January 2009 Newsletter: The 1890s

It is a new year and new beginnings. For 2009 we’ve decided to do something different for the newsletter. Starting with this month and concluding in December 2009 the newsletters will focus on decades (the 1890s through the 2000s). We will highlight major events (wars, coronations, jubilees), births, weddings and deaths. We hope that you enjoy these newsletters and maybe learn something that you never knew before.

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The 1890s

Births

19 July 1890: Prince George of Greece, later known as George II of Greece. Prince George was the eldest child of Prince Constantine & Princess Sophie (later King Constantine I and Queen Sophie of Greece). Prince George would be King twice in his life, the first time was after the forced abdication of his father in 1922 and the second time was in 1935. In the early 1920s he met and married Elisabeth of Romania. The marriage was not successful and the two divorced. King George would not marry again and died in 1947

15 October 1893: Prince Carol of Romania, later known as King Carol II of Romania. Prince Carol was the eldest child of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania. King Carol was married twice and had two sons. His second son (Prince Michael) by his second wife (born Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark) would succeed him as King. King Carol died in 1953.

14 June 1894: Princess Marie-Adélaïde of Luxembourg, later known as Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde of Luxembourg was the eldest child of Prince Guillaume and Princess Marie Anne (later Grand Duke Guillaume IV and Grand Duchess Marie Anne of Luxembourg). Seeing as Grand Duke Guillaume and Grand Duchess Marie Anne had no male children Marie-Adélaïde became Luxembourg’s first reigning female Grand Duchess. Marie-Adélaïde never married and abdicated the throne for her younger sister in 1919 and passed away in 1924.

23 June 1894: Prince Edward of York, later known as King Edward VIII and the Duke of Windsor. Prince Edward was the eldest child of The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). Prince Edward would later on become involved in a scandal after he succeeded his father (but before his coronation) to the throne in wishing to marry the divorced American Wallis Simpson. Prince Edward would eventually abdicate his throne so that he could marry Wallis and would exiled from England. Upon his abdication he and Wallis were given the title of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The Duke of Windsor died in 1972.

12 October 1894: Princess Elisabeth of Romania, later known as Queen Elisabeth of Greece. Princess Elisabeth was the eldest daughter of King Ferdinand I and Queen Marie of Romania. She was married to King George II of Greece and was his consort during his first reign. The marriage was unsuccessful and they were divorced. Queen Elisabeth died in 1956

14 December 1895: Prince Albert of York, later known as King George VI. Prince Albert was the second oldest child of The Duke and Duchess of York (later King George V and Queen Mary). In the 1920s Prince Albert had met and married Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon and by the 1930s they were the parents to two daughters, the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret Rose. Prince Albert was not supposed to be King. That role was for his older brother; but through the abdication of Edward VIII in the 1930s he was thrust onto the throne and became King George VI. King George died in 1952

23 January 1896: Princess Charlotte of Luxembourg, later known as Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg was the second oldest daughter of Prince Guillaume and Princess Marie Anne (later Grand Duke Guillaume IV and Grand Duchess Marie Anne of Luxembourg). Grand Duchess Charlotte was married to Prince Felix of Bourbon-Parma and their marriage produced six children. Grand Duchess Charlotte died in 1985

19 June 1896: Bessie Wallis Warfield. Wallis Simpson (as she became known in the 1930s) was born in the United States as the only child of Teackle Wallis Warfield and Alice Montague. Wallis would become one of the major players in a scandal that would thrust the future of British Royal Family into unknown waters. In the early 1930s she would meet the future King Edward VIII and they became romantically involved. By 1936 Edward wished to marry her, but she was still married to her second husband at the time. There were also major issues/problems with the King marring a divorcee and ultimately Edward abdicated the throne to marry Wallis. After their marriage they were given the title of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The Duchess of Windsor died in 1986.

25 April 1897: Princess Mary of York, later know as The Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood was the only daughter of King George V and Queen Mary. Princess Mary was the sixth holder of the title Princess Royal. Princess Mary married Henry Lascelles, 6th Earl of Harewood in 1922 and had two sons (at the time of their marriage Henry was known as Viscount Lascelles). Princess Mary died in 1965.

30 September 1898: Princess Charlotte of Monaco, Duchess of Valentinois. Charlotte was the illegitimate daughter of Prince Louis II of Monaco, who had no legitimate children. She was legitimised and adopted by Louis in order that she could inherit the throne. However, an unhappy marriage to Count Pierre de Polignac and a long-term extramarital affair led to her renouncing her rights to the throne in favour of her son, Rainier, who followed his grandfather as Ruling Prince in 1949.

11 March 1899: Prince Christian Frederik of Denmark, later Frederik IX. He was the elder son of Christian X and Queen Alexandrine. After his education, he entered the Navy and attained the rank of Rear Admiral. He married Princess Ingrid of Sweden, with whom he had three daughters but no sons, leading to a change in the law to allow women to inherit the throne. He inherited the throne in 1947 and died in 1972.

Marriages and Anniversaries

19 November 1890: Prince Adolf of Schaumberg-Lippe and Princess Viktoria of Prussia. Originally Viktoria wanted to marry Prince Alexander of Battenberg, who later became Prince Alexander of Bulgaria, but many in her family were against the marriage of Viktoria and Alexander. Viktoria ended up marrying Adolf and the marriage was childless, except for a miscarriage early on. The marriage ended when Prince Adolf passed away in 1916.

10 January 1893: Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania and Princess Marie of Edinburgh. Crown Prince Ferdinand married his distant cousin Princess Marie of Edinburgh in Sigmaringen, Germany. The marriage was not a happy one. The marriage produced six children (three boys and three girls), but there were questions regarding the paternity of some of the children as it was quite known that Marie had relationships with other men.

25 January 1893: Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse and Princess Margaret of Prussia. Prince Frederick Charles and Princess Margaret were distant cousins through Frederick’s mother who was a Prussian Princess. They were married at the Hohenzollern Stadtschloss in Berlin on the wedding anniversary of Margaret’s parents. The marriage produced six sons (including two sets of twins) and was a happy union.

6 July 1893: Prince George of Wales and Princess Mary of Teck. Originally Mary of Teck was engaged to Prince Albert Victor, but when he passed away suddenly in January of 1892, Mary went on to marry his brother, Prince George. Prior to their marriage Queen Victoria made Prince George the Duke of York. By all accounts the marriage of the Duke and Duchess of York was a success and produced six children (five who lived into adulthood).

19 April 1894: Grand Duke Ernst Louis of Hesse and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Grand Duke Ernest Louis and Princess Victoria Melita were first cousins and married in Coburg, Germany. The union was encouraged by their mutual grandmother, Queen Victoria. The marriage was not a happy one and would end in divorce, but it did produce two children (neither child lived into adulthood).

20 April 1896: Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Prince Ernst and Princess Alexandra were married in Coburg, Germany. Their marriage produced five children.

26 November 1894: Nicholas II of Russia and Princess Alix of Hesse. Nicholas and Alix were married shortly after the death of Nicholas’ father and Alix’s conversion from her former faith of Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy. Their wedding was originally set to take place in the spring of 1895, but Nicholas moved it forward to November, a few weeks after his father’s death. By all accounts their marriage was a happy one and they were lovingly devoted to each other and produced five children (four girls and one boy). Their deaths (at the hands of the Bolsheviks) is one that would push these two figures into the world wide spotlight for the next 60+ years.

22 July 1896: Prince Carl of Denmark and Princess Maud of Wales (later known as King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway). Princess Maud of Wales (daughter of King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) married her first cousin, Prince Carl of Denmark. Prince Carl was the second son of Crown Prince Frederick of Denmark (Queen Alexandra’s brother). The marriage produced one child, Prince Alexander (later known as King Olav V of Norway). In 1905, Prince Carl accepted the offer to become King of Norway.

27 August 1897: Prince Carl of Sweden and Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. Prince Carl and Princess Ingeborg were married in Copenhagen. Their marriage produced four children (three daughters and one son).

26 April 1898: Prince Christian of Denmark and Princess Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine married in Cannes. Their marriage produced two children, the future Frederik X and Prince Knud, who was overtaken in the succession by Frederik’s daughter Margrethe after a change in the succession laws in 1953. In 1912 Christian’s father died; Christian succeeded to the throne and reigned as King Christian X with his consort Queen Alexandrine.

Deaths

23 November 1890: William III of The Netherlands. William was the oldest child of King William II and Queen Anna (formerly Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia). William reigned from 1849 until his death in 1890 at age 73. He was preceded in death by his first wife and their three children.

14 January 1892: Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale. The oldest child of The Prince and Princess of Wales passed away suddenly of pneumonia at age 28. At first he was only sick with influenza during the great influenza pandemic, but that quickly turned into pneumonia. He had recently become engaged to a cousin, Princess Mary of Teck and was to marry her within a month.

13 March 1892: Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse. Grand Duke Louis was the widower of Princess Alice (the late daughter of Queen Victoria) and was the fourth Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine who reigned from 13 June 1877 until his death in 1892 at age 54. He was preceded in death by his wife and two of their children.

7 June 1894: Hassan I of Morocco. Hassan became king in 1873. During his reign he worked to strengthen his country militarily and economically and thus avoid colonial rule by one of the European powers. The year before his death, he made a tour of the country with the aim of improving relations among the tribal rulers.

1 November 1894: Tsar Alexander III. Alexander was the second son of Tsar Alexander II and his wife Charlotte (born Princess Charlotte of Prussia). He became heir in 1865 when his brother passed away in the South of France. Throughout 1894 Alexander’s health rapidly deteriorated and he passed away in the fall from kidney disease. Alexander reigned from March 1881 until his death in 1894 at age 49.

27 October 1897: Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge (Teck). Princess Mary Adelaide was the daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and Princess Augusta of Hesse-Cassel, the wife of Prince Francis of Teck, the mother of Queen Mary and a granddaughter of King George III, She did not live to see her daughter be crowned Queen and she passed away at age 63.

29 September 1898: Queen Louise of Denmark. Queen Louise was born Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel. She was the daughter of Prince William and Princess Charlotte of Hesse Cassel (formerly Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark), the wife of King Christian IX of Denmark and the mother to six children (four of her six children would sit on various thrones throughout Europe). Through her children’s marriages she was known as the “Grandmother of Europe”. She would reign next to her husband as Queen of Denmark from 1863 until her death in 1898 at age 81.

6 February 1899: Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Prince Alfred was the son of the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and grandson of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. In 1899 before his death Prince Alfred was exhibiting signs of syphilis that he had contracted during his time in the military. In January 1899, he attempted suicide by shooting himself with a revolver. For three days after that he stayed at the Schloss Friedenstein before being sent to the Sanitorium Martinnsbrunn in Gratsch bei Meran (Merano), where he would die at age 24.

Accessions, Enthronements, Jubilees, and Abdications

23 November 1890: Accession of Queen Wilhelmina of The Netherlands. Wilhelmina became Queen at the age of 10 on the death of her father, William III, who was in his 50s when she was born. Although she had three older half-brothers they all predeceased her, and two of them also predeceased King William. She reigned for 58 years, abdicating in favour of her daughter Juliana in 1948.

13 March 1892: Accession of Ernst Louis, Grand Duke of Hesse. Ernst Louis was the eldest son of Queen Victoria’s second daughter, Alice, and her husband Louis IV of Hesse. He became Grand Duke at the age of 23 and reigned until the Grand Duchy was abolished at the end of World War I.

7 June 1894: Accession of Abdelaziz as Sultan of Morocco. Abdelaziz was a teenager at his accession, and his attempts to treat with European countries led to unrest within the country. He ruled for only a few years before he was deposed in 1908.

1 November 1894: Accession of Tsar Nicholas II. Nicholas became Tsar after the unexpectedly early death of his father, Alexander III, of kidney failure. Nicholas was still in his twenties and not yet married, although he was engaged to Princess Alix of Hesse. He was unprepared for the responsibilities of an absolute monarch during a time of social unrest, and he and his wife became very unpopular. He was forced to abdicate in 1917, and he and his family were murdered by the Bolsheviks in July 1918.

26 May 1896: Coronation of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra. The coronation of Nicholas and Alexandra took place over a year after Nicholas’s accession. It was an elaborate and opulent ceremony, with celebrations continuing for days. The day after the coronation there was an incident where crowds in Khodynka Meadow surged out of control and hundreds of people were killed. The House of Faberge created a special Coronation Egg, which was given by Nicholas to Alexandra at Easter 1897.

20 June 1897: Diamond Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s accession. Queen Victoria had become Queen in 1837. After the death of her husband, Prince Albert, in 1861, she became very reclusive and rarely appeared in public, although she took part in her jubilee celebrations. These celebrations included representatives from countries throughout the British Empire. Although the Queen had become unpopular because of her prolonged absence from public life, she was greeted with much affection by her people when she appeared during her jubilee celebration.

Major World Events

1 August 1894-17 April 1895: First Sino-Japanese War. By the 1890s Meiji-era Japan had been free of isolationism and feudalism for over 30 years and was becoming a modern state. In contrast, the Chinese Qing dynasty was not moving with the times. The Japanese government felt threatened by Chinese and possibly Russian control over Korea, and escalating tensions between Japan and China led to the outbreak of war in August 1894. The war went badly for China and resulted not only in Japanese control over Korea but also Japanese invasion of parts of China. The weak response by the Chinese government to Japanese aggression was a factor in the overthrow of the Qing dynasty in 1912, as well as in the increasing nationalism and aggression of the Japanese, culminating in a declaration of war against the United States in 1941.

25 April-12 August 1898: Spanish-American War. This war was fought for control of Cuba, which was a Spanish colony that desired independence, and eventually for control of other Spanish possessions (Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines). The war lasted only a few months and was won by the United States, upon which these Spanish possessions declared independence. This war helped make the Spanish monarchy less popular.

11 October 1899: Outbreak of the Second Boer War. This war was fought between Britain and the Boer government in South Africa after British immigrants had complained of mistreatment. After conventional warfare proved ineffective, both sides switched to less savoury tactics. By the end of the war in 1902, with a victory for the British, much international goodwill had been lost. Queen Victoria was still alive at the outbreak of the war, and even though things initially went badly for the British, she never entertained thoughts of defeat.

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