Category Archives: Current Monarchies

Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies, Queen of Spain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Credit – Wikipedia

The fourth wife of King Ferdinand VII of Spain and the wife who finally gave him an heir, Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies (Italian: Maria Cristina Ferdinanda) was born in Palermo, Kingdom of Sicily, now in Italy, on April 27, 1806. She was the second of the twelve children of King Francesco I of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Infanta María Isabella of Spain, sister of King Ferdinand VII of Spain.

Maria Christina had two half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Maria Clementina of Austria:

Maria Christina had five sisters and six brothers:

Family of Francesco I of the Two Sicilies, 1819; Credit – Wikipedia

Irish novelist and journalist Marguerite Gardiner, Countess of Blessington, who met Maria Christina on her Grand Tour of Europe, described her as having flawless facial features, beautiful teeth, expressive eyes, and a charming smile. Maria Christina was lively and cheerful, showed an early fondness for hunting, and a talent for painting. In 1829, the thrice-widowed King Ferdinand VII of Spain was asked by the government to marry again to provide an heir to the throne. Luisa Carlotta of the Two Sicilies, Maria Christina’s elder sister, was married to her maternal uncle and Ferdinand’s brother Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain, and she suggested Maria Christina as a marriage candidate. It did not take long for the 45-year-old Spanish king, who was Maria Christina’s maternal uncle, to decide that Luisa Carlota’s 23-year-old sister was an ideal choice. The court of the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies agreed and Maria Christina traveled to Madrid. On December 11, 1829, the wedding took place at the Royal Basilica of Our Lady of Atocha in Madrid, Spain, and the celebrations continued until the new year.

Ferdinand and Maria Christina, 1831; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand was delighted with his young wife, who soon had a great influence on him. Until his marriage to Maria Christina, he had fathered no surviving child. While the moderate and liberal parties now pinned their hopes on an heir from the new queen, the absolutists (Carlists) favored Ferdinand’s younger brother, Infante Carlos, Count of Molina as the heir apparent.  Maria Francisca of Portugal, first wife of Infante Carlos, and her sister, Maria Teresa, Princess of Beira, second wife of Infante Carlos, competed with Maria Christina and her sister Luisa Carlota for influence at the Spanish court. Soon after her marriage, Maria Christina became pregnant. On March 29, 1830, Ferdinand VII issued the Pragmatic Sanction, allowing daughters to succeed to the Spanish throne as well as sons. This meant that Infante Carlos would be displaced in the line of succession by Ferdinand’s children of both genders. Infante Carlos and the Carlists fiercely resisted this decision.

Ferdinand and Maria Christina had two daughters:

María Isabel Luisa, Ferdinand’s elder daughter was Princess of Asturias, the title of the heir to the Spanish throne, from birth. In Spain, even if there is no heir apparent, the title can be (but is not necessarily) given to the heir presumptive – a daughter, sibling, or matrilineal descendant of the monarch. King Ferdinand VII died on September 29, 1833, and his daughter, not quite three years old, succeeded to the throne as Queen Isabella II with Maria Christina acting as Regent. This precipitated a series of wars known as the Carlist Wars in which Ferdinand’s brother Carlos, and later his descendants, fought over the succession. Ultimately, the army’s loyalty to Isabella II proved the decisive issue in the war.

Two months after Ferdinand died, on December 28, 1833, Maria Christina secretly married an ex-sergeant of the royal guard, Agustín Fernández Muñoz (1808-1873). The couple had eight children.

Maria Christina painted by Franz Xaver Winterhalter, circa 1841; Credit – Wikipedia

Eventually, the news of the marriage became public and it made Maria Christina very unpopular. In addition, doubts about her support of the Liberal ministers and their policies added to her unpopularity. Finally, the army, which had been the stalwart supporter of Queen Isabella II, and the Liberal leaders of the legislature, the Cortes Generales, demanded an end to Maria Christina’s regency. On October 12, 1840, she resigned as regent and then left Spain with her husband. General Baldomero Espartero became regent.

Maria Christina and Agustín spent a brief time in Rome where Pope Gregory XVI gave them a dispensation for their morganatic marriage. Next, Maria Christina visited her parents in Naples and then settled in Paris, where King Louis Philippe received her with military honors and gave her apartments in the Palais-Royal.  In 1842, Maria Christina purchased the Château de Malmaison, formerly the home of Empress Josephine after Napoleon I divorced her.

In 1843, after General Baldomero Espartero was overthrown as regent, Maria Christina and Agustín returned to Spain. In 1844, Queen Isabella II bestowed the title Duke of Riánsares upon Agustín and gave official consent to Agustín’s marriage to her mother. In 1854, when there was a change in political leadership, Maria Christina was again exiled. She returned to France with her husband where they spent the rest of their lives. In 1868, Isabella II was deposed during the Glorious Revolution and lived the rest of her life in exile in France.

Maria Christina in later life; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Agustín died in 1873, at the home he shared with his wife, Villa Mon Désir in Sainte-Adresse, near Le Havre, France. Maria Christina survived him by five years, dying at the age of 72 on July 22, 1878, in their home near Le Havre, France. As the widow of Ferdinand VII and mother of Isabella II, Maria Cristina was buried in the Pantheon of Kings in Royal Crypt of El Escorial Monastery.

Maria Christina of Spain_tomb

Tomb of Maria Christina; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King and Queen of Bhutan expecting their first child

Photo Credit – Zimbio

King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck of Bhutan and Queen Jetsun Pema are expecting their first child in February 2016. The couple married on October 13, 2011 in a traditional Buddhist ceremony. As part of the ceremony, the King proclaimed his bride Queen of Bhutan. Several days later, the couple also celebrated a traditional Hindu wedding ceremony.
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Unofficial Royalty: Jetsun Pema, Queen of Bhutan
Daily Mail: It’s a boy! The King and Queen of Bhutan reveal they are expecting their first child, four years after lavish Buddhist wedding ceremony held in a 17th century fortress

Maria Isabel of Portugal, Queen of Spain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Credit – Wikipedia

The second of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Infanta Maria Isabel of Portugal (Maria Isabel Francisca) was born on May 19, 1797, at the Palace of Queluz in Portugal. She was the third of the nine children of King João VI of Portugal and Infanta Carlota Joaquina of Spain, the elder sister of King Ferdinand VII.

Maria Isabel had three brothers and five sisters:

On September 29, 1816, Maria Isabel married her maternal uncle King Ferdinand VII of Spain, who was 13 years older than her. Ferdinand’s first wife had died childless ten years earlier. The marriage was made with the aim of strengthening relations between Spain and Portugal, and of course, with the goal of providing heirs to the throne. Maria Isabel was noted for her culture and love of art. Because of this, she took the initiative to gather works of art from the collection of the Spanish monarchs and create a museum. The Museo del Prado in Madrid, Spain, opened on November 19, 1819, and today it is the main Spanish national art museum.

Maria Isabel pointing to the Prado; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Isabel had a daughter, María Luisa Isabel, who was born on August 21, 1817, but sadly, she died on January 9, 1818. However, Maria Isabel soon became pregnant again, but the pregnancy was difficult. On December 26, 1818, at the Palace of Aranjuez in Spain, Maria Isabel went into labor and there were terrible complications. The child, a daughter also named María Luisa Isabel, was in a breech position and died in utero. Maria Isabel had lost consciousness and appeared to have stopped breathing, so the doctors believed she had died. When they began to cut her open to remove the dead child, she let out a cry of pain, fainted, and bled to death. Maria Isabel was only 21 years old and was buried in the Pantheon of Princes in the Monastery of El Escorial, and not in the Pantheon of the Kings, which is traditionally reserved for monarchs and spouses of monarchs who had been parents of monarchs.

Maria Isabel of Spain_tomb

Tomb of Maria Isabel (Isabel = Elisabeth); Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily, Princess of Asturias

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Credit – Wikipedia

The first of the four wives of King Ferdinand VII of Spain, Princess Maria Antonietta of Naples and Sicily (Maria Antonietta Teresa Amelia Giovanna Battista Francesca Gaetana Maria Anna Lucia), known as Maria Antonia, was named after her mother’s favorite sister Marie Antoinette, Queen of France, born Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria.  Princess Maria Antonia was the eleventh of the seventeen children of King Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies (before 1816, Ferdinand IV of the Kingdom of Naples and Ferdinand III of the Kingdom of Sicily) and Archduchess Maria Carolina of Austria, daughter of Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and Maria Theresa of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia.  She was born on December 14, 1784, at the Royal Palace of Caserta in Caserta, Kingdom of Naples and Sicily, now in Italy

Maria Antonia had sixteen siblings, sadly, eight of them died in childhood from smallpox:

Ferdinand IV, King of Naples, and his Family (1783); Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Antonia married her first cousin Ferdinand, Prince of Asturias, heir to the Spanish throne, on October 10, 1802, in Barcelona, Spain. At the same time, Maria Antonia’s eldest brother Francesco of Naples and Sicily (later King of the Two Sicilies) married Ferdinand’s sister Maria Isabella of Spain.

Maria Antonia’s two pregnancies in 1804 and 1805 ended in miscarriages. Guided by her mother from Naples, Maria Antonia encouraged her husband to confront his mother Queen Maria Luisa, with whom she had a bad relationship, and the Queen’s possible lover Manuel Godoy, the Prime Minister of Spain. At the same time, Maria Antonia sought support for the cause of Ferdinand in the Spanish court.

Maria Antonia, aged 21, died on May 21, 1806, at the Royal Palace of Aranjuez from tuberculosis. Rumors at the time said Maria Antonia had been poisoned by Manuel Godoy and Queen Maria Luisa, but there is no evidence that this is true. However, Maria Antonia’s mother, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, was convinced that her daughter had been poisoned. Maria Antonia was buried in the Pantheon of Infantes in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial in Spain. The inscription on her tomb reads: ” Who God has loved, He has quickly freed from life.” Her husband succeeded to the Spanish throne as King Ferdinand VII and went on to have three additional marriages.

Maria Antonia of Spain_tomb

Tomb of Maria Antonia, Princess of Asturias; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King Ferdinand VII of Spain

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Credit – Wikipedia

King Ferdinand VII of Spain (Fernando Maria Francisco de Paula Domingo Vicente Ferrer Antonio Jose Joaquin Pascual Diego Juan Nepomuceno Januario Francisco Javier Rafael Miguel Gabriel Calixto Cayetano Faust) was born on October 14, 1784, at El Escorial, a royal palace in San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Spain about 28 miles from Madrid. His parents, King Carlos IV of Spain and Maria Luisa of Parma, had fourteen children and Ferdinand was the ninth child and eldest son of the six children who survived into adulthood.

Ferdinand’s siblings:

Family of King Carlos IV of Spain in 1802; Credit – Wikipedia

Ferdinand was educated by a priest, Father Felipe Riaza Scío, a teacher and translator, who became Bishop of Segovia in 1895. While growing up, Ferdinand was denied any participation in government affairs by his parents and his mother’s favorite and possible lover, Manuel Godoy, Prime Minister. Ferdinand was encouraged by his teacher to conspire against his parents and a group of supporters of Ferdinand called fernandistas arose. King Carlos IV’s popularity declined due to economic issues, rumors about a sexual relationship between the Queen and Godoy, and the King’s incompetence. After riots and a revolt, King Carlos IV was forced to abdicate in favor of his son on March 19, 1808. However, in April of 1808, both Ferdinand and his father were summoned to a meeting with Napoleon I, Emperor of the French who forced them both to abdicate, declared the Bourbon dynasty of Spain deposed and installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte as King of Spain.  Napoleon kept Ferdinand under guard in France for six years at the Château de Valençay in France until the Treaty of Valençay on December 11, 1813, provided for the restoration of Ferdinand as King of Spain.

Ferdinand married four times:

Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily; Credit – Wikipedia

1) Maria Antonia of Naples and Sicily (1784 – 1806), Ferdinand’s cousin, married him in 1802. Maria Antonia had two miscarriages and died at age 21 of tuberculosis. There were rumors that Maria Antonia had been poisoned by Ferdinand’s mother and Manuel Godoy.

Maria Isabel of Portugal; Credit – Wikipedia

2) Maria Isabel of Portugal (1797–1818) was Ferdinand’s niece, the daughter of his older sister Carlota Joaquina and King João VI of Portugal. She married Ferdinand on September 29, 1816, and had one short-lived daughter and then died at age 21 after giving birth to a stillborn daughter.

  • Infanta María Luisa Isabel of Spain (1817 – 1818)
  • Infanta María Luisa Isabel of Spain (December 26, 1818), stillborn

Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony; Credit – Wikipedia

3) Maria Josepha Amalia of Saxony (1803–1829) and Ferdinand married in 1819. There were rumors that Maria Josepha Amalia’s devout Roman Catholicism caused her to believe that sexual relations between spouses was wrong and that it took Pope Pius VII to convince her that such relations were permissible. The marriage remained childless and Maria Josepha Amalia died in 1829 at the age of 25.

Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies; Credit – Wikipedia

4) Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1806–1878) was another niece of Ferdinand, the daughter of his sister Maria Isabella of Spain and Francesco I of the Two Sicilies. She had two daughters and survived her husband. Shortly after his death, Maria Christina secretly married an ex-sergeant from the royal guard, Agustín Fernando Muñoz and the couple had several children.

Maria Christina and Ferdinand’s two daughters:

Triumphal welcome of Ferdinand VII back to Spain in 1814; Credit – Wikipedia

When King Ferdinand VII was restored to the Spanish throne in 1813, the country had many problems and the citizens blamed the French, and at first, Ferdinand was welcomed. However, Spain was not the absolute monarchy it once was and Ferdinand was to reign under the liberal Constitution of 1812.  During the early days of Ferdinand’s restoration, he was encouraged by conservatives and leaders of the Spanish Catholic Church to reject the Constitution. On May 4, 1814, Ferdinand ordered the abolition of the Constitution of 1812 and then liberal leaders responsible for the Constitution arrested. Ferdinand ruled as an autocrat and was guided by a group of his favorites. During this period, the free press disappeared, universities were closed, and confiscated properties were returned to the Catholic Church. Most of the Spanish territories in the Americas declared independence and only the Caribbean islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico, along with the Philippines, the Marianas (including Guam), and the Carolinas in the Pacific, remained under the control of Spain.

In 1820, a revolt broke out in favor of the Constitution of 1812, and Ferdinand was taken prisoner. In 1823, France invaded Spain with the goal of restoring the throne of Spain to a descendant of King Henri IV of France, namely Ferdinand. After the Battle of Trocadero, Ferdinand was freed and once again took the reins of government. Rule by absolutism was restored and any opposition was suppressed.

Ferdinand VII and María Christina, 1823; Credit – Wikipedia

As Ferdinand had no sons, he persuaded the Spanish legislature to set aside the Salic Law, which allowed for only male succession. María Isabel Luisa, Ferdinand’s elder daughter by his fourth wife (and niece), was Princess of Asturias, the title of the heir to the Spanish throne, from birth. In Spain, even if there is no heir apparent, the title can be (but is not necessarily) given to the heir presumptive – a daughter, sibling, or matrilineal descendant of the monarch. King Ferdinand VII died on September 29, 1833, and his daughter, not quite three years old, succeeded to the throne as Queen Isabella II. This precipitated a series of wars known as the Carlist Wars in which Ferdinand’s brother Carlos, and later his descendants, fought over the succession. Even today, there are Carlist claimants to the Spanish throne. Isabella’s mother, and then Baldomero Espartero, Prince of Vergara served as regents during her minority.

Queen Isabella II of Spain as a child; Credit – Wikipedia

King Ferdinand VII was interred in the Pantheon of Kings in the Royal Crypt of the Monastery of El Escorial.

Ferdinand VII of Spain_tomb

Tomb of King Ferdinand VII; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

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Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Sarah, Duchess of York

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Sarah, Duchess of York

Sarah, Duchess of York (born Sarah Margaret Ferguson) is the former wife of Prince Andrew, The Duke of York, second son of Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh. She was born at the Wellbeck Nursing Home in Marylebone, London, England on October 15, 1959, to Major Ronald Ferguson and the former Susan Wright. Her father, a former soldier in the Life Guards, served as polo manager to the Duke of Edinburgh, and for many years, to the Prince of Wales. Sarah’s parents divorced in 1974, and both remarried. She has an older sister – Jane – and three younger half-siblings – Andrew, Alice, and Eliza Charlotte – from her father’s second marriage.

Her ancestors include King Charles II of England (she is descended from two of his illegitimate sons, The Duke of Richmond and The Duke of Monmouth), The 6th Duke of Buccleuch, 1st Duke of Abercorn, and Georgina Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire. Through these ancestors, she is distantly related to her former husband.

 

Sarah spent the first eight years of her life living at Lowood House, the family home in Sunninghill, Berkshire, England. The family then moved to Dummer Down Farm in Hampshire,  England which had been in the Ferguson family for several generations. As a child, Sarah and her family often spent summer weekends at Smith’s Lawn where her father played polo. It was here that her father first met Earl Mountbatten and through him, The Duke of Edinburgh. She often played with the children of The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh although neither Sarah nor her sister has any clear recollections.

She attended the Daneshill School in Hampshire, England, and then the Hurst Lodge School in Ascot, England graduating in 1977. Following her schooling, she attended Queen’s Secretarial College and took a job with a London public relations firm. She also worked at an art gallery and then a publishing company.

 

Despite having met several times in their youth, it wasn’t until the mid-1980s that Sarah and Prince Andrew developed a friendship when they were both guests at a weekend party at Floors Castle, the Scottish home of the Duke and Duchess of Roxburghe. Their friendship became romantic after a party at Windsor Castle in 1985, as part of Royal Ascot week. The Princess of Wales, with whom Sarah had been friends for several years, arranged for Sarah to be invited and made sure that she was seated next to Prince Andrew. Before long, Andrew proposed while the couple was again visiting Floors Castle and their engagement was announced in March 1986. Sarah’s engagement ring consisted of a large Burmese ruby surrounded by diamonds, designed by her fiance’.

 

Sarah and Prince Andrew married on July 23, 1986, in Westminster Abbey. As Andrew had been created Duke of York earlier that morning, Sarah emerged from the abbey as HRH The Duchess of York, and was the fourth most senior woman in the Royal Family, following The Queen, The Queen Mother, and The Princess of Wales.

Following their honeymoon, the couple lived in Prince Andrew’s apartments at Buckingham Palace while construction took place on their new home, Sunninghill Park in Berkshire, England. As a wedding gift, Queen Elizabeth II had purchased five acres of the former Sunninghill Park estate from the Crown Commissioners. The previous house on the estate had once been the intended home of Queen Elizabeth II and Duke of Edinburgh following their marriage. However, it was destroyed by fire before they could take up residence. The new Sunninghill Park became Sarah and Andrew’s primary residence for the remainder of their marriage… and beyond.

Upon marriage, Sarah was very close to most of the members of the Royal Family. She shared a love of horses and country pursuits with Queen Elizabeth II and took up carriage driving which endeared her to the Duke of Edinburgh. The Prince of Wales admired her carefree spirit and exuberance. However, in the early months and years of her marriage, The Duke of York was often away on naval duties, leaving Sarah to fend for herself in the complex world of ‘The Firm’. As an outsider, unaccustomed to life in the royal household, she often stumbled in finding her way. Fortunately, she had her friend and sister-in-law, Diana, to help guide her. Sarah was loved by the media at the beginning of her marriage, but they soon began to turn on her. She was constantly compared to Diana and ridiculed for her fashion sense and her weight – earning the title ‘Duchess of Pork’ by many of the British tabloids. For Sarah, it was made more difficult because of the constant absence of her husband.

Over the next four years, Sarah and Andrew had two daughters:

Soon there were cracks in the marriage. The Duke of York was often away on naval duties, and Sarah was seen in the company of other men. After much speculation, the couple announced that they were separating on March 19, 1992. A few months later, a tabloid published photos of the Duchess sunbathing topless with another man, causing the rift between her husband and his family to widen. With attempts at reconciliation having failed, the couple was divorced on May 30, 1996. Now styled as ‘Sarah, Duchess of York’, she initially retained the HRH style. However, Letters Patent were issued a few months later, clarifying that former wives were not entitled to use the royal style. As per The Lord Chamberlain’s office, she is still considered a member of the British Royal Family.

Despite their divorce, Sarah and Andrew continued to live together, both at Sunninghill Park and later at Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park. In 2007, she moved to the neighboring Dolphin House, where she lived until a fire in 2008 caused her to return to Royal Lodge. Sarah and Andrew purchased a ski chalet in Verbier, Switzerland, and Sarah has reportedly made this her primary residence. She also has an apartment in London and retains her rooms at Royal Lodge.

The relationship with her former husband has remained close, with Sarah often stating that he remains her ‘Prince Charming’. Rumors have circulated for years that the two plan to re-marry, but the two seem to be very happy with their current relationship. While both have had other relationships, they remained fully supportive – and protective – of each other.

One of the most polarizing British royals in recent years, Sarah, Duchess of York – despite her financial problems and scandals – has remained supportive and respectful of her former family and the monarchy. Since divorcing in 1996, she has been in the rare position of having to juggle her former position with her current one. Because of this, she is often – as the expression goes – “damned if she does, and damned if she doesn’t.”

 

Sarah, Duchess of York has written or contributed to over 40 books, including her series of ‘Budgie the Little Helicopter’ books, several lifestyle books, and two books about Queen Victoria. She served for many years as a spokesperson for Weight Watchers and ventured into film as a producer of the movie The Young Victoria in 2009. She has also worked as a contributor to several news programs, both in the UK and the US.

Despite her successful business ventures, she has often had to deal with financial problems. Reportedly she was near bankruptcy before being bailed out by her husband and several other friends. In 2010, she was secretly filmed by a tabloid offering access to her former husband in exchange for money. This incident, along with others, caused increased tension with her former family, particularly with her former father-in-law The Duke of Edinburgh. However, Queen Elizabeth II was very welcoming to her former daughter-in-law and often invited Sarah to Balmoral or Sandringham with Andrew and their daughters.

Since the early years of her marriage, Sarah has been involved with numerous charities and organizations. Since 1990, she has been Patron of The Teenage Cancer Trust, and a few years later, founded Children in Crisis. Together with her ex-husband and daughters, she established Key To Freedom in 2013. Other organizations she supports include Mental Disability Rights International and the Motor Neurone Disease Association. She has worked with the American Cancer Society and in 2014 was named ambassador for the Institute of Global Health Innovation at Imperial College in London.

On June 25, 2023, it was announced that Sarah had breast cancer and underwent surgery at King Edward VII Hospital, a private clinic in central London that previously treated the late Queen Elizabeth II and other senior royals. She underwent reconstructive surgery following her mastectomy. On January 21, 2024, it was announced that Sarah had been diagnosed with malignant melanoma after having several moles removed for analysis.

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Mark Phillips, first husband of Anne, The Princess Royal

by Scott Mehl

© Unofficial Royalty 2015

Mark Phillips, first husband of Anne, The Princess Royal

Captain Mark Phillips was the first husband of Anne, Princess Royal and father of her two children. He was born Mark Anthony Peter Phillips on September 22, 1948, to Major Peter Phillips and the former Anne Tiarks, whose father was an Aide-de-Camp to King George VI. He had one sister, Sarah, who passed away.

Following his education at Stouts Hill Preparatory School and Marlborough College, Phillips entered the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. After passing out, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Queen’s Dragoon Guards, eventually reaching the rank of Captain in 1975. He retired from the Army in March 1978.

 

An avid horseman, Philips was a member of the British Equestrian Team with whom he won the Team Three-Day Event world title in 1970, the European title in 1971, and Olympic Gold in 1972. He also won Silver at the 1988 Olympics and is a four-time champion at the Badminton Horse Trials.

 

It was through their mutual membership on the British Equestrian Team that Phillips met Princess Anne, the daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and The Duke of Edinburgh. Their engagement was announced on May 29, 1973, and they married at Westminster Abbey in London, England on November 14, 1973. Following their honeymoon, the couple settled at Gatcombe Park in Gloucestershire, England, an estate The Queen had purchased as a wedding gift. It has been speculated that The Queen offered – and Phillips declined – a peerage upon marriage but this has never been confirmed or denied by any member of the Royal Family.

The couple had two children:

In 1989, the couple separated following several years of a very strained marriage, and numerous claims of infidelity. In 1991, following court-mandated DNA testing, it was confirmed that Phillips had fathered a daughter, Felicity, in 1985 as a result of an affair with New Zealand art teacher Heather Tonkin. The following year, in April 1992, Captain Phillips and The Princess Royal were formally divorced.

In the 1980s, Phillips began working with the United States Equestrian Team, serving as Chef d’Equipe of the Eventing Team. It was through this that he met his second wife, Sandy Pflueger, a member of the US Dressage Team. They married on February 1, 1997, and have a daughter Stephanie born later that year. The couple separated in 2012.  Since 2012, Phillips has been in a relationship with Lauren Hough, also a member of the US Team, who is 18 years his junior.

As well as his work with the US Equestrian Team, Phillips is a columnist for Horse & Hound magazine and has designed several courses, including the cross-country venue for the Red Hills Horse Trials, an Olympic qualifying event, in Florida.

 

Captain Phillips is also the Chairman and course designer of the Gatcombe Horse Trials, which is held on The Princess Royal’s Gatcombe Park estate. Begun in the early 1980s by Phillips and The Princess Royal, the event continues to draw equestrians from around the world.

From most accounts, despite their divorce, Phillips retains a friendly relationship with The Princess Royal. The two are, in fact, neighbors. Some years after their marriage, the couple had purchased the neighboring property of Aston Farm and incorporated it into their Gatcombe Park estate. Following their divorce, the Princess retained Gatcombe, while Phillips moved to Aston Farm which remains his residence in England. However, in recent years, he has been based primarily in the United States where he still serves as the Chef d’Equipe (team manager) of the United States Eventing Team.

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Princess Charlotte of Wales

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Princess Charlotte; Credit – Official Facebook Page – The Royal Family

Princess Charlotte of Wales

Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Wales is the second child of the three children of Prince William, The Prince of Wales and the former Catherine Middleton. She was born at 8:34 am on May 2, 2015, at the Lindo Wing, St. Mary’s Hospital in London. For some background on her name see: Unofficial Royalty: What’s in a Name? – Princess Charlotte of Wales

Charlotte had an older and a younger brother:

Regardless of the gender of any younger siblings, Princess Charlotte will remain second in the line of succession to the British throne after her father The Prince, and her older brother Prince George of Wales until her older brother has children. The Succession to The Crown Act 2013, which formally went into effect on March 26, 2015, put in place absolute primogeniture, which means that for those born after October 28, 2011, the eldest child born becomes the heir to his or her parent, regardless of gender.  With the birth of her younger brother Prince Louis on April 23, 2018, Charlotte became the first British princess not to be overtaken in the line of succession by her younger brother.

Later that same day, Prince William brought Prince George to the hospital to meet his new baby sister. And just a few hours later, William and Catherine and their daughter left the hospital and returned home to Kensington Palace, where they were visited by members of their families. Two days later, the couple announced their daughter’s name – Charlotte Elizabeth Diana.

 

The family soon left Kensington Palace and traveled to their home on the Sandringham Estate, Anmer Hall. On July 5, 2015, Princess Charlotte was christened by the Archbishop of Canterbury at St. Mary Magdalene’s Church, Sandringham. The private service was attended only by immediate family, and Charlotte’s five godparents:

  • The Honorable Laura Fellowes (maternal first cousin of her father)
  • Adam Middleton (paternal first cousin of his mother)
  • Thomas van Straubenzee (a close friend)
  • James Meade (a close friend)
  • Sophie Carter (a close friend)

 

For her christening, Princess Charlotte wore the Royal Christening Gown which was made in 2008. It is an exact replica of the gown first used for the christening of Queen Victoria’s eldest daughter, Victoria, in 1841, and was used for all royal christenings since. The last to use the original gown was Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor, daughter of the Earl and Countess of Wessex in 2004. Also dating back to 1841, the Lily Font was used for Charlotte’s christening, with water from the River Jordan.  Following the christening, The Queen hosted a reception at Sandringham House.

On May 20, 2017, Princess Charlotte was a bridesmaid at the wedding of her aunt Pippa Middleton and James Matthews.

On January 8, 2018, Charlotte began attending the Willcocks Nursery School, close to her Kensington Palace home. Princess Charlotte became a big sister on April 23, 2018, when her younger brother Prince Louis was born.  Charlotte joined her brother George at Thomas’s Battersea School on Battersea High Street in London in September 2019.

Princess Charlotte on her first day of nursery school; Photo taken by The Duchess of Cambridge

In 2018, Princess Charlotte was a bridesmaid in two royal weddings – the wedding of her uncle Prince Harry to Meghan Markle and the wedding of her first cousin once removed Princess Eugenie of York to Jack Brooksbank.

Charlotte occasionally accompanies his parents on royal tours and engagements. On June 2, 2022, during her great-grandmother’s Platinum Jubilee celebration weekend, Charlotte and her siblings made their debut in the Trooping the Colour carriage procession.

Charlotte and her siblings ride in the Trooping the Colour carriage procession for the first time in 2022; Credit – By John Pannell from Watford, UK – Queen’s Platinum Jubilee 2022-0695, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=118639761

All three Cambridge children then joined their parents, Queen Elizabeth II, and other working royals on the Buckingham Palace balcony.

William and Catherine with their children on the Buckingham Palace balcony during the Platinum Jubilee celebrations of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022

In the summer of 2022, Charlotte and her family moved to Adelaide Cottage, a four-bedroom house on the grounds of Windsor Castle in Berkshire, England. The move was made to give Charlotte and her siblings a more normal family life. In the fall of 2022, Charlotte and her siblings began attending Lambrook School, a prestigious fee-paying school in Winkfield, near Windsor. The school is described on its website as a “leading coeducational Prep School for 615 boys and girls aged 3 and 13, set in 52 acres of beautiful Berkshire countryside.” Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis will not be the first royals who attended Lambrook School. Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein and his brother Prince Albert of Schleswig-Holstein, grandsons of Queen Victoria and sons of Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, also attended Lambrook School.

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Marie Juliette Louvet, mistress of Louis II, mother of Princess Charlotte

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Marie Juliette Louvet was the mistress of the future Prince Louis II of Monaco, and the mother of his only child, Princess Charlotte, Duchess of Valentinois. She is, therefore, the grandmother of Prince Rainier III, and the great-grandmother of Prince Albert II.

She was born on May 9, 1867, in Pierreval, France, to Jacques Louvet and Joséphine Piedefer. At the age of 17, she married a Parisian photographer, Achille Delmaet, with whom she already had a son, Georges. The couple later had a daughter, Marguerite, before divorcing in 1893.

It is believed that Marie Juliette and Prince Louis met while she was working as a hostess in a cabaret in Paris, France. By the following year, she was working as a seamstress in a military barracks in Constantine, Algeria, where Prince Louis was also based. Later that year, on September 30, 1898, Marie Juliette gave birth to the couple’s daughter, Charlotte. While Louis’ father, Prince Albert I, would not permit the couple to marry, their daughter Charlotte was later recognized as a member of the Monegasque Princely Family, and in 1919, was formally adopted by Prince Louis, becoming Princess Charlotte of Monaco, and Duchess of Valentinois. She would also later become heir to the Monegasque throne following her father’s accession in 1922, later relinquishing her succession rights in favor of her son, the future Prince Rainier III.

Marie Juliette Louvet lived the rest of her life in Paris, where she died on September 24, 1930.

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Ghislaine Dommanget, Princess of Monaco

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

Princess Ghislaine of Monaco was the wife of Prince Louis II and the step-grandmother of Prince Rainier III. She was born Ghislaine Marie Françoise Dommanget in Reims, France, on October 13, 1900, to Robert Joseph Dommanget and Marie Louise Meunier.

From an early age, she was drawn to the stage and became an actress, working at the famed Comédie-Française in Paris. Before meeting Prince Louis, she was married twice – to Paul Diey and André Brulé – and had one son, Jean Gabriel Brulé, born in 1934.

In 1942, she met Prince Louis while on a tour of Monaco, and he later wrote that he knew instantly upon meeting that she would one day be his wife. The couple was married on July 24, 1946, in a civil ceremony (with a religious service held three days later), and she became The Princess of Monaco. Ghislaine was nearly 46 years old, while her husband was more than 30 years older. While Prince Louis was, by all accounts, very much in love with Ghislaine, the rest of the Monegasque princely family questioned her motives, viewed her as an opportunist and golddigger. Sadly, Prince Louis died less than three years later, in May 1949, and was succeeded by his grandson, Prince Rainier III. In his will, Louis had left half of his estate to Ghislaine, but this was contested by Rainier and his sister Antoinette, and the will was overturned. Ghislaine only received her jewelry and other gifts and retained a suite of rooms at The Prince’s Palace. She also received a small pension from the Monegasque government, although this was later stopped by Prince Rainier as well.

The Dowager Princess returned to Paris, only occasionally returning to Monaco. In 1956, she attended the wedding of Prince Rainier and Grace Kelly, and despite a very strained relationship with her step-grandson, she developed and maintained a very close friendship with Grace, who made efforts to include Ghislaine as part of the family. Later, Ghislaine returned to the stage, even appearing in Monaco (with the condition that she would not use her title of Princess of Monaco). Billed simply as “Ghislaine”, she appeared in three plays in Monaco – Ms. April in 1958, L’Aiglon in 1959, and Pea Flower in 1960.

 

She then retired to Paris, where she wrote her memoirs – “Sois princesse” … dit-il (“Be Princess”… he said), which she dedicated to Princess Grace. In her later years, she only made two formal appearances in Monaco. In 1974, she attended the celebrations for Prince Rainier’s Silver Jubilee, and her last appearance was at the funeral of Princess Grace in 1982.

source: Wikipedia, photo by Theo

Ghislaine, Dowager Princess of Monaco died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, on April 30, 1991. She is buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris.

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Principality of Monaco Resources at Unofficial Royalty