Eurohistory. The European Royal History Journal, Vol. 18.5, October 2015

I received issue CVII (Volume 18.5) of Eurohistory. The European Royal History Journal in early March 2016 and will give a few comments on its contents tonight. Together with the magazine followed a little leaflet where the subscribers are informed that for financial reasons the magazine will from the next volume on become a quarterly instead of a bimonthly publication. While I am not exactly amused by this news, I can well understand the reasons behind it. The editor and publisher promises more pages and articles, so the readers will surely still have a product worth subscribing to.

Back to the latest issue! A photo of Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is on the front page, and it surely is the prettiest and coolest ERHJ front cover ever! The cover photo is identical to the one used for Prince Andras' autobiography, I did it my way. Memoirs of HH Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Eurohistory, 2015, ISBN 978-1-944207-00-7), which was launched at the Royal Gatherings (conference) in the Hague, the Netherlands in early November 2015. I attended the conference and of course secured myself a signed copy.

Arturo Beéche's article about Prince Andreas in the present issue is clearly based on the speech the publisher held when the book was launched. It provides a good summary of the life of Prince Andreas, and even with some loose ends, is well worth reading. The whole story can of course be found in the autobiography.

Next one out is Ilana D. Miller's article Who Is In the Photograph. Queen Victoria's Granddaughters, and she tells the story of Princess Irene of Prussia, Princess Helena Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, Hereditary Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Meiningen, Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine. Miller says that it is one of the most photographs she has ever written about «because so much of the sitter's personalities is shown on their faces». This must not be taken as any sort of criticism, just a question mark, as I feel the author is reading too much into the photograph. The women are to me just plain-looking. I liked the article, though!

Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria, one of the two claimants to the throne of the Two Sicilies, died on 5 October 2015, and his obituary is published with the title Don Carlos, Duke of Calabria. The Death of the last Infante of Spain and is written by Ricardo Mateos Saínz de Medrano.

Greg King and Janet Ashton then follows up with the third and last part of their article Perfect Liar. The Extraordinary Life of Princess Catherine Radziwill. In the first part we are told the story of Princess Catherine Radziwill's life, while the second and third parts give an analysis of her writings. What is historically accurate, what is gossip and/or fiction? The conclusion must be, King and Ashton write, that «In the end, declaring Catherine an unreliable gossip and dismissing her work is as historically irresponsible as wholeheartedly embracing her literary output as fact. As with most things in life, the truth rests in the middle». The authors have provided an excellent analysis and the three-part article is all in all one of the best and most interesting ERHJU articles I have ever read.

Sadly issue CVII also includes a second obituary, as Alexandra, Duchess of Croÿ, née Miloradovich, died on 24 September 2015. The obituary, titled A Dear Friend Departs. Alexandra, Duchess of Croÿ (1960–2015), is written by the editor and publisher, Arturo E. Beéche.

The celebrations of the wedding of Lady Alice Montagu-Doucglas-Scott and the Duke of Gloucester (Prince Henry of the United Kingdom) on 6 November 1935 were pared down because of the death of the bride's father on 19 October. But the union seems to have been a success, and the author of the article The Wedding of Lady Alice Montagu-Douglas-Scott & HRH The Duke of Gloucester, Marlene A. Eilers Koenig, covers the events up to and the wedding itself rather well.

Coryne Hall has written several articles based on her book Princesses on the Wards. Royal Women in Nursing through Wars and Revolutions (The History Press, 2014, ISBN 9780752488592). In the present issue she presents several of the royal women she has written about in her book.

Hall is also responsible for three book reviews this time:

• Kongehuset 2015 by Kurt Stjernholm Riisberg (Copenhagen: Lindhardt og Ringhof, 2015, ISBN 9788711449219)
• Vår kungafamilj i fest och vardag 2015 by Karin Schaefer (Sundbyberg: Bokförlaget Semic, 2015, ISBN 9789155262488)
• Henrietta Maria by Dominic Pearce (Stroud, UK: Amberley Publishing, 2015, ISBN 9781445645476)

The book reviews section does for some reason state that Matthias Pettersson was the author of the Swedish year book, while it was in fact written by Karin Schaefer.

Finally, Eurohistory brings you the Royal News section, this time with news from the imperial, royal or princely and/or mediatized houses of Austria, Monaco, Oldenburg, Parma, Prussia, Romania, Savoy, Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Saxe-Meiningen, Sweden, Croÿ, Solms-Baruth and Thurn and Taxis.

The publisher of The European Royal History Royal can be reached at erhj [at] eurohistory.com. Eurohistory also has a blog as well as a Facebook page which will keep the readers up to date with news about royalty and the magazine and other publications that Eurohistory can offer.

For earlier articles on the magazine, please go here.