RBN - Royal Book News ... Since 1983, the only newsletter -- and now a blog -- for books about Royalty!
I interviewed biographer Philip Ziegler in August 1982. I was 28 years old. This was published in the original Royal Book News newsletter - July-August 1982 (vol 2 issue 6). I used a typewriter. Yeah, a TYPEWRITER. No Computers, no cell phones.
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https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2024/10/lady-pamela-by-india-hicks.html
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2013/02/daughter-if-empire-life-as-mountbatten.html
https://royalbooknews.blogspot.com/2010/10/lady-pamela-hicks-to-write-memoirs.html
Alexandra was a queen without a throne. In 1944, she married King Peter II of Yugoslavia. A princess of Greece by birth, Alexandra was born in 1921, the same year as Prince Philip of Greece (a first cousin once removed) and King Michael of Romania (a first cousin). Life was never easy for the Princess, who was the daughter of King Alexander of the Hellenes and Aspasia Manos.
She never knew her father, as Alexander died from a monkey bite several months before her birth. Sadly and tragically, Alexandra lived in exile for most of her life. Due to the Second World War and the political civil war raging in Yugoslavia, Alexandra and Peter married in haste. The couple was ill-suited for marriage as both were emotionally stunted due to their upbringings.
Peter was only 11-years-old when his father, King Alexander of Yugoslavia, was assassinated.
Neither Alexandra nor Peter was prepared for exile. Unlike his cousin, King Michael, Peter never knew what it was to be a king. Within days of 17-year-old Peter being declared of age to reign without a regency, Germany invaded Yugoslavia. Peter and his family fled the country, spending the war in exile. In 1945, Josip Broz Tito declared Yugoslavia a republic, leaving Peter without a throne or financial support.
The young king and queen were unprepared for a life without a throne. Alexandra wanted a home to raise a family. Peter was never able to find a job that would pay the bills. He found solace with other women and alcohol. She had struggled with mental health issues and attempted suicide several times. Both wrote their memoirs, laying out their perceived issues.
Alexandra died in an English nursing home in 1993. She was buried at Tatoi until 2013, when her remains were brought to Topola, where she and Peter were reinterred next to each.
This book came up as a recommendation on Amazon. I had not heard of S. Gillespie, as the author does not have a body of work in the field of royal history literature.
I ordered the book and read it in one sitting. Well-written, but .....
Alexandra The Lost Queen is a scholarly HOT MESS!
In full transparency, I am well-informed about the Yugoslav royal family, and I consider Crown Prince Alexander a good friend. We have known each other since the 1980s. We first met when I was researching the first of my three books on Queen Victoria's Descendants. I have had the special honor of being invited three times to Serbia: for the Crown Prince's 60th, his 25th wedding anniversary, and the state funeral for King Peter, Queen Alexandra, Queen Marie, and Prince Andrej in 2013.
The term "hot mess" refers not to the text but to the fact that the book was self-published. I did not know this when I ordered it. The image quality is abysmal. Blurry and teeny. There are no credits for the photos, some of which are still in copyright. The layout is appalling. Few paragraph breaks and unfinished sentences --words omitted and no period/full stop. This occurred several times in the text, including on page 248 and 256..
There are no citations or footnotes/endnotes for quotes. No index and several glaring errors.
Page 98: "in marrying Peter before November 28, 1943, the beginning of Lent in the Greek Orthodox Church, as no marriages could take place for 40 days."
Lent is not in November. In 1943, Lent (Greek Orthodox) began on March 8th. The following year, Greek Orthodox Lent started on February 28th with Easter on April 9.
Peter and Alexandra's wedding ceremony took place on March 20, 1944, which fell during Greek Orthodox Lent.
Page 107: "the wedding dress game from Peter's cousin's wife, MAMIE LIGHAM..." Who? Peter's cousin, Prince Vsevelod of Russia, married Lady Mary Lygon, the daughter of the 7th Earl of Beauchamp. She was known as Mamie, however.
Page 199: Lord Mountbatten had little to do with pushing Philip and Elizabeth together. The future husband and wife had known each other from childhood, as they moved in the same circles.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/12/of-course-elizabeth-knew-philip.html
I was amused by the alleged Swiss bank account that Peter tried to find. This reminded me of a similar story about King Michael of Romania, who traveled to Switzerland to try to access an alleged bank account owned by his father, King Carol II. Perhaps the two Balkan sovereigns had adjoining bank vaults.
Pushing the hot mess aside, let me say this: Alexandra, The Lost Queen is a first-rate royal biography. The author has done due diligence in research, especially through extensive use of primary sources examined at the National Archives at Kew and the Royal Archives.
Unfortunately, the author has done the subject a disservice by self-publishing. Several British publishers, including Amberley Publishing, History Press, and Pen & Sword Books, publish royal biographies/histories. Self-publishing is limited on several levels. You won't be able to see your book in Hatchards or any other bookstore. Poor quality control. A lack of professional editing.
This book cries for a dust-jacketed hardcover edition that will be read in libraries, bought in bookstores, and online. Libraries will not be able to order the book because there’s no cataloguing information The subject also deserves better.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/03/king-peter-weds-princess-alexandra.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2013/05/queen-alexandra-home-to-serbia.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2014/03/peter-to-marry-alexandra-official.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2009/07/son-for-peter-and-alexandra.html
This book is available on both sides of the Pond
On the night of September 25, 1829, the jewels of the Princess of Orange disappeared from her palace in Brussels. Suspicion quickly fell on her husband, Prince Willem of Orange, a Waterloo veteran known to be deeply in debt. But when the police failed to find any witnesses or leads, the investigation ground to a halt.
In 1831, Anna Pavlovna’s jewels surfaced in New York in the hands of a former Napoleonic deserter named Constant Polari. Dutch officials scrambled to reclaim the jewels and extradite Polari, hoping a public trial would clear their prince’s name. But President Andrew Jackson’s customs collector preferred to confiscate the jewels, sell them, and pocket his share of the proceeds. When Polari’s lover dug up a buried portion of the gems and sailed for Europe, it triggered a race across the Atlantic, a kidnapping from Bellevue prison, and a sensational trial with a last-minute twist.
True crime meets royal history in this long-forgotten caper that pitted the old world’s diplomacy against the new world’s self-determinism. Drawing on previously neglected case documents and sources in five languages, the tale of Anna Pavlovna’s stolen jewels unfolds against a backdrop of war, revolution, corruption, and betrayal.
The book will be published in the US on June 30, 2026. The price will be $39.95.
The UK publication date is April 30, 2026.
The publisher is Pen & Sword History.https://girlinthetiara.com/
Jenni Wiltz is a superb and sassy royal historian. She runs the blog The Girl in the Tiara.
Grand Duchess Anna Pavlovna of Russia (1795–1865) was the eighth child of Emperor Paul I of Russia and his wife, Princess Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, who became Empress Marie Feodorovna of Russia. In February 1816, she married the Prince of Orange, the future King Willem II of the Netherlands.
Paul - Anna - Willem III - Wilhelmina - Juliana - Beatrix - Willem-Alexander - Catharina-Amalia.
I look forward to reading Jenni's book.
Maria Pavlovna 1890-1958
Grand Duchess of Russia, Princess of Sweden, Duchess of Södermanland, Princess Putiatine [In English]
152 pages, 419 illustrations, more than a hundred from the private albums of the Imperial Family. Also: an illustrated genealogical section of the ancestors and descendants of "Marie", composed by Ted Rosvall.To read more and to order copies, go to
https://www.royalbooks.se/products/maria-pavlovna
