Difference between revisions of "Natalie de Clare, 4th Countess of Markland, DGK"

From Grevinde af Markland
Jump to: navigation, search
Line 31: Line 31:
= Education =
= Education =
[[File:529951 10151442547999351 707093998 n.jpg|thumb|right|265px|The Clan Cian Crest currently used by the Clan.]]
[[File:529951 10151442547999351 707093998 n.jpg|thumb|right|265px|The Clan Cian Crest currently used by the Clan and authorized by the Clan Chief for use by all members of the Clan.]]
[[File:Marchbrae artpewter clancrestbadgemacduff 1455123805MacDuff.jpg|thumb|right|265px|The [[Clan MacDuff]] Crest Badge. Motto: Deus juvat - "God assists". Badge: A lion rampant, holding a dagger in its paw.]]
{{Infobox manner of address
{{Infobox manner of address

Revision as of 23:04, 19 September 2019

Natalie de Clare
4th Countess of Markland, DGK
Imageedit 7 4548954341.jpg
Lady Markland
Grevinde af Markland1975-Present
SonZackery de Clare
PartnerIsabella Krivulka
Noble familyHouse de Clare
FatherGale Allen Foster
MotherLinda Jean Whiteaker
Born07 November 1975
OccupationEuropean Nobility

Natalie de Clare, 4th Countess of Markland, DGK (Danish: Grevinde af Markland; Romanian: Contesa de Markland; Hungarian: Markland nak Grófnéja: Bulgarian: КАУНТЕС ЪФ МАРКЛЕНД) (07 November 1975 - Present Day), is a present-day noblewoman who spends time in a variety of countries in Europe.[1][2] She has dozens of lineages tracing back to the historic Norman House de Clare that were highly influential England, Ireland, and the Welsh Marches up to the late 14th century.[3][4] Her Irish ancestry traces back to House Bulter and the Earls of Ormond as well as the Princes of Éile and various other Irish Barons. Her last Irish ancestor left the Emerald Isle in 1836 and headed to West Bengal India. She is related to 9 of the 25 Barons who signed the Magna Carta in 1215. Interestingly, like many people in her family, she does not have a middle name.

Armorial Bearings

Alt text
Lady Markland's Armorial Bearings as granted by the South African Bureau of Heraldry (H4/3/4/1018)[5][6][7]
Alt text
Lady Markland's Banner of Arms.

Armorial bearings are also known colloquially as a Coat of Arms. They are the principal part of a system of hereditary symbols dating back to early medieval Europe, used primarily to establish identity in battle.[8][9]They are still used today by royalty, nobility and knights to cover, protect, and identify the wearer; to denote their decedents, property ownership and their profession.[8][9] Armorial Bearings belong to specific individuals not families as there is no such thing as a family Coat of Arms or a family crest. [10][11]

Lady Markland's Armorial Bearings were devised to make use of elements of the Armorial Bearings of her de Clare ancestors, the historical Lordship of Glamorgan and those from the Counts of Perche. Her Armorial Bearings were granted by the South African Bureau of Heraldry and she has petitioned the Chief Herald of Ireland for a confirmation - they are not assumed Armorial Bearings or Burgher Arms.The arms of burghers bore a far wider variety of charges than the arms of nobility like everyday objects such as tools.[5] Lady Markland's Armorial Bearings are registered in a few heraldic rolls, but that is to create a digital record for generations to come.


Styles of
The Countess of Markland
Lady Marklands Sheild.jpg
Lady Markland's Shield
Reference styleThe Countess of Markland
Spoken styleLady Markland
Alternative styleMy Lady

Natalie de Clare graduated with an Associate of Arts degree in general studies, an Associate of Arts degree in psychology, a Bachelor of Arts degree in criminal justice, a Bachelor of Arts degree and sociology, and a Master of Arts degree in criminal justice.[1]Her current research interests includes: social norms and informal social control mechanisms; violence and violent death; and behavioral neuroscience[1][2]

During her time in the United States she was a commissioned Notary Public for the State of Washington, the State of Missouri, the State of Idaho, and the State of Oregon.[12][13] She has earned various college certificates in paralegal studies, military leadership, joint warfare, intelligence analysis, terrorism studies, homeland security, European history, and she is an ordained Minister through a non-denominational church in Seattle, Washington. She enjoys working anonymously in a variety of healthcare settings. She also loves to play the Celtic Harp.

Spelling Variations

The Markland Region of the Principality of Transylvania bordering the Kingdom of Hungary.
Cliffs in the Markland Region of the Principality of Transylvania near the border of the Kingdom of Hungary.

The surname Clare was first found in Suffolk where Richard Fitz Gilbert, 1st Baron of Clare (1030-1091) held no less than ninety-five lordships in Suffolk, all attached to his chief lordship of Clare in the same county. To this family we owe the name of an English town, an Irish county, royal dukedoms (such as Clarence), Clare College, Clare Castle, Clare Bridge, Caerphilly Castle countless de Clare Priories, and various other villages, buildings, and momuments in Wales, Ireland and England respectively. Prior to the advent standardized dictionaries and the printing press the English language was fraught with surname variations of the same families. Sound was what guided spelling in the Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the de Clare family name include Clair, Clare, Clere, O'Clear, O'Clair and others.

Family Ancestory

Lady Markland's family ancestry is a long and interesting tale and virtually all of her ancestors can all be traced back to the Danes from around the 8th century C.E. with one exception tracing to Rognvald Eysteinsson, Jarl of More in Norway during the 9th century. Her English ancestors came from the Duchy of Normandy during the conquest of England in 1066. A couple centuries thereafter some of her Norman Ancestors went to Ireland in the late 12th century and stayed for hundreds of years thus, allowing her to petition to have her Armorial Bearings confirmed by the Chief Herald of Ireland in 2017. Lady Markland's genealogical proofs show that she has only one noble lineage that procreated with the Irish inhabitants in the O'Carroll and Kavanaugh lines thus, making her a Cianachta member under the O'Carroll of Éile O'Carroll lineage. This lineage was recognized by the Irish Government on 02 July 2015 as well as the Cianachta Irish Clan on 04 January 2016. The The use or acceptance of titles of nobility in Ireland specifically requires the government's approval pursuant to Article 40.2.2 [14] In Scotland her ancestry goes back to Clan MacDuff upon the marriage of Joan de Clare (1264-1322) to Duncan MacDuff III, 11th Earl of Fife (1262-1288).

Hohenzollern Princes

Through another lineage she is related the Brandenburg Hohenzollern Princes, who ruled the Margraviate of Brandenburg, through the marriage of her 4th great-grandmother Margaret Brandenburg (1836-1920) to John Lewis Frank (1827-1905). This lineage also traces back to Denmark through the marriage of Frederick Wilhelm Brandenburg, Grand Elector of Brandenburg (1620-1688) and Sophia Dorothea Schleswig-Holstein-Glücksburg, Duchess of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1636-1689). Family histories are packed with intrigue, conspiracy, scandal and secrets waiting to be discovered and many of Lady Markland's lineages are fraught with these - as in the curious state of the Brandenburg lineage.

Biological Family

Lady Markland is the sixth child of ten children. Her surname is the surname listed on her birth certificate and was given in honor of her de Clare ancestry from Ireland and England. [1][2][15] Ethnically she is Danish and English with the vast majority of all her lineages tracing back to Denmark (including her English ancestors).[1][2] She has one son, Zackery de Clare born 14 December 2004 and one daughter, Cerrina de Clare born 12 August 1999.[1] Her biological father died in 2013 and her mother retired to the state of Washington in the United States.[16] Intriguingly, the paternal Whiteaker line on her maternal side has a history of nobility and knights stretching back to Richard de Whitacre (1300-1380), who was a medieval knight and the Lord of the Manors of Nether Whitacre, Over Whitacre, Elmdon, and Freasley.

Adopted Family

Interestingly, she was legally adopted by H.H. Gyula IV, Erdély Nagy Hercege, Őrgróf Kárpátia és Tyrol, Pátriárkája Magyarország és Czernowitz (1945-2016) who is recognized by Hungarian and Austrian nobility, and various other Royal Houses, as one of the Royal lines from this Dacian region including the Imperial Rurikovich Family, the House of Savoy, and the the House of Bourbon. In theory there are about 5 different current or former Royal Families who could authorize titles in the general region of what was the Kingdom of Dacia all of which obviously compete with each other's claims.

Titles and Honours

Her adopted father granted her the title of 4th Countess of Markland by Letters Patent. Even though her adopted family is an old Royal Family she is not Royalty, but High Eastern European Nobility. Her title is one that dates back to before the Treaty of Versailles in late 18th century crown lands of the Habsburg Monarchy in what is now Modern day Romania before the formation of the Kingdom of Romania on 13 March 1881.[17] It is a title issued under the Grand Principality of Transylvania which was a realm of the Hungarian Crown, ruled by the Habsburg Monarchs of the Kingdom of Hungary. In the 19th century, Markland in Transylvania was the borderland between the Principality of Transylvania and the Kingdom of Hungary.[18] More specifically, it was the neutral/buffer zone under joint control of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Principality of Transylvania respectively, in which different laws applied.[18] Marklands served a political purpose, such as providing warning of military incursions, and regulating cross-border trade, immigration, and keeping local villages safe from marauders. There was generally a small detachment of the Transylvanian army stationed here. It was more like a military occupied check-point. During the first issuance of Markland under the Principality of Transylvania in the early 17th century, Dudley Carleton, 1st Viscount Dorchester (1573-1632) recorded that when he passed through Markland there was thousands of troops assembled by the Transylvanian princes.[19]

Manorial Lordships

Lady Markland also has a couple hereditary Manorial Lordship rights under the laws of the United Kingdom in compliance with the Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act of 1925 and the Land Registration Act 2002. Manorial rights and interests, or “overriding interests” as they are sometimes known, include sporting and mineral rights or even the right to hold a fair or market on the land. These are, of course, rights that exist over land owned by third parties (the successors in title to the former copyhold tenants and the allottees on inclosure) and which therefore lie beyond the current boundaries of the estate’s surface ownership. Until recently a Lord or Lady of the Manor could rest easy in the knowledge that, even if they were uncertain or unaware of such rights, these rights were nevertheless protected by the law of the land as an overriding interest. Some Manorial Lordships retain some of their feudal rights such as fishing or hunting rights, the right to market, mineral rights, etc.

Orders of Knighthood

Lady markland has been honored with numerous Knighthoods over the years from all over the world. She takes the code of chivalry serious and strives to make her life worthy of such honors. She is a firm believer that a Dame or a Knight should have military and/or some type of martial training and she has both. Historically; however, Orders of Knighthood were also formed by the Nobility and/or groups of Knights so an order does not have to have a Royal Fons Honorum to be valid. There were Baronial Orders, Confraternal Orders, Fraternal Orders, and even Honorific Pseudo-Orders.[20][21] All of these have existed at some point in history.[22]

This notion that an Order of Chivalry has to be headed by a Royal Fons Honorum seems to selectively ignore history and be an entirely modern concept entirely. For example, a Confraternal Order is one with a presidency attached to a nobleman - any rank of nobleman; and there is no Royal Fons Honorum. Confraternal Orders of Knighthood have existed since the 14th century thus technically a group of knights are within their right as legitimately ordained knights in forming an Order of Chivalry for whatever reason they desire. Two such orders were Ordre de la Pomme d'Or, founded by 14 knights in Auvergne in 1394 and the Alliance et Compagnie du Levrier, founded by 44 knights in the Barrois in 1416.[23] This process has happened multiple times throughout history where Knights or Nobility create their own Orders of Knighthood

Academic Honours

Lady Markland is a member of 20 honour and high IQ societies from all over the world as well as being a member of numerous organizations such as the World Society of Victimology, the International Association of Medical Examiners and Coroners, and the Samuel Blythe Society. She also has membership in various hereditary societies and manages The de Clare Society for those who are descended from the Medieval de Clare family.


"It seems the world is fraught with the disease of republicanism." (2015)

"The curse of my birth condition haunts me like death; hovering over me, reminding me, and never letting me forget the prison cell I escaped from called my life." (2013)

"Failing to learn social graces really makes you no better than the thug trolloping about the ghetto." (2015)

"I think people need to spend more time on improving who they are as human beings rather than seeking out relationships. Self-improvement last forever, relationships not so much." (2014)


  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 De Clare, N. (2017). A day in the life of me: A transsexual woman's struggle to be herself. College Station, TX: Virtual Book Worm. ISBN 978-0-692-28382-0
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Official Website of the Countess of Markland (2017). About me. Retrieved from: http://www.grevindeafmarkland.dk
  3. Richardson, D. (2011). Magna Carta Ancestry: A Study in Colonial and Medieval Families (2nd ed.). Seattle, WA: Createspace. ISBN: 9781461045205.
  4. Altschul, A. (2004). A Baronial Family in Medieval England: The Clares, 1217–1314. Baltimore, MA: The Johns Hopkins Press. ISBN 978-0-404-61349-5
  5. 5.0 5.1 South Africa National Gazette. Government Notice No. 691, National Gazettes, No. 40058. Retrieved from: https://www.greengazette.co.za/notices/heraldry-act-18-1962-application-for-registration-of-heraldic-representations-and-objections-thereto_20160610-GGN-40058-00691-01.pdf
  6. South Africa National Gazette. No. 40610, Vol. 620. Retrieved from: https://www.greengazette.co.za/notices/heraldry-act-18-1962-registration-of-heraldic-representations_20170210-GGN-40610-00106-02
  7. Societas Heraldica Scandinavia. Natalie de Clare. Retrieved from:http://heraldik.org/vabenrulle/de-clare/
  8. 8.0 8.1 Woodcock, T., & Robinson, J. M. (1988). The Oxford guide to heraldry (Vol. 116). Oxford University Press.
  9. 9.0 9.1 Fox-Davies, A. C. (2007). A complete guide to heraldry. Skyhorse Publishing Inc.
  10. College of Arms (2015) The United Kingdom College of Arms. Retrieved from http://www.college-of-arms.gov.uk/
  11. The Court of the Lord Lyon of Scotland (2015). About Coats of Arms. Retrieved from http://www.lyon-court.com/lordlyon/216.181.html
  12. Department of Licensing. State of Washington. Retrived from: https://fortress.wa.gov/dol/dolprod/bpdLicenseQuery/lqsLicenseDetail.aspx?RefID=256785
  13. Secretary of State. State of Idaho. Retrieved from: http://www.sos.idaho.gov/NotarySearch/CurrentDetails.aspx?st=Notary&ncn=67097
  14. "Constitution of Ireland Article 40.2.2" (PDF). Government of Ireland. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2008.<templatestyles src="Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css"></templatestyles>
  15. New York Times (2015). Natalie de Clare. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/storywall/transgender-today/stories/natalie-de-clare
  17. Gröndal, B. 1882. Landafræði löguð eptir landafræði Erslevs og samin eptir ýmsum öðrum bókum [Geography adapted from Erslevs geography and by other books], Akureyri: Björn Jónsson.
  18. 18.0 18.1 Beatrix Haselsberger (2014) Decoding borders. Appreciating border impacts on space and people, Planning Theory & Practice, 15:4, 505-526, DOI: 10.1080/14649357.2014.963652
  20. Boulton, D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre: The knights of the crown : the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe, 1325-1520. Woodbridge, Suffolk : Boydell Press, 1987. Second revised edition (paperback): Woodbridge, Suffolk and Rochester, NY : Boydell Press, 2000.
  21. Kruse, H., Paravicini, W., & Ranft, A. (Eds.). (1991). Ritterorden und Adelsgesellschaften im spätmittelalterlichen Deutschland: ein systematisches Verzeichnis (Vol. 1). Peter Lang Publishing.
  22. D'Arcy Jonathan Dacre Boulton. (1987). The knights of the crown: the monarchical orders of knighthood in later medieval Europe, 1325-1520. Boydell & Brewer Incorporated.
  23. Bossuat, A. (1944). Un ordre de chevalerie auvergnat: l’ordre de la Pomme d’Or. Bidle/in bistoriqia it stienti/iqm dt I'Aupergite, Uiv (1944), 83-98; H. Morel,'Unc associa, 523-4.