Royalty married royalty

Started by LouisFerdinand, February 02, 2016, 11:54:10 PM

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LouisFerdinand

In Diana: Her True Story, Andrew Morton wrote:     
When George V granted permission for his son, the Duke of York to marry a commoner, Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon he was recognizing the reality that the First World War had harvested European monarchies and dried up the supply of suitable brides and bridegrooms. It began the transition of a virtual royal caste, where royalty married royalty, to a class within society.


Curryong

^ Yes indeed, the First World War changed everything. For most of the Protestant monarchies of Europe the small principalities within the German Empire had been the primary place to shop for a bride and sometimes a groom.

Some monarchies, notably the Swedish, which had always been close to Germany continued that custom after the war, even though German royalty had lost their estates.

It would have been impossible for British royalty to have done this however. Britain (and of course her republican allies) had not only fought a terrible war against Germany but almost a million of her young men from Britain and the Empire had been casualties. British public opinion (and those in the realms) just wouldn't have allowed it.

So George and Mary sensibly turned to their aristocracy. Some aristos were of Royal descent anyway.

TLLK

And fortunately for Bertie and Elizabeth it was a a successful match.

Curryong

Yes, TLLK, a very successful love match!  Thank heavens Elizabeth changed her mind at the third time of asking. I was interested to read that Princess Marie of Denmark had reservations too about marrying into a royal family. It's certainly something that requires a lot of thought.

TLLK

I agree @Curryong. Even though she is married to Queen Margrethe's second son, she'll still be participating in many royal events for the coming decades and will have to deal with the press too. Fortunately for all involved they appear to have a cordial relationship with his former wife Alexandra so that must benefit their relationship with Nicolai and Felix.

missbliss

If you look at pictures of nineteenth and early twentieth century royalty, they often tend to have a certain "related to each other look" - no wonder since they were so inbred!  It is really amazing when one of them turned out to be pretty (like Queen Alexandra for example).

The late medieval and Tudor kings were the most "English" (with a nice soupcon of Welsh - thanks Owen Tudor!) of the kings until really right now.  Once Richard II was deposed and his cousins who had married into the aristocracy started to take the throne, there was less marrying royalty (with the exception of King Henry V and VI)  So someone like Henry VIII was really quite English (and of course WELSH!!) and of course so was Elizabeth I.

LouisFerdinand

Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria was a member of the Tuscany branch of the House of Habsburg. He married Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, the daughter of Emperor Francis Joseph I.


TLLK

One of the 20th century royal marriages with both bride and groom with being from reigning royal families:

Wedding of King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark | Unofficial Royalty

QuoteMore than 1,200 guests attended the wedding, including many members of royal and noble families from around the world. According to the New York Times, the guest list included ?eight reigning monarchs and their consorts, two former kings, more than 55 princes and princesses, and heads of state and representatives from more than 87 countries?. The royal guests included:

amabel

Quote from: TLLK on December 19, 2017, 11:33:35 PM
One of the 20th century royal marriages with both bride and groom with being from reigning royal families:

Wedding of King Constantine II of Greece and Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark | Unofficial Royalty

a lot of continental royals stil marry other royals, though not always from Ruling famiiles.  Marie Astrid of Lux has married an Austrian royal..
but generaly seems like the idea of royals marryng other royals is gone for good. 

TLLK

Here is another wedding of royals from two ruling houses: Princess Margareta of Luxembourg and Lichtenstein's Prince Nikolaus.

Luxarazzi: Luxarazzi 101: Wedding of Princess Margaretha and Prince Nikolaus