4 COUNTRIES

ROYAL BIRTHS

WHAT ABOUT SPAIN?

compiled by Dee Finney

Revelation 2: 1. Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; 2. I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: 3. And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted. 4. Nevertheless I have [somewhat] against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. 5. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.

Revelation 12 1. Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. 2. Then being with child, she cried out in labor and in pain to give birth. 3. And another sign appeared in heaven: behold, a great, fiery red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems on his heads. 4. His tail drew a third of the stars of heaven and threw them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born. 5. She bore a male Child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron. And her Child was caught up to God and His throne. 6. Then the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, that they should feed her there one thousand two hundred and sixty days. 7. And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, 8. But they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. 9. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

Prince William of England born 1982	Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece born May 20, 1967  in Tatio.	Italy Emmanuel Filiberto Heir apparent Age 30	China Hu Jintao New leader of the Communist Party

King CONSTANTIN II of Greece was born on 2 Jun 1940 in Psychiko. He was Deposed in 1967 in Greece. He was married to Anne-Marie of Denmark on 18 Sep 1964 in Metropolis, Athens, Greece. 

Anne-Marie of Denmark was born on 30 Aug 1946 in Amalienborg. 

Children were: 

i. Princess Alexia of Greece was born on 10 Jul 1965 in Mon Repos, Corfu. 
ii. Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece, Crown Princess Marie-Chantal
iii. Prince Nikolaos of Greece was born on 1 Oct 1969 in Rome, Italy. 
iv. Princess Theodora of Greece was born on 9 Jun 1983 in London, England. 
v. Prince Philippos of Greece was born on 26 Apr 1986 in London, England. 

Spouse: Marie-Chantal Miller (b. 17.9.1968)

Married: 1 Jul 1995, London

Children:

Maria Olympia of Greece (b. 25.7.1996)
Konstantinos Alexios of Greece (b. 29.10.1998)
Achileas Andreas born on August 12th 2000

Crown Prince Pavlos of Greece and his wife Marie-Chantal showed off their new baby son, Prince Constantine Alexios, and his sister, two-and-a-half-year-old Princess Maria-Olympia us. The family was enjoying a half-term holiday with Pavlos’s parents, ex-King Constantine and Queen Anne-Marie of Greece in the exclusive and picture-book pretty resort of Gstaad.

For this happy, noisy family occasion Prince Pavlos, his wife and children were joined by the Prince’s cousin the Infanta Elena of Spain, and her husband the Duke of Lugo, in the chalet that Mr. and Mrs. Robert Miller built 15 years ago. The King and Queen were staying with friends nearby.

In Gstaad, part-time residents include Valentino, Adnan Khashoggi, Gunter Sachs and Elizabeth Taylor, the rich and famous barely elicit a second look. But everybody wanted to catch a glimpse of little Constantine Alexios and Maria-Olympia as they took to the snowy streets with their proud parents.

The Crown Princess' title is HRH Princess Pavlos of Greece and the children are HRH Princess Maria-Olympia and HRH Prince Constantine Alexios and HRH Prince Achileas Andreas.

Another wedding soon.

Alexia, who teaches special-needs children in Barcelona, is getting married in July. She is marrying a Spanish architect, Carlos Morales Quintana, a very nice gentleman from a very nice family who come from the Canary Islands.

Prince Pavlos is related the British royal family. They are cousins, and Pavlos has lived in England for most of his life. The Father King Konstantine and the Prince of Wales have always had a close relationship - he is one of Olympia’s godfathers.

Exiled Monarchs: Italy Violates the Human Rights of Its Royals

Wall Street Journal - 19th October 2000 

The Queen of England will leave Italy this week without meeting her Italian cousins. It was not a scheduling problem, it was constitutional. Male descendants of the House of Savoy, Italy's last ruling family, have been barred from Italian soil since 1946 because the last king signed some fascist laws. This is absurd: Mussolini's descendants are not only free to roam -- one is even in parliament. But it's more than that, it's also a violation of human-rights accords Rome has signed. 

Austria and Greece impose lesser restrictions to their former royals. In Austria, the constitution still theoretically bars the Hapsburgs the right of entry, although Otto von Hapsburg was allowed to return after signing a document in which he renounced his identity, his claim to the throne or right to seek election as president, and fundamental property rights.

The Greek Socialist government stripped King Constantine of his property, including his family burial plots, and effectively barred him from entering Greece. His family is fighting back, recently winning the first round of a legal case seeking to overturn this law before the European Court of Human Rights. Recently Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia changed their laws regarding their former royals in anticipation of joining the European Union. In Russia, it's too late for the Romanovs. 

But it's not too late in Italy. Twenty years after the Helsinki Final Act, 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and one year after the
Amsterdam Treaty came into force, citing the European Convention of Human Rights, article 13 of the Italian Constitution (absurdly labeled transitional) is still in force. This medieval law also violates a whole range of European treaties -- in particular the Right of Freedom of Movement and Establishment. It also constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment. And it's sexually discriminatory to boot! It applies only to male Savoys. 

The reason given for continuing the ban was that the wartime monarch, King Victor Emmanuel III, was deemed guilty of signing unacceptable fascist laws. In fact Victor Emanuel ordered the arrest of Mussolini in 1943, while his daughter was arrested and put in Buchenwald concentration camp, where she died in an Allied air raid. 

The debate in Europe will doubtlessly continue over personal responsibility at a difficult time in history, when compromises were made by many. If Italy is truly to come to terms with its past, however, it should not be able to treat innocent men as scapegoats for the mistakes of an earlier generation. 

Prince Victor Emanuel, the grandson of Victor Emmanuel III, was expelled from his homeland as a nine-year-old child and has never been allowed to return, while his 28-year-old son Prince Emanuel Filiberto has never been permitted to set foot in his own country. He became well-known in Italy working as a television football commentator in Switzerland, but is this the way a major European country wants to conduct itself? 

The issue, however, goes far beyond the rights of individual families; it goes to the heart of the European Union's respect for its own laws and treaties. I have repeatedly raised this issue in the European Parliament on the grounds that there is a clear breach of both the European Convention of Human Rights and of the treaty establishing the European Union. Recently, the Parliament's Watson Report demanded rights of family reunion for all EU citizens and also for third-country, non-EU citizens. The accompanying Boumedienne - Thierry Report dealing with freedom of movement and residence went even further, demanding such rights for convicted criminals. 

These reports were passed with large majorities in the parliament. But even though more than 230 parliamentarians supported my
amendment expressing disappointment that the European Commission had failed to refer to the violations of the Savoys' civil rights, it was nevertheless defeated by a combined Socialist and Liberal vote. I was particularly surprised that the British Liberal Democrats and Labour MEPs voted against it, despite their claim to uphold the European Convention of Human Rights and the European treaties, and to apply them universally and without discrimination. 

A bill has sat in the Italian Senate calling for a change in this arcane law, but it has been held up by a small minority of intransigent far-left senators. No one seriously considers the family to be even a remote threat to public security, the only legal justification permitted for denying their existing treaty rights. It is, therefore, all the more extraordinary that a European family that for a 1,000 years has been deeply involved in Europe's history is being denied its human rights. 

And what do ordinary Italians think of all this? Some 85% support the Savoys' right of return. In the meantime, Prince Victor Emmanuel awaits a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. 

Everyone has the right to live and die in his own country. That is why I have written to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini on the occasion of the Queen's state visit to press home the right of an aging and kindly man and his son to return to their native land. But will they listen? 

SPAIN: 

MADRID, Spain (May 22, 2004) - Crown Prince Felipe married former TV anchorwoman Letizia Ortiz on Saturday in a ceremony that the couple dedicated to the victims of a terrorist bombing two months ago. Afterward, tens of thousands of Spaniards lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the first commoner ever to be in line to be queen.

A driving rain fell as Ortiz, wearing a flowing off-white gown, entered the 19th century Almudena Cathedral in Madrid's scenic old quarter.

The congregation of some 1,700 royals and other dignitaries - protected by security including fighter jets and 20,000 police - included Britain's Prince Charles, former South African President Nelson Mandela and Jordan's Queen Rania.

The archbishop of Madrid, Cardinal Antonio Maria Rouco Varela, thanked the couple for dedicating their wedding Mass to the 191 people killed in the March 11 train bombing in Madrid, blamed on Islamic militants.

''The people of Madrid celebrate your wedding, with gratitude for your tender gesture in memory of the victims of the despicable terrorist attack of March 11,'' Rouco Varela said.

He also urged the couple not to be intimidated by the enormous responsibility of being heirs to the Spanish throne.

''Fear not these extraordinary demands,'' he said. ''You are not alone in your path. Their majesties the king and queen of Spain, the royal family, your relatives and loved ones, the good people of Spain, are with you.''

Royal Guards sent by the couple also placed a bouquet of white roses at a grove of potted olive and cypress trees placed outside Atocha station, one of the main targets of the attack, with a note saying: ''Always in our memory, Felipe and Letizia.''

Despite the lingering sense of mourning, it was a festive day in a city brought to life with hundreds of thousands of geraniums, pansies and other flowers.

The cost of the wedding has been estimated at $24 million, although some planned events like a light and sound show Saturday night - and the prince's bachelor party - were scrapped to avoid looking frivolous in the wake of the bombing.

On Saturday, people crowded on balconies to catch a glimpse of the couple as they took a post-wedding ride in an armor-plated vintage Rolls-Royce, waving to tens of thousands of well-wishers holding small red-and-yellow Spanish flags and pink and silver fans. The crowds were thinner than expected, though.

''If I could, I would open a bottle of champagne and offer them a toast. I wish them lots of luck,'' restaurant owner Santos Sanchez said.

Returning to the Royal Palace, across a broad cobblestone courtyard from the cathedral, the newlyweds emerged on a now sun-drenched balcony for their first public kiss as husband and wife.

Just one year after she started dating the prince, Ortiz, a 31-year-old divorcee, now has the title of Princess Letizia of Asturias.

The prince met Ortiz at a dinner party in late 2002 and they started dating secretly the following spring. Word of their engagement in November took the country by surprise, though polls suggest Spaniards don't mind that Ortiz is a divorcee and has no royal blood.

She wore an off-white gown with a flowing silk veil and a 15-foot train embroidered with heraldic symbols. Her diamond and platinum tiara was the same one Greek-born Queen Sofia wore at her wedding to King Juan Carlos in 1962 in Athens, Greece. The bride's bouquet was an arrangement of white lilies of the valley.

Prince Felipe, 36, wore a crisp blue uniform reflecting his status as a Spanish army major, with braided epaulets, a light blue sash and medals of honor from the army, navy and air force.

There were a couple of slip-ups, mainly in the re-enactment of a centuries-old custom in which the bride and groom exchange coins as symbols of the possessions they will share.

Rouco Varela dropped a few of the 13 gold coins - some 500 years old - as he handed them to the prince. The prince then forgot his lines as he addressed Ortiz and had to look down at notes on a stand in front of him.

The ceremony was the first royal wedding in Spain since that of the prince's great grandfather, King Alfonso XIII, in 1906. The prince's father, King Juan Carlos, and grandfather, Juan de Borbon, married abroad during the dictatorship of Gen. Francisco Franco.

The prince's two older sisters, Princesses Elena and Cristina, both married commoners in the 1990s in Spain, but those ceremonies were not considered royal weddings because under the Spanish constitution their husbands could never become king.

05-22-04 15:52 ET

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press.

ROYAL SURNAME LIST

FROM: http://myweb.tiscali.co.uk/praeternatural/Summary%20of%20Minor%20Chastizement.htm

Summary of Minor Chastizement 
By Simon Galloway (From Catholic prophecy by Yves Dupont, The Prophets and Our Times by Rev. G
Culleton, and Trial Tribulation and Triumph by Desmond Birch)

A) Proximate events leading up to Minor Chastizement

1.Low profile birth of antichrist leads to upheavals worldover 
2.Secret sect undermines the church 

B) Years 1-2

German Conqueror

1.Food scarce and expensive and little work 
2.Lower classes revolt against tyrannical laws with assassinations of those in high places 
3.Civil war starts in East Germany/Prussia and passes through Italy and France at almost same time ending in England and lasting 4 years in total. France is visited by 3 bloody wars and Italy by four. 
4.Spain is split for want of government, Germany is ruled by militaristic elements and France is divided;
Disintegration of democracies 
5.Italy is taken over by Germany and part of France passes under its control; Rome is pillaged from within 
6.Persecution of church by three powers causes pope to flee with four cardinals to Cologne; Church is left without protector for 25 months (or leaves Rome for 200 days), many are martyred; Italy and France are without rulers 
7.In his absence confusion between German, Greek and Italian Anti-popes. German antipope is installed creates new constitution and this results in a schism; 1/3 of the faithful follow the true church underground 
8.Ecumenical church is built and new directives issued to all clergy 
9.Secularization of Church property; 3 oppressive rulers; 2 (Italian and French?) are overcome by the third evil German Ruler/King/Emperor of the North 
10.At climax of German ruler’s power a hooked cross is set atop of church towers; At this time English civil war and revolution begins 
11.France and Spain unite against Germany/North and are fairly successful until after 2 years of war the European invasion comes 

C) Year 2-3

Russian Invasion

12.Russians invade from North and Mohamedan Turks and Japanese from east and war for 9 months; German domination weakens 
13.The German conqueror is defeated; Russian communism captures Europe for around 3 months and divides it in two. 
14.Communists seize Rome and destroy Ecumenical church; Arab forces invade and loot and destroy Rome. Italian persecution is terrible and connected with the Invasion (whereas French connected with civil war). Italy’s islands are evacuated, Vienna is destroyed and Lombardy laid waste. 
15.The Franco-Spanish alliance against the north is set back.. 

D) Year 3-4

Communist Persecution 

16.Communist domination and persecutions of Christians; war becomes a religious war; France and Italy are severly affected 
17.France falls because of its alliance with England. The leader is killed and Paris, Marseilles and other cites are destroyed; Communists gain control ¾ of France. She disintegrates into two factions through terrible persecutions and the smaller Christian faction triumphs and follows the Great prince-an archduke who will have been a captive or exile in his youth. He appears when antichristian forces are on brink of victory. France becomes the cradle of the counter-revolution 

18.Prince begins his mission in the Iberian Peninsula coming to power in last year of wars; Campaigns of the prince: fights in France, Germany, Italy and liberates the Vatican; he is first helped into an unexpecting France by England 
19.While France is divided Germany chooses a simple man of humble birth as Emperor (of the north?) who later flees his country; Great Monarch defeats, disarms and dismembers Germany and succeeds the ruler of Germany; He puts down the revolt in France 
20.England suffers defeat by Japanese in mediterranean; Tidal waves inundate England; London is devastated. England pays the piper. Revolt breaks and France comes to aid. China marches on England, many lords and nobles including the king are slaughtered; casualties are almost as great as the communist invasion of East Germans/Prussians, She loses all her eastern colonies. Great Monarch liberates her from communism driving them back home. The capital is moved to York and Monarch appoints 3 lords to administrate her. 
21.Towards end of the wars there will be famines because of drought and a superabundance of snow and ice; Peace is near when the true pope and the anti-pope (black pope) die on the same night 
22.The small Christian forces save the day and defeat the Russian/Prussians communist forces at Westphalia aided by Spain and Poland in a special way; soldiers of 7 nations fight this battle; Russia falls at the same time internally with civil war and a new government is installed. 
23.Peace reigns between Germany and France (and Spain) and a new Emperor of 40 yrs old is elected in Germany 
24.A reformed Russia is at war with China 
25.Natural disasters increase, and after a terrible war and night of awful persecutions in France and famine, when the churches close for 24 hours in France, and after the true pope and antipope dies, THEN the 3 days Darkness causes collapse of central Communism. The chastizement affects Europe more than the rest of the world. Third of world population perishes and ¾ of Europe. 

E) Years 4 onwards

The recovery

26.Three months of famine or plague follows and exploits of Great Monarch 
27.Seven to twelve women left to every man 
28.France and Spain preserved 
29.New ecumenic council St Peter and St Paul appear and miraculously elect the new Italian Angelic pope from survivors who reigns for 4 years and is succeeded by 3 popes until end of time 
30.Great Monarch is enthroned in France by the Angelic Pope and unites her with Germany and Spain 
31.After more bloodshed he conquers Poland, Italy, Greece and Ireland by relieving them of revolt and becomes their ruler and eventually extends to edges of Roman Empire 
32.A four nation Catholic Slavonic Federation with its capital at Warsaw with St Andrew Bobola as its patron saint drives out remaining muslim turks 
33.Holy Pontiff asks for the Great Monarchs help to unite Eastern and Western churches; Great Monarch defeats Ottoman Empire and Mohamedans and regains Holy land and Holy city; Muslims are driven out to the far east and North Africa and converted 
34.Allied occupation of China by the west and Russia and it is divided into zones 
35.Russia, England and China come into the Church. Ireland is instrumental in the return of the British people; Nations which have lost the faith completely don’t survive 
36.Great Monarch is made Emperor of Europe and Era of Peace follows for 8-10 years which begins in the USA; Powerful industries will collapse; No taxes for 12 years 
37.12 Apostles of New Age help rebuild the world and after realizing disaster was responsible for a lack of evangelisation the gospel is preached in the whole world; monasteries and convents flourish 
38.The Angelic pope and Monarch rebuilds Jerusalem and gives it back to the Jews; they may have a king again as of old, ark, tabernacle and altar of incense will be found. They acknowledge the Christian messiah and His rule and become Christians. The Jewish nation will be mighty. God makes a new covenant with his people 

39.Monarch abdicates his throne in Jerusalem and thus ends the Roman Empire and the nations of England
and France 

F) The Great Apostasy and Reign of Antichrist

40.The Christian gentiles grow lax. Crime, apostasy and evil grow worse than before and God releases Lucifer and Hell. The false prophet appears. Those lax about confirmation in this age of the Holy Spirit will fall into the snares of the False Prophet. Antichrist now a man makes his appearance.

1960 - HM King Umberto of Italy accompanies HM the Queen of the Netherlands,
Juliana, who wears perhaps the most valuable and certainly the most impressive tiara of the evening,
the magnificent Stuart Diamond Tiara.

Vittorio  Emmanuelle IV
Currently age 64 

VITTORIO EMANUELE (IV) Alberto Carlo Teodoro Umberto Bonifacio Amedeo Damiano Bernardino Gennaro Maria,
DUKE OF SAVOY, Prince of Naples, b at Naples 12 Feb 1937, Grand Master Supreme Order of the Annunziata,
Grand Master Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus, the Civil Order of Savoy, and the Order of Merit of Savoy,
Bailiff Gd Cross Hon & Dev of Sov Mil Order of Malta, Bailiff Gd Cross of Justice Constantinian Order of St George,
Kt Order of Saint Andrew, Gd Cross Orders of Saint Alexander Nevsky, the White Eagle, Saint Anne, Saint Stanislas,
the Redeemer of Greece, the Immaculate Conception of Vila Viçosa, & of Karageorge,
son of late King Umberto II whom he succeeded 18 Mar 1983,
m at Teheran 7 Oct 1971, Marina (b at Geneva 12 Feb 1935),
Gd Cross Order of Saints Maurice & Lazarus, Gd Cross Hon & Dev Sov Mil Order of Malta,
Dame Star Cross Order, daughter of René Ricolfi Doria and Iris Benvenuti.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Less than 150 years ago Italy was comprised of about 10 separate small countries, and as a result, great-great grandpa was NOT "Italian," but either Piemontese, Toscano, Veneziano, Modenese, Parmigiano, a subject of the Pope, or Napoletano-Siciliano, etc.

Since all of these ruling groups held sway over parts of Italy, I hope you will find the information which follows helpful.

RULING HOUSES IN ITALY

(Excerpted from The Wordsworth Handbook of Kings & Queens

by John E. Morby; Copyright (c) 1989 by the author)

The Medieval Kingdom of Italy
The Doges of Venice
The Kingdom of Naples and Sicily
The d'Este in Ferrara and Modena
The Montefeltro and Della Rovere in Urbino
The Visconti and Sforza in Milan
The Gonzaga in Mantua
The de' Medici and their Successors in Florence
The Farnese and Bourbons in Parma
The House of Savoy

See: http://www.arduini.net/tools/kings.htm

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Exiled Monarchs: Italy Violates the Human Rights of Its Royals

Wall Street Journal - 19th October 2000

The Queen of England will leave Italy this week without meeting her Italian cousins. It was not a scheduling problem, it was constitutional. Male descendants of the House of Savoy, Italy's last ruling family, have been barred from Italian soil since 1946 because the last king signed some fascist laws. This is absurd: Mussolini's descendants are not only free to roam -- one is even in parliament. But it's more than that, it's also a violation of human-rights accords Rome has signed.

Austria and Greece impose lesser restrictions to their former royals. In Austria, the constitution still theoretically bars the Hapsburgs the right of entry, although Otto von Hapsburg was allowed to return after signing a document in which he renounced his identity, his claim to the throne or right to seek election as president, and fundamental property rights.

The Greek Socialist government stripped King Constantine of his property, including his family burial plots, and effectively barred him from entering Greece. His family is fighting back, recently winning the first round of a legal case seeking to overturn this law before the European Court of Human Rights. Recently Bulgaria, Romania, and Yugoslavia changed their laws regarding their former royals in anticipation of joining the European Union. In Russia, it's too late for the Romanovs.

But it's not too late in Italy. Twenty years after the Helsinki Final Act, 10 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall, and one year after the Amsterdam Treaty came into force, citing the European Convention of Human Rights, article 13 of the Italian Constitution (absurdly labeled transitional) is still in force. This medieval law also violates a whole range of European treaties -- in particular the Right of Freedom of Movement and Establishment. It also constitutes a cruel and unusual punishment. And it's sexually discriminatory to boot! It applies only to male Savoys.

The reason given for continuing the ban was that the wartime monarch, King Victor Emmanuel III, was deemed guilty of signing unacceptable fascist laws. In fact Victor Emanuel ordered the arrest of Mussolini in 1943, while his daughter was arrested and put in Buchenwald concentration camp, where she died in an Allied air raid.

The debate in Europe will doubtlessly continue over personal responsibility at a difficult time in history, when compromises were made by many. If Italy is truly to come to terms with its past, however, it should not be able to treat innocent men as scapegoats for the mistakes of an earlier generation.

Prince Victor Emanuel, the grandson of Victor Emmanuel III, was expelled from his homeland as a nine-year-old child and has never been allowed to return, while his 28-year-old son Prince Emanuel Filiberto has never been permitted to set foot in his own country. He became well-known in Italy working as a television football commentator in Switzerland, but is this the way a major European country wants to conduct itself?

The issue, however, goes far beyond the rights of individual families; it goes to the heart of the European Union's respect for its own laws and treaties. I have repeatedly raised this issue in the European Parliament on the grounds that there is a clear breach of both the European Convention of Human Rights and of the treaty establishing the European Union. Recently, the Parliament's Watson Report demanded rights of family reunion for all EU citizens and also for third-country, non-EU citizens. The accompanying Boumedienne-Thierry Report dealing with freedom of movement and residence went even further, demanding such rights for convicted criminals.

These reports were passed with large majorities in the parliament. But even though more than 230 parliamentarians supported my amendment expressing disappointment that the European Commission had failed to refer to the violations of the Savoys' civil rights, it was nevertheless defeated by a combined Socialist and Liberal vote. I was particularly surprised that the British Liberal Democrats and Labour MEPs voted against it, despite their claim to uphold the European Convention of Human Rights and the European treaties, and to apply them universally and without discrimination.

A bill has sat in the Italian Senate calling for a change in this arcane law, but it has been held up by a small minority of intransigent far-left senators. No one seriously considers the family to be even a remote threat to public security, the only legal justification permitted for denying their existing treaty rights. It is, therefore, all the more extraordinary that a European family that for a 1,000 years has been deeply involved in Europe's history is being denied its human rights.

And what do ordinary Italians think of all this? Some 85% support the Savoys' right of return. In the meantime, Prince Victor Emmanuel awaits a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights.

Everyone has the right to live and die in his own country. That is why I have written to British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini on the occasion of the Queen's state visit to press home the right of an aging and kindly man and his son to return to their native land. But will they listen?

Italy's Royals Cleared for Return

Tuesday, 15-Oct-2002

Story from AP

ROME (AP) -- A petition to keep Italy's male royalty from returning home after 56 years in exile didn't gather enough signatures, removing the last obstacle for the royals' return.

Monday was the last day to sign the petition, but organizers acknowledged that with only 21,000 signatures gathered, it would be impossible to reach the 500,000 names needed to force a referendum in Parliament.

The exile, applying to male members of the House of Savoy, was enshrined in Italy's postwar constitution as punishment for the family's support of dictator Benito Mussolini.

The exiled heirs are Victor Emmanuel, who was 9 when he left Italy, and his 30-year-old son, Emmanuel Filiberto, who was born and reared in Switzerland.

The royals, who have lived out most of their exile in Switzerland, said the exile violated their human rights.

The royals, who have renounced any claim to the throne, are expected to travel to Italy in the next few weeks. The Italian president must sign the bill overturning their exile and the change must then be published in the government gazette.

On May 9, 1946, as the nation tried to regain its footing after the devastation of World War II, King Victor Emmanuel III, Victor Emmanuel's grandfather, abdicated in favor of his son Umberto II.

But King Umberto lasted only a month before a referendum in which Italians voted to scrap the monarchy and make the country a republic. Two years later, the new constitution barred Umberto and his male descendants from Italy.

A referendum became a possibility because parliament did not garner a two-thirds majority in voting to lift the ban.

On 23rd october President Ciampi signed the law repealing the Constitutional Prohibition against male members of the House of Savoy from entering Italy and allowing Crown Prince Victor Emmanuel and his family to return to Italy; by Constitutional Law No 1, 2002, dated October 23rd, published on October 26th in the Official Gazette of the State. By this law the Crown Prince will be able to return to Italy on November 10th, 2002.

See: Official Notice

The road for the Savoys' return was cleared at the weekend, when Prince Victor Emmanuel and his son Emmanuel Filiberto, a bond trader and sometime football commentator in Geneva, unexpectedly "pledged allegiance" to the Italian republic in a signed letter.

"My son and I guarantee our loyalty to [Italy's] republican constitution and to our republic's president," Victor Emmanuel, a gaffe-prone and controversial figure, said in a statement.

The move was welcomed as a "clear and unequivocal" reply to requests by the opposition Democratic Party of the Left for a such a pledge. But Communist diehards and many Green Party senators said it was still not enough.

Luigi Marino, of the Italian Communists, said ahead of the debate: "We will still vote against. The Savoys have never admitted they were to blame for the historic wrongs of the period. They must say they are sorry for having supported fascism in all its forms."

One of Victor Emmanuel's most infamous moments was his dismissal five years ago of Mussolini's 1938 racial laws, which paved the way for the segregation and deportation of Jews to death camps, as "not all that bad."

Monarchists, including Victor Emmanuel's cousin Prince Amedeo d'Aosta, were dismayed at the two princes' pledges of allegiance.

Sergio Boschiero, secretary of the Italian Union of Monarchists, called it "an unrequested and unnecessary act" and said the pair had made a "definitive renunciation of any dynastic role."

As a result, he said, his association considered Amedeo d'Aosta the legitimate pretender to the throne.

Victor Emmanuel said last night: "My son and I hope that the revocation procedure may be completed in a short space of time, to enable us to return as quickly as possible to our beloved Italy."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier in the week, his son Emmanuel Filiberto - a 30-year-old raised in Switzerland who has never stepped foot on Italian soil - promised allegiance to Italy's constitution, meaning he had no intention of trying to regain power.

"We want to be able to live in Italy like simple citizens, respecting the constitution and respecting the laws," Emmanuel Filiberto told Italian reporters in Switzerland this week.

His father expressed support Friday for recently published remarks of Italian Deputy Premier Gianfranco Fini, a former neo-fascist who said in an interview published on Thursday that "as an Italian I must accept responsibility" for fascist evils.

Meanwhile, a group of pro-republican activists planned to begin gathering signatures Saturday for a referendum to keep the royals out.

Parliament voted on July 11 to lift the ban, but the measure failed to garner a two-thirds majority, meaning a referendum is possible if 500,000 voters sign a petition within three months.

Victor Emmanuel said Friday he hoped to return to Italy in mid-October - "in the absence of any purely hypothetical referendum."

Attempts to gather 500,000 signatures appeared a little late, with less than a month before the deadline. In any case, few Italians seem bothered by the idea of the royals' return, and experts say the family has neither the experience nor popularity to enter politics.

The royals have pushed hard for the right to set foot in Italy, lobbying the European and Italian parliaments and bringing their cause to the European Court of Human Rights.

The ban came shortly after the Second World War, when Italians looked around for culprits in the devastation their country suffered during war and Fascist rule. Among those deemed guilty was King Victor Emmanuel III, who had been a figurehead monarch during Mussolini's government.

On May 9, 1946, Victor Emmanuel III abdicated in favor of his son Umberto II. But Umberto lasted only a month before a referendum in which Italians voted to scrap the monarchy and make the country a republic. Two years later, the republic's new constitution barred Umberto and his male descendants from Italy.

Victor Emmanuel's statement from Geneva on Friday sounded hopeful but cautious, and concluded with a plea to Italians to put the past behind them.

"My country has changed," he said. "We have to all look ahead, not for our own good, but for the good of future generations."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A public opinion poll taken last week showed that 74 per cent of the Italians surveyed were in favour of allowing the Savoys back, although 54 per cent felt that they should be asked to swear allegiance to the republic.

However, Victor Emmanuel, a Geneva businessman who remains unpopular with many Italians, has refused to swear such an oath. He told journalists: "Give me a public post and I'll do it straight away, but now I'm just a private citizen. Have you [the media] ever been asked to swear allegiance?"

Victor Emmanuel has a reputation in Italy for errors and arrogance. Some years ago, a French court acquitted him of murdering a young Dutchman, although the victim's family has never accepted the ruling. The man who would be Victor Emmanuel IV insists he does not want to restore the monarchy; from his home in Geneva he claims that he wants only the right to live in Naples, from where he sailed at the age of nine into exile with his father, Italy’s brief last monarch, Umberto II.

His affable son Emmanuel Filiberto, an investment banker in Geneva and former football commentator, is considerably more popular.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The Italian Royal Family

Italian Royal Family

Belgian Royal Family

The Genealogy of the Royality of Italy

The Italian Region

1. Italy

Presidents:

Enrico de Nicola (1946–48);
Luigi Einaudi (1948–55);
Giovanni Gronchi (1955–62);
Antonio Segni (1962–64);
Guiseppe Saragat (1964–71);
Giovanni Leone (1971–78);
Alessandro Pertini (1978–85);
Francesco Cossiga (1985–92);
Oscar Luigi Scalfaro (1992– ).

1945, Nov. 30   The leader of the Christian Democrats, Alcide de Gasperi, formed a new government supported by all major parties. 2

1946, Jan. 1   With the transfer of Bolzano province by the Allies, the whole country, except for Venezia Giulia (claimed by both Italy and Yugoslavia), was under Italian sovereignty. 3

May 9   KING VICTOR EMMANUEL III ABDICATED. His son proclaimed himself King Umberto II. 4

June 2   Elections to the Constituent Assembly gave 207 seats (out of 556) to the Christian Democrats, 115 to the Socialists, and 104 to the Communists. At the same time, a referendum rejected the monarchy, 12,717,923 votes to 10,719,284, thus making ITALY A REPUBLIC. 5

June 11 The prime minister, Alcide de Gasperi, was made temporary head of state. 6

June 13   King Umberto, while refusing to accept the popular verdict against the monarchy, left the country to prevent the outbreak of violence.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

King Umberto I of Italy, is the legal owner of the Shroud of Turin.

About the First Photo of the Shroud of Turin

The Shroud of Turin - The Controversy

Anarchists in Italy

11-14-2002

Zeng Qinghong 

Mr Zeng looks set to move centre-stage

HOW QUICK THINGS CHANGE!!!

11-15-2002

Hu-Jintao elected  to take over the Communist Party

Hu to lead China's Communist Party

November 15, 2002

BY CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

BEIJING--Vice President Hu Jintao was appointed today as leader of China's Communist Party, handing him the country's most powerful position and making him a certain bet to replace Jiang Zemin as president next year.

His appointment as general secretary positions the little-known Hu at the head of a new generation of leaders who will guide China through sweeping changes and economic reforms launched by Deng Xiaoping and his successor, Jiang. Meanwhile, Jiang was re-elected to head China's powerful military commission.

''This is a united, triumphant and highly progressive meeting, as well as a meeting which has carried on the past and opened a new chapter for the future,'' Hu said inside the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing.

He credited Jiang for laying the groundwork for his leadership and the party's future.

The party posts symbolize the true power of China's government. Although the president is the head of state in China, his power is derived from his party position. Jiang held both posts since he was named president in 1993.

The eight other newly named members of the inner-sanctum Politburo Standing Committee followed Hu in and stood to his left. Among them were top officials Luo Gan and Wen Jiabao.

Wen, now vice premier, is expected to replace the reform-minded Premier Zhu Rongji, who also is retiring. Luo, the architect of China's law-enforcement policies, is considered a particularly hard-line leader who is in the midst of a public campaign to tighten controls on the Internet.

Six other younger leaders also were elevated to the Standing Committee and will have key roles in shaping policy.

Jiang, who has led the party since 1989, remains in office as president until March. According to practice, Hu will take over that post at the National People's Congress, China's legislature. But Jiang, 76, has installed allies on the inner-circle Politburo Standing Committee and is expected to exert great influence in retirement.

AP

~~~~~~~~~~~

Chinese Communist Party Turnover

BEIJING, Nov. 13, 2002

Chinese Communist Party members attend the opening session of the 16th Party Congress. (AP)

(AP) The man expected to become China's next leader is the only top politician re-elected to the Communist Party's Central Committee, the government announced Thursday — the most concrete sign yet of his ascent.

Party delegates also moved to officially approve Jiang Zemin's "Three Represents" theory, adding capitalist-style ideology to their party charter as they work to keep pace with economic reforms and the introduction of the market economy.

The official Xinhua News Agency said current President Jiang Zemin was not on the list, indicating his expected retirement from a formal party role.

"Jiang Zemin, the core of the third-generation leadership of the Communist Party of China, and five of his colleagues in the party's top decision-making body, are not on a new Central Committee of the CPC elected here this morning," Xinhua said.

It specifically identified Hu as "the only member" of the last party congress' Standing Committee to be re-elected. The Standing Committee is the inner sanctum of party leadership — and, by extension, the leadership of China.

Jiang, 76, general secretary of the Communist Party since he replaced Zhao Ziyang in a 1989 purge after the Tiananmen Square democracy protests, will remain president until March. But the party position is the wellspring of his power, and his departure from it makes his retirement as president certain.

The moves, which launch a younger generation of leaders to shepherd China through a period of dizzying economic change, come at the end of the congress, the once-in-five-years meeting of the party that has ruled China since its insurgents took the mainland in 1949.

Hu, 59, was designated as Jiang's heir apparent by the late senior leader Deng Xiaoping. His ascent has been widely expected, though little is known about him. He has taken on a higher profile in recent months and traveled to the United States in the spring, a signal that he was being readied to take the reins of power.

Delegates to the party's weeklong 16th National Congress also amended its constitution to formally endorse Jiang's invitation for entrepreneurs to join — an effort to keep the party in control of a fast-changing China.

The principle is known by the ungainly title of the "Three Represents," language aimed at showing that the party is concerned about all levels of society.

But it is also code for the once-unthinkable idea of allowing capitalist entrepreneurs to join a party whose very identity is based on class struggle — the overthrow of the capitalist system. It has the added benefit of co-opting business leaders in China and claiming their power as the party's own.

"Persistent implementation of the Three Represents is the foundation for building our party, the cornerstone for its governance and the source of its strength," said resolution, a copy of which was distributed at the congress' closing ceremony.

It added: "The implementation of the important thought of Three Represents is, in essence, to keep pace with the times, maintain the party's progressiveness and exercise the state power in the interests of the people."

The leadership change appears to be the first orderly transfer of power in the history of communist China. Order, always an obsession of the ruling communists, has taken on new economic importance as the country opens to foreign investment as part of its "socialist market economy."

China's rulers say they want to convey a sense of calm so that money from abroad will keep pouring in, raising living standards and keeping people happy or at least unwilling to oppose party rule.

While Jiang is said to be preparing to give up his formal posts, he is also believed to have shepherded proteges onto the party's next ruling body and into other high posts in order to retain influence over a new government.

Though the list of Central Committee members was not immediately available, it will hold clues as to which of China's senior leaders have come out ahead and which are being shown the door.

© MMII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

Thursday, 14 November, 2002, 11:47 GMT

Profile: Zeng Qinghong

Zeng Qinghong has been tipped for high office since he emerged as right-hand-man to China's long-term ruler Jiang Zemin.

Mr Zeng belongs to the elite group of China's "princelings", the children of veteran Communist Party revolutionaries.

His father, Zeng Shan, was a Red Army veteran and went on to become vice-mayor of Shanghai in 1949 and minister of internal affairs in 1960.

His mother, Deng Liuqin, was in charge of the Shanghai-based East China Kindergarten where the children of many senior officials were brought up.

Right-hand-man

Zeng Qinghong  Born in 1939

Studied automatic control systems
Joined Communist Party in 1960
Key henchman of Jiang Zemin

But it is his work for Jiang Zemin which has ensured his political rise, and he now heads the Party's important Organisation Department, overseeing all appointments and promotions.

Mr Zeng, a Beijing-trained engineer, joined Mr Jiang when he was Shanghai Party secretary in the mid-1980s.

When Mr Jiang was transferred to Beijing after the 1989 pro-democracy student movement, the one adviser he chose to take with him was Mr Zeng.

Throughout his career Mr Zeng has concentrated on promoting Mr Jiang's leadership and thinking.

He has strengthened Mr Jiang's position by promoting members of the president's Shanghai faction to leading central and regional posts.

But some analysts believe that once he holds power in his own right, Mr Zeng will be more adventurous than Mr Jiang. He is even rumoured to favour introducing limited political reforms.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday October 10, 2002

China's New 'Princelings' Shun the Spotlight

By Scott Hillis

BEIJING (Reuters) - Being a princeling in China used to mean something.

The pampered children of the political elite were once assured tickets to power and riches until a series of scandals in the 1990s sparked a crackdown on corruption.

Now the latest generation of official offspring has learned to lay low, cramming for MBAs in foreign colleges, working for multinationals under assumed names, or running businesses out of the spotlight.

But as a crucial Communist Party congress expected to shake up the ranks of power nears, China watchers will be updating their Who's Who lists, alert for clues about who will have the ears -- across the dinner table -- of the country's most powerful men.

State-run media rarely report on the children of top officials. Analysts said officials fear too much attention to family business dealings could taint them with the suspicion of corruption.

But many have little to fear, analysts said. "The princelings of today are differentiated from their predecessors by one thing, and that is that their education and skills have set them up to be successful," said Denis Simon, a long-time China consultant who is now dean of the Lally School of Management and Technology in Troy, New York.

PUBLIC PEEVED AT PRINCELINGS

Take the children of Vice-Premier Wen Jiabao, the man tipped to succeed Zhu Rongji as premier and take charge of economic affairs.

His son, Wen Yunsong, attended Northwestern University in Chicago and he now works for an Internet firm in Beijing. His daughter works for U.S. firm GE Capital.

They highlight how the role of the princelings, known in Chinese as "taizidang," has shifted over the decades.

Many current leaders came from families with top Communist pedigrees. President Jiang Zemin was the son of an esteemed "revolutionary martyr" while parliament chief Li Peng, an orphan, was raised by Zhou Enlai, Mao Zedong's right-hand man.

Their children, however, came of age amid unprecedented economic reform that saw them put in control of key industries and deep pools of public funds with little oversight.

The rampant corruption that ensued aroused public anger and shocked many old-guard leaders, who moved to rein in some of the worst princeling excesses.

In 1997 Zhou Beifang, son of influential party member Zhou Guanwu, was given a suspended death sentence for accepting bribes while head of a major state-run steel firm. Also that year, Chen Xiaotong, son of disgraced Beijing Communist Party chief Chen Xitong, landed a 12-year prison term for graft.

Even the family of late supreme ruler Deng Xiaoping was not entirely safe. China's cabinet shut down a company run by his son, Deng Pufang, in 1988 because of illegal activities.

"Jiang and Zhu, they do not like the taizidang very much because they came in on their own, but the taizidang have wide connections, a lot of resources and support," said Zheng Yongnian, senior research fellow at the East Asia Institute at the National University of Singapore.

Jiang's son, Jiang Mianheng, has made a name as a high-tech mogul. Dubbed the "Prince of Information Technology," young Jiang has fingers in pies from telecoms to chip foundries.

Zhu Yunlai, son of Zhu Rongji, is a top executive at China International Capital Corporation, China's first joint venture investment bank set up with Morgan Stanley.

And Li Peng's son, Li Xiaopeng, heads a state power giant while his daughter is an executive at a energy investment firm.

VICTIMS OF THEIR OWN SYSTEM

A recent report by the party watchdog Discipline Inspection Commission, the Public Security Ministry and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences detailed the extent of the princeling problem, according to Hong Kong's "Trend" magazine.

Some 98 percent of the spouses and children of relatively senior officials held key government or business posts, with incomes as high as 120 times the average, the study said.

Moreover, they accounted for 78 percent of suspects in fraud cases involving more than five million yuan ($600,000) and were second on a list of public grievances after the police. More than 600 relatives of high-level officials had fled abroad after being charged with graft, it said.

The princeling problem also soured Party elders on the idea of allowing retiring top officials to designate a child to assume a high-level position.

"Public resistance to, and the institutional restraints on, taizi, mishu (personal assistants) and other personal networks has been stronger than ever during the past few years," Cheng Li, an expert on Chinese politics at Hamilton College in New York, wrote in his book "China's Leaders: The New Generation."

Sons and daughters of senior officials were once highly sought by multinational firms as "advisers," but their value lay more in their "guanxi," or connections, than in their advice.

"In the China market, foreign companies are always looking for a competitive advantage," Simon said. "Everyone wants access, that's the key thing. But the question is: are they barking up the wrong tree if they think access comes from the kid of a high official?"

Retiring leaders are also caught between needing to stamp out corruption by official family members and protecting their own relatives from any political campaigns after they retire.

"They want just enough power to obstruct or get in the way of any effort to get at them," Simon said.

"Many of these people are victims of their own system. The same system that helped bring them to power could come back and bite them just because the political winds shift."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[LatelineNews: 2001-9-27] BEIJING - Zeng Qinghong, the main adviser and right hand man to Chinese President Jiang Zemin, on Wednesday failed again to be appointed to the Communist Party Central Committee's select 21-member Politburo. ...

French Prince & Princess Guy de Polignac.  1925

Yolande Martine Gabrielle de Polastron, Countess and then Duchess de Polignac (1749-1793), was the closest friend and confidant of the Queen Marie Antoinette. In 1767 she married Count Jules de Polignac who was raised to the Duke de Polignac in 1780. She was never faithful to her husband. She received many favors for her and her family. The queen appointed her the Governess of the Queen's children. The charming, ambitious, lecherous and unscrupulous duchess contributed to the Queen's unpopularity. She left Paris when the French Revolution started. She died in Vienna on 1793. Her husband died in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1817.

Related to:  The Prince Rainier III

Prince Rainier III, grandson of Prince Louis II on his mothers side, Princess Charlotte and son of Prince Pierre, Count of Polignac, succeeded his grandfather on May 9, 1949.

During the course of his reign, one of the longest in the history of Monaco, Prince Rainier III intensified, expanded and diversified the enterprises committed to during the preceding three reigns : from the political, diplomatic, international, economic and social domains, to the educational, scientific, cultural, communications and sports domains. To this he adds the industrial dimension. Through bold land retrieval from the seas, he expanded national territory by one fifth of its surface.

The most significant political reform due to the initiative taken by Prince Rainier III, consists of the promulgation of a new constitution, establishing modern principles without repudiating tradition.

Monaco was admitted to the United Nations on May 28, 1993.

In the economic sector, Prince Rainier III has taken measures to protect and enrich the hospitality sector. The infrastructure for tourism is modern and the technical installations necessary to host international conferences and professional congresses are excellent.

Sovereign: Rainier III Prince of Monaco (Monaco, May 31st, 1923).

Son of Pierre Count of Polignac (1895-1964), became Pierre Grimaldi Prince de Monaco, and Charlotte Duchess of Valentinois (1898-1977).

Succeeds his grandfather Louis II Prince of Monaco (1870-May 9th, 1949).

Inauguration: Monaco, November 19th, 1949.

Motto: Deo Juvante (With the help of God).

Religion: Roman Catholic.

Married (1956):

Grace Kelly (1929-1982).

Children:

* Caroline Princess of Monaco (1957), married 1st (1978, divorced 1980): Philippe Junot; married 2nd (1983): Stefano Casiraghi (1960-1990); married 3rd (1999): Ernst August Prince of Hanover (1955). Caroline has three children from the second marriage: Andrea (1984), Charlotte (1986) and Pierre (1987). From her third marriage she has one daughter: Alexandra (1999).

The Crown of France was one of the most ancient in Europe when the ancient Monarchy was finally brought down in the Revolution of 1830, reigning without a break until 1792, and then restored again in 1815. The country continued to be ruled by a Monarch, Louis-Philippe, for seventeen and a half years following the 1830 revolution, but this last King was head of a junior branch of the House and could not claim to be the legitimate successor of the deposed Monarch, Charles X. The senior line became extinct with the death of Henri, Count of Chambord (Henri V to legitimists) in 1883, at which time the succession was disputed between the representative of the surviving senior line (the Carlist claimant to the throne of Spain), and the grandson of Louis-Philippe, the Count of Pars. There is no doubt that the Kings of France before 1792 and between 1814 and 1830 had believed themselves to be the inheritors of the ancient Kingly prerogative and rights invested in Hugh Capet in 987, and passed on to his descendants, successors to the Crown. This very antiquity gave the force of precedence to the system of succession, and established precedence being most easily understood is less subject to ambiguous interpretation. Long before the revolution of 1789 French constitutional authorities had identified a system of laws, the fundamental laws of succession, which they showed had governed the succession to the Crown since at least the early fourteenth century, and whose origins go to the foundation of the Capetian Monarchy.

Until the short-lived Constitution of 1791 France's succession was ruled by custom, and these customs were enshrined in a system of laws which at various times were held, by those competent to adjudicate in such matters (primarily the Parlement of Paris composed of Magistrates and Peers), to be fixed and constant. The restoration of 1814 re-established the ancient Monarchy with all its pre-1789 powers and prerogatives, subject only to any limitations imposed by the Constitutional Charter of 1814 (article 74). The Charter did not attempt otherwise to regulate the succession to the Crown. It conferred on the members of the royal family (elsewhere defined as the children and grandchildren of the King) and on the Princes du Sang (Princes of the Blood), the right to a seat in the Chamber of Peers with precedence immediately after the President in order of their position in the succession, but these Princes could not take their seat without the prior permission of the King before each session, and could not vote until they were twenty-five years old.

The fundamental laws enshrined certain principles which bound the nation and the succession to the Crown for the first eight-hundred years of the Capetian Monarchy. During the interregnum of 1793-1814 these principles were applied to assure the titular succession of Louis XVIII rather than his niece, Marie-Thérèse, whom some French monarchists thought a more appealing focus for royalist loyalties. From 1815 they once again dictated the legal succession, and these selfsame principles were applied by French legitimists without dissent, until the death of Henri V (titular King), in 1883. These laws insured the peace of the Kingdom by allowing for there to be no doubt about the person of the heir to the throne, and thereby reducing the chances of a civil war over the succession. By preventing either the Sovereign, or any individual Prince, from alienating their own dynastic rights or those of other dynasts, these laws insured that personal preference or short-term interest could not divert the succession and thereby risk future challenges and dissent. The existence of fundamental laws which may not be overridden even by acts of the Sovereign registered in the Parlement is comparable to the supremacy of the Constitution of the United States, whose principles cannot be suborned by the acts of individual States or even Congress, and to parts of the modern French Republican Constitution which define the state as a Republic. In the USA, the individual states or Congress may pass laws which appear to have all the proper forms of law, but which nonetheless may be struck down by the Supreme Court because they conflict with the Constitution. In the same way a Monarch may issue properly registered decrees or letters patent that actually conflicted with the fundamental laws and were therefore void and ineffective. In France, there was no official body established to review these fundamental laws, but they were known and understood by all constitutional jurists. The French fundamental laws of succession may be identified as follows:

A. Succession to the Crown is limited to male princes descended from Hugh Capet.

A. The Succession to the Crown is limited to Males

The first and most important principle was that females were excluded from the succession, they could not transmit any right of succession, and that only males could succeed. This insured that neither the Crown nor its possessions could be alienated to a foreign sovereign. This principle was not enshrined in law, however, until the time came for a determination to be made as to whether the King's only daughter should succeed, or the nearest male representative of the House descended from Hugh Capet who became King in 987 a.d. The first occasion when this question arose was not, as has often been stated, when in 1328 the King of England claimed the succession by right of his mother, but in 1316, following the death of the child John I, only son of Louis X (King 1314-1316).

For the three hundred and thirty years of the Capetian Monarchy (a century longer than the existence of the Republic of the United States), male heir had followed male heir. On the death of Louis X his widow was expecting and gave birth to a son, John, immediately proclaimed King, but the young King died three days later. He left an elder sister Joan, but with the assent of Parlement her uncle Philip was crowned King as Philip V, reigning until 1322 (Joan was eventually allowed to inherit the Crown of Navarre which did pass by mixed succession). Philip also left four daughters and, again applying the principle of male succession, these were excluded in favor of his next brother, who succeeded as Charles IV. When Charles died in 1328 he left a pregnant widow who gave birth to a daughter. This ended the male line descended from Philip IV, and the ambitious nephew of the last King, Edward III of England (son of Isabel of France, married to Edward II of England), now sought the throne.

MORE

Claimants to Non-Reigning Monarchies and Their Heirs

OTHER LINKS ABOUT ROYALTY ON THIS SITE

Princess Diana's Life, Death, and Conspiracy Theory Links

... Princess Diana: 1961-1997 Prince Charles (bio and news) Queen Elizabeth II British Links British Royalty Links The Crash and Crash Scene The Doctors and Injuries The Funeral Diana comes home Leaders The ...

http://www.greatdreams.com/princess.htm

Princess Diana - the aftermath dream and events

... of Lady Diana Spencer goes back to Charles II of the House of Stewart. The Stewarts are *TRUE* royalty, being direct descendents of The House of David of Judah, and Jesus and Mary the Magdalene. ..

http://www.greatdreams.com/Princess2.htm

DREAMS, VISIONS, PROPHECY AND COINCIDENCES ABOUT PRINCESS DIANA

... . Metaphorically, Nostradamus probably used Porphyry to describe Diana since purple is the color of royalty (crystals seem to indicate that also), and stones have been used to describe lifelessness. Moreover ...

http://www.greatdreams.com/dianpro.htm

USURPER TO THE THRONE OF ENGLAND

Royal Links The British Monarchy Unofficial Royal Family pages The Royal Network Marivi's Royalty page Publications on the Monarchy Canadian Monarchist The Queen's Visit 1997 ...

http://www.greatdreams.com/usurper.htm

THE ELECTION - 2000 - DREAMS AND VISIONS

... been as well endowed with royal alliances." Brooks-Baker said there had always been a significant "royalty factor" in those who aspired to the White House, with Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson ...

http://www.greatdreams.com/elec2000.htm

KING ARTHUR 

DREAMS OF THE GREAT EARTHCHANGES - MAIN INDEX