[59], Until 1898, Stphanie undertook long journeys each year: Corfu, Malta, Tunis and Sicily in 1892; the Nordic countries the following year; North Africa, the Balearic Islands and Corsica in 1894; Greece and Palestine in 1895; and Russia in 1897. Generously, Emperor Franz Joseph I showered the young mother and her family with gifts. Franz Joseph was crowned King of Hungary and Sisi became queen. In 1998, Princess Alexandra married Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth, a member of the ancient House of Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth, and the couple had two children, Count Richard and Countess Alexandra, residing in Paris and later at Schloss Heidesheim until announcing their divorce in 2017. They received many guests there, including Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, still ostracized by the court of Vienna, and writers, such as the pacifist Bertha von Suttner. Shaped with gathers and tucks in the bodice area, this gorgeous gown features an elegant godet with a slight train and a beautiful organza pouff at the left shoulder! [22], Stphanie had heard of Rudolf for the first time at the end of a literature class given by her housekeeper Fanny Brossel. Our only view of Princess Yvonne comes from Maria Trapp and we can see that the portrayal of the Baroness isnt too far a stretch from the portrait Maria paints. The family had a contract with an American booking agent when they left Austria. Philippe Boesmans's opera, commissioned by the Paris Opera in 2008, stands alone: both sordid and droll, of unexpected cruelty but also irresistibly seductive, it reveals all the . Once in Italy, they contacted the agent and requested fare to America,[28] first traveling to London, before sailing to the United States for their first concert tour. [28] The family decided to leave Austria. Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email. The following year, Elisabeth Marie participated in her mother's silver wedding anniversary. VIENNA, Dec. 10. Get premium, high resolution news photos at Getty Images So instead, were just going to have a casual look at the history that surrounds one of the most famous musicals of all time. The fever decreased and in October, Stphanie was considered to have recovered. The family received permission to set up a chapel within the villa which in turn encouraged their choral singing. Another publishing house, John Murray of London, also rejected the text received. With her weight plummeting and dressed in mourning black, she traveled aimlessly across the continent and North Africa, refusing police protection, longing for death, determined to travel the whole world overuntil I drown and am forgotten. At the age of 51, she got a tattoo of an anchor on her arm. No one had informed the Crown Princess of the nature of the illness from which her husband was suffering. Hofmobiliendepot, Vienna. Stephanie and Louise had lunch and dinner with their parents after their governess reported their behavior to the Queen. [5][b], Trapp married Agathe Gobertina Whitehead,[22] the first daughter and third child of Countess Agathe Gobertina von Breunner-Enckevoirth (18561945), Austro-Hungarian nobility, and Cavaliere (Knight) John Whitehead (18541902), son of Robert Whitehead (18231905) who invented the modern torpedo and a partner at the family's Fiume Whitehead Torpedo Factory[22] (not, as frequently stated, a niece of the British Government minister St. John Brodrick). The patronages exerted by Stphanie were withdrawn from her,[67] and she thus received an annual pension of 100,000 guilders. Although I was only four and a half years old, I still vividly remember this deliciously beautiful and tender child, his resignation during his short illness, and the poignant pain of my mother, when he exhaled in her arms". [36], After the wedding night, which Stphanie in her private letters revealed to her sister to have been a violent event by Rudolf, already mentally unstable, the couple honeymooned at Laxenburg outside the capital. [8][23], Agathe's inherited wealth sustained the couple and permitted them to start a family, and they had two sons and five daughters over the next ten years. In 1935, Stphanie published her memoirs, entitled Je devais tre impratrice ("I Had to Be Empress"). The photo was taken while the siblings were aboard a private yacht off the coast of Mallorca. During the winter of 18781879, on her way to London, Empress Elisabeth of Austria (known as "Sissi"), mother of Crown Prince Rudolf, stopped at the court of Brussels, where the 14-year-old Stphanie was introduced to her. 2023 A&E Television Networks, LLC. At the start of her widowhood, Stphanie led a rather withdrawn life. The princess was saved only by the care of an unknown Ardennes doctor, whom the royal couple had consulted, who recommended cold baths. As daughter Maria said in a 2003 interview printed in. Queen Marie Henriette isolated herself in Spa to rest, while King Leopold II, held back by affairs of state, and his two daughters remained in Laeken. Stphanie left Hungary for Vienna, where the Emperor died of bronchitis and pneumonia at the age of 86 on 21 November 1916 after a reign of 68 years. I say forced, but they were actually very happy there and ultimately it would be where they settled. She worked as a singer and an artist, and lived in. In the first of a trilogy of movies about Elisabeth "Sissi" of Austria, the vibrant young princess catches the eye of her sister's fianc, Emperor Franz Josef. So the day he had planned on proposing to Yvonne, he instead broke off their relationship with intentions of marrying Maria. [70], When King Leopold II himself died on 17 December 1909, Stphanie had just, two days earlier, been refused a final meeting with the monarch. Under his authority the villa was extended and remodelled which allowed the Trapp family to sell it when it was returned to them after the war. As of 2021, Stphanie had 8 great-grandchildren, 24 great-great-grandchildren and 32 great-great-great-grandchildren. After all, whats there to like about her? [3] In 1902, he passed the final officer's examination, and was commissioned a Fregattenleutnant (frigate lieutenant, equivalent to sub-lieutenant) in May 1903. [46], In Prague and Vienna, the couple received many visitors and gave many dinners. The real Georg von Trapp encouraged his children in all things and was in no way distant from them. HISTORY reviews and updates its content regularly to ensure it is complete and accurate. [85] In the book she published Rudolf's last letter to her, and proclaimed that (in her view) he and Baroness Vetsera had made a suicide pact. No other name conjures up such vivid memories or ardent admiration as does the name "von Trapp". He worked in Bucharest, then in Saint Petersburg and Brussels. I saw the tears trickling down the faces of the men., The empress was fascinated with new innovations in the treatment of the insane, and even toyed with the idea of opening her own psychiatric hospital. The family was musically inclined before Maria arrived, but she did teach them to sing madrigals. Leopold II even planned to withdraw the title of Royal Highness from his second daughter, but court jurists demonstrated the impossibility of this. [6] Maria von Trapp's 1949 memoir The Story of the Trapp Family Singers was adapted into the West German film The Trapp Family (1956), which served as the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The Sound of Music (1959) and the film adaptation directed by Robert Wise (1965). Stephanie writes: "My education began at the age of ten; I immediately understood that from that moment books and notebooks would take the place of my toys, that a more orderly life would begin". Martina - Born 1921. Vintage Fashions Inspired by Classic Cinema, Posted by Edelweiss Patterns on May 20, 2011, If you arefamiliar with the Sound of Music storyline at all, you probably feel a strong disliking for Marias antagonist, Baroness Schraeder. Princess Yvonne was cool, almost to the point of coldness. In 1853, their marriage had been arranged for exclusively political reasons by both King Leopold I and the Habsburgs without consulting the groom and bride, whose interests were almost entirely opposed: the Duke of Brabant was little interested by family life and was passionate about political and economic issues in the kingdom which he was to reign over, while Marie Henriette was a young woman versed in religion with other interests limited to horseback riding, dogs and music. By the time Maria arrived on the scene, both von Trapp and Princess Yvonne were planning towards an imminent marriage, though they were not yet officially engaged. The marriage was finally celebrated on 10 May 1881, a few days before Stphanie's 17th birthday,[33] at the Saint Augustine's Church in Vienna. [66], On 22 March 1900 at Miramare Castle and after eleven years of widowhood, Stphanie married Count Elemr Lnyay de Nagy-Lnya and Vsros-Namny. At about that time, a Catholic priest, Franz Wasner, instructed the children in music. Princess Stphanie was the second daughter of King Leopold II of Belgium and Marie Henriette of Austria. From her eccentric father, Duke Maximilian Joseph, she inherited a belief in progressive democratic ideals and pacifism, uncommon for royalty at the time. [28] Very young, he became a bon vivant and indulged in morally lax behaviour. And of course, no Baroness Schraeder evening gown would be complete without a tiara! Firstly, the Captain felt obligated to continue his courtship with Princess Yvonne, the real life "Baroness Schrader" who was a distant cousin of his deceased wife. Alinari Archives/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images. In 1900, Stphanie married again, to Count Elemr Lnyay de Nagy-Lnya et Vsros-Namny, a Hungarian nobleman of lower rank; for this, she was excluded from the House of Austria-Hungary. [45], On 8 August, Queen Marie Henriette visited her daughter in anticipation of her childbirth. The two were married in November 1927 and their first child, a daughter called Rosmarie was born in 1929. And thus Maria embarked on her journey into the von Trapp household. [92], At her birth, as the daughter of King Leopold II, Stphanie was titled Princess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Duchess in Saxony, with the predicate of Royal Highness, according to the titles of her house, and bears the unofficial title of Princess of Belgium, which will be officially regularized by Royal Decree dated 14 March 1891.[93]. Stalked by the press, adored by the common man and bedeviled by depression and a severe eating disorder, Sisis royal career also brings to mind Princess Diana, whose life ended similarly tragically a century later. However, the King of Belgium refused to see his daughter marry a man of lower rank. Stphanie's marriage quickly became fragile. Artur Potocki remained close to Stphanie during the dark days following Rudolf's death. Their understanding was real; Stphanie described Rudolf as "a model husband" and added that they understood each other admirably, which made her happy. As the reprobation seemed insufficient to her, she preferred to stay away, pray for her daughter and ask priests to join their prayers to hers. And from one moment to the next, you didn't know what hit her. She has studied the Trapp family's history for years and has heard Rosmarie von Trapp in concert describe what is was like to flee from Austria and settle in the United States. Princesses of Austria, including female members of the Austrian branch of the House of Habsburg and its successor the House of Habsburg-Lorraine who usually held the higher title of Archduchess . In 1935, after issues relating to the Wall Street Crash and the resulting economic dips across Europe, Captain von Trapp was informed that the bank in which he had invested his substantial wealth had folded. Maria sought advice from the convent from which she was due to re-enter in just a matter of days and the conclusion was reached that she would be better served marrying the Captain and acting as mother to his children. Finally, Maria askedthe Captainif he would please be so kind as to get engaged to Princess Yvonne right away.. ==== Image i Something Good Maria, Captain von Trapp, and the Baroness. [3] Just over three months later, he sank the Italian submarine Nereide at 4223N 1616E / 42.383N 16.267E / 42.383; 16.267 on 5 August 1915, 250 metres (270yd) off Pelagosa (Palagrua) Island. It seems Im in the mood to pick apart the history behind musicals. [2], Stphanie had two older siblings: Louise (born 18 February 1858), and Leopold, Count of Hainaut (born 12 June 1859).
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