All About Royal Families

While reading about the Czech Republic, I discovered a very interesting noble family, that dates back to the 14th. century. In fact it is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families.  Mikulas Chudy "The Poor" (1378-1435) was a poor squire from the village of Ujezd in Bohemia. After studying at the Charles University in Prague, he was noticed by King Wenceslaus IV, who rewarded him for his service with the title of the  village Lobkovice. The former poor squire called himself Nicholas Lobkowicz. During his service with the king, he captured several castles, belonging to rebellious nobles; he was allowed to keep one, Haistejn Castle as a Hereditary possession.  Who is who? Jan Haistejsky z Lobkowicz (1450-1517) was a diplomat who traveled to  Luxembourg in 1477 and to Rome in 1487. King Vladislaus II entrusted him with negotiating his marriage to Mary of Burgundy. But she would marry the later Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian II.  Jan's brother Bohuslav Lobkowicz (1461-1510) was

Prince Leopold of Belgium was born on 12 June 1859 at the Royal Castle of Laeken near Brussels. Family His parents were King Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria.  He was a member of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He had one elder sister Princess Louise and two younger sisters:  Princess Stéphanie and Princess Clémentine. By birth his grandfather, King Leopold I granted him the title: Count of Hainaut. When his grandfather died in 1865, Prince Leopold became Duke of Brabant.  Death On 22 January 1869, Prince Leopold died at Laeken after falling in a pond.  His body was interred at the Royal Vault at the Church of Our Lady in Laken. Source pictures: Wikipedia

One of the oldest Belgian noble families is without no doubt the  House of Ligne. The family was named from the village of Ligne, located between Ath and Tournai (nowadays the Hainaut province of Belgium).  Some Royal History At the time of the Crusades, the lords of Ligne belonged to the  entourage of the Count of Hainaut.  In the Battle of Bouvines, which took place in 1214, they were described as "great name and men of honour". Thierry de Ligne was mentioned than for the very first time.  In 1544 Jacob of Ligne was granted by Emperor Charles V as Count of Ligne.  On 20 March 1601 Lamoral I of Ligne received from Emperor Rudolf II the title prince of the Holy Roman Empire. This was granted for himself and for all his descendants both male and  female.  King Willem I of the Netherlands granted on 13 March 1816, Eugène of Ligne as prince for him and all his descendants.  In 1923, King Albert I of Belgium granted Ernest of Ligne the right to use his old titles of Prince of Amb

No, this blog post isn't about the anthem of Belgium "La Brabançonne" or perhaps it is.  In 'hellhole' Brussels there is an amazing statue called "La Brabançonne".  It is  located on La Place Surlet de Chokier.  Besides the statue is named after the national anthem of Belgium, it really has a wonderful royal history.  Royal History On 22 November 1918, King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of Belgium made their joyous entry in the city of Brussels after World War I. More about this occasion on this link . For that event a series of temporary statues were created in stucco. Only one of them the "Brabançonne" is made in Bronze.  The statue was made by Charles Samuel and inaugurated on 16 November 1930,  one hundred year after the independence of Belgium.  A part of the national anthem of Belgium was sculpted on the pedestal. This was realised by René Gillion who was one of the richest Belgians at that moment.  A visit The statue of La Brabançonne is

On 9 August 1832, a real royal wedding took place between King Leopold I of Belgium and Princess Louise of Orléans. Hard Negotiations At the beginning the parents of Princess Louise of Orléans, King Louis Philippe I of France and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, didn't like the idea that their daughter would marry King  Leopold I of the Belgians. They had several reasons to decline the marriage: - King Leopold had fought in the army of the Russian Tsar against France. - He (had) belonged to the court of the royal family of the United Kingdom. - He was not a Roman Catholic. Other objections were:  The mother of Princess Louise of Orléans would like to marry her daughter to the Duke of Calabria, who was also the heir to the kingdom of Naples to tighten the strings between France and her native country. Above all these arguments, King Leopold had a bad reputation. It was known that he was a womanizer. Besides these things, Belgium was at that moment a new country,

On 24 May 1971, George Pompidou visited Brussels where he met the government leaders. He also was received by King Baudouin and Queen Fabiola of the Belgians at the Royal Palace. It was the first official visit to Belgium by a French chief of State since 1929. George Pompidou was Prime Minister of France from 1962 till 1968. From 1969 till 1974 he was President of France. Baudouin was King of the Belgians from 17 July 1951 till 31 July 1993. If you want to know more, check this movie on this link . The latest State Visit From France to Belgium took place on 19 & 20 November 2018. Then president Macron and his wife visited Belgium. I took these pictures during several summer exhibitions at the Royal Palace in Brussels.

On 17 May 1971, Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She is the daughter of Jorge Zorreguieta and Maria del Carmen Cerruti Carricart. She has two brothers and a sister (deceased) and three half-sisters. She is named after her paternal grand-mother Máxima Bonorio González (1874 - 1983). Máxima grew up in Buenos Aires. She graduated from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina From 1989 Máxima started working. From May 2000 till March 2001, she worked for the Deutsche Bank in Brussels, Belgium. In April 1999, Máxima met Prince Willem-Alexander in Seville, Spain, during the Spring Fair. The news of the couple's relationship, caused lots of controversy, due to Máxima's father Jorge. He was a minister during the Dirty War in Argentina. The couple announced their engagement on 30 March 2001. Máxima addressed the nation in Dutch. On 17 May 2001, she received the Dutch citizenship. Máxima and Prince Willem-Alexander m

Recently (in april 2020) the Hotel Metropole in Brussels, capital of Belgium, was mentioned in the newspapers as bankrupt due to a lack of money and the Covid-19 crisis. This is a sad thing for the Belgian Tourism and the Hotels in Brussels. Hotel Metropole at the Brouckière square in Brussels was the only working hotel, founded in the 19th. century. Hotel Metropole Café in Brussels History In 1890, two brothers decided to open Café Metropole, to sell their own beer. It became a real success and later the family after café Wielemans-Ceupens bought the bank near the café to create a big hotel. They asked architect Alban Chambon to build a beautiful place. It was the first hotel in Brussels with electric lights and central heating systems. In 1911, the hotel hosted the famous Solvay conference with inter alia Einstein, Marie & Pierre Curie as guests. In 1957, a big reception (before Expo '58) took place at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels. In Hotel Met

During many visits in the most splendid palaces, it always strikes me that noble people and royalty always spent much of attention to their library. It really is a pleasure to walk in such beautiful places full of history. It must be clear that a lot of Kings and Queens love to read. In Belgium we know that King Philippe of the Belgians is an avid reader and in March 2020 (just as on many more occasions,) Queen Mathilde of the Belgians encouraged young people to start reading. King Philippe of the Belgians inherited his passion for reading books by his ancestors. Queen Louise-Marie of Belgium, born as Princess Louise d'Orléans liked to read too. Her favourites were works from Lord Byron, Shakespeare, Balzac and Victor Hugo. One other Belgian royal who liked to read was Elisabeth in Bavaria (1876-1965). She married to King Albert I of Belgium (then Crown Prince) in 1900. She was Queen Consort of Belgium from 1909 till 1934. In 2015, her favourite books wer

The Belgian royal family counts many interesting and extraordinary women which were often forgotten in history. One of them is Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was born on 17 November 1845 as the daughter of Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Josephine of Baden. She was thus the granddaughter of Karl, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen and Marie Antoinette Murat (a niece of Joachim Murat, King of Naples). She also was the granddaughter of Charles Grand Duke of Baden and Stéphanie de Beauharnais (a niece of Napoleon Bonaparte). Princess Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen was thus the sister of inter alia: Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (who was the father of King Ferdinand I of Romania). Princess Stéphanie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who married to King Pedro V of Portugal. Carol of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, who became King of Romania. Love and Marriage As every roy

If even Goodreads states: you're behind your reading scheme of the year, it's certainly time to read some royal books :-) This 'Books on Sunday' is about someone who lately has touched lots of royalty watchers. It's about Delphine Boël. Finally, after all these years, King Albert II of Belgium has admitted, in a very cold message that Delphine Boël is his natural daughter. But who is she? Delphine Michèle Anne Marie Ghislaine Boël was born on 22 February 1968 as the daughter of Sybille de Seleys Longchamps and King Albert II of Belgium. However Sybilles official husband, Jacques Boël (a member of a noble family of industrialists) recognized Delphine as his daughter. The couple divorced in 1978. Delphine attended boarding school in England and Switzerland and she studied at the Chelsea School of Art and Design in London. In 1990 she earned her Bachelor of Arts in Fine arts. In 1999, Mario Danneels published his book Paola from la Dolce Vita t

On 4 February 2020, King Philippe of the Belgians visited the National Bank of Belgium in Brussels. Nationale Bank België Brussel National Bank of Belgium in Brussels Royal history The National Bank of Belgium has been the central bank of Belgium since 5 May 1850. First they worked from a mansion in the Warmoesberg in Brussels. But this became soon too small. The organization bought some properties near the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels. This is nowadays a museum about the history of the National Bank of Belgium. Later the National Bank of Belgium opened suboffices around the country. Even in my hometown Sint-Niklaas there was a building of the National Bank. Most of them are closed now. In 2010, the National Bank of Belgium acquired the buildings of the Union du Crédit in Brussels. These buildings were designed by Désiré De Keyser. The most impressive is the glass roof, held by a steel structure. National Bank Belgium Museum

In the summer of 2019, I had the chance to see a wonderful exhibition at the Sentate of Belgium. Meanwhile my husband and I got a guided tour  in the building. It really is a splendid royal destination not only due to its history but  also due to the building and due to the many royal links inside.  I must admit, I'm not a political genious and most of the time, I stay far  away from the complicated politics in Belgium. However I really liked  being in the Belgian senate. What is the Senate of Belgium? The Senate of Belgium is one of the two chambers of the Federal Parliament of Belgium. The other house is the Chamber of  Representatives. Thus the Senate is considered to be the upper house of the Federal  Parliament.  The senate was created in 1831 as a chamber fully equal to the Chamber of Representatives. It has undergone several reforms in the past. The most important ones took place in 1993 and 2014. Entrance of the Senate