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Grand Crosses of the Order of Saint Stephen of Hungary

  • NapoleonNapoleon Bonaparte was born Napoleone di Buonaparte on the 15th of August 1769, on the island of Corsica, to a family of Italian origin.
  • Ferdinand VIIFerdinand VII of Spain was called "el Deseado" - the Desired One - by his people, who longed for his return while Napoleon held him captive in France.
  • Hermann GöringHermann Göring asked to die by firing squad, the death of a soldier. The Nuremberg court refused him. So on the night before his scheduled hanging in October…
  • Napoleon IIINapoleon III was born in the Tuileries Palace in Paris on the night of the 19th-the 20th of April 1808 - the first Bonaparte prince born after the…
  • Louis XVIIILouis XVIII spent twenty-three years as a king without a kingdom. Born on the 17th of November 1755 at the Palace of Versailles, he outlasted the Revolution…
  • Maximilian I of MexicoMaximilian I of Mexico stood before a Republican firing squad on the Cerro de las Campanas on the 19th of June 1867 and handed each of his executioners a…
  • Ferdinand I of the Two SiciliesFerdinand I of the Two Sicilies was born in Naples on the 12th of January 1751, a third son with no obvious future as a king.
  • Victor Emmanuel IIVictor Emmanuel II rode into Rome on the 20th of September 1870, entering a city that no Italian king had controlled since the fall of the Western Roman…
  • Joseph II, Holy Roman EmperorOn the night of the 19th to the 20th of February 1790, Joseph II slept for a few hours, helped along by painkillers. At five in the morning he woke and asked…
  • Alexander III of RussiaAlexander III of Russia was born on the 10th of March 1845 at the Winter Palace in Saint Petersburg, the second son of the future Alexander II.
  • Leopold II, Holy Roman EmperorLeopold II carried a name full of contradictions. Born on the 5th of May 1747 in Vienna as the third son of Empress Maria Theresa and Emperor Francis I, he…
  • Joachim von RibbentropJoachim von Ribbentrop was born on the 30th of April 1893 and hanged on the 16th of October 1946, and in the years between those two dates he rose from…
  • Nicholas I of RussiaNicholas I of Russia died on the 2nd of March 1855 at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, refusing medical treatment as his empire crumbled around him.
  • ChulalongkornChulalongkorn was born on the 20th of September 1853 into a court where the clock was already ticking. European empires had swallowed Burma, Indochina, and…
  • Alexander II of RussiaAlexander II of Russia was born on the 29th of April 1818, and by the time he died he had freed more than 23 million people from bondage, sold an entire…
  • Paul von HindenburgPaul von Hindenburg stood at 1.98 meters tall, with a muscular frame and striking blue eyes, an imposing figure at the Palace of Versailles when the German…
  • Napoleon IINapoleon II was Emperor of the French for exactly two days. He never sat on the throne. He never held a scepter. He never gave an order that anyone was bound…
  • Alfonso XIIIAlfonso XIII was carried naked to the prime minister on a silver tray moments after he was born, already a king. His father, Alfonso XII, had died the…
  • Otto von HabsburgOtto von Habsburg was born on the 20th of November 1912 at Villa Wartholz in Reichenau an der Rax, at a moment when Austria-Hungary still stood as one of the…
  • Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-PérigordCharles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord was born on the 2nd of February 1754, and he died on the 17th of May 1838, having served every major French government…