25 June 2020

Royalty Digest Quarterly no 2, 2020

The latest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly – no. 2, 2020 – has arrived, and as usual it provides plenty of quality reading. The cover is in green colour this time (what about yellow next, Mr. Editor!), and the photo is of King Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886–1941) together with his 6 surviving childen; Jaime, Maria Christina, Gonzalo, Alfonso, Beatriz and Juan. The latter was of course the father of King Juan Carlos and grandfather of the current king, Felipe VI.

Royal jewels is the topic of the first article of the present issue. The Leuchtenberg Jewels in Sweden is written by the Brazilian-born Claudia Thomé Witte, who appeared on Norwegian TV 12 days ago in a documentary on the royal jewels of Sweden. While royal jewels (tiaras etc.) are not exactly «my thing», there is no doubt that they represent important royal family history, and I admire experts like Ms. Witte who posess such a detailed knowledge. My daughter, who will turn 10 years old next month, took a great interest in the documentary, and even hushed me down when I dared to start talking. Who would have guessed that she would be interested in royal history ... It was a good article as well, although I miss a list of sources at the end.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria, Duchess in Bavaria (1837–1898), nicknamed «Sisi», still draws great interest, and there are no limits to how many different aspects of her life one can write about. In the article Imperial Bride in Vienna Elizabeth Jane Timm studies the wedding between Sisi and Emperor Franz Joseph in great deatail, including the whereabouts of her wedding dress.

The photo cover revals that the main article of this issue is the second part of The Royal House of Spain – A Family Album. A House Divided - the descendants of Carlos IV by Charlotte Zeepvat. The introduction takes the readers from King Fernando VII to King Felipe VI, and we are as usual treated by a large number of illustrations – 99 in all – the last is of King Felipe VI and his eldest daughter Leonor, Princess of Asturias. In addition there are four pages with genealogical tables.

The historian Datiu Salvia Ocaña, who resides in Barcelona, Spain, then completes the third and last part of his series The Six Stunning Infantas. The unexpexted fortune of the daughters of exiled King Miguel I of Portugal. The third part also includes notes, which also cover part I and II.

Who is the next one out in the series Little-Known Royals? Coryne Hall has this time written about Princess Maria of Italy (1914-2001), the youngest daughter of King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy and his wife Queen Elena, née Princess of Montenegro. Princess Maria married in 1939 Prince Luigi (Louis) of Bourbon-Parma (1899–1967), the 22nd (!) child of Duke Roberto I and his 2nd wife Duchess Maria Antonia, née Princess of Portugal. They had four children. None of them made «dynastic marriages» and their children don't appear to have any titles according to An Online Gotha, but here I could be wrong. I am not talking about legal titles, of course, only titles by «a genealogical-historical definition».

And finally the column The World Wide Web of Royalty, bringing genealogical news from the European Imperial, Royal and Princely families. This time we get news from Bourbon-Parme, Greece (Brandram), Hesse, Luxembourg, Russia (Kulikovskaya), Stolberg-Roßla, Sweden (Nilert), Bourbon-Two Sicilies and Waldeck and Pyrmont.

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

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