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.

From the Mail's summary of King Harald's funeral, https://www.dailymail.com/news/royals/article-16119967/The-emotional-moments-Harald-Vs-funeral.html , this snippet caught my eye;

^Catharina-Amalia, Ingrid Alexandra and Belgium's Princess Elisabeth have a WhatsApp group chat.
In June last year, the Princess of Orange also told journalist Wim Dehandschutter via Australia Women's Weekly: 'We stay in contact with each other because we are all living a very specific life and we don't need much explanation to understand each other.'
She added: 'It's a good thing that I can chat with Elisabeth and Ingrid Alexandra about very simple things in our life which are difficult, different for us, friendships, privacy, social media. We discuss how we handle it.'^

What a wonderful reason for tech - the young crown princesses can support each other. (if you're on this thread, I'm sure you're aware that we are moving towards an era of queens!)

Catharina-Amalia had to go live in Spain for a while for security reasons!!! Who better to understand than the other princesses.

I watched a livestream of King Harald's funeral - an historic event and interesting to compare it to UK services and ceremonies plus I have some Norwegian friends.
At the very end of the livestream, is the departure reception line: King Haakon, Queen Sofia and Crown Princess Ingrid Alexandra saying farewell to their royal visitors. It is fascinating to watch - seeing who clearly knows them well and who is an acquaintance.

I'm intrigued by why the kiss generally comes before the curtsey - love (or maybe status signalling) before deference?

Yes, I've wondered that too. I noticed it on the documentary about the preparations for the Coronation ~ the Prince and Princess of Wales and their children went to a rehearsal and greeted the King, kissing first followed by a bow or curtsy

I read that it was family first then deference.

Ie...you are my father /father -in- law /grandfather...then you are king .

Obviously..insert another relationship in there as well !
I notice that they kiss Camilla first then bow/curtsey .

I've just seen that there's a miniseries about Harald and Sonja's courtship on Prime called The Commoner so I've put that on my watchlist. Theirs really is one of the great royal love stories.

I saw it a year or so ago and just recently re-watched it. It's well done. One aspect I particularly appreciated is the depiction of Sonja's mother, Dagny, who quietly stood by them the whole nine years of their courtship.

More sad news for Norway and its RF. Princess Astrid, King Harald's sister, died today.

https://www.reuters.com/world/norways-princess-astrid-dies-aged-94-two-days-after-kings-funeral-2026-09-11/

Very sad for the family to lose another member so quickly.

Astrid was the oldest living descendant of Queen Victoria.

When the Norwegian Royal Family were leaving the chapel at Akershus Fortress on Wednesday I noticed there was a lady walking behind Princess Astrid's wheelchair who was carrying a large black bag, like a medical bag. She looked so terribly frail so I'm presuming she had a medical team with her

What a dreadful few weeks this family have had/are still having

i love it

the "Cousin's War" documenatary *l(wgich i think came out in 2014, centenary of WW1, was a fascinating watch.

admittedly not quite a Downton!

Wasn't princess Marina wife of Prince George son of George V
Romanian ?
May have had Greek connections though. ?

So sad about Princess Astrid. Who will wear her bonkers tiara?! (It has TWO bonkers settings)

No, Marina was Greek - a cousin of Prince Philip.

You may be thinking of Queen Marie of Romania, one of Queen Victoria's granddaughters? A somewhat eccentric woman.

It was lovely to see the Duke & Duchess of Gloucester in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace today for the 9/11 memorial.

They always carry out their duties so quietly and respectfully and with hardly any publicity

It was quite a long time for them to stand and they are 82 & 80 years old

I think they are amazing and I wish people knew more about them. I've come across people who don't even know who they are . . .

Greek - Danish, and wasn't her Mum Russian?

I remember when Princess Marina used to present the Wimbledon trophies.

Yes. I've just looked her up.
She had 2 Russian grandparents. Not married to each other.
One married to Greek king who ? Could have been Danish originally by descent.
A plant to get Greece as a Christian country away from the Ottoman empire.
The other Russian GF married a germanic duchess.
It's all very intermingled isn't it.

Her mother was Grand Duchess Elena Vladimirovna of Russia.
Prince Nicholas of Greece was her father - I meant to add!

And of course no one "of Greece" had any actual Greek blood in them! I believe the first king of that branch was a Danish prince, the brother of the prince who became King Haakon of Norway.

Further to my earlier post about the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester, their daughter-in-law is a Professor!

Their son, Alexander (Earl of Ulster) is married to Claire Booth who is a Professor of Gene Therapy & Paediatric Immunology

Absolutely! Didn't the Greeks just look around for a suitable European prince to take the throne? There's a tale of old Queen Mary, referring to Prince Philip as "a Danish and German type of Greek prince".

Yes, I knew she was a Consultant Paediatrician, I didn't realise she became a professor.