2 April 1118 - Baldwin I, Count of Edessa 1098-1100 and King of Jerusalem 1100-18, died.

One of the leaders of the First Crusade Baldwin, third son of the Count of Boulogne led the attack on the Turks in Edessa becoming its first Christian ruler in 1098.

A year later the main body of Crusaders led by Baldwin's elder brother Godfrey captured Jerusalem and Godfrey was installed as King. However within a year he died and Baldwin was elected King, giving up Edessa to his cousin Baldwin of Bourcq.  

As King he extended the Crusaders hold over the Holy Land capturing Arsuf, Caesarea, Acre, Beirut and Sidon by 1110. He had to contend however with attacks from the south by the Egyptians and it was on an expedition against the Egyptians that he fell ill and died at the fortress of al-Arish.

3 April 1203 - Arthur, Duke of Brittany 1187-1203, murdered (likely date).

He was the posthumous son of Geoffrey, Duke of Brittany the second son of Henry II, King of England. Geoffrey died in 1186 leaving a pregnant widow. She gave birth to Arthur in March 1187 whereupon he was proclaimed Duke.

With the accession of Richard I as King of England in 1189 Arthur became his heir and remained so until Richard's death in 1199, but on his deathbed the King named his brother John as heir fearing that that the 12 year old Arthur was too young and, more importantly, too much influenced by the King of France to wear the Crown of England.

War broke out immediately between England and France, King Philippe invaded the English possessions in France of Anjou and Maine in Arthur's name. It ended badly for Arthur, he was captured in 1202 and imprisoned in the castle at Rouen. And it was from here that he disappeared in April 1203.

He was almost certainly murdered on King John's orders and rumours circulated that the King had personally killed the 16 year old boy and thrown his body into the river Seine. No body was ever found, although again there were stories that it had found by fishermen and secretly buried in the Abbey of Bec near Rouen.

4 April 1953 - Carol II, King of Roumania 1930-40, died.

Son and heir of King Ferdinand Carol grew up concentrating on a life of pleasure rather than duty with a marked weakness for women. In 1918 he renounced his rights to the Throne and eloped with the daughter of a Roumanian General marrying her in Odessa. Four months later the marriage was annulled on the orders of his father. Carol however continued to see her and in 1920 she gave birth to a son who was regarded as illegitimate.

In order to have his rights restored he was compelled to marry Princess Helen of Greece in 1921 who bore him a son Michael later that year. However Carol soon tired of his wife and in 1925 deserted her giving up his hereditary rights for a second time. He settled in France with his latest mistress Magda Lupescu.

In 1927 King Ferdinand died and was succeeded by his grandson Michael aged only five. By then Carol was beginning to regret giving up his rights and in 1930 returned to Roumania and persuaded the government to depose his son Michael and recognize himself as King, by which time he and Helen were divorced.

As the 1930s ended King Carol, using the fraught situation in eastern Europe to his advantage, was granted near autocratic powers. However his attempts to play off NAZI Germany with the Allies once war broke out in 1939 failed. Surrounded by enemies and with no help coming from Hitler he was forced to cede territory to Russia, Bulgaria and Hungary. This humiliation led to his abdication in September 1940 and the restoration of his son Michael.

He and Magda were forced into exile firstly in Mexico before they settled in Portugal. He finally married Magda in 1947 six years before he died aged 59. His body was exhumed in 2003 and returned to Romania. Father and son never saw each other again after his abdication in 1940.

5 April 1857 - Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria 1879-86, born.

In 1878 the autonomous Balkan provinces of the Ottoman Empire gained independence following Turkey's defeat in the war with Russia, among them was Bulgaria. Having secured their independence Russia naturally wanted pro-Russian governments installed in the newly created Balkan territories. So in 1879 the Bulgarian Constituent Assembly duly elected an obscure German princeling, 21 year old Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, a Russophile with family connections to the Tsar, Prince of Bulgaria.

His reign however was not to be a long one. In 1885 the Province of Eastern Rumelia, which remained under Ottoman control, rebelled against the Turks and proclaimed a union with Bulgaria. This broke the terms of the 1878 treaty and most importantly alienated Russia who saw too much independent spirit in Alexander.

Meanwhile Serbia viewed Bulgaria's enlargement as a provocative act and declared war in November. The Serbs were quickly defeated as Alexander's troops penetrated deep into Serbia. This further infuriated the Russians who determined to be rid of the upstart Alexander.

In August 1886 Russian agents with the aid of Russophile officials, burst into Alexander's palace and forced him to sign an act of abdication under pain of death. He was then carried away into Russia itself. But the drama was not over. The pro-Russian interim government set up after Alexander's kidnap was itself overthrown within days by loyalist army officers and the Prince was recalled. But here he made a fatal mistake. He sent a telegram to the Tsar offering to resign his Crown into his hands. This act made it clear that he viewed his country as nothing more than a vassal state of Russia. The widespread outrage was too much for him to withstand, he abdicated a second time in September and fled into exile in Austria where he died seven years later aged just 36.

6 April 1199 - Richard I, King of England and Duke of Normandy 1189-99, died.

England's great warrior King who led the Third Crusade in the 1190s. However his state of almost constant warfare either on Crusade or with the French severely depleted the Treasury, especially his ransom of 150,000 marks demanded by the Emperor Henry after Richard was captured by him in 1193 on his way home from the Crusade.

Richard in fact spent less than a year in England during his ten year reign, the rest was taken up with the Third Crusade 1189-94 and war in France 1194-99. It was during his war against King Philippe of France that he met his death. He was wounded in the shoulder by a crossbow bolt fired from the ramparts of Chalus Castle which he was beseiging. The barbed head could not be removed, the wound became infected and he died aged 41. On his deathbed he bequeathed the Crown to his brother John overlooking his true heir his nephew Arthur (see 3 April).

7 April 1498 - Charles VIII, King of France 1483-98, died.

Weak in body and intellect Charles made up for shortcomings by being big on ambition. He had aspirations of leading a Crusade to liberate the Holy Land (lost more than 200 years before) with himself as the Emperor of Byzantium. To this end he invaded Italy in 1494 with the largest army seen to date in the peninsula. His initial aim was to secure the Throne of Naples to which he had a weak and disputed claim and use the resources of that Kingdom to move on the Ottomans.

Firstly he ceded territory from France itself to Aragon and Austria to secure their neutrality before heading south into Italy through a number of other Kingdoms, including the Papal lands. This he achieved with relatively little trouble and seized the Neopolitan Crown in 1495. However the League of Venice was formed against him (including the supposedly neutral states of Aragon and Austria) which threatened to cut off his route back to France, so he abandoned Naples and headed north. He defeated the League at the battle of Fornovo, but the enterprise had proved enormously costly for France.

He was preparing for a second expedition in 1498 when he died in an unusual accident. He was running downstairs and cracked his head on a low doorframe. Initially unhurt he collapsed several hours later and died that evening, he was 27 years old.

8 April 1795 - George, Prince of Wales (later King George IV) married Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel.

The most acrimonious Royal marriage since Henry VIII. 32 year old Prince George had already been married, but unlawfully, to his mistress ten years earlier. By 1795 he was deep in debt and without an heir, so Parliament offered to pay his debts if he would contract a suitable marriage.

The choice fell upon his cousin 26 year old Caroline of Brunswick-Wolfenbuttel. They had never met, but reports of her were favourable, so a union was arranged. She sailed from Germany and met Prince George on 5 April, but the Prince was not impressed. However it was too late to back out and the couple were married three days later at St James' Palace.

Whatever happened that night one thing is certain, for nine months later, almost to the day, Caroline gave birth to a daughter Charlotte. By that time the pair had fallen out irretrievably, in 1797 she moved into her own house leaving her daughter to be raised in the Royal Court, their time together being restricted to one visit a week.

In 1814 Caroline left England altogether and settled in Italy with an Italian lover. George eventually became King in 1820 and immediately set about trying for a divorce. He went to the extreme lengths of introducing a Bill of Pains and Penalties in the House of Lords (the only means of obtaining a divoce at the time) in which she was accused of adultery. However, although the Lords passed the Bill it was not passed to the Commons where it had little chance of being passed, so it was dropped. By this time Caroline had returned to England for her coronation. But George had one last humiliation to perform, he gave orders that she was not to be admitted to Westminster Abbey on Coronation Day, 19 July 1821. She did in fact turn up and tried to force her way in, but every entrance was barred to her and she never set foot inside.

Within days she fell seriously ill and just three weeks later she died aged 53.    

Whatever happened that night one thing is certain, for nine months later, almost to the day, Caroline gave birth to a daughter Charlotte.

Are you suggesting Mark someone else had it in for him, maybe on the boat ride over??

9 April 1483 - Edward IV, King of England 1461-70 & 1471-83, died.

The Yorkist claimant to the Throne who seized the Crown in 1461 in the Wars of the Roses. Briefly deposed over the winter 1470-71, he returned to claim the Crown a second time.

The country was largely peaceful when he died suddenly in April 1483 aged just 40. Today the cause of death has been interpreted as a stroke or a brain haemorrhage. His early demise ushered in a period of turmoil with the mystery of the Princes in the Tower and the reign of Richard III.

10 April 1864 - Archduke Maximilian of Austria proclaimed Emperor of Mexico.

When Mexico defaulted on its European debt in 1860 a combined force of British, Spanish and French troops landed at Vera Cruz to bring the country to heel. After deals were made the British and Spanish left, but the French stayed on sensing an opportunity to extend their influence in the New World with the USA otherwise occupied with the Civil War. They fought their way to Mexico City capturing it in 1863.

A new government was therefore necessary and the French decided upon a pro-European Empire with a suitable ruler. Their choice fell upon Archduke Maximilian, the brother of the Austrian Emperor. He was one of the few European Royals who had visited the Americas when he spent several months in Brazil in 1860.

Under French direction an Assembly of Notables voted for a Monarchy and in 1864 a delegation from Mexico arrived in Austria to offer Maximilian the Imperial Throne. At his residence, the Villa Miramar on the Adriatic coast, Maximilian accepted the Crown and was proclaimed Emperor of Mexico.

He and his wife plus their entourage sailed four days later arriving at Vera Cruz at the end of May.

11 April 1555 - Joanna "The Mad", Queen of Castile 1504-55 & Queen of Aragon 1516-55, died. In effect first Queen of a united Spain.

One of history's most tragic rulers. She was the daughter of Ferdinand V, King of Aragon and Isabella, Queen of Castile. By 1500, following the death of her brother, elder sister and nephew, she became heir to both Kingdoms. However from 1502 she began to show signs of a serious mental illness, but was able to assume the Crown of Castile upon her mother's death in 1504. Her father, unwilling to give up his rights in Castile that had existed through his wife, proclaimed himself Guardian of Castile (with the powers but not the title of King) due to Joanna's mental incapacity.

In 1506 Joanna's husband, Philip of Austria whom she'd married in 1496, persuaded Ferdinand to give up his rights in Castile and award them to him, but just a few weeks later he died. This was the final straw for Joanna. She suffered a complete mental breakdown upon the death of her husband and her father resumed his role as King in all but name of Castile.  

From 1509 Joanna was confined to the Palace of Tordesillas where she remained until her death. Her father died in 1516 naming his grandson Charles (Joanna's eldest son) as King of Aragon and Castile to reign jointly with his mother, who of course was Queen in name only.

Charles showed little regard for his mother even giving instructions to her caretakers at Tordesillas that no-one was to speak to her. Her wretched existence ended in 1555 at the age of 75 after 46 years confined in Tordesillas.

She'd have made the perfect Democrat, as you have to be a card short of a pack for that, ask Pete.

She sounds more like Brexit supporter to me Major. You could even compare her to Trudeau's mother who also has that type of health issue.

Forgot to mention that today after Mark mentioned it I posted Happy Bithday on Shula's facebook to her from all of us at the site.

And I was good and never once mentioned her real age.

12 April 1204 - Alexius V, Byzantine Emperor 1204, deposed.

In 1203 soldiers on their way to Egypt on the Fourth Crusade were persuaded by the deposed and blinded Emperor Isaac II to divert to Constantinople to aid him in regaining the Throne usurped by his brother Alexius III.

They were successful and Isaac was restored, on account of his blindness his son Alexius IV ruled with him as co-Emperor.

However they failed to pay the Crusaders the agreed sum and fighting erupted between the two camps. Fearing for their lives father and son sought refuge in the Blachernae Palace in January 1204 and sent a senior advisor Alexius Doukas to negotiate with the Crusaders.

Doukas though had a better plan. He launched a coup of his own and seized power. Isaac and Alexius IV were murdered and Doukas was crowned Emperor Alexius V in February.

He too however failed to compensate the Crusaders who decided to end the conflict once and for all. They laid siege to Constantinople and broke through the walls on 12 April. Alexius fled and by the next morning the Crusaders controlled the city.

They installed one of their own number as a pro-Western Emperor and this line of Frankish Emperors ruled for 57 years until the Byzantines recaptured Constantinople in 1261. 

13 April 1519 - Catherine de Medici, born.

500 years ago today. Wife of one King and the mother of three. She was the only child of Lorenzo II, Lord of Florence, by the time she was three weeks old both her parents had died. In 1533 aged 14 she married Henri, the heir to the French Throne, also aged just 14. Henri became King of France in 1547 but died 12 years later in 1559 to be succeeded by his eldest son, 15 year old Francois. 

Catherine had little authority during Francois' reign, that was exercised by his wife's uncle the Duke of Guise, but when Francois died 17 months later in 1560 and was succeeded by his brother, ten year old Charles IX Catherine became Regent and her "reign" as effective ruler of France began. Even after Charles was declared of age his mother continued to dominate his life and maintained her role as Queen regnant in all but name.

The next 30 years saw France mired in the Wars of Religion between Catholics and Protestants during which Catherine fought to maintain the authority of the Crown against the conflicting rivalries of the warring nobles.

The low point came in 1572 with the Massacre of the Huguenots (French Protestants) in which as many as 10,000 were killed. It is unclear how involved Catherine was in the events of that autumn.

In 1574 Charles died and was succeeded by another brother Henri III and although of full age he too had little aptitude for government so Catherine continued to exercise authority. It was due to her negotiating skills that France entered period of relative peace 1577-85 when she brought about an uneasy truce between the warring factions.   

However it could not last and civil war resumed in 1585. In 1588 Henri finally resolved to take up the reigns of government and dismissed all the ministers his mother had appointed. Her loss of power also heralded her end, within four months she was dead.     

Elizabeth I of England and Catherine de Medici must be regarded as the two most powerful women of the 16th century with Catherine at the top.

14 April 1578 - Philip III, King of Spain 1598-1621, born.

The only one of Philip II's sons from his four marriages to survive infancy. Spain's decline from greatness began under Philip III. He was lazy and uninterested in the business of government which he left to his avaricious ministers who enriched themselves at the expense of the country as a whole. He unknowingly undid the work his diligent and hardworking father and grandfather had put in over the previous 80 years.

15 April 1053 - Godwin, Earl of Wessex, died.

Although not of Royal blood himself he is closely connected to the Danish and late Saxon Kings of England. He rose to prominence under the Danish conquerer of England, Cnut, in 1018 when he was created Earl of Wessex. In 1020 he married the sister of the Danish Earl Ulf who was himself married to Cnut's sister. He prospered under Cnut and his two sons. When the last of them died in 1042 he cleverly switched allegiance to the Saxon claimant Edward for whom he arranged a marriage with his daughter Edith in 1045.

He dominated the weak and saintly King Edward until 1051 when the King exiled Godwin and his sons. But just a year later Godwin returned when the English nobles became suspicious of King Edward's newly forged connections with the Duke of Normandy.     

However Godwin was not to enjoy his restoration for long, he collapsed at the King's table during an Easter feast and died three days later. 

His eldest son Harold, who succeeded him as Earl of Wessex, was to seize the Throne upon Edward's death in 1066 as Harold II.

16 April 1940 - Margrethe II, Queen of Denmark since 1972, born.

The Queen of Denmark is 79 today. She was born just a week after the German invasion of Denmark, the eldest child of Crown Prince Frederik, who became King Frederik IX in 1947. At the time female succession was not allowed in Denmark, so neither Margrethe nor her two sisters were heirs to the Throne, they had no brothers. However in 1953 the Succession Laws were changed so that she was recognized as heir and duly inherited the Crown upon her father's death in 1972. 

She is an accomplished painter and translator. She is best known as a chain smoker and for her marriage in 1967 to a French nobleman Count Henri Laborde de Monpezat. In later life he earned the title of the "world's grumpiest Royal" after refusing to accompany his wife on Royal occasions becoming tired of taking second place. He died last year.

17 April 1711 - Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Archduke of Austria 1705-11, died.

His entire reign was spent at war fighting the French in the War of Spanish Succession and a serious revolt in Hungary.

His early death from smallpox at the age of 32 brought about the end of the War of Spanish Succession more than any victory in the field by the allied armies. They had been fighting Louis XIV who had installed his grandson Philip as King of Spain in 1700, the allies' candidate was Charles of Austria, Joseph's brother. However when Joseph died without a male heir the Austrian Crown passed to Charles. The allies were as unwilling to accept the union of the Austrian and Spanish Crowns as they were to see a Bourbon in Madrid, so after gaining assurances that the French and Spanish Crowns would never be united the war came to an end with their recognition of Philip as King of Spain.  

18 April 1945 - William, Prince of Albania 1914, died.

Following Turkey's defeat in the First Balkan War in 1912 the province of Albania seized the opportunity to proclaim independence. After a year of confusion the Provisional Government sought a candidate for the newly created Throne. The Queen of Roumania proposed her nephew, Prince William of Wied and after considerable hesitation he accepted.

On 6 February 1914 he was proclaimed Prince of Albania arriving in the country at the port of Durazzo in March. He found his new home to be a nest of intrigue and plots; a revolt by ethnic Muslims, Greek troops crossing the border to occupy the border towns and his Chief Minister plotting a coup. He weathered the storm only to be faced with an even more serious threat - war in Europe. Austria-Hungary demanded that Albania side with the Central Powers and when his subsidies from GB and France ceased Prince William fled into exile in September. He never abdicated and was not formally deposed until 1925. He died in Roumania in 1945.

This series is called Royal Date of the Day not Boring Nonentities Date of the Day. Your a cruel man Mark but thank goodness in a humerous way.

19 April 1689 - Christina, Queen of Sweden 1632-54, died.

Only surving child of King Gustaf II Christina succeeded to the Throne aged just five when her father was killed in battle. Highly intelligent and enquiring she lost her faith in Lutheranism in her 20s, but converting to Catholicism in Sweden at the time was a crime. So in 1654 she abdicated in favour of her cousin Charles X and was accepted into the Catholic faith before she settled in Rome.

In Rome she continued her restless lifestyle becoming a leading figure in the Eternal City's social and political life, far from the pious convert the Pope expected her to be.

Perhaps missing the political activity of her youth she signed a secret treaty with France in 1656 in which she would become Queen of Naples once the French had conquered it and she would name her heir as the King of France. The following year, impatient that nothing had yet come of the scheme, she travelled to France and took up rooms in the Palace of Fontainebleau. Here she learnt that her equerry the Marquis de Monaldeschi betrayed her scheme. In a fit of rage she ordered his murder and the Marquis was stabbed to death in the Palace corridor.

Twice she returned to Sweden, on the first occasion in 1660, after the sudden death of Charles X, she requested to be restored to the Throne, but her suggestion was declined. In Rome she spent the rest of her life in the limelight, meddling in Papal elections, trying to raise a Crusade against the Turks and promoting the opera and cultural life of Rome, even offering herself as a candidate for the vacant Polish-Lithuanian Throne in 1668.

She died in 1689 in the Palazzo Riario and is buried in the Grotte Vaticane alongside over 250 Popes.