In the Balkans, monarchs were caught between a rock and a hard place, the Nazis and the Soviets. In Yugoslavia, Prince Paul, as he himself told me, was under truly immense pressure from the Germans. Unable to secure aid from the Allies, and in order to save his country, he went to Berlin to unite…
We were relatively safe in Morocco, owing to its Spanish dependency and the neutral position of Franco. The same could not be said for the members of our family who were scattered throughout Europe. Like everyone, royalty suffered during the war. The real drama for most of these dynasties was having family members and loved…
Brazil was a Portuguese colony at the turn of the 19th century, when the heir prince severed ties with the motherland and his family. He became the first sovereign of an independent Brazil. As much as Pedro I was an adventurer, his son and successor was an intellectual. Emperor Pedro II was close friends with…
Andre of Greece, the beloved brother of my father, married princess Alice of Battenberg. She was somewhat deaf, and out of fear that she would make a mistake, they had her memorize the responses she was to give to the priest’s questions during the marriage ceremony. Unfortunately for Alice, the priest reversed the order of…
The following photographs are taken from the personal albums of my grandmother Queen Olga of Greece; they are her private photographs, shot by the queen herself. They have never before been shown or published. I hope to share many more in the future. Grand Duchess Alexandra in the salon of Pavlosk Palace Grand Duchess Alexandra…
My maternal family, the House of Orléans, hated Napoleon III. One of his first acts upon coming into power was to confiscate their fortune, to which the journalist Henri de Rochefort remarked, “C’est le premier vol de l’aigle.” (The play on words here cannot be translated into English, vol means both flight and theft in…
Emperor Alexander of Russia was the uncle of Queen Olga of Greece. Pushed by his brother Constantine, the Tsar sought to liberalize Russia, with the goal of producing a constitution. It was a race against time; the Tsar knew anarchists and terrorists were targeting him. There had already been one bombing attempt in the dining…
When speaking of magic and magicians, we must look to 16th century Prague. Emperor Rudolph II, the nephew of Charles V, had chosen Prague from amongst all the capitals of his kingdoms to be his residence. At the time, Prague was still a medieval city. The famous Charles IV Bridge that spans the Moldau, covered…
Prince William of Denmark was chosen to become King of Greece in 1863, taking the name George I. Upon assuming the throne, he began his search for a wife. Needing support for his small and nascent kingdom, he met with the most powerful rulers in the world, finally finding his pearl in Russia, in the…
The royal succession of Denmark in 1863 was particularly complicated. Frederick VII, the ruling king was neither likable nor pleasant. He had a complicated private life, and to tops things off he was without a legitimate child. He had a sister Charlotte, pictured above, who was married to a German prince, the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel….