Prince George (1869-1957) and Princess Marie Bonaparte (1882-1962)

[Marengo]

Giorgios (George) of Greece & Denmark (Corfu, 24 June 1869 - St.Cloud, 25 November 1957); married civilly in Paris on 21 November 1907 and religiously in Athens on 12 December 1907 Princess Marie Bonaparte (St.Cloud, 2 July 1882 - Gassin, 21 September 1962)

Dynasty: Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg

Children: Prince Peter of Greece & Denmark and Princess Eugeniedella Torre e Tasso, Duchess of Castel Duino

Parents George: King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Constantinova of Russia

Parents Marie: Prince Roland Bonaparte, 6th Prince of Canino and Musignano and Marie-Félix Blanc

Siblings George: King Constantine I of the Hellenes; Grand Duchess Alexandra Georgievna of Russia; Prince Nicholas of Greece & Denmark; Grand Duchess Maria Georgievna of Russia; Princess Olga of Greece & Denmark; Prince Andrew of Greece & Denmark and Prince Christopher of Greece & Denmark

Siblings Marie: None

 

[Marengo]

From wikipedia:

Prince George of Greece and Denmark, known as Uncle Goggy to his family, (Greek: Πρίγκιπας Γεώργιος) (24 June 1869–25 November 1957) was the second son of King George I of the Hellenes and Grand Duchess Olga, and is remembered chiefly for having saved the life of a future Emperor of Russia, Nicholas II. He served as high commissioner of Crete during its transition towards independence from Ottoman rule and union with Greece.

From 1883, George lived at Bernstorff Palace near Copenhagen with Prince Valdemar of Denmark, his father's younger brother. The king had taken the boy to Denmark to enlist him in the Danish royal navy, and consigned him to the care of Valdemar, who was an admiral in the Danish fleet. Feeling abandoned by his father on this occasion, George would later describe to his fiancée the profound attachment he developed for his uncle from that day forward.
In 1891, George accompanied his cousin the Tsarevich Nicholas on his voyage to Asia, and saved him from an assassination attempt in Japan, in what became known as the Otsu Incident.

George, along with his brothers Constantine and Nicolas, were involved with the organization of the 1896 Summer Olympics in Athens. George served as president of the Sub-Committee for Nautical Sports.
Although much of modern Greece had been independent since the 1820s, Crete remained in Ottoman hands. For the rest of the 19th century, there had been many rebellions and protests on the island. A Greek force arrived to annex the island in 1897 and the Great Powers acted, occupying the island and dividing it into British, French, Russian and Italian areas of control.
In 1898, Turkish troops were ejected and a national government was set up, still nominally under Ottoman suzerainty. Prince George, not yet thirty, was made High Commissioner, and a joint Muslim-Christian assembly was part-elected, part-appointed. However, this was not enough to satisfy Cretan nationalists.
Eleftherios Venizelos was the leader of the movement to reunite Crete with Greece. He had fought in the earlier revolts and was now a member of the Assembly, acting as minister of justice to Prince George. They soon found themselves opposed. George, a staunch royalist, had assumed absolute power. Venizelos led the opposition to this. In 1905, however, he summoned an illegal revolutionary assembly in Theriso, in the hills near Chania, the then capital of the island.

During the revolt, the newly-created Cretan Gendarmerie remained faithful to George. In this difficult period, the Cretan population were divided: in the 1906 elections the pro-Prince parties took 38,127 votes, while pro-Venizelos parties took 33,279. But the Gendarmerie managed to execute its duties without taking sides. Finally, British diplomats brokered a settlement and in September 1906 George was replaced by former Greek prime minister Alexandros Zaimis, and left the island. In 1908, the Cretan Assembly unilaterally declared enosis with Greece.
In October 1912 George returned from Paris to Athens so that he could join the naval ministry as Greece prepared for war against Turkey. Later he served as aide-de-camp to King George who, however, was assassinated in March 1913. George went to Copenhagen to settle his father's financial affairs there, as he had never ceased to be a Prince of Denmark.

read the entire article here.

 

[Marengo]

From wikipedia:

Princess Marie Bonaparte (2 July 1882 - 21 September 1962) was a French author and psychoanalyst, closely linked with Sigmund Freud. Her wealth contributed to the popularity of psychoanalysis, and enabled Freud's escape from Nazi Germany.
Marie Bonaparte was a great-grand-niece of Emperor Napoleon I of France. She was a daughter of Prince Roland Bonaparte (19 May 1858 - 14 April 1924) and Marie-Félix Blanc (1859-1882). Her paternal grandfather was Pierre Napoleon Bonaparte, son of Lucien Bonaparte, who was one of Napoleon's rebellious and disinherited younger brothers. For this reason, despite her title Marie was not a member of the dynastic branch of the Bonapartes who claimed the French imperial throne from exile. However, her maternal grandfather was François Blanc, the principal real-estate developer of Monte Carlo. It was from this side of her family that Marie inherited her great fortune.

She was born at Saint-Cloud, a town in Hauts-de-Seine, Île-de-France. Her mother died of an embolism induced by giving birth to Marie.
On 21 November 1907 in Paris, she married Prince George of Greece, the second son of King George I of the Hellenes, in a civil ceremony, with a subsequent religious ceremony on 12 December 1907, at Athens. She was thereafter officially also known as Princess Marie of Greece and Denmark. They had two children, Peter (1908-1980) and Eugénie (1910-1988).

Troubled by her difficulty in achieving sexual fulfillment, Marie engaged in research. In 1924 she published her results under the pseudonym A. E. Narjani and presented her theory of "frigidity" in the medical journal "Bruxelles-Médical". Having measured the distance between the clitoris and the vagina in 243 women, she concluded after analysing their sexual history that the distance between these two organs was critical for the ability to reach orgasm ("volupté"); she identified women with a short distance (the "paraclitoridiennes") who reached orgasm easily during intercourse, and women with a distance of more than two and a half centimeters (the "téleclitoridiennes") who had difficulties while the "mesoclitoriennes" were in between. Marie considered herself a "téleclitorienne" and approached Josef Halban to surgically move her clitoris closer to the vagina. She underwent and published the procedure as the Halban-Narjani operation. When it proved unsuccessful in facilitating the sought-after outcome for Marie, the physician repeated the operation.

Read the entire article here.

 

[Marengo]

Some pictures of princess Marie, copyrights expired:

 

[Marengo]

And two more, in a Greek(ish) costume and with her son Peter:

 

[BELTRANEJA]

I found this picture of George accompanied his cousin the Tsarevich Nicholas

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/8396/zarandgorge.jpg

 

[Brooke]

Are there photo's of Princess Marie Roland Bonaparte,later in her life with her family?
Also,don't you think she looks like Queen Sophie married to King Constantine?

 

[BELTRANEJA]

With her children and grandchildren, and one of her latest pictures, she is between the Kings Pavlo and Federik .
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/RFAMILY_G/georgemarieeugenie1nj8.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/RFAMILY_G/60_ans_du_roi_Paul_2.jpg

 

[maria-olivia]

Marie's granddaughter Tatania Radziwil is very close with the greek royals. Young she was really wonderful. She married a french doctor and has a normal and happy life.

The greek royal Princes often married very rich women such as Marie Bonaparte and others . Nowdays Pavlos and Nicolas are doing the same.

 

[BELTRANEJA]

yes, ....Tatiana is very close to the Greek royal family, and especially to the Queen Sofia, she is her best friend...

 

[stef]

With her children and grandchildren, and one of her latest pictures, she is between the Kings Pavlo and Federik .
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/RFAMILY_G/georgemarieeugenie1nj8.jpg
http://i953.photobucket.com/albums/ae16/RFAMILY_G/60_ans_du_roi_Paul_2.jpg

Thank you by pictures.It is true it was the last picture of Pincess Marie, she died after..

 

[snowflower]

Marie , George and Eugenie at Queen Elisabeth's coronation (corbis):

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Who is Eugenie?

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

Who is Eugenie?

Their daughter, SAR La Princesse Eugέnie de Grece. They had also a son, Peter, Prince of Greece and Denmark, who upon the death of King Paul and before Constantine's marriage and birth of issue, that is, from March 1964 until the summer of 1965, was second-in-line of succession to the Greek throne after Princess Irene, who became Diadoch for the aforementioned period. Princess Eugenie married HSH Prince Dominic Radziwill (1939), whom she divorced in 1948. Her second husband was HSH Prince Raymundo della Torre e Tasso, Duke of Castel Duino whom she married in 1949 and divorced in 1965. I read somewhere that either the second wedding or the honeymoon that followed took place in Athens and that the Duke of Castel Duino was caught chasing men, thus creating a big scandal considering the conservatism of the era.

What surprises me in the above photo is that Prince George appears to wear the regalia of the Knight of the Garter. Was he a Knight of the Garter? I know that this, the highest British decoration, has been given to very few people, mostly within Britain and the Royal Family.

 

[snowflower]

I don't think he was a Knight of the Garter either, but he had received the order of the Bath from George V . Maybe the robes of the two orders are similar, I am not familiar with British Orders I am afraid.
What surprises me is that he looks so steady and younger for his 84 years in that photograph. I find it surprising that there was little decline even before his death. No wonder that all his nieces and nephews used to joke that " Uncle Goggie is far to long lived and healthy to be an Oldenburg "

 

[maria-olivia]

Marie's saphires and Eugenie's jewelry are sold now at Sotheby's. Does anyone have more information about this important auction ?

 

[Warren]

What surprises me in the above photo is that Prince George appears to wear the regalia of the Knight of the Garter.

Prince George was a Knight of the Order of the Bath.
Here is the Badge of the Order from Wiki...
picture free of copyright - courtesy Wikipedia Commons
This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.

 

[snowflower]

Jewel's auction

Prince Carlo Allesandro , Duke of Castel Duino is to auction his mother's jewels in May 2010. Among the pieces are Princess Marie Bonaparte's sapphire festoon necklace, a matching brooch and a diamond and pearl corsage that used to belong to Queen Olga of Greece (it was one of her favourites). I wish that the GRF could buy the corsage back, given its provenance.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

To snowflower and Warren:

Thank you so much.
Now I have another question. Isn't della Torre e Tasso, the Italian version of Thurn und Taxis who are enormously rich? Or was/is the money exclusively associated with Gloria's late husband (and now her and the children)? How is this branch related to Gloria?

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

According to the link provided above, he was of the House of Thurn and Taxis

 

[Warren]

Torre e Tasso

How is this branch related to Gloria?

The Princely House has two major branches, Line I and Line II. They descend from two half-brothers, sons of the 3rd Prince (Fürst), Alexander Ferdinand (1704-1773).

Line I was founded by Karl-Anselm, 4th Prince (1733-1805). Gloria's son Albert is the current and 12th Fürst von Thurn und Taxis.
Line II (Bohemian Line) descends from Prince Maximilian Joseph (1769-1831). Amongst his descendants are the Torre e Tasso family. In 1923 Prince Alexander (Alessandro) of Thurn und Taxis (1881-1937) became a naturalised Italian along with his two sons. The King of Italy granted him the title of Principi della Torre e Tasso, 1st Duke di Castel Duino with the qualification of Serene Highness.

The family seat is Duino Castle (Castello di Duino) in Duino, Province of Trieste. It is very impressive.
-> Duino Castle, large
-> Duino Castle, aerial

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

Thanks, Warren, for posting the links to the photographs. What a beautiful site for a castle and it is very impressive.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

Line II (Bohemian Line) descends from Prince Maximilian Joseph (1769-1831). Amongst his descendants are the Torre e Tasso family. In 1923 Prince Alexander (Alessandro) of Thurn und Taxis (1881-1937) became a naturalised Italian along with his two sons. The King of Italy granted him the title of Principi della Torre e Tasso, 1st Duke di Castel Duino with the qualification of Serene Highness.

The family seat is Duino Castle (Castello di Duino) in Duino, Province of Trieste. It is very impressive.
-> Duino Castle, large
-> Duino Castle, aerial

Very impressive and it must be costly to maintain it. Thus, it is unlikely that the current Duke, Carlo Alessandro, son of Eugenie, is poor. I also understand that Eugenie had two children with Prince Radziwill, Tatiana, Madame Fruchaud and George who died childless.
Therefore, given that prince Peter died childless, the surviving descendants of Prince George of Greece and Marie Bonaparte are Madame Fruchaud (granddaughter) and her children and Carlo Alessandro, 3rd Duke of Castel Duino (grandson).

My understanding is that Marie Bonaparte, albeit a descendant of an non-dynastic branch of the Napoleon House (due to a morganatic marriage) inherited a fortune in Monte Carlo etc.

It would be interesting to find out about the fate of the fortune and who has placed the jewels for auction.

 

[snowflower]

My understanding is that Marie Bonaparte, albeit a descendant of an non-dynastic branch of the Napoleon House (due to a morganatic marriage) inherited a fortune in Monte Carlo etc.

It would be interesting to find out about the fate of the fortune and who has placed the jewels for auction.

Marie had a large inheritance through her mother Marie Felix Blanc. Marie Felix was a daughter of Francois Blanc " the magician of Monte Carlo".Francois with his twin was dealing with gambling enterprises from his youth in Paris, Bordeaux, Luxembourg , Homburg and finally Monte Carlo , where he really flourished, deally with casinos ,founding the Casion of Monte Carlo, founding and taking the headship of the current Societe des Bains du Mer etc. When he died in 1877 he left a fortune of 72 millions of francs which was dealed by his widow Marie and his Elder son Camille.
I don't know what was Maire Felix's share of her father's fortune. Francois had 5 children from two marriages: Camille and Charles from his first marriage who both died childless, and Louise , Edmond and Maire Felix from his second marriage. Louise married a Radziwill and Edmond became a politician. I guess that both daughters got a good share of their father's money , but most of the money apparently stayed with with sons (mainly Camille) and I can't find out who inherited them. Marie Bonaparte was the sole inheritor of her mother's fortune and her father and granmother were very concerned over her health throughout her childhood because if Maire ever died, the inheritance would be returnd to the Blancs.

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

Thank you. Very interesting

 

[Warren]

A picture of a younger Marie Bonaparte.
from here
copyright expired

 

[Vlaha Karatsokaros]

According to the biographies, Marie died in Septmeber 1962. It just occurred to me that it was only a few months after the wedding of Sofia and Juan Carlos. I am sure you are all familiar with the official wedding pictures where Marie looks radiant. Does anyone know how she died?

 

[Vasillisos Markos]

According to Wikipedia (so take it for what it may be worth), it states Marie died from leukemia.

 

[snowflower]

I find it somehow hard to believe. Not that it is impossible of course, but I think that old people suffer rarely from agressive cancer . I always assumed it was old age ( she was 80 after all).

 

[Katrianna]

That's not necessarily true. Elderly people can and do die from aggressive cancers all the time, however, like other cancer patients of younger ages, they also frequently die from an infection. Marie may have been well enough to attend Sofia's wedding, but may have succumbed to an infection or the cancer had invaded vital organs and remember, in that time, cancer interventions were nothing like the present day.