Random royal stories or facts

[JustAnotherWhinger]

A random fact about King Harald of Norway got me think about all the random/interesting/bizarre stories and facts about royals and thought a thread of them could be interesting.

Harald, who died today, was the first monarch to be born in Norway for over 600 years.
His grandfather, Prince Carl of Denmark, was selected to be the new King of Norway in 1905 (he became King Haakon VII.

Another Danish prince, George, was selected to be the King of Greece in 1863 and reigned until he was assassinated in 1914. He was Prince Philip’s grandfather.

And Harald's father King Olav began life as Prince Alexander of Denmark and was born at Sandringham as his mother Maud was Edward VII's daughter. She was the youngest of 3 sisters and at the time of her marriage I don't think anyone thought she'd one say be a queen!

Prince Charles (as he was then) met me. We did not get on, he does not like people who say no and explain why his wants cannot be safely met.

You need to tell us more!

There's a bit of a weird one about the Dutch Royal family.
When they were in exile in Canada during the second World War, Queen Juliana became pregnant, and the maternity room in the hospital where she gave birth (to Princess Margriet) was temporarily declared to be not part of Canada, as being born on foreign soil would have excluded her from the succession.

Extraterritoriality of Princess Margriet's birth - Wikipedia

The Dutch still send tulips to Canada as thanks, and ther eis an annual tulip festival that takes place there.

That's a really lovely story and I've never heard it before. However it reminded me of the gift of a tulip garden to Spain . . . I've taken the following details from Google

The Gift: Princess Catharina-Amalia (the Princess of Orange) donated the garden to Madrid in late 2024 as a gesture of gratitude.

The Reason: The princess lived in Madrid secretly for over a year during 2023 for security reasons after receiving mafia threats in the Netherlands, and she wanted to thank the city for its warm hospitality and safety.

The Flowers: The display features over 7,000 white and orange tulips—colours representing Dutch royalty—surrounded by orange marigolds.

The Opening: Princess Amalia officially inaugurated the garden alongside Madrid's Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida in April 2025, unveiling a commemorative plaque that reads: "Muchas gracias por mi tiempo en Madrid. Disfruten los tulipanes" (Many thanks for my time in Madrid, enjoy the tulips)

So Prince Alexander of Denmark and Prince Albert of the United Kingdom were both born at Sandringham and ended up somewhat unexpectedly being Kings as Olav V and George VI

I wonder if King Olav continued to be called Alexander by his family, much like how George VI remained Bertie? Then again his name was changed when he was just a toddler so perhaps not.

These are all fascinating. This is what I used to love about the Royal forum, hopefully there is lots more interesting facts

I'm just watching a livestream on YouTube from Oslo of all the mourners leaving flowers in memory of King Harald and, following on from the two stories about the gift of tulips from the Netherlands, I seem to remember reading somewhere that either the Norwegian Royal Family or Norwegian government send us a Christmas Tree every year to thank the UK for our support during WWII. I believe it's the one that's displayed at Trafalgar Square

Mines a bit more down market…. Kerry Katona is linked to the Princess of Wales….

Kerry Karina was married to Brian McFadden, who was married to Vogue Williams, who is now married to Spencer Williams, whose brother is married to Pippa Middleton, whose sister is the Princess of Wales.

I'm sure I remember a story after the wedding of the then Crown Prince of Greece & Marie-Chantal Miller. They married in a Greek Orthodox Church in London and made their vows in Greek. This doesn't make the marriage legal in the UK so they had to have a Civil Wedding at a later date where they made the vows in English. I can't remember at what point this error was discovered and how much later the civil ceremony took place

And Harald's father King Olav began life as Prince Alexander of Denmark and was born at Sandringham as his mother Maud was Edward VII's daughter.

King Olav always used to come over for Remembrance Day. He'd be one of those watching from the window.

And yes the Trafalgar Sq tree is a gift from the Norwegian people (specifically Oslo, apparently). I thought that was common knowledge?

Oh the oldest monarch King Harald and now the world's youngest monarch has died

https://news.sky.com/story/ugandan-ruler-named-worlds-youngest-monarch-died-age-34-13578122

Prince William will become the first monarch to descend from Charles II, thanks to the Spencers. At the time of their wedding, it was said that Kate descended from Mary Boleyn (whose children were rumoured to have been fathered by Henry VIII) but it turns out that wasn't true. Otherwise George might've been the first monarch in 500 years to allegedly descend from Henry!

Never heard of him but that is sad. At least Harald had lived a long and full life.

Now that is really interesting! (Both parts)

I'm going to choose to believe the Boleyn connection anyway because it's delicious

Another random fact, since the death of Lady Pamela Hicks, King Harald's older sister Astrid is the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria. After her, I don't know, perhaps the Duke of Kent or a random German princeling!

So interesting! And also Mary Queen of Scots I have just read.

Hugh Grant is related to the late Queen, 9th cousins once removed. Descendant of Henry VII. Is this common knowledge?

Prince William of Gloucester
cousin of Elizabeth ii
died in a plane crash, aged 30
also diagnosed with Porphyria
same as George iii

According to Google/AI, it is Anne Abel Smith, born in July 1932, who is the great-niece of Queen Mary (if I have my generations worked out properly).

1 Princess Astrid of Norway
12 February 1932
Norway (via Prince Arthur)

2 Anne Abel Smith
28 July 1932
Teck / Albany (via Prince Leopold)

3 Count Bertram zu Castell-Rüdenhausen
12 July 1932
Castell-Rüdenhausen (via Prince Leopold)

4 Princess Christa of Prussia
31 October 1936
Prussia (via Victoria, Princess Royal)

That's a daft stretch

David Cameron is a descendant of King William IV, and his long term mistress, Dorothea Jordan.
Their daughter, Lady Elizabeth FitzClarence was the 4x Great Grandmother of Cameron.

That's very interesting. We thought there'd be a German prince in there!