Princess Pilar of Spain.

The death of Princess Pilar, Duchess of Badajoz, the elder sister of Spain’s King Juan Carlos and Aunt of the present King, Felipe VI, was announced on 8 January. The Princess had been suffering from colon cancer for some time and when her condition deteriorated on 5 January, she was admitted to Madrid’s Hospital Ruber Internacional. Her passing must have come as a shock to many as she had only recently made an appearance at an event for the ‘Rastrillo Nuevo Futuro 2019’ charity.

María del Pilar Alfonsa Juana Victoria Luisa Ignacia y Todos los Santos de Borbón y Borbón-Dos Sicilias (to give her full name in Spanish) was born on July 30, 1936 in Cannes (where her parents, Prince Juan [heir to King Alfonso XIII] and his wife Princess María Mercedes were currently living in exile, as Spain was declared a republic in April 1931). As the firstborn, Pilar would forever have a special place in her parents’ hearts. She was soon joined in the nursery by three siblings, Juan, Margarita and Alfonso.

During the 1940’s, Infante Juan (who following upon his father’s death, in February 1941, assumed the title of Count of Barcelona) moved with his family to Lausanne, to be near his mother, the British-born Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain. The little family group later settled in Estoril in Portugal, where they inhabited a substantial house, the Villa Giralda. The Princess was initially educated privately at home by a series of Spanish female tutors, although she later attended a private school in Lisbon prior to taking a nursing course at the city’s Artura Ravara Nursing School.

At the age of 21, Pilar travelled to Spain (where she would eventually settle) for the first time to attend the funeral of her maternal grandmother Luisa de Orleans. The Princess was subsequently a bridesmaid at the wedding in Athens of her brother Juan to Princess Sofia of Greece and Denmark in 14 May 1962. She was already acquainted with her future sister-in-law having previously met her during one of Queen Frederika of Greece’s fabled Mediterranean royal match-making cruises.

However, the Princess was to meet her future husband, the Spanish Aristocrat Luis Gomez-Acebo and Duke of Astrada at the Madrid home of the exiled King Simeon of Bulgaria and his Spanish wife Margarita, who was Gomez-Acebo’s cousin. Pilar and Luis were duly married on 5 May 1967 at the Jerónimos Monastery, on the outskirts of Lisbon. Although the Princess was granted the title of Duchess of Badajox by her father at this time, she also automatically forfeited her place in the order of succession by marrying a person of a lower rank . Pilar subsequently gave birth to five children (a girl and four boys) in quick succession.

Aside from motherhood, the Princess undertook many official engagements. She was a regular presence at all major royal events and with her love of all things equine, from 1994 to 2005 she served as President of the International Equestrian Foundation (FEI) and was an active member of the International Olympic Committee and often attended Spain’s National Sports Awards. Pilar was also interested in cultural pursuits and between 2007-2009 she served as President of Europa Nostra which focuses on the preservation of heritage sites in Europe for the enjoyment of future generations.

On occasion, she was photographed shopping for vegetables in a fruit market in the Spanish capital and she was a regular attender (along with her brother Juan and niece Elena) at the annual Corrida de la Beneficencia (charity) bullfight, as well as at the Madrid Open Tennis Tournament.

Pilar’s husband Luis predeceased her, dying of lymphatic cancer in 1991. The Princess’ funeral-a private occasion attended by her immediate family and senior members of the Spanish royal family- took place on 10 January.

A Royal Wartime Christmas in Belgrade.

With war declared throughout most of Europe, Princess Olga of Yugoslavia, the wife of the Prince Regent, Paul, was in a difficult position during that first Christmas of the Second World War. Like many of Europe’s royalty, she had family members on both the Allied and Axis sides. However, as Yugoslavia was still officially neutral, it had already been arranged that Olga’s sister, Princess Elisabeth of Greece and Denmark, who was married to the wealthy Bavarian aristocrat, Count Karl Theodor ‘Toto’ Toerring, would travel from Munich to Belgrade to celebrate the Orthodox Christmas (on 7 January 1940) at Olga and Paul’s luxurious home, the White Palace (Beli Dvor). Elisabeth’s children, Hans Viet and Helen were already in Belgrade having been brought there by their mother from Munich, in early November, at their Aunt Olga’s request. The presence of these extended family members was fortuitous as the Yugoslav royal couple’s sons, Alexander and Nicholas, would not be present in Belgrade over the Festive Season, as both were spending Christmas in England, where they attended boarding school.

Olga had always adored Christmas and was meticulous in her preparations. Her old nurse, Miss Kate Fox, who lived in London, was always sent a detailed list of the Princess’ requirements many months in advance. Christmas puddings from Fortnum and Mason’s were a particular family favourite, as were toys and jokes from Hamley’s celebrated Regent Street toyshop. However, wartime was playing havoc with Olga’s attempts at gift-giving. Hamley’s catalogue had been late in reaching the Serbian capital and the choice was limited. Nevertheless, the Princess soon selected a ‘nice [imitation] Xmas pudding with toys to pull out’ for the entertainment of her two-year-old daughter Elizabeth and the Toerring children. However, when this item failed to materialise, Olga was left with little choice but to scour the local shops for toys with which to fill the children’s Christmas stockings. Her sense of ‘despair’ was only heightened when a luxurious array of gifts arrived, via the diplomatic bag, from her sister, Princess Marina, the Duchess of Kent, in London.

Olga’s gifts were more of a practical nature. When she learned that foodstuffs were scarce in Bavaria, the Princess provided the Toerrings with a Christmas parcel filled with groceries and some soap. Princess Elisabeth and her husband arrived in Belgrade by rail just in time to watch King Peter (who lived in the Royal Palace adjacent to the White Palace at the Royal Compound in the suburb of Dedinje) preside over the traditional Orthodox Christmas Eve Badnjak celebrations. During this event, a troop of the Royal Guard accompanied a decorated gun carriage bearing the large Badnjak (Yule) log which was then carried into the Royal Palace and placed in a large hearth in the hall to burn throughout the Festive celebrations. The Prince Regent and Princess Olga (wrapped up against the cold in a full-length fur coat) accompanied the King throughout the ceremony and then joined him in raising a toast to the good health of his officers. The whole proceedings were captured for the first time on cine film.

In the evening, after Prince Paul had rung the traditional Christmas bell, Elizabeth, Helen and Hans-Veit ‘rushed in’ to the drawing room to gaze at the Christmas tree candles and then open their gifts with the aid of their nurses. The family then ate a traditional Christmas meal rounded off by some good English Christmas puddings. But Olga was soon in despair to receive news by letter that none of her Christmas presents (including those for her sons and a cheque for Miss Fox) had reached England. Clearly, even royal parcels were not exempt from the vagaries of war! Yet, there was little time to mope as Prince Paul and Princess Olga had to leave on a four-day morale-boosting visit to Zagreb.

Queen Helen of Romania-Part 3-Trouble upon Trouble.

When Princess Mother Helen of Romania (as she was styled following the accession of her son Michael to the throne in July 1927) learned that her ex-husband Carol had returned to his homeland as a result of a coup d’état engineered by National Peasant Prime Minister Iuliu Maniu, in June 1930, she was prepared for trouble and turmoil. However, Maniu naively believed that the former Crown Prince was returning as a Regent not as a future king. Yet within 36 hours of Carol’s arrival in Bucharest aboard a chartered plane from France on 6 June, he was being proclaimed king, with the full backing of both the Regency Council and the Cabinet. His son Michael was now demoted to Crown Prince.

Carol then turned his attentions on his ex-wife. Intent on isolating Helen (whom the international press now described as Queen of Romania), he surrounded her home with a police guard who were given firm instructions to report on all comings and goings. The King also refused to allow Sitta (as Helen was known en famille) to undertake public duties and prohibited her from having any contact with politicians. Carol even arranged to relieve Helen of her position as Honorary Colonel of the Ninth Hussars. Perhaps the hardest slight to bear was Carol’s insistence that Michael spend most of the day at the Royal Palace under his care and influence. Mother and son were also separated at Christmas when Michael left to spend the holiday with his father at Sinaia. It did not help that Helen had no homeland to escape to for some respite as the Greek royal family-including her brother King George-were living in exile in Italy.

However, many everyday Romanians sympathised with Sitta’s plight and there were some public demonstrations of sympathy. Sadly, these proved counter-productive as they only succeeded in increasing Carol’s feelings of paranoia. Finally, in July 1931, the situation became so intolerable that Helen boarded a train at Bucharest’s main railway station, without her son, and was waved off by her mother-in-law, Dowager Queen Marie who later admitted to finding the experience ‘unbearable.’ At least Sitta had somewhere to travel to: her brother King George had visited Bucharest in March and negotiated an allowance for his sister (later set at £14000 per annum) as well as sufficient funds for the purchase of a handsome Italian house-the Villa Sparta-at Fiesole, just outside Florence. In November, Helen spent a long spell in Frankfurt to help care for her ailing mother, Dowager Queen Sophie, who was seriously ill with cancer. Sophie died on 13 January 1932.

Thereafter, Helen-who enjoyed access rights to her son and still maintained the use of her home on the Chausee Kiseleff-was able to pay several visits to Romania to see Michael (whom she described as ‘the one bright feature’ in her life). However, Carol was intent on denying her this right of access and eventually succeeded-by means of a new separation agreement formulated in November-in banning Helen from returning to her adopted homeland. Thereafter, Sitta and Michael had to be satisfied with spending holidays together in Switzerland or Italy. Following the restoration of the monarchy in Greece in November 1935, Helen purchased a house in Athens and also spent time at Tatoi with her recently divorced brother King George II. He had a measure of understanding of his sister’s plight having previously been married to Carol’s highly-strung sister, Elisabetha. Sitta and her son Michael were very much in evidence too at the wedding of Crown Prince Paul to Princess Frederika of Hanover in Athens in January 1938. Otherwise, Helen would spend time working in her exquisite Fiesole garden or entertain members of her extended family at the Villa Sparta. She was particularly close to her sister Irene who married Prince Aimone, the Duke of Spoleto (and future Duke of Aosta) in 1939.

Meanwhile, in Bucharest, King Carol had grown increasingly autocratic, manipulating politicians of rival parties to his advantage and focusing on the design of new military uniforms and orders of chivalry with which to adorn himself. To add to his ‘personality cult’, the King also set up a paramilitary youth organisation (the Straja Țării). Following the outbreak of war in September 1939, Carol extended his two-faced approach to his dealings with the Axis and Allied powers. This all caused the American historian Stanley Payne to conclude that the King was “the most cynical, corrupt and power-hungry monarch who ever disgraced a throne anywhere in twentieth-century Europe”. However, in June 1940, Carol ‘s public standing was severely dented when Romania was forced to submit to Soviet demands that the provinces of Bessarabia and North Bukovina be ceded to the Soviet Union. Huge tracts of Transylvania were also given to Hungary under the Second Vienna Award. Amid increasing calls for his removal, the King abdicated in early September 1940 and would soon seek refuge, along with his mistress, Elena Lupescu, in Mexico.

Michael was once again King of Romania. Almost immediately, Helen was ‘respectfully’ invited by the new right-wing Prime Minister, Ion Antonescu, to return to Bucharest ‘to complete the training’ of her son in his role as king. Thousands turned out to cheer the Queen Mother of Romania (a new title bestowed on her by Antonescu) on her arrival. In a subsequent government speech of welcome it was stated that through ‘her modesty and good example’ the Royal Court ‘would again become a symbol of respect and affection’. A Te Deum was later held in the Orthodox Cathedral to conclude the celebrations for her return.

But Helen’s happy return was soon blighted by various developments. Antonescu wielded dictatorial powers even greater than those enjoyed by King Carol prior to his abdication. These were enforced by the Fascist Iron Guard. Then, on 23 November, Antonescu forged closer links to Nazi Germany by signing the Tri-Partite Pact. German troops now crossed into Romania purportedly to protect the country’s oil fields from attack. Meanwhile, Romania’s Fascists waged war on supporters of ex-King Carol and others who had earned their displeasure. This culminated with the execution, on 26-27 November, of over sixty former dignitaries or government officials who were awaiting trial in Jilava prison.

Helen was appalled by the this reign of terror but was absolutely powerless. Yet, she was able to signal her displeasure by leaving Bucharest for Italy ‘at her own request’. The international press siezed on this development and reported that the Queen had departed Bucharest because the Romanian Nazis and the Iron Guard were ‘hostile’ towards her. Michael, however, remained in Bucharest.

Antonenscu now ramped up his right-wing credentials by persecuting the Jewish and Slavic minorities in Romania. One of the most horrific episodes of this period was the murder of 13000 Jews in Jassy, between June and July 1941, at the hands of Romanian forces. Over thirty anti-jewish decrees were issued.

Helen had by now returned to Romania where she tried to keep her personal feelings in check for the sake of her son and the monarchy. Although Antonescu was determined to ensure that she and Michael were mere figureheads, the Queen Mother spent time visiting the wounded in hospital and generally doing what she could to raise morale. With Romania committed, under the Pact, to provide troops for the Axis cause, the injuries and losses were great, particularly during the period of the Battle of Stalingrad, which ended in a defeat for the Axis forces in February 1943. Sitta was also determined to do what she could for the Jewish population and managed to prevent the deportation of the philologist Barbu Lazareanu. Helen also later persuaded the government to allow Jewish organisations to send medical aid, clothing and food to the Jews who were living in ghettos and camps in Transnistria.

Queen Mother Helen ensured too that King Michael developed some backbone. She also guided the King adroitly but firmly through the minefield of Romanian politics. Otherwise, she maintained a polite demeanour and bided her time. When the Axis front in north-eastern Romania collapsed following a successful Soviet offensive, King Michael’s representatives were approached by a pro-Allied National Democratic alliance (composed of communists, Social Democrats and members of the National Peasants Party) and asked to participate in a coup to remove Antonescu. This took place (with the support of the military) on 23 August 1944. Romania now turned against the Axis powers and, shortly thereafter, the country was occupied by the Soviet Army. This sent a shiver down Helen’s spine for she had strong family links to the Romanovs, many of whom had perished at the hands of the Bolsheviks following the 1917 Revolution. However, the Germans still posed a serious threat and in an act of retaliation against Michael’s involvement in the coup, they bombed Helen and Michael’s residence in Bucharest, Casa Nouă. The Queen Mother now fretted constantly over the safety of her son, who was often on military manoeuvres but stoically carried on with her war work. This included the setting up of a soup kitchen in the Royal Palace’s ballroom to feed starving children.

In March 1945, King Michael was forced to accept a communist government headed by Petru Groza. As the communist dictatorship took hold so the position of the King and his mother grew more precarious as they were increasingly marginalised. Sitta complained to her cousin Princesss Olga of Yugoslavia that she and her son were spied on constantly. Helen did manage to obtain permission to travel to Greece for the funeral of her elder brother King George who had died suddenly on 1 April 1947. She was also present at the wedding of her sister Katherine to Major Richard Brandram at the Royal Palace in Athens on 21 April.

Yet air travel was not without its dangers. In October 1947, Helen suffered a severe fright when a private aircraft conveying her from Zurich to Bucharest was forced to land by Soviet fighters on the near the Czech-Hungarian border. Although the Queen was detained for a short period, she was eventually released on the orders of ‘higher Russian officials’. However, she and King Michael later proceeded to London by air to attend the wedding of Princess Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh on 20 November. It was during the nuptial celebrations that young Michael was introduced to Princess Anne of Bourbon Parma. The latter joined Michael, his mother and Aunt Irene on a trip to Lausanne, where the King proposed to this charming French-born princess of Danish heritage. The King and his mother then returned to spend Christmas together at Sinaia. However, it was clear that their presence was no longer welcome and many in authority were surprised that the royal duo had even bothered to make the return journey to Romania at all. On 30 December Michael was deposed from the throne against his will by the Groza government, although it was officially announced that he had ‘abdicated.’ As the year drew to a close, crowds in Bucharest sang the Internationale and called out ‘Long Live the Republic.’ Pictures of the King were removed from public buildings and the royal throne taken from the Parliament chamber. At Sinaia, an emotional Helen looked on as King Michael took the Royal Salute of the Royal Guard for the last time on New Year’s Eve.

On 1 January the international pressed announced King Michael’s abdication. He and Queen Helen arrived in Lausanne by train from Bucharest a few days later . The ex-King was only permitted to take £1000 in cash with him. Helen and her son dutifully posed for the press in their suite at the Beau Rivage. Yet Sitta was already focused on the future and, in February, she proceeded to the Vatican accompanied by Princess Anne’s Danish mother, Princess Margaret of Bourbon-Parma, for an audience with the Pope, Pius XII. The duo were intent on obtaining the Holy Father’s agreement to the marriage between the Orthodox ex-King and Anne, who was a Roman Catholic. The sticking point was that the Roman Catholic Church wanted a written assurance that any children of the marriage be raised in the Catholic faith. Sitta quickly pointed out that such an undertaking could not be given for political reasons. Permission was therefore refused.

In early March, Helen and her son proceeded via Paris to London where, in a display of royal unity, they lunched with King George VI and Queen Elizabeth at Buckingham Palace. The twosome then proceeded to New York where they were accorded the honours due to a reigning king and a queen mother. With royal funds being tight, Sitta and Michael’s expenses were paid for by the US State Department. The purpose of the trip was officially to ‘encourage’ Michael to ‘speak up’ and lay bare the true details of the Communist machinations and threats which had led to his dethronement.

As Michael and Anne’s union could not now be solemnised in a Roman Catholic church, it was arranged, with the help of Helen’s brother King Paul, that the Orthodox Archbishop of Athens, Damaskinos Papandreou would officiate at a marriage service performed under Eastern Orthodox rites , with the reception being held afterwards at the Royal Palace. With Michael now safely married, Helen’s public role was now effectively over for Romania now had a new Queen, albeit one who was required to live in exile for many decades to come. Two final blows were dealt by the communist regime, in the spring of 1948, with the confiscation of all the royal family’s property in Romania and, hardest of all, the withdrawal of their Romanian citizenship.

Queen Mother Helen returns.

On a dark morning at Geneva’s international airport, a coffin, covered in a royal standard, was loaded onto the rear of a Romanian military transport plane. The casket contained the mortal remains of Her Majesty Queen Mother Helen of Romania, Princess of Greece and Denmark and the senior Greek Princess of her generation. Helen is the latest (and probably one of the last) members of a royal family of a former Eastern Bloc country whose remains have been repatriated.

At the time of her death on 29 November 1982, Queen Mother Helen was living in an apartment in Lausanne. Given that Romania was at that time ruled by a communist dictator, Nicolae Ceausescu, who would certainly not have countenanced the interment of a member of the country’s former royal family in his fief, a plot had been purchased in the Boix-de-Vaux cemetery in Lausanne as a resting place for Helen. Yet, she was not to be alone: Helen’s cousin Olga’s husband, Prince Paul of Yugoslavia, had already been interred there following his death in 1976, as had the mortal remains of his son Prince Nicholas who had died in a car accident in England in 1954 (his body had been brought over from the churchyard near his late Aunt, Princess Marina’s former home at Iver and reinterred in Lausanne at the request of Princess Olga). In 1997, Princess Olga was herself buried in the Bois-de-Vaux following her death at the age of 93.

However, following the ‘rehabilitation’ of Prince Paul by the Serbian High Court in 2011, he, Olga and Nicholas’ bodies were exhumed and reburied, with great ceremony, in the crypt of the Karageorge Royal Mausoleum at Oplenac in Serbia, on 6 October, 2012.

Meanwhile, since the fall of the Ceausescu regime in December 1989, the popularity of the former Royal Family was gathering pace in Romania. Much of this can be attributed to the dedicated involvement of Queen Mother Helen’s eldest granddaughter, Margareta (who now lived in Bucharest) and her Princess Margareta of Romania Foundation. Indeed, as early as 2003, Helen’s ex-husband, King Carol II’s mortal remains had been reburied in his homeland (from their original resting place in the Braganza Pantheon in Lisbon) in a side chapel of Curtea de Argeș Cathedral in the Carpathians. On 16 December 2017, his son King Michael I was also buried at Curtea de Argeș, although in a newly-constructed Royal Mausoleum, beside the remains of his late wife, Queen Anne, who died in August 2016.

Yet, all this took place while Queen Mother Helen’s mortal remains still languished in Lausanne. However, in early September 2019, it was announced that Her Majesty body was to be returned to Romania and reinterred at Curtea de Argeș. Which brings me back to Geneva International Airport on the morning of 18 October: Having obtained the necessary air clearance, the Romanian military aircraft flew to Otopeni Airport, Bucharest where Her Majesty’s coffin was received, just after 11am, by an Honour Party formed by the 30th Guards Brigade and carefully taken out of the plane preceded by a large wooden cross bearing the inscription ‘Elena-Regina 1896-1982’. Looking on were the Custodian of the Crown of Romania (Margareta), her husband Prince Radu and two of Helen’s other granddaughters (Princesses Sophia and Maria.) Also present were a plethora of politicians and representatives of Romanian religious denominations and, particularly apt, of the Greek Orthodox Church.

Following a brief religious service, Her Majesty’s coffin was later taken to the Elisabetha Palace, where it lay in state for a short while in the King’s Hall. The funeral cortege then processed northwards to Curtea de Argeș, arriving in the late afternoon to a warm greeting from a large crowd. The coffin-still draped with the royal standard-was then placed on a bier at the Old Cathedral. The public were subsequently allowed to pay their respects. Touchingly, the President of Romania, Klaus Iohannis, issued a statement describing Queen Mother Helen as ‘ a powerful symbol of dignity, honour and courage and a special figure of moral conduct in the dark twentieth century.’

Just prior to noon on 19 October, members of the Romanian Royal Family and representatives of foreign royal houses (the Earl of Rosslyn represented the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles III) gathered in the Old Cathedral for the religious service. Thereafter, Queen Mother Helen’s coffin, containing her mortal remains, was borne by soldiers to the new Royal Mausoleum nearby. Her Majesty is buried alongside her beloved son King Michael and Queen Anne. The remains of her former husband, King Carol II, also rest nearby, having been transferred to the new Royal Mausoleum in the spring.

Please read my various recent blogs on the life of this unique and charming Greek Princess and Queen Mother of Romania who surely ranks as one of the royal icons of the 20th century.

Queen Mother Helen of Romania-part 2: Marriage, Motherhood and Divorce.

In October 1920, the engagement of Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark’s brother George to Princess Elisabetha of Romania was announced. Elisabetha’s mother, the ethereal Queen Marie, was delighted with the proposed marriage and decided to invite George and his sisters Helen and Irene (who were currently living in exile in Lucerne) to her summer residence in Sinaia, for a royal get-together. Also present was Elisabetha’s brother, 27-year-old Crown Prince Carol, who had just returned from a world tour, the purpose of which was to help him to overcome his sorrow at the annulment (by the Romanian courts) of his first (morganatic) marriage to his First World War sweetheart, Joanna Marie Valentina ‘Zizi’ Lambrino.

As Carol’s unsuitable union to a commoner had also met with strong opposition from his parents, so it was with some relief that Queen Marie observed that her eldest child was attracted to the tall, slender and charming Princess Helen. Nevertheless, ‘Sitta’ was still somewhat naïve in the ways of the world and seemed totally unaware of Carol’s reputation as a coureur . However, the news that her favourite brother, King Alexander, had died, on 25 October, from sepsis as a result of being bitten by a monkey, left Helen devastated and in an emotionally vulnerable state. Forbidden to return to Greece by the authorities, she and her sister Irene therefore decided to return to Switzerland to be with their parents, ex-King Constantine and Queen Sophie.

By sheer coincidence, word then arrived that Queen Marie’s mother, the Duchess of Coburg and Edinburgh, had also passed away at the Hotel Dolder Grand in Zurich. Marie therefore joined the Greek Princesses on their journey back to Switzerland, as did her son Carol. Although the Crown Prince was supposedly there to support his mother, Queen Marie felt that he and Helen were on the verge of ‘coming to an understanding.’ Indeed, within a few days of their arrival in Switzerland, Carol asked Helen (known as Sitta en famille) to marry him. Helen’s father, Constantine, was wary and would only permit the marriage after receiving an assurance from Carol that he had completely finished with Zizi Lambrino. The couple’s path was somewhat smoothed by the fact that the royal houses of Romania and Greece were already about to be linked in matrimony with the marriage of Elisabetha and George.

Thereafter, in November, Eleutherios Venizelos, the Prime Minister who had been at odds with Helen’s father over his failure to adopt a pro-Entente stance, was defeated in the general election and fled into exile. With this development, Helen was able to accompany her parents and siblings from Switzerland back to Athens where, in December, there were scenes of public jubilation following the restoration of King Constantine to the Hellenic throne. Carol visited Sitta in Athens in the New Year and the betrothed couple motored together through the surrounding countryside. The Crown Prince was a cultured individual with an interest in antiquities and found the architectural sites of classical Greece particularly enthralling.

On 27 February 1921, Helen and Carol both attended the wedding of Elisabetha and George in Bucharest. The royalties of Greece and Romania then reassembled in Athens on 10 March for the nuptials of Helen and Carol. Thousands of Greeks lined the main boulevards as the bride-to-be processed to the Metropolitan Cathedral in a gold coach attired in a white satin dress trimmed with gold and accessorised with a deco diamond tiara rumoured to be worth 1 million French Francs. Queen Marie was ecstatic that her son had married a great-granddaughter of ‘Grandmama Queen [Victoria]’.

After a honeymoon spent at Tatoi and at a hunting lodge known as Foișor at Sinaia, the newlyweds set up a temporary home with the King and Queen at Cotroceni Palace where Helen soon established that she was pregnant. In the meantime, she was missing her close-knit family and spent much of her time in the company of her Greek maid, Rosa. Following a difficult confinement (when she was attended by her old family doctor and nurses from Greece), the Crown Princess gave birth to a son Michael on 25 October 1921 at Foișor.

Thereafter, the little family moved into a villa on Bucharest’s fashionable Chausee Kiseleff. It was around this time that Helen noticed that Carol possessed some disturbing character traits: Although he could be caring and kind, the Crown Prince displayed a fiery temper and was often arrogant and dismissive of his wife. Yet, the problem was far from one-sided. Helen was critical of her new homeland, finding the court to be pompous and oppressive; while the standard of housekeeping and the behaviour of the servants was not to her liking either. Following her son’s christening (he was known as Mihail or Michael in English) on 10 January 2022, Helen paid a visit to her homeland-where she enjoyed the familiarity and close ‘cosy’ bonds of her Greek family circle. However, she also discovered that King Constantine was ailing. Helen was so concerned that she extended her stay in Athens to three months. When the Greek army was defeated by the Turks in August, the King Constantine abdicated his throne in favour of his son, George.

Meanwhile, Carol was left behind in Romania to amuse himself as he thought fit and rumours soon circulated that he was being unfaithful to his wife. Furthermore, even when in Bucharest, the Crown Princess habitually invited her Greek relatives for extended visits. Indeed, following the death of Helen’s father in January 1923 (by which time the the Greek royals were enduring yet another period of exile from their homeland), Helen’s mother Queen Sophie and her younger sisters were omnipresent, leaving the couple with little time alone together. Carol had also discovered that his wife was no intellectual, with little interest in reading or music or the arts. Both parties to the marriage began to acknowledge that they seemed to have little in common.

These matters aside, Helen had much to offer both to her new family and her new country: She was polite, neat, worthy, well-organised and conscientious. She also took great care over the running of her home and, unlike many royal mothers of that period, showed great concern over the day-to-day care of her son and the running of the nursery. Similarly, the Crown Princess took great trouble over her official patronages, particularly in relation to nursing care. An accomplished horsewoman, Sitta’s skills were highly evident (and favourably commented on) at the many official parades. To her mother-in-law’s surprise, Helen also possessed a highly-developed sense of humour and a gift for mimicry, something she shared with her Greek cousins, Olga, Elisabeth and Marina.

But behind the duty and laughter, by the mid-1920’s the marriage had soured. Sitta was by now all too aware of Carol’s many paramours but, like many royal wives before her, she might have turned a blind eye had it not been for the arrival of a teasing redhead, Elena Lupescu. This gay divorcee with her swaggering gate and cheeky demeanour was the complete antithesis of Helen. She was also ambitious and self-assured, deliberately positioning herself at events attended by Carol so better to attract his attention. The ruse worked and the adulterous Crown Prince was soon coaxed into her tangled web. Sitta reacted by withdrawing into herself and the marriage disintegrated just as her father-in-law King Ferdinand of Romania’s health was waning. Perhaps in a bid to save his son’s marriage, the King momentarily toyed with the idea of banishing Lupescu into exile.

On November 7, 1925 Helen and Carol appeared together in public for the final time at a flower exhibition. Thereafter, the Crown Prince departed for England to attend the funeral of Helen’s Great-Aunt, Queen Alexandra. He later made for Paris and the ample arms of Lupescu. The duo then journeyed to northern Italy. Carol now decided to renounce his rights to the throne so that he could remain with his paramour. He informed Sitta and his parents of his intentions by letter, claiming to be ‘misunderstood [and] misjudged’ . Despite a hand-written plea from his mother delivered in person by the Marshal of the Court, General Angelescu, Carol held fast to his decision. Meanwhile, Helen tormented herself over the failure of her marriage and offered to travel to Milan to reason with her husband. However, in a rare moment of decisiveness, King Ferdinand instead held a meeting of the Crown Council and, after revealing the details of his son’s renunciation, proposed that a Regency Council should be formed in the event of his death. The three-man Council would rule until young Michael reached the age of majority. This proposition seemed to meet with general approval and was ratified by the Romanian Parliament on 4 January, 1926. Michael was now officially the heir to the throne in place of his father. Ordinary Romanians were astonished at this turn of events.

While Carol would later profess his ‘highest esteem’ for Helen, both as a wife and mother, the shock and humiliation took its toll on Sitta’s wellbeing. Always in the background lurked the nagging feeling that Carol might still somehow inveigle his way back into the frail King and exuberant Queen Marie’s ‘good books’. This was not such a fantastical notion for there were certainly many Carlists who were only too ready to provide support for the former Crown Prince’s return and reinstatement. Indeed, even Queen Marie, at times, found herself torn over whether she would be able to support such a future bid should it happen.

In the spring of 1927, King Ferdinand suffered a bad attack of flu. As he was heavily weakened by this (as well as an on-going battle with cancer), it was feared that his death was imminent. He passed away at Pelisor on 19 July. The ramifications for Helen were great: She was now the mother of the five-year-old King of Romania and, heavily-veiled in black, accompanied Michael to the Romanian Parliament where he was seated on a throne-like chair to receive the acclamation of the country’s political representatives. However, the power actually lay elsewhere with the Regency Council, one of whom was Sitta’s brother-in-law, Prince Nicholas, who certainly could not be relied upon to champion his sister-in-law’s cause.

Carol received the news of his father’s death at his rented home, which he shared with Elena Lupescu, in Neuilly, a suburb of Paris. He subsequently attended a Memorial Service at the city’s Romanian Orthodox Church, where some devotees greeted him with a defiant ‘Vive Le Roi!’ Thereafter, Dowager Queen Marie continued to correspond with her eldest son and various family members, including Prince Nicholas, visited him. Meanwhile, over time, the Dowager Queen began to resent Helen’s increasing influence and new position as ‘Princess Mother of Romania’, even accusing Sitta of separating her from her grandson, whom she felt was a ‘stranger’ to her. Certainly, Helen-perhaps wary of her in-laws intentions and determined to protect her son at all costs from familial machinations-tended to put her trust, as always, in her extended Greek family. Regular visitors to Bucharest included her cousin Princess Olga of Yugoslavia. As King Alexander of Yugoslavia was married to Carol’s sister, Marie (Mignon), Olga was ideally placed to act as a listening ear and gentle voice of reason. In due course Helen petitioned the courts for a divorce. The formal announcement that the marriage was finally dissolved was reported by the Associated Press on 21 June 1928. However, if Helen imagined that she was now completely free of her former husband’s, she was in for a rude awakening.

Part 3-Queen Mother of Romania-will follow soon.

Queen Mother Helen of Romania Part 1: Childhood and Exile.

With the recent news that the mortal remains of Her Late Majesty Queen Mother Helen of Romania are to be brought from Lausanne, Switzerland to Romania, in October, to be reinterred in the New Metropolitan Cathedral at Curtea de Argeș, alongside her son King Michael, I feel the time is right to examine the life of the Greek-born Queen Mother.

Part 1-Childhood into Womanhood.

Princess Helen of Greece and Denmark was born in Athens on 2 May 1896, the third child of Crown Prince Constantine and his wife Sophie (a daughter of the German Emperor, Frederick III). The Greek royal family-a misnomer if ever there was one, as not one member at that time possessed Greek blood-were unusually close and were presided over by Helen’s paternal grandfather, King George I of the Hellenes and his Russian-born wife, Queen Olga. George (born Prince Wilhelm of Denmark and second son of the future King Christian IX) had been ‘imported’ from his native Copenhagen, some thirty-three years earlier, to occupy the vacant Hellenic throne at the request of the Great Powers of France, Great Britain and Russia. ‘Willi’ hated pomp and ceremony and liked nothing better than to walk the streets of Athens, often stopping to talk to his subjects. Unsurprisingly, the Greek Court soon gained the reputation of being the most democratic in Europe.

Helen’s childhood was spent at the newly-constructed Crown Prince’s Palace in Athens. The ‘clannish’ household had some strange habits; lunch was served at 11am; while dinner was eaten at 3pm prompt. Each Tuesday, all of the royal family dined together at the home of Prince Nicholas, while on a Thursday it was the turn of the Crown Prince to act as host. As Queen Olga was devout, she ensured that her eldest granddaughter received religious instruction according to the rites of the Greek Orthodox Church. Helen was also required to attend Sunday service in her grandmother’s private chapel at the Royal Palace (during Holy Week and Easter attendance was on a daily basis). This was followed by a stroll through the Royal Gardens in the company of the King and Queen and other family members. Furthermore, from a young age, the Princess was driven in an open carriage, accompanied by liveried footmen, through the streets of Athens, the Evzone sentries ‘presenting arms’ as she passed through the palace gates. Although such excursions may have brought Helen some pleasure, the exercise was also designed to instil a sense of royal dignity in the child, for the tall, elegant and dutiful Crown Princess Sophie was a stickler for protocol and good manners. This extended to instructing her eldest daughter on how to return military salutes and acknowledge the greetings of bystanders.

Yet, the emphasis was also on fun: Summer afternoons were invariably spent swimming with her siblings and cousins at Phaleron or learning to ride under the instruction of an English groom. However, as with all the royal children of her generation, the warm summer months were spent at the royal family’s country residence at Tatoi, a wooded estate some 21 kilometres north west of the Greek capital. The estate was far from Greek in character and reflected the heritage of both the King and Queen. The main residence was modelled on the Gothic Cottage at Peterhof Palace, on Russia’s Baltic coast, while the estate also boasted a Danish dairy overseen by a Danish manager. The cattle producing the milk also came from King George’s homeland. However, Helen was more impressed by the roar of the stags in the nearby mountains or the annual feudal feasts attended by local people in native dress to celebrate Queen Olga’s birthday. The Princess also delighted in joining her grandfather for his anniversary festivities. These invariably involved sailing on the royal yacht to a different port each year, where the royal party would then disembark to attend a celebratory Te Deum service at the local church, followed by a reception hosted by the Mayor at the local Town Hall.

War and tragedy also pervaded Helen’s childhood. The Greek nation had fought hard to obtain its independence from Ottoman rule and the King and his advisors were determined to maintain the status quo. As early as 1897, the Greeks had engaged Turkish forces over the future status of the island of Crete which, although under Ottoman rule, had a Christian majority desirous of union with Greece. This contretemps ended in a heavy defeat for Greece. Then, in 1912, there were further clashes with the Turks in the Balkans, over Ottoman oppression of the Christian section of the population in Thrace and Macedonia. Helen’s father was Commander-in-Chief of the Greek military and she could only look on helplessly as he headed northwards to lead his troops into battle against the Ottoman forces. Following a prolonged but successful campaign, Constantine entered Salonika, on 10 November, at the head of his troops. He was joined there, two days later, by a proud and joyful King George, who decided he would take up residence there for a while in a villa overlooking the Gulf of Thermai.

In the spring of 1913, the King was on the cusp of celebrating his Golden Jubilee and contemplating abdicating his throne in favour of Helen’s father. However, on the afternoon of 18 March, while strolling along a street in Salonika, he was shot at close range from behind, the bullet piercing his heart. King George was immediately rushed to a nearby military hospital, where his son, Prince Nicholas (the local Military Governor), arrived to find him lying lifeless on a bed in a private room. Helen’s father, Constantine, happened to be at army headquarters in Janina, and on receiving news of his father’s death, he immediately returned to Athens, as King, to take the oath of allegiance to the Constitution. He then travelled to Salonika in the royal yacht to bring back the late king’s body for burial.

For Helen, the death of her beloved grandfather came as a great shock and it is not difficult to imagine her distress as she watched the late King being laid to rest at Tatoi on 30 March. As a sixteen-year-old, she was sufficiently mature to realise that her family’s life would now change, as the responsibility for the future of Greece lay firmly on the shoulders of her father, aided of course by her mother, Queen Sophie. Following his recent military successes, King Constantine was hailed as ‘Son of the Eagle’ and initially enjoyed a high approval rating.

However, unlike his father, the new King distrusted the Prime Minister, Eleftherios Venizelos. Following the outbreak of the First World War, in the summer of 1914, the two clashed. Constantine was adamant that Greece should remain neutral, while Venizelos wished to enter the war on the side of the Entente powers (France, Great Britain and Russia). It was a difficult time for Helen as her father (who had once served in the German Imperial Guard) and German-born mother (who was a sister of the German Kaiser, Wilhelm II) were now both accused of being pro-German and face open hostility from many of their subjects over their failure to back the Entente cause. Indeed, such were the pressures on the King, that in the summer of 1915, he succumbed to pneumonia and, for a time, his life was in grave danger from blood poisoning following surgery to remove two ribs. Helen did what she could to comfort her mother who was beset by rumours that she had stabbed her husband during a violent argument over his failure to side with Germany. Then, in October, the King dismissed Venizelos and appointed the seasoned politician Alexandros Zaimis to succeed him as Prime Minister. Yet, for Helen and her family, worse was to follow. On 14 July, 1916 the royal estate at Tatoi was set ablaze by arsonists intent on eliminating the King and his family. Constantine and Sophie (and their youngest child Katherine) were minutes from being consumed by the fire as they fled from the flames. Eighteen people-mostly loyal estate workers-perished in the blaze which also engulfed the King’s residence.

As December dawned, French and British forces landed near Athens. The French government, in particular, were now intent on unseating the King, taking control of the capital and reinstalling Venizelos (who had established a pro-Entente National Defence Government in Salonika in direct opposition to Zaimis’ neutral government) at the centre of power in Athens. To help achieve this, on 1 December, French ships in Piraeus harbour bombarded the Greek capital for three hours. As shrapnel rained down on the adjoining Royal Gardens, Helen, her mother and other family members sought shelter in the Royal Palace’s basement. However, the Athenians remained stoical and so the French forces imposed a blockade on the city in an attempt to weaken Greek resolve.

In March 1917, Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated after bread riots broke out in Petrograd and the majority of the military garrison mutinied and stormed the Winter Palace. This ‘revolution’ proved a severe blow for the beleaguered Greek royal family who had close family links to the Romanovs. However, for Helen, the greatest worry was the whereabouts and safety of her Russian grandmother Queen Olga, who had earlier returned to her homeland to set up a military hospital at Pavlovsk.

By May, the Entente powers had gained control of most of Greece, including the rail network. The French now sent an envoy, Charles Jonnart, who was tasked with issuing an ultimatum to King Constantine: abdicate or Entente forces will destroy Athens. Constantine could not face further bloodshed and realised that if he did not comply, Greece would be plunged into a civil war between royalists and supporters of Venizelos. He informed a shocked Helen and Queen Sophie of his decision to go. Fortunately, the monarchy was not to be abolished as an agreement was reached with Jonnart whereby Constantine’s second son, Alexander, would be accede as King pro tem.

However, as Helen prepared to depart Athens with her parents and siblings for exile in Switzerland, word of the King’s departure spread like wildfire through Athens and thousands of Constantine’s subjects besieged the Palace in a touching display of loyalty, for they were determined that their King should not leave. After an overnight stand-off, by indulging in a little deceit, involving the use of decoy cars, the royals finally managed to flee the palace. A heartbroken Constantine and his family departed Greece on 14 June from the little East Coast fishing village of Oropos. The new King, 23-year-old Alexander, cut a forlorn figure as he waved off his nearest and dearest. The young monarch was subsequently prohibited from having any contact with his family.

Helen and her family travelled via Italy and crossed the frontier into Switzerland at Chiasso. To her consternation, crowds subjected her parents to jeers and taunts, while in Lugano, ex-King Constantine was forced to seek shelter in the Lloyd Hotel after being recognised and attacked in the street. He later returned to his quarters at the Palace Hotel under police protection. Helen’s family later moved to Zurich where they were joined by Prince Nicholas and Prince Andrew, their wives and children. For Helen this was fortuitous as she was close to all of her Greek cousins, particularly 14-year-old Princess Olga. However, life was not easy: money was tight and, in such a confined environment, petty family squabbles were not infrequent. The royalties were also subject to endless petty humiliations, including the censorship of correspondence. Worse still, the family’s sense of isolation was intensified when former friends openly snubbed Helen’s parents even, on occasion departing a room when they entered. Nor did it help that the international (pro-Entente) press remained hostile and had taken to describing the little group as ‘discarded royalty’ who were ‘hard-up’ and could not pay their hotel bills. Queen Sophie was allegedly even reduced to selling some jewels. Unsurprisingly, Helen’s father’s health suffered and he was fortunate indeed to recover from an attack of pleurisy.

The family were temporarily uplifted by the arrival of Queen Olga in July of 1918. Although this proud Romanov Grand Duchess had survived the revolution (unlike the former Tsar Nicholas who, on 17 July, was murdered along with his immediate family in the basement of a house in Ekaterinburg in the Urals), Helen was horrified to learn that the Dowager Queen-who was ‘a ghost of her old self’-had lived for many months on dry bread soaked in oil at her home at Pavlovsk. The marriage, on 1 February 1920, of her Uncle, Prince Christopher to the rich American heiress Mrs Nancy Leeds (the widow of William Leeds the American “Tin Plate King”) at the Russian Orthodox Church at Vevey was another highlight. But just around the corner further tragedy awaited…

In early October 1920, King Alexander (whose wife Aspasia was four months pregnant) was bitten by a monkey while walking in the gardens at Tatoi. Sepsis sent in and a frantic Queen Sophie (currently in Lucerne) asked permission to travel to Greece to be with her son. Venizelos denied her entry but indicated that Queen Olga could come in her stead. Sadly, rough seas meant that the Dowager Queen arrived in Athens only hours after the King’s death on 25 October. Helen was distraught when she received the news of her brother’s premature death. Her grief was compounded by the fact that neither she nor any of her family were allowed to return to Greece for the funeral on 29 October. Queen Olga represented the family.

In November, Eleutherios Venizelos was defeated in the general election and fled into exile. Soon newspaper reporters were besieging Helen and her family with the news that the fickle Athenians were calling for Constantine’s return. Helen was anxious for both of her parents who were pale of complexion and racked with sorrow. How would they cope with returning to Tatoi which was filled with so many memories of Alexander? Meanwhile, Constantine insisted on a plebiscite to reaffirm his position as monarch and this was held on 5 December. Nearly one million people voted in favour of his return, with just over ten thousand against. Helen was delighted for her father whom she joined aboard the ship Averon at Venice, on 15 December, to sail home to Athens.

The royal family landed in Greece on 19 December. King Constantine’s subjects went wild with enthusiasm. The royal carriage was besieged with cheering well-wishers as it made its was slowly through the streets to the Palace where all of the extended royal family later appeared on the terrace. Yet, for Helen-as for the others-the return was bittersweet. The fact of Alexander’s absence was suddenly brought home, particularly when she observed the grief-stricken face of her mother. Aged 24, Helen also realised that the time had come to settle down and make a suitable marriage. As a tall and attractive brunette with an excellent royal pedigree there was no shortage of suitable candidates. But whom would she settle on?


Princess Christina of the Netherlands.

The death of Princess Christina of the Netherlands, on 16 August, at the relatively young age of 72, came as a shock to many in the international community. However, the Dutch Government Information Service (RVD) disclosed, in June 2018, that the Princess had been diagnosed with bone cancer, in the autumn of 2017.

Princess Maria Christina (often referred to in her youth by her ‘roepnaam‘  of Marijke), was the youngest child of Princess (later Queen) Juliana, heir presumptive to the Dutch throne, and her German-born husband, Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld. Her birth, on 18 February 1947, was a cause for national rejoicing, for Christina was the first royal to be born on Dutch soil since the country’s liberation from German occupation in May 1945 and the royal family’s return from a five-year exile.

However, the country’s joy was soon somewhat tempered by the discovery that the infant princess was almost blind, probably as a result of Princess Juliana having contracted German measles (rubella) during her pregnancy. Indeed, such was Juliana’s distress that Prince Bernhard sought out the services of a faith healer, Greet Hofmans. Sadly, Hofmans’ influence over the deeply religious Queen Juliana (who ascended the throne, on 6 September 1948, following the abdication of her mother Queen Wilhelmina) caused a rift between Bernhard and Juliana. Fortunately, the intervention of the Dutch government led to the Queen finally breaking off all relations with Hofmans in 1956.

Meanwhile, as Marijke grew older, her sight improved thanks to advances in optical techniques. Indeed, the Princess was eventually able to cycle from her home at the Soestdijk Palace to school in nearby Baarn, on occasion travelling so fast that she left her police detective lagging far behind. By her mid-teens, the Princess was already displaying an independence of spirit: She indicated that she now wanted to be known as ‘Christina’, having deemed Marijke as being ‘too childish.’ The Princess also swapped the hallowed halls of palace life to share a flat with a female friend. Christina later enrolled at the University of Groningen and graduated with a teaching degree.

In 1968, the Princess moved to Canada to study classical music at the Montreal Academy of Music and subsequently attended the city’s McGill University. She later relocated to New York where, as Christina van Oranje, she taught music at a Montessori school. Christina then met and fell in love with a Cuban exile, Jorge Pérez y Guillermo, the son of a doctor and a teacher of disadvantaged children at the Addie May Collins Day Care Shelter in East Harlem. However, as Jorge was a Roman Catholic, the Princess-recalling the public outcry in the Protestant Netherlands when her elder sister Irene had married the Roman Catholic Prince Carlos Hugo of Bourbon-Parma in 1964- decided to renounce her and her descendants’ rights to the Dutch throne even before the couple’s engagement was officially announced. 

Christina and Jorge married, first in a civil ceremony in Baarn on 28 June 1975, followed by a religious blessing at Saint Martin’s Cathedral in Utrecht. The couple returned to New York to commence married life and inhabited a large Manhattan apartment with their three children, Bernardo (born in 1977), Nicolás (1979) and Juliana (1981). In 1984, the family relocated to the Netherlands where they built a substantial house, the Villa Eikenhorst, on the De Horsten royal estate at Wassenaar. This 17th-century-style home was soon filled with fabulous paintings by the Old Masters, antique Delftware, Persian carpets and French Louis XV furniture. The music-loving Princess also had her own music room where she could practice her arias in privacy.

In April 1992, the Princess was officially received into the Roman Catholic Church. Sadly, in April 1996 Christina and her husband Jorge divorced. The Princess then decided to return to live in New York, where her children were being schooled. Her share of the contents of the Villa Eikenhorst were sold at auction at Sotheby’s in Amsterdam the following November. The house would later become the official residence of the Prince of Orange following his marriage to Máxima Zorreguieta Cerruti in February 2002.

The Princess continued with her interest in music. As a pianist and singer she gave many private concerts and she also sang at the wedding of her son Nicolás and the funerals of both her parents. Christina also made two CD’s and was Patron of the Princess Christina Music Competition, the aim of which is to encourage young people to develop their musical talents.

In 2007, Christina moved to London and also had a property in Italy. In 2009, she hit the headlines when it was announced that she had invested her large fortune (inherited from her mother Juliana) in a ‘Daffodil Trust’ based in the British tax haven of Guernsey. This tax-saving exercise drew condemnation from some Dutch politicians although many individuals thought the matter a private one, given that the Princess had lived overseas for so many years and undertook no official engagements. According to the Dutch press, this trust was closed down in 2016.

In recent years, the Princess had taken a keen interest in dance and sound therapy techniques which could assist the blind and visually impaired. She share this knowledge at workshops arranged by the Visio Foundation in the Dutch towns of Huizen and Breda.

Following her death at the Noordeinde Palace in the Hague, Princess Christina’s mortal remains were transported to Fagel’s Garden Pavilion in the palace grounds , to allow close friends and family to pay their final respects. A private cremation service will follow.

Queen Mother’s Highland Hideaway.

Following the death of King George VI, on 6 February 1952, his widow, Queen Elizabeth was left feeling bereft and vulnerable. Unsure as to what the future held, the Queen Mother (as she was now more often referred to in the popular press) decided to fly north, on 16 June, for a four-day visit to her beloved Scotland to visit her childhood friend, Lady Doris Vyner and her husband Commander Clare Vyner at their Caithness home at Dwarick Head, The House of the Northern Gate. She took with her a Lady-in-Waiting, the Hon. Mrs Mulholland.

Although dressed in deepest black, the Dowager Queen descended from her Vickers Viking aircraft of the Queen’s Flight at Wick Airport to a warm welcome from not only her friends but thousands of curious locals too, for a royal visit to the windswept and barren County of Caithness was rare indeed. Yet, Queen Elizabeth was enthralled by the open views of the sea and beaches as she travelled the thirty-mile drive by coast-road from Wick to Dunnet, especially when she espied a small 16th century castle, Barrogill, which Lady Vyner indicated had been for sale for many months and was in danger of being demolished. Intrigued, the Queen Mother arranged to return a few days later to make a thorough inspection.

Elizabeth soon discovered that the current owner, Commander Imbert-Terry, lived in only a few of the edifice’s thirty rooms, which had served as a billet for Coastal Defence troops during the Second World War. The castle’s roof had mostly been destroyed by a recent storm and there was no proper sanitation or electric light. Nor did Barrogill come with a large land area-its immediate policies extended to only 30 acres. Nevertheless, the views over to Orkney and the Pentland Firth were uninterrupted and spectacular. Queen Elizabeth was adamant that ‘It must be saved.’ Although the Commander offered to sell Her Majesty the castle for nothing, she declined, but accepted his suggestion of a nominal price of £100.

Many thousands of pounds now required to be spent on it, over the next three years, including the reconstruction of the roof (which took twelve months alone) and the purchase (for £300) of another parcel of land for grazing and shooting. To keep costs down, much of the furniture was sourced by Lady Vyner from local antique shops, including that of J. Miller Calder in nearby Thurso, owned by Miss B Calder. The Queen Mother also frequented another antique establishment, ‘The Ships Wheel’ run by a local ‘character’ Miss Hetty Munro and her brother Alistair. The siblings eventually became good friends of Her Majesty and the business was awarded a prestigious Royal Warrant. There were occasional indulgences including a selection of antique clocks and a four-poster bed trimmed in chintz to enliven an otherwise austere white-washed bedroom.

Finally, in the summer of 1955, the castle was ready for habitation. The Queen, Prince Philip and their children Charles and Anne disembarked, on 12 August, from the Royal Yacht Britannia at nearby Dwarick Pier to inspect the castle, which Queen Elizabeth had decided to restore to its ancient name of the Castle of Mey. After a scrumptious tea, the royal party returned to the yacht. The Queen was ‘terribly impressed’ by all that she had seen ‘and…sorry to depart’. These family nautical interludes at Mey would become an annual tradition until the Royal Yacht was finally decommissioned in 1997.

The Queen Mother quickly adapted to life in Caithness. She would make a short visit in the late Spring to inspect the daffodils and her herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle, followed by a three-week stay in August and she invariably returned for final week’s holiday in October. Royal etiquette was deliberately kept to a minimum, with picnic lunches at some local beauty spot being the order of the day. Daily pastimes included walks on the beach to collect shells, country drives, shooting, fishing for mackerel and hunting for crab. Evenings were a more formal affair, with pre-dinner drinks served in the large drawing room with its warming peat fire and impressive 16th century Flemish tapestry. Dinner was served around 9pm in the adjacent 19th century dining room, at a mahogany table festooned with roses from the castle’s walled garden (which also supplied vegetables, herbs and fruit) and accessorised with good glass and Derby china. Dishes served included artichokes and fresh salmon, augmented by Veuve Clicqot champagne and cheeses (the latter supplied by another Royal Warrant holder, the Thurso grocers, Hamish Cameron). A game of cards (Racing Demon was a favourite) might follow.

In addition to the Vyners’, Her Majesty was well-acquainted with Viscount Thurso (the local Lord Lieutenant) and his wife Marigold. She also became a staunch friend of the local Presbyterian minister, the Reverend Bell, and his wife Christianne, and faithfully attended Sunday service at nearby Canisbay Old Church. The local people also took the Dowager Queen to their heart and, in August 1956, she was presented with the Freedom of the Royal Burgh of Wick. In later years, Queen Elizabeth would invite her former equerries to join her at Mey, when the house party could take on a more rumbustious flavour. However, Her Majesty could always retire to her small private sitting room, situated in one of the castle’s turrets. This contained a poignant reminder of her late husband: a marble fireplace with a heart medallion which the King had gifted to her many years earlier.

As she reached her mid-nineties, the Queen Mother was determined that the Castle of Mey-the only property she had ever owned-prospered well into the future. Ownership of the castle was transferred to a charitable trust, headed by her grandson Prince Charles as President, on 11 June 1996. Her Majesty paid her final visit to Mey in the autumn of 2001. She died at her other home, Royal Lodge, in Windsor Great Park, on 30 March 2002 at the age of 101. Today, the castle is a thriving tourist centre with a busy visitor centre and a newly opened bed and breakfast facility in the grounds. The profits of these enterprises are channelled into the care and maintenance of a place that brought Queen Elizabeth great comfort over nearly five decades.

Greek Princesses in Wartime Europe.

The three daughters of the Russian-born, Romanov Grand Duchess Helen (Ellen) and her husband Prince Nicholas of Greece and Denmark were regarded as the most beautiful and sophisticated in Europe. Marina, Elizabeth and Olga were also extremely close, having been raised together by their beloved, brusque English nurse or ‘nurnie’, Miss Kate Fox, at the Nicholas Palace in Athens, as well as at the Greek royal family’s country retreat at Tatoi, in the wooded foothills of Mount Parnitha. The Princesses made frequent trips to England, where they spent the summer months living in simple hotels or Norland hostels at Westgate-on-Sea or Bognor. Yet, the trio were equally at home amongst the grandeur of the Imperial court in St Petersburg, where their powerful maternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Vladimir, showered them with exquisite gifts and instilled in them a deep understanding of their Imperial Romanov heritage.

The best-known (and youngest) of the trio was Princess Marina. In November 1934, she had made a highly desirable marriage to Prince George, Duke of Kent (the youngest son of Britain’s King George V). The middle sister, Princess Elizabeth, is a more obscure figure. She married a wealthy Bavarian aristocrat (and nephew of Queen Elisabeth of the Belgians), Count Carl Theodor of Toerring-Jettenbach and settled in Munich. However, it was the eldest sister, Princess Olga, who would hold the highest rank as the wife and Consort of the Prince Regent (Paul) of Yugoslavia.

Despite their impeccable royal credentials, the sisters were actually more interested in a ‘cosy’ life en famille, and whenever their individual official or domestic duties permitted, they would meet up in London, Munich, Belgrade or Slovenia for a grand family get- together. When all else failed, long and detailed letters (chiefly concerning domestic matters or news of extended family) flew between England, Bavaria and Yugoslavia on a weekly basis. Grand Duchess Helen encouraged these strong inter-family bonds from her homes in Paris and Athens.

In late 1935, Paul and Olga had purchased a large Slovenian castle at Brdo which was large enough to accommodate all of the extended family for visits throughout August and into late September. The emphasis was firmly on fun: Games of tennis were interspersed with riding, swimming, film shows, charades and fishing trips, as well as excursions to the Slovene capital, Ljubljana. On occasion, several members of the party might travel further afield to enjoy a relaxing cruise down Croatia’s Dalmatian coast. When all else failed, there was always the joy of the popular card game, Lexicon.

However, as early as September 1938, the shadow of war threatened this almost idyllic family existence. All the extended family happened to be staying at the Toerring’s country home, Frauenbuhl Castle at Winhöring when, during a rally in Nuremberg, the German leader, Hitler, denounced Czechoslovakia as a ‘fraudulent state’, focused on subduing the German-speaking minority in the Sudetenland. The Führer also encouraged the Sudeten Germans to demand union with Germany and even offered to provide them with military assistance. Anticipating a deterioration in the European political situation, the Duke and Duchess of Kent returned to England, with heavy hearts, on 14th September. Next day, the Prince Regent and Princess Olga journeyed home to Brdo. Meanwhile, Count Toerring, being of military age, joined the Gebirgsjäger (mountain troops) and was called up to the Czech frontier, leaving his anxious wife to mind their two young children. War was temporarily averted following peace negotiations which resulted in the Munich Agreement of 30 September signed by Hitler, Neville Chamberlain (the British Prime Minister), Mussolini and the French Premier Edouard Daladier. However, Czechoslovakia paid a heavy price as the accord permitted the annexation of the Sudetenland into the Third Reich. Gallingly, the Czechoslovak government was neither invited nor consulted over the matter.

As 1938 drew to a close, Princess Olga feared for her husband’s safety as it was no secret that the Prince Regent was a prime target for terrorists as he sought to thrash out an agreement between the Roman Catholic Croats and Orthodox Serbs. She was cheered by a visit from Marina in February 1939. However, within weeks of the Duchess of Kent’s return to England, German forces invaded the remainder of Czechoslovakia, in direct contravention of the Munich Agreement. Suddenly, it seemed to the British government that Hitler was intent on dominating Europe and Britain’s policy of appeasement was now abandoned. As it appeared likely that Poland would be the Fuhrer’s next target, on 31 March, Neville Chamberlain informed the House of Commons that ‘in the event of any action which clearly threatened Polish independence’ the British government would ‘feel bound.. to lend the Polish Government all support in their power’.

On Good Friday, 7 April, Italy invaded Yugoslavia’s southern neighbour of Albania. This troubled Olga greatly as it put extra pressure on the Prince Regent and served to underline that much of the weight of Yugoslavia’s uncertain future rested squarely on his shoulders. Princess Elizabeth and Count Toerring happened to be spending Easter in England with Marina and the Duke of Kent at their country home, Coppins. Prince George’s correspondence with Prince Paul indicates that there was a frank exchange of (often differing) views on the situation in Europe between the couples.

However, the Duke of Kent and Marina were mostly focused on preparing for their departure to Australia where Prince George was due to take up an appointment as the Dominion’s Governor-General. Elizabeth and Olga were both in despair at the thought of their youngest sibling moving to the other side of the world for a period of up to five years. Fortunately, Olga was distracted by her own official duties, as she and the Prince Regent were due to make State visits to Italy and Germany in May and June respectively. The visit to Berlin provided Olga and her sister Elizabeth with the chance of several brief reunions at the Bellevue Palace, amid a busy week of official engagements.

In early July, it was the turn of Marina and the Duke of Kent to greet Olga and Paul, when they arrived on a visit to London. The stay was a more relaxed family affair, despite the Yugoslav royals being quartered at Buckingham Palace. While the Prince Regent had talks with government ministers, Olga-keenly aware that her sister would be departing in only a few months for Canberra-spent quality time with Marina at the Kent’s home in Belgrave Square. She and Paul also managed a weekend trip down to Coppins.

In early August, Olga and Paul returned to Bled for what remained of the summer; Grand Duchess Helen was already in residence and the house party was soon completed by the arrival of the Kents and the Toerrings. It so happened that Prince Albrecht of Bavaria was a fellow guest. Albrecht was strongly opposed to Hitler and his National Socialist Party and was currently employed by Prince Paul to run his shoots at Petrovčić and Belje. Unsurprisingly, the atmosphere was somewhat strained for if Britain and Germany went to war, as seemed increasingly likely given Chamberlain’s guarantee, the Kents and Toerrings would, technically speaking, be enemies. Since Yugoslavia intended to remain neutral, Olga would be Marina and Elizabeth’s mutual point of contact.

Within a few weeks the situation deteriorated considerably: On 22 August, it was confirmed that Germany and Russia had signed a non-aggression pact. The Treaty had a secret protocol appended to it which divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence and signalled the green light for further German advances, including into Poland. Aware of the implications, both the Duke of Kent and Count Toerring left Brdo for their respective homelands as soon as they received the news. Marina remained in Slovenia until the end of August before departing by train for London.

On 1 September 1939 Germany invaded Poland and Elizabeth Toerring immediately left for Munich. On 3 September, in line with the guarantees it had earlier given to the Polish government, Great Britain declared war on Germany. Olga was ‘stunned’ by this development realising all too well the implications for Marina and Elizabeth. Count Toerring had already been called up to the western front and Prince George-his move to Australia now put on hold-was serving in the Royal Navy at the Admiralty in London. To exacerbate matters, Princess Olga’s sons Nicholas and Alexander were currently attending school in England, a place which now seemed increasingly far off as telephone communications with Yugoslavia were suspended.

Suddenly, the sisters’ life of privilege was gone. In Bavaria, Princess Elizabeth had taken to riding a bike as petrol was rationed, while Princess Olga had been appointed President of the Yugoslav Red Cross. Olga and Elizabeth had originally been able to communicate by telephone (with a German censor listening in), but this facility was withdrawn in late October. Although letters could still be sent (in Olga and Marina’s case via the official diplomatic bag) the process was slow and tedious; there were also limits as to what could safely be committed to paper. In England, Marina had joined the Navy as Commandant of the Women’s Royal Naval Service-‘the Wrens’-and was soon undertaking tours of inspection throughout England. On occasion, she travelled to Scotland to join the Duke of Kent who had been transferred to Admiralty House in North Queensferry. This meant that she was sometimes separated from her young children, Edward and Alexandra, who, with Coppins closed-up and the London house vacated, often spent time staying with their paternal grandmother, Queen Mary, at Badminton.

In early November, Princess Elizabeth and her children Hans Veit and Helen arrived in Belgrade. The main reason for her visit was that food was increasingly scarce in Bavaria. However, the erratic political climate must have been another factor. Countess Toerring feared for her husband’s welfare, particularly when she learned that there were random, ‘new wholesale arrests’ following an assassination attempt on Hitler’s life in Munich’s Bürgerbräukelle. Yet, as 1939 drew to close, the sister’s remained resolute. Elizabeth and her children returned to Bavaria, in early December, to be with Count Toerring (who had now been released from active duty), while Olga sought to try and provide some Festive cheer in Belgrade for King Peter (whose mother, Queen Dowager Marie, now lived in England with her younger sons Andy and Tommy), her three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, and the Prince Regent. Meanwhile, Marina busied herself with organising accommodation for the Christmas school holiday period, in Cambridge, for Olga’s sons and Miss Fox. She later visited the trio to help them celebrate the Festive Season.

As 1940 dawned, Olga noted that, ‘The future looks dark I must admit- but I know the light is there behind it all the time.’ Yet, in the years ahead, all of the sisters would face terrible challenges, which would test them-and their close bond-to the limit.


Yugoslav Royals’ ‘Private’ Visit to London 1939.

As the volatile political situation in Europe throughout the spring and early summer of 1939 threatened to escalate into war, Prince Regent Paul of Yugoslavia, whose Balkan Kingdom was already under threat both from Italian expansionist desires and an increasing economic dependence on Germany, was feeling decidedly unsettled. A recent State Visit to Berlin, which included a massive military display, had only served to increase his disquiet. Worryingly, he also confided to his old friend, Infante Alfonso, Duke of Galliera, that Hitler was ‘mad’.

It must have been somewhat of a relief to receive a telegram from his friend, King George VI (‘Bertie’) asking him to pay a visit to London for ‘important, though informal, discussions with British Ministers’. Paul was the supreme anglophile: he had been educated at Christ Church, Oxford and counted the British aristocrats (and fellow Oxford graduates) Walter, the 8th Duke of Buccleuch and Robert, Viscount Cranborne (‘Bobbety’) as close friends. Furthermore, the British Queen Consort (formerly Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon) had often entertained Prince Paul at her childhood home, Glamis Castle, near Forfar and counted him as a member of her ‘inner circle’. However, the Prince’s most recent link with England was through his wife, Princess Olga. The latter’s youngest sister, Marina, had married Britain’s Prince George, the Duke of Kent, less than five years previously. It also happened that King George VI was godfather to both fifteen-year-old King Peter of Yugoslavia and to Paul and Olga’s (British-born) eldest child, Alexander.

On 17 July, the Prince Regent and Princess Olga arrived at Victoria Station for a two-week visit. The Kent’s were waiting to greet them, as was Alexander, who was currently attending Eton. Although the visit was not a ‘State’ but a ‘private’ event, the royal couple’s strong links to the British monarchy ensured that they were quartered in great comfort in Buckingham Palace’s ground-floor Belgian Suite. The British press were suitably kind to the Regent noting that in Yugoslavia, ‘Prince Paul is bearing a burden a heavy burden and bearing it exceedingly well.’ Furthermore, as the senior ‘trustee’ of the Yugoslav crown, they observed that, ‘his policy is that nothing should be done which will jeopardise the position of King Peter when he attains his majority in two years’ time and will then take over the responsibilities of government.’ The press, nevertheless, praised Paul for ‘striving for peace within and without the country’ and acknowledged it had been ‘an exceedingly difficult task to hold the balance evenly between the [Orthodox] Serbs and the [Roman Catholic] Croats’ whilst also having to ‘resist the overtures’ of Italy and Germany.

On 18 July, Paul and Olga joined the King and Queen on the front stalls of the Little Theatre to watch the musical revue “Nine Sharp” starring the Australian actor, Cyril Ritchard. Next day, the Prince lunched and held talks with the British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain at his residence, 10 Downing Street. Lord Halifax, the Foreign Minister was also present, as were various British military chiefs and the President of the Board of Trade. Paul was at pains to point out that Germany and Russia were in talks with a view to signing a non-aggression pact. If Britain did not consummate a deal with the Russians then Germany would. Later, the King invested Prince Paul as a Knight Companion of the Most Noble Order of the Garter, Britain’s oldest (and most prestigious) order of chivalry. In the evening, Bertie and Elizabeth hosted a ball attended by 800 at which the Prince Regent and Princess Olga were the guests of honour. This would be the last major event to be held at the Palace until after the Second World War.

Yet, despite this lavish display of royal hospitality, the British press later seemed surprised that the Yugoslavs maintained such a ‘living sentiment’ for all things British which went beyond simple royal family ties, even although Britain had failed to offer Yugoslavia similar aid or guarantees as those offered to its neighbour Greece. Indeed, Lord Halifax, appeared slow to appreciate Dr Ivan Subbotic’s, [the Yugoslav Minister in London] recent entreaties for armaments and improved trade terms. This situation had continued despite the fact that the British Minister in Belgrade, Sir Ronald Campbell, had pressed his Foreign Office masters in London, prior to Prince Paul’s visit, for ‘more substantial assistance to this country.’ Campbell’s intervention was driven by a sense of embarrassment exacerbated by the Prince Regent’s oft expressed ‘surprise that we do nothing practically to help [Yugoslavia].’ Campbell was also aware that despite the lack of British military aid, Halifax had tried to press the Regent into making some sort of declaration as to what Yugoslavia intended to do should Germany invade Romania. Paul was furious at such a crass display of diplomacy, fearing that such a declaration would antagonise the Germans at a time when his country was short of arms and unprepared militarily. Furthermore, it remained a delicate time in Yugoslav internal politics, as the Prince was involved in trying to obtain an agreement (Sporazum) between the Serbs and the Croats. (This would eventually be achieved in late August.)

Meanwhile, in late July, following a weekend stay at the Duke and Duchess of Kent’s home at Coppins, near Iver, the Prince Regent entered a London nursing home for three days for an operation by orthodontist Mr Bowdler Henry on a wisdom tooth. He and Princess Olga departed for their summer home in Slovenia on 2 August. The couple’s loyal friend, Henry ‘Chips’ Channon waved them off at Victoria Station. However, the presence of 100 policemen, who formed a tight security ring around the Prince Regent (there had been numerous death threats against Paul over the years), somewhat unsettled Chips and caused him to take ‘a gulp of misery’ while wondering what the future held for his friends. Prince Paul, for his part, was left with the distinct impression that Britain had little interest in coming to Yugoslavia’s aid.

On 22 August it was announced-as Prince Paul had predicted to British officials in London-that Germany and Russia had signed a Treaty of Non-Aggression. The British press succinctly noted that ‘Nazi-ism and Bolshevism… are now shaking hands’. Worryingly, the Treaty had a secret protocol appended to it which divided eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence and gave the green light for further German advances, particularly into Poland. Indeed, within weeks, Germany would be at war with both Great Britain and France.

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