Good books on Maria Theresa of Austria (or other European monarchy)
 

I have been watching the Wealth TV (yes, it really exists) series on the Hapsburgs. Maria Theresa seemed like an exceptional ruler. Very progressive in many respects.

I'd be interested in reading more about her, as well as well-written books on other royal family members. Time period doesn't matter, European dynasty doesn't matter. They are all interrelated anyway... ha.

Well-done historical fiction is fine as well.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

There is plenty about Maria Teresa of Austria in Marie Antoinette; the Journey by Antonia Fraser.

This book includes a lot aboutthe French Royal family and the Austrian royal family. It provides a good bit of insight about Maria Teresa's domination of her daughter, even from Vienna and includes family trees of the royal family.

I enjoyed it and learned alot about the events that led to the French Revolution and Louis XVI & Marie Antoinette's executions.

Thank you Denise.

I meant HaBsburg, by the way...

I read an excellent book on Elisabeth of Bavaria who married Franz Joseph, Emperor of Austria. It is reported that she was the Princess Diana of her day. Unfortunately, I cannot remember the name of the book, maybe the 'Reluctant Princess'? It certainly gives insight to the power and the life of the Austrian Royal Family.

The book about Elisabeth ("Sisi") of Bavaria is called "The Reluctant Empress" by Brigitte Hamann (ISBN# 9783548354798).

I study past royals, but my interest is more The Romanov's and the descendants of both Queen Victoria and King Christian IX of Denmark.

Some royal biographers which come to mind are:

Julia Gelardi
Charlotte Zeepvat
John VanDerKiste
Alison Weir
Theo Aronson
David Duff
Greg King
Antonia Fraser

Eurohistory.com publishes their own books on niche royal subjects in addition to selling books on royals written by other authors. Do a search for "Gilbert's Royal Books" and you'll come across a bookstore specializing in books on Imperial Russia.

Also, the forum on AlexanderPalace.org has sections devoted to specific royal houses, each with a thread on recommended books.

I hope this helps. :)

I also recommend Antonia Fraser's book on Marie Antoinette -- it gave me a whole new perspective on her. The account of her life during the French Revolution is particularly fascinating.

I heartily recommend Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra, the tragic and compelling story of the last tsar and tsarina of Russia. It is well written and well documented yet it reads like a novel. And speaking of being interrelated: the tsarina, Alexandra, was a German princess and also a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

I read a wonderful trilagy on Marie Antoinette I beleive the first one was "|Napoleon & Josephine" by Evangeline Bruice The 2nd on "The Imposible Marriage" and the 3rd "The Improbable Marriage" Great reads

The Lost King of France by Deborah Cadbury.
The murdered son of Louis XV1 and Marie Antoinette.
The true story is the most facinating historical
book I have read. DNA solves the mystery.

Scotia, I saw that book in Vienna at the Hofburg and didn't buy it. I should have done so.

trsny, wow! Thank you!

MNSnowflake, that book is on the list.

grandmere, would you believe I read that in high school? I should have mentioned when I started the thread that I did read Stefan Zweig's book on Marie Antoinette, also in high school.

BeniciaChris, thanks for the recos.

Mimi, ooooh, that sounds great.

flygirl: You might ask the same question in the Lounge, under Books & Movies and get more recommendations. There is another poster, usually in the lounge who likes this stuff too. I'm going to get the book about Elizabeth of Bavaria. I like this type of reading also.

Maria Theresa's arch enemy was Frederick the Great of Prussia. Nancy Mitford wrote a biography of Frederick that was an interesting read. Mitford has a nice sense of quiet humor that makes history fun. The book is out of print but can be had used, cheaply, from Amazon.

http://www.amazon.com/Frederick-Grea...534006&sr=8-25

Mitford also wrote a book about the contemporary Madame Pompadour that I liked beyond all my expectations.

http://www.amazon.com/Madame-Pompado...534459&sr=8-42

Thank you Sue and Gary.

Flygirl,

I also love the read about European royals and their machinations. May I suggest:

THE LAST MAZURKA: A Family’s Tale of War, Passion, and Loss by Andrew Tarnowski – tragic, sometime humorous, account of a noble Polish family’s fall from grace during WWII.

DANCING TO THE PRECIPICE: The Life of Lucie de la Tour, Eyewitness to an Era by Caroline Morehead – fascinating account of a French woman’s survival and re-invention before, during, and after the French Revolution.

KING, KAISER, TSAR: Three Royal Cousins Who Led the World to War by Catrine Clay – the ultimate folly of Queen Victoria’s descendants who foolishly responded to events that led to the catastrophe of WWI.

Movie, showing Elisabeth (Sissi) and Franz, Emperor of Austria while hunting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtQnpwy5TcY

<i>I meant HaBsburg, by the way...</i>

Flygirl...generally, either way. Most European writers lean toward the Habsburg spelling, while English-language writers have usually anglicized it to Hapsburg. In my most recent two books, my editors went for the Hapsburg version, even though one of the books took place in 19th century Europe,C.1881-1904.
stu

Would be interesting to know, if Otto von Habsburg cares about how his family name is written? Since he allways calls himself von Habsburg, I doubt it's either way.

http://otto.twschwarzer.de/

Logos...I think I explained its usage well enough for anyone to understand. Even Otto would get the picture.

Otto decides, that's the point.

If Otto got to decide then it would probably be Österreich and Deutschland in English texts. I am not sure why we anglicized any names; though, I believe spelling was pretty localized in Germany/Austria until fairly recent times and that may have had some impact. Wasn't it the Brothers Grimm that played a major roll in standardizing phonetic German spelling? It could be that English versions of German names were set before they were standardized in the German community.