Before the abyss, formal photos
Habsburg, Hohenzollern, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha: dynasties with names like these were supposed to rule Europe during the 20th century. Instead, they faded into irrelevance, losing their crowns after the world waltzed off a cliff and into the inferno of World War I.
A new book from the University of Chicago Press, (first published by Oxford's Bodleian Library), offers a curiously poignant window onto the vanished milieu of archdukes, princesses, and duchesses. Drawing from a private collection, "Postcards of the Lost Royals" is a small, elegant volume composed of cards featuring photographs of various royal figures, posing formally. The cards were mailed by, or marketed to, ordinary citizens who counted themselves fans, of a sort, of these men and women.
To be sure, there are some absurd, baroque mustaches on display. But the historian Andrew Roberts, in an introduction, suggests we look at these figures with sympathy. And even regret: "As they stand there, sometimes pompously but more often simply dutifully, in their uniforms, high boots, pickelhaube, or spiked helmets, epaulettes, swords, sashes, orders, medals, stars, and decorations, they seem to mourn their lost thrones, but so should we. Compared to what came after them, the pre-1914 crowned heads of Europe were a generally benevolent bunch … "
Roberts writes that there was one "crucial" exception: "the deeply psychologically flawed Kaiser Wilhelm II."
