1.
Coronation of the Russian monarch
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These elements remained, as Muscovy was transformed first into the Tsardom of Russia and then into the Russian Empire, until the abolition of the monarchy in 1917. As the church and state were one in Imperial Russia, this service invested the Tsars with political legitimacy, however. It was equally perceived as conferring a genuine spiritual benefit that mystically wedded sovereign to subjects, as such, it was similar in purpose to other European coronation ceremonies from the medieval era. Even when the capital was located at St. Petersburg. The last coronation service in Russia was held on 26 May 1896 for Nicholas II and his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, the Russian Imperial regalia survived the subsequent Russian Revolution and the Communist period, and are currently on exhibit in a museum at the Kremlin Armoury. Starting with the reign of Ivan IV, the ruler of Russia was known as Tsar rather than Grand Prince and this continued until 1721, during the reign of Peter I, when the title was formally changed to Imperator. However, the term Tsar remained the title for the Russian ruler despite the formal change of style, thus this article utilizes that term. In medieval Europe, the anointed Christian ruler was viewed as a persona, part priest and part layman. The Russian Orthodox Church considered the Tsar to be wedded to his subjects in the Orthodox coronation service, sacred and secular, church and state, God and government were all welded together by the coronation service in the person of the anointed Tsar—or so many Russians believed. Since the newly ascended sovereign was permitted all the privileges of rule immediately upon his accession, instead, one or more years might be permitted to elapse between the initial accession of a Tsar and the ceremony itself. This allowed the court to finish its mourning for the new sovereigns predecessor, as in most European monarchies, the Tsars of Russia retained a sizable collection of Imperial regalia, some of which was used in their coronation ceremonies. Although Russian legend held that it had given to Vladimir Monomakh by the Byzantine emperor Constantine IX. Peters wife, who succeeded him as Catherine I, was the first to wear this type of diadem. 72-carat red spinel from China, the crown was produced in a record two months and weighted only 2.3 kg. This crown was used in all coronations from Paul I to Nicholas II—although the latter tried to replace it with Monomakhs Crown for his ceremony. It survived the subsequent revolution, and is considered to be one of the treasures of the Romanov dynasty. The Silk Imperial Crown of Russia was a coronation gift of the Russian Empire at the coronation of Nicholas II. Nicholas II was the first and only monarch to be presented with such a coronation gift. It was not intended as ceremonial regalia, but as private Imperial property as a memento to his coronation event, a smaller crown, virtually identical in appearance and workmanship to the Great Imperial Crown, was manufactured for the crowning of the Tsars consort
2.
Yellow Mansion, Copenhagen
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The Yellow Palace, or Bergums Mansion, is a mansion in Amaliegade next to Amalienborg Palace in the Frederiksstaden district of Copenhagen, Denmark. It is considered the first example of Neoclassical architecture in Copenhagen, the mansion was built as a burghers house but was acquired by the Danish Royal Family. Today the building is owned by the Danish Palaces and Properties Agency, when Frederiksstaden was laid around 1748, it was envisioned as a uniform Rococo district. All new buildings had to comply with certain guidelines stipulated by Nicolai Eigtved, after Eigtveds death in 1754 they were in principle upheld but as fashions changed they were somewhat relaxed. The Yellow Mansion was built from 1759 to 1764 for the timber merchant H. F. Bargum, the architect was Nicolas-Henri Jardin and he designed it in the Neoclassical style. King Frederick VI purchased the mansion in 1810 to use it as a guest residence for visiting the royal family. In 1837, King Frederik VII handed the property over to his nephew Prince Christian of Glücksborg who had just arrived in Copenhagen from Germany, at this stage no one knew that he was later to become Christian IX as the first Glücksburg king of Denmark. Prince Christian took up residence in the mansion and lived there until 1865 when he had become king, later Prince Valdemar lived in the Yellow Palace until his death in 1939 as its last royal resident. The building has been described as the first neoclassic building in Copenhagen, the site also includes Garderstalden, which was built in 1842 to designs by Jørgen Hansen Koch. It was used both for Christians af Glücksborgs s horses and those of the horses of the Royal Guards who were on duty at the mansion, in 1923 the roof was converted into a Mansard roof with accommodation on the upper floor. The building was renovated and adapted by Bertelsen & Schewing in 2013 and it contains administration in the ground floor and apartments on the upper floor
3.
Copenhagen
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Copenhagen, Danish, København, Latin, Hafnia) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark. Copenhagen has an population of 1,280,371. The Copenhagen metropolitan area has just over 2 million inhabitants, the city is situated on the eastern coast of the island of Zealand, another small portion of the city is located on Amager, and is separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the strait of Øresund. The Øresund Bridge connects the two cities by rail and road, originally a Viking fishing village founded in the 10th century, Copenhagen became the capital of Denmark in the early 15th century. Beginning in the 17th century it consolidated its position as a centre of power with its institutions, defences. After suffering from the effects of plague and fire in the 18th century and this included construction of the prestigious district of Frederiksstaden and founding of such cultural institutions as the Royal Theatre and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts. Later, following the Second World War, the Finger Plan fostered the development of housing, since the turn of the 21st century, Copenhagen has seen strong urban and cultural development, facilitated by investment in its institutions and infrastructure. The city is the cultural, economic and governmental centre of Denmark, Copenhagens economy has seen rapid developments in the service sector, especially through initiatives in information technology, pharmaceuticals and clean technology. Since the completion of the Øresund Bridge, Copenhagen has become integrated with the Swedish province of Scania and its largest city, Malmö. With a number of connecting the various districts, the cityscape is characterized by parks, promenades. Copenhagen is home to the University of Copenhagen, the Technical University of Denmark, the University of Copenhagen, founded in 1479, is the oldest university in Denmark. Copenhagen is home to the FC København and Brøndby football clubs, the annual Copenhagen Marathon was established in 1980. Copenhagen is one of the most bicycle-friendly cities in the world, the Copenhagen Metro serves central Copenhagen while the Copenhagen S-train network connects central Copenhagen to its outlying boroughs. Serving roughly 2 million passengers a month, Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, is the largest airport in the Nordic countries, the name of the city reflects its origin as a harbour and a place of commerce. The original designation, from which the contemporary Danish name derives, was Køpmannæhafn, meaning merchants harbour, the literal English translation would be Chapmans haven. The English name for the city was adapted from its Low German name, the abbreviations Kbh. or Kbhvn are often used in Danish for København, and kbh. for københavnsk. The chemical element hafnium is named for Copenhagen, where it was discovered, the bacterium Hafnia is also named after Copenhagen, Vagn Møller of the State Serum Institute in Copenhagen named it in 1954. Excavations in Pilestræde have also led to the discovery of a well from the late 12th century, the remains of an ancient church, with graves dating to the 11th century, have been unearthed near where Strøget meets Rådhuspladsen
4.
Klampenborg
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Klampenborg is a northern suburb to Copenhagen, Denmark. It is located in Gentofte Municipality, directly on Øresund, between Taarbæk and Skovshoved, like other neighbourhoods along the Øresund coast, Klampenborg is an affluent area with many large houses. Klampenborg is known for a cluster of building projects by the Functionalist Danish architect Arne Jacobsen and these include Bellevue Beach, the Bellavista housing estate and the Bellevue Theatre, all completed between 1932–36 as some of the earliest Danish examples of Modernism. The area also includes a Jacobsen-designed restaurant, now called Jacobsen, Klampenborg is also the main gateway to the extensive Deer Garden forest park, one of the most popular natural areas in the Copenhagen area, known for its large deer population and ancient oak trees. The entrance, one of many, is located next to Klampenborg Station and is marked by a red-painted wooden gate. In connection with the lies the oldest operating amusement park in the world, Dyrehavsbakken
5.
Roskilde Cathedral
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Roskilde Cathedral, in the city of Roskilde on the island of Zealand in eastern Denmark, is a cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Denmark. The first Gothic cathedral to be built of brick, it encouraged the spread of the Brick Gothic style throughout Northern Europe, constructed during the 12th and 13th centuries, the cathedral incorporates both Gothic and Romanesque architectural features in its design. Until the 20th century, it was Zealands only cathedral and its twin spires dominate the skyline of the town. The cathedral has been the burial site for Danish monarchs since the 15th century. As such, it has significantly extended and altered over the centuries to accommodate a considerable number of burial chapels. Following the Danish Reformation in 1536, the residence was moved to Copenhagen while the title was changed to Bishop of Zealand. Coronations normally took place in Copenhagens Church of Our Lady or in the chapel of Frederiksborg Palace, the cathedral is a major tourist attraction, bringing in over 125,000 visitors annually. Since 1995, it has listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. A working church, it hosts concerts throughout the year. Roskilde was named the new capital of Denmark by King Harald Bluetooth around the year 960, moving to Roskilde, Bluetooth built a royal farm and next to it, a small stave church, dedicated to the Holy Trinity. Little is known of the Trinity Church, let alone its architecture, in Adam of Bremens Gesta Hammaburgensis ecclesiae pontificum, there is an account of how the kings son, Sweyn Forkbeard, raised a rebellion against him, forcing him to flee to Jomsborg. When Bluetooth died in 985/986, the army that had raised against him brought his body to Roskilde. At Christmas in 1026, Ulf the Earl was murdered by one of Cnut the Greats housecarls, though the sources differ, this happened either inside the church or at the royal farm. Ulf had been married to Cnut the Greats sister Estrid, who was outraged by the murder, there is some doubt as to when Roskilde became the seat of the Bishop of Roskilde. When Sweyn Forkbeard conquered England in 1013, he began sending English bishops to Denmark and this caused some conflict with the Archbishop of Hamburg, who regarded Scandinavia as belonging to the Archdiocese of Bremen. The earliest known bishop of Roskilde was Gerbrand, who had been a cleric with Cnut the Great, only after swearing allegiance to the archbishop was he allowed to continue his journey. The archbishop may have had reason to be suspicious, as documents of the time suggest that Cnut the Great may have planned to create an archdiocese in Roskilde. Funded by the weregild Estrid Svendsdatter had received, the old Trinity Church was torn down and this may have formed the base of the later travertine cathedral, but it is difficult to tell, as two cathedrals have subsequently been built on the same site
6.
Roskilde
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Roskilde, located 30 km west of Copenhagen on the Danish island of Zealand, is the main city in Roskilde Municipality. With a population of 50,046, the city is a business and educational centre for the region, Roskilde is governed by the administrative council of Roskilde Municipality. Roskilde has a history, dating from the pre-Christian Viking Age. Its UNESCO-listed Gothic cathedral, now housing 39 tombs of the Danish monarchs, was completed in 1275, among the largest private sector employers today are the IT firm BEC and GPI, specializing in plastics. The Risø research facility is becoming a major employer, extending interest in sustainable energy to the clean technology sphere. The local university, founded in 1972, the historic Cathedral School, Roskilde has a large local hospital which has been expanded and modernized since it was opened in 1855. It is now active in the research sphere. The Sankt Hans psychiatric hospital serves the Capital Region with specialized facilities for forensic psychiatry, the cathedral and the Viking Ship Museum, which contains the well-preserved remains of five 11th-century ships, attract more than 100,000 visitors annually. The city is home to the FC Roskilde football club play in the Danish 1st Division, the Roskilde Vikings RK rugby club. In the 1970s, the city benefited from the opening of the university, Roskilde has the oldest operational railway station in Denmark, with connections across Zealand as well as with Falster, Lolland, and Jutland. The local airport opened in 1973, mainly serving light aircraft for business use, from the 11th century until 1443, it was the capital of Denmark. By the Middle Ages, with the support of kings and bishops, the Saxo Grammaticus and other early sources associate the name Roskilde with the legendary King Roar who possibly lived there in the 6th century. According to Adam of Bremen and the Saxo Grammaticus, Roskilde was founded in the 980s by Harald Bluetooth, on high ground above the harbour, he built a wooden church consecrated to the Holy Trinity as well as a royal residence nearby. Although no traces of buildings have been discovered, in 1997 archaeologists found the remains of Viking ships in the Isefjord. At the time, there were two churches in the area, St Jørgensbjerg, an early stone church, and a wooden church discovered under todays St Ibs Church. Harald was buried in the church he had built on the site of todays Roskilde Cathedral. In 1020, King Canute elevated Roskilde to a bishopric, giving it high national status, absalon, the Danish bishop, had a brick church built on the site of Haralds church in 1170. Todays cathedral was completed in 1275 after five of Absalons successors had contributed to its construction, as a result of Absalons influence, many other churches were built in the vicinity, making Roskilde the most important town in Zealand
7.
Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral, Saint Petersburg
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The Peter and Paul Cathedral is a Russian Orthodox cathedral located inside the Peter and Paul Fortress in St. Petersburg, Russia. It is the first and oldest landmark in St. Petersburg, both the cathedral and the fortress were originally built under Peter the Great and designed by Domenico Trezzini. The cathedrals bell tower is the worlds tallest Orthodox bell tower, since the belfry is not standalone, but an integral part of the main building, the cathedral is sometimes considered the highest Orthodox Church in the world. There is another Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul Church in St. Petersburg, the current building, the first stone church in St. Petersburg, was designed by Trezzini and built between 1712 and 1733. Its gold-painted spire reaches a height of 123 metres and features at its top an angel holding a cross and this angel is one of the most important symbols of St. Petersburg. The cathedrals architecture also features a unique iconostasis, however, at St. Peter and Paul, the iconostasis rises to form a sort of tower over the sanctuary. The cathedral has a typical Flemish carillon, a gift of the Flemish city of Mechelen, the cathedral is dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, the patron saints of the fortress. The current cathedral is the one on the site. The first, built soon after Peters founding of the city, was consecrated by Archbishop Iov of Novgorod the Great in April 1704, the cathedral was the cathedral church of the city until 1859 The current cathedral church of St. Petersburg is the Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospect. The cathedral was closed in 1919 and turned into a museum in 1924 and it is still officially a museum, religious services, however, resumed in 2000. The cathedral houses the remains of almost all the Russian emperors and empresses from Peter the Great to Nicholas II and his family, among the emperors and empresses buried here was Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia for 34 years. Of the post-Petrine rulers, only Peter II and Ivan VI are not buried here, Peter II is buried in the Cathedral of Michael the Archangel in the Moscow Kremlin, Ivan VI was executed and buried in the fortress of Shlisselburg or Kholmogory. On September 28,2006,78 years after her death, Maria Feodorovna, Empress of Russia, was reinterred in the Cathedral of St Peter and Paul. Wife of Tsar Alexander III, and mother of Nicholas II, in 2005, the governments of Denmark and Russia agreed that the empresss remains should be returned to Saint Petersburg in accordance with her wish to be interred next to her husband. The bell tower is the dominant feature of cathedral and the fortress. It serves several functions as part of the structure, It is an architectural symbol and it is a part of the imperial tomb - the tombs are on the ground floor. It is a lightning rod protecting the cathedral and it is a viewing platform upon which excursions meet each hour from 12,00 till 18,00. It houses a carillon upon which concerts are periodically performed, when renovators were cleaning the angel on the spire in 1997, they found a note in a bottle left in one of the folds of the angels gown
8.
Saint Petersburg
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Saint Petersburg is Russias second-largest city after Moscow, with five million inhabitants in 2012, and an important Russian port on the Baltic Sea. It is politically incorporated as a federal subject, situated on the Neva River, at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea, it was founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 271703. In 1914, the name was changed from Saint Petersburg to Petrograd, in 1924 to Leningrad, between 1713 and 1728 and 1732–1918, Saint Petersburg was the capital of imperial Russia. In 1918, the government bodies moved to Moscow. Saint Petersburg is one of the cities of Russia, as well as its cultural capital. The Historic Centre of Saint Petersburg and Related Groups of Monuments constitute a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Saint Petersburg is home to The Hermitage, one of the largest art museums in the world. A large number of consulates, international corporations, banks. Swedish colonists built Nyenskans, a fortress, at the mouth of the Neva River in 1611, in a then called Ingermanland. A small town called Nyen grew up around it, Peter the Great was interested in seafaring and maritime affairs, and he intended to have Russia gain a seaport in order to be able to trade with other maritime nations. He needed a better seaport than Arkhangelsk, which was on the White Sea to the north, on May 1703121703, during the Great Northern War, Peter the Great captured Nyenskans, and soon replaced the fortress. On May 271703, closer to the estuary 5 km inland from the gulf), on Zayachy Island, he laid down the Peter and Paul Fortress, which became the first brick and stone building of the new city. The city was built by conscripted peasants from all over Russia, tens of thousands of serfs died building the city. Later, the city became the centre of the Saint Petersburg Governorate, Peter moved the capital from Moscow to Saint Petersburg in 1712,9 years before the Treaty of Nystad of 1721 ended the war, he referred to Saint Petersburg as the capital as early as 1704. During its first few years, the city developed around Trinity Square on the bank of the Neva, near the Peter. However, Saint Petersburg soon started to be built out according to a plan, by 1716 the Swiss Italian Domenico Trezzini had elaborated a project whereby the city centre would be located on Vasilyevsky Island and shaped by a rectangular grid of canals. The project was not completed, but is evident in the layout of the streets, in 1716, Peter the Great appointed French Jean-Baptiste Alexandre Le Blond as the chief architect of Saint Petersburg. In 1724 the Academy of Sciences, University and Academic Gymnasium were established in Saint Petersburg by Peter the Great, in 1725, Peter died at the age of fifty-two. His endeavours to modernize Russia had met opposition from the Russian nobility—resulting in several attempts on his life
9.
Alexander III of Russia
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Alexander III was the Emperor of Russia, King of Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 13 March 1881 until his death on 1 November 1894. He was highly conservative and reversed some of the reforms of his father, Alexander II. During Alexanders reign Russia fought no wars, for which he was styled The Peacemaker. Although an enthusiastic amateur musician and patron of the ballet, Alexander was seen as lacking refinement, indeed, he rather relished the idea of being of the same rough texture as some of his subjects. His education was not such as to soften these peculiarities, more than six feet tall, he was also noted for his immense physical strength. A sebaceous cyst on the side of his nose caused him to be mocked by some of his contemporaries. I was struck by the size of the man, and although cumbersome and heavy, there was indeed something of the muzhik about him. The look of his eyes made quite an impression on me. As he passed where I was standing, he raised his head for a second and it was a look as cold as steel, in which there was something threatening, even frightening, and it struck me like a blow. The look of a man who stood above all others, but who carried a burden and who every minute had to fear for his life. In later years I came into contact with the Emperor on several occasions, in more ordinary cases Tsar Alexander III could be at once kind, simple, and even almost homely. Great solicitude was devoted to the education of Nicholas as tsesarevich and this included acquaintance with French, English and German, and military drill. Pobedonostsev instilled into the mans mind the belief that zeal for Russian Orthodox thought was an essential factor of Russian patriotism to be cultivated by every right-minded emperor. On his deathbed the previous tsesarevich was said to have expressed the wish that his fiancée, Princess Dagmar of Denmark, the union proved a happy one to the end, unlike his fathers, there was no adultery in his marriage. The couple spent their night at the Tsesarevichs private dacha known as My Property. To the scandal of many at court, including the Tsesarevich himself, on 1 March 1881 Alexanders father, Alexander II, was assassinated by members of the terrorist organization Narodnaya Volya. As a result, he ascended to the Russian imperial throne in Nennal on 13 March 1881 and he and Maria Feodorovna were officially crowned and anointed on 27 May 1883. On the day of his assassination Alexander II had signed an ukaz setting up commissions to advise the monarch
10.
Nicholas II of Russia
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Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia, ruling from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917. His reign saw the fall of the Russian Empire from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic, Soviet historiography portrayed Nicholas as a weak and incompetent leader, whose decisions led to military defeats and the deaths of millions of his subjects. The Anglo-Russian Entente, designed to counter German attempts to influence in the Middle East. Nicholas approved the Russian mobilisation on 30 July 1914, which led to Germany declaring war on Russia on 1 August 1914 and it is estimated that around 3,300,000 Russians were killed in World War I. Following the February Revolution of 1917, Nicholas abdicated on behalf of himself and his son, Nicholas, the recovered remains of the Imperial Family were finally re-interred in St. Petersburg, eighty years to the day on 17 July 1998. In 1981, Nicholas, his wife and their children were canonized as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, located in New York City. On 15 August 2000 Nicholas and his family were canonized as passion bearers, Nicholas was born in the Alexander Palace in Saint Petersburg, Russian Empire, the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia. He had five siblings, Alexander, George, Xenia, Michael. Nicholas often referred to his father nostalgically in letters after Alexanders death in 1894 and he was also very close to his mother, as revealed in their published letters to each other. His paternal grandparents were Emperor Alexander II and Empress Maria Alexandrovna of Russia and his maternal grandparents were King Christian IX and Queen Louise of Denmark. Nicholas was of primarily German and Danish descent, his last ethnically Russian ancestor being Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna, Nicholas was related to several monarchs in Europe. His mothers siblings included Kings Frederik VIII of Denmark and George I of Greece, Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany were all first cousins of King George V of the United Kingdom. Nicholas was also a first cousin of both King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway, as well as King Constantine I of Greece, Tsar Nicholas II was the first cousin-once-removed of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich. To distinguish between them the Grand Duke was often known within the Imperial family as Nikolasha and Nicholas the Tall, while the Tsar was Nicholas the Short. In his childhood, Nicholas, his parents and siblings made annual visits to the Danish royal palaces of Fredensborg and Bernstorff to visit his grandparents, the king and queen. The visits also served as family reunions, as his mothers siblings would come from the United Kingdom, Germany. It was there in 1883, that he had a flirtation with one of his English first cousins, in 1873, Nicholas also accompanied his parents and younger brother, two-year-old George, on a two-month, semi-official visit to England. In London, Nicholas and his family stayed at Marlborough House, as guests of his Uncle Bertie and Aunt Alix, the Prince and Princess of Wales, where he was spoiled by his uncle
11.
Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia
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Grand Duke George Alexandrovich of Russia, was the third son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Marie of Russia. At times he was referred to by his relatives as weeping willow and was a beloved member of the imperial family. George was named after his mothers brother, King George I of Greece. As an infant, he was stronger and healthier than his brother Nicholas and he could be described as a typical Romanov. George was tall, unlike his elder brother Nicholas, handsome and he was always getting into mischief and, because his mother had a great weakness for him, getting away with it. Like his siblings, he was brought up in a fashion in the English manner. They slept on beds, rose at six and took a cold bath. Breakfast was usually porridge and black bread, mutton cutlets or roast beef with peas and baked potatoes were served for lunch, bread, butter, Nicholas and George had a sitting-room, dining-room, play-room and bedroom, all simply furnished. The only trace of ostentation was an icon surrounded by pearls, Georges mother taught him that family life was important. Because of his parents marriage, he was brought up in an atmosphere of love. On 27 May 1883, Georges parents were crowned in a magnificent ceremony in the Uspensky Cathedral in the Kremlin in Moscow, the Emperor and Empress received the homage of the Imperial Family, including their sons, Nicholas and George, both in uniform. It was an occasion in the life of the young Grand Duke. The family lived mostly in the security of the palace at Gatchina, George was considered to be the cleverest of the Imperial children. He was also outgoing, like his mother, George and Nicholas shared the same tutors, but studied in adjoining rooms. They followed the course of the Academy of the Russian General Staff and their English teacher, Charles Heath, had once been tutor to their uncles, Grand Dukes Sergei and Pavel. Both brothers spoke and wrote faultless English, from Mr. Heath they acquired a love of sport, particularly shooting and fly-fishing. They also spoke fluent French and passable German and Danish, George displayed signs of a promising career in the Navy before falling ill with tuberculosis in 1890. The Emperor and Empress both decided to send Nicholas and George on a trip to Japan in 1890
12.
Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia
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Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia was the elder daughter and fourth child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and the sister of Emperor Nicholas II. She married a cousin, Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, during her brothers reign she recorded in her diary and letters increasing concern about his rule. After the fall of the monarchy in February 1917 she fled Russia, Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna was born on 6 April 1875 at Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg. She was the elder daughter among the six children of Alexander III of Russia, after the assassination of her paternal grandfather Tsar Alexander II of Russia, when Xenia was six years old, her father Alexander III ascended to the Russian throne in 1881. It was a difficult time, plagued with terrorist threats. Xenia and her siblings were raised there with simplicity. As a child, Xenia was a tomboy and was very shy, Xenia, like her brothers, received her education from private tutors. A special emphasis was laid on the study of foreign languages, apart from her native Russian, Xenia studied English, French and German. Xenia learnt cookery, joinery and making puppets and their clothes for their theatre and she also enjoyed riding and fishing in the nearby river on the Gatchina estate, drawing, gymnastics, dancing and playing the piano. Her entire family enjoyed family holidays at the home of her Danish maternal grandparents and it was on such a visit that she met her cousin and lifelong friend, Princess Marie of Greece, daughter of King George I of Greece and his Russian born wife, Queen Olga. The Danish composer, Valdemar Vater, paid Xenia a tribute by writing the Polka Mazurka, Xenia and her paternal first cousin once removed Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia, her eventual husband, played together as friends in the 1880s. Alexander, usually called Sandro, was also a friend of her brother Nicholas, in 1886, 20-year-old Alexander was serving in the navy. Eleven-year-old Xenia sent him a card when his ship was in Brazil, Best wishes, in 1889, Alexander wrote of Xenia, She is fourteen. At age 15, though Xenia and Alexander wanted to marry, her parents were reluctant to trust because Xenia was too young, the Tsarina Maria Fyodorovna had complained of Alexanders arrogance and rudeness. It was not until 12 January 1894 that Xenias parents accepted the engagement after Alexanders father, the couple finally wed on 6 August 1894 at SS Peter & Paul Chapel of the Peterhof Palace. Xenias younger sister, Olga, wrote about the joy of her wedding and it was the last time I ever saw him like that. They spent their night at Ropsha Palace, and their honeymoon at Ai-Todor. During the honeymoon, Xenias father, Alexander III, became ill and her eldest brother on the death of her father had inherited the crown and became the new Tsar Nicholas II
13.
Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia
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Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich of Russia was the youngest son and fifth child of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and youngest brother of Nicholas II. At the time of his birth, his paternal grandfather Alexander II was still the reigning Emperor of All the Russias, Michael was fourth-in-line to the throne after his father and elder brothers Nicholas and George. After the assassination of his grandfather in 1881, he became third-in-line and, in 1894 after the death of his father, George died in 1899, leaving Michael as heir presumptive. The birth of Nicholass son Alexei in 1904 moved Michael back to second-in-line, Michael caused a commotion at the imperial court when he took Natalia Sergeyevna Wulfert, a married woman, as a lover. Nicholas sent Michael to Orel to avoid scandal but this did not deter Michael, after the couples only child, George, was born in 1910, Michael brought Natalia to St. Petersburg where she was shunned by society. In 1912, Michael shocked Nicholas by marrying Natalia in the hope that he would be removed from the line of succession, Michael and Natalia left Russia to exile abroad in France, Switzerland and England. After the outbreak of World War I, Michael returned to Russia, when Nicholas abdicated on 15 March 1917, Michael was named as his successor instead of Alexei. Michael, however, deferred acceptance of the throne until ratification by an elected assembly and he was never confirmed as Emperor and, following the Russian Revolution of 1917, he was imprisoned and murdered. Michael was born at Anichkov Palace on Nevsky Prospekt in Saint Petersburg as the youngest son and penultimate child of Tsarevitch Alexander of Russia and his wife and his maternal grandparents were King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. His paternal grandmother Empress Maria Alexandrovna died before his second birthday and his paternal grandfather, Emperor Alexander II of Russia, was assassinated on 1 March 1881 and, as a result, Michaels parents became Emperor and Empress of All the Russias before his third birthday. Michael was raised in the company of his sister, Olga. Conditions in the nursery were modest, even spartan, the children slept on hard camp beds, rose at dawn, washed in cold water and ate a simple porridge for breakfast. Michael, like his siblings, was taught by tutors and was cared for by an English nanny. Michael and Olga frequently went on hikes in the forests around Gatchina with their father, physical activities such as equestrianism were also taught at an early age, as was religious observance. Though Christmas and Easter were times of celebration and extravagance, Lent was strictly observed—meat, dairy products, family holidays were taken in the summer at Peterhof Palace and with Michaels grandparents in Denmark. Michael was almost 16 when his father fell ill, the annual trip to Denmark was cancelled. On 1 November 1894, Alexander III died at the age of 49. Michaels eldest brother, Nicholas, became Tsar, and Michaels childhood was effectively over, Michaels mother, Dowager Empress Marie, moved back to Anichkov Palace with Michael and Olga
14.
Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia
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Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna of Russia was the youngest child and younger daughter of Emperor Alexander III of Russia and younger sister of Tsar Nicholas II. She was raised at the Gatchina Palace outside Saint Petersburg, Olgas relationship with her mother, Empress Marie, the daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark, was strained and distant from childhood. In contrast, she and her father were close and he died when she was 12, and her brother Nicholas became emperor. In 1901, she married Duke Peter Alexandrovich of Oldenburg, who was believed by family. Their marriage of 15 years remained unconsummated, and Peter at first refused Olgas request for a divorce, the couple led separate lives and their marriage was eventually annulled by the Emperor in October 1916. The following month Olga married cavalry officer Nikolai Kulikovsky, with whom she had fallen in love several years before, during the First World War, the Grand Duchess served as an army nurse at the front and was awarded a medal for personal gallantry. At the downfall of the Romanovs in the Russian Revolution of 1917, she fled to the Crimea with her husband and children and her brother and his family were shot by revolutionaries. Olga escaped revolutionary Russia with her husband and their two sons in February 1920. They joined her mother, the Dowager Empress, in Denmark, in exile, Olga acted as companion and secretary to her mother, and was often sought out by Romanov impostors who claimed to be her dead relatives. She met Anna Anderson, the impostor, in Berlin in 1925. After the Dowager Empresss death in 1928, Olga and her husband purchased a farm in Ballerup. She led a life, raising her two sons, working on the farm and painting. During her lifetime, she painted over 2,000 works of art, in 1948, feeling threatened by Joseph Stalins regime, Olga emigrated with her immediate family to a farm in Ontario, Canada. With advancing age, Olga and her husband moved to a bungalow near Cooksville, Colonel Kulikovsky died there in 1958. Two years later, as her health deteriorated, Olga moved with devoted friends to an apartment in East Toronto. She died aged 78, seven months after her older sister, at the end of her life and afterwards, Olga was widely labeled the last Grand Duchess of Imperial Russia. Olga was the youngest daughter of Tsar Alexander III and his consort, Marie Feodorovna and she was born in the purple, i. e. during her fathers reign, on 13 June 1882 in the Peterhof Palace, west of central Saint Petersburg. Her birth was announced by a traditional 101-gun salute from the ramparts of the Peter and Paul Fortress and her mother, advised by her sister, Alexandra, Princess of Wales, placed Olga in the care of an English nanny, Elizabeth Franklin
15.
Dynasty
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A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a house, historians periodize the histories of many sovereign states, such as Ancient Egypt, the Carolingian Empire and Imperial China, using a framework of successive dynasties. As such, the dynasty may be used to delimit the era during which the family reigned and to describe events, trends. The word dynasty itself is often dropped from such adjectival references, until the 19th century, it was taken for granted that a legitimate function of a monarch was to aggrandize his dynasty, that is, to increase the territory, wealth, and power of his family members. The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. Succession through a daughter when permitted was considered to establish a new dynasty in her husbands ruling house, however, some states in Africa, determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mothers dynasty when coming into her inheritance. It is also extended to unrelated people such as poets of the same school or various rosters of a single sports team. The word dynasty derives via Latin dynastia from Greek dynastéia, where it referred to power, dominion and it was the abstract noun of dynástēs, the agent noun of dynamis, power or ability, from dýnamai, to be able. A ruler in a dynasty is referred to as a dynast. For example, following his abdication, Edward VIII of the United Kingdom ceased to be a member of the House of Windsor. A dynastic marriage is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, the marriage of Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange, to Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child is expected to inherit the Dutch crown eventually. But the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso to Mabel Wisse Smit in 2003 lacked government support, thus Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession, lost his title as a Prince of the Netherlands, and left his children without dynastic rights. In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a dynast is a member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchys rules still in force. Even since abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Max and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. The term dynast is sometimes used only to refer to descendants of a realms monarchs. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people, yet he is not a male-line member of the royal family, and is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor. Thus, in 1999 he requested and obtained permission from Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco. Yet a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time and that exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Catholic
16.
Christian IX of Denmark
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Christian IX was King of Denmark from 1863 to 1906. From 1863 to 1864, he was concurrently Duke of Schleswig, Holstein, however, in 1852, Christian was chosen as heir to the Danish monarchy in light of the expected extinction of the senior line of the House of Oldenburg. Upon the death of King Frederick VII of Denmark in 1863, Christian married his second cousin, Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, in 1842. Their six children married into royal families across Europe, earning him the sobriquet the father-in-law of Europe. The British consort Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is also a descendant of Christian IX, as are Michael I of Romania and Constantine II of Greece. Also, the queens consort Anne of Romania, Anne-Marie of Greece and he was named after Prince Christian of Denmark, the later King Christian VIII, who was also his godfather. Christians father was the head of the house of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck. As such, Christian was eligible to succeed in the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. Initially, Christian lived with his parents and many siblings at Gottorf Castle, however, on 6 June 1825, Duke Friedrich Wilhelm was appointed Duke of Glücksburg by his brother-in-law Frederick VI of Denmark, as the elder Glücksburg line had become extinct in 1779. He subsequently changed his title to Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and founded the younger Glücksburg line, subsequently, the family moved to Glücksburg Castle, where Christian was raised with his siblings under their fathers supervision. Following the early death of the father in 1831, Christian grew up in Denmark and was educated in the Military Academy of Copenhagen, as a young man, Christian unsuccessfully sought the hand of his third cousin, Queen Victoria, in marriage. At the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on 26 May 1842, he married his cousin, Louise of Hesse-Kassel. A justification for this choice was his marriage to Louise of Hesse-Kassel, Frederick VIIs childlessness had presented a thorny dilemma and the question of succession to the Danish throne proved problematic. Denmarks adherence to the Salic Law and a burgeoning nationalism within the German-speaking parts of Schleswig-Holstein hindered all hopes of a peaceful solution, proposed resolutions to keep the two Duchies together and part of Denmark proved unsatisfactory to both Danish and German interests. While Denmark had adopted the Salic Law, this affected the descendants of Frederick III of Denmark. Agnatic descent from Frederick III would end with the death of the childless King Frederick VII and his childless uncle. At that point, the law of succession promulgated by Frederick III provided for a Semi-Salic succession, as the nations of Europe looked on, the numerous descendants of Helvig of Schauenburg began to vie for the Danish throne. Frederick VII belonged to the branch of Helvigs descendants
17.
Louise of Hesse-Kassel
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Louise of Hesse-Kassel was Queen of Denmark as the wife of King Christian IX of Denmark. Louise of Hesse was a descendant of an ancient German princely family, the Landgraves of Hesse and she was a daughter of Prince William of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Charlotte of Denmark. Her mother, a princess of Denmark, saw her become the countrys queen, as children, her brother Frederik Wilhelm, her sisters and she were the closest relatives of King Christian VIII who were likely to produce heirs. It was easy to see that the succession from King Frederick III of Denmark would probably become extinct within a generation. Louise was one of the descended from Frederick III of Denmark. Louise was married at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on 26 May 1842 to her second cousin Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg and he was soon selected as hereditary prince of Denmark and later ascended the throne of Denmark as King Christian IX. Louise and Christian lived a family life. Louises mother and siblings renounced their rights to the Danish throne to her, Louise herself in turn renounced her rights to the throne to her spouse Christian. In 1852, this order was confirmed by the Nordic countries. In 1847, Prince Christian was, with the approval of Europes Great Powers and this resolved the succession to the Danish crown, but not Denmarks claim on the twin duchies of Schleswig and Holstein. The result of conflict was the Second War of Schleswig. On 3 July 1853, King Frederick VII confirmed this succession, by that act, Louise and Christian became Crown Princess and Crown Prince of Denmark. Louise had a relationship with King Frederick VII, who contradicted the succession of her spouse. Therefore, the King and the Crown Prince couple did not see each other very often, on 15 November 1863, Louise and Christian became Queen and King of Denmark. Their life style is described as simple and puritan, and as this suited the contemporary view of a family life. As queen, Louise lived a life isolated from the people and she took no part in state affairs, her political interests focused on the arranged dynastic marriages of her children and were affected by her anti-German views. The high status marriages she arranged for her children secured the newly established Danish dynasty international status, connecting Denmark to Great Britain, Russia, Sweden and Greece. Known as The Mother-in-law of Europe, her annual family gatherings at Bernstorff and Fredensborg attracted more attention every year, Louise supported 26 different charity organizations
18.
Russian Orthodox Church
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The Russian Orthodox Church, alternatively legally known as the Moscow Patriarchate, is one of the autocephalous Eastern Orthodox churches, in full communion with other Eastern Orthodox patriarchates. The Primate of the ROC is the Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus and it also exercises ecclesiastical jurisdiction over the autonomous Church of Japan and the Orthodox Christians resident in the Peoples Republic of China. The ROC branches in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine since the 1990s enjoy various degrees of self-government, in Ukraine, ROC has tensions with schismatic groups supported by the current government, while it enjoys the position of numerically dominant religious organisation. The ROC should also not be confused with the Russian Orthodox Church Outside Russia, headquartered in New York, New York, the two Churches reconciled on May 17,2007, the ROCOR is now a self-governing part of the Russian Orthodox Church. According to one of the legends, Andrew reached the location of Kiev. The spot where he erected a cross is now marked by St. Andrews Cathedral. By the end of the first millennium AD, eastern Slavic lands started to come under the influence of the Eastern Roman Empire. There is evidence that the first Christian bishop was sent to Novgorod from Constantinople either by Patriarch Photius or Patriarch Ignatios, by the mid-10th century, there was already a Christian community among Kievan nobility, under the leadership of Byzantine Greek priests, although paganism remained the dominant religion. Princess Olga of Kiev was the first ruler of Kievan Rus′ to convert to Christianity and her grandson, Vladimir of Kiev, made Rus officially a Christian state. The Kievan church was a metropolitanate of the Patriarchate of Constantinople and the Ecumenical patriarch appointed the metropolitan, who usually was a Greek. The Metropolitans residence was located in Kiev itself, the capital of the medieval Rus state. Following the tribulations of the Mongol invasion, the Russian Church was pivotal in the survival, despite the politically motivated murders of Mikhail of Chernigov and Mikhail of Tver, the Mongols were generally tolerant and even granted tax exemption to the Church. Such holy figures as Sergius of Radonezh and Metropolitan Alexis helped the country to withstand years of Tatar oppression, the Trinity monastery founded by Sergius of Radonezh became the setting for the flourishing of spiritual art, exemplified by the work of Andrey Rublev, among others. The followers of Sergius founded four hundred monasteries, thus extending the geographical extent of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. However, the Moscow Prince Vasili II rejected the act of the Council of Florence brought to Moscow by Isidore in March 1441, Isidore was in the same year removed from his position as an apostate and expelled from Moscow. The Russian metropolitanate remained effectively vacant for the few years due largely to the dominance of Uniates in Constantinople then. In December 1448, Jonas, a Russian bishop, was installed by the Council of Russian bishops in Moscow as Metropolitan of Kiev and All Russia without the consent from Constantinople. Subsequently, there developed a theory in Moscow that saw Moscow as the Third Rome, the successor to Constantinople
19.
Lutheranism
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Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestant Christianity which identifies with the theology of Martin Luther, a German friar, ecclesiastical reformer and theologian. Luthers efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched the Protestant Reformation in the German-speaking territories of the Holy Roman Empire. Lutheranism advocates a doctrine of justification by grace alone through faith alone on the basis of Scripture alone and this is in contrast to the belief of the Catholic Church, defined at the Council of Trent, concerning authority coming from both the Scriptures and Tradition. In addition, Lutheranism accepts the teachings of the first seven ecumenical councils of the undivided Christian Church, unlike Calvinism, Lutherans retain many of the liturgical practices and sacramental teachings of the pre-Reformation Church, with a particular emphasis on the Eucharist, or Lords Supper. Lutheran theology differs from Reformed theology in Christology, the purpose of Gods Law, the grace, the concept of perseverance of the saints. Today, Lutheranism is one of the largest denominations of Protestantism, with approximately 80 million adherents, it constitutes the third most common Protestant denomination after historically Pentecostal denominations and Anglicanism. The Lutheran World Federation, the largest communion of Lutheran churches, Other Lutheran organizations include the International Lutheran Council and the Confessional Evangelical Lutheran Conference, as well as independent churches. The name Lutheran originated as a term used against Luther by German Scholastic theologian Dr. Johann Maier von Eck during the Leipzig Debate in July 1519. Eck and other Catholics followed the practice of naming a heresy after its leader. Martin Luther always disliked the term Lutheran, preferring the term Evangelical, which was derived from euangelion, the followers of John Calvin, Huldrych Zwingli, and other theologians linked to the Reformed tradition also began to use that term. To distinguish the two groups, others began to refer to the two groups as Evangelical Lutheran and Evangelical Reformed. As time passed by, the word Evangelical was dropped, Lutherans themselves began to use the term Lutheran in the middle of the 16th century, in order to distinguish themselves from other groups such as the Philippists and Calvinists. In 1597, theologians in Wittenberg defined the title Lutheran as referring to the true church, Lutheranism has its roots in the work of Martin Luther, who sought to reform the Western Church to what he considered a more biblical foundation. Lutheranism spread through all of Scandinavia during the 16th century, as the monarch of Denmark–Norway, through Baltic-German and Swedish rule, Lutheranism also spread into Estonia and Latvia. Since 1520, regular Lutheran services have been held in Copenhagen, under the reign of Frederick I, Denmark-Norway remained officially Catholic. Although Frederick initially pledged to persecute Lutherans, he adopted a policy of protecting Lutheran preachers and reformers. During Fredericks reign, Lutheranism made significant inroads in Denmark, at an open meeting in Copenhagen attended by the king in 1536, the people shouted, We will stand by the holy Gospel, and do not want such bishops anymore. Fredericks son Christian was openly Lutheran, which prevented his election to the throne upon his fathers death, however, following his victory in the civil war that followed, in 1537 he became Christian III and advanced the Reformation in Denmark-Norway
20.
Alexandra of Denmark
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Alexandra of Denmark was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Empress of India as the wife of King-Emperor Edward VII. At the age of sixteen, she was chosen as the wife of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. They married eighteen months later in 1863, the year her father became king of Denmark as Christian IX. She was Princess of Wales from 1863 to 1901, the longest anyone has held that title. Largely excluded from wielding any political power, she attempted to sway the opinion of British ministers and her husbands family to favour Greek. Her public duties were restricted to uncontroversial involvement in charitable work, on the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, Albert Edward became king-emperor as Edward VII, with Alexandra as queen-empress. She held the status until Edwards death in 1910 and she greatly distrusted her nephew, German Emperor Wilhelm II, and supported her son during World War I, in which Britain and its allies fought Germany. Her father was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel, although she was of royal blood, her family lived a comparatively normal life. They did not possess great wealth, her fathers income from a commission was about £800 per year and their house was a rent-free grace. Occasionally, Hans Christian Andersen was invited to call and tell the stories before bedtime. In 1848, King Christian VIII of Denmark died and his only son, Frederick was childless, had been through two unsuccessful marriages, and was assumed to be infertile. A succession crisis arose as Frederick ruled in both Denmark and Schleswig-Holstein, and the rules of each territory differed. In Holstein, the Salic law prevented inheritance through the female line, Holstein, being predominantly German, proclaimed independence and called in the aid of Prussia. In 1852, the great powers called a conference in London to discuss the Danish succession, Prince Christian was given the title Prince of Denmark and his family moved into a new official residence, Bernstorff Palace. Alexandra shared a draughty attic bedroom with her sister, Dagmar, made her own clothes, Alexandra and Dagmar were given swimming lessons by the Swedish pioneer of womens swimming, Nancy Edberg. At Bernstorff, Alexandra grew into a woman, she was taught English by the English chaplain at Copenhagen and was confirmed in Christiansborg Palace. She was devout throughout her life, and followed High Church practice, Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert, were already concerned with finding a bride for their son and heir, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales. They enlisted the aid of their daughter, Crown Princess Victoria of Prussia, Alexandra was not their first choice, since the Danes were at loggerheads with the Prussians over the Schleswig-Holstein Question and most of the British royal familys relations were German
21.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
22.
Frederick VIII of Denmark
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Frederik VIII was King of Denmark from 1906 to 1912. Before his accession to the throne at age 62, he served as prince for 42 years. During the long reign of his father, King Christian IX, he was excluded from influence. Frederiks parents were Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel, in 1853, his father was chosen as the heir presumptive to the Danish throne, because Frederiks mother, Louise of Hesse-Kassel, was a close relative of the last Danish king of the Oldenburg main line. Accordingly, Frederik became a Prince of Denmark in 1853, after his confirmation in 1860, Frederik was given a military education. In 1863, Prince Frederik was sent to do studies at the University of Oxford but when his father ascended the throne in November that year, he became Crown Prince and returned to Denmark. As Crown Prince of Denmark, he was given a seat in the State Council, in 1864, he formally took part in the Second Schleswig War against Prussia. Louise of Hesse wanted her eldest son to marry as well as her two daughters, Alexandra and Dagmar, had, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom had two yet unmarried daughters, Princess Helena and Princess Louise, and Louise tried to marry Frederik to one of them. However, the British Queen didnt want her daughters to marry the heirs to foreign crowns and she preferred German princes who could establish homes in the UK. In addition, Victoria had always been pro-German and another Danish alliance, in July 1868, Frederik became engaged to Princess Louise of Sweden, the 17-year-old only daughter of King Charles XV of Sweden and IV of Norway. Princess Louises family was related by marriage to Napoleon Bonaparte and he married Désirée Clary, who had once been engaged to the French Emperor. Charles XIVs son, Oscar I of Sweden, married Josephine of Leuchtenberg, granddaughter of Napoleons first wife, King Oscar I and Queen Josephine were Princess Louises paternal grandparents. The marriage was suggested as a way of creating friendship between Denmark and Sweden, the two countries were in a tense situation after Sweden had not assisted Denmark during the war with Prussia in 1864. Frederik and Louise had met for the first time in 1862, but in 1868 Frederik was invited to Sweden to get to know Louise and they became engaged the same year. Crown Prince Frederik and Louise of Sweden married at the Royal Palace in Stockholm on 28 July 1869, the couple resided at Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen, spending the summers at Charlottenlund Palace north of the city. They had four sons and four daughters, the marriage was not a happy one, nor did it have any effect on the relationship between the two countries. Frederik became king of Denmark as Frederik VIII on Christian IXs death on 29 January 1906 and he was 62 years old at the time and had been Crown Prince for 43 years. In many ways Frederik VIII was a ruler who was much more favorable to the new parliamentarian system than his father had been
23.
George I of Greece
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George I was King of Greece from 1863 until his assassination in 1913. Originally a Danish prince, George was born in Copenhagen, and he was only 17 years old when he was elected king by the Greek National Assembly, which had deposed the unpopular former king Otto. His nomination was both suggested and supported by the Great Powers, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Second French Empire and he married the Russian grand duchess Olga Constantinovna of Russia, and became the first monarch of a new Greek dynasty. Two of his sisters, Alexandra and Dagmar, married into the British, King Edward VII and Tsar Alexander III were his brothers-in-law and King George V and Tsar Nicholas II were his nephews. Georges reign of almost 50 years was characterized by territorial gains as Greece established its place in pre-World War I Europe, Britain ceded the Ionian Islands peacefully, while Thessaly was annexed from the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War. Greece was not always successful in its ambitions, it was defeated in the Greco-Turkish War. During the First Balkan War, after Greek troops had captured much of Greek Macedonia, compared to his own long tenure, the reigns of his successors Constantine, Alexander, and George II proved short and insecure. George was born at the Yellow Palace, an 18th-century town house at 18 Amaliegade and he was the second son of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Although he was of blood, his family was relatively obscure. In 1852, however, Georges father was designated the heir presumptive to the childless King Frederick VII of Denmark, Georges siblings were Frederick, Alexandra, Dagmar, Thyra and Valdemar. Georges mother tongue was Danish, with English as a second language and he was also taught French and German. He embarked on a career in the Royal Danish Navy, while Frederick was described as quiet and extremely well-behaved, George was lively and full of pranks. Many Greeks, seeking closer ties to the pre-eminent world power, Great Britain, rallied around Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. British prime minister Lord Palmerston believed that the Greeks were panting for increase in territory, hoping for a gift of the Ionian Islands, which were then a British protectorate. The London Conference of 1832, however, prohibited any of the Great Powers ruling families from accepting the crown, the Greeks nevertheless insisted on holding a plebiscite in which Prince Alfred received over 95% of the 240,000 votes. There were 93 votes for a Republic and 6 for a Greek, with Prince Alfreds exclusion, the search began for an alternative candidate. Eventually, the Greeks and Great Powers winnowed their choice to Prince William of Denmark, aged only 17, he was elected King of the Hellenes on 30 March 1863 by the Greek National Assembly under the regnal name of George I. Paradoxically, he ascended a royal throne before his father, who became King of Denmark on 15 November the same year, there were two significant differences between Georges elevation and that of his predecessor, Otto
24.
Marie of Hesse-Kassel
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Marie Sophie Frederikke of Hesse-Kassel was queen consort of Denmark and Norway. She also served as regent of Denmark in 1814–1815, Marie was the eldest child of Landgrave Charles of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Louise of Denmark, born in Hanau. Her paternal grandparents were Frederick II of Hesse-Kassel and Princess Mary of Great Britain and her maternal grandparents were Frederick V of Denmark and Louise of Great Britain, another daughter of George II and Caroline of Ansbach. Her father was the son of the ruler of Hesse-Kassel. Thus he acted in such positions as were offered to members of royal houses by their reigning relatives. Denmark offered more and better positions than the small Hesse-Kassel, Marie Sophie was largely raised in Denmark, where her father held notable positions, such as the governorships of provinces. Her mother was the third and youngest daughter of King Frederick V of Denmark and his consort, as such, she was the niece of King Christian VII and the Prince Regent Frederick, as well as their first cousin. She spent her childhood at Gottorp Castle, were her father resided as governor and she was given a German education, and German was her first language. She was affected by her fathers interest in mysticism, and was fascinated by dreams. On 31 July 1790 in Gottorp, she married her first cousin Frederick, then crown prince and regent of Denmark, who would in 1808 ascend as King Frederick VI. In the aftermath of the defeat of Denmarks ally, the French emperor Napoleon I, Denmark-Norway fell apart, Marie was selected by her cousin as his spouse mainly as a way for him to demonstrate his independence from his Court, who wanted a more political dynastic match. The marriage was greeted with enthusiasm by the public, as she was regarded as completely Danish and not as a foreigner. Her official entrance into Copenhagen 14 September 1790 was described as a triumph, while her first language was, in fact, German, she soon learned to speak Danish. She also endured great pressure by the demand to produce a son, when her last childbirth in 1808 resulted in an injury which prevented further intercourse, she was forced to accept her spouses adultery with Frederikke Dannemand. The relationship between Marie and Frederick VI was described as a friendship, and the political turmoil of the time reportedly created a trusting relationship between them. Marie followed her spouse to Holstein in 1805, where she lived with him until he became King in 1808, in 1808, Frederick became king, and Marie queen. Queen Marie was regent of Denmark from 5 September 1814 to 1 June 1815 and she managed the affairs of state very well, according to critics. In 1807-14, she wrote the Exposé de la politique du Danemarc, an analysis of the political condition of Denmark
25.
Queen consort
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A queen consort is the wife of a reigning king. In Brunei, the wife of the Sultan is known as a Raja Isteri with prefix Pengiran Anak, equivalent with queen consort in English, a queen consort usually shares her husbands social rank and status. She holds the equivalent of the kings monarchical titles, but historically, she does not share the kings political. A queen regnant is a queen in her own right with all the powers of a monarch, where some title other than that of king is held by the sovereign, his wife is referred to by the feminine equivalent, such as princess consort or empress consort. In monarchies where polygamy has been practiced in the past, or is practiced today. In Morocco, King Mohammed VI has broken with tradition and given his wife, Lalla Salma, prior to the reign of King Mohammed VI, the Moroccan monarchy had no such title. In Thailand, the king and queen must both be of royal descent, the kings other consorts are accorded royal titles that confer status. Other cultures maintain different traditions on queenly status, a Zulu chieftain designates one of his wives Great Wife, which would be the equivalent to queen consort. Conversely, in Yorubaland, all of a chiefs princess consorts are essentially of equal rank, in general, the consorts of monarchs have no power per se, even when their position is constitutionally or statutorily recognized. In some cases, the queen consort has been the power behind her husbands throne, e. g. Maria Luisa of Parma. Past queens consort, Queen Jang, consort to Sukjong of Joseon
26.
Denmark
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The term Danish Realm refers to the relationship between Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland—three countries constituting the Kingdom of Denmark. The legal nature of the Kingdom of Denmark is fundamentally one of a sovereign state. The Faroe Islands and Greenland have been part of the Crown of Denmark since 1397 when the Kalmar Union was ratified, legal matters in The Danish Realm are subject to the Danish Constitution. Beginning in 1953, state law issues within The Danish Realm has been governed by The Unity of the Realm, a less formal name for The Unity of the Realm is the Commonwealth of the Realm. In 1978, The Unity of The Realm was for the first time referred to as rigsfællesskabet. The name caught on and since the 1990s, both The Unity of The Realm and The Danish Realm itself has increasingly been referred to as simply rigsfællesskabet in daily parlance. The Danish Constitution stipulates that the foreign and security interests for all parts of the Danish Realm are the responsibility of the Danish government, the Faroes received home rule in 1948 and Greenland did so in 1979. In 2005, the Faroes received a self-government arrangement, and in 2009 Greenland received self rule, the Danish Realms unique state of internal affairs is acted out in the principle of The Unity of the Realm. This principle is derived from Article 1 of the Danish Constitution which specifies that constitutional law applies equally to all areas of the Danish Realm, the Constitutional Act specifies that sovereignty is to continue to be exclusively with the authorities of the Realm. The language of Denmark is Danish, and the Danish state authorities are based in Denmark, the Kingdom of Denmarks parliament, with its 179 members, is located in the capital, Copenhagen. Two of the members are elected in each of Greenland and the Faroe Islands. The Government ministries are located in Copenhagen, as is the highest court, in principle, the Danish Realm constitutes a unified sovereign state, with equal status between its constituent parts. Devolution differs from federalism in that the powers of the subnational authority ultimately reside in central government. The Self-Government Arrangements devolves political competence and responsibility from the Danish political authorities to the Faroese, the Faroese and Greenlandic authorities administer the tasks taken over from the state, enact legislation in these specific fields and have the economic responsibility for solving these tasks. The Danish government provides a grant to the Faroese and the Greenlandic authorities to cover the costs of these devolved areas. The 1948 Home Rule Act of the Faroe Islands sets out the terms of Faroese home rule, the Act states. the Faroe Islands shall constitute a self-governing community within the State of Denmark. It establishes the government of the Faroe Islands and the Faroese parliament. The Faroe Islands were previously administered as a Danish county, the Home Rule Act abolished the post of Amtmand and these powers were expanded in a 2005 Act, which named the Faroese home government as an equal partner with the Danish government
27.
Middle Ages
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In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or Medieval Period lasted from the 5th to the 15th century. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and merged into the Renaissance, the Middle Ages is the middle period of the three traditional divisions of Western history, classical antiquity, the medieval period, and the modern period. The medieval period is subdivided into the Early, High. Population decline, counterurbanisation, invasion, and movement of peoples, the large-scale movements of the Migration Period, including various Germanic peoples, formed new kingdoms in what remained of the Western Roman Empire. In the seventh century, North Africa and the Middle East—once part of the Byzantine Empire—came under the rule of the Umayyad Caliphate, although there were substantial changes in society and political structures, the break with classical antiquity was not complete. The still-sizeable Byzantine Empire survived in the east and remained a major power, the empires law code, the Corpus Juris Civilis or Code of Justinian, was rediscovered in Northern Italy in 1070 and became widely admired later in the Middle Ages. In the West, most kingdoms incorporated the few extant Roman institutions, monasteries were founded as campaigns to Christianise pagan Europe continued. The Franks, under the Carolingian dynasty, briefly established the Carolingian Empire during the later 8th, the Crusades, first preached in 1095, were military attempts by Western European Christians to regain control of the Holy Land from Muslims. Kings became the heads of centralised nation states, reducing crime and violence, intellectual life was marked by scholasticism, a philosophy that emphasised joining faith to reason, and by the founding of universities. Controversy, heresy, and the Western Schism within the Catholic Church paralleled the conflict, civil strife. Cultural and technological developments transformed European society, concluding the Late Middle Ages, the Middle Ages is one of the three major periods in the most enduring scheme for analysing European history, classical civilisation, or Antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Modern Period. Medieval writers divided history into periods such as the Six Ages or the Four Empires, when referring to their own times, they spoke of them as being modern. In the 1330s, the humanist and poet Petrarch referred to pre-Christian times as antiqua, leonardo Bruni was the first historian to use tripartite periodisation in his History of the Florentine People. Bruni and later argued that Italy had recovered since Petrarchs time. The Middle Ages first appears in Latin in 1469 as media tempestas or middle season, in early usage, there were many variants, including medium aevum, or middle age, first recorded in 1604, and media saecula, or middle ages, first recorded in 1625. The alternative term medieval derives from medium aevum, tripartite periodisation became standard after the German 17th-century historian Christoph Cellarius divided history into three periods, Ancient, Medieval, and Modern. The most commonly given starting point for the Middle Ages is 476, for Europe as a whole,1500 is often considered to be the end of the Middle Ages, but there is no universally agreed upon end date. English historians often use the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485 to mark the end of the period
28.
Dagmar of Bohemia
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Dagmar of Bohemia was queen consort of Denmark as the first spouse of King Valdemar II of Denmark. She was the daughter of King Přemysl I Ottokar of Bohemia and his first wife, Margaret had one brother, Vratislav, and two sisters, Božislava and Hedvika. Her father became the Duke of Bohemia in 1192, but in 1193 was deposed and he then left Bohemia with his family. Adelheid with her children found a new home at the court of her brother Albert, Margrave of Meissen, in 1197, Ottokar became the Duke of Bohemia for a second time. He repudiated Adelheid and divorced her in 1199 on the grounds of consanguinity and he married Constance of Hungary later the same year. This step, together with other maneuvers, helped him later to obtain the hereditary elevation of his title to king, Adelheid did not waive her rights. In 1205, she returned to Prague temporarily, at that time, Ottokar decided to marry their daughter, Margaret, to Valdemar II of Denmark. However, Constance gave birth to a son, later King Wenceslaus I of Bohemia the same year, Adelheid left Bohemia soon and died a few years later. Before his first marriage, Valdemar had been betrothed to Richeza of Bavaria, when that engagement fell through, he married Margaret in 1205 in Lübeck. In 1209, the new queen, now known as Dagmar, not many things are known about Dagmar as a person. According to Rydårbogen, queen Dagmar influenced Valdemar to release one of his most fervent enemies, Bishop Valdemar of Slesvig, Queen Dagmar died on 24 May 1212 while giving birth to her second son, who did not survive. Old folk ballads say that on her deathbed she begged Valdemar to marry Kirsten, the daughter of Karl von Rise, in other words, she predicted a struggle for the Danish throne between the sons of Berengaria. After Dagmars death, in order to build relations with Flanders. Queen Dagmar is buried in St. Bendts Church in Ringsted, Denmark, on one side of Valdemar II, Valdemar II elevated his son with Dagmar as co-king at Schleswig in 1218. Valdemar the Young was accidentally shot while hunting at Refsnæs in 1231, a pectoral cross now well known as the Dagmar Cross was found lying on the breast of Queen Dagmar remains when the tomb was opened about 1690. The Dagmar Cross, in the era, is worn by Danish girls for their confirmation into the Lutheran Church. In the neighbouring Lutheran Church of Sweden, the cross is now delivered to the new bishop, on his installation in office, by the archbishop of Upsala, together with the mitre and crozier
29.
Caroline Amalie of Augustenburg
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Caroline Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg was queen consort of Denmark as the second spouse of King Christian VIII between 1839 and 1848. She was born in Copenhagen and lived there until 1807, when she moved with her family to Augustenborg and she was given a conventional education for an upper class female of her time. It was her mother who introduced her to the apparent to the Danish throne, the future Christian VIII. Reportedly, Caroline Amalie fell in love with Christian, who found her attractive, Christian had divorced his first spouse Charlotte Fredericka of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1810 on grounds of adultery. In 1814, he had just returned to Denmark after his abdication of the Norwegian throne, the same year, Christian and Caroline Amalie were engaged. The wedding took place in 1815, between 1816 and 1817, the couple lived in Odense, where Christian served as Governor of Fionia. Between 1818 and 1822, they undertook numerous trips through Europe together and they visited various resorts in an attempt to cure their inability to have issue. Christian devoted himself to the sciences, mineralogy and geology in particular, while Christian became celebrated for his scientific interests, Caroline Amalie was a composer who wrote numerous piano pieces. The personal relationship between Caroline Amalie and Christian were described as harmonious and as an image of the ideal of marriage. Her acceptance of her spouses infidelity was regarded as something suitable and her amiable personality made her respected and well liked by the rest of the royal house, and she is described as a good stepmother of her stepson Frederick. In 1839, when King Frederick VI died, Caroline Amalie, as the wife of Christian VIII and she was considered instrumental in the pro-German party on the matter of the duchies of Schleswig-Holstein. Early on, Caroline Amalie was active within philanthropy and her charitable projects for poor orphans gave her the name The Poor Childrens Mother and The Royal Foster mother of the Little Ones. By doing so, women found a public and political role acceptable to combine with the popular 19th-century role of a Christian wife and her introduction of a new role model for women is considered to have had great impact on Danish society. Caroline Amalie was a follower of the ideas of N. F. S. Grundtvig, whose movement she actively supported. In 1841, she founded an orphanage, Dronning Caroline Amalies Asylskole and she was not described as an intellectual herself, however she regarded it as a duty to introduce the representatives of art and literature at court and act as their supporter. It is not clear whether or not she ever exerted any influence in state affairs and this caused a difficult situation for Caroline Amalie, who was suspected for conspiring with her brothers against Danish interests, especially by the nationalistic liberals in Copenhagen. This made her unpopular and exposed to some hostility during the last years of Christians reign, Caroline Amalie became a widow in 1848 and survived her spouse for more than thirty years. She took up residence at Sorgenfri Castle north of Copenhagen, and she also outlived her stepson by seventeen years
30.
Christian VIII of Denmark
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Christian VIII was the King of Denmark from 1839 to 1848 and, as Christian Frederick, King of Norway in 1814. He was the eldest son of Hereditary Prince Frederick of Denmark and Norway and his paternal grandparents were King Frederick V of Denmark and his second wife, Duchess Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Christian was born at Christiansborg Palace in Copenhagen, Christians upbringing was marked by a thorough and broad-spectrum education with exposure to artists and scientists who were linked to his fathers court. Christian inherited the talents of his highly gifted mother, and his amiability, Christian first married his cousin Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin at Ludwigslust on 21 June 1806. Charlotte Frederica was a daughter of Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his first-born son was Christian Frederik, who was born and died at Schloss Plön on 8 April 1807. His second son became Frederick VII of Denmark, the marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1810 after Charlotte Frederica was accused of adultery. Christian married his wife, Princess Caroline Amalie of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg at Augustenborg Palace on 22 May 1815. The couple was childless and lived in retirement as leaders of the literary. Christian had ten children, for whom he carefully provided. It is rumored that among these children included the fairy tale author Hans Christian Andersen. Christian did all he could personally to strengthen the bonds between the Norwegians and the house of Denmark. He was elected Regent of Norway by an assembly of notables on 16 February 1814, Christian next attempted to interest the great powers in Norways cause, but without success. Sweden refused Christians conditions and a military campaign ensued in which the Norwegian army was defeated by the forces of the Swedish crown prince Charles John. The brief war concluded with the Convention of Moss on 14 August 1814, by the terms of this treaty, King Christian Frederick transferred executive power to the Storting, then abdicated and returned to Denmark. The Storting in its turn adopted the constitutional amendments necessary to allow for a union with Sweden. On 13 December 1839 he ascended the Danish throne as Christian VIII, the Liberal party had high hopes of “the giver of constitutions, ” but he disappointed his admirers by steadily rejecting every Liberal project. Administrative reform was the reform he would promise. In his attitude to the growing national unrest in the duchies of Schleswig and Holstein he often seemed hesitated and half-hearted
31.
Bernstorff Palace
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Bernstorff Palace in Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark, was built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister Johann Hartwig Ernst von Bernstorff. It remained in the possession of the Bernstorff family until 1812, in 1842, it was bought by Christian VIII. For many years, it was used as a residence by Christian IX until his death in 1906. Since then and until recently, it was used by the Danish Emergency Management Agency as an academy for non-commissioned officers, but it has now opened as a hotel and conference centre. The palace was designed by the French architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin, who had brought to Denmark to complete Fredericks Church in Copenhagen after the death of Nicolai Eigtved in 1754. It is one of the earliest examples of Neoclassical architecture in Denmark, the elaborately decorated two-storeyed building was completed in May 1765 at considerable cost. At the time, it had four small decorative garrets, attics with decorative vases, on the garden side, there is a dome-covered projection rising the full height of the building. The palaces many rooms were modest in size and intended primarily for use rather than for display. Most are panelled with parquet floors, large mirrors and decorated ceilings, the four rooms on the south side have overdoors decorated by Johan Edvard Mandelberg. Bernstorff left Denmark in 1770, after being dismissed by the regent, the estate remained in his family’s hands until 1812 but was then sold on several occasions. It was about to be demolished in 1842 when Christian VIII bought it, a mezzanine was added and the layout of the first-floor rooms was changed. Fitting Jardins decorative style, Norwegian marble fireplaces are to be found in three of the larger rooms, a sign above the entrance reads, Honesto inter Labores otio sacrum or Reserved for honest rest during periods of work. In 1854, Bernstorff Palace was placed at the disposal of Crown Prince Christian who adopted it as his summer residence. Indeed, it was to become a popular retreat for the royal couple, visitors included Tsar Alexander III of Russia and Edward VII of the United Kingdom. In 1888, after the Nordic Exhibition, Queen Louise bought the timbered Swedish pavilion and had it fitted out as guest quarters. On Christian IXs death in 1906, Prince Valdemar of Denmark inherited the palace, since then and until very recently, it was used by the Danish Emergency Management Agency as an academy for non-commissioned officers. On 1 May 2009, after an agreement with Gitte Jensen and Kirsten Nielsen, Bernstorff Palace opened as a hotel, the palaces extensive gardens were laid out are in the Romantic landscape style which had just been introduced to Denmark in the 1760s. In addition to the lawns and woods, they include a garden, an orchard
32.
Frederick VII of Denmark
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Frederick VII was King of Denmark from 1848 to 1863. He was the last Danish monarch of the older Royal branch of the House of Oldenburg, during his reign, he signed a constitution that established a Danish parliament and made the country a constitutional monarchy. Fredericks motto was The peoples love, my strength, Frederick was born at Amalienborg Palace to Christian VIII of Denmark and Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. His maternal grandparents were Friedrich Franz I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, the kings first two marriages both ended in scandal and divorce. He was first married in Copenhagen on 1 November 1828 to his second cousin Princess Vilhelmine Marie of Denmark and they separated in 1834 and divorced in 1837. On 10 June 1841 he married for a time to Duchess Caroline Charlotte Mariane of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Køppen and of Juliane Caroline Rasmussen and this marriage seems to have been happy, although it aroused great moral indignation among the nobility and the bourgeoisie. Countess Danner, who was denounced as a gold digger by her enemies. She also worked at maintaining his popularity by letting him meet the people of the provinces, the expectation that Frederick would not likely produce offspring, despite numerous affairs, was widespread, but sources rarely state the reasons. Some speculate that Frederick was infertile, during the reign of Fredericks father, King Christian VIII, the succession question was already being brought forward. This was brought forward in a book published in 1994 and again in a book published in 2009, the letters are quoted in the book. In all cases, however, extramarital offspring were and still are barred from the line of succession and it has been claimed Frederick had a same-sex relationship with his friend, Carl Berling (1812-1871 publisher and owner of the newspaper Berlingske Tidende. To retain a tinge of decency, the King married Louise Rasmussen, the public indignation within higher circles over Fredericks morganatic marriage is well-known, but reasons have rarely been explained in detail. Frederick, who was the last king of the branch of the Oldenburg dynasty, had a rather neglected childhood after the divorce of his parents. His youth was marked by scandals and for many years he appeared as the problem child of the royal family. When he succeeded to the throne in January 1848, he was almost at once met by the demands for a constitution, the Schleswig-Holsteiners wanted an independent state while the Danes wished to maintain South Jutland as a Danish area. The king soon yielded to the Danish demands, and in March he accepted the end of absolutism, during his reign, Frederick on the whole behaved as a constitutional monarch. He did not, however, quite give up interfering in politics, in 1854, he contributed to the fall of the strongly conservative Ørsted cabinet, and in 1859–60, he accepted a liberal government appointed on the initiative of his wife
33.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
34.
Haakon VII of Norway
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Haakon VII, known as Prince Carl of Denmark until 1905, was a Danish prince who became the first king of Norway after the 1905 dissolution of the union with Sweden. He reigned from November 1905 until his death in September 1957, as one of the few elected monarchs, Haakon quickly won the respect and affection of his people. He played a role in uniting the Norwegian nation in its resistance to the Nazi invasion. He became King of Norway before his father and older brother became kings of Denmark, during his reign, he saw his father, his brother and his nephew, Frederick IX, ascend the throne of Denmark, respectively in 1906,1912 and 1947. He died at the age of 85 on 21 September 1957 and he was succeeded by his only son, Olav V. Prince Carl of Denmark was the son of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. Furthermore, he was a brother of Christian X, a paternal grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark. Prince Carl was born at Charlottenlund Palace near Copenhagen and he belonged to the Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg branch of the House of Oldenburg. The House of Oldenburg had been the Danish royal family since 1448, the house was originally from northern Germany, where the Glucksburg branch held their small fief. The family had permanent links with Norway beginning from the late Middle Ages, several of his paternal ancestors had been kings of independent Norway. Christian Frederick, who was King of Norway briefly in 1814, Prince Carl was raised in the royal household in Copenhagen and educated at the Royal Danish Naval Academy. Their son, Prince Alexander, the future Crown Prince Olav, was born on 2 July 1903, gradually, Prince Carl became the leading candidate, largely because he was descended from independent Norwegian kings. The new royal family of Norway left Denmark on the Danish royal yacht Dannebrog, at Oscarsborg Fortress, they boarded the Norwegian naval ship Heimdal. After a three-day journey, they arrived in Kristiania early on the morning of 25 November 1905, two days later, Haakon took the oath as Norways first independent king in 518 years. The coronation of Haakon and Maud took place in Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim on 22 June 1906, King Haakon gained much sympathy from the Norwegian people. Although the Constitution of Norway vests the King with considerable executive powers, Haakon confined himself to non-partisan roles without interfering in politics, a practice continued by his son and grandson. However, his long rule gave him moral authority as a symbol of the countrys unity. Haakon, Maud and Crown Prince Olav became interested in skiing and this sport is often viewed as typically Norwegian
35.
Edward VII
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Edward VII was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions and Emperor of India from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, before his accession to the throne, he served as heir apparent and held the title of Prince of Wales for longer than any of his predecessors. During the long reign of his mother, he was excluded from political power. He travelled throughout Britain performing ceremonial duties, and represented Britain on visits abroad. His tours of North America in 1860 and the Indian subcontinent in 1875 were popular successes, as king, Edward played a role in the modernisation of the British Home Fleet and the reorganisation of the British Army after the Second Boer War. He reinstituted traditional ceremonies as public displays and broadened the range of people with whom royalty socialised and he died in 1910 in the midst of a constitutional crisis that was resolved the following year by the Parliament Act 1911, which restricted the power of the unelected House of Lords. Edward was born at 10,48 in the morning on 9 November 1841 in Buckingham Palace and he was the eldest son and second child of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was christened Albert Edward at St Georges Chapel, Windsor Castle and he was named Albert after his father and Edward after his maternal grandfather Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn. He was known as Bertie to the family throughout his life. As the eldest son of the British sovereign, he was automatically Duke of Cornwall, as a son of Prince Albert, he also held the titles of Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duke of Saxony. He was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester on 8 December 1841, Earl of Dublin on 17 January 1850, a Knight of the Garter on 9 November 1858, and a Knight of the Thistle on 24 May 1867. In 1863, he renounced his rights to the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in favour of his younger brother. Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were determined that their eldest son should have an education that would prepare him to be a constitutional monarch. At age seven, Edward embarked on an educational programme devised by Prince Albert. Unlike his elder sister Victoria, Edward did not excel in his studies and he tried to meet the expectations of his parents, but to no avail. Although Edward was not a diligent student—his true talents were those of charm, sociability and tact—Benjamin Disraeli described him as informed, intelligent, after the completion of his secondary-level studies, his tutor was replaced by a personal governor, Robert Bruce. After an educational trip to Rome, undertaken in the first few months of 1859, he spent the summer of that year studying at the University of Edinburgh under, among others, in October, he matriculated as an undergraduate at Christ Church, Oxford. Now released from the strictures imposed by his parents, he enjoyed studying for the first time
36.
George V
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George V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. He was the son of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. From the time of his birth, he was third in the line of succession behind his father and his own brother, Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence. From 1877 to 1891, George served in the Royal Navy, on the death of his grandmother in 1901, Georges father became King-Emperor of the British Empire, and George was created Prince of Wales. He succeeded his father in 1910 and he was the only Emperor of India to be present at his own Delhi Durbar. His reign saw the rise of socialism, communism, fascism, Irish republicanism, the Parliament Act 1911 established the supremacy of the elected British House of Commons over the unelected House of Lords. In 1917, George became the first monarch of the House of Windsor, in 1924 he appointed the first Labour ministry and in 1931 the Statute of Westminster recognised the dominions of the Empire as separate, independent states within the Commonwealth of Nations. He had health problems throughout much of his reign and at his death was succeeded by his eldest son. George was born on 3 June 1865, in Marlborough House and he was the second son of the Prince and Princess of Wales, Albert Edward and Alexandra. His father was the eldest son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert and he was baptised at Windsor Castle on 7 July 1865 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley. As a younger son of the Prince of Wales, there was expectation that George would become king. He was third in line to the throne, after his father and elder brother, George was only 17 months younger than Albert Victor, and the two princes were educated together. John Neale Dalton was appointed as their tutor in 1871, neither Albert Victor nor George excelled intellectually. For three years from 1879, the brothers served on HMS Bacchante, accompanied by Dalton. They toured the colonies of the British Empire in the Caribbean, South Africa and Australia, and visited Norfolk, Virginia, as well as South America, the Mediterranean, Egypt, Dalton wrote an account of their journey entitled The Cruise of HMS Bacchante. Between Melbourne and Sydney, Dalton recorded a sighting of the Flying Dutchman, after Lausanne, the brothers were separated, Albert Victor attended Trinity College, Cambridge, while George continued in the Royal Navy. He travelled the world, visiting many areas of the British Empire, during his naval career he commanded Torpedo Boat 79 in home waters then HMS Thrush on the North America station, before his last active service in command of HMS Melampus in 1891–92. From then on, his rank was largely honorary
37.
Princess Thyra of Denmark
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Princess Thyra of Denmark, Danish pronunciation, was the youngest daughter and fifth child of Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. In 1878, she married Ernest Augustus, the heir to the Kingdom of Hanover. As the Kingdom of Hanover had been annexed by Prussia in 1866, Thyra was the sister of Frederik VIII of Denmark, Queen Alexandra of the United Kingdom, George I of Greece, Empress Maria Feodorovna of Russia and Prince Valdemar of Denmark. Princess Thyra was born on 29 September 1853 at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen as the daughter and fifth child of Prince Christian. Just two months before Thyras birth, the new Act of Succession had been passed and Prince Christian given the title of Prince of Denmark. In 1863, when Thyra was 10 years old, King Frederick VII died, earlier the same year, her brother Vilhelm had been elected King of Greece, and her sister Alexandra had married Edward, Prince of Wales. In 1866, her other sister Dagmar married the tsarevich of Russia, Thyra was an attractive and gentle young woman, with dark hair and dark blue eyes, and Queen Louise wanted her youngest daughter to make a good marriage as her elder daughters had. Thyras first suitor was King Willem III of the Netherlands, but as he was thirty-six years older than she was and he later married Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Their daughter became Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and her descendants sit on the throne of the Netherlands, in her youth, Thyra had fallen in love with Vilhelm Frimann Marcher, a Lieutenant in the Cavalry, which resulted in a pregnancy. Her brother George I of Greece suggested that she have the baby in Athens to avoid scandal, Marcher killed himself on 4 January 1872 after a confrontation with the King. On 21 December/22 December 1878, she married Crown Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, 3rd Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, ernst Augustus was the eldest child and only son of King George V of Hanover and his wife, Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. Thanks to her marriage, Thyra became Duchess of Cumberland and Teviotdale, Ernest Augustus died on 14 November 1923. Thyra survived her husband by nine years and died in Gmunden, Upper Austria, on 26 February 1933
38.
Prince Valdemar of Denmark
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Prince Valdemar of Denmark, GCTE was a member of the Danish Royal Family, the third son and youngest child of Christian IX of Denmark and his wife Louise of Hesse-Kassel. Prince Valdemar was born on 27 October 1858 at Bernstorff Palace in Gentofte north of Copenhagen and his father was Prince Christian of Denmark, later King Christian IX. His mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Kassel and he was baptised on 21 December 1858. That November, his parents succeeded to the throne of Denmark following the death of King Frederick VII, Prince Valdemar received his early education from tutors. In the summer of 1874, he accompanied his father during his visit to Iceland for the millennium celebrations, after his confirmation in 1874, as was customary for princes at that time, he started a military education and entered the naval college. In 1879, he was sub-lieutenant and in 1880 lieutenant, in the following years, he participated in several naval expeditions. Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée the profound attachment he developed for his uncle from that day forward and he married Princess Marie dOrleans on 20 October 1885 in a civil ceremony in Paris. They had a ceremony on 22 October 1885 at the Château dEu. Among the most notable attendants were Valdemars mother Queen Louise of Denmark, the Prince and Princess of Wales, the wedding was believed by one source to have been politically arranged, and in France, it was believed that the Count of Paris was personally responsible for the match. However, the source claimed that there was every reason to believe that a genuine love match. At the time of their marriage, it was decided that any sons would be brought up in Valdemars Lutheran faith, while any daughters would be raised as Catholics, the faith of their mother. The couples four sons were consequently Lutherans, while their daughter, Margaret was raised a Catholic. Valdemar had a naval career, but things could have been much different for the prince. He was offered two European thrones, those of Bulgaria and Norway, but declined due to international pressures. He was the first president of the Seamens Association of 1856 and he died on 14 January 1939 in the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen and was buried in Roskilde Cathedral. He was the last surviving child of Christian IX, Prince Viggo of Denmark, created Count of Rosenborg, married Eleonora Green, and had no children Princess Margaret of Denmark, married Prince René of Bourbon-Parma. Her daughter Anne was the wife of Michael, former King of Romania, the Last Courts of Europe, A Royal Family Album 1860-1914. London, J. M. Dent and Sons Ltd, Prince Valdemar at the website of the Royal Danish Collection at Amalienborg Palace
39.
Sweden
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Sweden, officially the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and Finland to the east, at 450,295 square kilometres, Sweden is the third-largest country in the European Union by area, with a total population of 10.0 million. Sweden consequently has a low density of 22 inhabitants per square kilometre. Approximately 85% of the lives in urban areas. Germanic peoples have inhabited Sweden since prehistoric times, emerging into history as the Geats/Götar and Swedes/Svear, Southern Sweden is predominantly agricultural, while the north is heavily forested. Sweden is part of the area of Fennoscandia. The climate is in very mild for its northerly latitude due to significant maritime influence. Today, Sweden is a monarchy and parliamentary democracy, with a monarch as head of state. The capital city is Stockholm, which is also the most populous city in the country, legislative power is vested in the 349-member unicameral Riksdag. Executive power is exercised by the government chaired by the prime minister, Sweden is a unitary state, currently divided into 21 counties and 290 municipalities. Sweden emerged as an independent and unified country during the Middle Ages, in the 17th century, it expanded its territories to form the Swedish Empire, which became one of the great powers of Europe until the early 18th century. Swedish territories outside the Scandinavian Peninsula were gradually lost during the 18th and 19th centuries, the last war in which Sweden was directly involved was in 1814, when Norway was militarily forced into personal union. Since then, Sweden has been at peace, maintaining a policy of neutrality in foreign affairs. The union with Norway was peacefully dissolved in 1905, leading to Swedens current borders, though Sweden was formally neutral through both world wars, Sweden engaged in humanitarian efforts, such as taking in refugees from German-occupied Europe. After the end of the Cold War, Sweden joined the European Union on 1 January 1995 and it is also a member of the United Nations, the Nordic Council, Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. Sweden maintains a Nordic social welfare system that provides health care. The modern name Sweden is derived through back-formation from Old English Swēoþēod and this word is derived from Sweon/Sweonas. The Swedish name Sverige literally means Realm of the Swedes, excluding the Geats in Götaland, the etymology of Swedes, and thus Sweden, is generally not agreed upon but may derive from Proto-Germanic Swihoniz meaning ones own, referring to ones own Germanic tribe
40.
Nancy Edberg
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Nancy Fredrika Augusta Edberg, was a Swedish swimmer, swimming instructor and bath house director. She was the first Swedish woman in these fields, Edberg was a pioneer in making the art of swimming and ice skating accepted for women in Sweden Nancy Edberg was taught to swim by her father. At this point, there was little physical education for females, one of few female role models being Gustafva Lindskog, Nancy Edberg was employed as a swimming instructor at the newly founded bath house for women in Stockholm in 1847. This was the first bath house open to women in the nation, first located at Riddarhuset, in 1851, she was made swimming master at Åbomska simskolan, and from 1853, she held her own swimming lessons at Djurgården. She inaugurated her own house in July 1859, and served as its swimming master until 1866. Louise of the Netherlands, then Queen of Sweden, and her daughter Louise were among Edbergs students between 1862 and 1864, among her other students in swimming was the Princess of Wales, Alexandra of Denmark, and the Empress of Russia, Maria Feodorovna. At the swimming exhibition at Gjörckes simskola in Stockholm on 24 August 1864 Mamsell Nancy Edberg displayed her skill in the art of swimming, Edberg introduced swimming for women in Copenhagen, Trondhjem and a multitude of Swedish cities from Ystad to Östersund. She married the Danish lithographer Carl Andrésen in 1867, Nancy Edberg was given a front page biography as a tribute for her pioneer work at the feminist publication Idun in 1890. Idun, Nr 15 Image of Nancy Edberg https, //news. google. com/newspapers. nid=336&dat=18930127&id=sxYcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=0VUEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7070,50696
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