Elizabeth II is 96 years old today: here is how she is 1/16 Hungarian – PHOTOS, VIDEO
The British monarch, Elizabeth II, is celebrating her 96th birthday today. On this occasion, we will go over the Hungarian ancestors of the British Royal Family.
As we reported before, the British Royal Family has Transylvanian Hungarian roots. Claudine (Klaudia) Rhédey, born and raised in Transylvania and baptised as Rhédey Claudia Susanna, is the great-great-grandmother of Elisabeth II. Claudine was born in Erdőszentgyörgy (Sângeorgiu de Pădure), a town in Mureș County, Transylvania, Romania.
Klaudia Rhédey
On this basis, Elizabeth II is 1/16 Hungarian. Countess Klaudia Rédey was born on 20 September 1812 in Erdőszentgyörgy, to parents László Rhédey, a landowner and diplomat, and Ágnes Inczédy (1788-1856). She was her parents’ only child who lived to reach adulthood.
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According to csamborgo.hu, at the age of eighteen, Klaudia was invited by Emperor Francis I, King of Hungary, to travel to Vienna for a ball season.
It was at the ball that Prince Louis Paul Alexander (1804-1885) of Württemberg and Countess Klaudia were said to have fallen in love at first sight.
When Alexander wanted to propose to Klaudia, her father said no, as Alexander did not speak Hungarian. But after 5 years, the lovers were able to marry, as the man learned Hungarian.
Tragedy
Unfortunately, their fairytale story ended in tragedy all too soon. Klaudia followed her husband to Pettau (today’s Ptuj, Slovenia) in September 1841 where Prince Alexander, then a major-general of the Austrian Empire, was in command of the local division. A few kilometres before Graz, the horse-drawn carriage overturned in a roadside ditch where the Countess, pregnant with her fourth child, suffered a severe blow to her side.
She continued the journey, but this time, on horseback. On October 1, 1841, after eight days of suffering, she died of an internal haemorrhage, and with her died her foetus.
Burial
In accordance with her last wishes, her coffin was transported home to Erdőszentgyörgy. The journey of nearly 900 kilometres took a week and a half. The Countess was buried on 12 October 1841 in the church where she had been baptised nearly 30 years earlier.
According to csamborgo.hu, interestingly, Claudia’s embalmed heart was later laid to rest in her husband’s coffin. Charles, Prince of Wales, visited Erdőszentgyörgy on 8 May 2008 to pay his last respects at her resting place. During his visits to Transylvania and Hungary, Charles said that he has Hungarian blood in him.
In this video, you can check out Prince Charles’s Transylvanian guesthouse:
In this video, you can hear Prince Charles talking about Transylvania:
So which 1/16th is that evident in? A part of her left foot? An elbow?
I’m glad that her parents lived to reach adulthood. I just hate it when children give birth. I am however surprised that with such
extremely dark hair that the portrait is of such an extremely pale skinned woman….especially taking into consideration our ancestors even further back.
Dear Ilona, thanks for pointing out that minor mistake, it’s been corrected. But we appreciate the humour 🙂 Have a nice weekend!
Prince Charles visits Romania? Let’s hope he stays there! They can have him with pleasure. As he’s entitled to German/Greek/Danish passports he can take advantage of EU Free Movement of Labour, now denied to UK citizens. Perhaps he can take his mother, Mrs Saxe Coburg Gothe, along as well, not forgetting his paedophile brother.