The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian
state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881
and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of
Romania (1866, 1923, 1938). Thus, the Kingdom of Romania began with the
reign of King Carol I of Romania who gained Romanian's independence in
the Romanian War of Independence, and ended with the abdication of King
Michael I of Romania in 30 December 1947, imposed by the Soviet Union
with the tacit and secret, implicit consent of its allies (as a result
of the Yalta Conference and secret agreements). As such, it is quite
distinct from the Romanian Old Kingdom, which refers strictly to the
reign of King Carol I of Romania, between 13 March 1881 and 10 October
1914.
From 1859 to 1877, Romania evolved from a personal union
of two vassal principalities (Moldavia and Wallachia) under a single
prince to a full-fledged independent kingdom with a Hohenzollern
monarchy. In 1918, at the end of World War I, Transylvania, Eastern
Moldavia (Bessarabia), and Bukovina united with the Kingdom of Romania,
resulting in a "Greater Romania". In 1940, Bessarabia, Northern
Bukowina, Northern Transylvania and Southern Dobruja were ceded to the
Soviet Union, Hungary and Bulgaria respectively, only Northern
Transylvania being recovered after World War II ended. In 1947 the last
king was compelled to abdicate and a republic ruled by the Romanian
Communist Party replaced the monarchy.
The House of
Hohenzollern is a noble family and royal dynasty of electors, kings and
emperors of Prussia, Germany and Romania. It originated in the area
around the town of Hechingen in Swabia during the 11th century. They
took their name from their ancestral home, the Burg Hohenzollern castle
near Hechingen. The family uses the motto Nihil Sine Deo (English:
Nothing Without God). The family coat of arms, first adopted in 1192,
began as a simple shield quarterly sable and argent. A century later, in
1317, Frederick IV, Burgrave of Nuremberg, added the head and shoulders
of a hound as a crest. Later quartering reflected heiresses' marriages
into the family.
The family split into two branches, the
Catholic Swabian branch and the Protestant Franconian branch, known also
as the Kirschner line. The Swabian branch ruled the area of Hechingen
until their eventual extinction in 1869. The Franconian-Kirschner branch
was more successful: members of the Franconian branch became Margrave
of Brandenburg in 1415 and Duke of Prussia in 1525. Following the union
of these two Franconian lines in 1618, the Kingdom of Prussia was
created in 1701, eventually leading to the unification of Germany and
the creation of the German Empire in 1871.
The House of
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen is the senior Swabian branch of the
Hohenzollern dynasty. The family is not as well known to history, as is
the junior Franconian branch. (The Franconian branch became Burgraves of
Nuremberg and later ruled Brandenburg-Prussia and the German Empire.)
The senior branch ruled, and the dynasty took its name from, the Swabian
County of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen (German: Grafschaft
Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen), which later became a principality (Fürstentum Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen).
The Royal Family Titles and Styles - The members of this family bear
the title Prince or Princess of Romania together with the formal
appellation of His or Her Royal Highness. They are entitled to titles as
members of the House of Hohenzollern, though King Michael has recently
announced that he and his family have relinquished these German titles
and names.
The Royal Family of Romania website:
http://www.familiaregala.ro/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id32.html
The House of Bonaparte was an imperial
and royal European dynasty founded by Napoleon I of France in 1804, a
French military leader who rose to notability out of the French
Revolution and transformed the French Republic into the First French
Empire within five years of his coup d'état. Napoleon turned the Grande
Armée against every major European power and dominated continental
Europe through a series of military victories. He installed members of
his family on the thrones of client states, founding the dynasty.
The House of Bonaparte formed the Imperial House of France during the
French Empire together with some non-Bonaparte family members. In
addition to holding the title of Emperor of France, the Bonaparte
dynasty held various other titles and territories during the Napoleonic
Wars, including their ancestral Kingdom of Italy, the Kingdom of Spain,
the Kingdom of Westphalia, the Kingdom of Holland and the Kingdom of
Naples.
The dynasty was in a position of power for around a
decade until the Napoleonic Wars began to take their toll. Making very
powerful enemies such as Austria, United Kingdom, Russia and Prussia, as
well as royalist (particularly Bourbon) restorational movements in
France, Spain, the Two Sicilies and Sardinia, the dynasty eventually
collapsed under its own weight.
The imperial family during
Napoleon's reign consisted of the members of the Bonaparte
family—Napoleon, his siblings, his wife and son—and some other close
relatives, namely Joachim Murat, Joseph Fesch and Eugène de Beauharnais.
Between the years 1852 and 1870 there was a Second French Empire, again
a member of the Bonaparte dynasty would rule; Napoleon III of France
the son of Louis Bonaparte. However after the Franco-Prussian War, the
dynasty was again ousted from the imperial throne. Since that time there
has been a series of pretenders, supporters of the Bonaparte family's
claim to the throne of France are known as Bonapartists. Current head
Jean-Christophe Napoléon is ironically from a Bourbon mother.
International Napoleonic Society:
http://www.napoleonicsociety.com/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id7.html
The Kingdom of Portugal and the
Algarves (Portuguese: Reino de Portugal e dos Algarves; Latin: Regnum
Portugalliae et Algarbia), was Portugal's general designation under its
monarchy. The kingdom was located in the west of the Iberian Peninsula,
Europe and existed from 1139 to 1910. The monarchy in Portugal was
abolished and replaced by the First Portuguese Republic after the 5
October 1910 revolution.
The House of Braganza (Portuguese:
Casa de Bragança; Portuguese pronunciation: [bɾɐˈɣɐ̃sɐ]), officially the
Most Serene House of Braganza (Portuguese: Sereníssima Casa de
Bragança), is an important imperial, royal, and noble house of
Portuguese origin, a branch of the House of Aviz, and thus a descendant
house of the Portuguese House of Burgundy. The House evolved from being
powerful dukes of Portuguese nobility, to ruling as the monarchs of
Portugal and the Algarves, from 1640 to 1910, and as monarchs of Brazil,
from 1815 to 1889.
The House of Braganza was founded in 1442,
when Afonso, 8th Count of Barcelos, illegitimate son of King João I of
Portugal, of the House of Aviz, was made Duke of Braganza, as Duke
Afonso I of Braganza, by his nephew, King Afonso V. The feudal
Brigantine dukes quickly amassed a fortune in properties, titles, and
power and by the time of Duke Fernando II, the House was the most
powerful in all of Portugal and of the greatest houses of Iberia.
The House of Braganza became the reigning house of the Kingdom of
Portugal and the Algarves in 1640, when João II, Duke of Braganza, was
acclaimed King João IV by the Portuguese nobility and subsequently waged
the Portuguese Restoration War. The House of Braganza was only
recognized as the legitimate ruling house of Portugal by the House of
Habsburg during the reign of King Afonso VI, though effective and
official control of the kingdom was seized and established in the 1640s.
The Braganzas were deposed from the Portuguese throne in 1910, when the
Portuguese Republic was proclaimed.
The House of Braganza
became the reigning house of Brazil, first, when the United Kingdom of
Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves was created in 1815. The United
Kingdom lasted until 1825, when the Brazilian Empire became independent
from Portugal. The new Brazilian nation was led by Prince Pedro of
Braganza, heir to the Portuguese throne, who ruled as Emperor Pedro I of
Brazil, as well as King Pedro IV of Portugal. Until 1835, the
Portuguese Braganzas were still in the line of succession to the
Brazilian throne. The House was deposed from the Brazilian throne, in
1889, when Brazil was proclaimed a republic.
In 1834, with the
end of the Liberal Wars, won by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil and Queen
Maria II of Portugal against King Miguel I of Portugal, the House of
Braganza was split into three branches. The first branch was the
Legitimist House of Braganza, headed by Queen Maria II of Portugal,
daughter of King Pedro IV, and her descendants, who ruled the Kingdom of
Portugal. The second branch was the Brazilian House of Braganza, headed
by Emperor Pedro I of Brazil, and his descendants, who ruled the
Brazilian Empire. The third branch was the Miguelist House of Braganza,
headed by King Miguel I of Portugal, and his descendants, who claimed
the Portuguese throne after King Manuel II's death, in 1932.
In
1835, Queen Maria II of Portugal married Prince Ferdinand of
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, later King Fernando II of Portugal. Despite the
tradition of following the custom of patrilineal descent of royal
houses, common throughout Europe, the children of the marriage between
Queen Maria II and King Fernando II were members of the House of
Braganza and ruled Portugal as Brigantine monarchs, not as
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha monarchs. Some foreign genealogists have classified
the descendants of Queen Maria II and Fernando II into a separate house,
usually named the House of Braganza-Saxe-Coburg and Gotha however, the
Portuguese constitution of 1838 clearly states that "the Most Serene
House of Braganza is the reigning house of Portugal and continues
through the Person of the Lady Queen Maria II".
After the
proclamation of the republic in Brazil, the House continued to be the
claimant house to the Brazilian throne until 1921, when Isabel, Princess
Imperial of Brazil, daughter of Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, died and
her claim passed to her son, Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza,
and thus the House of Orléans-Braganza became the claimant house to the
former monarchy of Brazil.
The renunciation of dynastic
rights, by Princess Isabel's eldest son, Pedro de Alcântara, Prince of
Grão-Pará, later led to a dispute between the members of the Imperial
House, and thus the leadership of the House of Orléans-Braganza is
disputed by two branches of the House: the Vassouras branch, headed by
Prince Luís Gastão of Orléans-Braganza, and the Petrópolis branch,
headed by Prince Pedro Carlos of Orléans-Braganza.
When the
Portuguese Republic was established, in 1910, King Manuel II and the
rest of the Legitimist Braganzas went into exile. In 1932, when King
Manuel II died, the Legitimist House went extinct and the claim to the
Portuguese throne passed to the descendants of King Miguel I, the
Migueslist Braganzas, by way of Prince Duarte Nuno, Duke of Braganza.
The claim to the crown of Portugal, and thus to the leadership of the
House of Braganza, passed to Prince Duarte Nuno's son, Prince Duarte
Pio, Duke of Braganza, when he died in 1976.
H.R.H. Dom Duarte, Duke of Braganza - Casa Real Portuguesa:
http://www.casarealportuguesa.org/dynamicdata/dukeofbraganza.asp
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id28.html
The United Kingdom of Great Britain or
Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It
is the ninth largest island in the world, the largest European island,
and the largest of the British Isles. With a population of about 60.0
million people in mid-2009, it is the third most populous island in the
world, after Java and Honshū. Great Britain is surrounded by over 1,000
smaller islands and islets. The island of Ireland lies to its west.
Politically, Great Britain may also refer to the island itself together
with a number of surrounding islands which comprise the territory of
England, Scotland and Wales.
All of the island is territory of
the sovereign state of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, and most of the United Kingdom's territory is in Great Britain.
Most of England, Scotland, and Wales are on the island of Great
Britain, as are their respective capital cities: London, Edinburgh, and
Cardiff.
The Kingdom of Great Britain resulted from the
political union of the kingdoms of England and Scotland with the Acts of
Union 1707 on 1 May 1707 under Queen Anne. In 1801, under a new Act of
Union, this kingdom merged with the Kingdom of Ireland to create the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After the Irish War of
Independence most of Ireland seceded from the Union, which then became
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.
The
History of the House of Wettin - The House of Wettin is a dynasty of
German counts, dukes, prince-electors (Kurfürsten) and kings that once
ruled the area of today's German states of Saxony, the Saxon part of
Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia for more than 800 years as well as holding
at times the kingship of Poland. Agnates of the House of Wettin have, at
various times, ascended the thrones of Great Britain, Portugal,
Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium; of these, only the British and
Belgian lines retain their thrones today. The oldest member of the House
of Wettin who is known for certain was Thiedericus (died 982), who was
probably based in the Liesgau (located at the western edge of the Harz).
Around 1000, as part of the German conquest of Slavic territory, the
family acquired Wettin Castle, after which they named themselves. Wettin
Castle is located in Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around
1030, the Wettin family received the Eastern March as a fief. The
prominence of the Wettin family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor
Henry IV to invest them with the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The
family advanced over the course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they
inherited the landgraviate of Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in
1423 they were invested with the Duchy of Saxony, centred at
Wittenberg,thus becoming one of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman
Empire.
The History of the House of Windsor - The House of
Windsor is the royal house of the Commonwealth realms. It was founded by
King George V by royal proclamation on the 17 July 1917, when he
changed the name of his family from the German Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (a
branch of the House of Wettin) to the English Windsor, due to the
anti-German sentiment in the United Kingdom during World War I.
Currently, the most prominent member of the House of Windsor is Queen
Elizabeth II, the reigning monarch of the Commonwealth realms.
Edward VII, and, in turn, his son, George V were members of the House of
Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a German ducal family, by virtue of their
descent from Albert, Prince Consort, husband of Queen Victoria. High
anti-German sentiment amongst the people of the British Empire during
World War I reached a peak in March 1917, when the Gotha G.IV, a heavy
aircraft capable of crossing the English Channel began bombing London
directly. The aircraft became a household name, and the name Gotha was
part of the name of the royal family, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. These bombings
were coupled with the abdication of King George's first cousin, Nicholas
II, the Tsar of Russia on 15 March 1917, which raised the spectre of
the eventual abolition of all the monarchies in Europe. The King and his
family were finally convinced to abandon all titles held under the
German Crown, and to change German titles and house names to anglicised
versions. Hence, on 17 July 1917, a royal proclamation issued by George V
declared:
Now, therefore, We, out of Our Royal Will and
Authority, do hereby declare and announce that as from the date of this
Our Royal Proclamation Our House and Family shall be styled and known as
the House and Family of Windsor, and that all the descendants in the
male line of Our said Grandmother Queen Victoria who are subjects of
these Realms, other than female descendants who may marry or may have
married, shall bear the said Name of Windsor
Upon hearing that
his cousin had changed the name of the British royal house to Windsor,
German Emperor Wilhelm II remarked jokingly that he planned to see
Shakespeare's play The Merry Wives of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.The name had a
long association with British royalty, through the town of Windsor,
Berkshire and Windsor Castle, a link reflected in the Round Tower of
Windsor Castle being the basis of the badge of the House of Windsor.
Also in 1917 Prince Louis of Battenberg adopted the surname Mountbatten,
a partial translation into English. Prince Louis is the maternal
grandfather of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. From 1917 to 1919,
George V also stripped 15 of his German relations - most of whom
belonged to the House of Hanover - of their British titles and styles of
prince and princess.
The Family Titles and Styles - The
present members of this family bear the title Prince or Princess of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland together with the formal appellation
of His or Her Royal Highness, so long as they are children or
grandchildren of a sovereign. Untitled members bear the surname Windsor,
or Mountbatten-Windsor in the case of the descendants of Queen
Elizabeth II.
Official website of the British monarchy:
http://www.royal.gov.uk/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
Part One: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id12.html
Part Two: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id303.html
Kingdom of Scotland - Rìoghachd na h-Alba:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id271.html
Kingdom of Ireland - Ríoghacht Éireann:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id308.html
H.R.H. Diana - Princess of Wales:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id295.html
H.R.H. Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id325.html
H.R.H. Catherine - Duchess of Cambridge:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id273.html
The Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha or
Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (German: Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha) served as
the collective name of two duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, in
Germany. They were located in what today are the states of Bavaria and
Thuringia, respectively, and the two were in personal union between 1826
and 1918. The Duchy came to an end in 1918 with the other German
monarchies, and the Free State of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was established.
This was merged into the new state of Thuringia two years later.
The name Saxe-Coburg-Gotha also may refer to the family of the ruling
House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which played many varied roles in
nineteenth and twentieth-century European dynastic and political
history, branches of which currently reign in Belgium and the
Commonwealth realms.
The History of the Duchy - The two
duchies, Saxe-Coburg and Saxe-Gotha, were among the Saxon duchies held
by the Ernestine branch of the Wettin dynasty. The duchy of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha originated as the personal union of these two duchies in 1826,
after the death of the last Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, who died
without male heirs. His Wettin relations repartitioned his lands. The
former husband of Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, the only niece of the
last duke, was Duke Ernest III of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He received
Gotha and changed his name and title to Ernest I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg
and Gotha although, technically, the two duchies remained as separate
duchies.
Ernst I died in 1844. His elder son and successor,
Ernest II, ruled until his own death in 1893. As he died childless, the
throne of the duchies would have passed to the male descendants of
Ernst's late brother Albert, the Prince Consort, husband of Queen
Victoria of the United Kingdom. However, the constitutions of both
duchies excluded the British heir apparent from the ducal thrones if
there were other eligible male heirs, although Albert Edward, Prince of
Wales had already renounced his claim to the ducal throne in favour of
his next brother, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh.
Alfred's
only son, also named Alfred, committed suicide in 1899, so when Duke
Alfred died in 1900, he was succeeded by his nephew the Duke of Albany,
the sixteen-year-old son of Queen Victoria's youngest son, Leopold.
Alfred's next brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and his son
Prince Arthur of Connaught having renounced the succession. Reigning as
Duke Carl Eduard, or Charles Edward, under the regency of the Hereditary
Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg until he came of age in 1905, the new
duke also continued to use his British title, Duke of Albany.
As a result of Charles Edward fighting for Germany against the British
in the First World War, he was stripped of his British titles in 1919.
Charles Edward reigned until November 18, 1918 during the German
Revolution, when the Workers' and Soldiers' Council of Gotha deposed
him. The two Duchies, now without a common ruler, became separate states
until shortly thereafter, when they ceased to exist. Saxe-Coburg became
a part of Bavaria and Saxe-Gotha merged with other small states in 1920
to form the new state of Thuringia in the Weimar Republic.
The
House of Wettin is a dynasty of German counts, dukes, prince-electors
(Kurfürsten) and kings that once ruled the area of today's German states
of Saxony, the Saxon part of Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia for more than
800 years as well as holding at times the kingship of Poland. Agnates
of the House of Wettin have, at various times, ascended the thrones of
Great Britain, Portugal, Bulgaria, Poland, Saxony, and Belgium; of
these, only the British and Belgian lines retain their thrones today.
The oldest member of the House of Wettin who is known for certain was
Thiedericus (died 982), who was probably based in the Liesgau (located
at the western edge of the Harz). Around 1000, as part of the German
conquest of Slavic territory, the family acquired Wettin Castle, after
which they named themselves.
Wettin Castle is located in
Wettin in the Hosgau on the Saale River. Around 1030, the Wettin family
received the Eastern March as a fief. The prominence of the Wettin
family in the Slavic marches caused Emperor Henry IV to invest them with
the March of Meissen as a fief in 1089. The family advanced over the
course of the Middle Ages: in 1263 they inherited the landgraviate of
Thuringia (though without Hesse), and in 1423 they were invested with
the Duchy of Saxony, centred at Wittenberg,thus becoming one of the
prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire. The family divided into two
ruling branches in 1485 when the sons of Frederick II, Elector of Saxony
divided the territories hitherto ruled jointly. The elder son Ernest,
who had succeeded his father as Prince-elector, received the territories
assigned to the Elector (Electoral Saxony) and Thuringia, while his
younger brother Albert obtained the March of Meissen, which he ruled
from Dresden. As Albert ruled under the title of "Duke of Saxony", his
possessions were also known as Ducal Saxony.
The older,
Ernestine branch remained predominant until 1547 and played an important
role in the beginnings of the Protestant Reformation. Their
predominance ended in the Schmalkaldic War, which pitted the Protestant
Schmalkaldic League against Emperor Charles V. Although itself
Protestant, the Albertine branch rallied to the Empire's cause; Charles V
rewarded them by forcing the Ernestines to sign away their rights to
the Electoral title and lands to the Albertines. The Ernestine line was
thereafter restricted to Thuringia, and its dynastic unity swiftly
crumbled. The Albertine Wettin maintained most of the territorial
integrity of Saxony, preserving it as a significant power in the region,
and using small appanage fiefs for their cadet branches, few of which
survived for significant lengths of time. The Ernestine Wettin, on the
other hand, repeatedly subdivided their territory, creating an intricate
patchwork of small duchies and counties in Thuringia.
The
junior Albertine branch ruled as Electors (1547-1806) and Kings of
Saxony (1806-1918) and also played a role in Polish history: two Wettin
were Kings of Poland (between 1697-1763) and a third ruled the Duchy of
Warsaw (1807-1814) as a satellite of Napoleon. After the Napoleonic
Wars, the Albertine branch lost about 40% of its lands, including the
old Electoral Saxony, to Prussia, restricting it to a territory
coextensive with the modern Saxony.
The Family Titles and
Styles - The members of this family bear the titles Prince or Princess
of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duke or Duchess of Saxony together with the formal
appellation of His or Her Highness.
The Website of the Ducal Family of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha:
http://www.sachsen-coburg-gotha.de/en/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
Part One: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id55.html
Part Two: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id274.html
The House of Romanov was the second and
last imperial dynasty to rule over Russia, reigning from 1613 until the
1917 overthrow of the monarchy during the February Revolution. The
later history of the Imperial House is sometimes referred to informally
as the House of Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov. The Duke of Holstein-Gottorp,
who was himself a member of a cadet branch of the Oldenburgs, married
into the Romanov family early in the 18th century; all Romanov Tsars
from the middle of that century to the revolution of 1917 were descended
from that marriage. Though officially known as the House of Romanov,
these descendants of the Romanov and Oldenburg Houses are sometimes
referred to as Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov.
The Surname
"Romanov" - Legally, it is not clear when or if a ukase was issued that
abolished the surname of Michael Romanov upon his accession to the
Russian throne or of his subsequent male-line descendants, although by
tradition members of reigning dynasties seldom use surnames. Rather,
they are known by their dynastic titles ("Tsarevich Ivan Alexeevich",
"Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich," etc.). In addition, since 1761 Russian
rulers descend from the son of Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna of Russia
and Charles Frederick, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp, and thus they were no
longer Romanovs by patrilineage, but belonged to the Holstein-Gottorp
cadet branch of the German House of Oldenburg. In such genealogical
literature as the Almanach de Gotha, the name of Russia's ruling dynasty
from the time of Peter III is "Holstein-Gottorp-Romanov".
However, the name "Romanov" and "House of Romanov" were often used in
official references to the Russian imperial house. The coat of arms of
the Romanov boyars was included in legislation on the imperial dynasty,
and in 1913 there was an official jubilee celebrating the "300th
Anniversary of the Romanovs rule".
After the February
revolution all members of the imperial family were given the surname
"Romanov" by special decree of the Provisional Government of Russia. The
only exception were the morganatic descendants of the Grand Duke Dmitri
Pavlovich who, in exile, took the surname Il'insky
The Romanov Family Association:
http://www.romanovfamily.org/
The Imperial House of Russia:
http://www.imperialhouse.ru/eng/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
Part One: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id33.html
Part Two: http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id301.html
The Kingdom of Italy (Italian: Regno
d'Italia) was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under
the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal
predecessor state. It existed until 1946 when the Italians opted for a
republican constitution. Italy declared war on Austria in alliance with
Prussia in 1866: despite an unsuccessful campaign, it received the
region of Venice following Bismarck's victory. Italian troops entered
Rome in 1870, ending more than one thousand years of Papal temporal
power. Italy accepted Bismarck's proposal to enter in a Triple Alliance
with Germany and Austria in 1882, following strong disagreements with
France about the respective colonial expansions. However, even if
relations with Berlin became very friendly, the alliance with Vienna
remained purely formal. So, in 1915, Italy accepted the British
invitation to join the Allies in World War I because the western allies
promised territorial compensation (at the expense of Austria-Hungary)
for participation that were more generous than Vienna's offer in
exchange for Italian neutrality. Victory in the war gave Italy the
status of a major power, with a permanent seat in the Council of the
League of Nations.
The House of Savoy (Italian: Casa Savoia)
was formed in the early 11th century in the historical Savoy region.
Through gradual expansion, it grew from ruling a small county in that
region to eventually rule—through its branch Savoy-Carignano—the Kingdom
of Italy from 1861 until the end of World War II. The House of Savoy
ruled unified Italy for 85 years with Victor Emmanuel II, Umberto I,
Victor Emmanuel III, and Umberto II as monarchs.
The Family
Titles and Styles - The present members of this family bear the title
Prince or Princess of Savoy, together with the formal appellation of His
or Her Royal Highness.
Official website of the Prince of Naples:
http://savoia.blastness.com/home.htm
Official website of the Duke of Aosta:
http://realcasadisavoia.it/
Almanach de Saxe Gotha Page:
http://www.almanachdegotha.org/id18.html
