This Day in History

[Susan]

April 19 in royal history:

April 19, 1658 – Death of Kirsten Munk, morganatic second wife of Christian IV of Denmark, at Boller Castle near Horsens; buried at Saint Canute's Cathedral in Odense

April 19, 1689 - Death of Queen Christina of Sweden at Rome; buried at St. Peter’s Basilica, Rome
Queen Christina secretly converted to Catholicism and eventually abdicated to practice her religion openly. She moved to Rome and is one of four women buried in St. Peter’s Basilica. Pope John Paul II is buried between the tombs of Queen Christina and Queen Carlotta of Cyprus

April 19, 1713 - Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI issues the Pragmatic Sanction
Charles had no living male heirs. He hoped the Pragmatic Sanction would ensure one of his daughters would inherit the Habsburg monarchy. After his death, and following a war and a treaty, his daughter Maria Theresa finally did.

April 19, 1793 – Birth of Ferdinand I, Emperor of Austria, King of Hungary and Bohemia

April 19, 1876 – Birth of Prince Hendrik of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, husband of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands

April 19, 1956 - Wedding of Prince Rainier III of Monaco and Grace Kelly

April 19, 1968 - Birth of King Mswati III of Swaziland

[Susan]

April 20 in royal history, a bit early:

April 20, 1808 - Birth of Charles Louis Napoléon Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon III of France

April 20, 1836 – Death of Prince Johann I Josef of Liechtenstein

April 20, 1839 – Birth of Carol I of Romania

April 20, 1884 – Birth of Princess Beatrice of Edinburgh, granddaughter of Queen Victoria, at Eastwell Park, Kent
Princess Beatrice was the daughter of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh and Grand Duchess Marie Alexandrovna of Russia. She married Infante Alfonso d’Orleans-Bourbon of Spain.

April 20, 1929 – Death of Prince Henry of Prussia, son of Kaiser Frederick III, at Herrenhaus Hemmelmark, Eckernförde, Germany
Prince Henry was the son of Victoria, Princess Royal and the grandson of Queen Victoria. He married his first cousin Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine

April 20, 1947 - Death of Christian X of Denmark at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen; buried at Roskilde Cathedral

April 20, 1960 – Death of Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna, daughter of Tsar Alexander III, in London; buried at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, France

[Susan]

April 21 in royal history:

April 21, 1509 - Death of Henry VII at Richmond Palace, Richmond, Surrey, England; buried at Westminster Abbey

April 21, 1767 – Birth of Elisabeth of Württemberg, first wife of Franz I of Austria

April 21, 1843 - Death of Augustus, Duke of Sussex, son of George III, at Kensington Palace; buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London

April 21, 1926 - Birth of Elizabeth II at 17 Bruton Street, London, W1, England

April 21, 2007 – Birth of Princess Isabella of Denmark, daughter of Crown Prince Frederik, at Copenhagen University Hospital

[Susan]

April 22 in royal history:

April 22, 1433 - Wedding of John, Duke of Bedford, son of Henry IV, and Jacquetta of Luxembourg at Bishop's Palace, Thérouenne, France

April 22, 1445 - Wedding of Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield Abbey

April 22, 1451 - Birth of Queen Isabella of Castile and Leon

April 22, 1852 – Birth of Grand Duke Guilliame IV of Luxembourg

April 22, 1872 – Birth of Princess Margaret of Prussia, daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor, at Neues Palais, Potsdam, Germany

April 22, 1957 - Birth of Daniel Chatto, husband of Lady Sarah Armstrong-Jones

[Susan]

April 23 in royal history:

April 23, 1014 – Death of Brian Bóruma mac Cennétig (Brian Boru) at the Battle of Clontarf; said to be buried at St. Patrick's Cathedral, Armagh

April 23, 1016 - Death of Ethelred II (the Unready) at London, England; buried at St. Paul's Cathedral (destroyed in the Great Fire of London)

April 23, 1124 – Death of Alexander I of Scotland at Stirling Castle; buried at Dunfermline Abbey, Fife, Scotland

April 23, 1151 – Death of Adeliza of Louvain, second wife of Henry I, at Afflighem, Flanders; buried at the Abbey of Afflighem

April 23, 1224 - Wedding of Eleanor, daughter of King John, and William Marshal, 2nd Earl of Pembroke

April 23, 1307 - Death of Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I, at Clare, Suffolk, England; buried at Clare Priory

April 23, 1348 - Order of the Garter is founded

April 23, 1625 – Death of Maurice of Nassau, Prince of Orange, at The Hague; buried at Nieuwe Kerk, Delft

April 23, 1661 - Coronation of Charles II
Charles’ wife Catherine of Braganza was never crowned because she was Roman Catholic.

April 23, 1676 – Birth of Fredrik I of Sweden

April 23, 1685 - Coronation of James II
James’ second wife Mary of Modena was crowned with him.

April 23, 1702 - Coronation of Queen Anne

April 23, 1751 – Death of Prince Jacques I of Monaco

April 23, 1922 – Death of Lord Leopold Mountbatten, grandson of Queen Victoria, at Kensington Palace; buried at the Royal Burial Grounds at Frogmore
Leopold was the son of Princess Beatrice, daughter of Queen Victoria, and Prince Henry of Battenberg. His mother was a hemophilia carrier and he inherited the disease from her. Leopold never married and died following emergency surgery.

April 23, 1923 – Death of Louise of Prussia, daughter of Wilhelm I of Germany, wife of Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden

April 23, 1968 – Birth of Princess Aisha and Princess Zein of Jordan, twin daughters of King Hussein and his second wife Princess Muna al-Hussein

April 23, 1981 - Birth of Lady Gabriella Windsor, daughter of Prince Michael of Kent

[Margaret]

Hmmm. April 23 seems to have been an unlucky date for rulers in the Brtish Isles.

[Susan]

[quote=""Margaret""]Hmmm. April 23 seems to have been an unlucky date for rulers in the Brtish Isles.[/quote]

My thought also as I was posting those dates. It is St. George's Day, so I guess it was "good" to die on his feast day.

[Susan]

April 24 in royal history:

April 24, 1533 - Birth of William I of Orange-Nassau

April 24, 1558 - Wedding of Mary, Queen of Scots and Francis, Dauphin of France, at Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris

April 24, 1678 – Death of Louis VI, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

April 24, 1852 – Death of Leopold I, Grand Duke of Baden

April 24, 1963 - Wedding of Princess Alexandra of Kent and The Honorable Angus Ogilvy, son of the 12th Earl of Airlie, at Westminster Abbey

April 24, 1983 – Birth of Princess Iman of Jordan, daughter of King Hussein and his fourth wife Queen Noor

April 24, 1986 - Death of Wallis, Duchess of Windsor at Bois de Boulogne, Paris, France; buried at Frogmore, Windsor

April 24, 2004 - Wedding of Prince Johan Friso of the Netherlands and Mabel Wisse Smit

[emr]

[quote=""Margaret""]Hmmm. April 23 seems to have been an unlucky date for rulers in the Brtish Isles.[/quote]

And for writers:
William Shakespeare, Miguel de Cervantes and Garcilaso de la Vega all three died the same day the same year (1616) (by the julian calendar at least)

[annis]

Down Under, today is Anzac Day, the day we set aside to remember and honour those who've died in war.



As we've recently been discussing the work of Henry Treece, I think it appropriate to add his poem,"Conquerors", which aptly illustrates that war is a no-win situation for both winners and losers.

By sundown we came to a hidden village
Where all the air was still
And no sound met our tired ears, save
For the sorry drip of rain from blackened trees
And the melancholy song of swinging gates.
Then through a broken pane some of us saw
A dead bird in a rusting cage, still
Pressing his thin tattered breast against the bars,
His beak wide open. And
As we hurried through the weed-grown street,
A gaunt dog started up from some dark place
And shambled off on legs as thin as sticks
Into the wood, to die at least in peace.
No one had told us victory was like this;
Not one amongst us would have eaten bread
Before he'd filled the mouth of the gray child
That sprawled, stiff as stone, before the shattered door.
There was not one who did not think of home.