Many royal romances are played up to be fairytale stories. A young woman meets Prince Charming. The couple falls in love. They then live happily ever after.
Peter and his mother Marie
This was not to be the case of Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark (1908-1980), son of Prince George of Greece and Denmark (1869-1957) and Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962), and his wife Irène. Prince Peter first met Irène, Marquise de Monléon (1904-1990; née Irina Aleksandrovna Ovtchinnikova), in the summer of 1935. The couple did fall for one another, but many obstacles would await them.
Irène
Born in the St. Petersburg of Imperial Russia, Irène was the daughter of Aleksandr Ovtchinnikov and Lydia Zourio. With the fall of the empire, the Ovtchinnikov family fled Russia for Western Europe. In November 1919, at the age of fifteen, Irène married Marquis Jehan de Monléon (1885-1950), the son of Marquis Paul de Monléon and Marie Anne Louise Carré‐Kérisouët. The pair were divorced in 1930; they had no children.
Lewis Sloden in 1915.
Two years later, in November 1932, Irène married Lewis (Louis) Sloden (1892-1961). Mr Sloden worked as an art dealer. In the 1910s, Mr Sloden was hailed as "one of the most perfect ballroom dancers in the world." It was towards the end of this marriage that Irène met the man who was to be her third and final husband: Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark. Irène Ovtchinnikova and Lewis Sloden divorced in 1936.
Prince Peter
In September 1939, Irène Ovtchinnikova, erstwhile Marquise Jehan de Monléon and Mrs Lewis Sloden, wed Prince Peter in a civil ceremony at the Danish consulate at Madras, India. The couple had been in India since March 1939. Needless to say, Peter's parents were not thrilled with their only son's mésalliance with "the Russian woman," as Marie Bonaparte often referred to her daughter-in-law. Prince George ceased communications with his only son. However, Irène and Peter would not be deterred: in June 1941 they were married in a Greek Orthodox ceremony at Jerusalem.
Irène and Peter
Peter and Irène's marriage would stand the test of time in name only. Irène did eventually win over her mother-in-law Princess Marie. Prince Peter and his wife shared an enthusiasm for anthropology: the prince had studied anthropology between 1935-1936 at the London School of Economics under the Polish-born anthropologist Bronisław Malinowski and the New Zealander ethnologist Sir Raymond Firth. Irène assisted Peter with his academic endeavours in the Orient.
Following the fall of the Greek monarchy, Prince Peter and Princess Irène separated, but they never divorced. Making his base in Copenhagen, Peter formed a relationship with a young British woman. Irène went her own way and moved to Hong Kong, before returning to Paris in the twilight of life.
After forty-one years of marriage, Prince Peter of Greece and Denmark died on 15 October 1980 at the National Hospital for Nervous Diseases in London. Peter had been admitted to hospital on 5 October after suffering a brain haemorrhage.
On 13 March 1990, Princess Peter of Greece and Denmark died at Paris. She was eighty-five years-old. Irène was buried next to Peter at the Bernstorff Palace Park at Hovedstaden, Denmark.
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More about Prince Peter and his wife Irène can be read in Marie Bonaparte: A Life by Ceclia Bertin.
The engagement is announced between Captain Frederick Wellesley, The Blues and Royals, younger son of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington, and Captain Katherine Lambert, Royal Engineers, elder daughter of Mr and Mrs Nicholas Lambert.
The Duke and Duchess of Wellington with the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall.
Born on 30 September 1992 at London, Lord Frederick Charles Wellesley is the fifth and youngest child of the Duke and Duchess of Wellington. Frederick's parents are Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington (b.1945), and Princess Antonia of Prussia (b.1955). Through his mother, he is a grandson of Prince Friedrich of Prussia, the subject of a recent article in the European Royal History Journal, and his wife Lady Brigid Guinness, of the Earls of Iveagh. Frederick Wellesley has four elder siblings: Arthur Wellesley, Earl of Mornington (b.1978; married Jemma Kidd); Lady Honor Wellesley (b.1979; married the Hon. Orlando Montagu); Lady Mary Wellesley (b.1986); and Lady Charlotte Wellesley (b.1990; married Alejandro Santo Domingo). Lord Frederick Wellesley studied at Eton and then went on to the Royal Academy Sandhurst. In 2016, he joined the Blues and Royals, where he has achieved the rank of captain.
King James: the common ancestor of Frederick and Katherine.
Born on 25 July 1992, Katherine Emma Lambert is the daughter of Nicholas Thomas Lambert (b.1957) and Fiona Jane Burn, who married in 1989. Katherine Lambert attended the Royal Academy Sandhurst; she joined the Royal Engineers, where she has achieved the rank of captain. Katherine and Frederick are thirteenth cousins through their mutual descent from King James VI and I of Scotland and England and Ireland.
Our congratulations to the happy couple and their families!
Princess Geraldine of Albania, held by her father Crown Prince Leka, in front of a picture of her great-grandmother Queen Geraldine of Albania. Photograph (c) Alamy/David Niviere.
Crown Prince Leka of Albania and his wife Crown Princess Elia welcomed the birth of their first child Princess Geraldine on 22 October 2020. The infant princess is the great-granddaughter of Queen Geraldine of Albania, who was born Countess Géraldine Margit Virginia Olga Mária Apponyi de Nagy-Appony on 6 August 1915, and who passed away on 22 October 2002 at Tirana.
Gladys Virginia Stewart.
It is through Princess Geraldine's great-grandmother and namesake that American blood courses through the veins of the newest member of the Albanian royal family. Queen Geraldine of Albania was the daughter of Count Gyula Apponyi de Nagy-Appony (1873–1924) and his wife Gladys Virginia Stewart (1891–1947), who married on 29 July 1914. The count and countess had three children: Countess Geraldine (later Queen of Albania), Countess Virginia (1916-2002; married in 1937 to András Baghy; married in 1947 to Joseph Blackburn; married in 1971 to József Máriássy), and Count Gyula (1923-1946). Following the death of her first husband in 1924, his widow Gladys married French soldier Gontran Girault (1882-1964) on 14 May 1926. The couple had three children: Sylviane Girault (b.Mehun-sur-Yèvre, Centre-Val de Loire, France 3 August 1927; married in 1955 to Maurice Muselier [1907-1989]), Guy Girault (b.1930), and Patricia Girault (b.1932). Aged fifty-six, Gladys Stewart Girault died on 19 November 1947 at Aix-en-Provence.
Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding and her granddaughter Geraldine, the future Albanian queen.
Gladys Virginia Stewart, Princess Geraldine of Albania's great-great grandmother, had been born on 18 July 1891 as the only child of John Henry Stewart (1831-1892), the son of David Stewart and Margaret Heighe, and his wife Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding (1871-1946). John Stewart and Mary Virginia Harding were married on 29 June 1890 at New York. In 1889, at the age of eighteen, Mary Virginia Harding authored a novel, The Soul of Lady Agnes. At the time of his marriage, John H. Stewart was the United States Consul to Antwerp, Belgium. After the death of Mr. Stewart, in July 1893 his widow became the guardian of their daughter Gladys. On 10 July 1902, Mary Virginia Ramsay Harding (widow Stewart) married Gustaf Victor Theodor Stråle af Ekna (1864-1935) at St. Helier's, Isle of Jersey. Gustaf/Gustave de Straele (Stråle af Ekna) was reportedly a chamberlain to the King of Sweden. Mary Virginia Harding Stråle af Ekna died before 1955, when she was buried in New York.
The wedding notice of Edward Learned Harding and Lucy Booker Ramsey. From the Spirit of the Age of Raleigh, NC (30 July 1856).
The obituary of Lucy Ramsey Harding. From The News and Observer of Raleigh, NC (26 December 1906).
Mary Virginia Harding, the great-great-great grandmother of Princess Geraldine, was the daughter of Edward Learned Harding (1822-1885) and Lucy Booker Ramsey (1839-1906), the daughter of Walter J. Ramsey (d.1856). Edward L. Harding, a clothing merchant, and Lucy B. Ramsey were married on 22 July 1856 at Raleigh, North Carolina, by the Reverend N. F. Reid. After the death of her husband, Lucy Ramsey Harding moved to France, where she died in 1906.
Don Carlo Ruspoli, Duca di Morignano, and Doña María da Gracia de Solís-Beaumount y Téllez-Girón, Duquesa de Plasencia.
On 20 February 2021, Doña María de Gracia, Duchess de Plasencia died at Madrid. She was sixty-three years-old. The duchess had been a nurse with the Spanish Red Cross and was a Dame of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as well as of the Constantinian Order of Saint George. María de Gracia was a second cousin once removed of Doña Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, Duchess de Medinaceli (1917-2013).
The wedding of the Duchess de Osuna and Don Pedro de Solís-Beaumont, 1946.
Doña Angela, Duchess de Osuna, with her daughters Doña María de Gracia, Duchess de Plasencia, and Doña Angela, Duchess de Arcos.
Doña María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón was born at Madrid on 12 March 1957. She was the younger daughter of Don Pedro de Solís-Beaumont y Lasso de Vega (1916-1959) and Doña Angela María Téllez-Girón y Duque de Estrada, Duchess de Osuna, etc. (1925-2015), who married in 1946. María de Gracia had one older sister: Doña Angela de Solis-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Arcos (b.1950). In 1963, María de Gracia's mother remarried Don José Maria de Latorre y Montalvo (1925-1991). From this marriage, María de Gracia had two half-sisters: Doña María del Pilar de Latorre y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Uceda (b.1965), and Doña María de la Asunción de Latorre y Téllez-Girón Montalvo, Duchess de Medina de Rioseco (b.1968).
The Duchess de Plasencia with her mother the Duchess de Osuna.
Photograph (c) Don Carlo Ruspoli.
Doña María de Gracia Ruspoli y Solís-Beaumont, Marquesa del Villar de Grajanejos.
On 11 October 1975, Doña María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón married Don Carlo Ruspoli, Duca di Morignano (b.1949). The Duke di Morignano and the Duchess de Plasencia had one child: Doña María de Gracia Ruspoli y Solís-Beaumont (b.Madrid 16 June 1977), Marquesa del Villar de Grajanejos. On 28 November 2009, the Marchioness del Villar de Grajanejos married Don Javier Isidro González de Gregorio y Molina (b.Madrid 7 November 1971). Doña María de Gracia and Don Javier have two children: Doña María de Gracia González de Gregorio y Ruspoli (b.2015) and Doña Blanca Micaela González de Gregorio y Ruspoli (b.2018).
The Duchess de Plasencia and the Duke di Morignano.
María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Plasencia, is survived by her husband Carlo, her daughter María de Gracia and her son-in-law Javier, and her granddaughters María de Gracia and Blanca.
Don Carlo Ruspoli, Duca di Morignano, and Doña María da Gracia de Solís-Beaumount y Téllez-Girón, Duquesa de Plasencia.
On 20 February 2021, Doña María de Gracia, Duchess de Plasencia died at Madrid. She was sixty-three years-old. The duchess had been a nurse with the Spanish Red Cross and was a Dame of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta as well as of the Constantinian Order of Saint George. María de Gracia was a second cousin once removed of Doña Victoria Eugenia Fernández de Córdoba, Duchess de Medinaceli (1917-2013).
The wedding of the Duchess de Osuna and Don Pedro de Solís-Beaumont, 1946.
Doña Angela, Duchess de Osuna, with her daughters Doña María de Gracia, Duchess de Plasencia, and Doña Angela, Duchess de Arcos.
Doña María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón was born at Madrid on 12 March 1957. She was the younger daughter of Don Pedro de Solís-Beaumont y Lasso de Vega (1916-1959) and Doña Angela María Téllez-Girón y Duque de Estrada, Duchess de Osuna, etc. (1925-2015), who married in 1946. María de Gracia had one older sister: Doña Angela de Solis-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Arcos (b.1950). In 1963, María de Gracia's mother remarried Don José Maria de Latorre y Montalvo (1925-1991). From this marriage, María de Gracia had two half-sisters: Doña María del Pilar de Latorre y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Uceda (b.1965), and Doña María de la Asunción de Latorre y Téllez-Girón Montalvo, Duchess de Medina de Rioseco (b.1968).
The Duchess de Plasencia with her mother the Duchess de Osuna. Photograph (c) Don Carlo Ruspoli.
Doña María de Gracia Ruspoli y Solís-Beaumont, Marquesa del Villar de Grajanejos.
On 11 October 1975, Doña María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón married Don Carlo Ruspoli, Duca di Morignano (b.1949). The Duke di Morignano and the Duchess de Plasencia had one child: Doña María de Gracia Ruspoli y Solís-Beaumont (b.Madrid 16 June 1977), Marquesa del Villar de Grajanejos. On 28 November 2009, the Marchioness del Villar de Grajanejos married Don Javier Isidro González de Gregorio y Molina (b.Madrid 7 November 1971). Doña María de Gracia and Don Javier have two children: Doña María de Gracia González de Gregorio y Ruspoli (b.2015) and Doña Blanca Micaela González de Gregorio y Ruspoli (b.2018).
The Duchess de Plasencia and the Duke di Morignano.
María de Gracia de Solís-Beaumont y Téllez-Girón, Duchess de Plasencia, is survived by her husband Carlo, her daughter María de Gracia and her son-in-law Javier, and her granddaughters María de Gracia and Blanca.
By Darren Shelton for the European Royal History Journal.
The man history named as my father was extremely flamboyant, a trait which eventually cost him dearly.
Many at the time felt that my true father was the man who taught my 'official' parents the art of lovemaking. My arrival after many years of what appeared a barren marriage helped to confirm this.
I eventually succeeded as king at a young age. Time was to prove that ruling was not my forte. My wife came from a family that was successful in establishing her siblings on other thrones.
My son was to eventually marry a woman from the same house as his mother. Through my daughter-in-law, my descendants had imperial connections, albeit due to adoption.
Due to my ineptness, my son was forced to live a life of much reduced circumstances.
As can be expected, I died a broken man.
Who am I?
The answer will be posted tomorrow.
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I am King Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden (1778 – 1837).
Mr Jack Brooksbank, Master August Brooksbank, and Princess Eugenie.
This from the Royal Family today:
Her Royal Highness Princess Eugenie and Mr Jack Brooksbank have announced that they have named their son August Philip Hawke Brooksbank.
The couple have been touched by the well wishes they have received on the birth of their first child, and are delighted to share this first photograph as a family.
August in February.
Little August Brooksbank was born at London on 9 February 2021. He is the first child of Jack Brooksbank and Princess Eugenie, who married in 2018. The couple have named their son in honor of his maternal great-grandfather Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (b.1921); they have also named him in honor of two of the baby’s 5 x great-grandfathers: Rev. Edward Hawke Brooksbank (1789-1883) on father Jack’s side and Baron Auguste Louis von Senarclens de Grancy (1794-1871) OR Prince Franz August Karl Albert Emanuel of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1819-1861; the Prince Consort) on mother Eugenie’s side.
Happy parents: Jack and Eugenie with their son.
Master August Brooksbank is eleventh in the line of succession to the British throne.
