The experiences the Scandinavian heirs made during the travel to Svalbard and Greenland will be published in a book. Crown Prince Haakon, Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Frederik have written an own chapter about the impressions they got during the journeys.

Click at the image to read an article at Kongehuset.no

In summer 2008 the 3 Scandinavian heirs visited Svalbard. They went aboard an icebreaker to get better impressions of the climate change in the Arctic.

In summer 2009 they went on a trip to Greenland. There they focus on the climate change and it’s consequences.

The book, which includes the Royal experiences, is called “Royal polar expedition”. It is a result of the ravels and is published in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

The proceeds from the book will go to charity.

Click here to see a video about the Royal Arctic experiences.

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In November the book “Victoria – rottning med tiden” (Victoria – Queen of the time”) will be released. Author Herman Lindqvist takes the readers to a journey through the life of Sweden’s next Queen: Crown Princess Victoria. The book also deals with her struggle for love, the secret meetings and Daniel Westling’s illness and about her starting a family.

Click here to see the cover of the book

Herman Lindqvist was Victoria’s private history teacher and the Royal Family of Sweden feels confident with him. It’s a good time to release a book about Victoria, marking next year’s big wedding and also the 200th throne anniversary of the Bernadotte dynasty.

In the book you can read among others about Queen Silvia and King Carl Gustaf’s concerns for the selection of their daughter’s boyfriend. Victoria says: “They wanted to clear that I would get the best possible support and backing for my job now and in the future. How could they know that Daniel could give me that? How would he do it?”

The book “Victoria – Queen of the time” is available to buy in shops from 17 November. A thread about the book can be found here.

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William Clarke has written a book (due to be published in England in September), where he tells the story of how some of the Romanov Jewels were saved. William Clarke is by no means a novice when it comes to researching the history of Russian Imperial Jewels. Former financial editor of the London Times, Clarke has already explored a similar theme in his book “The Lost Fortune of the Tsars”, published in 1996. His new book, “Hidden Treasures of the Romanovs: Saving the Royal Jewels”, tells the story of Albert Henry Stopford, who transferred jewels worth millions of pounds (in those times) from Russia to England in 1917.

click to view the full-sized cover from Amazon.com

In a gripping detective-style book, Clarke tells how Stopford risked his own life to help Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna, who he considered a close personal friend. Stopford offered the Grand Duchess to remove the jewels she had hidden in Vladimir Palace (which was guarded by Bolsheviks). Armed with detailed plan of the palace, Stopford (57 at the time) managed to penetrate into the palace, find the jewels and money there, and hide them into his Gladstone bags. If he had been apprehended, his fate would have been sealed right there on the spot. Stopford then proceeded to transferring the jewels (still in his Gladstone bags) to England: he used the fact his baggage couldn’t be examined as he had diplomatic immunity. Stopford’s motivation was almost certainly a genuine desire to help, rather than gain (it is known that he had no profit from the later sale of the jewels). Clarke, however, makes an intriguing suggestion that Stopford might also be working for British Secret Service.

One of the tiaras saved by Stopford is the famous Vladimir Tiara, now in possession of Queen Elizabeth II.

Read more…

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Picture this. The Prince and Princess of Wales are feuding, much to their families’ dismay. It is quite clear that the marriage has ended, although, thank goodness, the succession is secure. They have produced an heir. But then tragedy strikes in a “King Ralph” moment and the heir is dead. What’s a royal family to do?

Click the image to see the photo at amazon.co.uk

I’m not talking about the misadventures of Charles and Diana, but about the tragedy that befell the Hanoverians when Princess Charlotte died. Charlotte was the only child of the future George IV, who was Prince of Wales and Regent at the time of his daughter’s death in 1817 (poor George III was still haunting Windsor in the grips of porphyria-induced madness). For the nation, this was sheer tragedy. Charlotte was, according to Kate Williams, the author of Becoming Queen, as popular in her day as Princess Diana was in ours. In part her popularity was due to her youth and that she was the perfect counterweight to the excesses and unpopularity of her parents and the other Hanoverian princes.

The public had rejoiced at her royal wedding and at the news that she was to become a mother in the autumn of 1817. Her handsome groom was the Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, an impecunious German prince who would play a much more significant role in British, European and African history than would have been expected in 1817. Unfortunately, Charlotte’s pregnancy and delivery was hopelessly botched. After the stillborn death of her son, 22-year-old Charlotte gave up and died. And the House of Hanover was without an heir after the generation of George III’s sons. Read more…

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Click the image to see the reviews at Amazon

 When I made my last visit to the library, I grabbed a copy of Book Page, “America’s Book Review.” And there’s a few new books that might be of interest to members of the Royal Forums. I haven’t read them and must rely on BP’s reviews, but three might be of interest to you.

Click the image to see the reviews at Amazon

If you’re in the mood for humor and would like to broaden your knowledge of royal women, take a peek at Kris Waldherr’s Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends from Cleopatra to Princess Di. She tells the women’s life stories in brief and provides a lesson at the end of each. After Princess Diana she advises “Avoid men with cameras and Camillas.” If you enjoy this, you might enjoy the Uppity Women series (by Vicki Leon) which I have enjoyed.

Read more…

iowabelle British Royals Book Review

 “Romanoff Gold” by William Clarke.

Clarke describes Imperial Russia vividly and delves into the money trail meticulously.

The first part of this book is the most interesting. Certain images stayed in my mind: beautiful Meriel Buchanan’s Russian admirer visiting her in a panic after the Revolution, the Tsar’s daughters enjoying their first dances and balls, and the final terrible journey and end of the Royal family. (NB)

Reading how Clarke traced the money of the Romanovs is like reading a detective story, but it becomes a little dry and complicated at times. He does dispel long-held myths about Queen Mary and money and jewels spirited away during the First World War.

This is a book well-worth reading if you enjoy reading about the Romanovs.

NB: Meriel Buchanan was the British Ambassador’s daughter.

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In her newest novel on the British Royals of the past, Anne Easter Smith chooses to delve into the theoretical existence of a bastard child of Edward IV, Grace, whom she chooses to tell the story of Perkin Warbeck, yet another theoretical child of Edward IV.

Perkin Warbeck claimed to be Richard of Shrewsbury and was recognized as such by Margaret of Burgundy, sister to Edward IV, one of the most intelligent women ofher day. We all know that royal men of that day and age tended to sow their seeds in every compliant garden that they could find, and Edward IV is likely to have been no different. So it would not be surprising to find out that this child, Grace, did in fact exist.

However, since Anne Easter Smith’s books are largely works of fiction, based on historical characters with historically acurate details, it would be wise to take what you read with a grain of salt.

This book, like her previous one, is bound to be a fun read when it arrives in stores on March 10th.

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Ian Vorres’s kind neighbour, a rather charming, little old lady, often invited him in to have a cup of tea. Soon he found out that she was Grand Duchess Olga, the sister of the last Russian Tsar. It was destiny… Vorres, a writer, persuaded her to let him write her biography.

Grand Duchess Olga’s life was so dramatic that it remains interesting even though Vorres’s writing is rather straightforward and prosaic. The interview format doesn’t help. He doesn’t often let his imagination run away with him! However, it doesn’t matter because Olga’s words capture the splendour of the Russian court and the horrors of the Revolution.

Grand Duchess Olga wanted to correct the untruths directed at her family – the Rasputin scandal, accusations of tyranny and criticisms of the Tsarina Alexandra. She does this to a big extent, although her argument that monarchy is a divine right is not very convincing. She explains that Tsar Nicholas was really not brought up to be Tsar – her father’s main mistake.

The Grand Duchess is surprisingly honest, blaming the rest of the Romanovs (not the immediate Royal Family) for their downfall. She thought that their involvement in scandals lessened the people’s respect for them.

She is also very humble and disliked the balls, parties, etc. that she had to attend almost every night at one stage. When she found a new life in Canada she was quite happy gardening, staying at home, and wearing shabby clothes.

This is a very sad book, of course, but well worth reading because it gives a personal insight into the lives of the last Russian royals.

Grand Duchess Olga looking pensive

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