The Easter of 1956 was a nightmare for
the Spanish Royal Family. Maundy Thursday in 1956 was the day when
18-year-old Juan Carlos, later King Juan Carlos of Spain, shot and
killed his younger brother Alfonso de Borbon. Alfonso was the
youngest child of Don Juan Carlos de Borbon and Princess Maria de
las Mercedes and was called Alfonsito by family and friends. He was
only 14 years old. At the…
King Willem-Alexander will mark a decade
on the Dutch throne next year, the first king the Netherlands has
seen since 1890. Though the Dutch monarchy has largely been
female-dominant in the past century, the rules about who could
reign weren’t officially changed until the…
King Charles III is only a month into his
reign but the laws that governed his accession to the throne, and
the succession for the House of Windsor, date back centuries.
Today’s succession laws can be traced back to two documents: the
Bill of Rights of 1689 and the Act…
With the royal mourning period following
the death of Queen Elizabeth II over, the United Kingdom is
transitioning into the reign of King Charles III. Amid that
transition is the distribution of currency featuring His Majesty
The King. The Royal Mint has released a memorial coin collection to
honour Her Late Majesty. These coins are the first to feature The
King’s official coinage…
As the United Kingdom prepares to start
issuing coins with His Majesty King Charles III, one might notice a
key feature you think would be a staple: the monarch wearing a
crown. This isn’t the first time a monarch hasn’t worn a crown on a
coin. Previous…
In November 2022, King Charles III will
host the first State Visit of his reign. His Majesty, along with
Queen Camilla, will welcome the President of South Africa, Cyril
Ramaphosa, to Buckingham Palace as he starts a three day visit. It
is a moment of history for the new…
King Philippe is nearing the end of his
first decade as King of the Belgians, and the line of succession to
the throne includes Belgium’s first queen regnant. The laws of
succession are very straightforward in Belgium. The country
introduced absolute primogeniture—the first-born child, regardless
of sex, inherits the throne—in 1991, towards the end of King
Baudouin’s reign. The…
King Harald of Norway has comfortably
reigned for 31 years and his succession is shored up by his son
Crown Prince Haakon and granddaughter Princess Ingrid Alexandra.
The succession to the Norwegian throne is set out in the country’s
constitution, in Article 6, which…
Princess Delphine had a royal first at
her niece’s wedding on 10 September. The royal wedding of Princess
Maria Laura to William Isvy was the first royal wedding that
Princess Delphine – a half-sister to Maria Laura’s mother, Princess
Astrid – was…
Queen Margrethe of Denmark has been
celebrating her Golden Jubilee throughout the year, but it’s only
thanks to the updated laws of succession that she was able to
inherit from her father. In 1953, King Frederick IX was comfortably
on the Danish throne but the succession was anything but sorted.
The king’s children were three young girls: Princess Margarethe,
born in 1940, Princess…
