The Alexander Palace Time Machine Discussion Forum

Its a complete nonsense to speak of Queen Mary as a 'German princess'.  She was born in Kensington, raised in Richmond and apart from a couple of years in Florence, lived the whole of her life in the UK. She was proud to be British and was widely viewed in her own lifetime as the epitome of Britishness.

I have read many good things about Radu Duda on his website http://www.princeradu.ro. I have also read some negative things. What is your opinion: is Radu a credit to the Romanian Royal House and King Michael, rather not, or neither nor?

No, Radu has not much sopport from the authorities or among the population. He is a former communsit-officer and some of the authorities I have spoken with tells me that as the constitution not allowes wimin to enter the throne, it perhaps teoretically could be so that Radu could someway be proclamied tituary a king, and that´s something none of them will have or accept.

This is nonsense at every level and a classic example of the stream of lies and insinuations about Prince Radu who is a fine, hard working, decent man and a credit to the royal house and to Romania. 

[Guardian]

Princess Charlotte hit the pages of the UK Guardian newspaper yesterday under a headline of 'Sex Parties, bloody duels and blackmail: life at the court of the last Emperor'.

"Its public image was one of prudery and Prussian punctiliousness, but a historical investigation into the sexual habits of the court of the last German emperor has revealed a previously unknown predilection for swinger-style parties and late-night orgies.

Using police files uncovered from the Prussian Secret State Archives in Berlin, historians have been able to reconstruct the erotic goings-on of a group of aristocrats and court officials, which started off as a sex party and ended in a series of bloody duels.

According to the Berlin historian Wolfgang Wippermann, a select group of Prussia's blue-bloods first met at the invitation of Princess Charlotte, the older sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, at Jagdschloss Grunewald, a hunting lodge in the woods of western Berlin, in 1891.

The partygoers included the brother-in-law of the kaiser, his master of ceremonies, Leberecht von Kotze, a host of aristocrats and a foreign ministry state secretary.

The parties, details of which are revealed in Spiegel magazine, consisted of unbridled sex sessions, in which the participants drank and danced, as well as experimenting with a variety of different sexual positions.

Wippermann's research, which has culminated in the book Scandal in Hunting Lodge Grunewald, due to be published later this month, led him to a total of 246 letters, in which the experiments are outlined in detail.

The gatherings might have remained anonymous but for one of the partygoers, whose identity remains unknown – but who Wippermann suspects to be Charlotte herself – who the day after one of the escapades sent participants blackmail letters.

The letters included illustrations and descriptions of the events of the previous night, and threatened to reveal the identities of the participants.

Wippermann has no concrete proof, but believes that Charlotte, a chain-smoking lover of scandal who died after lengthy psychiatric treatment in 1919, may have even hosted the events with the sole purpose of entrapping her unwitting guests.

The attempts at blackmail exploded into a scandal of huge political proportions when news of the orgies reached high-ranking representatives of the Prussian court, as well as the emperor himself.

A heated debate in the Reichstag followed.

In the correspondence the whistle-blower, who graphologists say was certainly a woman, repeatedly takes a swipe at the Duchess of Hohenau, describing her as a "randy tart".

A celebrated horse rider, the duchess was married to the openly gay aristocrat Friedrich von Hohenau. Her love life was legendary and included liaisons with the future reichs chancellor Max von Baden, as well as Herbert von Bismarck, a state secretary in the foreign ministry.

The letter writer also unleashes her anger on Alide von Schrader, the wife of a master of ceremonies who enjoyed lesbian affairs, and Prince Aribert von Anhalt, an official for the first Olympic games, who is accused of having sex with other men.

After discovering his own master of ceremonies, Kotze, was deeply entangled in the affair, Kaiser Wilhelm had him imprisoned.

But Kotze was soon released because no arrest warrant had been issued and in his thirst for revenge began to search for the partygoers who had revealed his identity.

A series of duels between Kotze and other male partygoers followed. He was injured in one duel, receiving an Easter egg from the Kaiser as a get-well gesture, and then subsequently killed in another, when a bullet penetrated his intestine.

"I'm almost certain that Charlotte was responsible for this cabal," Tobias Bringmann, who has researched the case, told Spiegel. "What is needed now is to get a graphologist to compare her correspondence with that of the blackmailer."

Its the 15th November 1947. The place is London Heathrow Airport and King Michael (who piloted the plane) has just arrived with his mother, Queen Helen, and his aunt, Irene, Duchess of Aosta, for the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and Philip Mountbatten.

The man walking with the King is, I think, the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Clarendon, who was present to welcome the royal party on behalf of King George VI.

At the funeral of Queen Sophie in 1932.

Thanks Grandduchessella
I really appreciate your offer of help and would love to see the image you described. I have sent you a message including my contact details.
Again many thanks

Perhaps regulars on this message board might be interested to know that I am currently completing a major article about Joyce Brittain Jones for a future edition of RDQ. I don't think anyone (apart from Marlene) has investigated the life and background of this most discreet of royal mistresses but the story I have unearthed is fascinating and her connection to the Greek royal family is far more complex and long lasting than is generally realised.

My research has taken me to the UK National Archives in Kew, to Cambridge, to the Indian Library at the British Library (Mrs BJ was born in India) and I have received a huge amount of help from many other writers and historians. The Marquis of Queensberry (his aunt was Mrs BJ's stepmother) gave me access to his aunt's unpublished memoirs.

My great problem is illustrations. Apart from a rather tiny image in Arthur Gould Lee's 'Royal House of Greece' - there seems very little else - and I would be interested to know if anyone else has come across photographs of the 'Mrs Simpson of Greece'. There was an superb photograph of Mrs BJ in the Greek Gazette magazine a few years ago but I only have a poor photocopy. 

Queen Frederica wrote a second book after  A Measure of Understanding. It is, apparently, an account, from the Queen's perspective, of the events leading up to the fall of the Greek monarchy. It would make fascinating reading but King Constantine and his sisters have always - perhaps understandably - refused to consider publication.

Marlene is absolutely correct in both her comments and commentary on the activities of Princess Ileana (and her elder sister, Princess Elisabeta) between 1945-48.  

As well as the reports from Adrian Holman there is also another document (F0 371/72427) prepared by the British Legation in Bucharest and forwarded to London on the 8th January 1948 which also includes information on the two Princesses. This report was prepared for British Prime Minister, Clement Attlee, and was the first attempt to summarise and analyse the key personalities and events that had led to the enforced abdication of King Michael on the 30th December 1947. This report is now kept at the British National Archives in Kew, London.

The document has some 13 paragraphs but in paragraph 9 it states:-

'After the departure of King Michael, those members of the family, Princess Elizabeth and Princess Ileana of Hapsburg, who have been notorious  for the last three years for their relations with the Communists, quickly learned their fate. They received, not from their communist friends, but from the security police of the Ministry of the Interior, a curt order to leave the country within three days. In the case of Princess Ileana, this was backed up by an equally curt pencilled note from M. Bodnaras, her close "friend" that she must comply with police orders and that he could not see her. In the end, however, the blow has been slightly softened since Princess Elizabeth has been allowed to take out her entourage and their families, and both have been given somewhat longer in which to organise their affairs. It is however, expected that both will leave the country this week, and I understand that Princess Elizabeth has been compelled to hand over to the state her very extensive property in Romania which she inherited from her father. '

My own immediate reaction is  that the husband of the Crown Princess should stay out of party politics - and I would be interested to know  what informed his decision to run for elected office.  It is extremely unlikely to have been taken without the permission of the King. 

That aside,  I think Prince Radu is an exceptional person - his sense of service, his commitment, his honesty and decency are in the best traditions of the royal house.  A minority have subjected him to a  relentless barrage of ill informed criticism - including the most absurd and offensive snobbery from some so-called 'royalists'.  One can only wish him the best of luck.  I suspect he will need it.

Yes, Marlene  - it was my article.

An important contemporary account of the political activities of Princess Ileana during this period comes from Adrian Holman - the British representative in Bucharest. In a report to Foreign Secretary, Ernest Bevin, dated 6th August 1947,  entitled 'Palace Atmosphere of Rumour, Fear and Confusion', he notes:-

'Her Majesty [Queen Helen] added that at present a frequent visitor to the palace was Princess Ileana, who was, as I knew, on very close terms with M. Bodnaras, Under-Secretary of the Presidency of the Council. I told the Queen quite frankly that the mistress of the head of the secret police could be up to no good, and that I personally had carefully avoided meeting her, as well as her sister, Princess Elizabeth, whose relations with the pro-Soviet banker, Scanavi, were too close to be above suspicion. The Queen quite agreed and has explained to Princess Ileana how foolishly she is behaving, but the latter had simply replied that her influence over Bodnaras was such that she could often prevent person being thrown into prison or, once in, help to get their release.  She in fact warned the Queen that Dinu Bratianu [liberal politician] and Titel Petrescu [social democrat politician ] were on the list for early arrest.  I cannot imagine myself a shrewd man like Bodnaras not being able to use Princess Ileana for his own purposes inside the palace'   Source: UK National Archives: FO: 371/67240

I agree with Marlene - this book is a huge disappointment  -  and an opportunity missed. The author, unfortunately,  has no understanding of Ileana's life and times - and her determination to present the Princess as a quasi-saint actually does Ileana a huge disservice. Ileana was a great deal more  complex and interesting than this one dimensional portrait alllows.

The photographs of King Michael and Queen Mother Helen were taken at Sinaia

Then perhaps the moderators can now change the line from 'English' to 'British'??