Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 163

Queen Wilhelmina – The first miscarriage

With Wilhelmina’s marriage to Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 7 February 1901, she and her mother both fervently prayed for healthy children to continue their line. Tragically, Wilhelmina would go on to suffer five miscarriages and only one healthy child was born to Wilhelmina and Henry.

At the end of August 1901, the first signs of pregnancy were showing, and Queen Wilhelmina wrote to her mother, “Don’t be frightened when you read in the papers tomorrow that I had to keep to my bed due to stomach issues. You cannot tell anyone, anyone, the true reason, please. I am still very uncertain.”1 It turned out to be a false alarm.

But she was a lot more certain a few months later. She reported to her mother in early November, “Now the newspapers are reporting that I am unwell, very interesting.”2 Just a week later, Wilhelmina suffered her first miscarriage. No clear cause could be identified, and both Henry and Emma rushed to be by Wilhelmina’s side. Doctors informed Wilhelmina that she should rest for at least four weeks but that there was no reason to fear that she would not become pregnant again.

Nevertheless, Wilhelmina was racked with guilt. She wrote to her mother, “You don’t know how sorry I was to have hurt you, you don’t know, and I think I am very, very ugly. It was all my own evil fault. I won’t write about it any more, loopholes and ‘buts’ won’t make it any better. I just wanted to say that it really messed with my head. Really, little mother, I am saddened by it.”3

Although Queen Wilhelmina made a full recovery, Christmas at court was quite austere that year.

The following year, Wilhelmina fell ill with typhoid fever and shortly after that, on 4 May 1902, gave birth to a premature stillborn son. On 23 July 1906, a third miscarriage followed. A fourth pregnancy ended in the birth of the future Queen Juliana on 30 April 1909. A fourth miscarriage followed on 23 January 1912. A fifth and final miscarriage took place on 20 October 1912. The cause of the miscarriages has not been identified, and we’ll probably never know for sure.

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The Year of Queen Wilhelmina – The first miscarriage

With Wilhelmina’s marriage to Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 7 February 1901, she and her mother both fervently prayed for healthy children to continue their line. Tragically, Wilhelmina would go on to suffer five miscarriages and only one healthy child was born to Wilhelmina and Henry.

At the end of August 1901, the first signs of pregnancy were showing, and Queen Wilhelmina wrote to her mother, “Don’t be frightened when you read in the papers tomorrow that I had to keep to my bed due to stomach issues. You cannot tell anyone, anyone, the true reason, please. I am still very uncertain.”1 It turned out to be a false alarm.

But she was a lot more certain a few months later. She reported to her mother in early November, “Now the newspapers are reporting that I am unwell, very interesting.”2 Just a week later, Wilhelmina suffered her first miscarriage. No clear cause could be identified, and both Henry and Emma rushed to be by Wilhelmina’s side. Doctors informed Wilhelmina that she should rest for at least four weeks but that there was no reason to fear that she would not become pregnant again.

Nevertheless, Wilhelmina was racked with guilt. She wrote to her mother, “You don’t know how sorry I was to have hurt you, you don’t know, and I think I am very, very ugly. It was all my own evil fault. I won’t write about it any more, loopholes and ‘buts’ won’t make it any better. I just wanted to say that it really messed with my head. Really, little mother, I am saddened by it.”3

Although Queen Wilhelmina made a full recovery, Christmas at court was quite austere that year.

The following year, Wilhelmina fell ill with typhoid fever and shortly after that, on 4 May 1902, gave birth to a premature stillborn son. On 23 July 1906, a third miscarriage followed. A fourth pregnancy ended in the birth of the future Queen Juliana on 30 April 1909. A fourth miscarriage followed on 23 January 1912. A fifth and final miscarriage took place on 20 October 1912. The cause of the miscarriages has not been identified, and we’ll probably never know for sure.

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Henriette Catherine of Nassau – The builder Princess

Henriette Catherine of Nassau was born in The Hague as the daughter of Frederick Henry, Prince of Orange and Amalia of Solms-Braunfels on 10 February 1637. She was their fourth surviving child and third daughter. Through her elder brother, the future William II, Prince of Orange, Henriette Catherine became a first cousin of King William III of England, Ireland and Scotland. Her baptism took place on 29 March in the court chapel of the Binnenhof. Her godparents were her elder brother William and her elder sister Louise Henriette – who were 11 and 10 years old respectively.

Henriette Catherine and Enno Louis (RP-P-OB-104.370 via Rijksmuseum – Public domain)

At the age of five, Henriette Catherine became engaged to the nine-year-old Enno Louis, the future Prince of East Frisia. When pressed to give her consent to a wedding at the age of 17, she refused to marry him, declaring she would rather die, and so the engagement was broken off. The future King Charles II of England asked for her hand in marriage, but at the time he had no realistic prospect of ever becoming King and her mother refused him. Reportedly, Henriette Catherine had been genuinely in love with him, and she kept his letters for a long time.

Henriette Catherine was known to be intelligent, and she showed an interest in literature and art, and she spent many hours in her father’s extensive library. She was still only ten years old when her father died in 1647, and her brother William became the new Prince of Orange. Tragedy struck just three years later when William died of smallpox at the age of 24 – leaving behind a pregnant wife. His son was born a week after his death.

On 6 July 1659, Henriette Catherine married John George II, the future Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. She had met him in Berlin the previous year. She received plenty of money for jewels, clothes and her maintenance from her family and was to have a personal household of 20 people. The wedding took place in Groningen in the north of the Netherlands, with reports stating that Henriette Catherine wore a diamond-encrusted coronet. From here, the couple departed for Anhalt-Dessau – in the east of Germany. Just one year after their marriage, John George’s father died, and he succeeded as the reigning Prince. However, he was often absent, and so Henriette Catherine acted as regent in his stead.

The family spent a lot of time in Berlin, and their first four children were born there. Unfortunately, their three elder children died in infancy. At least six more children followed, with a total of six children surviving to adulthood. Henriette Catherine watched over her household and the education of her children like a hawk.

Anhalt-Dessau had been much affected by war, and Henriette Catherine devoted her time to rebuilding the principality. She even brought over labourers and farmers from the Netherlands to introduce new farming techniques. She also had an orphanage and a house for elderly women built.

Never one to forget her heritage, Henriette Catherine turned the city of Nischwitz into Oranienbaum with the help of Dutch builder Cornelis Ryckwaert. Oranienbaum Palace still stands today with its Delft blue-tiled milk room in the basement. In 1675, Henriette Catherine learned of her mother’s death by letter and wrote back, “They had no small reason or cause to mourn a princess who has done so much for the state.”1 Henriette Catherine inherited a fourth of her mother’s estates including several valuable paintings and at least one painting that had been done by her beloved sister Louise Henriette.

In 1683, one of Henriette Catherine’s greatest wishes came true when her daughter Henrietta Amalia married her first cousin (the son of Henriette Catherine’s sister Albertine Agnes) Henry Casimir II, Prince of Nassau-Dietz. Henriette Catherine was widowed in 1693 when her husband passed away while in Berlin. Their only surviving son Leopold was still a minor, and Henriette Catherine was made regent for him. Her first act as regent was to order two years of mourning for her husband. She sent her son to join the Brandenburg army where he came to serve under his cousin the King-Stadtholder.

In 1696, Henriette Catherine temporarily transferred her regency to a counsel so that she could travel to the Netherlands. On 21 April, she reached Oranjewoud where she saw her sister Albertine Agnes. However, a happy meeting soon turned to anguish when it became clear that Albertine Agnes was dying. Henriette Catherine stood by her sister for three agonising weeks as she suffered, though her mind remained clear. Albertine Agnes died on 14 May at 3 in the afternoon. Henriette Catherine stayed at Oranjewoud until the end of June to attend the funeral before travelling on to Leeuwarden to be with her daughter Henriette Amalia. Tragically, she had been recently widowed, and she had recently given birth to a posthumous daughter. There is no doubt that Henriette Amalia much valued her mother advice regarding the regency she would now have to take on for her minor son Johan Willem Friso. Henriette Catherine returned home in the spring of 1697 and handed over the government to her son the following year.

Henriette Catherine was very much against the match her son had in mind. He wanted to marry the apothecary’s daughter Anna Louise Föhse, and he did so after reaching his majority. She was later raised to Imperial Princess by Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and she and Leopold went on to have ten children together, including his successor Leopold II, Prince of Anhalt-Dessau. Henriette Catherine withdrew from court life to Oranienbaum. From there, she oversaw the publication of her father’s memoirs.

Henriette Catherine died on 4 November 1708 in her beloved Oranienbaum. Her funeral followed 22 days later, and she was buried under the choir of the Stadtkirche in Dessau after a nightly procession lasting six hours. She was apparently buried with most of her correspondence, including King Charles’ letters.

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The Yolanda Chronicles – Tracing Yolanda through history (Part two)

This article was written by Carol.

Read part one here.

The name Yolanda frequently appears in the history books of the Middle Ages in Europe. It appears that almost all these Yolandas can be traced back to Yolanda of Guelders (c1090-1131), Countess of Hainault. In part one, we traced her descendants mainly through her great-grandaughter Yolanda of Flanders. Let’s return now to her other great-granddaughter, Yolanda of Coucy (1164-1222). She was the daughter of Agnes of Hainault and Raoul de Coucy, owner of the famous Castle of Coucy in France. She also married a grandson of King Louis VI, Robert II of Dreux and through her a French line of Yolandas descend. She was the mother of Robert III, Count of Dreux, Peter of Brittany and Yolanda of Dreux (1196-1240), among others.

Robert III’s grandson Robert IV, Count of Dreux, married Beatrice of Montfort. Their daughter Yolanda of Dreux (1263-1330) married King Alexander III of Scotland in 1285. The match was most likely made by Alexander’s mother, the Dowager Queen of Scotland, who was married to Beatrice’s step-father. Alexander was a widower whose children had all died; his heir was his young granddaughter, known as the Maid of Norway. He was looking for a son as well an alliance to shore up support against England. Just a few months after their marriage, Alexander was returning after dark from Edinburgh to join Yolanda for her birthday. Because it was a stormy night, his aides entreated him to wait until morning. Alexander was determined to continue and set off. Somehow he lost his way and was thrown from his horse. His body was found in the morning. It appeared that Yolanda was pregnant so the Scots were hopeful a son would be born. However, she either had a miscarriage, or the baby died. When the Maid of Norway also died, Scotland was plunged into a period of disarray.

Yolanda returned to France where she married Arthur II, Duke of Brittany. Arthur’s son and heir by his first wife, John III, Duke of Brittany, did not like his new step-mother. When Arthur died, John tried to have Yolanda’s marriage with his father annulled, and his step-siblings declared illegitimate. He did not have any heirs of his own, but he did not want Brittany to go to Yolanda’s children. Instead, his brother’s daughter came forward as his heir. On his death, this sparked the War of Breton Succession which lasted over 20 years and became embroiled in the Hundred years war between France and England. It was eventually settled in favour of Yolanda’s grandson John of Montfort.

Yolanda of Dreux and Arthur of Brittany’s daughter Joan married Robert of Flanders, a younger son of Robert III, Count of Flanders and Yolanda II, Countess of Nevers (1247-1280). This Yolanda was an heiress, descended from both Yolanda of Hainault and Yolanda of Coucy.

Joan of Brittany and Robert of Flanders’ daughter Yolanda of Flanders (1331-1395) married Henry IV, Count of Bar. Bar was strategically located, owing allegiance partly to the Holy Roman Emperor and partly to the French crown. Yolanda was just 18 with two young sons when her husband died. Yolanda was regent for her son and had to battle her in-laws who attempted to take the county. At one point, her husbands’ great-aunt, Joan of Bar, Countess of Salisbury convinced the French King John II to name her the regent instead of Yolanda. Rumour had it that Joan and John had an affair while John was being held for ransom in England after the Battle of Poitiers. Yolanda of Flanders fought back by marrying Philip, brother of King Charles II of Navarre. Since Charles and Philip were constantly warring against their cousins, the French Kings, this was considered a very provocative move. Yolanda was actually imprisoned by the King a couple of times. Things settled down with Yolanda’s son Robert marrying King John II’s daughter Marie. John even sweetened the deal by making Robert a Duke.

Robert I, Duke of Bar and Marie had a daughter, Yolanda of Bar (1365-1431), who married John I, King of Aragon and became known as Violant. When Violant arrived in Aragon, she was a young, pretty pampered princess interested in fashion and parties. However, by the time they inherited the throne of Aragon, it was clear that John was not well, perhaps suffering from epilepsy and his temperamental nature led to conflicts with the Aragon parliament. Violant vowed to give up all her luxuries in exchange for his health. She also was named Queen Lieutenant (regent) during periods of his illness, and her pragmatic approach helped resolve many issues.

In 1395, King John died with no son to succeed him. For quite some time, Violant claimed to be pregnant and thus tried to hold off her brother-in-law, Martin’s accession to the throne. When the pregnancy story was no longer credible, she tried to press her daughter’s claim, but this too was unsuccessful. She now turned her attention to the marriage of her daughter Yolanda of Aragon (1384-1442.) Yolanda of Aragon had initially turned down an offer from her cousin Louis of Anjou but now with diminished prospects took him up on it, marrying in 1400.

Yolanda of Aragon was now back in France, the birthplace of her mother. King Charles VI, the mad King of France, was on the throne, and the resulting lack of leadership plunged France into a civil war. Yolanda was in the thick of it for the next 40 years as peacemaker, diplomat and instigator in turn. She broke with the Burgundian faction from the beginning, ending the engagement of her son to John of Burgundy’s daughter and sending the 10-year-old Catherine back to her parents. She then made a pact with King Charles VI and Queen Isabeau and engaged her daughter Marie to their youngest son, Charles. Charles lived with her from the age of 11 and called her his “Bonne Mere.” After Charles’ two older brothers unexpectedly died, and he was now heir to the throne, she refused to return him to Queen Isabeau who had become aligned with the Burgundian/English faction.

She wrote: “We have not nurtured and cherished this one for you to make him die like his brothers, or go mad like his father, or to become English like you. I keep him for my own. Come and get him if you dare.” She was responsible for getting the parties to sign a peace treaty, but it did not hold. Nancy Goldstone’s book The Maid and the Queen makes the case that it is Yolanda who props up King Charles VII to continue to fight for his throne and it is Yolanda who is responsible for finding Joan of Arc to come to his aid. She is also known to have “borrowed” the famous illuminated manuscript “Les Tres Riches Heures du Duc de Berri “ when the Duke died and then failing to return it. Eventually, she sent some paltry sum along to his heirs. She became known as the Queen of Four Kingdoms based on Louis’ claim to Naples, Sicily and Jerusalem and hers to Aragon although they did not control any of these. In addition to the Goldstone book, you can read more about her in Princess Michael of Kent’s historical novel The Queen of Four Kingdoms.

Eventually, Yolanda’s daughter Marie and Charles of France became King and Queen of France. Their daughter, Yolanda of France (1434-1478), married Amadeus IX, Duke of Savoy. Amadeus is thought to have been epileptic, and much of the administration of Savoy fell on Yolanda, particularly after Amadeus’s early death when she served as regent for her son. She is known for turning the Savoy castle of Moncalieri into a Renaissance palace, being devout and literary (she would travel with the Shroud of Turin), and for having been the first to own a tiger in Europe.

Her granddaughter, Yolanda Louise of Savoy (1487-1499), inherited all her father’s titles, including the titular claims of the Kingdoms of Cyprus, Jerusalem and Armenia, when her older brother died from a fall at Moncalieri. Although she was only nine, her uncle quickly married her to his son and grabbed the title Duke of Savoy for himself. Within months he too was dead. Tragically, she would die at the age of 12.

Another granddaughter of Yolanda of Aragon (Queen of Four Kingdoms) was Yolanda of Lorraine (1428-1453). She inherited both the Duchy of Lorraine from her mother and the Duchy of Bar from her father, Rene of Anjou. She married her cousin, Frederick of Vaudemont, to still the competing claim to Lorraine. Her younger sister was Margaret of Anjou, Queen of England The 19th-century play King Rene’s Daughter is a fictional account of Yolanda of Lorraine’s life that was then adapted by Tchaikovsky into his opera Iolanthe.

The last group of Yolandas descended from Peter of Brittany, younger son of Yolanda of Coucy. His daughter Yolanda of Brittany (c.1218-1272) was a prize on the marriage market back in the 13th century. At various times she was engaged to King Henry III of England (twice), John, the younger brother of King Louis IX, of France and the Count of Champagne. Eventually, she married Hugh of Lusignan who was a half brother of King Henry III of England. The Lusignans were a powerful family both in England and France.

Yolanda was Countess of Penthievre in her own right and Countess of La Marche and Angouleme through her marriage. Her granddaughter, Yolanda of Lusignan (1257-1314), became Countess of Lusignan and La Marche in her own right. The Yolandas in this line continue for another eight generations through to Yolanda Juvenal des Ursins who lived in the late 15th century and was a niece of the chronicler, Jean Juvenal des Ursins, who oversaw the 1455 trial that rehabilitated Joan of Arc.

Four hundred years later, European nobility seemed to move on from naming their daughters Yolanda. But if you are reading about a Yolanda during the Middle Ages, give a thought to Yolanda of Guelders who caused a scandal with her marriage back in the 1100s and spawned a total of 43 namesakes through 17 generations.

The post The Yolanda Chronicles – Tracing Yolanda through history (Part two) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The wedding of Wilhelm and Hermine – A most unwelcome match

On 5 November 1922, an exiled Emperor married a widowed Princess 30 years his junior. It was the wedding of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and Princess Hermine Reuss of Greiz (also known as Princess of Schönaich-Carolath by her first marriage).

Wilhelm had only been widowed a little over a year, and his family was vehemently against him remarrying, especially so soon. His only daughter Victoria Louise claimed that her pregnancy made it impossible for her to travel, but she also added, “But it not possible for me to come to Doorn and take part in the wedding celebrations in the same house where mother suffered so dreadfully, and from where she departed from us. I could have no joy in a celebration such as is demanded of me. I beg you with my whole heart not to take offence at my candid words, and that you should understand my feelings fully.”1

In the end, only Wilhelm’s eldest son Crown Prince Wilhelm, younger sons Eitel Friedrich and August Wilhelm, his sister Viktoria, his sister Margaret and his brother Heinrich attended from his side of the family.

Embed from Getty Images

The inscription here appears to be incorrect as they are in their wedding clothes.

At 11.15 in the morning, Hermine and Wilhelm were married at Huis Doorn with the civil ceremony being performed by the Mayor of Doorn and the religious ceremony being performed by Dr Vogel. Wilhelm wore the grey uniform of a general in the First Regiment of Guard with the orange sash of the High Order of the Black Eagle while Hermine wore a chiffon mauve dress with an heirloom emerald necklace, a stole and a black and white hat. She also carried a fan of ostrich feathers. Their weddings bands were plain golden bands with the inscription: “5 XI 1922 Wilhelm Doorn, Hermine Doorn.”

Heinrich toasted the new couple, “to the health and of His Majesty the Emperor and King and Her Majesty the Empress and Queen.” If it wasn’t clear before, Wilhelm intended for Hermine to be styled as Empress, no matter what anyone thought.

Meanwhile, a wreath delivered to the tomb of Wilhelm’s first wife in Potsdam with the words, “To the silent sufferer. 5 November.” Somebody was very cross, indeed.

Wilhelm later stated, “The people who criticised my remarriage could not fathom the awful solitude that hung over my life like a pall. What do they know of my feelings? How can they realise what it means to a man, who ruled the German Empire for thirty years, to be separated from his native land by an alien border?”2

Hermine: An Empress in Exile will be released on 11 December 2020.

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The Yolanda Chronicles – Tracing Yolanda through history (Part one)

The article was written by Carol.

Have you ever wondered why so many European medieval noblewomen were called Yolanda? Well, I did, and I discovered that most of them can be traced back to one ancestress, Yolanda of Guelders (c1090-1131), also known as Yolanda of Wassenberg.

Yolanda had one daughter named Yolanda, two granddaughters named Yolanda and two great-granddaughters named Yolanda: Yolanda of Flanders and Yolanda of Coucy. From these women, at least 43 additional Yolandas can be counted among her descendants. Through the generations, parents continued to name their daughters after their mothers, grandmothers, and aunts named Yolanda. Their lives illustrate how European nobility used marriages for strategic advantage, sending their daughters to foreign lands to fend for themselves.

Yolanda of Guelders was the second daughter of Gerard I, Count of Guelders. Around 1108, she married Baldwin III, Count of Hainault. Baldwin broke his engagement to Adelaide of Maurienne in order to marry Yolanda. Adelaide’s aunt, Clementia of Burgundy, the Countess of Flanders, was incensed at what she called this insult from “so small a count.” Clementia went so far as to take the matter to the Pope, who happened to be her brother. Baldwin was called to a hearing, but the Pope ruled that there was nothing to be done since the marriage was a done deal. (Adelaide ended up marrying King Louis VI of France and was said to have “rejoiced to be Queen of France rather than Countess of Hainault.”) Perhaps this was a love match, or perhaps the alliance with Guelders was important to Baldwin. Yolanda would also have been seen as a prestigious bride because she could trace her descent from Charlemagne, a still valuable asset at the time. When Baldwin III died in 1120, Yolanda became regent of Hainault for her young son Baldwin IV. She married a second time to Godfrey de Ribemont of Valenciennes and had two more children. She was also credited with the founding of the town of Binche in Belgium, now known for its Shrove Tuesday festivities.

Yolanda’s son Baldwin IV married Alice of Namur around 1130. They had eight children together, the eldest was a daughter named Yolanda of Hainault (1131-1202). Giselbert of Mons, who chronicled Baldwin IV’s reign, mentioned Yolanda of Hainault frequently as being among the most beautiful women in Europe. Yolanda married first Ivo of Soissons and later Hugh, Count of St. Pol. Hugh participated in the 3rd and 4th crusades and died in Constantinople in 1205. She had two daughters with Hugh.

Baldwin IV’s heir was his son Baldwin V, Count of Hainault. Baldwin V reunited Hainault and Flanders by marrying the Flanders heir, Margaret. Their second daughter, known as Yolanda of Flanders (1175-1219) married Peter of Courtenay, grandson of King Louis VI of France (yes, Adelaide’s grandson!). Her two brothers, Baldwin and Henry, were both Latin Emperors in Constantinople. When Henry died, Yolanda’s husband Peter was chosen as the next emperor. Peter disappeared en route to Constantinople (presumably killed). Yolanda of Flanders had gone ahead to Constantinople, and while waiting for him, she served as Regent, making peace with Theodore Laskaris of Nicea, to whom she married one of her daughters. Eventually, when it was clear Peter would not be returning, she ruled in her own right. She died shortly after that in 1219.

Earlier, Yolanda’s brother Henry, while he was Emperor, had arranged the marriage of Yolanda’s daughter Yolanda of Courtenay (c.1200-1233) to King Andrew II of Hungary. Hungary was an important ally for the crusaders as the route to the east went through Hungary. Yolanda of Courtenay married Andrew in 1215. She was only 15 or so and had a lot to deal with. Her predecessor, Andrew’s first wife, had recently been murdered by angry Hungarian nobles. She was crowned Queen Consort, but the authority for this was immediately questioned by one of the Bishops, and the Pope had to intervene. And her husband, who thought he was going to be named Latin Emperor, lost out on the job to her father. However, she appears to have been a good step-mother to Andrew’s children and his son King Bela IV named a daughter after her.

Yolanda and Andrew had only one daughter, Yolanda of Hungary (c.1215-1251), who married King James I of Aragon. Yolanda of Hungary (known as Violant in Spanish) was King James’ second wife. She was considered smart and statesmanlike and had a great deal of influence on her husband’s policies. She was at James’ side as they rode into Valencia on 9 October 1238 having expelled the Moors. October 9 is still celebrated today in Valencia. Her insistence that her children each be provided with territory caused much uncertainty as James constantly rewrote his will divvying up his Kingdom in different ways, none of which were popular with the Aragonese. In some ways, her death created stability in Aragon.

Their eldest daughter, Violant of Aragon (1236-1301), was Queen Consort of Castile and León. She had been married to King Alfonso X of Castile in order to create a truce between Aragon and Castile who were each trying to expand its borders by overpowering their neighbours. Alfonso used his wife as an intermediary when trying to get James to support his warfare. James himself said: “he could not say no to his daughter, even when he wished to say no to her husband.” When Alfonso died, a dispute arose about the succession. Alfonso and Violant’s oldest son had predeceased his father but had left two minor sons. Their second son Sancho claimed the throne over his nephews. Violant of Aragon was forced to flee with her grandchildren to her brother’s court in Aragon. Sancho made a deal with her bother King Pedro II of Aragon whereby the children were kept virtual prisoners in the fortress of Xativa. Some say Violant was bribed as well to acquiesce. They never regained their inheritance.

Alfonso and Violant’s daughter Beatrice of Castile married William VII, Marquess of Montferrat. Montferrat was strategically placed in what is now northern Italy. To counter the French who were attempting to control the area, William allied with Castile and for a time was successful in expanding his control over much of Lombardy including Milan. Their daughter Yolanda of Montferrat (1274-1317) was married to the Byzantine Emperor Andronikos II of Palaiologos in 1284. Yolanda of Montferrat took the name Irene and became Empress Irene. Similar to her great grandmother, Empress Irene wanted the empire divvied up for her children at the expense of the Emperor’s sons by his first wife. This was in conflict with the Eastern customs. Her aggressiveness on this topic eventually led to the collapse of her marriage, and she retired to her own court in Thessaloniki, which the Montferrat family still claimed in descent from the crusader Boniface of Montferrat.

Irene’s son Theodore eventually inherited Montferrat. He married his daughter Yolanda of Montferrat (1318-1342) to Aimery of Savoy in an effort to make peace between Savoy and Montferrat. One of the provisions was that in the event the male line of Montferrat died out, the Duchy of Montferrat would become part of Savoy. Two hundred years later this came to pass, but when Yolanda of Montferrat’s descendant Charles III, Duke of Savoy tried to incorporate Montferrat, he was overruled by the much more powerful Emperor Charles V.

Yolanda of Montferrat and Aimery of Savoy’s daughter Bianca married Gian Galeazzo Visconti of Milan. Their daughter Violante Visconti (Italian for Yolanda) (1354-1386) married King Edward III of England’s son Lionel of Clarence. Gian Galeazzo was looking to buy his way into European royalty. He had married his son into the French royal family, and now with his daughter, he was buying himself an alliance with the King of England. Edward III, for his part, needed money for his war with France. The chronicler Froissart, who was a guest at the wedding, gives a detailed description of the lavish marriage ceremony and the excess of gifts and food. Unfortunately, Lionel died within months of the ceremony – not a good return on investment for Gian Galeazzo. Violante married again to her cousin Secondotto, Marquis of Montferrat. Secondotto was an unpleasant fellow who according to Barbara Tuchman “was given to strangling boy servants with his own hands.” He soon turned against his father-in-law and died shortly after that, perhaps at the hands of the Visconti. Her third marriage in 1381 was to another cousin who was soon killed by her brother. She died aged 32, three times a widow. This line of Yolandas thus ended after nearly 300 years.

Stay tuned for part two which will follow Yolanda of Coucy’s descendants, the French Yolandas.

The post The Yolanda Chronicles – Tracing Yolanda through history (Part one) appeared first on History of Royal Women.

The Year of Queen Wilhelmina – Queen Wilhelmina and Arkansas

The last place one would expect to see a connection to Queen Wilhelmina would be the southern US state of Arkansas. However, surprisingly, the state has a national park named in her honour. 

Arkansas has a state park called Queen Wilhelmina State Park, which was named after the Wilhelmenia Inn at the top of Rich Mountain. The inn was financed by business people from Amsterdam in 1898; the Queen reportedly put in a good word in Spain that helped the inn get financed. Her help with financing and the fact that the inn opened in the year that she no longer needed a regent meant that it was named after the Dutch monarch. A set of rooms were even reserved for the Queen in the hopes that she would one day visit, but unfortunately, a visit never came. 

(By Michael Barera, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons)

An article was also written in the Arkansas Gazette about how the Queen was under threat of being overthrown by the Bolsheviks in 1918. It featured a large photo of Queen Wilhemenia holding a toddler future Queen Juliana under the title “Dutch Queen May Lose Her Throne: Bolshevism Has Become Exceedingly Formidable Menace in Holland” on the front page.

Other articles followed on the story to keep Arkansanians updated on the issue. A later article focused on the piece in the Gazette and the fascination with Wilhemina and how the park and lodge came to be named after the Queen.

It is not just news articles in Arkansas, the website for Queen Wilhelmenia State Park also provides a detailed explanation of how the park and inn got their name and its connection to the Netherlands. 

A full history of the park can be read here.

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The Queen’s Sisters by Sarah J. Hodder Book Review

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When King Edward IV of England married the widowed Elizabeth Woodville, she came with a big family, including many sisters. Having their sister as Queen meant that the sisters were mostly conveniently married off into the high-status noble families.

The Queen’s Sisters by Sarah J. Hodder delves into the lives of Elizabeth’s sister as they lived by her side through the English court’s ups and downs. Despite being born the daughters of Jacquetta of Luxembourg, who had been born into a high-status family and was by her first marriage a Royal Duchess – very little is actually recorded about their lives.

This tragically means that the book is very thin and also has quite a bit of guesswork to it. There is, unfortunately, no escaping this when writing about women, so much has been lost to us. I enjoyed the light writing style and the book’s attempt to fill a void. We can only wish it could have been longer.

The Queen’s Sisters by Sarah J. Hodder is available now in the UK and the US.

The post The Queen’s Sisters by Sarah J. Hodder Book Review appeared first on History of Royal Women.

Princess Charlotte of Cambridge – Her young life so far

On 2 May 2015, the Duchess of Cambridge was admitted to the Lindo Wing at St Mary’s Hospital in London, and at 8.34 am, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge’s second child and only daughter was born. The new royal baby weighed 8lb 3oz and was fourth in the line of succession from birth. Because of the Act of Succession 2013, she could no longer be passed in the line of succession by a younger brother, and in 2018, she became the first British princess to not lose her place in the line of succession due to the birth of a younger brother.

A few hours after her birth, the Duke of Cambridge brought the almost two-year-old Prince George to the hospital to meet his new little sister, and then a few hours after that, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge introduced their baby girl to the world and took her home to Kensington Palace.

Two days after her birth, the Cambridges announced that the princess had been named Charlotte Elizabeth Diana and would be known as Princess Charlotte of Cambridge. Her first name honours her paternal grandfather, Prince Charles and is the middle name of her maternal aunt, Pippa Matthews; her middle names honour The Queen (her paternal great-grandmother) and the late Diana, Princess of Wales (her paternal grandmother).

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Her birth was registered on 5 May after the Duke of Cambridge signed the birth register at Kensington Palace.

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Princess Charlotte was christened on 5 July at St Mary Magdalene Church by the Archbishop of Canterbury. Her godparents were announced that morning as her mother’s cousin, Adam Middleton; her father’s maternal cousin, Laura Fellowes; and friends of the family, Thomas van Straubenzee, James Meade, and Sophie Carter. Following tradition, she wore the Royal Family’s christening gown.

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Charlotte’s first public appearance was on the balcony at Buckingham Palace for Trooping the Colour in June 2016, and later that year she joined her parents and brother on a tour of Canada. The following year the family undertook a tour of Germany and Poland. When her younger brother, Prince Louis, was born in 2018, she and Prince George were brought to the hospital to meet their brother. She charmed the media with her confident waves as she entered the Lindo Wing while Prince George was shyer.

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The Princess began her schooling at Willcocks Nursery School in January 2018 before joining her big brother at Thomas’s School in September 2019. The duo was forced to be homeschooled during the COVID-19 pandemic when the UK was on lockdown in early 2020, but they went back to school in person in the autumn of 2020.

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Sir David Attenborough, we've got some questions for you…

The Crown Season 4 | Official Trailer

With just two weeks to go until the release of season 4 of The Crown – enjoy the official trailer.

The post The Crown Season 4 | Official Trailer appeared first on History of Royal Women.