Mon cœur dit oui, mais ma tête dit non by Paul Schmit

 

In English, the title translates to My heart says yes, my head says no.   

Paul Schmit, a Luxembourg diplomat, is the author of this book, a detailed history about  Grand Duchess Charlotte of Luxembourg and her government's painstaking and painful decision in 1940 to go into exile as the German army advanced its invasion of the small Grand Duchy.

The Grand Duchess had to balance two roles: head of state and a mother of seven children.   This was not the first time Luxembourg had been invaded by Germany.  In 1867,  Luxembourg became an independent nation.  The European powers recognized the Grand Duchy's independence and neutrality.  In August 1914, Germany violated Luxembourg's neutrality by occupying the country, despite protests from Grand Duchess Marie-Adélaïde and the Luxembourg government.

Schmit's book is in French.  There are no plans for an English translation.  As I browsed through the book, translating paragraphs, I concluded that this book is a masterful study of a difficult point in Luxembourg's history.    There are 57 pages of endnotes!  True scholarship with the quality of a Ph.D dissertation.

 Here is the translation for the above:  "The choice of exile during the fateful year of 1940 was long debated and argued. For the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, these were moments of terrible hesitation and anxiety, but also of heroic struggle and resistance. Even if the decision to leave the country at dawn on May 10 can and should be debated, the actions of Grand Duchess Charlotte, her family, and the government in promoting the country's independence serve as a notable example."

The Nazis invaded Luxembourg on May 10 1940.  The following day,  Grand Duchess Charlotte and her family fled to France, along with members of the Government.   They were given security in France, but when that country was invaded by Germany,  Grand Duchess Charlotte and her government traveled to Portugal.   She arrived in London in August 1940, where she did radio broadcasts to her country.  During the next few years, she traveled between the United Kingdom and the United States and Canada, where her younger children attended school.  Her eldest son, the future Grand Duke Jean, joined the Irish Guards.

 A Luxembourg government in exile was established in London in 1943.   On April 14, 1945, Grand Duchess Charlotte returned to a liberated Luxembourg.

Mon cœur dit oui, mais ma tête dit non is a rare scholarly work that will be appreciated by historians and others.  Schmit offers insight into how a constitutional monarch, working with her government, makes difficult and challenging decisions that ultimately save the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg.  

Heads prevailed.

The book was published by the Luxembourg-based publisher Éditions Guy Binsfield.  The book's price is €30.00.   You can order through their website.  The book is not available on Amazon or Amazon.co.uk

The book is also available from the Galignani bookstore in Paris.  

https://www.galignani.fr/livre/9782919822140-mon-coeur-dit-oui-mais-ma-tete-dit-non-la-grande-duchesse-charlotte-et-le-gou-schmit-paul/

https://editionsguybinsfeld.lu/fr/shop/mon-coeur-dit-oui-mais-ma-tete-dit-non/

Hesse & By Rhine Correspondence

 

"In the Grand Ducal Hessian Family Archive deposited in the State Archives in Darmstadt over 200 letters have been preserved which Princess Elisabeth “Ella” of Hesse and by Rhine wrote to her father, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine in the years between 1870 and her father's death in 1892. These letters are published here for the first time in English in their entirety. Many of the letters were written in German and these are presented here in the original language together with English translations and explanatory notes."

https://amzn.to/43qCBic (US)

https://amzn.to/4kFaXo1 (UK)

"The Darmstadt archives of the Hessian House Foundation (Hessische Hausstiftung) contain over two hundred and fifty letters which Ernst Ludwig received from his four sisters in the years 1878 to 1892. This is the first complete English-language edition of these letters. Despite being German princesses, the sisters were at the same time Queen Victoria’s granddaughters and therefore generally wrote to their brother in English. The few letters which they wrote in German have been published here in the original German together with an English translation. The same applies to German words or expressions which the sisters often included in their English letters."

https://amzn.to/43Fj6RL  (US)

https://amzn.to/4kx6J1i  (UK) 

I will earn a few pennies per sale if you purchase these books through these links (and buy other books or anything sold on Amazon).  You must start your purchases through one of my links.  Amazon pays me in gift cards, but it can take several months to earn one gift card.  

https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/2DTPDGES9BJWO?ref_=wl_share

The Countess and the Nazis by Richard Jay Hutto

 

March 13, 1943. That morning, Muriel, Countess Seherr-Thoss, felt "agitated" as she told her staff at Schloss Dobrau to review their strategies and drills for taking shelter. 

Schloss Dobrau was one of the Scherr-Thoss properties in Silesia, where her former husband, Hermann, once served in the Prussian House of Lords before Poland's independence. German troops occupied the area during World War II.

Earlier in the year, the Nazis seized their property and revoked Marian and her sons' citizenships.  She also arranged for Hermann's escape.  The Nazis were determined to break Muriel.  She had feared their arrival because she knew she would be sent to a concentration camp.  

The Gestapo demanded that Muriel bring her two sons back to Germany. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II, Muriel sent her two sons, Hans Christopher and Hermann, and their older sister, Margaret, to her family in America.  She refused, and she gave her life for that decision.  As early as 1939, she provided assistance to Jews seeking to flee Germany.

Margaret Muriel White was born in Paris in 1880, the daughter of U.S. diplomat  Henry White and Daisy Rutherford.  She had an impeccable lineage, a descendant of several important families: Morris, Stuyvesant, Rutherfurd. She was a great-great-great-granddaughter of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence.   One of Daisy's brothers was Winthrop Rutherfurd, the putative fiancé of Consuelo Vanderbilt.  His second wife was Lucy Mercer, Franklin D. Roosevelt's mistress.

Muriel was raised in London and Paris. She was a well-educated, multi-lingual dollar princess, whose father was a respected diplomat and ambassador.  Unfortunately, her marital chances were thwarted by her mother, who did not include two of the most important women in Roman society at a grand event she hosted.  The Princess di San Faustino, an American by birth, and her best friend, the Duchess of Grazioli "exacted their revenge" on Muriel.  The two women knew that Viscount Lascelles was in love with Muriel and had gone to Rome to propose to her.  Because they were not invited to Daisy's reception, they chose not to help Lord Lascelles woo Muriel White.  

[Jane Allen Campbell (1865-1938) was the great-grandmother of the late Princess Ira of Fürstenberg]

Other suitors included Austen Chamberlain, the half-brother of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Muriel was 28 when she met her future husband, Count Hermann Seherr-Thoss. They married in 1910.

Richard Jay Hutto is an American historian who specializes in Gilded Age American heiresses who married into British and European royalty and nobility.

Muriel and her inheritance maintained and renovated Hermann's properties. She watched as the borders changed following the end of World War I—her father was one of the signatories of the Versailles Peace Treaty.

Unlike many other members of the German nobility, Muriel was aghast when the Nazis took power in 1933. She was a vocal opponent of their encroaching power. Although she lost her German citizenship when she married, she remained an independent-minded woman, unafraid to speak her mind. Her former husband's only concern was his properties.

Muriel was also a much-loved mentor to her husband's Hungarian-American countess, Geraldine Apponyi de Nagy Apponyi, who married King Zog of Albania. Geraldine's mother, Gladys Virginia Steuart, was the daughter of an American diplomat. Geraldine's paternal grandmother, Countess Margarete Seherr-Thoss, was Count Hermann's aunt. The future Queen of Albania's father, Count Gyula, and Muriel's husband were first cousins.

Muriel was a guest at Geraldine's wedding and was "summoned to Tirana again in 1939," when Geraldine was about to give birth to her only child, Prince Leka.   Albania's independence was fragile and about to collapse as Italy was about to invade the small nation.  King Zog was concerned about his wife and their newborn son, and made plans to evacuate them.  Using her own diplomatic connections with American officials in Tirana, Muriel helped arrange Geraldine and her son's departure before the Italians arrived.  

It was the last time Muriel saw her husband's first cousin once removed. She returned to her home, never again to leave.  On March 13, 1943, the Gestapo arrived at Schloss Dobrau to arrest Muriel.  She walked up to the highest place in the castle and jumped to her death.

Hutto brings Muriel's story to life. Yes, she was a dollar princess, but one who understood the intricacies of diplomacy and the importance of family. The book's final chapter includes information on her three children and their families, all remaining in the United States.

The author has done extensive research, bringing Muriel's unique life to the forefront. Muriel's descendants cooperated with Rick Hutto, providing documents, photos, and first-hand accounts of her exceptional life.

  The Countess and the Nazis is an excellent read and highly recommended.

https://www.thecountess.net/index.html

https://amzn.to/43kfq7M  US

https://amzn.to/4j8T6US UK

The Belle Époque Life in Paris Olga Paley and Paul of Russia

 

"Based on previously unpublished documents, this book traces the life in Paris of Countess Olga von Hohenfelsen, later known as Princess Paley, the morganatic wife of Grand Duke Paul of Russia, uncle of the last emperor Nicholas II."

The book was written by Wilfried Zeisler.  This is a translation of the original French edition.

The book can be ordered through this link or through the Amazon links that will follow.  I will make a few pennies from books and other items sold through Amazon.  

https://gilesltd.com/product/belle-epoque-life-paris

https://amzn.to/437ie9y (US)

Currently, Amazon UK does not have a listing for the book; however, it can be ordered directly from the publisher's website.  

The US price is $30.00, and the UK price is £25.00

Princess Paley's Memories of Russia (1916-1919) are a fascinating read.  

https://amzn.to/3EQbGmj  (UK)

https://amzn.to/3EQbGmj (US)

The latest Royalty Digest Quarterly

 

Here is the new issue of Royalty Digest Quarterly - nr 1/2025. 

The Family Album, this time, with several family trees and over 100 illustrations, is LÖWENSTEIN-WERTHEIM - both the FREUDENBERG and the ROSENBERG lines. The front cover shows the Rosenberg main palace at Kleinheubach and inserted, Adelheid of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg and her husband, the deposed King Miguel of Portugal. 

Marlene Eilers writes about Princess Helen of Serbia and her adventurous life in both Serbia and Russia.

Richard Hutto writes about a forgotten prince, Heinrich Borwin of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his three marriages to American women, one 30 years his senior.

Martijn Arta presents Prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his tutor Gustav Gentsch in images and letters. 

Datiu Salvia Ocaña writes about Prince Jean-Louis de Faucigny-Lucinge - The Queen Mother's French aristocratic friend and much more! 

Subscribe or renew your subscription at www.royalbooks.se [Magazines]

The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had

 

Helen Rapport's new book, The Rebel Romanov: Julie of Saxe-Coburg, the Empress Russia Never Had,  will be published in the United States on April 15.  St Martin's Press is the publisher.

Americans have several options, including Barnes & Noble and Amazon, to pre-order the book.  The price is $27.00.  The regular price is $32.00.

Here is the U.S. Amazon link  https://amzn.to/3Q3xn4D

If you are a Barnes & Noble member, you will get a further 10% off and free shipping.  

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-rebel-romanov-helen-rappaport/1145317498?ean=9781250273123

The discount applies from today February 5 through February 7, 2025.

Princess Juliane Henrietta Ulrica of Saxe-Coburg and Saafeld (1781-1860) was the third daughter of Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Saafeld and Countess Auguste Caroline Reus-Ebersdorf.  Her siblings included Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, King Leopold I of the Belgians,  Victoire, Duchess of Kent.   Queen Victoria and Prince Albert were among her many nieces and nephews.

In 1796, Juliane married Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia (1779-1831).  It was not a happy marriage, and Juliane, who took the name Anna Feodorovna when she converted to the Russian Orthodox faith, was finally able to secure an annulment in 1820.  

The couple had no children although Juliane was the mother of two illegitimate children,  Eduard Edgar Schmidt-Löwe and  Louise Hilda Aglaë d'Aubert.   Eduard married his first cousin, Berta Ernestine Jula Charlotte von Schauenstein, daughter of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Sophie Reine Fermepin de Marteaux.

The UK edition will be released on February 13th.

https://amzn.to/4hF1vzv

The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis: A History of Collaboration

 

Looking forward to reading this, but I need to save my pennies as the price is $74.99.   Living on a fixed income is not easy.

The book was originally published in German.  Jefferson Chase has translated this scholarly tome into English.

The late German historian and biographer, John Röhl offered this review: "With his great book The Hohenzollerns and the Nazis, Stephan Malinowski has achieved a masterpiece of historical enlightenment."   Röhl wrote a three-volume biography of Kaiser Wilhelm.

https://amzn.to/3Cq3x6X  (US)

https://amzn.to/3EcUoiI  (UK)