This is King Léopold II of Belgium with his daughter Clémentine. Before she came of age she suffered a lot because of her mother’s difficult temper. Her father gave her permission to travel without her mother which helped a lot.
The problem with being a princess is that you aren’t allowed to marry who you would like. Clémentine wanted to marry Napoléon Victor Bonaparte, who was descended from Napoléon and therefore not of royal blood. Her father threatened to disinherit her. She was already in her 30s and could feel her biological clock ticking away. Prince Napoléon and Clémentine decided to wait until her father died. She didn’t have to wait for much longer after this photograph was taken. Her father died in 1909 and when her cousin, Albert, became King, gave her permission to marry and she really did live happily ever after!
5 comments:
Very cool site!
This is touching. Marriage and love issues are sometimes diffcult for us "communs des mortels". But with Royal families it was (is?) more complicated.
USAAM: Thank you
Peter: We think that arranged marriages are from other cultures, but in fact Royal Families are very selective - and responsable for a lot of unhappiness.
Hello Anji,
That was very interesting. I enjoy reading about royalty. Especially of days gone by. I would not like it either to have an arranged marriage. Yuck! :O)
Titania: Their lives were fascinating but often very sad.
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