Royalty in History

[NappingAthena]

Jan 12, 2014 2:52:51 GMT -4 @lena said:

Susan Bordo was my mentor in college!

Seriously? The Creation of Ann Boleyn is so good.

Chonies, there is a book called, I think "The assasination of Franz Ferdinand" that is really good, it explains a lot about him and Sophie and their marriage. Its fairly recent, I found it in the new books section of the library.

[chonies]

Thanks, NappingA! I think that's the one I was browsing on Google Books when I realized the information on Sophie, Max and Ernst was kind of thin--Ernst died youngish, and he and Max never spoke about it, apparently.

[Deleted]

Jan 12, 2014 10:32:07 GMT -4 NappingAthena said:

Jan 12, 2014 2:52:51 GMT -4 @lena said:

Susan Bordo was my mentor in college!

Seriously? The Creation of Ann Boleyn is so good.

I cannot wait to read it!

Bordo was as wonderful, supportive, and challenging as you would hope. It is cheesy, but she changed my life.

[Karen]

Jan 12, 2014 10:32:07 GMT -4 NappingAthena said:

Chonies, there is a book called, I think "The assasination of Franz Ferdinand" that is really good, it explains a lot about him and Sophie and their marriage. Its fairly recent, I found it in the new books section of the library.

I'd recommend The Assassination of the Archduke too, it has a chapter that talks about the children's lives after Sarajevo. I'd never heard about the sons being sent to a concentration camp, but perhaps that ignorance isn't surprising since it feels tough enough to find English-language books about Empress Elisabeth (and I'd really like to read a modern Mayerling book too). I understand that there's not as much documentation of the lives of deposed royals but still, it's such a dramatic story (heir defies opposition to marry the woman he loves - the court snubs her - they're killed together - the children are driven out of their home after WWI and the sons end up angering the Nazis).

I remember liking those romantic 1950s Sissi movies with Romy Schneider when I was a little girl, but the more I read about Franz Joseph the less he resembles Prince Charming.

[chonies]

Some sources say Max and Ernst were released early (1940) and were sentenced to labor for supporting Austrian independence, but I'm still kind of skeptical and will see what I can find through any information via Dachau's records, or at least what there are of them online.

The NY Times historical archives has an article that mentions the arrests of Max and Ernst, and their obit for Ernst mentions that he was in Dachau and was rumored to have died there in 1938. Sophie is harder to pin down.

Honestly, I had to dig up that Onion article from Our Dumb Century to keep some of my facts straight.

[Auroranorth]

I did some looking, but there doesn't seem to be a dedicated book on the children. It seems like the main focus is always on the parents.

Franz Joseph was a very dutiful man, but Prince Charming he was not. He did love Elizabeth, but she was a terrible choice for an Empress.

[boxofrocks]

A documentary detailing the 2013 discovery of the remains of Richard III of England is on the Smithsonian's YouTube channel. Looks like a British production. It's a neat re-telling of the archaeological process of identifying the site, the dig, science behind identifying the remains, and historical analysis.

[Auroranorth]

I'll have to watch that one.

I just finished The Assassination of the Archduke. It's well-written and really good. It's also got the most information on the children I've ever found. Part of the problem from a historical perspective is that they were so private- any diaries were destroyed, few letters, etc. It's hard to know very much about them. They had such sad lives, but they seemed to stay close to each other.

[chonies]

From the House of Hohenlohe: "I don't always participate in the Sochi Winter Olympics. But when I do, I'm 55 and a literal Prince."

[tortuga]

I'm halfway through the Starz/BBC production of The White Queen, based on three novels by Phillipa Gregory, so you know the are totes historically accurate. Still, that combined with fierce Wikipedia reading during my watch to figure out who is who and I think I finally understand the War of the Roses now.