All About Royal Families

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 Prince Umberto of Italy. 

How it started Franz Ferdinand became heir presumptive of the throne in 1889 after the suicide of his cousin Crown Prince Rudolf and after the death of his father Karl Ludwig in 1896. This gave him a great deal of trouble, for he could not marry the woman he loved: Sophie, Countess of Chotek. Her family was not of dynastic rank.Franz Ferdinand refused to renounce Sophie to marry. A marriage In 1899, under pressure from family members (especially the Archduchess Maria Theresa, the emperor's formidable sister-in-law and Franz Ferdinand's stepmother) the couple were granted permission to wed.  Franz Ferdinand was allowed to retain his place in the order of succession and a suitable title was promised for his future wife. However, to prevent Franz Ferdinand from attempting to proclaim his wife empress-queen or declaring their future children dynasts and thus eligible to inherit the crown (especially that of Hungary, where morganatic marriages were unknown to law) once he ascended t

With this short biography blog post, we are going to Germany, in particular to the royal court of Prussia, and their capital Berlin.  Princess Louise Marie Elisabeth of Prussia was born on 3 December 1838 to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach.  Louise was named after her grandmothers, Louise, Queen of Prussia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and was known as "Vivi" in her family.  Her parents were a happy but tense couple, and Louise had only one other sibling, Prince Frederick William, who was seven years older. Upon her birth, Augusta declared that her duty in perpetuating the Hohenzollern dynasty was complete. While Wilhelm showed some outward affection to his only son, he lavished attention on Louise, and often his unexpected visits to her schoolroom resulted in them playing together on the floor. Mother and daughter however were not close. A lovely portrait of Winterhalter Source picture: Wikipedia Love and Marriage

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

20 September 1886 marks the birth of Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Family Cecilie was a daughter of Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia. Childhood  She spent most of her childhood in Schwerin, at the royal residences of Ludwigslust Palace and the Gelbensande hunting lodge, only a few kilometres from the Baltic Sea coast.  Her father suffered badly from asthma and the wet damp cold climate of Mecklenburg was not good for his health. As a result, Cecilie spent a large amount of time with her family in Cannes in the south of France, favoured at the time by European royalty, including some whom Cecilie met such as Empress Eugénie and her future husband's great-uncle, Edward VII. During the winter visit of 1897, Cecilie's sister, Alexandrine, met her future husband, Crown Prince Christian, later Christian X of Denmark, shortly before the death of their father at the age of 46. After returning to Schwe

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

On 31 August 1985, Mohammed bin Salman is born in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Family Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud was born on 31 August 1985 to Prince Salman bin Abdulaziz and his third spouse, Fahda bint Falah Al Hithlain. Fahda is a granddaughter of Rakan bin Hithlain, who was the  head of the Al Ajman tribe. Childhood and youth Bin Salman is the eldest among his mother's children and is the eighth child and seventh son of his father; his full siblings include Turki bin Salman, former chairman of the Saudi Research and Marketing Group and Khalid bin Salman. Prince Mohammed holds a bachelor's degree in law from King Saud University. A job After graduating from college, bin Salman spent several years in the private sector before becoming a personal aide to his father. He worked as a consultant for the Experts Commission, working for the Saudi Cabinet. On 15 December 2009, at the age of 24, he entered politics as a special advisor to his father when the latter was the governor of Riyad

24 August 1772 marks the birth of William (Willem Frederik), Prince of  Orange-Nassau. Family King William I's parents were the last stadtholder William V, Prince of Orange of the Dutch Republic, and his wife Wilhelmina of Prussia.   Until 1806, William was formally known as William VI, Prince of Orange-Nassau, and between 1806 and 1813 also as Prince of Orange.  Love and marriage In Berlin on 1 October 1791, William married his maternal first cousin (Frederica Louisa) Wilhelmina of Prussia , born in Potsdam. She was the daughter of King Frederick William II of Prussia. This royal couple would have 6 children together: * Willem Frederik George Lodewijk (b. The Hague, 6 December 1792 – d. Tilburg, 17 March 1849) later King William II of the Netherlands from 1840. He married Russian Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna. * Stillborn son (Hampton Court, Palace, Middlesex, 18 August 1795). * Willem Frederik Karel (b. Berlin, 28 February 1797 – d. Wassenaar, 8 September 1881), he married on 21 M