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Book Review: Sisters: Princess Daisy of Pless & Shelagh Duchess of Westminster by Barbara Borkowy

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Sisters: Princess Daisy of Pless & Shelagh Duchess of Westminster by Barbara Borkowy tells the story of Mary Theresa Olivia Cornwallis-West and Constance Cornwallis-West, who lived in the late Victorian and Edwardian age. The women, who were known by their nicknames, Daisy and Shelagh respectively, both made brilliant matches, but both were woefully unprepared for the role they were about to play.

Perhaps it is, therefore, no surprise that both their marriages eventually ended in divorce. Daisy, married to the German Hans Heinrich XV von Hochberg, Prince of Pless, found herself on the other side of the First World War, while Shelagh, married to the immensely wealthy Duke of Westminster, remained only in her marriage because of the outbreak of war. Both sisters suffered the loss of a child and they were leading society ladies.

The book was translated from Polish into English which you can tell at some points. There are some small errors that appear to be due to the translation. Otherwise, the book is filled to the brim with footnotes and tracks the sisters’ movements almost on a day-to-day basis. This can get a little repetitive at times as there are only so many parties one can make sound interesting. In addition, the voice of the women themselves seems to be missing at times. Nevertheless, this in-depth look at the sisters gives a great sense of the times they lived in and the social circles they moved in.

Sisters: Princess Daisy of Pless & Shelagh Duchess of Westminster by Barbara Borkowy is available now in the US and the UK.

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The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – Tour of Germany Day Seven & Eight

Read about day six here.

On 17 October, the Duke and Duchess spent the day travelling from Essen to Leipzig. They arrived at their hotel to an assembled crowd of around 5,000 people who shouted “Heil!” and applauded them. They even appeared in their hotel window to appease the crowd, which refused to disperse. The Duke then addressed the crowd in German, thanking them for the welcome and bidding them good night.

The following day, the Duke and Duchess visited a works council at a textile plant in the morning before continuing on their travels to Dresden and Nüremberg in the afternoon.1

Wallis wrote from Leipzig to her aunt to say that “no words can express how interesting this trip is but very strenuous, so many things in a day and miles of walking through factories, housing settlements etc.”2

Read about day nine here.

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The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – “Windsor Gems Stolen”

In October 1946, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor made a private visit to the United Kingdom. However, they were not invited by the royal family and thus stayed with the Earl and Countess of Dudley at their home, Ednam Lodge, not far from Windsor Castle.

The New York Times reported, “The Duke and Duchess of Windsor are expected to arrive tomorrow from France on an extended visit to England. This will be the first visit that the Duchess had paid here since, as King Edward VIII, the Duke abdicated in December, 1936.”1

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Wallis had brought her jewellery box – the size of an overnight suitcase – which was normally placed under her maid’s bed at night. This time it was placed under her own bed, and on 16 October, the Duke and Duchess went to London for the evening. Sometimes between 6 and 7 P.M., thieves managed to find their way into the house through the open window of Dudley’s daughter’s bedroom. They found the jewellery box and took the entire thing without making a noise. When the maid went into the Duchess’s bedroom shortly after 7 P.M, she noticed that it was missing and the police were called.

The Duke and Duchess quickly returned to London as several police officers went to work. A caddie from a nearby house found several earrings scattered around the green, and Ednam Lodge staff members also found an abandoned Fabergé box on a windowsill. Wallis insisted that all of the staff was to be interviewed, much to the horror of Lady Dudley. She later wrote, “She wanted all the servants put through a kind of third degree, but I would have none of this, all of them except for one kitchen maid being old and devoted staff of long-standing.”2

The New York Times wrote, “In one of Britain’s most audacious robberies, thieves escaped with jewels belonging to the Duchess of Windsor after having broken into the holiday home of the Duke and Duchess last night. The jewels were worth $100,000.[…]Scotland Yard detectives declared today that the robbery was the work of an expert. They had been called in by the local police at the request of the Duke.”3

It was one of the few times Wallis lost her composure. A persistent reporter questioned her on the type of jewellery that had gone missing, and she finally snapped, “A fool would know that with tweeds or other daytime clothes one wears gold and that with evening clothes one wears platinum.”4 Luckily, the jewels that were stolen were only a small part of Wallis’s collection.

There were some rumours that the theft had been set up as part of a fraud. A year after the theft, the Windsors made a large deposit of loose stones at Cartier, though this could, of course, be completely unrelated. Most of the jewels were never recovered, and in 1960 Richard “Tiptoe” Dunphie confessed in court to stealing the Duchess’s jewels. He told them that jewels were initially kept on a boat near Kings Lynn when the search was still ongoing, and the gems were eventually taken out of their settings and sold off.5

 

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The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – Tour of Germany Day Six

Read about day five here.

On 16 October, they visited Düsseldorf, where they went to an industrial exhibition. Wallis thought this was particularly boring, but the Duke was fascinated by it all. They were perhaps most surprised by the reception they received there. A huge crowd had gathered there, which had not been expected by the local police force. They quickly forced their way to the Duke and Duchess, who were effectively mobbed by the crowd.

The way was finally cleared for the Duke and Duchess to go through the crowd as they shouted “Heil!” at the Duke and Duchess. A similar scene happened on the way out, despite extra police forces quickly being summoned. Wallis also visited a mothers’ rest home nearby and reunited with her husband for lunch at the Bochum Verein steelworks.

This was followed by a visit to a miner’s hospital, where they toured the wards and even chatted with some of the patients. One patient with a bandaged face told them that he had been blown thirty feet in the air when an explosion occurred but that he had no idea what had happened. They were told by an official that if the Reich was to live, the miners must make sacrifices, and 900 to 1,000 miners were killed on the job every year.1

Read about days seven and eight here.

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Princess Marie-Esmeralda of Belgium – The activist Princess

“Being the daughter of a King can be hard, but it can also be an exceptional opportunity.”1

Princess Marie-Esmeralda of Belgium was born on 30 September 1956 as the youngest daughter of King Leopold III of Belgium, who had abdicated in 1951, and his second wife . From her father’s first marriage to Astrid of Sweden, she has three half-siblings: Joséphine-Charlotte (1927 – 2007), King Baudouin (1930 – 1993) and King Albert II (1934 – ?). From his second marriage, she has two full siblings: Alexandre (1942 – 2009) and Marie-Christine (1951 – ?)

Her father’s second marriage occurred while he was a prisoner of war, and the news was badly received in Belgium. After the war, he was eventually forced to abdicate in favour of Marie-Esmeralda’s half-brother Baudouin. At the end of the war, they had been taken to Austria, where they remained after controversy arose over his possible return to Belgium. Eventually, the family returned to Belgium, where they settled in the Castle of Laeken, where both Marie-Christine and Marie-Esmeralda would be born. None of the three children from Leopold’s second marriage have succession rights in Belgium.

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“I was the last of my father’s six children. I arrived at a time when he was no longer involved in government affairs at all. In that period of serenity, he decided to dedicate himself to my education”, Marie-Esmeralda said. “My father called me his TP, his tout petit. I swore to him that I would never use the name “Papa” for anyone but him, not even for the future father of my own children. He laughed and said, ‘That will be difficult.’ It was never a problem; my children call their father ‘Daddy.'” 2

Marie-Esmeralda spent four happy years at the Castle of Laeken and remembered it fondly. She said, “We lived in a castle in a park with many animals. I was tutored at home. We lived homely, without protocol.”3 In 1960, the family moved out of the Castle of Laeken to make room for King Baudouin and his new wife, Fabiola. Their new residence was Argenteuil, where Marie-Esmeralda grew up to be a stubborn and lively young woman.

“My parents followed my studies diligently. Georges Gérardy, my tutor, came to teach me every day. French, Latin, literature and history”, she told VRT. Despite the close-knit family bond, it was lonely. She said, “As a child, I didn’t interact much with children my own age, except for the rare cousin. I was always together with people who were much older than me. It was very lonely. Homeschooling had its advantage because I could spend a lot of time with parents and travel with them, so I don’t mean to complain. But I missed having other children around, I missed sharing things with them.”4

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In the mid-70s, it was time for Marie-Esmeralda to go to university, and she signed up to study law at the Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis in Brussels. It turned out to be not for her and she turned to journalism at the University of Louvain-la-Neuve. She told VRT, “My father knew I wanted to study journalism. Although the press had treated him very badly, he strangely did not mind, as long I, as a journalist, acted fairly and would strive to find the truth. I love writing a lot.”5 She was initially not well received at the university by the students and faculty, who often gave her dirty looks. She overcame this and graduated in 1980. She threw herself into jobs and internships with Figaro Magazine, La Libre Belgique, among others and wrote under the name Esmeralda de Réthy.

On 25 September 1983, her father Leopold died after heart surgery – Marie-Esmeralda lost not only her father but also one of her closest friends. However, it was her job as a journalist that kept her going afterwards.

Marie-Esmeralda met her future husband Salvador Moncada for the first time in 1981 before he reappeared in her life in the early 90s. In 1996, the two first went on a date and started a relationship. Her daughter’s choice did not amuse her mother – she would have preferred someone more well-to-do. She reportedly also disagreed with the age difference of 12 years, though Lilian herself had also been much younger than her husband. Nevertheless, they married on 5 April 1998 in London with her mother and brother King Albert II in attendance, and they settled in London.

At the time of her wedding, Marie-Esmeralda was already five months pregnant with her first child. Her daughter Alexandra Leopoldine was born on 4 August 1998, followed by a son named Leopoldo Daniel on 21 May 2001. For Lilian, they would be her only grandchildren, though they didn’t get to spend much time together. Lilian died at the age of 85 on 7 June 2002. Marie-Esmeralda’s husband was created a Knight Bachelor for Services to Science, and so she is also known as Lady Moncada.

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As a journalist and a writer, she also spent time on works about her family, like books about her father, mother and grandparents. She also (co-)created two documentaries about her family. Marie-Esmeralda was close with her brother Alexandre until his death in 2009, but she doesn’t have any contact with her sister Marie-Christine, who has broken with the family and is currently living in the United States.

Marie-Esmeralda is a supporter of women’s rights, indigenous communities, and she is an advocate against global warming. She was even arrested during a 2019 protest of Extinction Rebellion. She told VRT, “I am lucky that I am not obligated to keep quiet.”6 Although she has lived in the United Kingdom for many years, she often returns to Belgium and remains in touch with her family in Belgium and in Luxembourg (through her elder sister, she is the aunt of the Grand Duke of Luxembourg). She has no plans to slow down and continues to make her voice heard.

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Maria Amalia of Austria – Holy Roman Empress against the odds (Part two)

Read part one here.

Nevertheless, Maria Amalia was quickly pregnant with her first child, which turned out to be a short-lived girl born in 1723. A second daughter – named Maria Antonia Walpurgis – was born on 18 July 1724, followed by a third daughter – named Theresa Benedicta – on 6 December 1725. The heir to the throne, a son named Maximilian Joseph, was finally born on 28 March 1727 and his birth strengthened Maria Amalia’s position at court considerably. Just one year before, Charles Albert had succeeded his father as Elector of Bavaria, so Maria Amalia was now not only the mother of the heir but also the first lady of the court.

Charles Albert let Maria Amalia take part in council meetings, and she was known to perform her courtly duties in a most disciplined manner. However, she also enjoyed spending time on her favourite pastime of hunting. This was apparently much to the annoyance of her ladies-in-waiting, who did not have “a beautiful complexion” because they had to accompany her on the hunt no matter the weather conditions.1 Despite being given access to council meetings, Maria Amalia was not very politically active, though she was interested in politics. Maria Amalia had a lively correspondence with her sister-in-law Maria Anna Karoline, who lived as a nun under the name Sister Therese Emanuele in the Poor Clare Monastery in Munich, and they sometimes discussed politics. She also occasionally visited her sister-in-law, often whenever she had given birth to another child to present the child to her. After Maximilian Joseph’s birth in 1727, she gave birth to three more children – a son and two daughters but her second son would die at the age of five.

In 1740, Maria Amalia’s uncle Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, died at the age of 55. Having renounced her claim to the Austrian lands and in recognition of the Pragmatic Sanction 1713 (which gave Charles’s daughters precedence over Maria Amalia and her elder sister), her cousin Maria Theresa succeeded him. Nevertheless, not all parties were in agreement, and the War of the Austrian Succession broke out – with Maria Amalia’s husband also claiming the succession. After coming to an agreement with King Augustus III of Poland, the husband of Maria Amalia’s elder sister Maria Josepha who had a stronger claim, Charles Albert successfully invaded Bohemia.

Subsequently, Maria Amalia was crowned Queen (consort) of Bohemia in Prague on 7 December 1741. Charles Albert also managed to get elected as Holy Roman Emperor in 1742, and they both received imperial coronations in Frankfurt on 12 and 14 February 1742, respectively. However, Maria Theresa did not quite give up so easily, and Austria occupied Bavaria, bleeding it dry. With Bavaria’s fortunes so suddenly turned, her husband was now an Emperor without land, and he remained exiled in Frankfurt. He also did not succeed in having his eldest son elected as King of the Romans as his heir, and he was widely mocked with the Latin saying et Caesar et nihil, meaning “both Emperor and nothing.”

In October 1744, Charles Albert managed to regain Munich, and he was able to return home. But it turned out that he went home to die. Already suffering from gout, he died on 20 January 1745 at the age of 47. Perhaps Maria Amalia’s most politically influential moments came after her husband’s death. Her son turned 18 years old three months after his father’s death, and when he was not in Munich, it was she who wielded the powers of government, which was well known to all the ambassadors. Maria Amalia also pledged her jewellery to support the troops if it came to it, and this news was met with wide approval. She did not retire to her widow’s residence as expected and remained active in Munich.

Her son eventually made peace with his mother’s cousin Maria Theresa upon his mother’s advice, and Maria Theresa’s husband Francis was elected as Holy Roman Emperor. Maria Amalia outlived her husband for ten years and died on 11 December 1756 at the age of 55. She did not live to see her youngest daughter marry Maria Theresa’s son Joseph II, though this union was destined to be short and childless.

Her heart was removed from her body and buried separately in the Shrine of Our Lady of Altötting. Her body was interred in the Theatine Church in Munich.

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A Tsarina’s dying wish – Looking back at the reburial of Empress Maria Feodorovna

On 28 September 2006, Empress Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, was finally buried next to her beloved husband at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia. While her husband, Emperor Alexander III of Russia, had died in 1894, Maria Feodorovna had lived through the Russian Revolution and had only begrudgingly fled Russia in 1919. By then, she had lost her son Emperor Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra and their five children, and her youngest son Grand Duke Michael to the revolution. However, she remained convinced that they were not dead.

After spending time in England, she decided to return to her native Denmark, where she settled in villa Hvidøre near Copenhagen. The death of her sister Queen Alexandra in November 1925 was an “irreparable blow”1 to her. Although she remained active in her final years, she was often ill and had difficulty walking. She celebrated her final birthday on 26 November 1927, but she saw almost no one.

In October 1928, she deteriorated quickly, and her remaining family was immediately summoned. She slipped into a coma as her daughters maintained a vigil by her bed. On 13 October 1928, at 7 o’clock in the evening, Empress Maria Feodorovna died without regaining consciousness. Her body lay in state in the Garden Room, surrounded by six guardsmen. The Danish King initially refused to give her a state funeral as she was “only an ex-Empress,” but he soon changed his mind.

On 16 October, her coffin was placed on the royal hearse, and she left Hvidøre for the very last time. The coffin was taken to Copenhagen’s Russian Church and was covered by the Russian Imperial flag and the Dannebrog. Over 5,000 people came to pay their respects. The funeral service took place on 19 October, and over 100,000 people lined the streets when the coffin was taken to the railway station. There, a special train waited to make the journey to Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial place of the Danish royal family. She was laid to rest there in Frederick V’s Chapel. In 1958, her coffin was moved from the chapel to the crypt.

The Empress had made her daughters Xenia and Olga promise that, when circumstances allowed it, they would return her body to Russia for burial. Following several years of negotiations between Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and Vladimir Putin, the Empress finally made her way home.

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After a memorial service at the Isaac Cathedral, the reburial ceremony took place at the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Queen Margrethe was represented by her son Crown Prince Frederik and his wife, Crown Princess Mary. Also present were many members of the Romanov family. Prince and Princess Michael of Kent represented the British royal family.

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Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, who led a mourning ceremony, said: “This will be another sign that Russia is overcoming the enmity and divisions brought by the revolution and civil war. Having fallen deeply in love with the Russian people, the empress devoted a great deal of effort for the benefit of the Russian fatherland. Her soul ached for Russia.”2

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At last, her dying wish was fulfilled – 78 years after her death.

 

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New book on Princess Catharina-Amalia to be published on the occasion of her 18th birthday

On the occasion of Princess Catharina-Amalia’s 18th birthday, a new book will be published to introduce the future Queen to a broader audience.

Author, comedian and singer Claudia de Breij has written the book, simply called “Amalia”, in cooperation with the Princess. Over the summer of 2021, Claudia and Princess Catharina-Amalia met several times. They spoke about her time at school, her love for music, and what becoming Queen and her future role mean to her. Princess Catharina-Amalia even brought the author to the royal stables to speak about her passion for horses. The book will also contain photos from the Princess’ private archive.

It has become somewhat of a tradition for a book to be published about the future monarchs on their 18th birthday. In 1955, “Portrait of Princess Beatrix” appeared, and in 1985, the book “Alexander” was published. The book about Princess Catharina-Amalia will be published by Pluim and will appear in mid-November. Unfortunately, there have not been any announcements about an English translation.

Princess Catharina-Amalia, who holds the title of Princess of Orange as heir to the Dutch throne, is the eldest of three daughters of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands and Queen Máxima. She will turn 18 years old on 7 December 2021 and will automatically assume a seat in the Advisory Division of the Council of State of the Netherlands. She graduated from high school with honours in 2021 and is currently on a gap year.

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Maria Amalia of Austria – Holy Roman Empress against the odds (Part one)

Maria Amalia of Austria was born on 22 October 1701 as the youngest child of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and his wife, Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. She was born three months after the death of her only brother Leopold Joseph, and so the disappointment in her gender was great. However, her elder sister Maria Josepha, born in 1699, did survive infancy.

Her father lived quite a licentious lifestyle, and soon after Maria Amalia’s birth, he passed a venereal disease to her mother, rendering her unable to have more children.1 He had reportedly contracted the disease from the daughter of a court gardener, but Wilhelmine Amalie blamed herself for the infection.2 Joseph’s mother was supportive of her daughter-in-law and had her son’s procurers thrown into the fortress prison. There was little she could do to her son, especially when he succeeded his father in 1705.

Even before his father’s death, worries existed about the succession, and the family began to plan for the possibility of female succession. Joseph and his younger brother Charles battled it out, with Joseph insisting that his daughters should take precedence over any of Charles’s daughters. At this time, Charles was not even married yet. They eventually signed the Mutual Pact of Succession, which made Maria Josepha the heiress in case Charles did not have any sons. Joseph enjoyed his freedom as Emperor a little too much. He managed a steady stream of mistresses with his favourite drinking and hunting pal, Count Johann Philip von Lamberg. His main mistress was Marianne Palffy, whom he paraded around in public and showered with gifts, despite protests by Wilhelmine Amalie.

Meanwhile, Maria Amalia and her sister Maria Josepha grew up at the Imperial Court of their father. She was not even 10 years old when her father died quite suddenly on 17 April 1711 during a smallpox epidemic. He was succeeded by his brother Charles, who was elected Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, in October. The three Empresses – Joseph’s mother Eleonore Magdalene, Maria Amalia’s mother Wilhelmine Amalie and Charles’s wife Elisabeth Christine – had not officially been informed of the pact that had been signed but they suspected that it existed. When they finally managed to get the document from Charles, he had announced his wish to change it in favour of his own (future) daughters. Though he eventually did have a son with his wife, the boy lived for just 7 months. The marriage also produced two surviving daughters – the future heiress Maria Theresa and Maria Anna.

Maria Amalia was described as resembling her mother; she was short in stature, very lively and self-confident.3 She was also known for her piety. She was just 16 years old when she met her future husband, Charles Albert, the eldest surviving son of the Elector of Bavaria, who visited Vienna on his way to campaign against the Turks in Belgrade. He returned via Vienna as well, as he was quite interested in marrying into the Habsburg family. Although her elder sister Maria Josepha was perhaps politically more interesting, she was already promised to another. Maria Amalia would receive a rich dowry, including jewels worth nearly one million guilders.

Maria Amalia was made to renounce her rights of inheritance before the wedding could finally go ahead in 1722. On 5 October 1722, Maria Amalia and Charles Albert were married by the Archbishop of Vienna in the court chapel of the Favorita summer palace. The bride was flanked by her mother and grandmother as she entered the chapel. Although the new bride would move to Bavaria with a huge entourage, it was agreed ahead of time that this would eventually be reduced to accommodate her new status. Her husband was, after all, not the Elector yet.

The relationship between Maria Amalia and Charles Albert is difficult to pinpoint. Charles Albert’s biographer wrote that he “lived with his wife in a very happy manner”, but the same can probably not be said for Maria Amalia. He wrote of her that she “knew how to adapt herself to his temperament.”4 Based on individual reports from the court, it appears that Charles Albert sometimes beat his wife, tore out clumps of her hair and that these episodes sometimes took place in the public sphere of the court in Munich.5

Part two coming soon.

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Review: Diana and Sons the Musical

Diana, Princess of Wales, has remained a popular topic for documentaries, films and even musicals. While the Broadway musical Diana: The Musical is set to premiere next week, the Dutch-language musical Diana and Sons made its debut just last month in Amsterdam.

Diana and Sons (Diana en Zonen in Dutch) starts just as Prince Harry meets Meghan. Prince Harry still speaks to Diana in his mind all the time, and it would later turn out that he is not the only one. The opening scene features a bare-chested Harry, clutching Diana’s urn, and for a moment, I wondered what comedy show I had walked into. Luckily, the story improved over time and the performer, Marlijn Weerdenburg, playing Diana’s part was simply magnificent. Harry, however, seems to be stuck in a loop of getting dressed and undressed throughout the show.

Of course, the rest of the family is also there, except for The Queen, whose only appearance comes in the form of a portrait. The Duchess of Cornwall seems to be along for the comedic effect, though she later turns more serious and is the one to convince Meghan to stay with Harry. Prince Charles bemoans his lot in life as forever being stuck in the waiting room, but he too becomes more serious, and during one particular scene with Diana, the entire audience seemed to be sobbing. Naturally, as one of Diana’s sons, William makes appearances as well, although a lot less than Harry, and Harry seems to be surprised that they both still talk to Diana. Catherine even has her own song, and the title roughly translates as ‘beautiful but boring.’ She, too, wishes she could have more of an opinion and her own voice.

Click to view slideshow.

It is really Meghan and Harry’s story we follow throughout. They meet in a fish & chips shop, where Harry appears to come on a regular basis as he’s pretty close to one of the workers there. The worker has a fabulous solo song in there as well. Harry and Meghan’s whirlwind romance comes to a crashing halt as Meghan is hounded by the press and vilified on social media. Meghan’s solo with a song called “This is who I am” is quite touching. They even manage to make the comparison to Wallis Simpson as Harry tells her about his family history. While Harry struggles to move on from his mother’s death and being in love with someone who is deemed not appropriate, Diana looks back to where it all began, and we even meet a young Prince Charles and Diana.

This musical was in the works as Harry and Meghan stepped back as senior royals. This is not included in the musical itself, and the story ends with a happily ever after as they finally marry. Overall, I enjoyed the musical a lot more than I thought I would. The singing was perfect and really drew you in. The set could have been a bit more inventive, and they moved around with chairs so much that it was a little distracting.

For now, Diana and Sons is only in the Netherlands, but its producers do have plenty of links to a more global audience, and I suspect that if it does well, it might go international as well. It’s currently playing in Amsterdam, but it will go on tour as well. You can see all the dates here.

 

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