30 December 2012

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 4, 2012

The latest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly (no. 4, 2012) was waiting for me in my mailbox when I returned from my Christmas break on Boxing Day (26 December). I enjoyed reading the magazine today, and my first impression was that the topics in this issue were much more varied and interesting than in the previous one.

The magazine's editor and publisher Ted Rosvall used his column to reflect on the British Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh's 65th wedding anniversary earlier this year. A list of other long-lasting royal weddings was added.

Roger Lundgren, royal commentator and editor of Kungliga Magasinet, published in 2007 a biography about Princess Sibylla of Sweden, née Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, mother of King Carl XVI Gustaf (Albert Bonniers Förlag, ISBN: 978-91-0-011112-0). The biography is one of too many books in my library that I still haven't found the time to read (which says nothing about the biography, I must add). Lundgren has now written a short version for the magazine titled Princess Sibylla - A Royal Destiny.

The RDQ's historical consultant, Charlotte Zeepvat, has as usual made several contributions. Her first article is titled 'A cuttle  fish has been captured off Boffin Island' ... on the trail of a forgotten royal visit, and tells the story of the then Princes Albert Victor and George's tour of North Wales in June 1875. Zeepvat's second contribution is the part IV of Habsburg - A Family Album: The Emperors of Austria and Kings of Hungary. In addition to the traditional short introduction the reader can enjoy as many as 78 images as well as 5 pages with family tables.

Elizabeth Jane Timms, who according to the public part of her Facebook page is a writer and historian specialising in European royalty with a particular focus on the family of Queen Victoria, has written the article Elm Grove - The Battenberg House at Walton on Thames.

In RDQ no. 3, 2012, Edward W. Hanson wrote about the will of Queen Marie Amélie of Portugal, while he this time has chosen to focus on the will of Philippe, Duc d'Orléans. In my opinion one of the most interesting articles in this issue. The first prize should go to Christophe Vachaudez, however. He has interviewed HSH Princess Sophie of Hohenberg - a great granddaughter of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - about the confiscated castle of Konopiste and her struggle to get the property returned. Princess Sophie presents her case at her own website.

Ove Mogensen has traveled all over Europe to take photographs of royal graves, and his contribution to the Toms, Graves and Monuments section is on Tatoi and its Royal Burial Ground, i.e. the last-resting place for (as of today) 22 members of the Greek Royal Family.

Michael L. Nash focuses on the British Royal Family's Hannover roots and connections in his article The Prince of Hanover in Court. The article is absolutely worth reading, but I only wish a few errors could have been dealt with before the magazine was published. For instance, Prince Ludwig Rudolph (1955-1988) did not renounce "his rights of succession for himself and his descendants to the Throne of England" (!). He lost them automatically when he married the Catholic Countess Isabella von Thurn und Valsassina-Como-Vercelli in 1987. I am not sure if his son Prince Otto Heinrich has been raised Lutheran or Catholic, though.

Lucas Szkopinski has authored the obituary of Princess Maria Krystyna Habsburg (Princess of Altenburg) (1923-2012), the daughter of Archduke Karl Albrecht of Austria and Alice Ankarcrona, while Charlotte Zeepvat returns with her third contribution, this time dealing with Saxton Elizabeth Winter (1855-1936), who was a governness at the courts of the Netherlands (Princess Wilhelmina, later Queen), Wied (Princesses Luise and Elisabeth) and Romania (Prince Carol, later King Carol II).

The column The World Wide Web of Royalty gives news from the courts/Imperial/Royal/Princely families of Austria, Bourbon-Parme, Fürstenberg, Kinsky, Luxembourg, Lippe-Weissenfeld, Oldenburg, Saxony, Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, Thurn and Taxis, Toerring-Jettenbach and Urach.

In addition the readers will find the basic facts about the forthcoming 2013 Royalty Weekend, which will take place at Ticehurst, East Sussex, on 6-7 April 2013. I attended in 2011 and plan to attend again in 2013. You can also find advertisements for forthcoming titles from Rosvall Royal Books: Prince Michael of Greece' Eddy & Hélène ... an impossible match, Randi Buchwaldt's Axel & Margaretha. A Royal Couple and Harold Brown's Personalities. Royalty and Celebrity in the 1870s.

If you wonder, the front cover shows a photo of  Archduchess  Maria Josepha with her sons Archdukes  Maximilian (left) and Karl (the latter the last Emperor of Austria).

Information on Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentations of RDQ here.

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