34: Yvonne and Alexander

Passing a cast of Leonilla’s foot, her gift of love to Louis on their 2nd wedding anniversary, we come to their youngest son Alexander, the great-grandfather of the current prince, and his lovely wife Yvonne. However, their happiness should only last a short time. The daughter of the Duke of Blacas d‘Aulps from the romantic “Sleeping Beauty Castle” Ussé on the Loire River died at the age of just thirty. 

“The painter Hugo Crola depicts my great-grandmother very well in the picture above the showcase,” says Prince Alexander, “but my favourite piece is her marble bust by the sculptor Samuel Beer.”

Yvonne left behind some herbaria in which she had pressed flowers and personal souvenirs from her travels with Alexander. In the showcase, you will find memories of the golden wedding of Kaiser Wilhelm I and Empress Augusta in the Berlin City Palace as well as an invitation from the French president MacMahon to the Elysée Palace.

Next to it are letters from Yvonne to her beloved mother, one is written in two directions at the same time to save paper during the Franco-German War. What a contrast to the glamorous invitations!