August 2018 - Page 2 of 6 - History of Royal Women

Four Queens and a Countess: Mary Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I, Mary I, Lady Jane Grey and Bess of Hardwick by Jill Armitage Book Review

Sunday, 26 August 2018, 0:00 Moniek Bloks 0

When Mary Stuart was forced off the Scottish throne she fled to England, a move that made her cousin Queen Elizabeth very uneasy. Elizabeth had continued the religious changes made by her father and England was a Protestant country, yet ardent Catholics plotted to depose Elizabeth and put Mary Stuart on the English throne. So [read more]

Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon – From Duchess to Queen (Part 2)

Saturday, 25 August 2018, 7:00 Moniek Bloks 2

Read part one here. Read part three here. Read part four here. On her first day as Duchess of York, Elizabeth awoke at 11 o’clock and had breakfast in bed. She was exhausted by all the events of the previous months. They honeymooned in Scotland where Elizabeth fell ill. She was still ill when they [read more]

The Bonaparte Women – Hortense de Beauharnais (Part 2)

Friday, 24 August 2018, 7:00 Moniek Bloks 1

Read the first part here. Hortense was now free to respond to the charms of Charles de Flahaut, a man she had long admired. She was staying in Geneva when she met him as he was part of her mother’s entourage. They could not be together long as his military duties required him to go [read more]

Schloss Bückeburg – A most unhappy marriage

Thursday, 23 August 2018, 7:00 Moniek Bloks 1

While doing research for my next book, I stumbled upon a wedding that took place at Schloss Bückeburg, between Princess Caroline Reuss of Greiz and Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Their wedding took place there as the young woman’s parents had passed and she was under the guardianship of her maternal uncle, Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, who happened [read more]

The Dutch succession crisis of the early 20th century

Wednesday, 22 August 2018, 7:00 Moniek Bloks 0

Upon the death of King William III his only surviving child, Princess Wilhelmina became Queen at the age of 10. As she had no siblings, her potential successor at that time was her aunt Sophie, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Her father’s other siblings had all died without leaving issue. Queen Wilhelmina married Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 7 February [read more]

Princess Margaret – The young Princess (Part 1)

Tuesday, 21 August 2018, 7:00 Moniek Bloks 1

During the evening of 21 August 1930, a second daughter was born to the then Duke and Duchess of York at Glamis Castle in Scotland. Her elder sister, the future Queen Elizabeth II, was delighted, “I have got a new little baby sister. She is so lovely, and I am very, very happy to have [read more]