Royal Historical Facts Potpurri Chat

[PrincessOfPeace]

At the British Royal Court, Afternoon Tea is a quintessential daily ritual. This delectable celebration of tea originated in the Victorian era, when young Queen Victoria reigned in the United Kingdom

Tea drinking in England dates back to 1662, when it was introduced at court by Portuguese Infanta Catherine of Braganza, wife of Charles II.

However, the very British ritual of 'Afternoon Tea' as a meal found its 'raison d'être' in the dressing room of Anna Maria Russell, née Stanhope, the seventh Duchess of Bedford, one of Queen Victoria's Ladies of the Bedchamber and a lifelong friend.

More: The royal tradition of Afternoon Tea: From Queen Victoria to Elizabeth II | Royal Central

[TLLK]

Not surprised that those closer in the line of succession are named for former kings and queens in the Hannover/Saxe-Coburg/Windsor dynasty.  Those who are  further away have a little more flexibility.

[amabel]

Beatrice and Eugenie are the names of Q V''s youngest daughter and her granddaughter Pss Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg

[LouisFerdinand]

Princess Maud of Wales, born in 1869, had Charlotte as her first middle name.     
The eldest daughter of George, Earl of St. Andrews is Lady Marina Charlotte.

[LouisFerdinand]

A thread for general historic royal discussion.



The Jacobites referred to Melusine as "the Goose".

[LouisFerdinand]

Princess Isabella refused the hand of Conrad of Hohenstaufen. He was the son of Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II.

[LouisFerdinand]

Shortly after his return to Russia, three British newspapers announced on September 24, 1906 that Grand Duke Michael was to marry Princess Patricia of Connaught.     
Buckingham Palace issued a denial.

[Curryong]

^ Yeah, there were various matches proposed for the two Connaught girls before each married. Patricia (Patsy) didn't marry until after World War 1, actually.

[LouisFerdinand]

Princess Victoria Patricia married the Honourable Alexander Robert Ramsay in 1919. She became Lady Patricia Ramsay. 

[amabel]

^ Yeah, there were various matches proposed for the two Connaught girls before each married. Patricia (Patsy) didn't marry until after World War 1, actually.

was she likely to have married a royal?  She married a commoner and stopped using her title and was pretty informal...

[edweena]

She also refused Portuguese and Spanish king who event. married her cousin, Battenberg princess  with that famous illness a la Tsarevich, but she married for love. She was great skater, sporty artistic woman and she could use her titles after the wedding but she was informal. How different to Kate Middleton.

[Curryong]

^ Patsy's sister Margaret (Daisy) married the second in line to the Swedish throne. That's a pretty brilliant match for the daughter of a younger son of Queen Victoria and, as things went in those days, Patsy's parents would have wanted as good a match as that for her.

King Edward VII was very fond of the Connaught girls and was always inviting them to events at BP.

Yes, Patsy was quite informal and didn't want to be married off early. She enjoyed being in Canada, where her father was Governor General during the First World War.

However, Edward VII's own daughter, Maud, was informal too and loved winter sports and the simple life. She married her cousin Prince Carl of Denmark and ended up as Queen of Norway.

So, I do think that Patsy was expected to marry royalty when she was younger. By the time she eventually did wed the War had changed things.

[LouisFerdinand]

Lady Diana Spencer (1710-1735) was the daughter of Charles Spencer, 3rd Earl of Sunderland and Anne, Countess of Sunderland.   
Anne was the daughter of John and Sarah Churchill.     
Rumors circulated that the Dowager Duchess of Marlborough (Sarah Churchill) was trying to arrange a marriage between Lady Diana and Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales.     
Sarah offered Prince Frederick Louis 100,000 pounds in return for agreeing to wed Lady Diana.     
In 1731 Diana married Lord John Russell. In 1732 John became the Duke of Bedford.

[amabel]

^

However, Edward VII's own daughter, Maud, was informal too and loved winter sports and the simple life. She married her cousin Prince Carl of Denmark and ended up as Queen of Norway.

So

But Maud's marriage wasn't all that successful as I recall.  She missed England and spent a lot of time there...
Double post auto-merged: November 17, 2015, 06:39:09 AM

love. She was great skater, sporty artistic woman and she could use her titles after the wedding but she was informal. How different to Kate Middleton.

what on earth has Kate Middleton, born 100 years after Princess  Pat, got to do with her>??

[LouisFerdinand]

Archduchess Marie Antoinette and Louis Auguste (the future King Louis XVI) of France were married on May 16, 1770.     
Her frequent letters revealed intense homesickness.       
"Madame, my very dear mother," she wrote in one letter, "I have not received one of your dear letters without having the tears come to my eyes."

[LouisFerdinand]

King John of England lost the Angevin lands in France to a triumphant King Philip II in 1204.     
With this loss, the barons coined a nickname for John: "Softsword".

[LouisFerdinand]

In Imperial Russia, court protocol remained obstinately rigid.     
In the palace, courtiers backed away from the presence of the sovereigns.   
No one ever contradicted a member of the Imperial Family. It was improper to speak to a member of the family without being spoken to.

[Curryong]

^^ There was actually a Ministry of the Imperial Court in Russia, with wide-ranging functions. It had a staff of 1,300 people. Their salaries and the running of the department  cost about 17 million roubles a year. Eat your heart out, BP and KP!

The Minister for most of Nicholas II's reign was Count Hilarion Vorontzov-Dashkov, inherited from Nicholas's father, Tsar Alexander III. The Ministry controlled the Imperial budget, handed out salaries and stipends to servants and to Grand Dukes, issued manifestos in the name of the Emperor, advised the Tsar on matters of protocol and issued the Court Calendar or list of official engagements undertaken each year by the Imperial Family.

[LouisFerdinand]

Tsar Nicholas I of Russia had named his own sons Alexander and Konstantin (Constantine) in honor of his brothers, Alexander I and Grand Duke Konstantin.     
Also Nicholas I named his younger sons Nicholas and Michael after his brothers, Grand Duke Nicholas and Grand Duke Michael.

[LouisFerdinand]

June 29th was a date in the Swedish coronation dates that was repeated.     
Charles VIII                                      1448   
Christian I                                         June 29, 1457   
Eric XIV                                             June 29, 1561       
Charles XIII                                       June 29, 1809       
   :crown: :crown: :crown:

[SophieChloe]

^ Great idea @snokitty!  Thanks x.

@LouisFerdinand - Thanks for all your snippets of Historical Thoughts ! x

[LouisFerdinand]

King Carl XIV Johan had been baptized Jean. He had been known as Jean-Baptiste. He later added the name Jules. His regular signature was "J. Bernadotte".

[LouisFerdinand]

When Désirée became a mother in 1799 she asked Napoleon to be a godfather.   
Napoleon asked that the boy be called Oscar after Ossian. Ossian was the hero of the Macpherson epic.     
Désirée named her son Oscar.

[amabel]

yes it is a very common royal name.  while I'm all for tradtion, I do wish that sometimes royals could use their imaginations a bit more..

[wannable]

Related, but IF Harry marries a Chelsy or a Cressida, their names down the road might get a repeat around year 2050.

Kate doesn't have unusual names, Catherine Elizabeth, either her sister Philippa Charlotte.

I like Maud.