Princess Marina: Her Life and Times PDF Download

Author: Stella King
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Author: Julia P. Gelardi
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
ISBN: 1429904550
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 506

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Book Description
Julia Gelardi's Born to Rule is an historical tour de force that weaves together the powerful and moving stories of the five royal granddaughters of Queen Victoria. These five women were all married to reigning European monarchs during the early part of the 20th century, and it was their reaction to the First World War that shaped the fate of a continent and the future of the modern world. Here are the stories of Alexandra, whose enduring love story, controversial faith in Rasputin, and tragic end have become the stuff of legend; Marie, the flamboyant and eccentric queen who battled her way through a life of intrigues and was also the mother of two Balkan queens and of the scandalous Carol II of Romania; Victoria Eugenie, Spain's very English queen who, like Alexandra, introduced hemophilia into her husband's family-with devastating consequences for her marriage; Maud, King Edward VII's daughter, who was independent Norway's reluctant queen; and Sophie, Kaiser Wilhelm II's much maligned sister, daughter of an Emperor and herself the mother of no less than three kings and a queen, who ended her days in bitter exile. Born to Rule evokes a world of luxury, wealth, and power in a bygone era, while also recounting the ordeals suffered by a unique group of royal women who at times faced poverty, exile, and death. Praised in their lifetimes for their legendary beauty, many of these women were also lauded-and reviled-for their political influence. Using never before published letters, memoirs, diplomatic documents, secondary sources, and interviews with descendents of the subjects, Julia Gelardi's Born to Rule is an astonishing and memorable work of popular history.

Author: Greg King
Publisher: Kensington Publishing Corp.
ISBN: 0806535210
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 608

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“A sympathetic and believable portrait” of the American woman for whom King Edward VIII gave up the throne, with photos included (Christian Science Monitor). A woman's life can really be a succession of lives, each revolving around some emotionally compelling situation or challenge, and each marked off by some intense experience. It was the love story of the century—the king and the commoner. In December 1936, King Edward VIII abdicated the throne to marry “the woman I love,” Wallis Warfield Simpson, a twice-divorced American who quickly became one of the twentieth century's most famous personalities, a figure of intrigue and mystery, both admired and reviled. Wrongly blamed for the abdication crisis, Wallis suffered hostility from the Royal Family and much of the world. Yet interest in her story has remained constant, resulting in a small library of biographies that convey a thinly veiled animosity toward their subject. The truth, however, is infinitely more fascinating than the shallow, pathetic portrait that has often been painted. Using previously untapped sources, acclaimed biographer Greg King presents a complete and, for the first time, sympathetic portrait of the Duchess that sifts the decades of rumor and accusation to reveal the woman behind the legend. From her birth in Pennsylvania during the Gilded Age to her death in Paris in 1986, King takes the reader through a world of privilege, palaces, high society, and love with the accompaniment of hatreds, feuds, conspiracies, and lies. The cast of characters is vast: politicians and presidents, dictators and socialites. Twenty-four pages of photographs reveal the life of the Duchess in all its incomparable glamour and romance. “A wide, absurd cast of characters—led by the British royal family . . . Wallis’ lavish decorati

Author: Christopher Warwick
Publisher: Weidenfeld & Nicolson
ISBN:
Category : Princes
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752473085
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 247

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What was childhood like for the princes and princesses in the Victorian and Edwardian period? Here their education, recreation and general upbringing is discussed, from Queen Victoria's isolated and lonely childhood, to the children of King George V and Queen Mary. We see glimpses of Prince Waldemar of Prussia, who enjoyed collecting fossils on the Isle of Wight and terrifying his grandmother with a pet crocodile; Prince Christian Victor of Schleswig-Holstein, who was the first prince to attend public school despite enjoying cricket much more than education; and Prince Louis of Battenberg, who introduced the 'Katuf' into his family, and recorded his voice on a wax cylinder. Contrasts are drawn between childhood at the English court and that of the Queen's decendants at European capitals, as well as the differing attitudes of royal parents. For example, Queen Victoria found babies to be "very froglike", whereas Queen Alexandra still gave children's parties to her children when they were adults.

Author: Charlotte Breese
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 1408831139
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 319

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The vivid true story of one of the biggest stars in Britain during the 1920s and 30s, and the inspiration for Downton Abbey's Jack Ross Born in Grenada in 1900, Leslie "Hutch" Hutchinson went to America in 1916 to study medicine, but soon escaped to Harlem where he witnessed the birth of "stride" jazz piano and began playing and singing in bars himself. Moving to France in 1923, he became the protege and lover of Cole Porter before coming to London where he was soon topping the bills in variety and on radio. Immaculate in white tie and tails, Hutch had enormous sex appeal, his velvet voice and superb piano improvisation attracting legions of fans, including the then Prince of Wales and, most famously, Edwina Mountbatten. Despite his success, Hutch was a profoundly insecure man with insatiable appetites for sex, drink, gambling and social status which precipitated his fall from fame to a squalid existence by the late 1960s.

Author: John Van der Kiste
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752499297
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 351

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This biography of Xenia, sister of Nicholas II gives a new angle on the Romanov story and provides new information on relationships within the family after the Revolution. Important new letters and photographs are also included.

Author: Ada B. Teetgen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Byzantine Empire
Languages : en
Pages : 340

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Author: Marina Warner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198718659
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 226

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Book Description
In ten succinct chapters, Marina Warner guides us through the rich world of fairy tale, from Cinderella and Hansel and Gretel to Snow White and Pan's Labyrinth. Exploring pervasive themes of folklore, myth, the supernatural, imagination, and fantasy, Warner highlights the impact of the genre on human understanding, history, and culture.

Author: Van der Kiste
Publisher: The History Press
ISBN: 0752471945
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 234

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Book Description
Princess Victoria Melita played a colourful role from her birth in 1876. The second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh, she made a brief and unhappy marriage at the age of 17 to her cousin, Ernest, Grand Duke of Hesse. In the face of strong opposition from her family she divorced him seven years later and married another cousin, Grand Duke Cyril of Russia, resulting in three years of exile. When revolution toppled the empire in 1917, the Grand Duke and Duchess and their children escaped to Finland, living in danger for three long years. Following the atrocities of the Bolsheviks at the time, including the murder of most of the Romanov family, the Grand Duke believed he was the senior surviving member of the imperial house, and proclaimed himself Tsar. However, they were never able to return to their homeland, and the Grand Duchess died in exile in 1936. Using previously unpublished correspondence from the Royal Archives and Astor papers, this is a portrait of the Princess, set against the imperial courst of the turn of the 20th century and inter-war Europe.