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| Constantin, Katy, and their son Félix on the occasion of their marriage. |
Source: Ampleforth Society
Sunday, July 3, 2022
The Birth of Princess Cosima de Nassau, First Granddaughter of Prince Jean
Saturday, July 2, 2022
90 Years Since the Death of King Manoel II of Portugal
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| The last photo of King Manuel II, 1932. |
On 2 July 1932, King Manuel II of Portugal died at 2pm at his home-in-exile, Fulwell Park, Twickenham. His wife Queen Victoria Auguste was at his bedside when the last Portuguese monarch passed away. A malady of the throat was the case of death for the forty-three year-old king. King George V and Queen Mary immediately sent their condolences.
The official statement of the passing of King Manuel read as follows:
We are authorised and regret to announce that His Majesty King Manoel of Portugal died suddenly this afternoon at two o'clock.
His Majesty attended the tennis tournament at Wimbledon yesterday. This morning the King complained of a sore throat, but was free from fever and paid a visit to his laryngologist, who advised his immediate retirement to bed.
At 1pm His Majesty felt more ill and went to bed.
At 1:40 there was an attack of breathlessness, which became worse with extreme rapidity, and death ensued from acute oedema of the glottis.
King Manuel had been visit by his laryngologist, Sir Milson Rees, on the morning of the day of his death. No doctor was present at the death of king owing to the rapid deterioration in his condition. However, a brief time after the king died, his consulting physician Lord Dawson of Penn arrived at Fulwell Park. The king's mother Queen Amélie, who often resided at Fulwell Park with her son and daughter-in-law, immediately departed to England from her French residence, the Château de Bellevue at Le Chesnay near Versailles.
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| Queen Victoria Augusta and Queen Amelia of Portugal arrive at Westminster Cathedral. |
On 14 July, a High Mass of Requiem was held at Westminster Cathedral. Upon the casket of the late king was a crown, it was comprised of blue and yellow flowers, the colours of the Portuguese flag. Chief among the mourners were the widowed Queen Victoria Auguste, who wept silently with her head bowed, and Queen Amélie, who held her head erect...a woman who had now lived through the assassinations of her husband and eldest son and was witnessing the final rites for her youngest child. Both royal ladies were dressed in simple black mourning attire. The mass was also attended by King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King George II of Greece, and the Duke of Gloucester representing his father King George. Two thousand mourners were in the cathedral.
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| The funeral cortege of King Manuel makes its way through the streets of Lisbon. |
The mortal remains of the last King of Portugal were transported from the United Kingdom to Portugal on the British cruiser Concord. The ship arrived at Lisbon on 2 August. The Republic of Portugal, lead by then by António de Oliveira Salazar, authorised state honours to be accorded to the events surrounding the burial of King Manoel. The Reverend C.G. Holland, honorary chaplain to the British embassy in Lisbon, recounted his recollections of King Manoel's body returning to his beloved homeland for the The Sevenoaks Chronicle, Westerham Courier and Kentish Advertiser, on 12 August 1932:
The passing of Royalty has a poignancy wider and deeper than private obsequies however intimate such may be. For the King belongs to his country and his mourners are his subjects of all ages and of every class. But on the sadness of the cry, "Le Roi est mort," there follows hard the shout of "Vive le Roi"; the slow sad music of death merging into the joyful coronation march as the new monarch ascends to the throne of his fathers.
When the King has lost his throne and has died in exile, when he is the last of his Royal House to hold the sceptre, there is no fanfare of accession to drown the funeral dirge: "Le Roi set mort," and with him Royalty dies.
Today I have witnessed such a passing, surely the strangest, most poignant, and most romantic of all Royal funerals, the homecoming of King Manuel II. of Braganza after an exile of 22 years.
As the sun rose in cloudless glory on yet another perfect summer's day, the motor launch chartered by the correspondents of Reuters and Havas set off down the river to meet the British cruiser bringing the Royal coffin. A brisk "Nortade" was whipping up the broad estuary into short foam-crested waves as we crouched in the shelter of the canvas wind-dodger straining our eyes down stream to catch the first glimpse of the escorting destroyer.
Not until we had nearly reached the lighthouse which guards the bar of the Tagus did we see the tell-tale plume of smoke from the low funnels of Guardiana, the Portuguese destroyer, half-a-mile ahead of the cruiser. A few minutes later the light cruiser H.M.S. Concord came into sight, astern of her the little torpedo boat Lis.
Concord flew the white ensign astern, the Jack at the bow, and at her signal halyards the Royal Standard of the House of Braganza, red with the Royal arms in gold in the centre, all three at half-mast. Liner, tramp, bluff-nosed tug, and fussy launch, the graceful schooners of the Newfoundland cod-fishing, even the coal-hulks and lighters flew the right and green flag of the Republic at half-mast, the beaches and the quays were black with people, while over the city a thousand lowered flags were paying homage to Royalty. Where the river narrows at Belem stands the tower of Vasco da Gama on the spot where that famous voyager set off and returned on his voyage to the Indies. From the side of the Concord a flash and a cloud of light grey smoke, followed by a deep boom which echoed among the hills of the many-hilled city of Ulysses. An answering gun from the fort of Bom Successao; 21 guns from river and from land the salute of international curtesy. The vessels quicken speed, the little Lis plunging her bows into the waves as she works up to what must be for her, in her old age, full speed. A string of flags from Guardiana, answered in kind by the Concord; the International Code understood by all the ships of the world. The escort turns aside, the British cruiser with a wide sweep slows down the quay of the Sul e Oeste, hawsers are made ready and she edges into the quayside.
On the quay await the Minister of War, members of the Government, and foreign diplomats, among whom in the place of honour our own Ambassador, Sir Claud Russell, today enoye extraordinaire of King George V. There, too, await Cardinal Archbishop of Lisbon, with his Canons and his chaplain, the guard of honour, and a little crowd of reporters with notebooks, film and "still" cameras, the insignia of their trade.
Concord is now alongside, her decks manned for entering harbour. The coffin has been carried on the poop-deck, guarded by four bluejackets with arms reserved. Now covered with the Royal Standard it is borne by eight sailors down the gangway. A sharp command, the marines present arms, the buglers take up the plaintive notes of the "Last Post." As the last note dies away the guard of honour on the quay repeats the call learnt more than a hundred years ago from Wellington's army on the battlefields of Spain and Portugal. The bearers have reached the quay, and King Manuel is on his own soil and among his own people after 22 years of exile. A short religious ceremony at the catafalque inside the station on the pier in the midst of which four flash-lights explode and twenty cameras secure another "news photograph." Again the coffin is lifted, this time upon the shoulders of eight Portuguese sailors. England has done her part, has paid her last act of homage to her Royal guest, and given back the King to his own people.
Outside in the great Praca do Commercio, the citizens of Lisbon await their former King. Fifty deep they stand ringed by a line of armed soldiers in sky-blue uniforms and steel helmets. Alone in the midst of the great square, the dead King's ancestor, King Jose I, carved in bronze astride his coal-black charger set high above all early Kings and Presidents, dominates the pageantry of passing Royalty. The coffin is lifted upon a gun-carriage drawn by six horses, and is made secure by four former officers of the Royal household. On the coffin rest the wreaths sent by the King and Queen of Italy and by the officers and men of H.M.S. Concord. Our own Royal wreath with hundreds of others fill to overflowing two large motor hearses.
The gun-carriage moves off, followed by the golden coaches of the Cardinal Archbishop and his clergy, each with six mules and mounted positions. On each side a line of infantry with arms reversed, a squadron of landers with pennons-a-flutter in the breeze, units from every regiment garrisoned in Lisbon, a detachment from the fleet, and the long, long line of motor cars. Out into the sunshine of the square where the pigeons wheel beneath the summer sky, amid the respectful homage of a people for a true patriot and a great cavalheiro who loved his country to the last and bequeathed his worldly goods to the nation which had rejected him. The sobs of the women, the set white faces of the men, the lofty buildings and the streets black with mourners, the jingle of the bits and the hoof-beats of the escort. King Manuel has come home at last, and all Lisbon is there to receive him. Past the very spot where before his eyes his father and elder brother had been shot down by the assassin, up the steep Rua da Graca to the Church of Ste. Vincente where his Royal forebears lies, among whom the English Queen, Catherine of Braganza, wife of our own Charles II.
Twenty-two years ago a British vessel, our Royal Yacht, Victoria and Albert, brought King Manuel to our shores, today a British vessel has given him back to his fatherland. Today in Lisbon there is neither monarchist nor republican, for today all are subjects of the last of the Kings. Tomorrow politics will blaze forth again and ancient feuds be renewed. Today "None is for a party and all are for the King."
"Le Roi est mort" - yes, the King is dead; and yet he lives and will live on in the hearts of those who drove him from the land he loved so well and fain would have served so faithfully. As I write the guns are booming again: this time it is the Royal salute. The Republic is paying her last respects to the last of her Kings.
The body of King Manuel II was interred in the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza in the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora.
Friday, July 1, 2022
50 Years Since the Marriage of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia & Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans and Braganza
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| The Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Yugoslavia during their Orthodox religious wedding. |
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| Maria da Gloria and Alexander. Her father Pedro Gastão can be seen behind them. |
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| The engagement announcement in the Daily Telegraph of 21 December 1971. |
On 1 July 1972, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans and Bragança were married at Villamanrique de la Condesa, Spain. The couple's engagement had been announced on 20 December 1971 by a spokesman of the prince in London. Alexander and Maria da Gloria met at a party given by Maria's Tante Bebelle (the Countess of Paris) in Cascais; it was love at first sight.
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| Crown Prince Alexander approaches the altar with Princess Olga, wife of Prince Regent Paul. |
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| The couple during their religious wedding. |
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| Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Maria da Gloria of Yugoslavia during their religious union. Behind the princess one can see Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia. |
Born in 1945, Crown Prince Alexander was the only child of King Peter II of Yugoslavia (1923-1970) and Queen Alexandra (1921-1993; née Princess of Greece). Educated in Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom, Alexander was a lieutenant in the British army with the Queen's Royal Lancers, with whom he did a tour in Northern Ireland. The crown prince was a godson of Queen Elizabeth II. Born in 1946, Princess Maria da Gloria was the daughter of Prince Pedro Gastão of Orléans and Bragança (1913-2007) and Princess Esperanza (1914-2005; née Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies). Maria da Gloria had studied interior design in Paris, and was working as an interior decorator in Madrid.
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| Left to right: Prince Pedro Gastão; the Countess of Barcelona; the newlyweds; Infante Alfonso, Duke of Galliera; Princess Olga of Yugoslavia; Princess Esperanza; Princess Teresa; Prince Paul of Yugoslavia; King Umberto II of Italy. |
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| Prince Juan Carlos; the Count of Paris; Princess Sofía with her children; the Countess of Barcelona; the newlyweds; Princess Anne; King Constantine II of the Hellenes with Queen Anne-Marie and their children; Infante Alfonso (between the Greek king and queen); Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia. |
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| Princess Maria da Gloria and Prince Alexander with the bride's aunt, the Countess of Paris. |
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| The Count of Paris with Infanta Pilar of Spain and her husband Luís Gomez-Acebo y de Estrada. |
The guest list included the following royal relations: Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sofía of Spain with their children; the Count and Countess of Barcelona; Infanta Pilar and Luís Gomez-Acebo y de Estrada; Infanta Margarita and Dr Carlos Zurita y Delgado; Infante Alfonso of Spain, Duke of Galliera; Princess Anne of the United Kingdom; King Constantine II and Queen Anne-Marie of the Hellenes with their children; the Count and Countess of Paris; Princess Chantal d'Orléans and François Xavier de Sambucy de Sorgue; King Umberto II of Italy; Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia; Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia; Infanta Alicia, Dowager Duchess of Calabria; Infante Carlos and Princess Anne, Duke and Duchess of Calabria with their children; the Margrave of Baden; Princess Dolores of Bourbon-Two Sicilies and her husband Señor Carlos Chías; Prince Adam Czartorsky; Prince Pedro Gastão and Princess Esperanza of Orléans and Bragança; Princess Teresa of Orléans and Bragança; Infante Duarte Pio of Portugal, Prince of Beira, with his brothers Infante Miguel and Infante Henrique; Prince Tomislav and Princess Margarita of Yugoslavia; and Duke Carl and Duchess Diane of Württemberg.
Monday, June 27, 2022
Father Florian: The Bavarian Prince who Became a Monk (1957-2022)
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Father Florian. Photo (c) Christena Dowsett/The GroundTruth Project. |
His childhood and youth were spent on the family farm of Rieden, the former model farm of his great-grandfather King Ludwig III of Bavaria, which used to supply the Haunersche Kinderklinik, a children’s hospital in Munich, with fresh milk. During Franz-Josef´s childhood on the farm mainly young cattle were raised but there were also horses, goats and sheep. It was a carefree childhood. After the first years of primary school in the one-class village school of Leutstetten, he went to school in the nearby town of Starnberg. His upbringing in agricultural surroundings formed him as a person deeply connected to animals and nature. Dealing with agricultural machinery awoke his passion for mechanics and technology.Since 1996, Prince Franz-Josef lived between the Peramiho Abbey in Tanzania and in Kenya he became prior administrator of the Prince of Peace Benedictine Monastery - Tigoni Limuru. He worked primarily in Illeret, St Peter the Fisherman parish, and a new Benedictine Monastery in the Diocese of Marsabit, northern part of Kenya.
May Pater Florian Rest in Peace.
Sources:
Sunday, June 26, 2022
The 60th Birthday of the Earl of St Andrews, Future Duke of Kent
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| Edward and Katharine with their son George, July 1962. |
On 26 June 1962, George Philip Nicholas Windsor, Earl of St Andrews, was born at the family home of Coppins in Iver, Buckinghamshire. George was the first child of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, who had married in 1961. At the time of his birth, the Earl of St Andrews was tenth in the line of succession to the British throne. He was also the first male-line member of the extended British royal house to not be born with a princely title; it was noted at the time of his birth that the Earl of St Andrews would become the first non-royal Duke of Kent whenever the time came for him to succeed to the title. The newest addition to the Kent branch of the Royal Family weighed 6 1/4 lbs.
The statement released from Coppins following his arrival read: "Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent was safely delivered of a son at three o'clock this afternoon. Both the Duchess and her child are well. [signed] John H. Pell." Indeed, Sir John Pell, the gynaecologist of HM Queen Elizabeth II, led the team of doctors who attended the Duchess of Kent at the birth.
The Earl of St Andrews was christened in the music room at Buckingham Palace on 14 September 1962. George received as godparents: Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; Princess Alexandra, Mrs Angus Ogilvy; Mr Oliver Worsley; and Lady Lily Serena Lumley. The christening of the Earl of St Andrews was officiated by Dr A M Ramsey, the Archbishop of Canterbury; the little earl wore the christening robe of Honiton lace worn by Queen Victoria's children, as well as by the earl's late grandfather George and his father Edward. In addition to the Duke and Duchess of Kent, the attendees included The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, the Queen Mother, the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, Princess Marina Duchess of Kent, Princess Mary the Princess Royal, Princess Alexandra, Prince Michael of Kent, Prince Paul and Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, Sir William Worsley and Lady Worsley, Mr and Mrs Marcus Worsley, and Mr Oliver Worsley. A reception was held afterward at Kensington Palace.
Our best wishes to the Earl of St Andrews on his birthday!
Friday, June 24, 2022
The Baptism of Prince Michael of Romania at the Coronation Cathedral!
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| Alina-Maria with Michael, Karina, and Nicholas with Maria Alexandra. |
Last Saturday, 18 June, Prince Michael of Romania was baptised at the Coronation Cathedral (Catedrala Încoronării) in Alba Iulia. The cathedral was built between 1921-1922; it was the setting for the coronation of Michael's great-great-great grandparents King Ferdinand and Queen Maria of Romania as monarchs of Greater Romania on 22 October 1922. Michael's father Prince Nicholas noted: "It is a moment of great joy, it is a very important moment in our son's life. It is very important to keep in touch with history and of course with family. The name Mihai is a special name, of course in memory of my grandfather. It is also the name of a great saint, and that was important to us. I'm Mihai too, I have a cousin Mihai, it's a family name, so it's not only the king's name."
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| The happy parents with their little boy. |
Michael's godparents are Liviu and Simona Popescu. The Popescus were the sponsors for Princess Alina-Maria of Romania during her and Nicholas's religious wedding in 2018.
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| A united family: Mihai Binder, Rodica Binder holding Princess Maria Alexandra, Princess Alina-Maria holding Prince Michael, Prince Nicholas, Karina de Roumanie, and Heinz Binder. |
Around 100 guests from Romania and Europe came to Alba Iulia for the baptism. The maternal grandparents of Prince Michael, Heinz and Rodica Binder, were there to celebrate this momentous occasion. Michael's maternal uncle, Mihai Binder, and his paternal aunt, Karina de Roumanie, were also on hand to take part in this special family event. Members of the Cantacuzino and Ghyka noble families were in attendance as well.
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| The baptism of Nicholas of Romania (left to right) King Michael, Crown Princess Margarita, Queen Anne, Princess Helen holding her son Prince Nicholas, and Dr. Robin Medforth-Mills |
When Michael's father Nicholas was baptised on 8 June 1985 in Switzerland, Nicholas received as his godparents the following family and friends: King Michael of Romania; Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester; the Prince of Asturias (now King Felipe VI of Spain); Prince Nikolaos of Greece and Denmark; Princess Sophie of Romania; Countess Charles de Breteuil (née Solange de Ganay); Dick Stern, Sophie Maris, Paul Contomichalos, Flora Deacon, and Mrs Jean Boissevian. The baptism of Michael's great-grandfather King (then Prince) Michael took place on 22 January 1922 at the Royal Palace in Bucharest.
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| Princess Alina-Maria holding Prince Michael and Prince Nicholas holding Princess Maria Alexandra. |
May God Bless Michael! La multi ani!
Sources:
One hundred years after the baptism of his great-grandfather, the son of Prince Nicolae was baptized in Alba IuliaThursday, June 23, 2022
Baron Jörg von Saalfeld (1937-2022), Scion of the Saxe-Meiningens
Earlier this week, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld (don Jörg Freiherr von Saalfeld Viererbe) died at San José, Costa Rica. He was eighty-five years-old. A funeral mass will be held on 28 June at the Iglesia San Rafael Arcángel in Escazú.
Born on 17 January 1937 at Munich, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld and his twin brother Baron Jens von Saalfeld were the eldest children of Baron Heinrich "Enzio" von Saalfeld (1908-killed in action 1941) and Rut Martha Viererbe (1910-1974), who wed in 1936. Jörg and Jens (1937-2001; married Kathryn Kostka) were followed by two younger siblings: Baroness Jay (b.1938) and Baron Jan (b.1941; married Clara Bansbach). After the death of her husband, Baroness Rut von Saalfeld married Karlheinz Schnell in 1943. From his mother's second marriage, Jörg von Saalfeld had two half-sisters: Wiebke Schnell (b.1945; married Carlos Roberto Aubert Zeledon) and Frauke Schnell (b.~1948; married David Muñoz)
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| Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen and Katharina von Saalfeld. |
Baron Jörg von Saalfeld was a paternal grandson of Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen (1859-1941) and Katharina Jensen (1874-1945; created Freifrau von Saalfeld), who married in 1892. The couple had six children; their youngest child was Enzio, Jörg's father. Prince Ernst was the Head of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen from 1928 until his passing in 1941. Jörg's paternal great-grandparents were Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen and his second wife Princess Feodore zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a niece of Queen Victoria.
On 13 August 1966 at San José, Costa Rica, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld married Heidi Schmidt-Steinvorth (b.1944). Earlier in 1966, Jörg's sister Baroness Jay had married Heidi's older brother Hans Hermann Schmidt-Steinworth (b.1942). Jörg and Heidi divorced in 1973; they did not have any children.
In April 1976 at San José, Baron Jörg von Saalfeld married Hilda Steinvorth y Steffen (b.1953). He is survived by his wife, his brother, and his three sisters as well as numerous nieces and nephews.
May Jörg Rest in Peace.
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