All About Royal Families

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 ...

On 23 November 1890, King Willem (William) III of The Netherlands died  in Apeldoorn. Birth William was born on 19 February 1817 in the Palace of the Nation in Brussels, which was then a part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands.  Family His parents were the future King William II of the Netherlands and Anna  Pavlovna of Russia. He had three brothers (one died young) and one sister.  King William II (the father) and his family.  Early life At the age of 10, in 1827, he was made an honorary colonel in the Royal Netherlands Army. In the 1830's he served as lieutenant in the Grenadiers Regiment.  Reign At the beginning, King William III ruled over the Netherlands and Luxembourg as well.  In 1856, the "Luxembourg Coup" took place. William instituted a new constitution for Luxembourg which he ruled personally separate from the crown.  In 1867, France offered to buy Luxembourg, which led to the Luxembourg Crisis. However the Second Treaty of London ...

  From 5 till 8 November 2021, I was in "hellhole" Brussels to visit the Bright  Brussels festival and some museums. Quite by accident I ended up in the chapel of the Palace of Nassau.  Immediately I was fascinated by its history. Was it a part of a real royal palace? Who lived there? The painting of the Palace of Nassau Broodhuis in Brussels - own picture 2021 the chapel at the Palace of Nassau own picture 2021 History The Palace of Nassau, also called Hof van Nassau in Dutch and Hôtel de Nassau in French, was the former city palace of the Counts of Nassau located on the Coudenberg in Brussels.  The construction was started in the 14th. century. Willem van Duivenvoorde settled in Brussels. However Willem Van Duivenvoorde had twelve natural children but no legal ones, so his possessions came into the hands of the family Van Polanen. When Johanna van Polanen - the last descendant of this family - married Engelbrecht I of Nassau-Siegen in 1403, the palace came in...

On 10 November 1799, Napoleon Bonaparte became the First Consul of France . The First Consul of France was the top-level Government of France, which was established after the fall of the Directory.  On 9 November 1799, the Coup of 18 Brumaire took place. Then Napoleon  Bonaparte gained the power after a bloodless Coup d'état.    What preceded French military disasters in 1798 and 1799 had shaken the Directory, and eventually shattered it in November 1799. On the morning of 18 Brumaire, Lucien Bonaparte falsely persuaded the Councils that a Jacobin coup was at hand in Paris. Napoleon was charged with the safety of the two Councils and given command of all available local troops.  Later that morning, Emmanuel Joseph Sieyès and Roger Ducos  resigned as Directors. The now former 1797–1799 2nd Minister of Foreign Affairs Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord, a close ally of Napoleon, pressured Director Paul Barras to do the same. The resignation of three of t...

History is the study of past events  You love it or you hate it: history. This made me think: which royals know/knew their history very well? Austria Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) had a special interest in history, philosophy and literature.  Belgium King Albert I of Belgium liked royal history very much. His wife  Queen Elisabeth of Belgium (a niece of Sisi)  was a keen historian too. For her, the opening of the tomb of Tutankhamun was postponed. Her name- sake Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium is now (2021) studying History & Politics in Oxford University (United Kingdom). France Queen Marie-Antoinette of France liked to read history. She saw the  first launch of a Montgofière, a hot air balloon. Louis Bonaparte, King of Holland (1805-1810) decorated his palaces with topics from the national history and he even wrote history books, just as his son Napoleon III. Napoleon III studied sciences, history and economics.  Lucien Bonaparte had a...