These Dates in History, October 22nd…

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Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, Infante of Spain, John V of Portugal, Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Maria Amalia of Austria, October 22nd, Peter the Great of Russia

From the Emperor’s Desk: Today is my birthday and we’ll examine different lives and events in Royal History on this date.

1383 – The male line of the Portuguese House of Burgundy becomes extinct with the death of King Fernando, leaving only his daughter Beatrice. Rival claimants begin a period of civil war and disorder.

1721 – Russian Empire is proclaimed by Tsar Peter I after the Swedish defeat in the Great Northern War.

Emperor Peter I the Great of Russia

Soon after peace was made with Sweden, he was officially proclaimed Emperor of All Russia. Some proposed that he take the title Emperor of the East, but he refused. Gavrila Golovkin, the State Chancellor, was the first to add “the Great, Father of His Country, Emperor of All the Russias” to Peter’s traditional title Tsar following a speech by the archbishop of Pskov in 1721.

Peter’s imperial title was recognized by Augustus II of Poland, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, and Fredrik I of Sweden, but not by the other European monarchs. In the minds of many, the word emperor connoted superiority or pre-eminence over kings. Several rulers feared that Peter would claim authority over them, just as the Holy Roman Emperor had claimed suzerainty over all Christian nations.

Births

Pre-1600

955 – Qian Weijun, king of Wuyue (d. 991)

1071 – William IX, Duke of Aquitaine (d. 1126)

1197 – Juntoku, Japanese emperor (d. 1242)

king (d. 1750)

1689 — João V (October 22, 1689 – July 31, 1750), known as the Magnanimous and the Portuguese Sun King, was a monarch of the House of Braganza who ruled as King of Portugal during the first half of the 18th century. João V’s reign saw the rise of Portugal and its monarchy to new levels of prosperity, wealth, and prestige among European courts.

João V’s reign saw an enormous influx of gold into the coffers of the royal treasury, supplied largely by the royal tax on precious metals) that was received from the Portuguese colonies of Brazil and Maranhão.
Disregarding traditional Portuguese institutions of governance, João V ruled as an absolute monarch. In keeping with a traditional policy pursued by previous monarchs of the House of Braganza and which stressed the importance of relations with Europe, João V’s reign was marked by numerous interventions into the affairs of other European states, most notably as part of the War of the Spanish Succession.

Maria Amalia of Austria, Holy Roman Empress

1701 – Maria Amalia of Austria (Maria Amalie Josefa Anna; October 22, 1701 – December 11, 1756) was Holy Roman Empress, Queen of the Germans, Queen of Bohemia, Electress and Duchess of Bavaria etc. as the spouse of Emperor Charles VII. By birth, she was an Archduchess of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Joseph I and Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Maria Amalia had seven children, only four of whom lived through to adulthood, including Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria.

1781 – Louis Joseph, Dauphin of France (d. 1789) Louis Joseph Xavier François (October 22, 1781 – June 4, 1789) was Dauphin of France as the second child and first son of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. As son of a king of France, he was a fils de France (“Child of France”). Louis Joseph died at the age of seven from tuberculosis and was succeeded as Dauphin by his four-year-old brother Louis Charles.

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, German Empress and Queen of Prussia

1858 – Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg (October 22, 1858 – April 11, 1921) was the last German Empress and Queen of Prussia by marriage to Wilhelm II, German Emperor.

Augusta Victoria was born at Dolzig Castle, the eldest daughter of Friedrich VIII, future Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a great-niece of Queen Victoria, through Victoria’s half-sister Feodora. Augusta Victoria grew up at Dolzig until the death of her grandfather, Christian August II, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, in 1869. The family then moved to Castle Primkenau and the estate her father had inherited. She was known within her family as “Dona.”

1859 – Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria (October 22, 1859 – 23 November 23, 1949), was a member of the Bavarian Royal House of Wittelsbach and a General of Cavalry. Following his marriage to Infanta María de la Paz of Spain, the third surviving daughter of Queen Isabella II of Spain and her husband Infante Francisco of Spainhe was also created an Infante of Spain.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria, Infante of Spain

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828–75) and Infanta Amalia of Spain (1834–1905). He was a paternal grandson of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and his wife Princess Therese of Saxe-Altenburg. His maternal grandparents were Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain and his wife Princess Luisa Carlotta of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

Ludwig Ferdinand’s paternal uncles were King Maximilian II of Bavaria, King Otto I of Greece and Prince Regent Luitpold of Bavaria. His maternal uncle was King-Consort Francisco of Spain (1822–1902) and maternally his first cousin was King Alfonso XII of Spain (1857–85), two years his senior. Ludwig Ferdinand was born in Madrid, but his younger siblings in Bavaria, where they had returned. Ludwig II, Otto I and Ludwig III, Kings of Bavaria, were his first cousins. Alfonso XIII (reigned 1885–1931) was a first cousin’s son.

Deaths

741 – Charles Martel, Frankish king (b. 688)

842 – Abo, Japanese prince (b. 792)

1383 – Ferdinand I of Portugal (b. 1345)

1751 – Willem IV, Prince of Orange, Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands. (September 1, 1711 – 22 October 22, 1751). As Prince of Orange he was ruler of the Principality of Orange-Nassau within the Holy Roman Empire.

Willem was born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, the son of Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange, head of the Frisian branch of the House of Orange-Nassau, and of his wife Landgravine Marie Louise of Hesse-Cassel (or Hesse-Cassel). He was born six weeks after the death of his father.

Willem succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and also, under the regency of his mother until 1731, as Stadtholder of Groningen. In 1722 he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders. The four other provinces of the Dutch Republic:, Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Overijssel had in 1702 decided not to appoint a stadtholder after the death of the last stadtholder Willem III, (William III-II, King of England, Scotland and Ireland) issuing the history of the Republic into a period that is known as the Second Stadtholderless Period. In 1747 those four provinces also accepted Willem IV as their stadtholder, becoming the first Hereditary Stadtholder of all the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

On March 25, 1734 Willem IV married at St James’s Palace Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain and Caroline of Ansbach.

1761 – Louis George, Margrave of Baden-Baden (b. 1702)

2002 – Queen Geraldine of Albania (b. 1915)

The life of Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duchess of Galliera.

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Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Beatrice of Edinburgh, Carlos IV of Spain, Duke of Edinburgh, Duke of Galliera, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Fernando VII of Spain, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia, Infante of Spain, Isabella II of Spain, Louis Philippe, Princess Beatrice, Princess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria; April 20, 1884 – July 13, 1966) was a member of the British royal family. Her father was Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, (reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha) the second son of Queen Victoria and Albert, Prince Consort. Her mother was Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, the only surviving daughter of Alexander II of Russia and Princess Marie of Hesse and by Rhine. She was called “Baby Bee” by her family.

Beatrice spent much of her early years in Malta, where her father was serving in the Royal Navy. Along with her elder sister Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of their paternal cousins the Duke and Duchess of York (the future King George V and Queen Mary) on July 6, 1893.

On the death of Prince Alfred’s uncle, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, on August 22, 1893, the duchy was inherited by the Duke of Edinburgh, since the Prince of Wales, the Duke’s elder brother and future King Edward VII, had renounced his right to the succession. The Duke and Duchess, with their five surviving children, travelled shortly afterwards to Coburg to take up residence.

Marriage prospects

In 1902, Princess Beatrice had a romance with Russian Grand Duke Michael, the younger brother of Emperor Nicholas II, and at that time the heir presumptive to the Imperial Throne. She began receiving letters from him in September 1902 and, although he was a Russian Grand Duke and she now a German Princess, they corresponded in English, and he nicknamed her “Sima”.

Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia

However she was prevented from marrying the Grand Duke as the Russian Orthodox Church forbade the marriage of first cousins. Although such marriages had been allowed previously in the House of Romanov (Grand Duchess Catherine Pavlovna, whose hand was denied to Napoleon I, was twice allowed to wed first cousins; her descendants became the Russian branch of the Dukes of Oldenburg), the devout Emperor Nicholas II, official head of Russia’s church, refused to relax the rules for the sake of his brother.

In November 1903, Michael wrote to Beatrice telling her that he could not marry her. The situation was aggravated by a letter Beatrice then received from her elder sister Victoria Melita (“Ducky”), in which Michael was blamed for having callously initiated the doomed romance. Years later, ironically, or hypocritically, Ducky, having divorced her first cousin Ernst Ludwig, Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine, was told that remarriage to another first cousin, Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, would likewise be forbidden by the Tsar, she refused to take no for an answer; the couple eloped and went into exile. The humiliated Beatrice was sent to Egypt to recover from heartbreak, but pined and wrote reproachful letters to Michael until 1905.

Beatrice was then rumoured to be intending to marry King Alfonso XIII of Spain, but this proved to be a false rumour also as he married her cousin Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg in 1906. It was at their wedding that Beatrice met another cousin of King Alfonso, Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón (November 12; 1886 – August 10, 1975), Infante of Spain, 5th Duke of Galliera. The Spanish government objected to an infante’s proposed match with a British Princess who, unlike Queen Victoria Eugenie, had not agreed to convert to Roman Catholicism: the King was obliged to make clear that, should the wedding take place, the couple would have to live in exile.

Genealogy of her husband.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera (November 12, 1886 – August 6, 1975), was the elder son of Infante Antonio, Duke of Galliera and his wife, Infanta Eulalia of Spain.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, Duke of Galliera

His father, Infante Antonio, was the only surviving son of Prince Antoine of Orléans, Duke of Montpensier, and his wife Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain, the youngest daughter of King Fernando VII of Spain and his fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. Infante Antonio’s father, Prince Antoine, was the youngest son of King Louis Philippe of France and his wife Maria Amelia Teresa of the Two Sicilies.

Infanta Eulalia of Spain

His mother, Infanta Eulalia of Spain, was the youngest of the five children born to Queen Isabella II of Spain and Francis de Assisi de Borbón, Duke of Cadiz, the second son of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, (himself the son of the youngest son of Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma) and of his wife (and niece), Princess Luisa Carlotta of Naples and Sicily.

Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Duke of Galliera was also first cousin of Alfonso XIII of Spain.

Nonetheless, Beatrice and Alfonso married in a Roman Catholic and Lutheran ceremony at Coburg on July 13, 1909. The couple settled in Coburg until, in 1912, Alfonso and Beatrice were allowed to return to Spain and his rank of Infante was restored. In August 1913, Beatrice was received into the Roman Catholic Church.

The couple had three sons:
* Alvaro Antonio Fernando Carlos Felipe (April 20, 1910 – August 22, 1997)
* Alonso María Cristino Justo (May 28, 1912 – November 18, 1936); Killed in action during the Spanish Civil War
* Ataúlfo Carlos Alejandro Isabelo (October 20, 1913 – October 4, 1974)

Princess Beatrice and her eldest son, Infante Alvaro of Spain

Scandal and exile

During King Alfonso XIII’s unhappy marriage, he had numerous affairs and dalliances, some of which produced illegitimate children. He allegedly also made advances toward Princess Beatrice, which she rebuffed. The King expelled her and her husband from Spain, under the pretext of sending Infante Alfonso on a mission to Switzerland. At the same time, the King’s circle of friends, who despised both Beatrice and Queen Ena, started to spread malicious rumours, saying that Beatrice had been expelled because of her bad behaviour, which was not true.

The family moved to England, where their three sons were educated at Winchester College. The Spanish royal family eventually relented, and Beatrice and her family were allowed to return to Spain where they established their home at an estate in Sanlúcar de Barrameda.

The 1930s were an unhappy time for the family, as the collapse of the Spanish monarchy and the subsequent civil war led to the loss of much of the family’s wealth. After the establishment of the Second Spanish Republic in 1931, King Alfonso and his family fled into exile in Italy. In the years that followed, the political situation in Spain worsened as various groups wrestled for power. By the late-1930s, the conflicts had erupted into all-out civil war. Beatrice and Alfonso lost their estate during the war and the couple’s middle son, Alonso, was killed fighting the Republicans.

Later life

Beatrice died at her estate of El Botánico in Sanlúcar de Barrameda on July 13, 1966. Her husband survived her by nine years. Their son Ataulfo died, unmarried, in 1974. Their only grandchildren are the children of Prince Alvaro. At the time of her death, Beatrice was the last surviving child of Prince Alfred and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna.