Princess Viktoria of Schaumburg-Lippe is trying "emulate the late Queen Isabella of Spain," as she wants to pawn her jewels to "fiance a voyage across the dark Atlantic," reports the New York Times.
The princess's Columbus is her "youthful husband." Alexander Zubkov. He wants to "use a modern airplane to accomplish the difficult feat."
No one is quite sure why the pair wants to "make the flight," or why is it necessary for Princess Viktoria to "pledge her jewels, valued at $3,000,000 to raise the money for the expedition." The Princess also receives an annual pension of $150,000 from her late husband's estate and is paid by the State. She certainly has wealth and property, so why the need to offer the jewels as a pledge?
One Berlin newspaper, the Berliner Zeitung am Mittag, may have the answer. A report in the paper notes that Zubkov and "his Russian camp followers" have depleted his wife's fortune "and driven her to the extreme of financing the flight scheme in hope that success would replenish the family coffers." According to the report, steps have been taken "to appoint a guardian for the Princess's property to prevent her adventurer husband from wasting the fortune."
One of Zubkov's Russian friends named Ivanov is "holding the power of attorney for the management of the Princess's affairs. It has been suggested that Ivanov has "raised sums of money for promissory notes for the immediate needs" of Alexander's relatives.
Steps are now being taken to protect valuable tapestries and paintings in Princess Viktoria's possession in her Bonn villa, and her jewelry, "from falling into strange hands."
Members of the Prussian and Schaumburg-Lippe families want the courts to declare that "these valuables" do not belong to one individual.
Princess Viktoria, a sister of former Kaiser Wilhelm II, denies that she and her husband are having marital or financial problems. She believes that rumors of her husband's "night adventurers in Berlin," have been "cooked up to destroy her marital bliss." She has stated that she will "stand by Alexander to the end."
Princess Viktoria is 65 years old. Her husband is 28. Her family remains "silent about their newly acquired relative."
No comments:
Post a Comment