September 2023 marks the one-year anniversary of the reign of Charles III in the United Kingdom, and in the list of British queen consorts, adds the name of Camilla Shand. In the history of royal consorts, in Britain or elsewhere in Europe, or indeed at the top of the European aristocracy—the dukes and princes—a familyContinue reading “Anatomy of a British Queen: Scotland, the Netherlands, and beyond”
Author Archives: Jonathan Spangler
Jacobite Dukes: the Drummonds of Perth and Melfort
Scotland has several families who obtained the highest rank in the peerage: a dukedom. Several of these families come from the borderlands between Highlands and Lowlands that runs from Argyll to Aberdeen. Perthshire is right in the middle of this, and the Drummond family have been a major power here for centuries. But their dukedom,Continue reading “Jacobite Dukes: the Drummonds of Perth and Melfort”
Dukes of Alburquerque: Royal Favourites and Colonial Governors
Once upon a time there was a Spanish outpost built in the far northern reaches of New Spain, in the Rio Grande Valley of the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico. Its founders named it after the Viceroy based in far-off Mexico City, the 10th Duke of Alburquerque. Some years later, the increasingly AnglophoneContinue reading “Dukes of Alburquerque: Royal Favourites and Colonial Governors”
Meet the Actons, English barons and Neapolitan princes
In the 18th century, political boundaries and national identities were a bit more fluid than they became in the 19th and 20th centuries. A person of great talent could move around the European continent and acquire position and status in a land very different from his or her place of origin. Such is the interestingContinue reading “Meet the Actons, English barons and Neapolitan princes”
Princes of Orange, Part II
At the end of Part I, in 1530 the Prince of Orange, Philibert de Chalon, left his possessions, including the principality of Orange in Provence, and lands in the Free County of Burgundy, to his sister’s son, René of Nassau, whose family–later called the House of Orange-Nassau, would dominate the history of the Low CountriesContinue reading “Princes of Orange, Part II”
Princes of Orange: a Franco-German-Dutch family (part I)
If you had to choose the most trans-national princely dynasty in all of European history, who would you choose? I’d certainly go for the House of Orange-Nassau, the current royal family of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, who, if their history is looked at from a long perspective, are revealed to be a blended FrenchContinue reading “Princes of Orange: a Franco-German-Dutch family (part I)”
The Howards: Premier peer of the realm as Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal
One of the two hereditary posts remaining amongst the Great Offices of State in the United Kingdom is the Earl Marshal, held continuously by the Howard dukes of Norfolk since the late 17th century, and even before that, off and on since the late 15th century. Even earlier, it was a post inherited by theirContinue reading “The Howards: Premier peer of the realm as Duke of Norfolk and Earl Marshal”
The Dukes of Ancaster and the one-fourth share of the Lord Great Chamberlain
If you are watching the coronation of King Charles III this Spring, chances are you have been confused by mention of the ‘shared office’ of Lord Great Chamberlain of the United Kingdom, one of the two Great Officers of State that remains hereditary, alongside the Earl Marshal (the Duke of Norfolk), and one of theContinue reading “The Dukes of Ancaster and the one-fourth share of the Lord Great Chamberlain”
Hooray Heinrich! The House of Reuss and the complexities of being a very minor prince
Have you ever heard of a family where all the male members—and I mean all—were named Heinrich? Perhaps you have, as recently one of them (Heinrich XIII) had his 15 minutes of fame after trying to overthrow the German government and restore the old German Reich in December 2022. But although the English-speaking media describedContinue reading “Hooray Heinrich! The House of Reuss and the complexities of being a very minor prince”
Wiśniowiecki: Ruthenian princes for Ukraine’s history
One of the arguments put forth by the government in Moscow in support of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 was that this region was not a ‘real’ country, with its own separate history, but merely one historical region of the greater Russian people, which includes White Russians (Belarusians), Red Russians (Ukrainians), and soContinue reading “Wiśniowiecki: Ruthenian princes for Ukraine’s history”
Dukes and Princes 