From the Royal Genealogy threads – January and February 2016

With the new year, we thought it would be a nice idea to post again a monthly blog entry with the main updates from the Royal Genealogy threads. So, here we are…

Births:

2016 started with the birth, on 7 January, of Kareemah Talhouni, daughter of Nasser Talhouni and of his wife Princess Nejla bint Asem of Jordan. Later that month, on 16 January, Lord and Lady Frederick Windsor (the son and daughter-in-law of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent) welcomed their second daughter, Isabella.

On the first day of February another birth took place within the Jordanian Royal Family, as Prince Rashid bin Hassan and his wife Princess Zeina Rashid welcomed their second son, Prince Talal. A few days later, the King and Queen of Buthan became parents of their first child and son, The Gyalsey, who is also the Heir to the Buthanese Throne.

Lastly, on 24 February Archduchess Magdalena of Austria was born to Archduke Imre (and his wife, the former Kathleen Walker.

Pregnancies:

Two pregnancies became known in January: Baron Axel de Sambucy de Sorgue (son of Baron François-Xavier de Sambucy de Sorgue and of his wife Princess Chantal of France) and his wife, née Charlotte Paul-Reynaud, are expecting their second child next summer, and beyond the Channel singer James Blunt and his wife Sofia, née Wellesley (daughter of Lord and Lady John Wellesley and niece of the current Duke of Wellington) are expecting their first child.

Engagements:

A few engagements have been announced in the first two months of ths year. In particular, on 26 January was announced the engagement between Prince Léopold Lobkowicz and Natacha de Hepcee; a few days later, on 3 February, it was the turn of Lord Charles Montagu Douglas Scott (younger son of the Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch and Queensberry) and Flora Summerfield. On 12 February it was announced the engagement of Count Guillaume de Dampierre to Princess Alix de Ligne (the daughter of the Prince de Ligne and his wife, née Princess Eleonore of Brazil).

Lastly, on 21 February Prince Dimitri Galitzine, the oldest son of Prince Peter Galitzine and of his wife, née Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, got engaged to Alexandra Pollitt.

Marriages:

On 27 January another happy event took place in the House of Hashim: Princess Aisha bint Hussein of Jordan, a sister of King Abdallah II, married to Ashraf Banayotti.

At the end of January it became also known that Luis Beltran Gomez-Acebo y de Borbon (son of Infanta Pilar of Spain, Duchess of Badajoz, and of her late husband Don Luis Gomez-Acebo y Duque de Estrada) was engaged to marry to Andrea Pascual Vicens; they eventually tied the knot on 27 February 2016 in Madrid.

Deaths:

2016 has also – and sadly – begun with several deaths in the royal and noble circles. The first day of the new year saw the death, at the age of 92, of Princess Maria zu Salm-Salm, née Baroness von Boeselager. Only a few days later, on 7 January, Princess Ashraf Pahlavi passed away in Monaco aged 96; she was the twin sister of the late Shah of Iran, Mohammed Reza Pahlavi.

Princess Ashraf Pahlavi (1919-2016) pic.twitter.com/wqDfbB6UTG

— vincent meylan (@vincent_meylan) January 9, 2016

Two more notable royal deaths followed within German royalty: on 26 January Fürstin Eilika zu Leiningen, née Duchess of Oldenburg, died aged 87 and on 5 February Princess Claudia of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha passed away at the age of 66. It is also worthy to mention the death, on 12 February, of 98-year-old Countess Charlotte von Hohenau; she was the last surviving member of the Counts von Hohenau, a morganatic branch of the Royal House of Prussia started with the marriage of Prince Albrecht of Prussia (younger brother of King Wilhelm I of Prussia, later German Emperor Wilhelm I) by his second and morganatic wife Rosalie von Rauch.

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For more information about the Royal Genealogy threads, please visit them in the Royal Milestones forum.

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