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Monday, May 25, 2009

American Royalty

This weekend Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha married American Kelly Jeanne Rondestvedt; an investment banker from the United States. It was quite a gathering with the King and Queen of Sweden, Archduke Lorenz and Princess Astrid of Belgium, Lord Nicholas Windsor, Czar Simeon II of Bulgaria, Duke Francis of Bavaria and Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia were all in attendance. The wedding did not get much press in the USA, but it is only the latest in a rather respectable list of American girls who have joined the ranks of world royalty by marriage. Some are better known than others, some had successful marriages and others did not but here is a list of some of them who have wed monarchs or an heir to the throne:

-Marie Alice Heine, Dowager Duchess of Richelieu became Princess of Monaco when she married Reigning Prince Albert I in 1889.
-Julia Mullock married HIH Prince Yi Ku of Korea, head of the Yi Imperial dynasty, in 1959. As they were not married according to Korean rituals the marriage was not listed in the official imperial record.
-Marie-Chantal Miller became a Princess of Denmark and Crown Princess of Greece when she married the Greek Crown Prince Pavlos in 1995.
-Lisa Najeeb Halaby became Queen Noor of Jordan when she married HM King Hussein of Jordan in 1978. -Grace Kelly became Princess of Monaco when she married Reigning Prince Rainier III of Monaco in 1956. -Hope Cooke became the Crown Princess of Sikkim when she married Crown Prince Palden Thondup Namgyal who was the last King of Sikkim.

Leave a comment to list your favorites.

6 comments:

  1. I think my favorite is Princess Grace. She really seems to have been such a lovely and good person.

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  2. I'll confess she's easily my favorite as well.

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  3. I think that Queen Noor is my favorite, although i' m Greek. You see, Marie Chandal is already 14 years married to the supposed to be Crown Prince of Greece, but she made no effort to learn even a little of Greek! This woman if we had Monarchy, would be our Queen one day!

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  4. She probably does not see a restoration of the monarchy as a realistic possibility. If it were I would hope she would start studying Greek. That said, I certainly hope the children are taught Greek. Whether they can ever return to the homeland or not it is an important part of their heritage. Exiles do have a hard time in that regard. Crown Prince Alexander did not speak very proficient Serbian when he first went home. The last Emperor of China, even as Emperor of the Manchu dynasty, knew only few phrases in Manchurian. In any event, Queen Noor is a good choice. I think everyone was amazed at how well she stepped into the role of Queen consort.

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  5. I would also Pick Queen Noor.

    well it was a total difference from Monac.There were not the Casino's in Jorden but a royal family who was involved in a lot of militry actions to defend the country.Besides Noor gave birth to Prince Hmazeh not a play boy.

    bu the way , the Noor in picture is the daughter in law of the Noor we are talking about.

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  6. Just to be fair the Princes of Monaco have quite often had to participate in battles to defend their little country. Even in recent years Prince Rainier III fought in World War II, Prince Louis II was a very decorated hero of World War I, Prince Albert I served in the Franco-Prussian War etc.

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