View the image at King Hussein's official website

Today, Jordan marks the 74th anniversary of the birth of the late King Hussein. King Hussein bin Talal was born on November 14, 1935 at the Al-Qasr Al-Sagheer Palace in Amman to Prince Talal bin Abdullah and Princess Zein Al-Sharaf bint Jamil. After completing his elementary education in Amman, King Hussein attended Victoria College in Alexandria (Egypt),and Harrow School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, both in England.

When he was 15 years old, he witnessed the murder of his grandfather, King Abdullah I, at Al Aqsa Mosque in al-Quds (Jerusalem) after Friday prayers.

Prince Talal, King Abdullah´s eldest son, assumed the Throne on September 6, 1951; but only eleven months later, he was declared unfit to rule by parliament because of mental illness. King Talal abdicated in favour of his eldest son, Hussein. On August 11, 1952, Hussein was proclaimed King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. He was only sixteen years old at the time. A Regency Council was appointed until King Hussein’s formal accession to the Throne on May 2, 1953, when he assumed his constitutional powers after reaching the age of eighteen, according to the Islamic calendar. Read more…

salma Jordanian Royals Anniversary, Biography, Birthday, King Hussein

Emperor and Empress watch festives from a bridge. Courtesy - AP

Tens of thousands of well-wishers lined the streets of Tokyo on Thursday to mark the 20th anniversary of Emperor Akihito’s accession to the throne. On November 12, 1990 Emperor Akihito performed the Sokuirei (Ceremony of Enthronement), which marked the official beginning of his reign.

Parades, concerts and speeches by politicians, dignitaries, businessmen, leading athletes and actors marked the colourful festivities that lasted most of the day.

The celebrations started with the memorial ceremony at the National Theatre of Japan, where the Imperial Couple was greeted by the Government officials and dignitaries.

Well-wishers. Courtesy – Zimbio

Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama then greeted the Emperor with three cheers of “Banzai!” – the traditional cheer when wishing someone long life.

The parade outside the Imperial Palace featured colourful floats and portable shrines in honour of Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko.

After darkness fell, a crowd gathered in front of the Imperial Palace waving national flags and carrying traditional lanterns. Over 50,000 people gathered for a concert, performed in a garden outside the palace, which featured traditional and modern music. The Imperial couple watched the celebrations from a bridge.

Read more…

Marsel Japanese Royals Anniversary, Emperor Akihito, Empress Michiko, Enthronement

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

View the image at Petra

HRH Prince Ra’ad bin Zein, Chief Chamberlain, attended a ceremony at the Amman Martyrs Site on Monday, marking the fourth anniversary of the Amman bombings. Also attended the ceremony a number of ambassadors, survivors of terrorist attacks around the World and Deputy Mayor of Amman, Amer Al Bashir.

The Amman bombings were a series of coordinated bomb attacks on three hotels in Amman, which claimed the lives of 87 people, 70 of them Jordanians, and injured 115 others.

Deputising for Queen Rania, Prince Ra’ad, announced the launch of the Global Survivor Network (www.globalsurvivors.net), an international network which will give help to victims of terrorism around the globe.

salma Jordanian Royals Anniversary, Memorial, Prince Ra'ad, Terrorism

  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…

MAfan German Royals, Historical Royals Anniversary, Bavaria, Biography, Birthday, Prince Ludwig Ferdinand

 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

 The Court of the Luxembourg Grand Ducal Family today released a series of new family portraits to mark the ninth anniversary of HRH Grand Duke Henri’s accession to the throne.

Click to see the gallery at Cour-Grand Ducale

The set of fourteen photos features the entire Grand Ducal Family; and for the first time included Princess Tessy, the wife of Prince Louis, and the couple’s two sons, Gabriel and Noah, in an official photo with the whole family. There are also individual shots of each member of the family, as well as a portrait of the adults in cocktail attire.

The Grand Duke took the throne on October 7th, 2000, after his father, Grand Duke Jean, abdicated in favour of his son. The process began officially at 10:00 that morning, when Jean signed the Grand Ducal Abdication Decree at the Grand Ducal Palace in Luxembourg. At 11:00, Grand Duke Henri took the oath of the Luxembourg Constitution: “I swear to observe the Constitution and the laws of the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, to maintain the national independence and integrity of the territory, as well as public and individual liberties.” Later that afternoon, the Grand Ducal Family attended a mass of thanksgiving at the Notre-Dame Cathedral. The enthronement services were attended by TM the King and Queen of the Belgians, and HM the Queen of the Netherlands.

Click here to view the thread relating to the portraits, and here for the thread relating to the Grand Duke’s accession.

JessRulz Luxembourg Royals Accession, Anniversary, Grand Duke Henri, Portraits

HM Queen Beatrix and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh yesterday commemorated the 65th anniversary of the liberation of the Dutch city of Nijmegen from German occupation during World War II. The city was the first Dutch city to fall to German hands in 1940.

Click to see the image at Koninklijkhuis

The royal pair inspected the customary guard of honour, before laying wreaths at the Resistance Monument at Traianus Square. Speeches were made by both Dutch, British and American parties, including the Dutch Defence Minister, the Mayor of Nijmegen, former NATO chief Lord Carrington (who served in the liberation of Nijmegen) on behalf of the British Guards Armoured Division and Major Moffitt Burris for the 82nd Airborne Division (who also served in the liberation in 1944).

A parade of historical vehicles concluded the official ceremony, with HM and HRH then given the opportunity to speak with veterans at the Nijmegen Town Hall.

The Duke of Edinburgh was selected as the British representative at the event as he is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Grenadier Guards, a regiment which was instrumental in the liberation of Nijmegen, which began on September 17 when the Allied Forces landed in the south of the country.

According to royalblog.nl, there has been some criticism in Britain by the press over HRH the Prince of Wales’ non-attendance at the anniversary. Prince Charles is the Colonel-in-Chief of the Parachute Regiment, which also played a large part in the Battle of Arnhem and the liberation of Nijmegen. A large group of 100 paratroopers were dropped on the city on Saturday as part of the commemoration festivities, and some veterans are “disgusted” that the Prince was not in Holland to mark the anniversary.

Click here to view the thread for the anniversary.

JessRulz British Royals, Dutch Royals Anniversary, Duke of Edinburgh, Liberation, Military, Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Prince Philip, Queen Beatrix, World War II

 Tomorrow is the 100th anniversary of the birth of HIH Prince Dom Pedro Henrique d’Orleans-Bragança, the late Head of the Brazilian Imperial Family and titular Emperor of Brazil between 1921 and 1981.

Click to see at geneall.net

An Holy Mass in memoriam will be celebrated in the Igreja de Nossa Senhora do Monte do Carmo da antiga Sé (the Old Cathedral of Rio de Janeiro) at 11. The Holy Mass is part of the “XX Encontro Monárquico” (XX Monarchic Meeting), that takes place in the Hotel Novo Mundo in Rio this weekend (12 and 13 September). The meeting is organized by the “Pró Monarquia” (For Monarchy) and the “Associação dos Amigos da Família Imperial” (Association of the Friends of the Imperial Family)

The Prince was born on 13 September 1909 in Boulogne-sur-Seine, near Paris, France, where his family was living in exile; he was the eldest son of Prince Dom Luis d’Orleans-Bragança, Prince Imperial of Brazil (1878-1920) and his wife Dona Maria Pia, born Princess of Bourbon-Two Sicilies (1878-1973). His paternal grandparents were Prince Gaston d’Orleans, Count of Eu and Prince Imperial Consort of Brazil and Princess Dona Isabel de Bragança, Princess Imperial of Brazil, daughter and heir of the last Brazilian Emperor Pedro II; his maternal grandparents were Prince Alfonso of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Count of Caserta and Claimant to the Two Sicilian Throne, and his wife and first cousin Princess Maria Antonietta. Read more…

MAfan Brazilian Royals Anniversary, Biography, Birthday, Prince Dom Pedro Henrique