All About Royal Families

On August 26th. 1826 a new member of the House of Wittelsbach was born. She received the name Princess Alexandra Amalie of Bavaria. Princess Alexandra of Bavaria -  Source picture: Wikipedia Family Her parents were King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess  Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. Princess Alexandra was inter alia the sister of King Maximilian II of Bavaria and King Otto of Greece. Love As daughter of a reigning King the marriage of Princess Alexandra of Bavaria was not  only a love match but a political case. Prince Louis Lucien Bonaparte asked her hand but the King refused because he was divorced, officially due to Princess Alexandra's delicate health. The princess never married and she was appointed abbess of the Royal Chapter for  ladies of Saint Anne in Munich and Würtzburg. This convent only accepted noble ladies. In 1852 Princess Alexandra started a literary career and she wrote several  books.  Although she wrote boo

picture: Wikipedia On August 25th. 1830 a performance of the opera,  The Mute Girl of Portici,  took place at the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels. The opera evoked sentimental and nationalist feelings. On this link you can listen to a piece of the opera. Théàtre de la Monnaie in Brussels From 1815-1830 Belgium was a part of the United Kingdom of The Netherlands  with William (Willem in Dutch) I as King.  After the opera riots broke out in Brussels. This marked the start of the Belgian Revolution. Only in 1831 Belgium had a new King: Leopold I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

On August 24th. 1758, Duchess Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was born. Her parents were Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin -  Source picture: Wikipedia At the age of 16 she married, on October 21st. 1774, Hereditary  Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway.  When Sophia Frederica saw her husband for the first time she was disappointed but after a while they became fond of each other.  Their marriage was based on mutual understanding.  There were rumors that both took mistresses and lovers. In Denmark Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin really was popular.  History books described her as jolly, charmant and intelligent.  Source picture: Wikipedia On November 29th. 1794, Sophia Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin  died at the Sorgenfri Palace near Copenhagen (Denmark). 

King Philippe of Belgium attended a memorial of World War I in the Notre Dame church in Dinant. own picture - bird's-eye view of the Notre Dame Church in Dinant The church service was to remember the 674 citizens who were killed in  World War I, a new carillon was inaugurated too. On next link you can see a short movie.

On my blog I regularly write about the very interesting (Royal) history of my own country: Belgium. August 23rd 1836 marks the birth of Marie Henriette of Austria in Budapest (Hungary). Marie Henriette of Austria - Source picture: Wikipedia Her parents were Archduke Joseph of Austria, Palatine of Hungary and Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg.  Her paternal grandfather was Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor and she was a niece from Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria (husband of Sisi). On August 22nd. 1853, at the age of 16!, she married Prince Leopold, heir of the Belgian throne. This wedding strengthened the status of the Belgian  monarchy, the name Habsburg was an important match.  They had 4 children, unfortunately the eldest boy died young.  The marriage really was unhappy and the couple lived more or less seperated. In 1865 she became Queen Consort of Belgium, but Marie Henriette of Austria  lived most of the time in Spa and her youngest da