ROYAL NEWS: JULY 1999

Last updated: August 16th, 1999

July 1st
Queen Elizabeth opened the first Scottish Parliament since 1707. She said Scotland was stepping across the threshold of a new constitutional age. A variety of guests saw the Queen unveil a gift of a silver mace for the new Parliament.

The Diana Museum at Althorp is open again for July and August. There are still lots of tickets available.

July 2nd
The Viscount and Viscountess Linley have got a son, who was born in London's Portland Hospital yesterday and has not be named yet (which can be done in Britain until six weeks after the birth).

July 3rd
Another 19th June marriage: Prince Vincenz von und zu Liechtenstein, who divorced Helene de Cossé-Brissac, remarried Roberta Valeri Manera in Venice, Italy, in the St. Marie-de-Lys church.

Also married is Count Wolfgang de Limburg Stirum. He married Martine Eykerman at Saint Etienne's Church in Ohain, Belgium.

July 7th
The Emir of Kuwait has appointed Crown Prince Sheik al-Sabah again as Prime Minister, despite the victory of the opposition during the elections of last Saturday.

July 8th
At night the biggest auction ever held in Europe took place. It was the sale of Rothschild art treasures looted by the Nazis in 1938 in Vienna, Austria, as Jewish capital. Christies' London sale of works once owned by barons Nathaniel and Albert von Rothschild raised 56,7 million English pounds, three times its estimated value. Under the sold pieces of art were a 16th century prayer book and a Louis XVI commode.

July 9th
Princess Alexia of Greece married Carlos Morales Quintana in the Saint Sophia Orthodox Church in London. Present were eight Queens, amongst others Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, and three Kings. Many royal guests showed up including members of the royal houses of Denmark, Spain and Sweden. Prince Frederik of Denmark had the company of Xenia Princess zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (27) and Danish magazines see a new relationship in it: don't believe it!

Some more marriages: Constantin-Christian Count von Berckheim (42), cousin of Prince Joachim zu Fürstenberg, married Esperanza Sobrina de Santiago (39) in Aigen near Salzburg, Austria. A cousin of Anton-Wolfgang Count Faber-Castell, Nadine von Kölichen (30) married Christoph Pöppinghaus (38) in the Martin Luther Church in Stein near Nürnberg, Germany.

July 11th
The Earl of Wessex (Prince Edward) is to deliver talks to tourists about the rebuilding of Windsor Castle that was burned down partly in 1992. He will take part in a series of four lectures in which he will detail the work that went on after the fire. The lectures have been organised by the earl's Ardent TV production company in association with a travel company. The lectures are being held at the Theatre Royal in Windsor.

July 14th
The celebration of the National Feastday in France amongst others showed the traditional military parade. Among them 500 infantrymen of the Moroccan Royal Guards. French President Jacques Chirac therefore got assistance of King Hassan II of Morocco.

The Prince of Wales joined dozens of stars at the Royal premiere in London of 'Episode I-The Phantom Menace' the latest Star Wars offering.

July 15th
Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel is set to be crowned the first British 'King' since George VI in 1937, it has emerged. The tiny island of Bardsey off the Lleyn Peninsula is set to restore its crowned head of state. Although the Welsh royal lineage died out with Owain Glyndwr 500 years ago, Bardsey had its own King until 1927. Schoolchildren are making Mr. Terfel a crown after members of the island's trust decided to grant him the title.

July 16th
Tassilo Metternich-Sándor, Prince von Ratibor und Corvey, Prince zu Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, married Countess Clarissa zu Toerring-Jettenbach on July 4th in the St.Peter & Paul church in Winhöring, Bavaria, Germany.

July 17th
Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein married Countess Marie Kàlnoky in a very private ceremony in Csicsó, Slovakia. Arch Bishop Wolfgang Haas led the ceremony in the little village church. About 260 guests attended the wedding, which got almost all people living in the small village on their feet.

The Royal Albert Memorial in London -a statue of Prince Albert (1819-1861) who was the husband of Queen Victoria of Great Britain- has been damaged. Two men have been arrested for break off some fingers and damaging a crown and a sceptre. The statue had just been reopened last October after a four-year restoration.

On Öland, Sweden -near Solliden, the summer residence of the Swedish royal family- a 35-year old Danish psychiatric patient has been arrested for stalking. He sent letters to crown princess Victoria, thinking he was engaged to her.

Prince Bernhard Jr. of the Netherlands wants to sell the Internetshop he started with some other people about four years ago.

July 18th
King Fahd of Saudi Arabia started his summer-holidays. With eight airplanes he flew to Marbella in Spain. It is the first time in 5 years the King leaves his country. The airplanes contained a big staff, for whom 200 rooms in the best hotels of Marbella were reservated. The King himself and some of his family members stay in his own palace near Marbella.

July 19th
The legendary Bernstein-room from the czar palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, should be reconstructed. A company from Essen, Germany, offered about $ 3,5 million for that. The valuable wall lining was a gift from King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia to Czar Peter the Great in 1716. In 1945 the wall lining disappeared and despite a big search it has never been found back.

July 20th
In the hospital of Vöcklabruck, Upper Austria, the first child of Prince Ernst August of Hanover and Princess Caroline of Monaco was born. The daughter's name is Alexandra. Both mother and daughter are in good health.

On July 8th Maria Teresita, 4th child and first daughter of Alexander Afif Prince of Saxony-Gessaphe (Heir of the royal house of Saxony) and his wife Gisela, was born.

Carl Christian Prince of Hohenzollern, son of Prince Johann Georg and Princess Birgitta of Sweden, and Nicole Neschitsch married on July 9th or 10th in Munich, Germany.

The Castle of Versailles, near Paris in France, will be restored the next 10 years. Special attention will be paid to a good security system. Also the garden will get a facelift.

Victor Emmanuel di Savoia, Heir to the Italian throne, wants to go to the European Court in Strassbourg to protest against violation of human rights. He says it is not fair that the male descendants of his father King Umberto II and his grandfather King Victor Emmanuel III still can't go back to Italy. They went into exile in 1946 when Italy became a republic. The Italian National Assembly voted for ending the exile in December, but the Italian Senate is still debating on the subject.

Queen Margrethe of Denmark announced that Christian VII's Palace, part of Amalienborg, will be opened for the public until August 8th. Since 1996 it had been restored.

An archaeological dig to find the final resting place of the British King Alfred the Great of Wessex (+899) is getting under way at a car park. He is thought to have been buried in front of an altar at Hyde Abbey, Winchester, Great Britain. The abbey is believed to have been near a site now occupied by the River Park Leisure Centre in the city of Winchester. Archaeologists are confident that they can locate the grave, but are not so sure any remains will be found.

July 22nd
Crown Prince Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands has arrived at the Dutch Antilles for a work visit. He landed at Curacao, and in the weekend he will open the Koninkrijksspelen (Kingdom Games) at St.Maarten. He will fly back to the Netherlands on Monday evening.

Princess Caroline of Monaco and Baby Alexandra left hospital in a four-car convoy together with Ernst August Prince of Hannover. They returned to Auerbach Castle in Grünau, Austria, where they were also staying just before the birth of Alexandra. According to a nurse the baby has dark brown hair and looks like her mother. Soon after the birth Ernst August tried to hit some photographers who came to close to the hospital room of his wife Caroline. The day after the birth Prince Rainier III of Monaco, the happy grandfather, arrived to watch the baby.

July 23rd
King Hassan II of Morocco died because of a heart attack at the age of 70.

July 25th
In Rabat, the capital of Morocco, King Hassan II of Morocco was buried in the mausoleum where his father rests since 1961. The King was born in Rabat on July 9th 1929 and reigned since 1961. Hundred thousands of mourning and emotional people were standing along the 3 kilometre long road to the mausoleum to say goodbye to their King. Under the guests who attended the funeral were King Juan Carlos of Spain and Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. The new King will be Hassan's oldest son, who will reign as King Mohammed VI. The new King seems to be liberal and stands open for new things (read modernization). He doesn't speak English and doesn't have the charisma of his father, which may be a problem. He was born in 1963.

July 26th
Carl Christian Prince of Hohenzollern married 35-year old Nicole Neschitsch in Kreuzpullach, Bavaria, Germany. They will get their first child in three months time.

The baby son of the Viscount and Viscountess Linley's name is Charles Patrick Inigo Armstrong Jones.

Sebastian Knecht, grandson of Princess Antoinette of Monaco, has married to Donatella Dugaginy.

July 28th
The Spanish newspaper El Pais says that the new Moroccan King Mohammed VI married last Friday to the Berber woman Amina, who is of Saharian origine (from Tafilalt). There has not been made an official announcement. It is Moroccan tradition that a new King marries just before he officially ascends the throne.

July 29th
Last week Prince William of Great Britain passed his driving tests in one time. Now he can drive the new VW-golf he got for his 17th birthday a couple of weeks ago.

Dressed as an old man, in traditional clothes and with a beard, King Abdullah of Jordan walked around in the free trade zone of the industrial town of Zarqa. He said he was a TV reporter. His PR-chef acted as his cameraman. The King asked people about their lives and they told him about their complaints and troubles. After five hours the management of the free trade zone came to ask what he was doing there as no TV-team had asked for permission to film in the zone. Then the King made himself known. The audience cheered loudly.

In the north of Iraq a farmer discovered a more than one meter high stele of the Assyrian King Sanherib. It is only the third stele of the king ever found in the world. The other two were found outside Iraq. The stele contains 26 lines of cuneiform written text, which deal with rules for the construction of streets and houses in the Assyrian capital Ninive. Sanherib was a great conqueror who lead the Assyrian conquests in the 8th century BC and destroyed the biblical town of Samaria.

July 31st
Lord 'Lucky' Lucan disappeared in 1974 on the night the nanny Sandra Rivett was found battered to death. Now, 25 years later, the Lord's son George Bingham has been denied the right to take the missing peer's title, the Lord Chancellor's office has said. George Bingham had applied to take up his father's place in the House of Lords, which has been vacant since his father vanished.


Royal News: June 1999. Last updated: June 30th, 1999.