King Alexander remains in a coma

October 19, 1920

The condition of King Alexander of the Hellenes "showed little change" today reports the New York Times.   The congestion in his lung persists, and "drowsiness is taking the form of coma."  His temperature, at 10 a.m., was reported at 102, pulse 124, respiration 34.
There is much speculation on the King's successor, "should his illness terminate fatally."  The names of several foreign Princes have been mooted, and it seems that the favorite is Prince Charles of Belgium, the younger son of King Albert and Queen Elisabeth.
Opposition newspapers point out "the natural heir to the throne under the Constitution" would be King Alexander's younger brother, Prince Paul, third son of the former King Constantine and Queen Sophie.  Many believe that Prince Paul will accept the invitation to be king on the condition that his father and his elder brother, Prince George, renounce their claim to the throne. They take it for granted, however, that Prince Paul "would refuse to accept the throne with such conditions attached to his action."
Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden arrived in Athens last night. He is "observing the strictest incognito."

Victor Emanuele and Elena lose patience with Peter

Embed from Getty Images

October 19. 1906

King Victor Emanuele and Queen Elena of Italy appear to have lost patience with Elena's brother, King Peter of Serbia, writes the Marquise de Fontenoy.  Until recently, the Italian sovereigns were "alone among the crown heads of Europe," to befriend Peter since his accession to the Serbian throne. 

 But now Victor Emanuele and Elena are disappointed with Peter, "owing to his action in reappointing to various post the officers actually concerned in the shockingly brutal murder of King Alexander and Queen Draga."

Only a few months ago, King Peter retired all of those involved, "on full pay," in order to obtain full diplomatic relations with the court of St. James and of the Netherlands.  Neither "refused to hold any intercourse with him as long as their envoys were likely to be exposed to the indignity of personal contact with the murderers of the late king and queen."

Embed from Getty Images 

 But now that a British minister has been accredited to Belgrade, and the boycott is over, King Peter seems to believe that he is "at liberty to reappoint to the office the men to whom he virtually owes his throne."

Peter's sister and brother-in-law, were "mainly instrumental" is arranging a detente between himself and King Edward VII, and they now feel that he has "broken faith" not only with the British sovereign but also with themselves.  The Italian sovereigns have "virtually cut themselves adrift from him."

Peter's young daughter, Princess Helen, named for her aunt,  has spent each summer and fall with Queen Elena but has not been invited this year.  The Italian royal family has instead invited Princess Mirko of Montenegro to say with them.   

 
Through her mother and father, Princess Mirko is a descendant of the former Serbian dynasty of Obrenovitch, who which the slain King Alexander belonged,   It is understandable that Princess Mirko's family is "naturally imbued with sentiments of hostility towards the house of Karageorgevitch," which now rules in Serbia. 

 
Princess Helen will celebrate her 22nd birthday in November, and her father seeks a dynastic marriage for her.

Empress Friedrich better

October 19, 1900

The condition of the Dowager Empress Friedrich as "temporarily improved," according to a Berlin dispatch to the New York Times.  The empress' younger son, Prince Henry and his wife, Irene, have left Homburg for Kiel. A dispatch from Copenhagen "announces that the Princess of Wales is about to pay a visit to Friedrichof..  Kaiser Wilhelm and members of his family will remain at Homburg until after October 22, which is the Empress Augusta Viktoria's birthday.

more marital speculation

As the Telegraph has some sense, and echos what I have been saying for months:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/theroyalfamily/8072292/Prince-William-and-Kate-Middleton-will-they-marry.html


More likely than not,  Prince William and Kate Middleton will get married.  I have stated (and written) that I believe an engagement will taken place no later than early spring 2011.  The wedding will take place sometime between late June and early August.   Most British royals have married on a weekday,  but don't rule out a Saturday.  My intuition tells me that the wedding will take place at the Trooping the Colour and Royal Ascot and before the Queen goes to Scotland for her holiday.   The first week of July is ruled out because of the Prince of Monaco's marriage to Charlene Wittstock.
The venue will be one of two places: Westminster Abbey or St. George's Chapel, Windsor. 
As William is second in line to the throne, his marriage is unlikely to be a state occasion.  A wedding at St. George's Chapel will cost less, especially for security.  No need to take out the carriages for the ride to Westminster with extra police earning overtime.   
But a wedding at St. George's also will limit the number of spectators who will be witness some of the arrivals.  The front of St. George's is not open to the public, and spectators would not be able to cheer the newlyweds as the emerge from the chapel. 
It can be safely assumed that after the engagement is announced, the parties involved - from the bride and groom to the Prince of Wales, the Queen, and her advisers - will discuss the pros and cons of where to marry.  Kate's parents will have little to say regarding their daughter's wedding as the details, including sending out the invitations, will be handled by the Lord Chamberlain's office. 
At this time, I am sticking to my prediction.  I sincerely doubt that Kate and William will wait until 2012, especially in view of the two major events on the calendar: Queen Elizabeth's Diamond Jubilee and the 2012 Summer Olympics.

The Duke and Duchess of Kent's Oxford connections

Embed from Getty Images

In January 1972, the Duke and Duchess of Kent moved into York House, which would remain their London residence for over two decades.  At the time of the move, the newspaper reports noted that the Kents did not plan to leave Coppins, their home in Iver, Buckinghamshire.  But only two months later, the news broke that the Duke and Duchess of Kent and their three children would not be returning to the much-beloved home.  

Embed from Getty Images

Queen Elizabeth II, the Duke of Kent's first cousin, offered Anmer Hall on the Sandringham estate as a weekend/country home in place of Coppins.

Coppins was put up for sale in May 1972 and sold for about £400,000.  Since then, the estate has changed owners several times.

 The reason for the sale of the estate, which the Duke of Kent had inherited from his late aunt, Princess Victoria, was financial.  The Kents were unable to maintain the increasing costs of running Coppins.

The Duke and Duchess remained at Anmer Hall until 1990, when they moved into Crocker End House in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, which they purchased in late 1989.

With their children leaving the nest and increasing financial problems,  the Kents put Crocker End House up for sale in mid-1996.   The Duchess had lost money in Lloyd's scandal, as she had invested in the Gooda Walker syndicate.  Family jewels were also sold.

The Kents also moved out of York House and into Wren Cottage on the Kensington Palace estate.  They also purchased a small three-bedroom 18th-century cottage, Old Forge, in Brightwell Baldwin, Oxfordshire.   The cost was £540,000.

Lady Pamela Hicks lives in Brightwell Baldwin.

The Old Forge was purchased in 2002, not long after the Duchess bought a studio flat in Notting Hill, West London, which she planned to use to teach piano.  

The Duke and Duchess of Kent submitted an application to the local planning authorities to build a two-story addition and to make alterations to the cottage.   The application was made in the name of Mr. and Mrs. Kent of Wren House, Palace Green, London.

[UPDATE.  The Duke and Duchess of Kent sold Old Forge in February 2017 for £1,075,000.]

Marie says Carol has erred, and he must accept punishment

October 18, 1926

Queen Marie was asked by a reporter: "On your return to Roumania, will you take Prince Carol with you?"

The Queen replied: "I am afraid not. He has made a great mistake in his life, and he will just have to take his punishment like anybody else, Prince or nor Prince.  I hope that one day he will come back."

She was interviewed on the steamer, Macon, which brought her ashore  from the Leviathan, according to the New York Times.

No makeup for Ileana

October 18, 1926

Princess Ileana, who is currently visiting the United States with her mother, Queen Marie of Roumania and her brother, Prince Nicholas, is very much the "outdoor girl," according to the Associated Press.  She "rides horseback, hikes, drives her own car, plays golf and tennis and scorns cosmetics."    She is "tall and slender and dressed with girlish simplicity."   Her mother has said that Ileana, 17, is too young to marry, although Marie was the same age when she wed then Crown Prince Ferdinand of Roumania.
Ileana is the youngest of three sisters.  Her eldest sister, Elizabeth, is married to the former King of Greece, and Marie is the wife of King Alexander of Yugoslavia.
The princess has had a "broad education" and, despite her age, she always takes her place in "the family councils."

Duke of Orleans wants annullment of marriage

October 18, 1916

According to the New York Times, the Duke of Orleans "is about to apply to the Pope for the annulment of his marriage to the Archduchess Maria Dorothea of Austria."  The announcement first appeared in the French newspaper, Le Figaro.   

The Duke "contends that the marriage was not concluded on the Austrian side in accordance with all the requirements of ecclesiastical law."

The Duchess of Orleans  won a suit for a legal separation in January 1914.   Not long after the war began, the Duke sent his Order of the Golden Fleece back to the Austrian emperor, with a letter stating that "his marriage had been the curse of his life."
The Duke and Duchess of Orleans do not have any children.

Princess Marie weds soldier she nursed

October 18, 1916


The Associated Press reports tonight that Princess Marie of Hohenlohe has married Otto Kohleisen of Innsbruck.  The dispatch is based on an article published in the Frankfurther Zeitung.   The groom is an apothecary and "descendant of a humble Austrian family."  Princess Marie nursed Kohleisen "while he was in a hospital suffering from an illness contracted on the battlefield."
The marriage took place at Innsbruck on September 13.

Dutch Parliament defines status of Wilhelmina's future husband

October 18, 1900

By special cable to the Chicago Tribune via the The Times (London).
"The Dutch government will bring in a bill to regulate the future husband of Queen Wilhelmina, in imitation out of the precedent afforded by Queen Victoria.
Her Majesty will confer upon Duke Henry the rank of Prince Consort and the title of Royal Highness."

Queen Silvia in D.C.

Queen Silvia of Sweden is in Washington, D.C.,  on a largely private visit.    She is in the Nation's Capital for her work with the Mentor Foundation, an international drug prevention organization.  On Thursday, she visited the Cesar Chavez Public Charter school, where the organization is considering a grant.   As the queen greeted school officials, reporters were permitted to take photographs, but not ask questions.  She also stopped into a SAT-prep class, and chatted briefly with students.  One asked the Queen if he could be her king.
Queen Silvia is the wife of King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden.

"Thanks to my position when I married His Majesty, I can attract attention to certain issues like the handicapped, drug problems, sexual abuse of children, or the elderly dementia. I'm very  thankful for that."
The Queen, who is fluent in six languages, including English, later told reporters that it was a difficult balance. "Even if you have a question close to your heart, I don't want to interfere politically.  I feel that people understand  that and respect me for that."

Queen Silvia, a German-born commoner, married King Carl XVI Gustaf in 1976.    In June, the couple's eldest child, Crown Princess Victoria, married her longtime boyfriend, Swedish commoner, Daniel Westling, who is now HRH Prince Daniel of Sweden.  
"As a mother, it was a very big moment. Of course, you have all those questions with the dress, the cake, all those bits and pieces.... I must say, the people of the court did a wonderful job.  But I think the best job were the Crown Princess and Prince Daniel. They were able to make a private area around it, but share it with everybody. So I think everyone felt they were a part of it."
Last night, Queen Silvia attended the Mentor Foundation's awards dinner at the Four Seasons hotel.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/reliable-source/2010/10/rs-_queen.html


a short video  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/video/2010/10/15/VI2010101502969.html

Earlier this week, the queen and her younger daughter, Princess Madeleine, were in New York City for the World Childhood Foundation, which the Queen founded 11 years ago.


http://www.mentorfoundation.org/
http://www.childhood.org/eng/

http://www.childhood.org/eng/pages.asp?r_id=45479

Magda's dad says she's going back to Carol

October 15, 1930


It appears that there will be a reconciliation between King Carol of Roumania and the "red-headed companion of his exile days, Magda Lupescu, whose "alluring personality even from a distance is said to stand" between him and Princess Helen and prevent a reconciliation.  Magda is about to return to Bucharest and "resume her former relations with the king."   Magda's father gave this information in an exclusive interview with the Chicago Daily Tribune, while "in the rear of his tiny automobile shop" in Bucharest.

The "paunchy little man" told the Tribune today that "My daughter wrote me the other day to get her Bucharest apartment ready. She wrote that she has left Switzerland and is coming to Bucharest very soon.

"Yes, of course, she will continue to be the king's friend.  There is no law to prevent the king from having a friend, is there?  Magda has always been a loyal companion of Carol.  Why should their relations end?

"She has had only one ideal since the beginning of the friendship --namely to see him assume the throne.  She helped him keep up his courage to that send and is now happy to see he has realized his wish.

"They were not married in England or anywhere else.  I was in London at the same time they were and I know.  If King Carol did not want to marry her at that time she would have had the good sense and refused, realizing that it would add one more obstacle to his resumption of the throne.  They will continue their friendship when she returns.   Why not?"

Mme. Lupescu's return to Romania would put an end to the hope of a reconciliation between King Carol and his former wife, Helen, the mother of his young son,  Michael."   The failure of Carol to "consummate a reconciliation" with Helen, who "is somewhat a martyr in the eyes of the Roumanian people," would weaken his already shaken popularity.

Late Czar's family reject "Anastasia"

October 15, 1928


In Paris, nearly all members of the exiled Russian Imperial family have signed a statement that deny the claim of Mme Tschaikowsky, who claims she is Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of the late Nicholas II.
In their view, the young woman has "established no proof of that claim" and all the evidence shows that she is not Anastasia.
Grand Duchess Olga, Nicholas II's youngest sister, visited the young woman three years ago, and she says Mme. Tschaikowsky herself "is convinced that she is really the Grand Duchess."   Olga said there is "no resemblance in looks, voice or personality," according to a report today in the New York Times.
Olga said: "Of all my questions relating to former days, friends or any intimacies, she could not answer one."
Among those who signed the statement are Grand Duchesses Xenia and Olga Alexandrovna,  Princess Andrew and Theodor of Russia, Princess Victoria, Marchioness of Milford Haven and the other "sisters and brothers of the late Empress of Russia.
[Note:  Alexandra had only one surviving brother, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine.]

Anastasia Tschaikowsky came to the United States in February for dental and medical treatment.  She has been the guest of Mrs, William Leeds, formerly Princess Xenia of Russia.    Mrs. Leeds was a childhood playmate of Grand Duchess Anastasia, and has acknowledged her as her cousin.
Since her arrival in the United States, Mme Tschaikowsky has never publicly "advanced her claims."

Christopher of Greece to marry Alexandra of Fife

Embed from Getty Images 

October 15, 1910

Prince Christopher, the youngest son of King George of Greece, is on his way back Athens after spending some time at the English court, where, according to the New York Times, "not only took away certain impressions of English life but the heart of Princess Alexandra of Fife."

 This is the "rumor in Court circles."

For the past few weeks, the prince was the guest of the Princess Royal and Duke of Fife at their home, Mar Lodge,  where he "conceived a very obvious passion for the daughter of the house, even undertaking to introduce her to the beauties of modern Greek literature."  In return, Princess Alexandra gave him information on "German and Danish authors" of whom she is very fond.

Embed from Getty Images 

The prince is the Princess Royal's first cousin.  He is a "handsome young man of twenty-two," and is said to be "something of a poet."   Princess Alexandra of Fife, 19,  enjoys literature and drawing and watercolor.  She has her own studio at Mar Lodge, where she displays a "rather rare collection of such masters as Copley, Feilding, Constable and Turner, most of them gifts from her royal relatives, notably her grandfather, the late King Edward."

Maria Pia's life full of tragedy

October 15, 1910

By cable to the Chicago Tribune

The life of the Dowager Queen Maria Pia, grandmother of King Manoel of Portugal, has been "encompassed  with romance and tragedy."  Along with the other members of the Portuguese Royal Family,  Maria Pia is a fugitive from the country.  Maria Pia's mind "has given away under the terrible events" that led to the royal family fleeing the country following the revolution that brought down the Braganza monarchy.

Queen Maria Pia is the daughter of the "great" King Victor Emanuele II of Italy.  She was born in 1847 and was named after Pope Pius IX, who her father asked to be her godfather.  The pope accepted the honor "with pleasure."

Victor Emanuele desired to see Italy free  "from all foreign dominion," but had not yet "conceived the idea of being himself one day ruler of United Italy."    The ties between the papacy and the Kingdom of Sardinia were very close, and which in turn lead to further integration of an Italian kingdom.

Princess Pia was "not quite 15 years old" when she married King Luis of Portugal in 1862.   She would visit her homeland for occasions of great events, such as the marriage of her older brother, Umberto, to his cousin, Princess Margherita. 
She nursed her "father in his dying moments," which seemed to be the "saddest event that could happen in her life.  She was widowed in 1889.   Her brother, King Umberto was murdered in 1900, and eight years later,  she was deprived of her son, King Carlos, and her eldest grandson, Crown Prince Luis Filipe, by "assassination in Lisbon."

Now the elderly queen and the remaining members of her family, "is a fugitive from the land of her adoption."