Happy 98th birthday to HRH The Duke of Edinburgh!

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Christian IX of Denmark, Happy Birthday, House of Battenberg, Kingdom of Denmark, Kingdom of Greece, Kingdom of the Hellenes, London Protocol 1852, Prince Philip, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Princess Alice of Battenberg, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria, The Duke of Edinburgh

In honor of the 98th birthday of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh I thought I would give some genealogical and biographical information on him.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born in Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu on June 10, 1921. He was the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Prince Philip had four elder sisters, Margarita (1905-1981), Theodora (1906-1969), Cecilie (1911-1937) and Sophie (1914-2001).

Prince Philip’s Father:

Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (January 20 – 1882 – December 3, 1944) of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark and Prince Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

Prince Andrew (left), with his older brothers, the Crown Prince Constantine and Prince Nicholas.

Paternal Grandfather:

George I of the Hellenes was born December 24, 1845 at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade, right next to the Amalienborg Palace complex in Copenhagen. He was the second son and third child of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Until his accession in Greece, he was known as Prince Vilhelm, the namesake of his grandfathers Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and Prince Wilhelm of Hesse-Cassel.

King George I of the Hellenes

Paternal Grandmother:

Olga Constantinovna of Russia was born on August 22, 1851 the daughter of Grand Duke Constantine Nikolaievich and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg. Olga’s father was Grand Duke Constantine Nikolayevich of Russia (September 21, 1827 – January 25, 1892) was the second son of Czar Nicholas I of Russia and younger brother of Czar Alexander II. This gives the Duke of Edinburgh strong familial ties to the Imperial Russian royal family.

Grand Duchess Olga, Queen of the Hellenes

Prince Philip’s mother:

Alice of Battenberg was born on February 25, 1885 in the Tapestry Room at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was the eldest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg (after 1917: Louis Alexander Mountbatten, 1st Marquess of Milford Haven) and his wife Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the Queen’s second daughter.

Princess Alice of Battenberg

Prince and Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark

Royal House

The Duke of Edinburgh is a member of the Royal House of Glücksburg (also spelled Glücksborg), shortened from House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and is a Danish-German branch of the House of Oldenburg, whose members have reigned at various times in Denmark, Norway, Greece and several northern German states.

In 1460, Glücksburg came, as part of the conjoined Danish-German duchies of Schleswig and Holstein, to Count Christian VII of Oldenburg whom, in 1448, the Danes had elected their king as Christian I, the Norwegians likewise taking him as their hereditary king in 1450.

In 1564, Christian I’s great-grandson, King Frederik II, in re-distributing Schleswig and Holstein’s fiefs, allocated Glücksburg to his brother Duke Johann the Younger (1545-1622), along with Sonderburg, in appanage. Johann’s heirs further sub-divided their share and created, among other branches, a line of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg at Beck (an estate near Minden bought by the family in 1605), who remained vassals of Denmark’s kings.

The Danish line of Oldenburg kings died out in 1863 with the death of King Frederik VII of Denmark. Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the fourth son of Duke Friedrich of Glücksburg, was recognized in the London Protocol of 1852 as successor to the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark. He became King of Denmark as Christian IX as king of Denmark on November 15, 1863.

A few months prior to becoming King of Denmark, Christian IX’s second son, Prince Vilhelm, was elected King of the Hellenes on March 30, 1863, succeeding the ousted Wittelsbach Otto of Greece and reigning under the name George I. As stated above, the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of Greece was Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, the father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Highlights of the life the Duke of Edinburgh:

After being educated in France, Germany and the United Kingdom, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18. In 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth toured the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth. During the visit, the Queen and Louis Mountbatten asked Philip to escort the King’s two daughters, Elizabeth and Margaret, who were Philip’s third cousinsthrough Queen Victoria, and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark.

Elizabeth fell in love with Philip and they began to exchange letters when she was thirteen. Eventually, in the summer of 1946, Philip asked the King for his daughter’s hand in marriage. The King granted his request, provided that any formal engagement be delayed until Elizabeth’s twenty-first birthday the following April. By March 1947, Philip had abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles, had adopted the surname Mountbatten from his mother’s family, and had become a naturalised British subject. However, this was unnecessary as Philip was a descendent of Sofia of Hanover and due to this he already was a British subject.

The day preceding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style of Royal Highness on Philip and, on the morning of the wedding, November 20, 1947, he was made the Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. Philip and Elizabeth were married in a ceremony at Westminster Abbey, recorded and broadcast by BBC radio to 200 million people around the world. However, in post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for any of the Duke of Edinburgh’s German relations to be invited to the wedding, including Philip’s three surviving sisters, all of whom had married German princes. After their marriage, the Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh took up residence at Clarence House.

On February 25, 1957, the Queen granted her husband the style and title of a Prince of the United Kingdom by Letters Patent, and it was gazetted that he was to be known as “His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh”.

New name of the Royal House?:

The accession of Elizabeth II to the throne brought up the question of the name of the royal house, as Elizabeth would typically have taken Philip’s last name on marriage. The Duke’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten of Burma, advocated the name House of Mountbatten. Philip suggested House of Edinburgh, after his ducal title. When Queen Mary, Elizabeth’s grandmother, heard of this, she informed the British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, who himself later advised the Queen to issue a royal proclamation declaring that the royal house was to remain known as the House of Windsor. Prince Philip privately complained, “I am nothing but a bloody amoeba. I am the only man in the country not allowed to give his name to his own children.”

It’s interesting that the question of the name of the Royal House was raised. The name of the dynasty remains the same during the reign of a Queen Regnant. For example, Queen Mary I 1553-1558, remained a Tudor despite being married to a Habsburg. Queen Anne remained a Stuart despite being married to a Danish prince of the House of Oldenburg. The same with Queen Victoria, the name of the Royal House did not change from Hanover to Saxe-Coburg-Gotha until the accession of her son. King Edward VII, in 1901.

In times past this would not have been an issue and the name of the royal house would automatically change once the Crown passed through the female line to reflect the patrilineal line. I believe that Lord Mountbatten was eager to elevate the status of his family name.

On February 8, 1960, several years after the death of Queen Mary and the resignation of Churchill, the Queen issued an Order in Council declaring that Mountbatten-Windsor would be the surname of her and her husband’s male-line descendants who are not styled as Royal Highness or titled as Prince or Princess. The son of the Duke of Sussex, Archie Mountbatten-Windsor, is the first descendant of the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh that this order applies to.

Service as Consort to Her Majesty the Queen.

The Duke of Edinburgh has been an excellent support to Her Majesty the queen. However, he has not been without controversy. The prince is no wall flower and often speaks his mind. Sometimes he would make and off-the-cuff remark or joke that would be taken either out of context or was not meant to be offensive but people would at times be offended but what he has said.

The princes has always been a very active man. He played polo until 1971 and then took up the sport of carriage driving. I worked at a historical house and have seen competitive carriage driving myself. I really enjoyed watching that and was happy that the prince took up that sport. Philip was also a skilled yachtsman and pilot.

Philip is patron of some 800 organisations, particularly focused on the environment, industry, sport, and education. His first solo engagement as Duke of Edinburgh was in March 1948, presenting prizes at the boxing finals of the London Federation of Boys’ Clubs at the Royal Albert Hall. He was President of the National Playing Fields Association (now known as Fields in Trust) for 64 years, from 1947 until his grandson Prince William took over the role in 2013.

He served as UK President of the World Wildlife Fund from 1961 to 1982, International President from 1981, and President Emeritus from 1996. In 1952, he became patron of The Industrial Society (since renamed The Work Foundation). He was President of the International Equestrian Federation from 1964 to 1986, and has served as Chancellor of the Universities of Cambridge, Edinburgh, Salford, and Wales.

In 2017, the British Heart Foundation thanked Prince Philip for being its patron for 55 years, during which time, in addition to organising fundraisers, he “supported the creation of nine BHF-funded centres of excellence”. He is an Honorary Fellow of St Edmund’s College, Cambridge.

Prince Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, meeting Royal Marines in his final solo public engagement, aged 96. Since 1952 he had completed 22,219 solo engagements. Prime Minister Theresa May thanked him for “a remarkable lifetime of service”. On November 20, 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with the Queen, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.

The Duke of Edinburgh is the longest-lived descendant of both Queen Victoria and King Christian IX of Denmark, he is the longest serving British royal consort and his marriage to HM The Queen is the longest in British royal history.

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On this date in History: April 29, 2011. The wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton.

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Archbishop of Canterbury, Dean of Westminster, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Cambridge, Kate Middleton, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince William and Catherine Middleton, Princess Diana, Queen Elizabeth II, royal wedding, The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the prince of Wales, Westminster Abbey

The Kiss

The wedding of Prince William of Wales and Catherine Middleton took place on April 29, 2011 at Westminster Abbey in London, United Kingdom. The groom, Prince William of Wales (now the Duke of Cambridge) is second in the line of succession to the British throne. The bride, Catherine Middleton, had been his girlfriend since 2003.

HRH The Duke of Cambridge

Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, KG, KT, PC, ADC. (Born June 21, 1982) He is the eldest son of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales. Since birth, he has been second in the line to succeed his grandmother Elizabeth II, who is the Queen of the United Kingdom and 15 other Commonwealth realms.

On the morning of his wedding Her Majesty the Queen bestowed upon Prince William of Wales the hereditary titles of Duke of Cambridge, Earl of Strathearn, and Baron Carrickfergus. These titles were formally patented on May 26 that year.

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge.

Catherine Elizabeth Middleton was born at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading on January 9, 1982 into an upper-middle-class family. She is the eldest of three children born to Michael Middleton (b. 1949),and his wife, Carole (née Goldsmith; b. 1955), Catherine was baptised at St Andrew’s Bradfield, Berkshire, on June 20, 1982.

On November 16, 2010, Clarence House stated that Prince William of Wales was to marry Catherine Middleton “in the Spring or Summer of 2011, in London.” They were engaged in October 2010, while on a private holiday in Kenya; Prince William gave Middleton the same engagement ring that his father had given to William’s mother, Diana, Princess of Wales an 18-karat white gold ring with a 12-carat oval Ceylon (Sri Lankan) sapphire and 14 round diamonds.

Engagement Ring

The Dean of Westminster, John Hall, presided at the service; the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, conducted the marriage; Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London, preached the sermon; and a reading was given by the bride’s brother, James. William’s best man was his brother, Prince Harry, (now the Duke of Sussex) while the bride’s sister, Pippa, was maid of honor.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The ceremony was attended by the bride’s and groom’s families, as well as members of foreign royal dynasties, diplomats, and the couple’s chosen personal guests. After the ceremony, the couple made the traditional appearance on the balcony of Buckingham Palace. As Prince William was not the heir apparent to the throne, the wedding was not a full state occasion and many details were left to the couple to decide, such as much of the guest list of about 1,900.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The build-up to the wedding and the occasion itself attracted much media attention, being compared in many ways with the 1981 marriage of William’s parents. The occasion was a public holiday in the United Kingdom and featured many ceremonial aspects, including use of the state carriages and roles for the Foot Guards and Household Cavalry.

Events were held around the Commonwealth to mark the wedding; organisations and hotels held events across Canada, over 5,000 street parties were held throughout the United Kingdom, and one million people lined the route between Westminster Abbey and Buckingham Palace. The ceremony was viewed live by tens of millions more around the world, including 72 million live streams on YouTube. In the United Kingdom, television audiences peaked at 26.3 million viewers, with a total of 36.7 million watching part of the coverage.

In accordance with the settled general rule that a wife takes the status of her husband Catherine is a Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Strathearn, and Baroness Carrickfergus.

On this date in History: April 21, 1509, 1894, 1926.

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Henry VII of England, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Lord of Ireland, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

The birth of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. April 21, 1926.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born April 21, 1926) is Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the other Commonwealth realms.

Her Majesty The Queen of The Untited Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and she was educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947, she married Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, with whom she has four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex.

On this date in History: April 21, 1509. Death of King Henry VII of England, Lord of Ireland.

Henry VII (January 28, 1457 – April 21, 1509) was the King of England and Lord of Ireland from his seizure of the crown on August 22, 1485 to his death on April 21, 1509. He was the first monarch of the House of Tudor.

Henry VII died at Richmond Palace on April 21, 1509 of tuberculosis at the age of 52 and was buried at Westminster Abbey, next to his wife, Elizabeth of York, in the chapel he commissioned. He was succeeded by his second son, Henry VIII (reign 1509–47). His mother, Lady Margaret Beaufort, Countess of Richmond, survived him, dying two months later on June 29, 1509.

On this day 125 years ago (April 21, 1894) this famous picture of Queen Victoria and many royals was taken at Edinburgh Palais in Coburg during the wedding festivities of the Queen’s grandchildren Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Birth of Princes Beatrice of the United Kingdom: April 14, 1857

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Duke of Edinburgh, House of Battenberg, King Edward VII of Great Britain, Prince Henry of Battenberg, Princess Beatrice, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom of Great Britain

On this date in History: April 14th 1857 the birth of Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom, (April 14, 1857 – October 26, 1944) the fifth daughter and youngest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Prince Albert with Princess Beatrice.

The birth caused controversy when it was announced that Queen Victoria would seek relief from the pains of delivery through the use of chloroform administered by Dr John Snow. Chloroform was considered dangerous to mother and child and was frowned upon by the Church of England and the medical authorities. Queen Victoria was undeterred and used “that blessed chloroform” for her last pregnancy. A fortnight later, Queen Victoria reported in her journal, “I was amply rewarded and forgot all I had gone through when I heard dearest Albert say ‘It’s a fine child, and a girl!” Albert and Queen Victoria chose the names Beatrice Mary Victoria Feodore: Mary after Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, the last surviving child of King George III of the United Kingdom; Victoria after the Queen; and Feodore after Feodora, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the Queen’s older half-sister. She was baptised in the private chapel at Buckingham Palace on June 16, 1857. Her godparents were the Duchess of Kent (maternal grandmother); the Princess Royal (eldest sister); and the Prince Friedrich of Prussia (her future brother-in-law).

Queen Victoria with Princess Beatrice

Beatrice’s childhood coincided with Queen Victoria’s grief following the death of her husband Albert, the Prince Consort on December 14, 1861. As her elder sisters married and left their mother, Queen Victoria came to rely on the company of her youngest daughter, whom she called “Baby” for most of her childhood. Beatrice was brought up to stay with her mother always and she soon resigned herself to her fate. Queen Victoria was so set against her youngest daughter marrying that she refused to discuss the possibility.

Queen Victoria came to rely upon her youngest daughter, who had declared from an early age: “I don’t like weddings at all. I shall never be married. I shall stay with my mother.” As her mother’s secretary, she performed duties such as writing on the Queen’s behalf and helping with political correspondents. These mundane duties mirrored those that had been performed in succession by her sisters, Alice, Helena and Louise.

Princess Beatrice as a teenager

Although the Queen was set against Beatrice marrying anyone in the expectation that she would always stay at home with her, a number of possible suitors were put forward before Beatrice’s marriage to Prince Henry of Battenberg. One of these was Louis-Napoléon, the French Prince Imperial, son and heir of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III of France and his wife, Empress Eugénie. After Prussia defeated France in the Franco-Prussian War, Napoleon was deposed and moved his family to England in 1870. After the Emperor’s death in 1873, Queen Victoria and Empress Eugénie formed a close attachment, and the newspapers reported the imminent engagement of Beatrice to the Prince Imperial. These rumours ended with the death of the Prince Imperial in the Anglo-Zulu War on June 1, 1879. Queen Victoria’s journal records their grief: “Dear Beatrice, crying very much as I did too, gave me the telegram … It was dawning and little sleep did I get … Beatrice is so distressed; everyone quite stunned.”

After the death of the Prince Imperial, the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VII) suggested that Beatrice marry their sister Alice’s widower, Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. Alice had died in 1878, and the Prince argued that Beatrice could act as replacement mother for Ludwig’s young children and spend most of her time in England looking after her mother. He further suggested the Queen could oversee the upbringing of her Hessian grandchildren with greater ease. However, at the time, it was forbidden by law for Beatrice to marry her sister’s widower. This was countered by the Prince of Wales, who vehemently supported passage by the Houses of Parliament of the Deceased Wife’s Sister Bill, which would have removed the obstacle. Despite popular support for this measure and although it passed in the House of Commons, it was rejected by the House of Lords because of opposition from the Lords Spiritual. Although the Queen was disappointed that the bill had failed, she was happy to keep her daughter at her side.

Princess Beatrice in her twenties.

Other candidates, including two of Prince Henry’s brothers, Prince Alexander (“Sandro”) and Prince Louis of Battenberg, were put forward to be Beatrice’s husband, but they did not succeed. Although Alexander never formally pursued Beatrice, merely claiming that he “might even at one time have become engaged to the friend of my childhood, Beatrice of England”, Louis was more interested. Queen Victoria invited him to dinner but sat between him and Beatrice, who had been told by the Queen to ignore Louis to discourage his suit. Louis, not realising for several years the reasons for this silence, married Beatrice’s niece, Princess Viktoria of Hesse and by Rhine (daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse – Paternal grandmother of the Duke of Edinburgh). Although her marriage hopes had been dealt another blow, while attending Louis’s wedding to Princess Victoria at Darmstadt, Beatrice fell in love with Prince Henry, Louis’ younger brother, who returned her affections.

Prince Henry of Battenberg.

When Beatrice, after returning from Darmstadt, told her mother she planned to marry, the Queen reacted with frightening silence. Although they remained side by side, the Queen did not talk to her for seven months, instead communicating by note. Queen Victoria’s behaviour, unexpected even by her family, seemed prompted by the threatened loss of her daughter. The Queen regarded Beatrice as her “Baby” – her innocent child – and viewed the physical sex that would come with marriage as an end to innocence.

Subtle persuasions by the Princess of Wales and the Crown Princess of Prussia, who reminded her mother of the happiness that Beatrice had brought the Prince Consort, induced the Queen to resume talking to Beatrice. Queen Victoria consented to the marriage on condition that Henry give up his German commitments and live permanently with Beatrice and the Queen.

Wedding of Prince Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom.

Beatrice and Henry were married at Saint Mildred’s Church at Whippingham, near Osborne, on July 23, 1885. Beatrice, who wore her mother’s wedding veil of Honiton lace, was escorted by the Queen and Beatrice’s eldest brother, the Prince of Wale. Princess Beatrice was attended by ten royal bridesmaids from among her nieces: Princesses Louise (18), Victoria and Maud of Wales; Princesses Irene and Alix of Hesse and by Rhine; Princesses Marie, Victoria Melita and Alexandra of Edinburgh; and Princesses Helena Victoria and Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. The bridegroom’s supporters were his brothers, Prince Alexander of Bulgaria and Prince Franz Joseph of Battenberg.

The addition of Prince Henry to the family gave new reasons for Beatrice and the Queen to look forward, and the court was brighter than it had been since the Prince Consort’s death. Even so, Henry, supported by Beatrice, was determined to take part in military campaigns, and this annoyed the Queen, who opposed his participation in life-threatening warfare. Conflicts also arose when Henry attended the Ajaccio carnival and kept “low company”, and Beatrice sent a Royal Navy officer to remove him from temptation. On one occasion, Henry slipped away to Corsica with his brother Louis;the Queen sent a warship to bring him back. Henry was feeling oppressed by the Queen’s constant need for his and his wife’s company.

Despite suffering a miscarriage in the early months of her marriage, Beatrice gave birth to four children: Alexander, called “Drino”, was born in 1886; Ena in 1887; Leopold in 1889 and Maurice in 1891. Following this, she took a polite and encouraging interest in social issues, such as conditions in the coal mines. However, this interest did not extend to changing the conditions of poverty, as it had done with her brother, the Prince of Wales.

Henry, increasingly bored by the lack of activity at court, longed for employment, and in response, the Queen made him Governor of the Isle of Wight in 1889. However, he yearned for military adventure and pleaded with his mother-in-law to let him join the Ashanti expedition fighting in the Anglo-Asante war. Despite misgivings, the Queen consented, and Henry and Beatrice parted on December 6, 1895; they would not meet again. Henry contracted malaria and was sent home. On January 22, 1896, Beatrice, who was waiting for her husband at Madeira, received a telegram informing her of Henry’s death two days earlier.

Princess Beatrice in old age.

Beatrice remained at her mother’s side until Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901. Beatrice devoted the next 30 years to editing Queen Victoria’s journals as her designated literary executor and continued to make public appearances. She died at 87, outliving all her siblings, two of her children, and several nieces and nephews including George V and Wilhelm II. In the case of Wilhelm II Beatrice was only 1 year, 9 months, 13 days older than her nephew.

She died at Brantridge Park, the home of her niece, Princess Alice of Albany and her husband, the Earl of Athlone, at the time serving as Governor General of Canada. Osborne House, her mother’s favourite home, is accessible to the public. Her Osborne residences, Osborne and Albert Cottages, remain in private ownership after their sale in 1912. At her death, Beatrice was the only surviving child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. The future Elizabeth II, Beatrice’s great-grandniece, was eighteen years of age at that time.

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Consorts, Happy Birthday, Kingdom of Greece, Prince Philip, Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, The Duke of Edinburgh, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Happy Birthday HRH The Duke of Edinburgh

Exerts from Wikipedia

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, 10 June 1921) is the husband and consort of Queen Elizabeth II.

Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark was born in Mon Repos on the Greek island of Corfu on 10 June 1921, the only son and fifth and final child of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg. Philip’s four elder sisters were Margarita, Theodora, Cecilie, and Sophie. He was baptised into the Greek Orthodox Church. His godparents were Queen Olga of Greece (his paternal grandmother) and Alexandros S. Kokotos (the Mayor of Corfu).

A member of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, Philip was born into the Greek and Danish royal families. He was born in Greece, but his family was exiled from the country when he was an infant. After being educated in France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, he joined the British Royal Navy in 1939, aged 18. From July 1939, he began corresponding with the 13-year-old Princess Elizabeth, whom he had first met in 1934. During the Second World War he served with the Mediterranean and Pacific fleets.

After the war, Philip was granted permission by King George VI to marry Elizabeth. Before the official announcement of their engagement in July 1947, he abandoned his Greek and Danish royal titles and became a naturalised British subject, adopting the surname Mountbatten from his maternal grandparents. He married Elizabeth on 20 November 1947. Just before the wedding, he was created Baron Greenwich, Earl of Merionethand Duke of Edinburgh. Philip left active military service when Elizabeth became monarch in 1952, having reached the rank of commander, and was formally made a British prince in 1957.

Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth have four children: Prince Charles, Princess Anne, Prince Andrew, and Prince Edward. He has eight grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Through a British Order in Council issued in 1960, descendants of Philip and Elizabeth not bearing royal styles and titles can use the surname Mountbatten-Windsor, which has also been used by some members of the royal family who do hold titles, such as Prince Andrew, Princess Anne and Prince Edward.

A keen sports enthusiast, Philip helped develop the equestrian event of carriage driving. He is a patron, president or member of over 780 organisations and serves as chairman of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award for people aged 14 to 24. He is the longest-serving consort of a reigning British monarch and the oldest-ever male member of the British royal family. Philip retired from his royal duties on 2 August 2017, at the age of 96, after having completed 22,219 solo engagements since 1952.

St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

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Dean of Windsor, Edward III of England, Henry VII of England, King Henry VIII of England, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Knights of the Garter, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, royal wedding, St. George's Chapel, Windsor Castle

A short look at St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle where the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex was held.

St. George’s castle chapel was established in the 14th century by King Edward III of England, Lord of Ireland and began extensive enlargement in the late 15th century. It has been the location of many royal ceremonies, weddings and burials. Windsor Castle is a principal residence for Queen Elizabeth II and St. George’s Chapel is the planned burial site for the Queen.

The day-to-day running of the Chapel is the responsibility Dean and Canons of Windsor who make up the religious College of St George, which is directed by a Chapter of the Dean and four Canons, assisted by a Clerk, Virger (traditional spelling of verger) and other staff. The Society of the Friends of St George’s and Descendants of the Knights of the Garter, a registered charity, was established in 1931 to assist the College in maintaining the Chapel.

St George’s Chapel became the Mother Church of the Order of the Garter, and a special service is still held in the chapel every June and is attended by the members of the order. Their heraldic banners hang above the upper stalls of the choir where they have a seat for life.

The period 1475–1528 saw a radical redevelopment of St George’s Chapel under the designs of King Henry VII’s most prized counsellor Sir Reginald Bray (later Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster), set in motion by Edward IV and continued by Henry VII and Henry VIII. The thirteenth-century Chapel of St Edward the Confessor was expanded into a huge new Cathedral-like chapel under the supervision of Richard Beauchamp, Bishop of Salisbury, and the direction of the master mason Henry Janyns.

St George’s Chapel was a popular destination for pilgrims during the late medieval period. The chapel was purported to contain several important relics: the bodies of John Schorne and Henry VI of England and a fragment of the True Cross held in a reliquary called the Cross of Gneth. These relics all appear to have been displayed at the east end of the south choir aisle.

The Chapel suffered a great deal of destruction during the English Civil War. Parliamentary forces broke into and plundered the chapel and treasury on October 23, 1642. Further pillaging occurred in 1643 when the fifteenth-century chapter house was destroyed, lead was stripped off the chapel roofs, and elements of Henry VIII’s unfinished funeral monument were stolen. Following his execution in 1649, Charles I was buried in a small vault in the centre of the choir at St George’s Chapel which also contained the coffins of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour. A programme of repair was undertaken at St George’s Chapel following the Restoration of the monarchy under Charles II.

The reign of Queen Victoria saw further changes made to the architecture of the chapel. The east end of the choir was reworked in devotion to Prince Albert; the Lady Chapel, which had been abandoned by Henry VII, was finally completed; a royal mausoleum was completed underneath the Lady Chapel; and a set of steps were built at the west end of the chapel to create a ceremonial entrance to the building. In the 21st century, St George’s accommodates approximately 800 persons for services and events.

The chapel has been the site of many royal weddings, particularly of the children of Queen Victoria. These weddings include:

* The Prince Albert Edward, Prince of Wales and Princess Alexandra of Denmark in 1863 (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra respectively)

* The Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg in 1866

* The Princess Louise and the Marquess of Lorne (later Duke of Argyll) in 1871

* The Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and Princess Louise Margaret of Prussia in 1879

* Princess Frederica of Hanover and Luitbert von Pawel Rammingen in 1880

* The Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont in 1882

* Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein (daughter of Princess Christian) and Prince Aribert of Anhalt in 1891

* Princess Alice (daughter of the Duke of Albany) and Prince Alexander of Teck (later Earl of Athlone) in 1904

* Princess Margaret of Connaught (daughter of the Duke of Connaught) and Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden (later King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden) in 1905

* Lady Helena Cambridge (daughter of the Marquess of Cambridge, and niece of Queen Mary) and Major John Gibbs, Coldstream Guards in 1919 (non-royal)

* Anne Abel Smith (granddaughter of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone) and David Liddell-Grainger in 1957 (non-royal)

* Lady Helen Windsor (daughter of The Duke of Kent) and Timothy Taylor in 1992 (non-royal)

* The wedding of The Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and Sophie Rhys-Jones in 1999

* The union of The Prince Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla Parker Bowles in 2005 received a blessing from The Archbishop of Canterbury

* Peter Phillips and Autumn Kelly in 2008

* Prince Harry and Meghan Markle on 19 May 2018

* The forthcoming wedding of Princess Eugenie and Jack Brooksbank on 12 October 2018

Official Wedding Pictures of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex

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Duchess of Sussex, Duke of Sussex, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Queen Elizabeth II, royal wedding, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex, the prince of Wales, The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Statement from The Royal Family ‘ Facebook page.

Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have released three official photographs from their Wedding day.

The images were taken by photographer Alexi Lubomirski in The Green Drawing Room of Windsor Castle, following the carriage procession.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex would like to thank everyone who took part in the celebrations of their wedding on Saturday. They feel so lucky to have been able to share their day with all those gathered in Windsor and also all those who watched the wedding on television across the UK, Commonwealth, and around the world.

Their Royal Highnesses are delighted with these official portraits taken by Alexi Lubomirski and are happy to be able to share them today. They would also like to say thank you for all of the generous messages of support they have received.

The Royal Wedding

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Actress, American, Edward III of England, Kings and Queens of England, Kings and Queens of Ireland, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Meghan Markle, Prince Harry, Prince Henry of Wales, Queen Elizabeth II, Robert II of Scotland, Royal Family, royal wedding, the prince of Wales

The Royal Wedding between HRH Prince Henry of Wales and Ms Meghan Markle will be this Saturday May 19, 2018 at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle. This will be a first in the British Royal Family. She will be the first American to marry into the British Royal Family. She is also divorced but she isn’t the first member of the Royal Family to marry someone that has been divorced. Meghan will also be the first member of the Royal Family who will be of mixed race. Meghan is half white and half African American. However, she is not the first member of the British Royal Family of African ancestry. A little more on that later. Personally I am very happy that she will be accepted into the the Royal Family for the days of racism are over.

Here is some background information on Meghan Markle.

Rachel Meghan Markle was born August 4 1981 (ironically the same birthdate as Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon [4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002]) in Los Angeles, California. Her mother, Doria Loyce Ragland, a social worker and yoga instructor, lives in View Park–Windsor Hills, California. Her father, Thomas Markle Sr., who lives in Rosarito, Mexico, is a Daytime Emmy Award-winning retired lighting director, whose profession resulted in his young daughter often visiting the set of Married…with Children. Markle’s parents divorced when she was six years old. She has two older paternal half-siblings, Thomas Markle Jr. and Samantha Grant.

Describing her ancestry, Markle said: “My dad is Caucasian and my mom is African American. I’m half black and half white. … I have come to embrace [this and] say who I am, to share where I’m from, to voice my pride in being a strong, confident, mixed-race woman.” Her mother is descended from Africans enslaved in Georgia, and her father from Dutch, English, and Irish settlers.

It also appears that Meghan and Prince Harry have common ancestry. Among her father’s ancestors are Captain Christopher Hussey, King Robert I of Scotland, Sir Philip Wentworth and his wife, Mary Clifford, a descendant of King Edward III of England.

After graduating from Northwestern University with a degree in theatre and international studies in 2003, she played small roles in several American television series. From 2011 to 2018, she portrayed Rachel Zane on the legal drama series Suits. Markle’s film credits include Remember Me and Horrible Bosses.


Markle began a relationship with actor and producer Trevor Engelson in 2004. They married in Ocho Rios, Jamaica, on September 10, 2011, and divorced in August 2013.

Beginning in June 2016, Markle has been in a relationship with Prince Harry, met on a blind date that a mutual friend set up. The press began to report the relationship in October 2016. On November 8, 2016, the British royal family’s communications secretary released an official statement that addressed a “wave of abuse and harassment” directed toward Markle. The statement described sexism, racism and defamatory stories directed at her, including an unspecified “smear on the front page of a national newspaper”. During a September 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, Markle spoke in public for the first time about her love for Prince Harry.

Later that month, they made their first public appearances together at an official royal engagement at the Invictus Games in Toronto. 
Markle’s engagement to Prince Harry was announced on November 27, 2017. By then, she had met Queen Elizabeth II, Harry’s paternal grandmother, several times. The ring Harry gave Markle consists of a large central diamond from Botswana, with two smaller diamonds from the jewellery collection of his mother, Diana, Princess of Wales. Following the engagement, Markle announced she would retire from acting.

As I said earlier, Meghan may be the first member of the Royal Family of direct mixed race, she is not the first member of the Royal Family to have African ancestry, that distinction goes to Her Serene Highness Princess (Sophia) Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, wife of King George III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King of Hanover.

HSH Princess Sophia Charlotte was born on May 19, 1744. (May 19 is also the date of the wedding) She was the youngest daughter of Duke Karl-Ludwig-Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708–1752; known as “Prince of Mirow”) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth-Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761). Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a small north-German duchy in the Holy Roman Empire.


According to Mario de Valdes y Cocom, Charlotte may have had African ancestry, via descent from Margarita de Castro e Souza, a 15th-century Portuguese noblewoman, who traced her ancestry to King Afonso III of Portugal (1210–1279) and one of his mistresses, Madragana (c. 1230–?).

In a 2009 episode of the PBS TV series, Frontline, Valdes speculated that Scottish painter Allan Ramsay emphasized the Queen’s alleged “mulatto” appearance in his portrait of her to support the anti-slave trade movement, and noted that Baron Stockmar had described the Queen as having a “mulatto face” in his autobiography and that other contemporary sources made similar observations.

Critics of Valdes’s theory point out that Margarita’s and Madragana’s distant perch in the queen’s family tree – nine and 15 generations removed, respectively – makes any African ancestry that they bequeathed to Charlotte negligible and even doubt whether Madragana was black. In addition, Charlotte shared descent from Alfonso and Madragana with a large proportion of Europe’s royalty and nobility.

The House of Windsor has never denied Queen Charlotte’s claimed African ancestry. David Buck, a Buckingham Palace spokesperson, was quoted by the Boston Globe as saying “This has been rumoured for years and years. It is a matter of history.

incidently, Prince Harry is descended twice from Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, via her two sons, Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge. She is his 6x Great-Grandmother from the former Duke of Kent and a 5x Great-Grandmother from his descent from the former Duke of Cambridge.

Tomorrow, or maybe a day or two later, I will discuss the possible future title for Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.






It’s A Prince!

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Elizabeth II, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince George of Cambridge, Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Queen Elizabeth II, Succession Crown Bill, The Duchess of Cambridge, The Duke of Cambridge, The Princess of Wales

It’s a Prince! HRH The Duchess of Cambridge has safely delivered a boy! Congratulations!

The new Prince is 5th in line to the throne. Because of the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 this new Prince will not supplant Princess Charlotte in the line of succession. This is the first occasion in the history of the British monarchy that a new Prince did not replace his sister in the order of succession.

Here is a short list of those in the line of succession as it is today.

Her Majesty, the Queen.

1. HRH The Prince of Wales
2. HRH The Duke of Cambridge
3. HRH Prince George of Cambridge
4. HRH Princess Charlotte of Cambridge
5. HRH Baby Boy of Cambridge
6. HRH Prince Henry of Wales
7. HRH The Duke of York
8. HRH Princess Beatrice of York
9. HRH Princess Eugenie of York
10. HRH The Earl of Wessex

Any guess to what the name might be? Write in the comments section.

Happy Birthday Your Majesty!

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Duke of Edinburgh, Kings and Queens of England, kings and queens of Scotland, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth II, the prince of Wales, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Today is the 92nd birthday of Her Majesty, The Queen.

Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; born 21 April 1926) Queen of the United Kingdom and the other Commonwealth realms.

Elizabeth was born in London as the first child of the Duke and Duchess of York, later King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, and she was educated privately at home. Her father acceded to the throne on the abdication of his brother King Edward VIII in 1936, from which time she was the heir presumptive. She began to undertake public duties during the Second World War, serving in the Auxiliary Territorial Service. In 1947, she married Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, a former prince of Greece and Denmark, with whom she has four children: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Andrew, Duke of York; and Edward, Earl of Wessex.

Happy 92nd Birthday Your Majesty, long may you reign!

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