Fashion History Blog

… down to each generation of women in the Spanish royal household. Called “La Buena” prarure, Letizia of Sweden’s mother (right) wore Ena’s (center) wedding crown, and Letizia (left) has it today.

.. got along well enough, until his worst fears were realized that she proved to have the genetic disease hemophilia. (Photo: Ena and Alfonso’s different personalities are very clear on this candid shot during their honeymoon in 1906.  The advent of cameras had its drawbacks, as now there were photographers …

… when a bomb went off near their carriage as they were leaving the Church of San Geronimo in Madrid. The new queen appeared calm at the time, but when she got to the Royal Palace, she was on the verge of hysteria.  One can imagine marrying a known “rake”, …

… because she would become the Queen of Spain, giving up all rights to the British throne.  Spanish and Spanish culture was difficult for her, and she only had a few months to learn it. She converted to the Catholic faith before marrying. (Photos:  Left Ena in full Spanish court …

… with religion.  Ena had been raised a Protestant, and all Spanish royalty, to which she would belong, was strictly Catholic.  Ena’s English supporters did not want to be associated with Rome or Catholics. People of all social status had heated discussions which made Victoria Eugenie feel very low at …

.. had a life of ups and downs.  When she met her eventual husband Alfonso of Spain, she was only 17.  He had a fiery and passionate temperament, while she was shy. He was worried about the possibility of her carrying her mothers’ dreaded haemophilia blood disease and passing it …

… Prince Henry of Battenburg.  Named after her grandmother Queen Victoria of England, and her godmother Empress Eugenie of France, Victoria Eugenie had a casual relationship with her elders in private.  She called Victoria “Gangan”. Ena first met her future husband when she was 17.  King Alfonso XIII of Spain …

.. when fashion was changing.  Being a trendsetter did not always mean being well coordinated.  Here is Ena,  in ermine, silk, and the Royal pearls (of course), sporting a 1920’s number at a dedication ceremony, proving pearls do not necessarily always go with everything (as they would say later in …

… wearing Queen Victoria’s brooch, Queen Letitzia of Spain has inherited English, French, and Spanish jewelry.  An absolutely stunning woman who was a journalist and news anchor before marrying Felipe to become the Spanish Queen, she wears the tiaras, prarures, and brooches of her ancestors proudly and often.

… here we see Queen Elizabeth, current monarch of England, wearing Queen Victoria’s mother’s approximate era 1830 brooch.