All About Royal Families

 Princess Alexandra was born on 25 December 1936 at 3 Belgrave Square, London. Her parents were Prince George, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George V and Queen Mary, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, a daughter of Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark and Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia. She was named after her paternal great-grandmother, Queen Alexandra; her grandmother, Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia; and both of her maternal aunts, Countess Elizabeth of Törring-Jettenbach and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia.  She received the name Christabel because she was born on Christmas Day, like her aunt Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester. Her birth was the last to have the tradition of having the Home Secretary present to verify the birth of potential heirs to the throne. Sir John Simon was present and was the last one to do so. Childhood As a male-line granddaughter of the British monarch, she was styled as a British princess with the prefix Her Royal Hi

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

The life and travels of Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) always have fascinated me, you can find lots of her travels on this link .  In Austria she felt restless and she always was very keen to be on her way to the most beautiful destinations. Following her footsteps  resulted in a never ending wishlist but from time to time it is a  surprise to visit places where Empress Elisabeth of Austria was before. I must admit: those places are true treasures. One of them is Elche , (also called Elx) in the province of Alicante in Spain. Elche Palm Trees picture taken in October 2022 Empress Elisabeth of Austria Source picture: Wikipedia   In 1894, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (Sisi) arrived at the port of Alicante . Then she traveled further to Elche, where she was shown an amazing garden.  Port of Alicante in Spain, October 2022 The Empress was very impressed when she looked at the palm tree. She suggested to give them her name. (Imperial Palm).  She also visited the The Huerto del Cura . 

Antonine de Mun was born on 14 November 1849 in Paris as the daughter of marquis Adrien de Mun and Pauline de Ludre.  Love and Marriage She married her nephew Joseph d'Ursel. He became duke d'Ursel and he entered in the Belgian senate. portrait from 1926 painted by Philip de László Source picture: Wikipedia Charles Joseph d' Ursel by by Emile Wauters Source picture: Wikipedia Antonine de Mun moved from Paris to Belgium, where she lived in Hingene  and Brussels. portrait of Antonine made by her mother own picture taken in 2019 In Belgium, she became a respected artist in aristocratic circles. She  painted many portraits of family members and members of the Belgian Royal Family.  a portrait of her daughter in law own picture taken in 2019 A year before her death, she was honoured in her own right by the Belgian King: she was rewarded and became a Dame in the Order of Leopold.  Royal Letters Antonine duchess d'Ursel also had a correspondence with Marie of Hohenzollern Sigm