All About Royal Families

On 28 June 1838, the coronation of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom  took place at Westminster Abbey in London. The planning Queen Victoria succeeded her uncle King William IV on 20 June 1837. Her first prime minister was Lord Melbourne, with whom she developed a close personal friendship.  Until 1867, the Demise of the Crown automatically triggered the dissolution of parliament: voting in the subsequent general election took place between 24 July and 18 August. The result was a victory for Melbourne, whose Whig Party government was returned to power for another four years. Their majority over the opposition Conservative (formerly Tory) Party was reduced from 112 seats to 30. Melbourne was the leading player in the planning, preparation and implementation of Victoria's coronation. The crowd Prior to 1838, only the peerage had taken part in a coronation. The day's ceremonies would have begun in Westminster Hall, (now attached to the Houses of Parliament), and upon their com...

On 13 September 1843, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert visited Belgium. The visit Their Royal Yacht brought the couple to Ostend. During this visit, the Queen of the United Kingdom and her husband were officially received in Bruges, Brussels, Ghent and Antwerp. Ostend nowadays - a lot of differences when Queen Victoria paid a visit there ...  Of course the Queen and her husband visited uncle King Leopold I of Belgium and his wife Queen Louise-Marie. Waterloo In these days the battlefield of Waterloo wasn't officially visited. King Leopold I of Belgium didn't want that the ties between France and England deteriorated.  However in all silence, lord Aberdeen, the British minister of Foreign Affairs, visited the battlefield of Waterloo. His younger brother had died there in 1815. The Return In Antwerp the royal company embarked to their yacht to return to London. Source pictures: Wikipedia

14 June 1870 marks the birth of Sophia of Prussia. This lovely event took place at the New Palace in Potsdam near Berlin in Prussia (now a part of Germany). Family Sophia was the daughter of Frederick III (who became later German Emperor) and Victoria, Princess  Royal. Sophia was thus a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of The United Kingdom. Her paternal grandparents were Wilhelm I, German Emperor and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Sophia was a member of the House of Hohenzollern. Sophie was eleven years younger than her brother the future Wilhelm II, German Emperor. 6 days after Sophia's birth, Napoleon III of France declared war to Prussia. Childhood Sophia was known as Sossy during her childhood. Two other brothers Sigismund and Waldemar died during their childhood. This made that Sophia and her sisters had a good bond with their mother Victoria. She was raised with a great love for England and she made frequent visits to her grandm...

Was Klemens (von) Metternich a real spider or just a  splendid diplomatic? Klemens Metternich was born on 15 May 1773 as the eldest son of Franz George Carl Count Metternich-Winneburg zu Bilstein and  Countess Maria Beatrice Aloysia von Kageneck. He was named in honour of Prince Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, the archbishop of Trier and the former employer of his father.  Education His education was handled by his mother , influenced by their  proximity to France. Metternich spoke French better than German. In 1788, Metternich started to study law at the University of Strasbourg. During his studies he met Prince Maximilian of Zweibrücken (who became later King of Bavaria).  At the end of 1790 till the summer of 1792, Metternich studied law at the University of Mainz. This was a more conservative education than at Strassbourg. In March 1792, Francis II succeeded as Holy Roman Emperor, he was  crowned in July. M...

On 26 January 1859, just before midnight,  Princess Victoria of Prussia got contractions at the Crown Prince Palace in Berlin. She was assisted by a team of German doctors with doctor Wegner as head. Sir James Clark, the personal physician of Queen Victoria also was present. Fourteen hours later the royal child was born. He received the names: Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert. Among family he was nicknamed "Willy" At the time of his birth, his great-uncle, Frederick William was King of Prussia and his grandfather Wilhelm was acting as regent. His parents were Prince Frederick William of Prussia and Princess Victoria. She was the daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert. A traumatic breech birth resulted in Erb's palsy, his left arm was about 15 centimetres shorter than his right arm. At 3 pm., 101 salute shots told the crowd that a new prince was born. Source pictures: Wikipedia

On 25 January 1858 , Victoria, Princess Royal married her Prince Charming Frederick of Prussia. Crown Princess Victoria was the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of the United Kingdom. Prince Frederick was the son of Prince William (who became later King of Prussia and even German Emperor) and Princess Augusta of Saxe- Weimar-Eisenach. A love story Crown Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom met her future husband in 1851 for the first time. Then Frederick, his sister Louise and their father who became later William I, German Emperor visited the Great Exhibition in London. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert asked their daughter to guide Frederick at the exhibition. The Princess was able to converse in German while the Prince only understood a few words English. Frederick was fascinated by the relationships among the members of the British royal family. In London, Court life was not so frigid as in Berlin. The more, Queen Victoria and Prince...

9 January 1848 marks the birth of Princess Frederica of Hanover.  She would marry the love of her life. Birth Princess Frederica of Hanover was born on 9 January 1848 at Hanover in Germany. She was the elder daughter of the Hereditary Prince of  Hanover (who became later King George V of Hanover) and his wife Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. She was known as "Lilly" within her family.  Love and Marriage In January 1866 Otto von Bismarck, the Prime Minister of Prussia  began negotiations with Hanover, regarding the possible marriage of Frederica to Prince Albrecht of Prussia. These plans came to nothing as tensions grew between Hanover and Prussia, which resulted in the Austro-Prussian War. (14 June to 23 August 1866). Frederica was courted by her first cousin, Prince Leopold Duke of  Albany (a son of Queen Victoria of The United Kingdom). They  stayed lifelong friends and confidantes.  One of h...

2 November 1767 marks the birth of Prince Edward. This royal event took place at Buckingham House in London, England. Family Prince Edward was the fourth son and the fifth child of King George III of England and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He was styled: His Royal Highness The Prince Edward from birth. Prince Edward was a member of the royal house of Hohenzolleren. Duty Prince Edward started his military training in Germany in 1785. He went to Lüneburg and later to Hanover, accompanied by his tutor Baron Wangenheim. On 30 May 1786, Prince Edward was appointed as colonel in the British Army. From 1788 till 1789 he completed his education in Geneva. In 1789, Prince Edward was appointed colonel of the 7th. Regiment of Foot the Royal Fusilliers. In 1790, he was sent off to Gibraltar as an ordinary officer. Due to the Mediterranean heat, Prince Edward requested to be transferred to present- day Canada, specifically Quebec. He arrived there in 1791. He ...

The last weeks were busy ones, so I only could read two fantastic royal books. The first one was Victoria the Queen, written by Julia Baird , which is of course a splendid biography about Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. I liked reading this interesting book about Queen Victoria, which was written  very well  and it gives an idea about her life from birth till death.  It also describes the era of Queen Victoria , her ministers, writers, inventors and many other important people.  This is a biography as it should be.  The other royal biography was a book written in Dutch about an other interesting queen: Queen Elisabeth of Belgium written by Ralf De Jonge. Elisabeth became the third queen of Belgium from 1909 till 1934. In the book, which also was written very well the author tells about Elisabeth's youth in Bavaria, about her bond with her aunt Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) , her marriage to Crown Prince Albert of Belgiu...

Queen Victoria of The United Kingdom always has fascinated me and reading a book about her and her family really is a special treat. On 10 February 1840, Queen Victoria married her Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. This family already had important family ties with inter alia Belgium, Portugal and many other royal families in Europe. Screenshot of the Bookcover However the new royal couple and especially Prince Albert had a plan. They wanted to secure the peace in Europe through the marriages of their children and even grandchildren. After the death of Prince Albert in 1861, Queen Victoria continued to forfill their dream. The book mentions lots of children and grandchildren and the making of their wedding plans. Queen Victoria's Matchmaking was written by Deborah Cadbury and translated in Dutch in 2017 by Roelof Posthuma/Nieuw Amsterdam. I like the way the author wrote this book, the division into clear chapters and the use of the 'nickna...

Alexandrina Victoria was born on 24 May 1819 at Kensington Palace in London. A young Princess Victoria - Source picture: Wikipedia Family Her parents were Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn and Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn was the fourth son of King George III. Queen Victoria painted by Winterhalter Source picture: Wikipedia Youth Alexandrina Victoria was raised under close supervision by her German-born mother. Princess Victoria and her dog Dash -  Source picture: Wikipedia Reign At the age of 18, the young princess inherited the throne. She became a national icon who was identified with strict standards of personal morality. Love and Marriage Queen Victoria married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in 1840. The royal couple got 9 children. She received the nickname: "Grandmother of Europe". On this blog there are 3 pages dedicated to the d...