tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post2782954755239301137..comments2024-02-14T19:25:38.935+01:00Comments on Trond Norén Isaksen: New books: A princess of consequenceUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-46704378230703831102011-11-04T21:11:49.929+01:002011-11-04T21:11:49.929+01:00Hard though it is to judge about someone's pop...Hard though it is to judge about someone's popularity nearly two centuries on I think it is safe to say that Queen Desideria was neither very well liked nor the opposite; she was not very well-known by the people of Norway.<br /><br />It is not secret that she preferred Paris to Sweden (she thought even Sceaux was too far away from Paris!), but by the time she settled in Sweden in 1823 Paris had lost some of its attractions for her: her sister Julie was in exile, Richelieu was dead and most of the Napoleonides gone.<br /><br />It may also have played a part that in 1823 she was queen, unlike in 1810-1811, and thus no-one at the court could queen it over her. It is also believed that the fact that her son married Joséphine of Leuchtenberg that year contributed to her decision finally to go to Sweden. With a young, beautiful and charming crown princess present at court the absent Queen in Paris could easily be forgotten. Thus Desideria had to settle in Stockholm at last to prevent her place being taken.Trond Norén Isaksenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744875538993319059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-90449559716017556102011-11-04T13:22:50.934+01:002011-11-04T13:22:50.934+01:00I gather by your mention on Desiree Clary
Bernadot...I gather by your mention on Desiree Clary<br />Bernadotte she is not well liked by you or your<br />countrymen. I suspect Desiree wasn't happy about leaving her homeland-- for SwedenNaomihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11376395556387415962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-89949338196114409602011-10-28T20:13:40.430+02:002011-10-28T20:13:40.430+02:00Oh, good question, Martin - I remember having read...Oh, good question, Martin - I remember having read that the Quedlinburg issue was raised at the Congress, but I cannot remember the details. Obviously its special status ceased, so it must have been incorporated into another state, but I am not sure which. I may try and see if I can find anything about it in my bookshelves.<br /><br />The concepts of nations, nationality and nationalism date from the early nineteenth century and indeed it is quite fascinating to see how, until then, a Dutchman could become Russia's ambassador in Sweden and Norway, or how one man could be one country's ambassador to a second country and later become that second country's foreign minister, and so on.<br /><br />But I would personally not go that far as saying that the royals before those days were all German. It would for instance be hard to think of Gustaf III as German, and even his mother Lovisa Ulrika and her brother Friedrich II of Prussia used French as their first language.Trond Norén Isaksenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15744875538993319059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4897554020551470090.post-7074944978955266042011-10-26T19:11:08.652+02:002011-10-26T19:11:08.652+02:00Interesting. I shall have to buy the book. Do you ...Interesting. I shall have to buy the book. Do you know what happened to Quedlinburg at the Vienna Congress? Was it incorporated into Hannover or Prussia perhaps? I do not know exactly where it is situated.<br />I think the book also shows that royalty-at least until 50-100 years ago- had no nationality even if they sometimes pretended to. Some would perhaps instead put it that they (apart perhaps from the Bourbons)were all Germans.<br /><br />Martin RahmAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com