Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 151
April 16, 2021
Book News May 2021
Chronos Crime Chronicles – Jane Parker: The Downfall Of Two Tudor Queens?
Paperback – 1 May 2021 (US) & 30 April 2021 (UK)
Jane Parker, later Viscountess Rochford, was the sister-in-law of Anne Boleyn and was executed alongside Katherine Howard, yet she has remained in the shadows throughout the years, surrounded by more myths than facts. She is often portrayed as a malicious woman who was jealous of her husband’s relationship with his sister, but the evidence does not support that. So why is she portrayed as such? It may be the ambiguous nature of her dealings with Henry VIII’s fifth queen, Katherine Howard, that have influenced our view of her, but her real story deserves to be told in full. Jane Parker: The Downfall of Two Tudor Queens? is the next instalment in an exciting new historical true crime series from Chronos Books.
Pirate Queen: The Life of Grace O’Malley
Paperback – 6 July 2021 (US) & 6 May 2021 (UK)
In a life stranger than any fiction, Grace O’Malley, daughter of a clan chief in the far west of Ireland, went from marriage at fifteen to piracy on the high seas. She soon had a fleet of galleys under her command, but her three decades of plundering, kidnapping, murder and mayhem came to a close in 1586, when she was captured and sentenced to hang.
Saved from the scaffold by none other than Queen Elizabeth herself – another powerful woman in a man’s world – Grace’s life took another extraordinary turn when it was rumored she had become intelligence for the queen’s spymaster, Sir Francis Walsingham. Was this the price of her freedom?
Judith Cook explores this and other questions about the life and times of this remarkable woman in a fascinating, thrilling and impeccably researched book.
The Palace Letters: The Queen, the governor-general, and the plot to dismiss Gough Whitlam
Paperback – 12 November 2020 (UK) & 4 May 2021 (US)
What role did the queen play in the governor-general Sir John Kerr’s plans to dismiss prime minister Gough Whitlam in 1975, which unleashed one of the most divisive episodes in Australia’s political history? And why weren’t we told?
Queens of Outremer: The Christian Princesses of Medieval Palestine
Hardcover – 13 May 2021 (US) & 18 February 2021 (UK)
The lives of this trailblazing dynasty of royal women, and the crusading Queen Eleanor of Aquitaine, are the focus of Katherine Pangonis’s debut book. In QUEENS OF JERUSALEM she explores the role women played in the governing of the Middle East during periods of intense instability, and how they persevered to rule and seize greater power for themselves when the opportunity presented itself.
Representing the Life and Legacy of Renée de France: From Fille de France to Dowager Duchess (Queenship and Power)
Hardcover – 18 May 2021 (US) & 12 May 2021 (UK)
This book considers the life and legacy of Renée de France (1510–75), the youngest daughter of King Louis XII and Anne de Bretagne, exploring her cultural, spiritual, and political influence and her evolving roles and actions as fille de France, Duchess of Ferrara, and Dowager Duchess at Montargis. Drawing on a variety of often overlooked sources – poetry, theater, fine arts, landscape architecture, letters, and ambassadorial reports – contributions highlight Renée’s wide-ranging influence in sixteenth-century Europe, from the Italian Wars to the French Wars of Religion. These essays consider her cultural patronage and politico-religious advocacy, demonstrating that she expanded upon intellectual and moral values shared with her sister, Claude de France; her cousins, Marguerite de Navarre and Jeanne d’Albret; and her godmother and mother, Anne de France and Anne de Bretagne, thereby solidifying her place in a long line of powerful French royal women.
Woman between Two Kingdoms: Dara Rasami and the Making of Modern Thailand
Paperback – 15 May 2021 (US & UK)
Woman Between Two Kingdoms explores the story of Dara Rasami, one of 153 wives of King Chulalongkorn of Siam in Thailand during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in a kingdom near Siam called Lan Na, Dara served as both hostage and diplomat for her family and nation.
Thought of as a harem by the West, Siam’s Inner Palace actually formed a nexus between the domestic and the political. Dara’s role as an ethnic Other among the royal concubines assisted the Siamese in both consolidating the kingdom’s territory and building a local version of Europe’s hierarchy of civilizations. Dara Rasami’s story provides a fresh perspective on both the sociopolitical roles played by Siamese palace women, and Siam’s response to the intense imperialist pressures it faced in the late nineteenth century.
The Tsar’s Happy Occasion: Ritual and Dynasty in the Weddings of Russia’s Rulers, 1495–1745 (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies)
Hardcover – 15 May 2021 (US & UK)
Using an array of archival sources, Russell E. Martin demonstrates how royal weddings reflected and shaped court politics during a time of dramatic cultural and dynastic change. As Martin shows, the rites of passage in these ceremonies were dazzling displays of monarchical power unlike any other ritual at the Muscovite court. And as dynasties came and went and the political culture evolved, so too did wedding rituals. Martin relates how Peter the Great first mocked, then remade wedding rituals to symbolize and empower his efforts to westernize Russia. After Peter, the two branches of the Romanov dynasty used weddings to solidify their claims to the throne.
The York Princesses: The Daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville
Paperback – 1 May 2021 (US) & 30 April 2021 (UK)
As a collective, the lives of the Princesses of York span across seven decades and the rule of five different Kings. The daughters of Edward IV and Elizabeth Woodville, they were born into an England that had been ruled over by the great Plantagenet Kings for almost three hundred years. Their young years were blighted by tragedy: the death of their beloved father, followed by the disappearance and possible murder of their two brothers, Edward and Richard of York, forever now known to history as the infamous Princes in the Tower. With their own futures uncertain during the reign of their uncle, Richard III, and their mother held under house arrest, the Princesses had to navigate their way through the tumultuous years of the 1480s before having to adjust to a new King and a new dynasty in the shape of Henry VII, who would bring about the age of the Tudors. Through her marriage to Henry, Elizabeth of York rebuilt her life, establishing herself as a popular, if not hugely influential Queen. But she did not forget her younger siblings, and even before her own mother’s death, she acted as a surrogate mother to the younger York princesses, supporting them both financially and emotionally. The stories of the York Princesses are entwined into the fabric of the history of England, as they grew up, survived and even thrived in the new Tudor age. Their lives are played out against a backdrop of coronations and jousts, births and deaths, marriages and divorces and loyalties and broken allegiances. From the usurpation of Richard III, to the Battle of Bosworth, the brilliance of the court of Catherine of Aragon and Henry VIII, to the rise of Anne Boleyn, the York Princesses were there to witness events unfold. They were the daughters, sisters and aunts of Kings, and this is their story. The York Princesses is a natural follow-up to Sarah J. Hodder’s first book, The Queen’s Sisters, which told the stories of the lives of the sisters of Elizabeth Woodville.
The Windsor Diaries: My Childhood with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret
Hardcover – 4 May 2021 (UK & US)
The never-before-published diaries of Alathea Fitzalan Howard–who spent her teenaged years living out World War II in Windsor Great Park with her close friends Princess Margaret and Princess Elizabeth, the future queen of the United Kingdom–provide an extraordinary and intimate look at the British Royal Family.
Queens, Eunuchs and Concubines in Islamic History, 661–1257 (Edinburgh Studies in Classical Islamic History and Culture)
Paperback – 30 June 2021 (US) & 31 May 2021 (UK)
Based on original and previously unexamined sources, this book provides a critical and systematic analysis of the role of women, mothers, wives, eunuchs, concubines, qahramans and atabegs in the dynamics and manipulation of medieval Islamic politics. Spanning over 600 years, Taef El-Azhari explores gender and sexual politics and power: from the time of the Prophet Muhammad through the Umayyad and Abbasid periods to the Mamluks in the 15th century, and from Iran and Central Asia to North Africa and Spain.
The post Book News May 2021 appeared first on History of Royal Women.
The nieces of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
At today’s funeral service of The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, his sisters’ side of the family will be represented by two great-nephews, Princess Margarita‘s grandson Philipp, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Princess Theodora‘s grandson Prince Berthold of Baden. Princesses Sophie and Cecilie, who both married into the Grand Ducal House of Hesse, will be represented by Donatus, Landgrave of Hesse, who is the son of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse who succeeded Cecilie’s brother-in-law Prince Louis of Hesse and by Rhine, the last head of the Hesse-Darmstadt line, as head of the entire Hesse line.
But what about their female descendants? They won’t be present at the funeral due to the current regulations but perhaps we would have seen Prince Philip’s surviving nieces if it had been possible.
Princess Margarita
Princess Margarita’s marriage to Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, produced six children, two daughters (one stillborn) and four sons.
Stillborn daughter (3 December 1933) 1
Princess Beatrix (10 June 1936 – 15 November 1997)
Embed from Getty Images(Beatrix is the second from the left – in blue)
Princess Beatrix never married and she did not have any children.
Princess Theodora
Princess Theodora’s marriage to Berthold, Margrave of Baden, produced three children, one daughter and two sons.
Princess Margarita (14 July 1932 – 15 January 2013)
Embed from Getty ImagesPrincess Margarita married Prince Tomislav of Yugoslavia, the younger brother of the former King Peter II of Yugoslavia, and they had a son and a daughter together.
Princess Cecilie
Princess Cecilie’s marriage to Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, produced two sons and a daughter (in addition, Cecilie was pregnant when she died).
Princess Johanna (20 September 1936 – 14 June 1939)
Princess Johanna – akpool GmbH / Abteilung Arkivi / Alamy Stock PhotoPrincess Johanna was not with her family when they all perished in an aeroplane crash. She was adopted by her aunt and uncle but would tragically die of meningitis before her third birthday.
Princess Sophie
Princess Sophie was the only one of the sisters to marry twice. Her first marriage to Prince Christoph of Hesse produced three daughters and two sons. Her second marriage to Prince George William of Hanover produced two sons and a daughter.
Princess Christina (10 January 1933 – 22 November 2011)
Embed from Getty ImagesPrincess Christina married Prince Andrew of Yugoslavia and had a son and a daughter with him before their divorce in 1962. She remarried Robert Floris van Eyck that same year and had another son and a daughter before divorcing in 1986.
Princess Dorothea (24 July 1934)
Embed from Getty ImagesPrincess Dorothea married Prince Friedrich Karl of Windisch-Grätz in 1959, and they had two daughters together. It appears that Dorothea is still alive, making her Prince Philip’s eldest surviving niece.
Princess Clarissa (6 February 1944)
Embed from Getty ImagesPrincess Clarissa married Jean-Claude Derrien in 1971, but they were divorced in 1976. She has one daughter, born in 1980.
Princess Friederike (15 October 1954)
Embed from Getty Images(Friederike is the little girl in front of the bride)
Princess Friederike was born from Sophie’s second marriage. She married Jerry William Cyr in 1979, and they had one son and a daughter together.
The post The nieces of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh appeared first on History of Royal Women.
April 15, 2021
Alice of Battenberg – Escaping reality (Part five)
Alice’s daughter Cecilie married on 2 February 1931, but Alice was not there as she was still at Kreuzlingen. She suffered a physical setback, though it is unclear if this had an actual physical cause. Alice asked for a holiday from Kreuzlingen, but this was denied her. She celebrated her 46th birthday there on 25 February but spent the day refusing to speak to Dr. Binswanger. Eventually, he informed her that he could not release her without the permission of her mother. Alice reportedly froze, and she never forgave her mother for this. Her mother came to visit her with Philip while en route to Margarita’s wedding in April, and Alice expressed resentment over her transfer to Kreuzlingen. Shortly after Margarita’s wedding to Prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, Andrew finally visited his wife – it was his only visit.
In June, Alice suffered from mood swings, but she was happy to hear of the engagement between her last daughter Theodora to Berthold, Margrave of Baden, and they were married in August. She received visits from Theodora and Berthold and also from Cecilie and her husband. Soon, Alice was becoming obsessed with wanting to be released, and Dr. Binswanger reported to her mother that the religious aspects were becoming more dominant, and he had placed a nurse in the room next to her during the night. When she received a photo of Cecilie with her newborn son, she tore it up. She also began to plan an escape and told her nurse that she would continue to plan escapes until she succeeded.
Alice often appeared well around people, but the doctors remained worried. Dr. Binswanger wrote, “The mental activity of the princess is dominated by a complex of ideas and sensations which are clearly unhealthy. Despite her often correct external behaviour, her attitude towards life and people is abnormal.”1 Early the following year, Alice generally felt physically weak and resigned to staying at Kreuzlingen. Nevertheless, on 27 July 1932, Alice jumped for a window and ran towards the nearby railway station. She was caught as she waited for the train to depart. When she was returned to Kreuzlingen, she told them that she was “fed up being a princess.”2 On 23 September, Alice left Kreuzlingen and was transferred to the Martinsbrunn Sanatorium in South Tyrol, on the recommendation of the Queen of Italy (born Elena of Montenegro).
Surprisingly, Alice improved at Martinsbrunn, and she was given much more freedom there than at Kreuzlingen. However, she refused to improve the relations with her family and still felt betrayed by them. She made friends with a Swedish woman named Miss Heilskov, who began to act as her secretary. In early 1933, Alice was able to leave Martinsbrunn, and she settled in Nervi on the Italian Riviera with Miss Heilskov. In the following years, Alice was mostly out of touch with her family, and she became something of a nomad. Her mother wrote in the summer of 1935, “Bodily she is well, mentally no better…”3
Some normal contact with her family resumed at the end of 1936 when she wrote to Cecilie to thank her for the photograph of her newborn daughter Johanna and of Philip. By then, Alice was at Breibach, and she stayed there for most of 1937. Her mother came to see her in April, and shortly after, she had lunch with Cecilie, her husband and Philip in Bonn. It was the first time she had seen any of her children in four years. Tragedy was soon to come – on 16 November 1937, a pregnant Cecilie, her husband, their two sons, her mother-in-law, Baron von Riedesel and lady-in-waiting Aline Hahn flew to England for the wedding of Cecilie’s brother-in-law Louis to Margaret Geddes. Tragically, the plane crashed into a chimney as it descended through the fog to pick up more passengers, and all passengers were killed in the fiery crash. Only Cecilie’s daughter Johanna, who had been left behind, now remained.
Alice’s sister Louise wrote, “My thoughts are hardly here at all & to think of Lu above all is more than one can bear, To lose one’s entire nearest and & dearest in just over a month4 is unbelievably awful.”5 Alice travelled from Berlin with her daughter Sophie for the funeral while Andrew came with Philip from London – and so Alice saw her husband for the first time since April 1931. Alice was dealing with the tragedy a lot better than expected of her. Her mother wrote to Dr. Binswanger, “Everybody found her exactly the way she was before her illness. She has cried bitterly, but showed a moving concern for all the surviving.”6
Photo by Moniek BloksAlice wandered around for a bit before settling on a new goal – returning to Greece. She visited the graves of Cecilie and her family at Rosehöhe on the first anniversary of the crash before travelling on to Greece. She found a flat in Athens and wrote to Philip, “I have taken a small flat just for you and me.”7 She believed that Philip should have a base in Greece as a Greek prince. Alice returned to England to celebrate Christmas there before fully beginning her new life in Greece at the beginning of 1939.
Part six coming soon.
The post Alice of Battenberg – Escaping reality (Part five) appeared first on History of Royal Women.
April 13, 2021
Alice of Battenberg – A pensive Princess (Part four)
In early 1923, Alice, Andrew, his younger brother Christopher and his American-born wife Anastasia (born Nonie May Stewart) arrived in the United States for a much-needed two-month holiday. During their journey, they learned that King Constantine had died suddenly of heart failure – he was still only 54 years old. Alice and Andrew stayed at the Ambassador Hotel in New York with just a maid and a valet. They returned home without Christopher and Anastasia and settled back into their home at St Cloud. Princess Marie was generous, but they thought the house was a little cramped. The situation in Greece remained unstable, and at the end of 1923, King George II was exiled, and a republic was proclaimed on 25 March 1924.
Alice’s sister Louise married the widowed future King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden in 1923, with Alice’s daughters once more performing the duties of bridesmaids. Tragically, her only pregnancy produced a stillborn daughter, and she later wrote, “If possible, I appreciate all the more now what it is to have Gustaf & now how lucky I am to have him. He has my love now more than ever, all that I had for my baby I feel I have now also given him.”1
Her life in exile had deeply affected Alice. She also still felt the loss of her aunts in Russia deeply and wanted nothing more than to found her own sisterhood as her aunt Elizabeth had done. The trauma of almost losing Andrew to the firing squad had also been difficult. Over the years, Alice and Andrew began to drift apart as Alice’s mind focussed on more spiritual matters. In the spring of 1926, Alice travelled to Darmstadt, where she became a student of the philosopher Hermann von Keyserling.
In October 1928, Alice and Andrew celebrated their silver wedding at St Cloud, but this was probably the moment that Alice truly let go of her marriage. Just two weeks later, Alice was received in the Greek Orthodox Church. Her mother later wrote, “I think it will be a help & comfort to her & you know I have always thought that everyone should be free to believe as much or as little as they wish & if there is a church that they wish to join, they should do so, as long as they justify it to their own conscience.”2 However supportive the family was, it was clear that Alice was ill. She began to believe that she had the power to heal and that she could stop her thoughts. The fears for her health even reached her sister in Sweden, who wrote, “It is rather worrying & upsetting what you write about Alice. One can only hope that this phase will pass quickly. Alice always had had a tendence (sic) for the supernatural…”3
Christmas 1929 was a low point as she announced that she was a saint and talked of evil influences in the house. She then called a priest and announced that she was “having dinner with Jesus Christ.”4 Both Andrew and Margarita wrote to Victoria, who arrived early in 1930. Her gynecologist eventually diagnosed psychosis, and Princess Marie recommended the clinic of Dr. Ernest Simmel in Berlin. She was admitted there in February.
After extensive examinations, Dr. Simmel diagnosed her as paranoid schizophrenic with a fantasy of being married to Christ. He also believed she was suffering from a neurotic pre-psychotic libidinous condition, and he consulted Sigmund Freud about it. He advised, “an exposure of the gonads to X-rays, in order to accelerate the menopause.”5 A Dr. von Schubert carried out the procedure – presumably without consulting Alice. Alice gained some weight while in Berlin and seemed a little better, so Dr. Simmel allowed her some freedoms. While there, Alice learned that her daughter Cecilie had become engaged to Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse. As Alice began to feel better, she wanted to go home, but the doctors urged her to stay. She eventually discharged herself after eight weeks and returned to St Cloud.
Her family at St Cloud did not think she was better, and she still talked a lot about Christ. Andrew once more involved Alice’s mother, and they consulted two more doctors. While Alice joined the family at Darmstadt to celebrate Cecilie’s engagement, a plan had been set in motion for Alice to be admitted to a sanatorium at Lake Constance. On 2 May 1930, Alice was forcibly sedated with an injection of morphine-scopolamine and taken to Kreuzlingen at the sanatorium of Dr. Ludwig Binswanger. This time, she did not have the authority to release herself.
Alice was placed in Villa Maria, which had room for ten women. Upon arrival, doctors noted her “slightly stereotype smile, she makes a rather pensive, but not directly psychotic appearance.”6 The following day, Alice angrily wrote to her mother that she had been brought there against her will. Victoria came to visit Alice and explained that a lengthy stay here was necessary, but it appeared that Alice was unaware of the role her mother had played in bringing her to the sanatorium. That same year, her daughter Sophie became engaged to Christoph of Hesse, and the flowers that were delivered to the sanatorium made Alice cry. Alice also wrote to young Philip as she had missed his ninth birthday.
Alice was briefly moved to Lucerne, but Alice soon began to give away all her possessions, and she marked 8 September in her bible as the day of her departure. She also wrote several goodbye letters, and then doctors intervened to take her forcibly back to Kreuzlingen before she could harm herself. Her condition was a cause for concern for quite a while, and Alice believed she was going to die. There was now no question of her attending Sophie’s wedding in December. Shortly after Christmas, Victoria arrived with Philip for a short visit, which went well, but Alice still told her mother that she would not live much longer.
Part five coming soon.
The post Alice of Battenberg – A pensive Princess (Part four) appeared first on History of Royal Women.
April 11, 2021
Alice of Battenberg – A twice exiled Princess (Part three)
Alice wrote of her experiences as a nurse to her mother, who distributed at least two of her letters amongst the British Royal Family. Her brother George commented, “I have never read anything so interesting. It filled me with an intense admiration and sympathy for Alice; she has surpassed herself in bravery & tirelessness of effort.”1 In November 1913, she received the Royal Red Cross from King George V, “in recognition of her services in nursing the sick and wounded among the Greek soldiers during the recent war.”2 Just two days after receiving the Royal Red Cross, Alice’s father-in-law King George I of Greece (Hellenes) was assassinated.
George was walking through the street with just an equerry and two gendarmes when he was shot in the back on 18 March 1913. He died almost instantly. Alice was at the Royal Palace with Andrew and George, and they broke the news to Queen Olga. The assassin later committed suicide. Crown Prince Constantine returned to Athens and took the oath – becoming King Constantine I. Alice and Andrew inherited the residence of Mon Repos on Corfu, which became their new home. Alice also founded a hospital in Athens during this time.
The following year, Alice was pregnant again, and she gave birth to a fourth daughter – named Sophie – on 26 June 1914. Her mother had joined her in Greece for the labour, and Victoria wrote on the day of her birth, “Well, the baby is here at last. She (alas!) made her appearance at 6 a.m. Of course, it is a disappointment her being another girl; she is a fine healthy, large child.”3
The outbreak of the First World War left Alice in the middle of family loyalties. Her parents lived in England, two of her aunts lived in Russia, and another was married to the brother of the Kaiser. Alice herself was deeply devoted to Greece and lived a relatively quiet existence in Corfu for now. She remained in Greece until 1917, bringing up her four daughters, until the political situation made it impossible to stay. They were forced to leave for Switzerland in 1917. The family’s main base became the Grand Hotel in Lucerne. King Constantine’s second son Alexander became King in his place (the elder son George was considered to be unsuitable by the Allied powers as he trained in the military in Berlin), but he reigned for just three years – dying after being bitten by a monkey, leaving behind a pregnant morganatic spouse.
In 1918, the family learned that Alice’s aunts Elizabeth, Alexandra and other Romanovs had been murdered. Alice’s mother later wrote, “If ever anyone has met death without she (Elizabeth) will have & her deep & pure faith will have upheld & supported & comforted her in all she has gone through so that the misery poor Alicky (Alexandra) will have suffered will not have touched Ella’s (Elizabeth) soul & maybe, had she lived, years of solitary suffering.”4 Alice found herself exiled following the First World War and found solace in religion.
The family was briefly allowed back to Greece in 1920, with King Constantine resuming his reign. Meanwhile, in the United Kingdom, Alice’s family renounced their German titles. Her father was created Marquess of Milford Haven, and her mother also dropped her German title and became the Marchioness of Milford Haven. Alice’s sister became Lady Louise Mountbatten, George became Earl of Medina and Louis became Lord Louis Mountbatten (he was later created Earl Mountbatten of Burma). Alice was already a Greek Princess by marriage and thus never became a Mountbatten.
Embed from Getty ImagesAlice and Andrew settled back in at Mon Repos on Corfu, and Alice was also finally able to share with the family that she was expecting her fifth child. On 10 June 1921, Alice gave birth to her only son – Philip (later known as the Duke of Edinburgh as the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom) at Mon Repos. She later wrote, “He is a splendid, healthy child, thank God. I am very well, too. It was an uncomplicated delivery & I am now enjoying the fresh air on the terrace.”5 Just three months later, Alice’s father Louis died of a sudden heart attack, and she travelled to London – taking the infant Philip with her as she was still nursing him.
Embed from Getty ImagesKing George V offered Alice’s mother an apartment at Kensington Palace, and she moved there with Louise in December 1922. Alice returned to Greece as Andrew’s position in Greece during the Greco-Turkish War deteriorated, and he was criticised in the press. In June 1922, Alice and her five children travelled to England to attend the wedding of her brother Louis to heiress Edwina Ashley. Her daughters were bridesmaids while young Philip remained at their residence. Alice visited Scotland before returning to Greece, which was in disarray.
Embed from Getty ImagesIn September, King Constantine abdicated the throne in favour of his eldest son, who now became King George II. King Constantine, Queen Sophie, Prince Nicolas and Princess Katherine left Greece at the end of September, but for now, Alice and Andrew remained at Corfu. Andrew was eventually taken away and questioned about his role in the last war while Alice anxiously waited for news under police surveillance. Andrew was eventually found guilty of disobeying orders, but he escaped a death sentence. Alice quickly gathered the children at Mon Repos – with Philip famously being transported in a cot made from an orange box – and they all left Greece on the Calypso.
Through Italy and France, the family intended to travel to London although the government thought it “undesirable” that they should come to England. After a delay of six days, the family was finally allowed to travel to England, and they settled into rooms at the Stafford Hotel. Eventually, the elder daughters Margarita and Theodora remained with their grandmother Victoria, while Alice and Andrew took the younger three children to Paris. Alice’s sister-in-law Marie (Bonaparte – Princess George of Greece) loaned them a house where they would live for the next seven years.
Part four coming soon.
The post Alice of Battenberg – A twice exiled Princess (Part three) appeared first on History of Royal Women.
April 9, 2021
Alice of Battenberg – A Greek bride (Part two)
In August 1901, Alice made her first visit to Russia, where her two aunts Elizabeth and Alexandra, were living. Elizabeth had married Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich of Russia in 1884, while Alexandra had married Tsar Nicholas II in 1894. By October, Alice and her family were once again settled at Malta, where her father joined the Mediterranean Fleet. The following year, Alice and her mother returned to England to join the coronation of King Edward VII. However, he became ill with peritonitis, and the coronation had to be postponed.
Alice and her mother stayed at Buckingham Palace with several other royals, like Crown Prince Constantine of Greece and his wife Sophie, along with two of his brothers George and Andrew. It is unclear if this was the first time that Alice met Andrew, but it is certain that they fell in love around this time. Alice later described her first sighting of Andrew to her grandson, the Prince of Wales, “He was exactly like a Greek God.”1 The coronation was postponed indefinitely as the new King had to undergo an operation, and Alice returned to Darmstadt in early July with a spring in her step.
In August, the coronation was back on, and Alice and her mother joined both George and Andrew in the carriage procession. During these days in London, Alice and Andrew spent as much time together as they could. When Alice returned to Germany, they were unofficially engaged, but Andrew had ten months of military service to do. Alice would spend her last Christmas as an unmarried woman at Kiel with her aunt Irene. The family then returned to London, where the waiting seemed even more endless, and Andrew’s arrival was postponed by two more months. Finally, on 8 May 1903, Andrew arrived, and two days later, the engagement was officially announced. At the time, Alice was just 18 and Andrew just 21.
The wedding was set to take place in Darmstadt in October, and a great number of royals travelled to be there, including the Tsar and Tsarina and Queen Alexandra and her daughter Victoria. On 6 October, the civil marriage took place, followed by the religious ceremonies the following day. Alice wore a lace dress with a veil of myrtle of orange blossoms. Alice misheard the questions and answered “no” when asked if she assented freely to marriage and “yes” when asked about having promised her hand to another. Following the ceremonies, the newlyweds departed for Heiligenberg, where they were to honeymoon for a week and were able to return to Darmstadt in time for the party for the departing guests. After the honeymoon, Alice and Andrew settled in the Alte Palais in Darmstadt while Andrew resumed his military service with the Red Dragoons.
The following year, Alice and Andrew moved to Greece and settled in the Royal Palace and the family’s country home at Tatoi. Alice quickly joined her sister-in-law Elena in Greek lessons, but Elena, born a Russian Grand Duchess, looked down on Alice, who had been born a Serene Highness. Alice became involved in social welfare work, most notably at the Greek School of Embroidery.
On 18 April 1905, Alice gave birth to her first child – a daughter named Margarita – with her mother and her mother-in-law Queen Olga by her side. On 30 May 1906, a second daughter – named Theodora – was born at Tatoi while Andrew was away to attend the wedding of King Alfonso XIII of Spain and Alice’s cousin Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg. During this time, Alice also became involved in a society that trained girls as private nurses. The next few years were difficult for the Greek royal family due to the Greek press and machinations of politicians. Luckily, Alice and Andrew spent the next two years travelling between England, Germany, Malta and Russia. She was also painted by Philip de László in 1907, and another sister-in-law – Princess Marie Bonaparte – joined the family when she married Andrew’s brother George. Marie described Alice on her arrival as “a beautiful blond Englishwoman with ample flesh, smiles a lot and doesn’t say much since she’s deaf.”2
While in Russia in 1908, Alice became reacquainted with her aunt Elizabeth, who had lost her husband in an assassination in 1905. She had bought a property in Moscow where one building would serve as a hospital, where nurses would also be trained, and the other would serve as her residence. She also intended to build a church. Alice later attended the foundation ceremony for the church. The idea had inspired Alice, but it would be many years before she could implement her own ideas in Greece.
Embed from Getty ImagesRevolutionary rumblings began to shake the Greek monarchy, but by March 1910, King George was able to stay on as a constitutional monarch. It also led to Andrew resigning from the army, much to Alice’s sadness. She wrote, “His work was stopped, just when it was beginning to bear fruit.”3 Just a short while later, Alice and Andrew were supposed to visit Alice’s parents in England, but the visit became more urgent as King Edward VII fell ill. They arrived in early May, and the King died the following day. Alice and Andrew stayed for the funeral and the following confirmation of the new Prince of Wales.
On 22 June 1911, Alice gave birth to her third daughter – named Cecilie – at Tatoi. It was also King George V’s coronation day, and Andrew asked him to be a godparent. The following year, the First Balkan War began, and Andrew was reinstated in the army. Meanwhile, Alice threw herself into volunteer work. The School of Greek Embroidery was directed to make clothes for the troops and the refugees. She also established a hospital at the front line and was joined there by two nurses from a hospital that had been founded by her grandmother in Darmstadt. The experiences there would change her life. She wrote, “What things we saw! Shattered arms, and legs and head, such awful sights – and then to have to bandage those dreadful things for three days and three nights. The corridor full of blood and cast-off bandages knee-high.”4
Part three coming soon.
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The new Duke and Duchess of Edinburgh
On 19 November 1947, the day before his wedding to Princess Elizabeth, his father-in-law King George VI bestowed by Letters Patent the style His Royal Highness on Philip, and on the morning of the wedding, 20 November 1947, further Letters Patent of that day created him Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth, and Baron Greenwich of Greenwich in the County of London. As was usual, the titles were in remainder to the 1st Duke’s heirs male of the body lawfully begotten.1
With the death of the Duke of Edinburgh, his titles have passed to his eldest son and heir Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales. Prince Charles has gained the titles Duke of Edinburgh with its subsidiary titles of Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, of Greenwich in the County of London.
The College of Arms confirmed, “These peerages are hereditary and on the death of His Royal Highness have passed to his eldest son, HRH The Prince of Wales. In the event of the Prince of Wales or any subsequent holder of these titles succeeding to the Crown, these titles and all others held will merge with the Crown.”2
However, you may remember that it was announced upon the marriage of his younger son Prince Edward to Sophie Rhys-Jones that “The Queen, The Duke of Edinburgh and The Prince of Wales have also agreed that The Prince Edward should be given the Dukedom of Edinburgh in due course, when the present title now held by Prince Philip eventually reverts to the Crown.”3 Once Her Majesty The Queen passes and Prince Charles succeeds her as King, his titles, including the Duke of Edinburgh title, will merge with the crown. He will then be free to create the title again for his brother, who then becomes The Duke of Edinburgh at last.
The Prince of Wales’ wife automatically shares all his titles, so the Duchess of Cornwall is now also Duchess of Edinburgh.
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The funeral of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother
With the sad news of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, it is natural that the British and global public are now discussing what will happen at his funeral. It is not due to Coronavirus that Prince Philip will not receive a State Funeral as a State Funeral is reserved for the Sovereign and in rare circumstances for others by order of the Monarch in such cases as Lord Nelson and Sir Winston Churchill. Prince Philip, if no restrictions were in place, should be having a full Royal Ceremonial Funeral, which differs ever-so-slightly from the State Funeral. However, per Prince Philip’s own wishes, the funeral service will take place at St George’s Chapel, and his coffin won’t lie in state ahead of his burial.
The last consort of a monarch to have a full Royal Ceremonial Funeral was Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother, on 9 April 2002, coincidentally 19 years ago today.
Embed from Getty ImagesPrior to the funeral, The Queen Mother in Lay in State in Westminster Hall and around 200,000 people filed slowly past her crown-topped coffin during this time to pay their respects as her grandsons took turns standing guard.
The funeral was a huge public event held in London and began early in the day on 9 April. After the lying-in-state, the coffin covered with the Queen Mother’s personal standard and crown was moved the 300-metres to Westminster Abbey, where the bells rang 101 times in her honour.
The coffin was followed by a pipe band and members of the Royal Family including The Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Charles, Prince Andrew, Princess Anne, Prince Edward, Prince William, Prince Harry, Viscount Linley, Peter Phillips, Daniel Chatto, The Duke of Gloucester and The Duke of Kent as well as members of the Bowes-Lyon family and some of The Queen Mother’s senior staff members. The rest of the Royal Family, including The Queen, Lady Sarah Chatto, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie and Zara Phillips, arrived after the 2,200 guests had been seated.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe funeral was attended by reigning and non-reigning royals from around the globe, including The King and Queen of Spain, The Sultan of Brunei and The Prince and Princess of Hanover. Prime Ministers, leaders and Ambassadors were also in attendance, including Tony Blair, Baroness Thatcher and Laura Bush.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe service itself began at 11.30 and lasted almost an hour; it was filled with songs by the choir, communal hymns and lessons and readings from the Archbishops of Canterbury, York and Westminster. The service was drawn to a close by a proclamation of titles and styles of the Queen Mother before the coffin was removed by hearse. She was interred beside her husband King George VI in the George VI Memorial Chapel at St George’s Chapel, along with the ashes of her daughter Princess Margaret who had died just seven weeks before.
Embed from Getty ImagesEmbed from Getty Images250,000 mourners headed to London for the funeral of The Queen Mother in 2002, and the event was viewed on TV by 10 million people, showing how widely loved she was. It is unclear at the moment what the exact plans will be for the Duke of Edinburgh’s funeral, but he is sure to receive a wonderful send-off even with Covid-19 restrictions in place, and he will be mourned and missed by many.
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April 8, 2021
Alice of Battenberg – A beautiful child (Part one)
Alice of Battenberg was born on 25 February 1885 as the daughter of Prince Louis of Battenberg and Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria through her daughter Alice. Due to the early death of Queen Victoria’s daughter Alice, Queen Victoria took a special interest in her grandchildren through Alice.
Alice’s mother Princess Victoria was the eldest of seven – though, at the time of her daughter’s birth, only five remained. Young Marie had died in the same diphtheria attack that had killed their mother, and young Friedrich had died after falling from a window – he had suffered from haemophilia. The remaining siblings were Elisabeth (later known as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna), Irene, Ernst Louis (the future Grand Duke of Hesse) and Alix (later Empress Alexandra Feodorovna)
The younger Victoria went to stay with Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle and settled into the Tapestry Room, where she herself had been born in 1863. Alice was born in the late afternoon, after a long labour. Queen Victoria wrote in her journal, “I had some breakfast & then went back remaining with dear Victoria on & off, till at length, at 20m to 5 in the afternoon, the child, a little girl, was born. The relief was great for poor Victoria had had such a long hard time, which always makes me anxious. How strange & indeed affecting, it was, to see her lying in the same room & in the same bed, in which she herself was born.”1
Alice and her mother stayed at Windsor until 30 March when they left for Darmstadt, where Alice was entrusted to the care of Mary Anne Orchard – or Orchie. On 25 April 1885 – her grandmother’s and namesake’s birthday – Alice was christened. Queen Victoria wrote, “A day of great emotion. Dear beloved Alice’s birthday & her darling boy (Ernst Louis) to be confirmed & 1st grandchild christened. But she was not there to see it!”2 Queen Victoria stayed to visit the graves at Park Rosenhöhe and then returned home with Princess Victoria, Louis, and young Alice. The young family settled at Sennicotts and began to divide their time between England, Malta (due to her father’s time in the navy) and Darmstadt.
The first hint that Alice might be deaf appeared in a letter in January 1887 when Queen Victoria wrote, “She is very slow in learning to talk, but on the other hand very clever with her fingers.”3 It was actually Alice’s paternal grandmother Julia, Princess Battenberg (born Julia Hauke), who identified it as deafness, and she took Alice to a specialist in Darmstadt. Alice was diagnosed with congenital deafness – which was due to the thickness of the Eustachian tubes. Her mother began to spend many hours teaching Alice to lip-read and working on her speaking. She was able to hear some sounds, but no operation was possible. Eventually, she became so good at lip-reading that people became very careful around her when gossiping.
On 13 July 1889, the family expanded with the birth of Louise, later Queen of Sweden. When Alice was six years old, the Empress Frederick (Victoria, Princess Royal) wrote, “What a beautiful child little Alice is! She has the most perfect little face & those beautiful brown eyes & dark eyebrows!”4 On 6 November 1892, Victoria gave birth to her third child – a son named George (later George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven). By then, Alice was being taught by a tutor named Miss Robson, who had also been governess to Princess Margaret of Connaught.
In 1893, Alice was one of the ten bridesmaids in the wedding of Princess Mary of Teck to the Duke of York (the future King George V). Queen Victoria noted that Alice was “very sweet in white satin, with a little pink and red rose on the shoulder and some small bows of the same on the shoes.”5 During her stay in England, Alice had her tonsils removed by Sir James Reid.
The following year, Julia, Princess Battenberg, Alice’s grandmother, died, and her mother wrote Queen Victoria telling her how sad Alice was at her passing. Queen Victoria wrote back, “Poor little Alice too. It is touching to hear of her sorrow. I hope this feeling of affection & gratitude will always be encouraged as her dear Grandmama was so fond of & kind to her.”6 Her little brother George placed a pear in Julia’s coffin, saying she would have preferred this to flowers.
Alice had been quite young when she had been present for Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee; ten years on, she was able to appreciate the Diamond Jubilee more, and she also took a larger part. The Battenbergs stayed with Queen Victoria’s daughter Princess Louise at Kensington Palace. Alice joined the procession from Buckingham Palace to St Paul’s Cathedral in a carriage with Princess Beatrice‘s children. A few days later, Alice attended a garden party at Buckingham Palace, and she was able to view the great naval review at Spithead. In 1899, the family spent Christmas at Windsor with Queen Victoria and the New Year was celebrated at Sandringham. The summer of 1900 was spent at Frogmore, and they would sometimes accompany the Queen to church. At Frogmore House, Princess Victoria gave birth to her fourth and final child – a son named Louis (later Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma).
The following year, an era truly came to an end with the death of Queen Victoria. Alice’s parents were summoned to Osborne for the vigil while the children remained in London. Queen Victoria died on 22 January 1901 and was succeeded by her eldest son and Alice’s great-uncle, who now became King Edward VII. From this time, the first letters by Alice’s own hand began to appear. She described Queen Victoria’s funeral in a letter to a friend in Darmstadt, “We had to wait three hours in St George’s Chapel until the train arrived. The coffin was covered with a white and red silk cloth, on which there was a large crown, sceptre and two orbs. All the friends followed behind. In the chapel everything was white as the Queen insisted there was to be no black.”7
Alice spent the beginning of the new reign in London, studying under governesses, and she began to prepare for her confirmation, which took place in Heiligenberg on 9 April 1901.
Part two coming soon.
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April 7, 2021
Channel 5 releases new Anne Boleyn teaser trailer
We’ve been given a first look at actress Jodie Turner-Smith as Queen Anne Boleyn for a three-part psychological thriller with the name “Anne Boleyn” for Channel 5/ViacomCBS.
Your first look at our Queen Jodie Turner-Smith as Anne Boleyn, coming soon to @channel5_tv#AnneBoleyn #JodieTurnerSmith #Channel5 @MissJodie pic.twitter.com/n8UHymFgW7
— Channel 5 (@channel5_tv) April 7, 2021
Production was wrapped in Yorkshire last December and the thriller is set to air later this year.
“Anne Boleyn” will explore the final months of Anne Boleyn’s life from her perspective, as she struggles to secure a future for her daughter and as she challenges the powerful patriarchy closing in around her. It will depict the key moments that caused her downfall. The cast also includes Paapa Essiedu as Anne’s brother George Boleyn. Mark Stanley is King Henry VIII, and Lola Petticrew is Anne’s love rival Jane Seymour.
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