When you google someone’s name and a bunch of vampire references come up, you stop what you’re doing and you investigate. If you’re me, and it’s during quarantine, you stop at nothing to figure out if said google subject is really a vampire princess.
The Habsburg empire gave us our fair share of well-known royal women, from Empress Maria Theresa to her daughters, Marie Antoinette and Maria Carolina. But there’s plenty more you haven’t heard about, like the formidable Archduchess Isabella and her gentle daughter, Maria Anna.
The Downfall of Three Dynasties: Source Report
This book has more details on Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna’s flirtation with Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine. What juicy secrets did I learn? Find out in this post, available exclusively for Patreon supporters.
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria’s Tiara
Meet Maria Anna, the Austrian archduchess who got to wear Marie Antoinette’s jewelry…and had one hell of a collection of her own. Her name came up frequently during the 2018 Sotheby’s auction of the Bourbon-Parma family jewels. It set me on a quest to figure out who she was, and why I’d never heard of her. Turns out, her family’s story is fascinating.
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