"Fighting Jack" Churchill: The British Army Officer Who Fought World War II His Way

Jack Churchill leading his troops. He's on the far right, with sword. 
Image: Wikipedia/War Office - Imperial War Museum. Public Domain.

Jack Churchill Before World War II

"Fighting Jack" Churchill was a World War II British Army Officer who fought the enemy with a unique approach. While his fellow soldiers used modern weapons, Jack wielded a sword, a longbow and arrows and he played the bagpipes on the battlefields to rally his men. He firmly believed that: "Any officer who goes into action without his sword is improperly dressed.”

Born John Malcolm Thorpe Fleming Churchill in British Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) on the 16th September 1906, he was the eldest of three sons born to Alec and Elinor Churchill. His father was appointed the Director of Public Works in Hong Kong in 1910; the family returned to the U.K. in 1917. 

Jack attended the renowned Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, England and in 1926 he was commissioned into the British army as an officer. He served with the Manchester Regiment in Burma, now Myanmar. To attend a training course, he rode a motorbike over 2,400 k.m. from Rangoon, Burma to Poona, India and then after the course, to Calcutta and back to Rangoon. 

In 1936, after a disagreement with his commanding officer, he left the British Army and he became a newspaper editor based in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1939, he represented Great Britain in the World Archery Championships in Norway and he finished in 26th place. 

Churchill & The British Expeditionary Force

During the early days of World War II, Jack Churchill rejoined the Manchester Regiment which was deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force. He took his bagpipes, Scottish broadsword and his longbow and arrows with him. He completed patrols armed with his bow and arrows, which he considered silent and accurate in his hands.

After fighting at Dunkirk and being awarded the Military Cross, he volunteered for the Commandos, a unit formed by Prime Minister Winston Churchill in June 1940. His brother Thomas was also a Commando. Robert, the youngest Churchill, was in the Royal Navy; he was killed in 1942. All three men served with great distinction.

Jack married Rosamund Denny in 1941 and their children Malcolm and Rodney were born in 1942 and 1947 respectively. 

The Commandos: Norway & Sicily

On the 27th December 1941, "Fighting Jack" or "Mad Jack" was second in command as his Commando unit attacked a German garrison in Norway. As the troops advanced, Jack picked up his bagpipes and he played the March of the Cameron Men before hurling a grenade towards the garrison. This curious moment was captured on camera. Ten minutes later, all of the Germans had either been arrested or killed and the garrison was under the allies control.

By 1943, Jack was commanding his own unit in Sicily. Their mission was to take control of a German observation station, the adjacent pass and beachhead. After the attack, a victorious Jack led his men, the German prisoners and the wounded, some in carts, through the pass. Later, he  retraced his steps, he'd accidentally left his sword behind and he went to find it. Winston Churchill awarded Jack the Distinguished Service Order. 

Winston Churchill's Brother?

1944 saw Jack and his unit in the former Yugoslavia where, after playing his bagpipes as the Germans approached, he was knocked unconscious by shrapnel and captured by the enemy. The Germans assumed that Jack Churchill was Winston Churchill's brother and they flew him to Berlin to interrogate him. He wasn't Winston's relation and the Germans learned nothing from him. Winston Churchill's brother Jack was born in 1880, he died in 1947 after marriage, three children and military and business careers. 

Concentration Camp Escapes 

Jack was placed in "Special Camp A" for prominent prisoners at the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp but he and four other men dug a tunnel and escaped. He and a fellow escapee Bertram James were recaptured. They were transferred under S.S. Guard to the Tyrol (in Austria/Italy) in April 1945. Jack escaped and he made his way through Italy where he met with some American soldiers. 

World War II in Europe ended the following month. His illustrious career was not at an end though. He served with the Seaforth Highlanders and the Highland Light Infantry, returned to Burma and he saved over 500 peoples lives while in Jerusalem. 

"Mad Jack" Lieutenant Colonel Jack Churchill D.S.O. and Bar, M.C. and Bar died on the 8th March 1996, aged 89.  There'll never be another soldier quite like him.

 To learn about another unusual Second World War hero, please click here.

Jack Churchill recorded an interview with the Imperial War Museum; you can listen to it here. 

Sources:

https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/jack-churchill-carry-a-sword.html

https://www.commandoveterans.org/JackChurchill2Commando

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Fighting-Jack_Churchill/

Was Robin Hood A Real Person? Quick History Answer

Robin Hood's statue in Sherwood Forest. Image: Wikipedia/Richard Croft, CC BY-SA 2.0.

Good news:

Robin Hood existed and there were many of them over hundreds of years. 

Bad news:

None of them were the "Robin Hood" that you are searching for.

Robin Hood: An Alias For An Outlaw

From the middle ages onwards, official justice records featured the names Robin Hood, Robyne Hude, Robert Hood, Robbehod and other variations. Outlaws used Robin Hood's identity, learned from early stories and ballads about an outlaw, as their alias. 

The Robin Hood of folklore, the one that wore green, had a band of merry men, lived in Sherwood Forest, stole from the rich to give to the poor and made the Sheriff of Nottingham suffer for his dastardly deeds and his loyalty to tyrannical King John of England, is most likely fictitious. 

We have no proof that there was a real Robin Hood that inspired the legend that has travelled through the centuries. That said, it's possible that the timelessly alluring story of a man fighting against injustices and authority sprang from a real event or character. 

Howard Pyle's retelling of Robin Hood, 1883. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

Robin Hood: Facts And Clues

The English Shires circa 1086. Image: Wikipedia/Thomas Gun CC:3.0.

• There was a Robin of Lockersley named in an official document dated 1160. This places Robin in Yorkshire not Nottinghamshire. The British Museum holds the document.

• The unpopular King John of England ruled between 1199 and 1216. England was under threat not just from his high taxation but from France's Prince Louis, who was keen to take the English throne from John. Wilkin of the Weald a.k.a.William of Cassingham was a real man. He became a hero as he fought the French invaders in Kent's wealds (forests) with support from a band of fighters. He was renowned for returning items that the French had stolen to their rightful English owners. 

• It was not until the 16th century that Robin Hood was said to have been a supporter of King John's brother and predecessor, King Richard I (the Lionheart) and to have returned from the Crusades to find that his estate had been seized by the Sheriff of Nottingham.

• A medieval document refers to "Robyn hode in scherewode stod.” Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire was on the road between London and York and travellers could expect to be troubled by the outlaws that camped out there awaiting their next victim.

• In 1440 Walter Bower wrote "Then arose the famous murderer, Robert Hood, as well as Little John, together with their accomplices from among the disinherited..." 

• Early stories spoke of Robin being a yeoman, a man that wasn't rich and powerful or poor, somewhere in between. He became landed gentry in later versions, this seems to have been a writer's embellishment.

• Over the centuries the original violent criminal morphed into a more gentlemanly hero.

• Maid Marian was not incorporated into the tale until the 16th century. She was depicted as a shameful, unladylike person, not the genteel and brave love interest that we recognise. 

• The story of Robin Hood gained popularity during the Victorian era when Sir Walter Scott's book Ivanhoe, featuring Robin, captured peoples imaginations. 

In conclusion, Robin Hood may be folklore and legend and new details were apparently added with every retelling of his story, but Robin resonates with us today as much as he did in medieval times.  

             Was King Arthur real? Find out here.                                                                           

Sources:        

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/articles/zpj2tcw                                                                                                              

https://visittunbridgewells.com/unmasking-the-real-robin-hood-separating-fact-from-fiction/#:~:text=Robin%20Hood%20is%20a%20legendary,less%20effective%20in%20the%20forests.  
https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryMagazine/DestinationsUK/Sherwood-Forest/                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Who Was The Oldest Person To Ever Live?

Frenchwoman Jeanne Calment, the oldest person to have ever lived, in 1895. 

She died aged 122 years and 164 days old. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.  

Jeanne Calment: Super-Centenarian

The oldest person to have ever lived was a Frenchwoman named Jeanne Calment. She was born on the 21st February 1875 and she died on the 4th August 1997. She was 122 years and 164 days old at her passing. 

Her lifespan and official records have been independently verified so we know that she really did live for longer than anyone else in world history. She remains the only person in history to reach 120 years old and she outlived her daughter, Yvonne, and her only grandson Frederic. 

She smoked for much of her life, drank alcohol and she indulged in treats like chocolate. She had meals with olive oil and she used it on her skin.

Longevity ran in her family. Nicolas, Jeanne's shipbuilder father, was 93 when he died and her mother Marguerite lived until she was 86 years old. Jeanne's older brother Francois lived for 97 years.

Fernand Calment & Jeanne Calment Marry

Jeanne married her cousin Fernand Nicolas Calment on the 8th April 1896. They were double cousins as their paternal grandfathers were siblings and the ladies that they married also happened to be sisters. 

Jeanne never worked for a living and she had servants to wait on her. Fernand was the heir to the family haberdashery company and they lived in an apartment above their business. She filled her days with pursuits including fencing, mountaineering, tennis, hunting, playing the piano and socialising. 

The couple had one child, Yvonne Marie Nicole,  born in 1898. Yvonne married Captain Joseph Billot in 1926 and their son Frederic was born that same year. Sadly, Yvonne died from pleurisy in 1934. Frederic was raised by his father and grandparents. 

Jeanne Calment became a widow in 1942 when Fernand passed away aged 73; his cause of death was given as cherry poisoning. She didn't marry again.

When Frederic Billot married, he and his wife Renee lived next door to Jeanne's apartment. Frederic died in a car accident in summer 1963, about eight months after his father, Joseph, passed away. Like his mother Yvonne, he was 36 years old when he died.

Jeanne Moves To A Nursing Home Aged 110

Jeanne had no heirs after 1965. She remained in her own home until she was 110, making an excellent property deal, a reverse mortgage, and she outlived the other party who paid well above the fee he imagined, see this Youtube video from Growing Bolder to learn more. 

She moved into La Maison du Lac, a nursing home and aged 111, she became the oldest living person in France. She submitted to medical tests during her later years so that doctors could learn from her body via CT scans, tests and discussion about long past events that she lived through. She claimed that she met and was unimpressed by the artist Vincent van Gogh (1853-1890) when she was a teenager and she was alive for his centenary celebrations.

The Oldest Living Person Ever

Jeanne Calment was the subject of a documentary when she was 120 years old and she was named the oldest living person ever on the 17th October 1995.

She lost most of her sight and hearing during her final years but her doctor said that she was in overall good health a month before she died. Her death on the 4th August 1997 in Arles made the news headlines. She was buried in the Trinquetaille cemetery in Arles.

Although claims have been made of people living longer than her 122 years and 164 days, none of these have been proven while Jeanne's has been, despite accusations that Jeanne was in fact Yvonne, that it was impossible for her to have lived that long and that when she was 100 she was far too lively, according to the mayor who paid her a visit. 

The Longest Living Man & The Current Living Oldest Person

The oldest man to ever live was Jiroemon Kimura of Japan. He was born on the 19th April 1897 and he passed away on the 12th June 2013, aged 116 years and 54 days old.

The oldest living person in the world at the time of writing is Ethel May Caterham, nee Collins, from the United Kingdom. She was born on the 21st August 1909 in Hampshire, southern England. She is also the oldest British person ever.  

As life expectancy continues to rise, how long will these records stand?

Sources:

https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/news/2024/2/oldest-person-ever-122-year-old-jeanne-calments-extraordinary-life-765016

https://academic.oup.com/biomedgerontology/article/74/Supplement_1/S13/5569844

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7kzWe4trOmo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-49746060

 

Visionary Hildegard of Bingen Was Ahead Of Her Time

Saint Hildegard of Bingen receives a vision from God. A monk writes down the details. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Who Was Hildegard of Bingen? 

Hildegard of Bingen was a gifted and determined medieval woman who, in a male dominated era and church, achieved great things. Her remarkable life as a prophet, Benedictine nun and abbess, scientist, polymath, poet and composer led to an official elevation to a sainthood in October 2012. 

Hildegard was born in West Franconia (modern day Germany) in circa 1098, the tenth child of a noble family. From the age of eight, Hildegard lived and studied at the Benedictine orders Disibodenberg Monastery's frauenklause, under the abbess Jutta von Sponheim. 

The counts of Sponheim, Jutta's relations, sponsored the female hermitage adjoining the monastery. Hildegard took her religious vows aged fifteen and from this time she wore a Benedictine habit. 

Hildegard of Bingen's Visions Receive Papal Approval

"And because I see them this way in my soul, I observe them in accord with the shifting of clouds and other created things. I do not hear them with my outward ears, nor do I perceive them by the thoughts of my own heart or by any combination of my five senses, but in my soul alone, while my outward eyes are open..." A letter from a 77 year old Hildegard to Guibert of Gembloux. 

Hildegard had prophetic visions from around three years old and she finally spoke about them when she was in her forties. The Archbishop of Mainz was informed about her visions and a committee decided that she should record them; a monk worked with her as a scribe. 

The work Scivias took from 1141 to 1152 to complete and it contained twenty-six of her visions. Some of her visions challenged the status quo about people's expectations of their relationship with God, creation and redemption. Pope Eugenius III learned about Hildegard in 1147-48 and he approved the writings. 

Rupertsberg

Hildegard of Binden replaced Jutta in 1136 but in 1147 her time at Disibodenberg drew to a close. She desired to do more than she was permitted to and she approached the abbot, her superior, about moving the convent to Rupertsberg where she'd enjoy greater independence. He refused, possibly because her presence and reputation benefitted the monastery. 

Legend has it that Hildegard fell seriously ill and it was only when the abbot accepted the move to Rupertsberg that she recovered. She perceived the illness as a sign of God's displeasure about the abbot's first response to her suggestion. 

Hildegard and her fellow nuns established their new convent. At Rupertsberg, Hildegard continued to have visions and she and the nuns cared for the sick. Using her increasing knowledge of medicine and her rare scientific skills, she wrote two books and a number of biographies of saints. Hildegard's most acclaimed written works were her theological books.  

She created around eighty religious poems that she then set to music and she invented a language called Lingua Ignota, apparently for her own amusement. 

She established another convent at Elbingen in 1165.

Sybil Of The Rhine

She was also called Sibyl of the Rhine. Hildegard travelled throughout southern Germany and Switzerland preaching, again this was something that made her a trailblazer in history. Her words didn't always meet with a warm response but she persevered. During her life and after her death miracles were reported around her and her tomb. 

She died in Rupertsberg in September 1179, aged eighty-one. It was said that two beams of light passed through the sky over her deathbed. She was unofficially regarded as a saint for centuries.

Pope Benedict XVI officially canonized her in 2012. She is one of only four female doctors of the church and she is regarded as a patron saint of writers and composers. Her feast day is the 17th September. 

Learn which Pope was a nightmare for cats here.

Sources:

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Hildegard

https://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/world-changing-women-hildegard-bingen

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/suny-musicapp-medieval-modern/chapter/hildegard-of-bingen/

 

Adolf Hitler's Half-Nephew William Fought In The U.S. Navy During WW2

Adolf Hitler's half-nephew William Hitler's (left) discharge from the U.S. Navy after World War II. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

Alois Hitler Jr. 

The monster that was Adolf Hitler had a jailbird-entrepreneur half-brother named Alois. In 1910, while in Dublin, Ireland he eloped with Bridget Dowling. By 1911, they were living in Liverpool, England, and their son William Patrick Hitler was born on the 12th March 1911. He was a British citizen.

According to Bridget's 1939 book about Adolf Hitler, he stayed with the family in Liverpool in 1912 and 1913. This claim has not been substantiated. We know that Alois abandoned his wife and son when he headed to Germany in the lead up to the First World War. Adolf Hitler barely acknowledged Alois and vice versa. Bridget's relatives helped her financially and she took in lodgers after Alois' departure.

In 1919, Alois bigamously married Hedwig Mickley; his crime was discovered in 1924 but Hedwig refused to press charges. After the Second World War he changed his surname to Hiller and he lived in Hamburg-Fuhlsbuttel until his death in 1956.

William Hitler Relocates To Germany In 1933

William was an entrepreneur and an opportunist. He relocated to Germany in 1933 so that he could directly benefit from being related to Adolf Hitler, by then the Chancellor of Germany.

Uncle Adolf secured him a job at a bank, then in a factory and lastly as a car salesman. These roles didn't satisfy William so in 1938 he threatened to expose some Hitler family secrets unless Adolf found him a better role and more money. Hitler didn't appreciate this approach from his "loathsome nephew" who he felt was using him. 

William was told that he could have a better position in Germany if he relinquished his British citizenship. William refused and he hurried back to England, sensing a trap and that he might get caught in not-so-friendly Adolf's Germany. Back in England, he wrote an article titled "Why I hate my uncle." 

Alois Hitler's other son (with Hedwig) Heinrich or "Heinz" became a devoted Nazi and a firm favourite of Uncle Adolf. In 1942, Heinrich was allegedly tortured to death in a Russian prisoner of war camp. 

The Hitlers Head To The U.S.A.

William and his mother travelled to the U.S.A. in 1939. He gave lectures that were critical of both Hitler and the Nazis. 

When the Second World War broke out, William and Bridget were still in the U.S.A. He applied to serve with the British armed forces but they rejected him. William fell silent about his tyrannical relation, instead he tried to keep his link to brutal Adolf Hitler a secret. 

When the U.S.A. was drawn into the war, William Hitler wrote to President Roosevelt asking whether he could serve in the U.S. military. After F.B.I. investigations, William Patrick Hitler joined the U.S. Navy as a corpsman. It was 1944; he worked as a pharmacist's assistant and he received the Purple Heart for his service, and injury, in the Pacific. He was discharged in 1947.

William and Bridget settled in Long Island, cast aside the surname Hitler and became Stuart-Houston's with U.S. citizenship. William married German born Phyllis Jean Jacques and they had four sons. He established a successful business and the Stuart-Houston's remained in the U.S.A. He passed away in 1987, eighteen years after his mother. 

His descendants are said to refuse interviews. 

Further Reading: 

Sergeant Stubby: Dog and Decorated World War One Hero

Sources:

https://navylog.navymemorial.org/hitler-william

https://www.dublincity.ie/library/blog/hitlers-irish-nephew

https://www.historynet.com/the-other-hitler/

Queen Victoria's Granddaughter Marie Louise: The “Princess of Nowhere”

 

Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein, Queen Victoria's granddaughter, the "Princess of Nowhere". 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein

Her Highness Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein was the second daughter of Princess Helena of Great Britain (1846-1923) and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sondenburg-Augustenburg (1831-1917), and she was their fourth child. Born at Cumberland Lodge in Windsor Great Park on the 12th of August 1872, Marie Louise was christened on the 18th of September 1872. Her full name was Franziska Josepha Louise Augusta Marie Christina Helena.

Known as Louie to her family, she was raised at Cumberland Lodge,  approximately 3.5 miles from her grandmother Queen Victoria's Windsor Castle. She was close to her parents and her elder siblings, Princes Christian Victor and Albert and Princess Helena Victoria, known as Thora.

Schleswig-Holstein, formerly in Denmark, had been annexed by Prussia and Austria in 1864, so Prince Christian did not have lands in his home country. (The following year, Prussia fought Austria for Holstein and won.) Queen Victoria insisted that Christian and Helena live in Britain so that she always had her daughter nearby. They were referred to as Prince and Princess Christian, and their children were considered to be British royals.

The family frequently paid visits to their broad network of relations. Marie Louise was particularly close to her cousin Alix of Hesse, the future ill-fated Tsarina Alexandra of Russia (1872-1918), who was just a couple of months older than her. Marie Louise wrote that they were “more like sisters than cousins.” Prince and Princess Christian ensured that the princesses were involved in charity work and understood that not everyone was as fortunate as they were. Louie and Thora supported charities and nursing ventures throughout their lives.

Prince Aribert of Anhalt

On the 6th of July, 1891, Princess Marie Louise married Prussian soldier Prince Aribert of Anhalt (1866-1933.) They'd met at a family wedding, that of Princess Viktoria of Prussia (1866-1929) and Prince Adolf of Schaumberg-Lippe (1859-1916). Viktoria was a younger sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II (1859-1941.)

The Kaiser promoted the match between his great friend and Marie Louise, but as ever, Wilhelm showed a lack of judgment. The marriage was rumoured never to have been consummated because of Aribert’s homosexuality. He had little interest in building a life with her and he prioritised his military career. The court at Dessau, Anhalt, was forbidding, and she felt unwanted there.

Although Marie Louise initially believed that she was in love with Aribert, the rot set in quickly. She was relieved that much of their time was spent in Berlin, not Anhalt so that she could socialize and find a distraction from her marriage troubles. The couple would not see one another for days at a time, even when they were in the same building.

1900: Aribert Ends Their Marriage Cruelly

She lost her thirty-three-year-old brother, Prince Christian Victor, on the 29th of October 1900, to malaria which he contracted during the Boer War in Africa. 

In December of 1900 Marie Louise visited Canada.

One day, she received a cable message from her father-in-law, Friedrich I of Anhalt (1831-1904), demanding that she return to Dessau without delay. A short time later, another cable arrived; this one was from Queen Victoria. Marie Louise was told to “ ... come home to me. V.R.”

Marie Louise followed the queen’s instruction and she was astounded by the news that greeted her at her parents' home, Cumberland Lodge. In her absence, Friedrich I had started proceedings for Aribert and Marie Louise’s marriage annulment, apparently at his son’s request.

In Aribert’s opinion, she made his life intolerable and neglected their marriage. He conveniently forgot to mention that he’d spent most of her money, and so he had no use for her. Around that time, there were whispers of a scandalous relationship between Aribert and a male servant, which Marie Louise did not refute or confirm.

Princess of Anhalt to Princess of Nowhere

With her grandmother’s full support, the annulment was processed quickly to minimise Marie Louise’s suffering at an age when the end of a marriage before death was potentially ruinous. She once again became Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein.

She remained in Britain and made a stylish home for herself in London, but because she believed that marriage was a lifetime commitment, she never married again. She wore her wedding ring for the rest of her life. She resumed her charity work, actively supported her mother’s Princess Christian Nursing Home at Windsor, and she was a noted patron of the arts. Marie Louise was a popular member of the royal family and she attended family events, official and private.

In 1917, the royal family’s name was changed to Windsor to halt anti-German sentiments. Marie Louise’s once Danish provinces were in enemy Germany, so she and George V agreed to remove the reference to Schleswig-Holstein in her title. Marie Louise and her unmarried sister Helena Victoria were designated “Her Highness Princess ... ” (followed by their names), but unlike their relatives, they were not awarded any geographical territory, British or Danish. They were referred to by some relatives as the princesses “of nowhere.”

Memories of Six Reigns

After the war ended on the 11th of November 1918, she resided with her mother and sister at Cumberland Lodge and Schomberg House in Pall Mall, London. When Princess Helena died in 1923, her daughters took on her work. She inspired Queen Mary (1867-1953) to commission the Queen Mary’s Doll's House, which utilised the skills of British craftspeople.

She worked with them to produce the acclaimed mini-palace. Completed in 1924, the doll's house is on display at Windsor Castle today. It's so intricate: the miniature books in the library have full stories in them written by authors, including Arthur Conan Doyle.

The princess's remaining brother Prince Albert, passed away in 1931. The sisters were companions for one another and lived together until Helena Victoria passed away in 1948. Marie Louise continued to live in their home in Berkeley Square, London.

Her memoirs “My Memories of Six Reigns” were published during her final year. She recalled the reigns of Queen Victoria, her uncle Edward VII and cousins George V, Edward VIII and George VI. She witnessed the early years of Elizabeth II’s now unbeaten in-length reign. There was a story that Marie Louise went to Elizabeth’s coronation with a supply of gin and tonic to get her through the day.

Aged eighty-four, she died at her home on the 8th of December 1956, and she was buried at the Frogmore Burial Ground, Windsor, in the Schleswig-Holstein plot.

Sources:

• Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein | Unofficial Royalty

• The Stories of Queen Victoria's Granddaughters: Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein

• https://www.rct.uk/collection/exhibitions/crown-and-camera-the-british-royal-family-and-photography-1842-1910/the/princess-louise-of-schleswig-holstein-1872-1956

Bigamist King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway

 

King Frederik IV of Denmark and Norway married bigamously twice, legally twice. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark

Frederik was the eldest son of King Christian V of Denmark and Norway and his wife, Charlotte Amalie of Hesse-Kassel. He was born and baptised in Copenhagen Castle on 11th October 1671. Named after his late grandfather, Frederik was immediately awarded the title of Crown Prince of Denmark.

Four of his six siblings survived into adulthood. The legitimate children had six half-siblings from their father's three-decades-long relationship with his mistress Sophie Amalie Moth. They were raised at court with the royal children.

Following tradition, Christian V looked to Germany for a suitable bride for his son and heir. Frederik travelled around the Protestant courts, and he sought the advice of his aunt Anna Sophia, Electress of Saxony. She urged him to choose the attractive Louise of Mecklenburg-Gustrow. Frederik and Louise were both great-great-grandchildren of King Frederik II of Denmark and Norway (1534-1588).

Royal Marriage and Children

Frederik expected that Louise would quietly accept his extra-marital affairs but whether Louise was aware of this when the couple married on 5th December 1695 at Copenhagen Castle is unclear.

Their marriage produced five children, but sadly three of their four sons died in infancy. Of the two that survived, Christian became King Christian VI of Denmark and Norway in 1730. His sister Charlotte Amalie devoted herself to good deeds, and she was a potential match for France's King Louis XV and Britain's Prince Frederick of Wales, but she never married.

On 25th August 1699, Frederik and Louise became monarchs after Christian V suffered a fatal fall. Their coronation was held on 15th April 1700 in Frederiksborg Castle's opulent chapel.

Ladies-in-Waiting Elisabeth von Vieregg and Charlotte von Schindel

Being a monarch and the strain of the Great Northern War (1700-1721) did not keep Frederik busy enough. In 1699 he began a relationship with his sister Sophia's lady-in-waiting Elisabeth Helene von Vieregg. In 1703 he bigamously married Elisabeth. Queen Louise was very much alive and jealous, and he hadn't divorced her. In 1704 Elisabeth died after giving birth to their son Frederik who sadly lived for just nine months.

To soothe his grief, the king pursued one of Elisabeth's former ladies-in-waiting Charlotte Helene von Schindel. By 1709 he was stating his intention to marry her. Numerous church officials urged the king to reconsider, pointing out that bigamy laws applied to kings and that his true wife was Louise.

They did not expressly forbid him to commit bigamy or polygamy because they'd not publicly decried his illegal union with Elisabeth. Frederik relented. By 1711 he had tired of Charlotte, and he found a new court distraction.

Anna Sophia von Reventlow

Nineteen-year-old Anna Sophie von Reventlow was the daughter of Frederik's grand chancellor Count Conrad von Reventlow. The king fell in love with her soon after they met at a ball in summer 1711.

He was so in love that on 26th June 1712, he had Anna Sophie kidnapped from her parent's home at Clausholm Castle in East Jutland, and she was transported to Skandersborg Castle in Mid-Jutland where Frederik married her, of course bigamously.

Louise was horrified that she was again being humiliated by her lawful husband. Crown Prince Christian's relationship with his father suffered. Christian considered Anna Sophie an enemy of the family.

Louise died on 15th March 1721 in Copenhagen, and she was buried according to Danish royal tradition at Roskilde Cathedral on the island of Zealand. She was barely settled in her grave when on 4th April, King Frederik IV married Anna Sophie again, and he made her his queen. Her coronation was held the following month at Frederiksberg Castle.

King Frederik IV Dies

This union brought six children; three prior to the legal wedding and three after it but none of them survived infancy. This series of tragedies was regarded as divine judgement by many.

In his final years, Frederik suffered from dropsy or edema. The king died the day after his 59th birthday, the 12th October 1730, at the Odense Palace on the island of Funen. He was buried next to Louise in Roskilde Cathedral.

His will, dated 1725, stipulated that Anna Sophie was to receive all the privileges of a queen dowager after his death. Son and heir Christian signed this agreement in 1725, but he ignored it in 1730.

Queen Anna Sophie Banished

Christian VI gave Anna Sophie an allowance and banished her to Clausholm Castle under house arrest for the rest of her life. She was allowed to be called queen, not Queen or Queen Dowager of Denmark and Norway. When she died in January 1743, the king consented to her burial at Roskilde Cathedral, on the opposite side of the building to his parents. The three children she bore after her legal marriage were reburied adjacent to her.

King Christian VI kept a dull and pious court. His marriage to Sophia Magdalene of Brandenburg-Kulmbach resulted in three children, including the future King Frederik V of Denmark and Norway, who married King George II of Britain's daughter Louisa in 1743. 

Sources:

• Frederick IV | king of Denmark and Norway | Britannica

• Christian VI, King of Denmark and Norway | Unofficial Royalty

• Frederik IV, King of Denmark and Norway | Unofficial Royalty

Was Alexander the Great Buried Alive? Quick History Answer

Alexander the Great/Alexander III of Macedon. The Alexander Mosaic, Pompeii.

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain. 

Quick history answer: Yes, no and maybe.

Alexander the Great, also known as Alexander III of Macedon, was an all conquering ruler and a military genius. He was born in the Ancient Greek month of Hekatombaion (modern day July) 365 B.C. in Pella, Central Macedonia, in today's Greece. He became king after his father was assassinated in 336 B.C.. During his reign, Alexander expanded his territories significantly, including in Egypt, Persia and Northern India.  

His death in his new capital city of Babylon, in today's Iraq, on the 13th June 323 B.C. has long raised questions and possibilities. Could he have been buried alive? Was the 32 year old murdered or did someone make a gargantuan mistake when they checked whether he was alive or dead? 

The truth is that we will never know whether Alexander the Great was alive when he was buried.  We do know that his body didn't start to decompose for 6 days.

The official explanation for his death was that he enjoyed a 10 days long drinking binge and feasting session that somehow left him ill and he subsequently died at the palace of Nebuchadnezzar II in Babylon. His huge empire struggled to survive past his rule and it was later broken down between several rulers.

Alexander the Great's empire at the time of his death. 

Image: Wikipedia/Thomas Lessman CC BY-SA 3.0.

Could Alexander the Great Have Been Buried Alive?

The "buried alive" version of events goes as follows: Alexander the Great was unwell with a fever and severe back pain after going out drinking in Babylon.  His symptoms also included paralysis, breathing difficulties and a loss of speech. 

Possible illnesses have been suggested over the centuries including typhoid, pneumonia and Gillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare auto-immune disease that strikes suddenly and muscle weakness and paralysis can occur. 

The Greek Historian Arrian related his version 400 years after the event, using sources from Alexander the Great's time,  claiming that Alexander's loyal soldiers were ushered into his room to see him as he lay (as they thought) dying. 

They missed his shallow breathing; in those days no one checked for a pulse or heartbeat. The soldiers concluded that his lack of movement and speech meant that he was dead and so they embalmed him. 

His body didn't start to decompose for 6 days according to the historian, scribe and philosopher Plutarch who wrote a couple of centuries after the event. That claim suggested to many historians that he was alive when he was buried and that he suffocated. 

His lack of decomposition was explained by declaring that he was a divine figure so he didn't break down as a normal person would.

Was Alexander the Great Murdered?

The case for murder, apart from the embalming and burial of a potentially still alive Alexander the Great, revolves around the sons of Antipater, Alexander's Regent of Greece and Macedon, in his absence. 

Suspiciously to some, Alexander's cupbearer (drink servant) was Iollas, Antipater's son and the brother of the eventual ruler of Macedon, Cassander. Motive for poisoning, opportunity and no proof.

One thing is certain, no matter how Alexander the Great died, the loss of his incredible military might and perceived invincibility left his realm with a constitutional crisis that it failed to recover from. 

Alexander's only surviving child, a posthumously born son called Alexander IV, was murdered in 309 B.C., aged 14, when it was time for him to rule in his own right, rather than through a regent. The murderer? Cassander. 

We don't know the precise location of Alexander the Great's tomb so that adds another layer to the mystery. 

So, taking into account all of the above, the answer to whether Alexander the Great was buried alive is yes, no and maybe. 

Sources:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/was-alexander-great-pronounced-dead-prematurely-180971419/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Alexander-the-Great

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Antipater-regent-of-Macedonia

   

Queen Victoria's Half Sister: Princess Feodora of Leiningen

 

Queen Victoria's half sister: Princess Feodora of Leiningen. 

Image: Wikipedia. Public Domain.

Princess Feodora of Leiningen

Feodora was born Princess Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhemina of Leiningen on the 7th of December 1807 in Amorbach, then in Leiningen and now in Bavaria, Germany. She was the only daughter of Emich Karl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen, and his second wife, Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Her brother Karl was three years older than her. Karl and Feodora had a deceased half-sibling from their father's first marriage. Friedrich had died aged seven in 1800.

Her maternal grandmother, Countess Augusta of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, described her as "a little clown" and observed that Feodora showed "grace in every movement of her body."

The 50-year-old Emich Karl died in 1814, and he was succeeded by 10-year-old Karl as 3rd Prince of Leiningen.

Karl and Feodora's best-known relation was their half-sister from Victoire's second marriage in 1818 to Edward, Duke of Kent. This child, born at Kensington Palace on the 24th May 1819, was christened Alexandrina Victoria but is remembered in history as Queen Victoria, ruler for over sixty-three years.

Life at Kengsington Palace, London

The Duke of Kent loved and treated Karl and Feodora as if they were his own children. Tragically, their stepfather died on 23rd January 1820, just six days before his father, King George III, passed away.

Victoire, Duchess of Kent decided that as Victoria was in the line of succession to the British throne, the family would remain in England. They lived a fairly meagre existence by royal standards and had few friends. Victoria and Feodora were close all their lives.

Victoria was guarded and seldom left alone because of suspicions that there could be foul play to prevent her from taking the throne. This meant a "dismal" upbringing for them.

The princesses were taught at home by their governess, Baroness Lehzen, known as Daisy. Victoria looked upon Daisy as a mother figure and she confided in her. Feodora wrote in her journal that her carriage rides with Victoria and Daisy were the only times that she felt happy.

As Victoire grew ever more dependent on the Machiavellian household comptroller, Sir John Conroy, who saw Victoria as his passport to grandeur and glory, Feodora felt stifled and hoped to marry young to escape the oppressive atmosphere.

Feodora's Escape to Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora took her opportunity to marry. On 18th February 1828, she and Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, were married at Kensington Palace after just two meetings. Victoria was a bridesmaid.

As half-sister to a queen in waiting, Feodora could have married a higher profile royal, but she was happy to marry a kind man thirteen years her senior, who she also found handsome and escape Kensington Palace. The couple's first home was the Schloss Langenburg, hundreds of miles from Conroy and the easily manipulated Duchess of Kent.

Feodora didn't see Victoria for the next six years. Victoria remained under strict supervision at Kensington Palace until her 1837 accession. Conroy tried to become the power behind Victoria's throne, but his dreams swiftly faded.

The Hohenlohe-Langenburg's in Stuttgart

Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen married Countess Maria von Klebelsberg on 13th February 1829. The couple had two sons, Ernst Leopold and Eduard Friedrich in 1830 and 1833, respectively.

Feodora and Ernst had six children been 1829 and 1837: Carl Ludwig, Elise, Hermann, Viktor, Adelheid and Feodora.

Elise passed away in 1850, aged nineteen. Adelheid went on to be the mother of "Dona" Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein, wife of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Prussia, instigator of World War One and Queen Victoria's eldest grandson.

Feodora and Ernst raised their family in the city of Stuttgart, where he was involved in numerous political schemes, and together, they pursued philanthropic initiatives. The couple were in demand in society, and so Feodora was rarely left alone or bored. Notably, Feodora founded the Children's Rescue Centre in 1830 and the Poor Preservation Institute for Children and the Sick in 1853.

Victoria and Feodora wrote epistles to one another, and regular visits were paid between homes and palaces. Victoria covered Feodora's expenses on each visit she made to England.

Karl, Prince of Leiningen, died relatively young in 1856 after a series of strokes. Victoria and Feodora were inconsolable that they'd lost their "dearly loved only brother."

Victoria Sees Feodora for the Last Time

Feodora became a widow on 12th April 1860.

She and Victoria lost their mother in early 1861, and Feodora was present for Victoire's funeral. By the close of the year, Feodora was back in England, comforting Victoria after the loss of her beloved Prince Albert.

Victoria tried to persuade Feodora to live in Britain so that the two widows could grieve together. Feodora valued her freedom, and she wanted to be close to her children, so she declined and relocated to Baden-Baden in Germany. With financial support from Victoria, she purchased Villa Frisenberg.

Victoria paid her last visit to the villa and an ailing, and mourning, Feodora in spring 1872 after Feodora's youngest child (Feodora) died from scarlet fever.

Feodora died on 23rd September 1872, probably from cancer. She was buried in the main cemetery in Baden-Baden. Queen Victoria was devastated to lose her "last near relative on an equality with me ... the last link with my youth."

Four years later, Victoria returned to the villa and renamed it Villa Hohenlohe in memory of her much-missed half-sister.

Sources:

• Queen Victoria's half-sister – Feodora of Leiningen | History of Royal Women

• Queen Victoria's Half-Sister: Who Was Princess Feodora? | History Hit

• Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg | Unofficial Royalty