March 20, 2012

Vernal Equinox / First Day of Spring  {Northern hemisphere}

Ostara  {Northern hemisphere}

Persian New Year / Nouruz/Nowruz  (Iran, Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iraq, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Syria, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan; Kurdish diaspora, Zoroastrians, some Sufis, Ismailis, & Iranian diaspora; some in Bosnia, Caucasus, Crimea, India, Macedonia, Pakistan, Serbia etc)

Shunbun no Hi in Japan (Vernal Equinox Day) {Day for Admiration of Nature + Love of Living Things}

Independence Day in Tunisia  (1956)

International Astrology Day

World Storytelling Day

World Sparrow Day

ROYAL BIRTHDAYS

Prince El-Hassan bin Talal of Jordan   {1947} (uncle of King Abdullah II of Jordan)

Barbara Cano y de la Plaza   {1972} [wife of Bruno Gomez-Acebo y de Borbon (nephew of King Juan Carlos I of Spain)]

Count Rodolphe of Limburg-Stirum   {1979} [husband of Archduchess Marie Christine of Austria, Countess of Limburg-Stirum (daughter of Archduchess Marie Astrid of Austria, Princess of Luxembourg {daughter of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg & sister of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg})]

ROYAL WEDDING ANNIVERSARIES

Princess Alexandra of Greece + Denmark & King Peter II of Yugoslavia   {1944}

Prince Nikolaus of Liechtenstein, Count of Rietberg & Princess Margaretha of Luxembourg, Princess of Nassau, Princess of Parma   {1982}

HISTORICAL ROYAL EVENTS

235   Maximinus Thrax is proclaimed Emperor of the Roman Empire [as Maximinus I]. He is the first foreigner to hold the Roman throne.

1815   After escaping Elba, Emperor Napoleon I of the French enters Paris with a regular army of 140,000 and a volunteer force of around 200,000, beginning his "Hundred Days" rule.

1848   Revolutions of 1848 in the German states: King Ludwig I of Bavaria abdicates.

1974   Ian Ball attempts, but fails, to kidnap HRH The Princess Anne of the United Kingdom of Great Britain + Northern Ireland and her husband Captain Mark Phillips on The Mall, outside Buckingham Palace, in London.

HISTORICAL ROYAL BIRTHS

1469   Princess Cecily of York, Viscountess Welles (daughter of King Edward IV of England, sister of King Edward V of England, niece of King Richard III of England, sister-in-law of King Henry VII of England, aunt of King Henry VIII of England, great-aunt of King Edward VI, Queen Mary I, & Queen Elizabeth I of England) (d.1507)

1725   Sultan Abdul Hamid [Abdulhamid/Abd Al-Hamid] I of the Ottoman Empire (d.1789)

1737   King Buddha Yodfa Chulaloke {Rama I} of Siam [Thailand] (d.1809)

1811   Emperor Napoleon II "the Eaglet" of the French (June 22-July 7, 1815), King of Rome + Prince Imperial of the French (1811-1815), Prince of Parma (1814-1832), Duke [as Franz] of Reichstadt (1818-1821) (d.1832)

DEATHS

1390   Emperor John Alexios III Megas Komnenos of Trebizond

1413   King Henry IV "of Bolingbroke" of England, Lord of Ireland

1568   Albrecht "the Elder", Duke of Prussia, Margrave of Brandenburg in Prussia etc.

1619   Matthias/Matyas/Matija/Maciej/Matei/Matej, Holy Roman Emperor, King of the Romans, King of Germany, King of Hungary + Croatia [as Matthias II], King of Bohemia, Dalmatia, Slavonia, Rama, Serbia, Galicia, Lodomeria, Cumania + Bulgaria, Archduke of Austria, Duke of Burgundy, Brabant, Styria, Carinthia, Carniola, Luxembourg, Wurttemberg, & Upper + Lower Silesia, Prince of Swabia, Margrave of the Holy Roman Empire, Moravia, Upper + Lower Lusatia, Princely Count of Habsburg, Tyrol, Kyburg + Gorizia, Landgrave of Alsace, Lord of the Wendish March, etc.

1934   Princess Adelheid Emma of Waldeck + Pyrmont (1858-1890), Queen consort of the Netherlands (1879-1890), Dowager Queen + Queen regent of the Netherlands (1890-1898), Dowager Queen + Queen Mother of the Netherlands (1890-1934), Grand Duchess consort of Luxembourg (1879-1890)

2004   Queen Juliana of the Netherlands (1948-1980), Princess of Orange-Nassau, Duchess of Mecklenburg, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld