An American Princess Bride

The Marrying Mdivani's                                 During the period between the two great wars of the 20 th century there burst upon the scene a family of siblings, émigrés from Georgia (The country, not the state) that captured the imagination of the world press, and the hearts and pocketbooks, of the rich and/or famous.  Their name was Mdivani, and their stories are the stuff of Soap Operas. In Tsarist Russia, there was an aide-de-camp of Tsar Nicholas II by the name of General Mdivani that came from an old aristocratic family from the province of Georgia.  He had five children; 3 sons and two daughters, born between 1903-1910. When the Soviet Union invaded Georgia in 1921 General Mdivani escaped to Paris, along with his wife and five children. There they lived in poverty until his sons, armed with dubious titles, good looks, exquisite manners, and loads of...

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...