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.

Arthur Ransome (bit of a bolshevik sympathiser(?) - married Leon Trotskys secretary), is related to Kate via her dad.

Wonder how he'd process his distant relative upholding a monarchy.

And it was at Romsey Abbey, when Lady Patricia Mountbatten married John Knatchbull, Baron Brabourne, that people first started to realise about Philip and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was a bridesmaid and Philip was seen helping her with her coat.
Romsey was always an important place for Philip because after Dickie's older brother died, Mountbatten became Philip's legal guardian.

Oh yes, I can remember seeing the little video clip of that on documentaries about the Queen.

One of Lord Mountbatten's granddaughters, India Hicks, was bridesmaid to Charles & Diana and I remember seeing her dress on display at Broadlands

For anyone interested in tidbits and nuggets of interesting information about the royals - in Europe as well as the UK - I recommend James Pope-Hennessy's book The Quest for Queen Mary.

It's about the research he did when commissioned to write a biography of QM and honestly, it's not only fascinating but a laugh a minute in some sections. The sheer unbelievable eccentricity of some of the old royals and aristocrats of Europe whom he tracked down to interview is hilarious. And it's poignant too, to read about members of the Russian royal family (in particular Nicholas II's sister) who started their lives in that incredibly majestic and archaic court and ended up living in little flats with electric fires.

So much in there - and some shocking stuff about Edward VIII when he was Prince of Wales.

Earl Mountbatten’s father was born into a morganatic marriage. Due to that he wasn’t a HRH Prince, like his father, at birth, but was ‘His Illustrious Highness’ and a count of Battenberg.

His uncle ‘promoted’ his mother and his siblings to His Serene Highness and Princess/Prince.

I actually think “His Illustrious Highness” sounds cooler then Royal Highness or Serene highness 😂

Theres a few really good documentary’s about the Mountbatten on YouTube.

Documentaries*

I’m sure autocorrect is meant to be helpful, not hinder!

I'm really enjoying this thread, thank you for starting it @JustAnotherWhinger - ive learned a lot!
My 'introductory snippet' is that the Duke and Duchess of Windsor would recite the alphabet to each other when they went out to lunch when they ran out of conversation, to make it seem as though they had lots to talk about to the casual onlooker. How sad is that?
Sorry can't remember where I read that though for reference!

Some belated news about previously believed kidnapped Princess Latifa of Dubai

https://www.thenationalnews.com/news/uae/2026/06/09/sheikha-latifa-meets-crown-princess-of-sweden/

I was very sad when the Duchess of Kent died a year ago. She was such a talented musician and sang with the Bach Choir for many, many years. After she withdrew from public life she taught music in a state school. I always felt she struggled with Royal life and was essentially a very private person and using her musical talents in the way she did enabled her to have a more 'normal' aspect to her life

She did, and when she had a breakdown she was treated recovered in a hospital.
So much for another of Harry and Meghan's wild claims that they couldn't get help for her mental health crisis.
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Absolutely! That claim was so ridiculous, I can't imagine why they thought anyone would believe it

Especially her Consultant at the Portland 🤔

Louise was also the only one of Victoria's children to marry a non-royal when she married the Marquess of Lorne, later the 9th Duke of Argyll.

Unfortunately this wasn't a happy marriage and the couple spent long periods apart leading to the Marquess being dubbed 'The Marquess all forlorn'

I think the boot was on the other foot as the Marquess of Lornes interests lay elsewhere than the joys of marriage..

Perhaps that suited Louise? If she never wanted to marry but her mother was pressuring her to find a husband, then maybe a lavender marriage was her best option!

QV was definitely not pressuring her to marry! QV, the selfish old horror, definitely thought at least a couple of her younger daughters should stay unmarried and keep her company at Osborne House, in her four decade-long performative grieving ritual.

Maybe Louise just wanted her independence then and a gay man wouldn't bother her with demands for children!

Her eldest sister Vicky actually had a really sad life, she was deeply in love with her husband but his father was a horror who lived for ages and also turned their son Wilhelm against then. By the time he died, Vicky's husband was already terminally ill and only reigned for a few months. Early 20th century European history might've been very different had he lived.

Infamously she blamed her priapic son Eddy for Albert's death and gatecrashed his wedding portraits with her in full mourning gazing at a bust her her late husband to make the point.

<a class="break-all" href="https://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=c8.alamy.com/comp/BJWAYN/queen-victoria-with-the-prince-and-princess-of-wales-on-the-day-of-BJWAYN.jpg&tbnid=kE5tkYgb43qXvM&vet=1&imgrefurl=www.alamy.com/stock-photo-queen-victoria-with-the-prince-and-princess-of-wales-on-the-day-of-28831593.html&docid=3zZf5fu9bBcWeM&w=963&h=1390&source=sh/x/im/m1/1&kgs=ccc08c82252a2246&shem=epsd1,nisbtsa2,nisbtsal,rimspwouoe&utm_source=epsd1,nisbtsa2,nisbtsal,rimspwouoe,sh/x/im/m1/1" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Link

Oh that photo is so hilariously awful. Poor Alexandra. Very young, and from a far less formal and feeding family.

This was an interesting read on Victoria and Albert's relationship.
https://daisygoodwin.substack.com/p/did-prince-albert-gaslight-queen

Victoria may not have been pressuring Louise, but she actively encouraged the union, even going so far as to look out for a potential mate for Louise from the aristocracy. She enjoyed thumbing her nose a bit at her relatives, especially some of the German ones with their obsession with so-called equal marriage, by having her daughter marry a non-royal British subject.

@AustenitesUnite , and also, Charles was reportedly close to Mountbatten. Supposedly, Mountbatten tried to fix up Charles and his granddaughter Amanda and Charles duly proposed but Amanda declined.
Charles and Mountbatten remained close and some claim that Diana's first words to Charles were offering sympathy for Mountbatten's death.
I have also seen consideration about whether William and Catherine happened to be visiting Broadlands at the same time and perhaps were first introduced there as coincidental house guests.

That's interesting ~ I've heard the first two stories but not the one about William & Catherine. I always thought they met at St Andrew's whilst they were university students

Yes, that was confirmed, they met as undergraduates. Both at Sals. I don't know if Kate's ever been to Broad lands? Was it then owned by Patricia Brabourne?.