IN MEMORIAM: Royals we lost in 2023

Today, we remember the royals we lost during 2023.

10 January 2023

Constantine II, former King of the Hellenes

Photo: Holger Motzkau 2010, Wikipedia/Wikimedia Commons (cc-by-sa-3.0)

The future King Constantine was born on 2 June 1940. He married Princess Anne-Marie of Denmark, and they had five children together. He was the King of the Hellenes from 1964 until 1973.

5 February 2023

Inge Sargent, former mahadevi of Hsipaw (in present-day Myanmar)

(public domain)

Inge was born on 23 February 1932 in Austria. She married Sao Kya Seng, the saopha,  in 1953, and they had two daughters together. Following a coup, her husband disappeared, and she eventually learned he had been killed. She remarried in 1968 to Howard Sargent.

9 February 2023

Princess Marie-Gabrielle of Luxembourg, Countess of Holstein-Ledreborg

© Photothèque Municipale de la Ville de Luxembourg / Grand-Ducal Court

Marie-Gabrielle was born on 2 August 1925 as the fourth child and third daughter of Charlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and her husband, Prince Felix. She was the last surviving child of the couple. In 1951, Marie-Gabrielle married Count Knud of Holstein-Ledreborg, and they went on to have seven daughters together. She was widowed in 2001.

28 May 2023

Princess Mele Siuʻilikutapu of Tonga

Princess Mele Siuʻilikutapu was born on 12 May 1948 as the daughter of Prince Fatafehi Tuʻipelehake and his wife, Melenaite Tupoumoheofo Veikune. Her marriage to Josh Liava’a in 1969 was annulled the same year. She remarried to Kalanivalu-Fotofili, and they had at least two sons together. In 1975, she became Tonga’s first female parliamentarian.

9 September 2023

Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi

Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo – Nationaal Archief, CC BY-SA 3.0 nl

Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was born on 27 August 1928 as part of the Zulu royal family. He married Irene Audrey Thandekile Mzila in 1952, and they had eight children together.

13 October 2023 

Princess India of Afghanistan

Photo: ChandC – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

Princess India was born on 7 June 1929 as the daughter of Amanullah Khan, King of Afghanistan and Queen Soraya Tarzi. She was born shortly after her father’s exile in Bombay, and she grew up in Italy. She married Kazem Agha Malek in 1951 and divorced in 1956. They had two daughters together. She remarried to Dr. Abdul Rauf Haider in 1966, and they had one son together.

5 December 2023

Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein

(C) Peter Kubelka / Liechtenstein Group

Prince Constantin was born on 15 March 1972, and he studied law in Salzburg. Prince Constantin was seventh in the line of succession to the Liechtenstein throne. He leaves behind his wife, Princess Marie, and his children, Prince Moritz, Princess Georgina and Prince Benedikt.