June 15th

Events -

1215 - King John of England put his seal on the charter of liberties drawn up by his barons at Runnymeade.  Four days later, the barons swore oaths of fealty to King John, at which time the Magna Carta was created.  The charter, which put limits on the power of the king and protected those of the barons, was declared null and void by Pope Innocent III, a ruling which was ignored by the barons.  The charter, which was modified several times over the years, is considered the foundation of constitutional law in the English-speaking world.

1580 -  Willem I, Prince of Orange, who led a revolt against Spain which resulted in the Eighty Years' War, was declared an outlaw by King Philip II of Spain.  The war eventually led to the independence of the Netherlands.  Philip promised a reward for William's assassination, an offer which was taken up by Balthasar Gérard four years later.

1905 - Princess Margaret of Connaught, daughter of Arthur, Duke of Connaught (son of Queen Victoria), married the Crown Prince of Sweden, Prince Gustaf.  The couple had five surviving children, including the father of a future King of Sweden and a Queen Consort of Denmark.  Eight-months-pregnant with her sixth child, Margaret died in 1920 due to a post-op infection.  Gustaf married Margaret's cousin Louise Mountbatten (granddaughter of Queen Victoria's daughter Alice) in 1923 and became King of Sweden in 1950.

1978 - American Lisa Najeeb Halaby became the fourth wife of King Hussein of Jordan, taking the name Noor al Hussein on her conversion to Islam.  She became friends with the King while he was mourning the death of his third wife due to a helicopter crash, and they became engaged the following year.  Noor and Hussein had four children, two sons and two daughters, before Hussein's death in 1999.

Born on this date -

1330 - Edward of Woodstock, son of King Edward III of England and Philippa of Hainault.  Edward was invested as the third English Prince of Wales in 1343 and became the first Knight of the Garter in 1348.  In 1361, he married his cousin Joan of Kent, by whom he had two sons.  A renowned military commander, Edward was responsible for the English victories at Crécy and Poitiers during the Hundred Years' War.  He became the first English Prince of Wales not to succeed his father as King of England, as he died on June 8, 1376 at the age of 45 (a week before his 46th birthday), a year before his father.  His oldest son having died in 1372, his younger son succeeded Edward III in 1377 as King Richard II of England.

1519 - Henry FitzRoy, illegitimate but oldest surviving son of King Henry VIII of England and Elizabeth Blount.  He was six when he was created Duke of Richmond and Somerset in 1525. After Henry's second daughter Princess Elizabeth was declared a bastard, there were rumors that Henry was planning to name his illegitimate son as his heir, but the duke died before an act which would have permitted this was passed by Parliament.  Henry FitzRoy died July 23, 1536 at the age of 17, probably of tuberculosis.  He had no children, as his marriage to Mary Howard, daughter of the Duke of Norfolk, was unconsummated.

Died on this date -

923 - King Robert I of France, aged 56. He was born on August 15, 866, the younger son of Robert IV of Neustria and Adelaide of Tours.  The younger brother of Odo, King of the West Franks, he did not claim the kingdom after his brother's death, but remained a vassal under the rule of Charles III of France until 922, when he rebelled and had himself proclaimed King of France.  Charles led an army against Robert and defeated him in battle at Soissons, where Robert was killed.  His only son, born of his second wife Béatrice of Vermandois, was the father of Hugh Capet.

991 - Holy Roman Empress Theophano Skleraina, aged 30-31.  She was born in 960 in Constantinople, the Constantine Skleros and Sophia Phokaina.  Holy Roman Emperor Otto I wanted to marry his son to a Byzantine princess as part of a treaty between the Eastern and Western Empires.  Her mother was a cousin of Byzantine Emperor Iōannēs I Tzimiskēs and neice of Emperor Nikēphoros II Phōkas, while her father was the brother of Iōannēs I Tzimiskēs first wife.  She married Emperor Otto II on April 14, 972 and was crowned Empress the same day.  Otto II died in 983, and Theophano became regent for their only son, who became Otto III.  She died eight years later, with her mother-in-law taking over as regent until Otto III came of age.

1073 - Emperor Go-Sanjō (後三条天皇) of Japan, aged 40.  He was born on September 3, 1032, the second son of Emperor Go-Suzaku (後朱雀天皇) and Empress Sadako (禎子内親王, daughter of Emperor Sanjō, 三条天皇) with the name of Takahito-shinnō (尊仁親王).  He succeeded his older brother Chikahito (Emperor Go-Reizei, 後冷泉天皇) as emperor in 1068 when his brother died with no children.  Go-Sanjō abdicated in favor of his son Sadahito (Emperor Shirakawa, 白河天皇) in 1072 and became a Buddist priest.

1246 - Friedrich II, Duke of Austria, aged 35.  He was the son of Duke Leopold VI of Austria and Theodora Angelina of Byzantium and was born on April 25, 1211.  He became heir to the duchy in 1228 on the death of his older brother Heinrich and succeeded his father in 1230.  He died without children at the Battle of the Leitha River, fought against King Béla IV of Hungary.  Although a woman could have inherited the duchy, it became a part of Bohemia with the marriage of Friedrich's sister Margaret to Ottokar II of Bohemia.

1341 - Emperor Andronikos III Palaiologos, aged 44.  He was born on March 25, 1297, the son of so-Emperor Mikhaēl IX Palaiologos and Rita of Armenia.  A rift developed between Andronikos and his grandfather Andronikos II after he accidentally killed his brother Manuel and his father Mikhaēl died of grief.  Andronikos began a civil war against his grandfather and was eventually recognized as co-emperor in 1328, in which year he deposed his grandfather and became sole emperor.  During his rule, the Ottoman Turks began encroaching on his territories in Asia Minor, and the Serbians expanded their territory into Macedonia.  By his second wife, Anna of Savoy, he had four children, including his heir Iōannēs V Palaiologos and a daughter Maria, future Empress of Bulgaria.

1383 - Iōannēs VI Kantakouzēnos, aged about 91.  He was the son of the governor of Morea Mikhaēl Kantakouzēnos and Theodora Palaiologina Angelina, which gave him a relationship to the reigning Palaiologos dynasty.  After the death of Andronikos III Palaiologos, Iōannēs became regent for the nine-year-old heir, Iōannēs V Palaiologos.  Iōannēs had no desire to become emperor himself, having declined several offers to become co-emperor during the reign of Andronikos III.  When Iōannēs left for Morea, enemies who suspected him of wanting the throne for himself overthrew the regency, the army naming Iōannēs emperor when they found out, which started a six-year civil war.  The war was ended with an agreement for the two Iōannēs to be co-emperors, and Iōannēs V Palaiologos to marry Iōannēs VI Kantakouzēnos' daughter Helena.  After Iōannēs V Palaiologos seized sole power in 1354, Iōannēs VI Kantakouzēnos retired to a monastery.  One of his sons, Matthaios, was co-emperor from 1353-1357 and a daughter, Theodora, was wife of Sulta Orhan of the Ottoman Empire.

1389 - Sultan Murad I of the Ottoman Empire, aged 62-63.  Murad was born the son of Sultan Orhan I and Nilüfer Hatun in March or June 1326.  He became Sultan in 1361 on the death of his father.  During his reign, most of the Balkans came under Ottoman rule and the Byzantine Emperor was forced to pay him tribute.  Murad was assassinated during the Battle of Kosovo Polje (fought against Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović of Moravian Serbia) and was succeeded by his son Bayezid I. 

1389 - Prince Lazar Hrebeljanović of Moravian Serbia, aged 59-60.  He was born around 1329, the son of Pribac Hrebeljanović, chancellor of King Stephen Uroš IV Dušan of Serbia. Serbia began falling apart during the reign of Stephan Uroš V Dušan, after which Lazar became knez (translated as Prince).  When Stephan Uroš V Dušan died childless in 1371, Serbia split into several principalities, of which Moravia was the most powerful.  The Turks began raiding into Moravia in 1381 and the threat from the Ottomans against Serbia increased until they met in the Battle of Kosovo Polje.  Prince Lazar was killed during the battle and was succeeded by his son Stefan Lazarević under the regency of Stefan's mother Milica.  The following year, Serbia submitted to the Ottoman empire.  Lazar was later venerated in the Serbian Orthodox Church as a saint and martyr.

1467 - Philip III, Duke of Burgundy, aged 70.  He was born on July 31, 1396, the son of Jean II of Burgundy and Margaret of Bavaria.  He became Duke of Burgundy on his father's assassination in 1419.  Blaming the Dauphin of France for his father's death - his father was killed during a meeting between the two - Philip allied himself with Henry V of England, marrying his sister Anne to Henry's brother John.  Although he mostly stayed out of the Hundred Years' War, his troops were responsible for the capture of Jean of Arc.  On his death, he was succeeded by his son Charles, who was the last Duke of Burgundy from the Valois family.

1888 - Kaiser Friedrich III of Germany, aged 56.  The son of Wilhelm of Prussia (younger son of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, later Wilhelm I) and Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, he was born on October 18, 1831.  As early as 1851, Friedrich was looked at by Queen Victoria and Prince Albert as a husband for their oldest daughter Victoria, the Princess Royal, in the hopes of bringing liberal ideas to Germany.  The couple became engaged in 1856 and were married on January 25, 1858.  Their successful marriage produced eight children.  However, the couple were at odds with the conservative ideals of Friedrich's father and his chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the two of whom greatly influenced Friedrich and Victoria's oldest son Wilhelm (later Kaiser Wilhelm II) against them.  Friedrich was unable to implement any of his liberal ideals, as his father lived to age 90, by which time Friedrich was already dying of throat cancer.  Friedrich ascended the throne March 9, 1888, reigning for only 99 days before losing his battle against cancer.  He was succeeded by his oldest son, Wilhelm, who became the last Kaiser of Germany.

June 7th

Events -

421 - Emperor Theodosius II of the Byzantine Empire married Aelis Eudocia in Constantinople. Theodosius and Eudocia were both important figures in the rise of Christianity during the early days of the Byzantine Empire.  Theodosius is mostly known for the Codex Theodosianus, which codified all the laws from the time of Constantine to Theodosius' time.  As Theodosius was increasingly interested in Christianity, a large part of his Codex dealt with implementing orthodoxy into the Church - during a time when the Arian Controversy was major issue for Christians - and 65 of the decrees in the Codex were directed specifically at heretics.  Eudocia's work is little considered today, but in her day it was important in understanding the rise of Christianity in Byzantium.  She drew from both her Greek heritage and Christianity in her most famous work, a Homeric centos, where she used Homeric themes from Iliad and Odyssey to interpret biblical passages from Genesis and New Testament stories of Jesus, using the familiar Homer to bring the tenets of Christianity to a people who were still fairly new to the religion.  Of the couple's three children, their only son died in infancy, one daughter died in childhood, and their surviving daughter married two emperors of the Western Roman Empire - Valentinian III and Petronus Maximus.

1654 - The man who would become the longest-reigning monarch in the Western world (72 years and 110 days) was crowned this day, 11 years after he had come to the throne at the age of five.  As the head of the preeminent power in Europe, he led France through three major wars and two minors one.  Although there is no proof that he ever said it, "L'État, c'est moi" summed up his ardent belief in the divine rights of Kings.  With his wife, Maria Theresa of Spain, of whom he said the only unease she had ever caused him was when she died, he had six children, none of whom would succeed him to the throne.  Only one of their children, Louis, know as le Grand Dauphin, survived to adulthood.  The Dauphin's early death of smallpox when he was 49 left the next generation as heirs to the throne.  Of the three sons of the Dauphin, the youngest was the Duke of Berry, the middle had become the King of Spain (as a result of the treaty that ended the War of Spanish Succession), and the oldest, the Duke of Burgundy, le Petit Dauphin, was now heir to France's throne.  As Burgundy had two sons himself, the succession seemed to be secure.  But then the Duke of Burgundy died in 1712 after catching measles from his dying wife.  Both their sons caught the disease, and the older of the two, Louis, Duke of Brittany, died as well.  The two-year-old Duke of Anjou, great grandson of Louis XIV, was now the only surviving heir in the direct line.  Then le Grand Dauphin's youngest son, Berry, died in 1714 in a hunting accident, making the next heir after the young Duke of Anjou the middle son of le Grand Dauphin - King Philip V of France (whose sudden interest in a throne he had renounced his claims to may have started another war in Europe).  Fortunately, Anjou's nurse kept the doctor's away from him, refusing to let them do any bloodletting, which is widely credited with saving his life.  Like his great grandfather, Anjou would come to the throne at the age of five as Louis XV.

1940 and 1945 - King Haakon VI, along with his son Crown Prince Olaf, arrived in London in exile after the Germans starting bombing government sites because Haakon and his government refused to appoint a Nazi sympathize as Prime Minister after Norway was invaded by the Nazis.  Haakon reported the ultimatum to the Council of State, which agreed unanimously with the King not to make the appointment.  The King, Prince and Council worked on staying one step ahead of the Germans hunting them until they could be safely evacuated to London.  The Nazi's attempted to force Parlament to force the King to abdicate, but the King refused. Exactly five years after they went into exile, Haakon and the government returned to Oslo on June 7, 1945 to cheering crowds.

1977 - The high day of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee draws 500 million people to television to watch the festivities.  35 years later, the Queen has just finished celebrating her Diamond Jubilee, making 60 years on the throne.

Born on this date -

1840 - Marie Charlotte Amélie Augustine Victoire Clémentine Léopoldine of Belgium, only daughter of King Leopold I of Belgium and Marie-Louise of France (daughter of future King Louis-Philippe I of France).  When she was 17, she married her second cousin, Archduke Maximilian of Austria, younger brother of Emperor Franz Josef.  Napoléon III, wishing to add Mexico to his empire, sought out Maximilian as a figurehead for the throne of Emperor of Mexico.  Maximilian agreed and Charlotte and her husband were crowned in 1864 as Emperor and Empress of Mexico.  After they were abandoned by the French, Charlotte returned to Europe seeking assistance to prop up their shaky throne.  After several refusals, she suffered an emotional collapse and never returned to Mexico.  In 1867, three years after their coronation, Maximilian was overthron and executed.  Living in seclusion after the death of her husband (one of her brother even had her declared insane), Charlotte died January 19, 1927 at the age of 86.

1907 - Sigvard Oscar Fredrik Bernadotte, son of King Gustav VI Adolf of Sweden and his first wife Margaret of Connaught.  He renounced his right to the throne in 1934 to marry a commoner.  He was one of Queen Victoria's longest-lived descendants when he died February 4, 2002 at the age of 94.

1969 - Joachim Holger Waldemar Christian of Denmark, younger son of Queen Margarthe II and Henrik, Prince Consort.  With his first wife, he is the father of two sons; with his second, he has a son and a daughter.

Died on this date -

1329 - King Robert I of Scotland, known as Robert the Bruce, aged 54.  Robert was born July 11, 1274 to Robert de Brus, 6th Lord of Annandale, and Marjorie, Countess of Carrick.  Robert and his father both initially sided with Edward I after John Balliol was picked as the new King of Scotland.  Robert's grandfather, the 5th Lord of Annandale, resigned his title over to his son possibly so he not to have to swear fealty to John.  The Bruces believed their claim to the throne was superior to the Balliol family.  After swearing fealty to Edward I of England, the younger Robert reneged on his oath and sided with the Scottish rebels in 1297.  Robert wavered between loyalty to Edward and loyalty to his country.  Robert finally choose Scotland when he had himself crowned King of Scotland in 1306.  The next few years were spent battling the English, until Scotland's independence was won militarily at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314.  Ongoing conflicts with England and Ireland consumed much of his reign.  Robert died of what was believed at the time to be leprosy, although alternative explanations have been put forth.

1394 - Anne of Bohemia, Queen of England, aged 28 of the plague.  She was born to Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV and Elizabeth of Pomerania on May 11, 1366.  She married Richard II of England in 1382, and despite the length of their marriage, they were to have no children.  Genuinely loved by her husband, her death is often cited as one of the causes that led down the path to eventually losing his throne.

1840 - King Friedrich William III of Prussia, aged 69.  He was born August 3, 1770 as the son of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia and Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt.  He became King of Prussia at his father's death in 1797.  With his wife Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, he had 10 children, among whom were his two successors as King of Prussia and an Empress Consort of Russia.

2002 - Lillian, Princess of Réthy, aged 85.  She was born Mary Lilian Baels and became known for being the second wife of King Leopold III of Belgium.  They secretly married while Leopold was being held prisoner by the Germans in Laeken Castle.  The wedding was very controversial in Belgium - it was considered an insult to the late Queen Astrid and Lillian was considered little more than a social climber.  Before her death, Lillian had wanted to be buried at Argenteuil, but she was buried in the royal crypt beside her husband and his first wife.

June 6th

Events -

1513 - The Battle of Novara, part of the War of the League of Cambrai, was fought between French forces and the Swiss Confederation on behalf of the Duchy of Milan.  The Swiss won the battle for Milan, which lead to the restoration of Milan's Duke, Massimiliano Sforza.  Massimiliano went into exile two years later after the French were victorious at the Battle of Marignano.

1523 - Gustav Vasa was crowned Gustav I of Sweden, and is considered to be the founder of the modern country of Sweden, since his coronation ended the Danish-led Kalmar Union.  The date of Gustav's coronation is still celebrated today as the National Day of Sweden (Sveriges nationaldag).

1644 - The Shunzhi Emperor's (順治帝) Manchu forces conquered Beijing during the dying years of the Ming Dynasty.  The Shunzhi Emperor (personal name Fulin) was the third emperor of the Qing Dynasty and the collapse of the Ming Dynasty made him the first emperor to rule all China.  The emperor entered the city on October 19th, and officially became Emperor of China on October 30th.  The Qing Dynasty would rule China until 1912.

1654 - Karl X Gustav, son of Catherine of Sweden and grandson of King Karl IX, succeeded his cousin Queen Christina as ruler of Sweden after Christina abdicated to become a Roman Catholic.  Karl X reigned for six years until his early death of pneumonia in November 1660 when he was 37.

1674 - Shivaji Bhosale was crowned sovereign of the newly-created Maratha Empire.  The empire at its greatest extent covered most of the Indian subcontinent.  The empire was founded after a resistance movement succeeded in freeing the Maratha people from the rule of the Mughal Empire and Sultanate of Bijapur.  The Maratha Empire re-established Hindu rule over India and lasted until the British gained control of India in 1818.

1808 - Joseph-Napoléon Bonaparte, brother of Emperor Napoléon, was created King of Spain and the Indies by his brother.  Joseph was never popular in Spain and eventually abdicated in 1813 after the defeat of the French in the Battle of Vitoria by the British.

1809 - Sweden instituted a new constitution and elected Karl XII as King of Sweden to succeed Karl's nephew Gustav IV Adolf, who had abdicated in March.

1857 - Sophia of Nassau-Weilburg married Prince Oskar of Sweden, son of then-King Oskar I and the future Oskar II.

Born on this date -

1714 - Infante José of Portugal, later King José I, third child of King João V of Portugal and Maria Anna of Austria.  José's older brother died at the age of two, making José heir apparent to the throne.  He became King after the death of his father in 1750, reigning for 35 years.  With his wife Mariana Victoria of Spain, he was the father of the future Maria I of Portugal, the first undisputed Queen Regnant in the country's history.  The most notable event of José's reign was the great Lisbon earthquake in 1755, which lead to the King developing a severe case of claustrophobia, despite the fact that he and his family had been outside the city attending All Saints' Day Mass when the earthquake struck and destroyed the royal palace.  The King's condition led to the royal court being moved into tents and pavilions outside the city of Lisbon.  The King died at the age of 62 on February 24, 1777.

1772 - Maria Teresa of Naples, daughter of Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies and Maria Caroline of Austria (daughter of Empress Maria Teresa of Austria).  Maria Teresa married her double first cousin Archduke Franz of Austria, who later became the last Holy Roman Emperor as Franz II and Emperor of Austria as Franz I.  Maria Teresa died April 13, 1807 at the age of 34, a week after giving birth to her 13th child.  Among her children were Marie Louise (2nd wife of Napoléon), Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria, Maria Leopoldina (Empress consort of Brazil) and Marie Caroline (Crown Princess of Saxony).

1807 - Nguyễn Phúc Miên Tông of Vietnam, son of Emperor Minh Mang and Hồ Thị Hoa.  He became the third emperor of Vietnam's Nguyễn Dynasty after the death of his father in 1841, taking the name Thiệu Trị.  He was known for his desire to rid Vietnam of all Christian missionaries, which strained relations between Vietnam and France.  Although missionaries were persecuted during his reign, his order for all Christians in the country to be executed was ignored.  He died November 4, 1847 at the age of 40 and was succeeded by his son Nguyễn Phúc Hồng Nhậm, who reigned as Emperor Tu Duc.

1872 - Princess Alix Viktoria Helena Luise Beatrice of Hesse, sixth child of the future Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, third child of Queen Victoria.  Alix lost her mother at age six and was raised by her father with much input from her grandmother the Queen.  In 1884, at the wedding of her older sister Elisabeth to Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia, brother of Tsar Alexander III, Alix fell in love with Alexander III's oldest son, Tsesarevich Nicholas.  Nicholas returned her feelings and pursued her in the early 1890s, with encouragement from his Uncle Sergei and Aunt Ella and despite the disapproval of his parents, who wanted a grander bride for their son.  Although Alix refused his suit due to the requirement that she change her religion to Russian Orthodoxy to marry the heir to the throne, Nicholas persisted.  Finally, at the wedding of Alix's brother to Alix and Nicholas' mutual cousin Victoria Melita of Edinburgh, Alix was convinced to overcome her objections to conversion and accepted Nicholas' proposal.  The wedding, originally planned for May 1895, was moved forward to November 1894 after the early death of Nicholas' father, giving Alix little time to acclimate to Russia and learn the language before becoming Empress.  Shortly after Alexander III's death, Alix was received into the Orthodox church and took the name Alexandra Feodorovna (Александра Фёдоровна).  It took almost ten years, and the births of four daughters, before Alix finally gave birth to an heir to the throne, Alexei - changes to the law during the reign of Pavel I restricted the throne to male Romanovs unless all male dynasts had died out.  Sadly, Alix passed to Alexei the "royal disease" hemophilia, which she had inherited from her mother Alice, who had inherited it from Queen Victoria.  The secrecy surrounding Alexei's condition, plus Alix's reliance on alleged holy man Rasputin to alleviate Alexei's condition helped contribute to the fall of the Romanov Dynasty.  Revolution broke out in 1917 and Nicholas was forced to abdicate on March 15th.  The family was held in captivity first at their home in Tsarskoe Selo, then in Tobolsk, and finally at Ipatiev House in Ekaterinburg, the latter two cities in Siberia.  The family's position became tenuous after the Bolsheviks seized power from the provisional government in November 1917, and the execution of the entire family was ordered by the Ural Soviet (although the ultimately decision reportedly rested with Vladimir Lenin).  In the early morning hours of July 17, 1918, Alix (aged 46), Nicholas, their five children (ranging in age from 13 to 22), their doctor and three servants were shot, bayoneted and bludgeoned to death.  Many other Romanovs, including Alix's sister Ella and Nicholas' brother Mikhail, were executed between June 1918 and January 1919.  The location of the family's remains remained unknown until 1991, when a grave was excavated near Ekaterinburg containing the bodies of nine of the eleven people massacred in Ipatiev House - the bodies of Alexei and one of his sisters (either Maria or Anastasia) were missing.  The bodies which had been found were buried in St. Petersburg on the 90th anniversary of the murders.  The two missing bodies were finally recovered in 2007 and positively identified the following year, although they have yet to be buried.

1934 - Prince Albert Félix Humbert Théodore Christian Eugène Marie of the Belgians, second son of King Leopold III of the Belgians and Astrid of Sweden.  He succeeded as King Albert II after the death of his childless older brother King Baudouin in 1993.  With his wife Paola Ruffo di Calabria, he is the father of three children, including the heir to the throne Prince Philippe.  Second in line to the throne is Philippe's oldest child Élisabeth, who due to a change in the succession laws ten years before her birth is eventually expected to become Belgium's first Queen Regnant.

1938 - Luís Gastão Maria José Pio Miguel Gabriel Rafael Gonzaga de Orléans e Bragança e Wittelsbach, son of Prince Pedro Henrique of Orléans-Braganza and Maria Elisabeth of Bavaria.  Luis is a pretended to the defunct throne of Brazil as a great grandson of Emperor Pedro II and is known to legitimists as Luiz I of Brazil.  His "heir apparent" is his younger brother Bertrand, who became heir when three other brothers renounced their claim to the throne to marry commoners.

Died on this date - 

1393 - Emperor Go-En'yū (後円融天皇), Northern Pretender to the Japanese throne, aged 34.  He was born on January 11, 1359 with the name of Ohito (緒仁), the son of Emperor Go-Kōgon (後光厳天皇, also a Northern Pretender) and Fujiwara no Nakako (藤原仲子).  He nominally ruled Japan during the time known as the Period of Northern and Southern Courts, a 56-year period in which separate ruling courts were set up by rival emperors.  He became the Northern Pretender on the abdication of his father in 1371.  He abdicated in favor of his son Motohito (幹仁親王), who ruled as Emperor Go-Komatsu (後小松天皇) and later became the sole emperor of Japan when the Southern Court emperor abdicated in his favor.  The current Imperial family of Japan is descended from the Northern Pretenders, even though a law passed in 1911 proclaimed the descendants of the Southern Court emperors as the legitimate Emperors of Japan.

2012 - Prince Tomohito of Mikasa (寛仁親王), aged 66, died of cancer which he had battled on and off for over 20 years. Tomohito was born on January 5, 1946 to Prince Takahito (三笠宮崇仁親王) and Takagi Yuriko (崇仁親王妃百合子).  Takahito is the younger brother of Emperor Shōwa (昭和天皇, Hirohito), and the only surviving uncle of the current emperor, making Tomohito a first cousin of Emperor Akihito (明仁).  Tomohito was the heir apparent to the title Prince Mikasa.  He earned the nickname "bearded prince" for being the first member of the Imperial house to wear a full beard since Emperor Meiji 100 years ago.  With his wife Asō Nobuko (麻生信子), whom he had married in 1980, he had two daughters Akiko (彬子女王) and  Yōko (瑶子女王).