The 2022 Royal Versailles Ball

Prince Jean-Christophe and Princess Olympia Napoléon.

Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

 

Last Saturday, 21 May, the Royal Versailles Ball was held at the Palace of Versailles. The Royal Versailles Ball celebrates the historic state visit between Queen Victoria and Emperor Napoléon III in 1855 at Versailles. The Royal Versailles Ball is held to raise money to support UNICEF, Street Child and LEWA Wildlife Conservancy. UNICEF has been vaccinating, educating and protecting children since 1946, Street Child works to provide educational opportunities for vulnerable children in war torn countries and Lewa Wildlife Conservancy protects species through community conservation and education.

 

Professor Kate Williams and Marcus Gibbs.
  Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

 

Princess Zita of Bourbon-Parma.
Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

Sir Rodney Williams, Governor General of Antigua and Barbuda, and Lady Williams.
Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

 

The Marquess and Marchioness of Reading.
Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

 

The Duke of Fife.
Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

 

Clara Marzloff and Prince Boris of Bulgaria.

Photo (c) Rowben Lantion/BFA.com.

The 80th Birthday of Princess Marie-Cécile of Prussia

Princess Marie-Cécile, 1992.

Today Princess Marie-Cécile of Prussia celebrates her eightieth birthday!

Prince Louis Ferdinand and Princess Kira of Prussia with their children.

Born on 28 May 1942 at Cadinen, Germany, Princess Marie-Cécile Kira Viktoria Luise of Prussia was the first daughter and third child of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1907-1994) and Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (1909-1967). Marie-Cécile had six siblings: Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (1939-2015), Prince Michael (1940-2014), Princess Kira (1943-2004), Prince Louis Ferdinand (1944-1977; married Countess Donata zu Castell-Rüdenhausen), Prince Christian-Sigismund (b.1946; married Countess Nina zu Reventlow), and Princess Xenia (1949-1992).

Crown Prince Wilhelm.

Crown Princess Cecilie.

Grand Duke Kirill.

Grand Duchess Victoria.

The paternal grandparents of Princess Marie-Cécile were Crown Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1882-1951) and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1886-1956). Her maternal grandparents were Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia (1876-1938) and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1876-1936).

Princess Marie-Cécile of Prussia, Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg, and Princess Kira of Prussia.

On 3 December 1965 at Berlin, Princess Marie-Cécile of Prussia civilly married Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg (1936-2017), the sixth child and fourth son of Hereditary Grand Duke Nikolaus of Oldenburg and Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont. The couple celebrated their religious marriage the following day on 4 December. Marie-Cécile and Friedrich August had three children: Duke Paul-Wladimir (b.1969), Duchess Rixa (b.1970), and Duchess Bibiane (b.1974). Marie-Cécile and Friedrich August divorced on 23 November 1989. In 1991, Friedrich August married Marie-Cécile's widowed sister-in-law Princess Donata. 

Princess Marie-Cécile and her nephew Prince Georg Friedrich attend the funeral of their brother/uncle Prince Friedrich Wilhelm, 2015.
Photo (c) AGE Fotostock.

Our best wishes to the Princess on her birthday!

A Letter from Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, to Lady Harcourt

Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester and Edinburgh.

Picture (c) National Portrait Gallery, London.

 

The following are the contents of a letter written by the Princess Mary, daughter of King George III and Queen Charlotte, to Lady Harcourt in 1816. The princess elaborates on how she has decided to wed her first cousin, the Duke of Gloucester. Prince William, Duke of Gloucester, and Princess Mary, Duchess of Gloucester, were married for eighteen years before the death of the duke; the couple did not have children.

 

My very dear Lady Harcourt,

I found your most kind and affectionate note on my table late night on my return from Windsor. I never could doubt all your kind feelings on hearing of my intended marriage; and I am unhappy I did not write myself to you, as I look upon you quite as a 2nd mother, & respect you as such; but the real truth is, that, though the Q. and Prince gave their consent on Saturday, & felt satisfied all was settled, I was not quite so myself untill last night. However, I started a subject to the D. of Gloucester that required a very decided answer, before I could make up my mine to change my intention. I got a satisfactory answer last night through the D. of York, therefore I can now say we compleatly understand each other. When I see you I will explain this.

I don't know what other people feel when going to be married, but as yet I have done nothing but cry. I have been half killed with the kindness of the Queen and all my Brothers & Sisters, & such a day as I passed at Windsor yesterday is more than I can describe. That dear Castle, which contains all I value in this world; that dear place, in which I have passed so many happy days; that spot in which my most valuable & respectable Father is incircled. That, Alass, I am not to receive his Blessing and approbation, with those of all the rest of the family, half kills me; and the idea of heaving that House at Moments half breaks my heart. But the D. of Gloucester has so kindly entered into all my feelings, so faithfully promised that I shall be as much with my family as possible, and is so convinced how it is in my power to do my duty as his wife, as well as to do my duty at Windsor (to a certain degree), that it makes me thank God.

His house is so near, only 3 miles, as to admit of all this.

Yours affectionally,

Mary.

Source: The Royal Dukes and Princesses of the Family of George III: A View of Court Life and Manners for Seventy Years, 1760-1830 (Volume 2) by Percy Hetherington Fitzgerald, 1882. 

The Braganzas attend Independence Day Celebrations for East Timor

The Duchess of Coimbra and the Duke of Bragança.

Over the weekend, the Head of the Royal House of Portugal and his daughter traveled to East Timor to commemorate the twenty years of independence of East Timor. Dom Duarte Pio and Infanta Maria Francesca were present in Dili for the celebrations. The Duke of Braganza was a major supporter and campaigner for the independence of East Timor (Timor-Leste), a former Portuguese colony that was annexed by Indonesia in 1975. The country received its independence on 20 May 2002.

Prince Raphaël d'Orléans Baptized in Mallorca

The Duke of Calabria with his godson Prince Raphaël.

On 30 April 2022, Prince Raphaël Léopold Pedro François Marie d'Orléans was baptised at Mallorca. The little prince, who was born on 4 September 2021, is the third child of Prince François and Princess Theresa, Count and Countess of Dreux. Prince Raphaël received as his godparents: Prince Pedro of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duke of Calabria, Princess Marie-Hélène von Ysenburg und Büdingen, and Regina von Bernewitz. 

For many more photos and information, please visit these articles:

Baptême du prince Raphaël d’Orléans à Palma de Majorque : Pedro de Bourbon-Siciles fier de son filleul

Les invités du baptême du prince Raphaël d’Orléans réunis autour d’une paella à Majorque

 

The Passing of Princess Sixtina of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1933-2022)

 

The obituary of the princess.

Princess Sixtina of Waldeck-Pyrmont died on 18 May 2022. She was eighty-eight years-old.

Sixtina's parents: Fürst Wolff-Heinrich and Fürstin Irma zu Stolberg.

The commemorative coin celebrating the marriage of Fürst Wolff Heinrich and Fürstin Irma zu Stolberg.

Princess Irma with her two eldest children: Princess Sixtina and Prince Johann.

Born at Stolberg on 4 November 1933, Princess Irmgard Sixtina Juliana zu Stolberg was the first child of Fürst Wolff-Heinrich zu Stolberg (1903-1972) and his wife Fürstin Irma (1910-1994; née Erfert), who wed in 1932. Sixtina was joined by three younger siblings: Prince Johann (1935-1964), Fürst Jost-Christian (b.1940; married Sylvianne Janssens van der Maelen), and Princess Sophie Charlotte (b.1943; married Fürst Friedrich Wilhelm zu Wied). 

Fürst Georg II zu Waldeck und Pyrmont (1789-1845)

Fürstin Emma zu Waldeck und Pyrmont (1802-1858; née Princess of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym)

On August 1961, Princess Sixtina married Prince Georg-Friedrich of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1936-2020), the second child of Prince Georg zu Waldeck und Pyrmont (1902-1971) and Countess Ingeborg von Platen Hallermund (1902-1991). Georg-Friedrich and Sixtina were third cousins; they both were great-great-grandchildren of Fürst Georg II zu Waldeck und Pyrmont (1789-1845) and Princess Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym (1802-1858). Georg-Friedrich and Sixtina had three children: Princess Henriette (b.1963), Princess Isabelle (b.1965), and Prince Philipp (b.1967).

Princess Henriette zu Waldeck und Pyrmont with her husband Count Hermann zu Castell-Rüdenhausen as well as Princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis.
Photograph (c) Presse-Foto-Seeger.

In August 1989, Princess Christine Henriette Bathildis zu Waldeck und Pyrmont married Count Hermann zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (b.1963). The couple have three children: Countess Annabell (b.1991), Countess Cecily (b.1992), and Count Casimir (b.1994). Hermann is a younger brother of the late Countess Donata zu Castell-Rüdenhausen (1950-2015), wife of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1944-1977) and Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg (1936-2017). Henriette, who studied geography at university, is thus an aunt-by-marriage of Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, the Head of House Prussia.

Georg-Friedrich and Sixtina's second daughter Princess Marie Isabelle zu Waldeck und Pyrmont has made her career as an employment and occupational therapist. In December 1989, Isabelle changed her surname to be simply "Waldeck." She has one son, Constantin.

Philipp-Heinrich, the only son of Georg-Friedrich and Sixtina, has never married and has no children. He is currently fourteenth in the line of succession to the Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

 

May the Princess Rest in Peace.

Russian Imperial Couple Expect First Child in the Fall!

Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria.
Photo (c) Russian Imperial Chancellery.

The Imperial House of Russia has announced that Grand Duke George Mikhailovich and Princess Victoria Romanovna Romanoff are expecting their first child in the fall of this year. The princess is in excellent health and will be continuing her charitable activities full-time. Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria married last year in Saint Petersburg; the couple lives in Moscow. Their baby will be the first grandchild for Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna of Russia, Head of the Imperial House, and Prince Franz-Wilhelm of Prussia, the parents of Grand Duke George, as well as for Ambassador Roberto Bettarini and Carla Virginia Cacciatore, the parents of Princess Victoria.

 

 

 

 

Our congratulations to Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria on this most joyous news! May God grant the Princess a safe pregnancy!