CP Mary More Popular Than Oprah!

'Our' CP Mary is more popular than Oprah and Bono according to this article in the San Francisco Sentinel: Popular CP Mary

I also like her hat!

An Artistic Princess

A piece of very stale cake went on sale last year at a Birmingham antiques fair. It dated from Princess Louise's wedding to the Marquess of Lorne in 1871 and was offered for 145 pounds. The slice was one-inch thick and protected by parchment. Whoever bought the cake was advised that it would not be a good idea to eat it! (I haven't been able to find out whether it was sold or not.)

Princess Louise, Queen Victoria's fourth daughter and sixth child was born in 1848. Regarded as the most beautiful of the Queen's daughters, she had rich brown hair and blue eyes. She also had a distinctive personality. When she was very young she showed her assertiveness by stating, "We are not royal children, we are uncles and aunts!"

Prince Albert, Princess Louise's father died in 1861 when the princess was very young. She suffered great grief but soon found the atmosphere at Court very gloomy and started to become rebellious. However, she served as her mother's unofficial secretary and Queen Victoria was very pleased with her.

Princess Louise did find time for artistic studies, however. She was a talented painter and sculptor and attended the National Art Training School which was founded by Prince Albert. She was also good at playing the piano and dancing.


A Husband For Louise

Queen Victoria soon wanted to find a husband for her lovely daughter. Princess Vicky invited the Princess to Berlin but Louise disliked the Prussian men. She found that they lacked a sense of humour and were rude and arrogant to her. They found her too self-confident and independent for her. The Queen didn't want her to marry a Prussian anyway for political reasons.

There was trouble when the young Princess fell in love with the Rev.Duckworth, her brother Leopold's tutor. The Queen dismissed him. There were even rumours of an illegitimate child and there was a DNA case about this a couple of years ago.

The Princess eventually fell in love with John, the Marquess of Lorne, to great consternation. This was because he was only a subject, not a royal. Prince Edward was especially upset and didn't think that the young man was suitable.

However, Queen Victoria was pleased with the match because it meant that the Princess could remain nearby.

The Marriage of Princess Louise

Princess Louise married the good-looking, mild-mannered young man in 1871 in St.George's Chapel, Windsor. She wore a dress of white satin and a veil of Honiton lace which she designed herself. Her wedding cake weighed over 225 pounds (102 kilograms) and took three months to create.

The marriage was unfortunately not a very happy one. There were rumours that the Marquess was gay and the couple remained childless. There were also whispers that the Princess had affairs. These were allegedly with Bigge, the Queen's assistant private secretary and Edgar Boehm, the sculptor. There is no proof of this, however.

Canada

The Marquess became Governor-General of Canada in 1878. The couple lived in Ottawa.
Princess Louise became very homesick and wasn't very happy in Canada although she liked many Canadians and kept in touch with her Canadian regiments after she returned to England. The couple liked Quebec better in Ottawa. They had a summer house there.

Princess Louise devoted time to her beloved arts and charities. She founded the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and wrote an operetta.

The couple had a nasty sleighing accident in Canada. The Princess was knocked unconscious and suffered concussion and shock. She may also have had a piece of glass in her ear.

Alberta and the stunningly beautiful Lake Louise are named after the Princess.

Princess Louise Returns

The couple returned to England in 1883. Lorne became a Liberal MP but joined the Unionists to the Princess's chagrin. She favoured Irish Home Rule. Princess Louise also supported the suffragettes and women's rights. She wrote to Josephine Butler and visited Elizabeth Garrett.

They spent much time apart and Princess Louise became rather keen on her sister Beatrice's husband. She joined the social circle that revolved around her brother, King Edward VII. They were very fond of each other. This is also when the rumours about affairs with other men began.

The couple reconciled in 1911 and the Princess was devastated when the Marquess died in 1914. She complained about being very lonely and wondered what the Marquess was doing!

She continued with her artistic works and many charitable activities until she became very ill. She was even known to visit hospitals on the spur of the moment. The Princess lived at Kensington Palace until she died at the advanced age of 91 in 1939. She had been teased by the King about her obsession with physical fitness and replied that she'd 'outlive them all.' She lived the longest life of the Queen's children so she was right!

I think that Princess Louise was one of the most interesting of the Queen's daughters. She wasn't as admirable as Vicky or Alice but I like her devotion to the arts and charities and she had a memorable personality, obviously.

Over The Top Award

Since we last met I've walked around the Golden Mount in Bangkok, been lost in beautiful San Gimignano, lamented being snowed in in Venice, and had a sleepless night on a train from Venice to Paris. I apologise for being away for so long but I had a lovely holiday.

Now that I'm back I hope to write about Princess Louise this week.

Kittie Howard of The Block has very kindly given me the Over The Top Award and asked me to pass it on to five blogs that I like. Here they are:


Ms.Lucy of Enchanted by Josephine

Hels of ART and ARCHITECTURE, Mainly

Cheryl of The Princess Palace


The Aesthete's Lament

Evangeline of Edwardian Promenade and

Catherine Delors of Versailles and More

There are many other blogs that I love so I may add some more later.

Princess Helena

Princess Helena, born on May 25, 1846, lived a quieter life than some of her sisters. Queen Victoria remarked that Helena was lucky to live in England, away from wars and strife.

Little Helena was the 'tomboy' of the family. She liked riding, walking and swimming. She also enjoyed taking things apart. When she was on boats she wanted to know how everything worked. She was close to her brother, Alfred, and his early death at a relatively young age devastated her.

Helena suffered being Queen Victoria's 'crutch' in the Queen's old age. After Princess Alice married, Helena carried out secretarial and other duties for the Queen. Queen Victoria loved having one of her daughters nearby and wanted Helena to remain in England.

Queen Victoria also wanted the Princess to get married so she became determined to find Helena an amenable husband. Helena was the plainest of Queen Victoria's daughters so this wasn't an easy task. Queen Victoria was impressed with Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, who she thought was a 'gentleman' and quiet. He was a good friend of Fritz and Vicky. Princess Alexandra was strongly against the match for political reasons, but Queen Victoria regarded Princess Helena's marriage as more important than political considerations.

Prince Christian was fifteen years older than Princess Helena, 34, and penniless. He was easy-going and agreeable, however, and the marriage appeared to be happy. They were married long enough to celebrate a golden wedding anniversary.

Like Princess Alice, Princess Christian devoted herself to charities. She was one of the founding members of the Red Cross and the President of the Royal British Nurses' Association. She also founded the Royal School of Needlework. She hosted free dinners for children and the unemployed - this was a progressive cause in those days. She also founded a nursing home.

Princess Christian was also quite cultured. She played the piano and her friends included Jenny Lind and Clara Butt.

She had a dominating personality and could sometimes be embarassing. The Archbishop of Canterbury wanted the congregation to pray during a national dock strike for God to interceed. Princess Christian said in a penetrating whisper, "That prayer won't settle any strike!"

The couple had six children. Two of Helena's sons died - Prince Christian Victor died of enteric fever while serving in the Boer war and another son who was still-born.

Princess Christian died in London in 1923. Like Princess Alice, she was greatly loved because of her charitable work.

The images are from Wikimedia Commons. They are of Princess Helena and Princess Helena and Prince Christian shortly after their engagement.

New Post Soon

I hope to publish a new post this week.

Princess Alice of Hesse

Princess Alice, the second daughter of Queen Victoria, was open-minded and interested in intellectual pursuits like her sister Vicky. She was an interesting woman. Unfortunately, she had a very sad life.

The Princess was only a teenager when her beloved father died. She was very close to Prince Albert and nursed him a lot during his illness. She played the piano to him and read to him. When the grief overcame her she quietly left the room and came back when she had calmed down. "Her fortitude amazed their doctors and servants."

After the Prince died the poor Princess then had to take over many of Queen Victoria's duties and try and nurse her through her terrible grief. This proved impossible but the Princess was a great help to her.

Princess Alice's wedding to Prince Louis of Hesse, soon after her father's death, was more like a wedding than a funeral. Almost everyone dressed in black and spent the ceremony crying. Even the Archbishop who married the couple cried.

The Princess joined her husband in Darmstadt. Her marriage was not happy because Prince Louis liked military parades and shooting, instead of reading and cultural pursuits. He hardly ever read a book. Princess Alice was quite disappointed in him.

In spite of this, they had five children in quick succession. The children included Princess Alexandra, who became the tragic Tsarina, and beautiful Grand Duchess Ella, who was also killed by the Bolsheviks in a terrible way. Princess Alexandra's son, Alexai, inherited his haemophilia from his mother. Her brother, Fritti, was a haemophiliac. Princess Alice was distraught when the young boy fell out of the window and died shortly afterwards. She never really recovered from her grief.

The Princess devoted herself to charity work. Soon after her marriage there was a war between Austria and Prussia. Hesse was on the side of Austria which made Princess Alice and Vicki enemies. Princess Alice admired Florence Nightingale and nursed the sick and wounded with great devotion. After the war she continued her interest in charity work. She founded a mental asylum and worked for many charities, and established schools and hospitals.

She caused controversy when she became interested in a controversial theologian, David Strauss. He believed in the historical aspects of Jesus's life, but not the 'supernatural' aspects. Princess Vicky invited him to the palace and liked to discuss Christianity with him. Many Germans didn't like this, and the Empress Augusta even accused her of being an atheist.

Princess Alice was sickly. She suffered from severe headaches, neuralgia, and rheumatism. She wore herself out with her charity work. After her little daughter May died of diptheria, Alice soon caught it from her son, Ernest, who also had the illness. She died at only 35 on the anniversary of her father's death.

Queen Victoria wrote that 'the princess who behaved so admirably during her dear father's illness...should be called back on this very anniversary, seems almost incredible, and most mysterious.'

Princess Alice was greatly beloved in Germany and England because of her charity work. The Princess Alice hospital in Eastbourne was opened in her memory in 1883.

New Posts

I hope to write a new post tomorrow. Perhaps I'll do a few posts. I hope so!