All About Royal Families

Who is Catharina-Amalia, Princess of Orange

Catharina-Amalia Beatrix Carmen Victoria was born on 7 December 2003
in the HMC Bronovo at The Hague in The Netherlands.

101 salute shots were fired at four places in the Kingdom of The Netherlands:
Den Helder, The Hague, Willemstad (Curacao) and Oranjestad (Aruba).

Family

Her parents are King Willem Alexander of The Netherlands and Queen Máxima.

Her paternal grandparents are Former Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands and
Prince Claus.

Her maternal grandparents are Jorge Zorreguieta and
María del Carmen Cerruti Carricart.

Princess Catharina-Amalia is a member of the House of Orange-Nassau.

Baptism

She was baptised in the Great Church of The Hague. Her godparents are:

- Prince Constantijn (The Netherlands);

- Crown Princess Victoria (Sweden);

- Herman Tjeenk Willink (then the Council of State of the Netherlands);

- Samantha Deane ( a friend of her mother);

- Martín Zorreguieta (her maternal uncle);

- Marc ter Haar (a friend of her father).

At her baptism, her maternal grandparents attended the ceremony.

Sisters

Princess Amalia has two younger sisters:

- Princess Alexia (born in 2005);

- Princess Ariane (born in 2007).

Education

Starting in December 2007, Catharina-Amalia attended the public
primary school Bloemcampschool in Wassenaar.

Later she attended the Christelijk Gymnasium Sorghvliet in The Hague,
where her aunt Princess Laurentien also attended.

Crown Princess

Catharina-Amalia's paternal grandmother, Queen Beatrix, abdicated
on 30 April 2013 and her father ascended the throne. Catharina-Amalia,
as the new heir apparent, assumed the title of Princess of Orange,
becoming the first to do so in her own right. Princess Catharina-Amalia
will assume a seat in the Advisory Division of the
Council of State of the Netherlands upon reaching the age of majority at 18.

In 2020, a new regiment of the Royal Netherlands Army, the Regiment
Huzaren Prinses Catharina-Amalia, was named after Catharina-Amalia.

She graduated in June 2021. Upon graduation, she announced that she
would take a gap year and refused to accept her right to €1.6m a year in
income for the time period, adding that it would make her
"uncomfortable as long as I do not do anything for it in return".

Her 18th. B-Day

Just as her father and grandmother did, a book about Princess Amalia was
released in November 2021.

Her birthdays are traditionally celebrated with a concert at the Kloosterkerk in
The Hague, which is attended by ambassadors and members of the royal
household and the Council of State of the Netherlands.

Other books about Amalia, Princess of Orange

in Dutch:

Van Hortense tot Amalia: written by Arnout van Cruyningen

Amalia de plicht roept : written by Peter Rehwinkel

Ruling royal descendants of the Bonaparte family

In 2021, there was a lovely exhibition of Napoleon Bonaparte in Liège, Belgium.
On the exhibition, one corner of the royal descendants of the Bonaparte family

immediately took my attention. That's why I wanted to make a "royal" family post.

part of the exhibition in Liège in 2021

What does King Philippe of Belgium, Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg,

King Carl XIV Gustav of Sweden, King Harald of Norway and Queen
Margrethe II of Demark in common? They are all descendants of
Empress Joséphine.

Belgium

King Philippe of Belgium's parents are King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola.
Through his father, King Philippe is a descendant of the Bonaparte family.

The mother of King Albert II of Belgium was Princess Astrid of Sweden. Her father,

Prince Carl, Duke of Västergötland, was a grandson of Joséphine of Leuchtenberg,
herself a daughter of Eugène de Beauharnais, a son of Empress Joséphine.

Denmark

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was born as the daughter of King Frederick IX of
Denmark and Princess Ingrid of Sweden. Through Princess Ingrid, Queen Margrethe
also is a descendant of Joséphine of Leuchtenberg.

Luxembourg

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg is via his mother, Princess Josephine Charlotte of
Belgium, a grandson of Princess Astrid of Sweden and thus also a descendant of
Joséphine of Leuchtenberg.

Norway

The mother of King Harald V of Norway, Princess Märtha of Sweden, was the
sister of Princess Astrid of Sweden and thus the aunt of King Bauduin of Belgium,
Grand Duchess Josephine Charlotte of Belgium and King Albert II of Belgium.

King Harald V of Norway also is a descendant of Josephine of Leuchtenberg.

King Harald V of Norway is a great-grandson of King Edward VII of the
United Kingdom and a second cousin of Queen Elizabeth II

Sweden

King Carl XIV Gustav of Sweden also is a descendant of Joséphine of
Leuchtenberg, the granddaughter of Empress Joséphine.

parts of the exhibition in Liège, Belgium in 2021

Between past and present

This picture and all the royal descendants made me curious for the history of the
Bonaparte family. How could their family spread over Europe during the years?

parts of the exhibition in Liège, Belgium in 2021

Eugène de Beauharnais

Many royals, who reign nowadays in Europe are descendants of Josephine
of Leuchtenberg and Eugène de Beauharnais. But who was he?

Eugène de Beauharnais was the son of Joséphine de Beauharnais and
Alexandre de Beauharnais. Through the second marriage of his mother, he
became the stepson of Napoleon Bonaparte. He also became Napoleon's
adopted son, but not the heir to the imperial throne. Later Eugène went on
militairy campaigns.

Eugène married on 14 January 1806 to Princess Augusta of Bavaria. She was
the daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria. His father-in-law granted
him the titles: Duke of Leuchtenberg and
Prince of Eichstätt.

Source picture: Wikipedia

Joséphine of Leuchtenberg

Joséphine of Leuchtenberg was the eldest child of Eugène de Beauharnais
and Princess Augusta of Bavaria. Her paternal grandmother and namesake
was Joséphine de Beauharnais, the first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte. Her
maternal grandfather was King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.

Princess Joséphine married Crown Prince Oscar of Sweden by proxy at the
Palais Leuchtenberg in Munich on 22 May 1823. They also conducted a
wedding in person on 19 June 1823 in Stockholm in Sweden. Already from
her arrival in Sweden she became a social success. At the beginning the
relation between Prince Oscar and Princess Joséphine was warm but he
started to have affairs which made Joséphine jealous.

Princess Joséphine was interested in gardening and painting. In 1844 she
became Queen of Sweden and Norway. She greatly influenced the interior
of the royal palace in Christiania, which was completed in 1849.

In 1859, Oscar died and Joséphine became Queen Dowager. She lost all her
political influence and devoted herself to her charitable acitivities.

In 1876, Queen Joséphine died in Stockholm at the age of 69.