Engagement of the Hereditary Prince of Mecklenburg Announced

Alexander and Hande. Picture courtesy of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Today Their Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Mecklenburg announced the engagement of their eldest son His Highness Hereditary Prince Alexander of Mecklenburg to Hande Macit. 

The hereditary prince and his fiancée at the Hermitage Amsterdam, August 2020. Picture courtesy of the Grand Ducal House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Hereditary Prince Georg Alexander of Mecklenburg was born on 17 July 1991 to Duke Georg Borwin of Mecklenburg (b.1956) and Duchess Alice (b.1959; née Wagner). Alexander has two siblings: Duchess Olga (b.1988) and Duke Michael (b.1994). Hande Macit was born on 16 September 1992 to of Mr Suphi Macit and his wife Cemile (née Uçar). Hande has one brother: Kerem (b.1987). Alexander and Hande live in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The future hereditary princess is learning German and preparing to convert to Roman Catholicism, the religion of the Mecklenburg branch into which she is marrying.

Our congratulations to the couple!

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Bourbon-Two Sicilies Scion Weds Spanish Duchess

 

 

 

Thanks to the research of royal genealogist (and our dear friend) Hein Bruins, it has become known that Don Rodrigo Moreno y Borbón-Dos Sicilias and Doña Casilda Ghisla Guerrero-Burgos y Fernández de Córdoba, XXI Duquesa de Cardona, were married in 2020.

Infanta Alicia of Spain, Dowager Duchess of Calabria, and her grandson Don Rodrigo Moreno y de Borbón attend the wedding of the Prince of Asturias in 2004.
Photograph (c) Julián de Domingo.

Rodrigo's maternal grandfather:
HRH Infante Alfonso of Spain, Duke of Calabria.

Born in 1962, Rodrigo Moreno y Borbón-Dos Sicilias is the eldest of the seven children of Don Iñigo Moreno y Arteaga (b.1934), Marqués de Laserna, and his wife Princess Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (b.1937). Rodrigo's paternal grandparents are Don Francisco de Asís Moreno y de Herrera (1909-1979), Conde de Los Andes, and his wife Doña Maria Teresa de Jesús de Arteaga y Falguera (d.1962), Marquesa de La Eliseda. Rodrigo's maternal grandparents are Infante Alfonso of Spain (1901-1964), Duke of Calabria, and his wife Princess Alice of Bourbon-Parma (1917-2017). Rodrigo's first cousin is Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria. Rodrigo Moreno y de Borbón is a great-great grandson of King Alfonso XII of Spain (1857-1885) and his wife Queen Maria Cristina (1858-1929; née Archduchess of Austria).

The Duchess of Cardona stands next to Princess Cristina of the Two Sicilies while the duchess is named by the Duke of Calabria as the the Patroness of the Royal Delegation in the Principality of Catalonia of the Sacred and Military Constantinian Order of St. George (2019).
Photograph courtesy of the Sacra y Militar Orden Constantiniana de San Jorge.

Casilda Ghisla's maternal grandfather:
HE Don Luis Jesús Fernández de Córdoba y Salabert, XVII Duque de Medinaceli.

Born in 1981, Casilda Ghisla Guerrero-Burgos y Fernández de Córdoba is the only child of the late Doña Casilda Fernández de Córdoba y Rey (1941-1998), Duquesa de Cardona, and her second husband Don Antonio Guerrero Burgos (1924-1984). At her baptism in October 1981, Casilda Ghisla had Doña Angela Téllez-Girón y Duque de Estrada, XVI Duquesa de Osuna, and Don Francesco Guerrero Burgos stand as her godparents. Casilda Ghisla's maternal grandparents are Don Luis Jesús Fernández de Córdoba y Salabert (1880-1956), XVII Duque de Medinaceli, and his second wife Doña María de la Concepción Rey de Pablo Blanco (d.1971). The Duchess of Cardona was previously married to Emilio Prieto y Reina; from this marriage she has one daughter, Doña Casilda Prieto y Guerrero-Burgos. The Duchess of Cardona's maternal aunt was the well-known Doña Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba y Fernández de Henestrosa (1917-2013), XVIII Duquesa de Medinaceli, who counted among her children-in-law a Prince zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg and a Princess of Orléans-Bragança.

 

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Don Rodrigo Moreno y Borbón-Dos Sicilias and Doña Casilda Ghisla Guerrero-Burgos y Fernández de Córdoba, Duquesa de Cardona, are fourth cousins. The couple both descend from Don Andrés Avelino de Arteaga y Carvajal Vargas (1807-1850), marqués de Valmediano, and his wife Doña Fernanda María de Silva-Bazán y Téllez-Girón (1808-1879).

 

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The 101st Birthday of Princess Marie-Louise of Croÿ, Aunt of the Duke of Croÿ

Princess Marie-Luise von Croÿ in 1941.

Her Serene Highness Princess Marie-Luise (Louise) Natalie Engelberta Ludmilla von Croÿ was born at Dülmen on 18 December 1919. The princess was the third child and second daughter of Duke Karl Rudolf of Croÿ (1889-1974) and his first wife Nancy Leishman (1894-1983). She joined an older brother and sister: Duke Karl of Croÿ (1914-2011; married Princess Gabrielle of Bavaria) and Princess Antoinette (1915-2011). Marie-Louise's father was married to Helen Lewis (1898-1976) from 1922-1931. In 1933, Duke Karl married Marie Louise Wiesner (1904-1945); they produced Marie-Louise's only half-sibling: Prince Clemens von Croÿ (1934-2013). Marie-Louise's mother Nancy later married Markus Andreas d'Oldenberg (1877-1939).

Richard Metz.

On 11 March 1941 at New York, Princess Marie Louise married Richard Edward Metz (1912-1997). The couple had one child. Their daughter Valerie de Croy Metz was born at New York City on 23 January 1945. Princess Marie Louise and Richard Metz divorced in 1949. Aged eighty-five, Richard passed away on 26 October 1997 in New York.

On 5 May 1972 at Paris, Valerie Croy Metz married Philippe de Boissieu, the son of Victor de Boissieu; this union ended in divorce. In 1976 at New York, Valerie Croy Metz remarried Francesco L. Cottafavi, with whom she had one child: Vittorio Edoardo Cottafavi (b.4 December 1976). Valerie and Francesco eventually divorced. Afterwards, Valerie married John Francis Heisig (1924-2019). Valerie Croy Metz Heisig passed away in the 1990s. On 14 June 2014 at Camden, Maine, Vittorio Cottafavi married Julia E. Sortwell, the daughter of Edward B. Sortwell and Melinda Szep. Vittorio and Julia have two children: Olivia and Francesco. These are the only great-grandchildren of Princess Marie Louise of Croÿ.

Nelson Slater.

On 27 November 1952, Princess Marie Louise married Horatio Nelson Slater III (1893-1968). The Slaters are an American philanthropic, political, and manufacturing family from Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and Connecticut whose members include the "Father of the American Industrial Revolution," Samuel Slater, a prominent textile tycoon who founded America's first textile mill, Slater Mill (1790), and with his brother John Slater founded Slatersville, Rhode Island in North Smithfield, Rhode Island in 1803, America's first planned mill village. After moving many of their mills to the South from New England, the village of Slater-Marietta, South Carolina, was named after the family. Marie Louise of Croÿ was widowed on 22 April 1968 when her husband Nelson died at Lausanne, Switzerland, at the age of seventy-four.

Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr. with his mother Ellen Walters Delano Adams.

Thirdly, on 23 July 1969, Princess Marie Louise married Frederick Baldwin Adams Jr. (1910-2001), the son of Frederick Baldwin Adams (1878-1961) and Ellen Walters Delano (1884-1976). Mr. Adams, a first cousin once removed of Franklin D. Roosevelt through his mother, was the director of the Pierpont Morgan Library from 1948 until 1969, when he and Marie-Louise moved to Paris. Princess Marie Louise of Croÿ still lives in France.

Happy Birthday Princess!

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Paul Lambrino - Who Is in Portugal - Has Been Sentenced to Prison in Romania

The High Court of Cassation and Justice has sentenced Paul Lambrino (aka "Paul Philippe Hohenzollern" and aka "Paul al Romaniei") to three years and four months in prison due to influence buying, money laundering and complicity to abuse of office. The sentence is final and enforceable; it cannot be appealed. The sentence is in connection with a corruption case to which Mr Lambrino and twenty-one other defendants are tied. According to DNA (National Anticorruption Directorate), the charges against the defendants concern crimes committed between 2006-2013 in various forms of participation, in the interest of obtaining real estate of special value, including the Snagov Forest and Baneasa Royal Farm, the ownership of which was illegally claimed by Paul Lambrino. Mr Lambrino had worked with others to develop these properties, and outlandish profits were promised to investors in the scheme. 

When the police arrived at the Lambrino residence in Bucharest at 9:32pm this evening, they did not find Paul there. According to his wife Lia, Mr Lambrino is in Portugal. Lia Lambrino spoke to police for only fifteen minutes and did not answer questions from reporters ... though she did tell one to move, as his body was blocking the censor to her gate, which she was trying to close. The police left the Lambrino residence at 10:00pm. At 10:15pm, Bucharest police confirmed that they are now in the process of obtaining an arrest warrant for Paul Lambrino. A police spokesperson stated: "Regarding the person sentenced to imprisonment, given that he was not found at home, the prosecution procedure begins. The activity of obtaining an European arrest warrant and of an international search has started."

Within the past few months, Paul Lambrino traveled to Portugal to stake his unfounded claim as the heir to the bulk of the estate of King Carol II of Romania, who died in exile in Portugal in 1953. Although Paul was in Portugal, and his wife Lia stated today he was in that country, some are speculating that Mr Lambrino may now be in Italy.

Born in 1948 at Paris, Paul-Philippe Lambrino is the only child of Mircea Grigore Carol Lambrino (1920-2006; the son of eventual King Carol II of Romania and his first, morganatic wife Zizi Lambrino) and his first wife Hélène Henriette Nagavitzine, known as opera singer Léna Pastor (1925-1998). In 1996, Paul Lambrino married Lia Georgia Triff (b.1949; the ex-wife of American attorney Melvin Belli). The couple have one son, Carol Ferdinand Lambrino (b.2010).

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For more information on the background of this case, feel free to read the following articles:

2013: "Prince" Paul of Romania goes to court against Romanian state to recover land from the former Baneasa Royal Farm

2015: Romanian ‘Prince’ arrested in illegal retrocession case

2016: Remus Truica, "Prince" Paul and Dan Andronic, arraigned in “Baneasa Farm” Case

2019: Convictions In Baneasa Farm File: Remus Truica- 4 Years In Prison, Paul Of Romania- 3 Years On Probation, Other 7 Defendants Acquitted

2020: Israeli Billionaire Steinmetz Charged by Romania's Top Court With Bribery

The Serbian Royal Family Celebrate the Baptismal Feast of St. Andrew the First Called

 

On Sunday, 13 December, the Royal Family of Serbia commemorated the baptismal feast (Slava) of St. Andrew the First Called. Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine marked the occasion in New York with His Grace Bishop Irinej of Eastern America. The crown prince stated: 

Slava is one of the most important Serbian customs, and a very important day in the year for each Serbian Orthodox family. In previous years, we celebrated Slava in our Belgrade, with our Patriarch Irinej, with family and friends. Unfortunately, this year is much different. All of us have tragically lost our great spiritual leader, our Patriarch Irinej. My family and I are grateful for all the moments spent with His Holiness, for every wise word and advice he gave us. Celebrating Slava is an opportunity to gather family and friends. We pray to Saint Andrew the First Called and to the Lord to give us the strength to overcome these challenging times, that when the pandemic ends, we will continue the tradition of our ancestors and pass on the legacy to future generations.

Prince Philip and Princess Danica with their son Prince Stefan marked Slava at Oplenac. They were joined by cousins Prince Mihailo and Princess Ljubica with their daughter Princess Natalija. Princess Linda, the widow of Prince Tomislav and mother of Prince Mihailo, was also present. 

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Advancement of the Cause of Beatification for King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies

His Majesty King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies in his later years.

The opening for the case of the beatification of King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies, the last monarch of that kingdom, is to take place in the coming week. The announcement was made on 11 December by Cardinal Crescenzio Sepe, the Archbishop of Naples from 2006 until 12 December 2020, in a public session of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints. 

King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies and his wife Queen Maria Sophia.

"In the next meeting," Cardinal Sepe stated, "the Bishops of Campania will present two new candidates for sainthood, among them there is a king, Francesco II." The meeting of the Campania Bishops' Conference is scheduled for 16 December. Monsignor Antonio Salvatore Paone, of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, explained "The Conference must issue the nulla osta for the opening of the investigation into the 'heroic virtues' for the Servant of God Francesco II of the Two Sicilies. Immediately afterward, the Congregation will start the investigation, with the interrogation of witnesses." The final king of the Two Sicilies will be proclaimed Servant of God, which is the first step on the path towards sainthood. The last stage will require the verification of any miracles. "This is a separate investigation," added Mgr. Paone, "on scientifically inexplicable facts, but which can take place in parallel with that on heroic virtues." 

The last King and Queen of the Two Sicilies at Gaeta.

The news of the opening of the beatification process for the king was greeted by the Fondazione Francesco II delle Due Sicilie, which collaborated in the collection and procurement of documents and testimonies on the life of the last Bourbon king of Naples. "He [Francesco II] is a figure who can teach us a lot about the relationship with suffering and poverty," said Don Luciano Rotolo, one of the co-founders of the Fondazione Francesco II delle Due Sicilie. Marina Carrese, of the Fondazione il Giglio, said that "the opening of the cause of beatification is a post-mortem compensation to a king slandered by official historiography, and it gives hope to those who fight to restore the South to its historical memory." Gennaro De Crescenzo, the president of the Movimento Neoborbonico, stated: "A solemn Mass for King Francesco II will also be held this year in Naples, on 27 December. The king was distinguished by his profound religiosity, for the many charitable actions that he undertook, for his love for the people of the Two Sicilies, as witnessed to the very end in the heroic defence of Gaeta."

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Christmas and New Year Wishes from the Romanovs!

The 2020 Christmas card of H.I.H. Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia. Courtesy of the Chancellery of the Russian Imperial House.

The Chancellery of the Russian Imperial House was kind enough to send us the Christmas card for His Imperial Highness Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia. Like many royal Christmas cards, this one from the Romanov heir delivers its wishes in several languages: Russian, English, French, and Spanish. The monogram of the grand duke is displayed above the picture. 

This year, Grand Duke George will be celebrating the holidays in Moscow, where he moved earlier in 2020. Through the Russian Imperial Foundation and with a desire to assist those in the greatest need during the current coronavirus pandemic (as well as victims of other natural disasters), the grand duke has actively raised funds for food-banks and health clinics in Russia, for a hospital in Italy, and for those affected by a terrible earthquake in Albania. To learn more about the Russian Imperial Foundation, please visit its website. 

Below you can also see the Christmas cards of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and Grand Duke George Mikhailovich as well as that of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini.

The Christmas card of Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna with her son Grand Duke George.

The Christmas card of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini.