Royals Converted to Other Denominations & Faiths

[espejor]

Hello!! Post here Royals converted to other religion like:

-Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain: She was protestant, and in a very humbling ceremony for her, she converted to Catholicism in 1906 before her wedding with Alfonso XIII.

-Queen Sofia of Spain: She was orthodox and her wedding consisted in four wedding (a catholic ceremony, an orthodox ceremony, a Spanish civil ceremony and a Greek civil ceremony).

-His mother, Queen Federica of Greece, she was protestant and converted to Orthodox religion to marry with Pablo of Greece.

-Empress Alexandra of Russia: She was protestant and she converted to orthodox religion to marry with Nicolas II.

-Aga Khan IV's wife (Begum Inaara): She is German and she converted to muslin religion to marry with Aga Khan IV.

Do you know more Royals converted?

Regards!!

 

[Lumutqueen]

Princess Mary converted to Lutheran from presbytarian when she married CP Frederik.
Princess Marie converted to Lutheran from Roman Catholic when she married Prince Joachim.
Princess Marie-Chantal was accepted into the Greek Orthodox Church.
x

 

[HMTLove23]

Autumn Kelly converted to Protestant from Catholic to marry Peter Phillips
Lord Nicholas Windsor converted to Catholic

 

[MAfan]

I guess:
Queen Anne Marie of Greece, from Lutheran to Greek Orthodox
Grand Duchess Viktoria Ferodovna of Russia, form Lutheran to Russian Orthodox
Princess Irene of Savoy, Duchess of Aosta, from Greek Orthodox to Catholic
Queen Sofia of Greece, from Lutheran to Greek Orthodox (and because of her conversion her brother Emperor Wilhelm II had forbidden her to enter in Germany)
King Henri IV of France, from Huguonot to Catholic ("Paris vaut bien une messe", "Paris is well worth a mass")
Queen Elena of Italy, from (?Russian?) Orthodox to Catholic
The Duchess of Kent, from Anglican to Catholic
Empress Maria Fedorovna of Russia, from Lutheran to Russian Orthodox

King Charles II of Englandm from Anglican to Catholic
Queen Christina of Sweden, from Lutheran to Catholic
Duchess Irene of Parma, from Protestant to Catholic (with crisis in the Netherlands because of her conversion, 1964)
Queen Natalia of Serbia, from Orthodox to Catholic
Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick, from Anglican to Catholic

 

[espejor]

I guess:
Queen Anne Marie of Greece, from Lutheran to Greek Orthodox
Grand Duchess Viktoria Ferodovna of Russia, form Lutheran to Russian Orthodox
Princess Irene of Savoy, Duchess of Aosta, from Greek Orthodox to Catholic
Queen Sofia of Greece, from Lutheran to Greek Orthodox (and because of her conversion her brother Emperor Wilhelm II had forbidden her to enter in Germany)
King Henri IV of France, from Huguonot to Catholic ("Paris vaut bien une messe", "Paris is well worth a mass")
Queen Elena of Italy, from (?Russian?) Orthodox to Catholic
The Duchess of Kent, from Anglican to Catholic
Empress Maria Fedorovna of Russia, from Lutheran to Russian Orthodox

Princess Mary converted to Lutheran from presbytarian when she married CP Frederik.
Princess Marie converted to Lutheran from Roman Catholic when she married Prince Joachim.
Princess Marie-Chantal was accepted into the Greek Orthodox Church.
x

How could I forget them?

Regards!

 

[Next Star]

Queen Noor of Jordan was protestant before she married the late King Hussein and converted to the nation of Islam and became muslim.

 

[IslandDweller]

Queen Marie of Bavaria (Marie of Prussia; 1825-1889) converted to Catholicism from Lutheranism.

It's also interesting the royals who did NOT convert when changing countries. Astrid of Sweden remained a Lutheran when marrying into the Catholic Belgian royal family. King Ferdinand I of Romania (born a prince of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen) remained a Catholic when designated the heir to the Romanian throne. All the Romanian government stipulated was that his children be raised Orthodox. He was excommunicated for this, but I believe this was lifted. His wife, Marie of Edinburgh, was christened Church of England, but confirmed a Lutheran after her father inherited the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. She also did not become Orthodox, and apparently worshipped in the Anglican faith of her birth.

The Danish royals evidently had liberal policies regarding inter-faith marriages. Marie of Orleans (1865-1909) remained a Catholic after marrying Prince Valdemar of Denmark. It was agreed at the outset that sons of the marriage would be raised in the father's faith and daughters in the mother's, a not uncommon arrangement in the nineteenth century. As it happened, they had four sons and a daughter, who married Felix of Bourbon-Parma and became the mother of "Queen" Anne of Romania. This marriage proved more complicated on the religious issue. Anne would not convert to Orthodoxy when she married ex-King Michael, and he would not consent to his children being raised as Catholics, which was the only condition under which the Pope would sanction the marriage. Both families lobbied Rome unsuccessfully, and Prince Xavier of Bourbon-Parma - Anne's uncle and the head of her family - forbade Anne's parents to attend a wedding that the Church of Rome was against. The couple was married in the Orthodox faith, though Wikipedia says that they were allowed a Catholic ceremony in the 1960s.

 

[MAfan]

A couple of corrections:
- according to the memoirs of Queen Maria Josè of Italy, sister in law of Astrid, she married Leopold as Lutheran, but after some time she converted and became Catholic;
- The father of Queen Anne of Romania was Prince Renè of Bourbon-Parma, not Felix; Felix was the husband of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg.

Another sovereign who didn't convert when he became King of another country was Prince (later Tsar) Ferdinand of Bulgaria, that is a Orthodox country: he was Catholic, and remained Catholic; he married a Catholic Princess, Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, who remained Catholic too; but their children were raised as Orthodoxes.

Now I wonder: did Queen Giovanna, Queen Margarita, and the present Princesses of Bulgaria (Miriam, Rosario, Carla, Maria) convert from Catholic to Orthodox?

 

[IslandDweller]

Whoops! Thanks, MAFan. Careless errors on my part, regarding the Bourbon Parma names.

I've never read anywhere that Astrid converted, but I'll take your word for it.

My understanding has always been that Queen Giovanna never got around to converting, and that when she had her children baptised Orthodox, she was reneging on the deal she had made with Rome to have the Vatican sanction her marriage.

 

[susan alicia]

the catholic church and the (greek) orthodox church "accept" each other, so I think there is officially little converting to do.

Maxima remains a catholic but her children will be raised as protestants.

A couple of corrections:
- according to the memoirs of Queen Maria Josè of Italy, sister in law of Astrid, she married Leopold as Lutheran, but after some time she converted and became Catholic;
- The father of Queen Anne of Romania was Prince Renè of Bourbon-Parma, not Felix; Felix was the husband of Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg.

Another sovereign who didn't convert when he became King of another country was Prince (later Tsar) Ferdinand of Bulgaria, that is a Orthodox country: he was Catholic, and remained Catholic; he married a Catholic Princess, Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, who remained Catholic too; but their children were raised as Orthodoxes.

Now I wonder: did Queen Giovanna, Queen Margarita, and the present Princesses of Bulgaria (Miriam, Rosario, Carla, Maria) convert from Catholic to Orthodox?

 

[emmeleia]

What about Alexia of Greece? Her husband Carlos Morales and their children?

 

[sgl]

I believe that Alexia, Carlos, and the children are Greek Orthodox. I thought that the christenings have taken place in a Greek Orthodox church, as well as their wedding.

 

[susan alicia]

yes, the children of Alexia are baptised Greek orthodox,, from the thread greek royal family baptism of Amelia
[DNF] Fotoarchief Denieuwsfoto

 

[amedea]

Catholic church does NOT accept orthodox churches and in fact its diplomacy worked hard to keep the romanian and bulgarian royals catholic, using a lot excommunication since they had great problems. (It is true however that the doctrinal difference between the two is little; so conversions are not complicated even from the rythual point of view; and so they usually accept weddings celebrated by the other church, if there is a previous permission, but conversions remain a huge problem for both)
as far as Bulgaria is concerned:
1- the baptism of crownprince Boris of Bulgaria in the orthodox church (when he was already 2 years old) was a first crysis that upset not only the Holy See but also the very catholic Bourbon-Parma family, the family of his mother; however I think that all the siblings of boris were grown up catholic
2- as alredy said in others post the Holy See had obtained that the children of Queen Giovanna would be catholic and that there would not be an orthodox wedding: at the arrival in Bulgaria the couple received an orthodox "blessing" that was already too much for the catholic church and then at the birth of the crown prince he was christened an orthodox and that caused a great crysis. The then nuncius to Sofia who had to deal with these matters was Angelo Roncalli who became many years later pope Johannes XXIII.
3- Queen Giovanna remained always catholic and as a widow she entered the third order of st Francis, being buried in the Assisi Abbey's cemetery; I think that her approach to her new country and new family's religion was in some way ecumenic (something very distant from the position of the church of that times), as I never heard that she felt bad for Boris' choises.

 

[salma]

Queen Noor of Jordan was protestant before she married the late King Hussein and converted to the nation of Islam and became muslim.

Too Princess Muna.

 

[susan alicia]

off topic now but

I speak out of experience, as a Greek othodox who occasionally goes to a Catholic Church I am allowed by the priest to receive holy communion (I asked).

Catholic church does NOT accept orthodox churches and in fact its diplomacy worked hard to keep the romanian and bulgarian royals catholic, using a lot excommunication since they had great problems. (It is true however that the doctrinal difference between the two is little; so conversions are not complicated even from the rythual point of view; and so they usually accept weddings celebrated by the other church, if there is a previous permission, but conversions remain a huge problem for both)
as far as Bulgaria is concerned:
1- the baptism of crownprince Boris of Bulgaria in the orthodox church (when he was already 2 years old) was a first crysis that upset not only the Holy See but also the very catholic Bourbon-Parma family, the family of his mother; however I think that all the siblings of boris were grown up catholic
2- as alredy said in others post the Holy See had obtained that the children of Queen Giovanna would be catholic and that there would not be an orthodox wedding: at the arrival in Bulgaria the couple received an orthodox "blessing" that was already too much for the catholic church and then at the birth of the crown prince he was christened an orthodox and that caused a great crysis. The then nuncius to Sofia who had to deal with these matters was Angelo Roncalli who became many years later pope Johannes XXIII.
3- Queen Giovanna remained always catholic and as a widow she entered the third order of st Francis, being buried in the Assisi Abbey's cemetery; I think that her approach to her new country and new family's religion was in some way ecumenic (something very distant from the position of the curch of that times), as I never heard that she felt bad for Boris' choises.

 

[amedea]

your personal experience is made possible, if I am correct, by the papal decretum "Orientalium Ecclesiarum" that dates back only to 1964, the very contreversial period of the Vatican Council II. And this text make very little concessions, very far from recognising the orthodox churches.

 

[LadyLeana]

I've never read anywhere that Astrid converted, but I'll take your word for it.

When she married, Astrid had to promise to raise her children in the Catholic faith. When her daughter Josephine-Charlotte started asking questions about Jesus and the bible, she realised she couldn't answer those questions, because she didn't know anything about the faith her daughter was learning about, she didn't know which answers to give. She studied up for quite a while before converting, too.

Also interesting, is that the first King of the Belgians, Leopold I, never converted to Catholicism (not to my knowledge anyway), but when he became King he had to promise to raise his children Catholic, because the Belgians didn't want a Protestant King/line of Kings.

 

[rop81]

What about Queen Silvia of Sweden, was she a protestant when she met Carl-Gustav or was she catholic and had to convert before the wedding?

 

[IslandDweller]

According to at least one newspaper account from the time of her wedding, Queen Silvia was already a Protestant. She was said to have several Lutheran ministers in her father's family tree, which could explain her parents' decision to have her christened in that faith, since her mother was almost certainly Catholic.

 

[Kaatje]

Is keeping an original faith accepted today? For example: A Catholic princess of Belgium wanted to marry the Lutheran crown prince of Denmark. I'm not entirely certain, but I believe that there is a clause in the constitution that says members of the royal family must be Lutheran. If the princess did not want to give up her faith, would the marriage be allowed? Or, would parliament issue a special law (as they do for immediate citizenship of spouses of Danish royalty) for that princess if she agreed to raise her children in the Lutheran faith?

 

[Sereta]

I think she would have to convert.

 

[MARG]

As indeed did CP Mary . . . . . . and she was only a Presbyterian!

 

[Biri]

Prince Henri of Denmark converted from Catholicism to Lutheranism before marrying Queen Margrethe.

 

[Next Star]

Countess Alexandra Christina of Fredriksbourg former wife of Prince Joachim of Denmark and Princess of Denmark was Angelican before she coverted to Lutheran.

 

[Biri]

Princess Khaliya Aga Khan converted to Islam from Christianity before marrying Prince Hussein.

As for Queen Noor, I read that her parents didn't educate her in any concrete religion, encouraging her to choose her own spiritual way. And that Islam was the first religion which interested her.

Princess Shams Pahlavi converted from Islam to Catholicism.

 

[Lumutqueen]

Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor
Lord Nicholas Windsor

converted from anglican to catholicism.

 

[Biri]

Nicolas was already mentioned

 

[Lumutqueen]

There have been many repeats in names mentioned of royal converting to religions. I see no problem in repeating something so people do not have to go back to and check.

 

[NoorMeansLight]

Queen Noor of Jordan was protestant before she married the late King Hussein and converted to the nation of Islam and became muslim.

Protestant or Orthodox Christian? The latter, as far as I know. And as Biri said above, Q.Noor was encouraged to choose her own religious/spiritual path. She didn't feel close to Christianity anyway.