So far it seems like the world outside of America is fairly convergent with OTL, such as with Napoleon III’s downfall after the Franco-Prussian War. Can we expect more divergences to start occurring abroad soon?
The Scandalous Lives of American Royalty
- Thread starter Prince di Corsica
- Start date
Interesting Augustus ended up as a mix between Max and Porfirio… great take and awesome update.
I do wonder what ended up happening to Maximilian and the Iturbide family in TTL
Also, I take it Agustin was never crowned Emperor?
I do wonder what ended up happening to Maximilian and the Iturbide family in TTL
Also, I take it Agustin was never crowned Emperor?
Amalia was a Duchess of Oldenburg and Princess of Holstein-Gottorp. Waldemar was a Prince of Prussia. They're both OTL people, so you research them on Wikipedia.
His wife is quite a bit younger than he is, although she does have children towards the older side as well. And there were some infidelity allegations, yes...
I have to ask, though, wasn't this clear from their chapters? These are somewhat trivial questions, I'm somewhat worried I am not putting information across well...
Well, the goal of the TL is to see how American Royals interact with our world, so beyond the US itself, things remain mostly convergent, for the sake of having the princelings visit a more recognizable home, and because this isn't really a "research everything around the world that would change" project.
So the strokes of history should remain mostly identical, I'm afraid, with a few exceptions. That being said, I do plan on doing some essays that explore (tentatively semi-canonic) things about the world. I have an idea for France, but it's far removed from this era, so I have to say unfortunately Napoleon IV is out of the picture.
Yes, that was the idea, Augustus being Max and Porfirio in one, it seemed interesting way to handle it. In fact, next chapter we will talk about Augustus' empress and have some other connections to Porfirio pop up, it'll be fun.
I didn't really think much about either Maximilian or the Iturbide family. I think it's safe to assume Max would live longer, but beyond that I can't say I have much planned.
Agustin was crowned Emperor, hence the "in that iteration" part. It just meant there won't be a second Radziwiłł Emperor (but fret not, the adventures of our favorite Catholic princelings are far from over).
@Prince di Corsica I kind of fell out of interest out of following the series, plus my low attention span issue makes reading stuff I'm not interested in very difficult (I'm a very visual person). Still trying to be dedicated with the infobox though (since it's also very visual ; ) )
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@Prince di Corsica Used RNG to randomize the missing dates. Kept having to use a resize website (and having to reduce it to 95, 90, 85... until this site accepted 65%). The pain...
Also, isn't it a little strange that all these monarchs has only had one spouse?
It would also be great if you can also add these infoboxes to your threadmarks.
If anyone's got a better picture for me to use for Augustus I, I'm all ears.
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Ok, interesting. It’s also noteworthy that Augustus did not plan on adopting Iturbide’s grandchildren as Max did in OTL. That could have saved his legacy…
So Mexico has an Agustin I and and Agusto I (I asume Augustus uses the Spanish version of his name in Mexico)… the similarity of the names probably creates some initial confusion in children learning history in TTL.
Hypothetical American Presidents under the American Hohenzollern Dynasty:
Emperor Henry I (r. 1788–1803)
1. George Washington (1789-97)
2. John Adams (1797-1801)
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)
Emperor Augustus I (r. 1803–1813)
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)
4. James Madison (1809-17)
Emperor Louis I (r. 1813–1843)
4. James Madison (1809-17)
5. James Monroe (1817-25)
6. John Quincy Adams (1825-29)
7. Andrew Jackson (1829-37)
8. Martin Van Buren (1837-41)
9. William Henry Harrison (1841)
10. John Tyler (1841-45)
Emperor Alexander I (r. 1843–1861)
10. John Tyler (1841-45)
11. James K. Polk (1845-49)
12. Zachary Taylor (1849-50)
13. Millard Fillmore (1850-53)
14. Franklin Pierce (1853-57)
15. James Buchanan (1857-61)
Empress Charlotte I (r. 1861–1898)
15. James Buchanan (1857-61)
16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-65)
17. Andrew Johnson (1865-69)
18. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77)
19. Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-81)
20. James A. Garfield (1881)
21. Chester A. Arthur (1881-85)
22. Grover Cleveland (1885-89)
23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-93)
24. Grover Cleveland (1893-97)
25. William McKinley (1897-1901)
Emperor Henry I (r. 1788–1803)
1. George Washington (1789-97)
2. John Adams (1797-1801)
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)
Emperor Augustus I (r. 1803–1813)
3. Thomas Jefferson (1801-09)
4. James Madison (1809-17)
Emperor Louis I (r. 1813–1843)
4. James Madison (1809-17)
5. James Monroe (1817-25)
6. John Quincy Adams (1825-29)
7. Andrew Jackson (1829-37)
8. Martin Van Buren (1837-41)
9. William Henry Harrison (1841)
10. John Tyler (1841-45)
Emperor Alexander I (r. 1843–1861)
10. John Tyler (1841-45)
11. James K. Polk (1845-49)
12. Zachary Taylor (1849-50)
13. Millard Fillmore (1850-53)
14. Franklin Pierce (1853-57)
15. James Buchanan (1857-61)
Empress Charlotte I (r. 1861–1898)
15. James Buchanan (1857-61)
16. Abraham Lincoln (1861-65)
17. Andrew Johnson (1865-69)
18. Ulysses S. Grant (1869-77)
19. Rutherford B. Hayes (1877-81)
20. James A. Garfield (1881)
21. Chester A. Arthur (1881-85)
22. Grover Cleveland (1885-89)
23. Benjamin Harrison (1889-93)
24. Grover Cleveland (1893-97)
25. William McKinley (1897-1901)
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So I remembered that I had a flag done for the American Republic, the alt-Confederates of this TL. Might as well share it.
So the obvious first thought is - France? And yeah, that's the idea, with the French Republic flag being a symbol for Republicanism and the Republicans using it as a way to further promote their image of fighting the Monarchy more than anything.
Then, there is the wreath, mostly as a nod to the agrarian character of the region.
Then, the eagle, with the fasces, since they were a symbol of republicanism and I wanted to make sure "fascist" became a bad word in this TL too. Anyway I actually took that brilliant specimen from the National Guard Bureau, which I thought was pretty interesting.
And of course, the cherry on top has to be the "Southorners will never be slaves" below the eagle. It just sounded too good a thing to have written there, and I genuinely could imagine such a laughably hypocritical slogan.
So, although it is difficult to do a flag as iconic as the OTL Confederate cross, I find this one to be quite interesting in itself. A number of symbolic elements without it being too busy. And hey it's another reason for cultural dissonance between the US and France, and those are always fun.
So the obvious first thought is - France? And yeah, that's the idea, with the French Republic flag being a symbol for Republicanism and the Republicans using it as a way to further promote their image of fighting the Monarchy more than anything.
Then, there is the wreath, mostly as a nod to the agrarian character of the region.
Then, the eagle, with the fasces, since they were a symbol of republicanism and I wanted to make sure "fascist" became a bad word in this TL too. Anyway I actually took that brilliant specimen from the National Guard Bureau, which I thought was pretty interesting.
And of course, the cherry on top has to be the "Southorners will never be slaves" below the eagle. It just sounded too good a thing to have written there, and I genuinely could imagine such a laughably hypocritical slogan.
So, although it is difficult to do a flag as iconic as the OTL Confederate cross, I find this one to be quite interesting in itself. A number of symbolic elements without it being too busy. And hey it's another reason for cultural dissonance between the US and France, and those are always fun.
Guess the US will be more Germanophiliac than OTL, at least until *WW1 kicks around.
Windows95
Banned
Especially since there's a close relation between the Hamiltonian/American System with the Bismarckian Staatssozialismus.
Empress Augusta Bonaparte
Empress Augusta Bonaparte
(1836-1900)
(1836-1900)
Princess Augusta was born in Rome, the twice grand-niece of the legendary Napoleon Bonaparte through both his brother Lucien, her paternal grandfather, and his brother Joseph, her maternal grandfather, at a time when a Bonaparte family connection was more a liability than a privilege.
All that considered, for the first twelve years of her life, Augusta enjoyed a quiet yet happy life, with her family living comfortably as Roman nobility under the Pope’s protection and doing whatever possible to avoid the attention their surnames called for themselves. Her father instead contented himself with being an ornithologist, studying and even naming a few bird species.
All of that changed, however, when in 1848, the world turned upside down and Europe jumped into revolt all over the map. The news from France, about how the monarchy had been deposed and a Second Republic proclaimed, excited all of her family, but rather than flock to the fatherland as many of their cousins, her father decided instead to bid their time and see what would happen. And lo and behold, if they didn’t go to the Revolution, the Revolution came for them.
In November 1848, the people of Rome took to the streets, demanding a democratic government, social reforms and for war to be waged on Austria in the name of Italy, forcing the Pope to flee the city disguised as an ordinary priest. Under the threat of excommunication, the people of Rome nevertheless organized themselves to elect a constitutional assembly, with more than half of the citizens of the Papal States defying the Pope and heading to the polls.
Her father, Prince Charles Lucien Bonaparte, was an enthusiastic participant in this revolt and was elected by the people to the constitutional assembly. Immensely popular, he was the fifth most-voted delegate of all and when the rollcall came for him, in the very opening of the Assembly, he responded with ‘Viva la Repubblica!’ to demonstrate his commitment to the republican ideal.
The republican dreams of Rome would not, however, last long and, as it turns out, it was another Bonaparte, their cousin Louis Napoleon, recently elected President of France by a conservative-Bonapartist coalition, who would answer the Pope’s cry for help and send French forces to crush the Roman revolution. Charles Lucien fought alongside all other Romans in defense of their city and of their revolution but, ultimately, the French proved too strong to resist and the Republic, inspired by the ideals of the French Revolution as it was, fell under the heel of the French themselves.
No longer welcomed in the restored Papal order, after having become so vehemently associated with all things revolutionary, the Bonaparte clan departed the Eternal City, and headed to France, hoping to take advantage of the annulment of the law forbidding them from standing on French ground to find a new home. Turns out an exception was made to the Charles Lucien’s branch of the family, after having caused such a ruckus in Rome and risked the fragile alliance between his cousin and the Catholic vote.
They then lived in Britain, but that last only until 1850, when they were finally able to return to France and live under the auspices of their cousin, the Prince-President. In Paris, Princess Augusta resumed her private education, and the place of the family was generally quite improved when President Bonaparte was elevated to the role of Emperor Napoleon III, creating the Second French Empire and restoring the family to a firm rank of royalty, living under a generous allowance and taking an important presence at the imperial court.
The usefulness for Emperor Napoleon to have a niece around would prove itself in 1863, when the plans for his Mexican Expedition began forming and he needed to find a consort for the man he planned on putting up as Emperor of Mexico and his steadfast ally, or better yet, puppet, in the Americas, Prince Augustus Radziwiłł. Strengthening the ties with a marriage alliance, even if awfully medieval for modern tastes, was nevertheless a smart idea and, in fact, the young couple was well acquainted with one another and, while certainly not enamored, seemed to be a good enough fit.
They married at the Tuileries Palace in Paris with all the proper pomp fit for an Imperial couple, in what was described as a grand event to make the French people enthused with the successes of the Mexican adventure.
Matters in Mexico were, however, quite different and quite direr than those in gai Paris. The country was in the midst of a civil war between the conservative faction, which had supported the new monarchy, and the liberals, who still opposed it fiercely from their base in California and who had forces resisting throughout the country.
While her husband took upon himself to conciliate the fractured country, taking the first steps into what would be the Augustan Constitution, Empress Augusta was left with the not inconsiderable task of creating a role, a tradition of monarchy in a country that never had had its own long-lasting monarch, at least not since the fall of Montezuma. She presided over a list of festivals, balls, theatrics and parades in their honor, establishing the role of the monarchy as one of promoting Mexican culture and the pride of the Nation, doing away with the very true reality that they had been, until their arrival, complete foreigners to Mexico and that neither of them spoke the Spanish language properly.
The end of the American Civil War and the decision of the Americans to side with the new imperial government, strongly influenced by their family ties, would eventually allow for their throne to settle itself and for the work that she and her husband put into Mexico and the monarchy to flourish.
In the aftermath of a bloody civil war, Empress Augusta proved herself particularly popular due to her above and beyond efforts at helping the poor and the down-trodden of the country, and to promote the rebuilding of what the war had destroyed. She went so far as to open the Imperial Palace to charity fairs to raise great funds for these projects. The rural and indigenous populations of Mexico were particularly affected by these actions and, in many ways, the Empress is still fondly remembered among those communities that, at the same time, detest the Augustan regime and still praise the Revolution.
She also had an important role collecting and curating the art for the Imperial Gallery, which would later become the National Museum of Art, whose enviable collection of art from the colonial period and the century after the independence owes quite a lot to the efforts of the Empress. Her style is also very present, both in terms of art and in terms of furniture and dressing, in the Augustan style of Mexico, that proves a very unique blend of Italian and Mexican influences, coalesced in the figure of the Roman-born empress.
Despite her great popularity and love for the country, something which always tormented the Empress was how she was not able to provide her husband with a child and Mexico with an heir. It is known she tried many times and subjected herself to a number of treatments, making use of her husband’s technocratic advisors to receive the latest innovations in the science of fertility. But nothing seemed to work.
All of this was all the more frustrating when rumors abounded about her husband’s mistresses and illegitimate offspring. Although it is said the Empress took it without ill-feelings, remaining always friendly towards her husband, one can imagine it hurt knowing about the various women who took up the role of mistress throughout time, such as Delfina Ortega and Deonicia Díaz, the niece and natural daughter, respectively, of the General Porfirio Díaz, Carmen Romero Rubio, daughter of an important minister and head of the cientificos. These Mexican women, flouting their relationship with her husband and rearing him half-Mexican sons, was something that made her own childlessness more problematic, even if the imperial couple made sure that it was their intention one of the Emperor’s nephews would succeed him and not one of the children that, in any case, he never did bother to recognize as his.
Despite her childlessness, often the bane of consorts, the Empress’s refined role in polite society and her undying love for the wretched masses made her a beloved figure throughout the country, even in times when her husband’s popularity dimmed. Her death in 1900, four years before her husband’s, was a great loss for the stability of the Empire, especially as, in an effort to optimize the finances, many of her charitable initiatives were disbanded, further increasing the feeling of alienation of the lower classes.
Perhaps, had the Empress lived longer, she would have been capable of ensuring the stable succession after her husband. Perhaps not. In any case, what came after her was the deluge.
Prince Louis Napoleon Murat
Prince Louis Napoleon Murat
(1842-1892)
(1842-1892)
Prince Louis Napoleon was born his parents’ townhouse in New Orleans. The news of the birth of a Prince Napoleon in the still very French city, even if not truly a Bonaparte, was enough of a cause to warrant massive celebrations in New Orleans fashion and to see the child be immediately dubbed as the Prince of New Orleans, a title he would wear with pride throughout his life.
Despite this lofty title, the boy would spend much of his early childhood in the family’s Floridian estates, where his father would be, in 1845, be elected to the inaugural Governorship of the State, upon its ascension to the Union.
As it is, that phase of his life didn’t last too long, as the young Prince would lose his parents even before he was able to form proper memories of them, with his mother, Princess Augusta, passing away when he was only 3 years of age, and his father, Prince Achille, when he was only five years old. Their sole surviving child and heir, the boy could not, however, be expected to live alone and administer their estates and so, he was sent up to be fostered by his uncles, the Princes Radziwiłł, in New York City.
It was so that young Prince Louis Napoleon (and the boy would soon pick up on how which of his name a person would choose to use was very indicative of their personal political leanings) was raised at the Radziwiłł household, among the five year older Prince Augustus, future Emperor of Mexico, the two year older Princess Eliza and the four year younger Princess Louise. Despite being closest in age among the four, at that time, it is said the young princeling and his cousin didn’t get so much along and that, instead, it was the older and bolder Prince Augustus who the young Prince Murat most emulated, following around like a puppy would a master, and being the most loyal member of his childhood clique.
As part of the proper Radziwiłł curriculum, the Prince was enrolled in West Point when he was of proper age and is said to have done decently well in his studies there, although not as impressively as his cousin, whose tales of courage at the Military Academy he had grown up hearing with starry eyes.
It was when first heading to university that he received some rather lamentable news, however, that he wouldn’t be accompanying his cousin while he went on his Great Tour to visit Europe and hopefully find a bride. The boy was devastated and pleaded immensely to be allowed to go along, even going as far as attempting to stowaway on the ship, but ultimately, he stayed firm on American ground, not to see his dear cousin for the better part of the decade.
It was at that point that the 18-year-old, certainly feeling annoyed at not being allowed to do as he want, as boys that age will commonly feel, did what amounted to the greatest stunt of his life, perhaps of his generation, and in a small Catholic chapel hidden in the working-class Irish slums of New York City, married, with some ruffians to serve as witness, his cousin the Princess Eliza Radziwiłł.
That the two cousins had long been infatuated with one another was well-known, with the two, having been raised together, growing out of their childhood animosity to a delightful puberty-fueled awkwardness and, finally, a teenage romance. So, it would not have surprised the Princes Radziwiłł if their ward were to come ask for their daughter’s hand, eventually. In fact, it seems the boy had tried to do so before, only to be pushed back until after he finished his studies. What surprised, or rather, appalled them, was having to find out about it on the morning newspapers, before having their children return home in triumphant to present their marriage as a fait accompli.
This caused quite a commotion among the Radziwiłł household, as the Princes threatened to disown their daughter and the princelings threatened to disown the family altogether. In fact, they were on their way to pack up their luggage and move to the Murat estates in Florida when the news of the assassination of the Imperial family and the start of the Civil War cancelled any plans whatsoever and any internal disputes among the family members, who now realized it was no time to be arguing amongst themselves.
New York City, despite being so far from the battlelines, was as turbulent as anywhere else throughout the war. Having become a city with a massive immigrant population, New York had been one of the places where Republican sentiment had been strongest, both because of the leanings of various exiles headed towards the US over the years, but also because of the natural antipathy felt to the perceived coziness between the Nationalist Party and nativist feelings and the Know-Nothings.
The Radziwiłł family had always been involved in the city’s politics, however, serving as a voice for its Catholic populations and not being afraid of supporting Republican candidates against the Know-Nothings. This had created within the city two distinct factions for the Republican Party, one that was more aligned with the Radziwiłł and who, despite the name, were generally sympathetic to the monarchy, and especially so after the regicide, and another that was more radical and as republican as their Southron counterparts.
In this environment, there were talks of creating a coalition between Nationalists and Radziwiłł Republicans against Know-Nothings and Radical Republicans alike, and it was even suggested that Prince Murat head the ticket (since it was well-known Prince Ferdinand Radziwiłł would not hear of that). The young man is said to have accepted, only for his father-in-law to have demanded he withdraw any such ideas.
The war, and his marriage, also served to interrupt his standard Radziwiłł curriculum, and, with Havre de Grace feeling too dangerous for the liking of his guardians, the young prince instead became the first royal to attend New York’s own St. John’s College, founded two decades back by Jesuits in the city with the fully support and heavy sponsorship of the Princes Radziwiłł, of course. He is said to have done well in his studies, even if, throughout his academic career and as the war raged, the Prince tried, time and time again, to abandon his studies and go to the battlefield himself, even trying twice to enlist under a fake identity, but to no avail, as his uncle had made sure, after his earlier stunt with his daughter, to keep a close watch over the princeling.
The end of the war brought with it the opportunity for Prince Murat to, at long last, visit his family’s vast southern estates, which during the war had been seized by the rebel government but that, in the aftermath of the conflict, not only were repossessed but, under the advice of his uncle, the Prince took the opportunity to buy large amounts of what was then devastated, but would soon flourish once more, Southern land, especially in south and central Florida, becoming a large landowner statewide.
The young Murat family would spend a lot of their time after the war in Florida and New Orleans, in what was also felt as a mission of rebuilding ties between the Monarchy and the South. During the early days of Reconstruction, it was also proposed that, as Florida regained its rights as a State, for the Prince Murat to follow his father’s footsteps and serve as the State’s governor, to ensure its full reintegration. This idea seems to have been quite popular in Florida itself, but it was shut down by the Imperial Government, for fear that having a Royal be made Governor of a State would only reignite tensions over the republican question and the role of the monarchy.
For all of his youthful enthusiasm about war and politics that never really went anywhere, for most of the remainder of his life, spent travelling between the Murat estates in the South, that during his lifetime faced the challenges of Reconstruction and Redemption, the Radziwiłł estates in the North, that faced the Industrial Revolution and Gilded Age, and Mexico, where the Murat family often visited their favorite brother Emperor Augustus in his new country, and took roles as semi-official royalty in the country, the Prince Murat doesn’t seem to have been particularly interested in anything political at all during his later years, but rather dedicated himself to keeping a vibrant social life, in what some pointed as being the traits of a true heir for Princess Louise Radziwiłł.
A distinct difference between his great-grandmother and himself, however, was the state of their marriage. Both had married young, inflamed by a forbidden love. But while Princess Louise and Prince Antoni had remained committed to one another throughout their lives, the same cannot be said about Prince Louis Napoleon and his wife. To their credit, the two would remain cordial throughout the years, and present in public ceremonies as the same gallant couple as always.
Despite their care to keep a public façade, it was a widely known secret that the Prince Murat kept mistresses, and was not particularly shy about flaunting them when on his own. He never embarrassed his wife, and made sure to keep her apart from his conquests, but when he was attending an event by himself while she was busy with her own matters, he wouldn’t hesitate to find a partner for dancing and perhaps somewhat more.
In these days, he became a much closer companion of another cousin of his, American Prince Frederick, with the two seemingly competing for who could produce more headlines in the papers. Prince Frederick, statistically speaking, seems to have won that contest, according to thorough data studies made by dedicated historians, but then again, the Prince Murat came with the disadvantage of not being the heir to the Crown, even if he was still the wealthiest man in the country.
Most biographers of the life of Prince Murat talk about feeling, when going from his youth to his adult years, a great sense of disappointment. The Prince, who had once been such a symbol of rebellion, of youthful daring, but also such a potential for unity and for building a better country, squandered his years away, living in a great era of great things, living the most meaningless life one could possibly accomplish. But such is life.
I actually feel I did Prince Murat a bit dirty... I don't know, I just wasn't getting inspired by him for some reason.
Expect his wife to be another typical American Royal woman hehe. Speaking of, rather surprised at not having much indignity at the cousin marriage thing...
Don't worry man, as i said. Not everyone is destined For greatness
Princess Eliza Radziwiłł
Princess Eliza Radziwiłł
(1840-1915)
(1840-1915)
The eldest Radziwiłł daughter, the Princess was named after her late aunt, the Princess of Prussia. She was born in New York City at her parents’ Summer Palace, a city where she spent much of her childhood and that would, throughout her youth, change dramatically, in ways that saw her family and their vast estates in the city become extremely influential as the population, and the Catholic population in particular, increased spectacularly.
From an early age, the Princess seemed to be set on defying every expectation that was set for her. Rather than be content in playing with the girly toys that her mother provided, and playing alongside her in the lady-like activities she had always wanted to do with her daughter, she insisted on breaking her mother’s heart and flee instead to go find her adored older brother and go pester him to play with her any of his own games, which she insisted were quite more fun than anything allotted to her.
Perhaps it was this early closeness to her brother that made her resent, at an early age, her cousin, the Prince Louis Napoleon Murat, who came to live with her family when she was seven years old and who quickly dislodged her as the closest companion of Prince Augustus, the most coveted position in the house. He would keep her away from their own games and tattle on her when he saw her sneaking away from her own girly duties. The childhood animosity between the two was legendary.
Princess Eliza seemed to always have resented her sex or, better yet, resent the position to which she was allotted because of it. She decried the treatment she was given in comparison to that of her brother and cousin, just because they were boys and she was a girl, from the time she was old enough to be aware of those differences, and she had never grown to make peace with that. Particularly bothersome for her was the matter of higher education. They had been raised under tutors, the best money could afford, and taught the same subjects, at the insistence of the Princess, who made it clear she wasn’t going to receive any less of an education at their hands than the boys. But when it came time for them to go to university and pursue a bachelor’s degree, she was told that there was no place for her in the colleges they would be attending. This, understandably, left her furious, especially as the Princess had been described by her tutors as being “smarter than the two of them put together”, referring to her brother and cousin.
It might seem odd that the way the Princess chose to rebel against her parent’s mandate of preparing her to a life of marriage and children by marrying in secret, and odder still that she would choose to marry none other than the detested boy of her childhood, who tattled on her and gatekept her from playing with the boys. Starting with the latter, matters had changed since they were kids and, especially once Augustus departed for West Point, their main point of contention, the attention of the elder brother, ceased to be an issue and, being the closest people in age and stature to each other in the city, they became close and would eventually form a romantic attachment known to everyone around them, everyone in New York City in fact.
As for why marriage seemed like a good way to rebel, it was perhaps the fact that her parents had already once rejected her cousin’s request for her hand, despite she having agreed to it herself, making it seem like it was their decision, rather than her own, when and with whom she could marry, and the fact that, obviously, her parents would expect for a grand and lavish wedding, thoroughly prepared by themselves, that would be the event of the year, if not of the decade, in New York City. Sweeping the wedding from under their feet and taking charge of it for herself was an act of rebellion that might seem less meaningful for us than for a princess birthed and raised under the spotlight, when every life event was a matter of status.
The subsequent ruckus might have been everything she had been expecting, and more, with her parents being furious at her, and blaming her for the ordeal, which is quite likely to have been the case, as her now husband was much less prone to incite such incidents than to follow along with them, threatening to disown her altogether and seeking an annulment even. The only problem in all of that was, of course, that her plan involved the newly-wedded couple, now with a valid excuse to abandon her parents’ house, to flee to their southern holdings, but now that proved impossible as the South rose in revolt.
That made for some rather awkward living arrangements at the Radziwiłł palace, and it is said only the commotion of the war, and the need to take decisive action during it, led to, if not a full reconciliation, to at least a truce between the two generations, with the younger princes taking important roles in maintaining the stability in New York City. Of course, this sometimes still came with arguments, such as when an attempt to have her husband run for Mayor was vetoed by her father, but working together made things more bearable.
After the war, the Princess and her husband finally departed southwards, to the devastated Murat estates, where they found a country trying and struggling to rebuild itself and find a new identity. The Princess immediately took up an interest in Southern affairs, and she was responsible for much of the land purchases her husband would sign over the following years, enriching her family’s patrimony handsomely and managing it rather well too. She was also the mind behind her husband’s flirtation with becoming Governor of Florida, but that idea never came to be.
She also took great interest in the matters of New Orleans, another important Murat residence, and a city she found most delightful. There, she was particularly remarkable for becoming the face and most ardent support of the Francophone community and French education in schools and in the legal code. Her efforts are a major reason why the Cajun language, an official language in Louisiana, is still widely spoken, as a first or second language, in the State. This has made her memory remarkably popular in Louisiana, given her the title of “Princess of Louisiana” to go alongside her husband, the “Prince of New Orleans”, whose lack of interest on the matter of the French language always did disappoint the community who had so cherished his birth.
Her greatest interest, however, and the pursuit that most seized her life, was for the cause of female emancipation and education. Inspired by her own struggles with getting an education for herself, or to just live her life more or less freely, she put a lot of effort towards building the institutions that would allow for other women to have the options she never had had, for higher education, for a life outside marriage. She was an important patron of various higher education institutions, both for women only and co-educational, sponsoring a very complete curriculum that would allow her students to pursue their fullest ambitions. Several colleges dotted around the country, but especially in the South, owe their existence to the efforts of the Princess.
The Princess’s investment in women’s rights went beyond education, however, and she would be an important advocate of women’s suffrage as well. In fact, even before the war she had been corresponding with suffragette legend Susan B. Anthony, and considered the older woman a mentor and an inspiration for herself. During and after the War, the Princess was an important bridge trying to bring the cause and organization of female suffrage to the platform of the Nationalist Party which, after the war, rose uncontested and pursued remarkable legislative achievements for the cause of black suffrage. Female suffrage in particular, however, and universal suffrage in general, which Anthony and other suffragettes advocated through their work with labor unions. Ultimately, female suffrage would not be able to express itself during the short gap of reform that followed the Civil War, much to the dissatisfaction of both women.
Princess Eliza’s relationship with Susan B. Anthony would continue to be fruitful, however, as the Princess became the main patron of “The Revolution”, the weekly newspaper Anthony would be published with the motto “Men their rights and nothing more; women their rights and nothing less” and serve as a driving vehicle for exposing their cause. The paper would have a profound impact of the suffragist movement and would, in time, become one the most widely read political papers in the country. Princess Eliza even wrote some articles for the paper, under various pseudonyms, exposing the cause of women’s education with particular ferocity.
The Princess sided with her friend during the split on the suffragette movement. This split came due to divergences on whether or not to support the constitutional amendment that would enfranchise racial equality, that is, allowing black men to have the same requisites as white men to vote, while still excluding women, and poorer classes, of course, altogether. Susan B. Anthony actually opposed the amendment. Not that she was against black suffrage in itself, with Anthony having been a fierce abolitionist and advocate for equality, but she wanted to see a more thorough amendment passed, that would see blacks, women and workers enfranchised. Not that Anthony and her allies wouldn’t use racial fearmongering to support their cause, and this episode is one of the most controversial in suffragette history.
As for Princess Eliza’s role in all of this, it is worth pointing out that, in her agreement with Susan B. Anthony regarding opposing the amendment, it has often been claimed that, unlike her mentor, the Princess genuinely opposed black suffrage thoroughly. This is often backed by the fact that, despite having spent so much of her life in the South, the Princess did very little to help enhance the lives of the black community there, who struggled in the aftermath of the war and emancipation, and supported female universities that restricted their admissions to white students. This is, unfortunately, one of the sadder parts of the Princess’s legacy, as it is often felt that, at the very least, she could have done more for the black Southern community than she actually did.
Princess Eliza would remain involved in politics for all of her life and, in the early 1890s, she was an important supporter of the formation of the Christian Social Party, a political organization that based itself on the nascent Catholic social teaching from the Rerum Novarum encyclical published by Pope Leo XIII. Bringing to its fold the Catholic urban working classes of various American cities, the organization became an important political force in the following years. The Princess was particularly active in the founding of the Women’s Trade Union League, an organization of working and middle class women to bolster labor unions and eliminate sweat shop conditions, that linked itself to the Christian Social Party during its early days. Her influence would be crucial in making the Party heads support women’s suffrage, despite some opposition from the more conservative heads of the Catholic clergy and laity. But a Radziwiłł matriarch was no force to sneer at.
The Princess’s political legacy was thoroughly demonstrated during the 1902 elections, when a coalition, which she herself helped bridge the gap to form, between the Christian Social Party and the Populist Party, a western political force that had been an early supporter of female suffrage, overthrew for the first time the Nationalist Party from government, and led to an opposition candidate to take the role of Secretary. Although this coalition would break in less than two years, the impact of a Nationalist defeat would forever change American politics.
As for her personal life, the Princess, after such a passionate wedding, suffered through a marriage where love dissipated very quickly. She doesn’t seem to have resented her husband’s infidelities, although she did resent how public they could be, and to have endured them gracefully and to never have made a fuss among family.
Widowhood did treat her much better, and although the Princess had never thought ill of her husband, no longer having to concern herself with the headaches he could create in the press allowed her to more freely engage in politics and in her own work without fearing being discredited by the latest gossip on her marital affairs making a mockery of her. Although she did admit to miss his more gregarious ways, and the life he would bring to a room whenever he was in it. At his side for all of his life, she had taken this energy for granted, and only when it was snuffed out did she truly understand its presence.
Princess would die in 1915, barely missing the fulfillment of the great goal of female suffrage and universal suffrage that she and her companions in the movement had struggled to see for so long.
The Princess is, of course, a curious figure, being perhaps the most politically active royal in American history, and having been so in the postbellum period, when the country in general seemed to turn away from royal involvement in politics. Having embraced one of the most progressive causes of her era, her legacy was, during her lifetime and nowadays, controversial, albeit for radically different reasons. Her contemporaries often thought poorly of her interventionist approach to politics and suffrage (compared to say, her cousin Empress Charlotte), while nowadays, her lack of commitment to black issues has given a reason for criticism on the part of some historiographies.
Ultimately, Princess Eliza was a deep and complex woman, whose role in the shaping of modern American politics cannot be ignored.