Princess Palace: 2026

09 March 2026

The Angel of Prussia

By Johann Friedrich August Tischbein
via Wikimedia Commons

There he was. The "Monster". The man who had bedeviled her country. The man who had forced her family from their home. Their five young children ripped from everything they had ever known. She was not here by choice. She would rather have never seen this bogeyman in person. And, yet, she believed she might make a difference, that she might save Prussia.

Beautiful Queen Louise of Prussia was 31 years old on the hot July day in 1807 when she stood face-to-face with Napoleon. The early months of her ninth pregnancy were hidden beneath the high waist of her fashionable gown, but no doubt the heat of that stormy summer and her pregnancy brought an additional glow to her already pretty face. Her beauty combined with her intelligence and charm were meant to distract the man who had crowned himself an emperor from dismantling Prussia after he destroyed the Prussian forces with surprisingly little effort.

Born on March 10, 1776, Louise of Mecklenburg-Stelitz had encouraged her husband, King Frederick William III of Prussia to declare war on the power-hungry French emperor, but he had hesitated. Frederick William believed that peace was the most important thing for people. As Napoleon waged war across Europe, Frederick William sought to stay out of the fight. Later, he wondered whether to fight with France or against. By the time he finally acted, the French had grown far too strong. Almost immediately, the Prussian army was destroyed at the Battle of Jena-Auerstädt. Napoleon quickly occupied Berlin and the royal family hastily fled into Russian territory placing themselves under the good graces of Emperor Alexander I, who also felt the sting of France that year.

By summer, Napoleon summoned Frederick William to discuss terms at Tilsit, well within Russian territory. Frderick William, who loved his bright and beautiful wife, thought she could persuade Napoleon to show mercy to Prussia. And so, Louise made her case and perhaps flirted a bit with 37-year-old emperor. He wrote to his wife Josephine that she was a bit coquettish. However, he was impressed, as he later admiringly called her the "only real man in Prussia" and "my beautiful enemy." She calmly asked him to be lenient with her country and to give the monarchy a chance to rebuild so that her children would have a nation to inherit with pride.

Charmed though he was by this unexpected diplomacy, Napoleon was implacable. He showed no kindness to the Prussians, who could have fought on his side instead of against him. He stripped away all territory west of the Elbe River and Prussia's vast Polish territories, demanded financial indemnity, and forced the Prussians to pay the costs of the occupying French forces.

Louise and Frederick William with five of their children

by Heinrich Anton Dähling via Wikimedia Commons

Although she had failed in her mission, it was a moment of triumph for Louise. Already admired by the nation for her modesty and virtue, her bravery placed her among the pantheon of beloved royal women.

Unfortunately, her earthly glory was shortlived. Just three years after that fateful meeting, Louise died at the age of 34. No doubt worn by the stresses of war and defeat, the exhaustion of 10 pregnancies in 15 years, and the deaths of three of her children, Louise died in Frederick William's arms after an illness.

In memory of the woman he had decided to marry on first sight when she was just 17 and he was shy young man of 23, Frederick William created the Order of Louise, a chivalric honor reserved for women. Until the end of the Prussian (and then German) monarchy it was presented to female members of the family and foreign consorts and Queens Regnant.

Louise's legacy stretches far beyond the Order of Louise. Two of her sons became Kings of Prussia, with the second later becoming the first Emperor of Germany, for Prussia had been restored to power and glory after Napoleon's eventual defeat. Her daughter Charlotte married Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, changing her name to Alexandra. More broadly, she remains deeply revered in Germany and beyond. General Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher captured the national grief when he declared upon her death, "our angel is in heaven." Her admirers have continued to praise her over the centuries. Even seventy years after her death, a statue of her was raised in Berlin. In 1923, that admiration grew to cultlike status as the Queen Louise League, with an attached children's branch called Children Circle, was created to promote German nationalism. The league was initially welcomed by the growing Nazi movement but was eventually disbanded with its members integrated into organizations the Nazi party could more directly control.

Over the last century, Louise's story has been retold in many books and films, whether historical or fictional in nature. Today, she is compared to Princess Diana. Not only did she die tragically young like Diana, but one of Louise's first public acts confirmed her as a princess of the people. As a 17-year-old bride arriving to the joyful acclaim of the crowds in Berlin, Louise was noticed to bend down and pick up a child for a kiss. "All hearts go out to meet her!" it was declared.

Thoughout her life and well beyond, only Napoleon's heart has been immune to Louise.

More About Louise
Consort Profile: Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on The Mad Monarchist
Death of the Most Famous Prussian Monarch on Deutschland Museum
Louise and Napoleon on Heritage History
Louise of Prussia on Heritage History
Louise zu Mecklemburg-Stelitz on Napoleon & Empire
Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Patriotic Queen of Prussia on Quello che Piace a Valeria
Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia on Unofficial Royalty
Luise, regierende Königin von Preussen (dedicated website)
Napoleon Bonaparte and Queen Louise of Prussia on Arrayed in Gold
Napoleon's Beautiful Enemy on Arrayed in Gold
The Life and Death of Louise of Prussia Part One on History of Royal Women
The Life and Death of Louise of Prussia Part Two on History of Royal Women
Queen Louise on Her-storic Royal Dress
Queen Louise on History's Women
Queen Louise on Napoleon.org
Queen Louise of Prussia on Louisa's Place
Queen Louise of Prussia, Part 1 - Mother of Her Nation on Napoleonic Impressions
Queen Louise of Prussia, Part 2- Standing Up to Napoleon on Napoleonic Impressions

06 March 2026

Provocative Portraits

As it turns out, 19th Century men also liked sexy portraits of their wives. Thankfully, renowned royal portraitist Franz Xaver Winterhalter was around to capture that perfect, provocative image before photographs and selfies pushed portrait painting into a different realm. Winterhalter usually painted his royal ladies in grand style, looming large and gorgeous amidst a dramatic setting. For these two paintings, however, he evoked a more intimate image.

Still a newlywed in 1843, Queen Victoria commissioned this portrait for her beloved husband Prince Albert's 24th birthday present. The surprise was greatly appreciated, as Victoria recorded in her journal, "he thought it so like, & so beautifully painted. I felt so happy & proud to have found something that gave him so much pleasure." The painting hung in his writing room at Windsor so that he could look at as he worked. It was also recreated in miniature so that he could carry it with him.

Two decades later, Winterhalter painted a similarly personal portrait of 25-year-old Empress Elisabeth of Austria. Like Victoria and Albert, she and Emperor Franz Joseph were a love match. It is not surprising then that he also kept this portrait in his study so he could look at her when he worked. He had a great need to be able to see her image because, while Victoria and Albert were nearly inseparable, Elisabeth was always restless and frequently traveled leaving her husband at home alone. His loneliness for her was permanently imposed when she was assassinated by an anarchist in 1898. He outlived her by 18 years, but had this portrait to help him remember his beautiful and beloved wife.

02 March 2026

A Princess Who Made Her Own Choices

via Wikimedia Commons

The violet-eyed Princess could not take her eyes off of the handsome young Grand Duke with the piercing light blue eyes. Victoria Melita had always been high-spirited and a bit of a tomboy, but she was on her best behavior on this trip to her mother's homeland for her aunt's funeral in St. Petersburg, Russia. Not quite 15 years old, she was trying to be on her best behavior, but something abour her cousin Kirill Vladimirovich made her heart flutter. He could hardly be more handsome and how dashing--he was, after all, preparing to enter the Imperial Navy the following year, after his 15th birthday.

In that, he was like her beloved father, Prince Alfred Duke of Edinburgh, second son of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. A sailor prince whose naval career had caused his second daughter to be born on the Mediterranean island of Malta (and inspired her name, Victoria Melita), Alfred had since been landlocked as the heir to his father's patrimony in Saxe-Coburg, deep in the heart of Germany. Victoria Melita, affectionately called Ducky in the family, was a challenge to her mother, the imperious Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna, who had been delighted to remove her daughter's from the English influences of their father's homeland when they moved to Germany. Now, she was focused on finding sons-in-law that would put her daughter's in positions of power and keep them out of England.

However, a match with Kirill was impossible, no matter how dreamy he might be. He was too far from a throne. More importantly, the Russian Orthodox Church forbade marriage between first cousins. Any thought of Kirill had to be wiped from Ducky's mind. In this, Maria had an unlikely ally: her mother-in-law, Queen Victoria, who would adamantly (but sometimes unsuccessfully) oppose Russian marriages for any of her granddaughters.

And so, Ducky was dragged back to Germany while Kirill went off to the Navy while Mama and Grandmama searched for a more suitable suitor. In fact, Victoria has already started her planning just weeks earlier when Ducky visited her at a her Scottish home in Balmoral at just the same time as another grandchild, Prince Ernest Louis, heir to the Grand Duke of Hesse, also in Germany. He was the only surviving son of Victoria's second daughter Princess Alice. As it turns out, Ducky's English and German relatives had no qualms about marriage among first cousins. Victoria and Albert had been first cousins themselves. The fact that Victoria Melita and Ernest Louis were born on the 25th of November must be a sign of their compatibility. Never mind that neither was very keen on the other. Nevertheless, the two dutiful grandchildren were persuaded to stand together before an altar in 1894. She was 17. He was 25 and had by then succeeded his father as Grand Duke of Hesse-Darmstadt and by Rhine.

Victoria Melita and Elisabeth

by C Ruf via Wikimedia Commons

The newlyweds were immediately fruitful with their daughter, Elisabeth, born just 11 months after the wedding. The couple also engaged in a boisterous social life throwing parties from which anyone over 30 was banned. They filled their circle with progressives and artists and insisted on informality. As a couple, however, they had no spark. Ducky found Ernie cold and undemonstrative. The only thing she enjoyed less about life in Hesse than her husband was probably being his consort. The lively teenager did not feel at all compelled to take up the duties of leading a nation, which often included spending time with people who were far less jolly than she. Ernie was impatient with her attitude. She responded with shouting, throwing both tantrums and tea trays. As with other unhappy royal brides, she escaped outside to ride her beloved horse and to travel internationally while Ernie preferred staying home with their daughter.

When Ducky's Uncle Tsar Alexander III died, the pair traveled together to Russia for the coronation of her cousin Tsar Nicholas II and Ernie's sister, the new Empress Alexandra. Ernie described the coronation as "the most splendid ceremony I have ever seen." Ducky, however, found something else even more splendid: Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich, whose time in the Navy had no doubt added more charm and maturity. Ducky and Cousin Kirill rekindled their childhood flirtation before reality dragged them back into their separate lives.

Ducky escaped Hesse the next year for an extended visit to her older sister, Missy, better known then as Crown Princess Marie of Romania. When she returned north, she allegedly discovered Ernie bedding a male servant. The couple tried to keep up the pretence of their marriage, especially since Grandmama Victoria strictly forbade a divorce, but neither was happy. Ernie would later describe their life together as misery with both staying together mostly for their daughter's sake. Some joy returned when Ducky fell pregnant but a devastating stillbirth in May 1900 sent both careening once again into their separate, unhappy corners. Queen Victoria's death in January 1901 relieved a lot of the opposition to divorc and the two officially split later that year.

Ducky went to live with her mother, splitting their time between Coburg and the French Riviera. Five-year-old Elisabeth spent half the year with Ducky and half with Ernie, but she was often unhappy with her mother, who had never had as strong of a bond with her as Ernie had. In October 1903, Ernie took eight-year-old Elisabeth with him to visit his sister Empress Alexandra of Russia and her family at an imperial hunting lodge. While the grown-ups spent the days hunting, Elisabeth and her cousins, the young Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, Maria and Anastasia played games and roamed through the forest. Perhaps after drinking from a contaminated water source in the forest, Elisabeth fell ill with typhoid fever. By the time a telegraph reached Ducky, the little girl was already dead. At the white funeral Ernie arranged for their daughter, Ducky removed her Hessian medallion and placed it on the tiny coffin, making her last break with the marriage that had made her so unhappy.

In the meantime, Kirill's interest in Ducky was growing, to his family's horror. Not only were they scandalized by her divorce, they were still deadset against marriage among cousins. His desperate mother even encouraged him to assuage his longing by taking Ducky as a mistress, but not as a wife. While serving in the Russo-Japanese war, Kirill's ship hit a mine. He suffered debilitating burns and injuries and was sent home. His near death experience led him to make a momentous decision. Both he and Ducky had tried living by others' rules, now they would live by their own.

Kirill and Victoria

by Eduoard Uhlenhuh via Wikimedia Commons

In October 1905, Victoria Melita married Kirill in a simple Orthodox ceremony in her mother's home in Coburg. The marriage was almost more shocking than her divorce had been. Not only had she not sought permission from her uncle King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, as required for a royal princess, but Kirill had not obtained permission from his cousin the Tsar. As the fourth in line for the Russian throne, this decision was monumental. Nicholas II stripped him of his titles and military rank and forbade the newlywed to return to Russia. They lived between Coburg, where their daugther Maria was born in 1907, and Paris, where daughter Kira was born in 1909.

By this time, the Tsar relented in his anger and restored Kirill's titles and rank. Ducky was created Grand Duchess Victoria Feodorovna and launched herself as a social hostess between their homes in St. Petersburg and Tsarskoe Selo. She continued her love of riding and indulged in painting, gardening and home decoration while Kirill took up auto racing. She still enjoyed traveling abroad, especially during the bleak Russian winters opting to spend time with her mother in France or her sister Marie in Romania, far to the south.

The family was summering on their yacht in the Baltic in 1914, stopping off in Riga for one of Kirill's auto races, when the First World War broke out. While Kirill served in Poland on the staff of the commander of the Russian Army, Victoria took on work as a nurse, as so many royal women did. Perhaps drawing on her husband's love of automobiles, she even created a motorized ambuland unit. She sometimes traveled to Romania to assist her sister with war victims. In Russia, however, familial tensions were rising due to the influence of Gregory Rasputin over Nicholas and Alexandra, who believed he could relieve the hemophiliac suffering of their son Tsarevich Alexei. After Imperial relatives murdered Rasputin, the couple joined in requests for leniency for the perpetrators, but Nicholas was unyielding.

The pair remained publicly loyal to the Tsar but they were privately very worried about the future of the monarchy and the dynasty. When the February Revolution of 1917 led to the Tsar's abdication, Kirill and Victoria Melita were secretly siding with the mob that surrounded their palace in St. Petersburg. Kirill and his naval unit swore allegiance to the new Provisional Government. He hoped to preserve the monarchy but many relatives viewed this act as treason. Kirill was forced to resign while Ducky wrote to her sister Marie that they were losing everything.

Now in the early stages of her final pregnancy, 40-year-old Ducky knew they had to escape Russia. The Provisional Government agreed to let them go to Finland, which was a quasi-independent Russian territory at the time. In August 1917, their son Vladimir Kirillovich was born in Finland, but they were rapidly running out of sustenance. By the following summer, when their Russian relatives were being massacred back home, they had been reduced to begging for baby food from family outside of the former empire. Ducky had pleaded with her cousin, now King George V, to send more help for the Romanovs and the Provisional Government, but he had refused. That was a blow that would not heal.

In 1919, after the war, the desperate family went first to her mother in Germany and then on to Switzerland. Later, she inherited her mother's homes in France and Coburg, where Ducky showed an interest in the emerging Nazi party due to its strong stance against the Bolsheviks.

After nursing Kirill through a breakdown in 1923, the couple focused on their dynastic aspirations. While many refused to believe rumors about the murders of the Tsar and his immediate family, Kirill felt it was important to accept them. Once Nicholas' only brother was declared legally dead, he decided to act. Much to the dismay of many Romanovs, he made himself the head of the family and "Guardian of the Throne" and raised his children from Princesses and Prince to Grand Duchesses and Grand Duke. When Germany began strenghthening its relationship with Soviet Russia, the family moved permanently to France.

There, they lived among many British ex-pats and maintained their imperial pretenses. They enjoyed throwing parties and socializing, but their romance came to a shuddering halt when Ducky discovered that his sojourns to Paris were for adultery. She did not seek a divorce as she had with her first husband, but she was devastated. When she suffered a stroke at the age of 59, it was her sister Marie she was glad to see, not her husband. She died surrounded by family and was buried at Coburg. After the fall of the USSR, she and Kirill, who died just two years after her, were among the many Romanovs to be re-interred in St. Petersburg, due in large part to the efforts of their granddaughter, Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, who today styles herself as Head of the Imperial House of Romanov.

14 February 2026

A Powerful Young Woman Who Never Wore a Crown

Ingeborg's seal

via Wikimedia Commons

Scandinavia was a fairly brutal place in the Middle Ages. The daughter of King Håkan V of Norway would experience this firsthand. Unlike most women of the era, she would hold significant power. However, she would endure terrible deaths of the men in her life.

Ingeborg Håkansdotter was born in 1301 and her fate was determined by the time she was a year old: she was engaged to marry 19-year-old Erik Magnusson, younger brother of King Birger of Sweden. When the brothers had a falling out, the engagement was broken. When they made up, it was reinstated. (Historically, multiple sons guaranteed a king's lineage would hold the throne. However, multiple brothers often meant a king would spend his life battling against the spare heirs.)

In 1312, Erik and his younger brother Valdemar traveled to Norway for a double wedding. Erik married 11-year-old Ingeborg Håkansdotter while Valdemar married her 15-year-old cousin Ingeborg Eriksdotter. The two cousins returned to Sweden with their husbands and began a journey into power as allies. Both gave birth to sons in 1316. Eriksdotter's son would die young, but Håkansdotter's son Magnus would become the primary focus for both women in future years. Ingeborg also had a daughter, Euphemia, in 1317.

Despite their young ages and frail female status, both Ingeborgs were empowered by their husbands to rule their territories were while the two brothers were away once again fighting against their older brother King Birger. A reconciliation was proposed with the king invited Erik and Valdemar to join him for a feast. Birger, however, had other ideas. He captured his troublesome siblings and imprisoned them. Within weeks, both were dead, probably from starvation.

As Birger and his son Magnus Birgersson battled against the ensuing rebellion from the murdered brothers, their young widows consolidated their power. Birger was defeated by an army led by Canute Porse and in July 1319, the Swedish Council elected three-year-old Magnus Eriksson King of Sweden to prevent Birger and his son from regaining power. Both men died soon thereafter. The death of King Håkan of Norway the following month brought another crown to the little King Magnus. Ingeborg, at the age of 18, was the mother of the King of Sweden and Norway. She was named Regent for her son in Norway and she and her cousin Ingeborg sat on his council in Sweden.

Canute Porse became one of Ingeborg's chief advisors and her lover, much to the disgust of others on the council. Canute, after all, was a Dane! A foreigner whispering advice into the ear of the King's mother was not acceptable. During this time, Ingeborg also had a lot of power in her own fiefdoms and she sought to extend her territories into neighboring Scania, which was then part of Denmark. She betrothed her daughter Euphemia to Albert II Duke of Mecklenburg in return for his military support against Scania. When Canute Porse and Ingeborg invaded Scania with authorization only from Norway's council but not from Sweden's and then Mecklenburg withdraw his support, Ingeborg's days as a political leader were rapidly drawing to a close. Many of her decisions were seen as arbitrary, poorly advised by foreigners (including Canute), or too self-interested (as if powerful men of the era were not self-interested...) Norway and Sweden removed her and Canute from power but the couple stayed together and even married. They had two sons before Canute died leaving Ingeborg a widow once again at the age of 29. She continued to hold control over vast amounts of territory and strategic fortresses.

The following year, 15-year-old King Magnus was declared of age to rule on his own. Ingeborg no longer attempted to exert regal power, but she continued to support her son and was sometimes present on state occasions. In 1350, she lost both of her sons by Canute to the plague. They were young adults but left no heirs. Her grandchildren by Magnus both became kings, splitting the personal union of Sweden and Norway with Sweden going to the oldest Eric XII and Norway to the youngest, Håkan VI. One of her grandchildren by Euphemia would also wear the Swedish crown as King Albert.

Ingeborg died in 1361.

More About Ingeborg
All These Ladies Named Ingeborg on The Freelance History Writer
Ingeborg Håkansdotter on Svenskt Kvinnobiografiskt Lexicon
Ingeborg Haakansdotter on Meet the Middle Ages
Queens Regent - Ingeborg of Norway on The History of Royal Women

28 January 2026

Farewell Princess Desiree of Sweden

By SCANPIX via Wikimedia Commons

The 1950s was a heyday for glamorous princesses. Like never before, these beautiful young women were constantly in the public eye, whether representing their monarchs or entertaining with their friends. The most famous was, of course, Queen Elizabeth II's younger sister Princess Margaret along with their younger cousin Princess Alexandra, but Europe was bursting with others. The number of royal princesses born in the 1930s and 1940s outnumbered their royal brothers. Greece boasted two princesses to one prince with the same ratio in Norway. Belgium had an even split: three princesses and three princes. Denmark had three princesses and no princes while The Netherlands had only princesses--four of them!

Sweden also had four princesses and they had one baby brother. Known collectively as the "Haga Princesses" after their childhood home, Princesses Margaretha, Birgitta, Desiree and Christina grew up in a close and loving family. Legally, as women, they were barred from inheriting the throne. So, when the third girl, Desiree, was born on June 2, 1938, there was likely some disappointment that she was not a boy at last. Nevertheless, Desiree, like her sisters became very popular in Sweden and beyond.

The birth of baby brother Carl Gustav in 1946 relieved the looming succession crisis and gave his big sisters an object of adoration. The family's joy, however, was eclipsed just eight months later when their father was killed in a plane crash while returning from a personal visit to The Netherlands. Desiree was eight years old. Their mother, the former Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg, was left to bring up the five children on her own. The princesses were mostly educated at home in small classes with girls of the same age before enrolling at Franska Skolan in Stockholm where classes were taught in French.

Princess Desiree (far right) with her siblings and parents

By Ateljé Jaeger via Wikimedia Commons

Desiree showed an early love of the arts, taking both ballet and piano lessons. She particularly enjoyed drawing and needlework, and later enrolled in a degree program in textiles at Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts, and Design to learn more about embroidery and weaving. Like most Scandinavians, she enjoyed outdoor sports, excelling at skiing. She studied French in Switzerland. But, Desiree's love for children guided her career choices. After completing a course in infant care, she worked as a preschool teacher and completed internships at a playhouse, a children's hospital and a school for blind children. She was a natural with the youngsters who liked her very much.

At the same time, Desiree had become one of the popular princesses of the 1950s. Her sisters' and her every move was documented in the press. A fact that enabled their grandfather, King Gustav VI Adolf, to expand Swedish interests around the world. Once, while on a goodwill visit to the United States, Desiree drew particular interest because of her attention to a child. When a young four-year-old girl asked the princess for a kiss, Desiree blushingly obliged.

Kisses were likely on Desiree's mind back home, too. While public rumors circulated that Desiree might marry Constantine of Greece (who actually later married her first cousin, Princess Anne Marie of Denmark), Desiree had found love closer to home. She has fallen for Greger "Teddy" Lewenhaupt, an older brother of one her brother's friends. The two were perhaps moving toward an engagement when Teddy was killed in a skiing accident in 1960. The 22-year-old princess had lost someone she loved to tragedy once again.

Her heartbreak began to heal in the next year when she caught the attention of her friend Irma's brother, Niclas Silfverschiold. Four years older than Desiree, Niclas had already completed studies at an agricultural college, served as an officer in the Swedish Army and had taken over the headship of his family and their properties upon his father's death in 1955. He held both Koberg Castle in Vastergotland and Gasevadholm Castle in Halland. The couple were married June 5, 1964 in a royal wedding at Storkyrkan in Stockholm. Desiree wore the same wedding dress her older sister, Brigitta, had worn three years earlier. She also wore the same tiara, the Swedish Cameo Tiara, that has come to be known as the traditional bridal tiara in the Swedish Royal Family. Its most recent wedding appearance was on Desiree's niece and goddaughter, Crown Princess Victoria, at her own wedding in 2010.

Because Niclas was merely a baron and not a prince, Desiree surrendered her royal status to marry him. She was however granted the courtesy of being called "Princess Desiree, Baroness Silfverschiold" for the rest of her life. After their marriage, the couple focused on family life and running the Silfverschiold estates. Desiree rarely took on public duties for the next six decades, although she did appear at large family events and sometimes attended Nobel Prize events, dressed in gala attire with other members of her family.

Embed from Getty Images

Desiree's focus, however, was on motherhood. She and Niclas welcome three children in quick succession. Carl was born nine months after their wedding; Christina 18 months after him; and Helene 24 months after her. While the public might still have thrilled at any news or sightings of her, Desiree was very clear on what was important to her. Once, when her grandfather was still king, he asked what jewelry she would like for her birthday. Desiree requested a tractor instead because "Niclas needs it for farming."

Princess Desiree & Baron Niclas Silfverschiold

By Frankie Fouganthin via Wikimedia Commons

When Sweden finally introduced a law to allow women to inherit the throne, Desiree and her sisters were still barred because the succession was limited only to the descendants of their brother, King Carl XVI Gustaf. Desiree likely was unbothered by this decision. As she said in an interview in 2008, "I now see myself only as a mother and wife and do not attach much importantce to my princessship." She went on to explain, "In principle, I think it is wrong to rely on origins and kinship."

Baron Niclas Silfverschiold passed away at age 82 in 2017. Princess Desiree died at home, surrounded by family, on January 21, 2026 at the age of 87. She is the second Haga Princess to pass; Princess Birgitta died in December 2024, also at the age of 87.

Princess Desiree is survived by her three children and five grandchildren.

Embed from Getty Images

More about Desiree
Heartbreak for the Swedish Royal Family on Tatler
The King of Sweden's Sister, Princess Desiree, Dies on Royal Central
Princess Desiree, Baroness Silfverschiold on The Royal Watcher
Princess Desiree Did Not Want to Rely on Her Royal Title on Sweden Herald
Princess Desiree Has Passed Away on Swedish Royal Court (Official Page)
Princess Desiree of Sweden, Baroness Silfverschiold on Unofficial Royalty
Princess Desiree of Sweden Dies at Age of 87 on Town & Country
Princess Desiree of Sweden, A Haga Princess on History of Royal Women
Princess Desiree of Sweden Has Died on The Royal Watcher

17 January 2026

The First Isabella of Denmark

Attributed to the workshop of Pieter van Coninxloo

via Wikimedia Commons

The ultimate power couple of the 16th Century are remembered as Philip the Handsome and Juana the Mad. Their union would unite the farflung European territories of the Holy Roman Empire with the growing global empire of Spain. When Philip died young and Juana's father declared her insane to gain control of her Kingdom of Castile, their children were torn between powerful grandfathers, King Ferdinand of Aragon and Emperor Maximilian. Born in 1501, their third child, Isabella of Austria, was about six years old. She and some of her five siblings were left to the care of their powerful aunt, Margaret of Austria, at her court as Governor of the Hapsburg Netherlands.

Like her mother and aunts on both sides (including the famous Catherine of Aragon), Isabella was very well-educated for a girl of her time. She learned both Greek and Latin and was tutored in the Bible. However, it was her family not her brains that attracted potential suitors. Both her wealth and her connections brought hopeful bridegrooms sniffing around Isabella and her sisters. Not surprisingly all four of them would marry kings. When Christian II of Denmark was selected for Isabella, it was hoped the marriage would push Imperial Hapsburg interest into the northern reaches of the continent, providing more access to trade in the Baltic Sea. At the age of 12, Isabella was married by proxy with her grandfather standing in for her groom. It would be more than a year before she would travel to Denmark along stormy seas. Like so many royal brides before and since, Isabella barely survived the turmoil of the voyage. The convoy of ships was scattered in the maelstrom and the one carrying Isabella nearly shipwrecked.

The barely 14-year-old bride was delighted to meet her 34-year-old husband and the retinue of more than 1,000 people he assembled to greet her. She had fallen in love with his portrait and was likely thrilled by his larger-than-life presence. He showed her the proper respect by having her crowned queen immediately. However, he refused to break from Dyveke Sigbritsdatter, the king's beloved mistress, despite pressure from Isabella's family. It wasn't until after Dyveke's unexpected death in 1517 that Isabella conceived her first child, a boy named John. After that, she delivered new children about every 12-18 months although twin boys born in 1519 both died as babies and her last child was stillborn.

Christian and Isabella, depicted on the altarpiece at Elsinore

from Wikimedia Commons

Her husband's rule over the Kalmar Union (a personal alliance of Denmark, Sweden and Norway under one monarch) was turbulent. He was at almost constant war with Sweden. At one point, he imprisoned several Swedish noblewomen. His determination to starve them to death was halted only by the please for his good wife Isabella, or so the story goes.

Nevertheless, Christian had consolidated his power enough to call a meeting in Stockholm with promises of amnesty for the Swedish leaders in November 1520. Over the course of three days, at least 100 people were executed in an event known as the Stockholm Bloodbath. The massacre earned Christian a new title, "Christain the Tyrant." By 1523, the Swedes finally overthrew their tyrant and ended the Kalmar Union by electing Gustavus Vasa as their new king.

Things were better but not by much in the joing kingdom of Denmark and Norway. His dictatorial ways won him few friends. When he decided that Dyveke had been poisoned, he had a man re-tried and executed after he had already been found innocent. When Christian then took action to decrease the power of the aristocracy, they rose against him in 1523 and sent him into exile offering Denmark and Norway to his uncle, the new King Frederik I. He had lost centuries of Scandinavian union and the crowns of three nations in just one year.

As for Isabella, also known as Elisabeth of Denmark, the people thought she was the opposite of terrible. Instead, they called her "the mother of the people." The new King Frederik even offered to let her stay behind and promised her the income of Dowager Queen. But, Isabella was loyal to her husband. He had, after all, left Denmark under her authority while he was in Sweden. She responded to Frederik, "Wherever my king is, there is my kingdom."

Isabella, Christian and their three surviving children traveled around Europe trying to raise money and support for Christian's restoration. They started in Germany, with Isabella appealing directly to her family. They even went to England where Isabella's aunt, Catherine of Aragon, was still married to King Henry VIII. They returned to Germany and then to the Low Countries, where Isabella had grown up.

Along the way, 24-year-old Isabella became ill. She never fully recovered as their journeys continued. By January of 1526, she declined, dying on January 19 near Ghent, where she was buried at St. Peter's Cathedral. In the late 19th century, she was moved to St. Canute's Cathedral in Odense. Her death caused some controversy as rumors spread that the granddaughter of "The Catholic Kings" of Spain had taken communion in both the Catholic and her husband's new Protestant rituals, an assertion that has not been fully proven.

Isabella's children were taken by her family to ensure they were raised Catholic. Her son John died several years later. Both of her daughters, Dorothea and Christina, grew up and married, but only Christina had children. Through her, Isabella is an ancestress to much of royal Europe including today's Princess Isabella of Denmark, who many believe was named for her.

In 1531, Christian, having returned to Catholicism, finally raised support from Isabella's brother, Emperor Charles V to invade Norway. He failed to capture Oslo and was captured himself. Despite promises of safe passage from his uncle King Frederik, he was imprisoned for 27 years in Denmark. His a gentile confinement, wherein he was allowed to entertain and to hunt to take part in other gentlemanly pursuits. When Frederik died, a small group launched a failed attempt to restore Christian. He remained safely in his captivity and lived until 1559. He had never remarried and was buried with Isabella. He returned with her to Denmark in 1883.

More About Isabella
The Habsburg Sisters Part 11: Isabella von Habsburg on Maidens and Manuscripts
Isabella, Archduchess of Austria, Infanta of Castile and Aragon on Unofficial Royalty
Isabella of Austria on The Creative Historian
Isabella of Austria: The Humble & Dutiful Princess Part One on The History of Royal Women
Isabella of Austria: A Queen with Historic Patience Part Two on The History of Royal Women
When Isabella of Austria Became Elisabeth of Denmark on Stolen Moments

15 January 2026

Farewell Princess Irene

By Javier Gaya via Wikimedia Commons

The Spanish and Greek royal families are mourning the loss of their beloved Aunt Pecu. Princess Irene of Greece died at the age of 83 in her apartment at Zarzuela Palace in Madrid. Irene was born May 11, 1942 as the youngest child of the future King Paul of the Hellenes and the former Princess Frederica of Hanover. She was descended from Queen Victoria, the Russian tsars, and the oldest monarchy in Europe, Denmark. However, she entered the world far from the palaces of her many royal relatives. She arrived on what would have been a fall day in South Africa, where her family had fled following the Nazi invasion of Greece during World War II.

When Irene was two, the family moved to Egypt for a while before returning across the Mediterranean to Greece before her father ascended the throne in 1947. Irene and her siblings, Sofia and Constantine, were a happy threesome. As they grew, their dynastically minded mother became concerned about their futures and wished to see them appropriately married to other royals. And so, it is said, Queen Frederica came up with the idea for the "Cruise of the Kings". Ostensibly created to promote tourism in the Greek isles, the matchmaking stunt brought together royals and their offspring from Greece, Austria, Bulgaria, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, Sweden and Yugoslavia. Since Irene was only 12 that summer, it is not surprising that she did not make a match, but her sister Sofia did meet her future husband, Prince Juan Carlos of Spain. It was that connection that would eventually lead Irene to build her life in Spain, too.

As Irene entered adulthood, her life entered a turbulent phase. Sofia married Juan Carlos, surrendered her right to the Greek throne and moved to Spain. Their father King Paul died leaving Irene as the Crown Princess and heiress to their brother, the new King Constantine II of Greece, until the following year when the first of Constantine's five children was born. The instability of the Greek government that was a repeating motif throughout the 20th Century reared its head in the new reign. The turbulence of a coup and a countercoup ended in a military junta and the royal family escaping by plane to Rome in late 1967.

The 25-year-old Princess Irene spent the next several years traveling with her mother. The pair even spent an extended period in India studying Hinduism. Rumors of royal romance had popped up on occasion. Would she marry a French prince? Or perhaps the Norwegian Crown Prince? Despite the media hype, and perhaps Queen Frederica's wishes, Irene never married anyone. She focused her life on her music as a classical pianist, even performing at London's Royal Festival Hall. She showered love on her nieces and nephews. She also dedicated herself to making the world a better place for people and animals. Since her name means "peace", it is fitting that she founded a charitable organization in 1986 called World in Harmony, with a goal of building support for people in need and safeguarding the welfare of animals.

With her mother's death in 1981, Irene made Spain her permanent home to be near her sister's family. The sisters remained close throughout their lives. Three years ago, they lost their brother and they traveled to Greece to bid him farewell. In Irene's final days, Sofia was at her side, even declining to attend an event where the popular former Queen of Spain was due to receive an award and another where she was to be presented with an honorary degree.

She will be laid to rest at the Royal Burial Grounds at Tatoi in Greece with her brother and their parents.

Irene was perhaps the modern equivalent of the "Renaissance man". She lived on three continents. She studied archeology in Germany, philosophy in India, and music wherever she was. She rescued animals and people. When the European Court of Human Rights awarded her more than half a million dollars of compensation for lost property in Greece, she donated it all to charity.

11 January 2026

The Next-to-Last Imperial Romanov

Princess Vera Constantinovna in 1926
via Wikimedia Commons

Her father's study was familiar and comfortable. Nine-year-old Princess Vera Constantinovna would often sit with him as he wrote his poems and his plays under the pen name, "K.R." -- his initials, Konstantine Romanov. As the youngest of his nine children, he welcomed her presence on this summer day, a quiet moment away from the war that had taken his son Prince Oleg from them the year before.

Suddenly, Vera became frightened, her beloved father was gasping for breath unable to speak. Panic-stricken, the little girl rushed to her mother, the former Princess Elizabeth of Saxe-Altenburg. Shoving aside heavy potted plants that blocked the nearest doorway, she ran from the room, but by the time Vera and Elizabeth returned, Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I and cousin of Tsar Nicholas II, was dead from a heart attack at the age of 64. His death in 1915 spared him the tragedy and struggles his family would face over the next several years.

As the youngest child and baby girl (her only other surviving sister, Princess Tatiana, was 16 years her senior), Princess Vera had lived a peaceful and sheltered life within the wealthy palaces of the Imperial Romanov Family. Just two years younger than Tsarevich Alexei and five years younger than Grand Duchess Anastasia, Vera was a frequent playmate of the Tsar's children. Their mother, Empress Alexandra was among her godparents, so she held a special place in the Imperial household.

Like her Imperial cousins, Vera's mother was also German so she often found herself visiting family in Germany. In 1914, she was in Altenburg with her nearest brother, Prince George, and their parents when World War I started and they found themselves behind enemy lines. The German Empress Augusta Victoria intervened to allow them to return to Russia, where Vera's oldest brothers were already joining the fight. By the end of year, Prince Oleg was wounded and died from his wounds. Among his last words, he expressed happiness that his death would be good for Russia, "It will encourage the troops to know that the Imperial House is not afraid to shed its blood." With their father's unexpected death the following year, Vera's life soon began a rapid descent into uncertainty.

As the failing Russian war effort devolved into revolution, young Vera found herself behind enemy lines in her own country. For the first couple of years, Elizabeth and her younger children survived by selling family jewelry and heirlooms. As the Provisional Government began to fail, all protections for the Romanovs were lost. Elizabeth, Vera and George moved from their palace into an apartment while four of her adult brothers were imprisoned. In July 1918, three of the brothers were among the Romanovs assassinated at Alapaevsk with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna, the sister of Empress Alexandra. (For Elizabeth Feodorovna's story, see my post The Last of the Romanovs Part 3.) For the rest of her long life, Princess Vera was tormented by nightmares that she, like her brothers, was standing with her back to a pit waiting to be shot.

The murder of her sons at last convinced Elizabeth that she had to flee Russia. With an invitation from her distant cousin, Queen Victoria of Sweden, Elizabeth, Vera, and George traveled by boat through Finland to Sweden. Before long, however, the family could no longer afford to live in Sweden and were allowed to relocate to Belgium. Unfortunately, the group struggled with illness. Once the war had ended, Elizabeth returned to her birthplace in Altenburg. Suffering from tuberculosis, Vera was not able to join her for some time. But, their reunion would be relatively short-lived: Elizabeth succumbed to cancer in 1927 at the age of 62. Vera was not yet 21 years old, living alone in a foreign country with her brother, George. When he decided to move to the United States in 1929, Vera was truly on her own as another World War loomed.

Vera was able to work as a translator at a prisoner of war camp but lost her job because the Nazis discovered that she was trying to help the prisoners. She remained in Germany throughout the war, but she faced even greater dangers as the Nazis began to lose and the Soviets started to invade Germany. A Romanov Princess would find no safety under the Soviet control of what soon be East Germany. Like thousands of other refugees, Princess Vera walked 150 miles to Hamburg in the Western zone. She once again put her language skills to work as a translator for a succession of different institutions over the next several years.

By 1951, she decided to leave Europe, moving to the United States, although her brother George had died there several years earlier. She worked in aid of Russian immigrants and refugees in New York for 20 years. For the next 30 years, she lived in peaceful retirement, dying on January 11, 2001 at the age of 94, reminding us that her playmates, Anastasia and Alexei, might well have survived into this century had they not been slaughtered as children in revolutionary Russia. Among the Romanovs who were able to escape Russia, Vera was the next-to-last to die. The last was her niece, Princess Catherine Ivanovna, who died at the age of 91 in 2007 in Uruguay.

Although she did not hold any particular awe for the glories of her family's imperial past (in fact, she thought it was odd that the Orthodox Church made saints of her "martyred" brothers and relatives), Princess Vera always treasured Russia in her heart, proclaiming, "I did not leave Russia. Russia left me."

For more about Princess Vera and her immediate family's escape from Russia, see my post The Last of the Romanovs Part 4.

03 January 2026

Royal Ladies of the United Kingdom

The British Royal Family is probably the best-known royal family in the world. Most people can probably name a couple of its members, some can name several, but very few know who everyone is. In the United Kingdom, the members of the "Royal House" or "Royal Family" are not as definitively established as in some other countries. Various Letters Patent have outlined who is entitled to royal titles: specifically, the children of the monarch, male-line grandchildren, and the children of the oldest son of the Prince of Wales. However, these guidelines are not always employed. So, we tend to include members of the King Charles' family on his mother's side who are first- or second-generation descendants of a monarch. In recent years, distinction has been drawn between "working royals" and "nonworking royals".

Here is a quick guide to the women who are members of the British Royal Family and what makes them "royal":

by Isaac Maynes of DCMS
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Majesty The Queen

Birth Name: Camilla Rosemary Shand
AKA: Camilla Parker Bowles
Birth: July 17, 1947 in London
Former Title: The Duchess of Cornwall (Prior to her husband's accession, she chose to use one of his lesser titles rather than be called The Princess of Wales, out of respect to the memory of his former wife, Diana)
Spouse: His Majesty The King (Charles III)
Former Spouse: Andrew Parker Bowles
Children: Tom Parker Bowles and Lara Lopes by her first husband. The Prince of Wales and The Duke of Sussex are her stepchildren.
Areas of Interest: health, literacy, victims of sexual abuse and domestic violence, animals (particularly rescue dogs), empowering women, and the arts
Royal Connection: Spouse of King Charles III
Working Royal? Yes

From UK Government
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness The Princess of Wales

Birth Name: Catherine Elizabeth Middleton
Birth: January 9, 1982 in Reading, England
Education: University of St Andrews (where she met her husband)
Former Career: fashion accessories buyer, web/print marketing
Other Titles: The Duchess of Cornwall, Duchess of Rothesay, Duchess of Cambridge, Countess of Chester, Countess of Strathearn, Baroness Carrickfergus
Spouse: His Royal Highness The Prince of Wales (Prince William)
Children: Prince George, Princess Charlotte, and Prince Louis of Wales
Areas of Interest: early childhood, mental health, sport and outdoors, visual arts
Royal Connection: Daughter-in-law of King Charles III
Working Royal? Yes

Her Royal Highness Princess Charlotte of Wales

Birth Name: Princess Charlotte Elizabeth Diana of Cambridge
Birth: May 2, 2015
Known Interests: piano, sport, Taylor Swift
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of King Charles III
Working Royal? No but maybe in adulthood

From UK Home Office

via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal

Birth Name: Princess Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise of Edinburgh
Birth: August 15, 1950 in London
Notable Achievements: Olympic equestrian athletes (1972 Calgary Games) and 1971 Gold Medalist in European Eventing Championships
Other Title: The Princess Anne
Current Spouse: Sir Timothy Laurence
Former Spouse: Mark Phillips
Children: Peter Phillips and Zara Phillips Tindall
Areas of Interest: International Olympic Committee, Save the Children, sport, sciences, people with disabilities
Royal Connection: Daughter of Queen Elizabeth II
Working Royal? Yes

by UKinUSA

via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Edinburgh

Birth Name: Sophie Helen Rhys-Jones
Birth: January 20, 1965 in Oxford, England
Education: West Kent College, Tonbridge
Career: Led her own firm, RJH Public Relations
Other Titles: Countess of Wessex, Countess of Forfar, Viscountess Severn
Spouse: His Royal Highness The Duke of Edinburgh (Prince Edward)
Children: Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor and James Earl of Wessex
Areas of Interest: children, preventable blindness, gender equality, people with disabilities, and agriculture
Royal Connection: Daughter-in-law of Queen Elizabeth II
Working Royal? Yes

by Richard Gough
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Gloucester

Birth Name: Birgitta Eva Van Deurs Henrikssen
Birth: June 20, 1946 in Odense, Denmark
Education: Diploma in Commercial and Economic Studies, Copenhagen
Former Career: Secretary, Royal Danish Embassy London
Other Titles: Countess of Ulster, Baroness Culloden
Spouse: His Royal Highness The Duke of Gloucester (Prince Richard)
Children: Alexander Earl of Ulster, The Lady Davina Windsor, The Lady Rose Gilman
Areas of Interest: lawn tennis, youth, Parkinson's research, the arts, St. Paul's Cathedral
Royal Connection: Granddaughter-in-law of King George V (father-in-law was The Prince Henry The Duke of Gloucester)
Working Royal? Yes

By LancasterII

via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness Princess Alexandra, The Honourable Lady Ogilvy

Birth Name: Princess Alexandra Helen Elizabeth Olga Christabel of Kent
Birth: December 25, 1926 in London, England
Career/Education: trained as a nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, London but did not practice
Late Spouse: Sir Angus Ogilvy, KVCO, PC
Children: James Ogilvy, Marina Ogilvy
Areas of Interest: mental health care, palliative care, international aid, medical research
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of King George V (through The Prince George, The Duke of Kent)
Working Royal? Yes

From the Office of the
Governor General New Zealand
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness The Duchess of Sussex

Birth Name: Rachel Meghan Markle (Meghan)
Birth: August 4, 1981 in Los Angeles
Education: Northwest University
Career: actress, lifestyle influencer, activist
Other Titles: Countess of Dumbarton, Baroness Kilkeel
Spouse: His Royal Highness The Duke of Sussex (Prince Harry)
Former Spouse: Trevor Engelson
Children: Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet of Sussex
Areas of Interest: gender equality, mental health, gun safety, lifestyle/fashion, economic development
Royal Connection: Daughter-in-law of King Charles III
Working Royal? No

Her Royal Highness Princess Lilibet of Sussex

Birth Name: The Lady Lilibet Diana Mountbatten-Windsor
Birth: June 4, 2021 in Santa Barbara, California
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of King Charles III
Working Royal? No

By ITU Pictures
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice

Birth Name: Princess Beatrice Elizabeth Mary of York
Birth: August 8, 1988 in London
Education: Goldsmiths, University of London
Career: Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy, Afiniti
Philanthropic Interests: dyslexia, children, anti-bullying
Distinction: 1st British royal woman to earn a university degree; 1st British royal to complete a marathon
Spouse: Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi
Children: Sienna and Athena Mapelli Mozzi; Wolfie Mapelli Mozzi is her stepson
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II (through the former Prince Andrew)
Working Royal? No

by Mark Jones

via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie

Birth Name: Princess Eugenie Helena Victoria of York
Birth: March 23, 1990 in London
Education: Newcastle University
Career: Vice President of Partnerships and Strategy, Afiniti
Philanthropic Interests: anti-slavery, sustainable development,
Spouse: Jack Brooksbank
Children: August and Ernest Brooksbank
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II (through the former Prince Andrew)
Working Royal? No

The Lady Louise Mountbatten-Windsor

Birth Name: The Lady Louise Alice Elizabeth Mary Mountbatten-Windsor
Birth: November 8, 2003 in Surrey, England
Education: University of St Andrews
Career: studying English
Title?: Her Royal Highness Princess Louise of Edinburgh (Although provided for by Letters Patent in 1917, her parents chose to style their children as children of an Earl. As an adult, she could opt to use her "rightful" royal title.)
Interests: equestrian sports, carriage driving, outdoor sports
Royal Connection: Male-line granddaughter of Queen Elizabeth II (through The Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh)
Working Royal? No

by Mark Jones
via Wikimedia Commons

Her Royal Highness Princess Michael of Kent

Birth Name: Baroness Marie-Christine Anna Agnes Hedwig Ida von Reibnitz
Birth: January 14, 1945 in Karlsbad, Greater German Reich (now Czech Republic)
Education: Northwest University
Career: author, interior designer
Spouse: His Royal Highness Prince Michael of Kent
Former Spouse: Thomas Troubridge
Children: Lord Frederick Windsor, Lady Gabriella Kingston
Areas of Interest: cheetah conservation, natural history
Royal Connection: Granddaughter-in-law of King George V (father-in-law was Prince Michael of Kent)
Working Royal? No