📗 Libro en inglés THE REBEL ROMANOV

To Queen Victoria she was Aunt Julie to Catherine the Great she was Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna granddaughter in law This is the story of Princess Juliane Henriette Ulrike of Saxe Coburg Saalfeld the Rebel Romanov Born in 1781 in a small impoverished duchy of Germany Julie s quiet life took a fairy tale turn when she married into the Russian Imperial Family the Romanovs But this world of baroque splendour of opulent palaces and grandeur was no happily ever after Taken to Russia at just fourteen her marriage was hastily brokered to save the Saxe Coburg duchy from financial ruin Her husband Grand Duke Konstantin was cruel and abusive Julie was uprooted from her home family language and culture As Russia and Europe were thrown into tumult by the murder of Emperor Paul and the rise of Napoleon Julie finally made her escape back to Germany where she lived for two decades as a social pariah denied a divorce by the Imperial Family Forced to give up two illegitimate children to protect her family s honour she eventually built a life for herself in Switzerland where she entertained poets and philosophers regaling them with tales from the Russian court Helen Rappaport recreates the extraordinary life of this forgotten figure In doing so she sheds n