Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone

[Carolath Habsburg]

True. Here s the proof



In a  family gathering. 1890s



she looks lovely!

[Alianna]

From what information I can gather, these dresses are called Edwardian era dresses with a pigeon-chested front and Edwardian styled square panel and have intricately detailed designs probably including lace.  My guess just by looking seems to be made of silk and are day dresses-the modern fashion of that time.  Both ladies sport the Gibson Girl hairstyle.  Please anybody, can you explain the significance of the coin necklace Princess Alice is wearing and whether it may be representative of coins struck for the family, and equally important to me, why wear as a pendant on a chain?  My great-grandmother is dressed almost identically, including the necklace in her wedding photo.  Thank you for any and all input.

[Alianna]

Love this one! Princess Alice with her mother, brother & husband!
Maybe an engagement portrait? Alice looks very young! I'm sure grandduchessella will know!!!  

Hello everyone:  this portrait is wonderful, to say the least!  I am not sure, but I wonder of the black dresses and whether they were the trend or fashion of that time?  I am guessing somewhere around 1910ish.  Please post any information on the significance of the necklace which looks like a coin and what it represents.  Also, the background of the photograph is interesting and I would like to know where that night be.

Sorry, I did not include this quote and photograph for reference in my last post :/  So perhaps it is an engagement or a wedding photo!

[Kalafrana]

Does anyone know who the other people in the group photograph in Msge 121 are?

Ann

[Carolath Habsburg]

Its a Waldeck Pyrmont family Gathering. There s Queen regent Emma of Netherland and her daughter Wilhelmine, among other members of the Waldeck Pyrmont family.

[grandduchessella]

Regarding mourning, I still think it might be that. You didn't often see young royal women such as Alice wearing a color that at least appears to be black outside of mourning. I could be wrong though. Also, women seemed to stay in mourning longer than men--at least in the British royals. There are photos of Queen Mary still dressed in mourning for her either Edward VII or Frank Teck (both 1910) while George V is not for instance as well as others. Someone more familiar with Edwardian mourning customs would be better served to answer this though.

[Kalafrana]

'Waldeck Pyrmont family Gathering. There s Queen regent Emma of Netherland and her daughter Wilhelmine, among other members of the Waldeck Pyrmont family.'

Who is the young man in what looks like Prussian uniform?

Ann

[Carolath Habsburg]

its Prince Friedrich zu Waldeck Pyrmont

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich,_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont

Here the full identification of the portrayed people

http://www.flickr.com/photos/chiesavecchia/2044403456/

[Kalafrana]

Thank you. The links you give add that the picture was taken in 1895 at the wedding of Friedrich of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Bathildis of Schamberg-Lippe. Regretably, their eldest son Josias became an enthusiastic Nazi and an SS Obergruppenfuhrer.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias,_Hereditary_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont

Ann

[CountessKate]

Regretably, their eldest son Josias became an enthusiastic Nazi and an SS Obergruppenfuhrer.

Princess Alice had poor luck with her relatives in WWII, with both Charles and Josias keen Nazis; while there is no evidence that Alice had any sympathy with the Nazis or Germany in either world wars, I have to say I winced at her descriptions of she and her husband's attempts after the war to "do something for Uncle Charlie" in which they "humiliated ourselves by dining with the U.S. Governor of Coburg, a Syrian by birth.  We also called on and lunched with his successor, a Jewish-French American whom we did not think a suitable representative of his great country nor the sort of person one would select to instruct the Germans in democracy!"  She didn't elaborate on the humiliation, but presumably the Jewish-French American would have had friends and relatives who did not survive the Nazis and was less than sympathetic to Charlie.  I'm not sure about the 'Syrian' governor but it seems unlikely anyone of middle eastern origin would have fared well under the Nazis either, so again the Athlones were probably given rather short shrift.  Princess Alice's memoirs are generally interesting, but this passage always sets my teeth on edge.

[Eddie_uk]

I disagree, this makes me admire Princess Alice all the more. She was prepared to stoop down to hep her beloved brother. I would do exactly the same thing for my brother!  

[CountessKate]

I disagree, this makes me admire Princess Alice all the more. She was prepared to stoop down to hep her beloved brother. I would do exactly the same thing for my brother! 

I don't find her wishing to help her brother unadmirable.  I find it unpleasant that she felt it a humiliation to have dinner with a Syrian and a Jewish-French american who were unhelpful, and that she seemed to find no apparent reason why they might object to doing favours for a Nazi was pretty insensitive. 

[grandduchessella]

I disagree, this makes me admire Princess Alice all the more. She was prepared to stoop down to hep her beloved brother. I would do exactly the same thing for my brother! 

I don't find her wishing to help her brother unadmirable.  I find it unpleasant that she felt it a humiliation to have dinner with a Syrian and a Jewish-French american who were unhelpful, and that she seemed to find no apparent reason why they might object to doing favours for a Nazi was pretty insensitive. 

I agree--the passages where she mentions Jews in relation to Nazi Germany postwar are cringe-worthy. I doubt they were exceptional at the time, however.

[CountessKate]

I agree--the passages where she mentions Jews in relation to Nazi Germany postwar are cringe-worthy. I doubt they were exceptional at the time, however.

Her views were certainly very much of her generation and class, but perhaps also tinged by her youthful periods in Germany prior to WWI, where there was more overt anti-semitism than in Britain (though there was plenty in Britain as well).  I find it interesting that her memoirs were published in 1966 - I would have thought an editor might have suggested some toning down of these passages, but I guess it there was still a lot of deference to royals as the hushed and rather obsequious tones of commentators on royal events of the time indicated.

[Keith]

photo of Alice from the sitting, and it looks as if it is a heart on the chain. If this photo is from around the time of her engagement, possibly a gift from her fiancee?