Louis I of Spain (1707 - 1724)

Born at Palacio del Buen Retiro, in Madrid as the eldest son of the reigning King Philip V of Spain and his wife Maria Luisa of Savoy.  At birth he was the heir apparent but was not given the traditional title of “Prince of Asturias” until April 1709. In 1714, when Louis was seven, his […]

Philip V of Spain (1683 - 1746)

Philip was born at the Palace of Versailles in France the second son of Louis, Grand Dauphin, the heir apparent to the throne of France, and his wife Maria Anna Victoria of Bavaria, Dauphine Victoire. He was a younger brother of Louis, Duke of Burgundy, the father of Louis XV of France. At birth, Philip […]

James Horner (1953 - 2015)

Horner was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1953 to Jewish immigrants. His father, Harry Horner, was born in Holíč, then a part of Austria-Hungary; he emigrated to the United States in 1935 and worked as a set designer and occasional art director. James’s mother, Joan Ruth (Frankel), was born into a prominent Canadian family. […]

E.L. Doctorow (1931 - 2015)

Doctorow was born in The Bronx, the son of Rose (Levine) and David Richard Doctorow, second-generation Americans of Russian Jewish extraction who named him after Edgar Allan Poe. His father ran a small music shop. He attended city public grade schools and The Bronx High School of Science where, surrounded by mathematically gifted children, he […]

Ann Rule (1931 - 2015)

Ann Rae Stackhouse was born on October 22, 1931, in Lowell, Michigan. One of two children of Chester R. Stackhouse and Sophie Marie Hansen, her mother was a teacher, specializing in developmentally disabled children; her father was a sports coach. As Rule did during young adulthood, her family members had careers in law enforcement. Rule’s […]

Robert Conquest (1917 - 2015)

Conquest was born on 15 July 1917 in Great Malvern, Worcestershire, to an American father (Robert Folger Wescott Conquest) and an English mother (Rosamund Alys Acworth Conquest). His father served in an American Ambulance Service unit with the French Army in World War I, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre, with Silver Star in […]

Uggie (2002 - 2015)

Uggie was rejected by at least his first two owners as being too wild. He was about to be sent to a dog pound, but was adopted by animal trainer Omar Von Muller after his friends alerted him to the dog. Von Muller intended only to foster the dog while he found him a new […]

Julian Bond (1940 - 2015)

Bond was born at Hubbard Hospital in Nashville, Tennessee, to parents Julia Agnes (Washington) and Horace Mann Bond. His father was an educator who went on to serve as the president of Lincoln University. His mother, Julia, was a former librarian at Clark Atlanta University. At the time, the family resided on campus at Fort […]

Yvonne Craig (1937 - 2015)

Yvonne Craig was born in Taylorville, Illinois, and was raised in Columbus, Ohio.[citation needed] In 1951, her family moved the Oak Cliff neighborhood in Dallas, Texas, where she attended WH Adamson High School and then Sunset High School, from which she did not technically graduate due to the lack of “a single PE credit”.  After […]

Philip III of Spain (1578 - 1621)

After Philip III’s older brother don Carlos died insane, Philip II had concluded that one of the causes of Carlos’ condition had been the influence of the warring factions at the Spanish court. He believed that Carlos’ education and upbringing had been badly affected by this, resulting in his lunacy and disobedience, and accordingly he […]

Philip II of Spain (1527 - 1598)

The son of Charles V of the Holy Roman Empire, and his wife, Infanta Isabella of Portugal, Philip was born in the Spanish capital of Valladolid on 21 May 1527 at Palacio de Pimentel owned by Don Bernardino Pimentel (the first Marqués de Távara). The culture and courtly life of Spain were an important influence […]

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500 - 1558)

Charles I (Spanish: Carlos I) (24 February 1500 – 21 September 1558), of the Spanish Empire from 1516 and later, as Charles V (French: Charles Quint; German: Karl V.)[a] was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 until his voluntary abdication in favor of his younger brother Ferdinand I as Holy Roman Emperor and […]

Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452 - 1516)

Ferdinand was born in Sada Palace, Sos del Rey Católico, Kingdom of Aragon, as the son of John II of Aragon (whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara) by his second wife, Juana Enríquez. He married Infanta Isabella, the half-sister and heiress of Henry IV of Castile, on 19 October 1469 […]

Mary of Burgundy (1457 - 1482)

Mary of Burgundy was born in Brussels, at the ducal castle of Coudenberg, to Charles the Bold, Count of Charolais, and his wife, Isabella of Bourbon. Her birth, according to the court chronicler, Georges Chastellain, was attended by a clap of thunder ringing from the otherwise clear twilight sky. Her godfather was Louis, Dauphin of […]

Isabella I of Castile (1451 - 1504)

Isabella was born in Madrigal de las Altas Torres, Ávila, to John II of Castile and Isabella of Portugal on 22 April 1451. At the time of her birth, she was second in line to throne after her older half-brother Henry. Henry was 26 at that time and married but childless. Her younger brother Alfonso […]

John II of Castile (1405 - 1454)

John was the son of King Henry III and his wife, Catherine of Lancaster. His mother was the granddaughter of King Peter, who was ousted by Henry III’s grandfather, King Henry II. John succeeded his father on 25 December 1406, and united in his person the claims of both Peter and Henry II. His mother […]

John II of Aragon (1398 - 1479)

John was born at Medina del Campo. In his youth he was one of the infantes (princes) of Aragon who took part in the dissensions of Castile during the minority and reign of John II. Till middle life he was also lieutenant-general in Aragon for his brother and predecessor Alfonso V, whose reign was mainly […]

Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley (1545 - 1567)

Darnley was born in 1545, at Temple Newsam, Leeds, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Through his parents he had claims to both the Scottish and English thrones, as he was descended from both James II of Scotland and Henry VII.  Darnley’s father, Matthew Earl of Lennox, had been declared guilty of treason in […]

William II, Prince of Orange (1626 - 1650)

William II, Prince of Orange, was the son of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange, and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels. Frederick Henry was the youngest son of William the Silent (stadtholder 1559-1584); his older half brother Maurits of Nassau was stadtholder (1585-1625); he was stadtholder from 1625 to 1647. The stadtholders governed in conjunction with the States-General, […]

Mary, Princess Royal and Princess of Orange (1631 - 1660)

Princess Mary Henrietta was born at St. James’s Palace, London. Charles I designated her Princess Royal in 1642, thus establishing the tradition that the eldest daughter of the British Sovereign might bear this title. The title came into being when Queen Henrietta Maria, the daughter of King Henry IV of France wished to imitate the […]

Mary, Queen of Scots (1542 - 1587)

Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart[3] or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 to 24 July 1567 and Queen consort of France from 10 July 1559 to 5 December 1560.  Mary, the only surviving legitimate child of King James […]

Isabella of Portugal (1503 - 1539)

Isabella was the second child and eldest daughter of King Manuel I of Portugal and his second spouse, Infanta Maria of Castile and Aragon. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Isabella I of Castile, and her aunt Isabella, Princess of Asturias, who had been her father’s first spouse.  Through her father, she was a […]

Catherine of Aragon (1485 - 1536)

Catherine of Aragon (Castilian: Catalina; also spelled Katherine of Aragon, 16 December 1485 – 7 January 1536) was Queen of England from 1509 until 1533 as the first wife of King Henry VIII; she was previously Princess of Wales as the wife of Prince Arthur.  The daughter of Queen Isabella I of Castile and King […]

Frances Grey, Duchess of Suffolk (1517 - 1559)

Lady Frances Brandon was born in Hatfield, Hertfordshire and spent her childhood in the care of her mother. She was close to her aunt Catherine of Aragon, first wife of her uncle King Henry VIII, and a childhood friend of her first cousin, the future Queen Mary I. Lady Frances received permission from the King […]

Elizabeth of York (1466 - 1503)

Elizabeth of York was born at the Palace of Westminster as the eldest child of King Edward IV and his wife, Elizabeth Woodville. Her christening was celebrated at Westminster Abbey, sponsored by her grandmothers Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Duchess of Bedford, and Cecily Neville, Duchess of York. Her third sponsor was her cousin, Richard Neville, 16th […]

Cecily Neville, Duchess of York (1415 - 1495)

Cecily Neville was a daughter of Ralph Neville, 1st Earl of Westmorland, and Joan Beaufort, Countess of Westmorland. Her paternal grandparents were John Neville, 3rd Baron Neville de Raby and Hon. Maud Percy, daughter of Henry de Percy, 2nd Baron Percy. Her maternal grandparents were John of Gaunt, 1st Duke of Lancaster, and Katherine Swynford. […]

Catherine of Valois (1401 - 1437)

Catherine of Valois was the youngest daughter of King Charles VI of France and his wife Isabeau of Bavaria. She was born at the Hôtel Saint-Pol (a royal palace in Paris) on 27 October 1401. Early on, there had been a discussion of marrying her to the prince of Wales, son of Henry IV of […]

Joan of Kent (1328 - 1385)

Joan was the daughter of Edmund of Woodstock, 1st Earl of Kent, and Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell. Her father Edmund was the son of King Edward I and his second wife, Margaret of France, daughter of Philip III of France. Edmund’s support of his older half-brother, King Edward II of England, placed […]

Isabella of Hainault (1170 - 1190)

Isabella was born in Valenciennes on 5 April 1170, the daughter of Baldwin V, Count of Hainaut, and Margaret I, Countess of Flanders. At the age of one, her father had her betrothed to Henry, the future Count of Champagne. He was the nephew of Adèle of Champagne, who was Queen of France. In 1179, […]

Sophia of Hanover (1630 - 1714)

Before her marriage, Sophia, as the daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, was referred to as Sophie, Princess Palatine of the Rhine, or as Sophia of the Palatinate. The Electors of the Palatinate were the Calvinist senior branch of House of Wittelsbach, whose Catholic branch ruled the Electorate of Bavaria.  On 30 […]