Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 115

Royal Jewels – The Cartier Halo Tiara

The Cartier Halo Tiara’s most famous outing was perhaps when it was worn by the future Duchess of Cambridge on her wedding day on 29 April 2011.

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The Halo Tiara was purchased from Cartier on 18 November 1936 by the then Duke of York, just weeks before he became King George VI. His wife, then still Duchess of York, wore it for the first time just before she became Queen.  The tiara consists of a band of 16 graduated scrolls, set with 739 brilliants and 149 baton diamonds. Each scroll is divided by a graduated brilliant and has a large brilliant at the centre.

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It was then given to the future Queen Elizabeth II for her 18th birthday, and she loaned it to her sister Princess Margaret and later also to her daughter Princess Anne. Princess Margaret famously wore it to her sister’s coronation.

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Queen Elizabeth II has never worn it in public herself. It was never one of the more frequently worn tiaras, though it was quite worthy as a wedding tiara.1

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Book Review: Victoria II by Daniel A Willis

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I will be the first to admit that I was way out of my comfort zone when I bought this book. It’s not only fiction but also offers an alternative universe where Queen Victoria and Prince Albert had just one surviving child as Prince Albert was shot and killed while Queen Victoria was pregnant with their second child. She subsequently had a miscarriage and does not remarry, leaving Princess Victoria – the Princess Royal – as her only child and heir.

The book is a rather slim volume, though it’s apparently intended to become a trilogy eventually. After explaining the alternative universe we are in, the book begins with 17-year-old Vicky about to embark on her first foreign trip. Naturally, there are concerns for her safety, given her father’s assassination and a recent attack. Also on everyone’s mind is the search for a potential husband for her, though the appropriate candidate is not too Vicky’s taste and she much prefers a British nobleman. As a side story, there is also Queen Victoria’s romance with John Brown, and her subsequent pregnancy and marriage threaten Vicky’s place as first in the line of succession as a boy would take precedence over her.

As the book is rather slim, we go through the story at breakneck speed, and I think several important parts could have been expanded upon a lot more. Nevertheless, it is an interesting look at what could have been (for example, if male-preference primogeniture hadn’t existed). The style of writing is actually quite good and makes for easy reading. I look forward to reading the other parts.

Victoria II by Daniel A Willis is available now in the UK and the US.

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The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her sister-in-law Margaretha of Saxony

Margaretha of Saxony was born on 24 May 1840 as the eighth child and fifth daughter of the future King John of Saxony and his wife, Princess Amalie Auguste of Bavaria. Amalie Auguste was the elder sister of both Sophie (Emperor Franz Joseph’s mother) and Ludovika (Empress Elisabeth’s mother) of Bavaria.

Not much is known of her youth, and it isn’t even clear how her betrothal to her first cousin Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria, a younger brother of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria, came about. We do know that Karl Ludwig left Innsbruck on 27 June 1856 to celebrate his engagement to the 16-year-old Margaretha in Pillnitz. Many were surprised when Karl Ludwig announced the engagement on 21 July to the people of Tyrol, where he had been appointed as governor by his brother. Nevertheless, it was received with much enthusiasm, and the engagement was celebrated all over. Karl Ludwig was grateful for the happy reception and wrote to the council of the governor’s office, “to hear how the news of this event, which made me so happy, was received with general joy in the whole state of Tyrol; This once again proclaims how the loyal crown land always takes the liveliest interest in everything that touches its ruling house. God preserve these noble sentiments of faithful subjects.”1

Maria Anna of Bavaria, the dowager Queen of Saxony and Sophie’s twin sister, wrote, “The engagement of my niece Margarethe to her good governor is a great comfort to me. How happy my dear king would have been to know his Margarethe in his dear Tyrol.”2 With the official betrothal ceremony taking place on 6 September, the wedding was now set to go ahead on 4 November, which was also the Karl Ludwig’s name day.

At noon on 4 November, the wedding procession set off from the royal palace in Dresden to the court chapel. Margaretha was accompanied by her mother, her sisters Sidonie and Anna, and her sister-in-law Carola. Sidonie had once been considered as a bride for Emperor Franz Joseph, but he had considered her too unattractive.3 The diplomatic corps was also present in full force, with representatives from at least 13 countries. After the blessing and the closing prayer, the procession returned to the royal palace. In the royal palace, the King and Queen and the newlyweds accepted the court’s congratulations. Later that evening, there was a ceremonial dinner and celebrations continued throughout the week with balls and galas. The city of Dresden even named a street after the Archduke. The town of Innsbruck received winter clothes for 100 poor children and celebrated the wedding with a festive service in the parish church.

After the glitz and glamour of their wedding celebrations, Karl Ludwig and Margaretha set out for Innsbruck via Prague and Vienna on 11 November. Margaretha’s father accompanied them to the Austrian border. They arrived in Innsbruck on 25 November with the greatest pomp. Margaret believed charity to be her life’s work, and Innsbruck would remember the kind Archduchess long after she was gone for her charitable works. Tragically, Margaret’s life would be cut short after just two years of marriage.

On 24 August 1858, Margaretha’s sister-in-law Elisabeth gave birth to Crown Prince Rudolf, and Margaretha and Karl Ludwig donated 1,000 florins to the poor of Innsbruck to celebrate. Soon after, they departed on a trip to Italy. Margaretha fell ill in the city of Monza, and on 14 September, a bulletin was issued that she had been diagnosed with typhoid fever. Her symptoms were considered to be moderate, and there was no real cause for concern. There was still hope of a favourable outcome. However, just a few hours later, Margaret received the Last Sacraments, and she died just before midnight on 15 September 1858. She was still only 18 years old. By her side had been her sister-in-law Charlotte. Karl Ludwig was devastated by her death, and he even considered becoming a clergyman. The people were devasted with him – national mourning was held voluntarily, and all festivities were stopped.

The following day, Emperor Franz Joseph wrote to his mother, “The blow came so unexpectedly and suddenly that it is impossible to believe that dear Margarethe is no more.[..]When I told Sisi about it, she burst into tears and cried for a long time.4 Ida, Countess von Hahn-Hahn wrote to Margaretha’s aunt Maria Anna of Bavaria, “It was just a year ago that I saw her in Salzburg. So childlike, so blossoming, both with an expression of piety and happiness, as is the happiness of a pure soul.”5 Maria Anna wrote back, “You have done me unspeakable good with your affectionate letter, your heartfelt sympathy for our deep sorrow and with the sweet words you so rightly and heartwarmingly describe the childlike innocence of our departed angel.”6

Photo by Moniek Bloks

Margaretha’s body was taken for interment in the Imperial Crypt by train. The funeral train arrived at 8 in the evening on 22 September. The coffin was first brought to the Hofburg parish church, and the funeral service was held the following day. Her heart had remained behind in Tyrol at her husband’s request. He wrote that “it had been his intention before to let the heart of his unforgettable wife rest in faithful Tyrol, where she was loved so much, and her worth was understood.”7 Her heart was interred in the court chapel in Innsbruck.

Empress Elisabeth probably had very little contact with Margaretha, but her husband’s letter shows that she genuinely mourned her death. Karl Ludwig remained unmarried for four years before remarrying to Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies.

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The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part four)

Read part three here.

The Empress and Emperor blamed Stéphanie for Rudolf’s death, but she received a heartfelt letter from Queen Elisabeth of Romania, who wrote, “My dearest Stéphanie, My thoughts turn to your almost hourly in your solitude, and the words of your wonderful letter are chiselled deep into my heart. This letter of yours, in its devastating simplicity, made me shed warm tears, for it discloses the intensity of your suffering. Cease to torment yourself with thoughts whether you might have done this or that otherwise, and so averted the disaster – for nothing could have averted it. The poor man, for all his glorious heritage, bore the seeds of doom within him in the form of his disastrous qualities; to say nothing of the close kinship between his parents, which robbed him of the power that might have enabled him to fight the demon who destroyed him. I think that he saw himself, being a man of outstanding intelligence, saw the approach of destruction, and despairingly flung himself into the abyss, hastily seizing all life could give him before the night came. I remember some expressions used by him at Sinaia, which showed utter hopelessness, a lack of confidence in the future, but a determination to enjoy before it was too late. I was already most anxious and sad about him, while as for you, you seemed to me like a child, inexperienced and helpless, delivered over to your hard fate. Since then, alas, you have become a woman, have drained the chalice to the dregs and your life lies before you shattered to fragments. But you were vouchsafed great strength of will, as manifested in your handwriting and in your every word. You remain the widow of a notable man, the sustainer of his spark of genius, the protectress of his child, whom you must equip with your own strength of will and with great insight, though one can hardly suppose that she will have an easy life of it. For what princess has an easy life? Do not be bitter against those who now fail to understand you. They will do so in twenty years to come and will fancy that they always understood and loved you because you understand them and are kind to them and allow them to understand you as much as is good for them. You must understand and console like a saint, self-forgetful and pure. Your cruel fate summons you to unheard-of deads, to tranquil joys which can no longer perturb you because they blossom in a heart from which other blooms have been plucked by suffering. Oh, child, child! How I wish I could clasp you to my heart and let you weep unrestrainedly so that the rigidity of despair should soften to a gentle melancholy. Still, you are perhaps better alone, fighting your own fight without aid, like a hero. I would fain send you rivers of love, and merely whisper: ‘I know, I know! I, too, have suffered more than anyone dreams!’ Your Elisabeth.”1

Stéphanie was not allowed to accept Elisabeth’s invitation to join her at Pelesch. Stéphanie was assigned Laxenburg as her dower-house, and she was granted the title of Crown Princess Dowager. She soon resumed her relationship with Count Artur Potocki and lived mainly at Laxenburg and Miramar. She had lost her position, which was perhaps what she resented the most, but she was still entirely financially dependent on the Emperor. Her daughter was used as a pawn, and the Emperor refused to let Elisabeth out of the country, for example, to visit relatives in Belgium. Count Artur Potocki died of cancer in 1890, and Stéphanie wrote to her sister, “I have lost my best friend, a man I valued so highly and love so much.”2 She spent the following years travelling until an illness forced her home.

When Empress Elisabeth was assassinated in September 1898, Stéphanie was in Darmstadt, according to the New York Times. Her response to her mother-in-law’s death has not been left to us, though she was present for the funeral as she was summoned from Darmstadt.3 Stéphanie and her daughter walked in the procession behind the Emperor.4

By 1900, she had done the unthinkable and had fallen in love with a Hungarian Count named Elemér Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény, and they married on 22 March 1900. The Emperor considered it a further insult to Rudolf’s memory and was horrified. He stripped her of her titles of Crown Princess Dowager and Archduchess of Austria, and Stéphanie and her new husband withdrew from public life – choosing to live quietly at Schloss Oroszvár in Slovakia. Her daughter – now 16 years old – cut off her mother completely.

When the Emperor died in 1916, he was succeeded by his great-nephew Emperor Charles I, who was more friendly toward Stéphanie. In 1917, he raised Stéphanie’s husband to the rank of a hereditary prince, but the empire collapsed just one year later. The new Emperor was driven into exile, and Stéphanie lost her annual stipend and thus also her comfortable lifestyle. By 1921, she was so bereft of funds that she opened a cinema in Budapest. She remained estranged from her daughter. In 1935, Stéphanie published her memoirs which were translated into English the following year. Her daughter Elisabeth managed to have it banned in Austria, and Stéphanie then cut Elisabeth completely out of her will. Stéphanie and her husband were still in Slovakia when the Second World War broke out. They managed to remain there until the advance of the Soviet army forced them to flee in 1945. They found refuge in the Benedictine Abbey of Pannonhalma in Hungary, where Stéphanie died on 23 August 1945. Her husband died the following year, and they are both buried in Pannonhalma.

The post The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part four) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part three)

Read part two here.

Their duties soon took them away from their young daughter. Stéphanie and Rudolf visited Constantinople and Bulgaria, followed by visits to Carinthia, Carniola, Tyrol, Albania, Greece and Montenegro. They returned to Belgium to celebrate Stéphanie’s father’s 50th birthday in 1885. The following year, both Rudolf and Stéphanie became ill. Stéphanie was in bed for weeks, and doctors diagnosed her with peritonitis. Both recovered, and wishes were renewed for Stéphanie to give birth to an heir. Stéphanie was allowed to take it easier that year in hopes of conceiving. However, the Crown Prince was often not with her, and his restlessness took him elsewhere. When she saw him again, she found him looking very unhealthy.

Stéphanie began to believe he had moved away from her completely. By then, Rudolf had probably been infected with a venereal disease, and he, in turn, had infected Stéphanie. It was most likely gonorrhoea, and two gynaecologists came to examine her. She then learned that “the Crown Prince was responsible for my complaint.”1 Gonorrhoea had caused pelvic inflammation and had destroyed her fallopian tubes. She would never again conceive a child. She was sent to several spas, and while she seemed to improve, he did not. The diagnosis had destroyed her purpose in life – to provide an heir for the Austrian throne. Rudolf began to depend on a dangerous mixture of drugs to alleviate the painful symptoms of gonorrhoea.

When Elisabeth learned of the difficulties in Rudolf and Stéphanie’s marriage, her first instinct was to do nothing. She told her lady-in-waiting, “Sometimes I have wondered what I could do. But I am reluctant to interfere, for I myself suffered so unspeakably under my mother-in-law that I do not wish to incur the reproach of a similar fault.”2 It is also unlikely that Elisabeth knew of the extent of Rudolf’s illness.

In the summer of 1887, sick of the many years of pretending not to notice her husband’s affairs, Stéphanie took a lover of her own. But, unlike Rudolf, she was discreet with the 38-year-old Count Artur Potocki. His codename was Hamlet, and she used her sister Louise as a go-between.

In October 1888, Stéphanie returned from a trip to Greece. She wrote in her memoirs, “But I was horrified as soon as I set eyes on the Crown Prince. His decay was so greatly advanced as to have become conspicuous. He was frightfully changed; his skin was flaccid; his eyes were restless; his expression had completely changed. It seemed as if his lineaments had lost the inner substantially, which can only come from strength of will, as if a process of internal dissolution were going on. I was profoundly sorry for him and wondered how the devastation would end.”3 Stéphanie wanted to confront her father-in-law about Rudolf, hoping to save him from disaster. However, the Emperor saw nothing wrong with his son and dismissed her concerns. On 26 January 1889, Stéphanie and Rudolf attended a big soirée, followed by a reception on the 27th. From the 28th, there was to be a shoot at Mayerling. Rudolf promised her he would be back the next day for a family dinner. They would never see each other again. Rudolf excused himself from the family dinner the following day. Stéphanie told the family that he had come down with a cold.

Stéphanie awoke on 30 January 1889 to a gloomy winter day. She had a singing lesson as was usual, but she felt anxious. The lesson was interrupted by her chief lady-in-waiting, who privately gave her the bad news from Mayerling. Stéphanie immediately realised what had happened and sobbed, “He is dead!”4 Not much later, she was summoned by the Emperor and Empress. They questioned her, but Stéphanie had no answers for them. It was the Empress who told her the whole story. Rudolf had been found in the early hours of the morning shot in the head, with the body of Mary Vetsera by his side. Stéphanie later wrote, “The Emperor sat at the centre of the room, the Empress, dressed in dark clothes, her face white and rigid, was with him. In my bewildered, shaken state, I believed that I was being looked at like an unfaithful wife. A crossfire of questions, some of which I could not answer, descended on me.”5

They also handed her the Crown Prince’s farewell letter, which read, “Dear Stéphanie, You are freed henceforward from the torment of my presence. Be happy, in your own way. Be good to the poor little girl who is the only thing I leave behind. Give my last greetings to all my acquaintances, especially to Bombelles, Spindler, Latour, Nowo, Gisela, Leopold, etc. etc. I face death calmly; death alone can save my good name. With warmest love, your affectionate Rudolf.”6

Stéphanie was angry and indignant. She wrote, “True, death had relieved me from conjugal life which was full of anxieties, cares, and sorrows – but at what cost! My own future and that of the country, for which I had endured so much unfailing patience, seemed to have been shattered. Nothing remained but a burning wound in my heart. My hopes, the meaning of life, had been pitilessly destroyed. Long did it go on burning, this wound, like the bite of a venomous serpent. Nothing could close it, nothing could heal it; and I did not begin to feel relief until I found myself able, in all humility, to accept it as the will of God.”7

The loss of Rudolf did nothing to improve the relationship between Elisabeth and Stéphanie. Elisabeth placed the blame for Rudolf’s death at Stéphanie’s feet and said, “If one comes to know this woman properly, one must excuse Rudolf for looking elsewhere for distraction and a narcotic to ease the emptiness of the heart in his own home. It is certain: things would have been otherwise had he had a different wife, one who understood him.”8

Read part four here.

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The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part two)

Read part one here.

On 2 May 1881, Stéphanie left Belgium for her new life in Austria. When Stéphanie entered the specially prepared train, she lost control and began to cry. Her mother held her and scolded her for breaking down. She was so exhausted that she fell asleep before they had left Belgium and did not wake until Augsburg in Bavaria. The followed day, she was met by her future husband at Salzburg. He later took a train to Vienna while Stéphanie followed him on 6 May. At Schönbrunn, Stéphanie met her future family-in-law. On the morning of her wedding, her mother took her to take mass in the court chapel. Afterwards, her mother helped Toni to dress Stéphanie for her wedding. Her wedding dress was made of heavy silver brocade with garlands and silver roses embroidered on its long train. Her veil was of Brussels lace, and it was fastened with a diamond brooch. She wore a tiara given to her by the Emperor, and she wore the Order of the Star and Cross. She later wrote, “As for my feelings at this moment, they were much more those of a martyr than of a bride.”1

After the formal ceremony, Stéphanie and Rudolf changed into their travelling clothes. She said goodbye to her beloved Toni, her parents and her sister. They travelled to Laxenburg, where they were to spend their honeymoon – the carriage ride was completely silent. They arrived in rooms that had not been done up, making Stéphanie feel even more unwanted. She later described her wedding night in her memoirs, “What a night! What torments, what horror! I had not had the ghost of a notion of what lay before me but had been led to the altar as an ignorant child. My illusions, my youthful dreams, were shattered. I thought I should die of my disillusionment.”2 She began to pray for the day they would depart for Hungary – which she knew from tales told by her mother.

The Hungarians received her with much love. The Belgian colours were displayed everywhere, and the Belgian national anthem sounded along the way. At the end of May, they finally entered the capital city. Stéphanie finally felt happy again. Upon being received in the Upper and Lower Houses, Stéphanie wore the Hungarian national dress with a gold-embroidered veil, and she had learned a Hungarian speech by heart. The exertions of the trips affected Stéphanie, and once back in Vienna, she was ordered to rest for 14 days. Her sister Louise was there to support her. Hardly had she recovered before she was taken to Prague for a visit. They were greeted by the Dowager Empress, Maria Anna of Savoy, who lived there. The newlyweds spent the summer in Salzburg, which did Stéphanie much good.

Once back in Vienna, Stéphanie rarely saw her husband, and he often went shooting. Despite not being present much, he was a controlling man, and he often read the letters Stéphanie wrote to her parents before allowing them to be posted. He gave orders that no one was to come into her chambers while he was not there. Empress Elisabeth – who detested official functions – handed much of her responsibilities to Stéphanie. Overall, Elisabeth strongly disliked her new daughter-in-law and the Belgian court she came from. Elisabeth wrote of Stéphanie in her poems and described her as a “mighty bumpkin” with “long, fake tresses” and “cunningly watchful eyes.”3 If Elisabeth wanted to hurt Stéphanie’s feelings, she intentionally alluded to her aunt Charlotte, who had once been married to Franz Joseph’s brother Maximilian and was now wasting away in a castle in Belgium. Stéphanie was highly critical of Elisabeth’s lack of a sense of duty, which only made matters between them worse.

The following winter, Stéphanie also found herself pregnant. She wrote in her memoirs, “I had no rest, as I was obliged to appear at all ceremonies, now here, now there!”4 In November, she was taken to visit Transylvania, where Rudolf had rented a castle from where he would go hunting. The pregnancy improved the relationship between Stéphanie and Rudolf, and Stéphanie was grateful for it. In early August, Stéphanie’s mother arrived in Austria, as did her sister Louise. On 2 September 1883 – after a gruelling labour lasting 26 hours – Stéphanie gave birth to a daughter named Elisabeth. To Rudolf’s disappointment, the baby was not an heir to the throne, and Stéphanie broke down in tears. Nevertheless, after the initial disappointment, Stéphanie thanked God for the treasure he had bestowed upon her. She was named Elisabeth for the sainted ancestress of the House of Arpad – and coincidentally also the name of the current Empress.

When Stéphanie left her confinement, she found that she had grown taller – she was, after all, still a teenager. Rudolf wrote to a friend, “Stéphanie looks blooming as usual, as if nothing has happened. The little one is a stunner of seven pounds, perfectly well and strongly developed, with many hairs on her head, very much alive; she shouts terribly and drinks a great deal without the slightest difficulty.”5 The Empress did not care about being a grandmother and was not close to her granddaughter. Franz Joseph, however, was very fond of the little girl, and she was even allowed to play with his medals.

Part three coming soon.

The post The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part two) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part one)

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium was born on 21 May 1864 as the daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium and Archduchess Marie Henriette of Austria at the Royal Palace of Laeken. She was their third child, after an elder sister named Louise and an elder brother named Leopold – who tragically died in childhood. Another daughter named Clémentine would be born in 1872. Her father spent little time with his family, and Stéphanie later wrote in her memoirs, “One can hardly be surprised that the children of such a marriage were foredoomed to unhappiness.”1 Nevertheless, Stéphanie was devoted to her mother despite also being afraid of her. Stéphanie’s formal education began at the age of six and her sister’s governess Mademoiselle Legrand also took her under her wings. Her days were filled with iron discipline; rising at five, being silent while dressing and doing the toilet, making her own bed, saying her prayers, at her school work by half-past eight, which was done for the entire day except for three hours devoted to walking, games and gardening. The windows were kept open in winter and summer, and Stéphanie wrote, “In winter the study was like an ice-house, and my teeth chattered with the cold.”2

Stéphanie enjoyed painting and reading, but neither hobby was encouraged as her mother was afraid it would distract her from more important things. Stéphanie often underwent punishments, such as kneeling on parched peas. Stéphanie was especially close to Mademoiselle Antoinette Schariry – nicknamed Toni – who had entered the royal household shortly after Stéphanie’s birth. She was also fond of her aunt and uncle, the Count and Countess of Flanders, the parents of the future King Albert I of Belgium. In 1871, Stéphanie fell with typhoid fever, and for weeks she suffered horribly. Miraculously, she made a full recovery.

Three years later, her sister Louise announced her betrothal to Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Stéphanie cried upon being told that Louise would leave. Louise’s wedding took place on 18 February 1875. Stéphanie later wrote, “I can still picture her kneeling at the steps of the altar, then getting up and curtseying to her parents, the King and Queen, before she uttered the decisive word, the word which fettered her forever to the man she had not chosen for herself, but who had been chosen for her by others.”3 For Stéphanie, life continued at its monotonous pace.

In 1878, her aunt Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska of Austria came to visit, perhaps to discuss the idea of Stéphanie marrying the Crown Prince of Austria. The following winter, Stéphanie would also meet her future mother-in-law, Empress Elisabeth, when she came to visit on her way to England. Stéphanie was allowed to kiss her hand and received an embrace. Some weeks later, Stéphanie was finally allowed to wear a long dress with a train to meet Ernest II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who had also heard of the marriage rumours. On 4 March 1880, Crown Prince Rudolf visited the court at Brussels, and the following day, her father told her, “The Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary is here to ask your hand in marriage. Your mother and I are very much in favour of this marriage. It is our desire that you should be the future Empress of Austria and Queen of Hungary. You can withdraw now, think over this plan, and give us your answer tomorrow.”4 Stéphanie talked to Toni and her mother, who believed it would be her greatest happiness if Stéphanie became Austrian by marriage. Stéphanie – still only 15 years old – did not sleep at all that night. In the end, Stéphanie abided by her parents’ wishes and consented to the match. She later wrote, “I never guessed how heavy I should find the chains he (her father) was forging for me. I had no inkling that I was already being betrayed. Not until months later did I learn that my future bridegroom had not come to Brussels alone, but accompanied by his mistress, a certain Frau F.”5

Empress Elisabeth heard of the engagement via telegram while she was in London. Her lady-in-waiting commented, “Thank God that is not a disaster.” To which the Empress cynically replied, “Pray God that it is not.”6 Elisabeth travelled home via Brussels to be able to congratulate her son and his fiance in person. They waited to greet her on the platform of the station, and Elisabeth’s lady-in-waiting later wrote, “He (Rudolf) literally threw his arms around her neck – kissed her hands over and over, and then came the bride – young, sparkling, uninformed, a badly dressed child… The Empress bent forward, embraced her – kissed the little one, and that one looked up to her beautiful mother-in-law with undisguised admiration, and her bright-red little face looked happy and merry.”7 The visit lasted just four hours and was mostly spent at the palace at breakfast.

The wedding was set for the end of the year. Stéphanie now underwent a crash course in preparing her for court life. She was expected to attend every official dinner and was given lessons in dancing and deportment. However, the wedding had to be postponed because Stéphanie had not had her first period yet. Nevertheless, the preparations went on, and the new wedding date was set for 10 May. She later wrote, “I had pondered matters long and deeply, but at sixteen, I was still no more than a child, incapable of grasping the situation.”8

Part two coming soon. 

The post The Year of Empress Elisabeth – Sisi & her daughter-in-law Stéphanie of Belgium (Part one) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

Book News June 2022

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Blood, Fire and Gold: The story of Elizabeth I and Catherine de Medici 

Hardcover – 30 June 2022 (UK & US)

This is a story of two remarkable visionaries: a story of blood, fire and gold. It is also a tale of ceaseless calculation, of love and rivalry, of war and wisdom – and of female power in a male world. Shining new light on their legendary kingdoms Blood, Fire and Gold provides a new way of looking at two of history’s most powerful women, and how they shaped each other as profoundly as they shaped the course of history. Drawing on their letters and brand new research, Estelle Paranque writes an entirely new chapter in the well-worn story of the sixteenth century.

The Elizabeth II Pocket Bible 

Hardcover – 28 June 2022 (US) & 2 April 2012 (UK)

This beautiful hardback edition has both dust-cover and gold embossing on the spine, making it the perfect gift. Every Pocket Bible is lovingly crafted to give you a unique mix of useful references, handy tips and fascinating trivia that will enlighten you at every page. There is a Pocket Bible for everyone.

Isle and Empires: Romanov Russia, Britain and the Isle of Wight 

Paperback – 25 June 2022 (US & UK)

The Isle of Wight was at the heart of this relationship, an island off the south coast of England that intimately linked the British royal family and the Romanovs. In August 1909, the Island hosted the Russian Imperial family during their visit to Cowes Week, then the most glamorous yachting regatta in Europe’s social calendar. A new era of Anglo-Russian collaboration emerged and seemed destined to become a dominant force in 20th-century global politics. However, less than ten years later, the Romanovs were overthrown by the Bolsheviks, and the British government and royal family stood accused of denying them a safe refuge in Britain.

The Lady Di Look Book: What Diana Was Trying to Tell Us Through Her Clothes

Hardcover – 21 June 2022 (US & UK)

From 1980s Sloane Ranger cottagecore Diana to athleisure and Dynasty Di Diana, The Lady Di Look Book is both compulsively delightful and a full biography of the world’s most beloved royal.

Gloriana: Elizabeth I and the Art of Queenship 

Hardcover – 16 June 2022 (US & UK)

In a kingdom ill-used to queens, Elizabeth I needed a very particular image to hold her divided country together. The ‘Cult of Gloriana’ was a movement in which authors, musicians, and artists – among them Spenser, Shakespeare, Tallis and Byrd – elevated the queen to the status of a virgin goddess. Her image was widely owned and distributed, thanks to the expansion of printing, and the English came to surpass their European counterparts in miniature painting, allowing courtiers to carry a likeness of their sovereign close to their hearts. Sumptuously illustrated, Gloriana tells the story of Elizabethan art as a powerful device for royal magnificence and propaganda. By illuminating several key artworks of Elizabeth’s reign, Linda Collins and Siobhan Clarke create a unique portrait of the Tudor monarch as she has never been seen before.

Destiny’s Child: The Undefeatable Reign of Cochin’s Parukutty Neithyaramma 

Hardcover – 1 June 2022 (US) & 20 April 2022 (UK)

This is an intimate account of the extraordinary life of Parukutty Nethyaramma, who went on to become one of the most powerful rulers of the Kingdom of Cochin.

Writing Mary I: History, Historiography, and Fiction (Queenship and Power) 

Hardcover – 4 June 2022 (US) & 6 June 2022 (UK)

This book―along with its companion volume Mary I in Writing: Letters, Literature, and Representations―centers on representations of Queen Mary I in writing, broadly construed, and the process of writing that queen into literature and other textual sources. It spans an equally wide chronological and geographical scope, accounting for the years prior to her accession in July 1553 through the centuries that followed her death in November 1558 and for her reach across England and into Ireland, Spain, Italy, Russia, and Africa. Its intent is to foreground words and language―written, spoken, and acted out―and, by extension, to draw out matters of and conversations about rhetoric, imagery, methodology, source base, genre, narrative, form, and more. Taken together, these volumes find in England’s first crowned queen regnant an incomparable opportunity to ask new questions and seek new answers that deepen our understanding of queenship, the early modern era, and modern popular culture.

Early English Queens, 650-850: Speculum Reginae (Lives of Royal Women)

Hardcover – 6 June 2022 (US & UK)

This book offers the first dedicated and comprehensive examination of the lives of nearly thirty women known to occupy the office of queen in the English kingdoms between 650 and 850.

The Life of Henrietta Anne: Daughter of Charles I 

Paperback – 30 June 2022 (US) & 30 April 2022 (UK)

Henrietta Anne Stuart, youngest child of Charles I and Henrietta Maria, was born in June 1644 in the besieged city of Exeter at the very height of the English Civil War. The hostilities had separated her parents, and her mother was on the run from Parliamentary forces when she gave birth with only a few attendants on hand to give her support. Within just a few days, she was on her way to the coast for a moonlit escape to her native France, leaving her infant daughter in the hands of trusted supporters. A few years later, Henrietta Anne would herself be whisked, disguised as a boy, out of the country and reunited with her mother in France, where she remained for the rest of her life.

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Royal Jewels – The Strathmore Tiara

The Strathmore tiara was given to then Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon by her father, Claude Bowes-Lyon, 14th Earl of Strathmore and Kinghorne, upon her marriage to the then Duke of York in 1923. It was purchased from Catchpole and Williams.

The tiara is formed as a garland of roses, and it came with two alternative frames. One frame was invisible to allow the tiara to be worn as a bandeau over the brow. The other was a padded frame for traditional wear. The tiara could also be dismantled into five individual brooches, which were originally also interchangeable with five single-collet sapphires.

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The Duchess of York liked to wear this piece low across her brow, as was stylish in the 1920s.

The tiara was inherited by her daughter upon her death in 2002. This was also the year that it was on display in the Tiaras exhibition at the V&A Museum. However, it’s been a long time since it has been worn.1

 

 

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Royal Wedding Recollections – Charlotte, Princess Royal & Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Württemberg

Charlotte, Princess Royal, was the eldest daughter of King George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. She was the only one of their daughters to make a timely marriage; the others remained unmarried or were married so late in life that they could no longer have children.

On 18 May 1797, Charlotte married Frederick, Hereditary Prince of Württemberg, later subsequently Duke, Elector and finally King of Württemberg. Frederick had been suggested as a husband for Charlotte in November 1795. His first wife had been Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who had died in 1788 and had left him with three surviving children. Their marriage had been unhappy and possibly abusive, leading to Augusta having to flee with the help of Empress Catherine the Great. Frederick was then ordered to leave Russia, and he took their three children with them. Augusta was also the sister of Caroline of Brunswick, the unhappy wife of Charlotte’s brother George (the future King George IV) and a niece of King George III.

Charlotte’s father, King George III, was dismayed by Frederick’s “unpleasant qualities” and wrote, “If he will not take a gentle hint, I have no objection to his adding that after the very unhappy life my unfortunate niece led with him, I cannot bequeath any daughter of mine to him.”1 But Frederick did not give up so easily. He wrote to the King, “The eminent qualities Mme Princesse Royale, no less her virtues universally acknowledged, have given birth in me to the most lively desire to see my fate united with hers.”2 Under pressure from the Russian court, as Frederick’s sister had now married Catherine the Great’s son, a shift happened. Negotiations began for an alliance.

King George III finally gave his consent to the match, but Charlotte promptly became very ill with jaundice. She managed to recover just in time to meet her future husband on 15 April 1797. Her sister Elizabeth later wrote, “We are just come upstairs, and I can say with great truth and pleasure that nothing could go off better than the interview of this with the Prince of Württemberg. My sister is very well pleased with him, and I really think he appears delighted with her.”3 Charlotte herself later wrote that she was “almost dead with terror and agitation and affright at the first meeting – she could not utter a word – the Queen was obliged to speak her answers.”4

The wedding could now go ahead, and the Queen declared that she and no one else would dress Charlotte for the occasion. Charlotte insisted upon embroidering her own white and silver wedding dress, although according to the etiquette, she should have been wearing white and gold as she was marrying a widower. Charlotte brought a dowry of £80,000 to the marriage, which would become her widow’s jointure if she survived Frederick.

Lady’s Magazine later wrote, ‘Her Royal Highness the bride wore a nuptial habit of white, with a train or pellice of rich crimson velvet with fur trimmings.” She wore a coronet over her hair, which was arranged in ringlets. Frederick wore a suit of “silk, shot with gold and silver richly embroidered; gold and silver flaps and cuffs; under his coat the order of St Catherine; over his shoulder the blue watered ribbon insignia of the German Order of the Golden Fleece.”5

On 2 June 1797, Charlotte and her new husband left for their home in Germany. Charlotte reportedly fainted in her father’s arms upon saying goodbye. After that, however, she “sailed in good spirits.”6 Their marriage would produce just one child – a stillborn daughter.

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