February 13, 1542 – Catherine Howard, the fifth wife of Henry VIII of England, is executed for adultery. Part I.

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2nd Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn, Anne of Cleves, Catherine Howard, Executed, Joyce Culpeper, King Henry VIII of England and Ireland, Lord Edmund Howard, royal wedding, Thomas Cromwell, Thomas Howard

Catherine Howard (c. 1524 – February 13, 1542) was Queen of England from 1540 until 1542 as the fifth wife of Henry VIII.

Catherine had an aristocratic ancestry as a granddaughter of Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443 – 1524), but her father, Lord Edmund Howard, was not wealthy, being the third son of his father – under the rules of primogeniture, the eldest son inherited all of the father’s estate.

Catherine Howard

Catherine’s mother, Joyce Culpeper, already had five children from her first husband, Ralph Leigh (c. 1476 – 1509) when she married Lord Edmund Howard, and they had another six together, Catherine being about her mother’s tenth child. With little to sustain the family, her father often had to beg for the help of his more affluent relatives.

Her father’s sister, Elizabeth Howard, was the mother of Anne Boleyn. Therefore, Catherine Howard was the first cousin of Anne Boleyn, and the first cousin once removed of Lady Elizabeth (later Queen Elizabeth I), Anne’s daughter by Henry VIII.

She also was the second cousin of Jane Seymour, as her grandmother Elizabeth Tilney was the sister of Seymour’s grandmother, Anne Say.

Catherine’s uncle, the Duke of Norfolk, found her a place at Court in the household of the King’s fourth wife, Anne of Cleves.

As a young and attractive lady-in-waiting, Catherine quickly caught Henry VIII’s eye. The King had displayed little interest in Anne from the beginning, but Thomas Cromwell failed to find a new match, and Norfolk saw an opportunity.

The Howards may have sought to recreate the influence gained during Anne Boleyn’s reign as queen consort. According to Nicholas Sander, the religiously conservative Howard family may have seen Catherine as a figurehead for their fight by expressed determination to restore Roman Catholicism to England. Catholic Bishop Stephen Gardiner entertained the couple at Winchester Palace with “feastings”.

King Henry VIII of England and Ireland

As the King’s interest in Catherine grew, so did the House of Norfolk’s influence. Her youth, prettiness and vivacity were captivating for the middle-aged sovereign, who claimed he had never known “the like to any woman”. Within months of her arrival at court, Henry bestowed gifts of land and expensive cloth upon Catherine.

King Henry VIII called her his ‘very jewel of womanhood’ (that he called her his ‘rose without a thorn’ is likely a myth). The French ambassador, Charles de Marillac, thought her “delightful”. Holbein’s portrait showed a young auburn-haired girl with a characteristically hooked Howard nose; Catherine was said to have a “gentle, earnest face.”

Marriage

King Henry VIII and Catherine Howard were married by Bishop Bonner of London at Oatlands Palace on July 28, 1540, the same day Thomas Cromwell was executed. Cromwell was an English lawyer and statesman who served as chief minister to King Henry VIII from 1534 to 1540

Thomas Cromwell fell from power, after arranging the king’s marriage to German Princess Anne of Cleves. Cromwell had hoped that the marriage would breathe fresh life into the Reformation in England, but Henry found his new bride unattractive and the marriage was a disaster for Cromwell, ending in an annulment six months later.

Cromwell was arraigned under a bill of attainder and executed for treason and heresy on Tower Hill on July 28, 1540. The king later expressed regret at the loss of his chief minister, and his reign never recovered from the incident.

Thomas Cromwell

The new Queen Catherine was a teenager, since her exact date of birth is unknown she was approximately 16 and the King was 49. Catherine adopted the French motto “Non autre volonté que la sienne”, meaning “No other will but his”.

The marriage was made public on August 8, and prayers were said in the Chapel Royal at Hampton Court Palace. Henry “indulged her every whim” thanks to her “caprice”.

Catherine was young, joyous and carefree. She was too young to take part in administrative matters of State. Nevertheless, every night Sir Thomas Heneage, Groom of the Stool, came to her chamber to report on the King’s well-being.

No plans were made for a coronation, yet she still travelled downriver in the royal barge into the City of London to a gun salute and some acclamation. She was settled by jointure at Baynard Castle.

Little changed at court, other than the arrival of many Howards. Every day she dressed with new clothes in the French fashion bedecked with precious jewels, decorated in gold around her sleeves.

March 31, 1751: Death of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales. Conclusion

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Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Frederick-Louis, Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia, King George II of Great Britain, Prince of Wales, royal wedding, Wilhelmine of Prussia

Domestic life

Negotiations between George II and his brother-in-law Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia on a proposed marriage between the Prince of Wales and Friedrich Wilhelm I’s daughter Wilhelmine were welcomed by Frederick Louis even though the couple had never met.

The full plan was originally, Frederick Louis was intended to marry Princess Wilhelmine, the eldest daughter of the King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia. A marriage alliance between Great Britain and Prussia had been an ambition for many years.

However, when George II suggested that his eldest son would marry the eldest daughter of the King of Prussia, while his second daughter, Princess Amelia, instead would marry the eldest son of the Prussian king, Crown Prince Friedrich, the King of Prussia demanded that his eldest son should likewise marry the eldest daughter, Anne, Princess Royal, of the King of Great Britain.

George II was not keen on these proposals but continued talks for diplomatic reasons. Frustrated by the delay, Frederick Louis sent an envoy of his own to the Prussian court. When the King discovered the plan, he immediately arranged for Frederick Louis to leave Hanover for England. The marriage negotiations foundered when Friedrich Wilhelm demanded that Frederick Louis be made Regent in Hanover.

Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia forced his son, Crown Prince Friedrich (later known as King Friedrich II the Great) to marry Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Bevern

On March 25, 1734 in the Chapel Royal at St. James’s Palace, Princess Anne the Princess Royal married Willem IV, Prince of Orange. She then ceased to use her British title in favour of the new one she gained by marriage.

Frederick Louis also almost married Lady Diana Spencer, daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Lady Anne Churchill. Lady Diana was the favourite grandchild of the powerful Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. The duchess sought a royal alliance by marrying Lady Diana to the Prince of Wales with a massive dowry of £100,000. The prince, who was in great debt, agreed to the proposal, but the plan was vetoed by Robert Walpole and the king. Lady Diana soon married John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.

Although in his youth he was undoubtedly a spendthrift and womaniser, Frederick Louis settled down following his marriage to the sixteen-year-old Augusta of Saxe-Gotha on April 17, 1736.

Princess Augusta was born in Gotha to Frederick II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679–1740). Her paternal grandfather was Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, eldest surviving son of Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

The wedding was held at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace, presided over by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London and Dean of the Chapel Royal. Handel provided the new anthem ‘Sing unto God’ for the service and the wedding was also marked in London by two rival operas, Handel’s Atalanta and Porpora’s La festa d’Imeneo.

In June 1737, Frederick Louis informed his parents that Augusta was pregnant, and due to give birth in October. In fact, Augusta’s due date was earlier and a peculiar episode followed in July in which the Prince, on discovering that his wife had gone into labour, sneaked her out of Hampton Court Palace in the middle of the night, to ensure that the King and Queen could not be present at the birth.

George and Caroline were horrified. Traditionally, royal births were witnessed by members of the family and senior courtiers to guard against supposititious children, and Augusta had been forced by her husband to ride in a rattling carriage while heavily pregnant and in pain.

With a party including two of her daughters and Lord Hervey, the Queen raced over to St James’s Palace, where Frederick had taken Augusta. Caroline was relieved to discover that Augusta had given birth to a “poor, ugly little she-mouse” rather than a “large, fat, healthy boy” which made a supposititious child unlikely since the baby was so pitiful. The circumstances of the birth deepened the estrangement between mother and son.

Frederick Louis’ hier, the future King George III was born on June 4, 1738 in London at Norfolk House in St James’s Square. As he was born two months prematurely and thought unlikely to survive, he was baptised the same day by Thomas Secker, who was both Rector of St James’s and Bishop of Oxford.

Frederick Louis and Augusta eventually had 9 children in total, 4 daughters and 5 sons.

Frederick was banished from the King’s court, and a rival court grew up at Frederick Louis’s new residence, Leicester House. His mother fell fatally ill at the end of the year, but the King refused Frederick Louis permission to see her

His political ambitions unfulfilled, Frederick Louis died at Leicester House at the age of 44 on March 31, 1751

In the past this has been attributed to a burst lung abscess caused by a blow from a cricket or a real tennis ball, but it is now thought to have been from a pulmonary embolism. He was buried at Westminster Abbey on 13 April 1751. He is the most recent Prince of Wales not to have acceded to the British throne.

The Prince of Wales’s epigram (quoted by William Makepeace Thackeray, “Four Georges”):

“Here lies poor Fred who was alive and is dead,
Had it been his father I had much rather,
Had it been his sister nobody would have missed her,
Had it been his brother, still better than another,
Had it been the whole generation, so much better for the nation,
But since it is Fred who was alive and is dead,
There is no more to be said!”

October 6, 1903: Marriage of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark to Princess Alice of Battenberg

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Alice of Battenberg, Alice of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Andrew of the Hellenes, coronation, Duke of Edinburgh, Edward VII of the United Kingdom, George I of the Hellenes, Philip of Greece and Denmark, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom Christian IX of Denmark, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, royal wedding

Princess Alice of Battenberg ( February 25, 1885 – December 5, 1969) was born in the Tapestry Room at Windsor Castle in Berkshire in the presence of her great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of the UnitedKingdom. She was the eldest child of Prince Louis of Battenberg and his wife, Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine. Her mother was the eldest daughter of Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria’s second daughter.

Her father, Prince Louis of Battenberg was the eldest son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine through his morganatic marriage to Countess Julia Hauke, who was created Princess of Battenberg in 1858 by Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her three younger siblings, Louise, George, and Louis, later became Queen of Sweden, Marquess of Milford Haven, and Earl Mountbatten of Burma, respectively.

Alice’s mother noticed that she was slow in learning to talk, and became concerned by her indistinct pronunciation. Eventually, she was diagnosed with congenital deafness after her grandmother, Princess Julia of Battenberg, identified the problem and took her to see an ear specialist.

With encouragement from her mother, Alice learned to both lip-read and speak in English and German. Educated privately, she studied French, and later, after her engagement, she learned Greek. Her early years were spent in the company of her royal relatives, and she was a bridesmaid at the wedding of the Duke of York (later King George V) and Mary of Teck in 1893. A few weeks before her 16th birthday, she attended the funeral of Queen Victoria in St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, and shortly afterward she was confirmed in the Anglican faith.

Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark (January 21, 1882 – December 3, 1944) was a Prince of the House of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, and the seventh child and fourth son of King George I of the Hellenes and Olga Constantinovna of Russia. He was a grandson of Christian IX of Denmark and father of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the UnitedKingdom. He was a prince of both Denmark and Greece by virtue of his patrilineal descent.

Princess Alice met Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark while both were in London for King Edward VII’s coronation in 1902.

They fell in love, and the following year, on October 6, 1903, Andrew married Alice in a civil wedding at Darmstadt. The following day two religious wedding services were performed: one Lutheran in the Evangelical Castle Church, and another Greek Orthodox service in the Russian Chapel on the Mathildenhöhe.

The bride and groom were closely related to the ruling houses of the United Kingdom, Germany, Russia, Denmark, and Greece, and their wedding was one of the great gatherings of the descendants of Queen Victoria and Christian IX of Denmark held before World War I. Prince and Princess Andrew had five children, all of whom later had children of their own.

Children:

1. Margarita 1905 – 1981, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
2. Theodora 1906 – 1939, Margravine of Baden
3. Cecilie 1911 – 1937, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine
4. Sophie 1914 – 2001, Princess of Hesse-Cassel, Princess of Hanover
5. Philip, 1921 – 2021, Duke of Edinburgh

History of Male British Consorts Part III

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By Right of Wife, Elizabeth I of England and Ireland, jure uxoris, Male Consorts, Philip II of Spain, royal wedding, Spain

Marriage question

From the start of Elizabeth’s reign, it was expected that she would marry and the question arose to whom. Although she received many offers for her hand, she never married and was childless; the reasons for this are not clear.

Historians have speculated that Thomas Seymour had put her off sexual relationships. She considered several suitors until she was about fifty. Her last courtship was with François, Duke of Anjou, 22 years her junior.

While risking possible loss of power like her sister, who played into the hands of King Felipe II of Spain, marriage offered the chance of an heir. However, the choice of a husband might also provoke political instability or even insurrection.

One of the reasons that Elizabeth I of England never may have been due to the legal concept of Jure uxoris (a Latin phrase meaning “by right of (his) wife”). This term describes a title of nobility used by a man because his wife holds the office or title suo jure (“in her own right”).

Similarly, the husband of an heiress could become the legal possessor of her lands. For example, married women in England and Wales were legally incapable of owning real estate until the Married Women’s Property Act 1882.

During the feudal era, the husband’s control over his wife’s real property, including titles, was substantial. On marriage, the husband gained the right to possess his wife’s land during the marriage, including any acquired after the marriage. Whilst he did not gain the formal legal title to the lands, he was able to spend the rents and profits of the land and sell his right, even if the wife protested. The concept of jure uxoris was standard in the Middle Ages even for queens regnant.

By the time of the Renaissance, laws and customs had changed in some countries: a woman sometimes remained monarch, with only part of her power transferred to her husband. This was usually the case when multiple kingdoms were consolidated, such as when Isabella of Castile and Fernando II-V of Aragon shared crowns.

As we noted in the marriage of Mary I and Felipe II created a precedent for a jure uxoris unions. Parliament passed the Act for the Marriage of Queen Mary to Felipe of Spain specifically to prevent Felipe from seizing power on the basis of jure uxoris. The Act established the limits Felipe had as a jure uxoris King of England and Ireland.

As it turned out, the marriage produced no children, and Mary died in 1558, ending Philip’s jure uxoris claims in England and Ireland, as envisaged by the Act, and was followed by the accession of Elizabeth I. She, in turn, resolved concerns over jure uxoris by never marrying.

Throughout her Reign Queen Elizabeth I demonstrated that she intended to maintain control and authority over the government and sharing power was not something high on her agenda. Also, prospects of her marrying for political Alliance was something she used for her advantage during those years when she was still considered of childbearing age.

The Life of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh: Part V

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70th Wedding Anniversary, Death Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, Duke of Edinburgh, Lord High Admiral, Prince Philip, Retirement, royal wedding

Prince Philip became the oldest-ever male British royal in February 2013, and the third-longest-lived member of the British royal family (following Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother) in April 2019. Personally, he was not enthused about living an extremely long life, remarking in a 2000 interview (when he was 79) that he could not “imagine anything worse” and had “no desire whatsoever” to become a centenarian, saying “bits of me are falling off already”.

In 2008, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital, London, for a chest infection; he walked into the hospital unaided, recovered quickly, and was discharged three days later. After the Evening Standard reported that Philip had prostate cancer, Buckingham Palace – which usually refuses to comment on health rumours – denied the story and the paper retracted it.

In June 2011, in an interview marking his 90th birthday, he said that he would now slow down and reduce his duties, stating that he had “done [his] bit”. His wife, the Queen, gave him the title Lord High Admiral for his 90th birthday. While staying at Sandringham House, the royal residence in Norfolk, on December 23, 2011, the Duke suffered chest pains and was taken to the cardio-thoracic unit at Papworth Hospital, Cambridgeshire, where he underwent successful coronary angioplasty and stenting. He was discharged on December 27.

On June 4, 2012, during the celebrations in honour of his wife’s Diamond Jubilee, Philip was taken from Windsor Castle to King Edward VII’s Hospital suffering from a bladder infection. He was released from hospital on June 9. After a recurrence of infection in August 2012, while staying at Balmoral Castle, he was admitted to Aberdeen Royal Infirmary for five nights as a precautionary measure. In June 2013, Philip was admitted to the London Clinic for an exploratory operation on his abdomen, spending 11 days in hospital. On May 21, 2014, the Prince appeared in public with a bandage on his right hand after a “minor procedure” was performed in Buckingham Palace the preceding day. In June 2017, he was taken from Windsor to London and admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital after being diagnosed with an infection. He spent two nights in the hospital and was unable to attend the State Opening of Parliament and Royal Ascot.

Retirement

Prince Philip retired from his royal duties on August 2, 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 0, 2017, he celebrated his 70th wedding anniversary with the Queen, which made her the first British monarch to celebrate a platinum wedding anniversary.

On April 3, 2018, Philip was admitted to King Edward VII’s Hospital for a planned hip replacement, which took place the next day. This came after the Duke missed the annual Maundy and Easter Sunday services. On April 12, his daughter, Princess Anne, spent about 50 minutes in the hospital and afterwards said her father was “on good form”. He was discharged the following day. On May 19, six weeks later, he attended the wedding of his grandson Prince Harry to Meghan Markle and was able to walk with the Queen unaided. That October, he accompanied the Queen to the wedding of their granddaughter Princess Eugenie to Jack Brooksbank, with The Telegraph reporting that Philip works on a “wake up and see how I feel” basis when deciding whether to attend an event or not.

Philip died on the morning of April 9, 2021 at Windsor Castle, aged 99, two months before his 100th birthday. He was the longest-serving royal consort in British history. In private, the Queen described her husband’s death as “having left a huge void in her life”.

The cause of death has not been disclosed, though the palace said Philip died peacefully. Philip’s daughter-in-law, the Countess of Wessex, confirmed the official statement, describing his death as “…so gentle. It was just like somebody took him by the hand and off he went.” His death led to the commencement of Operation Forth Bridge, the plan for publicly announcing his death and organising his funeral. The funeral is scheduled to take place on April 16, 2021 at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle.

The Life of HRH The Duke of Edinburgh: Part III

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Dartmouth, Engagement, House of Mountbatten, King George VI, Philip Mountbatten, Prince Philip, Princess Elizabeth, Queen Elizabeth II, royal wedding

Marriage

The Duke of Edinburgh met his future wife in 1939 when he was 18 and she was 13. In 1939 King George VI and Queen Elizabeth visited the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth. Upon the request of the Queen and Philip’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, they asked him to escort Elizabeth and Margaret, who were Philip’s third cousins through Queen Victoria, and second cousins once removed through King Christian IX of Denmark, while their parents visited the facility.

Elizabeth said she fell in love with Philip, and they began to exchange letters. In 1946 Philip asked the king for permission to marry Elizabeth. This request was granted on the condition that it would not be announced until after the Elizabeth’s 21st birthday in April of the next year. She was 21 when their engagement was officially announced on July 9, 1947.

The engagement was not without controversy; Philip had no financial standing, was foreign-born (though a British subject who had served in the Royal Navy throughout the Second World War), and had sisters who had married German Royalty with Nazi links. Marion Crawford wrote, “Some of the King’s advisors did not think him good enough for her. He was a prince without a home or kingdom.

Some of the papers played long and loud tunes on the string of Philip’s foreign origin.” Later biographies reported Elizabeth’s mother had reservations about the union initially, and teased Philip as “The Hun.” In later life, however, the Queen Mother told biographer Tim Heald that Philip was “an English gentleman.”

Before the marriage, Philip renounced his Greek and Danish titles, officially converted from Greek Orthodoxy to Anglicanism, and adopted the style Lieutenant Philip Mountbatten, taking the Anglicized version of Battenberg, the surname of his mother’s British family.

The day before the wedding his wedding, King George VI bestowed the style His Royal Highness on Philip, and on the day of the wedding, November 20, 1947, King George VI granted Philip the titles of Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich. However, he wasn’t made a Prince of the United Kingdom in his own right until 1958 when Her Majesty granted him that distinction.

Elizabeth and Philip were married on November 20, 1947 at Westminster Abbey. They received 2,500 wedding gifts from around the world. Because Britain had not yet completely recovered from the devastation of the war, Elizabeth required ration coupons to buy the material for her gown, which was designed by Norman Hartnel. In post-war Britain, it was not acceptable for Philip’s German relations, including his three surviving sisters, to be invited to the wedding. The Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, was not invited either.

Philip left active military service when Elizabeth became queen in 1952, having reached the rank of commander. Philip had four children with Elizabeth: Charles, Prince of Wales; Anne, Princess Royal; Prince Andrew, Duke of York; and Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Through a British Order in Council issued in 1960, descendants of the couple 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 Anne, Andrew and Edward.

On this date in history: February 10, 1840. Her Majesty Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland married her maternal first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

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Emperor Alexander II of Russia, King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, King Leopold I of the Belgians, Lord Melbourne, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, royal wedding, The Prince Consort

Victoria once complained to her Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, that her mother’s close proximity promised “torment for many years”, Melbourne sympathized but said it could be avoided by marriage, which Victoria called a “schocking alternative”. Although a marriage between Victoria and her cousin Prince Albert had been encouraged by the Coburg family, specifically King Leopold I of the Belgians since 1936, Victoria was ambivalent at best toward the arrangement.

The idea of marriage between Albert and his cousin, Victoria, was first documented in an 1821 letter from his paternal grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, (Countess Augusta of Reuss-Ebersdorf) who said that he was “the pendant to the pretty cousin”.

Victoria did however, show interest in Albert’s education for the future role he would have to play as her husband, but she resisted attempts to rush her into any marriage. Her uncle, King William IV of the United Kingdom, preferred that Victoria marry her paternal first cousin, Prince George of Cambridge. William IV also favored the suit of Prince Alexander of the Netherlands, second son of the Prince of Orange, future King Willem II. Victoria was well aware of the various matrimonial plans and critically appraised a parade of eligible princes.

In 1839, Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich, the eldest son of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia and Charlotte of Prussia (daughter of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and of Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz), was sent on a tour of Europe by his parents where he met twenty-year-old Queen Victoria and both were enamored of each other. Simon Sebag Montefiore speculates that a small romance emerged. Such a marriage, however, would not work, as Alexander was not a minor prince of Europe and was in line to inherit a throne himself. In March 1855 Tsesarevich Alexander Nikolaevich became Emperor Alexander II of Russia.

Following Albert’s second visit to Queen Victoria in October of 1839, along with his brother Ernst, Victoria continued to praise Him and it was during this visit that genuine romantic feelings began to stir for her. Victoria wrote to her uncle Leopold I of the Belgians to thank him “for the prospect of great happiness you have contributed to give me, in the person of dear Albert … He possesses every quality that could be desired to render me perfectly happy.”

Albert and Victoria felt mutual affection and the Queen proposed to him on October 15, 1839, just five days after he had arrived at Windsor. Victoria’s intention to marry Albert was declared formally to the Privy Council on November 23.

The couple were married on February 10, 1840, in the Chapel Royal of St James’s Palace, London. Victoria was besotted. She spent the evening after their wedding lying down with a headache, but wrote ecstatically in her diary:

I NEVER, NEVER spent such an evening!!! MY DEAREST DEAREST DEAR Albert … his excessive love & affection gave me feelings of heavenly love & happiness I never could have hoped to have felt before! He clasped me in his arms, & we kissed each other again & again! His beauty, his sweetness & gentleness – really how can I ever be thankful enough to have such a Husband! … to be called by names of tenderness, I have never yet heard used to me before – was bliss beyond belief! Oh! This was the happiest day of my life!

Just before the marriage, Albert was naturalized by an Act of Parliament and granted the style of Royal Highness by an Order in Council. This style was only legal in Britain and under the German system of styles and titles Prince Albert remained His Serene Highness. Lord Melbourne advised against the Queen’s strong desire to grant her husband the title of “King Consort”. Parliament even refused to make Prince Albert a peer of the realm—(granting him a title of nobility) partly because of anti-German sentiment and a desire to exclude Albert from any political role.

Initially Albert was not popular with the British public; he was perceived to be from an impoverished and undistinguished minor state, barely larger than a small English county. In time Albert became an important political adviser as well as the Queen’s companion, replacing Lord Melbourne as the dominant, influential figure in the first half of her life.

December 15, 1960: Marriage of the King of the Belgians.

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Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón, King Baudouin of Belgium, King Leopold III of Belgium, Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain, royal wedding

On this day 60 years ago:

King Baudouin of the Belgians (1930-1993) marries Spanish aristocrat Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón (1928-2014)

Doña Fabiola de Mora y Aragón was born in Madrid, Spain, at the Palacio Zurbano, the main residence of the Marqués de Casa Riera. She was the daughter of Don Gonzalo de Mora y Fernández y Riera y del Olmo, 4th Marqués de Casa Riera, 2nd Count of Mora (1887–1957), and his wife, Doña Blanca de Aragón y Carrillo de Albornoz y Barroeta-Aldamar y Elío (1892–1981), daughter of the 6th Marchioness of Casa Torres and Viscountess of Baiguer. Her godmother was Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain.

On December 15, 1960, Fabiola married Baudouin, who had been King of the Belgians since the abdication of his father, Leopold III, in 1951. At the marriage ceremony in the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula, she wore a 1926 Art Deco tiara that had been a gift of the Belgian state to her husband’s mother, Astrid of Sweden, upon her marriage to Leopold III.

Her dress of satin and ermine was designed by the couturier Cristóbal Balenciaga. Fabiola was a hospital nurse at the time of her engagement; TIME magazine, in its 26 September 1960, issue, called Doña Fabiola the “Cinderella Girl” and described her as “an attractive young woman, though no raving beauty” and “the girl who could not catch a man.” On the occasion of her marriage, Spanish bakers set out to honour Fabiola and created a type of bread, “la fabiola”, which is still made in Palencia.

The explorer Guido Derom named the Queen Fabiola Mountains – a newly discovered range of Antarctic mountains – in her honour in 1961. She also has several varieties of ornamental plants named after her.

The royal couple had no children, as the Queen’s five pregnancies ended in miscarriage in 1961, 1962, 1963, 1966 and 1968. Fabiola openly spoke about her miscarriages in 2008: ‘You know, I myself lost five children. You learn something from that experience. I had problems with all my pregnancies, but you know, in the end I think life is beautiful’.

September 23, 1781: Birth of Princess Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Part II.

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Alexander I of Russia, Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Emperor Paul of Russia, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia, Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, royal wedding

This union, with Grand Duke Cinstantine, in connection with the wedding of her brother Leopold with Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, made the little Duchy of Saxe-Coburg the dynastic heart of Europe. In addition, thanks to relations with the Russian Empire, Saxe-Coburg was relatively safe during the Napoleonic Wars.

However, on a personal level, the marriage was deeply unhappy. Constantine, known to be a violent man and fully dedicated to his military career, made his young wife intensely miserable.

In the meanwhile, the young Grand Duchess began to grow up and became more and more attractive to the Russian court, who nicknamed her the “Rising Star”. This made Constantine extremely jealous, even of his own brother Alexander. He forbade Anna to leave her room, and when she had the opportunity to come out, Constantind took her away.

Countess Golovina recalled:

The married life of Anna Fyodorovna was hard and impossible to maintain […] in her modesty, she needed the friendship of Elizabeth Alexeievna (Louise of Baden, wife of her brother-in-law Alexander), who was able to smooth things out between the frequent quarrelling spouses…”. During the difficult years in the Russian court, Anna became close to Grand Duchess Elizabeth, of similar age.

As Caroline Bauer recorded in her memoirs, “The brutal Constantine treated his consort like a slave. So far did he forget all good manners and decency that, in the presence of his rough officers, he made demands on her, as his property, which will hardly bear being hinted of.” Due to his violent treatment and suffering health problems as a result.

In 1799 Anna left Russia for medical treatment and didn’t want to return. She went to her family in Coburg; however, they didn’t support her, as they feared for the reputation of the Ducal family and their finances. Anna left Coburg to have a water cure; but at the same time, the St Petersburg’s court made their own plans. Under the pressure of the Imperial family and her own relatives, the Grand Duchess was forced to return to Russia.

In October 1799 Anna was forced to attend the weddings of Grand Duchesses Alexandra and Elena. Grand Duchess Alexandra married Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine (Governor) of Hungary. Her marriage was the only Romanov-Habsburg marital alliance that ever occurred. Grand Duchess Elena married Hereditary Prince Friedrich Ludwig of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1778–1819), who was the eldest son of Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg.

The assassination of Emperor Paul I on March 23, 1801 gave Anna an opportunity to carry out her plan to escape. By August of that year, her mother was informed that the grand duchess was seriously ill. Once informed about her daughter’s health, Duchess Augusta came to visit her. In order to have a better treatment she took Anna to Coburg, with the consent of both the new Emperor Alexander I and Grand Duke Constantine. Once she arrived to her homeland, Anna refused to come back. She never returned to Russia.

Life after separation

Almost immediately after her return to Coburg, Anna began negotiations for a divorce from her husband. Grand Duke Constantine wrote in response to her letter:

You write to me that I allowed you to go into foreign lands because we are incompatible and because I can’t give you the love which you need. But humbly I ask you to calm yourself in consideration to our lives together, besides all these facts confirm in writing, and that in addition to this other reason you don’t have.

By 1803 the divorce was still refused, because Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna feared that her son Constantinr could contract a second morganatic marriage, and the official separation would damage the reputation of the grand duchess.

At first, the grand duchess feared an unfavorable opinion about her conduct among the European courts; however, they showed their sympathy. Still legally married, Anna, eager to have a family, found solace in clandestine affairs.

On October 28, 1808, Anna gave birth to an illegitimate son, named Eduard Edgar Schmidt-Löwe. The father of this child may have been Jules Gabriel Émile de Seigneux, a minor French nobleman and officer in the Prussian army. Eduard was ennobled by his mother’s younger brother, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and assumed the surname von Löwenfels by decree on February 18, 1818.

Later, Anna moved to Bern, Switzerland, and gave birth to a second illegitimate child in 1812, a daughter, named Louise Hilda Agnes d’Aubert. The father was Rodolphe Abraham de Schiferli, a Swiss surgeon, professor and chamberlain of Anna’s household from 1812 to 1837.

In order to cover another scandal in Anna’s life, the baby was adopted by Jean François Joseph d’Aubert, a French refugee. After the affair ended, Schiferli maintained a tender and close friendship with the grand duchess until his death.

Two years later, in 1814, during the invasion of France by Russian troops, Emperor Alexander I expressed his desire of a reconciliation between his brother and Anna. Grand Duke Constantine, accompanied by Anna’s brother Leopold, tried to convince her to return with him, but the grand duchess categorically refused.

That year, Anna acquired an estate on the banks of Aare River and gave it the name of Elfenau. She spent the rest of her life there, and, as a lover of music, made her home not only a center for domestic and foreign musical society of the era but also the point of reunion of diplomats from different countries who were in Bern.

Finally, on March 20, 1820, after 19 years of separation, her marriage was officially annulled by a manifesto of Emperor Alexander I of Russia. Grand Duke Constantine remarried two months later morganatically with his mistress Joanna Grudzińska and died on 27 June 1831.

Anna survived her former husband by 29 years.
In 1835, her son Eduard married his cousin Bertha von Schauenstein, an illegitimate daughter of the Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha; this was one of the few happy events in Anna’s last years – she soon lost almost all the people she loved: her parents, her sisters Sophie and Antoinette, her own daughter Louise (who, married Jean Samuel Edouard Dapples in 1834 died three years later in 1837 at the age of twenty-five), her former lover and now good friend Rodolphe de Schiferli (just a few weeks after their daughter’s demise), her protector Emperor Alexander I, her childhood friend Empress Elizabeth…at that point the Grand Duchess wrote that Elfenau became the House of Mourning.

Anna Fyodorovna died in her Elfenau estate in 1860, aged 79. In her grave was placed a simple marble slab with the inscription, “Julia-Anna” and the dates of her birth and death (1781-1860); nothing more would indicate the origin of the once Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Grand Duchess of Russia. Through the five children of her son Eduard she has many descendants.

Alexandrine of Baden, wife of her nephew Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha wrote:

Condolences must be universal, because Aunt was extremely loved and respected, because much involved in charity work and in favor of the poor and underprivileged.

September 8, 1761: Marriage of King George III of the United Kingdom and Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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Adolf Friedrich IV of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Charles II of England and Scotland, Dukes of Richmond and Lennox, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, King George III of the United Kingdom, kings and queens of the United Kingdom, Lady Sarah Lennox, royal wedding, Sophie Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

George III (George William Frederick; June 4, 1738 – January 29, 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from October 25, 1760 until the union of the two countries on January 1, 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death in 1820. He was concurrently Duke and Prince-elector of Brunswick-Lüneburg (“Hanover”) in the Holy Roman Empire before becoming King of Hanover on October 12, 1814. He was a monarch of the House of Hanover, but unlike his two predecessors, he was born in Great Britain, spoke English as his first language, and never visited Hanover.

In 1759, George was smitten with Lady Sarah Lennox (14 February 14, 1745 – August 1826). Lady Sarah was the most notorious of the famous Lennox sisters, daughters of Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond. Her father was the son of Charles Lennox, 1st Duke of Richmond and 1st Duke of Lennox, the youngest of the seven illegitimate sons of King Charles II of England, Scotland and Ireland and only son by his French-born mistress Louise de Kérouaille, Duchess of Portsmouth. Richmond married Lady Sarah Cadogan (1705–1751), daughter of William Cadogan, 1st Earl Cadogan, on December 4, 1719 at The Hague, Netherlands.

After the deaths of both her parents when she was only five years old, Lady Sarah was brought up by her elder sister Emily in Ireland. Lady Sarah returned to London and the home of her sister Lady Caroline Fox when she was thirteen. Having been a favourite of King George II since her childhood, she was invited to appear at court and there caught the eye of George, Prince of Wales (the future King George III), whom she had met as a child.

When she was presented at court again at the age of fifteen, George III was taken with her. Lady Sarah’s family encouraged a relationship between her and George III. Lady Sarah had also developed feelings for Lord Newbattle, grandson of William Kerr, 3rd Marquess of Lothian. Although her family were able to convince her to break with Newbattle, the royal match was scotched by the King’s advisors, particularly John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute. It was not normal at the time for monarchs to have non-Royal spouses. Lady Sarah was asked by King George III to be one of the ten bridesmaids at his wedding to Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

George abandoned his thoughts of marriage to Lady Sarah. “I am born for the happiness or misery of a great nation,” he wrote, “and consequently must often act contrary to my passions.” Nevertheless, attempts by the King to marry George to Princess Sophie Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel were resisted by him and his mother; Sophie married Friedrich, Margrave of Bayreuth, instead.

The following year, at the age of 22, George succeeded to the throne when his grandfather, George II, died suddenly on October 25, 1760, two weeks before his 77th birthday. The search for a suitable wife intensified. His mother and advisors were eager to have him settled in marriage.

The 17-year-old Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz appealed to him as a prospective consort partly because she had been brought up in an insignificant north German duchy, and therefore would probably have had no experience or interest in power politics or party intrigues. That proved to be the case; to make sure, he instructed her shortly after their wedding “not to meddle,” a precept she was glad to follow.

Princess Sophia Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Sophia Charlotte; May 19, 1744 – November 17, 1818) was the youngest daughter of Duke Charles 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.

Charlotte had received “a very mediocre education”.:16 Her upbringing was similar to that of a daughter of an English country gentleman. She received some rudimentary instruction in botany, natural history and language from tutors, but her education focused on household management and on religion, the latter taught by a priest. Only after her brother Adolph Friedrich succeeded to the ducal throne in 1752 did she gain any experience of princely duties and of court life.

The King announced to his Council in July 1761, according to the usual form, his intention to wed the Princess, after which a party of escorts, led by the Earl Harcourt, departed for Germany to conduct Princess Charlotte to England. They reached Strelitz on August 14, 1761, and were received the next day by the reigning duke, Princess Charlotte’s brother, at which time the marriage contract was signed by him on the one hand and Earl Harcourt on the other.

Three days of public celebrations followed, and on August 17, 1761, the Princess set out for Britain, accompanied by her brother, Adolph Friedrich IV, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and by the British escort party. On August 22, they reached Cuxhaven, where a small fleet awaited to convey them to England. The voyage was extremely difficult; the party encountered three storms at sea, and landed at Harwich only on September 7. They set out at once for London, spent that night in Witham, at the residence of Lord Abercorn, and arrived at 3:30 pm the next day (September 8, 1761) at St. James’s Palace in London. They were received by the King and his family at the garden gate, which marked the first meeting of the bride and groom.

At 9:00 pm that same evening, within six hours of her arrival, Charlotte was united in marriage with King George III. The ceremony was performed at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s Palace, by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Thomas Secker. Only the royal family, the party who had travelled from Germany, and a handful of guests were present.

A fortnight later on September 22, both were crowned at Westminster Abbey. George remarkably never took a mistress (in contrast with his grandfather and his sons), and the couple enjoyed a happy marriage until his mental illness struck.

They had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters. In 1762, George purchased Buckingham House (on the site now occupied by Buckingham Palace) for use as a family retreat. His other residences were Kew Palace and Windsor Castle. St James’s Palace was retained for official use. He did not travel extensively and spent his entire life in southern England. In the 1790s, the King and his family took holidays at Weymouth, Dorset, which he thus popularised as one of the first seaside resorts in England.