#hesse

[maureen2musings]

Flowers embrace the moonlight

nicoles_moments

[livesunique]

Schloss Braunfels,  Braunfels, Lahn-Dill-Kreis, Hesse, Germany

[allthingseurope]

Rauischholzhausen Castle. Germany (by Philip Jahn)

[diemelusine]

Princess Maria Anna Friederike of Prussia, Landgravine of Hesse-Kassel (1858) by Franz Xaver Winterhalter. Schloß Fasanerie.

[thirdity]

At the moment when desire ceases and contemplation, pure seeing, and self-surrender begin, everything changes. Man ceases to be useful or dangerous, interesting or boring, genial or rude, strong or weak. He becomes nature, he becomes beautiful and remarkable as does everything that is an object of clear contemplation. For indeed contemplation is not scrutiny or criticism, it is nothing but love. It is the highest and most desirable state of our souls: undemanding love.

Hermann Hesse, My Belief: Essays on Life and Art

[teatimeatwinterpalace]

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine, 1881.

Queen Victoria - April 4, 1880 | Darling Victoria, May every every blessing be showered on you on your dear 17th birthday and may you have strength given to you to be that support and help to your dear Papa which he so greatly needs! Every, every where you see what your beloved Mama did – how she worked for your country, watched over & led everything & how she stood by & supported your dear Papa – and you must try to follow in her footsteps – Modestly, unpresumingly , not putting yourself forward too much but being always ready to help & ready to do at Home what Papa wishes & requires. You must learn not to be posée, not talk too much or too loud – but take your place as your beloved Father's eldest daughter deprived of your beloved mother!

Queen Victoria - December 8, 1880 | Darling Victoria, I cannot tell you what pleasure your dear affte. letter of the 14th gave me! It shows so much good sense & right, proper feeling - as well as such confidence in your old loving Grandmama who loves you as a Mother & wishes to be one to you as much as she possibly can. God bless you for it sweet Child ! [...] And at the dinners remember not to talk too much & especially not too loud & not across the table.

Married life did little to stem Victoria's chattering. Her husband became one of only two people able to silence her, the other being the Queen. Years later, her younger son, Louis Mountbatten, became a third. In her memoir, Without Prejudice, Victoria's friend, Gloria Vanderbilt, complained: 'Rarely can one get a word in edgeways.' The diarist Chips Channon pronounced Victoria 'garrulous to the point of madness'. | The lives & deaths of the Princesses of Hesse by Frances Welch.

Louis Mountbatten | My mother was very quick on the uptake, very talkative, very agressive and argumentative. With her marvellous brain she sharpened people's wits, and of course especially my father's.

[thewolfnessphotography]

Frankfurt sunset

Frankfurt am Main. Germany