15. Princess Alice of Battenberg lost much of her wealth and privilege, but still found it in her to help those less fortunate than herself during the Second World War
Princess Alice of Battenberg is perhaps best-known now for being the mother of Prince Phillip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of England. In her own time, however, she was well-known across Europe – and not always for the right reasons. Born into the British royal family in 1885, she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903. For more than 20 years, Alice played the dutiful wife. However, in 1930, her princess lifestyle came to an abrupt end. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, she was sent to a sanatorium in Switzerland. Her husband left her and her children went overseas.
While Princess Alice made a recovery, having spent more than two years committed and in the private clinic, by 1938, she was living in a two-bedroom flat in the center of Athens. According to the British politician Harold Macmillan, who visited Alice in 1944, she resided in “humble, not to say somewhat squalid conditions”, with little food and even less money. Despite her own hardships, she spent the war helping others, including Jews on the run. For her selflessness and bravery, Princess Alice was named as “Righteous Among the Nations” by the state of Israel. In 1967, her son, Prince Phillip, invited her to live with him and his wife, the Queen, in England. She died in Buckingham Palace just two years later.
14. Princess Pauline von Metternich was in an unhappy marriage to a prince, so she decided to have a good time – smoking, drinking and even engaging in topless duels with a rival female aristocrat
Princess Pauline – or, to give the royal lady her full name, Princess Pauline Clémentine Marie Walburga von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein – was never happy to sit quietly in the background. Born into Hungarian nobility in Vienna in 1836, she married her uncle, Prince Klemens, when she was just 20. From the very start of their union, her husband enjoyed countless affairs, preferring the company of actresses and opera singers to his own wife. But instead of breaking her, the Prince’s infidelities inspired Princess Pauline to life live to the full and she became one of the best-known and colorful socialites in al of 19th century Europe.
Pauline’s great passion was for fashion. She also loved music and was one of the main patrons of Richard Wagner. What’s more, the Princess loved having a good time. She defied convention and smoked cigars. And then, in the summer of 1892, she challenged a fellow royal, a Countess, to a duel with rapiers. While not a ‘topless’ fight (the women kept their corsets on, but even this would have been shocking), the event made history, since the ladies’ ‘seconds’ were also female. Both women were wounded, but not seriously, and the debate over who won the duel continues to this day.
13. Clara Ward was an American socialite who married into European royalty, shocking the upper classes but entertaining readers of gossip magazines
She may be largely forgotten today, but for a short time in the 1890s, Clara Ward was one of the most famous (and infamous) people in the whole world. And all because of a chance encounter with one of Europe’s lesser royals. Clara was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Detroit. As a young lady, she would sometimes pay visits to the family mills. And it was on one such visit that she caught the eye of the Prince of Caraman-Chimay. The Belgian was in Detroit as part of a trade mission. However, he left Michigan with a wife.
News that an ‘ordinary’ American girl had married into royalty spread fast. The self-styled Clara, Princess of Chimay made headlines around the world. She relished the attention and loved showing off her new wealth and social status. Inevitably, Clara became a fixture in the gossip columns of the time. While some people loved and admired her, many others were envious and the ‘American Princess’ soon became a hate figure. In the end, the marriage turned out to be a short one. After just 6 years, Clara eloped with a Hungarian gypsy musician. Her Prince divorced her and Clara was forced to turn to glamour modelling to get by.
12. Princess Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba was destined to rule, though she needed to fight her usurper half-brother before she could claim her throne
Princess Nzinga was born into the royal family of the Ndogo and Matamba kingdoms – parts of modern-day Angola – in 1583. Her father, the king, Kia Simba, ruled with an iron fist. However, he doted on his daughter. Of the three of them, Nzinga was his favorite. According to the legend, she had been born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. This was taken as a sign that she would be a fiercely-independent young woman, and might even reign as queen one day. Certainly, her father believed this. He groomed her for power, taking her to war and having her by his side when decisions were made.
When Kia Simba was deposed in around 610, his illegitimate son took power for himself, forcing the princess into exile. However, she skillfully used diplomacy and influence to win her way back. While the exact methods are lost to history, the records do show that she went from princess to de-facto queen by 1624. For some 40 years, she negotiated with the Portuguese, using diplomacy rather than force to get what she wanted. To this day, Nzinga is credited with saving Angola from being fully colonized by Europeans.
18. Charlotte of Prussia was far from the ideal royal wife and mother, preferring the nightclubs of Berlin to the family home
From an early age, Princess Charlotte of Prussia misbehaved. The eldest daughter of Prince Frederick, she was a hyperactive child and soon earned the nickname “sweet, naughty little Ditta”. While her grandparents, King Wilhelm and Queen Augusta, spoiled Charlotte, hew own parents despaired at her lack of discipline. This continued right through childhood. She was a poor, inattentive student. Combined with her plain looks, many feared she would never marry. However, in 1878, at the age of just 16, she married her cousin. But even he was too weak-willed to get his anxious and hyperactive wife to act like a real princess.
Even motherhood didn’t make Princess Charlotte change her ways. She have birth to her daughter, Princess Fedora, in 1879, and made it clear that this would be the only child she would have. When the baby was just a few weeks old, Charlotte decided to leave her in the care of her nannies. Instead of being a doting mother, she headed to Berlin, where she flung herself into the raging party scene. She also took long holidays, much to the dismay of her family. In middle age, Charlotte then got her kicks from spreading gossip through Berlin. She continued to revel in society scandals right up until her death in 1919 at the age of just 59.
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17. Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe loved England, but she also loved the Nazis, so it was inevitable she became a secret agent of the Third Reich
Born Stephanie Julienne Richter in September of 1891, marriage to an Austrian prince at the age of just 23 made her Princess Stephanie von Hohenlohe – and she was determined to make full use of her title. From the very start, she behaved terribly. Indeed, she gained her royal title on false pretenses, tricking the Austrian prince that a child she was carrying was the result of a brief affair between them (the father was actually an Archduke). However, it was in the 1930s that Princess Stephanie really gained her notoriety – and earned herself the nickname of the ‘Nazi Princess’.
After divorcing her prince, Stephanie relocated to London. Here, she mingled with British aristocracy, while also making friends in high places in Nazi Germany. By the late-1930s, she was serving as a glamorous go-between, linking Hitler to rich, high-placed Brits, including Lord Rothermere, a hugely influential media baron. The Princess visited Germany on several occasions. By all accounts, Hitler himself adored her. However, in 1938, the Nazi regime started persecuting Austrian Jews. Stephanie’s ancestral past proved her downfall. She was interned in the United States for the duration of the war, moving back to Germany and enjoying a media career of her own once peace returned.
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16. Princess Charlotte of Belgium couldn’t resist the chance to become Empress of Mexico, though she soon tired of the role, becoming paranoid and an unfaithful wife
As the only daughter of King Leopold of Belgium, Princess Charlotte was perhaps the most desirable woman in all of mid-19th century Europe. In the end, she married her cousin, Archduke Maximillian of Austria in 1857. And she might have led a happy and uneventful life in Vienna had it not been for Napoleon III. In the 1860s, the French Emperor was keen to make Mexico a satellite state of France. He needed a regal figurehead and so he offered Maximillian the job. Against the advice of his family, the Duke accepted. He and Princess Charlotte moved to Mexico, where she became Empress Carlota.
For a while, Charlotte was a diligent ruler, travelling her land and meeting her people. Before long, however, France lost interest in Mexico. Charlotte returned to Europe, mentally exhausted, and heartbroken as she came to realize Maximillian only married her for her family fortune. She became increasingly paranoid and angry. Moreover, according to the rumors of the time, the Princess found solace in the bed of another man, and even had an illegitimate child with him. Charlotte went to the Pope for help, even sleeping in his private chambers. However, he could do nothing. In the end, she was left alone with her mental and emotional demons. She died in 1927, an old, broken and lonely woman.
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15. Princess Alice of Battenberg lost much of her wealth and privilege, but still found it in her to help those less fortunate than herself during the Second World War
Princess Alice of Battenberg is perhaps best-known now for being the mother of Prince Phillip, the husband of Queen Elizabeth II of England. In her own time, however, she was well-known across Europe – and not always for the right reasons. Born into the British royal family in 1885, she married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark in 1903. For more than 20 years, Alice played the dutiful wife. However, in 1930, her princess lifestyle came to an abrupt end. Diagnosed with schizophrenia, she was sent to a sanatorium in Switzerland. Her husband left her and her children went overseas.
While Princess Alice made a recovery, having spent more than two years committed and in the private clinic, by 1938, she was living in a two-bedroom flat in the center of Athens. According to the British politician Harold Macmillan, who visited Alice in 1944, she resided in “humble, not to say somewhat squalid conditions”, with little food and even less money. Despite her own hardships, she spent the war helping others, including Jews on the run. For her selflessness and bravery, Princess Alice was named as “Righteous Among the Nations” by the state of Israel. In 1967, her son, Prince Phillip, invited her to live with him and his wife, the Queen, in England. She died in Buckingham Palace just two years later.
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14. Princess Pauline von Metternich was in an unhappy marriage to a prince, so she decided to have a good time – smoking, drinking and even engaging in topless duels with a rival female aristocrat
Princess Pauline – or, to give the royal lady her full name, Princess Pauline Clémentine Marie Walburga von Metternich-Winneburg zu Beilstein – was never happy to sit quietly in the background. Born into Hungarian nobility in Vienna in 1836, she married her uncle, Prince Klemens, when she was just 20. From the very start of their union, her husband enjoyed countless affairs, preferring the company of actresses and opera singers to his own wife. But instead of breaking her, the Prince’s infidelities inspired Princess Pauline to life live to the full and she became one of the best-known and colorful socialites in al of 19th century Europe.
Pauline’s great passion was for fashion. She also loved music and was one of the main patrons of Richard Wagner. What’s more, the Princess loved having a good time. She defied convention and smoked cigars. And then, in the summer of 1892, she challenged a fellow royal, a Countess, to a duel with rapiers. While not a ‘topless’ fight (the women kept their corsets on, but even this would have been shocking), the event made history, since the ladies’ ‘seconds’ were also female. Both women were wounded, but not seriously, and the debate over who won the duel continues to this day.
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13. Clara Ward was an American socialite who married into European royalty, shocking the upper classes but entertaining readers of gossip magazines
She may be largely forgotten today, but for a short time in the 1890s, Clara Ward was one of the most famous (and infamous) people in the whole world. And all because of a chance encounter with one of Europe’s lesser royals. Clara was born into a wealthy industrialist family in Detroit. As a young lady, she would sometimes pay visits to the family mills. And it was on one such visit that she caught the eye of the Prince of Caraman-Chimay. The Belgian was in Detroit as part of a trade mission. However, he left Michigan with a wife.
News that an ‘ordinary’ American girl had married into royalty spread fast. The self-styled Clara, Princess of Chimay made headlines around the world. She relished the attention and loved showing off her new wealth and social status. Inevitably, Clara became a fixture in the gossip columns of the time. While some people loved and admired her, many others were envious and the ‘American Princess’ soon became a hate figure. In the end, the marriage turned out to be a short one. After just 6 years, Clara eloped with a Hungarian gypsy musician. Her Prince divorced her and Clara was forced to turn to glamour modelling to get by.
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12. Princess Nzinga of Ndongo and Matamba was destined to rule, though she needed to fight her usurper half-brother before she could claim her throne
Princess Nzinga was born into the royal family of the Ndogo and Matamba kingdoms – parts of modern-day Angola – in 1583. Her father, the king, Kia Simba, ruled with an iron fist. However, he doted on his daughter. Of the three of them, Nzinga was his favorite. According to the legend, she had been born with the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck. This was taken as a sign that she would be a fiercely-independent young woman, and might even reign as queen one day. Certainly, her father believed this. He groomed her for power, taking her to war and having her by his side when decisions were made.
When Kia Simba was deposed in around 610, his illegitimate son took power for himself, forcing the princess into exile. However, she skillfully used diplomacy and influence to win her way back. While the exact methods are lost to history, the records do show that she went from princess to de-facto queen by 1624. For some 40 years, she negotiated with the Portuguese, using diplomacy rather than force to get what she wanted. To this day, Nzinga is credited with saving Angola from being fully colonized by Europeans.
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11. Princess Joan of Kent was the most beautiful woman in all of 14th century England and ended up married to two men at the same time
According to contemporary observers, Joan of Kent was almost certainly “the most beautiful woman in all the realm of England, and the most loving”. Such natural beauty and kindly disposition helped earn her the nickname ‘the Fair Maid of Kent’, plus it won her the hand of Edward of Woodstock, the son and heir of King Edward III of England. Despite this, their marriage in 1361 shocked many. For, while Joan was undeniably attractive, plus she was of aristocratic stock, she was 31 years-old at the time of the wedding. Plus, she was a mother of four. But above all, she had not only been married before, but she had been married to two different men at the same time!
Joan was just 12 when she married for the first time. She fell in love with a knight by the name of Thomas Holland. He was 26 and had no great personal wealth. Since her parents would have been against their union, the pair wed in secret. Soon after, Thomas went away to war. Shortly after that, the son of the Earl of Salisbury asked for her hand in marriage. Perhaps believing Thomas would be killed in battle, she accepted. Thomas did return, however, prompting a legal tussle over who was Joan’s legal husband. In the end, Thomas won, and he and Joan went on to have four children. Thomas died young and, despite her history of bigamy, Joan won the heart of the prince, becoming the first-ever Princess of Wales.
8. Tamar of Georgia was no quiet, retiring princess; in fact, she made history by serving alongside her father, King George, and then ruling on her own
In 1178, King George III of Georgia made a shock announcement. He decreed that, from then on, his own daughter, Princess Tamar, would rule alongside him. She was just a teenager and, moreover, medieval Georgia was a highly sexist society. Men were supposed to rule through strength alone, and women were supposed to be subservient, even if they were of royal blood. But the King’s decision was a wise one. Tamar was not just any princess. She had been raised to be a warrior and groomed for power from an early age. From 1178 onward, she was required to put all that knowledge to good use.
Between the ages of 18 and 24, Princess Tamar ruled as co-monarch. Then, in 1184, her father died. She became Queen of Georgia. Not surprisingly, many powerful clan leaders were against the idea of being ruled by a woman. However, Tamar was just as ruthless a queen as she had been a princess. Despite her young age, she quickly asserted her dominance. Even when she gave in to nobles’ requests to marry a political ally, she quickly tired of her husband and sent him into exile. In partnership with her second husband, Tamar crushed all potential opposition and ushered in the ‘Golden Age’ of Georgian history – not bad for a young princess whose reign looked doomed from the start.
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