Marie Louise of Hesse-Kassel is the ninth
Princess of Orange. She was born on 7 February 1688 as the daughter
of Charles I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and Maria Amalia of
Courland. Marie Louise was their 11th child. She was raised as a
protestant and she was noticed as a possible bride for Johan Willem
Friso. He visited Kassel in 1707 to meet with the then 21-year-old
Marie Louise. The advice he…
Next on our tour of Royal Christmas
festivities is Sweden. Like any good celebration, the Swedish Royal
Family keeps food in focus. With Queen Silvia’s birthday falling on
December 23 her needs and wants are always taken to heart. One of
her favourites is…
Continuing our series looking at how
royal families from across Europe celebrate Christmas, today we
will be looking at Norway and their festive traditions. In Norway,
Christmas time means family time, and that is no different for the
Norwegian royal family. King Harald…
In the Netherlands, Christmas is very
much the same, but earlier in the month, they also celebrate on
December 5 with Sinterklaas (the Dutch name for Saint Nicholas)
bringing presents. There is a large public event when Sinterklaas
arrives, which the Dutch Royal Family has taken part in . Arriving
from Spain (no chilly North Pole weather for Sinterklaas!) on a
steamboat with his white horse, the…
The 8th Princess of Orange was also a
British Princess and a namesake of the previous Princess. This Mary
Stuart was born on 30 April 1662 as the daughter of James II of
England and Anne Hyde. She grew up in the relative peace of
Richmond Palace with her sister Anne. She…
You may have heard of this Princess of
Orange before, as the 7th Princess of Orange was also an
English Princess. Mary was the daughter of Charles I and
Henrietta Maria of France and also the first bearer of the title,
‘Princess Royal’, which was created by…
Mary Queen of Scots was born on 8
December 1542, at Linlithgow Palace, incidentally the birthplace of
her father, James V of Scotland, in West Lothian, some fifteen
miles distance from Edinburgh. The palace’s name translates
literally as the “loch in the damp hollow” and still overlooks a
inland loch. Today it ismaintained by Historic Scotland and was the
residence of…
King Stephen of England was born in Blois
in France in either 1092 or 1096. It’s quite unusual that we do not
have a birth date for a future King of England, but by the time of
his birth, it was not expected that he would ever be king. His
parents were Stephen-Henry…
Prince Harry releases personal photos from his African conservation work this past summer
2nd December 2015
Prince Harry has released personal photos
and videos from his African conservation work this past summer. The
31-year-old Prince has spent three months in the summer working as
a wildlife conservation volunteer to highlight the threat to
elephants and rhinos from poachers.
Amalia of Solms-Braunfels probably never
expected she would make such a grand marriage, but she did when she
went from lady in waiting to Princess consort of Orange. It seems
like a fairytale. She was born the daughter of John Albert I, Count
of Solms-Braunfels and Countess Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein
on 31 August 1602. She grew up at the Palatine Court
at Heidelberg and when Frederick V and…
