Historical Photo Poll of 2007

[pinklady1991]

Thank you for putting this together. It is a welcome look at the past and it's interesting to see if you can find family resemblances. (Is it me or does anyone else see a little of Rainier in Albert I?) What amazing finds...excellent work.

[CasiraghiTrio]

I want to express my congradulations to all the committees on picking such beautiful, amazing pictures. Even if I wasn't on a committee I could never make a decision here. Each picture here is so special.

[Enrique]

All are very beautifull!!

[sm1939]

who is who ??? I only can pick out a few . great pictures

[Elsa M.]

Originally Posted by sm1939

who is who ???

Check the first posts of this thread, for the captions.

[Atene]

What a beatiful picture of Queen Marie of Rumania

[ysbel]

I thought I would amuse myself by providing small biographies of some of the illustrious figures from the past that you see here. Its good practice for me and maybe someone will enjoy it.

The Luxembourg picture is particularly interesting for it shows the family of Grand Duke William IV of Nassau who was a Protestant prince of a Catholic country until he married the Portuguese princess Marie Anne. Marie Anne shown here standing imposingly in the middle of the photo, believed that a Catholic country needed a Catholic monarch and was allowed to raise her children as Catholics.

William's father Adolphe was a member of the House of Nassau, the family of the Dutch monarchy over which Queen Beatrix is head of today. When Beatrix' grandmother Wilhemina inherited the Dutch throne, Luxembourg was separated from Dutch territories because a woman could not occupy the Luxembourg throne. So her relative Adolphe was chosen as the inheritor of the Luxembourg throne.

William and Marie-Anne had six daughters but no sons, which originally caused a succession crisis that could have repeated the succession crisis that brought his father Adolphe to the throne.

Their daughters were Marie-Adelaide, Charlotte, Hilda, Antoinette, Elizabeth and Sophia.

Antoinette married Rupprecht, Crown Prince of Bavaria
Elizabeth married Prince Ludwig Philipp of Thurn and Taxis
Sophia married Prince Ernst of Saxony


In 1907, William declared his eldest daughter, Marie-Adelaide (young lady seated in center), the heiress to the Luxembourg throne and she became the first woman to occupy the Luxembourg throne in 1912.

Marie-Adelaide was Luxembourg's first sovereign to actually have been born in her own country since 1296. She was intelligent, well-spoken, educated and took an active interest in politics. In WWI Luxembourg was occupied by the Germans and after the war, Marie-Adelaide was accused of being too friendly with the Germans that occupied Luxembourg. Although she didn't do anything unconstitutional, the Parliament sought her abdication and she abdicated in 1919.

Marie-Adelaide was succeeded by her younger sister Charlotte (seated at the far left of the photo) who became the mother of Grand Duke Jean and the grandmother of Grand Duke Henri, the father of the young Princes Guillaume, Felix, Louis, Sebastien and Princess Alexandra.

The grand old lady sitting in the middle with dignity and decorum is Grand Duchess Adelheid-Marie of Anhalt-Dessau, the widow of Adolphe, the first Grand Duke of Luxembourg. She looks at the young successor to the Luxembourg throne, Marie-Adelaide, with an attentive eye while Charlotte at the left shows the self-assurance that would serve her well leading Luxembourg through WWII.

I am struck by the resemblance of all the young women to their mother, Grand Duchess Marie-Anne.

[HRH Kerry]

Thanks for the 'narrative'. Good info. :)

[crisscross1]

How do I get to see the results so far?

[Elspeth]

You should see the vote numbers on the right of the original post if you've voted.

[crisscross1]

Originally Posted by Elspeth

You should see the vote numbers on the right of the original post if you've voted.

Thanks Elspeth, I only have a liitle monitor and couldn't see them all the way over there

[mtbcm]

This is a very interesting and heart-warming poll.

Congratulations to the Committees for their wonderful choices and Thank You!

It's hard to choose since every and each one of them entails details that make them favourite, wether is an historical or an emotional detail!


Lovely Poll, indeed!

Regards,
mtbcm

[HRH Kerry]

I've finally casted my vote. What a hard decision; it took me a couple of days.

[elenaris]

I am still amazed by the quality of the pics tha were chosen! what a great poll!!!!
Thank you!

[ysbel]

And the winner is...

J. RUSSIA with 23 votes

The Imperial Family

The portrait from 1907 shows the family of last Tsar of Russia, Emperor Nicholas II. This happy portrait of Emperor Nicholas, Empress Alexandra, Grand Duchesses Tatiana, Olga, Maria and Anastasia and Tsarevich Alexei does not alert of the future murder of the whole family ten years later, canonization by the Russian Orthodox Church in 1981 and 2002, and the controversy that surrounds the unfortunate family up to this day, especially connected with claims and hopes, however frail, that either Maria, Anastasia or Alexei might have survived the tragedy.




Date – 1907, source – Russian Archives, Link