Princesses Behaving Badly 4 (Pages 112 - 185)

 

Lucrezia Borgia

Lucrezia's father became Pope Alexander VI. 

She married three times. Her first marriage was to Count Giovanni Sforza.  Their marriage was annulled on claims of his impotence in March 1497.

Alfonso of Aragon, Duke of Bisceglie was her second husband. As the political situation changed, Pope Alexander VI looked to align with France, enemy of Alfonso's family. On the evening of 15 July 1500, at the top of the steps before the entrance to St. Peter's Basilica, Alfonso was attacked by hired killers and stabbed in the head, right arm, and leg. The prince was residing in the palace of Santa Maria in Portico, but so desperate was his condition that he was taken to the chamber of the Borgia Tower where he was cared for by his doctors from Naples, his sister, Sancha, and his wife, Lucrezia. On the night of 18 August, as Alfonso was still recovering from his wounds,  a group of armed men entered his room and strangled him in his bed until he was dead.

Alfonso d'Este was her third husband. In 1501, Alfonso married Lucrezia Borgia. 

When Pope Alexander Vi die, things changed. Cesare Borgia was arrested and sent to a prison in Spain, and he was killed when he tried to escape. 

Malinche

Malinche was a indigenous woman who helped Hernan Cortes in his conquest of Tenochtitlan, and history has regarded her as a traitor of her people. 

Sophia Dorothea

Sophia married Prince George Louis of Hanover under the duress. The prince had an affair with Melusine, and at some point Sophia started a romance with Christopher von Konigsmarck. The two of them planned to leave, but Konigsmarck was killed. Sophia was then sent to a castle as a prisoner. The prince then became king of England. 

Sarah Winnemucca

Sarah Winnemucca (c. 1844 – October 17, 1891) was a Northern Paiute writer, activist, lecturer, teacher, and school organizer. Winnemucca became an advocate for the rights of Native Americans, traveling across the U.S. to tell Anglo- Americans about the plight of her people.

Sofka Dolgorouky

Sofka was a Russian princess who, after working for Laurence Olivier and being interned by the Nazis in France in World War II, worked to save Jews from the Holocaust. She was honoured for her efforts by both the British government and by Israel. 

Christina of Sweden (18 December1626 – 19 April 1689)

She became Queen of the Swedes at the age of 6. She used to dress and behave like a man. Her conversion to Catholicism and refusal to marry led her to relinquish her throne and move to Rome.She is also remembered for her unconventional lifestyle and occasional adoption of masculine attire, which have been depicted frequently in media; gender and cultural identity are pivotal themes in many of her biographies.

Caraboo (aka May Baker)

She turned up in Almondsbury and made everybody believe that she was a princess from Jauasu and had been kidnapped. She pretended to speak another language, but later it was discovered that her name was Mary Baker and she hailed from Devon. 

Princess Tarkanova (c. 1745 – December 15 1775) 

In 1774 in Paris a woman claimde to be the legitimate daughter of Tsar Peter II's aunt Empress Elizabeth and her secret husband Count Aleksy Razumovsky. Her parentage meant that she preceded Catherine the Great in her claim to the throne. So she offered to split the Russian Empire with Catherine. Then Catherine sent a former lover, Count Alexei Orlov and lured Tarkanova with the promise of marriage. She was arrested and returned to Italy. She died in prison. 

Princess Susanna Caroline Matilde

In 1740 a woman claiming to be Queen Charlotte's sister visited the new world. During her visit she was treated like royalty. Princess Susanna turned up to be an impostor and an escaped convict. Her name was Sarah Wilson, a maidservant to Caroline Vernon, one of the queen's lady-in-waiting. Sarah was sentenced to death for stealing some things from the queen. Thanks to Vernon's mediation the sentence was commuted to transportation.

Princess Olive of Cumberland (3 April 1772 – 21 November 1834)

Olive Serres claimed to be a princess, daughter of the king's brother when she found herself in debt. She made her claim in  1817, putting forth a petitition to Geroge II and then she wrote her claims to reach the public. All her claims couldn't be proved as everyone in her claims was dead.

Princess Sumaire

In 1940 she claimed to the be the daughter of Maharajah Bhupinder Singh of Patiala. The British Intelligence found out her real name was Rajklimari Sumair Apjit Singh, the wife of an official of the Indian railways. During the war Sumaire disappeared, and a woman called Sumair, a designer, turned up in Palm Beach. It is believed that the two women were one and the same. 

Princess Antoinette Millard

She appeared in all New York's society pages. Her real name was LIsa Walker, a divorcee from Buffalo with a mental illness. 

The Persian Princess

A mummy was said to have been discovered in Pakistan, which put all history into question.After considerable attention and further investigation, the mummy proved to be an archaeological forgery and possibly a murder victim.

Charlotte of Prussia

She organised an orgy in Jagdschloss Grunewald and Prussian court's noblest aristocrats attended it. Then these men received threatening letters. At first Charlotte was thought to have written the letters, but an investigation found out that the letter writers were the Kaiser's brother-ibn-lwa Duke Ernest Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein and his French mistress. They used Charlotte's diary for the details of the party. 

Charlotte only had one daughter, who she despised. It seems that Charlotte had a mental condition like her grandfather George III, and that is why her behaviour towards her daughter was so difficult.