The intriguing title refers to another peculiar episode in Princess Schwarzenberg’s troubled life — her unpaid dowry. As the attentive reader already knows, this financial disagreement was a constant bone of contention between Prince Schwarzenberg and his father-in-law, Prince Lobkowitz. What is more, the Prince used the arrears of the dowry as his main pretext […]
Archduchess Marianne attempts to speculate about the nameless Danish envoy and his possible mission in Vienna. The name of the County of Rantzau reappears in the narrative, dropped casually by the competent Mademoiselle Juliana. It was part of the Duchy of Holstein, situated in the remote borderlands of the Holy Roman Empire, next to the […]
Thanks to the thorough information provided by Father Franz, a new understanding of the case she is investigating begins to take shape in Archduchess Marianne’s mind. It appears that three fathers are involved in their children’s unauthorised affair. Prince Schwarzenberg senior, Prince Lobkowitz, and Count Althann each view the matter from a different perspective. Every […]
At this advanced stage of her investigation, Archduchess Marianne urgently needs to learn about canon marriage law — and Father Franz, her trusted confessor, is precisely the right person to brief her on the subject. Temporarily blind and deaf to the rest of the world, the two engage in a long, focused conversation, eagerly examining […]
As the attentive reader has noticed, Countess Karolina Althann — still a rather enigmatic figure at the heart of the intrigue — was related to an even more mysterious Dane, an envoy accredited to Vienna in connection with some legal undertaking. The further circumstances of his mission — not to mention his name — remain […]
Despite Archduchess Marianne’s quiet life in Hetzendorf, the affairs of Realpolitik had not stood still. It was time, therefore, to learn what had been happening on the theatre of war. The conflict that would come to be known as the Seven Years’ War still centred on Prague. Since the battle of 6 May, the city […]
The identity of the obscure Countess Althann is about to come to light. An attentive reader may recall that this name has already appeared in the narrative, but let me make it clear at once that it referred to a different lady. The difficulty lies in the fact that, in the eighteenth century, the Althann […]
Archduchess Marianne receives the long-awaited visit of Countess Thürheim, who – quite literally – seems to have stepped out of the seventeenth century. As the author, I was intrigued by the challenge of portraying a historically authentic and believable depiction of a nearly ninety-year-old, relic-like lady. Fortunately, she turned out to be related to most […]
Among all her relatives, Archduchess Marianne felt closest to her paternal aunt, Anne Charlotte, the Emperor’s younger sister. The Princess had spent her rather monotonous youth with her ailing mother, the Dowager Duchess of Lorraine. Owing to the political situation, the family failed to find her a suitable husband, despite several attempts. After the Duchess’s […]
One of my particular pleasures in historical research is tracing family ties between the people involved. Such bonds of relationship, however distant, often reveal astonishing connections that can shape how a problem or situation was perceived. My readers have probably noticed the intricate web of kinship within the narrative. Even if it sometimes feels confusing […]
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