WERE THEY INDEED SO HAPPY ...???
I've often wondered about the exact nature of her relationship with King Alexander I Karageorgevich. The portrait of Queen Marie in the book PAUL OF YUGOSLAVIA (by Neil Balfour) is a pathetic one: Olga and Mignon were anything but close and affectionate.
The fact is that Prince Paul was clearly a consolation prize of a husband: the two were happy together, and the marriage was a good one. But he obviously was not the king, and Olga (having inherited her mother's dynastic ambitions) probably would have liked for things to be different.
Perhaps her attempts to get close to Alexander was not so much disloyalty to Paul but rather, a sort of sovereign bandwagoning ... Her sister Marina was a lot like her: loyal to the Duke of Kent, she and her husband were happy in their marriage (a royal love match). But the reality is that he had no chance in the world to ever sit on a throne, unless proferred one in a foreign country. Evidently she entertained that very thought, when opportunity seemed to present itself ...
Of the three daughters of Prince and Princess Nicholas of Greece and Denmark, the middle one (Elizabeth) seemed to be the most retiring in nature and disposition. According to the youngest, however, "she had by far the nicest nature of us all."
Just noticed that a new biography is being published on the life of Princess Olga of Yugoslavia. Looks as if it might be interesting. Saw details on Amazon UK
Princess Olga of Yugoslavia Her Life and Times.
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