Dag Trygsland Hoelseth: Russia

Showing posts with label Russia. Show all posts

21 October 2022

Birth of son to the Heir to the Imperial throne of Russia

The Office of the Head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, today issued the following statement concerning the birth of HSH Prince Alexander Georgievich, son of the heir to the Imperial throne of Russia, Grand Duke George of Russia, and Princess Victoria Romanovna:

On October 21, 2022, Our daughter-in-law, Her Serene Highness Princess Victoria Romanovna, the spouse of Our son and heir His Imperial Highness The Tsesarevich and Grand Duke George of Russia, was delivered of a son, Our grandson, who has been given the name Alexander.
Welcoming this new addition to Our Family as a sign of God's grace, I ask all Our countrymen to offer fervent prayers to the Almighty for the health and well-being of the newborn. In accordance with Our current Family Law and the Family Act of September 14/27, 2020, Our grandson will be called His Serene Highness Prince Alexander Georgievich.
Issued in Madrid, 21 October, in the Year 2022 since the Nativity of Christ, and in the twenty-first year [sic!] of our succession to the rights and duties of Our August Ancestors - the Emperors of All the Russia.
H.I.H. The Grand Duchess Maria of Russia

As far as I understand it the head of the Russian Imperial House has previously declared that the marriage between George and Victoria is not dynastic, which means that Prince Alexander as of now is not a dynast. However, it is expected that Grand Duke George when he succeeds to the headship will declare his marriage as dynastic and that by then his son will become first in line to the throne.

The pregnancy was announced by the Russian Imperial House on 21 May 2022. Two months later we were informed that the couple expected a boy. Grand Duke George and Princess Victoria Romanovna, the former Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, were married on 1 October 2021.

27 April 2022

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2022

I received my copy of the lastest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly – no. 1, 2022 – about a month ago. I have been involved in several genealogy projects since then, so my blog was put on hold for a while. I am almost always involved in various genealogy projects, so I guess it is a bad excuse, but I am enjoying my genealogy research so much ...

Anyway ... The editor Ted Rosvall usually stays away from politics in his Editor's Corner, but this time he has made an exception. He has chosen to comment on the ongoing war in Ukraine and ends by writing: «Royalty Digest Quarterly stands behind the Ukrainian people and their brave leaders in their struggle for a free and independent Ukraine». So do I! Most members of «the European Royal Family» have shown sympathy with Ukraine in various ways since the Russian invasion in February. It cannot have been easy for Grand Duchess Maria of Russia, whose family ruled the Russian Empire, which included what is nbow the Russian Federation and Ukraine, for several hundred years, but I think she made her views on the war clear in her statement of 24 February.

There are two church-related articles in this issue. Edward W. Hanson shows in his article Royal Priests, Monks and Nuns that quite a few royals, especially members of Catholic families, have taken holy vows throughout the years. The author Edward Hanson is an historian as well as a priest in the Church of England, so I can well understand that he is interested in this topic. Jonathan Iglesias Sancho and Blanca Briones Conzáles on the other hand has written an interesting piece on the relationship between the Romanovs and the Vatican.

The front page gives an illustration of King Gustaf V and Queen Victoria of Sweden, which means that the first issue of 2022 contains the second part of The Bernadottes of Sweden - A Family Album, written by the editor himself. The number of illustrations – 133 in all, if I have managed to count correctly – must be a new record in this series of family albums. In addition there is one page with a genealogical table showing the descendants of King Gustaf V.

Next one out is Michael L. Nash' enjoyable article "Collecting all the Sunshine .....". The First Modern Royal Family, which describes the wedding between Princess Mary (the Princess Royal) and Henry Lascelles (then Viscount Lascelles, later the 6th Earl of Harewood, in 1922.

Then Eric Lowe continues his series Elegant Royals – Some favorites from my collection, before Ove Mogensens tells the story of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in his article series Tombs, Graves and Monuments in Thuringia (part. VI).

Prince Eugen of Sweden (1865–1947) was a well-known artist in Scandinavia and also a well-liked member of the royal family. But perhaps not so well-known outside Sweden, Norway and perhaps also Denmark. He is the topic of Coryne Hall's Little-Known Royals. I really enjoyed my visit to Prince Eugen's Waldemarsudde in Sweden when I visited it back in 2006. I can really recommend it.

The World Wide Web of Royalty this time brings news of the Imperial, Royal or Princely houses of Austria, Austria-Este, Luxembourg, Prussia, and Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

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.

28 February 2022

Norway: King Harald breaks off his vacation

The Royal Court has informed the newspaper Dagbladet that King Harald and Queen Sonja have decided to break off their vacation abroad and return home to Norway earlier than planned. The reason for their decision is the war in Ukraine.

The list of official engagements has already been updated and states that the King will grant the prime minister an audience on Friday morning 4 March 2022 and will also preside over the Council of State at 11 a.m. The Criown Prince will be attending both events. Originally Crown Prince Haakon was meant to serve as Regent for the whole week during the King's absence.

26 February 2022

Norway: Crown Prince Haakon back in business

As reported 2 days ago Crown Prince Haakon and Crown Princess Mette-Marit returned home from their vacation abroad a bit earlier than planned on Friday 25 February so that the Crown Prince could take up the role as Regent. No ordinary Council of State was planned for Friday –in week 8 there is a winter break in Oslo and some other counties and it is seldom that a Council of State takes place that week – but I speculated that an extraordinary meeting was going to take place in order to decide on sanctions on the Russian Federation following their invasion of Ukraine. No such Council of State has taken place yet. Next council is scheduled for Friday 4 March.

It could very well be, as for instance fellow historian Oscar Aanmoen has suggested, that the Crown Prince returned home earlier to «take care of the royal house's duties in the event of an escalation». Following the Crown Prince's return, the program of official engagements was changed and today the Crown Prince Regent granted Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre an audience at 9.30 a.m. I am sure that the war in Ukraine was the main topic during the conversation.

Crown Prince Haakon will as planned serve as Regent the whole of next week due to the king's stay abroad.

24 February 2022

Norwegian Crown Prince couple returns to Norway earlier than planned due to the war in Ukraine

VG (NRK) reports that the Crown Prince and Crown Prince of Norway have decided to break off their vacation and return home due to Russia's attack on Ukraine so that the Crown Prince can take up the role as Regent.

The Crown Prince couple will arrive in Norway on Friday. Prior to the decision to return home, the Crown Prince as Regent had several engagements planned for Monday 28 February and Thursday 3 March and is going to preside over the Council of State on Friday 4 March. Due to the winter break no Council of State was going to take place this Friday (25 February), but this might change if Norway is going to decide on economic sanctions against Russia. Alternatively an extraordinary Council of State could take place early next week. Time will show.

The whole royal family has been on vacation abroad this week in order to celebrate King Harald's 85th birthday. No details have been given, but I suspect that the Crown Prince family originally had planned to return home on Sunday. The king and queen will stay abroad for yet another week.

According to the Constitution of Norway article 41, when both the King and «the person next entitled to succeed to the throne», i,e, the Crown Prince, are abroad or incapacitated due to illness, «the Council of State [i.e. the Government] will conduct the administration of the realm». This is why the Norwegian state flag has been flying from the roof of the Royal Palace this week. In other words, some time tomorrow the Crown Prince flag will be hoisted at the Palace.

3 October 2021

Heir to the Imperial throne of Russia marries

The religious wedding of the Tsesarevich of Russia, Grand Duke George, and the former Rebecca Virginia Bettarini, who took the name Victoria Romanovna following her conversion to the Orthodox faith in July 2020, took place in the St. Isaac Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia on 1 October 2021. The civil wedding took place on 24 September 2021 in the Moscow City Hall.

Grand Duke George Mikhailovich is the only son of the head of the Russian Imperial House, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and her former husband Prince Franz Wilhelm of Russia. Victoria Romanovna, b. Rome 18 May 1982, is the daughter of Roberto Bettarini and Carla Virginia Bettarini, née Cacciatore. The wedding was announced on 21 january 2021. As far as I understand it the head of the Russian Imperial House has declared the union not to be dynastic.

The wedding was attended by about 1500 people, while 500 attended the gala dinner afterwards. The wedding progran can be viewed at the website of the Russian Legitimist. Please see the blogs Netty Royal and Royal Musings for more details.

14 July 2019

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.

4 March 2014

Norway: Princess Märtha Louise cancels trip to Sochi

Princess Märtha Louise had planned to attend the Paralympics in Sochi, Russia from 10th to 14th of March on behalf of the royal house, but on advice of the Norwegian government she has cancelled her trip, due to the escalated Ukraine-Russia crisis.

Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Høie, who had planned to attend the opening ceremony of the Paralympics on Friday 7 March together with his husband, Dag Terje Klarp Solvang, has also decided to cancel his trip.

Earlier today the Swedish Royal Court informed that Crown Princess Victoria was not going to attend the Paralympics due to the Ukraine-Russia crisis.

See also Views and News from Norway today.

9 November 2011

Kadriorg Palace and Park, Tallinn, Estonia

(1) Kadriorg Palace, today Kadriorg Art Museum.

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(5) The back side of the palace with the garden.

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(10) The Presidential Palace can be seen in the background.

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(12) Interior.

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(17) The Presidential Palace.

(18) Peter The Great House Museum.

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(20) The Russalka monument - a sculpture of an angel facing the sea - is a memorial to the military ship Russalka which sunk in 1893. The sun made it too difficult to get a decent photo of the angel's face...

(21) Statue of the Estonian writer Friedrich Reinhold Kreutzwald (1803-1882).

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The construction of Kadriorg Palace in Tallinn, Estonia, started in 1718 on the order of Emperor Peter I of Russia (Peter the Great) (1672-1682-1725), but was not completed before after his death. It was named after his second wife Catherine (1684-1725-1727), née Marta Helena Skawrońska, who succeeded him on his death in 1725 and enjoyed a short reign before she died 2 years later. The German name of the baroque-style palace, which was designed by the Italian architect Niccolo Michetti, was Catherinethal ("Catherine's Valley"). The name by which the palace is better known today, Kadriorg - "Kadri" is an Estonian version of "Catherine" - was first established in the 20th century.

The palace was meant to be the summer residence of the Russian Emperor (Czar) when staying in Tallinn, and according to the official website, "Most of the Russian rulers, from Peter’s daughter Elizabeth, to the last Romanov emperor Nicholas II", have visited it. For a short period during the first Estonian independence, the palace served as the president's office, before the new presidential palace was built. Today the palace houses an art museum, a branch of the Art Museum of Estonia.

In the Kadriorg Park you can also find the Presidential Palace, which was finished in 1938, and which served its purpose once again from 1991 when the Republic of Estonia got independent for the second time, as well as the Peter The Great House Museum, Kumu Art Museum, the Swan Pond and the Russalka monument. Peter The Great used to stay in what is now a small museum during his visits to Tallinn during the construction work of the palace. Some of Peter's furniture can be viewed in the museum.

Kadriorg Palace and the park with the same name is only a short walk from Tallinn's old city. It can also be reached by taking tram no. 1 or 3.

All the photos were taken on Sunday 6 November 2011.

25 November 2010

Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia Remembered (1882-1960)

Yesterday, 24 November, marked the 50th anniversary of the death of Grand Duchess (or perhaps more correctly translated Grand Princess*) Olga Alexandrovna of Russia. Paul Gilbert, editor of Royal Russia, has published the following article, which is well worth reading:

The Grand Duchess of Russia Olga Alexandrovna

The Grand Princess was born in 1882 as the youngest of six children born to Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna (née Princess Dagmar of Denmark). The Grand Princess managed to flee Russia after the resolution together with her second husband, Nikolai Kulikovsky and eventually settled in Canada.

See also the article The Unfaiding Light of Charity. Grand Duchess Olga As a Philanthropist And Painter at the history internet magazine History-gatchina.ru, as well as the website of Grand Princess Olga's Memorial Fund.

Ballerup Museum in Pederstrup, Denmark has a permanent exhibition containing around 100 oilpaintings and watercolours made by the late Grand Princess. She lived in Ballerup from 1930 to 1948.

The grand princess is buried at York Cemetery in Toronto, Canada, something I missed out on during my visit in 2008.

*Paul Gilbert used "Grand Duchess" in the subject title of the press release I received last night, which is why I have used it rather than "Grand Princess" in the subject title of my blog article.

The article was updated on 26 November 2010 at 11.15 (link corrected).

9 June 2010

John Quincy Adams on Twitter!

There are some interesting Twitter pages out there! One good example is JQAdams_MHS, where you get one-line-a-day diary entries of John Quincy Adams, provided by The Massachusetts Historical Society. Well worth a daily visit!

On 27 June 1809, President James Madison appointed John Quincy Adams minister plenipotentiary to Russia. He left for St. Petersburg by ship on 5 August 1809. 200 years later the MHS started to tweet diary entries.

Last month I told about John Quincy Adams' short stay in Kristiansand, Norway on his way to St. Petersburg. Here are the tweets/diary entries:

23 January 2010

Cimetière de Passy, Paris, France

Pearl White (1889-1938, US American silent film star.

Bao Dai (1913-1997), the last Emperor of Vietnam.

The last resting place of the Georgian Prince David Dimitry Tsouloukidze and his wife Princess Emma, née Dunbar.

Tomb of the Russian artist Marie Bashkirtseff (1860-1884). According to Wikipedia her tomb is a recreation of her studio and has been declared a historical monument by the French government.

Grave of Prince Leila of Iran (1970-2001), daughter of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.

Grave of Princess Ghislaine of Monaco (1900-1991), née Dommanget, spouse of Prince Louis II (1870-1922-1949).

Grave of the artist Édouard Manet (1832-1883).

Grave of Maurice Bellonte (1896-1984), who together with Dieudonné Costes made the first east to west crossing of the Atlantic by plane in 1930.

Grave of Princess Nathalia Romanovskaya-Brassova (1880-1952), née Cheremetevskya, wife of Grand Prince Michael of Russia (1878-1918), and of their son Count Georgy Brassov (1910-1931).

Grave of (among others) Prince Claude Beguin Billecoco, Duke of Durazzzo (1914-2001), Charles Baron Tascher de La Pagerie (1811-1869) and Princess Sophie Therese of Leyen and Hohengeroldseck (1798-1876), née Countess of Schönborn-Bucheim.

Grave of Count Louis Nicolas Wilmar de La Roche d'Oisy (1806-1885).

No doubt about the profession of this bloke!

General view of the cemetery.

Artistic.

Grave of Count Stefan Czarnecki (1904-1971).