juliana of Stolberg. Willem’s father had one surviving daughter by his previous marriage, and his mother had four surviving children by her previous marriage. His parents had twelve children together, of whom Willem was the eldest; he had four younger brothers and seven younger sisters. The family was religiously devout and Willem was raised a Lutheran.

In 1544, Willem’s agnatic first cousin, René of Châlon, Prince of Orange, died in the siege of St Dizier, childless. In his testament, René of Chalon named Willem the heir to all his estates and titles, including that of Prince of Orange, on the condition that he receive a Roman Catholic education. Willem’s father acquiesced to this condition on behalf of his 11-year-old son, and this was the founding of the House of Orange-Nassau.

On July 6, 1551, Willem married Anna, daughter and heir of Maximiliaan van Egmond, an important Dutch nobleman, a match that had been secured by Emperor Charles V. Anna’s father had died in 1548, and therefore Willem became Lord of Egmond and Count of Buren upon his wedding day. The marriage was a happy one and produced three children, one of whom died in infancy. Anna died on March 24, 1558, aged 25, leaving William much grieved.

In 1559, King Felipe II of Spain appointed Willem stadtholder (governor) of the provinces of Holland, Zeeland and Utrecht, thereby greatly increasing his political power. A stadtholdership over Franche-Comté followed in 1561.

On August 25, 1561, Willem of Orange married for the second time. His new wife, Anna of Saxony, was the daughter and heiress of Maurice, Elector of Saxony, and Agnes of Hesse, eldest daughter of Philipp I, Landgrave of Hesse and his first wife, Christine of Saxony.

Anna of Saxony was described by contemporaries as “self-absorbed, weak, assertive, and cruel”, and it is generally assumed that Willem married her to gain more influence in Saxony, Hesse and the Palatinate. The couple had five children. The marriage used Lutheran rites, and marked the beginning of a gradual change in his religious opinions, which was to lead Willem to revert to Lutheranism and eventually moderate Calvinism. Still, he remained tolerant of other religious opinions.

Just a few months after the wedding, in 1562 difficulties arose between her and her husband. Anna received letters from her uncle meant for Willem stating he should work more towards pleasing her. Both tried to end the rumours that they had an unhappy marriage. By 1565, it was well known in all the courts of the Holy Roman Empire and the Netherlands that the marriage was an unhappy one.

Her uncle August tried to save face by making claims that disputes arose due to his brother Ludwig antagonizing Willem. In 1566 Willem finally complained about the “contentious” nature of his wife to her Saxon uncle August and her Hessian uncle Landgrave Wilhelm IV of Hesse-Cassel (1532–1592).

Anna desired to see her husband again and met with him in May 1570 in Butzbach to discuss financial matters as well as other important topics. In June 1570, Anna and Willem moved in together again in Siegen for a few weeks, where she had settled with her three children. It was there where she began an affair with her lawyer Jan Rubens.

During the Christmas holidays from December 24 to 261570 William visited his family there again. It was likely a harmonious time, because he persuaded Anna to visit him in January 1571 in Dillenburg, where she even was willing to forego, for the time, payments from her jointure. She was pregnant again, this time from her lover. Willem accused Anna of adultery at this point and made plans to separate from her.

Rubens was often with Anna because he was their counsellor, financial advisor and attorney, and thus was suspected of adultery with Anna between March 7 and 10, 1571. He was arrested outside the city of Siegen when he was on his way to see her. He was blackmailed for a suitable confession.

Anna was put under pressure too: either they must confess themselves or Rubens would be executed. Anna agreed on March 26, 1571 to plead guilty. On 22 August 22, 1571 Anna’s last child, Christine, was born.

On the basis of the allegation, Willem of Orange didn’t recognize the child as his daughter. Christine received the name van Dietz. On December 14, 1571 Anna had to sign their consent to the final separation from her husband. In addition, Willem of Orange was not willing to pay maintenance for her.

Imprisonment and death

In September 1572 Anna decided to challenge the Imperial Court’s ruling for her financial rights. At this time her Hessian and Saxon relatives had already made plans to turn Beilstein castle into a prison, to hold her captive as an adulteress. On October 1, 1572, she was brought there with her youngest daughter Christine. Three years later, her daughter was taken from her.

In March of that year, although the divorce was not finalized, the first news appeared of an impending remarriage of Willem of Orange. His chosen wife was the former Abbess of Jouarre, Charlotte de Bourbon-Montpensier, a daughter of Louis II of Bourbon, Duke of Montpensier, and his first wife, Jacqueline de Longwy.

Outraged at this news, some of Anna’s relatives demanded the return of large wedding gifts despite her possible infidelity. Her Uncle August also demanded of Willem, whom he now called “Head of all the rogues and rebels ” claimed one of the counties of Nassau, Hadamar and Diez.

He also insisted that the marriage of the prince was not legally ended yet, and thus he had no right to remarry or confiscate her property. Anna did not admit her adultery in court, and if she did, then she could have proven that the prince had broken his marriage agreement. He also ordered the immediate transfer of his niece from Nassau to Saxony.

When Anna learned in December 1575 of her upcoming transferral to Saxony, she attempted suicide. After a long stay in Zeitz, she was taken to Dresden in December 1576. There, the windows of her room were walled up and fitted with additional iron bars.

At the door was a square hole in the top panel that provided a narrow grid, which was closed off outside. Through this hole food and drinks were served to her. At the door there was also another iron gate, virtually guaranteeing no chance of escape.

As of May 1577, Anna was continuously hemorrhaging. She died on December 18, 1577, shortly before her 33rd birthday. Her bones reportedly lie in the cathedral of Meissen near her ancestors in a nameless tomb.

August 24, 1200: King John of England marries Isabella, Countess of Angoulême

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Arthur of Brittany, Count of La Marche, Henry III of England, Hugh IX of Lusignan, Hugh X of Lusignan, Isabella of Angouleme, Isabella of Gloucester, King John of England, King Philippe II of France, Richard I of England

Isabella (c. 1186/ 1188 – June 4, 1246) was Queen of England, as the second wife of King John of England, from 1200 to 1216, and Countess of Angoulême in her own right from 1202 until her death in 1246.

Isabella was the only daughter and heir of Aymer Taillefer, Count of Angoulême, by Alice of Courtenay, who was a sister of Peter II of Courtenay, Latin Emperor of Constantinople. Alice and Peter II were grandchildren of King Louis VI of France through their father Peter I of Courtenay.

Isabella became Countess of Angoulême in her own right on June 16, 1202, by which time she was already queen of England.

When King Richard I of England died, his younger brother John, claimed the throne as the son of King Henry II of England. The other to claim the throne of England was Arthur I, Duke of Brittany, nephew of John and the son of John’s older brother. Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany.

Neither side was keen to continue the conflict, and following a papal truce the two leaders met in January 1200 to negotiate possible terms for peace. From John’s perspective, what then followed represented an opportunity to stabilize control over his continental possessions and produce a lasting peace with Philippe II of France in Paris.

John and Philippe II negotiated the May 1200 Treaty of Le Goulet; by this treaty, Philippe II recognized John as the rightful heir to Richard in respect to his French possessions, temporarily abandoning the wider claims of his client, Arthur of Brittany.

John, in turn, abandoned Richard’s former policy of containing Philippe II through alliances with Flanders and Boulogne, and accepted Philippe II’s right as the legitimate feudal overlord of John’s lands in France. John’s policy earned him the disrespectful title of “John Softsword” from some English chroniclers, who contrasted his behaviour with his more aggressive brother, Richard.

In order to remarry, John first needed to abandon his wife Isabella, Countess of Gloucester; the King accomplished this by arguing that he had failed to get the necessary papal dispensation to marry the Countess in the first place—as a cousin, John could not have legally wedded her without this.

It remains unclear why John chose to marry Isabella of Angoulême. Contemporary chroniclers argued that John had fallen deeply in love with her, and John may have been motivated by desire for an apparently beautiful, if rather young, girl.

On the other hand, the Angoumois lands that came with her were strategically vital to John: by marrying Isabella, John was acquiring a key land route between Poitou and Gascony, which significantly strengthened his grip on Aquitaine.

Isabella, however, was already engaged to Hugh IX of Lusignan, an important member of a key Poitou noble family and brother of Raoul I, Count of Eu, who possessed lands along the sensitive eastern Normandy border.

Just as John stood to benefit strategically from marrying Isabella, so the marriage threatened the interests of the Lusignans, whose own lands currently provided the key route for royal goods and troops across Aquitaine. Rather than negotiating some form of compensation, John treated Hugh “with contempt”; this resulted in a Lusignan uprising that was promptly crushed by John, who also intervened to suppress Raoul in Normandy.

King John officially married Isabella, Countess of Angoulême on August 24, 1200.

As a result of John’s temerity in taking her as his second wife, King Philippe II of France confiscated all of their French lands. War recommenced in the aftermath of John’s decision to marry Isabella of Angoulême.

At the time of her marriage to John, the blonde-haired blue-eyed Isabella was already renowned by some for her beauty and has sometimes been called the Helen of the Middle Ages by historians. Isabella was much younger than her husband and possessed a volatile temper similar to his own.

King John was infatuated with his young, beautiful wife; however, his acquisition of her had at least as much to do with spiting his enemies as romantic love.

It was said that he neglected his state affairs to spend time with Isabella, often remaining in bed with her until noon. However, these were rumors spread by John’s enemies to discredit him as a weak and grossly irresponsible ruler, given that at the time John was engaging in a desperate war against King Philippe II of France to hold on to the remaining Plantagenet duchies. The common people began to term her a “siren” or “Messalina” for her allure. Her mother-in-law, Eleanor of Aquitaine, readily accepted her as John’s wife.

On October 1, 1207, at Winchester Castle, Isabella gave birth to a son and heir, the future King Henry III of England, who was named after his grandfather King Henry II. He was quickly followed by another son, Richard, and three daughters: Joan, Isabella and Eleanor. All five children survived into adulthood and made illustrious marriages; all but Joan produced offspring of their own.

Isabella had five children by the king, including his heir, later Henry III.

Second marriage

When King John died on October 19, 1216, Isabella’s first act was to arrange the speedy coronation of her nine-year-old son at the city of Gloucester on October 28. As the royal crown had recently been lost in the Wash, along with the rest of King John’s treasure, she supplied her own golden circlet to be used in lieu of a crown.

The following July, less than a year after his crowning as King Henry III of England, she left him in the care of his regent, William Marshal, 1st Earl of Pembroke, and returned to France to assume control of her inheritance of Angoulême.

In the spring of 1220, Isabella married Hugh X of Lusignan, “le Brun”, Seigneur de Luisignan, Count of La Marche, the son of her former fiancé, Hugh IX, to whom she had been betrothed before her marriage to King John. It had been previously arranged that her eldest daughter Joan should marry Hugh, and the little girl was being brought up at the Lusignan court in preparation for her marriage.

Hugh, however, upon seeing Isabella, whose beauty had not diminished, preferred the girl’s mother. Joan was provided with another husband, King Alexander II of Scotland, whom she wed in 1221.

Isabella and Hugh X of Lusignan, Count of La Marche, had another nine children.

Isabella encouraged her son, King Henry III in his invasion of Normandy in 1230, but then did not provide him the support she had promised.

Some of Isabella’s contemporaries, as well as later writers, claim that Isabella formed a conspiracy against King Louis IX of France in 1241, after being publicly snubbed by his mother, Blanche of Castile, for whom she harbored a deep-seated hatred.

In 1244 two royal cooks were arrested for attempting to poison the King Louis IX; upon questioning they confessed to having been in Isabella’s pay.

After the plot had failed, Isabella was accused of attempting to poison the king. Before Isabella could be taken into custody, she sought refuge in Fontevraud Abbey, where she died two years later, on June 4, 1246. However, none of this can be confirmed.

By Isabella’s own prior arrangement, she was first buried in the abbey’s churchyard as an act of repentance for her many misdeeds. On a visit to Fontevraud, her son King Henry III of England was shocked to find her buried outside the abbey and ordered her immediately moved inside. She was finally placed beside Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine. Afterwards, most of her many Lusignan children, having few prospects in France, set sail for England and the court of Henry, their half-brother.