Books: In Triumph’s Wake
Julia Gelardi on queens and their daughters
Three majestic queens and their tragic daughters - 3 Stars ***
By Gabrielle Pantera
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 1/7/2009 - “I’ve truly been lucky also to have met royals like King Michael I of Romania, Crown Prince Alexander of Yugoslavia and Lady Katherine Brandram [the daughter of Queen Sophie Greece], who were so kind in helping me with my research for my first book,” says In Triumph’s Wake author Julia Gelardi. “Being an author has allowed me to meet a variety of interesting people who I might never have encountered.”
In Triumph’s Wake you get a comprehensive study of six captivating women. In Triumph’s Wake, Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the price they paid for Glory, is the story of three strong female rulers and their daughter who can’t compete with the legacy of their mothers live’s. The daughters’ lives were filled with sorrow and disappointment.
“In many ways writing Born to Rule, my first book, lead me to writing In Triumph’s Wake,” says Gelardi. “I wanted to stay with the theme of writing about a set of royal women. For a time, I was stumped as to what to write about. But then I got to thinking about the close mother-daughter relationship between Britain’s Queen Victoria and her eldest daughter, the Empress Frederick, who was the mother of Germany’s Kaiser Wilhelm II.”
“These two women had figured prominently in Born to Rule,” says Gelardi. “It occurred to me that how very different the fates of these two women in terms of their positions as sovereigns could make for a great story, particularly if I found other royal women with similar fates.”
“After that, I looked at more figures in history who mirrored these two women,” says Gelardi. “I realized that Queen Isabella of Spain & Catherine of Aragon as well as Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Marie Antoinette of France were also sets of mothers and daughters with similar stories to Queen Victoria and the Empress Frederick.”
“The research entailed examining numerous works - primary and secondary material - on the protagonists involved: Queen Isabella of Spain & Catherine of Aragon, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria & Marie Antoinette of France, Queen Victoria & the Empress Frederick, says Gelardi. “I was also in touch with archivists for assistance and have visited most of the countries the royal women are associated with.”
“I traveled to England and other European countries to conduct research for my book,” says Gelardi. “I’ve been able to visit archives and had the privilege to examine diaries, letters and photographs that I would never have been able to access had I not been in this profession. I was in touch with archivists and have visited most of the countries the royal women are associated with.”
“I would sometimes have funny dreams involving the royal women who are subjects of the book,” says Gelardi. “One humorous dream involved all six women meeting together for some kind of reunion, which is strange in and of itself because the three sets of mothers and daughters came from very different eras.”
Julia Gelardi was born in Manila, Philippines and lived in Canada and England. She lives in Minneapolis with her husband. Gelardi is working on another book on royal women, this time from Imperial Russia in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
In Triumph’s Wake tells the stories of Queen Isabella, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria and Queen Victoria. Each of the three women were not expected to become rulers, yet they all changed history. They left a legacy that their daughters could not live up to. This book is great for people who are new to history about women monarchs.
In Triumph’s Wake:
Royal Mothers, Tragic Daughters, and the Price They Paid for Glory
By Julia P. Gelardi
Hardcover, 432 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press
Release Date: November 25, 2008
ISBN: 9780312371050