H. M. King Juan Carlos I

His Majesty King D. Juan Carlos I, of Spain (b. on 5 January, 1938, in Rome)

The son of H.R.H. D. Juan de Borbon y Battenberg, Count of Barcelona and Head of the Royal House of Spain and H.R.H. D. Maria de las Mercedes de Borbon y Orleans and grandson of H.M. King D. Alfonso XIII.
His Majesty married H.M. Queen Sofia, born Princess of Greece and Denmark, in Athens, on 2nd November 1938, daughter of H.M. King Paul I of Greece and Queen Frederica, born Princess Frederica of Hannover.
Prince D. Juan Carlos was educated in Spain – the Royal Family living in Portugal – and was proclaimed King of Spain after Francisco Franco’s death, on 22dn November 1975. He then started the complicated process of introducing democracy in Spain through the active support of reforms led his appointed new Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez which included the legalization of political parties, the first general democratic elections and the approval of a new Constitution in 1978. His role in the attempted coup d’état on 23 February 1981 was paramount to democracy in Spain by proclaiming his unambiguous support for the legitimate democratic government.

See Biography

This very simple bookplate bearing the Collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which H. M. is Chief and Sovereign, with his monogram surmounted by the Royal Crown is used in the books of H. M.’s private Library.

Bibliography: Bouza, Antonio L., El Ex-Libris Tratado general. Su historia en la coroña española, Madrid, Patrimonio Nacional, 1990.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_Carlos_I_of_Spain

Romanov Superlibris and Bookplates

Bookplate of Csar Nicolas II Private Library in the Winter Palace
(1907, State Hermitage Museum)
Artist: Baron Armin von Foelkersam (1861-1917)

The Bookplates and Super Libris of the Imperial Russian Family

An antiquarian book dealer from the USA presented in his website a collection of
books that belonged to members of the Imperial Russian Family attested by
Superlibris stamped on the book’s covers or spines and bookplates.

The series goes from czarina Maria Feodorovna (1759-1828) to czar Alexander III and czarina Alexandra Feodorovna (1872-1918), wife of czar Nicholas II, including bookplates and Superlibris from several grand-dukes:
See, http://www.romanovrussia.com/ImperialBooksCol.html

Bookplates and books which belonged to the Romanovs, occasionally appear in the market usually fetching high prizes.

The Library of Congress has a collection of books from the Imperial Family, bought in the early 1930’s – Books from the libraries of the Russian imperial family.

Bibliography:
· Studemeister, Marguerite Bookplates and Their Owners in Imperial Russia, Hermitage, 1990;
· the recent study by Khudolei, V.V., Knizhnye Znaki i Sem`ia Romanovykh, [ Bookplates and the Romanov family], St. Petersburg: Zolotoi vek, 2003, unfortunately only in Russian.
· Lee, Brian North, British Royal bookplates and ex-libris of related families, Aldershot, Scolar Press, 1992

On Russian Heraldry, see, Russian Heraldry: A Brief Survey, by Dr. Mikhail Y. Medvedev.

H. M. Victoria Eugenia, Queen of Spain

H. M. Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (1887-1969)

Insc.:Victoria Eugenia Hispaniarum Regina
Artist: Stern, Paris
Tech.: C1 or C2

She was the daughter of Prince Henry of Battenberg and of Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria’s youngest daughter. Married May 31, 1906, at Madrid, the young King Alfonso XIII of Spain, at St. Jerome Church.
On the proclamation of the Republic in April 1931, the Queen left for Paris with her children and then to Rome with her husband where she lived till the King died in 1941. She then took residence in Lausanne where she lived till her death.

In 1968, after 37 years of exile the Queen returned to Spain for the baptism of her great grandchild Prince Philip de Borbón, elder son of the future King Don Juan Carlos I and of Princess Sophia of Greece. In 1985, her remains were taken to the Monastery of San Lorenzo de Escorial.
She is the grandmother of King Juan Carlos I, of Spain and of Prince Alfonso, former duc of Cadix and of Anjou.
Source: http://www.geocities.com/jesusib/Eugenia.html
Bibliography: Ricardo de la Cierva, Victoria Eugenia, el veneno en la sangre, Planeta, Barcelona, 1995

Bookplate of Alphonse II, Duc d’Anjou

Monseigneur Alphonse II

Duke of Anjou and of Cádiz (20.04.1936 – 30.01.1989)

Insc. Ex Libris Ducis Andegavensis et Gaditensis
Artist: Composition by Hervé Pinoteau, Alain de Jenlis, fecit
Arms: Parti de France et Navarre. Pending, the Collars of the Orders of the Golden Fleece, the Saint Esprit and Saint Michel.

The late Duke of Anjou and of Cadix was the chef du nom et armes de France, being the Head of the Bourbon Family. He also bore the Royal Arms of Spain, being as he was a member of the Spanish Royal Family, son of Dom Jaime, Duke of Segovia and the eldest grand-son of King Alphonse XIII.

The arms of the late Prince Alphonse, Duke of Anjou and of Cadix, Head of the Royal House of France

The bookplate of the late Duke of Anjou was kindly provided by the editors of «Communication & Tradition», Paris, publishers of former «Bourbons Magazine».

Bibliography: for the House of France and the Bourbon Family see, Hervé Pinoteau, «Les Pleines Armes de France, de Clovis au Duc d’Anjou», Léopard d’Or, Paris, 1995; idem, « État Présent de la Maison de Bourbon», 4ème ed., Léopard d’Or, Paris, 1991; idem, «L’Héraldique Capétienne en 1976», Nouvelles Éditions Latines, Paris, 1977; idem, «La structure de la maison royale», in «FIDELIS», # 3, (1990), SICRE, Paris, 1990, pp. 1-11; Marc Dem, «Le Duc d’Anjou m’a dit», Perrin, Paris, 1989; Prince Sixte de Bourbon de Parme, «Le Traité d’Utrecht et les lois fondamentales du royaume», Paris, 1914; Charles Giraud, «Le Traité d’Utrecht», 2nd ed,. Communication & Tradition, Paris, 1997; Roland Mousnier, «Institutions de France sous la monarchie absolue», Paris, 1980;Th. Deryssel, «Mémoire sur les droits de la Maison d’Anjou à la Couronne de France», 3rd. ed., Le Léopard d’Or, Paris, 1983.

H.M Queen Amelia of Portugal

H. M. Marie Amélie Heléne d’Orléans, Queen of Portugal (1865 – 1951)
Motto: «Espérance»
Artist: H.M.’s fecit, Agry (Paris) sculp.
Technique: Steel engraving
Arms: Portugal and Bourbon (without the lambel proper of the Orleans branch as was unduly borne by the pricess’ brother and other Orleans, after the death of the Comte de Chambord, the lawful head of the Bourbon Family, succeeded by the Carlist princes).

H.M. was the eldest daughter of prince Louis Philippe d’Orléans (1838-1894), count of Paris and Princess Maria-Isabel d’Orléans (1848-1919), Infanta of Spain and grand-daughter of Ferdinand Philippe d’Orléans (1810-1842), Duke of Chartres. Her father succeeded his grandfather Louis Philip d’Orléans, deposed King of the French, in 1850, as the Head of the Orléans Family and as such the Orleanist claimant to the throne of France as Philip VII.
The Princess was born at York House, in Twickenham, which had been bought by the Count of Paris in 1864 and where his Family lived in exile till 1871 when, after the fall of the II Empire, the Orléans Family was allowed to return to France. They then went to live at the Chateau d’Eu, in Normandy, a vast domain of the Orléans. The Family was to return to exile in 1886, under the II Republic, due to the royalist support involving a dinner party given in Paris to celebrate the Princess’ engagement to Charles, prince Royal of Portugal.

Portrait at the Coaches Museum Lisbon

She married Charles, Prince Royal of Portugal and Duke of Bragança in 1886. Upon her husband’s accession to the throne in 1889 she became Queen of Portugal. They had two sons:

Infante D. Luís Filipe (1887-1908), prince of Beira – as the eldest son of the
Prince Royal, and later Prince Royal and Duke of Bragança. He was murdered
together with his father on February 1st, 1908 by republican radicals; (see, an
article by David Arthur Walters, The 1908 Lisbon Assassinations);
Infante D. Manuel (1889-1932), Duke of Beja, and later (1908) D. Manuel II, king of Portugal and Duke of Bragança, till he was overthrown by a revolution in October 5th, 1910, having lived in exile in England till his premature death in 1932.

After the wedding, the Princes went to live at the Royal Palace of Belém, whereas King Louis I and Queen Maria Pia lived at the Royal Palace of Ajuda, both in Lisbon. After 1889, they lived at Palácio das Necessidades

In 1892, H.H Pope Leo XIII bestowed Queen Amelia the Golden Rose.
Having seen the deplorable state of abandon in which were kept some of the precious old Royal Coaches at the Palace Stables she took an active interest in their restoration and sponsored the creation in Lisbon of the Royal Coaches Museum. To lodge it she arranged the new Museum to be placed at the Horse Riding Arena of the Belém Royal Palace. The new Museum was opened to the public in 1905 and is still one of the most visited Museums in Lisbon. (see, temporary exhibition at the National Coaches Museum – D. Amélia, one queen one museum.)
An active philantropist she founded the Instituto de Socorros a Náufragos in 1892 to assist the rescue of drowned people.
But her greatest contribution was the founding in 1899 of a private charity association, which still exists today, for the combat and free treatment of Tuberculosis a major epidemic of the time (and unfortunately of our times too). In order to raise funds for the assistance to the Tuberculosis patients she asked Count of Sabugosa to write a book on the history of the Royal Palace of Sintra illustrated with drawings of her own hand.
The Queen had a predilection for painting and music. Pablo Casals for instance was invited to perform at the Royal Palace and the Queen patronised Guilhermina Suggia’s (1885-1950) studies in Leipzig.
She also enjoyed horse riding and hunting being an exceptional horsewoman.
In 1903 she made a voyage by sea to North Africa and Palestine with her two sons and a small party travelling abroad the Royal Yacht Amelia visiting namely, Cairo, Port-Said and Jerusalem. At Cairo the Queen and the Princes were the guests of the Khedive Abbas Hilmi II, who presented the Queen with a gift of Egyptian antiquities for the King of Portugal, which is today housed at the National Museum of Archeology (see, Álvaro Figueiredo, The Lisbon Mummy Project: The employment of non-destructive methods in mummy studies, at http://www.mnarqueologia-ipmuseus.pt/documentos/The%20Lisbon%20Mummy%20Project.pdf

After the Republican Revolution in October 5th 1910, she left Portugal with her son and lived in England at Fulwell Park till the King married in 1913. After 1922, the Queen went to live in France at the Castle of Bellevue, in Chesnay, near Versailles.
————–
Bibliography:
Queen Amelia has yet to have her biographer but the best unbiased appreciation of the Queen can be found in the recent study of Prof. Rui Ramos about King D. Carlos I – Rui Ramos, D. Carlos (1863-1908), Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, 2006 – and in an important critical article he wrote on the two books published by French authors on the Queen in «Análise Social», nº 160, vol.XXXVI, 2001 (see, http://www.ics.ul.pt/publicacoes/analisesocial/recensoes/160/damelia.pdf (in Portuguese).
See also, a very recent book by Eduardo Nobre, D. Amélia – Rainha de Portugal Quimera, Lisboa, 2006 and Família Real – Álbum de Fotografias, Quimera, Lisboa, 2002.

The Bookplate of H.M. Dom Manuel II king of Portugal

D. Manuel II was born in Lisbon at the Royal Palace of Belém and was baptized in the Palace Chapel with the name D. Manuel Maria Filipe Carlos Amélia Luís Miguel Rafael Gabriel Gonzaga Xavier Francisco de Assis Eugénio de Bragança Orleães Sabóia e Saxe-Coburgo Gota.
The second son of the then Prince Royal and Duke of Bragança – D. Carlos (1863-1908) and princess Marie-Amélie d’Orléans (1865-1951), dau of Louis-Philippe d’Orléans (1838-1894), comte de Paris and grandson of King Dom Luís (1838-1889) and Queen Maria Pia of Savoy. At birth Infante D. Manuel was titled as Duke of Beja.
His father ascended the throne, as Charles I just two months before the Prince’s birth and reigned till his coward assassination in Febraury 1st, 1908 together with his eldest son and heir the Prince Royal D. Luís Filipe, duke of Bragança by radicals commanded by the Republican party and believed to belong to a Free-Masonry’s organization called the Carbonaria.

D. Manuel II became Grand-Master of the Portuguese Ancient Military Orders of Christ, Avis and St. James of the Sword, of the Order of the Tower and of the Sword founded at Rio de Janeiro by his ancestor King John VI and of the Order of Our Lady of the Conception of Vila Viçosa.
As regards foreign Orders he was also a Knight of the Order of the Garter and of the Order of the Golden Fleece and Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order.
The prestige of the monarchy was severely shaken with the tragic disappearance of king Charles I and the intrigues of the politicians of the traditional royalist political parties who to gain power did not hesitate to conspire with the republicans at the cost of the royalist institutions and the prestige of the Royal Family.
The inexperienced King followed the counsels of those who proposed compromise abstaining even from inquiring or prosecuting the late King’s murderers.
The Revolution broke out in Lisbon on the 4th October 1910 and next day the King and the Royal Family fled the country, embarking in the Royal Yacht «Amelia» to Gibraltar and then to England.
He first lived with his mother Queen D. Maria Amélia at Abercorn House, in Richmond.
The exiled King married in 1913 princess Augusta Victoria of Hohenzollern-Simaringen (1890-1966) and went to live at a house in Fulwell Park, at Twikenham. He died in 1932 and was buried in Lisbon at the Panteão de S. Vicente de Fora with state honours.
A passionate bibliophile, the king spent his years of exile and part of his fortune assembling a formidable collection of rare Portuguese books from 1469-1600.
As a result of his studies and research he wrote a monumental work of bibliography which was published with the collaboration of Maggs. Bros and printed at the University of Cambridge:

Livros Antigos Portugueses, 1489-1600, da Biblioteca de Sua Majestade
Fidelíssima, descritos por S.M. El-Rei D. Manuel,

3 vols., Maggs. Bros, London, [1929, 1932, 1935].
The 3rd volume was not written by the king who died before he could start it, and the task was undertaken by his faithful secretary Miss Margery Withers and published in 1935, with a foreword by Prof. Aybrey Bell. The text is in Portuguese and English.

The King’s precious Library is today at the Palace of Vila Viçosa, the ancient seat of the Dukes of Bragança which together with the king’s vast patrimony is owned and administered by the Foundation of the House of Bragança, created by the Portuguese Government after the king’s death as a means of fulfilling the King’s last will.

Two sites if interest regarding the King’s life at Twikenham:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AmMWW9O76nk
http://www.twickenham-museum.org.uk/detail.asp?ContentID=79

The king’s ex libris bears the Royal Arms as used by king D. Manuel I and the latter’s famous badge. The motto in the ex libris is the one traditionally used by the Dukes of Bragança before ascending to the throne, who considered themselves the next in line to the Royal Family.
Insc.:D. Manuel II
Motto: «Depois de Vós Nós»
Tech.: Woodengraving (X2)
—————
Bibliography:
Azevedo, Francisco de Simas Alves de, Marca de Posse de um Homem de Bem e de Grande Cultura: O Ex-Libris de El-Rei D. Manuel II, in «No Primeiro Centenário de El-Rei D. Manuel II (1889-1932)», Academia Portuguesa de História. Lisboa, 1991.

H.M. D. Maria I, Queen of Portugal (1734-1816)

H. M. Mary I, Queen of Portugal and of the Algarves

Eldest daughter of King D. José I (1714-1777) and Queen D. Mariana Vitória of Bourbon (1718-1781) dau of Philip V, king of Spain and his second wife princess Elizabeth Farnese.
She ascended the throne in 1777, on her father’s death. From 1792, due to mental illness, her oldest surviving son prince D. João ruled in her name, assuming the title of Regent in 1799 till he succeeded the Crown as John VI, in 1816. The Queen never recovered from the death of her eldest son and heir prince D. José, at the age of 26, from the events of the French Revolution of which she learned the reports made by many émigrés to whom she gave asylum, and the execution in the guillotine of King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette.
As daughter, of the then prince of Brazil – Dom José, heir presumptive to the throne, she became princess of Beira and after her father’s accession to the throne as king D. José I, she became princess of Brazil and duchess of Bragança.
She married her uncle Infante D. Pedro (1717- 1786), grand-prior of Crato (a priory of the Order of Malta) and lord of Infantado, as the second male son of King John V.
In 1807, avoiding capture by the invading Napoleonic Army under the command of Marshall Junot and following the advice of the British Government, the Queen accompanied by the Royal Family and many courtiers fled to Brazil in a fleet escorted by warships of the British Royal Navy.
Queen Mary I died in Brazil at Rio de Janeiro in 1816 and was later buried at the Estrela Basilica in Lisbon which was built by her command.
Insc: Maria I Dei Gratia Portugaliae et Algarbiorum Regina
Artist: Jerónimo de Barros Ferreira (XVIIIth century)
Tech.: Steel engraving

Infante D. Henrique, duke of Coimbra

H.R.H. Infante Dom Henrique Nuno João Miguel de Bragança (b. Bern 1949), 4th duke o Coimbra

He is the third son of H.R.H. D. Duarte Nuno, duke of Bragança (1907-1976) and H.R.H. D. Maria Francisca de Orléans e Bragança (1914-1968) daughter of H.I.H. D. Pedro de Alcântara de Orleans e Bragança, prince of Grão-Pará (1875-1940) and Isabel, countess Dobrzensky of Dobrzenicz (1875-1951) and the younger brother of H.R.H. Dom Duarte Pio, Duke of Bragança and Chief of the Royal House of Bragança.

His great grandfather was D. Miguel I (1802-1866), proclaimed king of Portugal in 1828, who as a result of defeat in the civil war was forced to abdicate (1834) and died in exile in Austria at the Castle of Bronnbach (see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_of_Portugal).

He is the namesake of Infante D. Henrique, the Navigator, son of King John I and Philipa of Lancaster and half-brother of D. Afonso, count of Barcelos and 1st duke of Bragança. The latter’s brother Infante D. Pedro, was 1st duke of Coimbra and Regent of Portugal, during the minority of his nephew king D. Afonso V.

Artist: Segismundo Ramires Pinto
Tech.: X3, opus 113
Year: 1986
Arms: The Royal arms differenced by a label of three points argent, the second charged with the arms of Orléans and the third with the Imperial Arms of Brazil (alluding to the prince’s mother, née Princess of Orléans e Bragança)
Crest: Bragança (dukes of)

The same artist created another bookplate for HRH the duke of Coimbra with coronet and crest with the initials «D.C.»

Tech.: X3, opus 112

Year: 1986
A ducal coronet with the lettering DC
Crest: Bragança (dukes of)

Infante D. Miguel, Duke of Viseu

H.R.H. Infante D. Miguel Rafael Gabriel Xavier Teresa Maria Félix de Orleães e Bragança, 7th duke of Viseu (b. Bern 1946)
Bailiff Grand Cross of Honour and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John’s of Jerusalem of Rhodes and of Malta
Bailiff Grand Cross of Justice of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of Saint George
Grand Officer of the Order of St. Maurice and St Lazarus
President of the Portuguese Association of the of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta
He is the second son of HRH D. Duarte Nuno, duke of Bragança (1907-1976) and HRH D. Maria Francisca de Orléans e Bragança (1914-1968), daughter of D. Pedro de Alcântara de Orleans e Bragança, prince of Grão-Pará (1875-1940) and Isabel, countess Dobrzensky of Dobrzenicz (1875-1951).

His great grandfather was D. Miguel I (1802-1866), proclaimed king of Portugal in 1828, who as a result of military defeat in the civil war was forced to abdicate (1834) and died in exile in Austria at the Castle of Bronnbach (see, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_of_Portugal).

Infante D. Miguel holds the prestigious title of Duke of Viseu which was used before by his uncle D. Miguel de Bragança, (1878-1923), 6th duke of Viseu and by D. Manuel (1469-1521), 5th duke of Viseu and 4th duke of Beja, who became king of Portugal in 1495, after the death without legitimate succession of king John II.

Artitst: Segismundo Ramires Pinto
Tech.: X3, opus 115
Year: 1987
Arms: The Royal arms differenced by a label of three points argent, the third charged with the Imperial Arms of Brazil (alluding to the prince’s mother, née Princess of Orléans e Bragança)
Crest: Bragança, (dukes of)

Alfonso XIII & Victoria Eugenia, King & Queen of Spain

H.M. Alphonse XIII, King of Spain (1886 – 1886/1931 – 1941)
Insc.: Alfonso XIII
Artist: A. de Riquer
Tech.:C3 Etching
H.M. was married to Princess Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg (1887-1969) and is the grand-father of H.M. Don Juan Carlos I, King of Spain and great-grand-father of Prince Louis Alphonse, Duke of Anjou and Chief of the Royal House of Bourbon

H.M Victoria Eugenia of Battenberg, Queen of Spain (1887-1969)
Insc.:Victoria Eugenia Hispaniarum Regina
Artist: Stern, Paris
Tech.: C1 or C2 (?)
Bibliography: Ricardo de la Cierva, Victoria Eugenia, el veneno en la sangre, Planeta, Barcelona, 1995