The three eldest children of Princess Beatrice and Prince Henry of Battenberg, with a pug, at Balmoral in September 1891. From left to right: Princess Victoria Eugenie (1887-1969); Prince Alexander (1886-1960) and Prince Leopold (1889-1922). Princess Victoria, known as Ena, subsequently married King Alfonso XIII of Spain.
Italian bronze bust of Philip II (1527-98) King of Spain, wearing etched armour with the collar and badge of the Order of the Golden Fleece. An oval relief at the centre of the breastplate with a crucifix. Inscribed on the integrally-cast socle: PHI . REX . ANGL . ETC
In the inscription, Philip is designated King of England, reflecting his marriage to Mary Tudor at Winchester in July 1554. The bust must have been made before January 1556, when he succeeded his father Charles V as King of Spain. It was commissioned by the Duke of Alba, probably following his appointment as Governor of Milan in April 1555.
THE NINE KINGS AT WINDSOR. “So gorgeous was the spectacle on the May morning of 1910 when nine kings rode in the funeral of Edward VII of England that the crowd, waiting in hushed and black-clad awe, could not keep back gasps of admiration. In scarlet and blue and green and purple, three by three the sovereigns rode through the palace gates, with plumed helmets, gold braid, crimson sashes, and jeweled orders flashing in the sun. After them came five heirs apparent, forty more imperial or royal highnesses, seven queens—four dowager and three regent—and a scattering of special ambassadors from uncrowned countries. Together they represented seventy nations in the greatest assemblage of royalty and rank ever gathered in one place and, of its kind, the last. The muffled tongue of Big Ben tolled nine by the clock as the cortege left the palace, but on history’s clock it was sunset, and the sun of the old world was setting in a dying blaze of splendor never to be seen again.” The Guns of August by Barbara W. Tuchman
(left to right) King Haakon VII of Norway, King Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of The Hellenes (Greece) and King Albert I of the Belgians (Belgium). (seated, left to right) King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the Great Britain, and King Frederick VIII of Denmark.
(via 1000picsofroyalty)
The Golden Fleece was the first foreign order received by Prince Albert after his marriage. The orders he had received earlier were from relatives, but after February 1840 the acceptance of any award - even from a relative - could be deemed a political gesture favouring a particular state, with implications for British foreign policy. Honours which would have been offered to the Queen by foreign sovereigns and governments had she been male were unavailable to her, and so the Prince was given orders that she could not be offered. This brought with it concerns on the part of both the Queen and the Prince that reciprocation would invariably be assumed. The offer of the Golden Fleece to the Prince in 1841 by the Regency government of Spain, on behalf of the 11-year-old Queen Isabel II, epitomised these problems. After much diplomatic negotiation, it was agreed that the Prince would accept the Order and would be invested by the Duke of Wellington, acting as Isabel’s proxy in his position as a Grandee of Spain and a Knight of the Golden Fleece. The Queen wrote to King Leopold, describing the ceremony of 27 April 1841:
Albert has rec’d the Golden Fleece; … he was invested by the Duke of Wellington, whom the Regency had charged as Grandee of Spain and having the Order, to present it to him. The old Duke and Alva [the Spanish Ambassador] … were delighted at this, & the old Duke … appeared in a new Spanish Uniform made for the occasion.
The original badges of the Golden Fleece featured the Order’s symbol, a ram’s fleece - an allusion to the Burgundian wool trade as well as to the Golden Fleece of Greek mythology - hanging from a shower of sparks or flames emanating from a flint being struck by a fire steel (or briquette). By the nineteenth century the separate elements had become stylised and in Prince Albert’s badge the opals form the centre of the ‘briquette’ and the ‘flint’. The light, original setting of this badge has been adapted to take the opals in the slide, flint and sparks - particularly the middle stone in the flint. The incongruity of this later setting suggests that it may have been adapted from an earlier one. Just as the Prince’s Garter badge was an earlier piece reset for the Queen in 1840, it is possible that this was once the ‘Golden Fleece in brilliants’ sold to Rundell, Bridge & Co. in 1830. Opals were the Prince’s favourite stones (Journal, 4 July 1866). This and a second badge of the Order were the badges of foreign orders most often worn by the Prince. The opal badge can be seen in his portrait by Winterhalter of 1842 and in photographs by Fenton.
(Source: royalcollection.org.uk)
Princess Victoria Melita & Princess Beatrice of Saxe- Coburg and Gotha.
(Source: perfectly-impeerfectly, via teatimeatwinterpalace)
George V and Queen Mary with their Bridesmaids.
Bridesmaids:
- Patsy (Princess Patricia of Connaught)
- Daisy (Princess Margaret of Connaught)
- Ducky (Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
- Sandra (Princess Alexandra of Hohenloe-Langenburg)
- Alice of Battenberg (later Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark - Prince Philip’s mother)
- Ena (Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg - later Queen of Spain)
- Maud (Princess Maud - later Queen of Norway)
- Toria (Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom)
- Baby Bee (Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha)
- Thora (Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein).
by W. & D. Downey
carbon print, 6 July 1893
Two of the bridesmaids would later marry into the Spanish Royal Family, Ena to King Alfonso XIII and Baby Bee to the Infante Alfonso de Orléans y Borbón (Ali)
(via royalrumormonger)
Juan Carlos I of Spain-75 Years, 75 Photos.
51- Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, May 1961. During the celebrations of this wedding Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sophia, who had flirted in Rome at the 1960 summer Olympics, began their relationship.
Photo: The royals leaving the Cathedral. After the British Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Charles, Queen Victoria Eugenia accompanies the Queen Mother. Behind the Gloucesters, the Count of Barcelona and Prince Juan Carlos escort the Princess Royal, and behind them, Princess Sophia and her brother.
Juan Carlos I of Spain-75 Years, 75 Photos.
50- Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, May 1961. During the celebrations of this wedding Prince Juan Carlos and Princess Sophia, who had flirted in Rome at the 1960 summer Olympics, began their relationship.
Photo: Queen Ena (first row, fourth from the right) between Britain’s Queen Mother and Princess Marina, Dowager Duchess of Kent. Behind her, in the second row her son and grandson, the Count of Barcelona and Don Juan Carlos with the Crown Prince of Greece and his sister Sophia.
Pss Beatrice of Battenberg with kids :Leopold, Maurice, Victoria Eugenia and Alexander on the floor.
