Diana's Letters Hit the Auction Block

A series of letters and Christmas cards written by Princess Diana after her wedding and around the time of her children's birth are set to be auctioned on June 21 in England, "Good Morning America" reports. They're expected to fetch more than $30,000.

When William was born, Diana described to Hodge the maternal experience of, "Looking strangely besotted at this small package making strange gaga noises."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/09/princess-diana-letters-auction_n_873892.html

A Daisy Swirls around DC

(CBS) Denmark's Queen Margrethe made a whirlwind visit to Washington this week, cramming a visit the Capitol, Library of Congress and city museums, a cruise up the Potomac, parties at the embassy and an evening at the ballet into her agenda.

The 71-year-old Danish monarch and her French-born husband, Prince Henrik, visited the U.S. Capitol, the Library of Congress and several of the city's museums. They also visited a number of Danish companies, met with consuls, cruised the Potomac and attended a performance of the Royal Danish Ballet a the Kennedy Center.

The two were accompanied by Victoria Reggie Kennedy, widow of Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, and Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer, D-Md., whose father was born in Copenhagen
The royal couple got a standing ovation Tuesday night at the Kenedy Center that was even longer than the one the ballet company received.

From Washington, the Queen will go to New York, where she and her consort prince will participate in the Danish American Society Gala at the Museum of Natural History, visit the UN headquarters and view a selection of Danish design at the Museum of Modern Art.
The queen will be named "Person of the Year" at the Danish American Society Gala.
On June 11, Prince Henrik will be is in Solvang, Calif., to celebrate the city's 100th anniversary, visit Stanford University and tour the Danish Innovation Center in Silicon Valley.

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-31749_162-20070213-10391698.html#ixzz1OqiQqr4R

Coryne Hall Reviews Ilana Miller's THE FOUR GRACES

“The Four Graces.  Queen Victoria’s Hessian Granddaughters,” by Ilana D. Miller. (Eurohistory.com/Kensington House Books). 256 pages, 80 illustrations, 4 family trees.

Victoria, Ella, Irene and Alix were the daughters of Grand Duke Louis IV of Hesse-Darmstadt and Princess Alice, Queen Victoria’s second daughter.  They grew up in the provincial backwater of Darmstadt but each evolved in a very different way.  Victoria was a tomboy, Ella was ladylike, Irene diffident and shy, while Alix later became withdrawn. 

The heroine of the story is Victoria, who by the age of 15 had lost a brother, a sister and her mother. Her childhood ended after Princess Alice’s tragic death in 1878 when she took responsibility for the family.  She was a liberal to whom rank meant little. When Prince Louis of Battenberg, an officer in the British Royal Navy, proposed she loved the fact that he was “only” a Serene Highness. He rose to the rank of First Sea Lord but was forced to resign on the outbreak of war in 1914. In 1917, when he was forced to give up his German name and title, Victoria gave up her Hesse titles, saying “what is good enough for my husband is good enough for me.” Victoria was a progressive. She became the first princess to fly, loved the telephone but hated the radio because she couldn’t talk back to it!

Ella and Alix both took Russian husbands, Grand Duke Sergei and Nicholas II respectively. Irene went against her grandmother and the establishment for the only time in her life by marrying her cousin Prince Henry of Prussia.  She then took on the thankless task of trying to rationalize the Kaiser’s ill-treatment of his mother’s family to Queen Victoria.

Tragedy runs like a thread through this book. Irene and Alix both gave birth to haemophiliac sons and steered their immediate family on a course of self-determination and isolation from “Prussian ways”, in Alix’s case with tragic consequences. Victoria was the stalwart of the family and the go-between in difficult circumstances, such as the divorce of her brother Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and his wife Victoria Melita.  As time wore on she also had concerns about Alix’s insularity and self-deception. “How to handle Alix” became a major issue. Of all the sisters, she remained closest to Ella. After the Russian revolution there are some fascinating accounts of the news Victoria was hearing about the fate of various members of the family, especially Ella. It shows just how confused the whole situation was, with rumours about Alix and Ella’s fates flying around. Afterwards Victoria blamed George V and various politicians for failing to save her sisters and she moved heaven and earth to ensure that Ella’s body was transported to Jerusalem for burial in the church that Sergei and Ella had dedicated in 1888.

In the aftermath of war Victoria’s relationship with her only surviving sister Irene was never quite the same and they met only infrequently. She remained extremely close to Ernie and his family but in 1937 tragedy struck again when a month after the Grand Duke’s death most of his family were killed in a plane crash.

When war came again Victoria’s family were once more on opposite sides. Afterwards she could not meet her only surviving sibling Irene, who was not free to travel. Although they kept in touch sporadically, two wars had estranged them forever.  Instead, Victoria mothered her young grandson Prince Philip of Greece, becoming the matriarch of the Mountbatten family and living long enough to see him marry the future Queen Elizabeth II and father two of his children.

This is a meticulously researched work written with great perception. Both the Duke of Edinburgh and Lady Mountbatten have given assistance and one of the most striking things is the amazing amount of archive material the author has used, instead of just relying on published sources. I must also mention the illustrations, which come from the Eurohistory Archive and are absolutely wonderful. 

This is a beautifully produced book and a riveting account of a family who achieved greatness in the face of tragedy.  Highly recommended.

A nice review of Ilana Miller's THE FOUR GRACES

At Marlene Koenig's RBN blog she has given a very fair and balanced, as well as enthusiastic review to Ilana Miller''s The Four Graces – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters.

http://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2011/06/four-graces-by-ilana-miller.html 

 

Ilana Miller's book selling on Amazon!

We are selling Ilana Miller's new book The Four Graces – Queen Victoria's Hessian Granddaughters on Amazon.com. Here is the link!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/097719616X

Our President Visits Their Queen

At a State Dinner this evening President and Mrs Obama were hosted by HM The Queen.

New birth in Casa Savoia – Prince Amedeo

Princess Olga of Savoy-Aosta, Duchess of Puglie, gave birth earlier today to a second son, Prince Amedeo. The birth was reported to have taken place in Paris, where Princess Olga's parents, Prince Michael and Princess Marina of Greece, reside.

Amedeo is the second son of the Duke and Duchess of Puglie. Their first son, Prince Umberto, was born in 2009.

The baby, like his elder brother, happens to be among the most royal of royal babies around these days. He is a descendant of King Christian IX of Denmark, King Louis Philippe of the French, Emperor Pedro II of Brazil, Queen Victoria of Great Britain and Tsar Nicholas I of Russia, to name but a few of his ancestors. In fact, Amedeo and Umberto's maternal grandfather, Prince Michael of Greece, is a first cousin of his grandson's paternal grandmother (Claude of France) as well as of his son-in-law's paternal grandmother (Princess Irene of Greece). Aimone of Savoy-Aosta and  Olga of Greece are very closely related.

See below:

Aimone of Savoy-Aosta                                        Olga of Greece

Parents:

Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta                                       Michael of Greece
Claude of France                                                    Marina Karella

Grandparents:

Aimone of Savoy-Aosta                                        Christopher of Greece
Irene of Greece                                                       Françoise of France
Henri of France                                       
Isabelle of Orléans-Bragança

Great-grandparents:

Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy-Aosta                     King George I of the Hellenes
Hélène of Orléans                                                   Olga of Russia
King Constantine I of the Hellenes                      Jean, Duke of Guise
Sophie of Prussia                                                    Isabelle of Orléans
Jean, Duke of Guise
Isabelle of Orléans
Pedro de Alcantara of Orléans-Bragança
Elisabeth Dobrzensky de Dobrzenicz

Great-great-grandparents:

King Amedeo I of Spain                                         King Christian IX of Denmark
Vittoria del Pozzo della Cisterna                          Louise of Hesse-Kassel
Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris                                     Konstantin of Russia
Isabel of Orléans y Borbón                                     Alexandra of Saxe-Altenburg
King George I of the Hellenes                               Robert, Duke of Chartres
Olga Konstantinovna of Russia                            Françoise of Orléans
Friedrich III, German Kaiser                                 Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris
Victoria of Great Britain                                         Isabel of Orléans y Borbón
Robert, Duke of Chartres
Françoise of Orléans
Louis Philippe, Ct of Paris
Isabel of Orléans y Borbón
Gaston, Count d'Eu
Izabel of Brazil

The Infamous Hat Made Famous by its Auction Price

LONDON — Auction site eBay says a bidder has paid 81,100 pounds ($131,648) for the silk bow hat worn by Princess Beatrice to last month's royal wedding.

The 22-year-old granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II put the Philip Treacy creation on sale to raise money for UNICEF and Children in Crisis.

The silk hat caused a stir at the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton on April 29.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/22/princess-beatrice-hat-ebay-sold_n_865310.html

The Honeymoon's Over

NAIROBI, Kenya — Britain's newly married Prince William and his wife, the former Kate Middleton, have left the island nation of the Seychelles after a 10-day honeymoon, officials said Saturday.

"They left happy and clearly content with their stay," said the head of the Seychelles tourism board, Alain St Ange, who saw the couple leave Friday.

William's office at St. James's Palace confirmed the couple had returned to Britain.
The palace said the couple "thoroughly enjoyed their time together, and they are grateful to the Seychelles government for their assistance in making the honeymoon such a memorable and special 10 days."

The island nation's foreign minister said the nation was proud to host the couple.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/05/21/prince-william-kate-honeymoon-seychelles_n_865068.html

The Queen's State Visit to Ireland

Although she stopped short of an outright apology for the “heartache, turbulence and loss” of the past century, the Queen said: “We can all see things which we would wish had been done differently or not at all.”

The landmark speech during a state dinner at Dublin Castle included a direct reference to the murder of the Duke of Edinburgh’s uncle, Earl Mountbatten, by the IRA, when the Queen said the “events have touched us all, many of us personally”.

But her overriding message was one of “forbearance and conciliation” as she spoke of being able “to bow to the past, but not be bound by it”.

 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/queen-elizabeth-II/8522273/The-Queen-acknowledges-sad-and-regrettable-mistakes-of-Britains-troubled-relationship-with-Ireland.html