31 January 2017

Von Munthe af Morgenstierne graves, Oslo, Norway (Tombstone Tuesday)

 © 2011 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth.

 © 2011 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth. 

© 2016 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth. 

Bredo Munthe til Bekkeskov (1701–1757) was ennobled in 1755 with the name von Munthe af Morgenstierne. From him descends two Danish and one Norwegian lines. The second last edition of Danmarks Adels Aarbog, in which the family is included, divides the family into two lines, to which the children of Bredo's son Otto Christopher von Munthe af Morgenstierne (1735–1809) make three branches, while the descendants of Bredo's son Troels (1745–1810) make the fourth branch.

The privileges belonging to the noblity in Norway were abolished in 1821, but most families, including the von Munthe af Morgenstierne family, continued to live here, and many members have made a name for themselves in for instance diplomacy and academia.

The top photo shows one of the von Munthe af Morgenstierne graves at Our Saviour's Cemetery in Oslo, graves no. 01.061.02.024 and 025, which are leased together. The headstone includes among others Otto's great-grandson (of the first branch) Carl Johan Maximilian (1844–1912), who was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and his wife Anna Dorothea, née Stub (1850–1936), who originally came from Bergen, Norway. Carl Johan Maximilian was the son of Christian Fredrik Jacob (1806–1886) in his first marriage to Princess Anastasia Sergiewna Soltikov (1810–1853). 

The second photo is a close-up of the family's coat-of-arms.

The third photo shows one of the von Munthe af Morgenstierne (2nd branch) graves at Vestre gravlund (Western cemetery) in Oslo. Buried in grave (no. 20.322.00.112) are among others Ambassador Wilhelm Thorleif (1887–1963), who I mentioned in a blog article last year, and his brother Georg Valentin (1892–1978) who was a professor of linguistics at the University of Oslo. He was the father of Eva von Munthe af Morgenstierne (1921–2017), who in 1948 married Erik Finn Lorentzen (1921–2010). One of Erik's brothers, Erling Lorentzen, b. 1923, was married to Princess Ragnhild of Norway (1930–2012). The funeral service for Eva, who died on 22 January 2017, took place yesterday, 30 January 2017, at Vestre gravlund, gamle kapell (Western Cemetery, Old Chapel).

Updated on Monday 5 June 2017 at 22.30 (mising word inserted in last paragraph).

24 January 2017

Lunde and Ullmann grave, Lillehammer Cemetery, Norway (Tombstone Tuesday)


Both photos: © 2011 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth  

The photos show the headstone and grave of the artist Rolf Schubarth Lunde (1891–1928), his wife Ebba Lunde, née Dietrichson (1891–1978), their daughter Ebba (19201979) and son-in-law Viggo Ullmann (1915–1998) at Lillehammer Cemetery (Lillehammer kirkegård) in Oppland county, Norway.

The headstone (bronze relief) is located at the Northern wall of the cemetery, and is most likely a copy of the altar piece in Hornindal Church, made by the artist Dagfin Werenskiold (1892–1977), cf. Sindre, Svein. Vår fedrearv. Menighetsblad for Lillehammer og omegn, no. 2/2014, pp. 10–11.

17 January 2017

Grave of musician Bjarne Hansen, Østre gravlund (Eastern Cemetery), Oslo, Norway (Tombstone Tuesday)

© 2017 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth  
 
The grave of musician Bjarne Halvard Hansen (1910–1962) and Rakel Debora Hansen (1914–2010) at Østre gravlund (Eastern Cemetery), Oslo, Norway, grave no. 10.039.10.011. In the death announcement in Aftenposten 14 April 1962 No. 177, p. 17, his wife Elsa as well as five children were listed. According to the funeral notice in Aftenposten on 21 April 1962 No. 185 p. 16, Hansen worked as an orchestra conductor.

According to the 1910 census, Bjarne was the son of carpenter Anton Julius Hansen and Maren Helene Hansen, née Olsen.

© 2017 Dag Trygsland Hoelseth 

Østre gravlund (Eastern Cemetery), Oslo, Norway, January 2017.

10 January 2017

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 4, 2016

The latest issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly – no. 4, 2016 – arrived just in time for Christmas.  According to the editor, Ted Rosvall, the issue had to be reprinted «because of a sloppy job done at the printing-works'». I have no idea what went wrong, but more important is that the new version was in perfect condition and well timed for the Christmas weekend.

I would have loved to witness the royal wedding in Tirana, Albania on 8 October 2016, but the wedding day collided with a family trip to Spain (no, I am not really complaining). Fortunately Netty Leistra was able to go, and her visit has resulted in the article An Albanian Royal Wedding ... with many royal guests in the RDQ as well as an article in her own blog. Her coverage of the wedding of Prince Leka and Elia Zaharia certainly made the icing on the cake this time. This is not meant to be disrespectful of the other articles, far from it – they are all well-written and interesting – but I have always had a fascination for the history of the former Balkan monarchies, so articles about their past & present tend to appeal to me particularly. I hope to visit Tirana one day. So far «I have only made it» to Shkodër in Northern Albania, so I would love to combine a visit to Tirana with the beaches of Sarandë and the ancient city of Butrint. One of these days ...

In his Editor's Corner Ted Rosvall points how Prince Leka through the Anhalt-Dessau ancestry of his Hungarian grandmother Queen Geraldine, née Countess Apponyi de Nagy-Appony (1915–2002) is related to most, if not all, the royal dynasties of Europe.

The photo on the front cover shows the then Prince Edward (VIII) of Wales together with George (V), Prince of Wales; Princess Maud; Princess Albert of Wales (George VI); Louise, Princess Royal, Duchess of Fife; Princess Mary of Wales and Princess Alexandra at Abergeldie, around 1905. This means that the British royal house is yet again the topic for Charlotte Zeepvat's traditional Family Album. The fourth and last (?) part, titled The Royal House of Great Britian and Ireland. A Family Album – House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Wundsor [sic!] brings the readers up to the present Queen Elizabeth II. Besides a short introduction the readers can enjoy 100 photos and 2 pages containing genealogical surveys of the family.

There were several big anniversaries in 2016. Michael L. Nash reminds us that in 2016 it was 200 years since the wedding of Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales and Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (formerly -Saalfeld) in his article «England's Star of Promise». A Very Coburg Marriage, 2nd May 1816.

The house of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is also touched upon in the next article, Three Cousins by Marlene A. Eilers Koenig. The article deals with the 1896 weddings of Princess Maud of Wales to Prince Carl of Denmark, Princess Louise of Denmark to Prince Friedrich of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha to Hereditary Prince Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Have you ever been to Frogmore House? It is one of the royalty-related «musts» in the Windsor area. It is only open to the public parts of the year, in 2017 in August only (in addition to the Charity Open Days), so I not sure when I will be able to visit it. Anyway, located on the estate of Frogmore above the lake one can also find the mausoleum of Queen Victoria's Mother, the Duchess of Kent. The mausoleum has never been open to the public, but at least Elizabeth Jane Timms has written a rather nice presentation of it in the RDQ.

David Horbury then returns with his series Half a Century of Royal Letters; 1899-1946. Collected by John Wimbles from the Romanian National Archives and other sources. We can only be so lucky that not all royals command their correspondence to be burnt after their death. The letters of the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Marie, née Grand Princess of Russia) are a thrill to read. And how horribly critical she is of her relatives and in-laws! Just read her description of the then Prince of Wales (Edward VIII) in 1914: «... I was horribly shocked, even grieved, at the appearance of the nice little Prince of Wales, whom I find looking very ill. [...] Imagine he looks like a miserable boy of 15, his face and neck are so thin that they rather belong to an old woman than a young man of 20 which he was yesterday. He eats nothing and looks as if he were wasting away».

The final main article, Courting Disaster – The Russian Prince and the Regent's Park Country Club, is written by Coryne Hall, and deals with Prince Andrew of Russia and his wife Elizabeta, née Ruffo di Sant Antimo, who in 1923 founded the Regent's Park country club which ended in bankruptcy, quite a scandal in those days.

Finally the readers are treated with genealogical news in the traditional column The World Wide Web of Royalty. The following royal and princely and/or mediatized houses are covered: Albania, Bentheim and Steinfurt, Carolath-Beuthen, Luxembourg, Oldenburg, Prussia and Serbia (Yugoslavia).

Information on Royalty Digest Quarterly can be found at its editor's website Royalbooks.se. See earlier presentation of RDQ here. See also its Facebook page.

5 January 2017

Slektshistoriewiki articles, 2016

I have mentioned a few times in my blog that I am one of the administrators of Slektshistoriewiki, the Norwegian genealogy wiki, which is administered by Norsk Slektshistorisk Forening (the Norwegian Genealogical Society). Besides administration work I have contributed with many articles over the years.

Here are some (but far from all) of the articles I written (both initiated and written most, if not all, of the updates) during 2016:

Genealogies
Biographies
Book presentations
Other
In addition I have of course updated many, many more articles, including the Ferner family article, published originally on 20 September 2015.

Updated on Friday 6 January 2017 at 08.35 (minor correction).

Death of Austin Prichard-Levy, husband of Princess Lavinia of Yugoslavia (Serbia)

The Office of HRH Crown Prince Alexander of Serbia announced today the death of Austin Prichard-Levy, second husband of Princess Lavinia, the youngest daughter of Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia by his second wife Kira, née Princess of Leiningen.

Austin died of a heart attack on 2 January 2017 in London. His death is the first royalty-related death to be registered in 2017 so far.

The press release in full:
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Alexander is very sad to announce that Her Royal Highness Princess Lavinia’s (first cousin of HRH Crown Prince Alexander) beloved husband Austin Prichard-Levy died suddenly in London Monday 2nd January 2017 at home of a heart attack.

Crown Prince Alexander and family extend their deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of Princess Lavinia.

Austin Prichard-Levy was born 20 January, 1953 in Roma, Queensland, Australia. He married Princess Lavinia in London 4 October 1998 and they had a son Luca Orlando Christopher born in London 14 February, 2000 whose Godmother is Crown Princess Katherine. He was also loving stepfather to Nadya-Marie and Andrej Sidiropulous.

Princess Lavinia is the daughter of the late Prince Andrej of Yugoslavia (brother of King Peter II of Yugoslavia) and the late Princess Kira of Leiningen.