Royal Mail from the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Albania via Sweden

Many thanks to my dear friend Roger Lundgren, Founder of Kungliga Magasinet, for sending me this signed photograph of Crown Prince Leka II of the Albanians and Crown Princess Elia (née Zaharia) on their wedding day. Roger was recently in Tirana to celebrate a personal occasion with the couple and their family. I was delighted to receive this picture in the mail today.

The Crown Prince and Crown Princess were wed on 8 October 2016 at Tirana, in an ceremony that was celebrated by members of royal families around the world, and planned by the Albanian Royal House with the assistance of Mr Lundgren. The date chosen for their wedding was no coincidence: it marked the 121st birthday of King Zog, Leka's grandfather, who was born at Burgajet on 8 October 1895. Happily, it also marked the sixtieth birthday of my mother, Sally, who helped me cover the nuptials for the European Royal History Journal. Our report of the Albanian royal wedding appeared in Issue CVI, Volume 19.3 (Fall 2016). 

For more photographs of the wedding that were taken by my mother and me, please visit this link: Scenes from the Royal Wedding 

Albanian, Belgian, French, and Russian Royals at La Nuit des Etoiles 2019

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Disa foto marre gjatë mbremjes “La Nuit des Etoiles 2019”, në Steigenberger Wiltcher Hotel, ne pranine e Lartesive te Tyre: Duka i Madh Georges Romanov, Princ Charles-Philippe d’Orléans, Princesha Léa e Belgjikes, Znj. Rebecca Bettarini. Fotot @niviere

A post shared by Prince Leka (@princleka) on May 19, 2019 at 2:02pm PDT

This weekend, members of several European royal and imperial families attended La Nuit des Etoiles ball at Brussels. Amongst their number were Crown Prince Leka and Crown Princess Elia of the Albanians, Princess Léa of Belgium, Prince Charles-Philippe d'Orléans, and Grand Duke George of Russia with Rebecca Bettarini. As well as Princess Léa, George of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini also reside in the Belgian capital.

Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein Turns Fifty!

Today HSH Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein celebrates his fiftieth birthday. The prince was born on 16 May 1969 at St Gallen, Switzerland, and named Maximilian Nikolaus Maria; he is the second son of Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein (b.1945) and Countess Marie Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau (b.1940), who married in 1967. Maximilian followed elder brother Hereditary Prince Alois (b.1968) and was joined by two younger siblings, Prince Constantin (b.1972) and Princess Tatjana (b.1973).

Princes Constantin, Alois, and Maximilian of Liechtenstein in 1979

Prince Hans-Adam, Princess Marie, and their four children.

Maximilian attended the Gymnasium Grammar School at Vaduz. Afterwards, the prince studied at the European Business School in Oestrich-Winkel, Germany, and graduated from this institution in 1993. In 1998 Maximilian received an MBA from the Harvard Business School at Boston, Massachusetts.

 

 

In December 1999, the Princely Family announced the engagement between Prince Maximilian and Miss Angela Gisela Davis (b.Bocas del Toro, Panama 3 February 1958), the daughter of Javier Francisco Brown and Silvia Maritza Burke. At the time, Maximilian was working between London and Hamburg for a venture capital firm. A fashion designer, Angela studied at the Parsons School of Design, where she received the Oscar de la Renta Prize. For a time, she created her own line of clothes under the label "A. Davis"; she then went on to work as the design director for the Adrienne Vittadini fashion firm. 

 

Prince Maximilian of Liechtenstein marries Angela Gisela Brown

 

(l to r) Hereditary Princess Sophie, Prince Constantin, Princess Angela and Prince Maximilian, Princess Tatjana, and Hereditary Prince Alois of Liechtenstein.

The couple were civilly married at Vaduz on 21 January 2000. This was followed by their religious wedding, which took place on 29 January in New York City at the Church of St. Vicente Ferrer: the bride designed the wedding gown herself. Princess Angela wore the Kinsky Honeysuckle Tiara. The marriage was historic in the sense that it brought the first person of Afro-Panamanian ancestry into one of the European reigning families. 

 

Prince Maximilian and Princess Angela with their son Prince Alfonso

 

On 18 May 2001, Maximilian and Angela welcomed the arrival of their only child, Prince Alfons Constantin Maria, born at London. Alfons is currently sixth in the line of succession to the Liechtensteiner throne, after his father. Prince Alfons attended the Munich International School and is to graduate from Wellington College this year. 

 

 

 

 

 

Since 2006, Prince Maximilian has worked as the CEO of the LGT Group (the Liechtenstein Global Trust). The LGT Group has over 2,000 employees around the world and locations on five continents. 

Jean-Christophe and Olympia Grant Interview to Point de Vue

Prince Jean-Christophe Napoléon and Countess Olympia of Arco-Zinneberg recently gave an interview to journalist Vincent Meylan of Point de Vue. The article is accompanied by several lovely photos of the happy couple which were taken by Julie Piatti.

Prince Félix of Luxembourg in 2006 at the wedding of his brother Louis

We learn that the prince and countess first met in Luxembourg at the eighteenth birthday celebrations of their cousin Prince Félix back in 2002. Jean-Christophe was fifteen, Olympia was fourteen. Over time, the couple developed a close relationship.

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The news of Jean-Christophe and Olympia's engagement was made public in March of this year by royal historian Marlene Eilers Koenig. Jean-Christophe elaborates that he proposed to Olympia in January at Prangins, the residence of his grandmother Princess Alix Napoléon in Switzerland on Lake Geneva; the couple were walking in the forest near the lake as snow began to fall when Jean-Christophe popped the question. From a photograph in Point de Vue, we catch a glimpse of the stunning diamond engagement ring.

Speaking of the ring, it was the subject of quite an affair when it was stolen on 1 April in Paris from the prince's locked Mercedes. Jean-Christophe and Olympia were in the French capital with their parents: they were likely doing a bit of wedding planning. Princess Béatrice of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, the mother of the groom-to-be, is the author of Votre Mariage Royal (Your Royal Marriage), published in 2006.  Fortunately, the police recovered the ring a few days later when they arrested the culprit of the theft.

Cathédrale Saint-Louis des Invalides

The future Prince and Princess Napoléon confirmed that they will be married on 19 October at Les Invalides. Olympia has already selected her wedding gown. The union of the Head of House Bonaparte and the Bavarian countess, whose mother is Archduchess Maria Beatrix of Austria, will surely be the wedding of the year in French society and royal circles.

On This Day In History: The Death of Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton, British Aristocrat Turned European Princess

On 14 May 1922, the Princess of Festetics von Tolna died at Budapest, aged seventy-one. The princess was a first cousin of Queen Carola of Saxony, Queen Stephanie of Portugal, King Carol I of Romania, and Princess Marie, Countess of Flanders. Her Serene Highness was also a third cousin of Emperor Napoléon III of the French.

William, 11th Duke of Hamilton

Princess Marie Amélie of Baden

The Hungarian princess had begun life as Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton: she was born at the family home, Hamilton Palace, in Lanarkshire, Scotland, on 11 December 1850 as the daughter of William Hamilton, 11th Duke of Hamilton (1811-1863), and Princess Marie Amélie of Baden (1817-1888), who had wed in 1843. Mary Victoria followed two brothers: William Douglas-Hamilton, eventual 12th Duke of Hamilton (1845-1895), and Charles Douglas-Hamilton, 7th Earl of Selkirk (1847-1886). Mary's paternal grandparents were Alexander Hamilton, 10th Duke of Hamilton (1767-1852), and Susan Euphemia Beckford (1786-1859); her maternal grandparents were Grand Duke Karl of Baden (1786-1818) and Stéphanie de Beauharnais (1789-1860), a second cousin to Eugène de Beauharnais and Hortense de Beauharnais, the stepchildren of Emperor Napoléon I of the French.

The report of the marriage of Prince Albert of Monaco and Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton
Photograph (c) The Standard

The Hereditary Prince and Princess of Monaco shortly after their wedding

 

On 21 September 1869, Lady Mary Douglas-Hamilton married Hereditary Prince Albert of Monaco (1848-1922) at the Château de Marchais, a Grimaldi residence in France. The pair had met for the first time a month before, in August 1869, when they attended a ball hosted by Emperor Napoléon III and Empress Eugénie in Paris. A strictly arranged union, the couple were matched together by the groom's grandmother Marie Caroline Gibert de Lametz (1793-1879), a former French actress and the wife of Prince Florestan I of Monaco (1785-1856) as well as mother of Prince Charles III of Monaco (1818-1889), father of Prince Albert. 

 

Hereditary Princess Mary and her son Prince Louis of Monaco

 

Albert and Mary of Monaco produced their only child, a son and heir, the year after their marriage. Prince Louis of Monaco was born on 12 July 1870 at Baden, in the grand duchy from which his maternal grandmother hailed. The marital bonds between Albert and Mary were tenuous, and did not last. The Scottish-born princess was not fond of the Mediterranean climate or the Monegasque court, and Albert had a tendency to be cold and distant: this resulted in Mary leaving Monte Carlo and the principality permanently not long after her son was born. The union of the Hereditary Prince and Princess of Monaco was annulled in 1880 following a long separation. 

 

Prince Tasziló Festetics von Tolna

 

After the annulment was granted, Mary swiftly remarried to Hungarian nobleman Count Tasziló Festetics von Tolna (1850-1933). Prince Louis of Monaco was raised in Baden by his maternal grandmother and did not see his father until he was eleven years-old. At that point in time, Louis returned to Monaco to be trained for his future royal duties. The future Louis II of Monaco was joined by four half-siblings: Mária Matild (1881-1953), György (1882-1941), Alexandra Olga (1884-1963), and Karola (1888-1951). Tasziló was created Prince Festetics von Tolna in 1911 by Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary. 

 

Prince György Festetics von Tolna (1882-1941)

Princess Alexandra "Alex" Festetics von Tolna (1884-1963)

On 26 June 1922, Prince Albert I of Monaco, the ex-husband of the late Princess of Festetics von Tolna, died one month after his first wife. Albert was succeeded by the couple's only child as Prince Louis II of Monaco. Louis II reigned until 1949, when he passed away at Monte Carlo at the age of seventy-eight on 9 May 1949. Prince Louis was succeeded by his only grandson, Prince Rainier III (1923-2005), who was the child of Louis' legitimised daughter Princess Charlotte (1898-1977) and her former husband Count Pierre de Polignac (1895-1964). 

 

Prince Albert I of Monaco in the 1910s

Prince Louis II of Monaco

Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois

Through her first marriage, Lady Mary Hamilton-Douglas is the great-great-grandmother of Prince Albert II of Monaco (b.1958). Through her second marriage, Mary is the great-grandmother of fashion designer Prince Egon of Fürstenberg, socialite and actress Princess Ira of Fürstenberg and the Czech Minister of Foreign Affairs Prince Karel Schwarzenberg. Mary's second marriage was a happy one and lasted over forty years. Mary is buried beside her second husband Tasziló at the mausoleum of Festetics Palace. 

 

Festetics Palace

Lady Mary Victoria Douglas-Hamilton

 

 

The Twenty-Fourth Wedding Anniversary of the Duke and Duchess of Bragança

On 13 May 1995, Dom Duarte Pio João Miguel Gabriel Rafael de Bragança (b.1945), the Head of the Royal House of Portugal, married Dona Isabel Inês Castro Curvello de Herédia (b.1966). Duarte was the son of Dom Duarte Nuño (1907-1976), Duke of Bragança, and Princess Maria Francisca of Orléans-Bragança (1914-1968); Isabel was the daughter of Dom Jorge de Herédia and Dona Raquel Leonor Pinheiro de Castro Curvello. The Duke and Duchess of Bragança were wed at Jerónimos Monastery in Belém, Lisbon. Theirs was the first Portuguese royal marriage to be held in the country since that of the eventual King Carlos I of Portugal (1863-1908) and Queen Amélie (1865-1952; née Orléans) in 1886.

A "royal mob" observes the bullfight on 11 May at the Campo Pequeno arena.

 

The celebrations surrounding the wedding of D. Duarte and D. Isabel's marriage were truly of magnificent proportions. Royal guests began arriving on Thursday, 11 May, in Lisbon - that evening, a bullfight was held that had the Duke of Bragança and dona Isabel surrounded by the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess of Luxembourg on their left and the Countess of Paris ("Tante Bebelle" to the duke, whose late mother Maria Francisca was the sister of Isabelle, Countess of Paris). Bourbons, Habsburgs and Savoys were also in the crowd to watch the bullfight at the arena of Campo Pequeno. 

 

Dom Duarte and Dona Isabel at the welcome dinner on 12 May at Queluz Palace.

 

On Friday, 12 May, guests attended a welcome dinner hosted at Queluz Palace. The evening began with a tea served at the Palace Hotel, followed by an exhibition held by the Portuguese School of Equestrian Art and afterwards a group of Timorese people interpreted diverse typical dances with motifs related to marriage and maternity. There was also a concert performed by several student musical groups, at the end of which the dinner was served, in the Rooms of Glasses and Music of the Palace.

 

 

 

The royal wedding occurred on the following day, 13 May; it was broadcast live on Portuguese television. Dom Duarte had stated that "I would feel more comfortable with a quiet wedding, but I realize that a lot of people want to celebrate with us." Dona Isabel noted: "I want my wedding to be above all a religious ceremony. These are not suitable times for great parties, with so many needy people." However, owing to the 3,000 person guest-list, it was inevitable that the Bragança nuptials would be on a grand scale. The bride's wedding gown was designed by Portuguese couturier Laurinda Farmhouse and her hair was done by Alexandre of Paris.

 

 

The Duke of Bragança arrived at Jerónimos Monastery at 3:55pm with his brother Dom Miguel. Shortly thereafter, Dona Isabel arrived on the arm of her father, Dom Jorge de Herédia. The religious ceremony was conducted by His Beatitude the Patriarch Cardinal of Lisbon, D. António Ribeiro. There was a sense that the wedding of the Head of the Royal House of Portugal and his Consort was a semi-state occasion, owing to the attendance of the Portuguese President Mário Soares with his wife as well as of Prime Minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva with his wife. Of course, the Gotha was also out in full force to witness the wedding of one of their most amiable cousins to the splendid young woman who had accepted his hand in marriage. 

 

Here pictured in profile: Princess Teresa of Orléans-Bragança, Queen Mother Giovanna of Bulgaria, Queen Margarita of Bulgaria, Archduke Otto of Austria, Hereditary Grand Duchess Maria Teresa and Hereditary Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg, Prince Philippe of Belgium, and Infanta Margarita of Spain.

Dom Duarte arrives with his brother Dom Miguel

Dona Isabel arrives on the arm of her father

A view of the Roman Catholic wedding at Jerónimos Monastery

 

After the religious ceremony, the newly married Duke and Duchess of Bragança exited the Monastery and greeted their fellow countryman and other spectators who had gathered outside to join in the celebrations of the special day. 

 

 

 

Eurohistory wishes TRH the Duke and Duchess of Bragança a very Happy Anniversary! 

The 77th Birthday of Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark

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During the exile of the Greek royal family from their country during World War II, HRH Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark was born at Cape Town, South Africa, on 11 May 1942. Irene was the third child and second daughter of Crown Prince Paul of the Hellenes (1901-1964) and Crown Princess Frederica (1917-1981; née Hannover), who wed in 1938. The princess joined an elder sister, Sophia (b.1938), and an elder brother, Constantine (b.1940). Irene's godfather was Field Marshal Jan Christiaan Smuts (1870-1950), the 2nd Prime Minister of South Africa. In 1946, the Greek royals returned to their country - Irene's uncle was King George II of the Hellenes.

 

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In 1947, following the death of her uncle George II, Irene's father Paul succeeded to the Greek throne as King of the Hellenes. His reign would last until 1964, when he died at the age of sixty-two. At that time, Irene's brother became King Constantine II of the Hellenes. His reign would last until 1973, when the Greek monarchy was abolished.

 

Gina Bachauer

 

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During her formative years, Princess Irene was a pupil of the concert pianist Gina Bachauer. Afterwards, the princess performed as a professional concert pianist herself.

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In the wake of the flight of the Greek royals in 1967, Irene followed her brother Constantine and sister-in-law Anne-Marie into exile in Rome. They were accompanied by their mother, Frederica, who had become a polarising figure in Greece owing to her German birth. The royal family resided in a villa near Rome.

Princess Irene

 

Prince Albert of Belgium, Crown Prince Harald of Norway, Princess Irene of Greece, and Princess Paola of Belgium

 

At some point in the late 1960s, Princess Irene was in a relationship with Prince Michel d'Orléans (b.1941), one of the twin sons of the Count and Countess of Paris. This romance ended when Michel wed Béatrice Marie Pasquier de Franclieu in 1967, much to his father's consternation. There was also some hope that Princess Irene would win the heart of Crown Prince Harald of Norway; yet, Harald was already firmly set on marrying his future bride Sonja. In later years, Irene found as a companion an equerry of her brother, King Constantine; the couple never married nor had issue. 

 

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After her brother Constantine lost his throne in 1973, Irene moved to India with her mother: the two were very much interested in Hindu philosophy. After Queen Frederica's death, Princess Irene has lived in Spain in an apartment at the Zarzuela Palace in Madrid, the royal residence of her sister and brother-in-law, King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofía of Spain.

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark throughout the years

 

Together with her cousin Princess Tatiana Radziwill, Princess Irene is one of the closest confidantes of her sister, Queen Sofía of Spain.