© Unofficial Royalty 2024
January 31, 1756 – Birth of Maria Teresa of Savoy, Countess of Artois, wife of the future King Charles X of France, at the Royal Palace in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy
Maria Teresa was the daughter of King Vittorio Amadeo III of Sardinia and Infanta Maria Antonia Ferdinanda of Spain. In 1773, she married Charles Philippe, Count of Artois, a brother of King Louis XVI of France, and the couple had four children. In July 1789, just days after the storming of the Bastille and the start of the French Revolution, Marie Teresa and her family fled France, settling for some time in her native Savoy. They eventually moved to Graz, Austria, where Marie Thérèse died at the age of 33.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Teresa of Savoy, Countess of Artois
January 31, 1788 – Death of Charles Edward Stuart, known as Bonnie Prince Charlie and the Young Pretender at Palazzo Muti, Rome; buried at St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican City
Charles Edward Stuart was the elder of the two sons of James Francis Edward Stuart, The Old Pretender, who was the son of the exiled King James II of England/VII of Scotland. As the first-born son of the titular King James III of England/VIII of Scotland, Charles was styled as Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall from birth. Charles Edward Stuart was the instigator of the Jacobite rising of 1745 which culminated in the Battle of Culloden. The superior British forces needed just 25 minutes to defeat the Jacobite forces in the Battle of Culloden. Between 1,500 and 2,000 Jacobites were killed or wounded while the British losses were much lighter, with 50 dead and 259 wounded. After the Battle of Culloden, there were no further Jacobite uprisings. In 1766, when Charles’s father James Francis Edward died, Charles was still unmarried and his only sibling was a Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church, so Charles decided to find himself a bride so the Stuart line could be continued. In 1772, 52-year-old Charles married 20-year-old Princess Louise of Stolberg-Gedern. The marriage was unsuccessful and produced no children. 67-year-old Charles Edward died of a stroke on January 31, 1788, at the Palazzo Muti in Rome. With the deaths of Charles Edward Stuart, and his younger brother Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart in 1807, the male line of the British Royal House of Stuart became extinct. The Jacobite line of succession to the British throne passed to King Carlo Emanuele IV of Sardinia through the line of Henrietta of England, Duchess of Orléans, the youngest child of King Charles I of England. The Jacobite line of succession has proceeded over the years to the House of Savoy, the House of Austria-Este, and the House of Wittelsbach. It appears in the future, that it will proceed to the House of Liechtenstein.
Unofficial Royalty: Charles Edward Stuart, The Young Pretender, Bonnie Prince Charlie
Unofficial Royalty: The Jacobite Succession – Pretenders to the British Throne
January 31, 1899 – Death of Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria, first wife of Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, a day after the birth of her fourth child in Sofia, Bulgaria; buried at the Cathedral of St. Louis of France in Plovdiv, Bulgaria
Maria Luisa was the eldest child of Robert I, Duke of Parma and his first wife Princess Maria Pia of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. In 1893, she married the reigning Prince Ferdinand of Bulgaria. They had four children including Boris III, Tsar of Bulgaria. Maria Luisa’s marriage, which had been strictly for political and dynastic reasons, was not a happy one. Having given birth to three children, and expecting a fourth within five years had taken a toll on her already frail health. 29-year-old Maria Luisa developed pneumonia while pregnant with her youngest child, and died on January 31, 1899, just a day after giving birth.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Luisa of Bourbon-Parma, Princess of Bulgaria
January 31, 1926 – Birth of Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen, Head of the House of Saxony and pretender to the former throne of Saxony from 1968 until his death in 2012, at Prüfening Abbey in Regensburg, Germany
Having no children, Maria Emanuel’s death in 2012 brought about a dispute over the headship of the family between several of his relatives.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Emanuel, Margrave of Meissen
January 31, 1938 – Birth of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands at Soestdijk Palace in Baarn, the Netherlands
Full name: Beatrix Wilhelmina Armgard
Beatrix is the eldest of the four daughters of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. In 1966, Beatrix married Claus von Amsberg, a member of the German diplomatic corps, and the couple had three sons. As her mother Queen Wilhelmina had done, Queen Juliana also abdicated in favor of her daughter and Beatrix became Queen of the Netherlands on April 30, 1980. On April 30, 2013, Queen Beatrix abdicated in favor of her eldest son Willem-Alexander. After her abdication, she was known as Princess Beatrix.
Unofficial Royalty: Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands
This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.