Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 152

Margarita of Greece and Denmark – A displaced Princess (Part two)

Read part one here.

During the Second World War, Gottfried was an officer on the Eastern Front. He had become a member of the Nazi Party on 1 May 1937 with the number 4023070. He had considerable contact with Nazi leaders and served in the Wehrmacht. Margarita joined the party on the same date with the number 4453768. In 1942, Margarita and Theodora were together in Berlin when they were visited by their mother Alice, who had been able to obtain a visa to get out of Greece temporarily. Alice wrote to their brother Philip, “Living in the country makes such a difference, where one can get butter, eggs and milk etc. You can imagine what joy it was to see them for three days & to get news of their husbands and children. They were looking so pretty and chic in haus clothes.”1 Margarita was back at Langenburg in April 1944 when she gave birth to twin boys.

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On 3 December 1944, Margarita’s father Andrew died suddenly in Monte Carlo, and Margarita was to receive 1/10th of his estate, but there wasn’t much left, and the debts were not resolved until 1947. Margarita and her surviving sisters came into some prominence when their younger brother Philip married the future Queen Elizabeth II. They had wanted to attend the wedding in 1947, but due to the anti-German sentiments at the time, it was decided that none of them would be invited to the wedding. Margarita, Sophie and Theodora went with Princess Elisabeth of Greece and Denmark (Countess of Törring-Jettenbach) – their first cousin – and the late Cecilie’s brother-in-law Louis and his wife Margaret to Marienburg where they celebrated the wedding together. Their mother Alice did attend the wedding, sitting on the north side of Westminster Abbey. She sent her daughters a 22-page description of the wedding.

In early 1948, Margarita took her three eldest children to visit her mother Alice in Athens. It was her first time there in ten years, and she was “radiantly happy.” Her mother declared her to be “expanded very much, her legs and arms very fat, but her face quite unchanged & very fresh.”2 When her sister-in-law succeeded as Queen in 1952, the sisters were invited to the coronation with their mother. On 2 June 1953, Margarita sat with her mother and sisters in the royal box behind the Queen Mother.

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On 11 May 1960, Margarita was widowed when Gottfried died after a few months of ill-health. Her mother had travelled to meet them, but she arrived too late – he had passed away earlier that day. Alice stayed until after the funeral. The titular title of Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg now passed to their eldest son Kraft. In the early hours of 24 January 1963, there was a great fire at Langenburg Palace, and Margarita’s private rooms were completely destroyed. She lost almost every personal possession she had – save the pearls she had inherited from her grandmother, which she had been wearing.

Margarita’s mother moved to London in her final years, and Margarita was able to visit her at Buckingham Palace. Theodora had been unwell as well during these years, and she died suddenly in a sanatorium on 16 October 1969. Alice followed just two months later, and she died on 5 December 1969. Margarita, Sophie and Philip walked behind the coffin.

By then, Margarita was a grandmother herself. Three of her five children went on to marry and have children. The eldest, Kraft, married Princess Charlotte of Croÿ, and they had two daughters and a son before divorcing in 1990. He remarried to Irma Pospesch in 1992. Georg Andreas married Princess Luise of Schönburg-Waldenburg, and they had two daughters together. Albrecht married Maria Hildegard- Fischer, and they had one son together.

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Margarita continued to attend family events, like the wedding of her niece and goddaughter Anne to Captain Mark Philips in 1973. Margarita died on 24 April 1981, and her funeral took place on 30 April. She was the third of Prince Philip’s sisters to die – Sophie would outlive her until 2001.

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Margarita of Greece and Denmark – A displaced Princess (Part one)

Margarita of Greece and Denmark was born on 18 April 1905 as the eldest daughter of Princess Alice of Battenberg and Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark. She was born at the Royal Palace in Athens at 1 a.m. Her grandmothers Princess Victoria and Queen Olga, were by her mother’s side during the long labour. Her father also witnessed part of the labour because his mother said, “It is only right that men should see the suffering they cause their wives and which they completely escape.”1

In August, Margarita was presented to other members of the family at Heiligenberg, and her aunt Louise commented, “The baby is so very nice. It smiles, laughs all day long and hardly ever cries.”2 Margarita was joined in the nursery by a younger sister named Theodora the following year. Cecilie was born in 1911, followed by Sophie in 1914 and finally, Philip in 1921.

Margarita and her siblings were in the care of a governess, who taught them English and Greek. They also did gymnastics in a long corridor of the palace.

In 1917, the family was forced into exile for the first time. Margarita’s uncle King Constantine I of Greece abdicated in favour of his second son Alexander and Andrew and Alice went to live in St Moritz in Switzerland. Their main base became the Grand Hotel in Lucerne. Life changed again when King Alexander died in 1920 and Constantine was restored as King. Margarita and the family settled at Mon Repos, where Prince Philip was born. In 1922, Margarita and her sisters were invited to be bridesmaids at the wedding of Edwina Ashley to their uncle Louis (later 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma). At the time, their grandmother described them as “quite natural and unaffected girls, really children, that do Alice credit, but though nice looking, they have merely the good looks of youth.”3

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More trouble was to come as King Constantine abdicated for a second time in 1922, now in favour of his eldest son George. It was arranged that the King and Queen would leave with Andrew, but he was not with them when they left. Alice and Andrew remained in Corfu with the children for now. Andrew was eventually arrested, leading to much worry. He was banished from Greece, and he gathered the family from Corfu, where Alice had hurriedly packed a few belongings. Baby Philip was carried in a cot made from an orange box. Margarita and Theodora were left in the care of their grandmother in England, while Alice took the younger three siblings to Paris into the care of Andrew’s sister-in-law Princess Marie Bonaparte, the wife of Prince George of Greece and Denmark. She loaned the family a house in France, where they would eventually live with the entire family.

Margarita and Theodora spent the autumn of 1923 at Kensington Palace, Christmas at Holkham and the new year at Sandringham. In January 1924, they attended the state opening of Parliament. In July, they were at the 30th birthday party of the Prince of Wales (future King Edward VIII) at Spencer House. However, as exiled Greek Princesses without money, they were hardly good catches, and it wasn’t until the end of the decade that either would find husbands.

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In February 1927, Margarita had met Prince Franz Ferdinand of Isembourg-Birstein, but he was a Roman Catholic, and Margarita did not want to change her religion. Eventually, the romance died down, and he ended up marrying Irina von Tolstoy in 1939. By the end of the 1920s, Margarita’s mother Alice was facing mental health issues, and she was eventually forcibly taken to a sanatorium. Margarita wrote to her grandmother Victoria, asking her to come over. This meant that Alice would miss the weddings of all four of her daughters. Cecilie became engaged to Georg Donatus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Hesse, while Sophie became engaged to Prince Christoph of Hesse.

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On 20 April 1931, Margarita married Prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who was also a descendant of Queen Victoria through her second son, Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He was also a descendant of Queen Victoria’s half-sister Princess Feodora of Leiningen. They were married at Langenburg. Tragically, Margarita’s first pregnancy in the stillbirth of a daughter on 3 December 1933.4 However, the following four pregnancies ended with five surviving children, including a set of twins: Prince Kraft (born 25 June 1935), Princess Beatrix (born 10 June 1936), Prince Georg Andreas (born 24 November 1938), Prince Rupprecht and Prince Albrecht (born 7 April 1944).

Tragedy struck the family in November 1937 when Margarita’s sister Cecilie was killed alongside her family in an aeroplane crash. The funeral took place on 23 November, and Margarita attended it with her husband. Margarita’s parents had grown apart, and Cecilie’s funeral was one of the first occasions where they were together again. Her aunt Louise later wrote, “As poor Margarita said, it is hard that Cecilie had to die to bring them together.”5 They never actually returned to living together.

Part two coming soon.

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Countess Cosel – The imprisoned love of King Augustus II of Saxony

Anna Constantia von Brockdorff was born in 1680 to parents Joachim von Brockdorff and Anna Margarethe Marselis. Her father was a knight from a noble family, whereas her mother came from a family of wealthy merchants, and their union was frowned upon by many.

Anna was raised in modern-day Holstein in Germany and was afforded an excellent education for the time; she was passionate about music, learned a number of languages and was educated in mathematics and classics. Anna also enjoyed hunting, smoking and playing with guns; her family worried about her often-reckless behaviour as a young teen.

In 1694, fourteen-year-old Anna was sent by her parents to be a lady in waiting at Gottorf Castle in Schleswig, where she would receive court training working for Sophie Amalie, the daughter of Christian Albert, Duke of Holstein-Gottorp. Anna then moved over 300km away to Wolfenbüttel, following Sophie Amalie after her marriage to Augustus William, the future Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Anna’s career at court was going well until she fell pregnant out of wedlock, and rumours circulated that the father of the child was Louis Rudolph, brother of Sophie Amalie’s husband. The child was born at court in 1702, and there are no records of whether it survived or what happened to it after that. Anna, however, was removed from her position after eight years and sent back to her parents.

Anna married in 1703 to a man she had been involved with for a while, Adolph Magnus von Hoym, who was a Saxon Privy Councillor and taxation director. The marriage meant another move, this time to Dresden. Unfortunately, the couple were divorced by 1706.

While Anna and Adolph were still married, Anna met somebody else, which led to the eventual breakdown of her marriage. In 1704, she met King Augustus II the Strong, who was the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, who became smitten with her straight away. Anna’s husband tried to stop the liaison, not out of jealousy, but because he did not believe his wife was fit to be an official mistress.

Augustus the Strong (Public Domain)

Augustus the Strong’s court in Poland had become notorious for scandal, and his wife Christiane refused to ever set foot there, living instead in a self-imposed exile in Saxony where she was known as “Saxony’s pillar of prayer.” Her pious lifestyle certainly did not fit with her husband’s, who was known for his extravagance and keeping many mistresses. With the Queen missing from the court, this left room for power and control of the household that could be vied for by an ambitious mistress. Unfortunately for Anna, Augustus already had a long-term mistress – the Princess of Teschen.

Anna may have won Augustus over by playing hard to get – after going through the birth of her illegitimate child and with her marriage breaking down, Anna told Augustus she was not happy to be just a mistress. After this, a secret contract was drawn up with the King, who proclaimed Anna as his spouse – in the contract, Augustus said he would be forever faithful to Anna. In 1705, seemingly sticking to his word, Augustus removed the Princess of Teschen from court and Anna was created the official mistress but felt like a true queen due to the secret contract. It appears that she believed that once Queen Christiane died, Augustus would marry her. Soon after this, Anna’s divorce was completed, she was given the Imperial title of Countess Cosel and was gifted Taschenberg Palace.

Anna and Augustus were together for seven years, and she was always by his side in day-to-day life and at official festivities. The pair were deeply in love and had three children together: Augusta, born in 1708, Frederika, born in 1709 and Frederick, born in 1712. Frederick went on to inherit the estate from Anna’s parents in later life.

Over time Anna became paranoid about Augustus leaving her and became very possessive. She employed spies to watch what Augustus was doing at all times in order to maintain her position. On one occasion, Augustus had to send Anna back to Dresden when she tried to follow him into battle with the Swedes while heavily pregnant. The only time Anna and Augustus were apart from each other was during Augustus’ meetings with his advisors, and true to Anna’s suspicions, Augustus used these meetings as a time to have sex with other women.

When Madame Cosel found out that Augustus had an affair in Warsaw, she said, “You promised me upon oath an everlasting fidelity. I will not suffer your abuses except your life pays for them. I am resolved to break your head with a pistol.” Here we can see that Anna did not let Augustus walk all over her, even if he was a King. When she found out that the woman later gave birth to Augustus’ child, Anna went into a rage and screamed, “let her drown it”, she threatened that she would personally strangle the mother and baby if Augustus acknowledged the child as his own.

Courtiers and the King’s ministers were getting fed up with the way that Madame Cosel interfered in politics and how she treated everyone, spying, plotting and flying into a rage whenever something did not go her way. In 1713, a coalition of ministers began to form a plan to remove her from the court and held a meeting to find a new mistress to lure the king away from Anna. Eventually, Countess Denhoff was selected as she would not be so meddlesome in politics. After figuring out what was happening, Augustus said, “till they find me better than Madame Denhoff, I doubt whether I shall be unfaithful to Madame Cosel’. Of course, the ministers did not give up and placed the pair together as often as possible until Augustus fell in love with Madame Denhoff. Anna heard of this from her spies and turned up in Warsaw, where Madame Denhoff pretended to be terrified that Anna would kill her so that the King sent a message to Anna telling her not to come to court. Upon receiving the message, Anna took out a gun and tried to shoot the messenger before finally retreating.

Anna at Stolpen Castle (public domain)

After this, the relationship was finally over, the King allowed Anna to live in Pillnitz Palace, which he gave to her, and she was afforded all of the luxuries she was used to for the next three years. After this, however, trouble began to circulate around Anna. She was involved with political factions again, and then she fled Pillnitz and headed to Berlin. Her aim in Berlin was to retrieve the original contract that Augustus gave to her. Sadly, Madame Cosel did not manage to get the document, and she was arrested.

After her arrest, Augustus agreed with his ministers that Anna would always cause him trouble. Anna was taken by force to the remote Stolpen Castle, a fortress outside of Dresden, on 24 December 1716. Here Anna was kept under extremely close watch with a large number of guards. In 1733, Augustus died, yet Anna still remained locked away in Stolpen Castle; there are stories of her being offered her freedom and refusing it after seventeen years, but there is no proof of this.

The once-powerful companion of King Augustus II and mother of three, Madame Cosel, never left the walls of Stolpen Castle again. Anna remained a prisoner for forty-nine years, dying aged 84 on 31 March 1765. 1

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The Year of the Duchess of Windsor – Her jewels

The Duchess of Windsor had an impressive jewellery collection that the Duke of Windsor gifted her throughout their marriage. The collection was so extensive that it was given the nickname “the alternative Crown Jewels.”

The Duchess had many extravagant jewellery items in her royal life – including a diamond, onyx and emerald panther bracelet; a ruby and sapphire flamingo brooch; an 18-carat gold and gem-set bib necklace by Cartier; and a diamond, ruby and emerald heart-shaped brooch made to commemorate her 20th wedding anniversary with the Duke of Windsor.

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Wallis’s collection had many emeralds, including a massive diamond and emerald necklace with the emeralds in a pearl shape and surrounded by smaller diamonds. She also had a smaller square emerald and diamond bracelet and brooch that she was photographed in, in the 1930s.

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Of course, the most famous of her emerald jewellery was her engagement ring – a 19.77-carat rectangular emerald set in platinum. It was made by Cartier, and the Duke of Windsor (then King Edward VIII) had “We are ours now 27 X 36” engraved inside the ring.

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After the Duchess of Windsor passed away in 1986, her collection of jewels went on sale the following year in Geneva, fetching $50 million (£30m). Around 200 pieces were sold in the world record-setting auction that included the famous engagement ring. The proceeds of the sale went to the Pasteur Institute in Paris.

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The two-day sale was hosted by Sotheby’s outside the Beau-Rivage hotel on 2 and 3 April 1987 and included a ruby and diamond bracelet the Duke of Windsor purchased for Wallis before she divorced Ernest Simpson; that bracelet had “hold tight” inscribed on the clasp. A cigarette case by Cartier was also sold that featured a map of their trips in the Mediterranean. A gem marked each spot where they stopped to visit.

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A diamond brooch in the shape of a plum fetched over $566,000 (£400,000); it was purchased by American actress Elizabeth Taylor. However, the item sold for the highest price was a 31-carat diamond ring that sold for $3.15m (£2m).

Since 1987, some of the items have been auctioned again – including in 2010 when the panther bracelet and flamingo brooch were re-sold.

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Hatshepsut’s body to be moved in Pharaohs’ Golden Parade

The mummy of one of Egypt’s most famous female pharaohs, Hatshepsut, is set to be moved in a grand parade in Cairo on 3 April organised by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities.

On Saturday, 22 mummies will be moved from the Egyptian Museum in Tahrir Square to a new home in Fustat’s National Museum of Egyptian Civilization. There are 18 pharaohs and four queens being transferred to their new permanent home. They will not go on display at the National Museum until two weeks after the transport.

Each mummy will have its own float with their name written in English, Arabic and ancient hieroglyph. Their journey will begin with a 21-gun salute and military music; it will also include performances from famous Egyptian actors. War chariots will also be on both sides of the road during the parade; they have been made especially for the once-in-a-lifetime event.

The parade is expected to take 40 minutes, but the entire event will be around 90 minutes long as there are events planned before and after the parade, according to the Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, Khaled El-Anani.

He said: “We want the world to see the beauty of Egypt’s civilisation, with the procession set to be dazzling, different from any other celebration, and among the most beautiful celebrations that the people of the world will see. Everything will start in the dark, then one building after another will be lit, and the lights of Tahrir Square, the lake, and the choir will be singing in the Ancient Egyptian language.”

Hatshepsut’s body is being moved alongside Ahmose Nefertari (wife of King Ahmose), Meritamun (wife of King Amenhotep I), and Queen Tiye.

Hatshepsut married her half-brother Thutmose II and co-reigned with him until his death in 1479 B.C. When he died, Hatshepsut was not yet 30-years-old. The couple only had one child together, a daughter named Neferure. Thutmose II had fathered a son – Thutmose III – by his lower wife, Isis. The young male heir was only two when his father passed, making his aunt and step-mother regent. Thutmose III co-reigned; however, historians have determined Hatshepsut was the clear principal ruler during the reign. At the time, Egyptian society was very male-dominated, and therefore, she surrounded herself with powerful civil, religious, and military personnel that would give her their support.

The mummies all date back to the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th dynasty and will also include the bodies of Ramses II, Ramses V, Seqenenre and Thutmose III.

The Pharoahs’ Golden Parade will begin in the morning at 8 am local time and be streamed live on Facebook.

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Diana, Princess of Wales’ former residence to be marked with a blue plaque

English Heritage will place a blue plaque outside Diana, Princess of Wales’ apartment at Coleherne Court in London. She lived in the apartment prior to her marriage to the Prince of Wales. She was nominated for the blue plaque by the London Assembly.

How very lovely that this blue plaque will be going up outside Coleherne Court – thank you, ⁦@EnglishHeritage⁩, for commemorating such a very happy place for Diana in this way. pic.twitter.com/FiDk3ZtLpG

— Charles Spencer (@cspencer1508) April 1, 2021

Anna Eavis, English Heritage’s Curatorial Director, said: “Since launching our ‘plaques for women’ campaign five years ago, we have received an increasing number of public nominations for female figures. In 2021, half of our new plaques will be dedicated to women, and women make up well over half of the cases currently in the pipeline. We still have a long way to go to address the gender imbalance that has ensued since the first blue plaque went up over 150 years ago but with the help of many excellent nominations from the British public, we are headed in the right direction.

“We are expecting our plaque to Diana, Princess of Wales to be very popular. She was an inspiration and cultural icon to many, raising awareness of issues including landmines and homelessness, and helping to destigmatise illnesses such as HIV, leprosy and depression. It seems fitting that we should erect a plaque commemorating her work and influence in what would have been her 60th year.”

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The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman Book Review

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The abdication of King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom shook the country to its core. Unable to marry the twice-divorced Wallis Simpson while also remaining as King and as head of the Church, he decided to abdicate.

The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication is meticulously researched, though this does lead to some dry material to digest. Nevertheless, I appreciate the attention to detail and the fact that it does not immediately condemn the Duchess of Windsor as an evil witch who stole a King. It was quite interesting to read what was actually required for a King to abdicate – he can’t just go ‘I’m not doing it anymore, bye!’

However, the book is rather focused on this one event and if you’re looking to read the whole story of Wallis and Edward – this isn’t the book for you. Overall, I’d recommend it if you’re looking for an in-depth look at the abdication itself.

The Crown in Crisis: Countdown to the Abdication by Alexander Larman is available now in the UK and the US.

 

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Dorothea of Courland – The evening of life (Part five)

Read part four here.

In France, she was welcomed by her son Louis, and she was also joined by her daughter Pauline with her husband Henri and newborn daughter Marie. Dorothea was delighted by her granddaughter, whom she described as “fair, fat, and fresh, always in a good temper, laughing and restless, a little angel…”1 She also wrote, “At one time I was able to do without children quite easily, but now I am entirely changed and feel that something is really wanting when one or more of these little people is not about me.”2 As she wanted, she spent the next few years dividing her time between Germany and France, though she eventually found herself drifting away from France.

Dorothea returned to Sagan in the 1840s and succeeded her sister as Duchess of Sagan (in Poland) after being invested with the powers and rights as the ruler of Sagan by the King of Prussia. The property had been sadly neglected, and Dorothea was received with much enthusiasm. From now on she would let the Talleyrand name go and styled herself as Duchess of Sagan. Her husband – still alive – had been long forgotten. Though she was now 50 years old, she was still beautiful, and in the spring of 1843, she met the much younger Prince Felix Lichnowsky. Until his death in 1848, they would constantly be together, and he paid her long visits in Sagan.

As revolution once more swept over Europe in 1848, the Duchess of Sagan was left untouched in her castle. She was a popular ruler, and her presence appeared to calm rather than inflame. In France, King Louis Philippe I was dethroned, and in Austria, the Emperor abdicated in favour of his young nephew. Her lover Prince Felix was caught up in the troubles, and he was attacked in the streets of Frankfurt. His companion was murdered on the spot, but Felix spent several agonising hours in pain before dying too. She never spoke again of Prince Felix in her surviving letters, though she did visit his tomb in Gratz. He left her everything he owned, and the revolution slowly faded out.

In 1855, Dorothea’s favourite grandchild Marie was 15 years old – quite old enough to be thinking of marriage. Her mother, Pauline – having been widowed in 1847 – spent her life in seclusion and prayer, and so it was up to Dorothea to find a suitable match. In fact, she already had one man in mind – Prince Antoine Radziwill. Their first meeting was rather lukewarm, but both seemed pleased, and a match appeared to be made. They were married in 1857, much to Dorothea’s delight.

Though Dorothea was not ready to retire from the world of courtly intrigue, her health began to catch up with her. She had recurrent trouble with her liver which caused her significant pain. In June 1861, her coach crashed during a violent storm, leaving Dorothea badly bruised and exposed to the elements for two hours. When she finally returned home to Sagan, she was running a fever and bleeding from the hail. Her life was feared for, but she pulled through, though she never fully recovered her old strength. In May 1862, she wrote, “For me, it is nothing but a mockery, for all that the sun shines on is my suffering which seems cruelly to wax at every instant. I have hardly a moment of real rest. For two days now I have gone out, but yesterday, after a drive round the park, I returned only to be seized by an agonising pain which now has just gripped me again…”3

The doctors recommended a water cure, but the journey caused her a lot of pain, and the treatment made her no better. She returned to Sagan in August, where doctors insisted that her life was not in danger. Dorothea knew that they were wrong. As her suffering continued, her family began to gather around her. Her eldest son and heir Louis was there, with his son Boson, along with Pauline’s daughter Marie. Pauline herself was practically an invalid and was unable to travel. Her second son Alexandre remained in Nice. Several other grandchildren were there as well. Dorothea wrote, “Now the evening of my life is wearing on, and not even the first stone of my château has been laid. I can have no hope but for a reunion in eternity.”4

On 19 September 1862, she was released from the agonising pains. She was buried in the Kreuzkirche in Sagan with her sister Pauline.

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Dorothea of Courland – An end and a beginning (Part four)

Read part three here.

In 1825, Dorothea thought it was time to finally have a home she could call her own, and she purchased the château of Rochecotte. It was to be her favourite home for the next twenty years. She spent years improving it and enlarging it. Charles had his own rooms there, and he liked visiting it. During these years, Dorothea often suffered from bouts of ill-health – mostly from rheumatism.

In 1829, Charles arranged for the marriage of Dorothea’s eldest son Louis (formerly Napoleon-Louis, but his first name was now quite out of favour!) to Mademoiselle Alix de Montmorency. Dorothea wrote to him, “She is the great match of the season, and Monsieur de Talleyrand (Charles) did not wish to let it escape from Louis whom he intends to vest with a magnificent fortune.”1 Louis was created Duke of Valençay by King Charles X and Charles passed the château to him. They were duly married on 26 February 1829.

It was almost as if this society wedding signalled Charles’ return to the political stage. The following year, King Charles X abdicated during the July Revolution, and the Duke of Orléans became Louis Philippe I, King of the French. In September, Dorothea arrived in Paris to pay homage to the new monarch and Charles was offered the job of Ambassador to the Court of St. James. He was rather hesitant, but Dorothea knew this was the right job for him and urged him to take it. At the end of September, both he and Dorothea were on their way to London.

The United Kingdom also had a brand new monarch – King William IV had become King upon the death of his brother on 26 June 1830. And William was very unhappy with Charles’ appointment as ambassador, while the new Queen “would have no time for any private meeting with the Dino.”2 Despite this, their reception was not quite as bad as expected. Dorothea was once more set to work as a hostess, and the embassy had to be the place to be. This she managed with flair, though the expense was such that they would leave much poorer four years later.

In November 1834, Charles left his post as ambassador – he had begun to feel his age; he was by then 80 years old. Dorothea was sad to leave and wrote, “Farewell to England but not to the memory of the four happy years which I have spent there… Farewell once more to this hospitable country which I leave with regrets and gratitude.”3 Shortly after the return to France, Dorothea’s first grandchild – a granddaughter named Yolande – tragically died at the age of two. Dorothea had never been a fan of her daughter-in-law, but the tragedy drew the two women closer – for a time. Dorothea’s youngest child Pauline had gone with them to England and was 15 upon their return to France – ready to enter society. However, Dorothea’s main concern was Charles’ failing health.

In the end, it was Charles’ forgotten wife Catherine who died before him on 9 December 1835. He only said, “That simplifies my position.”4 When Dorothea fell ill in December 1837, it even seemed he might outlive her. It appeared to have been some kind of stroke, but she recovered. On 17 May 1838, Dorothea and Pauline stood by his bedside as he died at the age of 84. It was the end of an era.

Dorothea was 44 years old at the time of Charles’ death. She wrote, “I have lost Monsieur de Talleyrand either fifteen years too late or fifteen years too soon; at an age when it is most difficult to begin life on a new footing.”5 With Charles’ death, her estranged husband Edmond succeeded to the title of Duke of Talleyrand (which had been ceded to Charles’ brother during Charles’ lifetime), making Dorothea Duchess of Talleyrand as well. Her first thought after Charles’ death was that she wanted to get out of Paris. She took Pauline to Baden to find some rest before she could decide what to do with the rest of her life. After two months, she returned to Paris – ready to face the administrative mess that was left behind.

The first task ahead was finding a husband for Pauline, and they found a suitable one in the form of Henri de Castellane. He was not only rich, but he also stood to inherit the title of marquis de Castellane. They were married in April 1839, leaving just Dorothea’s second son Alexandre unmarried. In October 1839, he married Valentine de Sainte-Aldegonde, though Dorothea was less than pleased with the match. With all her children now safely married, it was time to revisit her estates in Germany, which had prospered in her absence. The death of her sister Wilhelmina without heirs added an extra reason for her to visit Germany. Her estates had been left to the second sister Pauline.

Dorothea arrived in Berlin right around the time that King Frederick William III of Prussia died. Nevertheless, she was warmly received. A few days later, she continued on to Silesia, where she found letters she had written in her youth. She then leisurely travelled back to France, once again by way of Berlin. In Carlsbad, she found her two surviving sisters, Pauline and Jeanne, who had met up there for the summer. It had been 16 years since she had seen either of them, and it was rather awkward at first.

Dorothea decided she needed to be around family and began to divide her time between France and Germany – she considered herself a true European.

Part five coming soon.

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Dorothea of Courland – Becoming the Duchess of Dino (Part three)

Read part two here.

Dorothea accompanied Charles to the Congress of Vienna as he needed someone to play the part of hostess and his wife Catherine was off having an affair with someone else. Dorothea was ready for a change of scenery, but she would have to leave her two little sons behind. This would be her one regret – to leave them behind for an undetermined amount of time. Her marriage was already over, but they would remain officially married. The gossips of Paris were soon talking about Charles and Dorothea being an item, but it is unlikely their relationship was anything but platonic.

She made Kaunitz Palace the place to be while Charles negotiated his way to a favourable settlement for France. Dorothea handled the diversity of the many guests with ease. Charles grew to trust her, and she would leave Vienna as a trusted counsellor he could count on. At the end of 1814, Dorothea fell in love with a Count Clam-Martinitz, a major in the Austrian cavalry. He was only a year older than her and was considered to be one of the most brilliant young officers. They were soon an item, and they were seen together all over Vienna. Edmond heard of his wife’s behaviour in Vienna but decided he cared too little to challenge the Count to a duel.

In February 1815, Napoleon escaped from Elba and was soon advancing on Paris. It wasn’t until July that he was defeated for good. By then Dorothea had left Vienna and – unable to return to Paris – she visited her estates in Silesia (Poland). Charles went into exile with the King to Ghent, but Dorothea wrote, “Vienna. The whole of my destiny is contained in the name of this city. Here began my life of devotion to Monsieur de Talleyrand (Charles) and here that strange and unusual association was formed to which only death was able to put an end…”1

By July 1815, King Louis XVIII was able to return to Paris, and so Dorothea returned as well. Unwilling to live with Edmond, she installed herself on the first floor of Charles’s palace. Even Count Clam-Martinitz had come to Paris, and while she was in Vienna, her husband had cared little, but in Paris, the affair became somewhat of a scandal. It was later reported that a duel was fought and that “Périgord (Edmond) was wounded by a sabre-slash across the face and that the Courlands, including his wife, are delighted. It is known that she is already trying to get a separation from him.”2 At the beginning of November, Dorothea and Count Clam-Martinitz left together for Italy and then on to Vienna.

Charles immediately appealed for her to return, much to Dorothea’s surprise. It was a difficult choice for her. She had relished the power and influence in the life she had with Charles, but Count Clam-Martinitz offered a different kind of life. In addition, returning to Paris also meant seeing her children again. In the end, she chose Paris and her affair with Count Clam-Martinitz came to an end.

In April 1816, Dorothea and Charles set out to the château of Valençay, which took some 20 hours by coach from Paris. A room was even prepared for Dorothea’s mother. They did not stay in the country for long, and they were back in Paris by the winter. In December 1817, Charles was offered a dukedom by the King of the Two Sicilies, but as he was already satisfied with his princely title, he passed the honour to his nephew, making Dorothea a Duchess in the process as well. They were to be known as the Duke and Duchess of Dino. The following year, Dorothea applied for a separation of goods between herself and Edmond, which was granted just a few months later. Though their marriage was all but over, a little flame in 1820 caused Dorothea to fall pregnant again. She gave birth to a daughter named Pauline on 29 December 1820, but Edmond went away for good six months later.

However, the Parisian gossip machine immediately assumed that Charles was Pauline’s father, though of course, the situation does raise some questions. There is no strong evidence that their relationship was ever intimate and even the age difference was not that unusual for the time. In any case, Charles was always fond of Pauline. Society gossips and the press would for many years assume that Dorothea was Charles’ mistress. She later wrote, “Living as I have done in the house of Monsieur de Talleyrand (Charles) and in his confidence, how I could escape the licence of the Press and its attacks in this most libellous age of journalism? It was long before I got used to it. I used to be deeply wounded, very much upset and very unhappy, and I shall never become completely indifferent… However, as it would be equally absurd to allow one’s peace of mind to be at the mercy of people one despises, I have made up my mind to read nothing of this kind, and the more directly concerned I am, the less I want to know about it. I do not wish to know the evil which people think or say or write about me or about my friends.”3

In 1821, Dorothea’s mother fell ill and died a short while later. The grief she felt for her mother’s death came as a surprise to her as they had not been close in her childhood. She wrote, “I am deeply distressed. I have lost immensely, both for the present and for the future. She was very dear to my heart and always ready to extend a helping hand to revive, succour or defend.”4 Charles, who had been close to Dorothea’s mother, came to depend even more on Dorothea and also on Pauline.

For the next ten years, as Charles was out of favour with the regime, they settled into a routine. Dorothea and Charles continued to dream of returning to power and divided their time between Paris and Valençay.

Part four coming soon.

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