All About Royal Families

Victoria was born on Easter Sunday at Windsor Castle in the presence of her maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria on 5 April 1863. Her parents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.  She was christened in the Lutheran faith in the Green Drawing Room at Windsor Castle, in the arms of the Queen on 27 April. Her godparents were: * Queen Victoria, * Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, * Louis III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine (represented by Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine), * the Prince of Wales and Prince Heinrich of Hesse and by Rhine Childhood Her early life was spent at Bessungen, a suburb of Darmstadt, until the family moved to the New Palace in Darmstadt when she was three years old. There, she shared a room with her younger sister, Elisabeth, until adulthood. She was privately educated to a high standard and was, throughout her life, an avid reader. During the Prussian invasion of Hesse in June 1866, Vic...

When the Danish author and poet Hans Christian Andersen wrote about Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: "I quite love the young duke, he is the first of all princes that I really find attractive" I wanted to know more about this Duke. Youth Charles Alexander August Johann was born on 24 June 1818 in Weimar. He was the second but eldest surviving son of Karl Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia.  His mother engaged as tutor for Karl the Swiss scholar Frédéric Soret who became a close acquaintance to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Reign On 8 July 1853 his father died, and Charles Alexander became Grand Duke; but he stopped his constitutional accession until Goethe's birthday, on 28 August 1853. Charles Alexander renovated Wartburg Castle, and left his traces in many places in Eisenach.  He was the protector of Richard Wagner and Franz Liszt, retained the tradition of Weimar's classical period, and gave ...

On 21 May 1913, King George V arrived at Vlissingen on board of the Royal Yacht, Victoria & Albert. Together with his wife, Queen Mary, Lord Stamfordham (his secretary) and sir Frederick Ponsonby he walked to a car, which brought them to the imperial train. The company was on their way to Berlin, for attending the royal wedding of  Victoria Louisa of Prussia and Ernstest August, Duke of Brunswick. This important royal wedding took place on 24 May 1913. The marriage ended a rift between the Houses of Hohenzollern and Hanover. However it took a long time that this event took place: anydiscussions of marriage were prolonged for months due to political concerns. Ernest Augustus was also the heir to the Kingdom of Hanover, which the Kingdom of Prussia annexed following the 1866 Austro- Prussian War.  The Prussian crown prince was displeased with the match and wished that Ernest Augustus would abdicate his rights to Hanover; in a compromise, it was decided that, in e...

By royal decree of King Albert II of Belgium (2007), two members (both sons of Prince Michel Felix Swiatopelk-Czetwertynski) were recognised in the Belgian nobility with the rank of Prince, for them and their male-line descendants. 💡 Unlike his sons Prince Michel Felix Swiatopelk-Czetwertynski was not recognized in the Belgian nobility because he wasn't born in Belgium.  They are members of one of the 11 Princely Families in Belgium.  With this interesting episode, I was keen to know more about the history of this rather unknown  Princely family. History The first documented member of the family is Oleksander Chetvertynsky, who is mentioned in 1388. The family was accepted into the princely houses of Poland and Lithuania in 1569 and their Russian title of prince was confirmed in 1843. In 1492, Prince Fedir Mykhailovych Chetvertynsky was the Lithuanian-Ruthenian ambassador to Wallachia. Over time, the family were Polonized and Catholicized, but some me...

23 March 1887 marks the birth of Prince Felix Yusupov. He was born at Moika Palace in Saint Petersburg. Family His father was Count Felix Felixovich Sumarokov-Elston, the son of Count Felix Nikolaievich Sumarokov-Elston. Zinaida Yusupova, his mother, was the last of the Yusupov line, of Tatar origin, and very wealthy.  For the Yusupov name not to die out, his father (1856, Saint Petersburg – 1928, Rome, Italy) was granted the title and the surname of his wife, Princess Zinaida Yusupova, on 11 June 1885, a year after their marriage, but effective after the death of his father-in-law in 1891. The Yusupov family, one of the richest families in Imperial Russia, had acquired their wealth generations earlier. It included four palaces in Saint Petersburg, three palaces in Moscow, 37 estates in different parts of Russia, on the Crimea (at Koreiz, Kökköz and Balaklava), coal and iron-ore mines, plants and factories, flour mills and oil fields on the Caspian Sea.  Youth Felix led a flam...

Alchemy is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and proto scientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Middle East, and Europe.  The goals of alchemy included the creation of a divine body and immortality. The philosopher's stone of European alchemists can be compared to the Grand Elixir of Immortality sought by Chinese alchemists.  Nicolas Flamel is a well-known alchemist, but a good example of pseudepigraphy, the practice of giving your works the name of someone else, usually more famous.Although the historical Flamel existed, the writings and legends assigned to him only appeared in 1612. Flamel was not a religious scholar as were many of his predecessors, and his entire interest in the subject revolved around the pursuit of the philosopher's stone. I learned more about Alchemy by watching the first Harry Potter movie: The Philosopher's stone.  However which royals did like Alchemy? Who hired an alche...

Abdullah was born on 30 January 1962 at Palestine Hospital in Amman, to King Hussein and Hussein's British-born second wife, Princess Muna Al-Hussein (born Antoinette Avril Gardiner). He is the namesake of his paternal great-grandfather, Abdullah I, who founded modern Jordan. King Hussein and his wife Queen Muna Family Abdullah's dynasty, the Hashemites, ruled Mecca for over 700 years—from the 10th century until the House of Saud conquered Mecca in 1925—and have ruled Jordan since 1921. The Hashemites are the oldest ruling dynasty in the Muslim world.  According to family tradition, Abdullah is the 41st-generation agnatic descendant of Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and her husband, Ali, the fourth Rashidun caliph. As Hussein's eldest son, Abdullah became heir apparent to the Jordanian throne under the 1952 constitution.Political instability caused King Hussein to appoint an adult heir in his place, choosing Abdullah's uncle Prince Hassan in 1965. Abdullah has four bro...