Imperial Requiem: Four Royal Women and the Fall of the Age of Empires

by Justin C. Vovk

  38. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 53.

  39. Ibid., p. 54.

  40. Ibid.

  24: The Quest for the Crown

  1. Tyler-Whittle, The Last Kaiser, p. 326.

  2. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, pp. 144–145, 148.

  3. Carter, George, Nicholas and Wilhelm, p. 419.

  4. Bentinck, The Ex-Kaiser in Exile, p. 35.

  5. Wilhelm II, The Kaiser’s Memoirs, p. 338.

  6. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 147.

  7. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 107.

  8. Bentinck, The Ex-Kaiser in Exile, pp. 35–36.

  9. Wilhelm Hohenzollern to August von Mackensen, December 2, 1919, in The Kaiser and His Court: Wilhelm II and the Government of Germany (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), John C. G. Röhl, p. 210.

  10. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 422.

  11. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, chap. 1, para. 42. The Madness of Wilhelm II was written by F. Kleinschrod. Kaiser Wilhelm Periodically Insane! was written by H. Lutz. H. Wilm wrote Wilhelm II as Cripple and Psychopath.

  12. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 145.

  13. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 422.

  14. Carter, George, Nicholas and Wilhelm, p. 416.

  15. Tyler-Whittle, The Last Kaiser, p. 311.

  16. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, p. 345.

  17. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 422.

  18. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 148.

  19. New York Times, March 11, 1922.

  20. Ibid., March 17, 1919. Eitel-Fritz and Lotte divorced in 1926.

  21. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 8.

  22. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 55.

  23. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 143.

  24. Ibid., p. 173.

  25. Thomas Sakmyster, Hungary’s Admiral on Horseback (Boulder, CO: East European Monographs, 1994), pp. 95–96.

  26. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 188.

  25: The Last Journey

  1. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 426.

  2. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 283.

  3. New York Times, October 13, 1921.

  4. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 149.

  5. New York Times, July 18, 1920.

  6. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 150.

  7. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 184.

  8. Bentinck, The Ex-Kaiser in Exile, p. 144.

  9. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 209.

  10. New York Times, December 1, 1920.

  11. Bentinck, The Ex-Kaiser in Exile, p. 36.

  12. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 153.

  13. Cecil, Wilhelm II, p. 296.

  14. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 150.

  15. New York Times, February 23, 1921.

  16. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 280.

  17. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 427.

  18. Carter, George, Nicholas and Wilhelm, p. 419.

  19. Lewiston Evening Journal, April 11, 1921.

  20. German Crown Prince, Memoirs, p. 281.

  21. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, p. 151.

  22. Ibid.

  23. New York Times, April 18, 1921.

  24. Report of the Associated Press sent to New York Times, April 18, 1921.

  25. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, p. 347.

  26. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, pp. 151–152.

  27. New York Times, April 19, 1921.

  28. Viktoria Luise, The Kaiser’s Daughter, pp. 151–152.

  29. New York Times, April 19, 1921.

  30. Clay, King, Kaiser, Tsar, p. 354.

  31. MacDonogh, The Last Kaiser, p. 427.

  32. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 133. This refers to the Treaty of Versailles that was signed at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Signed at the Palace of Versailles, the treaty confirmed the borders of postwar Europe and stipulated that the Habsburgs and Hohenzollerns were barred from ever returning to the Austrian and German thrones, respectively.

  33. Brook-Shepherd, The Last Habsburg, pp. 278–279.

  34. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 201.

  35. Brook-Shepherd, The Last Habsburg, p. 284.

  36. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 59.

  37. Brook-Shepherd, The Last Habsburg, p. 285.

  38. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 210.

  39. Thomas, “Empress Zita,” The Catholic Counter-Reformation, p. 4.

  40. Sakmyster, Hungary’s Admiral, pp. 113–115.

  41. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 61.

  42. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 241.

  43. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, pp. 118–119.

  44. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 248.

  45. Charles and Zita would not be the last foreign monarchs to be taken into “protective custody” by the British. Even into the Second World War, rulers of less powerful countries who did not conform to the British agenda were forced to abdicate, usually by military occupation, economic sanctions, or diplomatic leverage. In almost every instance, these rulers and their relatives were taken aboard British naval vessels; it would then be implied they were being taken somewhere for their own safety. In the end—like the emperor and empress of Austria—they would always be taken to remote corners of the world in a Napoleonesque manner to remove them from spheres of influences. One of the most famous examples was the forced abdication of the Reza Shah of Iran in the 1940s, who was eventually taken to South Africa.

  46. New York Times, November 4, 1921.

  47. Diary entry of Empress Zita, November 6–7, 1921, in The Last Habsburg, Brook-Shepherd, p. 307.

  48. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, p. 137.

  49. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 257.

  50. Diary entry of Empress Zita, November 8, 1921, in The Last Habsburg, Brook-Shepherd, p. 309.

  51. Diary entry of Empress Zita, November 10, 1921, in ibid., p. 310.

  52. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, p. 139.

  53. Diary entry of Empress Zita, November 19, 1921, in The Last Habsburg, Brook-Shepherd, p. 319.

  54. Ibid.

  26: “I Can’t Go On Much Longer”

  1. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 63.

  2. New York Times, January 13, 1922.

  3. Brandreth, Philip and Elizabeth, p. 57.

  4. King George V to Queen Mary, undated, August 1925, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 516.

  5. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 515.

  6. Princess Mary did not become the Princess Royal until January 1, 1932. The title does not automatically go to the monarch’s eldest daughter. The incumbent must wait until the current Princess Royal has died. In this case, Mary had to wait for the death of her aunt Louise, Princess Royal and Duchess of Fife, to inherit the title. It also must be bestowed by the monarch. King George V issued letters patent to that end.

  7. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 174.

  8. Diary entry of Queen Mary, November 21, 1921, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 518.

  9. Queen Mary to Adolphus, Marquess of Cambridge, November 22, 1921, in ibid.

  10. Times, February 28, 1922.

  11. Diary entry of King George V, February 28, 1922, in Hough, Born Royal, p. 212.

  12. Queen Mary to Edward, Prince of Wales, March 2, 1922, in Edwards, Matriarch, p. 290.

  13. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 112.

  14. Albert, Duke of York, to Edward, Prince of Wales, February 22, 1922, in Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 521.

  15. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, p. 148.

  16. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 264.

  17. Thomas, “Empress Zita,” The Catholic Counter-Reformation, p. 4.

  18. Karl Werkmann, Der Tote auf Madeira (Munich: Kulturpolitik, 1923), p. 307.

  19. Brook-Shepherd, The Last Habsburg, p. 328.

  20. Wheatcroft, The Habsburgs, p. 290.

  21. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, p. 14
4.

  22. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 70.

  23. Thomas, “Empress Zita,” The Catholic Counter-Reformation, p. 4.

  24. Werkmann, Der Tote, pp. 310–311.

  25. Die Presse, April 2, 1922.

  26. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 72.

  27. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, pp. 144–145.

  28. Snyder, The Red Prince, p. 131.

  27: Return to Grace

  1. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, p. 144.

  2. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 272.

  3. Bogle, A Heart for Europe, pp. 150–151.

  4. Brook-Shepherd, Uncrowned Emperor, p. 73.

  5. Gelardi, Born to Rule, p. 294.

  6. Harding, Imperial Twilight, pp. 288–289.

  7. Gelardi, Born to Rule, p. 303.

  8. F. O. Lindley to George Curzon, First Marquess Curzon of Kedleston, October 1, 1922, in From Splendor to Revolution, Gelardi, p. 376.

  9. Queen Olga to King George V, November 23/December 6, 1922, the Royal Archives, RA GV/PRIV/AA 46/99, in ibid., pp. 376–377.

  10. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 311.

  11. Diary entry of Queen Mary, May 13, 1922, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 527.

  12. Queen Mary to Emily Alcock, February 21, 1923, in ibid., pp. 527–528.

  13. According to William Shawcross, the Queen Mother’s official biographer, the Bowes-Lyon family omits the hyphen from their name (Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 8n). The author has chosen to leave the name hyphenated to avoid confusion.

  14. Diary entry of King George V, July 17, 1917, in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 113n.

  15. Queen Mary to Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, January 15, 1923, in ibid., p. 152.

  16. Albert, Duke of York, to Queen Mary, April 27, 1923, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 529.

  17. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 161.

  18. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 525.

  19. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 300.

  20. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p. 378.

  21. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 538.

  22. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 186.

  23. Diary entry of Queen Mary, April 21, 1926, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 530.

  24. Brandreth, Philip and Elizabeth, p. 58.

  25. Gelardi, From Splendor to Revolution, p. 383.

  26. Ibid., p. 358.

  27. Ibid., p. 369.

  28. Albert, Duke of York to Edward, Prince of Wales, December 6, 1928, in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 303.

  29. Diary entry of Queen Mary, December 2, 1928, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 542.

  30. Diary entry of Queen Mary, January 6, 1929, in ibid., p. 544.

  31. Van der Kiste, Crowns in a Changing World, p. 174.

  32. Philip Ziegler, King Edward VIII: The Official Biography (London: HarperCollins, 1990), p. 199.

  28: The Tinge of Sunset

  1. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 293.

  2. Thomas, “Empress Zita,” The Catholic Counter-Reformation, p. 5.

  3. Ibid.

  4. Dr. Otto von Habsburg to Gordon Brook-Shepherd, August 4, 1999, in Uncrowned Emperor, Brook-Shepherd, p. 74.

  5. Ibid., p. 75.

  6. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 305.

  7. Habsburg Family Archives, Cassette No. 30, File 186, in The Last Empress, Brook-Shepherd, p. 232.

  8. Prince Sixtus of Bourbon-Parma to Empress Zita, June 21, 1933, in The Last Empress, Brook-Shepherd, p. 240.

  9. Ibid.

  10. Sir Clive Wigram to Sir Robert Vansittart, June 26, 1933, in ibid., p. 242.

  11. King George V to Empress Zita, June 29, 1933, in ibid.

  12. Ibid.

  13. Norman Davies, Vanished Kingdoms:The History of Half-Forgotten Europe (London: Allen Lane, 2011), p. 567.

  14. Snyder, The Red Prince, p. 131.

  15. Tyler-Whittle, The Last Kaiser, p. 339.

  16. Milwaukee Journal, September 15, 1934.

  17. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 329.

  18. Clark, Kaiser Wilhelm II, p. 354.

  19. Memorandum of Dr. Otto von Habsburg to Gordon Brook-Shepherd, October 8, 1999 in Uncrowned Emperor, Brook-Shepherd, p. 80.

  20. Manchester Guardian, September 25, 1933.

  21. Tsarina Alexandra to the Reverend William Boyd Carpenter, bishop of Ripon, December 29, 1902/January 11, 1903, Add. MSS 46721/236, The British Library, quoted in Born to Rule, Gelardi, p. 243.

  22. Harding, Imperial Twilight, p. 321.

  23. Cawthorne, Kings and Queens of England, p. 184.

  24. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 328.

  25. Ibid., p. 331.

  26. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 197.

  27. Diary entry of Queen Mary, May 6, 1935, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 554.

  28. Gelardi, Born to Rule, p. 355.

  29. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 194.

  30. Queen Mary to King George V, undated, August 1934, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 551.

  31. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 318n.

  32. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 347.

  33. Noble Frankland, Prince Henry, Duke of Gloucester (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980), p. 123.

  34. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 345.

  35. Ibid.

  36. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 351.

  37. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 346.

  38. Diary entry of Queen Mary, January 20, 1936, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 558.

  39. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 351.

  40. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 559.

  41. Diary entry of Queen Mary, January 22, 1936, in ibid., p. 560.

  42. Shaw, Royal Babylon (Kobo desktop version), chap. 9, para. 4.

  43. Hildegard Anderson, “The Royals: An Illustrated History of Monarchy—From Yesterday to Today,” Life Books Special Edition (December, 2010), p. 41.

  44. Henry Channon, Chips: The Diaries of Sir Henry Channon, ed. Robert Rhodes James (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1967), p. 55.

  45. Wilhelm Hohenzollern to Queen Mary, February 2, 1936, in George, Nicholas and Wilhelm, Carter, p. 424.

  46. RA QM/PRIV/QMD/1936: 28 January, in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 352.

  47. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 352.

  48. Wakeford, Three Consort Queens, p. 184.

  29: For the Love of a Woman

  1. Channon, Chips, p. 54.

  2. Elizabeth, Duchess of York, to Queen Mary, March 11, 1936, RA QM/PRIV/CC12/24, in Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, pp. 360-361.

  3. Queen Mary to King Edward VIII, undated, 1936, in Queen Mary, Duff, p. 204.

  4. Diary entry of Queen Mary, September 30, 1936, in ibid., p. 207.

  5. Shaw, Royal Babylon (Kobo desktop version), chap. 9, para. 81.

  6. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 323.

  7. Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages, pp. 391–392.

  8. Shaw, Royal Babylon (Kobo desktop version), chap. 9, para. 85.

  9. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 208.

  10. Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages, pp. 390–391.

  11. Lewis Broad, The Abdication (London: Frederick Muller, 1961), p. 75.

  12. Tudor enthusiasts will recall that Henry VIII outlived his third wife, Jane Seymour, who died a few days after giving birth to Henry’s only son. He predeceased his sixth and final wife, Catherine Parr.

  13. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 364.

  14. Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages, p. 396.

  15. Queen Mary to Edward, Duke of Windsor, July 5, 1938, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, pp. 574–575.

  16. Hough, Born Royal, p. 285.

  17. Ibid.

  18. Ziegler, Edward VIII, pp. 323–324.

  19. King Edward VIII to Queen Mary, November 20, 1936, EDW/ADD/ADD/ABD/1, the Royal Archives, quoted in ibid., p. 324.

  20. Queen Mary to Elizabeth, Duchess of York, November 17, 1936, QEQM/PRIV/RF, the Royal Archives, quoted in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 373.

  21. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 579.

  22. Diary entry of Queen Mary, December 10,
1936, in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 381.

  23. Cawthorne, Kings and Queens, p. 189.

  24. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 368.

  25. Carroll, Notorious Royal Marriages, p. 400.

  26. Ziegler, Edward VIII, p. 538.

  27. Daily Express, June 3, 1957.

  28. Edwards, Matriarch, p. 378.

  29. Elizabeth, Duchess of York, to Queen Mary, October 21, 1936, QM/PRIV/CC12/36, the Royal Archives, quoted in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 370.

  30. Wheeler-Bennett, King George VI, p. 288.

  31. Farquhar, Behind the Palace Doors, p. 287.

  32. Queen Mary to King George VI, February 4, 1937, RA GVI/PRIV/RF/11 in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, pp. 421-422.

  33. Gelardi, Born to Rule, p. 361.

  34. Shaw, Royal Babylon (Kobo desktop version), chap. 9, para. 87.

  35. Queen Mary to King George VI, April 10, 1937, RA GVI/PRIV/RF/11, the Royal Archives, quoted in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 421.

  36. Diary entry of Queen Mary, June 3, 1937, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 585.

  37. Farquhar, Behind the Palace Doors, p. 288. Once Wallis secured her divorce from her second husband, Ernest Simpson, she resumed using her maiden name, Warfield.

  38. Duff, Queen Mary, p. 220.

  39. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 401.

  40. Diary entry of Queen Mary, May 12, 1937, in Queen Mary, Duff, p. 220.

  41. Gelardi, Born to Rule, p. 368.

  42. Queen Mary to King George VI, May 12, 1937, RA GVI/PRIV/RF/11, in Queen Elizabeth, Shawcross, p. 404.

  43. Shawcross, Queen Elizabeth, p. 387.

  44. Palm Beach Post, March 13, 1938.

  45. Diary entry of Queen Mary, November 20, 1938, in Queen Mary, Pope-Hennessy, p. 588.

  46. Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, p. 588.

  47. Habsburg Family Archives, Cassette No. 20, File 502, in The Last Empress, Brook-Shepherd, p. 252.