#queen ena

[tccolour]

Queen Ena of Spain

[tiaramania]

RTVE is making a new show about Queen Victoria Eugenie of Spain called 'Ena' and I'm pretty impressed with the jewelry so far. This is meant to be Ena on her wedding day in 1906 presumably before the bomb went off. The show is being made by Javier Olivares who also made 'Isabel' about Queen Isabella I of Castile and is currently filming so it won't be out for a while. The jewelry used in shows and movies is never going to look exactly like the real thing unless they spend a ton of their budget on it which isn't going to happen but I appreciate it when they at least try to replicate jewels correctly.

Queen Ena's Fleur de Lys Tiara or as it's commonly called La Buena was made by Ansorena in 1906 as a wedding gift from her husband, King Alfonso XIII of Spain. It has become the most important tiara in the Spanish collection and is now worn by Queen Letizia.

[victoriaeugeniabattenberg]

Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain in 1909 by Kâulak

[thestandrewknot]

Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain’s Diamond and Pearl Tiara, by Cartier (1920).

[contenteditor]

Queen Victoria Eugenia of Spain wearing her Laurel Loop Tiara (Cartier, c.1920). Photographed by Bertram Park, 1920.

[chilimissy]

King Alfonso XIII and Victoria Eugenie, Queen of Spain (known as Ena) 

Prince Alfonso (the eldest son of Spain's King Alfonso) married Cuban commoner, Edelmira Sampedro Ocejo y Robato, in Lausanne. Due to her status, none of his family attended the wedding.

[josemysignes]

Victoria Eugenia de Battenberg - Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg (Queen Consort of Alfonso XIII of Spain)

[inky-duchess]

History Bites: What a Wonderful day for some disaster Weddings

In History Bites, I pick the best moments of history and the antics historical figures in order to give you inspiration for your WIP. Think of History Bites like prompts, only juicer and 90% accurate (results may vary).

We shall begin this ceremony with probably one of the most awful weddings of all time. George, Prince of Whales (Wales)/King George IV got himself into a bit of debt. His dad George III promised to pay it off... only if he married Princess Caroline of Brunswick. George Junior agreed but there was a problem. He was married. To a Catholic. Which was a no no. The marriage of George Jr and Catholic Maria Fitzherbert was dissolved and George was free (legally though not emotionally) to marry the Princess. The first meeting days before the wedding did not go well. George took one look at Caroline and asked for a glass of brandy. She didn't like him either, he was hardly a catch being unfaithful, a glutton, a wastrel and hardly princely at all. George was so plastered on their wedding day that two nobles had to hold him up. He sobbed throughout the entire ceremony. The marriage was not happy but more on that later.

Another horrible husband steals the crown. Henry VIII was three wives down when he was persuaded to wed again for state reasons. He cast his net around Christendom but no sensible brides were biting. Henry's councillors eventually set their hearts on Anne of Cleves, the sister of the Duke of Cleves an influential noble in the sprawling Lutheran states. Hans Holbein painted Anne and sent the portrait onto the King who was enraptured and sent for Anne to be his wife at once. Anne arrived in England after a short delay, scheduled to meet the King a few days later. But Henry being the romantic he thought he was decided to ride to the castle she was staying to meet his future bride. Dressed incognito he went over to Anne and kissed her. This was an old trick of Henry's but it didn't work. Anne was offended and Henry left in rage calling her every name under the sun, shouting how she smelled and looked like a horse. Henry looked for a way to get out of the marriage but no remedy was found in time. Sombrely he told his gentlemen preparing him for his wedding, “If it were not to satisfy the world and my realm, I would not do that I must do this day for none earthly thing.”. The wedding did go smoothly unlike the short marriage even though the bride was two hours late to the ceremony.

Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg or Queen Ena fell in love with the heir to the Spanish throne. Despite some misgivings about the the suitablity of the bride and the couple's different religions. But Ena and Alfonso decided to make a go of it. The wedding ceremony itself went OK but on the way back a bomb exploded near the carriage, killing most of the couple's attendants and guards. Queen Ena was splattered in blood head to toe, meaning no photos were released after the wedding as usual.

In order to try make peace between the kingdoms of France and Navarre, two countries divided by religion, each side proposed marrying Henry, King of Navarre and Marguerite, the sister of the French King. The wedding itself went great and was a rich spectacle that drew thousands of Catholics and Protestants to the city to watch. But a few days after the wedding, violence erupted in the city and thousands of Protestants were slaughtered in the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre. Henry and Marguerite were never the warmest couple and eventually separated to take other lovers.

Marie Antoinette was only 14 when she left her home to wed the Dauphin of France in 1770. The French were in charge of making the wedding gown and they made the grandest gown a royal bride ever wore in French history made of white and silver satin and drenched in diamonds. Problem? It never fit her. It was too small and there wasn't enough time for alternations. They laced her into the dress so she had to walk down the aisle with a gap in the dress. When she signed the wedding contract, she famously blotted her signature which was seen as an omen of ill tidings.

The Roman Emperor Caracalla was not a nice guy. He decided that the Romans should probably bury the hatchet with the Parthians, one of Rome's enemies. Caracalla proposed a marriage alliance between himself and the Parthian King’s daughter. At first the King dithered but was soon won over by the assurances and gifts the Emperor sent. He agreed to the match and Caracalla came to the Parthian capital for the wedding. There was a great celebration to welcome the Emperor to the city ahead of the wedding. At the Emperor's signal, the Roman soldiers who came with him got out their seats and began killing every Parthian they could get their hands on. The King got away but war broke out.

After WWII Princess Elizabeth or as she is known today, Queen Elizabeth II set her heart on marrying handsome Naval Officer Prince Philip. The November Wedding is remembered as a success but the morning was not a success. Queen Mary, the Princess's grandmother lent her the Fringe Tiara to wear. A lovely gesture but the thing was thirty years old. The tiara broke the morning of her wedding. The Queen Mother calmed her down and sent the tiara to the jeweller with a police escort to have it fixed. The tiara was fixed and the wedding went ahead.

All was not going well for the English royals. King George II and his wife the boss ass Queen Caroline of Ansbach really hated their son. They thought that marrying him to Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha would bring them all closer together. The bride arrived in England carrying her doll, she was sixteen. In order to scotch any ideas that Frederick would marry his mistress, Augusta was trussed into her wedding gown and marched down the aisle. She was young and unable to speak English, so Queen Caroline stood next to her and translated. Augusta, overwhelmed at the stress, vomited all over her wedding gown. As her new mother in law tried to help, Augusta puked on her as well.

Philip of Macedonia, Alexander the Great's dad, had conquered Greece but Greece was not his best friend. Philip wanted to make himself more popular with the people so he hosted his daughter Cleopatra's wedding in Greece. It was a great big ceremony with everybody enjoying the festivities. Philip was well on his way to making some new buddies. The pinnacle of the day was meant to be Philip’s arrival at the wedding games. Everything was going well until somebody straight up stabbed Philip. Not perhaps the best thing to happen at a wedding afters.

Ever think you're having a shitty day? Let us talk about the wedding of Prince Amadeo of Savoy and Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo. The first thing that happened was one of Maria’s servants hung herself in the room where the wedding gown was chilling. Maria had a new one made, thinking that would be that. No. An officer riding with the couple passed out from sunstroke and fell off his horse. Not so bad? After the wedding, one of the Prince's friends shot himself accidentally and died. The train the couple were meant to go honeymooning on hit a snag, literally it ran over the guy in charge of the station. The wedding party decided to head back to the palace to chill. On the way, one of the lords fell off his horse just as the newlywed's carriage was rolling by so splat...