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.

I do wonder what she truly thinks of how her life turned out.

She got married to an architect who happened to be the Queen’s cousin. As he was the younger son she would have expected to get a few invitations to big family events and maybe a turn or two of the jewels.

Then literally 6 weeks later his brother is killed and their future lives changed dramatically.

The third post on this thread is a criticism of the King. I note you did not criticise that poster, just this diffident new one.

Yes, not the way that the couple thought their married life would be.

Yes, I don't think either of them were prepared for a life of Royal duties

Prince Richard's brother, William, was such a different character whereas Richard (& his wife) seems quite shy really

There are some lovely pictures of the Gloucester Family at Charles & Diana's wedding ~ Alexander holding the hands of his little sisters Davina & Rose who were wearing matching dresses & hats. They look like such a sweet little family

The whole family have been at all the major events and yet they rarely get mentioned and very few people know much about them

The Gloucesters have two grandchildren of Maori heritage, through their daughter Davina's marriage to Gary Lewis.

It must be quite nice to be one of the unknown royals. You get the perks like access to the family jewels, Christmas lunch at Sandringham and, until recently, balcony appearances without having to do any royal duties and without the press following you around!

I know, I saw Sarah Chatto on the tube recently, very low key, but she gets to go to big events and wear Princess Margaret's jewellery

I saw a documentary on the RF years ago which followed the Duke of Gloucester on an engagement. He was watching a group of school children dance in a gymnasium. He looked bored out of his skull until he noticed something about the gym's construction and started enthusiastically questioning the teachers on its design. The narrator went on to say he'd trained as an architect. I got the impression he wasn't exactly enamoured with royal duties, although maybe he was more enthusiastic about other visits.

Yes ~ I saw that as well! I thought it was a bit of a shame that they chose that clip as he didn't come across in the best light. He seems a lot more comfortable with historical events . . . reading through his list of activities on wiki, monuments and historical buildings are heavily featured as well as motoring (which I didn't know about)

As is the Duke of Kent's daughter-in-law, Sylvana Tomaselli - she's a Cambridge historian.

A very clever lady but I think she's got a doctorate rather than being a professor

She's certainly got a lot of academic work to her name

Yes, you're right - she's a University lecturer and a College fellow, but not a professor.

I met Prince Richard (DoG) when he visited the school where I was a governor. He came across as a very nice man, and his wife is also lovely.

I googled to see who the oldest is now, thinking it might be the Duke of Kent. But it's actually a non-royal, one Anne Abel Smith who was a second and third cousin of the late Queen.

I'd never even heard of her! I had to look her up.

The DoK is probably third on the list now, after the King of Sweden's oldest sister. The list I found online was a few years out of date so various Saxe Coburg Gothas may have passed since then!