Princess Ileana of Romania,her life and family

[Carolath Habsburg]

That why i wonder how he ended penniless and working in a gast station being an archduke. Sorry i dont know much about the "Tuscany" branch of the habbsurg and about his life before Ileana. Is there a topic about his life ? Cause im curious

[Svetabel]

That why i wonder how he ended penniless and working in a gast station being an archduke. Sorry i dont know much about the "Tuscany" branch of the habbsurg and about his life before Ileana. Is there a topic about his life ? Cause im curious

After the WW I and the Fall of the Habsburgs  many members of that illustrious family were more or less short of money. Anton had almost nothing to inherit, but due to his practical ways and skills he was able to earn daily bread. It's really worthy of respect in case with any Royal person and better than to dawdle away all day long waiting for some benefactor.
Of course he didn't live in the street but he wasn't able to offer his future wife a proper Royal life.

[Kalafrana]

Svetabel

I agree entirely. I have a great deal of respect for those exiles who adapted to changed circumstances and took on 'normal' jobs rather than expecting someone to bail them out when their lifestyles were inconsistent with their bank balances. Archduke Anton and his 'gas station' (here we would call it a garage) compares well with Olga Alexandrovna and Nikolai Koulikovsky with their dairy farm (I wonder whether she got up early to do the milking, or whether she and her husband concentrated on management and got people in to do the hands-on stuff).

The British actress Helen Mirren is the granddaughter of a Russian Colonel who turned to taxi driving in London.

Ann

[Carolath Habsburg]

Im not saying its not respectable job but its curious that an archduke ends up working on a gas station (In an spanish forum i read it was it, "gasolineria" ). Anyway and leaving apart the topic of the "gas station" was he a responsable father after the divorce. I ve heard that he wasnt but i want to be suire about this.

[Olga Maria]

Perhaps, Anton had gone back to the gas station business after divorcing Ileana, or he became a full-time pilot.

[Svetabel]

Im not saying its not respectable job but its curious that an archduke ends up working on a gas station (In an spanish forum i read it was it, "gasolineria" ). Anyway and leaving apart the topic of the "gas station" was he a responsable father after the divorce. I ve heard that he wasnt but i want to be suire about this.

He was hardly resposible as a father after the divorce as Ileana moved to the USA with all her mob of children : ).

[Olga Maria]

With Helen, Mignon and Carol

[Carolath Habsburg]

Skiing

[bookworm857158367]

Hannah Pakula’s book about the Queen Marie cites that Stirbey is not Ileana’s father. However, I agree with you Katenka, Ileana does resemble Stirbey in a certain degree. When Janet said that a daughter of Stirbey was mistaken as Ileana (a new information for me, thank you very much, Janet) , I begin to suspect that Stirbey was Ileana’s biological father (but I’m open to accepting the possibility that it’s just a coincidence). If it’s still okay to take a sample of DNA from Ileana (or from her son Dominic) and from her nephew Michael and have it tested, probably, we’ll know the truth.

Based on what I know about genetics I'd doubt Ferdinand was the father of either Ileana or Mircea. Ferdinand looks like he had blond to light brown hair and fair skin and Marie was also very blonde and blue eyed. It'd be highly unlikely for parents with those genetic traits to produce anything except blond, blue-eyed children like the first four children. Ileana had dark hair and blue eyes and Mircea was dark-haired and dark-eyed. Those two look like full siblings in the pictures of them together. And, given that Marie had a number of affairs, I suppose it's possible she didn't really know who the father of some of her children were. Maybe there was a chance that Ileana was Ferdinand's. But it looks to me like she was probably Stirbey's daughter given her resemblance to him and apparently to Stirbey's legitimate daughter, her probable half-sister.

[Olga Maria]

It's also possible for parents who are both blond haired to have dark-haired children (that happens if the parents both have heterozygous genes).
But. my opinion is still agreeing with you. Ileana and Mircea don't look much like Carol, Elisabetta, Mignon and Nicolae.
I wonder where Hannah Pakula got the information that Ileana is genetically Ferdinand's daughter. From a DNA test?

[Svetabel]

I wonder where Hannah Pakula got the information that Ileana is genetically Ferdinand's daughter. From a DNA test?

She read carefully the correspondence between Queen Marie and Barbo Stirbey and came to conlcusion that Ileana more likley wasn't Stirbey's daughter.

[bookworm857158367]

I wonder where Hannah Pakula got the information that Ileana is genetically Ferdinand's daughter. From a DNA test?

She read carefully the correspondence between Queen Marie and Barbo Stirbey and came to conlcusion that Ileana more likley wasn't Stirbey's daughter.

I'm still skeptical. Perhaps Stirbey was more invested in the idea of a son instead of a daughter since he had no legitimate sons and had four daughters. That could account for his being more emotional in the letters about Mircea. It could also be that Marie wasn't sure which man fathered Ileana and thought it was probably Ferdinand. There was no DNA testing available in those days. Looking at the pictures I'd say she was probably Stirbey's.

[Olga Maria]

The most important thing now is that Ferdinand had been a very good father to Ileana. Had Ferdinand known Ileana is Stirbey's daughter, he would not hate her; see how he treated Mircea. Ferdinand loved him like Mircea is his own. 

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. He also treated Mignon as his own.

[Marc]

Eric,Mignon was most likely his child...just look at her sons(Andrei) ears and shape of his head...there was even a joke about him looking almost the same as his grandfather Ferdinand:

Prince Andrej is on the right in the first picture:

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/3367225.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=45B0EB3381F7834DA60B10A8ADE5F7A93B06B57E72E658C1CA52222F25EC092C

http://cache3.asset-cache.net/xc/3263938.jpg?v=1&c=NewsMaker&k=2&d=45B0EB3381F7834D8A658BE08E62C35EFD2BD1C103B5BAB403AA0CF64F13FC89

http://www.jelenakalicanin.com/pimg/bazar_princvladimir_2_text.jpg

King Ferdinand:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/96/Ferdinand_la_birou.jpg/800px-Ferdinand_la_birou.jpg

Prince Barbu Stirbei:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/Barbu_Stirbey.jpg



Just be honest and tell me does he looks to you more like Ferdinand or Stirbei so we can get back to Ileana?