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November 27, 1635 – Birth of Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon, mistress and morganatic second wife of King Louis XIV of France, at the Château of Lussac-les-Châteaux in Vienne, France
Françoise was first a mistress of King Louis XIV and became his morganatic second wife after the death of his first wife. She founded the Maison Royale de Saint-Louis, endowed by Louis XIV in Saint-Cyr, France. The Maison Royale was designed to be a school for girls from poorer noble families, much as Françoise had been in her childhood. Following Louis XIV’s death, Françoise retired to Saint-Cyr where she died and was buried in the school’s chapel.
Unofficial Royalty: Françoise d’Aubigné, Marquise de Maintenon
November 27, 1640 – Birth of Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, mistress of King Charles II of England, born Barbara Villiers in the parish of St. Margaret’s, Westminster, London, England
In 1659, Barbara married Roger Palmer, later 1st Earl of Castlemaine. At the end of 1659, Roger and his new wife left with other supporters of the exiled King Charles II of England, joining him in the Netherlands. In 1660, Barbara became Charles’ mistress and continued as his mistress when Charles II returned to England later that year. Barbara gave birth to six children, some of them, possibly all, were the children of Charles II. Among Barbara’s descendants are Diana, Princess of Wales; Sarah, Duchess of York; the Mitford sisters; philosopher Bertrand Russell; and British Prime Minister Sir Anthony Eden. In 1673, King Charles II cast Barbara aside and took Louise de Kérouaille as his newest favorite mistress. Barbara eventually reconciled with King Charles II and he enjoyed an evening in her company a week before he died in February 1685.
Unofficial Royalty: Barbara Palmer, 1st Duchess of Cleveland, mistress of King Charles II of England
November 27, 1676 – Birth of Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont in Waldeck, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in Hesse, Germany
Friedrich Anton Ulrich was the Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont from 1706 – 1712 and then the first Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont from 1712 – 1728. In 1700, Friedrich Anton Ulrich married Luise of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld and the couple had eleven children. Friedrich Anton Ulrich’s most notable accomplishment was his building program which resulted in considerable indebtedness for the small principality. With the building of the Residenzschloss Arolsen, the town of Arolsen became the main town of the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
Unofficial Royalty: Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
November 27, 1698 – Birth of Countess Marianne von Thun-Hohenstein, the second of the four wives of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein
On February 3, 1716, seventeen-year-old Marianne married the widowed Prince Josef Johann Adam. The marriage did not even last a month. Three weeks after the marriage, on February 23, 1716, Marianne died in Vienna and was buried in the Old Crypt at the Church of the Nativity of the Virgin Mary in Vranov, Moravia, now in the Czech Republic.
Unofficial Royalty: The Four Wives of Josef Johann Adam, Prince of Liechtenstein
November 27, 1757 – Birth of Mary Robinson, mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom, born Mary Darby in Bristol, England
Mary Robinson was a noted English poet and actress who became the first mistress of the future King George IV, while he was still Prince of Wales. Their relationship lasted just two years. Her first book of poetry, Poems By Mrs. Robinson, was published in 1775. She soon caught the attention of Georgina Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire who became somewhat of a patron to Mary, sponsoring the publication of Mary’s second book of poetry, Captivity. While performing as Perdita in an adaptation of Shakespeare’s A Winter Tale in 1779 at the Drury Lane Theater in London, Mary caught the attention of The Prince of Wales who attended a performance and was instantly smitten.
Unofficial Royalty: Mary Robinson, Mistress of King George IV of the United Kingdom
November 27, 1763 – Death of Princess Isabella of Parma, Infanta of Spain, first wife of the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna; buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria
In 1760, Isabella and Joseph, both 18 year olds, were married. They had two daughters but neither survived childhood. When Isabella was six months pregnant with her second child, she developed a fever and it soon became clear that she had smallpox. Her high fever induced labor three months early, and on November 22, 1763, she gave birth to a premature second daughter. The baby was baptized Maria Christina, as Isabella requested, but died the same day. On November 27, 1763, one month and three days before her 22nd birthday, Isabella died from smallpox.
Unofficial Royalty: Isabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria (article coming soon)
November 27, 1833 – Birth of Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Duchess of Teck, at Cambridge House in the Kingdom of Hanover in Hanover, Kingdom of Hanover, now in Lower Saxony, Germany, where her father served as Viceroy of Hanover
Full name: Mary Adelaide Wilhelmina Elizabeth
The daughter of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, Mary Adelaide was a male-line grandchild of King George III of the United Kingdom, a first cousin of Queen Victoria, and the mother of Mary of Teck, wife of King George V. Through her daughter Queen Mary, Mary Adelaide is the great-grandmother of Queen Elizabeth II and an ancestor of the members of the House of Windsor. Mary Adelaide married Prince Francis of Teck and the couple had three sons and one daughter. devoted her life to charity, serving as the first royal patron of Barnardo’s, a charity still in existence, founded by Thomas Barnardo in 1866 to care for vulnerable children and young people. Barnardo’s has a long history of royal patrons and presidents including Queen Alexandra, Queen Mary (Mary Adelaide’s daughter), Queen Elizabeth II, Diana, Princess of Wales, and Queen Consort Camilla.
Unofficial Royalty: Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, Duchess of Teck
November 27, 1896 – Death of Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe, wife of Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, in Niederkrossen, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia; buried at the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia
In 1852, 18-year-old Elisabeth married 30-year-old Leopold III, Prince of Lippe but their marriage was childless. Elisabeth used all the means at her disposal for charitable causes. She published a booklet with Bible verses for every day of the year and designed wall decorations with Bible verses. The booklet and wall decorations were mass-produced and the proceeds went to Elisabeth’s charitable causes. Devoted to children, Elisabeth founded a school, the Elisabeth-Anstalt. On December 8, 1875, Elisabeth’s husband Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, aged 54, died after suffering a stroke. After Leopold’s death, Elisabeth moved into her widow’s residence at the New Palais in Detmold and continued her charitable work. Elisabeth became ill with pneumonia, and died on November 27, 1896, at the age of sixty-three. As per her wishes, Elisabeth was not buried at the traditional burial site of the princely family of Lippe but rather in the princely crypt at the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, where members of her birth family were buried.
Unofficial Royalty: Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe
November 27, 1908 – Death of Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia, son of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, in Paris, France; the first to be interred in the newly built Grand Ducal Mausoleum adjacent to the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia
Alexei is most well-known for his coast-to-coast official visit to the United States in 1871 where one of the highlights was buffalo hunting with Buffalo Bill Cody, General George Armstrong Custer, and General Philip Sheridan. Being the fourth of six sons, Alexei had a career in the Russian Imperial Navy. He was ultimately promoted to Admiral-General and Chief of the Fleet and Naval Department and Chairman of the Admiralty Board. At the end of the Russo-Japanese War in 1905, when the Russian naval fleet was defeated, Alexei was dismissed from all naval posts. He then spent most of the time in Paris, France in a house he had bought in 1897. There he welcomed writers, painters, actors, and actresses. He loved living in Paris and was a familiar figure in restaurants and theaters. He died of pneumonia on November 27, 1908, in Paris at the age of 58.
Unofficial Royalty: Grand Duke Alexei Alexandrovich of Russia
November 27, 1955 – Birth of Andreas, titular 8th Prince of Leiningen, pretender to the Headship of the House of Leiningen, and the heir to his brother Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and the throne of Russia since 2013, in Frankfurt am Main, then in West Germany, now in the German state of Hesse
The Monarchist Party of Russia recognizes Andreas’ Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen as the heir to the Russian throne and the Head of the Russian Imperial House. The claim will pass to Andreas and his descendants born of equal marriages upon the death of Karl Emich, and on the condition that they should convert to Russian Orthodoxy. There is no indication that Andreas or any of his children, who are Lutheran, have any interest in this claim. In 1981, Andreas married Princess Alexandra of Hanover, the sister of Prince Ernst August (V) of Hanover, and the couple had three children.
Unofficial Royalty: Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen
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