Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 3

Welcome! If you haven’t yet read Part 1 and Part 2, click there and then come back to fully appreciate Liselotte’s salacious gossip. Don’t be fooled: Madame Palatine, aka Liselotte, may look like a sweet, doting grandmother, but her dirt is as vicious as Regina George’s, as scandalous as Gossip Girl’s and as dangerous as Read More

Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 2

Bonjour! If you haven’t yet read Part 1, start there for the full scoop on Liselotte and her clique. Last time, we patiently listened, er, read as Madame Palatine, aka Liselotte, vented in her 18th-century correspondence about her daddy issues, disobedient son and cringeworthy views on women in power. With all those grudges, how did Read More

Madame Palatine’s Burn Book, Part 1

She is a wicked devil; treacherous in every way, and of a very dangerous temper. Upon the whole, she is not good for much. – Elizabeth-Charlotte, Duchesse d’Orléans, Memoirs of the Court of Louis XIV and of the Regency, 1899 If you enjoyed the movie “Mean Girls” as much as teenage me did, allow me Read More

The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 3

Spoiler alert: Don’t ruin the ending! Read Part 1 and Part 2 first. Read in your best announcer voice: Last time on “The Hapsburg Anastasia,” Alma eloped with 22-year-old Yale University student and coal-and-steel heir Donald Andrews. Buoyed by love and presumably, lots of money, they fled to London to escape his disapproving parents. If Read More

The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 2

Welcome! If you haven’t yet read Part 1, please don’t spoil the story for yourself—start there!  When we last left our heroine, Alma Vetsera had failed to break her boyfriend out of an asylum, but at least she’d kicked her first husband to the curb. Alma made the most out of her newfound freedom—it helped Read More

The Hapsburg Anastasia, Part 1

Remember Second Glance History’s friend Crown Prince Rudolf, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire? Conspiracy theorists claim that despite what the history books say, the Hapsburg prince didn’t die on January 30, 1889 in a murder-suicide with Baroness Mary Vetsera, his 17-year-old mistress. In fact, they say he left that hunting lodge Read More

Not Dead Yet

Good news for conspiracy theorists and Monty Python fans alike: The King lives! Except, by “the King,” I don’t mean Elvis. In fact, it’s “the prince” who’s back from the dead—Crown Prince Rudolf, heir apparent to the throne of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The lamestream media, history textbooks and just about everyone else would have sheeple Read More

Coming Soon to a Theater Near You: The Many Lives of Phoebe Hessel

Some lives were made for the silver screen. Phoebe Hessel (née Smith) is one of them. Spoiler alert: Her adventures as a British soldier in the 18th century took her to the West Indies and battlefields across Europe. However, her story doesn’t end there. After incomprehensible tragedy as a wife and mother, she went from Read More

Swiss Misc.

Second Glance History strives to present as much of the truth of any story as possible, and as a service to my vast readership, I’m currently in Switzerland to investigate the veracity of the Swiss Federal Railroads’ audacious claims. Most picturesque playground in the world? Unparalleled scenic beauty? Inexpensive rail service? I’ll report back. While Read More

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