Re: Cousin Toria

[RoyalWatcher]

In my humble opinion, I have always believed that Toria was the most beautiful of Alexandra's girls. Those pictures you posted RN are simply elegant and beautiful.

[Eric_Lowe]

I think so too. Louise was the most attractive of the trio, yet she was the first to go...Maybe they were really afraid that she would put her head in the oven...

[Grace]

Oh, Eric, are you trying to antagonise people here with this comment?  It's got you into numerous arguments before and here you are trotting it out again.  Why?  It is a rumour only, has been mentioned so many times before and is unworthy of someone who claims to be an expert on royalties of the world.   

[Eric_Lowe]

That is why I said "maybe". Louise was unattractive when compared to Maud (who was Bertie's favorite) and Victoria. Perhaps she had determination, while poor Toria had not. It is not that Toria was without beaus, apart from Nicholas she was also pursued awhile by the future Christian X.

[Grace]

You just claimed in your previous post that Louise was the most attractive of the trio!  And not "poor Toria" again PLEASE!

[Eric_Lowe]

I made a typo mistake. I apologize...Victoria was the prettier of the two.

[royal_netherlands]

Thank you Margot, gdella, Kate_S and Royal Watcher for you're kind words, very much appreciated!

I agree with you gdella, the style of the first decade of the twentieth century really suited 'Toria', and that declined when she got older and lost her figure. But I must say, between Queen Alexandra's death in 1925 until her own death ten years later she got something of her 'elegance' back, In my opinion. Maybe it was because she was more free then, after a lifetime putting herself on second place, she looked at ease in the last ten years of her life. After her father passed away and her mother got to lean even more on her, she always appeared kind of decrepit to me in pictures, mainly because her mother was always turning towards her I suppose. It must have been a exhausting 'job'.

And also the fashion of the late nineteentwenties and thirties suited her very well. A few pages ago I posted two pictures of an elderly 'Toria' with her beloved pet, and she looks really lovely, almost peacefull. During the Kent wedding and the silver jubilee, I think in combination with her sister Maud, they looked fashionably and elegant. It also must have been very comfortable and a relief, to finally being in charge yourself, after so many years of corsets and living on the edge of exhaustion, because of running up and down just behind 'Motherdear'. Luckily she was free in the last years of her life, free from the stiffling fashion and even more from the tiring royal demands.

Oh, and Eric it were no letter but photo-albums, that amongst other things containted no real letters, but little poems and stuff by her friends and family. I do think she kept a journal, as her photo-albums were overloaded by stuff, so she must have written down her own thoughts concerning the many events she went too also. I hope it passed down in too the Kent family or that it went straight away intoo the royal archives. Atleast if she not burnded them herself.

I always thought Louise as the most ‘plain’ one of the royal sisters. At least in her daily wear, because her jewellery was quite impressive in combination with her evening-gowns. And in the photo-shoot of her and her daughters in mourning for their husband and father, Louise looks quite stunning exactly. But in many pictures her face expression seems so hollow.
‘Toria’ as I have just explained. She went up and down and back up again in my opinion, concerning her looks and fashion. But through Maud’s fashion sense and delicate figure and face, I always thought she was the one that looked the most beautiful. Her eyes expressed something mysterious playful and the expression of the face itself always so elegant. In combination with her excellent fashion sense, she upgraded her appearance. As she was not a natural beauty as her mother (at least not in older age), I believe Maud was the closest one achieving that goal. Above that, Maud looked marvellous as a woman in her sixties and by then she was still a very outgoing woman. But when her mother Alexandra reached the same age, she began to withdraw herself from society after the Great War, because of her age finally caught up with her. Alexandra’s high reputation of beauty turned against her at the end of her life, her fading beauty made her depressed and melancholic. Aldo Alexandra lived twelve years longer than her daughter, Maud really never got to that stage and lucky for her she never showed the signs of it either.

And I must agree with Grace too. Eric, I personally refer to ‘Toria’ as ‘darling Toria’ instead of the labelled expression of ‘poor Toria’, many of her family-members and friends referred to her like this, at least that is what we read in my last post, so why can’t we do the same?

[Janet Ashton]

However the affair fisseled (on the part of Toria) before it could go anywhere.

It certainly "fizzled out" on the part of Nicholas too, considering that both were fifteen years old when this "affair" took place, and conspicuously young for their ages. He became infatuated with at least three more girls in the years that followed, so let's not re-invent this as some romance that lay in his heart for life or something!

More interestingly, though I doubt that it signified much either beyond the adolescent flirting of a sheltered young couple, Toria's sister Maud and Nicholas's brother George had some type of teenage romance that certainly lasted several more years, to the point that she would write expressing her jealousy when he as a young man sat next to other girls at dinners and so forth. THis is revealed in the Haakon and Maud bio, and Coryne Hall recently translated some of their letters for an article on George's life. (Edited to say: I suspect that the letters were in English to begin with, but had been published only in Norwegian.)

[Clelia]

Isn't it a beautiful portrait of Toria? Dated 1896

[royal_netherlands]

Yes it's beatiful indeed. Thank you for sharing! The portrait is from the National Portrait Gallery and there is also one of Maud in their archive.

[Margot]

I thought the original painting from which the print is taken is at Sandringham. There is a twin likeness of Maud too although I don't know if there is a third one to match of Louise! I think the prints are the ones held at the National Portrait Gallery! I am sure I saw the originals in some Sandringham literature hanging on a wall! I remember because I thought the original portraits rather 'chocolate boxy' and not entirely successful!

[Eddie_uk]

You are correct Margot. I have not seen one of Louise, just the one above and one of Maud.

[royal_netherlands]

About his 'Aunt Toria' From the memoirs of the Duke of Windsor:

‘The time of the big family-parties at Sandringham were over, but when one was visiting my grandmother, you were sure that you would find the same intimate circle united around my grandmother in the ‘Big House’ – one of my aunts, Princess Victoria, and two our three members from her small royal household. ‘Aunt Toria’ was the only unmarried daughter of Queen Alexandra; she devoted her entire life to her mother, maybe detriment of her own life. But if she had mourned this lifestyle, she certainly did not show it, and if we were playing and having fun she always encouraged this.’

‘Then my aunt died, Princess Victoria, in the early morning of the day my father would open Parliament. Aunt Toria was not only my fathers favourite sister, but above this his best friend. For years the first thing he did first every day, was to call her at half past nine in the morning.   His grief was so intense, that he could not show himself to the huge crowds of London, so the state-ceremony was cancelled. After that my father never showed himself in public ever again.’

It surprises me that he speaks rather positive about her in his memoirs, and does not take her down as he could have done. Like he says that she devoted her life to his grandmother, but he points out that she was not bitter about the situation. She at least did not show any bitterness and that it quit something out of the mouth of someone who was not that fond of her. I think its sweet Toria encouraged them to play and have fun. It's shows she was really was not just a 'dull old spinster' that couldn't stand fun and laughter. She even encouraged it! Maybe it was because she was missing her own fun time as a child sometimes when she became a little bit tired of 'Motherdear'.
The story about the relationship between Toria and her brother George were already known by many of you, but I still find the story heartbreaking every time I read it. Can you imagine those phone calls?

RN

[Keith]

I wonder how much not being married, bothered her during her father's lifetime.

During King Edward's reign, she was pretty much everywhere with her parents, including their travels. She more than likely would not have been able to do this if she had been married.

Once her father died, I wonder if that's when it started to bother her more. Possibly she realized she wasn't going to be front and center as much as she had been, and more time would be spent with her mother with possibly less activity.

I'm not sure if it's one of his other books, or just repeated via someone else, but he did have some rather uncomplimentary things to say about his Aunt Toria. I believe they may have been discussed on the Duke and Duchess of Windsor thread.

[redduchess]

I'm glad this topic was "awakened!"  There are quite a few pics and stories about Toria that I never knew existed! 
Fate dealt her a blow that she may not have wanted or found hard to deal with but her soul must be pleased knowing that people across continents are interested in this princess with "no issue."
BTW, she was the most attractive Wales' sister!