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'd love that.

Doesn't the king of Belgium have some morganatic relatives? Not Delphine, the offspring of his grandfather's second marriage to a woman of low rank. She was never called the queen even though she was married to the king.

The present King of Belgium's grandfather was King Leopold who married Lilian Baels after his first wife, Queen Astrid, died in a car accident. Leopold & Lilian had three children, Alexandre, Marie-Christine & Marie-Esmerelda

Leopold and Astrid had three children Josephine, Baudoin (who became king but he and his wife Fabiolo were unable to have children) and Albert, the father of the present King who abdicated. Apart from the three children Albert has with his wife Paola, who are Philippe, Astrid & Laurent, he also has an illegitimate daughter Delphine who is therefore half-sister to the current king

Some of them are portrayed in the 1974 BBC mini-series Fall of Eagles. I watched it several years ago on YouTube.

There is also the 1975 mini-series Edward VII.

That tv series was excellent. There was also a great one about Lily Langtry.

There was, about two years ago, a programme on you tube about Leopold and Lilian and the controversy around their marriage.

They got married while he was POW and didn’t do things in the right order (because she was pregnant and they could no longer wait).

She was quite popular (she played quite a prominent role in the RF when her stepson was King) but people seemed very angry with him that they’d been feeling sorry for him as a poor widowed man who was POW but he was having a jolly time with her.

That was great. <showing my age>

I'm sure I remember seeing a TV documentary years ago about how several branches of Queen Victoria's family suffered from haemophilia . . . I would love to see that programme again as I have forgotten the details

Not very unusual I thought? Henry VII's descendants would number in the millions?

I still rue that the actress and actor who played Victoria and Albert in the tv series broke up so it ended with Albert's death.

I still rue that the actress and actor who played Victoria and Albert in the tv series broke up so it ended with Albert's death.

Albert died? You might have included a spoiler warning! 😁😁😁😁

For some inexplicable reason I'm fascinated with how many forenames Royals have!

Queen Mary (wife of George V) had 8 and her eldest son King Edward VIII had 7

I think, out of the current RF, the Duke of Kent and his sister have the most as they each have 5

The newest generation seem to only have 2 or 3 so there seems to be a trend towards fewer names

I only watched the first 2 seasons but Rufus Sewell as Lord Melbourne made me wish Albert wouldn't show up!

Benedict Cumberbatch got an invite to the state reburial of Richard III on the basis of being a distant descendant

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2015/mar/25/benedict-cumberbatch-is-related-to-richard-iii-scientists-say

And played him in the Hollow Crown

The Spanish royals loved a long name. Juan Carlos and his brother had 5 names each and their sisters had proper long names!

Margarita María de la Victoria Esperanza Jacoba Felicidad Perpetua de Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón de Las 2 Sicilias

María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón

Felipe has 4 names and his two daughters are simply Leonor and Sofia.

Wow! ~ if Diana couldn't get Charles 4 names in the right order on their wedding day, these lists of names would surely have caused major issues!

I'd imagine there will be something on YouTube. There's a lot of good content there now, what with Dan Snow's History Hit series, plus others.

I watched on of his yesterday about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. But there are lots of old TV documentaries too.

Ooh thanks! I'm going to look for that one. I remember Fall of Eagles, but didn't watch it at the time for some reason. What a great title too.

Maud of Norway and Sophie of Greece also.
PlusxEdward VII of GB, of course!

Victoria passed haemophilia into the Spanish and Russian royal families, also to Hesse and Prussia, plus to her own son Prince Leopold.

And it's a mystery as to how she got haemophilia, because neither of her parents had it in their families. It's supposed to be a random mutation

I recently watched Royal Mob about 4 of Victoria's grandaughters and their adult lives, they became Queens or similar and their relationships were seriously affected by the events ofthe early 20th century.

Because of the tradition in Spain, both princesses also have Letizia's surname (Felipe has y Grecia in his too) and when Leonor was in the military she was known as Cadet Borbon Ortiz.

Certainly it was a disaster for some of her descendents, especially the Romanovs.

There is a question mark over whether or not the Duke of Kent was really her father, otherwise it's a quick mutation. Remember the race for a legitimate heir to the throne? Maybe that was a factor.