Royalty in History

[Deleted]

Regarding Elizabeth's virginity, there were rumours floating around that she couldn't have sex because of a defect. Who knows if that's true or not (I'm going with 'not').

[Karen]

Elizabeth's counselors were pretty desperate for her to marry as they believed she could give birth to an heir, and they of all people should have been aware of any defect. The rumour was mostly used by enemies like Mary Stuart, who (having done her womanly duty by marrying and giving birth to a son) insinuated rather nastily in a letter to Elizabeth that the latter wasn't a real woman.

[Deleted]

Elizabeth I had many suitors for her hand in marriage. And when Catherine de Medici sent her younger son, Francis, Duke of Alencon, to Elizabeth to inspect as future husband material; Elizabeth had to be inspected herself to make sure that she was still capable of having children. And Elizabeth was in her forties by that time. The doctors found her child bearing worthy and evidently she was still having her menses in her forties.

Fortunately for Elizabeth's health; that marriage to the Duke fell through. He was a syphilitic nearing the tertiary stage.

I don't know if Elizabeth I was a Virgin or not. But I think that she was tramautized by Henry VIII's marriages and wifely beheadings and divorces. She looked at Daddy and realized that being a Wife to a Powerful Man could be very dangerous to her well being. Not putting out could keep her alive and healthy. Viva Spinsterhood!

[Deleted]

Eric of Sweden is my favorite. He tried aso hard to get her to marry him. He kept sending letters and portraits but to no avail. After a while he gave up, and proposed to other princesses and the like, but no one would marry him. He ended up marrying an ordinary girl that he fell in love with. He was also a paranoid schizophrenic who behaved very eraticly, to say the least. He ended up being overthrown and poisoned by his brother.

[AuroraStar]

I have a history degree, but I never studied much English royal history (my professors all seemed to prefer having us study the peasant classes). I am, however, fascinated by the subject and would love to read a good book during my summer break from law school.

I'd like to request that if you have a good, interesting read (not dry text-book material, please, I get enough of that during the year), about British royal history in general or a biography about a certain person, please PM me! I would be eternally grateful.

[Deleted]

I believe Henry VIII was supposed to have been very liberal and decent in his early years, but he most likely suffered from teriary syphillis and went insane.

[Karen]

So, now that there's a movie being made any opinions on Marie Antoinette?

I must confess I feel rather sorry for her. It's quite unfair that in the popular view her character can be summed up with such a cruel phrase as "Let them eat cake", something she never said. The propaganda aimed at ruining her reputation worked extremely well.

A bit like Mary Tudor, she just wasn't suited to her position and got the blame for many bad decisions made by those around her. The French didn't trust her because she was Austrian and (especially when the king didn't have a mistress) it was assumed she wielded a great deal of influence over him. In reality Louis XVI was wary of her and Marie Antoinette was a disappointment to her mother in how little she was actually able to do for Austria.

For all that she spent great amounts of money, I find many older writers' view of her being almost single-handedly responsible for the Revolution very objectionable. The campaign against her, including charges of having molested her son, was brutal and not what she deserved.

[Deleted]

Marie-Antoinette had a quite neglected education , I mean in a political and royal sense. She was very young, 14/15 when she married the Dauphin Louis , and 19 when she becames Queen. She had her first child after nearly 9 years of marriage, and both brothers-in-law were responsible for the hate campaign against her (she is Austrian, she is infertile, she is unfaithful to her husband with Axel de Fersen, etc.) Because they wanted to inherit the throne of course, by discrediting her.
Yes, she indeed love fashion, but frankly, the money spent for her gowns, hats, etc,; was not very much comparing to the general French budget of that time.

[Deleted]

Marie Antoinette was a lot like Tsarina Alexandra, if you think about it. But at least poor Alicky had a happy marriage. MA's husband...well, the less said the better.

[azaleaqueen]

Weren't Nicholas and Alexandra supposed to have been very much in love? Which has, from the beginning of royalty, been pretty unusual.