Queen Marie of Romania--alleged affairs & questioned paternity of children

[Kalafrana]

If a woman is sleeping with two different men at the same time she cannot know which is the father unless the child turns out looking obviously like one or the other.

[Carolath Habsburg]

I was thinking in that too. Maybe Marie had no idea who was Mignon father and she assumed it was Zizi

[CountessKate]

Please read the book "Dear Missy". The letters revealed that Mignon's father was Zizi. This is now a fact. Very interesting reading.

That Marie had an affair with Cantacuzene was absolutely clear from 'Dearest Missy', but I can't find anywhere in the letters that the Duchess of Coburg believed that Cantacuzene was the father of her daughter's child, and there are no letters from her daughter which indicate her own thoughts on this matter.  "Only beware of one thing: that they should not declare your expected child as not being Nando's, I am afraid they are driving at that, to get rid of you both.  Nando knows perfectly well, that the child is his......", the Duchess wrote, suggesting that she believed the question of paternity was a ploy which Marie's enemies at court were using against the couple and not an accusation with any truth in it.  Diana Mandache's introduction to this chapter of the letters indicates that Ferdinand believed himself to be Mignon's father, and she quotes a letter from Ferdinand's father Leopold of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen to King Carol which pretty well sums up the situation: "More proofs for or against can not be brought forward".  Ferdinand was sadly unable to stand up to his uncle and take charge of the situation, but he wasn't a stupid man and it seems very unlikely he would have forgiven Marie so generously had he not believed there was a reasonable chance that he was the father (though the Duchess of Coburg attributed this to shame at his own flings - but she had a very stern attitude to male sexual failings shared by very few of her class at the time). 

[Carolath Habsburg]

Thanks CountessKate!!! . I must get that book!

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. What was not in the book was the correspondence between Missy & Ducky that preluded the letters to Marie Coburg. Missy wrote to Ducky to see if she could ask Lady Buchanan, wife of the British Ambassador to see if she could get rid of an wanted pregnancy. Ducky later told their mother about it (the cross reference is in the letters). Why would she consider an abortion if the child was Nando's ? The fact is that it couldn't have been. It was either Grand Duke Boris or Zizi's. Missy was stuck in the jam. The rest of the letters was about Marie Coburg taking charge of the situation. As Hannah Pakulah's book, Missy sited Boris (he was at least a Royal and cousin of the Tsar) as the child's father, and Onkle capitulated to Marie Coburg when she threaten to enlist her Romanov relations as well her English ones. When Mignon was born, Onkle (King Carol I of Romania) wrote "Thank God the child is a girl."

[Laura_]

The correspondence between Missy & Ducky would most likely solve the mystery.
I`d love to read their letters someday, they were SO close to one another!

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. I was very lucky to "hear" them. The letters Ducky wrote to Missy leading to divorce from Ernie was also heart wrenching. She so much wanted to understand Ernie, but he shut her out of his own deep feelings. Missy signed her letters to her sister as "Maddy" rather than Missy.

[CountessKate]

It's rather a disappointment then that Diana Mandache made no allusion to what appears to be more revealing correspondence, as 'Dearest Missy' does not, in fact, shine any strong light on the subject of Mignon's paternity, and the Grand Duke Boris might have been living in Siberia, so absent was his name from all the fuss in these letters.

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. I think it may be deliberate. The letters I heard from John Wimbles (which Diana paid a great tribute to at the end of the book) were more explicit. She blamed Missy for not listening to her and but as the book shows she was the one who went in and rescue Missy from a desperate situation. The Pakula book states that Missy approached King Carol I stating that she was caring Boris's child (even though the most recent lover was Zizi). It also made Missy's later relationship with her son Carol more tragic, since she was not so tolerant about his weakness in the flesh. A trait that he shared with his mother. 

[TampaBay]

The Pakula book states that Missy approached King Carol I stating that she was caring Boris' child (even though the most recent lover was Zizi).

Which Pakula book are you referring too?

TampaBay

[Laura_]

THE LAST ROMANTIC. A Biography of Queen Marie of Romania by Hannah Pakula
Simon and Schuster, New York, 1984, ISBN 0-671-46364-0

Yes. I was very lucky to "hear" them. The letters Ducky wrote to Missy leading to divorce from Ernie was also heart wrenching. She so much wanted to understand Ernie, but he shut her out of his own deep feelings. Missy signed her letters to her sister as "Maddy" rather than Missy.

Is there any chance that the letters of Marie and of Victoria Melita will be published in the future? I ask you because you were the first person to mention the Dearest Missy book on the forum, long before the book was available at online bookshops.

I'd love to read the letters they sent to each other since I believe they shared such a special relationship and bond...Queen Marie said that her sister Victoria Melita was the most important person in her life...and for some reason I have a feeling that Marie was much more open towards Victoria Melita than towards Marie Alexandrovna.

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. I was very lucky to be exposed to bits of the Missy-Ducky Correspondence. They are all at the archives in Romania. I would love to see those letters published. It gave a more favorable impression on Ducky. She was a most misunderstood person. But you can see a little of Ducky & Missy in the most recent publications of Alicky's correspondence to her brother Ernie, Ducky (very little) & Ona (Ernie's second wife).  Far from being hostile to Ducky, Alicky was very friendly with her new sister-in-law. She even thinks that it was unfair that Missy got all the praise and attention, while Ducky was the more deserving one in her view.

Alas ! There is no plans for a Missy Ducky book, although Diana Mandache indicated that she is ready to do a second volume if the publisher is willing to go ahead. The second volume most likely will cover the deaths of young Alfred & the Duke of Edinburgh/Coburg, divorce of Ducky and the marriage of Baby Bee.

[CountessKate]

The second volume most likely will cover the deaths of young Alfred & the Duke of Edinburgh/Coburg

These are already covered in 'Dearest Missy'.

[Laura_]

Yes. I was very lucky to be exposed to bits of the Missy-Ducky Correspondence. They are all at the archives in Romania. I would love to see those letters published. It gave a more favorable impression on Ducky. She was a most misunderstood person. But you can see a little of Ducky & Missy in the most recent publications of Alicky's correspondence to her brother Ernie, Ducky (very little) & Ona (Ernie's second wife).  Far from being hostile to Ducky, Alicky was very friendly with her new sister-in-law. She even thinks that it was unfair that Missy got all the praise and attention, while Ducky was the more deserving one in her view.

Alas ! There is no plans for a Missy Ducky book, although Diana Mandache indicated that she is ready to do a second volume if the publisher is willing to go ahead. The second volume most likely will cover the deaths of young Alfred & the Duke of Edinburgh/Coburg, divorce of Ducky and the marriage of Baby Bee.

You were indeed very lucky to ''hear'' those letters  : ) Thank you very much, I appreciate all the information you provide about them. I do believe that the archives in Romania hide precious treasures...

Hopefully someone will publish the correspondence between Missy & Ducky as well in the future!!  That would definitely be my dream book as far as royal books are concerned!!!  : )

As for the sequel to Dearest Missy, Dr. Diana Mandache mentioned  that she much hoped that Ted Rosvall, the publisher, would plan the second volume which contains equally fascinating letters from 1901 until 1920 the year in which Marie Alexandrovna died.

[Eric_Lowe]

I totally agree with you that it would be a dream book. Working on a bio presently involving them. I would tell more once the work and research is done. It is an honor to share what I found out with others and it gives me enormous  joy. Although sometimes instead of appreciation, I get negative reactions and even hostile personal attacks. That makes your appreciation much more dear to me. Thanks Laura. 

Indeed, the more I find out about Missy, the more fascinated I am with her. She was vain, but fair, English and Romanian at the same time. An artist, a charmer/seducer, but also a keen political player as well.

I hope the second volume will appear for my next Christmas or birthday present.