All About Royal Families

23 March 1887 marks the birth of Prince Felix Yusupov. He was born at Moika Palace in Saint Petersburg. Family His father was Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston, the son of Count Felix Nikolaievich Sumarokov-Elston. Zinaida Yusupova, his mother, was the last of the Yusupov line, of Tatar origin, and very wealthy.  For the Yusupov name not to die out, his father (1856, Saint Petersburg – 1928, Rome, Italy) was granted the title and the surname of his wife, Princess Zinaida Yusupova, on 11 June 1885, a year after their marriage, but effective after the death of his father-in-law in 1891. The Yusupov family, one of the richest families in Imperial Russia, had acquired their wealth generations earlier. It included four palaces in Saint Petersburg, three palaces in Moscow, 37 estates in different parts of Russia, on the Crimea (at Koreiz, Kökköz and Balaklava), coal and iron-ore mines, plants and factories, flour mills and oil fields on the Caspian Sea.  Youth Felix led a flam...

The coronation of George V and his wife Mary as King and Queen of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and as Emperor and Empress of India, took place at Westminster Abbey, London, on Thursday 22 June 1911. The Procession The first of three processions left Buckingham Palace at 9:30 am. It consisted of representatives of foreign royal families and governments, carried in fourteen carriages. The second procession had five state landaus for members of the British royal family; the fifth contained the King and Queen's children, the Prince of Wales, Princess Mary and the young Princes Albert, Henry and George.  The third procession brought the officers of state in a further four carriages and the twenty-fifth and final carriage, the Gold State Coach carrying the King and Queen. They were surrounded by equerries, aides-de-camp and the commanders of the armed forces mounted on horseback, all escorted by Yeomen of the Guard, colonial and Indian cavalry and the Royal Horse Guards ...

Kasteel Cortewalle is a Flemish moated castle in Beveren in Belgium, which was inhabited for many years by the de Brouchoven de Bergeyck family. History The castle dates from the 15th century and is one of the oldest in the Waasland. It is built in white sandstone, in the style of the Flemish Renaissance . It was expanded by Joos Vijd, who bequeathed it to his cousin Joos Triest.  Joos Vijd & Ghent Altarpiece Vijd was the third son of Clais Vijd and Amelberga van der Elst and was born in the moated castle of Singelberg. His father was a castle guardian and bailiff and moor master of Beveren, but was relieved of these functions in 1390 by Philip the Bold after an investigation into fraud and self-enrichment. The family fortune has its origins in interest on land, peat extraction and dyke tenders in the Waasland.  Around 1392, Joos married Lysbette Borluut, a patrician daughter from Ghent (she is also depicted on one of the panels). The couple lived in a Ghent city house, kn...

The King has conferred the Dukedom of Edinburgh upon his brother, Prince Edward, on his 59th birthday .  What is the history behind the title Duke of Edinburgh?  Duke of Edinburgh, named after the city of Edinburgh in Scotland, is a title that has been created four times since 1726 for members of the British royal family. It does not include any territorial landholdings and does not produce any revenue for the title holder. 1726 creation The title was first created in the Peerage of Great Britain on 26 July 1726 by King George I, who bestowed it on his grandson Prince Frederick , who also became Prince of Wales the following year.   The subsidiary titles of the dukedom were Marquess of the Isle of Ely, Earl of Eltham, in the County of Kent, Viscount of Launceston, in the County of Cornwall, and Baron of Snowdon, in the County of Caernarvon, all of which were also in the Peerage of Great Britain. The marquessate was gazetted as Marquess of the Isle of Wight, apparently err...

From 14 till 16 March 2023, Queen Mathilde of the Belgians and Crown Princess Elisabeth of Belgium will travel to Egypt. Which is the Belgian royal  history and connection to Egypt?  On November 22, 1922, Howard Carter discovered an undisturbed pharaoh's tomb in the Valley of the Kings, on the west bank of the Nile, in Luxor. As soon as the news reached Queen Elisabeth of Belgium, she decided to go there to take part in the opening of Tutankhamun's hypogeum, more than three thousand years after it was sealed, theoretically for eternity. "I have always been a woman of passions. Some are well known, others less so. One is my passion for ancient Egypt," wrote Elisabeth; she proved it by promptly telegraphing Lord Carnarvon, the financier of the excavations, to ask if she could join him; permission was of course granted. When the Egyptian authorities learned that the Queen of the Belgians wanted to visit, King Fuad organized her visit with the help of the British High Com...

In November 2022 there was a lot to do about an article in the French newspaper Le Parisien. It stated that there was a robbery in the appartment of Queen Paola of Belgium in Paris.  Not much later, the newspaper retracted that report and reported that there was "ambiguity about the identity of the owner".  picture taken in November 2022 in Rome After which the spokesman for the royal palace also responded and reported that Queen Paola has no apartment at all in the district where the theft took place.  "The original article of 'Le Parisien' that linked the theft to an apartment of the Queen is therefore incorrect," the palace concluded. However Queen Paola of Belgium and King Albert II of  Belgium have other properties than their Belvédère Castle in Laeken, Brussels.  They would have residences in Châteauneuf-Grasse (France) and in Villers-sur-Lesse (Belgium). But also an apartment in Oostende (Belgium) and an apartment in Rome.  picture taken in...