All About Royal Families

Today, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark will abdicate after 52 years on the throne. In the afternoon Frederik will become the new King and Mary the new Queen. Foto: Hasse Nielsen In Europe this is the 6th. change of throne within 11 years.  It all started with Pope Benedict XVI. He was Pope from 19 April 2005 untill his resignation on 28 February 2013. He was succeeded by Pope Francis. Beeld: ©RVD - Gemmy Woud-Binnendijk Meanwhile in a broadcast on national media on 28 January 2013, Beatrix announced her intention to abdicate on 30 April (Queen's Day), when she would have been on the throne for exactly 33 years. Beatrix stated that it was time to "place the responsibility for the country in the hands of a new generation". The official program for the abdication and inauguration took place on 30 April 2013. Beatrix signed the instrument of abdication in the Vroedschapkamer (also known as Mozeszaal) in the Royal Palace, Amsterdam at 10:07 a.m. local time. With the completion o...

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...

The Start The House of Bourbon - Two Sicilies descends from Philippe de Bourbon, Duke of Anjou . He was a grandson of King Louis XIV of France. He  founded the Bourbon dynasty of Spain. It was Philippe's grandson, Ferdinand who became in 1759 King of Naples and Sicily. His descendants occupied the joint throne, merged as the "Kingdom of the Two Sicilies" in 1816, until 1861, claimed it thereafter from exile, and constitute the extant Bourbon-Two Sicilies family. A dispute The succession of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies has, since 1960, been disputed between the senior Calabrian line, which is currently being represented by Prince Pedro, Duke of Calabria (born 1968) and the junior Castro line, which is currently being represented by Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro (born 1963).  Since Prince Carlo, Duke of Castro, has only daughters, in accordance with the traditional male-line succession of the House of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the succession in theory should go to the senio...

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 special Santa Bárbara Castle, high above Alicante on the Costa Blanca in Spain, offers an amazing view towards the city. It also has a rich history.  History On the slopes of the mountain, Bronze Age, Iberian and Roman artifacts have been found however the origins of the castle goes back to the 9th. century  during the Muslim control of the Iberian Peninsula.  On 4 December 1248, the castle was captured by Castilian forces led by Alfonso of Castile. It was named after Saint Barbara, on whose feast day the castle was recaptured from the Arabs.  It was conquered by the Aragonese in 1296 during the reign of James II of Aragon, who ordered its reconstruction. Peter IV of Aragon, Charles I of Spain and Philip II of Spain would oversee further reconstructions. The castle was bombarded in 1691 by a French squadron. During the War of the Spanish Succession, it was held by the British for three years. In 1873, it was bombarded, along with the city, by the cantonalistas fr...

Recently I bought these stamps of King Felipe of Spain on a market in Madrid. It's a nice royal piece in the collection. But who is King Felipe of Spain?  Birth Felipe was born at Our Lady of Loreto Hospital at Madrid on 30 January 1968, as the third child and only son of Infante Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía of Greece and Denmark. He was baptised on 8 February 1968 at the Palace of Zarzuela by the Archbishop of Madrid, Casimiro Morcillo, with water from the Jordan River.  His full baptismal name is Felipe Juan Pablo Alfonso de Todos los Santos , it consists of the names of the first Bourbon king of Spain (Felipe V), his grandfathers (Infante Juan of Spain and King Paul of Greece), his great-grandfather King Alfonso XIII of Spain, and de Todos los Santos ("of all the Saints") as is customary among the Bourbons.  His godparents were his paternal grandfather Juan and his paternal great-grandmother, Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. Additionally, he is the third cousin ...

King Constantine II of Greece died in Athens on 10 January 2023. He was the last King of Greece untill the abolution of the monarchy on 1 June 1973.  The funeral of the former King of Greece takes place on Monday 16 January 2023 at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens Eisenhower, Constantine, Alexis Liatis, Ambassador of Greece  Youth Constantine was the only son of King Paul and Queen Frederica of Greece. As his family was forced into exile during World War II, he spent the first years of his childhood in Egypt and South Africa.  Civil War He returned to Greece with his family in 1946 during the Greek Civil War. King George II died in 1947, and Constantine's father became the new king, making Constantine the crown prince. A King He acceded as king in 1964 following the death of his father, King Paul. Later that year he married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark. Although the accession of the young monarch was initially regarded auspiciously, his reign saw poli...