Mary Therese of France

Mary Therese Charlotte of France (Versailles, 1778 - Vienna 1851). French princess by birth, Duchess of Angouleme and Dauphine of France by marriage. Daughter of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette of France, is seen as the only person of the French royal family who survived the Revolution.

Mary Therese was considered by monarchists Holder Reina France August 2, 1830, for only 20 minutes, since his father signed the act of abdication, until the moment when her husband signed, reluctantly, the same document a 20 minutes later.

Mary Therese was the eldest daughter of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. The monarchists had long yearned for the birth of a Dauphin of France, because the royal couple llebaba married about 7 years. However, the kings were delighted with the birth of her daughter.

The House of Madame Royale was erected almost immediately, according to the etiquette of Versailles. The first governess was Guéménée Princess, who was later replaced by a favorite of Marie Antoinette: Yolande of Polastron, Comtesse de Polignac. Louis XVI was an affectionate father who spoiled his daughter by granting all that is wanted. Marie Antoinette, however, was more strict and ruled that her daughter was not educated so that allthough being a princess despotic and arrogant, as were the other princesses of the Bourbon family. The queen often invited to dinner with Mary Therese to children of the working classes. In contrast to the image of eccentric and wasteful that was Marie Antoinette, the queen was not insensible to the misery of the poor, being much given to charity. In fact, in the Christmas of 1784 the queen took some of the best toys of Mary Therese and gave them to poor children for New Year festivities.

Mary Therese had more siblings:

- Prince Joseph Louis Javier Francis, Dauphin of France and Duke of Brittany.

- Prince Louis Charles, Duke of Normandy.

- Madame Royale Maria Sophia.

On July 14, 1789, the Bastille is taken by a crowd. The situation is critical and several members of the royal family fled into exile, including the king's brothers, the Counts of Provence and Artois. The Prime Minister, the Baron of Breteuil, he moved to Germany. The governess Madame Royale flees to Switzerland. His place is taken by the devout Catholic Louisa Isabella, Marchioness of Tourzel, whose daughter Pauline, became a close friend of Mary Therese. In October, the Palace of Versailles was besieged and the royal family was forced to move to Paris. There Louis XVI and his family were staying at the Tuileries, living a virtual arrest. This meant the end of the childhood of the Princess Royal.

In finding the deterioration of the political situation, the kings are realizing that their lives are in danger. The events convinced that Marie Antoinette of France was salvation for the royal family and the best thing was to depart from Paris. Montmédy hoped to reach a place that was realistic. However, they were intercepted at Varennes and brought back to the capital.

In the fall of 1792 the whole family was imprisoned in the Tower of the Temple, after the official abolition of the monarchy. Months later, Louis XVI is tried and sentenced to the guillotine. This devastated the whole family, especially Maria Teresa who was very close to her father. In July 1793, the guards removed his brother, Louis XVII, family and confined in a cell that subsequently die. In the fort were Maria Theresa, Marie Antoinette and Madame Elisabeth, the younger sister of Louis XVI.

In October of that same year, Marie Antoinette was taken to the Conciergerie prison, subjected it to trial and was executed by guillotine. In May 1794 separated Mary Therese and her aunt Isabel. The only contact with the outside world was the food they gave her through a small window in the door. Nobody told her what had happened to her family. All she knew was that her father had died and she was alone in the world. Scribbles on the walls of her cell in the Tower of the Temple: "Maria Teresa is the most unhappy creature in the world, can not get news of her mother and join her, though she has asked thousands of times" "Live my good mother ! A that I love but I can not hear her voice "" Oh father! look at me from heaven life is so cruel! ""Oh my God forgives those who have made my family perish!"

Only after the fall of the Reign of Terror, Mary Teresa was allowed to leave France. She was taken to Vienna where she lived at the court of her cousin Francis II.

Soon Mary left Vienna to travel to Lithuania, where her uncle the Count of Provence, guest of Tsar Paul I of Russia. His uncle, who had proclaimed himself King of France under the name of Louis XVIII, had no children and wanted Mary to marry her cousin Luis Anthony, Duke of Angoulême and eventual heir to the throne. Mary accepted immediately re happy to be part of a family. Luis Anthony was the eldest son of the Count of Artois (the future Charles X). Shy, stuttering, was a difficult person and believed to impotent. The wedding took place in 1799 and despite the shortcomings of her husband, Maria Teresa loved him dearly.

Mary Therese of France died in 1851 from pneumonia.

Letice, Princess of Asturias.

Letice Ortiz Rocasolano (Oviedo, Spain 1972) is the current Princess of Asturias. Married to Felipe de Borbon, heir to the Spanish Crown, Princess Letice is also of Gerona, Princess of Viana, Countess of Barcelona, Duchess of Montblanc, Countess of Cervera and Lady of Balaguer. Receive the treatment of Royal Highness. Her daughter Eleanor is second in line to the throne and her daughter Sofia, the third. Before her marriage to Prince Philip worked as a journalist for several newspapers and TV networks.

Is the eldest daughter of Jesús Joseph Ortiz Alvarez journalist and nurse Maria Paloma Rocasolano Rodriguez. Born in Oviedo Minor Sanitarium. She has two sisters:

- Telma, an economist who worked for Doctors Without Borders and as Deputy Director of International Relations at the City Council.

- Erika (1975 - 2007), worked as an interior and graphic designer Globomedia producer, died of a massive ingestion of drugs.

The paternal grandmother of Princess, Menchu ​​Álvarez del Valle, was radio broadcaster in Asturias for over 40 years.

The princess received a general education in the Public School La Gesta (Oviedo) and continuño his studies at the High School Alfonso II, while receiving ballet classes three days a week. Due to the work of her father, Due to the work of her father, the whole family had to move to London where he continued his studies princess.

After finishing high school, the Princess enrolled at the University Complutense of Madrid, where he graduated in information science, a branch of journalism. Still in college Leticia began collaborating with ABC and EFE.

The princess began working in television on CNN + and Bloomberg TV U.S. network. In 2001 she joined Spanish Television where he took charge of the presentation of weekly report in summer and subsequently worked with the team Telediario Second Edition edition. Morning newscast She also presented and has been sent to different parts of the world to cover current events, such as the attacks of September 11th (11-S), the sinking of the Prestige or the invasion of Iraq. In fact, covered the latest event information and maintaining a secret relationship with the Prince of Asturias. Months before the announcement of engagement with the Prince of Asturias, she begins to co-present the most watched newscast in Spanish Television, Second Edition.

Following approval of the commitment by the Queen of Spain, the royal family established a strategic plan for the news of the relationship does not reach the media until it was convenient. It was not until November 2003 when it was announced, by surprise, the engagement of the journalist with the Prince of Asturias. The Wedding of State came a year later, in 2004 at the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. Then Rocasolano Letizia Ortiz, a simple commoner, became, according to the Royal Decree on Degrees and Designations of the Crown, Princess of Asturias.

Ethnicity:

- Princess Eleanor of All Saints of Bourbon and Ortiz.

- Princess Sofia of All Saints of Bourbon and Ortiz.

Honours:

- Dame Grand Cross of the Royal and Distinguished Order of Carlos III.

- Foster daughter of Ribadesella.

- Maid of Honor of the Our Lady of Castle of Cisneros, Palencia.

- Matron of honor of the Association of San Juan Evangelista Californio.

- Oviedo favorite daughter.

- Lady of the Royal Cavalry of Seville.

- Maid of Honor of Our Lady of Remedies.

- Camerera Honor of Our Lady of Grace and Hope.

- National Order of Merit.

- Dame of the Order of the Liberator San Martin.

- Dame of the Order of the Aztec Eagle.

- Dame of the Order of the Three Stars.

- Dame of the Order of the Faithful Service.

- Grand Cordon of the Lebanese Order of Merit.

- Dame of the Order of Bernardo O'Higgins

Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain.

Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Balmoral Castle, Scotland 1887 - Lausanne, Switzerland 1969) was Queen consort of Spain for her marriage to King Alfonso XIII. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and grandmother of the present King of Spain, John Charles I.

She was the daughter of Henry of Battenberg and his wife Princess Beatrice. Victoria was named after her two grandmothers and her godmother, Empress Eugenie, widow of Napoleon III. Familiarly called her by the name of Ena, meaning Eve in Scotland.

Princess Ena grew up in the court of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She spent her childhood in Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Her father died in 1896 after contracting a fever in Africa. After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, took up residence in Battenberg Castle Kensington, London.


In 1905 the princess attended a party thrown by his uncle, Edward VII, given in honor of Alfonso XIII of Spain. The Spanish monarch began courting the young princess despite the existing opposition to a possible marriage.

Queen Maria Cristina, mother of Alfonso XIII, was not in favor of this union, given the obscure origins of Battenberg line. Eugenie Victoria also bore only treating Serene Highness, Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Balmoral Castle, Scotland 1887 - Lausanne, Switzerland 1969) was Queen consort of Spain for her marriage to King Alfonso XIII. She was the granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and grandmother of the present King of Spain, John Charles I.

She was the daughter of Henry of Battenberg and his wife Princess Beatrice. Victoria was named after her two grandmothers and her godmother, Empress Eugenie, widow of Napoleon III. Familiarly called her by the name of Ena, meaning Eve in Scotland.

Princess Ena grew up in the court of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She spent her childhood in Windsor Castle, Balmoral and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. Her father died in 1896 after contracting a fever in Africa. After the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, took up residence in Battenberg Castle Kensington, London.


In 1905 the princess attended a party thrown by his uncle, Edward VII, given in honor of Alfonso XIII of Spain. The Spanish monarch began courting the young princess despite the existing opposition to a possible marriage.

Queen Maria Cristina, mother of Alfonso XIII, was not in favor of this union, given the obscure origins of Battenberg line. Eugenie Victoria also bore only treating Serene Highness, that the Queen considered inferior. Moreover, the history of hemophilia from the branch of the family of her grandmother (Queen Victoria) also liked the queen.

Nevertheless, the Spanish Royal House announced on March 9, 1906 the engagement of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Princess Victoria Eugenie. The news worried many Spanish because the bride was Anglican and did not have enough category.

The princess avoided the first hurdle to convert to Catholicism. Conversion ceremony celebrated Bishop of Nottingham in the chapel of the Palacio de Miramar. His uncle, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, the second obstacle was removed to give her the treatment of Royal Highness. The marriage took place at the Church of St. Jerome that year and Queen first wore the crown of lilies.

After the ceremony, the wedding party that went to the Royal Palace suffered an attack by Mateo Morral, who threw a bomb from a balcony to the royal carriage, which bounced off the roof down to it, killing many people and all shot of chivalry. After this, the new Queen of Spain came before the wedding guests at the Royal Palace with bloodied clothing for the dead who were in the explosion.


Her years at the Spanish court were complicated. In her reserved nature, joined him the difficult relationship with the Queen Mother Maria Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine, who always maintained her authority and influence over the King. When World War I broke out, the differences between the two are exalted as the Queen Mother showed her clear sentiment in favor of the Germans, while the Queen Consort showed his support for her cousin, King George V of the United Kingdom.

As for her personal relationships with her husband, Alfonso XIII always reproached the transmission of hemophilia on their children and heirs. Furthermore, the relationship was cooling and Spanish King's infidelities were becoming commonplace in Palace. Victoria Eugenie began a personal isolation that further alienated the people, focused on her passion for jewelry and luxury.

The couple had a total of 7 children:

- Prince Alfonso, Prince of Asturias. Born hemophiliac and renounced his rights to the throne in 1933 to marry a Cuban lady, plebeian, Edelmira Sampedro and Robato in Switzerland. Using since the title of Count of Covadonga.
- Prince James. Deaf and mute after a double mastoiditis at age 4, he became Duke of Segovia and Duke of Anjou.
- Princess Beatrice, Princess of Civitella Cesi.
- Prince Ferdinand, stillborn in 1910.
- Princess Maria Cristina, Countess of Marone Cinzano-.
- Prince John, Count of Barcelona.
- Prince Gonzalo.

After the birth of their children marriage deteriorated because Alfonso XIII maintaining numerous relationships extraEnmatrimoniales.

The Spanish royal family went into exile in 1931, when municipal elections in the same year won the Republican parties in most major cities, following the King Alfonso XIII abdicated and deliberately suspended the exercise of royal power, which resulted in the proclamation of the Second Spanish Republic. The royal family moved to France and later the Kingdom of Italy. The royal couple ended up separating and Victoria Eugenie returned to Britain. In 1939, during World War II, the Queen was invited to leave the UK and ceased to belong to the British royal family. She moved to Lausanne, Switzerland, where she settled definitively in a mansion called Vielle Fontaine where her grandchildren came to visit.

In 1938 the whole family gathered in Rome for the christening of the son of Prince Juan de Borbon, John Charles, King of Spain today. In 1941 Alfonso XIII, sensing that his death was near,inheritance rights transferred from the Spanish Crown to his son John.

Victoria Eugenie returned briefly to Spain to serve as godmother at the christening of her grandson, Prince Felipe (Prince of Asturias, current heir to the Spanish crown), son of the then Prince of Spain John Carlos de Borbon and Princess of Spain, Sophia of Greece and Denmark.

The Queen died at her home in Lausanne in 1969. She was buried in the chapel of the Sacred Heart of Lausanne. In 1985 the Royal House moved his remains to the royal crypt of the Escorial Monastery. After spending the time set in the actual rotting room in 2011 was located in the Pantheon of Kings sharing her room with her ​​husband Alfonso XIII

Sophia of Greece and Denmark. Queen Sophia of Spain

Sophia of Greece (Athens 1938) is the Queen consort of Spain, by her marriage to King John Charles I and Princess of Greece and Denmark.

Born as Sophia Margaret Victory Federica, is the eldest daughter of King Paul I of Greece and Queen Federica, who were princes when she was born. From birth to marriage held the title of Her Royal Highness Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.

Her birth involved a national holiday and a general amnesty. During her childhood he had to leave Greece with her entire family because of the German invasion during World War II and remained in Egypt and South Africa until her return in 1946. She studied childcare, music and archeology. She worked as a nurse in a maternity ward in Athens, called Mitera, and founded by her mother. She was part of the team as a substitute Greek sailing during the 1960 Olympics.

In 1961 in York attended the wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Kent, where he met the then Prince John Charles of Bourbon, future king of Spain. Married in 1962 in Athens, celebrated three ceremonies: the first by the Catholic rite in the Church of St. Dionysius, the second civilly at the Royal Palace and the third by the Orthodox rite at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Athens.


She was the first woman to receive the Grand Cross of the Order of Charles III, subsequently received her daughters, the daughters of King and Princess of Asturias.

She has three children, all born in the former Our Lady of Loreto Clinic, Madrid:

- Princess Elena of Bourbon, Duchess of Lugo.
- Princess Christine of Bourbon, Duchess of Palma de Mallorca.
- Prince Felipe de Borbon: Prince of Asturias and heir to the crown of Castile, Prince of Girona, Duke of Montblanc, Count of Cervera and Lord of Balaguer as heir to the crown of Aragon, Prince of Viana as heir to the crown of Navarre .

She's academic honor of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of St. Fernando and the Royal Academy of History. She has received an honorary doctorate from the Universities of Rosario (Bogotá), Valladolid, Cambridge, Oxford, Georgetown, Evora, St. Mary `s University (Texas), New York and Seisen (Tokyo).

titles:

- HRH Princess Sophia of Greece and Denmark.
- HRH Princess Sofia of Spain.
- Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain.

Mary of Mercedes of Orleans and Bourbon. Queen Mercedes of Spain.

Mary of the Mercedes of Orleans and Bourbon (Palacio Real Madrid 1860 - ibid 1878) was Queen of Spain for her marriage to Alfonso XII.

Her full name was: Maria of the Mercedes Louise Fernanda Isabel Francesca Antonia Philippa Ramona Christine Amalia Rita Manuela Cayetana Joanna Josepha Joaquina Filomena Anne Therese Rafaela of Gaspara Melchora Baltasara Trinity All Saints of Bourbon and Orleans.

She was the fifth of the children of Anthony of Orleans, Duke of Montpensier, and Princess Louise Fernanda of Bourbon, sister of Isabel II of Spain. She spent her childhood in Seville city that always felt a special attraction. During the period of Democratic Presidential term had to go into exile. In 1874, the Spanish monarchy restored, Mary returned to Spain, settling with her family in Seville, in the Saint Elmo's Palace, which had been her family home.

Two years ago, Mercedes and her cousin Prince Alfonso had begun an affair, when she was 12. Despite the opposition of Isabel II to the wedding, because the confrontation she had with the Duke of Montpensier and the government's preference for a marriage with a European princess (one of the candidates was Princess Beatrice desired UK daughter of Queen Victoria), were imposed the wishes of King Alfonso XII, celebrated the wedding in 1878 in the Basilica of Atocha. He was the youngest Queen Consort of Spain, at 17.

The marriage was short by the untimely death of Queen Mercedes because of typhus five months later. He died in the Royal Palace in Madrid two days after his 18th birthday, accompanied at all times by her beloved husband.

The social impact that caused the untimely death of the beloved Queen Mary of the Mercedes and desolation of King Alfonso XII, who left the court withdrew the Palace Royal of Cold River became popular a tune from an old Spanish romance that became myth the love story between Alfonso XII and Mary of the Mercedes. This tune goes like this:

Alfonso XII Where are you going?
Where are you going yourself sad?
I'm looking for Mercedes
that I have not seen her.

Mercedes is already dead.
Dead is, that I saw her.

Four Dukes took her,
through the streets of Madrid.

Her face was waxen
and hands of ivory
and the veil that covered her
crimson.

Gold embroidered sandals
carried in her pretty feet
sewed by the Princess,
Princess Isabel.

The cloak that enveloped her
was rich velvet
and in gold letters read:
"has died face of heaven."

The horses of palace

do not want to walk,
because Mercedes has died
and want to wear mourning.

Since the flower died May
Flower died April,
White died the rose,
rose around Madrid.

Isabel II of Bourbon. Queen Isabel II of Spain.

Isabel II of Spain (Madrid 1830 - Paris 1904) also known as the Queen of Sad Destination, was queen of Spain between 1833 and 1868, following the repeal of the Salic law through the Pragmatic Sanction, which caused the insurgency Prince Carlos of Bourbon-backed absolutist groups (the Carlists) who had already tried him king over the agony of King Ferdinand VII of Spain.

The future Isabel II was christened Luisa Maria Isabel, the daughter of King Ferdinand VII and his fourth wife Maria Cristina of Bourbon - Two Sicilies. To favor the position of Elizabeth, Philip Pragmatic Sanction adopted whereby Isabel could happen after his death if the sovereign died without sons (Isabel had a sister, Princess Luisa Fernanda). Isabel took the throne of Spain in 1833 after the death of her father, without having yet reached 3 years of age, which is why it was necessary to appoint her mother as regent of the kingdom.

Her birth and subsequent ascension to the throne caused the beginning of a long dynastic conflict, since his uncle, Prince Carlos María Isidro of Bourbon not accept Isabel was named Princess of Asturias and later Queen of Spain.

When Isabel was 16 years, the Government entered into a marriage with her ​​cousin Prince Francis of Assisi and Bourbon, Duke of Cádiz. The spouses were first cousins ​​via double, Prince Francis of Assisi was the brother of Fernando VII, while his mother, Carlota Luisa of Bourbon - Two Sicilies was the sister of the mother of Isabel. Despite their relationship, marriage foundered soon and never be happy.

Isabel did not get along with his cousin and husband Francisco, whose sexuality has been questioned by some authors. The queen occasionally commented on their wedding night, "what could I expect from a man in the wedding night wore more lace than me than me?"

Officially Isabel and Francisco were parents eleven times, although several pregnancies ended in abortions or infants died after a very short time:

- Prince Louis of Bourbon and Bourbon (1849) born dead.

- Prince Charles of Bourbon and Bourbon, who died shortly after birth.

- Princess Isabel of Bourbon and Bourbon, Countess of Girgenti.

- Princess Maria Cristina of Bourbon and Bourbon, died days after birth.

- Francis Prince Leopoldo of Bourbon and Bourbon, stillborn.

- Prince Alfonso of Bourbon, Pricipe of Asturias and later King of Spain.

- Princess Maria Concepcion who died at age 3.

- Princess Maria del Pilar Berengaria, died unmarried.

- Princess Mary of Peace, Princess of Bavaria.

- Princess Maria Eulalia, Duchess of Galliera.

- Prince Francis of Assisi, who died a few weeks of life.

The Queen of The Sad Destination, as has also been called, had to deal with the Revolution of 1868 (known as the Glorious), which forced her to leave Spain and seek shelter in France under the protection of Napoleon III and his wife Eugenia of Montijo. In Paris abdicated in favor of her son, the future King Alfonso XII.

Isabel lived the rest of her life in France, thence witnessed the First Spanish Republic, the reign and death of her son Alfonso XII, the regency of her daughter in law, Maria Cristina of Habsburg-Lorraine and the beginning of the personal reign of Alfonso XIII (her grandson). Since being overthrown in 1868 ceased to live together with her husband, who went to live in Epinay-sur-Seine, where he died in 1902. Isabel died in Paris in 1904 and was buried in the Monastery of El Escorial, opposite the remains of her husband.