Moniek Bloks's Blog, page 211

Princess Christina of the Netherlands has died at the age of 72

His Majesty King Willem-Alexander, Her Majesty Queen Máxima and Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands have announced that Her Royal Highness Princess Christina died earlier this morning at Noordeinde Palace in The Hague at the age of 72. Princess Christina is King Willem-Alexander’s aunt and Princess Beatrix’s sister. She had been suffering from bone cancer for several years.

Princess Christina was born on 18 February 1947 as the daughter of the future Queen Juliana, who reigned from 1948 until her abdication in 1980, and Prince Bernhard. Her elder sister Beatrix was Queen of the Netherlands from 1980 until her abdication in 2013. She was born nearly blind because her mother had contracted rubella while pregnant with her. Princess Christina was one of four sisters. She married Jorge Guillermo in 1975, and they went on to have three children together: Bernardo, Nicolás en Juliana. She renounced her rights to the succession upon marriage and converted to Catholicism in 1992. They were divorced in 1996.

Princess Christina was a singer and also focussed on dance and sound therapy.

Princess Christina’s body will be transferred to the Cupola of Fagel on the grounds of Noordeinde Palace where the family can say their farewells. A cremation will also take place in private. The family has opened a condolence register.

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Mary of Austria – The dedicated sister

Mary of Austria was born at the Coudenberg Palace in Brussels on 15 September 1505 as the daughter of Queen Joanna of Castile and King Philip I of Castile. She was their fifth child and her elder brother Charles, the future Holy Roman Emperor, was the centre of their world. A sixth child – a daughter, named Catherine – would complete the family. Mary’s father would die the following year, and so she would never know him. Her mother would – labelled as Juana La Loca, the mad Queen – would be incarcerated from 1509 until her death in 1555. Mary and her three of siblings – Eleanor, Charles and Isabella – were raised at the court in Mechelen with their aunt Margaret while Ferdinand and Catherine would grow up in Spain. Catherine would spend her youth as a companion of her mother.

Mary and her siblings received the best education available, and she learned Latin, Greek, history, poetry, theology, mathematics, French, Dutch, Spanish, German and Italian. Mary learned to play the clavichord. Mary would always enjoy playing music.

Her marriage was planned from an early age. She was betrothed at the age of six months to the as of yet unborn child of Anne of Foix-Candale, the future Louis II of Hungary. Two years later it was decided that one of her brothers would marry Louis’ elder sister Anne. A double marriage would guarantee peace and stability. The Hungarian nobility did not want a stranger ruling the land, and so the 10-year-old Mary was supposed to be brought to Buda. However, the city was considered unsafe, and she would live in Vienna for now. Louis too came to Vienna, where he and Mary were married in the St. Stephen’s Cathedral on 22 July 1515. Just a few months later, Louis’ father died, and Louis and Mary became King and Queen of Hungary, but Mary was forced to flee to Innsbruck to escape the war violence that followed. She was accompanied by her sister-in-law Anne. In Innsbruck, the two young girls were entertained by Mary’s grandfather Maximilian who taught them about hunting and warfare. Mary was devastated when her grandfather died in 1519, and she wrote to her brother Ferdinand – whom she barely knew – that she was the “saddest lady in the world.”

(public domain)

Mary now, at last, travelled to Buda despite being warned of the dangers. She and Louis turned out to be a harmonious couple, and she would often help him and accompany him. She would even review troops. A courtier wrote, “If she could only be changed into a king, our affairs would be in better shape.” On 11 December 1521, she was finally crowned Queen of Hungary, and they embarked on a sort of honeymoon period. Their spending caused anger among the Hungarian people, but Mary and Louis were happy. Louis’ health had never been robust, and Mary soon took charge. She learned a lot and also had contacts with learned men such as Erasmus and Luther. When Luther dedicated a book to Mary, Ferdinand was livid.

When Louis headed to war with the Turks in July 1526, Mary followed him as far as she could before seeking safety in Pressburg (Bratislava). She would never see him again. Louis was killed at the Battle of Mohács on 29 August – he was still only 20 years old. Mary was devastated and lost all purpose in life. They had had no children together. The Hungarians began to treat her with contempt, even stealing from the ships carrying her clothes. Ferdinand, who had married Louis’ sister Anne, now had his eyes on the Hungarian crown but there was John Zápolya who also claimed the crown and even dared to ask for Mary’s hand in marriage. She refused him and was named regent of Hungary by her brother. After Ferdinand took up arms, he managed to secure the Hungarian crown for himself and Anne. Mary decided to leave Hungary and also to never remarry.

No matter how many proposals were thrown her way by her brothers, Mary resolutely refused to remarry and remained a widow. When her brother asked her to once again assume the regency of Hungary, she declined and said: “that such affairs need a person wiser and older.” Mary headed for Vienna where her brother once more requested that she take up the regency. This time she agreed, and she quickly faced financial difficulties. In 1530, her aunt Margaret died, leaving the governorship of the Netherlands wide open. Both Charles and Ferdinand asked Mary to take up this post, despite her young age – she was still only 25. Mary accepted the post out of duty. She wrote, “I promise to obey and serve both the Emperor and you until my dying day.”

Mary had been wandering from castle to castle, mostly hunting, in the area of the Donau but now she would return to the home of her youth. She soon threw herself in her new role, and Charles gave her leeway to make her own decisions, except where the military was concerned. This was a source of frustration for Mary because she often knew better, but she would be forced to wait a long time for Charles’ response. She chose Brussels as her residence and sold her aunt’s palace in Mechelen to the city. Mary and Charles did not always see eye to eye, and she was forced to carry out his commands even if she did not agree with them. She did, however, receive all the criticism. Once she had made him so angry, he wrote to her, “You are a woman. You are not allowed to speak of such things.” Mary’s personal opinions on religion reform often clashed with her brother’s views. Even where the family was concerned, they would sometimes clash. Charles wanted to marry their young niece Christina to the 38-year-old Duke of Milan, but Mary tried to stop the match because of the large age difference. Charles told her to defer to the men in robes “where this business belongs.”

The governorship had made Mary lonely, and she was often depressed. Yet, she remained dedicated to her task and her brothers, despite their differences of opinion. In 1539 during a revolt, she was forced to call on her brother for help, and the revolt exhausted Mary mentally and physically. Still, she held on to the governorship.

When Charles informed her that he wanted to abdicate in 1555, Mary too decided to resign her position. She was urged to stay in her position, but she refused and told them of the difficulties she had faced and the difficulties she saw ahead with the new King Philip II. Charles finally allowed her to resign and she formally announced the decision on 24 September 1555. She remained in the Netherlands for one more year before leaving for Spain. She was joined there by Charles and their sister Eleanor. Eleanor died in her arms on 25 February 1558, followed by Charles on 21 September 1558. During Charles’ illness, Mary finally agreed to take up the governorship again, but he died just as she was getting ready to depart. The grief-stricken Mary suffered two heart attacks the following month, and she died just a few weeks later on 18 October 1558.

Mary saw her governorship as a failure and blamed it partly on her sex. She wrote, “How could I have been so reckless to think that I am capable of leading this government, or any government, as a woman no less, and as such incapable of the important acts of government?” She seemed to have forgotten that both her grandmother and her mother ruled in their own right, admittedly with varying degrees of success, but still. Mary underestimated herself, and even the people of the Netherlands knew they had lost a great leader.1

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Adelaide of Guelders – Wife of the usurper count

Adelaide was born as the daughter of Otto I, Count of Guelders and Ricardis of Bavaria. We knew next to nothing about her youth, and we don’t know the year she was born. She first appeared in contemporary records when she married William I, Count of Holland. William was the younger brother of Dirk VII, Count of Holland.

William was attacked with the permission of his brother but managed to escape, and he fled the court of Guelders. He apparently remained there a while because he suffered from frostbite and while there he became engaged to Adelaide. The wedding was celebrated in Stavoren, around 1198. William was probably around 30 years old but Adelaide could have been as young as 10 years old or as old as 20 years old. Her skeleton was found and it was estimated that she was around 40 years old when she died in 1218.

Until 1203, William only ruled the area of Friesland, and upon his brother’s death, he tried to overthrow his niece Ada and her husband, Louis. He managed to finally do this in 1206, making him Count of Holland and Adelaide his Countess. Adelaide and William went on to have five children together: Floris (later Count of Holland), Otto (later Bishop of Utrecht), William (later regent of Holland), Ricardis (remained unmarried and founded the Koningsveld Abbey)and Ada (later Abbes at Rijnsburg)

Adelaide was known to have had her own seal, but it has not survived. In the spring of 1217, William left to join the Fifth Crusade, and Adelaide died in his absence on 12 February 1218. She was interred in Rijnsburg Abbey. Her husband did not return home until May 1220. He gave money for masses to be said for the souls of his ancestors, his wife and for him.

Her husband remarried in 1220, but he was eventually buried with Adelaide. Their tombstone was recovered during excavations in 1613 and is now built into the wall in the Great Church in Rijnsburg.1

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Charlotte of Bourbon’s grave at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Antwerp

Charlotte of Bourbon was born in 1546 or 1547 as the daughter of Louis, Duke of Montpensier and Jacqueline de Longwy, Countess of Bar-Sur-Seine. Her father supposedly intended for her to enter the church as well as some of her sisters, as he did not wish to pay a dowry for all of them. She was taken into the care of her aunt, the abbess of the Jouarre Convent. She was professed at the age of 13, but she wrote a protest. In 1565 – she was still only 18 years old – she became the abbess of the Jouarre convent. She reportedly received a secret Calvinistic education while at the convent, and her family was shocked when she escaped the convent in 1572 on the advice of Jeanne d’Albret, the Queen Regnant of Navarre, and she converted to Calvinism. She fled to the court of the Elector Palatine in Germany.

It was at this court that she met her future husband in 1572. It was supposedly loved at first sight, but it wasn’t until 1575 that William officially asked for her hand in marriage. Charlotte wasn’t the greatest match, and there were hardly any upsides to marrying her, despite her connections to the Palatine court. She could not offer him any kind of dowry as she had broken with her family. William was also still officially married to Anna of Saxony. The dubious annulment of this marriage made even Charlotte question the validity of her marriage. Despite this, William and Charlotte were married on 12 June 1575 in Brielle. Charlotte was 28, and William was 43. She became stepmother to his children from his other marriages, and they would have six daughters together. After six years of marriage, Charlotte finally reconciled with her father.

Tragedy struck on 18 March 1582 when an attempt was made on William’s life. He was seriously injured, and Charlotte devoted herself to nursing him back to health. Legend has it she plugged the wound with her finger for several days to stop the bleeding. William survived the assassination attempt, but the nursing had drained Charlotte to the point of exhaustion, and she died on 5 May 1582 of pneumonia in Antwerp. The public widely mourned her. She was buried in the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp.

Charlotte’s original tombstone was destroyed during the contra-reformation in 1585 and it wasn’t until 2015 that the tombstone was restored to its former glory with the original words. It can be found on the left-hand side of the cathedral. The cathedral charges six euro for entry.

Click to view slideshow.

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Elizabeth I’s only surviving dress to go on display

An embroidered altar cloth, which may have been part of a dress worn by Queen Elizabeth I, will go on display for the first time at Hampton Court Place.

The so-called “Bacton Altar Cloth” was discovered in Herefordshire and the curators at Historic Royal Palaces believe that it once formed part of a dress worn by Elizabeth. The silver chamblet silk is embroidered with gold and silver thread and only the highest levels of nobility and royalty were allowed to wear clothes that contained gold and silver.

It is believed to be part of the dress worn in the iconic Rainbow Portrait which will go on display alongside the altar cloth. The portrait is on loan from Hatfield House.

You can see the display from 12 October 2019 until 23 February 2020 and it is included in the standard admission price.

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The Bonaparte Women: Susan May Williams

Susan May Williams was born on 2 April 1812 as the daughter of Benjamin Williams and Sarah Copeland. In November 1829, Susan married Jérôme Napoleon Bonaparte-Patterson, the son of Elizabeth Patterson, and Jérôme Bonaparte, who was the elder brother of Emperor Napoleon I. The marriage of Elizabeth Patterson, and Jérôme Bonaparte has been annulled after just three years so that Jérôme could marry Catharina of Württemberg.

The wedding of Susan and Jérôme was by Archbishop Whitfield, and because Susan was a protestant, the ceremony took place in the dwelling rather than the Cathedral in Baltimore. Elizabeth Patterson was against the match as she believed that he could do better. She reportedly told him, “You prefer to join the common herd, born to draw nutrition, propagate, and rot.” She wrote, “I had endeavoured to instil into him from the hour of his birth and connection ever to marry an American woman. I hated and loathed a residence in Baltimore so much that when I thought I was to spend my life there, I tried to screw my courage up to the point of committing suicide. My cowardice and only my cowardice prevent my exchanging Baltimore for the grave. I now repeat what I said in my last letter, that I would as soon have gone to Botany Bay as to have married any man in Baltimore.”1 Nevertheless, Susan was rich, and her fortune made them independent.

She was described as, “staunchly Union, a tall, handsome, black-eyed, Franco-American woman, decidedly masculine in mind, but true to her woman’s place. She captivated me, but being old enough for my mother, you needn’t be afraid.”2

Susan and Jérôme went on to have two sons together, Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte II (1830-1893) and Charles Joseph Bonaparte (1851-1921) and Jérôme was admitted to the Maryland Bar, but he did not devote his life to the practice as the family was rather well off. She was windowed in 1870.

Susan died on 15 September 1881. She had been unconscious several days leading up to her death, and her two sons were by her side. Newspapers reported the cause of death as “paralysis.”

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Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – The mother of Luxembourg

Princess Amalia of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was born on 20 March 1830 as the daughter of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (the youngest son of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach) and Princess Ida of Saxe-Meiningen (a sister of Queen Adelaide). Amalia was born in Ghent where her father was stationed, which was part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands at the time. She was just four months old when her mother was forced to flee from the revolution that would lead to separation of Belgium and the Netherlands. The family lived in England for a while before returning to the Netherlands. Amalia’s eldest sister Louise stayed with their aunt Adelaide and died at Windsor Castle at the age of 15. The death of her elder brother William Charles at Nijmegen at the age of 20 in 1839 hit Amalia quite hard.

In 1840, Amalia’s father retired from active service and took his family to Mannheim, to the glittering court of Stéphanie, Grand Duchess of Baden.

Amalia first met her future husband in 1847 on the island of Madeira where the family was travelling with Queen Adelaide. Prince Henry of the Netherlands was the third son of King William II of the Netherlands and his wife, Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia. He accompanied his brother Prince Alexander to Funchal because Alexander was often in ill-health. The two Dutch princes are matched with Amalia and her elder sister Anna and accompanied them often. Alexander fell under the care of the Queen’s physician.

Prince Henry was an officer in the navy, but now he could spend hours with Amalia, telling her all about his travels and their conversations were soon noticed by Queen Adelaide and Ida. Henry himself was preoccupied with the care for his brother, and they would soon return to the Netherlands. At the end of November, he left Funchal, leaving his brother in the care of Amalia and Anna. Alexander would tragically die four months later.

(public domain)

For now, there was hardly any talk of marriage. On 19 March 1849, Prince Henry’s father King William II of the Netherlands died suddenly, and his elder brother became King William III. The following year, Henry was appointed as Governor of Luxembourg, which was still part of the Netherlands at that time. Prince Henry threw himself into his new role, visiting schools and meeting the people. He laid the groundwork for his later popularity. Meanwhile, Amalia suffered the loss of her mother in 1852 just as Prince Henry tried to win his mother’s permission to marry Amalia. Nevertheless, it looked like the wedding was going ahead despite the sounds of discontent.

The official engagement took place on 7 July 1852 and Henry officially announced it to the Luxembourg government in October 1852. Even there, the reception to the news was lukewarm. They hardly knew this new Governor, and now he was bringing a bride. The wedding date was set for 19 May 1853 at Schloss Weimar, and the royal families of the Netherlands and Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach came out to celebrate. His mother Anna Pavlovna was glad to see her youngest son married and was looking forward to the day he would become a father himself. Amalia’s wedding gown included a long train that was carried by two ladies-in-waiting as she made her way to the chapel. The day ended with a grand dinner and the following day a gala was held, followed by a concert. “Madam Princess Henry of the Netherlands received many valuable wedding presents, including a portière embroidered by the ladies of the court and from the young ladies of Weimar she received an album with wonderful images of Weimar and its surroundings by the paint Hummel.”

Amalia and Henry spent several weeks at Weimar and Schloss Liebenstein. On 20 June, the couple travelled towards Düsseldorf where they boarded a ship towards the Netherlands. In Nijmegen, they were first greeted from Dutch soil, and the people welcomed them warmly before they travelled on towards The Hague where more celebrations awaited them. Of the Dutch royal family, Amalia also became close to her sister-in-law Princess Sophie who also happened to be married to Charles Alexander, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach – Amalia’s first cousin.

Then it was finally time for them to go to Luxembourg. They arrived in the evening of 15 August at Schloss Walferdange where they were welcomed with a ball and a banquet. Amalia was described as “charming, not only beautiful but also elegant and fun, that one forgets one is dealing with a Royal Highness.” The ladies of the court were also excited at the prospect of any possible children. “The joy is great at having the governor and his wife with us. But when princely children are born on Luxembourg soil, the country will truly feel joy.” The Luxembourgers were already beginning the accept the new couple.

They stayed in Luxembourg until February, dividing their time between Schloss Walferdange and Schloss Berg. They then travelled to Schloss Liebenstein, where Amalia’s family was, onto the Netherlands. They often travelled like this; they were still a Prince and Princess of the Netherlands. King William III did not visit Luxembourg until six years into his reign where he was received by his brother Prince Henry. It appears that both the King and the prince were without their respective wives. Despite not being present for this visit, both Henry and Amalia enjoyed being in Luxembourg and among its people. She was interested in improving the lives of children and their education. She was also interested in improving the infrastructure between Luxembourg and the Netherlands. She often accompanied her husband during official functions. Prince Henry became known as the defender of the Luxembourgers “as if it were his homeland” and Amalia was his constant support.

Despite having a harmonious marriage, after ten years of marriage, Amalia and Henry did not dare to hope for a child. According to Henry’s sister Sophie, this was a cause of great sadness for Amalia.

(public domain)

Amalia’s was still young and full of life when she suddenly fell ill. At the end of April, there were rumours that she had caught a cold during a trip to Grünewald. This appears to have developed into full-blown pneumonia. A first medical bulletin read, “Her Royal Highness Princess Henry has a heavy case of double pneumonia and a severe fever, but there is no immediate danger.” On 29 April, it was reported that “all the art of medicine can not help anymore.” Amalia died on 1 May 1872, still only 42 years old. The Luxembourgers were devastated at the death of their “mother.” Dutch newspapers reported the death of Amalia with the words. “It has pleased the Almighty, this morning, after brief but heavy suffering, to take to himself Her Royal Highness Princess Henry of the Netherlands, born Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. The Royal House, but above all His Royal Highness Prince Henry, is very much affected by this unrepairable loss.”

Amalia’s body was taken by train to Delft where she was interred in the New Church in the royal family’s crypt on 17 May.

When Amalia’s sister-in-law Sophie found out that a statue of Amalia was being unveiled in Luxembourg, she made sure she was there on that 31st of October 1876 by her brother’s side. She noted the considerable public interest and realised all too well what Amalia had meant for the citizens of Luxembourg. She was missed, and people were sad that she had not left descendants. Prince Henry did not feel at home without his Amalia, but the situation in the Netherlands was already forcing him to consider a new marriage. He would eventually remarry to Marie of Prussia but he would die five months into the marriage.1

 

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The Queen’s Lost Family – New series based on Princess Mary’s archive

A new three-part series called The Queen’s Lost Family based on the archives of Princess Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood will air on Channel 4 from today.

The series will tell the story of the royal family from the 1920s to the under of the Second World War and draws from personal letters, diaries and photo albums held at Harewood House. It would be the first time that the Princess Mary Archive has been so comprehensively explored.

The archive is over 170 boxes but has never been fully catalogued. It was loaned to the Harewood House Trust in 2018, and this will enable cataloguing to take place over time.

Read more about the programme here.

Read more about Princess Mary here.

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Beatrice of Bourbon – Queen away from the kingdom

Beatrice of Bourbon raised some interest a few years ago when historians determined that she was possibly the first person to survive a cesarean section.  Other than that, she has not made much of a mark on history.  She was married to John of Luxembourg, who was king of Bohemia in right of his first wife, Elisabeth of Bohemia.  Beatrice did not spend much time in her husband’s kingdom and was not a popular queen.

Beatrice of Bourbon was born around 1318/1320, as a daughter of Louis I, Duke of Bourbon and Marie of Hainaut.  She belonged to the House of Bourbon, a branch of France’s royal Capetian dynasty.  She was first betrothed to Philip of Taranto, from the royal family of Naples, but it was eventually broken off.  Beatrice’s sister, Marie, would later marry Philip’s younger half-brother, Robert.

Elisabeth of Bohemia died in 1330, after twenty years of a troubled marriage and after giving John seven children.  John eventually started looking for a second wife, and he considered Elisabeth, daughter of Frederick of Austria.  However, John preferred a French connection.  In the autumn of 1334, he met Beatrice at the court of her second cousin, King Philip VI of France.  John and Beatrice married in December 1334 at the Chateau de Vincennes in the presence of the French king.  The marriage of Beatrice was the latest in a string of marriages connecting the French and Bohemian royal families.  In 1332, John’s daughter Judith (known as Bonne in France) was married to King Philip’s son and heir, John.  In 1323, a marriage between John’s eldest son, Charles, and Philip’s youngest sister, Blanche was contracted.  It was finalised in 1329. In 1322, John’s sister, Marie, was married to Philip’s cousin, Charles IV, who was king of France at the time, but this marriage produced no surviving children.

John’s sons, Charles and John-Henry, were not informed about their father’s wedding right away and they were apparently not happy about it.  Beatrice was about two years younger than Charles, and about four years older than John-Henry.  Because John was only king of Bohemia by his first marriage, any children born to his marriage with Beatrice would have no right to the Bohemian throne.  They would be able to inherit John’s native county of Luxembourg, however.  Beatrice did not arrive in Bohemia until January 1336, a year after her wedding.

The Birth of Beatrice’s son

On 25 February 1337, Beatrice gave birth to her only child, a son named Wenceslaus.  The circumstances of Wenceslaus’ birth have received some attention recently.  In 2016, researchers in Prague claimed that Wenceslaus was born by c-section, and used contemporary and near-contemporary sources to explain their claim.  This included two letters from Beatrice, announcing the birth of her son.  Another one is a Flemish chronicle that says that Wenceslaus was taken from his mother’s body, and the wound healed.  However, none of the sources directly refer to Beatrice’s stomach being cut open, and some historians question the truth of these claims.  If a c-section was indeed performed, Beatrice must have lost consciousness during the labour and was thought to be dead or dying.  In the middle ages, c-sections were only performed as a last-minute attempt to save the baby if the mother was dead or dying.  Cutting open a living woman would likely lead to death due to shock, blood loss, or infection.  Even if Beatrice did not have a c-section, it’s still likely that the sources referred to a difficult childbirth.

The name Wenceslaus was common in the Bohemian royal family.  Neither Beatrice nor John were born into this family, and this name was not used in their native countries of France and Luxembourg.  It has been suggested that Beatrice chose this name to win the favour of the Czech people.  It has also been suggested that this name was chosen in order to give thanks to Bohemia’s patron saint, Wenceslaus, for Beatrice’s and her son’s survival.

Photo by Moniek Bloks

Absent Queen

Beatrice was not very popular in her new country.  She never learned the Czech language and was blamed for having a cold nature towards the people.  Her cousin, Blanche of Valois, the wife of her stepson, Charles, knew the language and was much more popular.  Beatrice and Blanche were close though, as they were able to communicate in the same language. Beatrice’s coronation did not take place until May 1337.  Apparently, the coronation did not go well, and on 1 July 1337, Beatrice left Bohemia, never to return.  She took her son with her.  She spent the rest of John’s reign in Luxembourg.  It was said that the Czech people rejoiced her departure more than her presence.

John was killed in the Battle of Crecy on 26 August 1346, fighting for the French king against the English.  Her stepson Charles, now King of Bohemia, granted Beatrice all of her widow’s property.  Beatrice enjoyed a rich social life in Brussels and loved art.  She was allowed to keep her title, Queen of Bohemia for the rest of her life.  Around 1347, Beatrice married for a second time, to Eudes II, Lord of Grancey.  This marriage was childless, possibly due to the difficult birth of Wenceslaus.  Around this time, Beatrice arranged for her son to marry Joanna, Duchess of Brabant in her own right.  The wedding took place in 1351.  Before his death, John wanted to grant Luxembourg to Wenceslaus.  Charles at first held the county but finally granted it to him in 1353.

Beatrice outlived all of her stepchildren, as well as her own son by sixteen days.  She died on 23 December 1383 and was buried in the Jacobins convent in Paris.  Her standing tomb effigy was later moved to the French royal mausoleum of Saint Denis, where it can still be seen today. 1

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From Queen Victoria to the Princess Royal – 10 August 1859

From Queen Victoria to the Princess Royal – Osborne, 10 August 1859

That despising our poor degraded sex – (for what else is it as we poor creatures are born for man’s pleasure and amusement, and destined to go through endless sufferings and trials?) is a little in all clever men’s natures; dear Papa even is not quite exempt though he would not admit it – but he laughs and sneers constantly at many of them and at our unavoidable inconveniences, etc though he hates the want of affection, of due attention to and protection of them, says that the men who leave all home affairs – and the education of their children to their wives – forget their first duties. But understandably in your new country, there is a terrible want of feeling for family life, and I should be very happy if Fritz Carl1 could profit by a sejour with us. I like him extremely – and I am sure I should like her2.3

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