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Jewel History: Palace for a Bride (1898)

06.11.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

Newspaper illustration of Edith Dresser Vanderbilt, June 1898

“Palace for a Bride”

(originally appeared in the Inter-Ocean, 5 Jun 1898)

When Mr. George Vanderbilt [1] takes his young wife to Biltmore, in North Carolina [2], he will establish his bride in a more splendid home than any American ever did before. Mr. Vanderbilt’s place in the mountains is not only the most magnificent country seat in the United States, but it is one of the grandest in all the world.

Mr. Vanderbilt was married in Paris on Wednesday to Miss Edith Dresser [3], a New York woman of aristocratic lineage, great wealth, and fine physical proportions. The Dresser family is noted for the great size of its members. Mrs. Vanderbilt is only half an inch below full six feet in her low-heeled walking shoes, and yet she is one of the shortest members of her family. Two of her sisters who are married fairly and squarely reach the six-foot mark when they stand without the aid of any artificial heels, while her brother towers four inches and a half above these stately women.

Edith Dresser Vanderbilt

For a number of years Mrs. Vanderbilt has lived with her eldest and unmarried sister, Miss Susan Dresser [4], in Paris, and there, because of her unusual height, her handsome face, and her perfect French accent, she is as well known to the fashionable Parisian as that equally tall and beautiful Englishwoman, Lady de Gray [5]. Society in the gay capital fairly hums with delight and interest in this most brilliant match of the season, with curiosity to witness the wedding, and with fanciful stories as to the first meeting between Mr. Vanderbilt and his future wife.

As a matter of rather unromantic fact, this quiet gentleman has known Miss Dresser a number of years. She was always one of the chosen friends of his niece, Miss Sheppard [6], and in his sister’s house he saw her frequently. It was not, however, until last summer, when Miss Pauline Dresser’s marriage to Rev. Grenville Merrill [7] was celebrated at Newport, that anything like a romantic coloring was given to the friendship long existing between the two. When Miss Edith Dresser went over from Paris to attend the Newport wedding Mr. Vanderbilt was traveling in Europe; but, with the devotion of a lover, sailed all the way to New York in order to gain permission to recross the ocean in Miss Dresser’s company. It was on the way back to France that a happy understanding was arrived at, and since then the mutual distaste of the pair for notoriety induced them to keep their secret as long as possible.

Those who know the tall sisters have smiled appreciatively when the story of the ocean courtship became known, for in the circle of their friends it is a well recognized fact that at sea the Misses Dresser have been all but irresistible. It was Miss Natalie Dresser [8] who, on an ocean greyhound met her future husband, the youngest of the two wealthy Brown brothers. These young men fell heir each to six million at the death of their father, and the brother, who, among his friends, was affectionately known as “Little Six,” went the way of the average small man and laid his heart and hand and fortune at the feet of the tallest beauty he had ever seen. The second sister, Pauline, has likewise wedded a man whose inches fell far short of her own, and yet it has been undeniably beauty of face and character, their accomplishments and exceedingly gracious, graceful bearing that have won for these sisters so much admiration in whatever society they have appeared.

The Biltmore Estate, ca. 1900 (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons)

Mrs. Vanderbilt is slender, with luxuriant waving brown hair, dark hazel eyes, a clear rosy skin and bold, irregular features. There is not an outdoor sport, from casting for salmon to driving a four-in-hand, in which she does not excel. Three languages besides her own she speaks fluently, yet her keenest delight is in flowers. It is no secret among her friends that the flowers at Biltmore, the huge gardens, and the famous terraces of mezzo tinted rhododendrons, will induce her to spend the greater portion of every year in her husband’s North Carolina home.

Parisian society was grieved to the heart when it learned how small a group of guests, and those chiefly members of the Vanderbilt and Dresser families, had been invited to the wedding at the American church; but verily the Parisian tradesman will bear no ill-will toward the happy couple. The jewels that Mr. Vanderbilt has given his bride were nearly all bought unset in London, but handed over to the French goldsmiths for appropriate arrangement, and the English agent to whom was given the order to collect the jewels bought the most gorgeous sapphires of the collection in Spain. Since war with the United States has been declared [9], the poverty, not only of Spanish nobility but of Spanish royalty, has forced the private sale of heirlooms dating from the reign of Isabella, Columbus’s patroness. By this circumstance the London dealers in jewels have profited, and the spoils of Spanish misrule are destined to glare on the throat and arms of fair Americans.

In Paris as well the various Vanderbilt relatives went shopping for their wedding gifts, and there the bride’s trousseau was prepared. The wedding dress was a rather simple gown of white embroidered faille. The train hung from the shoulders and the veil was of lace, a gift from Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt [10].

Edith Dresser Vanderbilt

A deal of interest centered in the engagement ring, which the friends of the happy pair comfortably concluded would be a uniquely gorgeous single jewel; something calculated to make even the Koh-i-Noor [11] rather envious. In realty this betrothal circlet was nothing more or less than a peculiarly perfect Roman intaglio [12]. It is a small, antique, but exquisite cutting, on a rather pale sapphire, of a little Love, crowned with roses and rising triumphant, his head thrown back in gleeful laughter, the arrow having apparently just sped, true to its aim, from the relaxed bow string. In a circlet of small white diamonds the carved sapphire is set and the finger band and crown that hold the ornament are also of dull, antique gold that is very pure and worked in quaint patterns.

NOTES

1. George Washington Vanderbilt III (1862-1914) was a grandson of the famous railroad tycoon Cornelius “Commodore” Vanderbilt. George was a voracious collector of art and books. He inherited millions from his father and grandfather, and in the late 1880s, when he was still in his twenties, he commissioned the construction of Biltmore House, his famous estate in North Carolina. He married Edith Dresser in 1898 and had one daughter, Cornelia. George died after having an appendectomy in 1914. He was only 51.

2. Biltmore House, the largest privately-owned home in America, was built near Asheville, North Carolina, between 1889 and 1896. George Washington Vanderbilt commissioned architect Richard Morris Hunt to design the magnificent country house to resemble a French chateau. Today, the estate is owned by the Biltmore Company, which is run by Vanderbilt’s great-grandchildren. The house has been open to the public since the 1930s, and today it is one of the biggest tourist attractions in North Carolina.

3. Edith Stuyvesant Dresser (1873-1958) married George W. Vanderbilt in Paris in June 1898. She was the daughter of George Dresser and Susan LeRoy, who both died of cancer when Edith was only ten. She became known in society as part of the quartet of “Dresser Girls.” Edith’s only child, Cornelia Vanderbilt, was born at Biltmore House in 1900. After George’s death, Edith inherited his estate; she gave the federal government a significant amount of land, which now makes up part of the Pisgah National Forest. She later married Peter Goelet Gerry, who served as a U.S. Senator from Rhode Island. She died in Providence at the age of 85.

4. Susan LeRoy Dresser (1864-1960) was Edith Dresser’s eldest sister. A year after George and Edith’s wedding, Susan married the Viscount d’Osmoy at the Church of St. Philippe de Roule in Paris.

5. Constance Gwladys Robinson, Lady de Grey (1859-1917), later Marchioness of Ripon, was a major figure in the world of the arts. She was a great friend of Oscar Wilde and a patron and champion of the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden.

6. Alice Louise Shepard (1874-1950) was the youngest daughter of George W. Vanderbilt’s eldest sister, Margaret Louisa Vanderbilt, and her husband, Elliot Fitch Shepard. Alice, an important linguist who co-founded the International Auxiliary Language Association in 1924, married Dave Hennen Morris, an American diplomat, in 1895.

7. Pauline Georgina Dresser (1876-1975) was Edith Dresser’s younger sister. She married the Reverend George Grenville Merrill in Newport in 1897.

8. Natalie Bayard Dresser (1869-1950) was the second-eldest of the Dresser Girls. In 1897, she married John Nicholas Brown, grandson of the namesake of Brown University, in Newport. He died three years later, leaving a vast fortune to their only son, John Nicholas Brown II.

9. The Spanish-American War was fought between April and August of 1898 between Spain and the United States. The conflict was resolved with the Treaty of Paris in December 1898. The war lasted only ten weeks, but it resulted in the transfer of the Philippines, Guam, and Puerto Rico into American hands.

10. Alice Claypoole Gwynne (1845-1934) was the wife of Cornelius Vanderbilt II and the matriarch of the Vanderbilt family for decades. Cornelius and Alice famously built The Breakers, one of the most extravagant summer “cottages” in Newport.

11. The Koh-i-Noor Diamond is currently set in the British crown jewels. Here’s a link to my review of one of the most recent books about the controversial gem.

12. In jewelry terms, an intaglio is a design carved into the surface of a gemstone. It is the opposite of a cameo, where the design is carved in relief.

Jewel History: Churchill ‘Bounces’ at Glittering Party (1953)

06.06.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh travel to Sir Winston Churchill’s coronation dinner at Lancaster House, 5 June 1953 (Daily Express)

“Churchill ‘Bounces’ at Glittering Party”

(originally appeared in the Ottawa Journal, 6 Jun 1953)

LONDON, June 6 — A crowd of 50,000 cheered the Queen [1] last night when she came out on to the balcony of Buckingham Palace after a reception for 2,000 foreign Coronation guests at the palace state apartments.

She wore a white-and-silver lace dress over gold lame, with a sparkling tiara [2]. The Duke of Edinburgh [3], who waved with her to the crowd for five minutes, wore his uniform as Admiral of the Fleet.

Sir Winston Churchill poses in his coronation robes with his son, Randolph, and his grandson, Winston (Library of Congress/Wikimedia Commons)

Police said it was the biggest crowd outside the palace since Tuesday’s Coronation. So dense was the crowd some of the guests had to enter by a side entrance. All the Commonwealth Prime Ministers, including Mr. St. Laurent of Canada [4], were among the guests, as were the Archbishop of Canterbury [5], Prime Minister Churchill [6] and Princess Alice of Greece [7], the Duke’s mother.

Earlier the Queen and many of her guests had attended a glittering dinner party given by Churchill. The flower-bedecked banquet room at Lancaster House [8] was set with 15 round tables for the 150 guests. Each place was set with shining silverware once owned by the Duke of Wellington [9].

King Sobhuza II of Swaziland arrives in London with wife Lomakolwa Nkosi to attend the coronation, 15 May 1953 (Reg Burkett & Edward Miller/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Enjoying himself hugely, Britain’s 78-year-old Prime Minister bounced around among his guests like a man half his age. They included members of the Royal Family, Commonwealth Prime Ministers, Crown Princes from Europe and Asia and top diplomatic and military leaders. It was a final celebration of the Coronation week before the visitors start returning today to their homes.

The western facade of Lancaster House, ca. 2008 (Wikimedia Commons)

Lancaster House, an ancient mansion overlooking the Mall in central London, was redecorated by the British government for the official receptions. Crowds cheered the Queen as she left Buckingham Palace and drove down the tree-lined Mall to the dinner.

Upon arrival, the guests went up a flower-lined double staircase, one of the finest in Britain. Lady Churchill [10], on the Duke of Edinburgh’s arm, followed Churchill and the Queen into the banquet room. The guests sat down to a dinner of consomme, salmon trout, chicken asparagus, strawberries and coffee — all served in Wedgwood china especially made for the occasion. The Irish Guards’ string orchestra provided background music.

Prince Himalaya and Princess Princep Shah of Nepal arrive in London for the Queen’s coronation, 7 May 1953 (Terry Fincher/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Churchill proposed toast after toast for his distinguished guests, starting with the Queen, Prince Philip, Queen Mother Elizabeth [11] and Princess Margaret [12]. Soviet Ambassador Jacob A. Malik [13] was there, along with Crown Prince Akihito of Japan [14], Princess Himalay of Nepal [15], and many other guests of the Coronation ceremony.

Earlier in the day, the visitors attended a Buckingham Palace ceremony in which the Queen officially thanked them for attending her Coronation and said formal farewells. In the afternoon, most of them attended a garden party at Lambeth Palace given by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr. Geoffrey Fisher. The skies cleared and the weather warmed considerably for the first time since the rain-drenched Coronation Day.

Three days earlier: the Queen is crowned in Westminster Abbey (AFP/Getty Images)

At Sandringham Park, Royal country estate in Norfolk, the Queen gave an all-day party for her employees and tenants. She did not attend. There were more than 2,000 guests from the eight villages comprising the Royal estate.

During the day, more than 8,000 persons filed through Westminster Abbey to see the Coronation decorations, to remain on exhibition for the next month.

NOTES

1. Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom (born 1926) was crowned at Westminster Abbey on June 2, 1953, a little over a year after she succeeded to the throne. In June 1953, Elizabeth was 27 years old. She had been married to the Duke of Edinburgh for five and a half years, and they had two children: Prince Charles, who was four and a half, and Princess Anne, who was nearly three.

2. The Queen’s jewels on this occasion were the original pearl setting of the Vladimir Tiara, Queen Victoria’s Pearl Drop Earrings, and the Greville Ruby Necklace.

3. The Duke of Edinburgh (born 1921) was born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark. He married Princess Elizabeth, then heir to the British throne, in November 1947. When her father died in February 1952, she became Queen. Philip was 31 years old when his wife was crowned; he turned 32 about a week later. He served as chairman of the Coronation Commission, which was established in April 1952. At the coronation ceremony, Philip was the first peer to pay homage to his wife — who was also his new sovereign.

4. Louis St. Laurent (1882-1973) was a prominent Canadian lawyer and politician. He served as Prime Minister of Canada from November 1948 until June 1957. He was 71 years old when he traveled to Britain to attend the Queen’s coronation. A year earlier, he had encouraged the new monarch to appoint the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada, Vincent Massey.

5. Dr. Geoffrey Fisher (1887-1972) was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1945 until 1961. He presided over both the marriage and coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In June 1953, he was 66 years old. The day before the coronation, the Queen bestowed a new honor on him: he was made a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order. When he retired in 1961, he received a life peerage, becoming Baron Fisher of Lambeth.

6. Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965), one of the most famous Britons of the twentieth century, was the nation’s prime minister at the time of the coronation. It was his second term in office; he had previously served in the post from 1940 to 1945, and had returned to the job in October 1951. Though this article describes Churchill as energetic and excited, he suffered his second stroke only three weeks after the coronation festivities had concluded. His health continued to decline, and he finally retired for good in 1955.

7. Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark (1885-1969), born Princess Alice of Battenberg, was the mother of the Duke of Edinburgh. Born at Windsor Castle, she was a great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, the fourth son of King George I of the Hellenes, in 1903. Alice’s life was marked by periods of turbulent mental health and a strong desire to improve the lives of others. In 1949, she had founded a religious nursing order, and she had traveled through the United States in 1952 in an effort to raise funds for the organization. Sixty-eight-year-old Alice attended the coronation festivities dressed in a nun’s habit.

8. Lancaster House, a mansion located near St. James’s Palace, was built in the first half of the nineteenth century. Originally commissioned by the Duke of York, the second son of King George III, it was eventually purchased by the Duke of Sutherland, who named it Stafford House. It was rechristened “Lancaster House” by a subsequent owner, the soap manufacturer Sir William Lever. He presented it to the British government in 1913. It was briefly the home of the London Museum, but the building is now managed by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. It also houses a particularly crucial diplomatic tool: the Government Wine Cellar.

9. Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) was a British military hero and statesman. He defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and went on to serve two terms as Britain’s prime minister.

10. Clementine Churchill (1885-1977), born Clementine Hozier, was the wife of Sir Winston Churchill. She was 68 years old at the time of the coronation.

11. Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother (1900-2002), nee Lady Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, was the mother of Queen Elizabeth II. She was Britain’s queen consort from December 1936 until the death of her husband, King George VI, in February 1952. In June 1953, the Queen Mother was 52 years old. She would remain a vital part of the royal family, with an important public role, for almost five more decades.

12. Princess Margaret of the United Kingdom (1930-2002) was the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II. In June 1953, Margaret was 22. She was in the midst of a secret romance with Peter Townsend, who had served as an equerry to her late father and was now the comptroller of her mother’s household. Townsend, a 38-year-old divorced father of two, had proposed to Margaret in the spring of 1953, and they had approached the Queen about the possibility of marriage. The Queen had asked Margaret for a year-long delay “under the circumstances” — that is, the upcoming coronation and following Commonwealth tour. But an intimate gesture from Margaret during the coronation — she brushed a bit of lint off of Townsend’s coat — tipped off the press to their relationship. Townsend was sent to Brussels, and the relationship was sent to the back burner until 1955. Although the Queen and government ministers ultimately developed a plan that would allow Margaret to marry Townsend and retain her royal title, Margaret announced the end of her romance with Townsend to the public in October 1955. She married society photographer Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960.

13. Yakov Alexandrovich Malik (1906-1980), a Ukrainian-born Soviet diplomat, served as ambassador to Britain from the USSR from 1953 until 1960.

14. Emperor Akihito of Japan (born 1933) was the heir to the Japanese throne in June 1953. His formal investiture as crown prince took place in Tokyo in November 1952, less than a year before this coronation. Akihito was 19 when he traveled to Britain to attend the coronation. He was made an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Victorian Order during the visit. Placed in historical context, his attendance at the coronation was rather remarkable; Britain had been at war with Japan until September 1945 — not even a decade before this coronation took place.

15. Princess Princep Shah of Nepal (1930-1982) and her husband, Prince Himalaya of Nepal (1921-1980), attended the coronation in 1953 as representatives of his father, King Tribhuvan of Nepal. Princess Princep was particularly devoted to charity work, helping establish a branch of the Red Cross in Nepal and serving as its president. Prince Himalaya was made an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the British Empire during this coronation trip.

Jewel History: The Royal Wedding at Berlin (1888)

05.28.2018 by The Court Jeweller // Leave a Comment

The wedding ceremony of Prince Heinrich of Prussia and Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine at Charlottenburg Palace, 24 May 1888. The bride and groom are visible in the lower left-hand corner; the groom’s parents, Emperor Friedrich III and Empress Victoria, are at the upper left of the image. The groom’s brother, the future Kaiser Wilhelm II, is visible among the crowd of guests (Grand Ladies Site)

“The Royal Wedding at Berlin”

(originally appeared in the Graphic, 2 June 1888)

The wedding of Prince Henry of Prussia [1], the younger son of the German Emperor [2] and Empress [3], with Princess Irene of Hesse [4], the third daughter of the Grand Duke of Hesse [5] and the late Princess Alice [6], was celebrated last week in the chapel of the Charlottenburg Palace [7].

The ceremony was comparatively private, owing to the Emperor’s health, but was nevertheless attended with all due Royal pomp, while a number of princely guests were present, including the Prince of Wales [8] and the Crown Prince of Greece [9]. The chapel in which the service was celebrated, however, was too small to accommodate many guests, being intended to hold only forty persons, though, by removing the seats, room was made for a larger number. The interior of the chapel, which dates to 1708, is ornamented in rococo style, and for the occasion the walls were beautifully decorated with roses.

The illustration of the wedding from the Graphic; Empress Victoria and Emperor Friedrich are to the right of the groom, with Empress Augusta seated beside them

As soon as the guests had assembled in the Palace, the Empress placed a crown, the emblem of royalty, on the bride’s head [10], and the civil marriage was performed in the Blue Saloon by the Lord Chief Chamberlain. The Royal party then proceeded in procession to the chapel, where they were received and conducted to the altar by the Court Chaplain, Dr. Kögel, and his assistant clergy. The Royal Party formed a semicircle before the altar, the Dowager Empress [11] being present in her chair, while the minor personages were accommodated in rooms leading out of the chapel.

Almost as soon as the service had begun the Emperor entered, walking into the chapel with a firm tread, and took up his place at the right of the bridal couple, the Grand Duke Louis of Hesse, the father of the bride, standing on the left. Dr. Kögel then preached a sermon, the text being the twenty-seventh verse of the fourteenth chapter of St. John’s Gospel, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you,” in which he alluded to the fact that the betrothal took place on the late Emperor’s ninetieth birthday, and the wedding on the birthday of Queen Victoria [12].

A chorale of Sir Arthur Sullivan’s was then sung [13], and the rings were exchanged — this portion of the ceremony being signified to the outside world by three successive volleys of twelve cannon. The bridal couple next knelt to receive the blessing, and the service concluded with a hymn.

The bride and groom on their wedding day. Note the nuptial crown that Empress Victoria placed atop Irene’s head (Royal Collection)

The chaplain shook hands with Prince Henry and his bride, who then went up to the Empress Augusta, whom they kissed affectionately. The Empress Victoria, who was visibly affected, warmly embraced the Princess, as also did the Emperor. When, however, Prince Henry came up to the Emperor, the latter placed both arms round him, kissed him on both cheeks and on his forehead, and then held his hand on his head, retaining him long in a close embrace. The Prince of Wales also kissed his niece and shook hands with Prince Henry. The congratulations over, the Emperor bowed to the guests, and with the Empress Augusta and the Prince and Princess Henry withdrew, the choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus [14].

The Emperor seemed very well throughout the ceremony, and did not cough once [15]. He wore a general’s uniform with the insignia of the Hessian Ludwig Order and Collar of the Garter, and the chains of the Black Eagle and Hohenzollern Orders.

The couple departs for their honeymoon (The Graphic)

At the wedding breakfast the Crown Prince [16], acting for the Emperor, who was not present, proposed the health of the newly-wedded couple. By two o’clock the meal was over, and the bridal garter having been cut up and distributed according to custom, Prince and Princess Henry left an hour later for Schloss Erdmannsdorf in Silesia, where they have been spending their honeymoon.

Prince Henry of Prussia was born on August 14th, 1862, and is the “Sailor Prince” of Germany, having been trained in the navy, and having seen a good deal of foreign service. In his honour the Crown Prince wore a naval uniform at the wedding. Princess Irene was born on July 11th, 1866, at Darmstadt.

Portrait illustration of the bride and groom (The Graphic)

NOTES

1. Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862-1929), the groom at this wedding, was the third child of Emperor Friedrich III of Germany and Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom. He was 25 years old when he married his first cousin, Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine. Most of his life was dedicated to the German imperial navy; he entered the naval service at the age of 15 and eventually became Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet. He resigned his commission at the end of World War I, when the monarchy was abolished. He lived the rest of his life with his family in Schleswig-Holstein.

2. Emperor Friedrich III of Germany (1831-1888), the 56-year-old father of the groom at this wedding, was only weeks into his 99-day reign as emperor when this wedding took place. The wedding was one of only a handful of major events that took place while he was on the throne. He was already terminally ill when he inherited the throne in March 1888, and he died in Potsdam on June 15, 1888, about three weeks after the wedding took place.

3. Empress Victoria of Germany (1840-1901), born Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom, was the 47-year-old mother of the groom at this wedding. The eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, she married the future Emperor Friedrich III of Germany in 1858. They had celebrated their 30th wedding anniversary a few months before this wedding. But time was running out for them. For the past year or so, Vicky had been engaged in a series of actions to try to prevent the destruction of her husband’s legacy after his death. When she traveled to Britain to mark her mother’s Golden Jubilee in 1887, Vicky smuggled boxes of important documents with her to Windsor Castle, so that they couldn’t be intercepted by their enemies (including their heir, Wilhelm, who had a deeply complicated relationship with his mother). By May 1888, though, Vicky understood that she and Friedrich were simply “shadows ready to be replaced” when he died and was succeeded by their eldest son, Crown Prince Wilhelm. After Friedrich’s death in June 1888, Vicky became known as “Empress Frederick,” settling in her widowhood at Friedrichshof, a castle she built in her husband’s memory.

4. Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine (1866-1953), the bride at this wedding, was 21 years old when she married her first cousin, Prince Heinrich of Prussia. She was the third child of Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine and the late Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, a younger sister of Empress Victoria. Irene and Heinrich had a happy marriage, but their lives were full of familial tragedy. Irene was a carrier of hemophilia, the disease that caused so much strife among Queen Victoria’s descendants. Two of Heinrich and Irene’s three sons suffered from hemophilia, and one died after a fall at the age of four. Heinrich’s brother was Kaiser Wilhelm II — and we all know how that went. And Irene’s siblings included both Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia and Grand Duchess Elizaveta Feodorovna of Russia — so no good news at all on either front there, either.

5. Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and by Rhine (1837-1892) was the 50-year-old father of the bride at this wedding. He had been a widower for a decade; his wife, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, had died of diphtheria in 1878, along with one of their daughters, Marie. Four years before this wedding, Ludwig had attempted to marry again. He married Countess Alexandrina Hutten-Czapska morganatically in Darmstadt in 1884, but the union so horrified his children and the British royals (his late wife’s relatives) that it was annulled shortly afterward. He remained single for the rest of his life, dying of a heart attack about four years after Irene’s wedding.

6. Grand Duchess Alice of Hesse and by Rhine (1843-1878), born Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, was Princess Irene’s mother. The third child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, she died in 1878, when Irene was only twelve. Alice’s death, which occurred on the 17th anniversary of her father’s death, was incredibly distressing for Queen Victoria. She was also deeply mourned by her sister, Victoria (Prince Heinrich’s mother).

7. Schloss Charlottenburg, located in Berlin, was a residence of the Prussian royal family for more than two centuries. In May 1888, it was the home of the reigning imperial couple, Friedrich and Victoria. The palace was severely damaged during World War II, but it was later restored and is now a major tourist attraction.

8. King Edward VII of the United Kingdom (1841-1910), then Prince of Wales, was an uncle of both the bride and the groom at this wedding. Forty-six-year-old Bertie and his wife, Alexandra, had recently celebrated their own silver wedding anniversary. While in Germany for this wedding, Bertie also made a visit to Pomerania (a region of the shores of the Baltic Sea), where he reviewed troops of the Blücher Hussar Regiment, of which he served as Colonel-in-Chief. A grand farewell dinner was given in his honor at the British Embassy before he returned to England. But he was back in Germany only a few weeks later, with Alexandra and their eldest son, Albert Victor, to attend his brother-in-law’s funeral.

9. King Constantine I of the Hellenes (1868-1923), then Crown Prince Constantine, was only 19 when he attended this royal wedding. Constantine spent much of his youth in Germany, where he served in the German Imperial Guard. He had visited the imperial court again in March 1888 after the death of Emperor Wilhelm I; on that occasion, he caught the eye of one Emperor Friedrich III’s daughters, Princess Sophie of Prussia. The two fell in love, and by September 1888, they were engaged — though the match initially faced resistance from both families, especially Sophie’s eldest brother, Emperor Wilhelm II. Constantine and Sophie married in Athens in October 1889. Prince Heinrich, Sophie’s brother (and the groom at this royal wedding), served as one of the witnesses at her wedding.

10. From the May 26, 1888 issue of The Graphic: “The bride was to wear numerous Crown jewels, and a special brilliant diadem made for the occasion, which the Empress will herself place on the head of her new daughter-in-law.” The diadem in question appears to be the nuptial crown visible on Irene’s head in photographs from the wedding.

11. Empress Augusta of Germany (1811-1890), born Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, was the paternal grandmother of the groom at this wedding. Augusta, who was 76 years old in May of 1888, had recently been widowed; her husband, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany, had died on March 9, 1888, after a short illness. The couple had renewed their wedding vows a year earlier, on March 22, 1887 — Wilhelm’s 90th birthday — the same day that Heinrich and Irene’s betrothal was officially announced. At this wedding, Augusta was a frail figure, wearing black, seated in a corner of the chapel. She died in January 1890.

12. Heinrich and Irene’s betrothal was officially announced to the public on March 22, 1887, the 90th birthday of his grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm I of Germany. (Emperor Wilhelm and Empress Augusta renewed their vows on that date as well.) Their wedding took place on March 24, 1888, the 69th birthday of their shared maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria. She was initially not thrilled about the match between her grandchildren — mostly because she wasn’t involved in its engineering.

13. Sir Arthur Sullivan (1842-1900) was a famous British composer, best known for his collaborations with W.S. Gilbert. This was not Sullivan’s first association with a royal wedding; he composed several pieces in 1863 for the wedding of the couple’s shared maternal uncle, the Prince of Wales. He was knighted by their maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria, in 1883.

14. The Hallelujah Chorus is part of the Messiah, an oratorio composed in 1741 by Georg Friedrich Handel. Born in Germany, the composer later became a British subject and composed several works associated with the royal family, including the coronation anthem “Zadok the Priest.”

15. Friedrich was suffering from terminal laryngeal cancer. He managed to walk and stand during the wedding, but he was otherwise mainly confined to his bed. He had only weeks to live. Like his father, Prince Heinrich also eventually died of throat cancer.

16. Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany (1859-1941), then Crown Prince Wilhelm, was the 29-year-old brother of the groom at this wedding; he was also essentially the emperor-in-waiting. His father was gravely ill, and Wilhelm succeeded him only a few weeks after this wedding. He would be the last German emperor.