Princess Caroline of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1960-2021)

On 11 September 2021, Princess Caroline of Waldeck and Pyrmont died at the age of sixty-one. Born on 8 January 1960, Princess Caroline Gustava Adelheid of Waldeck and Pyrmont was the eldest of the three daughters of Prince Friedrich-Carl of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1933-2018) and his wife Princess Ingeborg (1932-2018; née von Biela). Caroline had two younger sisters: Princess Donata and Princess Juliane. In 1985, Princess Caroline married Cord-Georg Hasselmann; the couple had two daughters and one son.

May the Princess Rest in Peace. 

Newlyweds: Meet the Duke of Roxburghe and the New Duchess!

The Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe. Photo (c) Floors Castle.

Last week, the social media accounts of Floors Castle provided the following announcement:

We're delighted to announce that The Duke of Roxburghe and Miss Annabel Green were married this weekend at Floors Castle. We wish the happy couple all the happiness for their future together.

It is likely that the couple were married on Saturday, 11 September.  

The engagement announcement. The Telegraph of 30 January 2021.

The Duke announced their engagement via a notice in The Telegraph on 30 January 2021:

The engagement was announced between the Duke of Roxburghe, eldest son of the late Duke of Roxburghe and of Lady Jane Dawnay, and Annabel, daughter of the late Mr Ian Green and of Mrs Patrick Quirk.

Charles Innes-Ker, Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford, and the Hon. Charlotte Aitken. Photograph (c) Ikon Pictures/REX/Shutterstock.

This is the second marriage for the duke. In 2011, when he was still Marquess of Bowmont and Cessford, Charles Innes-Kerr married his long-time girlfriend the Hon. Charlotte Susanna Aitken, daughter of Lord Beaverbrook. The wedding announcement placed in The Telegraph by the bride's father read as follows:

The marriage took place on Friday, July 22, at the Church of Our Lady of the Assumption and St Gregory, Warwick Street, London, between Charles, eldest son of the Duke of Roxburghe and Lady Jane Dawnay, and Charlotte, elder daughter of Lord and Lady Beaverbrook. Dom Edward Corbould officiated, assisted by the Rev Anthony Hogg. The bride was attended by Isabel Sanderson, Iris Goldsmith, Emilia Methven, Frankie Goldsmith, Milo Methven and Ben Way. Mr Freddy Galliers-Pratt was best man.

Alas, the marriage ended in divorce a year later in 2012. 

Charles Innes-Ker and Morvarid Sahafi. Photograph (c) Dominic O'Neill.

After a relationship of several years, in April 2016, Charles welcomed the birth of a daughter, Eugenie, with his partner Morvarid Sahafi, a fashion designer. Alas, the couple parted ways in 2019, which was the same year that Charles succeeded as 11th Duke of Roxburghe upon the death of his father Guy, who had been battling cancer.

The newlyweds beneath a portrait of the Duke's father. Photo (c) Floors Castle.

The Duchess of Roxburghe. Photo (c) Floors Castle.

Our congratulations to the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe on their wedding!

Grand Duke George of Russia and Victoria Bettarini Meet With Russian Patriarch Kirill

2021-09-12 The Tsesarevich George of Russia and his fiancée Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini visit St. Petersburg

On September 12, 2021, H.I.H. The Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia and his fiancée Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini arrived in St. Petersburg, Russia’s northern capital, on the invitation of His Eminence Metropolitan Varsonofii of St. Petersburg and Ladoga to take part in church services marking the 800th anniversary of the birth of St. Alexander Nevsky and the feast day of the translation of his holy relics from the city of Vladimir to St. Petersburg in 1724. The Grand Duke and his fiancée were accompanied by Kirill Kirillovich Nemirovich-Danchenko, the head of the Office for Relations with Governmental and Civil organizations in the Chancellery of the Imperial House of Russia. The Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended the Divine Liturgy at the Holy Trinity Cathedral in the St. Alexander Nevsky Lavra, which was officiated by His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. Concelebrating with His Holiness were Their Eminences Metropolitan Vladimir of Kishinev and All Moldova, Metropolitan Vikentii of Tashkent and Uzbekistan, Metropolitan Varsonofii of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, Metropolitan Pavel of Krutitsky and Kolomna, Metropolitan Ilarion of Volokolamsk, Metropolitan Veniamin of Minsk and Zaslavsk, Metropolitan Dionisii of Voskresensk, Metropolitan Feodor of Volgograd and Kamyshin, Metropolitan Aleksei of Cheliabinsk and Miass, Archbishop Nikanor of South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands, the abbot of the Lavra His Grace Bishop Nazarii of Kronstadt and the monastic brethren, Their Graces Bishop Ignatii of Vyborg and Priozersk, Bishop Mstislav of Tikhvin and Lodeinoe Pole, Bishop Mitrofan of Gatchina and Luga, Bishop Silouan of Lyskovo and Lukoyanov, Bishop Silouan of Peterhof, and also Archpriests Bogdan Soiko, Sergei Kuksevich, Vladimir Sorokin, Gennadii Bartov, Alexander Budnikov, Gennadii Zverev, Evgenii Shogenov, and Alexander Rumiantsev, Archimandrite Aleksei (Ganzhin), Hegumen Filaret (Priashnikov), and other clergy from St. Petersburg and Moscow. Among the laity attending the service were the Chair of the Federation Council, Valentina Matvienko; the Plenipotentiary of the President of the Russian Federation in the Northwest Federal District, Alexander Gutsan; the Governor of St. Petersburg, Alexander Beglov; the Governor of the Leningrad Region, Alexander Drozdenko; the First Deputy Minister of Culture of the Russian Federation, Sergei Obryvalin; the Chair of the Legislative Assembly of St. Petersburg, Vyacheslav Makarov; and the Mayor of Belgrade (Serbia), Zoran Radojičić. The Grand Duke and his bride received the Holy Mysteries of Christ and, after the conclusion of the Divine Liturgy, took part in the Patriarchal Procession of the Cross, during which the chest with the relics of the Holy Right-Believing Grand Prince Alexander Nevsky was brought into the square in front of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra. An intercessory prayer service, or moleben, followed. In the afternoon, the Tsesarevich George of Russia and Miss Victoria Romanovna Bettarini attended a reception at the residence of the Metropolitan of St. Petersburg and Ladoga, where the Grand Duke and his fiancée had the opportunity to chat with His Holiness Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia. His Imperial Highness congratulated the First Hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church on this important anniversary and feast day, and took the opportunity formally to introduce his fiancée to His Holiness. The Patriarch congratulated the Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna on their upcoming marriage ceremony, and offered them his blessing and best wishes. Later the Tsesarevich and Victoria Romanovna went to the St. Nicholas-Holy Epiphany Naval Cathedral of St. Petersburg, where they took part in the ceremony of the translation to this cathedral of a fragment of the relics of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker of Myra in Lycia, which came to Russia from Bari through the efforts of the famous philanthropist Prince V. N. Svirsky-Zhimirov. After a moleben, the Grand Duke and Victoria Romanovna Bettarini venerated the chest with the relics and thanked Prince V. N. Svirsky-Zhimirov for his service to the Russian Orthodox Church. Throughout the day, Grand Duke George met and spoke with many of his countrymen who had traveled to St. Petersburg from all over Russia to attend these celebrations. They warmly expressed their sincerest best wishes on the upcoming wedding and recalled their meetings and conversations with the Grand Duke’s mother, the Head of the Russian Imperial House, H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, during her many trips to different regions of our homeland. That evening, after attending a working meeting, the Grand Duke George of Russia and Miss Victoria Bettarini returned to Moscow.

The above article was previously published online here (in Russian): http://www.dobrieludi.com/articles/2454/.

A Portrait of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Sells at Auction

Yesterday, a portrait of Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, sold for for £1,200 at action house Sworders in Stansted Mountfitchet. The creator of this work was artist Richard Stone. The painter recalled that this portrait of Princess Alice, the longest lived of Queen Elizabeth II's aunts, was the result of several sittings at Barnwell Manor, the home of the Gloucesters. 

Source: Invaluable

Royals United: Get Vaccinated Against Covid-19!

The Duke of Cambridge receives his Covid-19 vaccine.

Since the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic in late 2019, the royals of the world have been true leaders in encouraging everyone to take the necessary precautions in order to stay healthy and safe. As vaccines to prevent the novel coronavirus became available, monarchs and members of their families around the globe have taken the step to get their Covid-19 jab, in order to protect not only themselves, but those around them. Below one can find a sample of the kings, queens, princes, princesses, dukes, and duchesses who have made the wise choice to get their shot to fight the spread of Covid-19. 

King Albert II and Queen Paola of Belgium waiting to receive their Covid-19 vaccine.

Belgium

March 2021 - TM King Albert II and Queen Paola

Denmark

January 2021 - HM Queen Margarethe II

May 2021 - HRH Crown Prince Frederik

Japan

June 2021 - TM Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, TIH Prince Hitachi and Princess Hanako, HIH Princess Nobuko, and HIH Princess Hisako

July 2021 - HM Emperor Naruhito

King Abdullah II of Jordan, his son Crown Prince Hussein, and his uncle Prince Hassan receive their vaccinations against Covid-19.

Jordan

January 2021 - HM King Abdullah II, HRH Crown Prince Hussein, and HRH Prince Hassan

TSH Fürstin Marie and Fürst Hans Adam II prepare to receive their Covid-19 vaccines. Photo (c) IKR.

Liechtenstein 

January 2021 - TSH Prince Hans Adam II and Princess Marie

TRH Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa arrive to receive their vaccinations.

Photo (c) Maison du Grand-Duc / Sophie Margue.

Luxembourg

April 2021 - TRH Grand Duke Henri and Grand Duchess Maria Teresa

Netherlands

June 2021 - HM King Willem-Alexander

Norway

January/February 2021 - TM King Harald V and Queen Sonja

Spain

March 2021 - HM Queen Sofía

May 2021 - HM King Felipe V

July 2021 - HM Queen Letizia and HRH The Princess of Asturias

HM King Carl XVI Gustaf receives his Covid-19 vaccine.

Sweden

January 2021 - TM King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia

April 2021 - HRH Princess Madeleine and Mr. Christopher O'Neill

HM King Tupou VI receives his vaccine against Covid-19.

Tonga

May 2021 - TM King Tupou VI and Queen Nanasipauʻu

HRH The Duchess of Cambridge receives her Covid-19 vaccine.

United Kingdom

January 2021 - HM The Queen and HRH The Duke of Edinburgh 

February 2021 - TRH The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall

May 2021 - TRH The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge

The Funeral of Princess Cécile of Bourbon-Parma

On Friday, 10 September, a funeral mass was held for Princess Cécile of Bourbon-Parma at the Église Notre-Dame des Champs in Paris. The princess died on 1 September at the age of eighty-five.

Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma carrying his aunt's dynastic orders. Photo (c) PPE Agency.

Prince Carlos, Duke of Parma, at the funeral of his aunt. Photo (c) PPE Agency.

Princess Françoise Lobkowicz and her son Prince Charles-Henri. Photo (c) PPE Agency.

The funeral of the princess was heavily attended by her close family. Among those present were the following: Duke Carlos of Parma, Prince Jaime of Bourbon-Parma, Princess Margarita of Bourbon-Parma and her husband Tjalling ten Cate, Princess Maria Carolina of Bourbon-Parma and her husband Albert Brenninkmeijer, Princess Françoise Lobkowicz (née Bourbon-Parma) and her son Prince Charles-Henri Lobkowicz, Princess Marie-des-Neiges of Bourbon-Parma, and Prince Amaury of Bourbon-Parma. Prince Sixte-Henri of Bourbon-Parma, the only surviving brother of Princess Cécile, did not attend her funeral because he disagreed with her decision to be cremated; Sixte-Henri apparently just realised that his late brother Duke Carlos Hugo (died in 2010) and his late sister Princess Marie-Thérèse (died in 2020) were also cremated. 

Princess Cécile will be buried in the family crypt in Parma at a later date.

The Bourbon-Parma family bids adieu to Princess Cecilia. Photo (c) PPE Agency.

Russian Nobility Condemns Usurpation of Imperial Titles by Romanov Morganauts

An invitation to the wedding of Prince Rostislav Romanovsky. 

Yesterday, Prince Rostislav Rostislavovich Romanovsky and his wife held their religious wedding in France. The couple were civilly married two years ago in 2019 during a ceremony in the United Kingdom. On the invitations sent out for the religious wedding and in a related press release, Prince Rostislav Romanovsky is referred to as Son Altesse Impériale (His Imperial Highness). This is a style which the prince does not possess. 

Having learned of the new "imperial" pretensions of Rostislav Romanovsky, last week the Assembly of the Russian Nobility (ARN) sent me a copy of a letter that the organisation is circulating to clarify its stance in regards to the Russian Imperial House and its morganatic relatives. 

The content of the letter is more or less as follows:

Moscow, 6th September 2021

The Russian Nobility Assembly is an Association that gathers in Russia over 12,000 members and has several delegations abroad, and whose members are descendants of Old Noble Families of the Russian Empire and which was restored in 1990 in close cooperation with the Imperial House of Russia, whose Head at the time was His Imperial Highness Grand Duke Vladimir Kyrillovich and after 1992 his daughter and successor Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna as the only legitimate Heir of the Russian Imperial House.

There are many descendants of the Romanov Family who are not members of the historical Dynasty by the laws that were in force at the time of the Russian Empire.

Some of these persons have thus created the Romanov Family Association, which is a private association of members of the Romanov Family.

The Association was intended as a private association in which the Head of the Association is elected through a vote carried out by the members of the Association itself. This is why the Russian Nobility Assembly states that these members are not in any sort of way linked to the historical dynasty institution of the Russian Imperial House.

The Russian Imperial House is an institution that is officially recognised by the Patriarchate of Moscow and all Russias, as well as by the institutions of the Russian Federation, by foreign authorities, as well as by other reining and non-reigning royal families across the world. The Russian Imperial House is also the Fons Honorum for our Association.

The Members of the Russian Nobility Association extend their warmest congratulations on the occasion of the upcoming wedding of Rostislav Romanov but must emphasise that although Rostislav Romanov is a true descendant of the Romanov Family, his marriage is a private event which does not bear any social or dynastic importance. We wish the newlyweds and their 8 year-old son "Многая лета [Many years]!"

Marshall of the Russian Nobility,

Marshall of the Moscow Nobility,

O.V. Sherbachev

To learn more about the Romanovsky wedding, you can read these articles:

Prince Rostislav and Princess Foteini Romanovsky To Religiously Wed On Sunday (10 September) The Religious Marriage of Prince and Princess Rostislav Romanovsky (12 September)

If you would like to learn more about the Assembly of Russian Nobility, you can visit their website: Union of the Descendants of the Russian Nobility - The Assembly of the Russian Nobility