Royal Historical Facts Potpurri Chat Part 2

[LouisFerdinand]

King Pepin, King of the Franks, talking with Pope Stephen II in 754     
King Pepin, king of the Franks, talking with Pope Stephen II, 754 stock image | Look and Learn

[LouisFerdinand]

Europe's longest reigning monarchs from 1600 to 2020   

[LouisFerdinand]

When the army withdrew its support from King Alfonso XIII, he was forced to leave Spain (April 14, 1931).   
However, he refused to abdicate the throne.   
Did King Alfonso XIII legally abdicate the throne?

[Curryong]

When the army withdrew its support from King Alfonso XIII, he was forced to leave Spain (April 14, 1931). 
However, he refused to abdicate the throne.   
Did King Alfonso XIII legally abdicate the throne?

Not in an official sense, no. However PM De Rivera's inept and deeply unpopular Govt fell in 1930 and the ex PM died in exile in Paris later that year. It was Alfonzo's support of the de Rivera Govt and its measures that cost Alfonzo whatever popularity he had left among the populace.

 Various provincial and municipal elections occurred in Spain early in 1931 showing a pro-republican stance, and a very restive and resentful public, riven by huge differences and already lurching towards a civil war though that did not break out for nearly five years. Therefore Alfonzo and his family left and he never returned. He did not renounce the throne until WW2 and early 1941, shortly before his death. Two of his sons had already done so.

[LouisFerdinand]

Did the parents of Empress Elisabeth of Austria have a happy marriage?
   

[LouisFerdinand]

What were the middle names of King Christian IX of Denmark?

[Curryong]

What were the middle names of King Christian IX of Denmark?

Well, he was of course born a prince of the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg line, a junior branch of the family which had ruled Denmark for centuries. He was chosen to be king after the most senior line of the Family became extinct in the early 1860s, and so he assumed the throne upon the death of King Frederik VII.

All this was massively in the future in 1818 when he was born, and it's doubtful that anyone present at his baptism in the family castle in Schleswig-Holstein even contemplated a fate like that for the Duke's son, the little princeling.

He certainly wasn't baptised Christian, that name came by custom after he followed a Frederik to the Danish throne. I believe he was given the names Frederich (or Frederik) Wilhelm at his christening but the relevant reference books of mine are stashed away elsewhere at the moment so I can't check.

[LouisFerdinand]

Michelle Anches claimed to have been the Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia. 
http://www.alchetron.com/Michelle-Anches

[Curryong]

Michelle Anches claimed to have been the Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia. 
http://www.alchetron.com/Michelle-Anches

Michelle was one of those obscure and unsuccessful claimants who stated they were one or another of Tsar Nicholas's daughters who had survived the mass assassination at Ekaterinburg. There were several such deluded or crafty persons.

Who knows, had she not died in 1925, Michelle may have rivalled the mentally ill Anna Anderson with her Anastasia impersonation, who was much more notorious. The two could have met and had tea together, perhaps!

 It's all a moot point anyway, as all the bodily remains found decades later had DNA that identified them as Romanovs and Nicholas and Alexandra's family. None of the family were missing. 

[LouisFerdinand]

Crowds on the streets of Paris greeted King Louis XI as he arrived from Burgundy to claim his kingdom after the demise of his father King Charles VII of France. 
http://www.lookandlearn.com/history-images/M370304

[LouisFerdinand]

Why did Portuguese law forbade Queen Maria I of Portugal from marrying a foreign prince?

[Curryong]

Why did Portuguese law forbade Queen Maria I of Portugal from marrying a foreign prince?

Because women were regarded as 'the weaker vessel'in those days and a Queen would be a puppet to any foreigner with ambitions to direct Portuegese foreign policy etc. So instead, Maria kept it in the family and followed the totally disgusting Hapsburg custom of marrying close relatives, in her case her uncle, her father's younger brother. They were reasonably happily married though.

[LouisFerdinand]

After the accession of the House of Oldenburg to the Danish throne in 1448, the Danish coronations were held in St. Mary's Cathedral (Church of Our Lady) in Copenhagen.   
http://www.ansharimages.com/photo/church-of-our-lady-in-copenhagen-denmark

[Curryong]

After the accession of the House of Oldenburg to the Danish throne in 1448, the Danish coronations were held in St. Mary's Cathedral (Church of Our Lady) in Copenhagen. 
http://www.ansharimages.com/photo/church-of-our-lady-in-copenhagen-denmark

I must say, and this is just my own personal taste, I do prefer the Gothic architecture in churches and cathedrals to the Italianate (neo classical), even though St Paul's in London is magnificent.

Christian III (who, somewhat surprisingly was educated as a Lutheran) changed the religion of the country and after 1536 the DRF joined many of their poorer subjects and became Lutherans. They haven't changed since.

[LouisFerdinand]

On April 25, 1284 ~ Birth of King Edward II of England at Caernarvon Castle in Wales. He was the first English Prince of Wales.