23 April 2017

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2017

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2017 arrived in early April, which meant that I had plenty of reading material for my Easter break. Just a few days earlier I had received the latest issue of Eurohistory as well, in addition to the latest edition of Majesty, which I hadn't had the time to read until Easter. If that was not enough, no. 100 of Våpenbrevet, the newsletter of the Norwegian Heraldry Society, also came in time for my Easter break. And I still haven't read Royal Russia (no. 11) in full either. If that was not enough, I also had to do proof-reading on no. 1, 2017 of Genealogen, the newsletter of the Norwegian Genealogical Society.

But back to Royalty Digest Quarterly. The front page reveals that the former royal family of Bulgaria has made it to the family album this time, and the photo shows King (Czar) Ferdinand of the Bulgarians with his children  Princess Eudocia, Prince (later King) Boris, Prince Kiril and Princess Nadejda. Charlotte Zeepvat's traditional Family Album this time includes two dynasties – the House of Battenberg represented by Prince Alexander (1857–1893), who reigned as Prince of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886 and three years later married morganatlically Johanna Loisinger (1865–1951), and the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, represented by King Ferdinand (1861–1948), who reigned from 1887 to 1918, his son King Boris III (1894–1943), who reigned from 1918 until his death, and his grandson King Simeon, b. 1937, who reigned in name only from 1943 until he was forced into exile in 1946. Simeon celebrates his 80th birthday on 16 June this year, by the way. Besides an introductory article about the two reigning dynasties in Bulgaria the readers are treated with 77 photos and 2 genealogical tables.

In his Editor's Corner, Ted Rosvall makes a point of the fact that «In this issue, and possibly for the first time, RDQ features and article about Monaco and the Princely House of Grimaldi». It was on due time, I would say. Rosvall continues by lining out the Grimaldi's relations with the other royal and princely houses of Europe.

The first article out is written by Charlotte Zeepvat, who opens with a postcard portrait of the Duke of Abruzzi and Miss Caterina Elkins. The article is about Luigi Amadeo, Duke of the Abruzzi (1873–1933), son of Amadeo, Duke of Aosta (1845–1890), who was King of Spain from 1870 to 1873, by his first wife Maria Vittoria del Pozzo, Princess della Cisterna (1846–1876), and the mariage that never took place. I loved the article, as I can't remember having read much, or anything at all, about him before.

I would also like to applaud the article The Prince and his Lady. Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar and Lady Augusta Gordon-Lennox* by Marlene A. Eilers Koenig. As I have said many times before while commenting on RDQ and Eurohistory, I want more articles about the so-called lesser-known royals and other royal relations.

Nichael L. Nash has the honor of writing the first article about the Grimaldis. The article is titled At the Court of Prince Albert of Monaco, and is also both interesting and well-written. How to follow up on this? There are so many previous princes of Monaco to write about! Who were all the Honorés and Florestans? And what happened to Princess Delphine, born 1788, who at present isn't even presented with a death year in An Online Gotha?

John Wimbles' collection of letters from the Romanian National Archives and other sources is impressive, and in the present issue we get part III of the presentation compiled by David Horbury.

The last one out is Coryne Hall with her article Little-known royals. Prince Harald of Denmark. How little-known he really was is of course up for discussion. Nice article, but – and this should be taken in a positive way – it could have been longer.

The issue ends as usual with the traditional The World Wide Web of Royalty, this time bringing news of the Imperial, Royal and /or Princely houses of Portugal, Russia, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg, Schaumburg-Lippe and Waldburg zu Wolfegg u. Waldsee.

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

*The subject title says in fact Gorndon-Lennox, but that is a typo we all could make or overlook, so I corrected the reference above.

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