All About Royal Families

Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland (Madeleine Thérèse Amelie Josephine) was born 10 June 1982 at at Drottningholm Palace and is a member of the Swedish royal family from the House of Bernadotte . Baptism She was christened at The Royal Palace Church on 31 August 1982, her godparents being her father's maternal cousin the * Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, * her maternal uncle Walther L. Sommerlath, * her father's paternal cousin Princess Benedikte of Denmark, and * her paternal aunt Princess Christina, Mrs Magnuson. Title   Madeleine was given the honorary title of Duchess of Hälsingland and Gästrikland. Education From 1985 to 1989, Madeleine began her education at Västerled Parish Pre-School.  In the autumn of 1989, she entered Smedslättsskolan in Bromma, attending at the junior level. For the intermediate level, she proceeded to Carlssons School in Stockholm, and then went on to Enskilda Gymnasiet in Stockholm, which she atte...

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 ...

There was once a very noble girl ...  It could be the start of a fairy tale, but in fact this was the start  of Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz.  A girl!  Mathilde Marie Christine Ghislaine d'Udekem d'Acoz was born on 20 January 1973 at Edith Cavell Hospital in Uccle, Belgium.  Her parents are Count and Countess Patrick d'Udekem d'Acoz. Mathilde had three sisters: Marie-Alix (died in 1997) , Elisabeth, married to  Margrave Alfonso Pallavicini Hélène, married to baron Nicolas Janssen and one brother Charles-Henri, who married to Caroline Philippe.  👉 Mathilde is the only Belgian Queen who is born in Belgium!  own picture taken at royal palace in Brussels Childhood and education Mathilde attended primary school in Bastogne. Mathilde lived together with her family at Château de Losange. This had an interesting royal connection. It was here that Princess Marie José ,daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth, announced her engagement to Crown P...

15 August marks the B-Day of Anne, Princess Royal.To celebrate her B-Day here are some lovely pictures of her on several occasions.  Queen Elisabeth, Princess Anne and Prince Charles and then Prime Minister Winston Churchill (1953) In June 1970, Prince Charles and Princess Anne visited the White House and the Nixon family. Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. Anne is 17th in the line of succession to the British throne and has been Princess Royal since 1987. Born at Clarence House, Anne was educated at Benenden School and began undertaking royal duties upon adulthood. She became a respected equestrian, winning one gold medal in 1971 and two silver medals in 1975 at the European Eventing Championships. In 1976, she became the first member of the British royal family to have competed in the Olympic Games. Th...

 Philip IV was born in the Royal Palace of Valladolid on 8 April 1605. Family Philip IV was born in the Royal Palace of Valladolid, and was the eldest son of Philip III and his wife, Margaret of Austria. His paternal grandparents were King Philip II of Spain and Anna of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria.  Philip  IV was a member of the royal house of Habsburg. Love and Marriage In 1615, at the age of 10, Philip was married to 13-year-old Elisabeth of France. Although the relationship does not appear to have been close, some have suggested that Olivares, his key minister, later deliberately tried to keep the two apart to maintain his influence, encouraging Philip to take mistresses instead, by which he is known to have had at least 30 progeny. Philip had ten children by Elisabeth, with only one being a son, Balthasar Charles, who died at the age of sixteen in 1646. The death of hi...

On 16 October 1430, James II of Scotland was born at Holyrood Abbey in Edinburgh, Scotland.  Family His parents were King James I of Scotland and Joan Beaufort! He was a  member of the House of Stewart. Childhood By his first B-Day, his elder twin brother, Alexander died, so James became heir of the throne of Scotland. He was called the Duke of Rothesay. Love and Marriage On 3 July 1449, then 18 years-old, James married Mary of Guelders who only was 15 years old! She was the daughter of the Duke of Guelders. She bore him seven children.  Duty On 21 February 1437, his father King James I was assassinated. James' mother the Queen managed to get her 6- year-old son.  On 25 March 1437, James II was crowned in Holyrood Abbey as King of  Scotland. Until 1439, James II lived together with his mother and his sisters - one of his sisters, Margaret, would marry King Louis XI of France, at  Dunbar Castle. In 1449, James II reached adulthood but he had to struggle...

Last week I read the excellent book: Harry Conversations with the Prince, written by Angela Levin. The book was edited in 2018 by John Blake Publishing Ltd. London and the imprint was from Kings Road Publishing Ltd. The translation in Dutch was made in 2018 by Just Publishers - Hans van Maar. Harry Conversations with the Prince was well written in 14 clear chapters. The book talked inter alia about 1/ the youth & the childhood 2/ Prince Harry's education 3/ His relation with Prince William 4/ The Divorce of Charles, Prince of Wales and Diana, Princess of Wales 5/ The loss of his mother 6/ The muteneer 7/ the gap year 8/ Soldier and Prince 9/ Harry's War 10/ Officer Wales 11/ Prince Harry's Ups and Downs 12/ His charities and his projects 13/ About Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex. 14/ About his vision. Whether you like Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex or not, the conversations written by Angela Levin is a great opportunity to understand the Pr...

From 20 October 2019 till 27 October 2019 it was a beautiful but busy week for the royals and also for the blogs about royalty.  There was a splendid enthronement in Japan and the 18th. B-Day ceremony of Princess Elisabeth of Belgium. I really loved both important royal events but I only managed to read one book over the last few weeks.  More about the royal events on these links: Link 1 Link 2 I chose the book: 'Albert & Elisabeth: Mes Parents', written in French by princess Marie José of Belgium, the last Queen of Italy. Queen Marie José lived from 1906 till 2001 and she was the youngest child of King Albert I of Belgium and Queen Elisabeth. Together with her brothers Prince Charles of Belgium and Leopold (Later King Leopold III) she experienced the war and the turbulent years between the two wars in a small, protected world. It were heavy times on the field of military, politics, social, economical internationally and nationally. In...