All About Royal Families

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...

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...

At the year of the Platinum Jubilee of The Queen, the Allaboutroyalfamilies blog wants to talk about the jewelries, the history and the residences of the royal  House of Windsor. This is a blogpost/bookreview about Windsor Castle, nowadays the main royal residence of Queen Elizabeth.   Windsor Castle - An Illustrated History    Windsor Castle is a royal residence at Windsor in the English county of Berkshire. It is strongly associated with the English and succeeding British royal family, and embodies almost a millennium of architectural history. History Of course, the book Windsor Castle - An Illustrated History contains a lot of history, which goes back to William The Conqueror.  The Medieval Castle It was built in the decade after the Norman conquest of 1066. William established a defensive ring of motte and bailey castles around London; each was a day's march – about 20 miles (32 km) – from the City and from the next castle, allowing for easy r...

 Philip IV was born in the Royal Palace of Valladolid on 8 April 1605. Family Philip IV was born in the Royal Palace of Valladolid, and was the eldest son of Philip III and his wife, Margaret of Austria. His paternal grandparents were King Philip II of Spain and Anna of Austria. His maternal grandparents were Charles II of Austria and Maria Anna of Bavaria.  Philip  IV was a member of the royal house of Habsburg. Love and Marriage In 1615, at the age of 10, Philip was married to 13-year-old Elisabeth of France. Although the relationship does not appear to have been close, some have suggested that Olivares, his key minister, later deliberately tried to keep the two apart to maintain his influence, encouraging Philip to take mistresses instead, by which he is known to have had at least 30 progeny. Philip had ten children by Elisabeth, with only one being a son, Balthasar Charles, who died at the age of sixteen in 1646. The death of hi...

There are not many books about the grand ducal family of Luxembourg. However  recently I found and bought a very beautiful book: un Amour Souverain. It is a mix written in English and in French. Source picture: book cover Context While studying in Geneva, Henri met the Cuban-born María Teresa Mestre y Batista, who was also a political science student.  They married in Luxembourg in a civil ceremony on 4 February 1981 and a religious ceremony on 14 February 1981 with the previous consent of the grand duke, dated 7 November 1980; and they remain married. The couple has five children: Guillaume, Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, Prince Félix of Luxembourg, Prince Louis of Luxembourg, Princess Alexandra of Luxembourg, and Prince Sébastien of Luxembourg. For the first time, on the occasion of their emerald wedding, the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess agreed to confide in Stéphane Bern in complete privacy, to tell their love story, to unveil their personal album with unpublishe...

On 9 August 1832, a real royal wedding took place between King Leopold I of Belgium and Princess Louise of Orléans. Hard Negotiations At the beginning the parents of Princess Louise of Orléans, King Louis Philippe I of France and Maria Amalia of the Two Sicilies, didn't like the idea that their daughter would marry King  Leopold I of the Belgians. They had several reasons to decline the marriage: - King Leopold had fought in the army of the Russian Tsar against France. - He (had) belonged to the court of the royal family of the United Kingdom. - He was not a Roman Catholic. Other objections were:  The mother of Princess Louise of Orléans would like to marry her daughter to the Duke of Calabria, who was also the heir to the kingdom of Naples to tighten the strings between France and her native country. Above all these arguments, King Leopold had a bad reputation. It was known that he was a womanizer. Besides these things, Belgium was at that moment a new...

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...

Afonso was born as the son of Henry of Burgundy and Teresa, the illegitimate daughter of King Alfonso VI of León and Castile. He belonged thus to the royal Portuguese House of Burgundy. His place of birth and even his date of birth were disputed. Duty: a raise to power Henry, Count of Portugal and Teresa reigned jointly until his death on 22 May 1112. Afterwards Teresa ruled Portugal alone. She even would proclaim herself queen but she was captured and forced to reaffirm her vassalage to her half-sister Urraca of León. In an effort to pursue a larger share in the Leonese inheritance, his mother Teresa joined forces with Fernando Pérez de Trava, the most powerful count in Galicia. The Portuguese nobility disliked the alliance between Galicia and Portugal and rallied around Afonso. In 1122 Afonso turned fourteen, this was the adult age in the 12th century. In symmetry with his cousin, he made himself a knight on his own account in the Cathedral of Zamora in 1125...

On 4 December 1999 Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz married Crown Prince Philippe of Belgium. First they had their civil wedding at the Town Hall on the Grand Place in Brussels. Later they went to the Cathedral of St. Michael and St. Gudula in Brussels for their ecclesiastical wedding. Kardinal Godfried Danneels gave his blessing for the marriage. Mathilde's bridal gwon was designed by Édouard Vermeulen of Natan. The flowers in the Cathedral were created by Daniel Ost. On the day of her wedding Mathilde became officially Duchess of Brabant and Princess of Belgium (this was published on 13 November 1999). On 21 July 2013 Philippe and Mathilde became King and Queen of the Belgians. Though they are not that popular in Belgium and especially in Flanders, the northern part of the country, the royals are doing it better than King Philippe's parents: King Albert II of Belgium and Queen Paola of Belgium. On the occasion of the 20th. Wedding Jubilee of t...

On 4 November 1631 Mary, Princess Royal was born. This royal event took place at St. James's Palace in London. Family Mary was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, Scotland and Ireland and his wife Henrietta Maria of France. So Mary was named after her mother. Her paternal grandparents were James VI of Scotland (he ruled as James I of England) and Anne of Denmark. Her maternal grandparents were King Henry IV of France and Maria de' Medici. Mary was thus a member of the House of Stuart. Youth In 1642, King Charles I of England designated her Princess Royal, thus establishing the tradition that the eldest daughter of the British sovereign might bear this title. Love and Marriage King Charles I of England wanted that Mary would marry her first cousin Balthasar Charles, Prince of Asturias, the son of King Philip IV of Spain. Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine was also a suitor for her hand. However both proposals fell through and ...