Prince Ricardo De La Cerda
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King William III of England; Credit – Wikipedia
March 8, 1137 – Death of Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois, daughter of King William I of England (the Conqueror), at the Cluniac Priory of Marcigny-sur-Loire, now in the Burgundy region of France; buried at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Caen, Duchy of Normandy, now in France
Adela was one of the six daughters of King William I of England and Matilda of Flanders. She married Stephen, Count of Blois and it was their son Stephen who took the throne of his uncle King Henry I from Henry’s only surviving child Empress Matilda causing a long civil war known as The Anarchy. England did not see peace for 18 years until Matilda’s son acceded to the throne as King Henry II of England in 1153. Adela became a nun in the Cluniac Priory of Marcigny-sur-Loire and died there on March 8, 1137, aged 69–70.
Unofficial Royalty: Adela of Normandy, Countess of Blois
March 8, 1616 – Death of Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria, 1st wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria; buried in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II in Graz Cathedral
Maria Anna of Bavaria was the first wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. She died before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor, so she held only the title Archduchess of Inner Austria. Maria Anna and Ferdinand had seven children but only four survived childhood. Maria Anna was ill for a long time before she died on March 8, 1616, at the age of forty-one, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria.
Unofficial Royalty: Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria
March 8, 1702 – Death of King William III of England at Kensington Palace in London, England; buried at Westminster Abbey in London, England
William was the only child of Willem II, Prince of Orange and Stadtholder of the United Provinces of the Netherlands, and Mary, Princess Royal, who was the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England. William’s father died at age 24 of smallpox eight days before William’s birth, so from birth, William was the sovereign Prince of Orange. In 1677, William married his first cousin Mary, the elder surviving daughter of James, Duke of York, later King James II of England/James VII of Scotland. William followed Mary and her sister Anne in the line of succession to the English throne. In 1688, Mary’s father King James II was deposed in the Glorious Revolution and Mary and her husband William became the joint sovereigns as King William III and Queen Mary II. The couple had no children. On February 20, 1702, William went riding on his horse Sorrel at Hampton Court Palace. The horse stumbled on a molehill and fell. William tried to pull the horse up by the reins, but the horse’s movements caused William to fall on his right shoulder. His collarbone was broken and was set by a surgeon, but instead of resting, William insisted on returning to Kensington Palace that evening by coach. A week later, it was discovered that the fracture was not mending well and William’s right hand and arm were puffy and did not look right. His condition continued to worsen and by March 3, William had a fever and had difficulty breathing. King William III died on March 8, 1702.
Unofficial Royalty: King William III of England
March 8, 1724 – Birth of Ernst Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld in Saalfeld, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in Thuringia, Germany
Ernst Friedrich was the great-grandfather of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. In 1764, Ernst Friedrich succeeded his father as Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and transferred the official residence of the duchy from Saalfeld to Coburg. Because the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was heavily in debt, Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II appointed a debit commission headed by Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen and then Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, to prevent the bankruptcy of the duchy. The work of the debt commission lasted over thirty years and during that time, Ernst Friedrich was given a strict annual allowance.
Unofficial Royalty: Ernst Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld
March 8, 1748 – Birth of Willem V, Prince of Orange in The Hague, Dutch Republic, now in the Netherlands
Willem V was the son of Willem IV, Prince of Orange and Anne, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain. In 1767, Willem married Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia. They had five children, but only three survived infancy including Willem I, the first King of the Netherlands. In 1795, the revolutionary Patriots in the Dutch Republic, supported by the French Army, replaced the Dutch Republic with the Batavian Republic which remained in power until 1806. Willem V and his family fled to England where they lived in exile until 1802 in the part of Kew Palace known as the Dutch House with the permission of Willem’s first cousin King George III. In 1802, the family went to the European mainland where they lived in the Principality of Orange-Nassau and the Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Willem spent the rest of his life in exile. Willem was vilified during his lifetime and he is still considered to be a failure as a ruler. Queen Wilhelmina refused to attend the reburial of Willem V at the Nieuwe Kerk. When asked why, she said that she did not want to walk behind the coffin of a fool.
Unofficial Royalty: Willem V, Prince of Orange
March 8, 1844 – Death of King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden and Norway at the Royal Palace in Stockholm, Sweden; buried at Riddarholmen Church in Stockholm, Sweden
King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden was born Jean Baptiste Bernadotte in Pau, France. He joined the military, where he quickly stood out for his courage and leadership. During the French Revolution, he rose quickly through the ranks, attaining the rank of Brigadier General in 1794. In 1798, he married Bernardine Eugénie Désirée Clary, whose sister Julie Clary was married to Napoleon’s brother, Joseph Bonaparte. Désirée had previously been engaged to Napoleon. Jean and Désirée had one son, the future King Oscar I of Sweden, born Joseph François Oscar Bernadotte. In 1804, Napoleon was proclaimed Emperor of France and appointed Bernadotte as a Marshal of France. In 1810, just as Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte was about to start a new position as governor of Rome, the Swedish Riksdag elected him heir to the childless King Carl XIII of Sweden. The Riksdag wanted a soldier as the king because of their worries over Russia. In addition, Bernadotte was popular in Sweden because of his considerate treatment of Swedish prisoners during the recent war with Denmark. Jean-Baptiste Bernadotte became king in 1818 upon the death of King Carl XIII. He reigned as King Carl XIV Johan and started the House of Bernadotte which still reigns in Sweden. On his 81st birthday in January 1844, King Carl XIV Johan suffered a stroke, from which he never recovered, and he died on March 8, 1844.
Unofficial Royalty: King Carl XIV Johan of Sweden
March 8, 1878 – Death of Archduke Franz Karl of Austria in Vienna, Austria; buried at the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria
Archduke Franz Karl was the son of Emperor Franz I of Austria, the father of Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria and Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico, the grandfather of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria whose assassination led to World War I, and the great-grandfather of Karl I, the last Emperor of Austria. In 1824, Franz Karl married Princess Sophie of Bavaria, daughter of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria.
Unofficial Royalty: Archduke Franz Karl of Austria
March 8, 1955 – Death of Princess Clémentine of Belgium, Princess Napoléon at her home in Nice, France, the Villa Clairvallou; buried at the Imperial Chapel of Ajaccio in Ajaccio, Corsica, France
Clémentine was the third of the three daughters and the youngest of the four children of Leopold II, King of the Belgians and Archduchess Marie-Henriette of Austria. In 1869, when Leopold and Marie-Henriette’s only son Leopold died, King Leopold II blamed Queen Marie-Henriette for their son’s death. Little Leopold had fallen into a pond, caught pneumonia, and died. Hoping for a crown prince because only males could inherit the throne, Queen Marie-Henriette became pregnant again, but the long-awaited crown prince did not materialize as the child was a girl, Clémentine. Clémentine’s parents completely separated after her birth. In 1910, she married Prince Victor Bonaparte, the Bonapartist pretender to the French throne, and the couple had two children. On March 8, 1955, Clémentine died at the age of 82, at her home in Nice, France, the Villa Clairvallou.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Clémentine of Belgium, Princess Napoléon
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