All About Royal Families

On 2 October 1800, Prince Felix of Schwarzenberg was born at Český Krumlov Castle (German: Böhmisch Krumau) in Bohemia. He was the second son of Prince Joseph of Schwarzenberg (1769–1833) and his wife Pauline of Arenberg.  His mother died in a fire during a ball on the occasion of Napoleon I's wedding to Archduchess Marie Louise of Austria. One of his brothers was Archbishop Friedrich zu Schwarzenberg. Revolution Upon the outbreak of the 1848 Revolutions, he rushed to the Austrian Kingdom of Lombardy–Venetia to join Field Marshal Joseph Radetzky defeating the Italian rebel forces of King Charles Albert of Sardinia in Milan. For his role as a close advisor to Radetzky, as well as his status as brother-in-law to Marshal Prince Alfred of Windisch-Grätz, who had suppressed the Czech "Whitsun Riot" in Prague and the Vienna Uprising in October, Schwarzenberg was appointed Austrian minister-president— the sixth within a year—and foreign minister on 21 November 1848. In these off...

Hadrian was born on 24 January 76, probably in Italy (near modern Seville) in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica. He was named Publius Aelius Hadrianus after his father. His father was a senator of praetorian rank.  Hadrian's mother was Domitia Paulina, daughter of a distinguished Hispano-Roman senatorial family from Gades (Cádiz).   Childhood Hadrian's father was thus a senator and would have spent much of his time in  Rome. Trajan was Hadrian's father's first cousin.  In 86, Hadrian's parents died. He was then only ten years old. He and his sister became wards of Trajan. Hadrian enjoyed hunting. When he was 14, Trajan ordered him to Rome and arranged his further education to become a young Roman aristocrat. Hadrian had an enthusiasm for Greek literature and  culture, which gave him the nickname: Graeculus ("Greekling"). Emperor Hadrian @ Louvre in France Source picture: Wikipedia  Love and Marriage Hadrian married Trajan's seventeen or eighteen-y...

On 18 September 53, Marcus Ulpius Trajanus was born in the Roman province of Hispania Baetica (in what is now Andalusia in modern Spain) near Seville.  Trajan was the son of Marcia, a Roman noblewoman and sister-in-law of the second Flavian Emperor Titus.  His father was Marcus Ulpius Trajanus the elder. He served under Vespasian in the First Jewish Roman War.  The army In 76-77, Trajan's father was governor of Syria, where Trajan himself remained as Tribunus legionis. After his father's replacement, Trajan moved to the Rhine department of the army. However his time in the army remained obscure. Love and Marriage Trajan married Pompeia Plotina. This was a happy marriage but the couple didn't have any children together.  Rise to power When Nerva became Roman Emperor, he was so unpopular with the army, he felt he had to gain the support of the military in order to avoid being ousted.  He accomplished this in the summer of 97 by naming Trajan as his adoptive  ...

Vespasian was born on 17 November 9 AD at Falacrine, a village at the north-east of Rome.  Colosseum in Rome own picture taken in 2017 Family Vespasian's paternal grandfather, Titus Flavius Petro, became a centurion and he fought at Pharsalus for Pompey in 48 BC. He also became a debt collector.  Titus Flavius Sabinus, Vespasian's father, worked as a customs official in the province of Asiia and he became a moneylender on a small scale. He married Sabinus. They had three children. The elder boy was Titus Flavius Sabinus.  The younger boy was Vespasian. He seemed far less likely to be successful than his elder brother. He married Flavia Domitilla, the daughter of Flavius Liberalis from Ferentium and formerly the mistress of a roman equestrian. They had two sons. Titus Flavius Vespasianus and Titus Flavius Domitianus and a daughter Domitilla. Both his daughter and his wife died before he became emperor.  His mistress Antonia Caenis became his wife in all but forma...

Marcus Salvius Otho was born on 28 April 32 AD as the son of Lucius Alvius Otho and Terentia Albia. He was born in Ferento, a former city in Lazio (nowadays located in central Italy). Way to power Otho's grandfather had been a senator and Claudius granted Otho's father patrician status.  An aged freedwoman brought Otho in the company of the emperor Nero. Otho married the emperor's mistress Poppae Sabina. Later Nero forced Otho to divorce Poppae so that he himself could marry her. Otto was exiled to the province of Lusitania. There he became a capable governor.  Otho allied himself with Galba, then governor of neighboring Hispania Tarraconensis. Later Galba was proclaimed emperor by the Senate. Otho accompanied the new  emperor to Rome in October 68.  Galba was kiled by the Praetorians on 15 January 69. Otho was proclaimed Emperor. Reign Vitellius, the commander of the legions on the lower Rhine River, was already advancing upon Italy. Otho prepared for war.  Dea...

68-69 The year of the Four Emperors Birth & family Serverius Sulpicius Galba (sounds as a name in Harry Potter) was born near Terracina on 24 December 3 BC.  He was not related to any of the emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty but he was a member of a distinguished noble family.  Love and marriage Galba had a sexual preference for men above women. Nevertheless he married a woman named Azmilia Lepida and he had two sons. Aemilia and their sons died during the early years of the reign of Claudius (41-54) and Galba would remain a widower for the rest of his life. Public life Galba became praetor in about 30, then he became governor of Aquitania for  about a year, then consul in 33.  In 39, Emperor Caligula learned of a plot against himself in which Gnaeus Cornelius Lentulus Gaetulicus, the general of the Upper German legions was a key figure. Caligula installed Galba in the post held by Gaetulicus. As commander, Galba gained a reputation as a disciplinarian....

On 1 August 10 BC Tiberius Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was born at Lugdunum (nowadays Lyon in France). own picture of Claudius Taken at the Vatican Museums in 2017 Family Claudius was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia. His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Augustus' sister. Claudius was thus the great-great grand nephew of Tiberius Claudius Nero.  Claudius had two older siblings Germanicus and Livia. His mother had two other children who died young.  Youth In 9 BC , Claudius' father Drusus unexpectedly died on campaign in Germania, possibly from illness. He was then left to be raised by his mother, who never remarried.  In 7 AD, Livy was hired as tutor of Claudius. He also took lessons  from the philosopher Athenodorus.  The guards proclaimed Claudius Emperor Source picture: Wikipedia Raise to power When Augustus died in AD 14,Claudius was 23 years old. He appealed to his uncle Tiberius, to allow him to begin the curus h...

Ferdinand III was born in Graz (Austria) on July 13th. 1608. Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor Source picture: Wikipedia His parents were Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor and  Maria Anna of Bavaria. Rule Ferdinand III was elected King of the Romans at the Diet of Regensburg on 22 December, 1636. Upon the death of his father on 15 February 1637, Ferdinand became Emperor.  By the time Ferdinand became Emperor, vast sections of the imperial territories had been absolutely devastated by two decades of war. The population was completely exhausted and massively diminished, countless people were impoverished, disabled, sick, homeless, many had lost their families and had abandoned all moral standards. Ferdinand did not endeavour to continue the war. But the momentum of the war, the political circumstances and his reluctance to act prevented a quick end to the war Any hope to make early peace with France and Sweden did not materialize. Despite many losses, the constitut...