There’s a day in early autumn which has rather regal tinges right now. It’s when three of Europe’s best known royals celebrate their birthday while the continent’s longest reigning king marks the beginning of his rule on the same date. But while the Duke of Sussex, Queen Letizia of Spain and Prince Daniel of Sweden will blow out candles on September 15th and King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden commemorates the start of his reign, there is already plenty of royal history associate with this particular date.
In fact, it’s a rather popular day for royal beginnings of all sorts. Back in 1505, a baby girl called Mary was born to King Philip I of Spain and his wife, Joanna of Castile. Mary went on to marry King Louis II of Hungary and Bohemia. Following her husband’s death, she ruled Hungary as regent for her brother, Ferdinand, and later became Governor of the Netherlands. She died in Castile in 1558 at the age of 53.
Mary shared her birthday with a niece. Ferdinand’s daughter, Catherine, was born on September 15th 1533, one of fifteen children in the family he formed with Anne of Bohemia and Hungary. Catherine married King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland who had previously wed one of her sisters. Their unhappy union ended childless and Catherine, Queen of Poland, died in 1572 at the age of 38.
It doesn’t get any jollier with our next royal born on September 15th. In 1666, George William, Duke of Brunswick-Luneberg and his morganatic wife, Eleonore Demsier d’Olbreuse welcomed a daughter, Sophia Dorothea, who was born in Celle. Her father was keen for her to marry George, son of Sophia, Electress of the Palitinate and an increasingly likely candidate to succeed to the throne of Great Britian. Sophia Dorothea hated the proposal but ended up wedding George. The union was disastrous and her husband had dissolved it and confined her to Ahlden by the time he inherited the British throne in 1714. Sophia Dorothea’s son became King George II in 1727, the year after her death at the age of 60.
The sad story of Prince Sigismund of Prussia comes next. Francis Frederick Sigismund was born on September 15th 1864, the fourth child of Victoria, Princess Royal and her husband, Frederick William of Prussia. Sigi, as he was known to his family, contracted meningitis and died on June 18th 1866, just months before his second birthday.
Then we come to the last King of Italy. Umberto II was born on September 15th 1904 in Piedmont to King Victor Emmanuel III and Queen Elena of Italy and was heir to the throne from birth. He married Princess Marie-Jose of Belgium in 1930 and they had three children together. His father handed power to him in 1944 but didn’t abdicate his throne until 1946 when the Italian monarchy faced a referendum on its future. Despite the hopes that the new, young king would win more support, the vote went against the royals and Umberto went into exile on June 13th 1946, having reigned for just 34 days.He died in France in 1883 at the age of 78.
September 15th has proved to be a rather regal date in history.
