“Dearest Missy”

03 Monday Oct 2011

Posted by Diana Mandache in Book Reviews, British Royal Family, European royal families, Romanian Royal Family

Tags

"Dearest Missy" by Diana Mandache, Diana Mandache, Duchess of Coburg, Duchess of Edinburgh, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Marie Alexandrovna, Princess Marie of Edinburgh

The Letters of Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Duchess of Edinburgh and her daughter, Princess Marie of Edinburgh, Crown Princess of Romania (1879-1900); hardback, 472 pp., 40 photos , RRB, October 2011.

Marie Alexandrovna’s life and character has been imprinted by her upbringing at the Russian imperial court, as the daughter of Tsar Alexander II, in a grandiose and yet level-headed milieu that in a great measure personified her father’s way of life and vision of the world. Her personality was thus a distinctive mix of dominant behaviour and imperial outlook, tempered by an astute, realistic perception of the world. Diana Mandache

If you would like to order a signed copy please send a message in that regard to dianamandache@yahoo.co.uk (for more details click here)

Order from: www.amazon.com

London: Hatchards – 187 Piccadilly, London, W1J 9LE.

Majesty Magazine (online): www.majestymagazine.com.

Hague: Van Hoogstraten (online): www.hoogstraten.nl
Paris: Galignani, 224 rue de Rivoli, 1er.

Royal Book News Review

From Rosvall Royal Books:

Today we publish a new book in our series on the Royal Families of Europe. This one is called DEAREST MISSY and consists of the correspondence between Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia and Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and her daughter, Marie, Crown Princess of Romania 1879-1900. A truly fascinating collection of old letters, transcribed and edited by Romanian historian Dr. Diana Mandache. Many rare and never before published illustrations.

‘Always Imperial’: my new article in Majesty magazine

21 Tuesday Sep 2010

Posted by Diana Mandache in Anniversaries & Birthdays, European royal families

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Duchess of Edinburgh, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, European royal families, Familia regala, Grand Duchess of Russia, Imperial Russia, istoria regalitatii, Marie Alexandrovna, Romanov

To commemorate the 90th anniversary of the death of Marie Alexandrovna, Grand Duchess of Russia, Duchess of Edinburgh and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Majesty magazine has just published my article ‘Always Imperial’ in their October 2010 issue.

Other articles on royal history contained within this issue: ‘Frankly speaking’ (Prince Francis of Teck) by Adrian Woodhouse, ‘On His Majesty’s Service’ (Duke and Duchess of Windsor) by Robert Prentice.

see for more articles www.majestymagazine.com

On this day 110 years ago Alfred Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha died

30 Friday Jul 2010

Posted by Diana Mandache in British Royal Family, European royal families

≈ Leave a Comment

Tags

Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, Alfred Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Familia regala, King Ferdinand, Marie Alexandrovna, Queen Marie of Romania, Romanian Royal Family, Royal ciphers, Royal Monograms

Alfred's ciphers as Duke of Edinburgh (left) and of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. (©Diana Mandache's Weblog: Royal History)

On 30 July 1900 Queen Victoria’s second son, Alfred died at Rosenau, Coburg. I would like to present here, as a fitting tribute to the Duke of Saxe Coburg Gotha, extracts from the letters exchanged between his wife, Marie Alexandrovna and Marie of Romania, one of their daughters, documents originating in archive sources, so far unpublished. In May-June 1900, the Duke went for spa treatment to Herculesbad in Austria – Hungary (the spa town is included today within the territory of Romania and is called Baile Herculane) and had a meeting there with his son in law, the Crown Prince Ferdinand of Romania.

The Duchess of Coburg wrote about Alfred’s illness to her daugher on 16 July, just two weeks before his death (nb: the English language inaccuracies in these letters stem from the fact that the Duchess was not a native speaker and Marie left England at a formative age, a fact impeding her early writing styles):

‘I was terribly distressed when I at last heard the truth about Papa! He must have suffered terribly and we know nothing about it. I had a great anguish at heart the whole time and the feeling besides that one could be of no use to him. But it all seemed so distressing to leave him quite alone there. Yet, knowing his character, I never could insist on journey him, which would have made him furious. Is his entourage really dishonest, or were they not alarmed at his condition? How could they otherwise have let me go on all those journeys? I really think, that as Papa insisted himself on this cure and it seemed such a failure he would not talk about it. He has happily put off the séjour at Reinhardsbrunn and all the guests, including the Albany tribe, which is a great relief. Only I don’t know what he is going to propose instead.’

On 23 July, princess Marie wrote impressions about her father’s unbearable suffering:

‘We have been dreadfully anxious about Papa. I do think it is worse than they let you imagine. But Papa’s own telegrams are too curious, he talks as if there was nothing to matter with him, but we received a letter from the doctor in which he did not hide that his condition was really not good. As it seems the abscesses form now continually on the tongue and small operations have frequently to be undertaken, let alone the unbearable suffering, the feeding becomes always more difficult. I honestly tell you Mama it makes my heart heavy as I really think he is in a very bad state! And what will you do with him when he comes home! I believe now one hardly understands what he says his tongue is in such a state. I feel awfully sad about it. Of course there is no reason why he should not get all right but it will be long a wearisome and I always ask myself what on earth will you do with him!’

Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material is strictly prohibited