Unfaithful Royals

[CasiraghiTrio]

Furienna, thank you for answering my questions about Charles I/II and James II. But why does the fact that Charles I and James II being Catholic negate the possibility of their having had affairs? King Louis XIV of France was Roman Catholic and had like a gazillion mistresses, all during his marriages (I think he had two marriages). I don't think being Catholic eliminates a king from the list of possible cheaters. But to be fair, I also have not heard/read anything that implies Charles I had affairs. Of James II, I'm not too sure. I seem to recall something about him having illegitimate children. Wasn't the Pretender King James III Stuart actually illegitimate?

 

[Avalon]

Furienna, thank you for answering my questions about Charles I/II and James II. But why does the fact that Charles I and James II being Catholic negate the possibility of their having had affairs? King Louis XIV of France was Roman Catholic and had like a gazillion mistresses, all during his marriages (I think he had two marriages). I don't think being Catholic eliminates a king from the list of possible cheaters. But to be fair, I also have not heard/read anything that implies Charles I had affairs. Of James II, I'm not too sure. I seem to recall something about him having illegitimate children. Wasn't the Pretender King James III Stuart actually illegitimate?

I haven't heard of any affairs or illegitimate children of King James II.
James Stuart (the Old Pretender or "James III") was the son of King James II and his second Catholics wife, Mary of Modena (he was raised in the French Court in Catholic religion). He was legitimate and recognized King of England by Jacobites (and King Louis XIV).
He married Maria Clementina Sobieska (granddaughter of Polish King John III, if I am not mistaken) and had 2 children, Charles (the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charles) and Henry.

 

[Furienna]

Furienna, thank you for answering my questions about Charles I/II and James II. But why does the fact that Charles I and James II being Catholic negate the possibility of their having had affairs? King Louis XIV of France was Roman Catholic and had like a gazillion mistresses, all during his marriages (I think he had two marriages). I don't think being Catholic eliminates a king from the list of possible cheaters. But to be fair, I also have not heard/read anything that implies Charles I had affairs. Of James II, I'm not too sure. I seem to recall something about him having illegitimate children. Wasn't the Pretender King James III Stuart actually illegitimate?

I guess I just meant he was influenced religiously by his wives, and that he thought more about religion than his brother. I don't know. It might not have anything to do with it.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

I haven't heard of any affairs or illegitimate children of King James II.
James Stuart (the Old Pretender or "James III") was the son of King James II and his second Catholics wife, Mary of Modena (he was raised in the French Court in Catholic religion). He was legitimate and recognized King of England by Jacobites (and King Louis XIV).
He married Maria Clementina Sobieska (granddaughter of Polish King John III, if I am not mistaken) and had 2 children, Charles (the Young Pretender or Bonnie Prince Charles) and Henry.

Oh yeah you're right! He tried unsuccessfully to raise an army but Bonnie Prince Charley had much more success in doing so.

According to Wikipedia, Bonnie Prince Charley's wife, Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern, had an affair during their marriage. She cheated with Count Vittorio Alfieri. Louise and Vittorio apparently had issue and in the 19th century, two of their descendents claimed that their ancestors were actually Charles and Louise, but their claims were proved false (I wonder how in the 19th century, long, long before a DNA test was possible)
and it is said that Charles and Louise did not have any children.

the reasons that Louise said she left Charles was because he had an affair with Clementina Walkinshaw and he was, she claimed, physically abusive.
He had a daughter with Clementina, named Charlotte.
Louise left him in 1780, and it says that he legitimized Charlotte in 1783 by signing an "act of legitimation" (but where was this recognized as valid legislation? Legislation has to be an act of a legislative body, like parliament, no? What parliament was passing laws concerning a pretender succession?) This "law" apparently had no recognition anywhere, because Charlotte never took her father's pretender title. She died as Charlotte, pretender Duchess of Albany (her father "granted" her this title under the pretense that he could do so) and the mother of three illegitimate children (she never married). The father of these children was Prince Ferdinand de Rohan.
Here are the source links:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Edward_Stuart
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte%2C_Duchess_of_Albany

According to Wikipedia, James II had seven illegitimate children all during his two marriages. He had these children with two different mistresses: Arabella Churchill and Catherine Sedley.
The whole information is here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_II_of_England#Style_and_arms

 

[Furienna]

Wow... I didn't know that.

 

[Incas]

According to Wikipedia....

Wikipedia is not the most accurate source of information on numerous occasions. It's a good idea to check a few history books to confirm names and dates.

 

[Mari_*]

I hope king Juan Carlos rumors are not true..

 

[marian]

I know tha Edward VII had 7,800 lovers, according to his intimate diary, between which there was the great-grandmother of Camila Parker, Alice Keppel, Lilly Langtry, the countess of Warwikc, actresses as Sarah Bernhardt, to whom the doctors had that amputated her leg for an accident, and others people offered her 10,000 dollars in order that it she was exposing her leg in a museum. She refused, and had a son, Maurice, of a Belgian prince. The princess of Sagan was other of his favorite lovers.


I that this king had a Mexican son, that a few years ago it he went out in the Mexican television, already was big the gentleman and, apparently, it he had family. I dont remember his name.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

Wikipedia is not the most accurate source of information on numerous occasions. It's a good idea to check a few history books to confirm names and dates.

Yes, you're completely right. It's always best to have multiple sources. Wikipedia was just my initial foray into the subject though. I haven't actually read any books about the Stuart dynasty, except one book several years ago that I read about the trial of Charles I.
I wish I could remember the title and author. It was a book I picked up at random in the library and could not put it down.

 

[Warren]

I know tha Edward VII had 7,800 lovers, according to his intimate diary,

Seven thousand eight hundred lovers? When did the Windsors start making the contents of "intimate diaries" public?

 

[Larzen]

Erling Lorentzen has been unfaithful to Princess Ragnhild Mr Lorentzen, he has confirmed it himself to se og hør. He even belived he had fathered a child but a paternety test made it clear he was not the father.

 

[CasiraghiTrio]

Seven thousand eight hundred lovers? When did the Windsors start making the contents of "intimate diaries" public?

I don't know about the diaries, but I know that it is impossible for anyone, no matter how sexually active, to have that many lovers. But a king? There is not enough time in anyone's life, let alone a working monarch, to be that busy! Absolutely the only it might happen is if the King had had like 100 lovers in his room at once or something. But Edward VII was so obese, I don't think his heart could endure 100 lovers a night!!!

 

[marian]

I read a book of Richard Hough named "King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra" and Richard speaks brings over of the intimate life of the king and of his numerous lovers, besides which I have read several books brings over of the topic.

 

[Warren]

I read a book of Richard Hough named "King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra" and Richard speaks brings over of the intimate life of the king and of his numerous lovers, besides which I have read several books brings over of the topic.

It's no secret, and it wasn't at the time, that Edward VII as Prince of Wales and King had a roving eye, but where did the figure of 7,800 come from?

 

[marian]

I read this information in a book that extracted the " very interesting " magazine, Mexican magazine, the name of the book is a " History of the sex " and counts, not only the sexual adventures of the European monarches, but up to of the same popes, as the Borgias.

 

[sm1939]

I have asked this before , Has Constantin of Greece ever been unfaithful to Anne- Marie ??

 

[Tinika]

I hope king Juan Carlos rumors are not true..

Unfortunately, I imagine they probably are.

 

[chamenkoa1]

King Albert of Belgium was unfaithful to Queen Paola and i think that there was a story that they were seriously considering divorcing because it was so bad, and he fathered at least one daughter, there prob. are more but you'd have to check up on that one...

 

[rosana]

My humble opinion, after a long marriage who can say hasn´t been unfaithful.For the good of the monarchy some couples try to remain together as long as possible, no matter what it costs, or how unhappy they are.

 

[adelaide]

King Albert of Belgium was unfaithful to Queen Paola and i think that there was a story that they were seriously considering divorcing because it was so bad, and he fathered at least one daughter, there prob. are more but you'd have to check up on that one...

We don't know the private links of the couple, generally speaking, sometimes it's a very strange alchemy! In the case of king Albert and Queen Paola, after some deep disagreement, they have found ( or they have to find ) a gentlemen agreement for life together for the necessity of the Crown - may be- but also for themselves. It's look successful, good point for those who need some example like this one!

 

[marian]

Is true that prince Laurent of Belgium had a child with a singer when he wasnt married? I know that he had an affair with a famous singer of his country. Is he unfaithful to his wife?

 

[Verde Esmeralda]

I saw this picture of Willem-Alexander and Inge de Bruijn, a Dutch Olympic swimmer, during the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
Though I NEVER heard/read that he had been unloyal, unfaithful or anything remotely similar (just to make it clear!), what I did recall are some comments on Máxima being quite upset about this image, and even making some kind of fuzz to WA over it. Does any of our fellow Dutch members remember what did the local press say about this?

http://www.sportfotografie.nl/500px/Aug2004/Bruijn_10068.jpg

 

[Marengo]

There were one or two boulevard magazines who published the pictures to. They claimed that Maxima was not amused and referred to german magazines hinting on a marriage crisis. The general opinion (for those who read the news) however is that this is utterly rediculous, and more than that it once again shows that these magazines make up anything to sell.

I believe the Dutch ambassador to Australia made a (diplomatic) reference to it when the Prince and Princess where there a few months ago. Maxima and WA seemed to had a good laugh about it.

 

[Marengo]

Is true that prince Laurent of Belgium had a child with a singer when he wasnt married? I know that he had an affair with a famous singer of his country. Is he unfaithful to his wife?

I believe there are rumours that the Prince is the father of the child of Wendy van Wanten. The childs name contributed to these speculations as she is called 'Clementine', like the villa of Laurent where she is supposed to be fathered. The refusal of Wendy to say who the father is also adds fuel to the fire as well. She did however deny rumours of the Prince as the father on more then one occassion.

 

[Empress]

You know - I have noticed something of a trend. And bear in mind that I am 27, so I will speak to this generation, which I believe encompasses anyone 25 - 40, say. I have noticed that our parents had/have more of a free idea of love and marriage. I have noticed that, at least among my circle and of the current child bearing age royals, that there seems to be much more loyalty and equality in marriage. There seems to be more trust and far less divorce. There also seems to be far more happiness. Maybe because most of the marriages are still under ten years, both in my circle and in the royal circles, but there just seems to be a different feel to it than those of our parents generation. Maybe because people are also marrying when they are older, and thus more wordly wise. I don't know, I just notice a discernable differnce, and lack of illegitimate children. And again, far less divorce. But like I said, maybe because all of the marriages are less than 10 years old. Who knows.

In any case, just something that I have noticed.

 

[auntie]

Maybe it's due to the fact that they make marriages out of love and not arranged marriages, even if the marriage goes sour they have a better go at it to make it work, and marriage counseling is also more advanced than before!

 

[wymanda]

Obvious (to me anyway) that Alexandra was "stepping out" with Martin before she separated from Joachim

 

[Kelly]

Obvious (to me anyway) that Alexandra was "stepping out" with Martin before she separated from Joachim

Why do you say this? Are there any references as to think she did? I don't remember the name Martin come out during their divorce procedures.

 

[marian]

Do you belive that in all this marriages can stop the love?

 

[lisamaria]

I know tha Edward VII had 7,800 lovers, according to his intimate diary, between which there was the great-grandmother of Camila Parker, Alice Keppel, Lilly Langtry, the countess of Warwikc, actresses as Sarah Bernhardt, to whom the doctors had that amputated her leg for an accident, and others people offered her 10,000 dollars in order that it she was exposing her leg in a museum. She refused, and had a son, Maurice, of a Belgian prince. The princess of Sagan was other of his favorite lovers.

7 800? Seven thousand eight hundred? Let's see: He was born in 1841 and died, at the age of 69, at 1910. If he started out young, say, at the age of 15, that would make 144,44 women a year, one in every two and a half days. Guess it is do-able

I think the society has been, during the last few decades, a lot less allowing than in the past - guess our ideals about marriage and love have been emphasized since the days of Edward VII. When already second Luxembourg prince, Louis, gave up his right to the throne after having conceived a child out of wedlock, I thought about it; in the past royal men probably knocked women up left and right, and nobody moralised them or demanded them to give up their rights or marry. In the past, much tighter moral codes guided the ordinary people and now those codes have caught up with their leaders as well.