Excluding those princesses who have married into overseas Roman Catholic royal families, only one member of the Royal Family ( that is, with the style of Royal Highness ) has converted to Roman Catholicism since the passage of the act: the Duchess of Kent, wife of Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.

She converted to Orthodoxy and became Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna of Russia.

Katharine, Duchess of Kent ; her son and grandson, Lord Nicholas Windsor and Edward Windsor, Lord Downpatrick, respectively, both of whose wives are Catholic, and her granddaughter, Lady Marina-Charlotte Windsor, as well as politicians such as Baroness Masham of Ilton and Ann Widdecombe, and, most recently, former Prime Minister Tony Blair, whose wife and children are Catholic, are prominent among laypeople who have converted.

The new Duchess of Orléans, who had converted from Protestantism to Catholicism just before entering France, was popular at court upon her arrival in 1671 and quickly became the mother of Alexandre Louis d ' Orléans in 1673, another short-lived Duke of Valois.

The Duchess of Kent later converted to Roman Catholicism in 1994.

The Princess of Baden learned Russian, converted to the Orthodox Church, took the title of Grand Duchess of Russia and traded the name Louise Maria Auguste for Elizabeth Alexeievna.

* The Duke and Duchess of Windsor-whose country home Le Moulin de la Tuilerie, a sprawling dwelling created from an old mill and a number of barns ( Very rare in France at the time-one lived in a Chateau, not converted farm buildings!

The dowager Duchess had the building converted into a library in 1761.

Soon after arriving at St Petersburg that September, she converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, took the name " Maria Feodorovna ," and was granted the title Grand Duchess of Russia with the style Imperial Highness.

In February she converted to Russian Orthodoxy, taking the name of Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna.

In February 1848, Alexandra converted to Russian Orthodoxy, taking the name of Grand Duchess Alexandra Iosifovna, which reflected her father's name Joseph ( unlike many princesses she took a patronymic, choosing to reflect her parentage rather than the usual religious or dynastic associations which was also possible because Iosif was a common name in Russia ).

Only decades later, after Vladimir's death, she converted to the Russian Orthodox confession, then, Emperor Nicholas II bestowed her the title " the Orthodox Grand Duchess ".

By marriage, she was Duchess of Lorraine, Grand Duchess of Tuscany and Holy Roman Empress.

Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor, had sixteen children, including Queen Marie Antoinette of France, Queen Maria Carolina of Naples, Duchess Maria Amalia of Parma and two Holy Roman Emperors, Joseph II and Leopold II.

Mary of Burgundy | Mary the Rich, Duchess of Burgundy and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor | Maximilian of Habsburg.

To her stepdaughter, Mary, now Duchess of Burgundy, she gave immeasurable guidance and help: using her own experiences in the court of Edward IV, where she had largely avoided being used as a pawn and contributed to the arrangement of her own marriage, she wisely guided the Duchess in deciding her marriage ; against the wave of marriage offers that flooded to the two Duchesses in Ghent ( from the recently widowed Duke of Clarence, from the 7-year old Dauphin of France, Charles, from a brother of Edward IV's wife, Elizabeth Woodville ), she stood firm, and advised Mary to marry Maximilian of Habsburg, the 18-year old son of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick III, to whom Charles the Bold had betrothed Mary, and who was ambitious and active enough, in Margaret's opinion, to defend Mary's legacy.

Philip's parents were Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and his first wife, Duchess Mary of Burgundy.

Although he defeated his sister-in-law, Joanna, Duchess of Brabant, and briefly took her title, she regained it the following year with the help of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor.

Rainier was also a descendant of William the Silent of Orange-Nassau, the main leader of the Dutch revolt against the Spanish Empire and ancestor to the current Dutch Royal Family ; Hortense Mancini, the Duchess of Mazarin and mistress of King Charles II of England ; Gabrielle de Polignac, a favourite of Marie Antoinette ; Joan of Kent, the first Princess of Wales ; King Charles IX of Sweden ; King Frederick II of Denmark and Norway ; Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor ; Claude, Duke of Guise and several doges of Genoa.

The Duke of Parma also usually held the title of Duke of Guastalla from 1735 ( when Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor took it from Mantua ) to 1847 ( when the territory was ceded to Modena ), again, except for the Napoleonic dukes, when Napoleon's sister Pauline was Duchess of Guastalla and of Varella.

The Count of Paris was then able to re-marry his second wife, Micaëla Countess of Paris and Duchess of France in the Roman Catholic Church, in September 2009.

Her sisters included Eleonor Magdalene, Holy Roman Empress, Maria Sofia, Queen of Portugal, Maria Anna, Queen of Spain and Dorothea Sophie, Duchess of Parma and mother of the famous Elisabeth Farnese.

The site of Baiae has occasionally revealed Roman sculptures: an Aphrodite of Baiae supposedly excavated in the site, was purchased before 1803 by the English antiquary and connoisseur Thomas Hope, who displayed it in his gallery in Duchess Street, London.

* Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy ( 1480-1530 ), Habsburg princess, daughter of Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor and Mary of Burgundy, married John, Prince of Asturias and Philibert II, Duke of Savoy

In total, Maria Carolina bore Ferdinand eighteen children, of whom seven survived to adulthood including his successor, Francis I, the last Holy Roman Empress, a Grand Duchess of Tuscany, the last Queen of the French and a Princess of Asturias.

In 2003, following the example of his grandmother, the Duchess of Kent, and uncle, Lord Nicholas Windsor, he became a member of the Roman Catholic Church and therefore was barred from the line of succession to the British Throne.

Their father Prince Roman Petrovich was the only son of Grand Duke Peter Nicolaievich and Grand Duchess Militsa Nikolaievna ( née Princess of Montenegro ).

Through the Duchess ' patronage, he came to be ordained as a priest of the Roman Catholic Church.

* Archduchess Margaret of Austria, Duchess of Savoy ( 1480 – 1530 ), daughter of Mary, Duchess of Burgundy, and Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor

The Duchess of Kent gained attention for her conversion to Catholicism in 1994, the first senior Royal to convert publicly since the passing of the Act of Settlement 1701.

In 1886, soon after the death of his beloved sister Minna ( the dowager Duchess of Norfolk ), he received permission from Lord Salisbury to study Catholicism and attend Mass.

Other properties on the estate include Birkhall, formerly home to Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, and used now by Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall for their summer holidays.

Also, while Chaucer clearly states the addressees of many of his poems ( the Book of the Duchess is believed to have been written for John of Gaunt on the occasion of his wife's death in 1368 ), the intended audience of The Canterbury Tales is more difficult to determine.

The legend on the reverse calls her Eleanor, Duchess of the Aquitanians and Countess of the Angevins.

Elizabeth was baptised on 10 September ; Archbishop Thomas Cranmer, the Marquess of Exeter, the Duchess of Norfolk and the Dowager Marchioness of Dorset stood as her four godparents.

Gavrilo Princip ( Serbian Cyrillic: Гаврило Принцип, ; 28 April 1918 ) was the man who assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914.

Throughout the war, Grand Duchess Charlotte broadcast via on BBC to Luxembourg to give hope to the people.

Lord Peter's was born the second of the three children of Mortimer Wimsey, 15th Duke of Denver, and Honoria Lucasta Delagardie, who lives on throughout the novels as the Dowager Duchess of Denver.

In it, a miniature showed the Duchess presenting the Book to Mieszko II while sitting on a throne.

He has been openly gay throughout his public life, and he has written many novels ( The Duchess and the Commoner, La nuit des princes charmants, Le Coeur découvert, Le Coeur éclaté ) and plays ( Hosanna, La duchesse de Langeais, Fragments de mensonges inutiles ) centred on gay characters.

One notable practitioner was Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire whose efforts on behalf of Charles James Fox in the 18th century included press relations, lobbying and, with her friends, celebrity campaigning.

Early in their marriage, Harding bestowed on her the lasting nickname " Duchess " as a nod to the imperious ( and often alienating ) persona she shared with her father.

He is succeeded by his daughter The Princess Elizabeth, Duchess of Edinburgh ( now Elizabeth II ), who is on a visit to Kenya.

Within view lie the Catholic Court Church and the Italian Village in Theatre Square, the Wilsdruffer Kubus on Postplatz and The Duchess Garden with the remnants of the former orangery building in the west.

At a ball in Brussels ( based on the Duchess of Richmond's famous ball on the eve of the Battle of Waterloo ) George gives Becky a note inviting her to run away with him.

Anne herself grew increasingly uncomfortable with this dependence on the Whigs, especially as her personal relationship with the Duchess of Marlborough deteriorated.

The first daughter of Gaston stands on the far right: Anne, Duchess of Montpensier | Anne Marie Louise d ' Orléans.

Unlike Lord Snowdon and Captain Phillips, Sarah has never remarried and still attends some functions with her daughters, such as the investiture of The Duke of York into the Royal Victorian Order, on which occasions she is afforded the courtesy of treatment as a member of the Royal Family, although the Lord Chamberlain's Diamond Jubilee Guidelines mention the Duchess specifically as being a member of the Royal Family in her own right.

Following on a reluctance by the public to universally support the second wife of HRH The Prince of Wales, it was announced by Clarence House that, should the Prince become King, his wife HRH The Duchess of Cornwall will not be known as HM The Queen but will take the lesser title of HRH The Princess Consort.

The family of the Prince of Wales illustrated in 1891 ( based on a photograph from 1889 ): ( left to right ) Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence | Prince Albert Victor, Maud of Wales | Princess Maud, Alexandra of Denmark | Alexandra, Edward, Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife | Princess Louise, George V of the United Kingdom | Prince George and Princess Victoria Alexandra of the United Kingdom | Princess Victoria.

This record was broken on 24 July 2003, by her last surviving sister-in-law Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, who died aged 102 on 29 October 2004.

Queen Victoria was mollified by the proposal to name the new baby Albert, and wrote to the Duchess of York: " I am all impatience to see the new one, born on such a sad day but rather more dear to me, especially as he will be called by that dear name which is a byword for all that is great and good ".