Merry Christmas!

December 25


Christmas Day / Noel / Yule / Feast of the Nativity  (Christianity following the Gregorian calendar)

Hanukkah  (Judaism)

Constitution Day in China  (1947)


ROYAL BIRTHDAYS

Princess Alexandra of Kent, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy   {1936} (first cousin of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain + Northern Ireland)

Prince Bernhard of Orange-Nassau   {1969} [son of Princess Margriet of the Netherlands (sister of Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands)]

HISTORICAL ROYAL EVENTS

333   Emperor Saint Constantine I "the Great" of the Roman Empire elevates his youngest son, Constans, to the rank of Caesar.

350   Emperor Vetranio of the Roman Empire meets co-Emperor Constantius II of the Roman Empire Naissus (Serbia) and is forced to abdicate his title (Caesar).  Constantius allows him to live as a private citizen on a state pension.

800   Coronation of Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor takes place in Rome.

1000   The Foundation of the Kingdom of Hungary:  Hungary is established as a Christian kingdom by King Saint Stephen I of Hungary.

1066   William "the Conqueror/the Bastard", Duke of Normandy, is crowned King of England, at Westminster Abbey, London.

1100   Baldwin/Baudouin of Boulogne, 1st Count of Edessa, is crowned the first King of Jerusalem at the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem.

1130   Count Roger II of Sicily, Duke of Apulia + Calabria, is crowned in Palermo as the first King of Sicily.

1261   Emperor John IV Doukas Laskaris of Nicaea of the restored Eastern Roman Empire is deposed and blinded by orders of his co-ruler, Emperor Michael VIII Palaeologus/Palaiologus of Nicaea + the Byzantine Empire.

1926   Emperor Taisho of Japan dies.  His son, Prince Hirohito of Japan, succeeds him as Emperor Showa of Japan.

1950   The Stone of Scone, traditional coronation stone of British monarchs, is taken from Westminster Abbey by Scottish nationalist students.  It later turns up in Scotland on April 11, 1951.

HISTORICAL ROYAL BIRTHS

1250   Emperor John IV Doukas Laskaris of Nicaea (d. circa 1305)

1461   Princess Christina of Saxony, Queen consort of Denmark, Norway + Sweden (d.1521)

1584   Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Queen consort of Spain + Portugal (d.1611)

1700   Prince Leopold II Maximilian of Anhalt-Dessau (d.1758)

1901   Lady Alice Montagu Douglas Scott, later known as Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, Countess of Ulster, Baroness of Culloden (d.2004)

DEATHS

795   Pope Adrian I

820   Emperor Leo V "the Armenian" of the Byzantine Empire

1926   Emperor Taisho of Japan