#Princess Marie-José

[postcard-from-the-past]

Princess Marie-José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle of Belgium, later Queen consort of Italy

Belgian vintage postcard

[archduchessofnowhere]

The Ducal Wittelsbach family and their relatives, early 1890s. From left to right, standing: Karl Theodor, Duke in Bavaria, Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, Archduchess Elisabeth Amalie of Austria, Duchess Sophie Adelheid in Bavaria, Archduchess Maria Annunziata of Austria, Princess Maria Immacolata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, Duchess Marie Gabrielle in Bavaria.

Sitting: Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria (née Infanta of Portugal), King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies, Queen Marie Sophie of the Two Sicilies (née Duchess in Bavaria)

Via As Infantas de Bragança e a Sua Descendência - História das Filhas de D. Miguel by Dativo Salvia Ocaña

[if-you-fan-a-fire]

“Italy’s Future Queen,” Toronto Star. June 15, 1932. Page 1. --- The Princess of Piedmont (Princess Marie-Jose of Italy) recently photographed at Ghadames, Tripolitania, during a visit. Throughout her stay she made a point of wearing native costumes. She will be the next Queen of Italy.

[adarkrainbow]

Some scholarly notes about the Grimm fairytales (1)

Recently in France (well... for the last two dozen years), the publishing house José Corti has been specializing itself in scientific fairytales collections. While for the study of literary fairytales one would go towards Honoré Champion, when it comes to folktales and fairytales it is José Corti one must check. In their "Merveilleux" collection they have been publishing for the very first time in France or republishing out-of-prints collections of various European fairytales (from Denmark, Spain, Romania, and more) - with a few classics of the "literary" fairytales that marked deeply the evolution of the genre (such as Straparola's Facetious Nights or Ludwig Bechstein's fairytales).

All of that to say, José Corti has in 2009 published the most recent scientific (but for an all-public) edition of the brothers Grimm fairytales. The full collection of their fairytales, translated accurately in French, with annotations about their type/classification, their evolution throughout editions and their predecessors. I can't share all of these annotations with you, of course, but I can share a handful of them, about the most famous stories of the Grimm. They all come from the same person who translated the story in this edition: Natacha Rimasson-Fertin. (Of course my notes might be incomplete but hey, you'll have to buy the books to see the whole thing :p Or check them out at your local library)

The devil with three golden hairs (Der Teufel mit den dre goldenen Haaren)

This story is at the crossroa between the Aa-Th 461 "Three hair from the devil's beard" ; the AT 460B "The quest for fortune" and the AT 93à "Urie's letter/The prophecy".

In the 1812 edition, there were two different versions of this tale. Story number 29 "The story of the devil with three golden hair", told by Amalia Hassenpflug, and number 75, "The phenix", told by her sister Mary. In the second version the devil was replaced by a phoenix, and the hero had to get three feathers. In the 1819 edition the two stories disappeared and were replaced by the version we know today, told by Dorothea Viehmann. Another version that the Grimms had collected in 1812 had a princess falling in love with the woodsman that cuts a tree below her window.

The final episode, where the hero asks three questions to the devil through the old woman, echoes the Pentamerone's "The Seven Doves". Other versions of this story include Asbjörnsen-Moe's "The wealthy Peter Krämer", and Afanassiev's "Marco the Wealthy and Vassili the Unfortunate". The story of the brothers Grimm gathers several references to the Bible: the child throw in the water echoes Moses' abandonment, the letter meant to kill the hero is similar to the one David uses to kill Urie, finally the hair as holders of a being's wisdom and strength is linked to the legend of Samson and Dalila. But many other elements of the story evoke older faiths. The idea of a body of water as the frontier with the Otherworld can be found in the Classical Antiquity with the Greek Charon, and is found in other stories of the volume, such as "Frau Holle" and "The Iron Stove" - it as believed that water formed an obstacle spirits could not cross. The hero's mission recalls a tale of Saxo Grammaticus where Thorkill enters Utgard (the realm of supernatural beings) to steal a hair from the beard of Utgard-loki. The brothers Grimm had noted that the belief in the exceptional fate of a child born with a "hood" was also found in Iceland, where the "caul", called Glückshaut (skin of luck) was the home of a genie that would follow the child all of his life. And indeed, modern research has proven that the name given to this caul, the "fyljia" was also the name of a spiritual double, a tutlar spirit tied to a person or a family. This is why the tradition was to preserve and hide this "pileus naturalis" - in Belgium, it was called a "hem" and its color allowed for divination rituals about the child's future.

The girl without hands (Das Mädchen ohne Hände)

This fairytale is actually a cross between the AT type 706 "The maiden without hands" and the AT 930 "Urie's letter/The prophecy". The story was created by the brothers mixing two versions from Hesse, one told by Mary Hassenpflug, the other by Dorothea Viehmann. The second version lacks this story's introduction and begins with a father trying to marry his own daughter - when she refuses, he cuts off her hands and breasts, and chases her out of his house. It then follows the story. Meanwhile, the first version differs when the heroine is with her child in the forest: an old man tells her to hug three time a tree with her arms, which makes her hands grow again. He also tells her to only open the door of her house to one who will ask to enter "for the love of God" three times in a row - the king will be forced to do this before entering.

Outside of these two main versions, the brothers Grimm collected three additional ones. In the first, the angel that guides the girl is replaced by a small light that descends from the sky ; and the hands of the girl grow back when she plunges her arms in a stream after seeing a blind mouse enter its water to regain its sight. In the second version, a man is upset at his little girl praying for him day and night, but since she refuses to stop despite his demands, he cuts off her tongue. But she prays in thought and makes the sign of the cross, so he cuts off her right hand, then her arm all the way to the elbow, before banishing her. She is saved by a hunter that hides her in his master's domain and feeds her in secret with his master's dogs. When the master discovers this, he decides to raise the girl as his own child. One day she gives money to a poor man, who tells her she will regain her arm and tongue if she goes to drink of a certain stream, and he gives her a magical staff to protect her. When she returns at the lord's house, he marries her. The third version is about a queen banished by her husband with her two children, and is identical to the legend of saint Helen.

Other international versions of the tale include Zingerle's "The pretty daughter of the innkeeper", Basile's "Penta the one-armed girl" and Afanassiev's "The young girl without hands". There are some versions where it is a man that is mutlated, such as Afanassiev's "The brave without legs and the blind brave". The roots of this story date back to the end of the 12th century, and are located in southern England - this tale was the subject of numerous literary adaptations, the most famous being the verse romance of the 13th century "The Beautiful Helen of Constantinople".

The motif of the child sold to the devil is recurring among the Grimm fairytales - even though the character of the devil can be replaced by another supernatural being, such as in "Rapunzel" or "The Nixie of the Mill-Pond". The idea of offering the first thing one sees upon returning home is as old as the Ancient Testament (Judges). This story bears the signs of a heavy Christianiation, and was clearly inspired by the legend of Saint Genevieve of Brabant, falsefely accused of being unfaithful and condemned to death with her newborn child. The executioners take pity on her and she lives alone in the woods for seven years. As with other tales from the Grimm collection, this story mixes the Christian fantasy (the hands that regrow are treated as a Christian miracle) with pagan fantasy (there are several elements of folk-magic, such as the circle the girl draws around her to be protected from the devil, or the accusations of the queen giving birth to a changeling - a changeling also appears in the third story of "The Elves", KHM 39).

The Robber Bridegroom (Der Räuberbräutigam)

This story belongs to the fairytale type Aa-Th 955, named after it: "The robber bridegroom".

The tale was told to Jacob Grimm by Mary Hassenpflug, and was present as early as the 1810 manuscript. However this first version, that the brothers deemed "incomplete" was replaced from the 1812 edition onward by a new version which mixed two versions from Lower-Hesse. The brothers noted the existence of another version where the robber indicated the road to his house to a princess, by tying ribbons around the trees.

Ludwig Bechstein took inspiration from the brothers Grimm's tale to create his own "The Robber Bridegroom". This fairytale, like "Fichter's Bird", belongs to the "Bluebeard cycle" (several tales that the brothers removed from their first edition also belonged to this cycle).

Fitcher's Bird (Fitchers Vogel)

This tale is a variation of the Aa-Th 311 "The heroine rescues herself and her sisters", usually classified under the "Bluebeard" category.

The final text of the Grimms is actually a mix of two different versions of the same story that was told to the brothers by both Friedrike Mannel and Dortchen Wild. The Grimms noted the existence of a version from Hanovre which goes as follow: a poor woodcutter asks his daughter to bring him his meal in the forest, and to show them the way he places peas on the floor. However dwarves notice this, and change the emplacement of the pea so that their path leads to their grotto. The older girl follows the peas, and become the dwarves' slave. Then we have the Bluebeard "forbidden room" motif, and the story goes as the "Fitcher's Bird" goes, as the dwarves lure the two other sisters to their cave. The last sister sticks the feathers on her body by rolling herself in blood (presumably the blood of the dwarves' victims), and there is no resurrection of the sisters. Everybody that meets her on the way call her "geputzter Vogel". The dwarves hunt the girl down and almost catch her just as she reaches her father's house - she is so fast in closing the door that it cuts a piece of her heel. The Grimms also knew of a Dutch version of the story, translated in German, and that was identical to one of their first-editions tales, "The Murder-Castle".

The translation of the name of the "bird" always caused many problems, due to the difficulty of understanding the expression. The brothers Grimm themselves explained the name of the bird by the Icelandic "Fitfuglar", meaning "birds that swim" - as such, the girl would be called "Fitchers-Vogel" because she looks like a swan". However, other people do not agree with this etymology, some linking Fitcher with "Fitze", the thread. Rimasson-Fertin highlights that the expression "Fitchers Fitze", outside of a simple sonority game, might be two variations of the male name Fritz (the diminutive of Friedrich) - other usual diminutives were Fitze, Fitz and Fiete. The brothers Grimm noted that the motif of the blood that cannot be erased was much older than Perrault's Bluebeard - it could be found as early as the "Gesta Romanorum", where a mother who had murdered her child couldn't erase three blood-drops from her hand, forcing her to wear a glove. This story must be compared to the KHM 40, "The Robber Bridegroom".

The Juniper Tree (Von dem Machandelboom)

It is the AaTh 720 "My mother killed me, my father ate me".

Just like the tale of "The Fisherman and his wife", this story was written by the painter P. O. Runge, and the brothers Grimm used it as a model for how they should present their own fairy tales. In fact, we can note sentences almost identical between the two tales.

The brothers noted a variation of the story where the stepmother places her daughter near the pot where her brother cooks, and she forbids her from looking inside. But since the pot boils too much, the girl lifts the lid - then her brother's hand reaches out to her from the cauldron. There is yet another version noted by the Grimm where there are three children, not two, and the stepmother sends them pick up strawberries in the wood, promising an apple to whoever comes back first.

The cruelty of this fairytale earned the brothers a serious criticism from Achim von Arnim - who only tolerated such violence because it echoed the one present in Goethe's Faust. The description "red as blood, white as snow" of course echoes the tale of "Snow-White". The brothers Grimm mentionned in their notes that the juniper tree was a plant believed to have the power to bring back youth - and Rölleke noted that the juniper-tree's red berries were used in folk-magic. It seems to be a very ancient tale due to several very old motifs such as the soul returning in the shape of a bird, a resurrection out of bones, and cannibalism. This tale must be compared to "Brother Lustig", "The Singing Bone" and, of course, "The Fisherman and his wife".

Briar Rose (Dornröschen)

Of course, it is the AaTh 410 "Sleeping Beauty".

This fairytale was present as early as the 1810 manuscript, written by Jacob Grimm from a tale told by Marie Hassenpflug. Research has proven that this story is derived from Charles Perrault's own Sleeping Beauty. We also find back in the German story a motif coming from another famous French literary fairytale, madame d'Aulnoy's "The Hind in the Woods/The Doe in the Woods" (also known as the White Doe). In this story a Crayfish/Lobster fairy announces to the queen she will have a child, and later the same fairy curses the princess as she is born - and what a coincidence! In the first edition of "Briar Rose", the animal that announces the princess' birth is not a frog... but a crayfish. Proving that there is a direct link. As for the name of the princess n German, "Dornröschen", "small briar rose", it actually first appeared in the German translation of a 1730 fairytale by Anthony Hamilton (an Irish man who however spoke and wrote French), "Fleur d'épine" (Thorn flower/Briar flower) - it had been translated in 1790. Bolte and Polivka have also noted a comedy by Gryphius from 1660 whch was named "Die geliebte Dornrose", "The beloved briar rose".

In their notes about the fairytale, the Grimm brothers explicitely compare Briar Rose to the legend of Brunhild asleep behind a wall of fire, cursed into a magical slumber by Odin's "sleep-thorn" and woken up by Sigurd, the only one able to cross the wall of flames. The brothers Grimm were also aware of Basile's version of the story, "Thalia, Sun and Moon", which they compared to their own Briar Rose in their notes. The brothers were very fascinated by the consistant naming of the princess' children from Perrault (Dawn, Day) to Basile (Sun, Moon) and compared it to the occurences of "Day, Sun and Moon" as names within the Eddas. However we know that Perrault was heavily inspired by Basile's story when writing his own Sleeping Beauty, and only modified some parts so as to erase the more shocking and "unpleasant" parts (such as the married prince having sex with the sleeping girl). Of course, this story is also to be compared with the 14th century medieval tale of the Roman de Perceforest.

The wise women that appear in this story are the Germanic equivalent of the fairies. In fact, we know that the brothers Grimm carefully avoided (or erased) any mention of "Fee" (the German word for the English "fairy" and French "fée") from their tales, so as to better differentiate them from the French "fairy tales", "contes de fées". By turning the fairies into wise women making predictions at the child's birth, the Grimms notably opened an entire set of symbolism and interpretations linking them to the mythological figures of the Norns, Parcae and Moirai.

Snow White (Schneewittchen)

Of course, it is the AaTh 709 "Snow-White".

The full editing history of this tale was only "recently" recreated (the book was published in 2009, it was recent back then) in its entirety. We know that it begins in 1808 with a version collected by Ferdinand Grimm, brother of Jacob and Wilhelm, called "Schneeweibchen". It seems Ferdinand might have invented the story on his own. Wilhelm and Jacob then slowly modified it, by adding details from other collected versions, before publishing it in their first edition in 1810 (they did note at the time that it was a Lower-Germany story, and that in Upper-Germany the tale did exist but with the deformed name of "Schliwitchen". When the Grimms did their second edition, the main change they performed onto this story was the modification of the wicked mother into a wicked stepmother - something they also did for "Hansel and Gretel". In fact, from edition to edition the Grimms kept adding adjectives and expressons highlighting the opposition between the girl and the vain queen.

Th Grimms had collected several variations of the tale. One was much closer to the tale of "The Juniper Tree" and in it the queen, as she was with the king on a hunting sled, cut her finger while peeling an apple. In another variation the king and queen were walking by three mounts of snow, than went by three pools of blood, and finally saw three ravens in the sky, and each time the king wishes for a girl with the corresponding colors - soon afterward the couple encountered a little girl fitting this description. The king, immediately attached to her, takes her with him in their royal carriage, but the queen immediately hates her and tries to get rid of her - so she asks the girl to go seek a glove she threw out of the window, and while she is out of the carriage she asks the driver to leave as fast as he can. Then the little girl takes refuge at the seven dwarves' house.

The fairytale existed in German literature before the brothers Grimm published it. Indeed J. A. Musaüs had published in 1782 a fairytale called "Richilde" - and the Grimm were influenced by this tale, since in the margins of their first edition, they noted about Snow-White "It is Musaüs' Richilde". There was also a Snow-White story that had been published in 1809 in a fairytale book by A. L. Grimm (no relationship to the brothers Grimm). The Brothers Grimm did note the striking similarity between this story and the Norse pseudo-historical legend of Snäsridr, the beautiful wife of "Harald with fair hair", a wife that, when she died, stayed in her prime state so that it seemed she was still alive.

This fairy-tale has a very wide area of spreading, as it can be found from Ireland to Turkey passing by central Africa. It is especially present in the literary Italian compilations of fairytales. Basile has three variations of the story in his Pentamerone: "The raven", "Nennillo and Nennella" as well as "The she-cook".

The various virtues that Snow-White shows in this tale made her one of the big role models within the education of bourgeoisie girls in the 19th century - alongside Cinderella, of course. In fact, according to H-J Uther's analysis of the story, it is because of all her virtues that Snow-White's beauty does not fade away and stays undamaged even in death, unlike her wicked stepmother whose vices causes the fading of her charms. Finally, this fairytale is actually the proof that the brothers Grimm did not simply listed their fairytales one after the other in a random order, but deliberately created "bridges" and internal references to create a cohesive world within their book. Indeed, the mention of the snowflakes looking like feathers references "Frau Holle", while the glass coffin can be found back in, of course, "The Glass Coffin", and the blood-drops on the snow evokes "The Juniper Tree".

Rumpelstilzchen

Yes this story is the famous "Rumpelstilskin" (or Rumpelstiltskin? I never know how to write it in English). But why keep the German spelling? Because Rimasson-Fertin has some stuff to say about it: this name is the diminutive form of "Rumpelstilz", a term that Jacob Grimm defined in his "German Dictionary" as being synonymous with "poltergeist" (he noted a similarity between Poltergeist and Rumpelgeist, both designated a very loud spirit). While today "poltergeist" is mostly associated with ghosts, in a much broader way it designate a dwarf, a dead or a devil - or just any kind of phenomenon caused by witchcraft.

This story corresponds to the AaTh 500 "The name of the supernatural being". This fairytale has an interesting evolution history... Jacob Grimm had a version of it as early as 1808, named "Rumpenstünzchen", which was then slightly modified for the 1810 manuscript. This tale was actually the mix of two different versions - and one of these versions had a different ending. The queen didn't sent messengers searching for the dwarf's name, rather the king spotted the little man while returning from hunting on the third day. The Grimm also noted a variation where the initial situation was reversed: a young girl who had to spin hemp but could only manage to spin gold much to everybody's despair, and a small man appeared to promise her a wedding to a king's son in exchange for her firstborn child. It ended in such a way: the queen herself spotted the small man singing his name, jumping around a fire while riding a ladle like a horse. When she guessed his name, he flew out of the window and into the sky, riding the ladle like a witch's broom. We know that the episode of the spinning of the straw was only added by the Grimm in 1812 (it is not in the 1810 version), and that the final scene of the dwarf self-mutilating comes from a story of Lisette Wild and was added in 1819.

The first literary record of this story is a French fairytale published in 1705 and written by Mlle Marie-Jeanne L'Héritier de Villandon. It was "L'Histoire de Ricdin-Ricdon" (The Tale of Ricdin-Ricdon), published in her "La Tour ténébreuse et les jours lumineux" (The Shadowy tower and the luminous days). It had been translated in German by Johann Gottwert Müller in 1790, under the title "Straubfedern", "Ostrich feathers". As for the name "Rumpelstilzchen", it actually originates from Johann Fischart's Grman adaptation of the French "Gargantua", "Geschichtklitterung" (1584) - in it, Fischart lists various children game by name, and mentions a "Rumpele stilt oder der Poppart".

This fairytale type is very present in Western, Central and Northern Europe (British Isles and Ireland included), with also a few spottings in the Baltic countries, China and Japan. The name of the supernatural being always changes from one region or country to the next (in Swiss it is Hans-Öfeli, in Dutch Trillevip, in Swedish Titteliture, in Finnish Tuttirituli, in the Suffolk it is Tom Tit Tot, in Welsh Gnarwynathrot, in Irish it is Eve-Trot or Trit-a-Trot...). It is part of the enormous success of this tale-type: every country has to invent its own brand of nonsensical, un-guessable name. As for the rhymed song through which the dwarf betrays its name, it is found in England as "Nimmy nimmy not / My name is Tom Tit Tot", and in an Afro-American version of North Carolina "I'm so glad that she do not know / That my name is Tabutoe Tambutoe".

The brothers Grimm noted that in Germanic mythology it was typical for underground beings (aka dwarfs) to have names that are not usual among humankind, which is why, again according to them, the dwarf of this story would feel in perfect safety proposing the queen such a game. The rule according to which obtaining the name of a supernatural being means gaining a form of power over them is very common, and is even reused in another one of the Grimm stories: KHM 136, "Iron John". H. Rölleke did an analysis of the names the queen proposes at first: we have the three names of the Magi, aka the Three Wise Men, or King-Magi, which gives a Christian setting to the story, and could also serve as a metonymy for all the saint names found in the Christian calendar. As for "Heinz" and "Kunz", Rölleke sees in them the diminutives of the names of the medieval emperors Heinrich and Konrad, which used to be some of the most popular male names among German-speaking countries.

All-Kinds-of-Fur (Allerleirauh)

It corresponds to the AaTh 510B "The dresses of gold, silver and stars", also known as "Donkey Skin", after the famous Charles Perrault fairytales.

The story we read today was the one told to the Grimm by Dortchen Wild, but there was a variation of it told to the brothers by Jeannette Hassenpflug, "Princess Mouse-Skin", which was present in the 1812's edition of the volume (n°71) but was then moves to the annotations as a mere mention. The version of the story from the first draft (the 1810 manuscript) was called "Allerlei Rauch", "All Kinds of Smoke", and was heavily inspired by one of the tales present within the novel "Schilly" by Carl Nehrlich.

The line "God forbade a father from marrying his daughter. Nothing good can come from this sin which will cause the kingdom's decadence" was added in the 1819 edition, and references a tale of Albert Ludwig Grimm called "Brunnenhold und Brunnenstark". The brothers Grimm insisted even more on the condamnation of the sin of incest when rewriting the story for their "small collection" for kids, and also insisted heavily upon a political extension of such a decision, which would damage the state itself. It is actually an allussion to the failure of the Frankfort Parliament, which had been gathered in 1848 at the Paulskirche in an attempt to create a constitution for all of Germany - to which Jacob Grimm had taken part.

A variation of the story collected in Paderborn has the last coat made of all the furs of the kingdom, plus moss and various forest-related material. In this version, the heroine puts the cloak on top of her three beautiful dresses before fleeing, and she hides in an empty tree where she is discovered, not during a hunting party, but by woodsman that cut off the tree she was sleeping into, to bring wood to the king. All-Kinds-of-Fur works in the castle's kitchen but one day as she is preparing the soup, the king has her sit on his chair so she can delouse him (a motif also present in "The Devil with Three Golden Hair). As she does, the king glimpses the beautiful shining dress under the cloak's sleeve, and this is how he discovers the girl's true appearance. Another variation of the story yet, also collected in Paderborn, has the heroine pretending to be mute. One day the king hits her with a whip, it rips apart the coat, revealing the golden dress underneath.

Not all the German versions of the story include the incest motif. In Musaüs' take on the story, "Die Nymphe des Brunnens", "The Nymph of the Well", the heroine leaves her father's castle because it has been destroyed. Her godmother, an undine, gifts her a small magical box and when she leaves the ball she says "Night behind me and day before me / Might nobody see me!". As for the version of Hassenpflug, "Princess Mouse-Skin", it begins as the KHM 179, "The Goose-Girl at the Well": a king wants to know which of his three daughters love him the most, the first says she loves him more than the whole kingdom, the second more than pearls and precious stones, the third more than salt. The furious father has the last princess be sent into the woods to be killed, but the servant tasked with the execution spares her out of pity, and gives her, by her request, a coat made of mice skin. The rest of the story goes like within "All-Kinds-of-Fur", except for the final wedding, to which the father-king is invited. All the dishes served to him are without salt, and he ends up saying he prefers to die rather than continue eating without salt. The princess-daughter reveals herself and points out how he tried to had her killed for loving him more than salt. Her father begs her for forgiveness, and the tale ends with her accepting.

The motif of the incest can, however, be found back in a variation of the KHM 31 (The Girl Without Hands) that the Grimms collected, and where the father mutilates the daughter for refusing to marry him. The motif of the king trying to marry his own daughter has been attested in many, many European stories ever since the 12th century. As for the boots that are thrown in the heroine's face in the Grimm story, while in the final edition it has no follow-up, in the 1812 edition it was a recurring element forming a motif within the tale. Another German version of the story that preserved this structure that the Grimms erased is the story collected by Vernaleken, "Throw-Broom, Throw-Brush and Throw-Comb". In it the king throws out of anger at the face of the heroine (Adelaide) a broom, a brush and a comb. Every time she goes to the ball, she changes her pseudonym to fit which item hit her (one night she is "Throw-Broom", another she is "Throw-Brush", etc...). There are many, many variations of the story containing such a "name play".

Other famous examples of this variation, outside of Charles Perrault's Donkeyskin, include Straparola's "The maiden in the chest", Basile's "The She-Bear", Afanassiev's "Pig-Skin".

Jorinde and Joringel (Jorinde und Joringel)

It corresponds to the AaTH 405, named and created after this story, "Jorinde and Joringel".

The interesting thing with this story is that the brothers Grimm did not collect it from a direct source. Rather they lifted it, to the exact word, from the autobiography of Johann Heinrich Jung, "Jugend/Youth", published in 1779. The brothers deemed that the way Jung-Stilling had written the tale was the "perfect" way to tell the story, according to their definition of a fairytale. Though they did note the existence of a version of the story told in Schwalm - but which differs very little from the story of Jung-Stilling.

The brothers Grimm themselves noted a similarity between this story, and the KHM 123, "The Old Woman in the Wood". Rimasson-Fertin notes that the witch in this story is to be compared to the ones appearing in "Hansel and Gretel" and in "Little Brother and Little Sister". As for the name of the demon the witch invokes, "Zachiel", H. Rölleke identified it as a form of "Zachariel", a demon name coming from the very popular 17th century demonology grimoire "Clavicula Salomonis", "The Clavicles of Salomon".

[docpiplup]

Upcoming series: Ena

In September, the filming of Ena began, a biographical series that will focus on the life of Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, queen of Spain through her marriage to Alfonso XIII between May 31, 1906 and April 14, 1931, after being the monarchy deposed later by the proclamation of the Second Republic. Great-grandmother of the current king Philip VI of Spain, of whom she was godmother at his baptism. Throughout six chapters, the series will tell the life of Victoria Eugenie and at the same time offer a portrait of a time that changed the world, the first half of the 20th century, from 1905 to 1945. Born on October 24, 1887 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland, Ena was the daughter of Henry of Battenberg and Princess Beatrice, youngest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her godmother was Eugenia de Montijo, empress consort of France as Napoleón III's wife. The name of the series comes from what her friends and family called her since she was little, Ena.

The fiction is based on the novel of the same name by Pilar Eyre. Javier Olivares, who was behind the acclaimed Isabel and El Ministerio del Tiempo, will be the showrunner and plot manager for Ena. In addition to Olivares, the script is written by Isa Sánchez, Daniel Corpas and Pablo Lara Toledo. The series will be directed entirely by women: Anaïs Pareto, director of the series as a whole, in addition to four episodes, and Estel Díaz, who will direct two episodes.

“Ena is the portrait of historical moments that seem distant but are not so far away, because without them we would not understand the times we live in now,” Olivares declares in the press release sent by TVE. The writer and screenwriter remembers that Victoria Eugenie “fought to be happy in a bitter time, in which she witnessed two world wars, a civil war and a great pandemic, the tortuously called Spanish flu.”

For Pilar Eyre, author of the novel, she was "an extraordinary woman: cultured, supportive, liberal-minded, modern and very loyal." And she is excited because "finally all Spaniards can know" the story of a "misunderstood" woman. in their time, which they will always consider foreign." It is a fiction co-produced by RTVE with Ena La Serie AIE, La Cometa TV and Zona App. José Pastor, director of Film and Fiction at RTVE, has pointed out that "it is a "RTVE is proud to be able to portray this interesting historical character, from the point of view of two women directors and with Javier Olivares as showrunner, in one of its best series."

The Spanish actress of Anglo-Danish descent Kimberly Tell will play Ena and Joan Amargós will play Alfonso XIII. For her part, Elvira Mínguez will play Maria Christina von Habsburg-Lothringen, mother of Alfonso XIII. The cast is completed by Lucía Guerrero (Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), Raúl Mérida (Alfonso of Orleans and Bourbon), Juan Gea (Álvaro Figueroa y Torres, Count of Romanones), María Morales (María del Carmen Angoloti y Mesa, Duchess of Victoria), Pedro Mari Sánchez (Rodrigo de Saavedra y Vinent, Marquis of Villalobar), Luisa Gavasa (Eugenia de Montijo) and Joaquín Notario (José de Saavedra y Salamanca, Marquis of Viana)

Mariano Peña will play Miguel Primo de Rivera; Jaume Madaula will play the anarchist Mateo Morral, author of the attack committed at the royal wedding; Tomás del Estal will be Emilio María de Torres y González-Arnáu, and Ángel Ruiz will once again give life to Federico García Lorca, a character he already played in El Ministerio del Tiempo, among others.

The series will be filmed entirely in natural exteriors and interiors, like the Royal Palace of Madrid, the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso (Segovia), the Palace of Santoña (Madrid), the Palace of Fernán Núñez (Madrid), the Fort of San Francisco (Guadalajara) and the Magdalena Palace (Santander), built in 1911 by the City Council as a tribute to the monarchs and where Ena spent a good part of her summers in Spain, accompanied by the Royal Family. Filming for the series will continue until the end of December.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So, the Magdalena Palace is going to be an important location during the series as a summer palace, the main filming location in Gran Hotel, and in that series Ena appeared in the episode 3×13, played by Aída Filx.

Apart from that, are we getting an Olivaresverse (XD)? Most likely not, and it's just references about his previous works as a showrunner, but there are connections between Isabel, Emdt and Ena: Michelle Jenner starring Isabel as Isabella I of Castile, then appearing in a couple of scenes in Emdt episode 1×04 and being an important figure in the lore as the foundress of the ministry (& Eusebio Poncela playing as Cisneros in both series, and also he played Cisneros in the film La Corona Partida and the Carlos Rey Emperador series); Alfonso XIII is a descendant of Isabella I of Castile; Ángel Ruiz appeard as Lorca in Emdt in 4 episodes and now he is on Ena playing as Lorca again, we don't know yet how much screentime he will get or which will his role be (secondary character most likely), but it's great to see more about him!

[europesroyalsweddings]

✵ January 8, 1930 ✵

Princess Marie-José of Belgium & Prince Umberto, Crown Prince of Italy

Later King & Queen of Italy

[thestandrewknot]

Guests, including Princess Maria Gabriella of Savoy, the Prince of Naples, King Umberto II and Queen Marie José of Italy, Infanta María Cristina and Infanta Beatriz of Spain, the Duke and Duchess of Calabria and Prince Rainier III and Princess Grace of Monaco, depart the Hotel Grande Bretagne to attend the first ball at the Royal Palace of Athens, during the celebrations of the wedding of the Prince of Asturias and Princess Sophia of Greece, 1962.

[richincolor]

I'm really excited to spend some of my downtime this summer reading, so I've found three more books to add to my TBR list that came out earlier this year. Have you read them? What did you think?

Reclaim the Stars: 17 Tales Across Realms & Space Wednesday Books

Seventeen fantasy and science fiction short stories from leading voices in the Latin American diaspora!

Reclaim the Stars is a collection of bestselling and acclaimed YA authors that take the Latin American diaspora to places fantastical and out of this world. From princesses warring in space, to the all too-near devastation of climate change, to haunting ghost stories in Argentina, and mermaids off the coast of the Caribbean. This is science fiction and fantasy that breaks borders and realms, and proves that stories are truly universal.

Authors include Daniel José Older, Yamile Saied Méndez, Anna-Marie McLemore, Mark Oshiro, Romina Garber, David Bowles, Lilliam Rivera, Claribel Ortega, Isabel Ibañez, Sara Faring, Maya Motayne, Nina Moreno, Vita Ayala, J.C. Cervantes, Circe Moskowitz, Linda Nieves Pérez, and Zoraida Córdova.

You Truly Assumed by Laila Sabreen Inkyard Press

In this compelling and thought-provoking debut novel, after a terrorist attack rocks the country and anti-Islamic sentiment stirs, three Black Muslim girls create a space where they can shatter assumptions and share truths.

Sabriya has her whole summer planned out in color-coded glory, but those plans go out the window after a terrorist attack near her home. When the terrorist is assumed to be Muslim and Islamophobia grows, Sabriya turns to her online journal for comfort. You Truly Assumed was never meant to be anything more than an outlet, but the blog goes viral as fellow Muslim teens around the country flock to it and find solace and a sense of community.

Soon two more teens, Zakat and Farah, join Bri to run You Truly Assumed and the three quickly form a strong friendship. But as the blog’s popularity grows, so do the pushback and hateful comments. When one of them is threatened, the search to find out who is behind it all begins, and their friendship is put to the test when all three must decide whether to shut down the blog and lose what they’ve worked for…or take a stand and risk everything to make their voices heard.

My Sister's Big Fat Indian Wedding by Sajni Patel Amulet

Zurika Damani is a naturally gifted violinist with a particular love for hip hop beats. But when you’re part of a big Indian family, everyone has expectations, and those certainly don’t include hip hop violin. After being rejected by Juilliard, Zuri's last hope is a contest judged by a panel of top tier college scouts. The only problem? This coveted competition happens to take place during Zuri’s sister’s extravagant wedding week. And Zuri has already been warned, repeatedly, that she is not to miss a single moment.

In the midst of the chaos, Zuri’s mom is in matchmaking mode with the groom’s South African cousin Naveen—who just happens to be a cocky vocalist set on stealing Zuri’s spotlight at the scouting competition. Luckily Zuri has a crew of loud and loyal female cousins cheering her on. Now, all she has to do is to wow the judges for a top spot, evade getting caught by her parents, resist Naveen’s charms, and, oh yeah . . . not mess up her sister’s big fat Indian wedding. What could possibly go wrong? -- Cover image and summary via Goodreads

[die-greifen]

when: royally fun facts

They may not be fun, but some of them are made-up. Made up facts are in italics.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

(Karolina Augusta's great-great-grandmother)

Is the granddaughter of Tsar Nicholas I of Russia

Is the mother of Alexandrine, Queen Consort of Denmark

Is the mother of Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Is the mother of Cecilie, Crown Princess of Germany

Following the death of her husband, had a illegitimate son with her personal secretary

Three of her brothers were murdered by the Bolsheviks during the Russian revolution

Princess Karola of Urach

(Karolina Augusta's great-grandmother)

Karola’s father, Wilhelm Karl, 2nd Duke of Urach, was briefly elected as the King of Lithuania in 1918.

Princess Karola of Urach was the first queen consort of Mecklenburg, and also the last Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Karola was the grand-niece of Empress Elisabeth ‘Sisi’ of Austria.

Karola was the half-niece of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians.

Karola half-first cousins include Leopold III of Belgium, and Marie José, the last Queen Consort of Italy.

Karola and Mary of Teck, Queen of the United Kingdom, both descend from morganatic branches of the House of Württemberg. Karola and Mary were third cousins as great-great-granddaughters of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg.

Karola was a Roman Catholic and retained her faith following her marriage to Heinrich Ludwig, though their children were brought up in the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Mecklenburg.

Duchess Thyra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

(Karolina Augusta's grandmother)

Thyra’s father, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was overthrown by her father-in-law, King Heinrich Ludwig of Mecklenburg

Thyra was the first Crown Princess of Mecklenburg (1939 - 1954)

Thyra was the second Queen of Mecklenburg (1954 - 1980)

Thyra was the niece of Alexandrine, Queen of Denmark (1912 - 1947)

Thyra was the first cousin of Frederik IX of Denmark (1947 - 1972)

Thyra was the niece of Cecilie, Crown Princess of Germany (1905 - 1951)

Thyra was the first cousin of Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (1951 - 1994)

Thyra was the niece of Marie Louise, Margravine of Baden (1928 - 1929)

Thyra was the first cousin of Berthold, Margrave of Baden (1929 - 1963), who married Princess Theodora of Greece and Denmark (the older sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh)

Thyra was the niece of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick (1913 - 1918) and head of the House of Hannover (1923 - 1953)

Thyra was the first cousin of Ernst August, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Hanover (1953 - 1987)

Thyra was the first cousin of Frederica, Queen of Greece (1947 - 1964)

Princess Eleonora of Leiningen

(Karolina Augusta's mother)

Descends from all three children of Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld: Carl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen; Princess Feodora of Leiningen; and Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Queen Karolina Augusta I of Mecklenburg

Is the first female ruler in Mecklenburg’s 900 year history.

Will be the final ruler from the House of Mecklenburg which will eventually bring an end to the House’s status as the longest still reigning house in European history.

Is descended from both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and of King Christian IX of Denmark.

Has been the youngest monarch in the world since 1992.

Has 15 godparents:

HRH Princess Cecilie Auguste, Duchess of Ludwigslust (paternal aunt)

HRH Princess Marie Anastasia, Duchess of Grevesmühlen (paternal aunt)

HRH Princess Benedikte of Denmark (paternal second cousin once removed)

HRH Princess Alexandra of Hanover, Princess of Leiningen (maternal aunt-by-marriage)

HSH Princess Margarita of Hohenlohe-Oehringen, Princess of Leiningen (maternal aunt-by-marriage)

HM Silvia, Queen of Sweden (family friend)

HM Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands (paternal and maternal second cousin twice removed)

HRH Princess Astrid of Belgium, Archduchess of Austria-Este (paternal third cousin once removed)

HRH Prince Charles, Prince of Wales (paternal third cousin once removed and family friend)

HRH Prince Frederik, Crown Prince of Denmark (paternal third cousin)

HH Prince Harald of Denmark (paternal first cousin once removed)

HSH Prince Hermann Friedrich of Leiningen (maternal first cousin once removed)

HRH Prince Felipe, Prince of Asturias (paternal third cousin)

HH Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (distant cousin and family friend)

HSH Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein (distant cousin and family friend)

[the-list-tm]

Things I have or want to read or watch

To further improve my personal knowledge of literature and cinema

Featuring stuff in both French and English

Code:

Status:

Unread/Unseen ❌

Read/Seen ✅

Currently reading/watching 📖

Need to restart 🔄

Language:

French 🇫🇷

English 🇬🇧

Books:

Plays:

Shakespeare's:

Hamlet 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | ❌ Le songe d’une nuit d’été 🇫🇷 | ✅ Macbeth 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | 🔄 Romeo and Juliet 🇬🇧 | ❌ Le marchand de Venise 🇫🇷 | ❌ Much Ado About Nothing 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | ❌

Molière's:

Le malade imaginaire 🇫🇷 | ✅ Le médecin malgré lui 🇫🇷 | ❌ L’Avare 🇫🇷 | ❌ Les fourberies de Scapin 🇫🇷 | ❌ Dom Juan 🇫🇷 | ✅ Les femmes savantes 🇫🇷 | ❌

Antigone, Sophocles 🇫🇷 | ❌

Œdipe à Colone, Sophocles 🇫🇷 | ❌

Antigone, Anouilh 🇫🇷 | ❌

Knock, Jules Romains 🇫🇷 | ✅

L’illusion comique, Corneille 🇫🇷 | 📖

La guerre de Troie n’aura pas lieu, Jean Giraudoux 🇫🇷 | ❌

Amphitryon, Jean Giraudoux 🇫🇷 | ❌

L’Apollon de Bellac, Jean Giraudoux 🇫🇷 | ❌

La Marmite, Plaute 🇫🇷 | ❌

Les Nuées, Aristophane 🇫🇷 | ❌

Les Cavaliers, Aristophane 🇫🇷 | ❌

Cyrano de Bergerac, Edmond Rostand 🇫🇷 | ❌

L’aiglon, Edmond Rostand 🇫🇷 | ❌

Médée, Euripides 🇫🇷 | ❌

Médée, Corneille 🇫🇷 | ❌

Les fausses confidences, Marivaux 🇫🇷 | ❌

Andromaque, Racine 🇫🇷 | ❌

Novels:

Good Omens, Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett 🇬🇧 | 📖

American Gods, Neil Gaiman 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Discworld books, Terry Pratchett 🇬🇧 | ❌

Dune, Franck Herbert 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | ❌

Pride and Prejudice, Jane Austen 🇬🇧🇫🇷 | 📖✅

Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austen 🇬🇧🇫🇷 | ❌

Les Trois Mousquetaires, Alexandre Dumas 🇫🇷 | ❌

Wuthering Heights, Emily Brontë 🇬🇧🇫🇷 | ❌

The Picture of Dorian Gray, Oscar Wilde 🇬🇧🇫🇷 | ❌

Dracula, Bram Stoker 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | ✅📖

Frankenstein, Mary Shelley 🇬🇧🇫🇷 | ❌

Le fleuve de l’éternité, Philip José Farmer 🇫🇷 | ❌

Les Misérables, Victor Hugo 🇫🇷 | ❌

Notre-Dame de Paris, Victor Hugo 🇫🇷 | ❌

Le dernier jour d’un condamné, Victor Hugo 🇫🇷 | ❌

the Percy Jackson books, Rick Riordan 🇫🇷 | ❌

Robinson Crusoé, David Defoe 🇫🇷 | ❌

A song of Ice and Fire and following, George R.R. Martin 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Harry Potter books 🇬🇧 | 📖

Memoirs by Lady Trent, Marie Brennan 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | 📖

Livres du Paris des Merveilles, Pierre Pevel 🇫🇷 | 📖

Gargantua, Rabelais 🇫🇷 | ❌

1984, George Orwell 🇬🇧 | ❌

Fahrenheit 451, Ray Bradbury 🇬🇧 | ❌

This is how you loose the time war, Amal El-Mohtar & Max Gladstone 🇬🇧 | ❌

The Song of Achilles, Madeline Miller 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | 🔄

Circe, Madeline Miller 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | 🔄

Call me by your name, André Aciman 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | 🔄

Le Roman de Renart 🇫🇷 | ❌

Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Robert Louis Stevenson 🇫🇷🇬🇧 | ❌

Cemetery Boys, Aiden Thomas 🇬🇧 | ❌

Short Stories:

The Call of Cthulhu, H.P. Lovecraft 🇬🇧 | ❌

At the Mountains of Madness, H.P. Lovecraft 🇬🇧 | ❌

Miscellaneous:

The Art of War, Sun Tzu 🇫🇷 | ❌

Inferno, Dante 🇫🇷 | ❌

TV:

Movies:

Titanic (1997) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Bohemian Raspody (2018) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Rocketman (2019) 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Twilight trilogy (2008) 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Blade Runner films (1982) 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Matrix films (1999) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Apocalypse Now (1979) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Psycho (1960) 🇬🇧 | ❌

The Lorax (2012) 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Bee Movie (2007) 🇬🇧 | ❌

the Shrek films (2001) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Princess Bride (1987) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Series:

Doctor Who (2005) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Doctor Who (1963) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Torchwood (2006) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Our Flag Means Death (2022) 🇬🇧 | 📖

What We Do In The Shadows (2019) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Friends (1994) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Hannibal (2013) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Merlin (2008) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Supernatural (2005) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Star Trek (most of them) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Musicals:

Nerdy Prudes Must Die (2023) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Starmania (1979) 🇫🇷 | ❌

Legally Blonde (2007) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Epic, the musical (2021) 🇬🇧 | ❌

Plays:

Dracula, A Comedy of Terrors 🇬🇧 | ❌

[postcard-from-the-past]

Princess Marie-José Charlotte Sophie Amélie Henriette Gabrielle of Belgium, later Queen consort of Italy

Belgian vintage postcard

[archduchessofnowhere]

I once accompanied my parents [king Albert I and queen Elisabeth of the Belgians] to Saint-Germain-en-Laye where the peace treaty between the allied powers and Austria was being drawn up (September 10, 1919). I can still see, in the great room of the castle, the table with the green carpet, from which were born, alas! more thorns than roses.

The same day, we paid a visit to my maternal great-aunt Marie, widow of Francesco II of Bourbon-Sicily, last king of Naples. Aged eighty-years-old, she lived in exile in a modest apartment where horse engravings displaced family portraits. Some Neapolitan servants remained faithful to her. I can't forget this almost spectoral vision, a true resurgence of the past: great, straight, extremely thin, dressed all in black, her waist tightened by a leather belt: from it escaped a tight skirt that barely covered her button boots. But what struck me the most, was the haughty carriage of her little head crowned with a double graying braid and her periwinkle blue eyes, which literally devoured her face. When in the course of the conversation, this questioning and heartbreaking look fell on you, it made you wonder from what catastrophe the world was going to perish…

My frather spoke in German with the queen of Naples. She shook her head in sign of indignation while evoking, among other things, “the awful Treaty of Trianon which, through the stupid dismemberment of Hungary, dispossessed three million Magyars”. She spoke with a handkerchief over her mouth, no doubt out of coquetry, to hide her bad teeth… imitating her sister, the empress of Austria. The interview was interrupted by heavy silences, reminiscent of the distressing atmosphere of certain Russian novels. Finally, we took leave of this strange sovereign. At the moment of our parting, Marie asked if it was true that I was engaged to the heir to the Italian throne? Before the hesitation of my mother, she added that she would disapprove of her great-niece's union with a Savoy. It is very obvious that the one who was still called the “heroine of Gaeta” could only condemn such a union.

Let us remember the heroic gesture of the wife of the king of Naples, sharing the dangers of her soldiers to save the city, the final bastion of her kingdom besieged by the troops of Vittorio-Emanuele II. The first king of Italian unity represented, in the eyes of Marie-Sophie, nothing but a vulgar usurper.

Marie-José of Belgium (1971). Albert et Elisabeth de Belgique, Mes Parents

[Pictured, left: Princess Marie José of Belgium, circa 1910s. Right: Queen Marie Sophie of the Two Sicilies, circa 1870. Via Flickr and the Royal Collection Trust]

[n-rnova]

1920S Royal Musings

Topping the list of eligible young males, at least on paper, was the Prince of Wales, Edward, known to family and friends as David. Born in June 1894, David was considered to be the greatest catch, as he was the future king of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Cunliffe-Owen pointed out that "it is quite probable that the people of England would voice, through Parliament, their disapproval, of any scheme for marrying one of the sons of King George to a Princess of one of the former sovereign houses of Germany. But no objection would be raised if the young scion of the British reigning house should follow the advice of his heart and wed one of his father's subjects, or even an American girl of the Protestant faith." One presumes, however, that the American girl could not be twice divorced, with both husbands still living.

Among the princesses rumored to be engaged to the Prince of Wales was Princess Ingrid of Sweden, whose late mother was Princess Margaret of Connaught, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, who was presented to Queen Mary in 1928, restoring "a bond broken by war." During the first world war, King George and Queen Mary would not receive members of neutral countries. Sweden, a neutral nation, had welcomed, much to the disappointment of the British sovereigns, the German Empress Auguste Victoria. "A coolness ensued" between Sweden and Britain, but "the old friendship was restored when Princess Ingrid bowed her head before King George and Queen Mary."

Princess Ingrid was also the guest of honor at a ball at the Swedish Embassy, but the Prince of Wales did not attend. The rumors, however, continued when Ingrid returned to England less than a year later. "Surely, such a speedy repetition must have some significance, say those who always try to explain everything," Virginia Pope wrote. "But Ingrid is the granddaughter of the Duke of Connaught, and what is more natural than that she should show some interest in him."

Prince Leopold, Duke of Brabant, heir to the Belgian throne, was also unmarried, as were the heirs to the thrones of Italy, Spain, Norway, and Denmark. King Boris III of Bulgaria was in search of a queen, although, he was "arousing the fears of conservative monarchists by threatening to seek a mere dollar princess to share the Bulgarian throne."

Published on October 7, 1923, Cunliffe-Owen's article, "Princes Are Few for Royal Maids," profiled several European princesses, including Princess Mafalda of Italy, Princess Marie-José of Belgium, and Princess Olga of Greece. This article was published a fortnight before Olga's marriage to Prince Paul of Serbia. "The engagement of Prince Paul of Serbia and Princess Olga of Greece has revived the discussion of the difficulties that confront the persons of Europe who seek mates. Princess Olga is accounted a lucky girl. Impoverished by recent political events in Greece, she is to marry great wealth. Better yet, she is in love with Paul and he with her. But best of all -- and this is what the matchmaking mothers of Court Society have most in mind - she is to marry a man of her own station in life."

Cunliffe-Owen said that "the good fortune of finding a mate of equal rank cannot fail to a lot of all the marriageable Princesses of Europe nowadays.  There are a fairly large number of such women, and if they resolve to wed none but Princes of the blood royal many of them will have to remain single.  Royal society is not what it was before 1914.  Half of Europe is not speaking to the other half and the list of Princes that any Princess may consider is lamentably short. "The war has left so many painful memories that generations will pass before there can be matrimonial alliances between members of dethroned dynasties and sovereign houses of the Entente.  German and Austrian Princes and Princesses realize that they owe the loss of their crowns and their fortunes to the victorious powers in the international conflagration.  Nor can the scions of their foes forget the enmity of Germany and of Austria-Hungary."

Early in the decade, four of the most important weddings took place in the Balkans. Queen Marie of Roumania, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria, and by birth a British princess, was one of the most indefatigable matchmakers of the period. In 1921, she managed to marry off two of her children, Crown Prince Carol and Princess Elisabeth, to the eldest children of her first cousin, Queen Sophie of the Hellenes. Elisabeth was the first to marry, in February 1921, King George II of the Hellenes. One month later, Carol married George's sister, Princess Helen. Queen Marie scored another Balkan success a year later when she arranged the marriage of her daughter, Marie, to King Alexander I of Serbia. None of the marriages was successful. Carol and Helen's marriage ended in divorce in 1928; seven years later, Elisabeth and George were also divorced. In 1934, Marie was widowed when her husband was assassinated while on a state visit to Marseilles.

The year before Princess Olga married Prince Paul, she had accepted the proposal of Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark.  This engagement, engineered by their mothers, ended after only a few months. It was said that the Crown Prince's drinking problem was the main reason why "dignified and stately" Olga ended the relationship. Although Queen Mary had considered Olga as a possible wife for the Prince of Wales, and arrangements were made for the Greek princess to meet the heir to the throne.  At a ball hosted by Princess Nicholas' cousin, Lady Zia Wernher, Olga made an impression, not on the Prince of Wales, but on Prince Paul of Yugoslavia.  A first cousin of King Alexander I, Paul was handsome, Oxford-educated, and an art enthusiast.  He was also good friends with the Duke and Duchess of York. Paul pursued Olga throughout the summer, and she accepted his proposal during a visit to the cinema in July 1923.  The Duke of York served as the best man; and the day before the wedding, he also acted as one of the godparents to the infant Crown Prince Peter of Yugoslavia, the first child of King Alexander and Queen Marie.

Three months earlier, Princess Jolanda of Italy married Count Giorgio Calvi di Bergolo. Although her parents had accepted Jolanda's choice of a husband -- it was unusual for an Italian princess to marry outside the royal caste --her younger sisters were expected to make far grander marriages.   It had been suggested that when the King and Queen of the Belgians had made a state visit to Italy, Jolanda would become engaged to their elder son, Prince Leopold. "But the stay of the royal party at Rome was brought to a close without the announcement."

The two royal families were determined to arrange a marriage between their children; and not long before Jolanda's marriage, rumors about Mafalda's future marriage began to circulate throughout Europe. Mafalda, only 20, was going to marry -- surprise! --  Crown Prince Leopold of the Belgians; and their engagement, according to a report in The New York Times would be "announced immediately after the marriage of Princess Jolanda, according to a report current in court circles here."

The day after Jolanda's wedding, the Associated Press published a report by the Agenzia D'Italia, that Mafalda's betrothal to the Duke of Brabant "will be announced shortly." Even though no announcement was made at the predicted time, rumors of an Italian-Belgian engagement persisted through the summer of 1923. "Such an alliance would have united two Catholic families, war-time allies, and politically, it was said, would have strengthened the position of each dynasty." Not only was Mafalda expected to marry the heir to the Belgian throne, her younger brother, Crown Prince Umberto, was being linked with Leopold's sister, Marie-José. That September, the situation reached an apex when the King and Queen of the Belgians joined the Italian royal family at their summer home at Racconigi. An announcement about the two engagements was expected to be made on September 15, Umberto's 19th birthday. But just a day earlier, Mafalda and her younger sister, Giovanna, were both stricken with typhoid fever. Umberto was quickly sent on a cruise to avoid contagion, and the Belgian royal family hurried back to Brussels. The two young princesses were eventually restored to health, but the marriages were put on hold.

Princess Mafalda was, however, in love, not with the Belgian Crown Prince, but with another man, an art student she had met at the villa of a well-known painter. She confided her secret to Giovanna, who said: "I would rather die and would die if I were forced to marry somebody I did not love.  You do not love Leopold. Why should you marry him? I would not." British writer F. Cunliffe-Owen wrote: "superstitious people in Italy have come to the conclusion that no matrimonial alliance between their reigning family and the royal house of Belgium will ever take place, and that since Providence has manifestly some other projects for the children of their King and Queen, it would be unwise to run counter to the decrees of Heaven, where all really successful marriages are made." The Italian princess would also be linked with the Prince of Wales when she and her parents visited London in 1924.  According to The New York Times, "the British heir on that occasion accompanied her in public and was said to have been very attentive to her."

The Prince of Wales was probably just being nice to Mafalda.  Unless the Italian princess was willing to relinquish her Catholic faith, the prince would not be able to marry her. As far back as 1920, Prime Minister Lloyd George had told the king that "the country would not tolerate the Prince marrying a foreign princess."    Although the king and queen would support marriage with a British aristocrat, Queen Mary would have preferred a royal princess as her eldest son's consort. Lloyd George, concerned enough about a possible marriage with the Italian princess,  sought out the views of prominent British Roman Catholics. If the Princess renounced her religion, he was told that there would be no Roman Catholics at the British court. But if she were to marry the Prince of Wales, the princess would have to convert.  During a visit to Tokyo, David settled the question of this marriage when he made it clear to British Embassy personnel that he was not going to marry Princess Mafalda.The American media was largely responsible for repeating the various rumors of alleged engagements and marriages. Indeed, during the late 1920s, the Prince of Wales was "married off to at least nine continental princesses, least probably Princess Eudoxia of Bulgaria, thirty-nine years old, hefty and a musician." The Prince of Wales was, however, happily attached to a married woman, Freda Dudley Ward, and was showing no inclination to marry.The art student who had won Mafalda's heart was Prince Philipp of Hesse, the eldest son of the Landgrave Friedrich Karl of Hesse and Princess Margarete of Prussia. He was also very rich; he was heir to several castles, and he was Protestant and German. Although they would have preferred marriage with the Catholic Leopold of Belgium, Mafalda's parents were not opposed to her marrying Prince Philipp.  But Mafalda was told she would have to wait two years before a marriage could take place, as the political and religious hurdles had to be overcome.  The couple was married on September 23, 1925.  "Mafalda and Philip Wed in Royal Pomp; Gay Crowds Cheer," blared the headline on the front page of The New York Times.  During the summer, special ecclesiastical arrangements had been made for the marriage. Mafalda would remain Roman Catholic, and "the ceremony [will be] accompanied by all the Catholic religious rites, except a special mass, for which no special dispensation can be made."

Not long after Mafalda's wedding, Princess Giovanna became the subject of the media's attention. And, once again, the talk turned to a Belgian marriage. The New York Times reported that "it was later stated, but not confirmed, that Giovanna was the one selected for the Belgian Crown Prince."

Crown Prince Leopold had other ideas about his future queen. The 24-year-old Prince's engagement to Princess Astrid of Sweden, 20, was announced in September 1926. His father, King Albert I, said in an interview, "The Queen and myself expect the marriage to be a happy event for both dynasties and peoples. The Princess will soon feel fully at home in Belgium. Their marriage is entirely one of inclination. The Prince and Princess met several times before her visit last month to Clergnon Castle. They are acting in complete liberty and independence without interference from anybody." Leopold turned 25 the day before the civil ceremony in Sweden, which took place on November 4th. A week later, Leopold and Astrid were married in a Roman Catholic ceremony in Brussels. As Astrid was Lutheran, a special ecclesiastical dispensation was granted to permit the marriage in a Roman Catholic Church. The ceremony was Catholic but without the nuptial mass.

"All Belgium has given its heart to the young Princess, whose destiny but a few months ago appeared far removed from her entrance into one of the reigning royal houses of Europe. The fact that the marriage was one of love, and not for political reasons, had struck a responsive note in the hearts of the people and their enthusiasm could not be restrained." More than 200,000 Belgians lined the streets to catch a glimpse of the new Duchess of Brabant.

Not long afterward, the papers were reporting yet another engagement, this time between Leopold's sister, Marie-José, and Crown Prince Olav of Norway. "Court officials deny that marriage is contemplated between the son of King Haakon and King Albert's daughter, but they denied that Prince Leopold and Princess Astrid were to be married until a few weeks ago.  Therefore aristocratic circles are confident that they will get invitations to a second wedding next spring."

But an Italian-Norwegian wedding was unlikely.  In March 1929, Crown Prince Olav married his first cousin, Princess Martha of Sweden, two years his senior, in a Lutheran ceremony in Oslo.  The guests included the Duke and Duchess of York, as the Duke was the Crown Prince's best man.  The groom's mother, Queen Maud, came into the church "wearing a cloak of silver tissue with a tiara of diamonds gleaming from her hair."   Meanwhile, back in Rome, the Italian court was still considering Marie-José as a bride for Crown Prince Umberto. The New York Times described this possible match as "uncertain," and complicated "by the outspoken admiration of Umberto for the daughters of the Duke of Guise, the French pretender, who attended Mafalda's wedding with bobbed hair and short skirts, their modernity in thought and manner appearing complete, not excessive."

[princessvictoriamelita]

Prince Umberto and Princess Marie-José of Piedmont in bathing suite, 1933.

[theroyalhistory]

Australian Women World, December 17, 1934

[gemville]

An 1870 Gold, Silver, Burma Ruby (8.48 Carats) and Diamond Ring Gifted To Belgian Princess Marie José From The Prince Of Piedmont (Umberto II) When They Were Married In 1930