Virginia Oldoïni, Countess of Castiglione, Mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Virginia Oldoïni, Countess of Castiglione was the mistress of Emperor Napoleon III of France from 1856-1857.

Virginia Oldoïni, Countess of Castiglione; source: Wikipedia

Virginia Elisabetta Luisa Carlotta Antonietta Teresa Maria Oldoïni was born on March 22, 1837 in Florence. She was the only daughter of Marquis Filippo Oldoïni – later the Italian Ambassador to Portugal – and Isabella Lamporecchi. At the age of 17, she married Francesco Verasis, Count of Castiglione on January 9, 1854. A year later she gave birth to her only child, a son Georgio.

Elsewhere in Europe at the time, an effort was made to establish a unified and independent Kingdom of Italy. Virginia’s cousin Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour, who served as a minister to King Vittorio Emanuele II of Sardinia (and later as the first Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Italy), saw the young beautiful Virginia as a way to gain the attention and support of the French Emperor Napoleon III. At her cousin’s request, Virginia and her husband traveled to Paris on Christmas Day in 1855. Just a few weeks later, she was presented to Emperor Napoleon III at a ball held at the home of Princess Mathilde Bonaparte, and within a few months, she had become his mistress. While such relationships were usually maintained with some level of discretion, Virginia and the Emperor made no secret of theirs. The scandal and humiliation led to a formal separation between Virginia and her husband.

Virginia Oldoïni, Countess of Castiglione; source: Wikipedia

Virginia’s affair with Emperor Napoleon III ended in 1857, and she returned to Italy. Four years later, the Kingdom of Italy was established, and Virginia maintained that her influence had, in part, contributed to the unification. By 1861, she had moved to France where she settled in Passy before returning to Paris. By then a very wealthy woman, she devoted much of her time and fortune to her newfound passion – photography.

La Dame de Coeurs. source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

In 1856, Virginia began posing for Pierre-Louis Pierson, a photographer favored by the Imperial Court. Many of the photographs depicted specific moments from her life, while others were recreations of historical figures. One, shown above, titled La Dame de Coeurs (The Lady of Hearts), was displayed in the Universal Exhibition in Paris in 1867. Over the next forty years, Virginia sat for more than 700 photographs, all very carefully choreographed by Virginia herself. After her death, Robert de Montesquiou, a noted poet and art collector, amassed over 400 of these photographs, many of which are now held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

Countess of Castiglione, photographed in 1893. source: Wikipedia

In her later years, following the death of her estranged husband in 1867 and her son in 1879, Virginia became a virtual recluse, rarely leaving her apartments in Paris. No longer having the immense beauty of her youth, she had all her mirrors covered and refused to go out in public until after dark, always draping herself in scarves to avoid anyone seeing her face. In the mid-1890s, perhaps in an attempt to recapture her youth, she collaborated with Pierson once again for a series of photographs, many of them in the same costumes and outfits from years earlier.

Virginia Oldoïni, Countess of Castiglione died on November 28, 1899, at the age of 62. She is buried in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Update on the condition of Prince Joachim of Denmark

Embed from Getty ImagesYou need to get the treatment of sexual dysfunction, and failing to follow them can negate the effects of a single pill lasts for a longer duration which is in turn beneficial to us. http://www.icks.org/data/ijks/1483475739_add_file_1.pdf buy levitra online After the completion of 1 cheap viagra uk icks.org hour you can start enjoying a great sexual life. Below are some of the methods recommended by erectile dysfunction in their buy viagra australia check out over here life. It is manufactured and distributed by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer who were initially investigating and studying its use for the treatment of erectile dysfunction has introduced its leisure use. cialis consultation

The Danish Royal House released the following update on the condition of Prince Joachim of Denmark on July 28, 2020:

His Royal Highness Prince Joachim underwent an operation for a blood clot in the brain in the early morning hours of Saturday, 25 July at University Hospital in Toulouse, France. After the recent days of hospitalization and treatment in the intensive care unit, it is the doctors’ assessment that Prince Joachim will not have any physical effects or other injuries as a result of the blood clot.

The blood clot in the brain was due to a sudden dissection of an artery, and the hospital’s medical team assesses that the risk of recurrence is very small when the artery has healed. Prince Joachim is expected to be moved out of the intensive care unit as soon as possible but will continue to be hospitalized for some time to come. It is still the royal family’s hope that the media will comply with the wish for calm and respect for privacy.

Prince Joachim and Princess Marie would like to express thanks for the support and the many warm greetings they have received over the past few days. It means a great deal. Her Majesty The Queen also expresses warm thanks for all of the sympathy that has been shown to the royal family.

Prince Joachim is the younger of the two sons of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Learn more about the Danish Royal Family, past and present at Unofficial Royalty: Kingdom of Denmark Index.

Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, Lover of Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky; Credit – Wikipedia

Patronymics

  • In Russian, a patronymic is the second name derived from the father’s first name: the suffix -vich means “son of” and the suffixes -eva, -evna, -ova, and -ovna mean “daughter of”.

Born on March 28, 1709, Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky began his life on a farm near Chernihiv, now in Ukraine, the son of a Ukrainian Cossack farmer Grigory Yakovlev Rozum and his wife Natalya Demyanovna Demeshko. Alexei had five siblings: three sisters Agafyu, Anna, and Vera, an elder brother Danilo, and a younger brother Kirill, known as Count Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky, who benefited from his brother’s relationship with Empress Elizabeth. Kirill was a Field Marshal of the Russian Imperial Army and President of the St. Petersburg Imperial Academy of Sciences. However, Alexei and Kirill’s childhood was spent in poverty on their drunken father’s farm, working to keep the family from starvation.

Alexei was taught to read and write by a local priest. Because his father hated his love of learning, Alexei fled to the neighboring village of Chemer, where he lived with a clerk as his apprentice and sang in the village church choir. In 1731, Colonel Vishnevsky, a courtier of Anna, Empress of All Russia (reigned 1730 – 1740), who was passing through Chemer, returning to St. Petersburg after a diplomatic trip to Hungary, was impressed with Alexei’s vocal abilities and took him to Saint Petersburg where he joined the Court Choir under the name Alexei Grigoriev.

Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexei’s beautiful singing and good looks earned him the interest of Tsesarevna Elizabeth Petrovna, daughter of Peter I (the Great), Emperor of All Russia (reigned 1682 – 1725), the future Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia (reigned 1741 – 1762). In 1732, Elizabeth made Alexei a member of the choir in her private chapel. Soon, he had a room near her apartments. Alexei’s personality qualities made him a good choice to be Elizabeth’s favorite and lover. He was a simple and decent person and well-liked for his kindness, good nature, and tact. He had no ambition and never interfered in politics. Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia (reigned 1762 – 1796), who in 1745 as Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, married Empress Elizabeth’s nephew and heir, the future Peter III, Emperor of All Russia (reigned 1762), later wrote about Alexei and his brother Kirill that she “knew no other family enjoying the sovereign’s favor to a degree, who were so much loved by so many people as the two brothers.”

Peter III and Catherine; in 1756; Credit – Wikipedia

In October 1740, the infant Ivan VI (reigned 1740 – 1741) became Emperor of All Russia. A conspiracy soon arose intending to obtain the Russian throne for Elizabeth Petrovna, the only surviving child of Peter the Great. A coup occurred during the night of December 5-6, 1741, with financial support from France and military support from the Preobrazhensky Regiment. Elizabeth Petrovna arrived at the regiment’s headquarters wearing armor over her dress and asked, “Who do you want to serve, me, your natural sovereign, or those who have stolen my inheritance?” The Preobrazhensky Regiment marched to the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg and arrested the infant Emperor Ivan VI and his parents. It was a daring coup and succeeded without bloodshed. The new 32-year-old Empress of All Russia, Elizabeth Petrovna, vowed that she would not sign a single death sentence, a promise she kept throughout her twenty-year reign.

Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky had played an important role in the coup, and like others who had helped the new Empress gain her position, he was rewarded. He was created chamberlain with the rank of Lieutenant-General. On the day of Elizabeth’s coronation, Alexei was made the Court Chamberlain, the administrative official in charge of the court. At the same time, he received the Order of Saint Andrew and the Order of Alexander Nevsky and several estates. In 1744, Alexei was made a Count of the Holy Roman Empire by Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII, and then Elizabeth made him a Count of Russia. There are several stories about children allegedly born to Alexei and Elizabeth, but not one is documented.

In 1742, rumors began circulating that Empress Elizabeth and Alexei had been secretly married in the village of Perovo near Moscow. After this time, Alexei settled in apartments adjoining Elizabeth’s apartments. He had constant access to her, and his nickname became the Night Emperor. During the reign of Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia, Catherine searched for a precedent to marry her lover Grigory Orlov. Catherine sent her chancellor to Alexei, asking for proof of his marriage to Elizabeth. Alexei was told that as the widower of an empress, he would have a position in the Imperial Family and a large pension. Alexei told Catherine’s chancellor that he was already one of the richest men in Russia and that he needed neither honors nor money. He then unlocked a cabinet and took out a scrolled parchment tied with a pink ribbon. He made the sign of the cross, kissed the parchment, and threw it into the fireplace. Alexei said, “Tell Her Imperial Majesty that I was never anything more than the humble slave of the late Elizabeth Petrovna.” Was that parchment proof of the marriage of Alexei and Elizabeth?

Despite becoming one of the richest people in Russia, Alexei remained modest and tried not to interfere in court intrigues. He did not forget his Ukrainian relatives or his native Ukraine. It was due to Alexei that during the reign of Elizabeth, Ukrainians managed to be granted some privileges.

On January 3, 1762, Empress Elizabeth had a massive stroke, and the doctors agreed she would not recover. Alexei was one of the people who gathered at her bedside at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, along with Elizabeth’s nephew Peter, his wife Catherine, and others close to Elizabeth. Elizabeth made her successor, her nephew Peter, promise to protect Alexei. On January 5, 1762, Elizabeth asked her priest to read the Orthodox prayer for the dying. She blessed everyone in the room and asked each one for forgiveness. At about 4 PM, Elizabeth, Empress of All Russia died at the age of 52.

Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg; Credit – By A.Savin (Wikimedia Commons · WikiPhotoSpace) – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21480614

Shortly after Elizabeth’s death, Alexei submitted his resignation from his various positions. He moved from the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg to the nearby Anichkov Palace, which Empress Elizabeth had built for Alexei. Following their marriage in 1866, the future Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and his wife Maria Feodorovna, born Princess Dagmar of Denmark, made the Anichkov Palace their St. Petersburg residence. Their children, including Nicholas II, the last Emperor of All Russia, spent their childhood there.

The new emperor, Peter III, often visited Alexei at Anichkov Palace. However, the reign of Peter III, Emperor of All Russia lasted only six months. He was deposed by his wife, born Princess Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, who reigned as Catherine II (the Great), Empress of All Russia. Alexei did not take part in the coup that overthrew Peter III, and when Catherine became Empress, Alexei swore allegiance to her and carried the crown during her coronation. Catherine offered Alexei the style of “Highness” but Alexei refused.

Alexei became quite ill in 1770, and during the last months of that year, he became bedridden. Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky, aged 62, died on July 17, 1771, at Anichkov Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. He was buried in the Annunciation Church of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra in St. Petersburg, together with the wife of his brother Count Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky, Ekaterina Ivanovna Razumovskaya, who died just two weeks after Alexei. Over their graves, Kirill erected a magnificent marble monument in the form of triumphal gates.

Tomb of Count Alexei Grigorievich Razumovsky and his sister-in-law Ekaterina Ivanovna Razumovskaya; Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Alexei Razumovsky. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexei_Razumovsky> [Accessed 3 June 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2020). Elizabeth of Russia. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_of_Russia [Accessed 5 Jan. 2018].
  • Lincoln, W. Bruce. (1981). The Romanovs: Autocrats of  All the Russias. New York, NY.: Doubleday
  • Massie, Robert. (2016). Catherine the Great. London: Head of Zeus.
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2020. Разумовский, Алексей Григорьевич. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B8%D0%B9,_%D0%90%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BA%D1%81%D0%B5%D0%B9_%D0%93%D1%80%D0%B8%D0%B3%D0%BE%D1%80%D1%8C%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B8%D1%87> [Accessed 3 June 2020]. (Russian Wikipedia article on Alexei Razumovsky)
  • Ru.wikipedia.org. 2020. Разумовская, Наталья Демьяновна. [online] Available at: <https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%A0%D0%B0%D0%B7%D1%83%D0%BC%D0%BE%D0%B2%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F,_%D0%9D%D0%B0%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%8F_%D0%94%D0%B5%D0%BC%D1%8C%D1%8F%D0%BD%D0%BE%D0%B2%D0%BD%D0%B0> [Accessed 3 June 2020]. (Russian Wikipedia article on Natalya Demyanovna Razumovskaya, Alexei’s mother)

Wedding of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/p/CC05fTMH_HJ/ Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

On Friday, July 17, 2020, at 11:00 AM, Princess Beatrice of York married Mr. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi in a small private ceremony held at the Royal Chapel of All Saints Chapel, located on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park in Windsor, England.

Princess Beatrice of York

Embed from Getty Images 

Princess Beatrice of York was born on August 8, 1988, at 8:18 pm at Portland Hospital in London, England. She is the elder of the two daughters of Prince Andrew, Duke of York and his former wife née Sarah Ferguson, known as Sarah, Duchess of York after her divorce. Princess Beatrice has a younger sister, Princess Eugenie, born in 1990.

Princess Beatrice started her schooling in 1991 at Upton House School in Windsor, Berkshire, England. In 1995, Beatrice began attending Coworth Park School in Windlesham, Surrey, England which merged in 2004 with Flexlands School to become Coworth Flexlands School. From 2000-2007, Beatrice attended St. George’s School in Ascot, Berkshire, England. She completed A-Levels in Drama, History, and Film Studies and in her final year was Head Girl. In September 2008, Beatrice started a three-year course studying for a Bachelors’s degree in History and History of Ideas at Goldsmiths College, University of London, England graduating in 2011.

On her 18th birthday, Beatrice said she wanted to use her position to assist others through charity work.  She has been active in a number of charities including Children in Crisis, a charity founded by her mother, Sarah, Duchess of York, whose goal is to help educate children and women in some of the poorest countries, and The Big Change Charitable Trust, a charity Beatrice founded with six friends that identifies and supports projects that improve the lives of young people. At the time of her wedding, Beatrice was working for Afiniti, an artificial intelligence software firm, as vice president of partnerships and strategy.

Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi

 

Born on November 19, 1983, in Westminster, London, England, Edoardo (Edo) Mapelli Mozzi is the younger of the two children of Count Alessandro (Alex) Mapelli Mozzi and his first wife Nicola (Nikki) Burrows. Eduardo has a sister Natalia Alice Yeomans (born 1981) and a half-brother Alby Shale (born 1991) from his mother’s second marriage to Christopher Shale, British businessman and Conservative politician, who died in 2011. Edoardo’s father made a second marriage to Ebba Eckermann and his mother made a third marriage to sculptor David Williams-Ellis.

Edoardo’s father is a member of an Italian noble family, whose family seat is the Villa Mapelli Mozzi located in Ponte San Pietro, Bergamo, Italy. Count Alessandro Mapelli Mozzi’s title, which he uses as a courtesy, is not officially recognized in either Italy or the United Kingdom. He holds both Italian and British citizenship and competed in the 1972 Winter Olympics in three alpine skiing events as a member of the British Olympic team.

Edoardo attended Radley College, a boys’ independent boarding school near Radley, Oxfordshire, England, which was founded in 1847. He received a master’s degree in politics at the University of Edinburgh in Edinburg, Scotland.

When he was 23-years-old, Edoardo founded Banda Property, a property development and interior design company that focuses on designing homes for affluent clients in undervalued parts of London. He is also a co-founder of the British-Rwandan charity Cricket Builds Hope whose goal is to use cricket as a tool for positive social change in Rwanda.

The Engagement

Engagement Photo of Princess Beatrice of York and Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi; Photo Credit – https://twitter.com/RoyalFamily © Princess Eugenie

The families of Beatrice and Edoardo had been close friends for decades. In 2018, the couple started dating. Beatrice and Edoardo attended their first royal family event together, the wedding of Beatrice’s second cousin once removed, Lady Gabriella Windsor, in May 2019.

Beatrice and Edoardo became engaged in Italy in September 2019, and on September 26, 2019, Buckingham Palace formally announced their engagement.  Edoardo helped design the engagement ring with British jeweler Shaun Leane. The setting is platinum with the main diamond of 2.5 karats and .75 karat baguette diamonds on the side.

Wedding Guests

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/theroyalfamily/  Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

A press release stated:  “The small ceremony was attended by the Queen, the Duke of Edinburgh and close family. The wedding took place in accordance with all relevant government guidelines.” When the COVID lockdown began on March 23, 2020, weddings in England were banned under almost all circumstances. After July 4, 2020, weddings with up to 30 attendees were allowed to take place. It is known that there were approximately twenty guests including the bride and groom’s parents and siblings, and the bride’s paternal grandparents Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

Wedding Attendants

The bride’s sister Princess Eugenie, Mrs. Jack Brooksbank was the matron of honor. The groom’s four-year-old son from his relationship with American architect Dara Huang,  Christopher Woolf Mapelli Mozzi, known as Wolfie, served as both the best man and a pageboy. The groom’s niece and nephew, five-year-old Coco Yeomans and three-year-old Freddie Yeomans, the children of his sister Natalia Yeomans, served as bridesmaid and pageboy.

The Wedding Attire

Photo Credit – https://www.instagram.com/theroyalfamily/  Photograph by Benjamin Wheeler

Princess Beatrice wore a vintage peau de soie taffeta dress, in shades of ivory and trimmed with duchess satin and encrusted with diamante, originally designed by Norman Hartnell, on loan from her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. The dress was a modified version of the dress Queen Elizabeth II wore to the world premiere of the film Lawrence Of Arabia at the Odeon Cinema Leicester Square, London in December 1962. Beatrice’s wedding dress was remodeled and fitted by the Queen’s senior dresser Angela Kelly and designer Stewart Parvin. 

 

Princess Beatrice’s floor-length veil was attached by the Queen Mary diamond fringe tiara loaned to her by her grandmother Queen Elizabeth II. It is the same tiara Beatrice’s grandmother wore on her wedding day in 1947. The tiara was made in 1919 for Queen Mary, Beatrice’s great-great-grandmother, from diamonds taken from a necklace given to Mary by Queen Victoria as a wedding present in 1893. Princess Anne, the only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, also wore the tiara for her marriage to Captain Mark Phillips in 1973. So it was fitting that Princess Beatrice as Queen Elizabeth II’s eldest royal granddaughter wore the same tiara on her wedding day.

Queen Mary’s Diamond Fringe Tiara; Photo Credit – https://www.tiara-mania.com/2011/11/fringe-tiara.html

The bouquet consisted of trailing jasmine, pale pink and cream sweet peas, royal porcelain ivory spray roses, pink O’Hara garden roses, pink waxflower, baby pink astilbe and, in keeping with royal tradition, sprigs of myrtle. After the wedding, the bouquet was placed on the Tomb of the Unknown Warrior in Westminster Abbey. This has been a tradition for British royal brides since 1923 when Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, the wife of King George VI and Beatrice’s great-grandmother, placed her bouquet of white roses on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, whose remains had been brought from France and buried in the Westminster Abbey floor three years earlier. No doubt Lady Elizabeth was thinking of her brother Fergus Bowes-Lyon and all the other British soldiers who had died in World War I.

Embed from Getty Images

The Ceremony

Royal Chapel of All Saints, the site of the wedding; Credit – By Wilfridselsey – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56272459

The wedding was scheduled to take place on May 29, 2020, at the Chapel Royal at St James’s Palace in London, England, followed by a private reception in the gardens of Buckingham Palace. However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the wedding was postponed.

The wedding was held on July 17, 2020, in private at the Royal Chapel of All Saints on the grounds of Royal Lodge in Windsor Great Park in Windsor, England. The new date had not been announced in advance and Buckingham Palace said the ceremony was small and confirmed that Prince Andrew, Duke of York, the bride’s father, walked her down the aisle.

The ceremony was officiated by The Reverend Canon Paul Wright, Sub-Dean of the Chapel Royal and The Reverend Canon Martin Poll, Domestic Chaplain to Her Majesty. In line with British government guidelines for COVID-19, all social distancing measures were followed.

The service included two of the couple’s favorite poems, read by their mothers: Sonnet 116 – Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments by William Shakespeare and  I carry you in my heart by E.E. Cummings; and a biblical reading: St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians Chapter 13, verses 1-13 – If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal.

Prayers were said but in accordance with British government guidelines for COVID-19, no hymns were sung, but a selection of music was played. The National Anthem was played but not sung.

The Wedding Reception

A small party was held afterward at Royal Lodge, the Windsor home of The Duke of York and his former wife Sarah, Duchess of York, featuring specialty cocktails, made-to-order catering, an exquisitely decorated Indian-style tent, and a bouncy castle. Many of the twenty guests stayed overnight in glamping pods.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Andrews, E., 2020. Beatrice Poses With New Husband Edoardo And Grandparents After Wedding. [online] Mail Online. Available at: <https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8537155/Beatrice-poses-new-husband-Edoardo-grandparents-socially-distanced-wedding.html> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • BBC News. 2020. Princess Beatrice’s Wedding Photos Released. [online] Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-53457958> [Accessed 23 July 2020]
  • Film, T., Edition, U., McKnight, J., Film, T., Edition, U. and NEWSLETTER, H., 2020. Everything You Need To Know About Princess Beatrice’s Wedding: From Her Dress To The Ceremony. [online] HELLO!. Available at: <https://www.hellomagazine.com/brides/2020071893730/princess-beatrice-wedding-details-everything-you-need-to-know/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi, Husband Of Princess Beatrice Of York. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/edoardo-mapelli-mozzi-fiance-of-princess-beatrice-of-york/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].
  • Unofficial Royalty. 2014. Princess Beatrice, Mrs. Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi. [online] Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/princess-beatrice-of-york/> [Accessed 23 July 2020].

Johann Friedrich Struensee, Favorite of King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway and Lover of his wife Queen Caroline Matilda

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Johann Friedrich Struensee, Credit – Wikipedia

The scandalous story of King Christian VII of Denmark, his wife Queen Caroline Matilda, and Johann Friedrich Struensee has been told in several novels including Norah Loft’s The Lost Queen (1969) and Per Olov Enquist’s The Visit of the Royal Physician (1999) and also in the Danish film A Royal Affair (2012) which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film and starred Academy Award-winning supporting actress (for The Danish Girl) Alicia Vikander as Queen Caroline Matilda.

Johann Friedrich Struensee was born on August 5, 1737, in Halle, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. He was the third of the seven children and the second of the four sons of Adam Struensee (link in German) and Maria Dorothea Carl.

Struensee had six siblings:

  • Sophie Elisabeth Struensee (1733 – 1768), married her cousin, Samuel Struensee
  • Carl August Struensee (link in German) (1735 – 1804), Prussian Minister of Finance, married Karoline Elisabeth Müller, had three daughters
  • Samuel Adam Struensee (born 1739), died young
  • Maria Dorothea Struensee (1744 – 1820), married Wilhelm Alexander Schwollmann
  • Johanna Henrietta Struensee (born 1745), died young
  • Gotthilf Christoph Struensee (link in German) (1746 – 1829), married unknown wife

Struensee’s mother Maria Dorothea Carl was the daughter of Johann Samuel Carl, (link in German) the personal physician of Ludwig Ferdinand, Count of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. In 1736, Carl became the personal physician of King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway and also served as personal physician to Christian VI’s son and successor King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway. Struensee’s father Adam Struensee was a Lutheran minister who adhered to Pietism, a movement that originated in the Lutheran Church in the 17th century in Germany that stressed personal piety over religious formality and orthodoxy. Adam Struensee was a pastor in Halle and a professor of theology at the University of Halle. In 1758, he accepted the position as pastor of Trinity Church in Altona, now in Germany, but then under the administration of the Danish monarchy. In 1760, Adam Struensee became superintendent-general (similar to a bishop) of the Duchy of Schleswig-Holstein, then part of Denmark.

In 1752, at the age of fifteen, Johann Friedrich Struensee entered the University of Halle and graduated as a Doctor in Medicine on December 12, 1757. He moved with his parents to Altona in 1758 and took a low-paying position as a public physician. In Altona, Struensee fought the spread of epidemics by improving hygiene and introducing the smallpox vaccination. In 1760, he was appointed physician of the County of Rantzau, and in that position, he also treated bourgeois and noble patients. Struensee began to publish articles in medical journals. In his articles, he wrote about the links between lack of education, poor hygiene, and diseases in poor neighborhoods and recommended reforms. He believed that the government had a duty to ensure the health and education of its citizens. Struensee also believed that this care should apply to unmarried mothers and the mentally ill. Over time, Struensee earned a good reputation with the Schleswig-Holstein nobility. In 1768, because he was known for a new kind of therapy for mental illness, Struensee was called to treat 18-year-old King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway while he was staying in Altona.

King Christian VII of Denmark and Norway; Credit – Wikipedia

When King Christian VII was not quite two years old, his mother, Queen Louisa, daughter of King George II of Great Britain, died at age 27 due to complications from a miscarriage. The next year, his father, King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway, made a second marriage to Juliana Maria of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. By all reports, Christian seemed to be an intelligent child and was taught in Danish, German, and French. However, he had a nervous disposition and was poorly educated and terrorized by a brutal governor, Christian Ditlev Reventlow, Count of Reventlow.

Queen Caroline Matilda; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1766, Christian VII succeeded to the Danish and Norwegian thrones after the early death of his father at age 42. Since there was a connection between the British and Danish royal families and both families were Protestant, it was natural that a British bride should be sought for Christian. The choice fell upon fifteen-year-old Princess Caroline Matilda, his first cousin, the daughter of Christian’s deceased maternal uncle, Frederick, Prince of Wales. On October 1, 1766, a proxy marriage was held at St. James’s Palace in London, with Caroline Matilda’s brother, King George III, standing in for King Christian VII. Caroline Matilda arrived in Copenhagen on November 8, 1766, and married Christian in person later that day in the Christiansborg Palace Chapel in Copenhagen, Denmark.

A copperplate engraving depicting the first dance of King Christian VII and Queen Caroline Mathilde of Denmark at their wedding at Christiansborg Palace; Credit – Wikipedia

It was soon clear that Christian VII was not quite normal. It is unknown if Christian’s mental illness was caused by the brutal treatment of the Count of Reventlow, possibly porphyria inherited from his Hanover mother, or schizophrenia. Christian’s behavior wandered into excesses, especially sexual promiscuity. He publicly declared that he could not love Caroline Matilda because it was “unfashionable to love one’s wife”. His symptoms included paranoia, self-mutilation, and hallucinations. Christian wandered the streets of Copenhagen, visiting the city’s taverns and brothels with his favorite Count Frederik Vilhelm Conrad Holck. It was becoming clearer and clearer that Christian could not fulfill his role as king.

In May 1768, Christian VII took a long tour of Europe, including stays in Altona, Paris, and London. The trip had been arranged because it was believed that new environments could change Christian’s behavior. It was on this journey that he became acquainted with Johann Friedrich Struensee. Struensee was the first person who understood that Christian was seriously ill. When Christian came home from the trip, Struensee accompanied him and was employed as Christian’s personal physician. Struensee could handle Christian’s instability, which was a great relief to the king’s advisers, and Christian developed confidence in him.

Princess Louise Auguste of Denmark, probably the child of Queen Caroline Matilda and Johann Friedrich Stuensee; Credit – Wikipedia

Because of Christian VII’s confidence in him, Struensee gained political power. In 1770, Struensee became Master of Requests and Minister of the Royal Cabinet. Within a short time, Struensee tried to reform the Danish state in the spirit of the Enlightenment. He also became the lover of the ill-treated Caroline Matilda, whose marriage was less than satisfactory. In 1771, when Caroline Matilda gave birth to her daughter Louise Auguste, no one doubted that Struensee was the father of the princess, who was given the unflattering nickname la petite Struensee, although Christian VII officially acknowledged her as his daughter. Eventually, Queen Dowager Juliana Maria maneuvered a coup that would bring about the fall of Struensee and discredit Caroline Matilda.

Contemporary woodcarving of the arrest of Struensee; Credit – Wikipedia

Early on the morning of January 17, 1772, following a ball at the court theater at Christiansborg Palace, Christian VII was awakened and forced to sign orders for the arrest of Struensee, his friend Count Enevold Brandt, and Caroline Matilda. Caroline Matilda was immediately taken to Kronberg Castle in Helsingør, Denmark, immortalized as Elsinore in William Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, to await her fate. She was allowed to keep her daughter with her, but the four-year-old Crown Prince Frederik stayed with his father. Upon hearing of Caroline Matilda’s arrest, Struensee confessed to his relationship with her, and eventually, Caroline Matilda also confessed. 34-year-old Struensee and his friend Brandt were condemned to death and both suffered a brutal execution on April 28, 1772. In the presence of thousands of people, their right hands were severed first, then their bodies were broken on the wheel, and finally, they were beheaded. Struensee’s parents were both still alive when he was executed.

Johann Friedrich Struensee and his friend Count Enevold Brandt are beheaded; Credit – Wikipedia

The bodies of Stuensee and Brandt were put on public display at the execution site for two years until only their bones were left. Exactly what happened to their remains is unknown. By tradition, it is said that Struensee and Brandt’s remains were buried at the Vestre Cemetery in Copenhagen and that in the 1920s, their coffins were placed in the burial chapel under the German-speaking St. Peter’s Church in Copenhagen However, according to St. Peter’s Church, Struensee and Brandt are not in the burial chapel, but are buried in the churchyard. There has never been an investigation to determine if Struensee and Brandt are buried at St. Peter’s Church.

Queen Caroline Matilda was also punished. Her marriage was dissolved on April 6, 1772. She lost her title of Queen and was forcibly separated from her children, whom she never saw again. Caroline Matilda was not quite 20 years old. Originally, it was decided that Caroline Matilda was to be held in custody for life at Aalborghus Castle in Aalborg, Denmark, but her brother King George III intervened. King George III sent Sir Robert Murray Keith, a British diplomat, to negotiate her release from Danish imprisonment. On May 28, 1772, Caroline Matilda was sent to Celle in her brother’s Kingdom of Hanover and lived the rest of her life at Celle Castle. Her imprisonment was not to last long. Caroline Matilda died of “a putrid fever and sore throat,” probably scarlet fever, on May 10, 1775, at the age of 23. She was buried at the Stadtkirche St. Marien (link in German) in Celle next to her great-grandmother Sophia Dorothea of Celle, Electoral Princess of Hanover, wife of the future King George I of Great Britain, who suffered a similar fate.

After the fall of Struensee, Christian VII’s stepmother, Dowager Queen Juliana Marie, and her son, Christian’s half-brother, Hereditary Prince Frederik, reinstated the Council of State. Christian was only nominally king from 1772 onward. Between 1772 and 1784, Denmark was ruled by Queen Dowager Juliana Marie, Hereditary Prince Frederik, and Cabinet Secretary Ove Høegh-Guldberg. From 1784, Christian’s son, the future King Frederik VI, ruled permanently as a prince regent.

The former King Christian VII lived in isolation with a caretaker. When he was behaving too violently, he was locked up in his room or tied to his chair. His only involvement with the government was when he had to sign “Christian Rex” on formal papers. On March 13, 1808, in Rendsburg, Schleswig (then in Denmark, now in Germany), King Christian VII died from a stroke at the age 59. He was buried in Frederik V’s Chapel at Roskilde Cathedral in Roskilde, Denmark.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Works Cited

  • Da.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adam Struensee. [online] Available at: <https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Struensee>.
  • Da.wikipedia.org. 2020. Johann Friedrich Struensee. [online] Available at: <https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Struensee>.
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adam Struensee. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Struensee>.
  • De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Johann Friedrich Struensee. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Struensee>.
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Johann Friedrich Struensee. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_Struensee>.
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. Caroline Matilda Of Wales, Queen Of Denmark And Norway. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/caroline-matilda-of-wales-queen-of-denmark-and-norway/>.
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2016. King Christian VII Of Denmark And Norway. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-christian-vii-of-denmark/>.
  • Hadlow, Janice. A Royal Experiment. New York: Picador, 2014. Print.
  • Tillyard, Stella. A Royal Affair: George III and His Scandalous Siblings. New York: Random House, 2006. Print.
  • Williamson, David. Brewer’s British Royalty. London: Cassell, 1996. Print.

Countess Maria Walewska, Mistress of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Maria Walewska was a member of the Polish nobility, and became the mistress of the French Emperor Napoleon I, with whom she had one son.

Countess Maria Walewska; Photo: By François Gérard Own work image taken by Mathiasrex, Maciej Szczepańczyk, 30 November 2013, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=29934370

Countess Maria Łączyńska was born in Kiernozia, Poland on December 7, 1786, one of seven children of Count Mateusz Łączyński and Eva Zaborowska. She was privately educated for several years by Nicolas Chopin, the father of famed composer Frederic Chopin. Later, she attended the Our Lady of the Assumption convent in Warsaw, to complete her education in the manner expected of those from the aristocracy.

In 1804, Marie married Athenasius Count Colonna-Walewski, a former chamberlain to the last King of Poland. She was just 17, while her husband was in his late 60s. Later Marie would say that her family pushed her into the marriage against her will. The couple had one son, Antoni Colonna-Walewski, born in 1805.

Emperor Napoleon I. source: Wikipedia

Marie first met Napoleon on January 1, 1807, when the Emperor passed through Blonie on his way to Warsaw. According to her memoirs, Marie and a cousin rushed to join the crowds, hoping to get a glimpse of his carriage. A French officer saw her trying to get closer and brought her to Napoleon’s carriage to greet him personally. The Emperor gave her a bouquet which was sitting in his carriage, and said he hoped they would meet again soon, perhaps in Warsaw.

Shortly after that first meeting, Marie was invited to attend a ball held in Warsaw, where she again met the Emperor who was quickly smitten with her. The next day, the grand marshal of the palace arrived at her home with a large bouquet of flowers and a sealed letter from Napoleon. Several more letters followed before Marie agreed, with the consent of her family and her husband, to become the Emperor’s mistress. This was also encouraged by the members of the Polish aristocracy who hoped that this relationship might help them in their quest for Poland to regain its independence. Marie states in her memoirs that she agreed to the affair for this reason alone.

Their affair was very well known although an effort was made to keep it a secret. Marie would only come to see Napoleon at night, secretly entering and leaving the palace in darkness. She later took up apartments adjoining his apartments at Finckenstein Palace in East Prussia which Napoleon used as his field headquarters. She refused to leave the palace for fear of being seen and having their relationship discovered. When Napoleon moved to Vienna, she moved into a house adjacent to Schönbrunn Palace where the Emperor was living. During this time, she became pregnant and on May 4, 1810, she gave birth to Alexandre Joseph, her only child with the Emperor. Although Napoleon’s son, he was recognized as husband’s son and was titled Count Alexandre Joseph Colonna-Walewski.

The following year, Marie followed the Emperor back to Paris. There, she was given a large residence on the Rue de Montmorency and a very generous allowance. However, around the same time, her romance with Napoleon ended. He was planning to divorce his wife Josephine and marry Marie Louise of Austria. The end was very amicable, and Napoleon ensured that Marie and their son were very well provided for financially.

Philippe Antoine, Count d’Ornano. source: Wikipedia

In 1812, Marie divorced her husband and received half of his estates, which in addition to the money provided by the Emperor, made Marie a very wealthy woman. Four years later, in September 1816, she married for a second time to Philippe Antoine, Count d’Ornano, a prominent military leader and a second cousin of Napoleon. They settled in Liege, and Marie became pregnant right away. In January 1817, while on a visit to Poland, she was diagnosed with a kidney disease, which became worse due to her pregnancy. The couple’s only child Rudolph Augustus d’Ornano was born in Liege on June 9, 1817. However, Marie’s health continued to deteriorate. Over the next several months, she dictated her memoirs to her secretary. The Countess d’Ornano died in Paris on December 11, 1817, at just 31 years old. Per her wishes, her heart was interred in the Ornano family crypt at the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris and her body was returned to Poland and buried with her family in Kiernozia.

Marie’s coffin in the family crypt in Kiernozia, Poland. photo: By Jolanta Dyr – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25352176

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Anna Sophie von Reventlow, Queen of Denmark and Norway

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Anna Sophie von Reventlow, Queen of Denmark and Norway; Credit – Wikipedia

From 1711 – 1712, Anna Sophie von Reventlow was the mistress of Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway. From 1712 – 1721, she was the bigamous wife of Frederik IV, and then she was Queen of Denmark and Norway from 1721 until 1730 when she was expelled from the Danish court by Frederik IV’s son and successor, Christian VI, King of Denmark and Norway.

Clausholm Castle, Anna Sophie’s family home; Credit – By Nico at the Danish language Wikipedia

Anna Sophie von Reventlow was born on April 16, 1693, at Clausholm Castle, her family home, in the eastern part of the Jutland Peninsula of Denmark. She was one of the ten children of Conrad von Reventlow, Count Reventlow of Clausholm and his second wife, Sophie Amalie von Hahn. Anna Sophia had seven elder half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Anna Margarete von Gabel. Conrad von Reventlow, Count Reventlow of Clausholm served Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway as Grand Chancellor, the highest-ranking non-monarchial government official at that time, similar to a Prime Minister. Nothing is known about Anna Sophie’s childhood, but it is assumed that she was not well educated because her letters show that she wrote poorly in Danish, French, and German.

Among Anna Sophie’s siblings were:

Notable half-siblings from her father’s first marriage:

Anna Sophie’s notable full siblings:

Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1695, Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway married Louise of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, with whom he had five children, although three sons died in infancy. In 1699, Frederik began a relationship with Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg, a lady-in-waiting to his unmarried sister Princess Sophia Hedwig of Denmark and Norway. In 1703, without divorcing his wife Queen Louise, Frederik made a bigamous marriage with Elisabeth. In 1704, Elisabeth died due to childbirth complications, giving birth to a son, Frederik Gyldenløve.. Frederik IV gave her an elaborate funeral. Little Frederik Gyldenløve lived for only nine months.

After Elisabeth died, Frederik IV began an affair with her lady-in-waiting, Charlotte Helene von Schindel (scroll down in the article). In 1709, Frederik wanted to again make a bigamous marriage but received strong opposition from the church, which told him that the law against bigamy also applied to kings. Charlotte and Frederik had a daughter in 1710 who died in infancy.

After losing interest in his mistress Charlotte Helene von Schindel in 1711, Frederik IV fell in love with 19-year-old Anna Sophie von Reventlow after meeting her at a masked ball. In 1712, Frederik abducted Anna Sophie from her parents’ home, Clausholm Castle, and took her to Skanderborg Castle. There they were married bigamously as Frederik IV’s wife, Queen Louise, was still alive. Anna Sophie was installed in a house on Bag Børsen (present-day Slotsholmsgade 8), close to Copenhagen Castle in Copenhagen, and she was given the title Duchess of Schleswig. In 1713, Frederik gave Vallø Castle to Anna Sophie.

Vallø Castle; Credit – By Flemming – DSC_0125, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17230727

Anna Sophie’s mother, by then a widow, did not support her daughter’s bigamous marriage, and mother and daughter did not reconcile until 1718. Anna Sophie did, however, receive support from her influential half-sister Christine Sophie, who often visited her. Frederik IV preferred to spend time with Anna Sophie instead of Queen Louise. Anna Sophie’s home became more or less a court, with gatherings of the nobility seeking Frederik IV’s favor. Because Frederik IV did not wish to be so public about his bigamous marriage to Anna Sophie, she was regarded by many as just his official mistress.

Queen Louise died on March 15, 1721, aged 53, and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial site of the Danish royal family, in Roskilde, Denmark. On April 4, 1721, Frederik IV and Anna Sophie were married in a second formal wedding conducted with great ceremony. Although the marriage was still scandalous, it was not declared morganatic, and Anna Sophie was crowned Queen of Denmark and Norway at Frederiksborg Castle Church in Hillerød, Denmark, in May 1721. Neither of the two surviving children of Frederik IV and his first wife, Crown Prince Christian (future King Christian VI), nor the unmarried Princess Charlotte Amalie, kissed her hand as required by the ceremony.

Anna Sophie as Queen of Denmark and Norway, circa 1730; Credit – Wikipedia

Although Crown Prince Christian behaved with respect towards Anna Sophie, he detested her and blamed her for his father’s ill-treatment of his mother. Princess Charlotte Amalie overcame her disapproval of Anna Sophie and eventually came to like her. In 1725, King Frederik IV made an addition to his will that guaranteed Anna Sophie’s rights as Queen Dowager after his death and made Crown Prince Christian sign it.

After Anna Sophie’s coronation, Frederik IV dismissed several officials and replaced them with relatives of Anna Sophie who were known as the Reventlowske Bande (Reventlow Gang). Anna Sophie was accused of nepotism, but it is not known whether she used political influence or if Frederik IV wished to strengthen her role at court by appointing those loyal to her to powerful positions.

Anna Sophie enjoyed the theater and founded, and then supported, the Lille Grønnegade Theater, the first public theater in Denmark. She was known to be generous to those in need, both privately and publicly, and came to be called “The Protector of the Poor.” In 1729, Anna Sophie created the charity Dronning Anna Sofies Stiftelse (Foundation of Queen Anna Sophie) to benefit the poor.

Anna Sophie and King Frederik IV had six children. Three were born before the legal marriage in 1721, but none survived. The three children born after the 1721 marriage were styled as Prince/Princess of Denmark and Norway, but none survived infancy. The deaths of all the children of Frederik IV and Anna Sophie were seen by many as divine punishment for their bigamous marriage.

  • Frederika Sophie von Reventlow (born and died before 1721), died in infancy
  • Frederica Conradine von Reventlow (born and before 1721), died in infancy
  • Stillborn (before 1721)
  • Princess Christiana Amalia (1723 – 1724), died in infancy
  • Prince Frederik Christian (1726 – 1727), died in infancy
  • Prince Karl (1728 – 1729), died in infancy

Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway died on October 12, 1730, the day after his 59th birthday, and was buried at Roskilde Cathedral, the traditional burial place for the Danish royal family, in a tomb adjacent to the tomb of his first wife, Queen Louise. Frederik IV’s son, Christian VI, King of Denmark and Norway, did not follow the instruction in his father’s will to guarantee Anna Sophie’s rights as Queen Dowager. Christian VI’s opinion was that Anna Sophie had taken advantage of his father during his ill health and that she had caused his family pain and suffering during the years of her open adultery.

Christian VI granted Anna Sophie an allowance but confiscated all her property and banished her to Clausholm Castle, her family home. She was allowed to be styled Queen Anna Sophie but not Queen Anna Sophie of Denmark and Norway or Queen Dowager. Anna Sophie spent the remainder of her life under house arrest at Clausholm Castle and was never granted permission to leave. She spent her time developing the gardens at Clausholm Castle, engaging in charitable works for the peasants on the estate, and in religious devotions.

When Anna Sophie, aged 49, died at Clausholm Castle on January 7, 1743, Christian VI allowed her to be buried at Roskilde Cathedral, but in the Trolle Chapel, which is on the opposite side of the cathedral, far away from his parents’ tombs in the chancel of the cathedral. Her three children, born after her 1721 marriage, were also re-buried in the Trolle Chapel on Christian VI’s orders.

Tombs of Anna Sophie and three of her children; Credit – By FaceMePLS – originally posted to Flickr as Roskilde cathedral, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6821429

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Kingdom of Denmark Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

  • Da.wikipedia.org. 2020. Anna Sophie Reventlow. [online] Available at: <https://da.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Sophie_Reventlow> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Anne Sophie Reventlow. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Sophie_Reventlow> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
  • En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Conrad Von Reventlow. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conrad_von_Reventlow> [Accessed 1 May 2020].
  • Flantzer, Susan., 2020. Frederik IV, King Of Denmark And Norway. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/frederik-iv-king-of-denmark-and-norway/> [Accessed 1 May 2020].

Jeanne Bécu, Countess du Barry, Mistress of King Louis XV of France

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Jeanne Bécu, Countess du Barry was the last official mistress of King Louis XV of France, from 1768 until the King died in 1774.

Jeanne Bécu, Countess du Barry – source: Wikipedia

Jeanne Bécu was born August 19, 1743, in Vaucouleurs, France, the illegitimate daughter of Anne Bécu. Her father was probably Jean Jacques Gomard, a local friar. As a child, the family moved to Paris under the care of a friend – and possible lover – of her mother. She was soon sent to the Convent of Saint-Aure for her education. After finishing her schooling, she returned home to her mother and her mother’s husband. With limited income and resources, Jeanne took several jobs to earn a living. She worked as a companion to an elderly woman, and as an assistant in a haberdashery shop, among other things.

A remarkably beautiful woman, Jeanne found that her looks were the way to provide herself with a very good living. In 1763, she met Jean-Baptiste du Barry, a casino owner who also worked as a pimp. Soon, she was living with du Barry and became his mistress. Du Barry brought Jeanne into the highest circles of society and she soon became a well-respected courtesan – entertaining numerous men from the highest levels of society as well as the French court. These included the Duke de Richelieu, one of the courtiers of King Louis XV. She would eventually catch King Louis XV’s attention in 1768 while visiting Versailles and quickly became his mistress. In order to allow her to be present at court, a marriage was arranged to du Barry’s brother Count Guillaume du Barry, on September 1, 1768.

Jeanne took rooms above those of King Louis XV, but could not be seen publicly with him as she had not yet been formally presented at court. This eventually happened on April 22, 1769, and Jeanne became the King’s official mistress (maîtresse-en-titre).

King Louis XV lavished Jeanne with gifts of jewelry and fine gowns, and rarely refused any of her requests. Her influence over Louis was very strong, and she often used it to help others. Despite the King’s devotion, Jeanne was disliked by many at court, including several who did everything possible to get rid of her. But the King would have no part of that and refused to hear any bad words about her.

During her tenure, Jeanne obtained a title for her mother and financial security for her family. It would be her financial extravagance that began to make her more unpopular. Despite receiving a very generous monthly income from the King, she was perpetually in debt. Despite that, Jeanne would remain the King’s closest confidante and lover until his death.

By Château de Breteuil – Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=76856531

In 1772, King Louis XV commissioned a diamond necklace to be made for Madame du Barry, requesting that it be of greater splendor than anything else made.  Sadly, he died before the necklace was completed or paid for, and Jeanne never received it.  This necklace was the central element of the Diamond Necklace Affair, in which Queen Marie Antoinette was accused of bribing a cardinal to purchase the necklace for herself.  These accusations were contributing factors to the beginning of the French Revolution.

Following  King Louis XV’s death in 1774, Jeanne was banished from court and sent to the Abbey du Pont-aux-Dames. After a year, she was permitted to leave the abbey but banned from coming within 10 miles of Versailles. She eventually purchased property in Louveciennes where she moved in 1778.

During her time as the King Louis V’s mistress, Jeanne had been gifted with a slave  Zamor who remained in her household. Zamor later joined the Jacobin club, and upon discovering hearing this, Jeanne dismissed him. In retaliation, Zamor gave testimony implying that Jeanne had assisted numerous aristocrats who had fled the French Revolution. Due to this testimony, Jeanne was arrested and charged with treason. A swift trial took place and she was found guilty and sentenced to death by guillotine.

Madame du Barry was beheaded on December 8, 1793 on the Place de la Révolution (now the Place de la Concorde). Her remains were interred in the Madeleine Cemetery in Paris.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

What’s Wrong With “Victoria” Season 3? – Better Late Than Never!

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Prince Albert and Queen Victoria in 1854; Credit – Wikipedia

Victoria is a British television series created by Daisy Goodwin, a British television producer and novelist, and written by Goodwin, Guy Andrews, and Ottilie Wilford for the British television station ITV.  It is shown in the United States on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) on its Masterpiece, the long-running weekly drama series that features British productions.

Sorry for the long delay in writing and publishing this article. Victoria Season 3 aired in the United States on PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) from January 31, 2019 – March 3, 2019. My husband and I DVR everything we watch on television – even PBS shows that do not have commercials – and so I set my DVR to record the eight episodes of Victoria Season 3. And then I saw some reviews and heard from people who had seen it. Then it began airing in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2019, and I read articles about it in the British media. None of what I found out about Series 3 made me want to watch it.

I also noticed that Unofficial Royalty’s article on Queen Victoria’s dresser Marianne Skerrett (NOT NANCY SKERRETT!) was getting a lot of views so I knew something was up with her in Season 3. As of the date this article was published, Marianne Skerrett’s article has had 54,605 views – Unofficial Royalty’s fifth most viewed article and the second most viewed biography article – and she isn’t even a royal.

I had noticed when Season 2 was airing, a lot of people viewed Unofficial Royalty’s article about Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert’s brother. Ernst’s article has 60,990 views, is the fourth most viewed article, and is the most viewed biography article. At that time of the airing of Season 2, I wondered what they had Ernst doing in Season 2 – probably the same inaccurate things he had been doing in Season 1. What they had Ernst doing (and what they had many other characters – or should I say real people – doing) never happened. In Season 3, real people were still doing things that never occurred along with a lot of fabrication involving people who never existed.

And so, I procrastinated watching Victoria Season 3 and it languished on my DVR occupying eight hours of space until the coronavirus pandemic came around and I figured that it was as good a time as any to get that eight hours of DVR space back.

Mediaeval Baebes in concert; Credit – By https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/ – https://www.flickr.com/photos/sfllaw/47623647/, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7065649

I have to honestly say that the best thing about watching Victoria Season 3 was hearing the Mediaeval Baebes sing the title theme eight times. The Mediaeval Baebes are a British musical ensemble that performs traditional medieval songs and poetry set to music and some original compositions. They sing in a variety of languages and their vocals are backed by medieval instruments played by the singers or fellow musicians. My husband and I are fans of the Mediaeval Baebes. We first heard them years ago while listening to the Rutgers University radio station in the car. That Christmas we bought each other a Mediaeval Baebes CD – luckily they were different CDs. In 2018, the Mediaeval Baebes did a US tour and we were able to attend a concert. Among the songs performed in the concert was the title theme to Victoria – which is longer than it is on the show. We bought their latest CD at the concert (which has the Victoria theme on it) and they all signed the CD and we got to speak with them.

I wanted to include here a YouTube video of the Mediaeval Baebes singing the Victoria theme but there is only an audio YouTube video. I am guessing it is because of copyright issues. The music was composed by Martin Phipps and he holds the copyright.  You can listen to the Victoria – The Suite at this link YouTube – Victoria – The Suite and this is the official website of the Mediaeval Baebes: https://www.mediaevalbaebes.com/ Check it out!

Will there be a Victoria Season 4? According to the website for PBS (Public Broadcasting Service), “The series is currently on hiatus, and unfortunately, we don’t have any additional information to share at this time.”

We encourage our readers to learn more about Queen Victoria and her family. You can start right here at Unofficial Royalty.  See the links below. Read some books. You will find lots of suggestions in the bibliography listed first.

Now let’s get on with What’s Wrong with “Victoria” Season 3. I have no major issues with what went on between Victoria and Albert. They certainly were known to have their differences during their marriage. The parts of Victoria Season 3 that made me want to SCREAM deal with Queen Victoria’s half-sister Princess Feodora (utterly false story), the Duke and Duchess of Monmouth (they did not exist), and Nancy Skerrett (her name was Marianne, she was 26 years older than Queen Victoria and she did not die of cholera) and Charles Elmé Francatelli (he worked at the palace only from 1840 – 1842 and did not marry Marianne Skerrett).

There are a few picky issues that I’ll get to at the end of the article along with some thoughts on Prince Albert’s hair, but first a timetable.

*********************

Timetable

The opening of the Great Exhibition 1851 by EUGÈNE LOUIS LAMI; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Victoria Season Three started around the time of Princess Louise’s birth and ended after the opening of the Great Exhibition which would be 1848 – 1851. For the most part, historical events occurred around the correct time except for the cholera outbreak which occurred in 1854. Also included below is the tenure of real people in their positions who were characters in Season 3.

  • 1837 – 1862 – Marianne Skerrett was Wardrobe Woman and then Head Dresser to Queen Victoria
  • 1840 – 1842 – Charles Elmé Francatelli worked at the palace as Maitre d’Hôtel and Chief Cook
  • June 30, 1846 – February 21, 1852 – Lord John Russell, after 1861 1st Earl Russell, was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He also served as Prime Minister from 1865 – 1866.
  • July 6, 1846 – December 26, 1851 – Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston was the Foreign Minister of the United Kingdom. He served in the British Cabinet in other posts and was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice from 1855 – 1858 and from 1859 – 1865.
  • February 23, 1848 to early 1849 – Revolutions of 1848
  • March 18, 1848 – Princess Louise, the fourth of the five daughters and sixth child of the nine children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was born at Buckingham Palace
  • April 8, 1848 – Queen Victoria, Prince Albert, and their family go to Osborne House because of the possible danger due to the Chartist protests.
  • April 10, 1848 – Chartist Convention organized a mass meeting on Kennington Common in London, which would form a procession to present a petition to Parliament
  • May 1, 1850 – Prince Arthur, the third of the four sons and the seventh of the nine children of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, was born at Buckingham Palace
  • May 1, 1851 – October 15, 1851 – Great Exhibition was open
  • 1854 – Broad Street cholera outbreak

*********************

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in 1854; Credit – Wikipedia

Victoria Season 3 would have the viewer believe that Queen Victoria’s half-sister Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg spent more than two years living in England and was a scheming, jealous person. This is ridiculous and false.

Queen Victoria had two elder half-siblings from the first marriage of her mother Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen: Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen (1804 – 1856) and Princess Feodora of Leiningen (1807 – 1872). Feodora was twelve years older than Victoria.

In 1814, at the age of ten, Karl became Prince of Leiningen upon his father’s death. However, in 1806, the Principality of Leiningen had been mediatized – annexed to another state(s), while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign. The Principality of Leiningen ceased to exist and was divided between the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. The family retained Amorbach Abbey in Amorbach, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria and it remains the family seat of the Princely Family of Leiningen. Karl, who was fifteen years older than Victoria, had less of a presence in his half-sister’s life as he was educated abroad and spent time at Amorbach Abbey.

Karl and Feodora’s father died in 1814 and their mother married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III, in 1818. The Duke and Duchess of Kent’s only child, the future Queen Victoria, was born on May 24, 1819. Victoria was only eight months old when her father died on January 23, 1820, just six days before his father, King George III died.

After King George III’s death, the infant Victoria was third in the line of succession after her uncles, Frederick, Duke of York and William, Duke of Clarence. Neither the new king, George IV, nor his brothers Frederick and William had any heirs, and the Duchess of Kent decided she would take a chance on Victoria’s accession to the throne. The Duchess decided to stay in England rather than return to her homeland.

Feodora shared Victoria’s relatively isolated existence at Kensington Palace. Feodora was educated privately under the direction of her governess, Louise Lehzen, who would later become governess, confidante, and companion to the young Victoria. Feodora, too, was a close companion and devoted to her sister, and the two would maintain a close relationship for the rest of Feodora’s life.

In Victoria Season 3, Feodora claims that King George IV, Victoria’s paternal uncle, wanted to marry her. There is no historical evidence that this occurred. Stifled by her restricted life within Kensington Palace, Feodora was very eager to find a husband and move away. In 1828, Feodora married Ernst I, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Kensington Palace, despite having only met him twice before the wedding. After her sister married, nine-year-old Victoria wrote in her journal that she missed Feodora, “for she used to come into my room very often in the day, and used to sit very often in my room writing her letters… and she was always so gay and cheerful.”

Feodora’s husband Ernst I, 4th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, like her brother, had a title but had no land to reign over. In 1806, the Principality of Hohenlohe-Langenburg had been mediatized to the Kingdom of Württemberg. Ernst held several political positions in the Kingdom of Württemberg and was one of the most influential men in the kingdom. The couple lived in a castle in Langenburg where they raised their six children. Feodora’s daughter Adelheid (the “Heidi” in Victoria Season 3) married Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Adelheid and Friedrich’s daughter Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein married Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia, son of Victoria’s eldest child Victoria, Princess Royal. And so, Feodora’s granddaughter married Victoria’s grandson. Through this marriage, Feodora and her daughter Adelheid are ancestors of the Greek and Spanish royal families.

Victoria and Feodora wrote to each other religiously. Victoria and her mother visited Feodora and Feodora did visit Victoria and their mother in England. Whenever she came, Victoria paid Feodora £300 for her expenses. Most importantly, Feodora came to England when Victoria needed her the most, in the summer of 1861 following the death of their mother and then in December 1861 following Prince Albert’s death.

Following a serious illness, Princess Feodora, aged 64, died on September 23, 1872. After getting a telegram informing her of Feodora’s death, Victoria wrote in her journal: “Can I write it? My own darling, only sister, my dear excellent, noble Feodora is no more!… I stand so alone now, no near & dear one nearer my own age, or older, to whom I could look up to, left! All, all gone! How good & wise, beloved Feodora was, so devoted to me, so truly pious & religious. She is gone to that world she was so fit for & entered it, just sleeping away. What a blessed end! but what a loss to those who are left! She was my last near relative on an equality with me, the last link with my childhood & youth.”

A copy of a letter dated 1854 (shortly after the time period of Victoria Season 3) sent to Victoria was found among Feodora’s papers after her death: “I can never thank you enough for all you have done for me, for your great love and tender affection. These feelings cannot die, they must and will live in my soul – till we meet again, never more to be separated – and you will not forget.”

The sentiments above in Victoria’s journal and in Feodora’s letter sound like they are coming from sisters who truly loved each other.

*********************

Marianne Skerrett and Charles Elmé Francatelli

No, they did not get married! No, Marianne (NOT NANCY!) did not die from cholera! The portrayals of Marianne Skerrett and Charles Elmé Francatelli in Victoria disturb me the most. They are not well-known but they were real people whose actual life stories were turned upside-down and inside-out.

Marianne Skerrett attributed to Dr. Ernest Becker, circa 1859; Photo Credit – https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/2906440/miss-mariann

Marianne Skerrett (1793 – 1887) was the Head Dresser and Wardrobe-Woman to Queen Victoria from 1837 to 1862. The daughter of a British Army officer who owned a plantation in the West Indies, Marianne was born in 1793, so she was 44-years-old when Victoria became queen. She was extremely well-read and was fluent in Danish, French, and German.

Author Carolly Erickson has references to Marianne in her biography of Queen Victoria, Her Little Majesty. From Erickson’s book: Marianne Skerrett was “the head of Victoria’s wardrobe, overseeing all the practical work of ordering all her clothing, shoes, hats, gloves, and undergarments…She kept the wardrobe accounts, checking all the bills to make certain no one tried to cheat her mistress, and supervised the purveyors, hairdressers, dressmakers, and pearl-sewers whose task it was to keep the royal wardrobe in good repair.”

In addition, Marianne and Victoria had a lot in common. From Erickson’s book: “Both were intelligent, loved animals, spoke several languages…shared a great interest in paintings and painters. Marianne was well educated, with cultivated tastes, and in time to come Victoria would rely on her to help with the purchase of paintings and in corresponding with artists.”

Although she retired in 1862, Marianne remained in contact with Queen Victoria until her death in 1887 at the age of 94.

Charles Elmé Francatelli, drawn by Auguste Hervieu and engraved by Samuel Freeman, 1846; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles Elmé Francatelli (1805 – 1876) was born in London, England. He was educated in France at the Parisian College of Cooking where he studied culinary arts with Antonin Carême, known as “The King of Chefs and the Chef of Kings.” When Francatelli returned to England, he became chef de cuisine (executive chef) to several members of the nobility. He then became chef de cuisine at the St. James’s Club, popularly known as Crockford’s.

For two years only, from March 9, 1840 to March 31, 1842, Francatelli served as maitre d’hôtel and chief cook in ordinary to Queen Victoria. For some reason, he was dismissed, perhaps because Queen Victoria did not like his French cuisine, and he returned to Crockford’s. Francatelli did have one more royal client. For a short period in the 1860s, he served as chef de cuisine to The Prince and Princess of Wales (the future King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) at their London home, Marlborough House.

During his career, Francatelli was chef de cuisine at the Coventry House Club and the Reform Club. Afterward, he managed the St. James’s Hotel in Piccadilly London and finally the Freemasons’ Tavern, a position he held until shortly before his death.

Francatelli was a very successful cookbook author. In 1845, he published The Modern Cook which ran through twelve editions. His next book was The Cook’s Guide and Butler’s Assistant published in 1861. The same year, he published Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes which contained practical information valuable to the less affluent people. In 1862, The Royal English and Foreign Confectionery Book was published.

Francatelli did marry twice (but not to Marianne Skerrett) and did have children. He died in Eastbourne, England on August 10, 1876, at the age of 71.

*********************

The Duke and Duchess of Monmouth

James Scott, the only real Duke of Monmouth; Credit – Wikipedia

Charles, Duke of Monmouth and Sophie, Duchess of Monmouth, supposedly Mistress of the Robes, are totally fictional and in my opinion, an unnecessary soap-opera-like narrative in Season 3.

The peerage Duke of Monmouth was created only once and that was during the reign of King Charles II. In 1663, Charles II created his eldest illegitimate child 14-year-old James, the son of Lucy Walter, Duke of Monmouth. James married Anne Scott who was the 4th Countess of Buccleuch in her own right. On their wedding day, the couple was created 1st Duke and 1st Duchess of Buccleuch. Thereafter, James used Scott as his surname but was usually called Monmouth. The couple had seven children and Sarah, Duchess of York (the great-great-granddaughter of the 6th Duke of Buccleuch) and her daughters Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie, and Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester (born Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott, the daughter of the 7th Duke of Buccleuch) and her son Prince Richard, Duke of Gloucester are among their descendants.

Anne Scott, the only real Duchess of Monmouth with her sons; Credit – Wikipedia

When King Charles II died without a legitimate heir on February 6, 1685, his brother and the Duke of Monmouth’s uncle succeeded to the throne as King James II. James, Duke of Monmouth thought he has a claim to the throne and planned an invasion of England and Scotland. On July 6, 1685, the armies of uncle and nephew met at the Battle of Sedgemoor where the army of James, Duke of Monmouth was defeated.

James, Duke of Monmouth had previously been attainted of treason by Parliament on June 16, 1685, and was to “suffer Paines of Death and Incurr all Forfeitures as a Traitor Convicted and Attainted of High Treason.” He was sent to the Tower of London and beheaded on Tower Hill on July 15, 1685.

The Act of Attainder forfeited his English peerages including the Duke of Monmouth, but his Scottish peerages including the Duke of Buccleuch were not affected and continued to be held by his widow and their descendants. Since 1685, there has never been another Duke of Monmouth.

Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland, the real Mistress of the Robes during the time period covered in Season 3; Credit – Wikipedia

Harriet Sutherland-Leveson-Gower, Duchess of Sutherland was the Mistress of the Robes during the period covered in Season 3, serving 1846–1852. She also served as Mistress of the Robes during 1837–1841, 1853–1858, and 1859–1861.

*********************

A Few Picky Issues

Lord Palmerston in 1855, not exactly the dashing, young Lord Palmerston of Season 3; Credit – Wikipedia

Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Foreign Secretary was portrayed by Laurence Fox (born 1978), who I very much liked in the role of Detective Sergeant James Hathaway in the British television series Inspector Lewis, a sequel to the Inspector Morse series. Palmerston was born in 1784 and so in 1848 when Series 3 started, he was 64-years-old and not the dashing, young Palmerston as portrayed by Laurence Fox, in his early 40s. Palmerston did have a reputation as a womanizer and was nicknamed “Cupid,” but I don’t know if he was running around the halls of palaces, sneaking in ladies’ rooms in his 60s – so why not take twenty years off his real age and make up some stories – which is what happened in Season 3. His wife, born The Honorable Elizabeth Lamb, was the sister of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Queen Victoria’s first Prime Minister, and had a long-term affair with Palmerston during her first marriage.

*********************

Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langnburg – Season 3 tried to marry her off to a non-existent prince; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Sigmund of Prussia? No, you are not slipping this one past me! In Series 3, it was said that Feodora’s daughter Adelheid (called Heidi in the show) may marry Prince Sigmund of Prussia, the brother of the King of Prussia, The King of Prussia during the time period of Victoria Season 3 was King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. He had three brothers and none of them was named Sigmund. In fact, no King of Prussia had a brother named Prince Sigmund.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia had a brother named Prince Sigismund but he was born in 1864 and died in 1866. Prince Heinrich of Prussia, Wilhelm II’s brother, had a son named Prince Sigismund but he wasn’t born until 1896. So let’s just make up a fictional prince and say he was a suitor of Princess Feodora’s daughter!

*********************

In 1851, this was the Crown Prince of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

In the same conversation as “Prince Sigmund,” it was said that Vicky, Queen Victoria’s eldest child, would marry the Crown Prince of Prussia. It was 1851 and the Crown Prince of Prussia was 54-year-old Wilhelm, the brother of the childless King Friedrich Wilhelm IV. Wilhelm succeeded his brother in 1861 as King Wilhelm I of Prussia. Wilhelm was also already married and had a son and a daughter. The son was the future Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia. He was the one that Vicky married in 1858 but he would not be Crown Prince of Prussia until his father succeeded to the throne in 1861. When Vicky married him he was Prince Friedrich of Prussia. So in 1851, the correct thing to say would have been “Vicky will marry the son of the Crown Prince of Prussia” but I guess the viewers were not considered smart enough to deal with that so let’s just use something else that is inaccurate.

*********************

King Otto of Greece – Not Albert’s cousin; Credit – Wikipedia

In Season 3, it was said that King Otto of Greece was Prince Albert’s cousin. Um, no! Not even close! I did a double-take when I heard that. King Otto of Greece was born Prince Otto of Bavaria, the son of Ludwig I, King of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen. In 1832, the Convention of London established Greece as a kingdom, and the Great Powers appointed Otto to be the new kingdom’s first king. He reigned for thirty years, until 1862 when he was deposed by a coup.

According to the relationship calculator at Leo’s Genealogics Website, the only way Otto is related to Albert is through Albert’s marriage to Victoria. King Otto of Greece (born Prince Otto of Bavaria) is the second cousin once removed of Queen Victoria, Prince Albert’s wife. Otto and Victoria’s mutual ancestors are Karl, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen. They are Queen Victoria’s great-grandparents through her paternal grandmother Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (wife of King George III) and Otto’s great-great-grandparents through his mother.

*********************

Some Thoughts on Prince Albert’s Hair

In Season 3, Prince Albert ranges in age from 29 to 32. Albert, as played by Tom Hughes, has been wearing his hair the same way since he first appeared in the series as a teenager. Perhaps the idea for Hughes’ hairstyle came from the portrait of Albert below by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. The painting is from 1842 when Albert was 23-year-old.

Credit – Wikipedia

Albert began to suffer from a receding hairline early in his marriage. Quite a few of Albert’s descendants had early receding hairlines including his great-great-grandsons Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, his great-great-great-grandson Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and his great-great-great-great-grandsons Prince William, Prince of Wales and Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex. By 1848, the first year of Victoria Season 3, Albert was 29-years-old and had far less hair.  In the early daguerreotype with hand-coloring from 1848 below, Albert’s hairline is receding.

Credit – Wikipedia

And yet here is Albert, Victoria, and their son Bertie below at Osborne House in Season 3 at the same age (or even older) as Albert above, still sporting his teenage hairstyle with no evidence of a receding hairline.

In the 1850s, Albert’s hairline continued receding. Below is a photo of Victoria and Albert in 1854, only two years after the time period of Season 3.

Credit – Wikipedia

Below is Albert, aged 42, in 1861, the year of his death. If Victoria makes it to Albert’s death and he dies with a head of hair like Tom Hughes above, you will hear me SCREAM! from wherever you are!

Credit – Wikipedia

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

The de Mailly Sisters, Mistresses of King Louis XV of France

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2021

The de Mailly sisters – Louise, Pauline, Diane and Marie Anne – were all mistresses of King Louis XV of France at various times between 1732 and 1745.

King Louis XV of France. source: Wikipedia

The de Mailly sisters were the daughters of Louis de Mailly, Marquis de Nesle et de Mailly, Prince d’Orange, and Armande Félice de La Porte Mazarin. Closely connected to the French court, their mother was a lady-in-waiting to Queen Marie (Marie Leszczyńska), the wife of King Louis XV. They also had another sister, Hortense (1715-1799), and a half-sister, Henriette de Bourbon (1725-1780) from their mother’s affair with the Duke de Bourbon.

Because of their family’s close connection to the French court, all of the de Mailly sisters were often in the company of the King. The first to become his mistress was Louise Julie.

Louise Julie de Mailly

Louise Julie de Mailly. source: Wikipedia

Louise Julie was the eldest of the de Mailly sisters, born in 1710. She married her father’s cousin, Louis-Alexandre, Comte de Mailly in 1726. Upon her mother’s death in 1729, she replaced her mother as Lady-in-Waiting to Queen Marie.

Promoted as a mistress by Cardinal Fleury, Louise was presented to the King and she soon fell in love with him. By 1732, she became his mistress. Preferring to keep their relationship a secret, she was not named as his official mistress for another 6 years. During that time, she was known simply as “The Fair Unknown”, visiting the King’s apartments under the cover of darkness and covering her face so as not to be recognized. It wasn’t until 1738 that her identity was discovered, and the King quickly acknowledged her as his chief mistress and established her in apartments next to his own. Soon accepted at court, Louise did not like the attention that her position brought her. She much preferred to remain in the background, devoted to Louis. She would fall out of favor in 1739 when her younger sister Pauline came to court and quickly supplanted Louise as the King’s mistress. Following Pauline’s death in 1741, the King returned to Louise once again. But this would also be short-lived, as a third de Mailly sister – Marie Anne – would soon arrive and capture the King’s attention. Marie Anne quickly worked to have Louise removed from court, and she was soon dismissed. Despite pleas to the King, Louise left Versailles at the end of 1742 and retired to a convent in Paris. Louise de Mailly died there in March 1751, at the age of 41.

Pauline Félicité de Mailly

Pauline Félicité de Mailly, Countess de Vintimille. source: Wikipedia

Pauline Félicité was the second de Mailly daughter, and the second to become the King’s mistress. Intent on seducing the King, she persuaded her elder sister Louise to invite her to court in 1738. She soon caught the King’s attention and he reportedly fell madly in love with her. Although Louise retained her position as maîtresse en titre (chief mistress), it was Pauline who received more of his attention. The King arranged a marriage to Jean Baptiste de Vintimille, Marquis de Vintimille and Count de Luc in 1739, which provided her the status and rank necessary to remain at court.

While Louise was quiet and remained in the background, Pauline sought both attention and recognition of her position. This led to much distrust and hatred both within the court and from the public. She soon became pregnant by the King, and gave birth to a son – Charles de Vintimille – on September 2, 1741. Sadly, she died of convulsions just seven days later, on September 9, 1741. King Louis was devastated and soon returned his affections to Louise… until the arrival of a third de Mailly sister.

Marie Anne de Mailly

Marie Anne de Mailly, Duchess of Châteauroux. source: Wikipedia

Marie Anne was the youngest of the de Mailly sisters, born in 1717. She was married to Jan Baptiste Louis, Marquis de La Tournelle in 1734 and had no children. Following the death of her sister Pauline in 1741, Marie Anne joined their eldest sister Louise and soon established herself within the French court. She also set her eyes on becoming the King’s mistress. She was formally introduced to the King by the Duke de Richelieu at a masked ball in 1742. Richelieu felt he could use Marie Anne to influence the king in political matters, and encouraged the relationship. At first she resisted the King’s advances, but soon found herself working toward replacing her eldest sister. Much more outspoken and ambitious than Louise, Marie Anne – with the help of Richelieu and Cardinal Fleury – quickly pushed her way ahead of her sister, becoming the King’s primary mistress.

By December 1742, Marie Anne had managed to have her sister Louise removed from court and formally became his new mistress. Much more demanding than any of his previous mistresses, Marie Anne provided him a list of conditions and demands, to which he quickly acquiesced. These included her demand that Louise be banished from Court, her own elevation to the rank of Duchess (she was created Duchess de Châteauroux in October 1743), and arranging a marriage for her sister Diane to the Duke of Lauraguais so she could be present at court. Marie Anne, unlike her sisters, sought to influence the King in political matters, often with the disagreement of his advisors.

Soon rumors spread that Marie Anne and her sister Diane would often “entertain” the King together, leading to great scandal and loathing for the two de Mailly sisters. Following a grave illness in 1744, the King renounced his mistresses and sought the forgiveness of his wife, vowing to pursue no other woman. But that didn’t last long – within several months, he secretly visited Marie Anne and had her brought back to Versailles and restored to his position as his chief mistress. However, just weeks later, she fell ill and died on December 8, 1744, convinced that she had been poisoned.

Diane Adélaïde de Mailly

Diane Adélaïde de Mailly, Duchess de Lauraguais. source: Wikipedia

Diane Adélaïde was the third born of the de Mailly sisters, born in 1714, but the last one to become the King’s mistress. As seemed to be the tradition with the sisters, Diane came to court at the invitation of her younger sister, Marie Anne, who had established herself as the King’s primary mistress. Marie Anne arranged a marriage for Diane to Louise de Brancas, Duke de Lauraguais, in January 1743. This allowed Diane to be present at court, and before long she caught the attention of the King himself. Diane often accompanied her sister to visit the King while he was traveling with his forces. Rumors soon spread that the sisters would “entertain” the king together, which caused quite a scandal throughout the country.

In 1744, Diane and Marie Anne were visiting the King in Metz when he fell gravely ill. The King, fearing he was going to die, renounced his mistresses and asked the Queen’s forgiveness for his adulterous ways. The sisters were quickly dispatched back to Paris. The King recovered and eventually returned to Paris as well. Once there, he returned to his old ways, visiting Marie Anne and restoring her to her position as his official royal mistress. However, she soon died – in December 1744 – and the King turned to Diane for comfort and affection. The relationship would not last very long though. Within a few months, the King turned his attention to a new mistress – Madame de Pompadour.

Diane left court and remained quietly in Paris until her death in November 1769 at the age of 55.

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.