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European Royalty Film Clips
An article by Rebecca West (1892 – 1983) in which she listed an enormous number of reasons as to why May 12, 1937 (the coronation date for George VI) will not be a good day to be in London. From time to time throughout the article she throws-in some bon mots:
"This is a crucifixion as well as a coronation. The best kings we have ever had have been Queens, and every year Kingship becomes less and less suitable for a man. A constitutional monarch has constantly to behave as if he were a mindless puppet in circumstances which would prove fatal to everybody, including himself, if he really were a mindless puppet."
The King's Speech
A beautifully illustrated page from VOGUE MAGAZINE reporting from Belgrade on the the royal wedding of Alexander I of Yugoslavia (1888 – 1934) and Marie of Romania (Marie of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen: 1900 – 1961). An earlier posting on this site indicated that the groom had been promised in 1913 to wed Grand Duchess Olga of Russia (1895 - 1918), but there were complications.
Following Alexander's 1934 assassination, their oldest son, Peter II (1923 – 1970) assumed the throne and presided as the last king of Yugoslavia. With the revelation that Britain's King George VI was left-handed came this column by an uncredited journalist listing all the various unseemly elements that are associated with with left hand usage (most importantly, Lucifer). In light of the fact that a British king is also assigned the title "Defender of the Faith" in the Anglican Church; steps had to be taken in his youth to train him how to use his right hand. These lessons came at a cost, and the result was his sad stuttering speech - which also involved additional lessons with a speech therapist. "Younger brother Alexander hated dashing, erratic Crown Prince George (1887 - 1972), darling of the Serbian people, so he framed him as a loony, got him exiled, and in due course became King instead. George made the mistake of writing an insulting letter and going back home on the heels of it. Now, in a remote Yugoslavian villa, surrounded by trees, hedges, and mustachioed detectives, the Serbian Bad Boy lives in solitary confinement, doing mathematical problems to keep from getting bored." A 1938 article which gave a brief account of the incarcerated Crown Prince George of Serbia. As the above makes clear, he was judged insane and locked up between the years 1925 through 1939. He was set free by the Nazis during their brief occupation of that country. Click here to read about the 1922 discovery of King Tut's tomb. A Vanity Fair article by Ard Choille that recalls the low key visit that Belgium's Albert I (1875 – 1934) made to the U.S. in 1898 while in the company of his young bride, Elizabeth (1876 - 1965), formerly the Duchess of Bavaria. Published at a time when the Great War was in it's fourth month, the journalist was mindful of the valiant roll Albert was maintaining as the Commander-in-Chief of the struggling Belgian Army in the face of the German onslaught.
Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.
Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886 – 1941) is remembered as a pretty level-headed guy, but non the less, it was news items like this one that made Karl Marx first dip his nib in the inkwell...
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