The Tragic Life of the “Infected” Princess

Welcome to Forgotten Lives! In today's episode we are looking into the life of Stéphanie of Belgium, a princess who became Crown Princess of Austria through marriage to Crown Prince Rudolf, though it would lead to a royal nightmare that changed her life for the worse.

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Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported — CC BY 3.0

#royalty #forgottenlives #princess

[Mattostar-zd]

Thank you, Forgotten Lives. I will enjoy this members only video. I love showing my support of your channel. 🥰

[annabelleb.]

It's no surprise after a loveless marriage she would defy her father and marry "beneath her station" for love. She had guts. She was a very interesting person who overcame adversity.

[louiseclark]

Although her early life was unhappy, she is lucky that she found a true love to enrich her later years.

[allieeverett]

A sad story. But it sounds like she found what happiness she could. She must have been a strong woman. Thank you.

[sarahlail]

Love how her father basically disowned them for "marrying below" when he, not only committed infidelity but also to someone below him and then married her too. Gotta love the hypocrisy of the wealthy and ruling class, glad she was able to get something out of it but probably hardly enough compared to what he and her late husband and his family put her through

[PapaWoody]

Not marrying Franz Ferdinand? She dodged a bullet. Literally.

[leightonolsson]

So Leopold II was a utter cruel piece of 💩 in the personal as well as the political.. Colour me shocked.

[i.p.]

Ever since I learned about Rudolf's demise, I learned about Stephanie and how he got her infected. Poor woman. The sheer selfishness of her husband angers me. He ruined this poor woman's life because he couldn't keep it in his pants (pardon my language)

[TinaBiebe]

Wow. Thank you. I remember hearing her name but then it was buried under the life and mysterious death of the Crown Prince and his mistress, plus she had “Sisi” for a mother in law. It was great finally learning about the almost nameless woman surrounded by an evil father, a deranged husband and a mentally unstable Empress of Austria. This was so appreciated!

[CharvonR]

I know this story but thank you for covering it. I always have felt so sorry for her. It seems like everyone only covers her husband and she is a footnote . It’s nice that she’s getting recognition because she was certainly dealt a terrible hand in life, she was a fighter. Your narration is perfect.

[jennstewart]

I'm glad that she made her own happiness after such a tumultuous first marriage and early widowhood.

[janayjay]

Having to not only deal with you husband giving you terrible diseases, him committing murder-suicide with his mistress, and having to deal with his family being mad at you for his actions was a mess. Then add on the fact that your dad's political aspirations caused him to reject you and then later on your own/only child doing the same thing had to be a lot. Im glad she snatched a small piece of happiness for herself.

[LiciaY]

This story is just so mad on SO MANY LEVELS!!!🥺 and the nerve of these people!!! They didn’t want her around but then refused to let her leave! 🤨 after everything this man did to her she had absolutely every right to take her child and leave!!!! This poor woman!!! 🥺🥺🥺

[shiftsleeper]

This was a very interesting story. However, it was also a rather sad story for Stephanie and her daughter to never speak again. ❤❤

[Bettertimes]

As Austrian, who loves History, l am very aware of the " Tragödie von Mayerling" but l never thought about Stephanie andvher tragic life or her side of the story... Thank you so much for shining a light on her!!!!❤🕊🍀☀️

[Replicaate]

Stephanie had the endurance of a damn saint with what her family, her husband and the Habsburgs put her through.

[ruthgriffiths]

An excellent video. No sugarcoating of the Mayerling Incident!

[dolorescordell]

Thanks. Glad to hear that Stephanie found happiness. She's often described as being boring, rigid and mediocre. Sounds like she had a pretty decent education but she was very young when married. I'd never thought about what happened to her after Rudolph committed murder/suicide. From her monster father to her cruel husband. Good she found love the second time.

[victoriadiesattheend.]

You should do Princess Louise, daughter of Queen Victoria and Marchioness of Lorne, I believe. A great deal of information about her life is missing or even forbidden to researchers looking to learn more about her even in the British National Archives and there's always been a lot of secrecy surrounding her, even now when people try to write books about her. She was a very unusual royal and fascinating woman. Very talented artist and sculptress as well; she did at least two or three important busts and statues/sculptures of her mother, Queen Victoria, that you can still see today.

[MightyMezzo]

Well this certainly refutes that sweetly romantic film of “Mayerling” with Charles Boyer and Danielle Darrieux. But it was nice to learn that Stephanie had a loving second marriage and a decent later life. Good video.