Princess Ileana of Romania,her life and family

Has he managed to sell Bran Castle yet?I think he inherited the venetian palace from aunt margarita

Archduke Dominic has entrusted this affair to Baytree Capital Associates LLC of New York
His aunt Margarita? I suppose you talk of Archduchess Margarita (1894-1986), widowed of marquess Francesco Maria Taliani di Marchio (1887-1968)?  She died childless...

REMI

I don't know Remi, what do you think about all these royals of overthrown crowns now claiming and then selling off the estates and property of their ancestors? Seems very mercenary and doesn't reflect well. It would be different if they wanted to return to live in their ancient lands, but just to make a fast buck .... Afterall Bran was a gift to Queen Marie from the people of the local town, and then it's claimed by a New Yorker and sold off

Oh Yes, the Adss left him her home in Venice. Her husband was created the 1st marchese in 1937 by the Kg of Italy. He was a diplomat and Italian Ambassador in Shanghai, he died in Rome 16 march 1968.

I don't know Remi, what do you think about all these royals of overthrown crowns now claiming and then selling off the estates and property of their ancestors? Seems very mercenary and doesn't reflect well. It would be different if they wanted to return to live in their ancient lands, but just to make a fast buck .... Afterall Bran was a gift to Queen Marie from the people of the local town, and then it's claimed by a New Yorker and sold off

The Romanian Royal family has never been exactly flush, money-wise. I have no problem with recovered property being returned to its rightful owners.

What would you think if someone stole everything your grandparents worked so hard for and owed and then you had a chance to get part of it back? Remember that this theft would have meant you could not live in your country and that you would have to have lived in a relatively impoverished manner? And then some guy says you are mercenary and that it doesn't reflect well?

We are not talking about private individuals but members of a royal house that should have a sense of duty to their people. i know that this Archduke is not a member of the Roumanian Royal house but his land grabbing attitude does not reflect well on his cousin King Michael. As I said before it would be different if he was returning to old ancestrial lands , but to swan in, claim a local money spinner from a poor community and then ponce back to your Palace in Venice...no wonder there are so many republics.

[before]

Ileana,

before




after

Earlier in this thread, it is said that it is from Ileana's memoirs. She and Alexei may have married, and certainly many things point in that direction; her personality, and his, them both being Orthodox, family relationship, and Roumania marrying into Russia's royal line would have been good. It seems like it was a bit of a childhood romance, and may have become something more. That is a charming photo of Alexei and Ileana.

As for her later life, it is understandable that she slept with a communist official to save her hospital, because that is a noble reason. I doubt she had any sympathy for the communists, I think she was just playing along with whom she had to. You hear very little of her second marriage,for whatever reason. Late in her life, she seems to have a truly caring and saintly woman-after all, we all have flaws.

She had a long term relationship with Bodnares head of the Communist Police .He used her to undermind King Michael and fanned her ambitions by suggesting that Russia would put her son Stefan on the throne. She was sincerely shocked when she was doublecrossed  by the communists and left the country in just the clothes she stood in. nasty piece of work!

You hear very little of her second marriage,for whatever reason.

It was not a success. Though I knew Dr. Issarescu (and though our burial plots are less than 30 feet apart), he was not an easy husband.
A physically imposing man even in advanced years, he somehow managed to keep all of the letters Ileana had from Queen Marie.

One day a friend called me and said "You should come over here -- there's this really tall old guy who is having us photocopy a pile of
letters from some queen to her daughter." I went over and introduced myself and we had several conversations in the late 1990's. The letters
I saw were from a very sad and hurt woman who was badly treated by her sons, and by her daughter-in-law Ioana. I believe he said the original
letters would be sent to Windsor for archiving.

Issarescu was a grand old-world gentleman,but I got the impression there was a lot about his relationship to the Romanian RF that he did not want to talk about.
And for a divorced short-term husband, to me it seemed he sure walked away from his marriage with a whole lot of royal "souvenirs."

Shortly before Issarescu's death, I accidentally discovered that I had been working for several years with his sister-in-law (that is, a sister of his second wife).

it would be interesting to know more about his life and how they met...and why they married-divorced

Thanks for the info. Ileana certainly wasn't perfect- but of her siblings, she seems better than they anyway.. or some of them.As for her and the communists, she did get what she had coming to herin one sense- she had chosen to work with them, whatever the reasons- but she was decieved by them, too.

true, why all Queen Marie's children turned out so self centred and lacking in a sense of duty is interesting. Perhaps she indulged them too much after ignoring them in their formative years?

kind of false.

It would be easy to blame Queen Marie, but a mother can never totally be held to blame for her children's faults and choices- which Queen Marie's children demonstrated some all the time, like Carol, some part of the time like Ileana.It is really hard to tell in my opinion if her parenting played a role, and if it did, how much.

true, why all Queen Marie's children turned out so self centred and lacking in a sense of duty is interesting. Perhaps she indulged them too much after ignoring them in their formative years?

I do not think Mignon could be put in this category.

TampaBay

thankyou, perhaps you would tell us why...would be interesting.