April 16, 2012

Easter Monday / Bright Monday / Renewal Monday (Eastern/Orthodox Christianity; Albania, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Egypt, Georgia, Greece, Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Syria, Ukraine, etc.)

Feast of Saint Bernadette [Marie-Bernarde] Soubirous  (Roman Catholic)

ROYAL BIRTHDAYS

Pope Benedict XVI   {1927}

Queen Margrethe II of Denmark   {1940}

Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg   {1955}

Prince Sebastian of Luxembourg   {1992} (son of Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg & grandson of Grand Duke Jean of Luxembourg)

Princess Eleonore of Belgium   {2008} [daughter of Prince Philippe of Belgium, Duke of Brabant (son of King Albert II of the Belgians)]

ROYAL WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

King Fuad II of Egypt + Sudan & Dominique-France Loeb Picard (known as Fadila after conversion to Islam & marriage)   {1976} [divorced 1996/2008]

HISTORICAL ROYAL EVENTS

1457 BC   Likely the date of the Battle of Megiddo between Pharaoh Thutmose III of Egypt and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of Kadesh, the first battle to have been recorded in what is accepted as relatively reliable detail.

1178 BC   The calculated date of the Greek King Odysseus/Ulysses of Ithaca's return home from the Trojan War.

1346   King Stephen Uros IV Dusan  "the Mighty" of Serbia is proclaimed Emperor of the Serbs + Greeks, with the Serbian Empire occupying much of the Balkans.

1520   The Revolt of Comuneros begins in Spain against the rule of Emperor Charles/Carlos/Karel/Karl/Carlo V of the Holy Roman Empire {also King of the Romans, King of Germany, King of Italy, King of Spain as Carlos I, Lord of the Netherlands, Archduke of Austria, etc}.

1521   Martin Luther's first appearance before the Diet of Worms to be examined by the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and the other estates of the empire.

1746   The Battle of Culloden is fought between the French-supported Jacobites and the British Hanoverian forces commanded by Prince William Augustus of Great Britain + Ireland, Duke of Cumberland, in Scotland. After the battle many highland traditions were banned and the Highlands of Scotland were cleared of inhabitants.

1799   Napoleonic Wars: The Battle of Mount Tabor - Emperor Napoleon I of the French drives Ottoman Turks across the River Jordan near Acre.

1953   Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain + Northern Ireland launches the Royal Yacht HMY Britannia.

HISTORICAL ROYAL BIRTHS

778   King Louis I "the Pious/the Fair/the Debonaire" of Aquitaine + France, Holy Roman Emperor (d.840)

1319   King Jean II "the Good" of France, Duke of Burgundy, Count of Auvergne  + Boulogne (d.1364)

1516   King Tabinshwehti of Burma (d.1550)

1693   Queen consort Anne Sophie of Denmark + Norway (d.1743)

DEATHS

69   Emperor Otho of the Roman Empire

924   King Berengar I of Italy, Holy Roman Emperor

1113   Grand Prince Sviatopolk II of Kiev

1118   Adelaide/Adelasia/Azalais del Vasto, Queen consort of Sicily (1089-1101), Regent of Sicily (1101-1112), Queen consort of Jerusalem (1112-1117)


1198   Frederick I, Duke of Austria