Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2018

Royalty Digest Quarterly no. 1, 2018 arrived just in time for Easter, but with so many books and magazines on my reading list, I didn't finish reading it until this week. Is this the first time King Haakon VII, Queen Maud and the then Crown Prince Olav has been put on the front cover of the RDQ? I think so. The cover photo also reveals that it is the Royal House of Norway's turn to be treated with A Family Album, a series authored by the magazine's historical consultant, Charlotte Zeepvat. As usual she provides an introductory to the history of the Norwegian monarchy before the album starts. All in all there are 54 illustrations of the various members of the Norwegian royal family and some of the estates connected to them. The genealogical table, most likely provided by Ted Rosvall himself. only covers one page this time, starting with King Haakon VII. A few minor mistakes though. The Bernadotte Descendants author always insists on writing «Beckmann» with two n's instead of the correct spelling, Beckman (surname of Elisabeth Ferner's former husband) with one n. Not sure why. And yes, I have commented on this before. And there is no hyphen in Märtha Louise. Minor trifles, yes, but considering the size of the survey it should't be too difficult to get it right.

There is more about the history of the Norwegian monarchy in this issue, as Trond Norén Isaksen has written the article From Patriotic Desire to Colonial Stigma. The Viceroyalty of Norway, 1814–1891. Isaksen provides a short summary of the article in his own blog.

But back to the beginning. In his Editor's Corner Ted Rosvall has this time decided to write about ... Ted Rosvall ... and rightly so! In late January 2018 Rosvall went to the Royal Palace in Stockholm to receive the Royal Golden medal «for his meritorious efforts as a genealogist and an intermediary of culture» from the king. So well deserved! The HM The King's Medal is divided into several classes, the medal Rosvall received was, as far as I understand it, the «8th size gold (silver-gilt) medal worn on the chest suspended by a blue ribbon».

In addition to Isaksen's contribution mentioned above, the magazine can boast of several interesting and well-written main articles:

• In Favour of Grand Duke Kirill by Marlene A. Eilers Koenig
• Princess Alix of Hesse's Visit to Harrogate (the future Alexandra Feodorovna, Empress of the Russias) by Elizabeth Jane Timms
• Beatriz, the Roman Infanta (third child of King Alfonso XIII and Queen Victoria Eugenie) by Dativo Salvia y Ocaña

In the series Little-known royals Coryne Hall gives a glimpse into the life of Princess Dagmar of Denmark (1890–1961), who married Jørgen Castenskiold (1893–1978) in 1922. Dagmar was a younger sister of King Christian X of Denmark and King Haakon VII of Norway.

John Wimbles (1935–2015) was well-known for his collection of letters and other material from among others the Romanian National Archives. David Horbury has in a seven-part series called Half a Century of Royal Letters; 1899–1946 compiled excerpts of letters from and to various members of the Romanian royal family. The present issue provided the 7th and last part.

Finally the column The World Wide Web of Royalty returns with genealogical news, this time including the Imperial, Royal and/or Princely houses of bavaria, Bourbon-Parma/Austria, Denmark, France, Hannover, Hohenzollern and Serbia.

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.