A missing painting, a refugee princess, and a boy from Oklahoma — all the ingredients for a wartime love story — In 1940, one of the most valuable paintings in private possession was Hans Holbein’s Darmstadt Madonna, worth at least $1,000,000.¹ It belonged to a German prince, Ludwig of Hesse and by the Rhine. When World War II broke out, Ludwig sent the painting to one of his estates in Silesia…

What happens when a conqueror’s granddaughter falls for the heir to the kingdom her family stole? — The problem started with Prussia. In 1866, Prussia picked a fight with Austria to take over as shot-caller among Europe’s German-speaking territories. Those territories now had to pick a side in the war that followed. King George of Hanover chose Austria. Turns out, he chose poorly. Prussia trounced Austria and…

How to win friends, influence empires, and prevent cavities — In 1870, Emperor Napoleon III of France did something really stupid: he declared war on Prussia. The Prussians — better armed, better trained — made short work of the French army. After trying and failing to get himself killed at Sedan, Napoleon III surrendered. Back in Paris, his wife and…

Deception is your friend when the world’s most notorious prisoner interrupts your travel plans — Future First Lady Louisa Adams spent six years in St. Petersburg while her husband, John Quincy, was the U.S. minister (read about their Russian adventures in my previous story). John left Russia in 1814 to help negotiate a truce with the British. …

Come for the protocol, stay for the accusation of pimping and prostitution — If you’re ever on Jeopardy!, here’s what you need to know about Louisa Adams: until Melania Trump, she was the only First Lady born outside the United States. Her father, a merchant from Maryland, had moved to London for business, where he married and started a family. In 1795, his…

Her marriage ended with a scandal so embarrassing Queen Victoria had to do damage control. It also left her free to become a model for today’s working royals — Marie Louise was born in 1872, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. Her dad — clearly a history buff — named her after Napoleon’s second wife, but the family called her “Louie.” Her parents, Princess Helena and Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, lived at Victoria’s beck and call. …

Find out how much it cost Hollywood to blur the line between fiction and reality — When I was little, I never understood why movies about real people featured the following disclaimer: “Any similarity to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events, is purely coincidental.” It was a blatant lie. Of course, Elliott Ness in The Untouchables wasn’t made up. Neither was Mozart in Amadeus. …

Was Louise of Belgium a victim, as she claimed, or her own worst enemy? — Born in 1858, Princess Louise of Belgium was the eldest daughter of King Leopold II and Queen Marie Henriette. As parents, these two were not stellar examples, albeit for different reasons. Leopold, far more concerned with his cash than his kids, was uninvolved at best. Marie Henriette loved her children…

It helps when everyone involved actually knows it’s a date. In 1838, Grand Duchess Olga Nikolaevna Romanov found herself on a blind date with a boy she later described as “the nightmare of my life.” At the time, she was just sixteen years old, the middle daughter of Tsar Nicholas…