All About Royal Families

Christmas day was in ancient times a popular day for lavish coronation ceremonies. On 25 December 800 Charlemagne was crowned Roman Emperor in the Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome by Pope Leo III. Charlemagne Statue in Paris France (taken in 2017) In 1025, Mieszko II Lambert, King of Poland had his ceremony at the Gniezno Cathedral in Poland. Mieszko II King of Poland Source picture: Wikipedia After the Battle of Hastings, the coronation of William the Conqueror took place on 25 December 1066 at Westminster Abbey in London. In 1076, Boleslaw II of Poland was crowned at the Gniezno Cathedral in Poland. In 1100 Baldwin I became King of Jerusalem. The ceremony took place at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem. In 1130 the coronation of Roger II, King of Sicily took place in Palermo. On this day, it was not always party and fun with those coronations. One Emperor lost his throne on 25 December 820. It was Leo V of the B...

In 2019 several remembrances for events and battles took place. So, I decided to make on this blog a series about the royals and their choices in WWII. For one royal, Prince George, Duke of Kent was WWII even more dramatic.... Born George Edward Alexander Edmund was born on 20 December 1902 at York Cottage on the Sandringham Estate in Norfolk, England. His father was the Prince of Wales (later King George V), the only surviving son of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra. His mother was the Princess of Wales (later Queen Mary), the only and eldest child of the Duke and Duchess of Teck. At the time of his birth Prince George was fifth in the line of the succession to the throne, behind his father and three older brothers Edward, Albert and Henry. On 26 January 1903, George was baptised in the Private Chapel at Windsor Castle by Francis Paget, the Bishop of Oxford. Education Prince George had his early education from a tutor and then he followed his eld...

Due to a lovely holiday and a flu afterwards, my books on Sunday were on low profile the last few weeks, just as the blog. However, I managed to read one very nice royal history book written by Mildred Anne Butler. The book was called: "Anne of Brittany: Twice Queen of France." Based on a story, Mildred Anne Butler wrote about the life of Duchess Anne of Brittany, who married twice to the King of France. Twice Queen of France - bookcover - screenshot Who was Anne of Brittany? Anne of Brittany was born on 25 or 26 January 1477 and she died on 9 January 1514. Anne was raised in Nantes (France) as the child of Francis II, Duke of Brittany. Duke Francis was the last male of the House of Montfort . When her father died, she became duchess reignant of Brittany, Countess of Nantes, Montfort, Richmond and viscountess of Limoges. At the age of 12, she married Maximilian I of Austria by proxy. King Charles VIII of France saw this as a violent act. He start...

On 18 December 2019 the annual Christmas Concert at the Royal Palace in Brussels, the capital of Belgium, will take place. Their Majesties the King and the Queen of Belgium offer the annual Christmas Concert at the Royal Palace in Brussels. They in particular wish to thank the people who contributed to the smooth running of their royal activities in 2019. To be expected from the Belgian Royal family are: King Philippe of the Belgians; Queen Mathilde of the Belgians; King Albert II of Belgium; Queen Paola of Belgium; Their Royal Highnesses: Princess Elisabeth of Belgium; Prince Gabriel of Belgium; Prince Emmanuel of Belgium; Princess Eléonore of Belgium; Princess Astrid of Belgium; Prince Lorenz of Belgium; Prince Laurent of Belgium; and Princess Claire of Belgium. It will be full house :-) The concert is provided by artists and teachers connected to the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel. They bring a musical program on the theme of Christmas with compositio...

From 16 December 1944 till 25 January 1945, the battle of the Bulge took place in the Ardennes in Belgium. Source picture: Wikipedia On the morning of 16 December 1944, the Germans achieved a surprise attack due to the combination of an Allied overconfidence and poor aerial reconnaissance due to the bad weather. Bastogne Memorial screenshot - Eén Nowadays the remembrance ceremony is attended by delegations of the countries who had participated in the battle. Battle of the Bulge screenshot Eén Behind Queen Mathilde is Nancy Pelosi. She is a democratic politician and the Speaker  of the  House of Representatives of the USA.  I wonder why President Trump or one of his family members isn't at the remembrance of the Battle of the Bulge?  Present at the memorial: - King Philippe of the Belgians; - Queen Mathilde of the Belgians; - Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg; - Prime Minister of Belgium; - President of Poland; -...

7 December 1545 marks the birth of Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. He was born at Temple Newsan, Leeds in the West Riding of  Yorkshire in England. However his birth date was disputed.  Family Henry was the son of Matthew Stewart, 4th. Earl of Lennox  and Lady Margaret Douglas. He was a member of the royal  house of Stuart (the Darnley Branch). Youth In 1545, Henry's father Matthew Stuart (Stewart), the 4th.  Earl of Lennox, was found guilty of treason in Scotland for siding with the English in the War of the Rough Wooing.  The Scottish estates of the family were forfeited and his father went into exile in England for 22 years. He returned to Scotland in 1564. The Countess of Lennox, Margaret Douglas had left Scotland already in 1528. Henry was educated in Latin, Gaelic, English and French. He excelled in singing, lute playing and dancing.  Troubles in the family Matthew Stewart, the 4th. Earl of Le...

Afonso was born as the son of Henry of Burgundy and Teresa, the illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso VI of León and Castile. He belonged thus to the royal Portuguese House of Burgundy. His place of birth and even his date of birth were disputed. Duty: a raise to power Henry, Count of Portugal and Teresa reigned jointly until his death on 22 May 1112. Afterwards Teresa ruled Portugal alone. She even would proclaim herself queen but she was captured and forced to reaffirm her vassalage to her half-sister Urraca of León. In an effort to pursue a larger share in the Leonese inheritance, his mother Teresa joined forces with Fernando Pérez de Trava, the most powerful count in Galicia. The Portuguese nobility disliked the alliance between Galicia and Portugal and rallied around Afonso. In 1122 Afonso turned fourteen, this was the adult age in the 12th century. In symmetry with his cousin, he made himself a knight on his own account in the Cathedral of Zamora in 1125...

On 4 December 1999 Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz married Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium. First they had their civil wedding at the Town Hall on the Grand Place in Brussels. Later they went to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels for their ecclesiastical wedding. Kardinal Godfried Danneels gave his blessing for the marriage. Mathilde's bridal gwon was designed by Édouard Vermeulen of Natan. The flowers in the Cathedral were created by Daniel Ost. On the day of her wedding Mathilde became officially Duchess of Brabant and Princess of Belgium (this was published on 13 November 1999). On 21 July 2013 Philippe and Mathilde became King and Queen of the Belgians. Though they are not that popular in Belgium and especially in Flanders, the northern part of the country, the royals are doing it better than King Philippe's parents: King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola of Belgium. On the occasion of the 20th. Wedding Jubilee of t...

Spread the word! A brand new blog page is out! 'The Royal History of Portugal'. Lisbon - own picture taken in 2017 During my trips in Portugal, I discovered many traces from the country 's interesting royal history. I've put them on a brand new blog page. See this link . I hope you'll enjoy the Royal History Page of Portugal. Tower of Belem near Lisbon Portugal

Last week I read the excellent book: Harry Conversations with the Prince, written by Angela Levin. The book was edited in 2018 by John Blake Publishing Ltd. London and the imprint was from Kings Road Publishing Ltd. The translation in Dutch was made in 2018 by Just Publishers - Hans van Maar. Harry Conversations with the Prince was well written in 14 clear chapters. The book talked inter alia about 1/ the youth & the childhood 2/ Prince Harry's education 3/ His relation with Prince William 4/ The Divorce of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales 5/ The loss of his mother 6/ The muteneer 7/ the gap year 8/ Soldier and Prince 9/ Harry's War 10/ Officer Wales 11/ Prince Harry's Ups and Downs 12/ His charities and his projects 13/ About Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. 14/ About his vision. Whether you like Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex or not, the conversations written by Angela Levin is a great opportunity to understand the Pr...