Suit against Prince Victor

April 16, 1908

Prince Victor of Thurn und Taxis cannot catch a break, according to the New York Times.  The German prince is the subject of a formal complaint by Mlle Kemper, who alleges that Prince Victor obtained $120,000 from her "to facilitate his marriage first with a Princess of the house of Bourbon, and, failing that, with an American heiress."

Mlle. Kemper says that the money was obtained "from her through third parties."   Her complaint also states that she obtained a court order to seize the Prince's possession at a Paris hotel, but the police only found a few clothes of "little value."

Prince Victor recently lost a suit in London, where he had asked for an injunction against an American girl, Miss Josephine Moffitt,  He sought to prevent Miss Moffitt, who had followed him to London, referring to herself as Princess Victor of Thurn und Taxis, or claiming that "she had been married to him secretly in the United States."

Prince Victor, who was born in 1876, is the youngest child of the late Prince Egon Maximilian of Thurn und Taxis and his Hungarian-born wife, Victoria.

Dutch queen very ill

April 17, 1902

Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands is suffering from peritonitis, according to a New York Times report.  The Queen's condition is "hourly growing more serious."

She has been seen by several physicians.  An official bulletin was released this morning:  "Queen Wilhelmina has been indisposed for some days.  Her Majesty keeps to her bed and experiences a feeling of general lassitude. There is an increase in her temperature."

Queen Sofia back in Madrid

Queen Sofia returned to Madrid earlier today and visited her husband in the hospital.  She spent 25 minutes with Juan Carlos ... imagine being a fly on at the wall in the king's hospital room  ... and then left.  Courtesy call.  The Princess of Asturias and the Prime Minister have also visited the King.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17730857

Queen Sofia, ever so gracious and classy, told reporters that the king is doing well and he can walk and stand and sit.   He is also undergoing extensive physiotherapy. 

Pilar Eyre's book La Soledad de la Reina Sofia is available on Kindle. It is in Spanish. No English translation.

http://www.elconfidencial.com/espana/2012/04/16/la-reina-dedica-solo-25-minutos-a-su-vista-al-rey-en-el-hospital-96238/

So who is this Princess Corinna?

Corinna, Patrick Mavros (a British jeweler) and the King

who allegedly is a firm favorite of King Juan Carlos.  She's not a real princess.  The German-born Corinna Larsen, 46, is the divorced wife of HSH Prince Casimir of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, a younger son of the Prince and Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Stein.  

Casimir's family was not thrilled when he married Corinna, who was nine years his senior, in London on October 26, 2000.  They were divorced five years later. They have one son, Prince Alexander, who was born in London on February 18, 2002.  Corinna also has a daughter by her first husband.

Corinna  was once the main squeeze of Mercedes heir, Muck Flick.  [Note to self: that's Muck FLICK, not ....]

Corinna and King Juan Carlos have been close friends for some years now.  In April 2006, Corinna accompanied the King and a Spanish delegation to Saudi Arabia.  She was listed as a "Strategic Advisor" to the delegation.  A year later, she was back in Saudi Arabia, as the King's office representative.  She met with Prince Alwaleed, who hosted a luncheon in her honor.

She also organizes hunting expeditions in Africa for verrry, verrry rich people (and kings), as she is the CEO of London-based Boss & Company Sporting Agency.

The Spanish newspaper El Confidencial reports that King was on safari in Botswana with Corinna and several Spanish businessmen on a private hunting trip, which Corinna organized. She is the CEO of Boss & Company, a sporting agency, that "satisfies all needs" in arranging verrrry exclusive hunting trips for verrry special clientele.

Queen Sofia was in Athens when she received news of her husband's accident.  She decided to stay in Greece, and did not return until earlier today.   Juan Carlos also has not seen his grandson, Felipe Juan Froilan, who is recovering from foot surgery at another hospital. When he was undergoing surgery, his grandpapa was hunting elephants in Botswana.

http://www.lavozlibre.com/noticias/ampliar/564594/corinna-zu-sayn-wittgenstein-una-mujer-en-las-cacerias-del-rey

When Dad tells the kids about the mistress!

Several months, King Juan Carlos and his three children dined at the El Lando restaurant in Madrid.   Hola! published a report and photographs of the king and his kids entering the restaurant.   Just dad and the kids.  No wife (Queen Sofia was said to be traveling),  the Princess of Asturias was taking care of her two daughters, and Infanta Cristina's husband, Inaki Urdangarin, was elsewhere. 

According to the Madrid newspaper, Elpuso, the King had a reason for a dinner out with the kids, and the reason was not to try the restaurant's famous tomato salad and lamb chops.   King Juan Carlos wanted a quiet place, away from the palace, to tell his three children about the very important woman in his life.  Not his wife, Sofia, whom he married nearly 50 years ago, but Corinna Prinzessin zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn.

One can only imagine the reactions of Infanta Elena, Infanta Cristina and the Prince of Asturias.  Dad 'fessing up about how important Corinna is to him.  According to the source who provided the information to the newspaper,  Corinna lives with her daughter at El Pardo, away from "the gaze of onlookers."  She was with the King in Botswana, when he shot an elephant, fell, broke several hip bones, and is now recovering from surgery in a Madrid hospital.  Corinna is said to be with him.

Queen Sofia spent the Orthodox Easter in Greece with her brother, King Constantine II and his family.

The reaction of the three children is not recorded, at least not in the media reports.  Corinna is not the King's first mistress.   Elena, Cristina and Felipe are well aware of the their parents' marital situation.  Juan Carlos needed to marry a princess.  He married the King of the Hellenes' daughter in a very grand marriage.  But King Juan Carlos, who stood his ground to establish democracy in Spain,  also continued, albeit privately, to have his wife, his kids, and a mistress. 
http://www.elpulso.es/Sociedad/Confidencial/Corinna-la-princesa.html

Not a good thing to do, Your Majesty

King Juan Carlos has hip surgery following suffering a triple fracture while hunting elephants in Botswana.  I can understand the need to cull the deer population here in the county where I live, but hunting elephants in Botswana?

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/9204680/King-Juan-Carlos-of-Spain-operated-on-after-elephant-hunting-accident..html

The newest descendants of Victoria

The new parents:  Simon & Amelia Murray

In January I mentioned a descendant of Queen Victoria was due to give birth to twins in the spring ...

http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/01/newest-perhaps-qvd.html

the twins arrived on April 11th .. and the proud parents are Amelia and Simon Murray.  Amelia Murray is the former Amelia Beaumont, daughter of Kate Beaumont, who is the only child of the late Richard Abel Smith, himself the only son of the late Lady May Cambridge, eldest child of HRH Princess Alice of Albany and Alexander, Earl of Athlone (ne HSH Prince Alexander of Teck.)

The newest descendants of Victoria:  Mathilda Alice Beaumont Murray and Archibald Peregrine Arbuthnot Murray.

Kaiser's son to marry "a rich beautiful girl"

April 13, 1912

In an exclusive dispatch, the Los Angeles Times is reporting on a rumor in Berlin that an announcement is forthcoming regarding the engagement of Prince Adalbert, third son of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and a "rich and beautiful young American."

Prince Adalbert has spent "some days" as the guest of an American family, who are living near Augsburg, Bavaria.

The lucky young girl has not been identified. 

Which Count Georg is it?

April 13, 1912

There seems to be a bit of confusion about the identity of Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska's fiance, Count Georg of Waldburg, reports the Marquise de Fontenoy.

The 20-year-old archduchess, the eldest child of Archduke Franz Salvator and Archduchess Marie Valerie, is said to be one of Emperor Franz Josef's favorite grandchildren.  Her engagement was officially announced earlier this week in Vienna.

There are two Counts Georg of Waldburg.  One of them is 18-year-old Count Georg von Waldburg zu Wolfegg und Waldsee, son of the Württemberg-based Prince Maximilian.  He does not fit the description of "an officer of dragoons who has been attached in that capacity as military governor and ADC for the last three years" to Archduchess Elisabeth Franziska's 20-year-old brother.

The archduchess's future husband is 34-year-old Count Georg Julius Kaspar Konrad von Waldburg-Zeil-Hohenems, younger son of Count Klemens and his wife, Princess Klementine zu Oettingen-Oettingen und Oettingen-Spielberg.

The count has been serving in the dragoons for fourteen years and has been attached to Archduke Franz Salvator's household for the past three years.

The Archduchess "occupies probably a warmer place" in her grandfather's heart than any of his other grandchildren.    She is the "eldest of the brood of youngsters" of his youngest child, Archduchess Valerie, who after the tragic death of her mother, Archduchess Elisabeth, moved into Schönbrunn with her husband and children. 

Franz Josef has watched Elisabeth Franziska and her younger brothers and sisters grow up "under his very eyes."

This marriage is not a misalliance, as the Waldburgs are among former reigning houses that were mediatized by the Congress of Vienna in 1815. 

A date for the wedding has not been announced.

Prince Eugen to marry Baltimore girl

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April 13, 1902


Looks like Prince Eugen is to marry an American girl!  According to the Los Angeles Times,  Prince Eugen, the fourth son of King Oscar of Sweden and Norway, is engaged to marry Baltimore native Helen Gorman Wild. 

Miss Wild, related to the "famous Carroll family of Baltimore, is a devout Roman Catholic.  Her future husband is a Lutheran.  She is an "heiress in her own right," and is well known in "society in Baltimore and New York."

Although King Oscar originally was opposed to the marriage, "principally on the ground of the young woman's religion.  He now approves of the marriage as Prince Eugen will "resign all right to the throne."

Queen Sofia is planning to divide her personal fortune of $25,000,000 between two of her sons,  Oscar, Prince Bernadotte, and Prince Eugen.

Miss Wild is the second "beautiful Baltimore girl" to marry a royal prince.  The first was Elizabeth Patterson, who married Jerome Bonaparte, brother to Napoleon.

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2012/03/prince-eugen-to-marry-american-beauty.html

Princess Marie tries to block sale of islands

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 April 13, 1902

Princess Marie of Denmark, the wife of Prince Valdemar, is said to be the "secret leader of the opposition to the sale of the Danish West Indies to the United States," reports the Chicago Daily Tribune.  

It has also alluded that the Princess and the Dowager Empress of Russia want to prevent "the removal of a possible cause of trouble between Germany and the United States."  

Princess Marie feels that this can be maintained with the "continuation of the present situation in the West Indies."

[The Danish West Indies was sold to the United States by Denmark in 1917.  The US paid $25 million for the islands.]

Difficult times for Spanish royals

From Time magazine about the problems facing King Juan Carlos and the Spanish royal family.

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2111844,00.html?xid=tweetbut

How the Royals became cool

A rather interesting piece from the Guardian


http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/apr/11/how-the-royals-became-cool

Lady Louise Windsor falls off pony

Lady Louise Windsor, the eight-year-old daughter of  TRH The Earl and Countess of Wessex, fell off her pony earlier today and broke her left arm.  The Countess of Wessex canceled her engagements in Manchester to be with her daughter.  Buckingham Palace did not release details on where Lady Louise was taken, but she is now back at home at Bagshot Park.

From Buckingham Palace: "Lady Louise broke her left arm after falling from her pony while riding at Windsor this morning. She has been treated by doctors and is now resting at home."

Lady Louise was wearing a helmet and a back brace. 

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ukpress/article/ALeqM5jN9uoy8_eLDSytuX00Ppbacyrp8Q?docId=N0243681334158431431A

Royal Marriage: Toerring-Jettenbach-Austria

April 10, 1956

A "pretty countess" married an archduke today in the "tiny chapel of a Bavarian castle 10 centuries old," reports Reuters.  Members of eight of Europe's royal families attended the marriage of Countess Helene zu Toerring-Jettenbach, daughter of the late Princess Elisabeth of Greece, sister of the Duchess of Kent, and Archduke Ferdinand of Austria.

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The 37-year-old bridegroom and the 18-year-old bride exchanged vows in the tiny chapel at Seefeld, outside Munich. 

The archduke, a nephew of the late Emperor Karl, works for a steel company in the Ruhr.

There was no music during the wedding as the chapel "lost its organ in World War II, and there was no room for musicians.  The Duchess of Kent was among the 72 guests who were present in the baroque building.  More than 260 guests attended a pre-wedding reception.

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Other guests included former King Umberto of Italy, Archduke Otto of Austria, pretender to the Austrian throne,  Duke Albrecht of Bavaria, and the children of the Count and Countess of Paris.   

The couple was married in a civil ceremony last week.   Countess Helene is the younger of two children of Carl Theodor, Count zu Toerring-Jettenbach, and Princess Elisabeth of Greece and Denmark.  The new bride's older brother, Count Hans-Veit, 21, is unmarried. 

Princess Elisabeth died on January 11, 1955.