On 21 October 1911, Zita of Bourbon-Parma married the future Emperor Charles I of Austria. They had known each other since childhood, and Zita’s aunt, Maria Theresa of Austria, was also Charles’s step-grandmother. Their engagement had been announced on 13 June 1911 and was very much welcomed. After the betrothal ceremony, Charles told Zita, “Now [read more]
When Maria Theresa’s father, Emperor Charles VI died in 1740; Maria Theresa’s sex meant that she was barred from becoming Holy Roman Empress in her own right. However, she did inherit many of her father’s family dominions which he had secured for her during his lifetime by pushing through an act called the Pragmatic sanction in [read more]
Germaine of Foix was born circa 1488 to John of Foix, Viscount of Narbonne and Marie of Orléans. Germaine married Ferdinand II of Aragon after the death of his first wife Isabel of Castile, in an attempt to have a male heir to precede his heiress Joanna in the line of succession for Aragon. Joanna [read more]
Last week I was invited to view the new Alexander, Napoleon & Josephine: A Story of Love, War and Art exhibition at the Hermitage Amsterdam. The exhibition holds many art objects collected by Empress Joséphine after her divorce from Napoleon and also treasures such as Napoleon’s death mask, a briefcase used by Alexander I and [read more]
The story of Sisi still lives on today because of the many movies and books made about her. The Accidental Empress is one such book. Though it has a similar name to a biography of her, The Reluctant Empress, The Accidental Empress is actually a historical novel. I must admit that I don’t usually read [read more]
Day three of the Vienna trip began with a city walk with a Dutch tour guide. I didn’t particularly care for the guide. She didn’t speak loud enough for the whole group to hear and you could hear she didn’t care for Sisi at all. Also, she walked terribly slow. We began in the park [read more]
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