With the topic on Mossy, I thought maybe there should a topic on Moretta. I know that she was in love with Alexander of Battenberg (Sandro) but was not allowed to marry him. She eventually settled on a Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, and when he died, she married Alexander Zubkov. Any pictures? Any additional information someone can provide? Thanks!
By the by, the photo above of the four girls appears to have been taken at a studio in England. What does "to the Queen" refer to? Was it usual that the German royal family would be in photo sessions in other countries?
There is an interesting book about Victoria's scandalous second marriage. I believe it is titled THE GREAT HOHENZOLLERN SCANDAL. Such a sad story.
Arturo Beéche
Thanks for that info,Alicky!Very sad princess indeed...
Have you read the collection of her letters 'Queen Victoria at Windsor & Balmoral' from June 1889, edited by James Pope Hennessy. They are very moving; I think it very sad how she looks at all her relations who are becoming engaged & married & despairs that she is so unloveable.
I can understand the resemblance; however, the majority of pictures I have seen of Viktoria do not look like this at all. I will try to find some and post to show you.(http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs24/viktoriaprussia1866-2.jpg)(http://worldroots.com/brigitte/gifs24/viktoriaprussia1866-5.jpg)
Given that we have now seen a photo of Moretta on her second way (and thank you Danjel!) does anyone have information abt or pictures from Moretta's first wedding?
Yes, and Moretta looks something like the bride of Frankenstein! What was she thinking?! Pity her marriage would be brief even if Zoubkoff had not been a scoundrel.
Moretta in (slightly) happier times...jumpng over her husband's (Adolph's) breakfast table! :D
Was Sophie or Mossy supportive? I would be suprised if they weren't. Shame really.
I will soon publish a very late letter written by Viktoria (from 21/6 – 1929) where she writes to her “darling Mamushka” – her mother in law – Mary. The letter is written in Schloss Friedrichshof were she lived her last days (she died 13/11- 1929). She writes about how much she misses both Mary and Sascha, and that her relatives in Friedrichshof wont let her return to Boon. She also talks about her plans of visiting England.
Thank you for your comments and your interest!
Here is a picture of Viktoria (quite happy) and her beloved mother in law Mary.
Mary was born (with the last name Frykberg) in Sweden but she and her sister married two Russian cousins in the end of the 19th century. The cousins belonged to the noble family Zoubkoff and were both very rich. During the Russian revolution they were killed and Mary and her youngest son Alexander (Sascha) fled to Sweden were they stayed for some years, before moving to Germany. The first time Sascha met Viktoria was in a tennis match – Viktoria at once fell in love with the young Russian man.
E.g. to say “What an awful man Zubkov was” is to use historical facts in an ignorant way.
No doubt about Alexander being a drug and alcohol addict, but I think it is awful to judge him only after those facts. He was also very intelligent
It is strange that the author did not contact Mary if he wanted to write about the marriage.
We all have the capability to be good and bad. I don't think it's that difficult a question. We each make our own choices. Just as Victoria seemingly let him have control over her possesions, part of the blame needs to lie with her. He chose to take advantage of that. Others in that type of situation would and have reacted differntly.
Let’s make a summary of what have been stated so far:
2. A young person marrying an elderly widow is “an awful man” – especially if she is royal and he is common.
[size=12]“ The book in German about Alexander Zoubkoff (see above), is his memoirs. I guess it can give more correct information about his life, as it is he himself who has written it. [/size]
Am I wrong, or has someone heard someone who doesn’t base her/his statements on “the Great Hohenzollern Scandal” say that Zoubkoff’s memoirs are full of lies?
Back to the old discussion:
Someone asked me if there were some letters from Mossy to Mary among the things I have inherited. I found this letter written in 1937. Do you think it is from Mossy? I’m not familiar with her handwriting, but I guess someone of you might be. I think it is quite hard to decipher parts of it... Is there someone who actually can read the whole of it?
If anyone is interested, the book
Queen Victoria at Windsor and Balmoral : letters from her grand-daughter Princess Victoria of Prussia, edited by James Pope-Hennessy, is up on ebay right now.
It's a series of letters Moretta wrote when she was vacationing with her grandmother, hoping to easy some heartache after the Sandro affair. It's a slim book but an interesting one.
Ah...But happiness is but a fleeting moment in time...
When she passed away, Moretta was heard crying "Sandro!". Was the her present weak husband or Sandro of Battenberg, the lost love that haunted her ever since ? God only knows...poor thing ! :'(
In the book anout Moretta and Zubakoff. I think the only one in English..." The Great Hohenzollern Scandal". ;)
I do found it hard that Sophie had became so judgemental in her later years. Perhaps her own tragedies had hardened her heart towards her sister ? ??? She did not even attend her furneral. :(
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v391/booboogbs/VictoriaofPrussiabyAngeli.jpg)
Victoria by Heinrich von Angeli
I don't know...It could be Sophie too ? ???
Yes...Vicky thought that Adolph would have taken care of Moretta. She did not anticipate his realy death. ???
Isn't the discussion about Moretta a bit strange? Sure there would have been things that might have helped her to obtain happiness... Still she was an extremely lucky women! She was born in a royal family, and even if she lost most of her money she never had to starve to death. It is strange to feel pity for a royalty, with all the possibility and money in the world to create a great future (but who never succeeded), when millions of people in Germany (and other countries) in those years suffered from the causes of maltreatment by their government! Even more as, Moretta's and her family's properties would have done a lot more good if they were evenly distributed among the German people, instead of being used to buy precious jewels and finance gormandizing. Sure there have existed royal people who were not happy in their life, but sure the fate of the millions of people starving is not in any sense comparable to the life of those royals.
It is ridiculous to pity someone born with a golden spoon in her mouth, when others are born to the immediate death of starvation!
It is my opinion that Alexander Zoubkoff was an oily and self-serving gigolo. And while that may be redundant, some gigolos actually care for their older patrons and end up not bilking them; Zoubkoff, on the other hand, was nothing but trouble for Moretta. Just thinking of it makes my blood boil, and how I wish John Brown had been alive to give this so-called man the thorough whipping he so richly deserved.
And if we although look upon the hypothetical statement “that he used Victoria’s money to finance certain projects”, we will still never now why he did so, or what his purpose was. It could as well be that he actually thought that by investing the money in different projects they would multiply and contribute to his and Victoria’s fortune. If he then failed, he might have been foolish, but not necessarily wicked.
Lets hope it could clear up some established facts of the situation. ???
I think, particularly, that those with a lot of money should live their lives in a responsible way, and try to use their wealth to help others.
A side track: Have you ever thought about where Victoria's heritage originally came from? Her and her family's wealth was the price the German people (and other peoples suffering under oppression) had to pay for having a royal family. Their possessions were the result of the unpaid work of their fellow-countrymen, spoils of war, and taxes; what we today pay in tax to help the poor etc, was then paid to help the royal family. Their richness was the direct cause of peoples suffering - just think about what their money could have done if it was evenly distributed among their people, instead of used to finance wars and gormandizing. In those days the arguments that were used to legitimate injustice, was that the King was king because God wanted him to be.
The Great Hohenzollern Scandal was published in 1965.
I think Moretta would have been happy had she been blessed by children. As her husband died early, she was like a ship without a port, someone without direction in life. :(
I guess her royal role didn't give her that much direction because in those days, as I said the role of female royalty was to marry and have children. As far as I know, there was no public duties or anything for a princess like Moretta in Prussia. So, she may not have found her role that way. Unlike her mother, she wasn't overly intellectual, and she doesn't seem to have had any great hobby or interest that might have given her direction.
Yes...Tragically, just as Moretta was able to sink her teeth into the role, it was awarded to another relative. She did had tough luck. :(
Vicky tried the same advice on her daughters (especially Sophie. Read her letters to her. Very interesting) with little success...Alas ! :(
Had Sophie listened to her mother, she could be an added force (like Queen Olga to King George I), but she was too withdrawn to attempt. When the storm came, she couldn't do anything about it (but suffer in silence) :(
Yes...H & I were also photographed on the way out of the church. A very good shot too !
Moretta was wearing her mother's lace veil during her wedding to Zubakoff. ;)
Here is another picture of her second marriag to Alexander Zoubkoff in 1927
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v666/daan73/2ndwedding1927.jpg)
Indeed ! I think the portrait in the photo was the completed version, while the one in the book may have been the sketch. Anyhow I think the portrait was one of the items that was disposed during the auction. Wonder if it survived the last Great War ? ???
Where did their marriage take place? I'm sure it has been posted, but I cannot remember. Indeed, that is defintely a portrait of Moretta in the background.
Did the Shaurmburg Palace in Berlin survive WW II ? ???
Yes...content. I don't think he was as in love with Adolf as the two Sashas... :(
Maybe her second husband, Alexannder Zoubkov?
Yes...but her last words was Sasha according to some book... ???
Yes...but her last words was Sasha according to some book... ???
Yes...but her last words was Sasha according to some book... ???
Sasha was Alexander Zoubkoff's nickname.
Yes...Only Irene & Heinrich's wedding was photographed. ;)
I don't know if anyone has ever heard of any description of Victoria's wedding dress, but this is how it is described in the book. That might clear up whether or not it is a photo of the actual wedding dress.
Her dress, or richly embroidered material with garlands of flowers around the low neckline, has short sleeves, falls in a cascade from her waist and along the gracefully placed train. Around her neck she has a magnificent necklace of diamonds and in her hands a small boquet of flowers.
In the last two photos she looks like her Greek cousins...at least to me!
Victoria:
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj213/Alexandre64_2007/Hoenzolern/vlcsnap-67065.png)
Victoria:
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj213/Alexandre64_2007/Hoenzolern/vlcsnap-67065.png)
Oh great photo! Thank you Alexandre. Watched over by her illustrious grandmother!!
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj213/Alexandre64_2007/Hoenzolern/vlcsnap-66674.png)
Thanks for posting the pictures of Victoria-Moretta. I like this one most.
When I first saw it I thought it shows her cousin Victoria-Melitta of Edinburgh (Ducky). I did not know that they did so much resemble.
Victoria:
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj213/Alexandre64_2007/Hoenzolern/vlcsnap-67065.png)
Oh great photo! Thank you Alexandre. Watched over by her illustrious grandmother!!
Any clues as to where this photo setting was?
In her house in Bonn...the contents were later sold by court order...Victoria:
(http://i273.photobucket.com/albums/jj213/Alexandre64_2007/Hoenzolern/vlcsnap-67065.png)
Oh great photo! Thank you Alexandre. Watched over by her illustrious grandmother!!
Any clues as to where this photo setting was?
EFWTS is a gold-mine of information and perspective on Vicky and her children during this period, 1889-1901. There's a good deal of information on Moretta in there but, unfortunately, the last time I looked (since my copy is getting very beat up) it was very pricey. This and the book of letters (slim though it is) from Moretta to Vicky during the former's stay with Queen Victoria c.1890 are a must for those interested in Moretta--her memoirs not so much. While it's interesting in its way, it's an extremely light-weight book with very little substance or insight--Wilhelm looks like a saintly brother in them. ::)
EFWTS is a gold-mine of information and perspective on Vicky and her children during this period, 1889-1901. There's a good deal of information on Moretta in there but, unfortunately, the last time I looked (since my copy is getting very beat up) it was very pricey. This and the book of letters (slim though it is) from Moretta to Vicky during the former's stay with Queen Victoria c.1890 are a must for those interested in Moretta--her memoirs not so much. While it's interesting in its way, it's an extremely light-weight book with very little substance or insight--Wilhelm looks like a saintly brother in them. ::)
Why were Moretta's memoirs so uninteresting? Was that just her? When were her memoirs written and why? ( Sorry if this has been asked before- I searched and couldn't find it)- I used to post alot to this thread but can't remember asking this question.
EFWTS is a gold-mine of information and perspective on Vicky and her children during this period, 1889-1901. There's a good deal of information on Moretta in there but, unfortunately, the last time I looked (since my copy is getting very beat up) it was very pricey. This and the book of letters (slim though it is) from Moretta to Vicky during the former's stay with Queen Victoria c.1890 are a must for those interested in Moretta--her memoirs not so much. While it's interesting in its way, it's an extremely light-weight book with very little substance or insight--Wilhelm looks like a saintly brother in them. ::)
Why were Moretta's memoirs so uninteresting? Was that just her? When were her memoirs written and why? ( Sorry if this has been asked before- I searched and couldn't find it)- I used to post alot to this thread but can't remember asking this question.
I don't remember seeing a photo of her in tiara and jewels...?
I don't remember seeing a photo of her in tiara and jewels...?
Here's Viktoria in tiara and in jewels. Photo of 1908 year