NEWS OCTOBER 29, 2011

Prince Nayef named new heir to Saudi throne

As interior minister for nearly four decades, Prince Nayef led a crackdown on Al-Qaeda. Seen as more conservative than the 87-year-old king, he likes to describe himself as a soldier under the command of the Saudi monarch.

British royal succession rules to change

If Wills and Kate have a girl first, she'll be queen! Commonwealth agrees historic change to give sex equality in Royal succession.

Centuries of British royal discrimination came to an end Friday after Commonwealth leaders agreed to drop rules that give sons precedence as heir to the throne and bar anyone in line for the crown from marrying a Roman Catholic.

The 16 countries that have Queen Elizabeth as their monarch agreed to the changes put forward by British Prime Minister David Cameron, who had called the rules of succession outdated.

"The idea that a younger son should become monarch instead of an elder daughter simply because he is a man, or that a future monarch can marry someone of any faith except a Catholic, this way of thinking is at odds with the modern countries that we've all become," Cameron told reporters.

Current succession rules dating back to 1688 and 1700 were designed to ensure a Protestant monarchy, and bar anyone in line to the throne from marrying a Catholic.

NEWS OCTOBER 22, 2011

CROWN PRINCE OF SAUDI ARABIA DIES

The Royal Saudi Court announced this Saturday the death of 85 year old Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud,Saudi Arabia’s deputy Prime Minister and minister of defense and aviation.

The crown prince was King Abdullah's half-brother and first in line to the Saudi throne. He was also minister of defense and aviation. He was in his eighties and was diagnosed with colon cancer in 2004. He is thought to have died at a New York hospital, Saturday October 22, 2011.  Prince Sultan had been on a visit to the US for medical tests, and he had an operation in New York in July.

A funeral prayer will be performed for the deceased Crown Prince after Asr prayer at Imam Turki bin Abdullah Mosque in Riyadh on Tuesday.”

Crown Prince Sultan was a member of the most powerful family group in Saudi Arabia, the Sudairi Seven, and one of the sons of the country's founder, King Abdulaziz, known as Ibn Saud.

Next in line

Prince Sultan's most likely successor as the next in line to the Saudi throne is Prince Nayef, 78, also a full brother of King Abdullah and one of the Sudairi Seven.

NEWS OCTOBER 17, 2011

Prime Minister Cameron Proposes Changes to Royal Succession 

David Cameron is set to give plans to change the laws of succession of the British Royal Family to the Commonwealth Countries.

Succession to the British throne is governed both by common law and statute. Under common law the crown is passed on by male-preference primogeniture^. In other words, an individual's male children are preferred over his or her female children, and an older child is preferred over a younger child of the same gender.

Any changes made to the succession law in the United Kingdom would not have effect in the other Commonwealth Realms, unless specifically enacted by the Parliaments thereof. The Commonwealth Realms, of which the United Kingdom is one, are independent nations, all under a single monarch.

The Act of Settlement has been around since 1701, and laid down the law for the succession of the monarchy in Great Britain and the Commonwealth Countries. This is the act which states that a Roman Catholic, or someone married to a Roman Catholic, cannot ascend the throne (for instance the Earl of St Andrews and Prince Michael of Kent have been removed from the succession, as they married Roman Catholics.)

The hot topic amongst British royal watchers going into this week is Prime Minister David Cameron’s October 12th reveal that he has proposed changes to 1701 Act of Succession, which determines the line of succession to the British throne.

The proposed changes would install equal primogeniture into the line of succession - meaning that a first-born child would be heir, regardless of gender - and would abolish the Catholic clause, which disbars those who marry a Catholic from retaining their place in the line of succession. Prime Minister Cameron has proposed these changes in anticipation of the recently married Duke and Duchess of Cambridge having children in the coming years - the changes, if passed, would allow the couple’s hypothetical first-born daughter to remain above a hypothetical second-born son in the line of succession.

Any change also requires the agreement of all 16 Commonwealth realms where Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state. They include: the UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, the Bahamas, Barbados, Grenada, Belize, St. Christopher and Nevis, St. Lucia, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and Papua New Guinea.

A decision is expected at a summit of Commonwealth leaders taking place in Australia later this month.

NEWS SEPTEMBER 28, 2011

NEWS SEPTEMBER 26, 2011

Saudi Monarch gives Women Right to Vote

For the first time in his Kingdom’s history, King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud has given Saudi women the right to participate in future municipal elections. The 87-year-old monarch made his announcement in his annual message at the Shura Council. He said, "Because we refuse to marginalize women in society in all roles that comply with sharia, we have decided, after deliberation with our senior ulama (clerics) and others... to involve women in the Shura Council as members, starting from the next term," he said in a speech delivered to the Shura Council.

"Women will be able to run as candidates in the municipal election and will even have a right to vote," he added.

 “Starting with the next term, women will have the right to run in municipal elections and to choose candidates, according to Islamic principles,” adding, “We have decided that women will participate in the Shura Council as members starting the next term.”

Activists in the country have long called for greater rights for women, who are barred from travelling, working or having medical operations without the permission of a male relative and are forbidden from driving

The next elections for the Shura Council, which is an advisory assembly, will take place in 2015.

 NEWS SEPTEMBER 06, 2011

Bhutan’s King Sets Date for Royal Wedding

The next royal wedding will take place on October 13th, it has been announced by the Bhutanese Royal Court.

The 31-year old His Majesty King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck will marry his commoner bride, Jetsun Puma, in a traditional ceremony in Punakha, before travelling to Thimphu, where the wedding celebrations will take place at the Changlingmithang Stadium on October 15th.

Wangchuck became king in June 2008 after the abdication of Jigme Singye Wangchuck and inherited the throne of a country that had just recently made the transition from an absolute monarchy to a democracy.

His father Jigme Singye Wangchuck - who himself acceded to the throne when aged only 16 - took great pains to ensure that Khesar was prepared to take over the throne before his abdication in December 2006.

Kingdom of Buthan Website: http://www.kingdomofbhutan.com/

 Styles:

§  1980-2004: His Royal Highness Dasho Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck

§  2004-2006: His Royal Highness Chhoetse Penlop Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck

§  2006-present: His Majesty Druk Gyalpo Jigme Khesar Namgyal Wangchuck , Mang-pos Bhur-ba'i rgyalpo, King of Bhutan

NEWS SEPTEMBER 04, 2011

PRINCESS LALLA AICHA OF MOROCCO DIES

On Sunday, September 04 2011, the Royal House of Morocco has announced the death of King Mohammed V´s aunt, HRH Princess Lalla Aicha of Morroco, at age 81.  Lalla Aicha was born on June 17, 1930 at the Royal Palace in Rabat. She was the eldest daughter of the late King Mohammed V of Morocco and Lalla Abla bint Tahar. After King Mohammed V´s death, her brother, the late King Hassan II, appointed her as Morocco´s Ambassador in the United Kingdom (1965-69), Greece (1969-70) and Italy (1970-73).  The funeral will take place today, September 5, 2011. Lalla Aicha will be buried at Moulay Al Hassan Mausoleum at the Royal Palace in Rabat.

NEWS AUGUST 27, 2011

Prince Georg Friedrich Ferdinand of Prussia marries Princess Sophie of Isenbur

Georg Friedrich Prince of Prussia, great-grandson of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and Princess Sophie von Isenburg were married in front of 650 guests at on the grounds of the Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam on Saturday for Germany's own "royal" wedding. An event that has rekindled German interest in the nation's long-defunct royals. Although the pair are not in line for the throne, Prince Georg Friedrich would Kaiser had his great-great grandfather not forced to abdicate in the wake of World War II.

The couple were married in a church in Potsdam, outside Berlin, the former seat of the prince's family that ruled much of Germany until the monarchy was abolished in 1918.

The event was broadcast live on local TV, although the couple is largely unknown. Both work as consultants in Berlin.

Germans view their own aristocrats skeptically, although many ardently follow the royal houses of their European neighbors.

July 4, 2011

OBITUARY:

Otto von Habsburg dies at 98

 

Otto von Habsburg, the oldest son of Austria-Hungary's last emperor and the longtime head of one of Europe's most influential families, died Monday, his spokeswoman said. He was 98.

Habsburg died in his sleep at his home in Poecking in southern Germany, where he had lived in exile since the 1950s. A longtime advocate of European reunification, he campaigned against communism and for the removal of the Iron Curtain.

Born in 1912 in what is now Austria, Habsburg witnessed the family's decline after the empire was dismantled and Austria became a republic following World War I. He became head of the family at his father's death in 1922 and continued to claim the throne until the 1960s.

In 1919, Charles and his family had to leave the country for what turned out to be permanent exile in various European countries. After his father's death in 1922, the 10-year-old Otto officially took over as the head of the House of Habsburg.

Otto tried to negotiate his return to Austria in 1935 and again in 1938 when he even sought to become chancellor to fight the expected invasion by Hitler's troops, but could not gather enough support.

Instead, he found a channel through the U.S. embassy in Paris to contact President Franklin D. Roosevelt and later claimed to have prevented Allied bombings of a number of Austrian cities by pleading with the U.S. military.

He was also credited with having helped about 15,000 Austrians escape the Nazis. At the same time, as he told the Austrian paper Die Presse in 2007, he negotiated Austria's postwar fate with Roosevelt, Winston Churchill and Charles de Gaulle.

Still, he was not allowed to return to Austria until 1966, five years after he officially abdicated the crown. He later claimed to be baffled by the hostility and criticism in his home country.

Habsburg's wife, Regina, died last year. The couple had seven children. Their eldest son, Karl, now runs the family's affairs and has been the official head of the House of Habsburg since 2007.

Habsburg will be buried July 16 in the Emperor Tomb in Vienna, below the Austrian capital's Capuchin Church.

 

 

April 29. 2011

Prince William and Kate Middleton have been given the titles of Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to mark their wedding today

 

 

 

NOBLE TITLES

 

Don Fernando Muñoz AlteaKing of Arms of The International Commission and Association on Nobility (TICAN) can certify your title of nobility. You must prove without doubt and present to him a document that testifies that you are descendant of such a title or titles. Please contact him directly: fm_altea@yahoo.com

 

 

News April 18, 2011

Princess Teresa of Orleans e Braganca died today in her 92th, She was a daughter of prince Dom Pedro de Alcantare de Orleans e Braganca, elder son of princess Isabel do Brasil, and countess Elisabeth Dobrzensky von Dobrzenicz.

The last remaining survivor among the grandchildren of the Princess Imperial of Brazil, Izabel, and her husband Gaston, Count 'Eu. Princess Teresa d'Orléans-Bragança (1919-2011) happened to be the aunt of many important European royals, among them: the Count of Paris, the Duchess of Württemberg, the Duchess of Calabria, the Duke of Bragança, and the Duchess of Segorbe (former wife of Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia).

News April 12, 2011

Swaziland pro-democracy protests meet tear gas and water cannon.

News December 20, 2010

 The Royal Wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton

The release continued: “Prince William has informed The Queen and other close members of his family. Prince William has also sought the permission of Miss Middleton’s father. Following the marriage, the couple will live in north Wales, where Prince William will continue to serve with the Royal Air Force.”

News November 11, 2010

ROYAL HOUSE OF BOURBON TWO SICILIES

SACRETED MILITARY CONSTATINIAN ORDER

Official visit to Trieste (Italy) and erection of the Order Representation

Dr. Prof. Aldo Colleoni presenting two books that he has published of the Royal House of Borbon Two Sicilies to His Royal Highness Prince Charles of Bourbon Two Sicilies, Duke of Castro, Head of the Royal House, Grand Master of the Royal Order of St Januarius., Grand Master of the Royal Order of Saint Ferdinand of Merit , Grand Master of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George, Grand Master of the Royal Order of Saint George of the Reunion and Grand Master of the Royal Order of Francis I.

News August 25, 2010

Prince Nikolaos' wedding

The 40-year-old royal - who is the second son and third child of King Constantine II of Greece and Queen Anne-Marie at the Church of Saint Nicholas on the beautiful Greek island of Spetses. The wedding of the son of the last Greek King Constantine, Nicholas Glucksburg, to his fiancée Tatiana, may not be a strictly “royal” affair. But its guest list certainly is.

Born in Venezuela and educated in Switzerland and the United States, the 29-year-old blonde has some royal blood since she is the granddaughter of Ellinka Countess von Einsiedel.

Nicolas and Tatiana met in 2003 during a ski vacation in the Swiss resort of Gstaad through mutual friends and were engaged last year.

Greek media reports that for the first time in years, the island visitor accommodation capacity has been exhausted since the European nobility has arrived in due time, in order to attend the scheduled event. Invitees include the former King’s sister, Queen Sophia of Spain while King Juan Carlos is scheduled to arrive an hour before the wedding on the 25th of August.

News August 2010

Duke of Parma Passes Away

Prince Carlos Hugo, the Duke of Parma, passed away Wednesday morning in Barcelona of prostate cancer. He was 80 years old.

The Duke, once a claimant to the Spanish throne, was married to Dutch Princess Irene, Queen Beatrix’s sister. It was a controversial union as Irene converted to Catholicism in order to marry Carlos Hugo. By doing so, the Princess lost any rights to the Dutch throne. During her wedding in Rome, none of her family members were present. The marriage lasted from 1964 to 1981.

Despite the divorce, the Duke continued to be a member of the Dutch royal family and even took part in some of their engagements.

Carlos Hugo and Irene had four children: Carlos age 40, the 37-year-old twins Margarita and Jaime, and Carolina who is 36.

News August 2010. Kindest information given by our dear friend Princess Amunh of the kingdom Teke.

Read more ...

2 - Interview to Eugenie Opou, President of the General Confederation Teke, (Congo- Brazzaville France).  The documentation center and archives Mbe receives the facsimile of the collar of the king Makoko.

Before South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994, some of the royals were appointed by the government despite having few legitimate claims to the throne. While the monarchies have little real political power, they remain important cultural figures, analysts say, and can act as arbiters in local disputes.

News June 24, 2919 - Prince Albert of Monaco getting married.

The royal palace says Prince Albert of Monaco is engaged to South African former swimmer Charlene Wittstock.

The couple have been dating since 2000 when she was in Monaco for a swimming competition. She moved into the palace in 2006. This will be a first marriage for Monaco's monarch, the son of the late film star Grace Kelly and the late Rainer III, Prince of Monaco.

The son of the late Hollywood star Grace Kelly has fathered a son and daughter out of wedlock, which makes them ineligible to take on any official role in the tiny principality. But Albert seemed so averse to committal that Monaco changed its constitution in 2002 to allow one of his sisters to take over the crown if he didn't produce an official heir. 

News April 18, 2010 - King Oyo is among the world's youngest reigning monarchs kings turned 18

 One of Uganda's last remaining kings turned 18 in a boisterous four-day ceremony that ended Sunday and allowed him to take full control of his kingdom in the western part of the country.

King Oyo is among the world's youngest reigning monarchs. He ascended to the throne at age 3 after his father died in 1995.

As a minor, kingdom officials had appointed a board of advisers to help him rule. The board was disbanded to mark his birthday, which means the teen can now make major kingdom decisions on his own without consulting with his advisers.

King Oyo serves as a figurehead for the Batooro people, who make up most of the kingdom. His roles include promoting cultural pride and helping raise funds for issues such as health and education in his kingdom. The teen also helps oversee tax money his kingdom gets from the Ugandan government.