SMALLER ASSEMBLY OF FOREIGN ROYALTY

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27055, 2 June 1953, Page 12 (Supplement)

SMALLER ASSEMBLY OF FOREIGN ROYALTY

[By

CYRIL F. J. HANKINSON,

, Editor of “Debrett”]

The assembly of foreign royalty gathered in London on the occasion of the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II is smaller than that which met for the erowning of King George VI in 1937. Since then many thones have tottered and fallen, and, whereas 16 years ago all the Balkan countries except Turkey were monarchies, today the only King in southeast Europe is Paul of Greece. Italy, too, has opted for the republican form of Government.

Although it is not considered etiquette for one sovereign to attend the coronation of another, all the European monarchs ’ have sent one of the most important members of their families to represent them, and the gathering in London is a great family party for all are related. The five Kings, the Queen of the Netherlands and the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg all have common ancestry in King George 11, and are, therefore, technically in the line of succession to the Throne of Britain; and even in the rulers of the miniature Principalities of Monaco and Liechtenstein the blood of English Kings flows.

The young King Baudouin of the Belgians, who succeeded to the Throne on the abdiction of his father in 1951,

is descended from Princess Augusta of Wales, eldest sister of King George 111, through his mother, Queen Astrid, wfro was a Princess of Sweden. His House is that of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, his great-great grandfather, King Leopold 1, having been a prince of that family. Before being chosen as King of the Belgians in 1830, King Leopold I had married Princess Charlotte, only child of King George IV, and had she not predeceased her father he would have been Consort of the Queen of England. He was the brother of Queen Victoria’s mother, the Duchess of Kent, and also of Ernest, reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the father of Albert, the Prince Consort.

King Frederick IX of Denmark is a descendant of Princess Louisa, daughter of King George 11, through her marriage with King Frederick V of Denmark, and is further related to our Royal Family by his marriage with Princess Ingrid, granddaughter of the Duke of Connaught, third son of Queen Victoria. His House is that of Slesvig-Holstein-Sonderborg-Glucksborg, the founder of which dynasty was his great-grandfather, King Christtian IX, who was called to the throne in 1863. He is also a great-nephew of the late Queen Alexandra and of the late King George I of Greece, and a nephew of the King of Norway. Last Remaining Balkan Kingdom

The ruler of Greece, the sole remaining Balkan Kingdom, is King Paul, who succeeded to his somewhat uneasy throne on the death of his brother King George II in 1947. He is a great-grandson of Queen Victoria through his mother, who was a daughter of the Empress Frederick of Germany. His House is also that of Slesvig-Holstein-Sonderborg-Glucks-borg, as the present Greek dynasty was founded by Prince William, the youngest son of King Christian IX of Denmark, who was called to assume the throne of Greece in 1863, after the forced abdication

of the former Bavarian Prince, King Otho, and the refusal of the offer of the Crown by Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria. King Paul is a first cousin of the Duke of Edinburgh and of the Duchess of Kent. His wife, Queen Frederica, is a daughter of the Duke of Brunswick, great-grand-son of Ernest, Duke of Cumberland (afterwards King of Hanover), fifth son of King George HI, and of Princess Victoria of Prussia, only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, eldest grandson of Queen Victoria. Queen Juliana of the Netherlands is descended from Anne, Princess Royal (eldest daughter of King George II), who married William IV, Prince of Orange, She is considered to be of the House of Orange-Nassau as although this house became extinct in the male line on the death of her grandfather King William 111 of Holland, Queen Wilhelmina decided that the historic House of Orange should be continued and took steps whereby her daughter carried it on, instead of her father’s House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The name of Orange is derived from the little town in France which was formerly a Principality and passed in the middle of the sixteenth century to the Nassau family, of which the famous W’Uiam the Silent was a member. Queen Juliana’s

mother, the Princess of the Netherlands, is a first cousin of Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, whose mother was the sister of the late Dowager Queen of Holland. Scandinavian Kings

King Haakon VII of Norway is the third member of the House of Slesvlg-Holstein-Sonderborg-Glucksborg to occupy a throne. He was elected King of Norway in 1905, when that country separated from Sweden, and has reigned longer than any other European monarch. Formerly he was Prince Charles of Denmark, second son of King Frederick VIII of Denmark, and he is an uncle of the present King of that country. He is also by marriage a great-uncle of our Queen as he married Princess Maud, daughter of King Edward King Gustaf Adolf VI of Sweden is of the house of Bernadotte, the founder of which was Jean Bernadotte, Napoleon’s famous marshal, who in 1810 was elected Crown Prince of Sweden and recognised by King Charles XIII as his heir, later succeeding him as King Charles XIV. He is descended from Princess Augusta, sister of-King George 111, and is also related to our Royal family by having married as his first wife Princess Margaret, daughter of the Duke of Connaught, and his second wife, Lady Louise Mountbatten, sister of the Earl Mountbatten of Burma, whilst his daughter, Princess Ingrid is the Queen of Denmark. The Grand Duchess Charlotte, ruler of the Duchy of Luxembourg, is, like the Queen of the Netherlands, descended from Anne, daughter of King George 11. The Grand Dukes of Luxembourg used to be Princes of Orange and later Kings of the Netherlands, but by the Salic law on the death of King William 111 of the Netherlands without a son, the Grand Ducal Throne passed to the next male heir, Prince Adolph of Nassau. It was not long, however, before the Succession Law had to be amended, as Prince

Adolph’s son, the Grand Duke William, had six daughters but no son, and provision was therefore made in 1907 for the repeal of the Salic Law, thus enabling the Grand Duke to be succeeded by his daughter. The present Grand Duchess’s son, the hereditary Grand Duke John, who was educated at Ampleforth and served as a captain in the Irish Guards during the recent war, is engaged to marry Princess Josephine, only sister of King Baudouin of the Belgians. Prince Francis Joseph 11, ruler of the little Principality of Liechtenstein, which lies between Switzerland and Austria, is descended from Princess Henrietta (Minette), daughter of King Charles I, who married Philip Duke of Orleans. *

Amongst his other ancestors are King Louis XV of France and King John VI of Portugal. He succeeded his cousin Prince Francis I in 1938.

Prince Rainier 111 of Europe’s tiniest monarchy, the Principality of Monaco which includes the towns of Monte Carlo and Monaco, but the extent of which is only four and a-half square miles, is descended from Mary, daughter of King Henry VII, by her marriage with Charles Brandon, Duke of Suffolk. In tracing his ancestry back to her he can also claim amongst his forebears three Earls pf Derby, the first Earl of Dunmore, and three Dukes of Hamilton. In fact his great-grandmother was a daughter of the eleventh Duke of Hamilton.