All About Royal Families

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

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

The fourth daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, Sophie was born on 26 June 1914 at Mon Repos , a palace in Corfu that her parents inherited after the assassination of King George I in 1913.  Nicknamed "Tiny" by her family, the princess grew up within a united household, together with her elder sisters Margarita (1905–1981), Theodora (1906–1969),   and Cecilie (1911–1937).  With their mother, Sophie and her sisters communicated in English, but they also used French, German, and Greek in the presence of their relatives and governesses. Childhood Sophie's early childhood was marked by the instability that the Kingdom of Greece experienced due to the First World War. The conflict divided her family into opposing branches, and Greece eventually set aside its neutrality due to the Triple Entente.  Sophie and her sisters were in the royal palace of Athens when it was bombarded by the French Navy during the battle in the capital on 1 D

On 8 May 1946, Winston Churchill flew to The Netherlands. In Amsterdam he was received by Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands. Together they  marked the first anniversary of VE-Day.  The Dutch Royal family also received Winston Churchill on Soestdijk Palace where he was invited to a dinner. Princess Beatrix (later Queen Beatrix of The Netherlands) knew the former British Prime Minister very well from his famous speeches. Apperently, her mother, Queen Juliana (then Princess) once caught her performing a Churchill radio speech, while using a curtain cord as micro.  Winston Churchill - book Cover On 9 May 1946, Winston Churchill spoke to the Dutch parliament in  The Hague on 12.30. On 10 May 1946 he was in Leiden University for the presentation of his degree. Churchill received an honorary doctorate of law. Source picture: Wikipedia On Saturday 11 May 1946, Churchill received in Amsterdam a Gold Medal. He also took a cruise on the city's canal.  On May 13th. Chuchill visited Rotterdam

Charles-Louis Napoleon Bonaparte, later known as Louis Napoleon and then Napoleon III, was born in Paris on the night of 19–20 April 1808.  Family His father was Louis Bonaparte, the younger brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, who made Louis the king of Holland from 1806 until 1810. His mother was Hortense de Beauharnais, the only daughter of Napoleon's wife Joséphine by her first marriage to Alexandre de Beauharnais. Charles-Louis was baptized at the Palace of Fontainebleau on 5 November 1810, with Emperor Napoleon serving as his godfather and Empress Marie-Louise as his godmother. His father stayed away, once again separated from Hortense. At the age of seven, Louis Napoleon visited his uncle at the Tuileries Palace in Paris.  Napoleon held him up to the window to see the soldiers parading in the courtyard of the Carousel below. He last saw his uncle with the family at the Château de Malmaison, shortly before Napoleon departed for the Battle of Waterloo. Education When Louis Napoleon