All About Royal Families

In June 2024, we had the chance to travel to Florence in Italy (Firenze).  We expected a lot from this amazing city but it more than lived up to the high expectations. We "knew" Florence a bit because of the royal family de' Medici, but the city offered much more royal destinations and royal history. I will tell about this in the coming weeks and months on this blog. In Firenze we saw interesting portraits and we "met" important figures in royal history. I'm still sorting out the many pictures we took. So, I hope you will enjoy my coming posts and video's!  By the way, let's hope the summer will last a bit longer. 

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.  Queen Victoria described her as "sweet little Feo, w...

Many reining monarchs have special Christmas traditions. One of them is the  yearly Christmas Speech. In the United Kingdom the first Christmas Broadcast was delivered by George V  in 1932 and since then has evolved into an important part of the Christmas Day celebrations for many in Britain and around the world. Each Broadcast carefully reflects current issues and concerns, and shares The Monarch's reflections on what Christmas means to them and their listeners. Over the years, the Christmas Broadcast has acted as a chronicle of global, national and personal events which have affected the Monarch and their audience.  King George V's eldest son and the new king, Edward VIII, never delivered a Christmas Broadcast, as his reign lasted less than a year. The task fell to King George VI, King Edward's younger brother, who made his first broadcast in December 1937 in which he thanked the nation and Empire for their support during the first year of his reign. Though the Christma...

On 15 December 1960, in the morning, King Bouduin of Belgium married Fabiola de Mora y Aragón in the Throne Room of the Royal Palace of Brussels. Then a ceremony was held at the St. Michael and St. Gudula Cathedral in Brussels.  The witnesses were the groom's father, King Leopold III, his brother-in-law, Jean, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, the bride's brother, The Marqués of Casa Riera, and the pretender to the Spanish throne, the Count of Barcelona. The bride's white silk and tulle gown, trimmed with ermine, had a high neckline, three-quarter length sleeves with a drop waist and a full skirt. It was designed by Cristóbal Balenciaga and had a 22-foot long train.  She wore the Art Deco diamond tiara given to her late mother-in-law at the time of her own marriage in 1926. The groom wore the uniform of a Lieutenant-General of the Armed Forces with the riband and star of the Belgian Order of Leopold and the collar of the Spanish Order of Isabella the Catholic. Royal Gues...

One of the greatest palace surprises ever was the Residenz in Munich. As the proverb says: don't jugde a book by its cover, it also can apply to  seemingly boring palaces. So don't jugde a palace by its facade.  Some Facts The Residenz is the largest city palace in Germany and is today open to visitors for its architecture, room decorations, and displays from the former royal collections. The complex of buildings contains ten courtyards and displays 130 rooms. own pictures of the Residenz taken in 2014 Some royal history The first buildings at this site were erected in the year 1385 and were financed by the township of Munich as a sanction for a failed uprising against Stephen III (1375–1413) and his younger brothers.  The Silver Tower (Silberturm), as the strongest bastion, was significantly situated next to the inner walls protecting the castle against the city.  With the order of William IV (1508–1550) to expand the Neuveste with the so-called Rundstubenbau and to...

The lovely country Portugal and its former royal history always have fascinated me, due to the strong family ties with the noble house of Saxe-Coburg. But if we went further back in time, Portugal only was ruled by members of the noble house of Aviz. Coat of Arms of Portugal Source picture: Wikipedia Some royal history On 22 October 1383, King Ferdinand I of Portugal died at the age of 37, he left the country with a dynastic crisis. Ferdinand's widow Leonor Telles was disliked by the nobility and the people for having had her first marriage annuled in order to marry King Ferdinand I. Ferdinand's only heir was a daughter Beatrice and she had married John I of Castile, who claimed the Portuguese throne in the name of his wife. Ferdinand I of Portugal Source picture: Wikipedia Coat of Arms Portugal own picture taken in 2017 However in April 1385, in the middle of a popular revolt and civil war, the Cortes of Coimbra declared John of Aviz as...