Fürst Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein died 20 years ago, on 13 November 1989; he has been the Head of State of the small Principality for 51 years, from 1938 to 1989, leading it during its evolution from a poor agricultural Country to one of the richest Nations in the World.

Prince Franz Josef was born in Schloss Frauenthal, Austria, on 16 August 1906, the eldest of the eight children of Prince Aloys (1869-1955) and Princess Elisabeth, née Archduchess of Austria (1878-1960); his paternal grandparents were Prince Alfred (1842-1907) and Princess Henriette (1843-1931; Alfred’s first cousin), while his maternal grandparents were Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria (1833-1896) and his third wife Archduchess Maria Teresa, née Infanta of Portugal (1855-1944). Franz Josef was named after his godfather and maternal great-uncle, the Emperor of Austria.

Fürst Franz Josef II - source: Presse- und Informationsamt, Vaduz

Prince Franz Josef was born during the very long reign of his great-uncle Fürst Johannes II (a brother of Princess Henriette); in 1923 Prince Aloys, then 3^rd in the Line of Succession, renounced his rights, and in 1929 the deaths of Aloys’ elder brother and of Fürst Johannes left Franz Josef the first in the Line of Succession after his great-uncle Fürst Franz I (the younger brother of Princes Johannes II and Henriette).

On 30 March 1938 Fürst Franz I turned over the regency to Prince Franz Joseph, and died four months later, on 25 July 1938; Franz Josef became the Ruling Prince of Liechtenstein.

His accession happened in a very negative moment: the 1928 bankruptcy of the Liechtensteinian Sparkasse left the Government without money and very close to the bankrupt, and the 1929 economical crisis worsened further on the economical situation of the whole Country; moreover in 1938 the German Nazi government occupied Austria, and several lands and possessions of the Princely Family in that country were expropriated. Read more…

MAfan Historical Royals, Liechtenstein Royals Anniversary, Biography, Death, Franz Josef II

  80 years ago the engagement was announced between HRH Prince Umberto of Savoy, Prince of Piedmont, and HRH Princess Maria José of Belgium.

The union between the 25-years-old son and heir of King Vittorio Emanuele III and Queen Elena of Italy and the 23-years-old daughter of King Albert I and Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians was planned since the two Princes were only children – probably during the First World War the two Courts began to think about their marriage; according to what Maria José remembered years later, she grew up thinking to marry Umberto and imagining him as the fairytale prince; on the other side, Umberto knew that if he would have married, he surely would have married Maria José, as their families had planned.

Umberto and Maria José on their engagement day - from reumberto.it

The two Princes met for the first time in 1918 for a visit to Venice, together with their families; at that time, Umberto was 14 and Maria José 12; she was studying in Italy, in the Istituto Statale della Ss. Annunziata, a very exclusive girls’ boarding school in Florence.

In the following years they met several times, at the wedding of Prince Amedeo, Duke of Apulia and Princess Anne d’Orleans in 1927 and on vacation in Tuscany in the summer 1928. In the winter of the same year, Umberto visited Bruxelles, and he was expected to ask Maria Josè to marry him, but nothing happened, as well as nothing had happened between them when they met before; the main reason is that both Umberto and Maria José felt forced to marry, and in that period they didn’t want to do; in particular Umberto didn’t want to marry a woman that he didn’t love and he knews only a bit. Read more…

MAfan Belgian Royals, Historical Royals, Italian Royals Anniversary, Engagement, Queen Maria José, Savoy, Umberto II

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Bavaria was born 150 years ago, on 22 October 1859, in the Royal Palace in Madrid.

He was the eldest son of Prince Adalbert of Bavaria (1828-1875) and his wife Princess Amalia, née Infanta of Spain (1834-1905); his paternal grandparents were King Ludwig I and Queen Therese of Bavaria, while his maternal grandparents were Infante Francisco de Paula and Infanta Luisa Carlotta of Spain; among his cousins were three Kings of Bavaria, Ludwig II, Otto and Ludwig III, and King Alfonso XII of Spain.

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand in 1906 - from Wikipedia

Prince Ludwig Ferdinand grew up firstly in Spain and later in Bavaria together with his four siblings, a brother, Prince Alfons, and three sisters, Princess Isabella, later Princess of Savoy and Duchess of Genova, Princess Elvira, later Countess von Wrbna, and Princess Clara.

Ludwig Ferdinand studied medicine in Heidelberg and Munich, following the example of Duke Karl Theodor in Bavaria, and took the government licensing examination in Surgery and Gynaecology; he also was member of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gynäkologie und Geburtshilfe (German Society of Gynaecology and Obstetrics) and Cirujano honorario de la Real Academia Española (Honorary Surgeon of the Spanish Royal Academy); his devotion to the medicine was seen by his family as one of the many eccentricities of the members of the Bavarian Royal Family, but later it has been very appreciated, since the Prince used to practise his job of surgeon gratuitously. Read more…

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 20 years ago, on the 18th of October 1989, Her Serene Highness Fürstin Gina von und zu Liechtenstein died in Grabs, Switzerland, aged 67. She had been for 46 years the wife of Fürst Franz Josef II, and therefore the mother of the present Fürst Hans Adam II.

Fürstin Gina - click to see at geneall.net

Countess Georgine “Gina” Norberte Johanna Franziska Antonie Marie Raphaela von Wilczek was born on 24 October 1921 in Graz, the only daughter and child of Count Ferdinand von Wilczek and his wife, born Countess Norbertine Kinsky von Wchinitz und Tettau; her mother died when Gina was only 17 months.

The then Countess grew up in Austria, and studied at the university in Vienna to become an interpreter.

In 1942 she met Fürst Franz Josef II von und zu Liechtenstein, who was a fourth cousin of Gina, and they married in Vaduz  the following year, on 7 March 1943; Franz Josef was 36 years old, Gina only 21; together they had five children, four sons and a daughter: Hans Adam, the present Fürst von und zu Liechtenstein, born in 1945; Philipp, born in 1946; Nikolaus, born in 1947; Norberta “Nora”, born in 1950, and twelve years later, in 1962, Franz Josef Wenzeslaus “Wenzel”. All their children except Wenzel, who has tragically died unmarried in 1991, have married and have children.

Franz Josef and Gina were very loved among the people in Liechtenstein: they were the first princely couple to live full-time in the little Country, and under the reign of Franz Josef the economy of the Principality developed, making Liechtenstein a very rich contry. Moreover the two Princes were somehow complementary: while Franz Josef was a very friendly but shy person, Gina was very warm, cordial, expansive and sociable, helping the Princely Family to be more popular among the people. Read more…

MAfan Historical Royals, Liechtenstein Royals Anniversary, Biography, Death, Fürstin Gina

Music written by members of the Romanov dynasty is to be performed for the first time on October 20, during the concert that will take place in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow.

Prince Vladimir Paley

Among the pieces to be performed are polkas, songs, marches, ballads and romances written by Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna (wife of Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich, second son of Nicholas I), as well music based on poetry written by Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley (the son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich and his morganatic wife Olga Valerianovna Paley) and Prince Oleg Konstantinovich (the immensely talented 4th son of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich who died in battle during World War I, aged just 21). The magnificent music on Ukrainian themes composed by Alexander II will also be heard for the first time.

The audience will have a unique insight into the very soul of members Romanovs: they will see, or rather hear, not statesmen and historical figures but real people with their thoughts, feelings, worries and yearnings.

The Romanov dynasty gave birth to many people distinguished in various fields, including art. All Romanovs received excellent musical education, which resulted in beautiful and touching pieces that show the woes and joys of the times. Among the number of those extraordinary people, two names stand out – Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich and Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley.

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Marsel Historical Royals, Russian Royals Alexander II, Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich, Music, Prince Vladimir Paley

Alexei in 1912

“Science” journal published results of a study which found that some of Queen Victoria’s male descendants suffered from a severe form of blood clotting disorder Haemophilia B, also known as the Christmas Disease. Although it has already been known that the British Queen’s descendants were affected by Haemophilia, this is the first time the exact form of the disease was identified.

The scientists examined DNA samples extracted from the remains of the Romanovs and found that Tsarevich Alexei suffered from Haemophilia B, while one of his sisters, Anastasia, was a carrier. Alexei and Anastasia were the children of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, and female-line descendants of Queen Victoria: they inherited the mutation from their mother, who was Queen Victoria’s granddaughter.

Haemophilia lowers the level of the chemicals that cause blood to clot after injury. Haemophilia A, resulting from a lack of clotting factor VIII, is the most common form, affecting one in 5,000–10,000 males. Haemophilia B is caused by a deficiency of factor IX and affects one in 20,000–35,000 males. Because the disorder is linked to the X chromosome, only males suffer from the disease. This is because males have only one X chromosome, so if that single chromosome is affected, than the male in question will be a victim of the disease. Females only carry it because their second X chromosome is extremely unlikely to have the same mutation. Through Queen Victoria, Royal Houses of Russia, Spain and Germany were plagued with the “Royal Disease”.

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Marsel British Royals, Historical Royals, Russian Royals Grand Duchess Anastasia, Haemophilia, Health, Queen Victoria, Science, Tsarevich Alexei

 The Throne of a Chinese Emperor from Qing Dynasty’s Qianlong period was sold at Sotheby’s for record-braking $11 million – the highest price for any Chinese piece of furniture ever sold.

Courtesy of Sotheby's. Click for bigger image

The frenzied bidding lasted 10 minutes, with 36 bids from all over the world. The winning bid by an unnamed Shanghai businessman considerably exceeded the highest estimate of $4 million.

Nicolas Chow, Sotheby’s International Head of Chinese Ceramics and Works of Art, commented after the sale: “This throne was literally the seat of Imperial power and this has aroused enormous interest among discerning collectors from around the world. As the finest piece of Imperial furniture to come to the market in decade, it is appropriate that it has now broken the world auction record for Chinese furniture”.

The “dragon” throne is 140 centimetres long and carved of zitan wood. It feautures carved panes, curved legs and five dragon carving on the back. The number of dragons was not accidental; it represented the ‘five blessings’ of old age, health, virtue, wealth and peaceful death.

To read more about Imperial Family of China, visit this thread.

Marsel Chinese Royals, Historical Royals Auction, Qing Dynasty, Sotheby’s

click to learn more details at Daily Mail

 Revolving restaurants may seem to be decidedly modern invention; however it looks like they have existed for quite some time. For over 2000 years, in fact. Archaeologists have uncovered what they think are the remains of Nero’s extravagant rotating banquet hall. The ‘coenatio rotunda’ is thought to be the one described by Suetonius: “The chief banqueting room was circular and revolved perpetually night and day in imitation of the motion of the celestial bodies. All the dining rooms had ceilings of fretted ivory, the panels of which could slide back and let a rain of flowers or of perfume from hidden sprinklers fall on his guests”.

The partially excavated site is part of never-completed Golden Palace, one of Nero’s most extravagant projects, featuring 120ft bronze statue of the Emperor, an amphitheatre, a bath complex, waterfalls, gardens, zoos. The main dining room, with a diameter of over 16 meters, rested upon a 4-meter wide pillar and four spherical mechanisms that, likely powered by a constant flow of water, rotated the structure. Archaeologist Maria Antonietta Tomei said: “This cannot be compared to anything that we know of in ancient Roman architecture”.

click to view more pictures at Times Online

Another important discovery was made by a team of British archaeologists working in ancient Rome’s seaport, which has unearthed the remains of a “mini-Colosseum”. Archaeologists compare the importance of the site to Stonehenge or the great temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

The foundations of the tiny amphitheatre, dated to the early third century, were discovered inside the territory of a palace built 100 years earlier by Emperor Trajan, 25 kilometres southwest of Rome. The arena’s height and capacity are yet to be determined, however early studies suggests it could hold up to 2,000 people (by comparison, Colosseum could seat about 50,000). The find underscores how ancient arenas came in different sizes and were used for a variety of purposes. Lead archaeologist Simon Keay commented on this: “There are a lot of amphitheatres in the Roman world and people assume they were all used for animal and gladiatorial combat. But they could be used for other things, such as a private theatre or for administrative purposes”. The purpose of this particular amphitheatre is yet unclear. The discovery is particularly significant because amphitheatres were seldom built so close to harbours.

Marsel Historical Royals Archaeology, Emperor Nero, Excavation, Golden Palace, Italy

  The Battle of Salamis took place in September of 480 BC: the exact date is unknown (although presumed to be some time between September 20-30) but the great implications it had are easy to trace.

click to view full-size image

The Battle was fought between the Persian Empire and the Alliance of Greek cities. It followed the Battles of Thermopylae (the Battle of 300 Spartans) and the Battle of Artemisium, where the Persian side was victorious, although they suffered disproportionally heavy losses. The Battle of Salamis was a turning point in the entire course of the Greek-Persian Wars: this victory, along with the next year’s victory at the Battle of Plataea, permanently halted any attempt by the Persian Empire to conquer any of the Greek city-states.

The Battle of Salamis is often considered one of the most significant battles in human history: had the Persian side been victorious, they would most likely succeed in their quest to conquer the entire Greek mainland. That would have halted the progress of the Ancient Greece, which, in turn, would have disastrous effects on the development of the European (western) civilization.

Herodotus places the Battle of Salamis soon after the Battles of Thermopylae and Artemisium, and immediately after the evacuation of Athens. The Allies had some time to make preparations because of the slow advance of the Persian army: Xerxes severely punished all those cities who had refused to submit to him, burning and destroying most of them, including Plataea and Thespiae. Once they reached Athens, they burned down many of the city’s temples, including the Temple of Athena; many historians and poets have described the ‘pain and anguish of the Athenians, forced to watch their beloved city engulfed in flamed’.

According to legend, when Alexander the Great captured Persepolis, the legendary capital of the Persian Empire, Athenian hetaerae Thais urged him to burn it down, to repay for burning of the Athens: “When Alexander had caught fire at her words .. many torches were gathered … Thais the hetaerae leading the whole performance. She was the first, after the King, to hurl her torch into the palace… It was remarkable that the … act of Xerxes against the acropolis at Athens should have been repaid in kind after many years by one woman, a citizen of the land which had suffered it…” Thais would later become the wife of Ptolemy I Soter, King of Egypt.

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Marsel Historical Royals Alexander the Great, Battle, Battle of Salamis, Greece, Persian Empire

On September 25, 1896, Queen Victoria became the longest-reigning Monarch in British History, surpassing George III’s reign, who was King for 59 years. Victoria also left behind the longest-reigning English and Scottish Monarchs, Henry III and James VI, who had reigned for 56 and 57 years respectively. She was a Queen for 63 years and 216 days.

Click to see the portrait at Newspaper Collections

Grand commemorative events were planned for the occasion; however the Queen requested all public celebrations to be delayed for a year, until 1897, to coincide with her Diamond Jubilee. The double celebrations of Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee and her long reign were truly spectacular and were held in every corner of the British Empire. The banquet in honour of the glorious events was attended by 50 European Kings and Princes, numerous Queens and Princesses, and the Prime Ministers of all the colonies and dominions. The Jubilee procession held next day included troops from every British colony and dominion, as well as soldiers sent by Indian Princes as a mark of respect to the Empress of India. Mark Twain, who was a witness to the procession, later wrote that it “stretched to the limit of sight in both directions”.

The celebrations were marked by great display of affection for the Queen: tens of thousands of people had lined the streets to catch a glimpse of their beloved Monarch, newspapers and bulletins seemed to be unable to find enough words to express their deepest regard and devotion, foreign dignitaries were united in their praise. Although Victoria had to pass through years of unpopularity because of her prolonged mourning period, by the time of the celebrations she was immensely popular once again. Read more…

Marsel British Royals, Historical Royals Biography, Queen Victoria, Reign