#prince philippe of Orleans

[histoireettralala]

Victor Hugo on Talleyrand's death

For @empirearchives who was interested, here's a translation of Victor Hugo's text about Talleyrand's death. My thanks to @microcosme11 for her help <33

Choses Vues, Victor Hugo

1838

Talleyrand

19th of May

In the Rue St-Florentin, there is a palace and a sewer.

The palace, with its noble, rich, and dull architecture, was long called "Hôtel de l'Infuntado"; today, we read on its front door: Hôtel Talleyrand. During the fourty years he lived on this street, the last host of this palace might never have set eyes on this sewer.

He was a stranged, feared, and considerable character: his name was Charles-Maurice de Périgord; he was noble as Machiavel, a priest like Gondi, defrocked like Fouché, witty as Voltaire, and lame as the devil. One could say that everything limped with him: the nobility which he had put to the service of the republic, the priesthood he had dragged on the Champ-de-Mars then threw down the drain, the marriage he had broken by twenty scandals and by a voluntary separation, the wit he dishonoured through vileness. This man, nevertheless, had grandeur.

The splendours of both regimes were mixed together inside of him: he was prince of the old kingdom of France, and prince of the French Empire.

For thirty years, from the depth of his palace, from the depth of his mind, he had just about led Europe. He had let the revolution call him "tu", and had smiled at it, ironically of course; but it had not noticed. He had approached, known, observed, pierced, stirred, upturned, delved into, mocked, intellectually fertilized all the men of his era, all the ideas of his century, and there had been a few minutes in his life when, holding in his hand the four or five fearsome threads that moved the civilized universe, he had had for a puppet Napoleon the First, Emperor of the French, King of Italy, Protector of the Confederation of the Rhine, Mediator of the Swiss Confederation. Such was the game this man played.

After the Revolution of July, that old race, whose grand chambellan he was, having fallen, he found himself standing on one foot and told the people of 1830, sitting, bare-armed, on a pile of cobbles: Make me your ambassador.

He had received Mirabeau's last confession and Thiers' first confidence. He had said himself he was a great poet and had made a trilogy in three dynasties: Act I, Buonaparte's Empire; Act 2, The House of Bourbon; Act 3, The House of Orleans.

He had done all of this in his palace, and, in this palace, like a spider in its web, he had attracted into it and taken successively heroes, thinkers, great men, conquerors, kings, princes, emperors, Bonaparte, Sieyès, Mme de Staël, Chateaubriand, Benjamin Constant, Alexander of Russia, Wilhelm of Prussia, Francis of Austria, Louis XVIII, Louis-Philippe, all the golden, shiny flies who buzzed in the history of those last fourty years. The whole sparkling swarm, fascinated by this man's deep eye, had successively passed under the dark door that bore, written on its architrave: Hôtel Talleyrand.

Well, the day before yesterday, 17 March, 1838, that man died. Doctors came and embalmed the corpse. For this, like the Egyptians, they first withdrew the bowels from the belly and the brain from the skull. Once done, after they had transformed the prince de Talleyrand into a mummy, and nailed this mummy in a white satin-lined coffin, they withdrew, leaving upon a table the brain, that brain which thought so many things, inspired so many men, built so many edifices, led two revolutions, fooled twenty kings, contained the world.

Once the doctors were gone, a valet entered, he saw what they had left. Hold on! they forgot this. What to do ? He remembered that there was a sewer in the street, he went there, and threw that brain into this sewer.

Finis rerum.

[palecleverdoll]

Ages of English Princesses at First Marriage

I have only included women whose birth dates and dates of marriage are known within at least 1-2 years, therefore, this is not a comprehensive list. The average age at first marriage among these women was 16.

This list is composed of princesses of England when it was a sovereign state, prior to the Acts of Union in 1707.

Eadgyth (Edith) of England, daughter of Edward the Elder: age 20 when she married Otto the Great, Holy Roman Emperor in 930 CE

Godgifu (Goda) of England, daughter of Æthelred the Unready: age 20 when she married Drogo of Mantes in 1024 CE

Empress Matilda, daughter of Henry I: age 12 when she married Henry, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1114 CE

Marie I, Countess of Boulogne, daughter of Stephen of Blois: age 24 when she was abducted from her abbey by Matthew of Alsace and forced to marry him, in 1136 CE

Matilda of England, daughter of Henry II: age 12 when she married Henry the Lion in 1168 CE

Eleanor of England, daughter of Henry II: age 9 when she married Alfonso VIII of Castile in 1170 CE

Joan of England, daughter of Henry II: age 12 when she married William II of Sicily in 1177 CE

Joan of England, daughter of John Lackland: age 11 when she married Alexander II of Scotland in 1221 CE

Isabella of England, daughter of John Lackland: age 21 when she married Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor, in 1235 CE

Eleanor of England, daughter of John Lackland: age 9 when she married William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke in 1224 CE

Margaret of England, daughter of Henry III: age 11 when she married Alexander III of Scotland in 1251 CE

Beatrice of England, daughter of Henry III: age 17 when she married John II, Duke of Brittany in 1260 CE

Eleanor of England, daughter of Edward I: age 24 when she married Henry III, Count of Bar in 1293 CE

Joan of Acre, daughter of Edward I: age 18 when she married Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Gloucester in 1290 CE

Margaret of England, daughter of Edward I: age 15 when she married John II, Duke of Brabant in 1290 CE

Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of Edward I: age 15 when she married John I, Count of Holland in 1297 CE

Eleanor of Woodstock, daughter of Edward II: age 14 when she married Reginald II, Duke of Guelders in 1332 CE

Joan of the Tower, daughter of Edward II: age 7 when she married David II of Scotland in 1328 CE

Isabella of England, daughter of Edward III: age 33 when she married Enguerrand VII, Lord of Coucy in 1365 CE

Mary of Waltham, daughter of Edward III: age 16 when she married John IV, Duke of Brittany in 1361 CE

Margaret of Windsor, daughter of Edward III: age 13 when she married John Hastings, Earl of Pembroke in 1361 CE

Blanche of England, daughter of Henry IV: age 10 when she married Louis III, Elector Palatine in 1402 CE

Philippa of England, daughter of Henry IV: age 12 when she married Eric of Pomerania in 1406 CE

Elizabeth of York, daughter of Edward IV: age 20 when she married Henry VII in 1486 CE

Cecily of York, daughter of Edward IV: age 16 when she married Ralph Scrope in 1485 CE

Anne of York, daughter of Edward IV: age 19 when she married Thomas Howard in 1494 CE

Catherine of York, daughter of Edward IV: age 16 when she married William Courtenay, Earl of Devon in 1495 CE

Margaret Tudor, daughter of Henry VII: age 14 when she married James IV of Scotland in 1503 CE

Mary Tudor, daughter of Henry VII: age 18 when she married Louis XII of France in 1514 CE

Mary I, daughter of Henry VIII: age 38 when she married Philip II of Spain in 1554 CE

Elizabeth Stuart, daughter of James VI & I: age 17 when she married Frederick V, Elector Palatine in 1613 CE

Mary Stuart, daughter of Charles I: age 10 when she married William II, Prince of Orange in 1641 CE

Henrietta Stuart, daughter of Charles I: age 17 when she married Philippe II, Duke of Orleans in 1661 CE

Mary II of England, daughter of James II: age 15 when she married William III of Orange in 1677 CE

Anne, Queen of Great Britain, daughter of James II: age 18 when she married George of Denmark in 1683 CE

[pureanonofficial]

LES MIS LETTERS IN ADAPTATION - Louis Philippe, LM 4.1.3 (Les Miserables 1972)

The son of a father to whom history will accord certain attenuating circumstances, but also as worthy of esteem as that father had been of blame; possessing all private virtues and many public virtues; careful of his health, of his fortune, of his person, of his affairs, knowing the value of a minute and not always the value of a year; sober, serene, peaceable, patient; a good man and a good prince; sleeping with his wife, and having in his palace lackeys charged with the duty of showing the conjugal bed to the bourgeois, an ostentation of the regular sleeping-apartment which had become useful after the former illegitimate displays of the elder branch; knowing all the languages of Europe, and, what is more rare, all the languages of all interests, and speaking them; an admirable representative of the “middle class,” but outstripping it, and in every way greater than it; possessing excellent sense, while appreciating the blood from which he had sprung, counting most of all on his intrinsic worth, and, on the question of his race, very particular, declaring himself Orleans and not Bourbon; thoroughly the first Prince of the Blood Royal while he was still only a Serene Highness, but a frank bourgeois from the day he became king; diffuse in public, concise in private; reputed, but not proved to be a miser; at bottom, one of those economists who are readily prodigal at their own fancy or duty; lettered, but not very sensitive to letters; a gentleman, but not a chevalier; simple, calm, and strong; adored by his family and his household; a fascinating talker, an undeceived statesman, inwardly cold, dominated by immediate interest, always governing at the shortest range, incapable of rancor and of gratitude, making use without mercy of superiority on mediocrity, clever in getting parliamentary majorities to put in the wrong those mysterious unanimities which mutter dully under thrones; unreserved, sometimes imprudent in his lack of reserve, but with marvellous address in that imprudence; fertile in expedients, in countenances, in masks; making France fear Europe and Europe France!

Incontestably fond of his country, but preferring his family; assuming more domination than authority and more authority than dignity, a disposition which has this unfortunate property, that as it turns everything to success, it admits of ruse and does not absolutely repudiate baseness, but which has this valuable side, that it preserves politics from violent shocks, the state from fractures, and society from catastrophes; minute, correct, vigilant, attentive, sagacious, indefatigable; contradicting himself at times and giving himself the lie; bold against Austria at Ancona, obstinate against England in Spain, bombarding Antwerp, and paying off Pritchard; singing the Marseillaise with conviction, inaccessible to despondency, to lassitude, to the taste for the beautiful and the ideal, to daring generosity, to Utopia, to chimæras, to wrath, to vanity, to fear; possessing all the forms of personal intrepidity; a general at Valmy; a soldier at Jemappes; attacked eight times by regicides and always smiling. Brave as a grenadier, courageous as a thinker; uneasy only in the face of the chances of a European shaking up, and unfitted for great political adventures; always ready to risk his life, never his work; disguising his will in influence, in order that he might be obeyed as an intelligence rather than as a king; endowed with observation and not with divination; not very attentive to minds, but knowing men, that is to say requiring to see in order to judge; prompt and penetrating good sense, practical wisdom, easy speech, prodigious memory; drawing incessantly on this memory, his only point of resemblance with Cæsar, Alexander, and Napoleon; knowing deeds, facts, details, dates, proper names, ignorant of tendencies, passions, the diverse geniuses of the crowd, the interior aspirations, the hidden and obscure uprisings of souls, in a word, all that can be designated as the invisible currents of consciences; accepted by the surface, but little in accord with France lower down; extricating himself by dint of tact; governing too much and not enough; his own first minister; excellent at creating out of the pettiness of realities an obstacle to the immensity of ideas; mingling a genuine creative faculty of civilization, of order and organization, an indescribable spirit of proceedings and chicanery, the founder and lawyer of a dynasty; having something of Charlemagne and something of an attorney; in short, a lofty and original figure, a prince who understood how to create authority in spite of the uneasiness of France, and power in spite of the jealousy of Europe.

[theheadlessgroom]

@beatingheart-bride

Well, this was a little...unexpected.

An even tone, polite addressing of her (when was the last time anyone called her "miss"?)...he hadn't proven himself to be an abrasive jackass, nor was he demanding...in fact, the design he presented her with was rather helpful, as it gave her a good idea of what he might be looking for...

But there was still plenty of time for his true colors to rear their ugly head, and Susannah wasn't about to let her guard down just because he smiled at her and addressed her quite nicely.

"Of course, sir," she said briskly, quickly moving to take a few measurements of his head before looking over the design again...considering the color palette, a white top hat with a blue band would look best, and would compliment the suit rather nicely.

As she went over the specifics with him (particular shades, fabric types, any further embellishments he wanted), Susannah continued to study the design, admiring the artwork in it. In some ways, it reminded her of the illustration of the prince in Fair, Brown, and Trembling, her most favorite fairy tale, with his golden locks and silken powder blue suit...

But she was quick to dismiss this thought, as she continued to make her notes. She wasn't about to let such silly romantic thoughts fill up her head-certainly there was no denying that Philippe was a very handsome young man, but she wasn't about to go falling all over herself like every other woman in New Orleans did. Clearly, there was no woman in the city good enough for him...

...and why should someone like her be any different?

[romanovsonelastdance]

Wedding of Prince Christopher and Princess Francoise.

Prince Christopher was the youngest son of Olga Konstantinovna, who was born in Russia and spent quite a lot of time there in his youth visiting his mother's large extended family. You can often spot him in group photos. He was briefly interested in marrying Olga Nikolaevna, but this was during a period where he was engaged or nearly-engaged to three or four different princesses, and while he doesn't mention his interest in Olga in his memoirs (the story comes from the memoirs of his sister's friend Agnes de Stoeckl), he does write, regarding another failed engagement, that he was more "in love with love" than any of the princesses in question. It doesn't seem to have been a very serious desire, and Agnes wrote he was known for his "short-lived enthusiasms" at the time.

He finally married, in 1920, widowed American socialite Nancy Leeds, who took the name Anastasia when she converted to the Greek Orthodox Church. However she died three years later. Her son married Christopher's niece Princess Xenia Georgievna.

Christopher met his second wife, Francoise of Orleans, at the wedding of Prince Philipp of Hesse to Princess Mafalda of Savoy in 1925. They married in 1929 and had one son, the author Prince Michael of Greece, in 1939.

[myshadesofwrong]

As a historian, who has a literal degree in this (primarily British monarchy with some French so a lot of my examples will come from them), I am begging you if you’re going to be anti-monarchy, at least know the facts so you’re no sprouting the same tired rhetoric over and over.

Or in other words, OP is right (about the fandom and the monarchy)

Rants like the reblog from hotaurea make me so mad because the world and institutions are not black and white. The world, people, and the things we create like institutions have both good and bad and most everybody exists in gray. That’s just a fact.

I agree with the OP. No institution is perfect and evolve. Wilhelm could have been the lynchpin to help his institution evolve. Because, believe it or not, the monarchy does do some good. First, hotaurea is right in a way., Anybody can advocate for issues and charities but the monarchy has something you and I don’t. A platform. Their tags about correctly exposing that particular part as ‘bullshit’ is quite literally wrong. Every royal has a cause. Whatever you think of King Charles of England, he has for years been a champion of the environment, highlighting farmers and natural causes. Do you honestly think that the reporters and press would give a shit if he didn’t show up. Same with Queen Camilla of England. She champions and works quite a lot with domestic abuse charities. Prince William, Princess Catherine, and Prince Harry all constantly give attention to mental health issues. And Prince Harry has his veterans work. Now, we all can go and help each of these very important issues but our impact is going to be nil to theirs. Why? The same reason everyone demands celebrities speak up about issues. Platform. People listen. Now we can have a debate on ‘worthiness’ certainly. That’s a fair debate. But the truth of the matter is as the royal family, they have the reach and the interest from the press to bring more attention to the issue. Please no not negate that impact.

As for the ‘homophobic’ accusation, tell me you’ve never done actual research on the monarchy, any monarchy. I can name FIVE LGBTQIA+ monarchs or members of their family right off the top of my head:

Queen Anne of Great Britain (1700s)

Philippe I, Duke of Orleans, brother of King Louis XIV (a known cross dresser as well, actually openly wore women’s clothing at Versailles)

Edward II of England

Ludwig II of Bavaria

And my personal fav:

James VI of Scotland and I of England.

James is a particular favorite because the man was at least bi-sexual and literally commissioned the fucking King James Bible. You know, the one that all the homophobes use as “proof” of homosexuality being a sin. Pull that out at your next party/family gathering. I love seeing people’s expressions when they learn that.

Anyway, if you think monarchies are homophobic, you have no idea of the history. Y’all, historically, royals are fucking wild. Many straight monarchs actually had lovers both male and female. Some did marry and have children while others never did. But here’s my point, they NEVER hid them. These affairs or favorites were paraded with pride throughout courts. Lovers were given prominent roles in households, on councils, were advisors. It is a very modern assumption or concept really that monarchies must be straight and private. Did some hide them, yes. But go back through history and you’ll find countless stories of favorites being paraded around in from of wives, husbands, and courts. And by repeating that concept, you’re propogating conservative rhetoric is trying to hide LGBTQIA+ history. It’s that simple. And let’s not even talk about sex parties and the actual proclavities of some of these royals. Seriously, look them up. You’ll find out the true meaning of truth is stranger than fiction.

Now we can have debates over finances (reminder royals are not actual leeching off of citizens. They do have their own inheritance wealth, as well as I believe real estate is a big one. Again, the origin of the that is certainly cause for criticism but they’re not getting paid by your taxes) and actual worthiness as hotaurea put it but can we please have a non-extremist discussion on monarchy. It’s not either/or. There are good sides and bad sides to it, even in modern times. Actually, I would say modern monarchies are actually more relevant than their colonizer and blood thirsty ancestors. Modern monarch/royals devote their lives to charities and causes. They have no say in most governments and are definitely not sending troops out to war. But I digress.

Anyway, this is getting too long. I just wanted to point out the flaws in hotaurea’s little rant and add that OP was right. Wille could have been the son of a CEO of a big corporation and the story wouldn’t have changed one bit. It made his decision less impactful because we are never shown the actual struggle Wille could have had. Because you will never convince me, a good PR person would not have seen the potential in Wille after his speech and would not have let him champion a LGBTQIA+ cause. Imagine if Fatima would have been like okay, but Wille chose to go the safe route? That makes Simon’s reaction and his own work more impactful in the series. He even tried to tell Wille but it was WILLE who did not want to listen. In the end, maybe if they had shown the good side of the monarchy, it would have made Wille’s decision even more impactful instead of it looking selfish and impulsive. Or he could have stayed and shown what having a platform for good actually is but OP is right. And believe it or not, there is such a thing as IVF where Wille could have had a biological child. Shocking I know. Or a surrogate. Stop ignoring these possibilities.

Lisa was too stuck on the same rhetoric above instead of creating an institution that would have been nuanced and more realistic instead of a one-dimensional villain twirling their mustache.

Too busy to write a 5k essay it deserves but neither the audience nor Wilhelm saw the actual monarchy as an institution worth fighting for or at least worth considering it.

The monarchy was completely absent from the show. You could replace it with a billion-dollar publicly traded company and it wouldn't change the plot. Concerns about public image? Check. Out of control sense of privilege? Check. Spoiled children of rich parents? Check.

No one from the unrealistically small royal family was given a chance to demonstrate or explore the gravity and the positive influence a thousand-year-old institution can have. Does the queen have causes she particularly cares about? Does she invest her time into fundraising for them? Does she think certain problems are overlooked by the society and does she use her celebrity status to draw attention to them? We have no idea, we only have been shown her caring about the public image of the institution she represents.

Same with Wille: in the show he was never given a chance to explore how his status could be used for good. Were there young people for whom his coming out meant a lot? Definitely, but we never heard about them. Would it be equally important for others if the crown prince started openly talking about his struggles with anxiety? For sure. This list is potentially endless but the creators were never interested in showing anything positive about the monarchy.

[princessvictoriamelita]

Prince Philippe, Duke of Orléans (right) with his first cousins, Prince Philipp of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Prince Ludwig August of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, 1904.

[roehenstart]

Prince Ferdinand Philippe, Duke of Orléans. Workshop of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres.

[tiny-librarian]

Amelie of Orleans, Queen of Portugal, with her two sons, Prince Louis Philippe and Prince Manuel of Portugal in 1890.

[lie-for-me]

Philippe I, Duc D’Orleans, Monsieur dressed as Louis XIV, The Sun King — Versailles, France.

[all-that-feminist-drama]

From Alexander Vlahos on Instagram (vlavla)

Last night my partner in crime, my on-screen lover, my best friend... (the list is endless) @evanmwilliams wrapped #Versailles Season 3. You are one of those rare human beings that makes acting with a fucking joy. You’re talented, funny & caring. Your heart is too big for this world. Love you man. #Monchevy for life ♥️ [📸 by @moghtaderleila ]

[royaltyandpomp]

THE BOOK

[gogmstuff]

1837 Karen Margrethe Borch by Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg (location ?). From tumblr.com/history-of-fashion/166639680739/1837-christoffer-wilhelm-eckersberg-karen; fixed spots w Pshop 536X907 @72 132kj.

1837 Les Visites by Paul Gavarni. From tumblr.com/clove-pinks 1698X2048 @72 1.5Mj.

1838 Madame de Villeneuve Bargemon et sa fille by Joseph-Désiré Court (location ?). From Wikimedia 992X1422 @72 443kj.

1839 Frau als Amazone mit ihren Windhund by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (Louvre). From tumblr.com/artthatgivesmefeelings/688238660783603712/ferdinand-georg-waldmüller-austrian-1793-1865; fixed obvious spots & cracks w Pshop  1189X1463 @72 636kj.

1839 Helene of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Duchess of Orleans with her son Prince Louis Philippe by Franz Xaver Winterhalrer (Versailles). From Wikimedia 3847X5991 @300 7.6Mj.

[theheadlessgroom]

Susannah smiled lightly as she took a sip of her punch, as she listened to the others bandy around their ideas for a vacation and, despite herself, she couldn't help but get a little excited by the notion, her imagination beginning to run away with itself...despite her mind's best efforts to ground itself back in reality.

Getting the time off from Mickey would probably be the hardest thing...he was very sparing when it came to time off; usually he demanded either extra shifts in the days leading up to the scheduled time off (with no extra pay), or a pay cut for the following week. Neither was an attractive option, but Susannah would take the extra shifts-for one thing, she wanted to be able to afford to eat, and for another, she'd worked long shifts before.

And if a few long shifts meant time with Philippe? It'd all be a cakewalk for her.

But then came the idea of where she and Philippe would even go...somewhere outside of New Orleans, somewhere no one would recognize them? Somewhere they could be a couple, and not seamstress and Southern prince...perhaps Doreen could pull a few strings, and make sure her "cousin" had everything she needed to play pretend for a few days...

It probably won't happen, she thought to herself with a wry smile, as she took another sip of punch. It probably won't work out, really...

...but it is nice to dream about, isn't it?

@beatingheart-bride

"It's exhausting," Doreen confessed with a little frown, as she took a sip of punch and brushed an loose, dark lock of hair out of her face. "I hate to say it, but...after a while, they all just sort of...blur together, I admit."

Most of these suitors were perfectly nice, perfectly pleasant fellows, but even if she wasn't already in a committed (albeit secret) relationship with Edward, she couldn't see herself falling for any of them. She could perhaps see them being friends, casually dancing and having drinks and the like, but being romantically involved? No, she just couldn't see it. She felt nothing towards these men other than a polite indifference that would never evolve beyond anything platonic.

And then there were the smarmy ones, the overly cocky, overly smug ones that left her struggling not to roll her eyes as they rattled off their accomplishments, as if any one of them would make her swoon, so taken by their arrogance that she'd fall into their arms...ridiculous. She feigned politeness, of course, but it could be a challenge, especially when they all kept on coming-sometimes she wondered where her parents found all these nits, honestly.

"So needless to say, it's very nice to...get away from it all, at least for a little while," she sighed, as she leaned against Edward's shoulder with a small smile. "It'd be nice to get away a little longer, though...perhaps a vacation is in order, one of these days. A very, very long vacation..."

Perhaps a permanent one... she found herself thinking, as Edward took her hand to press a loving kiss to her knuckle, making her smile coyly, replaying their conversation from earlier, just before she was taken aside by the de Clair's. I hear California is quite lovely year-round...

[scotianostra]

16th May 1823 saw the death in France of Grace Elliott, the renowned Scottish society beauty and courtesan who witnessed at first hand the French Revolution.

Born in Edinburgh in 1754, Grace Dalrymple Elliott became one of the most sought after women in Europe.

Educated in a French convent, her barrister father Hew Dalrymple later introduced her to Edinburgh society where she received numerous marriage proposals. Grace, however, fearless, beautiful and wild, was to reject tradition.

Unhappily married and then divorced, she went on to have affairs with the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Orleans, later known as Philippe Egalité.

She lived a scandalous and remarkable life, maintaining dangerous alliances and surviving treachery and betrayal.

Her memoir, an eyewitness account of the Revolution, recounts a time of turbulent politics, dark days and lethal enemies during an infamous time in history, which she witnessed while living in Paris.

Entertaining her relationship with the Duke of Orleans, Grace had unprecedented access to the highest ranks of court life, which she vividly recounts. After her arrival in Paris she was forced to escape violent Revolutionists and the Mob to stay in Meudon, where she was at the mercy of domestic spies and harboured a wanted man.

Unable to fleehome, she was then imprisoned and became gravely ill.

Although many of her friends met their deaths, including Madame du Barry, Grace only narrowly escaped the guillotine herself. She narrowly avoided death and was released after the Reign of Terror came to an end, not before she had been confined in a total to four different prisons by the Republican government. In later years, there were rumours that she had an attachment with Napoleon Bonaparte, but had rejected his offer of marriage. She died a wealthy woman at Ville d'Avray, in present-day Hauts-de-Seine, in May 1823, while a lodger with the commune's mayor.  Her memoirs were published in 1859.

There’s a wee bit more on her here 

https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/socialite-spy-saviour-grace-dalrymple-elliott/

[archduchessofnowhere]

Hello. What do you know about the marriage Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon and Sophie Charlotte. Thank you.

Hello! Sorry it took me so long, I was taking a break from this blog since I've been busy with college (the post on Sophie's death anniversary was qued months ago), and then I got sick (F). But I feel much better now so let's talk about Sophie's marriage!

But first I'll start with the source though. The best source of information about Sophie is Christian Sepp's biography "Sophie Charlotte: Sisis leidenschaftliche Schwester", which is only available in German (and I think there's a Hungarian translation coming up soon). I haven't read it yet but it seems to me the most complete book written about her like, ever. Probably he goes into more detail about her engagement and marriage, so if you can get it you should check it out. I used to answer this mainly an Italian translation of Erika Bestenreiner's book Sisi und ihre Geschwister (of which I only read the chapters on Sophie), which I double crossed with some online articles about Sophie that Christian Sepp wrote. So I'm probably missing some details; I hope I can learn more and write about it in the future. Now without further delay, let's continue on the subject.

After the fiasco of her engagement with Ludwig II (truly a terrible moment for both of them tbh), Sophie was pretty heartbroken. For all the portrayals in media of Helene as the "rejected bride", Sophie was the one that actually got publicly rejected and humilliated. Her family was furious at Ludwig, even Elisabeth. But after the scandal passed, it was time to find her a match again.

All the sources I've read (aka Bestenreiner's chapters about Sophie and some other articles) point to Ludovika as the responsible for setting her up with Ferdinand, Duke of Alençon, who was a grandson of the last King of the French Louis Philippe. On him we have this quote from Bestenreiner's book: "Baroness von Redwitz described him as a man of chivalrous bearing, 'with a carefully studied hairstyle and polite manners', whose fluent French was listened to with delight. She added, most eloquently, that he possessed more the qualities of a saint than of a husband".

They met at the court of Dresde, where Sophie was visisiting her relatives from Saxony (the queen Amalie was her aunt), and they both left a good impression on each other. Sophie and Ferdinand got engaged on June 24 of 1868 and married three months later on September 28 at Possenhofen. There is an account of the wedding from one of the guests, the Prime Minister of Bavaria Prince Hohenlohe-Schilling:

The young Duke of Alençon is described by the prince as a 'handsome young man with a lively air. The bride was dressed in white silk with orange blossom trimmings and a hairstyle of orange blossom and tulle. The couple knelt in front of the altar, behind them on the left-hand side Prince Adalbert (best man), behind him the two ministers (the second best man Pfretzschner and myself) and then, behind us, the men of the House of Orleans. On the other side, the Duke of Nemours, the Duchess and all the princesses… Nobody was crying… The bride seemed imperturbable. Before the "yes", the groom congratulated his father and the bride, then her parents. The bride's "yes" seemed to say: "It's all right with me". But I don't want to say anything bad, it just seemed that way to me. After the wedding, I kissed the duchess' hand and wished her well. She seemed really happy and content"

Off to a great start, right?

The Duke and Duchess moved to London (the Orléans had been living in exile on England since King Louis Philippe abdicated in 1848), where they were quite bussy receiving guests. However, soon after Sophie fell into a deep melancholy, and no one could figure out why she didn't feel better, not even after her first daughter's birth a year later on July. Although we can't diagnose her for sure, it seems likely she suffered from depression. The couple moved to Sicily with the hopes she would recover, and she actually did got better; but they have to depart abruptly because it was akward for the Savoyards that members of a branch of the House of Bourbon were staying in the former Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, which was ruled by the Bourbons until the kingdom was annexed to Italy in 1861. So Sophie's brother-in-law, the exiled King Francesco II of the Two Sicilies, invited them to stay over at Rome, and they agreed. Bestenreiner doesn't mention anything more on there time at Rome (although she does goes on a weird tangent about how the Wittelsbach sisters were depressed because they had too much free time??? That's not how mental illness works Erika), so I can't say anything else (if I find more I'll share it).

I ended up digressing a bit, but from what I could gather this marriage wasn't a love match, but a union between two people deemed adequate for each other (spoiler: they weren't).