All About Royal Families

In the series about Florence, I usually talk about the de' Medici family but other royals were quite fascinated by the city as well. One of them was Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She reigned from 20 June 1837 until 22 January 1901. Since Queen Victoria was one of my main inspirations for starting the All About Royal Families blog, I naturally have to share details about her stays in Florence. Queen Victoria visited Florence multiple times, with her most significant stays occurring in 1888, 1893 and 1894 . These visits were part of her regular spring trips to southern Europe, where she sought both respite from the harsh British winters and engagement with the cultural and political life of Italy. When she travelled, Queen Victoria was accompanied by at least 80 people who occupied 13 carriages of her private train.  Florence in the 19th. Century 1888 Visit to Florence In March 1888, Queen Victoria arrived in Florence and took up residence at Villa Palmieri , a hist...

12 May 1879 marks the birth of Princess Feodora of Saxe Meiningen. Princess Feodora was the only child of Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, and his wife Princess Charlotte of Prussia, herself the eldest daughter of German Crown Prince Frederick William and Crown Princess Victoria. The new baby was the first grandchild of the Crown Prince and Princess, and through her mother was also the first great-grandchild of the British Queen Victoria. See also descendants of Queen Victoria (2) on this link .  Queen Victoria was fond of her eldest great-grandchild. In June 1887, the young Feodora and her parents attended the queen's Golden Jubilee in London. While her parents stayed at Buckingham Palace, Feodora stayed with her young cousin Princess Alice of Battenberg at the home of the Dowager Duchess of Buccleuch at Whitehall, allowing the girls to watch the royal procession as it made its way to Westminster Abbey.  Que...

Victoria was born on Easter Sunday at Windsor Castle in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria on 5 April 1863. Her parents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.  She was christened in the Lutheran faith in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, in the arms of the Queen on 27 April. Her godparents were: * Queen Victoria, * Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, * Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (represented by Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine), * the Prince of Wales and Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine Childhood Her early life was spent at Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, until the family moved to the New Palace in Darmstadt when she was three years old. There, she shared a room with her younger sister, Elisabeth, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard and was, throughout her life, an avid reader. During the Prussian invasion of Hesse in June 1866, Vic...

Princess Viktoria Elisabeth Auguste Charlotte was born on 24 July 1860 at the Neues Palais in Potsdam.  She was the eldest daughter and second child of Prince Frederick William of Prussia and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal. Family Her grandmother, Queen Victoria, wanted her eldest granddaughter to be named after her. However, the Prussians wanted the new princess to be named Charlotte after Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia, who had been born Princess Charlotte of Prussia.  As a compromise, her first name was Victoria, but she was always referred as Charlotte. She was also named after her paternal grandmother, Queen Augusta of Prussia. Princess Charlotte of Prussia was by birth a member of the  Royal House of Hohenzollern.  Childhood While Vicky was close with her eldest daughter, this changed as the girl grew older; by the time she was two years old, Charlotte had become known as "sweet naughty little Ditta"and would prove to be the most difficult of the fam...

On 28 June 1838, the coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom  took place at Westminster Abbey in London. The planning Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle King William IV on 20 June 1837. Her first prime minister was Lord Melbourne, with whom she developed a close personal friendship.  Until 1867, the Demise of the Crown automatically triggered the dissolution of parliament: voting in the subsequent general election took place between 24 July and 18 August. The result was a victory for Melbourne, whose Whig Party government was returned to power for another four years. Their majority over the opposition Conservative (formerly Tory) Party was reduced from 112 seats to 30. Melbourne was the leading player in the planning, preparation and implementation of Victoria's coronation. The crowd Prior to 1838, only the peerage had taken part in a coronation. The day's ceremonies would have begun in Westminster Hall, (now attached to the Houses of Parliament), and upon their com...

31 October 1934 marks the birth of Princess Margaretha of Sweden. This took place at Haga Palace, Solna, Sweden. Family She was the eldest child of Prince Gustaf Adolf, Duke of Västerbotten and his wife Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Her paternal grandparents were  Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden and his late wife Princess Margaret of Connaught. Her maternal grandparents were Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha and his wife Princess Victoria Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein.  Princess Margaretha had other siblings: Princess Birgitta of Sweden (born 19 January 1937); Princess Désirée, Baroness Silfverschiöld (born 2 June 1938); Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson (born 3 August 1943); and Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden (born 30 April 1946). She is a member of the house of Bernadotte. Love and Marriage In the 1950s Margaretha had a relationship with Robin Douglas-Home, a Scottish aristocrat and the nephew of the future Prime Minister of t...

Princess Victoria Louise was born on 13 September 1892, the seventh child and only daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II and Empress Augusta Victoria.  The young princess was christened on 22 October, and was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Victoria, and her paternal great great grandmother, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Known officially as Victoria Louise, she was nicknamed "Sissy" by her family. Childhood Historian Justin C. Vovk writes that Victoria Louise was intelligent like her paternal grandmother Empress Frederick, stately and dignified like her mother, but imperious and willful like her father. She enjoyed being the center of attention,and was her father's favourite. The family resided at Homburg Castle, and Victoria Louise and Joachim would often visit their cousins – the children of the Prussian princesses Margaret and Sophia – at nearby Kronberg Castle. In 1905, the princess studied music with concert pianist Sandra Droucker. For a period o...

Victoria, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Västergötland (Victoria Ingrid Alice Désirée) was born 14 July 1977 at Karolinska Hospital, Solna, Sweden. The Swedish  royal court has released a picture on this link .   Sweden is located in Northern Europe, it borders Norway to the west and the north, Finland in the east and Denmark in the south.  visit from the Indian President to Sweden (2015) Family Victoria is the oldest child of King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia. She is a member of the House of Bernadotte . Born as a princess of Sweden, she was designated crown princess in 1979 ahead of her younger brother. Her place as first in the line of succession formally went into effect on 1 January 1980 with the parliamentary change to the Act of Succession that introduced absolute primogeniture. 👉  Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden is a great-great-great granddaughter of  Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom through Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught an...