‘A FOREIGN PRINCESS’
Colonist
February 22, 1905
Some amusing anecdotes are told in the ‘Boudoir’ of Princess Marie d'Orléans, the wife of the youngest son of the King of Denmark, and one of the last of the Bourbons. On one occasion this wayward Princess boarded a locomotive at a station, and insisted upon being carried on an express journey, and during the trip inquired into the minutest detail of the machinery and workings. Having undergone a course of instruction in the Copenhagen Fire Brigade, she does now don a dark blue coat with brass buttons and a short skirt, and helps the firemen with their work; and when staying in the country she has frequently put out a village fire by her energetic organizing skills and dash. She is, moreover, somewhat of a financier and a politician; and it is not an unusual occurrence for Copenhagen editors to receive an imperious summons to her presence, and to be well scolded for a distasteful line that paper has taken.
The lady described above has to be hands down one of the most ‘refreshing’ and ‘down to earth’ royal individual’s of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. I’ve been fascinated if not enamored with her for many, many years now.
In the modern age, currently, of which I speak, you might find as you read below about the Princess Marie, that she sounds pretty average, and that her behaviors are common. Perhaps viewed within the context of today, she might appear so. However, for her time, she is what we would politely call today as ‘cutting edge,’ while her contemporaries viewed her as nothing short of ‘eccentric’ which for the time was a polite way of saying that they viewed her at the very least as ‘slightly touched’ or if not completely crazy!
Personally as an esoteric, what I liked most about this princess was that she was not afraid to show her human side. Good or bad, warts and all, it would be a safe bet to say that those who interacted with the Princess; experienced her as fully herself. No hiding behind artifice with her, she saw little point in disguising the facts.
When all is said and done, I for one would have loved to have been a part of anyone, if not all of her escapades and no doubt after reading about her yourself, you will be like minded in your thoughts.
Princess Marie Amélie Françoise Hélène d'Orléans
13.I.1865 – 4.XII.1909
Princess Marie d'Orléans; was the eldest child of Prince Robert d'Orléans, Duc de Chartres, himself the second son of Prince Ferdinand Philippe d'Orléans , Duc d’Orléans and Duchess Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and his wife, Princess Françoise d'Orléans. In turn, Françoise was the daughter of Prince François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville and Princess Francisca of Brazil. Hence, Marie was the daughter of first cousins, and twice over descended from Louis Philippe, the ‘Citizen King’ of France.
Born during the reign of Emperor Napoléon III in France, one of her family's fiercest rivals, she grew up in England, where her family had moved in 1848, after the fall of the July Monarchy. Upon the fall of the Second Empire in 1871, Marie moved to France with her family. At this time, perhaps as a sign of things to come, she defined herself as ‘une bourgeoise’.
Princess Marie As A Young Girl
By the time she reached her twentieth year, she had contracted an ‘arranged’ marriage with Prince Valdemar of Denmark; the youngest son of King Christian IX, after receiving the consent of Pope Leo XIII, on Tuesday, October 20, 1885 in a civil ceremony in Paris and again in a religious ceremony in the Château d'Eu two days later, on Thursday, October 22. Although Marie remained a Roman Catholic, and Valdemar a Lutheran, due to the dictates of the dispensation, they adhered to the dynastic arrangement usually stipulated in the marriage contract in such circumstances: sons were to be raised in the faith of their father, daughters in the denomination of their mother.
The newly married couple took up residence in what was to be their country establishment; at Bernstorff Slot, in Gentofte, Copenhagen, Denmark, this had also been the place of Valdemar’s birth. Built in the middle of the 18th century for Foreign Minister Johann Hartwig Ernst, Count von Bernstorff, it remained in the possession of the Bernstorff family until 1812. In 1842 it was bought by King Christian VIII and for many years it was used as a summer residence by King Christian IX. The palace was originally designed by the French architect Nicolas-Henri Jardin who had been brought to Denmark to complete Frederick's Church in Copenhagen after the death of Nicolai Eigtved in 1754. It is one of the earliest examples of Neoclassical architecture in Denmark. The elaborately decorated two-storied building was completed in May 1765 at considerable cost. At the time it had four small decorative garrets, attics with decorative vases and a wide balcony on the roof ridge itself. On the garden side, there is a dome-covered projection rising the full height of the building. The palace's many rooms were modest in size and intended primarily for domestic use rather than for display. Most are paneled with parquet floors, large mirrors and decorated ceilings. The four rooms on the south side have over doors decorated by Johan Edvard Mandelberg. Bernstorff left Denmark in 1770, after being dismissed by the regent, Johann Friedrich Struensee. The estate remained in his family’s hands until 1812 but was then sold on several occasions. It was about to be demolished in 1842 when King Christian VIII of Denmark bought it and charged Jørgen Hansen Koch with its comprehensive renovation. A mezzanine was added and the layout of the first-floor rooms was changed. Fitting Jardin's decorative style, Norwegian marble fireplaces were to be found in three of the larger rooms. A sign above the entrance reads: ‘Honesto inter Labores otio sacrum’ or ‘Reserved for honest rest during periods of work.’
While living within the environs of the capital, the couple resided at the Det Gule Palæ, or Bergum's Mansion, more commonly known as the Yellow Mansion. Located in Amaliegade next to the Amalienborg Palace in the Frederiksstaden district of Copenhagen, the palace was and still is considered the first example of Neoclassical architecture in Copenhagen. The mansion was originally built as a burgher's house but was acquired by the Danish Royal Family. Prince Christian of Glücksborg, later to become Christian IX of Denmark, took up residence in it when he first arrived in Copenhagen. When Frederiksstaden was laid out around 1748, it was envisioned as a uniform Rococo district. All new buildings had to comply with certain guidelines stipulated by Nicolai Eigtved, the district's master planner. After Eigtved's death in 1754 they were in principle upheld but as fashions changed they were somewhat relaxed. The Yellow Mansion was built from 1759 to 1764 for the timber merchant H. F. Bargum. The architect was Nicolas-Henri Jardin and he designed it in the Neoclassical style as the first building in Copenhagen. King Frederick VI purchased the mansion in 1810 to use it as a guest residence for relatives visiting the royal family. In 1837, King Frederik VII handed the property over to his nephew Prince Christian of Glücksborg who had just arrived in Copenhagen from Germany. At this stage no one knew that he was later to become Christian IX as the first Glücksburg king of Denmark. Prince Christian took up residence in the mansion and lived there until 1865 when he had become king and moved into Amalienborg Palace. Prince Valdemar lived in the Yellow Palace until his death in 1939 as its last royal resident.
Since 1883, Prince Valdemar had lived primarily at Bernstorff Slot with his nephew and ward, Prince Georgios of Greece, a younger son of Valdemar's elder brother, Vilhelm, who had became King Georgios I of the Hellenes in 1863. The Greek King had taken the boy to Denmark to enlist him in the Danish navy, and consigned him to the care of his brother, Prince Valdemar, who was an Admiral in the Danish fleet. Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée, Princess Marie Bonaparte, the profound attachment he developed for his uncle from that day forward. The extreme intensity of this ‘uncle & nephew’ relationship was to define not only the marriage of Princess Marie and her husband, but the pattern of her very future as well.
It was into this household and relationship that Marie came to live. In 1907, when Georgios brought his bride to Bernstorff for the first family visit, Marie d'Orléans was at pains to explain to Princess Marie Bonaparte the intimacy which united uncle and nephew, so deep that at the end of each of Georgios' several yearly visits to Bernstorff, he would weep, Valdemar would take sick, and the women learned the patience not to intrude upon their husbands' private moments.
On this and subsequent visits, the Bonaparte princess found herself a great admirer of the Orléans princess, concluding that she was the only member of her husband's large family in Denmark and Greece endowed with brains, pluck, or character. Marie, in addition to her duties as mother and royal hostess, painted. During the first of these visits, Valdemar and Marie Bonaparte found themselves engaging in the kind of passionate intimacies she had looked forward to with her husband who, however, only seemed to enjoy them vicariously, sitting or lying beside his wife and uncle. On a later visit, Georgios’ wife carried on a passionate flirtation with Prince Aage, Valdemar's eldest son. In neither case does it appear that Marie objected, or felt obliged to give the matter any attention.
Georgios criticized Marie to his wife, alleging that she was having an affair with his uncle's stable master. He also contended that she drank too much alcohol, and could not conceal the effects. But Marie Bonaparte found no fault with Marie d’Orléans; rather, she admired her forbearance and independence under circumstances which caused her bewilderment and estrangement from her own husband.
At first, yes; it could be said that Marie and Valdemar did seem to have a very happy marriage. At least in the beginning, the marriage was friendly. Unfortunately, the rest of the Danish Royal Family was not so taken by her! In fact, her mother-in-law, Queen Louise called her a rough diamond that needed to be polished, but she turned out to be more rough than expected.
Marie was often described as impulsive, witty and energetic, a princess who eased things up at the stiff Danish court. As a princess of her husband’s country, she never fully learned to speak Danish. Although distant as a mother, still, she gave her children a free upbringing, and her artistic taste and Bohemian habits dominated her household.
In 1886, Valdemar declined the throne of Bulgaria with her consent. Apparently, Marie was as unambitious in getting crowned as her husband; growing up with the reports and tidings from the lives of his more illustrious siblings, Prince Valdemar apparently found that that kingship was best avoided! After he declined the throne of Bulgaria; eighteen years later, he ducked when his name came up for the vacancy in the new independent Kingdom of Norway.
As a princess, Marie was informal, believed in equality and was not snobby, and performed her ceremonial duties in an unconventional manner, and once wrote: ‘I believe that a person, regardless of her position, should be herself’. She was an independent character with firm opinions, and showed this both privately and publicly. She liked both to ride and to drive and was known for her elegance. She was the official protector of the fire brigade and let herself be photographed in a fire brigade uniform, which was caricatured, and as a support to her spouse's career as a marine, she had an anchor tattooed on her upper arm. She once said regarding the complaints of her unconventional manners: ‘Let them complain, I am just as happy nevertheless’. One of her children later told that Valdemar had disapproved of this love-token, and Marie was ordered to cover up at formal occasions!
Stifled by the trappings of her position, Marie had asked the permission of the court to leave the house without a lady-in-waiting; she mainly spent her time with artists. Extremely artistic by nature, she painted and photographed and was a student of Otto Bache and Frants Henningsen. The Princess participated in the exhibitions on Charlottenborg 1889, 1901 and 1902 and was a member of the Danish Arts Academy.
A bit of a rebel where royal responsibilities were concerned, refused to obey the expectation on royal women to stay away from politics. She belonged to the political left and participated in convincing the king to agree to the reforms of 1901, which led to an appointment of a Venstre government, and the de facto introduction of parliamentarism. In 1902, she rejected the idea to leave the Danish West Indies to USA. She also saw to the interests of France: she was credited by the French press to have influenced the French-Russian alliance in 1894 and the peace in the French-German Colonial conflict of Morocco in 1905.
It must be said that; Princess Marie had a tendency to exaggerate her political influence, which Alexander III was made to feel, and he and Mariya Feodorovna became quite tired of her frequent approaches. In 1894 Marie’s sister-in-law, the Russian Empress wrote, ‘Marie has again written a completely pointless letter to Sacha- naturally because she is with her parents she has to demonstrate her intimacy again.- He showed it to me and said, comme c'est bête (how stupid it is), I asked him not to wire his thanks to her, as this is exactly what she wanted in order to be able to show that she corresponds with him- and neither has he done so. What a curious person she is, don't you think?’
Nevertheless, for all her foibles, overtime, Marie became a popular if unconventional member of the royal family. Described as the most intelligent Danish princess of her time, artists and other members of the local intelligentsia flocked to the Yellow Palace for salons and soirées. Interested in politics and business affairs, she was not blind to the usefulness of a royal endorsement! When Prince Valdemar was in command of HDMS Valkyrien on a tour of the Far East, it was no coincidence that the ship’s main ports of calls were places where Danish industrialist H.N. Andersen was expanding his East Asiatic Trading Co.
Marie’s talented artistic pursuits were well known as were her eccentric ways. We may never know what enticed her to bull riding, whereas her interest in the Copenhagen fire brigade was prompted by a charity for firemen and their families. With a uniform to match Princess Marie was made honorary fireman, and in hindsight she maybe overdid her enthusiasm when leaving dinner parties to don her uniform and chase after the fire engines!
There are signs that the couple led separate lives in the last years of Marie’s life, but nothing out of the ordinary for a royal couple of their time and age. It is a fact however, that Valdemar’s naval duties often took him away for months on end, and in 1909; he was touring the Far East with three of his sons, while in India en route to Siam; they received word that Princess Marie had fallen ill with pneumonia and later meningitis.
Back in Copenhagen, family members, including the visiting Dowager Empress Mariya Feodorovna, grew concerned that Marie had refused to take medical advice in the early stages of her illness. Sadly, and perhaps as a relief to herself, Princess Marie died on Saturday, December 4, 1909.
In retrospect, it can be said that Marie was unique in her way and so was her husband. They understood their differences and did not seek to change the other. ‘Viva la Difference!’
Valdemar and Marie had five children:
Prince Aage Christian Alexander Robert of Denmark;
June 10, 1887 – February 19, 1940
Prince Axel Christian Georg of Denmark;
August 12, 1888 – July 14, 1964
Prince Erik Frederik Christian Alexander of Denmark;
November 8, 1890 – September 10, 1950
Prince Viggo Christian Adolf Georg of Denmark;
December 25, 1893 – January 4, 1970
Princess Margrethe Françoise Louise Marie Helene of Denmark;
September 17, 1895 — September 18, 1992
Quartering’s Of Princess Valdemar Of Denmark
1 - Princesse Marie d'Orléans.
1865-1909
Parents
2 - Prince Robert d'Orléans, Duc de Chartres.
1840-1910
3 - Princesse Françoise d'Orléans.
1844-1925
Grandparents
4 - Prince Ferdinand-Philippe d'Orléans , Duc d'Orléans.
1810-1842
5 - Herzogin Helene von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
1814-1858
6 – Prince François d'Orléans, Prince de Joinville.
1818-1900
7 – Princess Francisca de Bragança of Brasil.
1824-1898
Great Grandparents
8 - Louis-Philippe 1er d'Orléans, Roi des Français.
1773-1850
9 – Principessa Maria Amelia di Borbone-Sicilie.
1782-1866
10 – Grossherzog Friedrich Ludwig von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
1778-1819
11 - Prinzessin Caroline Luise von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach.
1786-1816
12- Louis-Philippe 1er d'Orléans, Roi des Français.
1773-1850
13 – Principessa Maria Amelia di Borbone-Sicilie.
1782-1866
14 - D. Pedro I de Bragança, Imperador do Brasil.
1798-1834
15 - Erzherzogin Maria-Leopoldine von Österreich.
1797-1826
Great Great Grandparents
16 - Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orléans.
1747-1793
17 - Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Comtesse de Penthièvre.
1753-1821
18 - Ferdinando I di Borbone, Re delle Due Sicilie.
1751-1825
19 - Erzherzogin Maria Karolina von Österreich von Habsburg-Lothringen.
1752-1814
20 - Großherzog Friedrich Franz I, von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
1756-1837
21 - Prinzessin Luise von Sachsen-Gotha.
1756-1808
22 - Großherzog Karl August von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach.
1757-1828
23 - Prinzessin Luise von Hessen-Darmstadt.
1757-1830
24 - Louis-Philippe Joseph, Duc d'Orléans.
1747-1793
25 - Adélaïde de Bourbon-Penthièvre, Comtesse de Penthièvre.
1753-1821
26 - Ferdinando I di Borbone, Re delle Due Sicilie.
1751-1825
27 - Erzherzogin Maria Karolina von Österreich von Habsburg-Lothringen.
1752-1814
28 - Don João VI o Clemente de Bragança, Rei de Portugal.
1767-1826
29 – Infanta Carlota Joaquina de Borbón de España.
1775-1830
30 - Franz von Habsburg-Lothringen, Kaiser von Österreich.
1768-1835
31 – Principessa Maria Teresa di Borbone-Sicilie.
1772-1807
Great-Great-Great Grandparents
32 - Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans.
1725-1785
33 - Louise-Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Princesse de Conti.
1726-1759
34 - Louis-Jean de Bourbon, Duc de Penthièvre.
1725-1793
35 - Principessa Maria Teresa d'Este di Modène.
1726-1754
36 - Carlos III de Borbón, Rey de España.
1716-1788
37 - Prinzessin Maria Amalia, von Sachsen.
1724-1760
38 – Duc François Étienne de Lorraine,
Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.
1708-1765
39 - Maria Theresia von Habsburg, Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches 1717-1780
40 - Herzog Ludwig von Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
1725-1778
41 - Prinzessin Charlotta Sophia von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld.
1731-1810
42 - Herzog Johann August von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg.
1704-1767
43 - Gräfin Luise Reuß zu Schleiz.
1726-1773
44 - Herzog Ernest August II Constantin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach.
1737-1758
45 – Prinzessin Anna Amalia von Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel.
1739-1807
46 - Landgraf Ludwig IX von Hessen-Darmstadt.
1719-1790
47 - Pfalz gräfin Karoline von Birkenfeld.
1721-1774
48 - Louis-Philippe, Duc d'Orléans.
1725-1785
49 - Louise-Henriette de Bourbon-Conti, Princesse de Conti.
1726-1759
50 - Louis-Jean de Bourbon, Duc de Penthièvre.
1725-1793
51 - Principessa Maria Teresa d'Este di Modène.
1726-1754
52 - Carlos III de Borbón, Rey de España.
1716-1788
53 - Prinzessin Maria Amalia, von Sachsen.
1724-1760
54 – Duc François Étienne de Lorraine,
Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches.
1708-1765
55 - Maria Theresia von Habsburg, Kaiserin des Heiligen Römischen Reiches 1717-1780
56 - Don Pedro III de Bragança, Rei consorte de Portugal.
1717-1786
57 - Dona Maria I de Bragança, Rainha de Portugal.
1734-1816
58 - Carlos IV de Borbón, Rey de España.
1748-1819
59 – Principessa Maria Luisa di Borbone-Parma.
1751-1819
60 - Leopold II von Habsburg-Lothringen, Kaiser des Heiligen Römischen Reiches 1747-1792
61 – Infanta María Luisa de Borbón de España .
1745-1792
62 - Ferdinando I di Borbone, Re delle Due Sicilie.
1751-1825
63 - Erzherzogin Maria Karolina von Österreich von Habsburg-Lothringen.
1752-1814
ROYAL MARRIAGE BELLS
Wedding Of Prince Waldemar & Princess Marie
The Royal Families Of Denmark & France United
Brilliant Company At The Chateau d’Eu
By J.H.H.
The New York Times
October 23, 1885
Eu, France, Oct. 22. – The marriage of Prince Waldemar, third son of King Christian of Denmark, and Princess Marie, daughter of the Duc and Duchesse de Chartres, was celebrated today at the Château d’Eu, the residence of the Comte de Paris. The civil ceremony was performed yesterday in Paris by the Mayor, and the religious services were conducted here today in the private chapel of the château. Among those present were the Queen of Denmark, the Crown Prince of and Princess of Denmark, the Prince and Princess of Wales, and their three daughters, Prince de Joinville, the Duc d’Aumale, Duc Decazes, the Duc and Duchesse de Chartres, and Count von Motlke-Hvifeld, the Danish Minister.
The handsome park and extensive gardens surrounding the château were to-night brilliantly illuminated with electric lights and Chinese lanterns. The town was profusely decorated with flags and bunting, and many private houses were also illuminated in honor of the event. Everything passed off pleasantly. At the wedding breakfast, the Prince of Wales proposed a toast to the health of the bride and bridegroom. The latter subsequently departed for Chantilly.
COPENHAGEN, Oct. 22. – Today was observed as a general holiday in honor of the marriage of Prince Waldemar and Princess Marie d'Orléans. A banquet was given at the royal castle to celebrate the event, and torchlight processions from neighboring villages marched through the city. Premier Estrupp was warmly received.
By the marriage of this d'Orléans Princess to this young Prince of Denmark, the ‘Maison de France’ is once again restored to the great reigning royal families of Europe. There are a baker’s dozen of Princes, and just 14 Princesses in the House of France, but of this lot several – their descendants likewise – are excluded from any claim to the French throne. It is true that not one of the entire 27 wears crown or is even heir presumptive to a throne, although it is possible that the Comte d’Eu may someday be Prince Consort to the sovereign ruler of Brazil, as his wife is heir apparent to Dom Pedro, of the South American Empire. The intermarrying habit of the House of France has perhaps been a good thing in the matter of binding family ties, but the political effect has been unapparent and they never gained any substantial foreign influence by such marriages. I think it was some sort of political consideration that brought about this royal wedding, and it certainly is believed in France that the Comte de Paris personally arranged the whole affair. Naturally, the marriage of his niece to the son of King Christian IX and the recent election successes of Monarchists must make the head of the d'Orléans family feel quite contented with himself as well as with the world in general. Nothing can prove this better than the mere fact of his having lent his famous country seat on the seashore for the wedding. I have visited the château, and while it is not at all grand it certainly is interesting. The royal château is at the edge of a small town called Eu – hence its name – a place not far from Treport, on the shore of the English Channel, below Boulougne. Eu is built on the side of a hill and possesses an old cathedral, in the crypt of which are many curious tombs. On many of these tombs are recumbent statues of the persons buried underneath; the statues are carved out of gray stone, but the heads and hands are rich white marble. Close by the cathedral is an ancient college wherein Bourdaloue preached his first sermon. The château stands back of the church. It is large and massive, and has an air of antiquity about it. The historical souvenirs of the site go back to the time when Charlemagne had a fortified castle there, and it is known that William the Conqueror was married in this castle to the Princess Mathilde. In after years it was part of the dower which Catherine of Cleves took to the Duc Henri de Guise when she married into the House of Lorraine. The present building was begun in 1511, but it was more than a century and a half later before the Duchesse de Montpensier laid out its beautiful park and farm. It was here ‘La Grande Mademoiselle’ carried on her intrigue with the handsome Chevalier de Lauzun, and history records that one day they had such a ‘lover’s quarrel’ that she marked his face with the pretty pink nails of her fingers. But when her lover got into trouble and the Bastille, she willingly gave the place to the Duc de Maine to secure his release. De Maine’s sons died without issue, and the property passed into the possession of the Duc de Penthièvre, who bequeathed it to his son-in-law, Philippe Égalité, who left it to Louis Philippe. The ‘Citizen King’ entertained Queen Victoria here once upon a time. Louis Napoléon confiscated Eu with other d'Orléans estates, but Thiers got them all back for the family in 1871. The park and grounds are extensive and finely laid out, and are open to the public on Fridays and Sundays. With the exception of a splendid picture gallery the interior has no special attractions, although the receptions rooms are large and handsomely decorated.
There is every reason to believe that this is a genuine love match. Certainly the royal couple are ‘awfully spoony.’ I once saw them in a box at the Paris Hippodrome on a Friday night; she was holding his hand in hers, and during the entr’acte they ate bonbons out of a pretty little package that he took from his coat-tail pocket. The bride is a lovely young lady, not handsome, nor even princely looking, but she is good and pure and intelligent; rather reserved, maybe, but never haughty or stuck up like some of the Bourbons. The bride looks very much like her mother, the Duchesse de Chartres, a truly royal person. Her father, the Prince de Joinville is known in this country. The Duchesse has a deep affection for her children, fulfills faithfully all her domestic duties, and is one of the most charitable and refined ladies on the Continent. She can swim, ride, shoot, speaks English of course – I never heard of a member of the d'Orléans family that could not – and paints well. The Duc de Chartres served on Gen. McClellan’s staff during the civil war. He is a second son of that Duc d'Orléans who was accidentally killed just outside of Paris by his carriage horses running away. All the d'Orléans Princes wanted to serve their country in the German War of 1870, but the Imperial Government refused to let them fulfill this sacred duty. Then the Duc de Chartres slipped into France, enlisted as a private under the name of Robert Lefort, and so distinguished himself that he not only rose to the rank of Captain, but was decorated with the Cross of the Legion of Honor. After the war he was allowed to retain his commission, and was successively promoted until he became Colonel of a crack regiment of Hussars. He was considered by General de Gallifet and other competent authorities as one of the most efficient officers in the service when three years ago he and all other gentlemen of royal parentage were summarily dismissed from the French Army. Since then the Duc has been living the life of a private gentleman in Paris and at his brother’s place at Eu. The Duc’s reputation as a writer as he does the sword, one of his books, a study of the Valley of the Rhine and the heroic deeds therein of earlier French soldiers being a splendid literary monument to the history of other days.
Good reports are given of the young Danish Prince who is to marry this fair girl of France, but then the Schlewig-Holsteins are a wonderfully good family. There are two branches of the Royal House of Denmark, but the right of inheritance of the elder branch, the Augustenbergs, died out with Frederick VII. That King married a dressmaker. Of course their children could not inherit and when the King died the Danish Parliament chose his cousin, Christian, to succeed him. As a matter of fact Christian was not at the head of the younger branch when thus elected, but he was the only Prince among a lot who had not taken up arms against Denmark in its troubles with Prussia in 1848. At first he was not at all popular with his people, but his sound common sense, justice, and domestic manners soon won them over, and today he is greatly esteemed by all his loyal subjects. He likes to walk unattended through the streets of Copenhagen, and often people who had disputes about business or property instead of going to law about it, stop him and request him to decide the case for them. He is not, however, what you would call a liberal King; on the contrary, he is a conservative, and for some years past he has been having quite a time of it with Parliament. The quarrel originated in the project of fortifying Copenhagen. The King, who had not been able to console himself of the annexation of Schleswig-Holstein by Prussia, wanted to fortify the capital. Parliament refused on the ground that a people numbering 2,000,000 would always be too feeble to resist a foreign foe, and it was no use making elaborate preparations to do the impossible.
The Danish King has always had good luck in getting his children married. There are six of them. The eldest, the heir apparent, is married to a daughter of the Scandinavian King. The second son, George, is King of Greece, and his wife is a niece of the Emperor of Russia. The third son, Waldemar, is the bridegroom of today. There are also three daughters. One of them, Dagmar, is the Empress of Russia. Another, Alexandra, is Princess of Wales, and will be Queen of England some day; and the third, the Duchess of Cumberland, ought now to be Queen of Hanover. As a father, King Christian has brought up his children carefully and with much liberty of thought as to religion. It was easy enough for the Princess Alexandra to pass from Lutheranism to the Church of England faith when she married Albert Edward, and so, too, was it easy for the Princess Dagmar to enter the Greek Church when she was wedded to the Czarevitch. Prince George stipulated that he might remain a Lutheran when he accepted the Greek crown, but his six children are all being brought up under the spiritual care of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Princess Marie of Orléans is a devout Roman Catholic, and the Pope would never have permitted her to marry the Prince Waldemar had not the latter promised that their children, if they have any, shall be piously educated in the faith of their mother.
THE NEW ROYAL MATCH
Further Notes On The d'Orléans
Alliance With Denmark
Wide Interest In France
Sketches Of The Princess & The Prince
Father-In-Law & Mother-In-Law
The New York Times
September 13, 1885
PARIS, Aug. 26 – Two great events are about to break up the miasmas from which Paris has suffered during now nearly three long months and against which even the coming joys of the chase, which is just about opening, might have been unable to provoke a healthy reaction. The Afghan difficulty so dragged its denouement that people lost all interest in a quarrel where one party was willing but not ready, and the other neither willing nor ready, to fight it out. The little German gouge game about the possession of the Caroline Islands never made one cent’s difference, up or down, in the price of stocks. Speculation in Panama scrip, spite of all the cunning devices of bulls and bears to sublimate or depress the market by letters for and against the enterprise, kept flat. Nobody cared whether M. de Lesseps did or did not remain in the drawing room of the Château de Trogasch after his companions had departed en masse on noticing that their noble hostess and her other aristocratic guests, though civil and courteous to the French newspaper men, were ‘haughty and arrogant to our colleagues of the Austrian press,’ might have made nearly as violent a tempest in a teapot as M. Henri de Rochefort is trying to raise with the revelations in re Olivier Pain of a bold son of Poland who affirms that somebody else how the hero of the Commune had been done to death with musketry by those pernicious Britishers.
Even the expulsion of M. Rostran from Alsatia and the Ministerial request to Paul Déroulède not to speak at the unveiling of Chanzy’s statue failed to excite even passing interest; the world learned that M. Grévy, having for the second time become a grandfather, had gone to kill rabbits at Mont Sous Vaudrey; that M. Ferry had been extensively insulted at Lyons and elsewhere; that the cholera was steadily, if slowly, working its way toward Paris, and that if Admiral Courbet’s body was not landed at Toulon, but at Hyères, it was because of well founded fears of dire consequences to be expected from the affluence of twenty or thirty thousand pilgrims from disease-infected Marseilles. None of these things, nor yet a score of others, including several murders of first class atrocity, had the slightest effect upon Parisian equanimity, or , if you will, apathy, and plebeians, bourgeois, and aristocrats went on in the event tenor of their monotonous existence until two cries – one of grief, the other of satisfaction – were raised as mankind learned how Anna Judie would sail for America next week, and that in September a Princess of the House of Orleans would wed with a Prince of Denmark.
Really stupendous are those two events. For the majority of those who live within this capital of Gaul the first of these events is as terrible as any national disaster, such, for instance, as the annexation of another province by the Prussians, and boulevardiers shake their heads ominously and wonder what can be invented next winter by way of substitute for the great artist who lured by expectations of a plenteous harvest of dollars, has deserted her native shores to show the Yankees, by comparison, what an awful fraud was Louise Theo. And yet, spite of the event both here and transatlantically, I must give precedence to the other event, being assured by ‘one who knows all about it’ that perhaps the consummation of the marriage of Prince Waldemar with Princess Marie de Bourbon-Orléans may ultimately – I should say very ultimately, and certainly not in our time – influence the destinies of Europe. It is not a political marriage, say some people; it is an intensely political marriage, say others; and whether it is or is not you can judge as I go on. The Princess Marie was born at Ham, on the banks of the Thames, on the 13th of January, 1865. She is the eldest of the surviving infants of the Duc de Chartres, whose other children are Prince Henri, who recently passed his Baccalaureate examination; Prince Jean, who had his first communion last Spring, and Princess Marguerite, who is just turned sweet 16. The bride elect is tall and slim, much resembling the portraits of her great-grandmother. Queen Marie Amélie, who was her godmother, standing with the Prince de Joinville as godfather in the year preceding the old lady’s demise. She has blue eyes, a sharp Bourbonian profile – that is, a prominent nose – and a long – politely ‘swanlike’ – neck. She is not precisely pretty, but is ‘very amiable,’ or, as the last apologetic formula for plain girls puts it, ‘she loves her mother fondly.’ Her manners are ‘simple and charming, exciting the admiration of all who admired her juvenile manners and deportment’ last winter in the salons of the Duchesses de la Trémoille, de Galliera, and de Bisaccia, where, as in those of Baroness Alphonse de Rothschild, she and her parents are constant visitors. In point of fact, she had been carefully brought up by her mother, whom she is said to resemble, if not in feature, in intelligence and artistic aptitude. Apropos of the Duchesse herself, I must say that her beauty, rather striking at one time, has disappeared, although she is not yet one-and-forty. Her once brilliant complexion has become blotched, the corners of her lips have drooped, giving a cross expression to her countenance, such as you see sometimes on the faces of some Western women who, having had a rough time of it in early days and are only prosperous in middle age, mistake sternness for dignity tempered with resignation. She has still, however, a fine figure and generally represents the conventional model of a ‘princely presence,’ added to which she is credited by her friends with the reputation of an accomplished sportswoman and aquarelliste, wherein, continue her panegyrists, she resembles her father, the Prince de Joinville, who is so notoriously deaf that the biggest imaginable covey of partridges might whirr up under his very nose without his knowing it. Like the greyhound, the Prince de Joinville hunts by sight. The Duchesse will some day be very wealthy; her only brother, the Duc de Penthièvre, being even deafer than his papa, is doomed to celibacy, wherefore to her must eventually come the immense fortune left by Mme. Adelaide to her nephew, and also the dower of his deceased wife, a daughter of the Emperor of Brazil. This consideration doubtless, entered largely into the combinations of Queen Louise of Denmark, who, cleverer in her generation than her British Majesty, has managed so that her children should not be burdens on her subjects, but quite the contrary, as one son sits on the throne of Greece, one daughter is Empress of Russia, and another is the future Queen of England, and more satisfactory in the way of situations than anything, save one, accomplished by Victoria. Naturally the old lady was unwilling that her sixth-born infant should be less well provided for , and so began to cast about, and the Princess of Saxe-Coburg und Gotha and the Duchess of Cumberland collaborating, overtures were made to the Duc de Chartres, the Princess Marie was taken to Copenhagen, and a bargain was struck, pretty much as one would buy a racing filly, the only doubt being whether the bride or the bridegroom elect was the purchaser of the commodity sold, on which point also your readers may judge for themselves.
The Prince Waldemar was born on the 27th of October, 1858; his brothers and sisters are the Crown Prince, married to a daughter of the late King Charles XV of Sweden; Georges, King of the Hellenes and son-in-law of the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia; the Princess Alexandra of Wales; the Empress of Russia, and the Duchess of Cumberland, who, Bismarck not interfering, would have been Queen of Hanover and Duchess of Brunswick. As I have said above, the Royal Family of Denmark is most respectably connected. Waldemar, like his betrothed , is tall, slim, and fair, wears glasses, and looks like a student rather than of a bold mariner, although we are assured that he is ‘one of the most distinguished officers of the Danish Navy,’ and that his voyages all over the world were ‘from the outset a great bond of sympathy between him and his illustrious father-in-law, who in the episodes of foreign travel seeks oblivion and consolation for the terrible shock caused him by his summary elimination from the French Army.’ I may be allowed to remark here that the Duc de Chartres is about the only one of his tribe who has friends among the French people. Whether he did or did not accomplish prodigies of valor in 1870-71 is a debatable point, as none of the chiefs of the army with which ‘Robert Lefort’ was reported to have served ever saw him during his short stay with it. But, unlike his elder brother, he came to the front, ready to risk his life in his country’s cause, which is always a title to popular favor, while his deportment when in command of a cavalry regiment during the long interval of peace was all that it should have been. He never meddled with politics, drank absinthe freely, gave nice hunting parties to which he invited all his officers in turn, and select dinner parties to which he invented all the swells, from whom he won golden opinions by laughing at his great grandfather’s bourgeoisism. He might have made a successful pronunciamento on the day when in public he called his umbrella ‘les armes de mon grand-père!’
Rather indifferent, not to say a scoffer, in religious matters, the Duc de Chartres was not at all exercised over that sore point among the Royalists’ difference of religious creed, and bade those who warned him that this union of a French Princess with a Lutheran might alienate many partisans be of good cheer. ‘Bah!’ he said, ‘his wife will convert him.’ And this is quite possible, as Queen Louise has brought up all her olive branches with very broad religious views in prevision of the future alliances where changes of form might be sine qua nons. The Princess of Wales gave up the doctrine of Luther for Anglicanism, the Emperor of Russia and King George of Greece did not hesitate to embrace the Greek profession, and it is quite on the cards that Prince Waldemar, following the example of his relatives, may offer his abjuration by the way of wedding present to his bride. But, however this may be eventually, only one thing is now positively settled; all the children who my be born, both sons and daughters, are to be brought up as Roman Catholics, on which condition, imperatively enjoined, his Holiness consents to the bestowal of a dispensation and benediction. It is at the Château of Fredensborg, the Danish Versailles, that the betrothal will be celebrated on the 7th of September, the anniversary of Queen Louise’s birth, when all the children of the Danish Sovereign will meet in a grand family congress and, laying aside etiquette, be quite homelike and pleasant, rejoiced to be freed for the moment of those cares and anxieties which are supposed to weigh so heavily on heads that wear a crown. The Royal Family of Denmark is a remarkably united family, with patriarchal manners, having no nonsense about it, resembling in this respect the family of d'Orléans in the days of Marie Amélie, who at Neuilly used to inspect her cook’s accounts every evening and mend her own stockings, like any tradesman’s wife of the Marais, and was never so happy as when Louis Philippe called her ‘Bobonne!’ and she him ‘Mon cher home!’ before the servants. I can assure you that the two families were born and brought into the world to understand each other, even if there were not a bond of sympathy in the outspoken kind feeling of the Danish people for France when in her troubles. It is probable, or rather possible, that the wedding may be solemnized at the Château d'Eu; at least, the adherents of the Comte de Paris hope so, as it is most desirable that the head of the family which aspires to rule over the French nation should emerge from that habitual reserve which enemies now qualify as timidity. A series of fetes that would give a helping hand to French shopkeepers would do a power of good to the cause of those who are accused of hiding their lights under a bushel at Eu and Chantilly.
PRINCESS MARIE’S TROUSSEAU
From The London Daily News
The New York Times
November 7, 1885
The trousseau of Princess Marie of Orléans, now the wife of Prince Waldemar of Denmark, was on view some days ago at Vignon’s, in Rue di Rivoli, and a fluttering crowd of animated Parisians assembled to examine and comment upon the dresses. The Duchesse de Chartres has herself selected the materials and suggested the styles to her favorite couturiere, to whose skill she knew she could safely entrust the carrying out of her ideas. One of the first subjects of remark was the almost flat form of the skirts, which are wholly guiltless of the hideous and unnatural prominences to which the eye has of late become but too well inured. The gowns of the young bride have been cut in very different fashion. They mold the figure in lines that would enchant a sculptor; and many of them have been made with the graceful Watteau plait, which will never disappear completely from the fashionable world so long as the picturesque is studied drapery of the becoming in norm. The textures of the dresses are of the most sumptuous description, including plush with a tender bloom color upon them like the down of a butterfly’s wing, or the soft powdery film on a ripe nectarine; silks to soft that whole breadths cold be drawn through a wedding ring without injuring the fabric; and embroideries so finely wrought as to recall the arabesques and fanciful traceries of King Frost, with all the fragile delicacy of a spider’s web.
As everyone knows, the French bride has the happiness of having three wedding gowns – one for the civil marriage, one for the signing of the contract, and one for the religious ceremony. On the first occasion Princess Marie wore a skirt of blue plush in the shade called ‘Baltic Blue’, rather paler than peacock, but with similar suggestions of green, like a shoaling sea. Over this skirt opened a tunic of ribbed silk in the same shade of blue with the plush. The bodice was also made of this silk, but it was partly covered by a Figaro vest of Baltic blue plush, which scarcely reached to the waist, and was trimmed with fine passementerie in the same shade of blue as the plush. A small capote of gathered plush completed the costume. It was lined with golden brown velvet and tied on with narrow strings of golden brown velvet ribbon. The wedding and contract dresses have already been described in the Daily News. The traveling dress is of cloth in a beautiful shade of gray, known to modistes as ‘old silver.’ The skirt is arranged in plaits which fall in straight and simple folds. The drapery of the tunic is formed by plaits which cross and re-cross each other. The casaque bodice is trimmed hussar fashion with raised knots of old silver passementerie. As the Princess is very fair of complexion, with fresh, clear coloring, this tasteful dress must-suit her admirably. A walking dress is also gray, being made of velvet in the shade of that color known as ‘frightened mouse.’ This tunic is raised in skillfully arranged folds over a skirt of velvet, on which narrow stripes of old gold and pale blue appear upon a ground of mouse gray. The bodice is of plain velvet, with two long revers beginning on the shoulders and ending at the waist. These revers open over a front of turquoise colored surah, arranged like a man’s shirt front in tiny tucks and with a stand-up collar and cravat, all in surah. This dress is original, both in the combination of colors and in the mode of trimming the bodice. One on the visiting costumes is made of glace silk, the color being that of wild pink convolvulus. The plaited skirt is surmounted by a drapery of similar silk. The bodice is made with a plastron, collar, revers, and cuffs of velvet in the deep shade of reddish plum color known as ‘Prune de Monsieur.’
The evening and dinner dresses are made with a simplicity which is all the more emphatic by reason of richness of the materials and the dazzling brilliancy of the jewels with which they are intended to be worn. A dinner gown of light ruby velvet, for instance, is made with a perfectly plain skirt, while the half low bodice and elbow sleeves have no trimming save a group of ruby-tinted feathers on the shoulder, the fronds of which are powdered with diamonds. A similar bunch of jeweled feathers is to be worn in the hair. An evening dress, made expressly to be worn with a dog collar of emeralds and diamonds, given by the Duchesse de Chartres, is a veritable cloud of reed-colored tulle over satin of the same soft shade of green. A long trail of water lilies appears to be fastening the draperies on one side of the skirt. The bodice, with its long point, has a flat ruche of tulle for trimming, which crosses in front like a fichu. It is a dress for naiad. A second evening dress is made of white satin, with a long train of diaphanous, snowy tulle. The front is covered with flowers embroidered in silver upon the ground of white satin, and is trimmed with silver lace. The short sleeves are composed entirely of this lace, arranged in ‘whipped cream’ sort of fashion. A third evening dress is a dream of lovely color. This skirt is of moiré, while the train is composed partly or moiré and partly of crêpe de chine embroidered in it own color, which, like that of the moiré, is a silvery blue. The tunic is of crêpe de chine. The bodice, also moonlight blue, opens over a plastron of small beads in a similar shade of silvered blue. The dog collar is made of beads matching these.
The Princess’s presentation Court dress is made with a petticoat of white satin embroidered with roses, carnations, and cornflowers, all in silver thread. The bodice and train are of white brocade, the design of roses being embroidered in silver. The front of the pointed bodice is embroidered with an exquisite silver tracery of mingled roses, carnations, and cornflowers. A tuft of white feathers powdered with silver is fastened on each shoulder. Round the entire train of dazzling silver brocade runs a double trimming of similar snowy plumes, each frond of which has its share of powdered silver. Diamonds are to be worn with this Court robe, which is a mass of silvery, snowy whiteness, and, as an instance of the completeness with which everything has been carried out, it may be mentioned that a group of feathers like those on the dress has been set apart to be arranged among the flowers of the bouquet which the Princess will carry when she wears this ideal presentation dress. A black dress, intended to be worn during Court mourning and without one glimpse of white, offers a curious contrast to the above. The skirt is of moiré. The tunic is of damask trimmed with large designs of passementerie, glittering with finely cut jet. The bodice for afternoon wear crosses in front over a plaited chemisette of black surah. The trimming is a mixture of jet and wooden beads. That intended to be worn in the evening is made with a Watteau plait, and scintillates with jet from neck to hem. Another dinner dress is in sating and Indian crêpe of the color of a white pearl. The satin skirt is almost entirely covered with the silky softness of the Indian crêpe, which is embroidered in a design of lotus flowers in a tint of creamy white. The Louis XV bodice comes down in a long point in front, and has a long trimming of white satin arranged in folds suggestive of a shawl. The elbow sleeves are finished off with a simple bias fold of white satin.
Among the wedding presents of the young Princess is a magnificent reverie of diamonds, presented by the Duc’Aumale. The Duc de Chartres was given his daughter a whole set in diamond flowers. The aigrette for the hair is composed of magnificent stones. The Dowager Baroness de Rothschild has given two small bowls of Sèvres pate tender, the ground of which is in bleu de Roy, with medallions inclosing bouquets of roses. These would delight collectors. The Duchesse Decazes has sent the bride a mirror framed in silver and gold, the precious metals being wrought in Russian fashion. The dress in which the Princess traveled to Eu on Tuesday, after the civil ceremony at the Mairie, was in a soft shade of Nile green. Her mantle was gray, with felt hat to match. She wore a spray of white lilac fastened upon her bodice. The station at Eu was decorated with French and Danish flags. The red square with white cross of the Danish mingled happily with the tricolor. Among the individuals of the Princess’ suite on her wedding trip not the least important will be her inseparable companion, a small bull terrier. A wedding collar has been made on purpose for the occasion for this little animal to wear. It is composed of crocodile skin with plates of silver.
DENMARK COURT SCANDAL
Eccentricities Of The Princess Waldemar Are Unbearable
The Daughter Of First Cousins
She Had A Fervent Passion For A
Sailor’s Life, Then For Fireman, & Later For Political Intrigues
The New York Times
January 3, 1895
From The Philadelphia Evening Telegraph
It has been said that no royal family of Europe is free from the taint of insanity. This has been attributed to two causes: to the want of control, and consequent mental degeneration, that follows from the possession of unlimited wealth and power; and to the system of frequent intermarriage between members of related families. No sadder instance of the result of this latter condition is there than the life story of Princess Waldemar of Denmark, who, rumor says again, is to be divorced from her husband, the sailor son of King Christian. Marie Amélie Françoise Hélène d’Orléans is the daughter of first cousins, the Duc de Chartres, the son of the late Duc d’ Orléans, and a daughter of his sailor brother, the Prince de Joinville. The Princess Waldermar’s sister, Princess Marguerite d’Orléans, is almost as eccentric, and one of her brothers died an idiot – three victims of a violation of a law of science. At the time of her wedding to Prince Waldemar, Marie d’Orléans showed none of the eccentricities that have by this time developed into undoubted insanity. She was a bright, lively, rosey-cheeked French girl of twenty, with a penchant for doing rather risqué things, but perfectly sane when she was married on October 21, 1885, at Paris. Her health then would seem to lend some probability to her husband’s story that the morphine habit has brought her to her present condition; but medical men of authority have declared her condition to be due to the close relationship of her parents.
From the moment of her arrival in Denmark she has been the talk of the Court circles there; first for her liveliness and brightness, then for her eccentricities in her fervent passion for a sailor’s life, and for the firemen of Copenhagen, and afterward for the part she played in the diplomatic intrigues of Europe. It can be said of few women of royalty that they have caused the downfall of a Bismarck, the dismissal of a Comte d’Aunary, and a war scare in Europe. The babe destined to accomplish these things was born at Ham, in England, on January 13, 1865. She was brought up, as were all the Duc de Chartres’ children, by the excellent and completely deaf Joinville. The London Truth, in speaking of their early education, once said, in Labby’s peculiar journalese: ‘In the summer he and they lived at a country house in the forest of Chantilly, and in winter in a superb mansion in the Rue François Premier. He was the drawing master of the Princess Marie, who uses her pencil cleverly, and is on a level as a water-colorist with her grandfather and mother. She is a first-rate equestrienne, but – there is always a drawback to everything – has the kind of physique to which in former days the touch of a King or a Queen regnant was supposed to give health. One sees this in the ill-defined, thick nostrils. The face, without being pretty or distingué, is rather pleasing, and it has country freshness. Her eldest brother vegetated, to the age of nineteen, in a state resembling that of unchristened babes in limbo, idealess, and without pleasure or pain. He then died. Dr. Guneau de Mussy thought him a victim of his parents’ first-cousinship.’
Although her marriage to Prince Waldemar was arranged before she had met him, the young couple were said to have fallen in love on sight. At any rate, they were in the properly sentimental state by the time the wedding came off. Their formal betrothal took place on September 14, 1885, at the Danish Castle of Fredensborg, amid great éclat, the affair being attended by all the leading members of the d'Orléans family, the King and Queen of Denmark, the Czar and Czarina of Russia, the Prince and Princess of Wales and daughters, the King and Queen of Greece, the Duchess of Cumberland, the Czarevitch and the Grand Dukes, and a long list of Princes and Princesses and lesser sprigs of royalty. As the Prince is a Lutheran and the Princess a Catholic, a Papal dispensation for the marriage was necessary, and this was obtained at Rome for the trifling consideration of $1.87, although one of the veracious London society journals announced that the Vatican authorities demanded and received the sum of $20,000. The dispensation was based on the condition that the daughters who might be born of the marriage should be brought up in the Catholic faith, while the sons might be trained as Protestants.
The wedding which took place in the next month, was the occasion of much pomp. The civil ceremony took place on October 21, at the Mairie of the Eight Arrondissement of Paris, the magistrate who officiated calling down upon himself the wrath of the republican newspapers because he caused his office to be gaily decorated with flowers and delivered a congratulatory address to the bride, to whom he bade farewell and wished all manner of happiness in the name of France. The religious ceremony took place at the now abandoned Château d'Eu, the residence of the late Comte de Paris. It was celebrated in the private chapel of the château, in the presence of the Queen of Denmark, the Crown Prince and Princess of Denmark, the Prince and Princess of Wales and their three daughters, Prince de Joinville, the Duc d’Aumale, the late Duc Decazes, the Duc and Duchesses de Chartres, and Count von Moltke-Hatzfeld, the Danish Minister. Previous to the marriage Prince Waldemar had been enjoying an allowance of $7,500 a year. This was doubled by his royal father, while the bride brought him a ‘dot’ in the shape of an annual allowance of $20,000. She is, however, the heiress to an immense fortune on her paternal side, as well as to that of her great aunt, the Princess de Joinville and her income will ultimately by quite $250,000 a year. The married couple, after their return to Copenhagen, occupied the Yellow Palace, the former residence of Christian IX, before his advent to the throne, and since 1863 occupied by the brothers of the King.
Had any one ventured to predict, when the Princess arrived in Copenhagen, that some day she would be one of the most popular women of the Court, the Danes would have ridiculed his prophecy. The truth is that the young Princess proved something of a disappointment to the loyal citizens of Copenhagen. For months their newspapers had been applying to her choicest phrases from the Court reporter’s stock – ‘charming, fascinating, majestic, beautiful.’ And here she was, with her half-closed eyes, receding chin, and a pathetic expression. It is true, her lithe and slender figure and her fresh complexion were beyond criticism, but that was about all the grumbling inhabitants of the Danish capital could say in the way of praise – that praise which once for all has been put down as the due of all royal ladies. Her features possessed none of the classical regularity of those of her sister-in-law, the Princess of Wales, nor were they mellowed by the inexpressible sweetness that hovered upon the face of the lovely Caroline Amalie, the widow of King Christian VIII, whom she survived so long that to nearly everyone of the generation that greeted Princess Marie her memory was still familiar, as that of the ideal woman and queen.
There were, however, some few – a very select number, indeed – who, without talking too much about it, assumed the liberty to that that the much vaunted beauty of the Princess of Wales is, after all, rather monotonous, with a total lack of any expression whatsoever; that good Queen Caroline Amalie was – almost too good; that with, force of character, and a well developed intellect are not qualities absolutely obnoxious in a queen or a princess. And somebody suggested that to find a princess at the Danish Court whom the French newcomer recalled it was necessary to go back to old Princess Caroline, who died a few years before her favorite grandnephew, Waldemar, brought his young wife to Denmark.
About the first action of the Princess on public record was her escapade with Prince Karl, when, shortly before her marriage, her husband had gone on a cruise with the man-of-war which he is the Captain. Prince Karl is the second son of Prince Waldemar’s eldest brother, the Danish Crown Prince, and thus Princess Marie is his aunt. But they are both close in age, and as Prince Karl is an officer in the navy, he and Princess Marie from the first formed a firm friendship. Now, these two children – for in reality they were little more – easily agreed to slip away from the castle one cool fall afternoon, and they roamed through the city wheresoever their fancy led them. It is said they stayed out for more than five hours, and, as they had left no word as to where they had gone, the whole Court were fluttering about like motherless chickens. When, finally the fugitives returned, the aged Queen gave them a tremendous scolding, but doubtless this was only what they had expected; and what with shopping in all sorts of stores, drinking chocolate at cheap café’s, and peeping through the doors of saloons and concert halls, the two runaways must have had a glorious time.
Shortly after, in honor of her youngest daughter-in-law, the Queen gave a reception, to which were invited several girls belonging to the highest nobility, the object of the royal matron being to have the Princess form the acquaintance, and perhaps friendship, of some of these young women, so as to procure her suitable company. The result was discouraging. Seated in a chair by the side of the Queen, the Princess nodded slightly as often as a Countess or a Baroness was presented to her, uttering every time these words only: ‘Passenla, s’il vous plait!’ (‘Please move on!’) So that the poor titled girls could do nothing but curtsey and then move on, giving room to those behind them, who in their turn were treated just the same. The fact was Princess Marie then cared first of all, and above all, for her husband, whom she loved intensely, and next for his fellow officers in the navy. They idolized her, every one of them, and the initiated assert that nothing could be more delightful than the little suppers which the princely couple gave quite frequently in the winter, and at which only half a dozen Captains and Lieutenants of the navy were present. In women the Princess always has shown extremely little interest; that is, except for that; she is fond of a chat with the poor creatures that scrub the stairs of the palace and do similar humble work. She raised their wages considerably, and one honest old soul was heard to say, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand: ‘It is just like getting a cup of good hot coffee when the Princess speaks to you; it cheers you up and makes you work better all day, and, of course,’ she added, ‘she generally does give you something to buy a cup of coffee.’
While Prince Waldemar was on his first trip, after his marriage, someone told Princess Marie that all the wives of the Danish sailors have an anchor tattooed on their arm. She at once sent for a friend of her husband’s and asked if this was so. The Lieutenant could not deny that it was at least the general rule. Whereupon, Princess Marie ordered him to find a sailor capable of performing the operation, the Lieutenant objected but in vain.
‘I am a Danish sailor’s wife,’ the Princess insisted, ‘and I want to do just as the others do.’
At last an old tar was sent for who was considered an expert in the art, and an anchor was forthwith tattooed on her arm. But great was the horror, still greater the wrath, of Queen Louise when first she beheld the anchor.
Princess Waldemar became popular with the people when they got to know her. She did all she could to captivate them. She delighted in wholesale conquests, and, after having bewitched the navy, from the most dignified and experienced Admiral down to the cabin boy, whose chief qualification for a naval career would seem to be his passion for tobacco chewing, she turned to other fields, and suddenly came down on the firemen. It was during a great fire in the winter of 1886, in Copenhagen, that she made her first appearance among the heroes of the hose. She ran everywhere through the burning houses, often getting so near the most dangerous places that the firemen had to warn her. But she did not care, giving proof here of the same reckless courage which she has always shown on horseback. For everyone she had a kind and encouraging word, and, still better, she brought wine and other refreshments to the hard-working men. When, late in the night, she left the place, she was wildly cheered, and, after that, for years no fire of any importance was considered complete without attendance of the Princess. Some time in the following spring she asked and obtained permission of the Chief of the Fire Department to wear its uniform, and on a photograph not on sale she is seen wearing not only the uniform, but also the helmet, of the Fire Brigade. Of this picture a copy has been presented to each engine house in Copenhagen, where it is now to be seen in a prominent place on the wall, like that of some patron saint. It is not necessary to add that the firemen have returned the compliment and presented the Princess with their picture.
Marie In Her Fireman's Uniform
Once popular with the Fire Department, Princess Waldemar was ready for another battle. When her husband was going aboard, she, as usual, accompanied him to the place where he was to embark. The seaport, situated, at a considerable distance from Copenhagen, is reached by rail, and the Princess had made it a condition that she should be permitted to make part of the trip on the locomotive. There she stood, chatting with the engineer, covered with coal dust and choked with smoke, but smiling, charming, fascinating as ever.
All these eccentricities were severely frowned upon by the royal family, but the fact that the Princess mixed herself up in politics was the thing to which they mainly objected. Several years ago while In Fredensborg with the late Czar – of whom she was a great favorite – she placed a number of letters and documents in the hands of the Czar which tended to show that Prince Bismarck was carrying on negotiations with the anti-Russian party in Bulgaria, and was intriguing against Alexander III. This was after her husband had been forced to retract his acceptance of the throne of that Balkan principality. This caused a great sensation at the time, as it involved a number of high-standing politicians, who had used the Princess as a tool. It set all Europe by the ears, and almost brought about a war between Germany and Russia, the conflict being averted only by Prince Bismarck’s being able to submit in person to Alexander proofs of the fraudulent and forged character of the letters shown to his Muscovite Majesty by Princess Waldemar.
Although her connection with the affair is not so well assured, M. Flourens did not scruple to allude to her as the conscious artificer of Prince Bismarck’s downfall. The party which sprouted up round Prince Henri de Chartres, in opposition to the Duc d’Orléans, regarded her as its bona fide savoir, due to the favor in which she once stood with the late Czar being based both on family relations and the pleasure in which he took in her unconventional conversation and high spirits. The Crown of Norway had been dangled before her eyes by French diplomats. French men-of-war were at her beck and call, French journalists making tours in Northern Europe sought interviews with her as the shortest way for getting at the late Czar, who, to believe them would have given her De Gier’s head on a charger had be opposed the Franco-Russian alliance, of which she was the mainstay. Her unofficial intrigues in favor of the Franco-Russian alliance, and the resulting dismissal of the Comte d’Aunay in disgrace as the French Envoy to Copenhagen, agitated all Europe again over a year ago. She had tried to take advantage of the trust which the Czar had in her, and attempted to learn from him his political intentions toward France and to give her information to d’Aunay.
About this time stories of differences with her husband began to get about. While Prince Waldemar is no saint, and has by no means been altogether true to the Princess, yet sympathies both at home and abroad are altogether with him; why, it is difficult to say. Princess Waldemar has never been able to get along with her mother-in-law, as was natural to expect for two greater extremities in character would be difficult to imagine. She used to take a positive delight in slighting and ridiculing, and even publicly insulting old Queen Louise of Denmark; quarrelled with her easy-going father-in-law, the King, as well as with the Crown Prince and Crown Princess, and conducted herself in such a way as to become the talk of the Danish capital, a great place for scandal and where people are by no means inclined to regard her freaks as of an innocent character.
Her confinement in an asylum became necessary in the belief of the royal family. She was placed some time ago under the care of a physician famous for his treatment of nervous diseases, but she disobeyed his orders entirely, and ran off to her relatives in France, where she has been ever since. She did not even return to Copenhagen for the silver wedding festivities of her brother-in-law, the Crown Prince of Denmark, and she alone of all his relatives sent no present or even a message of congratulation.
Indeed, the breach between herself and the Royal Family of Denmark seems final and irreparable, even her children, three sons, who bear the Danish national names of Aage, Axel and Erik, failing to keep her in Copenhagen. Whether an actual divorce will take place is doubtful. The Princess is a fervent Catholic, while Prince Waldemar is a Protestant, and Catholics, as is well known, do not recognize divorce as being permitted by the canon laws of their Church. On the other hand, Prince Waldemar will certainly wish to marry again. The end of the sad story is not yet determined.
ARTISTIC MARIE
NR
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