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Showing posts from November, 2023

Princess Marie de Croÿ and the Resistance

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Princess Marie was born in London on 26 November 1875 as the daughter of Prince Alfred Emmanuel de Croÿ and his wife Elizabeth Mary Parnell.  She was thus a member of the House of Croÿ .  Duty When the First World War broke out in 1914, the princess was visiting a friend, Violet Cavendish-Bentinck, at the home of her mother, Mrs Louisa Scott; she immediately set out for France. She worked as a nurse, at the family home of Chateau de Bellignies, which was in use as a hospital and assisted Edith Cavell in helping allied servicemen to escape to Britain via the Netherlands.  For this she was arrested in 1915 along with Nurse Cavell and a number of others, but escaped the death penalty. At their trial in October, she asked for clemency for her fellow prisoners, claiming that she and her brother were solely responsible. She was condemned to ten years' hard labour, and sent to a prison at Siegburg in Germany.  The Kaiser, Wilhelm II , offered to free her, but she declined b...

King's Feast 2023 in Belgium and its royal history

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Each year on November 15th. King's Feast is celebrated in Brussels, the capital of Belgium. This year there was a special gala concert on November 14th. in the Bozar in  Brussels, for the occasion of 10 years reign of King Philippe.  Two wonderful photographers - Bjorn Hoex and Geert Janssens - traveled to Brussels to attend all the ceremonies. Geert Janssens even could attend the  concert and the plenary session in the Senate. What's going on?  The King's Feast also called in Dutch: Koningsdag and in French: Fête du Roi as in German: Festtag des Königs has been celebrated in Belgium on November 15 since 1866.  Traditionally, a Te Deum is sung as well as a private observance being held. The royals who attedend the Te Deum were: King Albert II of Belgium Queen Paola of Belgium Princess Astrid of Belgium  Prince Laurent of Belgium 💡 Families/ dynasty King Albert II of Belgium is a member of the House of Belgium with the surname Saxe-Coburg & Gotha. ...

Charlotte, Princess of Wales

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Charlotte, the Princess of Wales was born on January 7th. 1796 at Carlton House in London.  own picture taken in 2023 Family She was the daughter of the later King George IV. In 1811 he became regent. Her mother was Caroline of Brunswick. Her paternal grandparents were King George III and Queen Charlotte. Yes Bridgerton :-)  Her maternal grandparents were Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Augusta of Great Britain. Wellington called her father the worst man he had ever met in his whole life, the most, selfish, the most false ... almost with no extenuating circumstances."  💡 Princess Charlotte was a member of the royal famil of Hanover.  own picture taken in the royal palace of Brussels in 2017 Childhood Charlotte Augusta wasn't exactly lovingly raised. Her parents, who live together as husband and wife for no more than three weeks, separated shortly after she was born. They also did nothing to keep up appearances. The parents grossly negl...

The Court of Cambrai, the "Eton of the renaissance"

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After the death of her husband Charles the Bold in 1477, Margaret of York settled her court in Mechelen. Mechelen was the richest city of her widowhood. Later the palace was called the Imperial Court because princes and princesses stayed here, as well as the later Emperor Charles V. 👀  Margaret of York Edward IV, King of England, married his sister Margaret to Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. That's a good thing, because he just became a widower.  👉 She also was the sister of King Richard III of England. Eduard also sees value in it, because he has a rich ally against France. Charles has a daughter from his previous marriage: Mary of Burgundy. She was just eleven years old when Margareta became her stepmother. The two get along well. Margaret of York Source picture: Wikipedia 💥 More history 💥 In 1477, the city of Mechelen bought a patrician house along the Keizerstraat from John of Burgundy, Bishop of Kamerijk and prepared the site for expansion by purchasing eight h...

Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg, mother of a queen

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1 November 1797 marks the birth of Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg. This took place in Pokoj, a village nowadays located in southern Poland. Family Duchess Maria Dorothea of Württemberg was the eldest daughter of Duke Louis of Württemberg (1756–1817) and Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg (1780–1857). She was a member of the House of Württemberg . Her brother Alexander was the grandfather of Mary of Teck , the future queen consort of George V of the United Kingdom. Due to her family and her marriage she had some lovely family ties. Love and marriage She was the third wife of Archduke Joseph, Palatine of Hungary, to whom she was married on 24 August 1819. They had following children: - Archduchess Franziska Marie - Archduke Alexander - Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska - Archduke Joseph Karl - Marie Henriette , who was due to her marriage Queen of the Belgians  Death She dies on March 30th. 1855 in Pest, Hungary.