Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 2, 2021

I received my copy of Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 2, 2021 back in July, but I left on vacation just after and then I was occupied with work and therefore have not had the time to write a few lines before now. 

Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, who died on 9 april this year, turns up in several articles in the present issue. In Ted Rosvall's Editor's Corner Philip's death is mentioned, before the editor moves on to the topic of royal centenarians. As you well know Prince Philip died just two months before he would have reached the grand age of 100, but Rosvall gives examples of other royals who did. Born royals, that is.

Then Marlene A. Eilers Koenig follows up with the article Four Sisters, Four Weddings, and yes, it is Prince Philip's sisters Margarita (1905–1981), Theodora (1906–1969), Princess Cecilé (1911–1937) and Sophie (1914–2001) she is focusing on. And of course, towards the end of the magazine, Prince Philip's death is listed in the column The World Wide Web of Royalty. Births, marriages, deaths and other events in the Royal Families of Europe. The column also covers the birth of Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor as well as news from Greece, Italy, Sweden and Württemberg.

The cover photo is from the silver wedding of Prince Heinrich XXVII Reuss j.L. (Reuss-Schleiz) (1858–1928) and his wife Elise (1864–1929) at Schloss Osterstein in Gera in 1909. This means that The House Reuss zu Schleiz (Younger Line) is the chosen topic for this issue's Family Album. This time, however, is the introduction not written by Charlotte Zeepvat as usual, but by the editor himself, Ted Rosvall, with contributions from Bearn Bilker. The album contains 50 illustrations this time (of various members as well as of  palaces besides a map, the coat of arms and various coins) and one page with genealogical tables.

Those who are interested in articles about royal graves will be delighted to know that Lucas Szkopinski has made the contribution The Bourbon Crypt at the Kostanjevica Monastery (Nova Gorica), while Ove Mogensen has returned with part IV of Tombs, Graves and Monuments in Thuringia, which deals with Saxe-Coburg and Gotha this time.

It is not very often that the magazine contains articles about non-European topics, but I appreciate it when it does. This time Stephen Bunford treats us with the article Our Hawaiian Friends. Royal connections between Britain and Hawaii. As the title suggests, it is a combination article, where Queen Victoria (1819–1901) is the main figure on the British side.

The historian and author Trond Norén Isaksen has written an insightful article titled Henri from Navarre. Prince Henrik of Denmark and the Kings Consort of Navarre. He has touched upon the subject of kings consort also earlier, and wrote a debate article on the subject in Aftenposten 10 August 2021.

If this was not enough, there are three more articles in the magazine! Charlotte Zeepvat was not behind the family album this time, but she has made great contribution with her article 'Tante Mossy'. Quen of Finland, which is about Landgravine Margarethe of Hesse-Kassel (1872–1954), née Princess of Prussia and a sister of Emperor Wilhelm II. The article title is formally correct, as Margarethe's husband, then Prince Friedrich Karl (1868–1940) was elected King of Finland by a rump parliament in 1918, but still somewhat misleading, as Friedrich Karl never accepted the offer, as he could predict the outcome of the war and that his relationship to Emperor Wilhelm would be a problem for the great powers. Friedrich Karl never set foot in Finland, but his son Wolfgang (1896-1989) did during WW2.

Not mentioned in the index, but there is a book review this time, written by Ted Rosvall. He comments on the sixth volume of Susan Symons' series of German castles and palaces, titled Schloss in Thuringia. I only own the three first volumes, so obviously I have get hold of the newer ones.

Little-known Royals? Coryne Hall this time presents Prince Nicholas of Romania (1903–1978), the fourth child of King Ferdinand of Romania (1865–1927) and his wife Queen Marie (1875–1938), née Princess of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (and Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from 1893). Yes, I agree, Prince Nicholas certainly belongs to the group of little-known royals. 

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.

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 2, 2019

The latest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly arrived in my mailbox two weeks ago or so. The green and beautiful cover includes an image of the French royal family in 1823, showing from left to right Marie Thérèse, Duchess of Angouleme, Louis Antoine, Duke of Angouleme, Henri, Duke of Bordaux in the arms of his grandfather Charles, Duke of Artois, in front Louis XVI, Louise Marie Thérèse of Artois and her mother the Duchess of Berry.

We are in other words going French this time, with the traditional Family Album by Charlotte Zeepvat covering The Royal Houses of France, Part I, The House of Bourbon – Henri IV to Henri V. I count 99 images of various members of the House of Bourbon and of the palace of Versailles, in addition to 3 pages with family tables.

Charlotte Zeevat, the historical counsultant to Royalty Digest Quarterly, has also made another large contribution, 'Dearest Millie'. Letters to a royal nurse, telling the story of Millicent Elizabeth Crofts (1852–1941), who from the 1870s until 1887 was a nurse to the children of Grand Prince Vladimir of Russia and his wife Grand Princess Marie, née Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Kirill (1876), Boris (1877), Andrei (1879) and Elena (1882) and perhaps also the eldest, Alexander (1875). The article is based on the collection of Millicent Croft's papers sold by auction by Lyon & Turnbull in Edinburgh in February 2018. It is both a well researched and well written article which I enjoyed very much.

Another great contribution this time is Stefan Haderer's article The Baltazzis. A family's rise and fall in the Habsburg Empire. The Baltazzis was a prominent family of Levantine origin, Phanariot Greeks from Constantinople who were close both the the court of Constantinople and later of Vienna. Theodore and Eliza Baltazzi had 10 children, of whom the eldest Elizabeth «Lizzie» married Albert Llewellyn Nugent,3rd Baron Nugent, while the second oldest Helen married Baron Albin Vetsera. Their daughter Marie (Mary) (1871–1889) was a mistress to Crown Prince Rudolf (1858–1859) and killed at Mayerling in 1889, a tragedy that of course explains the fall of the Baltazzis from the court in Vienna. The website of the Levantine Heritage Foundation, has, by the way, a collectionn of Baltazzi documents at their website which is worth having a look at. The Baltazzi family had many other interesting connections as well. Christopher Long has worked on the family's genealogy, but it doesn't seem to be available at the moment. Haderer's article is really interesting, please read it! More of this!

And if this is not enough, Bearn Bilker continues with the 3rd part of his The November 1918 Abdications in Germany, this time covering grand duchies of Baden and Oldenburg and the duchy of Anhalt.

Bilker has also made a second contribution to the issue, Woizlawa-Feodora. Royal Centenarian, which also is worth reading. Princess Woizlawa-Feodora Reuss, née Duchess of Mecklenburg, only daughter of Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg (1873–1969) and his first wife Priness Victoria Feodora Reuss (younger line) (1889–1918), was born on 17 December 1918 and celebrated her 100th birthday last fall, with among others the author present at the party. Woizlawa-Feodora was in 1939 married to Prince Heinrich I Reuss (1910–1982) of the younger line and had 5 sons and one daughter. As Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich was a brother to Heinrich, who in 1901 married Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Princess Woizlawa-Feodora was a first cousin to Queen Juliana and was a bridesmaid to her wedding to Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Princess Woizlawa-Feodora sadly passed away on 3 June 2019.

Finally, the readers are treated with the traditional column The World Wide Web of Royalty, which this time has genealogical news of the Imperial, Royal, Princely and/or Mediatized families of Bavaria, United Kingdom, Hessen-Phillipsthal-Barchfeld, Hohenberg, Luxembourg, Reuss, Rothan and Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg.

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.