An American Princess Bride

I recently stumbled across the story of one Henrietta (Harriet) Ely Blackford, aka Fanny Lear, and while not much is know about her, what tidbits I found made for a fascinating story. Born in 1848 in Philadelphia to a respectable minister and his wife, she at sometime became the first real American courtesan. As she was a divorcee, most likely she became a courtesan as society would have closed their doors to her. Or, its entirely possible that it was her behavior that led to her being divorced. In any case she became quite notorious in America, and with the threat of arrest over her head she fled to Europe. It was in Europe she met the Grand Duke Nicholas, grandson of Tsar Nicholas I, and nephew of the reigning Tsar, Alexander III. The Grand Duke must have been truly smitten with Harriet and he gave her a diamond necklace that he had stolen from his own mother. Even more misguided, he wanted to marry Harriet, and even had the affront to request permission from his uncle, Tsar A

Not Princess Grace, but Nicole Kidman in her role as Princess Grace of Monaco in the poorly received movie "Grace of Monaco" (2014) If you follow the entertainment industry, specifically Hollywood movies you are always hearing about the dearth of interesting movie roles for woman, and I have to wonder why Hollywood hasn't focused more on making movies "Based on a True Story" regarding our Royal  Brides. Granted, some of them lived exceedingly dull lives, but others had lives that need no embellishment to make interesting. Lets start with Betsy Patterson, The Belle of Baltimore.   Now Betsy's story has been made into two movies that I am aware of; "Glorious Betsy" (1928) and "Hearts Divided" (1936). Its been Eighty-two years since a movie has been made about this fascinating woman! Surely its time for someone to make a fresh retelling of her story. If nothing else it would make a great 6-part episode on PBS "

Elise, Countess of Edla and her husband, Ferdinand II of Portugal To better understand what some of our American ladies faced when they married their, um, handsome princes, you need to know what a Morganatic Marriage is. It is simply marriage between two people of unequal social rank. It usually came into play when a King, Prince, or Royal Duke wanted to marry a commoner. Even if the lady in question had an aristocratic title such as Countess or Baroness, she was still considered "Unequal." A morganatic marriage was an uneasy grey area for a lady to enter, for while one was married in the eyes of God, and usually the laws of the country her husband was from, such a marriage meant she could not be acknowledged by the feminine form of her husband's title, i.e. if he was Prince of Bohemia, his wife would not be known as Princess of Bohemia, but by Frau von Hapsburg. Any children would be devoid of titles as well, and worst, neither they are their mother could la

I away thought I knew just about all of the American Royal Brides, or at least those that got the title Princess added to their name. However, a few months ago I came across a Wikipedia entry for one Clara Ward, who had married into a Belgium princely family in the late 1800's. I had never heard of her, but the entry made her sound fascinating. To quote Lady Caroline Lamb (Who said the following about Lord Bryon) Clara seemed "Mad, bad, and dangerous to know." Imbedded in the entry was a  throw away line about the "first" American Princess, Catherine Willis Gray, Princess Murat. Who? Who was she? "No, no", I said to myself, "Betsy Patterson Bonaparte was the first American Royal Bride." Even if she never held an official title, Betsy was first! A couple of weeks ago I came across a web site that had a whole section of American Royalty, including a couple of American  men who married Princesses. They had good ol' Betsy listed at number o

In case you haven't heard, there is an upcoming royal wedding. And on this side of the pond there is plenty of excitement because an American woman is marrying into a royal family, and not just any royal family, but The Royal Family of The United Kingdom. Of course Megan Markel isn't the first American to marry European Royalty, she's not even the first American to marry into the House of Winsor, but her marriage to Prince Harry of Wales will mark a major milestone on many levels. It appears that Prince Harry's relations have welcomed her with open arms, but that hasn't always been the case. There have been a number of Trans-Atlantic matches in which the bride's new family refused to acknowledge her, or her new husband had to give up his succession rights to marry his American sweetheart.  When Prince Rainer of Monaco married the beautiful American Actress, Grace Kelly, many of the established royal houses of Europe "Lost" their invitations. Th