Royal-Royal Marriages Today

[Moonmaiden23]

Before king Carl Gustaf of Sweden married Silvia Sommerlath there were lots of speculations in Swedish magazines about a possible marriage with either princess Caroline of Monaco or princess Marie Astrid of Luxembourg. As there are nothing that prevents a Swedish monarch to be married to a Catholic there wouldn't have been any serious religious obstacles for such a marriage (except from the pope/Catholic church). I think Caroline would have suited Carl Gustaf when it comes to similar interests, but she was/is eleven years younger than he and I would think that made her a bit too young for him in the early/mid 70:ies. Marie Astrid would have been a better choice as they are closer in age but I think she may have been too serious (and a too pious Catholic) to suit him.

That's about as serious a religious obstacle as there could be, and frankly the only religious obstacle that counts to a Catholic Royal.

Marie-Astrid would probably never have defied her family and the Holy See to marry Carl-Gustav. As for Caroline, who knows?

She might have married CG, but I can't see her converting to Lutheranism..and as eventual Queen of Sweden wouldn't that have been a requirement?

 

[NGalitzine]

Well the Protestant Astrid of Sweden married the Catholic Leopold of Belgium (Marie Astrids grandfather), and did not convert to Catholicism for several years after her marriage, so it should not have been impossible for a Swedish royal to marry a Roman Catholic. The law likely would have required their children to be Lutheran but I don't believe there is a requirement for the consort to convert.

 

[Meraude]

That's about as serious a religious obstacle as there could be, and frankly the only religious obstacle that counts to a Catholic Royal.

Marie-Astrid would probably never have defied her family and the Holy See to marry Carl-Gustav. As for Caroline, who knows?

She might have married CG, but I can't see her converting to Lutheranism..and as eventual Queen of Sweden wouldn't that have been a requirement?

There are no requirements in Sweden for a royal spouse to be Lutheran, it's only the monarch and those in line for the throne that have to be Lutheran. There had already been two Catholic queen consorts in Sweden, Désirée Clary and Joséphine of Leuchtenberg, who was a devoted Catholic. So as long as Marie Astrid or Caroline (and the pope) had agreed to allowing the children born in such a marriage to be brought up as Lutherans, the mother could remain a Catholic.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

I can see John Paul II or Benedict XVI agreeing(reluctantly) to an arrangement like that, but Paul VI, who was Pope during most of the 70's?

Frankly, no.

Thanks NGalitizine and Meraude!

 

[amedea]

What did the Pope say in 1823 when Josephine of Leuchtenberg married Oscar of Sweden? Did he agree?

 

[Noble Consort Ming]

What did the Pope say in 1823 when Josephine of Leuchtenberg married Oscar of Sweden? Did he agree?

Josephine remained Catholic while agreeing to raise her children as Lutherans. Wikipedia says the pope gave his consent to this but I don't know how accurate the info is.

 

[MAfan]

Is it possible that the Pope agreed that her sons would be raised Lutherans and her daughters Catholic? It seems that this was the usual policy followed by the Pope(s) about the marriages of (royal) Catholic women to non-Catholic men; an example of it is the marriage of Prince Waldemar of Denmark to the Catholic Princess Marie of Orleans.

 

[SLV]

Would the pope have any say in this at all. Why would they as him?

 

[amedea]

Is it possible that the Pope agreed that her sons would be raised Lutherans and her daughters Catholic? It seems that this was the usual policy followed by the Pope(s) about the marriages of (royal) Catholic women to non-Catholic men; an example of it is the marriage of Prince Waldemar of Denmark to the Catholic Princess Marie of Orleans.

Still, that kind of agreement was not considered ok for Anne Marie of Bourbon-Parma (marrying Michael of Romania) and for Giovanna of Savoy (marrying Boris of Bulgaria).

 

[MAfan]

In the case of Boris and Giovanna of Bulgaria, the agreement was that the children would be raised Catholic; but instead when their two children were born they were baptized in the Orthodox faith, and it seems that this caused much anger in the Vatican.
As for Michael and Anne of Romania, the Pope refused to consent their marriage unless Michael promised that their children would be raised Catholic; Michael refused to make such a promise, because it would have been in breach of the Romanian law, so Pope didn't allow the marriage. Michael and Anne eventually decided to marry, and they did in an Orthodox ceremony.

 

[NGalitzine]

I believe that many years later Michael and Anee did have a Catholic wedding in Monaco.

 

[nascarlucy]

From what I've read on this particular forum page it seems like there was a lot of medding of various church officials (too much meddling IMO) when two people who were members of different branches of Christianity wanted to marry. I know it had to do with the time period and various other things (traditions, laws,etc) and I imagine some were prevented from getting marrired because of these things.

 

[Meraude]

Is it possible that the Pope agreed that her sons would be raised Lutherans and her daughters Catholic?

I doubt there was an agreement that queen Joséphines daughers should be raised Catholic. Her only daughter was princess Eugénie and in 1880 Eugénie took initiative to a Lutheran missionary organization among the Samic people in the north of Sweden, although she was not a believer of any Christian belief in particular, but listened to several different Christian branches. (Eugénie is one of the most interesting Swedish princesses in my opinion.)

 

[fearghas]

From what I've read on this particular forum page it seems like there was a lot of medding of various church officials (too much meddling IMO) when two people who were members of different branches of Christianity wanted to marry. I know it had to do with the time period and various other things (traditions, laws,etc) and I imagine some were prevented from getting marrired because of these things.

That's true but I think it would still happen today. I find it hard to imagine for instance that one of the luxembourg or their habsburg or belgian cousins would marry a protestant without their being a lot of behind the scenes wrangling.

 

[Kataryn]

That's true but I think it would still happen today. I find it hard to imagine for instance that one of the luxembourg or their habsburg or belgian cousins would marry a protestant without their being a lot of behind the scenes wrangling.

There have been protestant Habsburg brides in the past. There was one protestant Archduchess who after her death was allowed to be buried in the Habsburg crypt because the emperor decided that "she should lie with us as she lived with us".

 

[fearghas]

There have been protestant Habsburg brides in the past. There was one protestant Archduchess who after her death was allowed to be buried in the Habsburg crypt because the emperor decided that "she should lie with us as she lived with us".

No i meant the first cousins, children of the Princess Marie Astrid Luxembourg.

 

[Meraude]

That's true but I think it would still happen today. I find it hard to imagine for instance that one of the luxembourg or their habsburg or belgian cousins would marry a protestant without their being a lot of behind the scenes wrangling.

I don't think the Catholic church would mind to much to a Protestant bride or groom as long as the children of the marriage was going to be raised as Catholics, the serious issue would be if the children had to be raised as Protestants.

 

[Grandduchess24]

Most monarchs headed in that direction in their day but these days the heirs are not marrying other royals but commoners/ nobels and for love and by monarchs it's England, Spain, Romania, Greece whose king and Queen come from royal families.

 

[Mariel]

I rather like the Lux and Leich royals because they don't seem to be maritally indiscrete much--just have had troubles (in the Luxembourgs) with marrying commoners and being scolded by the Top of Bourbon-Parma. Grand Duke Jean gave up his Bourbon Parma title because he was miffed that this Bourbon-Parma person said the marriages of his son Henri and his son Jean were non-dynastic; but later Henri took back the Bourbon Parma title. I forget the name of the ruler of Bourbon Parma, but his kids by Princess Irene of the Netherlands are marrying now (two lately). All is forgiven at the court in Holland, I guess--none of the Dutch royals went to the wedding of Bourbon Parma (let's call him BP) and Princess Irene, because she became a Catholic and this was thought to potentially cause a judicial storm in Holland.

 

[Meraude]

I forget the name of the ruler of Bourbon Parma, but his kids by Princess Irene of the Netherlands are marrying now (two lately). All is forgiven at the court in Holland, I guess--none of the Dutch royals went to the wedding of Bourbon Parma (let's call him BP) and Princess Irene, because she became a Catholic and this was thought to potentially cause a judicial storm in Holland.

It wasn't only the fact that princess Irene of the Netherlands became a Catholic and married Carlos Hugo, duke of Parma that caused the uproar in the Netherlands, it was as much the fact that the Spanish general Franco was in favour of the marriage. General Franco had supported Nazi Germany and the Dutch had not forgotten the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War.

 

[Tsar bobo Iv]

will they be showing the Luxembourg royal wedding on american tv

 

[Pranter]

I doubt it...my guess is that most Americans have never even heard of the country.


LaRae

 

[Mbruno]

It wasn't only the fact that princess Irene of the Netherlands became a Catholic and married Carlos Hugo, duke of Parma that caused the uproar in the Netherlands, it was as much the fact that the Spanish general Franco was in favour of the marriage. General Franco had supported Nazi Germany and the Dutch had not forgotten the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands during the Second World War.

Princess Irene married 50 years when the Dutch Reformed Church was still the largest Christian denomination in the Netherlands and a princess of the Netherlands marrying a Catholic was considered taboo. Nowadays, over 50 % of the Dutch population is non-religious or atheist and the religious affiliation of consorts of members of the royal family is probably no longer a major issue as it used to be.

Queen Maxima for example is Catholic and refused to convert to Protestantism after she got married. Her three daughters were baptized in the Protestant church though and are being raised (at least nominally) as Protestants, which apparently was a condition imposed by Queen Beatrix to give her consent to the marriage.

 

[Daz_Voz]

Marriages between European royal houses

When was the last marriage between members of different European royal families? I'm struggling to think of one since Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip.

 

[Friedrich Karl II]

I think that last royal marriages between reigning royals were in 1960's or 1970's. Strangely with my knowledge non-reigning royals still marry each others.

 

[Countessmeout]

Are we talking reigning houses only, or any royal houses?

Since 1947, those with at least one member from a still reigning house:

-Caroline of Monaco and Ernst August of Hannover (1999)
-Juan Carlos of Spain and Sophie of Greece in 1962
-King Constantine and Anne Marie of Denmark in 1964
-Princess Astrid of Belgium and Prince Lorenz of Austria-Este (1984)
-Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleberg (1968)
-Princess Birgitta of Sweden and Prince Johan George of Hohenzollern
-Prince Alois of Lichtenstein and Sophie of Bavaria (1993)
-Prince Nikolaus of Lichtenstein and Princess Margarethe of Luxembourg (1982)
-Princess Marie-Astrid of Luxembourg and Archduke Carl Christian of Austria (1982)
-Prince Gundakar of Lichtenstein and Princess Marie D'Orleans (1989)
-Princess Haya of Jordan and Sheikh Mo of Dubai (2004)

Non-reigning houses who have married since 1947:
-King Michael of Romania and Princess Anne of Borbon-Parma (1948) after he had been deposed from his throne
-Georg Friedrich of Prussia and Princess Sophie of Isenberg (2011)


I am sure I missed a number. Especially among the former royal houses. The former royal houses mingle a lot, and intermarry each other or among the nobility quite often.


edited, more common in non-European monarchies still.

I mentioned Mo and Haya above. Mo's kids are a great example.

Four of his daughters have married into other royal houses:
-Manal is married to a cousin but he is a member of the Abu Dhabi royal family, Sheikh Mansour
-Shaikha is married to Sheikh Nasser of Bahrain
-Latifa (1st) is married to the crown prince of Fujairah
-Latifa (2nd) is married to Sheikh Faisal of Ras al-Khaimah


Prince Khalid of Bahrain, a younger brother of the Crown prince, is married to Princess Sahab of Saudi Arabia (2011)

 

[JR76]

There are numerous examples of members of non-reigning royal families marrying each other:
- Anna of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg married Manuel of Bavaria (2005)
- Lilly of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg married (and later divorced) Alexander of Schaumburg-Lippe (1993)
- Marie-Caroline of Bavaria married Phillip of Würtemberg (1991)
- Maria Vladimirovna of Russia married (and later divorced) Franz-Wilhelm of Prussia (1976)
- Viktoria Louise of Prussia married of Ferdinand of Leiningen (2017)
- Katharina of Isenburg married Martin of Habsburg-Este
- Isabelle of Isenburg married Carl of Wied (1998)
- Eilika of Oldenburg married Georg of Habsburg-Lothringen (1997)

These are but a few that I can remember.
Added to these and a bit off topic are the even more numerous marriages between members of royalty and the nobility. The most prominent of those include:
- Prince Franz Joseph II of Liechtenstein married Georgina von Wilczeck (1943).They later passed away within a month of each other after a 46 year long marriage.
- King Simeon of Bulgaria married Margarita Gómez-Acebo y Cejuela (1962)
- Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein married Marie Kinsky of Wchinitz und Tettau (1967)
- Elena of Spain married (and later divorced) Jaime de Marichalar (1995)
- Duarte Pio of Braganca married Isabel Inês de Castro Curvelo de Herédia (1995)
- King Philippe of the Belgians married Mathilde d'Udekem d'Acoz (1999)
- Guillaume of Luxembourg married Stéphanie de Lannoy (2012)
- Franz Albrecht of Oettingen-Oettingen & Oettingen-Spielberg married Cleopatra von Adelsheim von Ernest (2016)
- Jean-Christophe Napoléon married Olympia von Arco-Zinneberg (2019)

 

[An Ard Ri]

Infanta Pilar of Spain married Don Luis Gómez-Acebo,2nd Vicomte de la Torre in May 1967.The late Vicomte is a cousin of Margarita Gómez-Acebo,wife of Simeon of Bulgaria.

 

[Moonmaiden23]

Wasn't the recent wedding of the Napoleon heir a Royal-Royal wedding?

 

[JR76]

Wasn't the recent wedding of the Napoleon heir a Royal-Royal wedding?

Even though Count Arco-Zinneberg has many royal ancestors through femail lines his family is not royal. His wife, Archduchess Maria Beatrice, is a full-blooded royal descendant of the Habsburgs, Savoys, Orléans', Parmas and many others