Prince Harry Sits Down for Interview

Enjoy!

http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=7401879n

+ Princess Maria Anna of Saxony (1929-2012)

It is with much sadness that we communicate the passing of Princess Maria Anna of Saxony (1929-2012).

Princess Maria Anna of Saxony was born on 13 December 1929 at Bad Wörishofen, a spa town in South-Western Bavaria. She was the middle of five children of Margrave Friedrich Christian of Meissen (1893-1968) and of his wife Elisabeth (1903-1976), née a princess of Thurn und Taxis. Although Friedrich Christian was the second son of King Friedrich August III of Saxony, he was his father's heir as the family's eldest son, Crown Prince Georg, took holy orders and died killed by the Nazis in 1943. Georg left no descendants.

At the fall of the Saxon monarchy in 1918, the family of King Friedrich August III was allowed to stay in some of their many residences. The settlement received from the state included, among some amazing properties, two particularly beautiful castles, Schloß Warwitz and Schloß Moritzburg. Friedrich August III continued living at Schloß Sibyllenort, a privately owned property, where he died in 1932, while his third son, Ernst Heinrich, was charged with managing the Moritzburg estate.

However, Prince Ernst Friedrich and his family (he had married Princess Sophie of Luxembourg) claimed Munich as their main residence. In fact, all of Ernst Heinrich's three sons were born in Munich, while his wife also died there in 1941. After the end of the Second World War they migrated to Ireland and later to Canada. Of the three sons, only one married, but this alliance was a morganatic one.

Schloß Sibyllenort was inherited by the Saxon royal family from the last Duke of Oels, Duke Wilhelm of Brünswick-Lüneburg. The Saxons used it as a summer residence, even after the death of King Friedrich August III. During the Second World War, the German Air Force requisitioned Sibyllenort and used it as a depot. It was blown up in early 1945 and the ensuing fire consumed nearly the totality of the vast structure. The region was given to Poland after the war and the remaining ruins of Schloß Sibyllenort were demolished by the Communists in the 1970s and during the 1980s. Today only the park and a carriage house remain of what once was one of the most beautiful examples of Gothix revival architecture in that part of the German Empire.

When it came to choosing a bride, Friedrich Christian settled on a distant cousin, Princess Elisabeth of Thurn und Taxis. She was the only daughter of Fürst Albrecht of Turn und Taxis (1867-1952) and of his wife Margarethe (1870-1955), née Archduchess of Austria. She was the daughter of Archduke Joseph Karl of Austria and Princess Clotilde of Saxe-Coburg & Gothe, herself the eldest daughter of Prince August of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha and of his wife Princess Clementine d'Orléans, herself the youngest daughter of King Louis Philippe and Queen Marie Amelie of the French.

Friedrich Christian's own ancestry was no less impressive. King Friedrich August III was once married to Archduchess Louisa of Austria-Tuscany, a tortured soul who left many a scandal in her wake and got herself thrown out of the Imperial House and banned from Vienna. Friedrich August III's parents were King Gerog I of Saxony (1832-1904) and his wife Infanta Maria Anna of Portugal (1843-1884), herself the daughter of Queen Maria II of Portugal and her Saxe-Coburg & Gotha husband, King Consort Ferdinand, who was the eldest brother of Prince August. Friedrich August III's siblings included Maria Josepha, who married Archduke Otto of Austria and was the mother of Emperor Karl I of Austria.

Friedrich Christian and Elisabeth married in 1923 at Regensburg, seat of the Thurn und Taxis dynasty. As mentioned before, they were the parents of five children: Maria Emanuel (b. 1926), who in 1968 succeeded his father as Margrave of Meissen; Maria Josepha (b. 1928); Maria Anna; Albert (b. 1934); and Mathilde (b. 1936), who in 1968 married her cousin Prince Johannes Heinrich of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha (1931-2010).

Princess Maria Anna met the man who would be her husband, Roberto de Afif (1916-1978), after the end of the Second World War. Afif, whose family claimed an ancient Lebanese princely title (Princes of Gessaphe), was a wealthy Mexican citizen with excellent connections. His sister Alexandra was married to Prince Karl Anton of Hohenzollern, a first cousin of Princess Maria Anna's. Afif and Maria Anna were married in Paris in 1953 and eventually settled in Mexico City, where two of their sons were born, Friedrich Wilhelm and Karl August, in 1955 and 1958 respectively. The eldest son, Alexander, was born in Munich in 1954.

Margrave Maria Emanuel's marriage to Princess Anastasia of Anhalt produced no children. His brother Albrecht is also childless. Saxony followed Semi-Salic Law, allowing the succession to pass to a male through a princess of the royal house. Hence, Maria Emanuel looked to his youngest sister, Mathilde, when it came time to clarify succession matters. Mathilde and Johannes Heinrich were the parents of one son, Johannes, who was initially named by his uncle as the family's heir. Unfortunately, the young prince died in a tragic climbing accident a few months before his 18th birthday, his death robbing the parents of their only son and depriving the Saxon Royal Family of an unquestioned heir.

Faced with this complication, Maria Emmanuel had several candidates in mind, but he waited to see which of them would marry in accordance with them laws of his House. He looked toward his sister Maria Anna and her own sons. The eldest, Alexander, had made a splendid marriage to Princess Gisela of Bavaria, by whom he would eventually father three sons and a daughter. Thus, with the family's agreement, Maria Emmanuel adopted his nephew Alexander and declared that the Saxon succession would pass through his sister Maria Anna to his nephew Alexander and from him to his sons, all of unquestioned royal blood.

Prince Albrecht, Meissen's only brother, later changed his mind and tried to spoil matters by recanting his agreement to his older brother's succession formula. However, no other royal family in Germany, or abroad, pays much attention to either Albrecht or his rather vocal, and meddlesome, wife.

Princess Maria Anna lived in Mexico for many decades. Her husband Roberto died there in 1978, after which time she began thinking in settling in Munich, to be closer to her family. The move took place and she lived in the Bavarian capital for a very long time. Maria Anna was, as are her sisters, a rather private person and she was only rarely seen attending royal events. She delighted in the company of her sisters and looked, with much satisfaction, toward the arrival of grandchildren. Her sons gave her eight grandchildren, the eldest being Prince Georg of Saxony, born in 1988, firstborn son of Prince Alexander and Princess Gisela.

A few years ago, Maria Anna's health began to give much concern. A fatal illness set in and in spite of valiant efforts to fight against it, the Princess succumbed to her malady on 13 March 2012.

She is survived by her three sons, two-daughters-in-law and eight grandchildren, as well as by her four siblings. A Requiem Mass is scheduled in Munich on 24 March.

May She Rest in Peace...

Castle of the Counts Andrassy Burns Down – Slovakia

BRATISLAVA (Reuters) - Two Slovak children were suspected of burning down a large gothic castle in eastern Slovakia when their experimentation with smoking went wrong, police said on Sunday.

Police were investigating two boys on suspicion that they set grass at the foot of the Krasna Horka castle on fire on Saturday when they tried to light up cigarettes, said Jana Mesarova, police spokeswoman for the eastern Slovak region of Kosice. Children under the age of 15 cannot be prosecuted in Slovakia.

 "A unit sent to the site found that two local boys aged 11 and 12 were trying to light up a cigarette and because of careless use of safety matches, they set grass at the castle hill on fire," Mesarova said.

The castle subsequently caught fire and emergency services deployed 84 fire-fighters to the scene.

The Slovak National Museum wrote on its Facebook page that damage to the castle was extensive but about 90 percent of historical collections were saved, including contemporary photographs of furnished castle premises from the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, oil paintings and various ornaments.

"The castle's roof burned down completely, as well as the new exhibition in the gothic palace and the bell tower. Three bells melted," the museum said.

The castle, near the UNESCO-protected Domica Cave, dates back to the early 14th century.

(Reporting by Martin Santa and Jan Lopatka; Editing by Karolina Tagaris)

 

http://news.yahoo.com/smoking-slovak-children-burn-down-castle-163446835.html

The Republican Bourbon – Infante Enrique, Duke of Sevilla

Infante don Enrique María de Borbón, grandson of King Carlos IV and Fernando VII's nephew, would go down in history with the nickname of the "Republican Bourbon." He would lose his status as Infante of Spain and would be banished to La Coruña for his radical opposition to the reign of his first cousin Queen Isabel II. He had the audacity of calling in 1848 for  Spanish citizens to bear arms against his cousin and sister-in-law and proclaim the Republic. Enrique, who was also created Duke of Sevilla, scandalized the royal houses of Europe that same year when celebrating the fall of the French crown with these exalted words: "The Republic stands strong, high and bright over the ruins of the monarchy ... To arms, citizens!"

 Infante don Enrique of Spain

The most amazing and less known fact about the Republican Bourbon is the close relationship he maintained in the 1840's, during his exile in La Coruña, with Galician nationalist revolutionaries, whose epicenter was in the progressive circle hosted by Juana de Vega, Countess of Espoz and Mina. This intellectual salon gathered at her residence on the Royal Street in La Coruña, where the Duke of Sevilla was a regular participant. His involvement came to the point of becoming one of the key figures of the so-called Revolution of 1846, historically regarded as the birth of Galician nationalism. Infante Enrique was one of the godfathers of the Galician uprising of 1846 in which the leader Antolin Faraldo reclaimed the independence of Galicia, forty years before Manuel Murguia, father of the Galician Academy, proclaimed in the pages of the newspaper La Region Gallega, that Galicia was a nation.

Francisco Tettamancy, leader of the Galician League of La Coruña, received an emotional letter in the spring of 1904, shortly after the inauguration of the monument to the martyrs of Carral and which commemorated the execution of the progressive leaders of the revolt of , today considered the birth of Galician nationalism. "Upon returning from abroad, where I went looking for health for my body and peace for my soul," the letter reads, "I read about the dedication of the monument to the Martyrs of Carral. (...) How should I not be moved to tears at the thought of those sad memories, since the soul, the center of national expansion was my unfortunate father, who felt so much love for Spain and for that noble land of Galicia." Hard to believe it is that this song to the freedoms of an emerging Galicia is signed by none other than General Francisco de Borbón, who was making a reference to the participation in the Galician revolt of 1846 of his late father, Enrique Maria de Bourbon-grandson Carlos IV and Fernando VII's nephew. "Great, very great was the emotion I felt," writes General Francisco Maria de Bourbon to Tettamancy on the monument to the martyrs of Carral – "when I see that nobles and the most worthy Galician patriots have agreed at celebrate the memory of those brave hearts who knew how to protest against the excesses of men who cruelly abused power."

During his exile in Galicia from 1842, Infante Enrique connected in La Coruña with the active liberal and republican movement in Galicia. This connection was provided by the Countess of Espoz y Mina,  Juana de Vega, whom he met during her time as a nanny and lady of the bedchamber of Queen Isabel II. Juana's residence in the Calle Real of la Coruña was the epicenter of the conspiracy against the conservative government of Narvaez. Juana de Vega acted as "courier" with the exiles in other European countries and especially with Genral Espartero, Narvaez enemy.

Historian Manuel Seijoso has said that the newspaper La Correspondencia Gallega published an article which documents the presence of Enrique de Borbón and his vessel, the Manzanares, anchored in the island of Tambo, and the attendance of the Infnte dressed in civilian clothes, accompanied by Jose Maria Santos, president of the liberal group of Pontevedra and future leader of revolutionary junta, to a meeting of conspirators. Narvaez's spies believe the Infante was one of the ringleaders of the revolutionary movement in Galicia. wit this in mind, the Government deported the INfante Enrique to France. This measure and the abortion of the uprising in La Coruña and Ferrol were key to derailing the Galician uprising of 1846.

The government blocked the port of Vigo with a fleet to prevent the arrival of a ship from England with arms and ammunition for the rebels. It was speculated by the press that the exiled Infante Enrique was on board.

From his exile in Bayonne, Infante Enrique remained in constant communication with Espartero, in exile in England, and although some say they had traveled back to Spain, it is now known that neither left their country of exile. "Although some authors question the participation of the Infante Enrique in the Galician uprising of 1846, the letter sent by his son to Tettamancy, or reading of the accounts of the rebels, they publicly demonstrating their commitment and loyalty to the Infante. This allows us to understand that originally he was the person intended to lead the uprising, together or alternately with Espartero," said Manuel Seijoso, who has documented in detail everything about the revolution of 1846 and the role played in it by the Duke of Seville.

The Galician revolt ultimately failed and its leaders were executed in Carral – condemned in a summary judgment held both i La Coruña or Santiago for fear of the actions of rebel sympathizers. This was achieved after a decisive battle between Colonel Solis – leader of the rebels – and General Concha Cacheiras. Government troops, more numerous than those of Solis, defeated the rebels on April 23, and then sacked Compostela. Murguia recalled that during short spring of 1846 hoped only emerged during a 24 day period of hope against the government of Narvaez. This revolutionary spring was supported by the middle and petty bourgeoisie, the universities and many professional people who were attracted to the republican ideal.

Paradoxically, the Bourbons owe their continuity on the Spanish throne to the tragic climax of the frenetic life of the Infante Enrique. He died in 1870 in a duel with Prince Antoine Marie d'Orleans, Duke of Montpensier, and youngest son of the late King of the French, Louis Philippe. Montpensier was greatly responsible for financing the opposition against his sister-in-law Isabel II, for after all the Frenchman wanted the throne for himself and his wife, who would the pass it to their branch of the royal family.  Enrique's death destroyed Montpensier's hopes of ever reaching the throne. Spaniards, once and for all, realized that Antoine's pernicious hand was responsible for much of the political instability consuming the nation. The violent death of the Infante Enrique, who had nominated himself as King consort in an effort to democratize the Spanish monarchy with the support of Masonry,and who even came to be regarded as a candidate for president, closed the door to Orleans.


Infante Enrique was one of the suitors proposed to marry the young Queen Isabel II, but was dismissed for being too liberal, especially after his statement that his selection would democratize the Spanish Crown. The candidate finally chosen was Infante Francisco de Asís, Duke of Cadiz, a rather dull and easily manageable person, with clear homosexual tendencies. To the Spanish people he was known as "king custard" and in the taverns across the country it was said that on his wedding night he wore more lace than his wife the queen.

Logically, and with these conditions, the marriage soon faces deep and serious challenges.  The royal; couple became estranged, each retreating to seek support among their own palace cliques. It all led to a further weakening of the monarchical institution. The royal prestige hit bottom in Spain with this couple and the problem was compounded by a succession of lovers who are going through the apartments of the queen, one of them being the ambitious General Serrano himself.

The deterioration of the Crown gives wings to the social and political unrest that spread across the country, inspired by the revolutions that convulsed Europe and cause the fall of the restored French monarchy.

The Republican Bourbon, who in life railed against the royalist establishment, finally managed to decisively influence the succession to the Spanish crown with his death in 1870. Criticism against Enrique written by Montpensier in a newspaper resulted in a duel to the death that some Masons tried in vain to prevent. Montpensier was known to be an expert marksman. Some of Enrique's friends and supporters believed that by challenging Montpensier, the Infante was about to commit suicide. Nothing, however, could be done to prevent the Infante from meeting Montpensier in the field of honor.

Infante Enrique of Spain was killed by a bullet fired in Carabanchel by the Duke of Montpensier. His death was seized by General Prim to destroy the candidacy of the Duke of Montpensier to the vacant Spanish throne. The elected monarch, at the request of Prim, was Amadeo I of Savoy, son of the Italian king Victor Emmanuel II. Amadeo departed for Spain on December 27. That same day Prim had a parliamentary session. in the evening of the fateful day, he went out for a carriage ride. On the Calle del Turco Prim met his fate. A assailant awaited him and shot the dictator, who died of his wounds three days later, but only after learning the landing of Amadeo on Spanish soil.

Antoine d'Orleans, Dike of Montpensier

The Duke of Montpensier was later rewarded for his long years of conspiracy to install his dynasty in Spain. King Alfonso XII, after the Bourbon restoration that followed the brief First Republic, married his daughter Maria de las Mercedes de Orleans. But fate cut short the ambitious plans of a man who stopped at nothing to achieve their purpose: Maria de las Mercedes died six months after the wedding, she was only 18 years old.

Galdós recalled in 1909 in one of his episodes – Tragic Spain – that the violence of 1870 – "beginning with the death in battle of Enrique de Borbon and ending with the shameful attack by bandits on Prim guided by the Republicans but paid with gold from Cuban slave traders " – as premonition of a revolutionary outbreak in Spain.

The celebrated lawyer Pedrol Rius concluded in a 1960 report that, the author of the assassination of Prim – the man who established the constitutional monarchy – was "the Republican Paul y Angulo," and also presents reasonable claims, although difficult to prove, that point to the Duke of Montpensier, uncle and father-in-law of Alfonso XII, as well as executioner of the Republican Bourbon, as an instigator of the conspiracy.

These episodes still surface today.Not long ago Henri d'Orleans, Count of Paris, starred in a controversy with King Juan Carlos by arguing that current Spanish Bourbons are illegitimate. The Count of Paris, a descendant of the Duke of Montpensier, who shot the Republican Infante, has argued that Alfonso XII was the son of one of the many lovers of Queen Isabel II, voicing in public what has always been discussed in private.

Montpensier died in 1890, leaving behind a massive fortune that was divided among his two surviving children, Infanta Isabel, Countess of Paris, and Infante Antonio, Duke of Galliera. His descendants, to this day, continue living in Spain where they own considerable properties in Andalucía and maintain close contact with the Royal House.

+ Ana Medina y Fernández de Córdoba, Countess of Ofalía (1940-2012)

Born on May 2, 1940, daughter of Doña Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, XVIII Duchess of Medinaceli, and don Rafael Medina y Vilallonga. She bore the title of Countess of Ofalía and Marchioness of Navahermosa as eldest daughter of the House of Medinaceli.

She studied in England, St Mary's Shaftesbury, and in Lausanne, Switzerland. Of her marriage with Prince Maximilian von Hohenlohe-Langenburg she leaves three sons: Marco, Pablo and Flavia, and seven grandchildren.

Since the establishment of the Duchy of Medinaceli Foundation, she has served on the board of the same, as spokesperson of the family collective voice.

The Mass for her eternal rest and subsequent burial was held on Thursday March 8 at 1:00pm  in the crypt of the Hospital San Juan Bautista de Toledo, the pantheon of the Duchy of Medinaceli.

The Duchy of Medinaceli has its origin in the first-born offspring of Infante Fernando, known by the nickname "de la Cerda," eldest son and successor of King Alfonso X, the Wise, King of Castile and Leon. When Fernando predeceased his father, leaving two small children, his brother Infante Sancho rebelled.

The minority of the two young children of Fernando, known as the Infantes de la Cerda, opened a complex probate litigation that led to a long and intermittent civil war for which the oldest of the brother, Alfonso, according to the will of the king, his grandfather, was called king of Castile and Leon.

However, Alfonso's uncle Sancho was not having any of it. Sancho overthrew his nephew and installed his branch on the throne of Castille and Leon. Alfonso refused to accept his uncle's actions and rose against Sancho IV and his son and grandson. Even in his sixties Alfonso de la Cerda was recognized as the legitimate king. 

In exchange for a loose collection of territories known as "domains of the  recompensa," according to the chronicle of King Alfonso XI, his cousin "resigned and renounced all rights and claims to the the kingdoms of Castile and Leon" thus becoming known in Spanish history as "the disinherited".

La House of de la Cerda, known since the mid-fourteenth century by holding the vast County of Medinaceli, on the border of the kingdom of Castile with Aragon, has the representation of the legitimate eldest branch of the ancient kings of Castile and Leon. They have never questioned the royal claim and rights of their distant Bourbon cousins.

Throughout the fifteenth century the territorial base of the house grew through swaps and acquisitions, but basically doing so around Soria and Alcarrian of Medinaceli and Cogolludo. Particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, matrimonial alliances with big aristocratic houses of the various Spanish kingdoms led to a tremendous territorial expansion throughout Spain.

Due to subsequent deaths without issue, many of these the product of the persecution by King Peter, the bulk of the "estates of the recompensa" and the line representing the most disinherited of the Royal House of Castile and Leon went to his granddaughter, Isabel of la Cerda. In 1370, the Señora of Puerto de Santa Maria married Bernardo de Bearn, created Count of Medinaceli in his own right in 1368. Isabel received as gifts that county, holding it in her own right as Countess of Medinaceli. Thereafter, the House would be known by the name of the county near the town of Soria and the preponderance of the maternal line would be reflected in the fact that her offspring avoided using the name and arms of Foix, Bernardo's legacy. The Medinacelis from then onward would only use the arms of the lineage of la Cerda.

The youngest offspring of the Infantes de la Cerda, Fernando, for his marriage to Dona Juana de Lara, was perpetuated in the House of Lara and returned to the throne of Castile by marriage of a granddaughter of the former, Juana Manuel, to Enrique II . This marriage was used by the House Trastámara to legitimize their rights both to the Crown of Castile-Leon and the lordship of Biscay. 

On October 31, 1479, the Catholic Kings elevated the County of Medinaceli to the rank of duchy in the person of Count Don Luis de la Cerda, also elevating to a county the Medinaceli lands in the Port of Santa Maria, near Seville. Subsequently, in 1530, Emperor Charles V gave the Duke of Medinaceli, Juan de la Cerda, the title of Marquis of Cogolludo to distinguish the firstborn of his house.

If until the sixteenth century the House of Medinaceli had been growing continuously due to the incorporation of small territories, from the second quarter of the seventeenth century onward growth was the result of successive excellent dynastic marriages which, aided by chance inheritance, caused the confrontation, not necessarily sought, with the royal houses of Castile, Aragon and Portugal. The progressive concentration of land around the House of Medinaceli runs parallel with the progressive formation of Spain as a political unit.

We confine ourselves here to evoke the awe that such asset accumulation aroused among contemporaries, as appears, among other evidence, the description that Don Luis de Salazar did in the late seventeenth century, the ninth Duke of Medina, "is possessed of so many big states that are difficult to find in Europe as a vassal of a great power. The Medinaceli, suddenly, had become too powerful for the King of Spain's comfort.
 
King Felipe V became rather weary of the power concentrated in the hands of the a the Duke of Medinaceli, Don Luis de la Cerda y Aragon, who was arrested on royal orders. He died in prison in Pamplona in 1711, without having a clear idea of ​​the crimes he was accused and without being able to secure the succession of his House. He was the last male of the lineage of "la Cerda." The next Duke of Medinaceli was a son of Luis' sister, doña Feliche. Luis' nephew, don Nicolás Fernández de Córdoba and de la Cerda, Marquis of Priego and Duke of Feria, succeeded also as new Duke of Medinaceli.  

Since then the House of Medinaceli is preserved in the same family. They gained further territorial power with the addition of extensive estates in the provinces of Córdoba, and Badajoz. The growth of the family's power continued unabated.  In the eighteenth century two other houses would be added to the Medincaeli conglomerate, making the holder of the ducal title one of the most titled aristocrats in Europe, a dignified rival to the House of Alba.

The late Countes of Ofalía

In the XX century the bulk of the Medinaceli estates was inherited by doña Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Ceordoba, namesake of Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain. She had four children: Ana, Countess of Ofalía, Luis, Duke of Santiésteban del Puerto, Rafael, Duke of Feria, and Ignacio, Duke of Segorbe. The youngest child of the duchess is thus the oinly one surviving his mother. In 1985 he married Princess Maria da Gloria of Orléans-Bragança, former wife of Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia, as well as first cousin of King Juan Carlos of Spain.

The XVIII Duchess of Medinaceli resides in her magnificent palace, La casa de Pilatos, in Seville, Spain. She is approaching her ninety-fifth birthday and is in very weak health.

The Coat of Arms of the Dukes of Medinaceli

Interview of HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia

This is an interview with HRH Princess Elizabeth of Yugoslavia.

Very interesting indeed...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pMtu_Ms2TnI

Prince Nicholas Romanov on Bulgaria

In an interview granted to the Bulgarian news agency, Prince Nicholas Romanovich Romanov extolled his family's longstanding contacts with the Balkan nation.

One cannot forget that Prince Nicholas's grandmother was Grand Duchess Militza Petrovna, one of the daughters of King Nicholas of Montenegro, as well as a sister of Queen Helena of Italy, the grandmother of King Simeon of Bulgaria. Nicholas' father, Roman Petrovich, was a first cousin of Simeon's mother, Queen Giovanna.

Enjoy:

Geneva. “I hope I will be able to visit Bulgaria and get acquainted with this country, which we have always felt very close, mostly because of the language,” Nicholas Romanovich Romanov, Prince of Russia, said in a special interview with FOCUS News Agency.
“The Bulgarian language is intelligible for all Russians, I find the rest of the Christian languages much harder. I cannot speak Bulgarian but I can read absolutely everything,” he added.
“The friendship between some countries and others – the traditional friendship between Bulgaria and Russia, the traditional friendship between Russia and Greece – all this used to have great importance in the past,” he remarked.
“To me, Bulgaria is something very close and at the same time – something very distanced. The Bulgarian relations with Russia have not always been easy. There were some difficult political situations,” Romanov said.

Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia to Sell His Most Prized Diamond!

Burg Hohenzollern. Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia is to separate from the biggest jewel in the Prussian crown. The "Beau Sancy" diamond which once adorned Marie de Medici and Mary Stuart will be auctioned at Sotheby's.

The Beau Sancy is one of the most precious diamonds in the world. In the declaration of the auction house Sotheby's, on the occasion of the sale of this beautiful piece, on May 15 in Geneva, it is said: "Passed down from generation to generation by four royal families, the famous stone is witness more than four hundred years of European history ". 
This gem of 34.98 carats adorned Marie de Medici on the occasion of her coronation as wife of King Henry IV in 1610. Since 1702, this diamond has been the property of the House of Prussia. King Frederick I was responsible for adding the jewel to the new royal crown.

And now, 310 years later, the head of the House of Prussia is to auction the largest piece of his collection. Why? Michaela Blankart, director general of the Prussian administration, said that Georg Friedrich has not only received the heritage of his grandfather Louis-Ferdinand, but also "inherited many obligations" including pension payments, financial aid and appanages for the parent. "These charges must be financed," Ms Blankart said. 
The great-great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II hopes that the sale will bring between a half million to three million Euros, Sotheby's etimated value for the "pear-shaped diamond" with its double cut roses and its dimensions are: 22.78 mm height, 19.58 mm wide and 10.98 mm deep. 
The report of the sale is not an emotional one. No one in the family has worn the jewel in decades. "As far as we know, the diamond was last used during the time of the Kaiser," said Ms Blankart. It used to be worn by Prussian princesses on their wedding day and at some royal occasions. Queen Elizabeth Christine, wife of Frederick the Great, wore the gem in a bouquet of diamonds. Queen Louise, wife of Frederick William III, particularly liked the Beau Sancy. The Empress Augusta also wore it in her wedding diamond necklace.
 

In November 1918, when Kaiser Wilhelm II fled into exile in Holland, this valuable stone remained, with the other Crown Jewels, at the Imperial Palace in Berlin. During the Second World War, the collection was stored in a walled crypt at Bückeburg where it was later discovered by British troops that handed it over to a descendant of the House of Prussia. Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia inherited the jewel from his grandfather Louis Ferdinand (1907-1994). 
The Beau Sancy most probably comes from the mines of south central India, near the town of Golconda. The stone was named after the french financier Nicolas de Harley, Lord of Sancy (1546-1629) who acquired it in Constantinople. The french king Henri IV bought it in 1604 and offered it to his wife Marie de Medici. After the murder of Henry, the House of Orange Nassau in 1641 bought the stone. 
The same year, the diamond was used to strengthen the alliance of the Netherlands with major European powers by arranging the marriage between the future William II of Orange Nassau and Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I of England and granddaughter of la Medicis. During the XVII century, the Beau Sancy passed back and forth between the royal houses of England and of Orange Nassau, until the first king of Prussia, Frederick I bought it in 1702. 
The greatest jewel of the Prussian Crown has been exhibited only four times over the last fifty years. The first time in 1972, in Helsinki, along its "big-brother", the Great Sancy. The second time, in 1985, Hamburg, on the occasion of the exhibition of treasures of the House of Hohenzollern. The third time, in 2001, in Paris, again next to the Great Sancy, at the National Museum of Natural History and, finally, in 2004, Munich, on the occasion of the exhibition of treasures from Germany. The diamond was never exhibited in the hall of treasures at Burg Hohenzollern. 
Now the diamond takes a trip to increase its fame and renown. Before the auction of May 15, in Geneva, the Beau Sancy will be visible in an international exhibition tour.

Interesting Line of Shared Descent Between Descendants of Queen Victoria and her half-siblings

There are quiet a few European royals who are descended from Queen Victoria and her two siblings, Carl of Leiningen and Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Some are descended from Carl and Victoria, while some are also descended from Feodora and Victoria.

This is how the three dynasties (Leiningen, Hohenlohe-Langenburg- Windsor) have remained genealogically close.

I believe that only the Leiningen are the ones who descend from Queen Victoria, Fürstin Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Fürst Carl of Leiningen.



Shared Descent from the three children of the Duchess of Kent:

Carl (1804-1856), Queen Victoria's half-brother – Ernst (1830-1904) – Emich (1866-1939) who married Feodora's granddaughter Feodora – Karl (1898-1946) who married Queen Victoria's great-granddaughter – Emich (1926-1991) – Andreas (b. 1955) who married Alexandra Hannover, a great-great-great granddaughter of Queen Victoria.



Shared Descent from both Feodora and Victoria:

Feodora (1807-1872), Queen Victoria's half-sister – Hermann (1832-1913) – Ernst II (1863-1950) who married Queen Victoria's granddaughter Alexandra Edinburgh – Gottfried (1897-1960) who married Queen Victoria's great-great-granddaughter Margarita Greece – Kraft (1935-2004) – Philipp (b. 1970)

Victoria (1819-1901) – Alfred (1844-1900) – Alexandra (1878-1942) – Gottfried (1897-1960) – Kraft (1935-2004) – Philipp (b. 1970)

Victoria (1819-1901) – Alice (1843-1878) – Victoria (1863-1950) – Alice (1885-1969) – Margarita (1905-1981) – Kraft (1935-2004) – Philipp (b. 1970)

Victoria (1819-1901) – Victoria (1840-1901) – Wilhelm II (1859-1941) – Viktoria Luise (1892-1980) – Ernst August (1914-1987) – Alexandra (b. 1959) – Ferdinand (b. 1982), Olga (b. 1984), Herman (b. 1987)

These connections will be the core of a book that I started working on, VICTORIAN LEGACY – The Longstanding Links Between The House of Windsor and the Princes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg From Queen Victoria to Queen Elizabeth II.

 Fürstin Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1807-1872)

Fürst Carl of Leiningen (1804-1856)

Queen Victoria (1819-1901)

Lady Frderick Windsor's Tatler Cover

From the Daily Mail...

He was the playboy aristocrat with a string of celebrity girlfriends who was nthe talk of the town – but he has been tamed by marriage to Titanic star Sophie Winkleman.


Instead of wild nights on the town, Lord Frederick Windsor, son of Prince and Princess Michael of Kent, prefers ‘cosy’ nights at home in Los Angeles with his 31-year-old wife.

Miss Winkleman, half-sister of TV presenter Claudia Winkleman and star of ITV1’s new drama Titanic, lifted the lid on their lifestyle, admitting: ‘I am a big fan of cosy. I get very excited by a roaring fire and even a perfectly made cup of tea. And being married really is the ultimate in cosy so I couldn’t be more content.’

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2109932/Titanic-star-Sophie-Winkleman-tells-cosy-nights-Lord-Freddie-Windsor.html#ixzz1oAQ6yDdL