Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 175

María Teresa Mestre y Batista – The Cuban-born Grand Duchess

Maria Teresa, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg, was born María Teresa Mestre y Batista on 22 March 1956 in Havana, Cuba as the daughter of José Antonio Mestre y Álvarez and María Teresa Batista y Falla de Mestre. She has two brothers and a sister.

She and her family fled Cuba during the revolution led by Fidel Castro in 1960 and settled in New York, where she attended Marymount school. In 1965, the family moved to Geneva, and she continued her studied at the Marie-José Institute in Gstaad. She then attended a boarding school in Geneva where she passed the French baccalaureate in June 1975. She enrolled at the University of Geneva where she obtained a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science in 1980.

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Maria Teresa met her future husband, then The Hereditary Grand Duke of Luxembourg, at the University of Geneva, where they took the same course. Their engagement was announced on 7 November 1980, shortly after they both graduated. Their wedding took place on 14 February 1981, and Matia Teresa became Her Royal Highness The Hereditary Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. They went on to have five children together: Guillaume (born 11 November 1981), Félix (born 3 June 1984), Louis (born 3 August 1986), Alexandra (born 16 February 1991) and Sébastien (born 16 April 1992). Her reception into the family was said to be rather lukewarm, and Maria Teresa would later disclose that her mother-in-law called her “the little Cuban.”1 When reporting on their wedding day, the New York Times wrote that it was raised that there were “some doubts as to her suitability as a future Grand Duchess.”2

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On 7 October 2000, Grand Duke Jean abdicated in favour of Henri, making Maria Teresa Grand Duchess of Luxembourg. She is also the grandmother of five grandchildren, Prince Gabriel (born 2006) and Prince Noah (born 2007) – the sons of Prince Louis -, Princess Amalia (born 2014) and Prince Liam (born 2016) – the children of Prince Félix – and Prince Charles (born 2020) – the son of the Hereditary Grand Duke.

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Soon after they were married Maria Teresa and her husband established The Prince Henri and Princess Maria Teresa Foundation to help those with special needs, followed by the launching of The Grand Duke and Grand Duchess Foundation. In 2004, the two foundations became The Grand Duke Henri and the Grand Duchess Maria Teresa Foundation. Maria Teresa was made a special ambassador to UNESCO in 1997 and in 2007, she was appointed UNICEF Eminent Advocate for Children, for which she made several overseas visits. She is also the president of the Luxembourg Red Cross and the Cancer Foundation and a member of the Honorary Board of the International Paralympic Committee.

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In 2020, the Grand Ducal Court was rocked by the Waringo report, which revealed a culture of fear at the court and a high turnover of staff, with Maria Teresa’s high involvement in personnel management.

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Queen Dowager Zhao – The scandalous mother of the first Qin Emperor

Queen Dowager Zhao’s life was full of turbulence and scandal. She lived during the Warring States period. The Warring States period was a time when the seven states of China–Qin, Chu, Zhao, Wei, Han, Yan, and Qi–declared independence from the ruling Zhou dynasty and warred with each other.[1] Zhao Ji was a dancer and singer from Zhao. She was once a concubine of Lu Buwei, but she happened to catch the eye of the hostage Qin prince, Zhi Chu. Prince Zhi Chu married her, and when he became King of Qin, he made her his Queen. However, Zhao Ji’s greatest legacy was not that she rose from humble beginnings, but that she was the mother of Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi. Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi reunited all of China and became the first Emperor of the Qin dynasty.

Zhao Ji’s earlier origins are currently unknown. She was born and grew up in Zhao.[2] Zhao Ji was known to be a very beautiful singer and dancer.[3] She became a concubine of Lu Buwei, a wealthy merchant.[4] However, Zhao Ji happened to catch the eye of Lu Buwei’s best friend, Prince Zhi Chu, who was the grandson of the Qin ruler and Zhao’s hostage.[5] The moment she began to perform for them, Prince Zhi Chu was immediately smitten with her and asked Lu Buwei to give her to him.[6]

Zhao Ji was given to Prince Zhi Chu and lived with him for several years in Zhao.[7] She gave him a son named Ying Zheng, the future Emperor Qin Shi Huangdi, in 259 B.C.[8] Ancient sources state that Zhao Ji was having an affair with Lu Buwei behind Prince Zhi Chu’s back and that Ying Zheng was actually Lu Buwei’s son.[9] However, modern historians believe that Zhao Ji’s alleged affair with Lu Buwei is a fabrication that was made to discredit Ying Zheng’s legitimacy because he was hated during his lifetime for conquering all seven states.[10]

Zhao Ji would soon learn that being Prince Zhi Chu’s wife was dangerous. The states of Qin and Zhao had been hostile to each other for two years. When Qin attacked Handan city, the Zhao court became infuriated and decided to kill their hostage Prince.[11] However, Lu Buwei helped Prince Zhi Chu escape, where he made his way back home to Qin.[12] He left behind Zhao Ji and his son, Ying Zheng, both of whom were at the mercy of the Zhao court. Over the years, Lu Buwei helped Zhao Ji’s parents rise to wealth and influence.[13]  Their prominence helped them to lobby for the release of their daughter and grandson and arranged for them to go into hiding.[14] They were released and lived close to another royal hostage, a Prince from Yan. He quickly became best friends with Ying Zheng.[15]

In 251 B. C., King Zao of Qin died, leaving his son, Prince An Guo as the new king.[16] This made Prince Zhi Chu Crown Prince. As Crown Prince, Prince Zhi Chu requested the return of his wife and son.[17] His father agreed and gave Zhao Ji and Ying Zheng an official escort to Qin.[18] King An Guo ruled for a year until he died of illness. King An Guo’s death made Prince Zhi Chu the next King of Qin. Zhao Ji was named Queen of Qin, and Ying Zheng became Crown Prince.[19] Because Lu Buwei had helped him escape to Qin, King Zhi Chu awarded him a large fiefdom and made him his prime minister. [20] 

King Zhi Chu died three years later, leaving his Kingdom to his thirteen-year-old son, Ying Zheng, to the throne.[21] Because Ying Zheng was a minor, Zhao Ji became Queen dowager and ruled as regent in his stead. Lu Buwei still kept his position as prime minister.[22] It is at this point in history that ancient sources state that Lu Buwei reignited his affair with Zhao Ji.[23] As King Ying Zheng grew up, he began to suspect the prime minister’s affair with his mother.[24] To keep himself safe from suspicions, Lu Buwei appointed Lao Ai to be Zhao Ji’s lover.[25] It was said that Lao Ai had great power, but he was not intelligent.[26] Nevertheless, Zhao Ji was said to have fallen in love with him and bore him two sons.[27] 

When Ying Zheng learned of his mother’s affair with Lao Ai, he was furious. He killed Lao Ai and sent Zhao Ji to a crumbling palace in Yong (modern-day Fengxiang County in Shaanxi).[28] Zhao Ji was eventually recalled back to court when a visitor from Qi told the Emperor that exiling his mother would give the other states a negative image of him.[29] King Ying Zheng built his mother a palace where one source claims that she was placed under house arrest until her death which occurred seventeen years later.[30] However, another source claims she lived in “comfort and security” [31] until she died in 228 B.C. As for Lu Buwei, he was also implicated in Zhao Ji’s scandal with Lao Ai, but he was pardoned because of his contribution to saving King Zhi Chu.[32] However, he suspected that King Ying Zheng would dispose of him, so he committed suicide by consuming poison in 235 B.C.[33]

Zhao Ji is mostly known in history for her affairs with both Lu Buwei and Lao Ai. Historians believe that her promiscuity traumatized her son so much that he was never able to appoint an Empress or trust another woman again.[34] Still, Zhao Ji’s story has managed to become a popular figure in Chinese culture. She has appeared in the popular manga, Kingdom. She was played by Gong Li in the 1998 movie, The Emperor and the Assassin and by Chen Yisha in the 2017 hit tv series, The King’s Woman. She was also the main subject in the popular 2019 tv series, The Legend of Haolan played by The Story of Yanxi Palace’s star, Wu Jinyan. Zhao Ji’s story has managed to fascinate people’s imaginations for two millennia, and her enduring legacy will continue to live on.

References:

Chen, Xirui. “The Ideology and Significance of the Legalists School and the School of Diplomacy in the Warring States Period.” 4th International Conference on Modern

Management, Education Technology and Social Science (MMETSS 2019). Atlantis Press, 2019.

Lee, Lily Xiao Hong; Stefanowska, A. D.; Wiles, Sue. Biographical Dictionary of Chinese Women: Antiquity Through Sui, 1600 B.C.E. – 618 C.E. Routledge, 2015.

Mah, Adeline Yen. A Thousand Pieces of Gold: Growing Up Through China’s Proverbs. Published by HarperCollins, 2003.

“Why Did Emperor Qin Shi Huang Not Determine the Empress?” Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s Empress, Why Qin Shi Huang Didn’t Determine Empress?, Travel China Guide, 19

June 2019, https://www.travelchinaguide.com/attr....

[1] Chen, p. 593

[2] Lee, p. 251

[3] Lee, p. 251; Mah, p. 24

[4] Lee, p. 251; Mah, p. 24

[5] Mah, p. 24

[6] Mah, pp. 24-25; Lee, p. 252

[7] Lee, p. 252

[8] Lee, p. 252

[9] Lee, p. 252

[10] Lee, p. 252

[11] Mah, p. 25

[12] Lee, p. 252

[13] Mah, p. 26

[14] Mah, p. 26

[15] Mah, p. 26

[16] Mah, p. 30

[17] Mah, p. 30

[18] Mah, p. 30

[19] Mah, p. 30

[20] Lee, p. 252

[21] Lee, p. 252

[22] Lee, p. 252

[23] Lee, pp. 252

[24] Lee, pp. 252

[25] Lee, p. 252

[26] Lee, p. 252

[27] Lee, p. 252

[28] Lee, p. 252

[29] Lee, p. 252; Mah, p. 33

[30] Mah, p. 33

[31] Lee, pp. 252-253

[32] Lee, p. 253

[33] Lee, p. 253; Mah, p. 34

[34] “Why Did Emperor Qin Shi Huang Not Determine an Empress,” para. 3

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Pauline of Orange-Nassau – A forgotten Princess

Princess Pauline of Orange-Nassau was born on 1 March 1800 as the third child and eldest daughter of Wilhelmina of Prussia and the future King William I of the Netherlands, known as the Prince of Orange at the time. She was born in Berlin, where the family was living in exile after the French First Republic had declared war on the stadtholder of the Dutch Republic. Her elder brothers were the future King William II of the Netherlands and Prince Frederick. A sister named Marianne would be born in 1810.

Her father was not present at her birth and did not return to Berlin until the middle of April, just in time for her baptism. She received the names Wilhelmina Frederika Louise Pauline Charlotte. The name Pauline was for Emperor Paul I of Russia which led to some trouble in the family. Pauline’s aunt Louise wrote to her mother, “So, your latest grandchild is now a Christian and Mimi (Wilhelmina of Prussia) calls her Pauline because she thinks it is the most beautiful of the names. Last year, I would have admired her choice as a gesture to Paul, but since the Emperor has abandoned us so abruptly, it now seems to me to be reprehensible and ill-considered flattery.”1 As a response to the dissatisfaction over her name, she was nicknamed “Polly.”

The family spent the summer and fall in Fulda, and the winter and spring in Berlin. From 1804, the family lived in the Niederländische Palais at the Unter den Linden, which had been loaned to them. They also had the use of Schönhausen, a country residence. The children usually stayed behind in Berlin and only visited Fulda a handful of times. The children also sometimes stayed with their grandparents at Oranienstein and in 1805, Pauline spent the entire winter making garters for her grandfather, which she presented to him for his birthday.

Berlin was occupied by the French in 1806, and the family was forced to flee again. Pauline’s mother was still weak from giving birth to a stillborn son in August. They travelled towards Königsberg but were forced to stop at Freienwalde when Pauline fell ill. Her father wrote, “Pauline has a mild indisposition, […] but I expect she will be fully recovered in a day or two.”2 On 15 December, Pauline was diagnosed with “nerve fevers” (probably typhoid fever). Her father still had hope and wrote, “She seems to be doing better.”3

Six-year-old Pauline never did get better. She died in the early hours of 22 December. A heart-broken William wrote to his mother, “We had so hoped that Pauline’s illness would pass, our prayers would be heard and she would be spared. Unfortunately for us, Providence has decided otherwise, and since 4.30 this morning we have been plunged into deep mourning. Death has ripped our child, our hope and our love, away from us. […] She leaves behind an empty void. Mimi and the boys are hanging in there, but this new test of Providence is heavy for us.”4

While William stayed with Pauline, Wilhelmina and boys left for Berlin that very same day. She wrote the following day, “My love, the children and I, we arrived in Berlin at 1 o’clock this night, finally. I have taken plenty of precautions, for myself and the boys. We shall overcome it. I have not seen General Clarke yet. God willing, you are well. I hope we shall be together again soon. Write to me about our poor little girl, as soon as you have buried her. I am worried about you. […] The children talk about their father all the time, they say a thousand sweet things.”5

William arranged for her funeral in Freierwalde and wanted to follow the others to Berlin. Neither he, nor Wilhelmina was initially granted access to the city. Eventually, Wilhelmina and the boys were let in. Napoleon was informed of young Pauline’s death and approved of Wilhelmina’s stay in Berlin, but he was not so kind to William. William was arrested and deported over the Oder and was ordered to go to the Prussian King.

Three weeks later, a devastated Wilhelmina wrote, “What a calamity, what a disaster that we have lost Pauline, our sweet, sweet little one. I can’t stop crying.”6 In 1815, Pauline’s father became King of the Netherlands, yet Pauline remained buried in Freienwalde.

In 1911, Freienwalde’s owner Walter Rathenau found a weatherworn tombstone with Pauline’s name on it. He immediately wrote to Queen Wilhelmina, and she sent Baron Gevers and Squire Van den Bosch to assess the situation. They exhumed the remains and transported them back by train to the Netherlands. On 7 April 1911, Queen Wilhelmina’s husband Prince Henry awaited the remains and not Wilhelmina herself, to avoid attracting too much attention. She had white lilies and a palm-branch placed on the coffin. He made sure that Pauline found her way to the Royal Crypt in Delft, where her parents were also buried. She was placed in between them. Pauline was home at last.7

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Marie-Louise O’Murphy – The Irish petite maîtresse (Part two)

Read part one here.

After she had been with the King for two years, rumours were circulating around Versailles that Marie-Louise wished to topple Madame de Pompadour as the King’s maîtresse-en-titre, the official mistress who lived in the palace.

If Marie-Louise was planning to work her way up and overthrow the powerful Pompadour, this did not happen. In late November 1755, Marie-Louise was sleeping when she was woken in the middle of the night and evicted from her home in the Parc-aux-Cerfs without any prior warning. It was clear that Madame de Pompadour had retained her position as the chief mistress and would not be threatened by any of the others.

Just days later on 25 November, Marie-Louise was married off to a young, handsome soldier who had been chosen for her by Pompadour’s inner circle. This sort of marriage usually happened when the King grew tired of a mistress or if she caused trouble at court. The man, named Jacques Pelet de Beaufranchet had little choice but to agree to the King’s orders. However, Marie-Louise was not just thrown out into the street and left penniless, and she was allowed to keep any clothing and jewellery from her time at the Parc. She was also given a 200,000 livre dowry, and she was also given a new surname which would elevate her status to her new in-laws, she was now known as Marie-Louise Morphy de Boisfailly. For a girl who grew up in poverty, this was a very good opportunity, but the wedding, which was secretly carried out two days later, must have been a sombre affair with no family or friends present.

The young married couple had two children together, first came a daughter named Louise Charlotte and the following year a son followed, named Louis Charles. Sadly happiness was not in store for the couple, and Jacques died in battle two weeks before the birth of Louis Charles. Two years later, little Louise Charlotte also died. This must have been a very difficult time for Marie-Louise, now a woman of twenty-two.

Just weeks after the death of her daughter, Marie-Louise married again to a cousin of Madame de Pompadour’s husband. Her new husband François Nicolas Le Normant was divorced with three children and was Receiver General of Finance in Riom where the pair were married. Through this marriage, Marie-Louise entered into the world of finance, and over time she gained a fortune through the collection of the Ferme générale tax on behalf of the crown. Marie also became related to her former rival Madame de Pompadour through the marriage.

Marie-Louise and François Nicolas remained married until his death in 1783. From records, it appears that only one child was born to the couple, a daughter named Marguerite Victoire born in 1768. There were rumours that Marguerite was actually fathered by the King and that the affair had carried on, but this can never be confirmed.

After her husband passed away, Marie-Louise was awarded a yearly pension of 12,000 francs, and we do not hear much of her until the French Revolution. During the Reign of Terror which followed the destruction of the French royal family, Marie-Louise was arrested and held in a series of convents due to her involvement with the royal household over the years. Tens of thousands of people were executed during this period, but Marie-Louise was one of the lucky ones, and she was released in 1795. This could be because her son Louis Charles had become a General for the republic.

Shortly after her release, Marie-Louise was married for the third time. This time her husband was almost thirty years younger than her, his name was Louis Philippe Dumont, and he was part of the new revolutionary government. Little is known of this marriage, but it ended in divorce after three years, and Marie-Louise never remarried after this.

Marie-Louise died aged 77 at home with her daughter Marguerite after a long and eventful life. She had seen the overthrow and the restoration of the French monarchy, had three marriages, been the mistress of a King and the subject of a famous and scandalous painting which is much more than was expected of her life when she was growing up in rags in Rouen.

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Marie-Louise O’Murphy – The Irish petite maîtresse (Part one)

In 1714, a man named Daniel O’Murphy and a woman named Marguerite Iquy were married in the town of Rouen, France. The pair both came from Irish families who had followed King James II into exile in France when he had lost his throne to his daughter Mary II and her husband William III. The followers of the King, the Jacobites, were often unable to return to their home countries and many permanently settled overseas, in the case of Marguerite and Daniel’s families, they settled in France.

Daniel and Marguerite were a poor couple who were often in trouble with the police and did not have the best reputation. Marguerite had been accused of theft and prostitution, while Daniel was tangled up in blackmail and espionage scams. Daniel had even been accused of holding letters which mentioned plans for the restoration of James Francis Edward Stuart (the Old Pretender) to the throne of England. For undermining the French government, Daniel was held in the Bastille for seven months, and after that, he and his family were closely watched.

It was just after this that the couple welcomed their twelfth child Marie-Louise on 21 October 1737. Though Marie-Louise was the twelfth child born into a poor family, she was cherished and was a welcome addition, as the first five of the couple’s children had been lost to smallpox. This left seven children; two boys and five girls. Supposedly, Marguerite had become drawn into superstition, folk rituals and religion after the deaths of the five children and so she named each of her daughters in honour of the Virgin Mary.

Little is known of Marie-Louise’s childhood, it is doubtful that she received an education and her parents struggled to make ends meet for the family. It is clear that Daniel and Marguerite often turned to crime to try to support their brood of seven children; both were accused of theft regularly, and Marguerite was a known prostitute. It is noted that as time went by, the older girls became involved in sex work too. We know this from the diary of a police inspector named Jean Meunier, who worked on cases of prostitution. In 1753, Jean wrote about the older girls Marguerite and Marie-Madeleine mentioning them following the French army to ‘their campaigns in Flanders’ obviously alluding to sex work. Similar was written about Marie-Victoire and Marie-Brigitte who was deemed an ugly woman, but the inspector believed she too was involved in the family trade. In this entry, we do not hear of the younger sister Marie-Louise.

It is in the diary of the Marquis d’Argenson that an account of Marie-Louise first appears in April 1753 which said ‘the King has a new mistress – she belonged to a family of prostitutes and thieves.’ Months later, Daniel O’Murphy died, and Marguerite moved to Paris with the children, this was probably to follow Marie-Louise who was by this point rumoured to be involved with the King, but it was also due to the fact that Daniel O’Murphy had been banned from living in Paris and now the family had a chance to move there.

King Louis XV of France (public domain)

The rumours of a relationship between Marie-Louise and King Louis XV of France turned out to be true, and the impoverished girl from a downtrodden family suddenly found herself in a very different social circle.

King Louis XV had many mistresses; his maîtresse-en-titre, the famous Madame de Pompadour was officially recognised and lived at court and influenced the King’s political sphere and household appointments. However, there were many more flings and Petite maîtresses, and if these relationships lasted a while, the woman would reside in a house in the Parc-aux-Cerfs which was in the grounds of the Palace of Versailles. These women were often young virgins who were recruited by the King’s valet and sometimes overseen by Madame de Pompadour who made sure none of them came to threaten her own position at court.

Madame de Pompadour (public domain)

How Marie-Louise came to the Parc-aux-Cerfs was slightly different to this usual process, as she was actually spotted in an erotic painting which she modelled for when she was around the age of thirteen. The story is that the famed adventurer and womaniser Giacomo Casanova saw Marie-Louise at her sister’s house and described her as a ‘pretty, ragged, dirty, little creature’. Casanova then supposedly had a nude of the young girl painted by François Boucher and inscribed the picture with a play on words between Marie-Louise’s surname and the Greek for the word beautiful ‘O-Morphi’. The painting somehow ended up in the hands of the brother of Madame de Pompadour and was subsequently seen by the King himself who wished to see the model in the flesh.

Before meeting the King, Marie-Louise would have been visited by the King’s personal valet, and her mother was probably consulted and bargained with for the girl’s virginity. Marie-Louise would have then been cleaned up and dressed by a dress-maker in the King’s employ and brought to the Parc-aux-Cerfs. Though Versailles and the lavish parties the palace held are often glamorised today, we should reflect on the fact that this was probably a frightening experience for the young Marie-Louise who would have had little choice but to comply in order to create opportunities and earn money for her family.

Not much is known of the relationship between Marie-Louise and the King, but we know that Marie-Louise was a Petite maîtresse from early 1753 to late 1755. After a few months, Marie-Louise had a miscarriage aged around fifteen; this nearly cost Marie-Louise her life which seemed to make the King oddly happy as he thought this proved Marie-Louise’s affection and devotion. The following year, a daughter was born to the pair, the baby was named Agathe-Louise de Saint-Antoine de Saint-André and was registered as a child of a fictional couple and immediately sent away to a wet nurse. Children of the Petite maîtresses were not officially recognised, and so Agathe would have lived her life under a guardian with a pension provided by the King.

By November 1755, Marie-Louise had grown in confidence, and her relationship with the King was going well. The young girl then began stepping on the toes of Madame de Pompadour and rumours began to spread that O-Morphi was planning to overthrow Pompadour completely and aimed to become the next maîtresse-en-titre.

Part two coming soon.

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Marie of Orléans – A life cut short

Princess Marie of Orléans was born on 12 April 1813 as the third child and second daughter of Louis-Philippe, King of the French, and his wife, Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. She was one of ten siblings and her elder sister Louise became Queen of the Belgians. Marie was born in Palermo, Sicily, where the then Duke of Orléans was living with his family. Her father would not become King of the French until 1830, but the family was recalled to France after the fall of Napoleon which restored King Louis XVIII – brother to the ill-fated King Louis XVI – to the throne.

Napoleon’s brief return after his escape from Elba saw the family flee to England. They first lived at the Star and Garter Hotel in Richmond, before moving to a house later known as Orléans House at Twickenham. King Louis XVIII was returned to his throne after Napoleon’s final defeat, but the family was not permitted to return until 1817. They returned to the Palais Royal on 15 April 1817. The family began to spend a lot of time at their country house at Neuilly. On 16 September 1824, her parents were present at the deathbed of King Louis XVIII. He was succeeded by his brother the Count of Artois, now King Charles X.

(public domain)

The new King raised the entire Orléans family to the style of “Royal Highness” which had previously only be accorded to Maria Amalia, as the daughter of a King. Her father was now third in the line of succession behind the Duke of Angoulême, now known as the Dauphin, and the young son of the Duke of Berry. Marie grew up in a large family, and she and her sister Louise – being only a year apart in age – were grouped together. They were appointed a governess named Mademoiselle de Malet. She was described as being “a woman of solid piety and education, of a tender and devoted soul.”1 Marie was a diligent student and could almost read alone by the age of three. She was known to be the dominant sibling. The children studied in the morning and took exercise in the afternoon. In 1827, Maria Amalia took her children swimming and noted that it was Marie’s first time in the sea. Eventually, the boys were sent away to school while the girls received their education at home. They studied geography, science, history and modern languages. Marie studied English, Italian, German and Spanish and the girls were also taught drawing and music. Maria Amalia also often took her daughters to the theatre, where Marie became entranced with the sets and costumes.

The years between 1825 and 1830 were ones of domestic bliss for the family. However, by 1830, her father was out of favour with the King. They were also standing on the edge of another revolution. Soon, the Liberal Constitutional Party, which had an immense majority, looked towards her father as the solution. Her mother spent a lot of time in prayer. The children were sent away to Villiers Coterets while Maria Amalia and her sister-in-law remained behind at Neuilly. While her sister-in-law was in favour of the Duke taking the crown, Maria Amalia was adamant that he was an honest man and would do nothing against the King. The King eventually abdicated in favour of the Duke of Berry’s 9-year-old son and appointed Marie’s father as Lieutenant-General of the Kingdom and regent. His son the Dauphin also signed the document 20 minutes later. However, Marie’s father eventually accepted the crown for himself after he agreed to accept a constitution.  In August 1830, Marie’s father was declared, “King of the French by the Will of the People”, rather than “King of France by the Grace of God.”

The departure of her sister Louise in 1832 hit Marie hard, though she managed to hide her grief from her sister. She later wrote, “I love you so, I don’t enjoy anything without you.”2 She became ill around this time but survived the illness. Her brush with death seemed to make her more melancholic than she already was. She also began to attend the morning service at Saint-Roch every day. After the death of Louise’s eldest son, Marie wrote to her sister, “I saw myself dying in my imagination. However, I resigned myself, and I urged Nemours (her brother) to take the example of my death, so young, to be persuaded by the nothingness of life, the need to work for each other.”3

(public domain)

From 1832, Marie found refuge in art, and her art has become her legacy. She was a student of Ary Scheffer and painted and did sculptures. She sculpted several images of Joan of Arc, and many of these have survived. She had lessons from Ary Scheffer almost daily, and she became somewhat of an artistic advisor for her family. She offered Louise her advice for making costumes for a ball. Her family also focussed on finding her a husband. Even if Marie had wished to devote her life to sculptures, her mother had instilled in her the thought that a woman’s duty was marriage and motherhood. Although her future husband, Duke Alexander of Württemberg, was no great catch, he was a nephew of Louise’s husband. Marie and Alexander were married on 17 October 1837 in a Catholic and Lutheran ceremony.

Joan of Arc by Marie (public domain)

The newlyweds travelled to Germany where they met the Duke and Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (the father and stepmother of Albert, Prince Consort – the husband of Queen Victoria). They also visited the Württemberg court at Stuttgart. They spend the winter at Gotha where they did not live in the palace but in a smaller house. In the early morning of 26 January 1838, Marie’s small stove – used to heat her chocolate for the mornings – overturned and set her muslin bed curtains alight. Marie was able to escape in her morning clothes with her maid while her husband tried to save some valuable objects. The house burned down completely. Marie lost several albums of drawings, papers and books, which were probably more precious to her than her jewels. They left Gotha in March, settling in Neuilly where Marie would give birth to her first and only child.

On 30 July 1838, Marie gave birth to a large and healthy boy named Philip. However, Marie recovered only slowly from the birth. Marie had been feeling ill since the end of 1836, and she was diagnosed with pulmonary tuberculosis. The doctors recommended that she travel to the gentler air of the south. At Fontainebleau, she was able to say goodbye to her family. Louise was also there, and she whispered to her, “Louise, don’t forget me.”4 Marie and her husband set off for Genoa on 5 November.

Marie’s tomb – Photo by Antoine Ier – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Marie seemed revived by the trip and wrote happy letters home to her mother about the beautiful landscape. However, the wind in Genoa was rather harsh, and in December they moved to Pisa, where Marie requested her pencils and papers. She drew an image of the Virgin and Child. She soon took a turn for the worst and her brother, the Duke of Nemours, was shocked to see her much changed. On 1 January, she begged her husband to convert to the Catholic faith and requested that he raise their son as a Catholic. She also made her confession. On 2 January, she made a second confession and received Extreme Unction. She told her brother, “Tell Mamma how much I love her, and that I am glad she is not here to be grieved by my sufferings.”5 Her last words were, “I was happy, I am 25 years old but I know how to die, and I die happy.”6 She “endured her agony with admirable courage and resignation”7, dying at 8 o’clock in the evening.

The news of her death reached her family in France on 8 January. Her body was transported to Dreux by boat where her funeral was held on 26 January in the presence of the Orléans and Württemberg families. Her son was raised in the Tuileries until the revolution of 1848. French writer Jules Janin wrote, “The King has just lost a darling daughter, France an accomplished artist, the artists have lost a sister.”8

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Taj al-Saltana – An unveiled Princess

Taj al-Saltana was born in 1884 as the daughter of Naser al-Din Shah Qajar, the ruler of Iran, and a minor Princess called Turan al-Saltana. Her parents were also first cousins. Much of what we know about her, she chose to share with us in her memoirs written in 1914.

Her early upbringing in the harem was entrusted to a black nanny and had little involvement from her mother. Taj grew close to her nanny and was known to prefer people of dark skin. Her nanny was a domestic slave and was most likely East African and she was nowhere near the only black slave in the royal household. Of her mother, Taj wrote, “She lacked the qualities required of motherhood. […] No, she was not to blame.” Twice a day, she was taken to see her mother and then escorted back. She was also taken to see her father once a day.

Taj described herself as being exceptionally intelligent and clever. At the age of seven, she was given a private tutor, who was also a eunuch (a castrated man). He was also related to her as he was her grandmother’s uncle – she estimated him to be around 40 to 50 years old. Taj was known to be stubborn and headstrong. She was severely beaten after playing a prank on the teacher that caused him severe burns. Despite her intelligence, she had no interest in learning.

At the age of 8, a husband was chosen for Taj, much to her horror. The chosen husband was the eight-year-old Amir Hussein Khan Shoja’-al Saltaneh. She fell ill with chickenpox shortly after the negotiations started and she was bedridden with a high fever for much of it. Her father gave his consent to the engagement, but the actual wedding would have to wait until she was at least 20 years old. She later wrote, “Ah misery! Of mankind’s great misfortunes one is this, that one must take a wife or husband according to the wishes of one’s parents. This bizarre custom does not stand to reason and is contrary to law.” For the engagement celebrations, she was dressed up and made up, later writing “I looked quite ludicrous. When I was given a mirror to take a look at myself I was shocked. A face so naturally pretty had been painted with rouge and ceruse and been transformed completely from its likeness.” This particular match did not take place.

After her father’s assassination in 1896, Taj married Hasan, later Shaja’ al-Saltana (“Valor of the Kingdom”) at the age of 13. He too was barely in his teens. She wrote, “Had I understood things better, perhaps this affection would have bloomed into love and become the means of our mutual felicity. There was no hindrance to my love for him. A young 13-year-old girl with a pure heart and desirable qualities very quickly opens her heart to love and companionship. Unluckily, however, he failed to recognise the way to happiness and rebuffed me, filling me with disgust for him.” It was to be an unhappy marriage. They spent their wedding night playing games and quarrelled over who the winner was.

He was often away from home, and Taj became lonely. She wrote, “My life was completely worthless and tiresome in my eyes.” Eventually, she fell in love with a “youth”, and she wrote, “One day I told him that I loved him. Little by little, my love for him grew and wiped away all my cares and sorrows. My broken, drooping heart had bloomed into a youthful freshness in this new springtime of love, and sorrow had bidden farewell.” Her husband eventually found out about the affair, plunging Taj into despair. She wrote that Hasan also had affairs, with both men and women.

About a year or so after the affair ended, Taj gave birth to her first child – a daughter. She wrote, “I loved her intensely from the moment of her birth, spending every hour of the night with her. The pure and genuine love emanating from the very core of this infant had completely obliterated my sorrow and made me very happy. I love no one aside from my baby, not even myself.” She would go on to have two daughters and two sons, though one son would die in infancy. In her memories, she also mentioned an abortion she had after her husband came down with gonorrhoea. At the same time, she learned of her niece’s death in childbirth. At three months pregnant, she asked a doctor to induce a miscarriage. She wrote, “Finally I told them (the doctors) what I had done. But despite their insistent questions, I refused to indulge the doctor’s name. I was given an antidote and through a difficult process, the fetus was aborted. My nervous condition, however, stayed with me.” She reportedly made three attempts at suicide, though she did not elaborate on them in her memoirs.

Over the years, Taj began to expand on her feminist thoughts. She wrote, “Persian women have been set aside from humankind and placed together with cattle and beasts. They live their entire lives of desperation in prison, crushed under the weight of bitter ordeals. At the same time, they see and hear from afar and read in the newspapers about the way in which suffragettes in Europe arise with determination to demand their rights: universal franchise, the right to vote in parliament, the right to be included in the affairs of government.” She was a great supporter of women’s right to lay aside the veil. She wrote, “The veiling of women in this country has spawned and spread thousands of corrupt and immoral tendencies.”

Taj and her husband also began to experience financial troubles, but she was determined to remain independent and sold her own jewellery. Sometime before 1906, her husband abandoned her. After this, she began to study music, French and painting and became more social. She adopted a more European way of dress and did not wear a veil in public. Although she desperately wanted to visit Europe, she was never able to go. In December 1907, her first marriage ended in divorce. She did not discuss her remarriages in her memoirs but in March 1908, she married Qullār-Āqābāši, although the marriage lasted only a few months, and she was divorced again in July 1908. In 1909, she remarried to Rokn-al-Salṭana, but we do not know how this marriage ended. In 1921, she described herself as being unmarried. She was reputed to have had many lovers, but there is no evidence of this. By the end of her life, she was also estranged from her children.

Taj died on 25 January 1936 in obscurity. “Bedridden and suffering intense and almost unbearable pain from an untold disease, she died thanking God and trusting that this penance for her sins in the lower world would save her in the world above.”1

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Constance of Arles – In fear of repudiation

Constance of Arles was born circa 986 as the daughter of William I, Count of Provence and Adelaide-Blanche of Anjou. In 1001, Constance became the third wife of King Robert II of France. He had divorced his first wife Rozala of Italy and his second marriage to Bertha of Burgundy had been eventually annulled.

The troubles Robert experienced with his second marriage did not entice him to form a close relationship with his new bride. Her entourage was also seen as “strange in their clothing and their comportment, eccentric by their arms and the harnessing of their mound…” Robert maintained a strong relationship with his stepson by Bertha, Odo II, Count of Blois, which also undermined his relationship with Constance.

Constance and Robert went on to have six children together: Hedwig, Hugh Magnus, Henry I of France, Adela, Robert I, Duke of Burgundy and Eudes. However, bearing his children did nothing to prevent him from turning against her as he was under the influence of his favourite, Hugh of Beauvais. Constance had no choice but to turn to her own family. In response, twelve knights of Fulk, Count of Anjou, assassinated Hugh, “under the King’s eyes.” This certainly did not help their relationship either, and in 1010, Robert went to Rome to reportedly seek papal approval for a divorce. Bertha even followed him to Rome, hoping for permission to remarry Robert. Constance stayed behind with her son Hugh at Theil, fearing the worst.

It is not clear how the marriage was saved in the end. There’s a miracle associated with Constance that said that Saint Savinian appeared to her at night, saying that she had been “liberated from impending sadness by a gracious God.” Afterwards, Robert returned and apparently “loved his wife more.” Nevertheless, disputes continued over the education of their children, and when their sons subsequently rebelled, she was blamed and not Robert. Possibly at Constance’s instigation, their son Hugh was crowned during his father’s lifetime. The boy was only nine years old, and Constance was criticised for her “foolish course of action.” Hugh died on 17 September 1025 at the age of 18 before officially succeeding his father. As the line of succession was not quite as rigid, Constance and Robert faced deciding who should now succeed Robert. Robert preferred his eldest son Henry, but Constance thought her third son would make the better King. It was reported that “his mother, possessed of a feminine rage, opposed the father and all those who helped him, asserting that the most apt to govern the kingdom was the third son Robert…” In 1027, Henry was crowned as junior King.

Constance was widowed on 29 July 1031 and then “there arose again between the mother and her sons a cruel discord and the old hatred of the past loosed the furies of yesteryear.” Constance probably did not want to relinquish control of the royal lands and was thus now at odds with her son. Another explanation could be a conflict over her dower. Either way, Henry besieged his mother at the town of Poissy, and she barely had time to escape to Pontoise. Yet, when he besieged the town of Puiset, Constance threw herself at her son’s feet to help save the unfortunate town’s people. Peace was then restored between them.

Louis VI (1080 – 1137), Henry I (1008 – 1060), John I (the posthumous 1316), Joan of Valois (Queen of Navarre 1311 – 1349), Robert II (970 – 1032), Constance of Arles (984 – 1032) and Louis X (1289 – 1316) – Photo by Moniek Bloks

Constance died sometime in 1034, and she was buried with her husband at the Basilica of St. Denis. History has not been kind to Constance even though she performed her duties as Queen. She gave birth to several sons and built palaces. She had faced several challenges as a new bride, lived in fear of repudiation and never achieved the full confidence of her husband.1

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Louise of Orange-Nassau – A devoted Princess (Part two)

Read part one here.

In November 1800, Louise turned 30 years old. She wrote to her mother, “I am very amazed that I am already 30 years old.[…] It’s like it was only yesterday that you were my age and I remember thinking how very old you were.”1 Her life in Brunswick remained pretty much the same except her husband seemed to be getting worse. His general health was declining and his sight gradually deteriorated until he was completely blind. He became even more attached to her. She wrote to her mother, “I should be grateful to have such a good and kind husband. The Prince has literally no other wish than to see me happy and he will do whatever it takes.”2 Their childlessness had made her relationship with her father-in-law more difficult and he eventually forced Karl to give up his hereditary rights to his youngest brother Frederick William. Karl’s second and third brother were also mentally disabled. Frederick William had initially refused to marry but in 1802, he married Marie of Baden. Although Marie supplanted Louise’s position at court, Louise and Marie became close. She loved her nephews Charles and William, born in 1804 and 1806. Marie died shortly after giving birth to a stillborn daughter in 1808.

Louise’s brother moved from England to Berlin and Louise was able to visit him and his family often. She wrote gushing letters to her mother about her brother’s children. In 1802, Louise was finally able to see her mother again when she and her father moved to Oranienstein. On 9 April 1806, Louise’s father died at Brunswick at the age of 58. Wilhelmina did not want to return to Oranienstein without him and decided to stay in Brunswick with Louise. Just five months later, Louise was widowed as well. Louise immediately decided to leave the ducal palace, where her father-in-law had continued to treat her badly over her childlessness. A stay in Brunswick would become impossible anyway with an impending war and Wilhelmina and Louise ended up in Schwerin where they were given rooms in the palace.

Wilhelmina and Louise impatiently awaited news from the front where Louise’s brother was fighting. His wife and children had been in Berlin but his daughter Pauline died during the flight to Freienwalde at the age of six. Eventually, Schwerin became unsafe as well and Louise and Wilhelmina fled from Lubeck to Kiel to Schleswig where they hoped to find protection from the Danes. They rented an apartment with a small following. Louise wrote to her brother, “We live as sober as possible, but there are so many of us. We shall try to make it through the winter and we’ll see then.”3 After a short trip to Weimar, mother and daughter eventually made their way to Berlin where Louise’s brother waited with his family. They moved in with them into the Niederländische Palais. Louise and Wilhelmina were happy to finally be reunited with their family and even welcomed a new addition as Princess Marianne was born on 9 May 1810.

At Schönhausen, which Wilhelmina bought, Louise threw herself into her role as an aunt. She was a master at organising surprises and little parties. She also often entertained the children of the King and Queen of Prussia. Her brother was finally able to return to the Netherlands in 1813 and he officially became its first King in 1815. Louise was there to see her family’s return to glory, her brother’s coronation, the marriage of her nephew to Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia and the birth of the next generation in 1816.

In the autumn of 1817, Louise travelled back to Germany for several weeks and she wrote to her mother that she had forgotten how to write letters. It was to be her last journey abroad and she returned home to spend the last two years of her life by her mother’s side. Louise died on 15 October 1819 after a short illness and her mother would follow just eight months later. After her daughter’s death, Wilhelmina wrote, “Sometimes I think it was necessary, for God to take her from me. Perhaps I was too attached to life and the wish not to be separated from my daughter. She could not get used to the thought that she would survive me as the natural order of things would be.”4 Louise was buried in the royal crypt in Delft.

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Louise of Orange-Nassau – A devoted Princess (Part one)

Princess Louise is the sweetest person that lives.1

Louise of Orange-Nassau was born on 28 November 1770 as the daughter of William V, Prince of Orange and Wilhelmina of Prussia. She was thus the niece of Princess Carolina of Orange-Nassau, who was also her godmother. Louise would be their eldest surviving child as her mother had given birth to a short-lived son the previous year. Another short-lived son would follow in 1771. The future King William I of the Netherlands was born in 1772 and Prince Frederick was born in 1774. She was nicknamed Loulou in the family.

Remembering her youth in 1801, Louise wrote, “When I go back to the past in my thoughts, I remember so many good things. Not a lot of Princesses were as happy as I was in my childhood, and I thank God daily.”2 Her mother Wilhelmina had kept her daughter close to her in childhood, traumatised as she was by a negligent governess and an absent mother from her own childhood. Her father, too, cared a lot for all of his children. Louise had her own lessons with a governess called Mademoiselle Hollard, but she also had lessons with her brothers under the tutelage of Professor Tollius. She was close to her two brothers.

In 1789, Louise received an offer of marriage from the Brunswick court. Her future husband was to be Karl Georg August, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, but although he may have been kind and friendly, he was also sickly, mentally underdeveloped and utterly dependent on his father. He was even described as a “well-nigh imbecile.”3 However, it was a great match, and Wilhelmina warned her daughter to adjust her expectations. She also wrote several letters to her to prepare her for the challenges ahead. She dreaded being separated from her daughter and wrote, “This wound will bleed for a long time and can only be lessened by the hope that you will be happy. Let’s not make each other weak, my darling, but let’s arm ourselves with courage and strength. When you were born, I knew that I could not have hoped to keep you with me.”4

On 14 October 1790, Louise and Karl were married in The Hague. The newlyweds travelled to Brunswick, where they were received by cheering crowds. Her father-in-law was delighted by Louise’s friendliness, kindness and musical tastes. Her departure from The Hague was the beginning of a long correspondence with her mother. She began writing her mother three times a week, and initially, she was happy in Brunswick, despite being homesick. Her brothers were often at the court of Brunswick when they attended the military academy. Louise was reportedly unhappy with the undrinkable tea, and inedible butter and Wilhelmina often sent her care packages.

Louise was interested in science and art, and Brunswick became a safe haven for émigrés. She also loved music – a trait she shared with her aunt – and she loved to sing and dance. The dancing was less to Wilhelmina’s taste, and she encouraged her daughter to spend more time in the open air – with activities like walking and riding. However, Louise claimed her health would not allow such strenuous activities. By May 1791, Louise was worried because she was still not pregnant but thought it would be for the best. In the end, she and Karl would never have any children.

The situation in the Netherlands quickly escalated in the 1790s, and Wilhelmina sent several family jewels to Brunswick for safekeeping. Although she hoped it would never get that far, Germany and England were considered as places of refuge. In early 1795, William, Wilhelmina and their family were indeed forced to flee to England. Wilhelmina wrote to her daughter shortly after arriving in England, “There is a thick veil covering our future. There is nothing to say. For now, we can only be grateful for the goodness and willingness that the people here have shown us.”5 Princess Louise wrote, “Truly, my dear mother, I am better suited for adversity than for prosperity. Because in happiness and joy, I let myself go, but in sadness, it is in me to recover my honour, to show me worthy of being your daughter, and that image gives me strength and self-control.”6 When her husband later ordered the orchestra to play Wilhelmus van Nassouwe (which would later become the national anthem of the Netherlands), Louise wept openly. While in England, her brother Frederick fell in love with King George III’s daughter Mary, but George believed his elder daughters should be married first, and Frederick’s death in 1799 at the age of 24 meant that the match never came to fruition.

Part two coming soon.

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