Messages

91

The Hohenzollern / Re: Mecklenburg-Schwerin

« on: December 14, 2005, 03:49:56 PM »

I can never remember, did Franz Friedrich II commit suicide, or was it his father? If so, how did he commit suicide (I know there's some debate about if he actuially did so)? What happened to Anastasia after her husband's death in 1897? How did she deal with the death of her family in Russia? Did she go back to Russia at all often after 1897? I quite like Anastasia, and see her as fairly pretty when young, but turned out being rather plain.

92

The Wittlesbachs / Re: Daughters of Maximilian I of Bavaria

« on: December 14, 2005, 03:13:55 PM »

Thanks for all the portraits, there are many more than I would have thought at first!

In a Sissi bio, written by a Spanish author and recently published, it says that Ludovika was a real matchmaker; this is reinforced by another writer in his bio of Ludwig II and by the fact that out of her daughters, one became Empress, one Queen, one Duchess and one Countess, not to mention the fact that Sophie Charlotte almost became Queen while her engagement to her cousin Ludwig of Bavaria lasted. I'd like to know if Ludovika's mother, Karoline Friedricke Wilhelmine was a devoted matchmaker too? If her daughters became Queens, Archduchess, etc, I'm inclined to think she was a matchmaker too... What was the exact illness that led Maximiliane (1810-1821) to the grave? And does anyone know why the eldest son (of Maximilian I's and Karoline) died so young? I mena which exatc illness. What was the relationship between the sisters? I find it amusing that there were twos ets of twins

93

The Greek Royal Family / Re: Prince Andrew of Greece and his family

« on: December 12, 2005, 10:07:36 AM »

I think they did, or most of them anyway. I've seen photos of Sophie walking with her brother in their old age not long before her death. Although they did not attend the wedding, they did go to see the coronation, where they displayed their wealth and jewels. Their mother, Alice, walked down the isle of Westminster in her grey nun habit.

94

The Imperial Family / Re: Names, Patronymics, Nicknames and Name Days

« on: December 11, 2005, 02:20:05 PM »

Mea culpa George I should chekc my sources. All the same, sinc ehe was half German, I suppose Ioann would be closer to his maternal relatives than Ivan Ah well, thanks for the cosntructive correction

95

The Imperial Family / Re: Names, Patronymics, Nicknames and Name Days

« on: December 09, 2005, 05:02:31 AM »

Ivan is the Russian for John. Johann is the German for John; I have an idea they called this Prince Ioann following the German pronunciation (this is, a translatiteration, and not a translation) of the German named Johann. He was called "Ioannchik" by his closest relatives, so I generally refer to him as Ioann, and his chidlren's patronymics are Ioannovich and Ioannovna.

The best way to know what the family knew him by and what he called himself would be to check letters or diaries, but I have access to none. Can anyoen help?

96

The Imperial Family / Re: Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolayevna

« on: November 14, 2005, 04:58:58 AM »

Ah yes, Alexandra Alexandrovna died indeed at a short age. The fact that the Tsar and his wife managed to have another daughter (Maria, 1853) was a great blessing, but she was spoiled from the very start. She later married the Duke of Edinburgh.

97

Rulers Prior to Nicholas II / Re: Family of Alexei, the Mild Tzar, father of Peter the Great

« on: November 14, 2005, 04:57:30 AM »

Thank you both for your answers. I'm afraid my sources said 1699, easily explained by a typo of 1669... Have you any idea if Maria Miloslavskaya's last child, Yevdokia, died straight away? I'd like to know the dates of christening of these early Romanovs, but perhaps there are no records that survive which account these dates... My sources say that Maria Miloslavakaya's last child was named Yevdokia, but according to the same sources her first daughter (1650-1712) was also named the same. Is this another typo? I've seen so many different transliterations of these early Romanov names that one loses track.

Cimbrio

98

The Imperial Family / Re: Grand Duchess Alexandra Nikolayevna

« on: November 13, 2005, 12:33:27 PM »

Alexandra Nikolaievna died in 1844 aged 19 after giving birth to her first and only child, Wilhelm, who died on the same day. She died in Tsarskoe Selo and the wedding between her and her husband Landgrave Frederick I of Hesse-Kassel took place earlier in January that same year. >He remarried in 1853 to Princess Anne of Prussia and together they begot 6 children, the third of whom was Friedrich Karl "Fischy" who married Queen Victoria's granddaughter Margaret of Prussia and was briefly King of Finland.

99

Rulers Prior to Nicholas II / Re: Family of Alexei, the Mild Tzar, father of Peter the Great

« on: November 13, 2005, 12:30:03 PM »

I should like to know more on hese two women, Maria Ilinichna Miloslavskaya and Natalia Nyrillovna Narishkina, first and second wife of Alexis I respectivelly, the former being the mother of Tsarevna Sophia, Tsar Fyodor III and Tsar Ivan V; the latter the mother of Peter the Great.

I would like to know if a divorce occured between Alexis and Maria so he could marry (in 1671) Natalia Narishkina, since Maria died in 1699. I'd like to know what both maria and Natalya died of, and who of their immediate families were killed during the turmoil and revolts that started after Alexis I's death. Any portraits of either of them?

100

Rulers Prior to Nicholas II / Re: Family of Alexei, the Mild Tzar, father of Peter the Great

« on: November 13, 2005, 12:25:06 PM »

What became of Peter "the Great"'s sister Natalya (1674-1716)?

101

Rulers Prior to Nicholas II / Re: Family of Alexei, the Mild Tzar, father of Peter the Great

« on: November 13, 2005, 12:21:30 PM »

I've always wondered what became of the daughters of Alexis; Sophia I know was forced to give up the regency after the streltsy (household troops) took over and placed Peter (the Great) and the Naryshkins in power in late 1689. However, in 1698 another coup tried to set her in power once again (though she had nothing to do with the plot) and she was forced to become a nun in the convent of Novodevichi, where she had lived since 1689, and there she died six years later. Did her surviving sisters (I count the following that survived, or at least survived infancy: Evdokia, Marfa, Ekaterina, Feodosia) do anything relevant during their lifetime? Are there any protraits? Did I read above that Marfa became also a nun (or was forced to) and took the name Sister Margarita? Please any info!

102

Italian Royal Families / Re: Duke Roberto I of Parma, and his family of 24 children

« on: November 08, 2005, 09:25:27 AM »

At the time of their wedding, and in fact throughout the 19 and 20th centuries, the reigning Catholic monarchies in Europe were fairly isolated from the great and powerful monarchies, such as the Royal Family of Great Britain or the Hohenzollerns. Thus, Catholic princes and kings ahd to marry other princesses who were often closely related to them. Of these Catholic monarchies, one counts the Portuguese Braganzas, the Spanish Bourbons (who also reigned in the Two Sicilies and Parma) or the Austrian Habsburgs. Thence all the inbreeding that occurred between these royal families. (I suppose an exception were the Savoy, who, having unified Italy, estranged themselves from Catholic monarchies for a time).

Planned or not, the marriage was advantageous for both (Zita gained status, while Karl gained a considerable dowry through his wife); it also unified the Austrians and the Bourbons once again, for Zita's half brother Elia married archduchess Maria Anna of Austria some years before.

I know for a fact that Zita had originally wished to become a nun, like two of her sisters did (and a third would do after Zita's wedding). Considering that out of her twelve half siblings, six were mentally retarded, it is likelly that she and her family thought it necessary for them to amrry well, thus her wedding to the Austrian emperor, her brother Félix to Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxemburg or Luigi's marriage to an Italian princess.

Princess Maria Antonia of Portugal -their mother- seems to me a great match-maker.

103

Iberian Royal Families / Re: The descendants of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain

« on: November 05, 2005, 08:08:36 AM »

Isabel II's sister-in-law, Infanta Amalia (1834-1905), who became Princess of Bavaria. Her son married her niece Paz, Isabel II's daughter.

104

Iberian Royal Families / Re: The descendants of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain

« on: November 05, 2005, 08:07:22 AM »

Isabel II's husband, Francisco de Asís de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias, who was Isabel's first cousin on both sides, since their fathers were brothers and their mothers were sisters, and both men were the women's uncles, which explains Alfonso XII's supposed inbreeding.

105

Iberian Royal Families / The descendants of Infante Francisco de Paula of Spain

« on: November 05, 2005, 08:05:49 AM »

Queen Isabel II's sister-in-law and namesake, Isabel (1821-1897), who became Countess Gurovsky upon marriage.