Tea at Trianon: New Television Series about Queen Victoria Eugenia

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, January 20, 2024

New Television Series about Queen Victoria Eugenia

The real "Ena"

A Catholic convert, she was known as "Ena" and was a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. From The Daily Mail:

Filming has already begun for the six-episode series in the grand Magdalena Palace in Santander, where the monarch resided during her summers, according to verTele. The glitzy adaptation, comprising female-only directors Anaïs Pareto and Estel Díaz, is based on the historical novel of the same name by Pilar Eyre.
The life of Victoria Eugenia, set to be played by Spanish actress Kimberley Tell, was a far cry from uncomplicated. The series will portray her public and private struggles, including two world wars, a civil war, and the Spanish Great Influenza. Drama followed the royal couple right from the start of their marriage. On their wedding day, 31 May 1906, a terrorist attack occurred, intending to assassinate the newlyweds. During the royal procession, a bomb disguised as a bouquet of flowers was thrown from a hotel balcony directly at the royal carriage by Matteu Morrol, who longed to spark a revolution. Luckily, the royal couple spared injury, but hundreds faced harm on their special day.
Tragedy ensued when the royal couple welcomed their children. The mother-of-seven discovered that she was a carrier of haemophilia through her grandmother, Queen Victoria, which she passed on to her eldest and youngest sons, according to Royal Collection Trust. The health problem, which prevents blood from clotting properly, built up tension in the royal marriage and led to the eventual break up of their union, according to Royal Watcher. (Read more.)