Royal wedding hullabaloo — 100 years ago

True love: Princess Victoria Louise married Prince Ernst August in May 1913. Photo thanks to velkokneznamaria.deviantart.com.

HAVEN'T GOTTEN YOUR FIX OF THE ROYAL WEDDING HOOPLA? Then check out these five early 1900s aristocratic nuptial festivities.

• Feb. 1901: Prior to the Spanish royal marriage of Prince Charles of Bourbon to the Princess of the Asturias, 5,000 people attended a royal ball. Reported The New York Times: “The magnificent structure, which was ablaze with electric lights, could scarcely accommodate the invited guests, whose carriages were wending their way thither as early as 9 o’clock.” Thither. Don’t you love it?

• Also Feb. 1901: Hollanders enthusiastically celebrated the marriage of their 18-year-old Queen Wilhelmina to Duke Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The New York Times scoffed that the marriage was simply “an alliance” and that the German “princeling” had “nothing to lay at the feet of his mistress but his pedigree and his debts.” No matter: Queen Wilhelmina proved to be a capable, forceful and savvy ruler, with and without Henry — he passed away in 1934.

• June 1905: Following their age-old custom of escorting royalty, Berlin butchers accompanied the Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to the Berlin castle for her wedding to Crown Prince William. Upon arrival at the Pariser Platz — outfitted with pillars decorated by images of flower-throwing bears (!) — she was met by both children and maids of honor, all wearing rose wreaths on their heads.

• May 1906: When King Alfonso XIII of Spain married Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of Great Britain, the streets were carpeted with 1,200 tons of flowers and the bride rode to church in a tortoiseshell coach drawn by eight white horses. Let's see 2011's celebration top that.

• May 1913: Festivities began more than a week before Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, the Kaiser’s favorite child and only daughter, married Prince Ernst August of Hanover in a “love match.” The Berlin nuptials featured a gala opera event, a 1,000-guest wedding banquet, an ancient Torch dance and a 36-gun salute.


Two AttaGirl notes:
A couple of these royal marriages are addressed at length at edwardianpromenade.com. Visit to read more.

Congratulations to Heather, who will receive a copy of the real-life 1927 diary, Through No Fault of My Own. The winner? Chosen by my 13-year-old daughter.  Heather, just drop me a note at karin@workwords.net.

Coco's diary: Don't read this "under pain of death"

Through No Fault of My Own is the bona fide diary of Coco Irvine, age 13, back in 1927.

A GIRL'S DIARY IS SACRED, often guarded by lock and key, always hidden in a secret location. That is, until it's found in a library.

Peg Meier, a retired newspaper reporter and author, discovered Coco Irvine's 1927 diary at the Minnesota Historical Society Library when researching another of her books, Wishing for a Snow Day: Growing Up in Minnesota, published late last year.

Meier says she had to stifle her guffaws in the library so funny were many of Coco's entries — although she didn't always mean them to be humorous. In one passage, the 13-year-old explains how when bouncing a basketball at school, she "inadvertently hit the fire alarm" and caused "a rumpus." She adds that "most everyone I know is the worst kind of sissy and they don't have the least idea of how exciting it is to hope very much with one side of you that the ball will hit the fire alarm and the other side is scared to death it will!" This adventure is tame by comparison to several of her other exploits, which would get any teenager in trouble still today.

No wonder her 80-plus-year-old diary finds wide publication this month as Through No Fault of My Own, the title selected in honor of her many entries that begin with those words.

Meier says she knew immediately that Coco's diary had to be published. "I'm so grateful that the University of Minnesota Press agreed," she says. Meier not only supplied the introduction, offering the Jazz Age context as the diary's backdrop, but researched Coco's family, history and estate. And what she found made the diary extra riveting: Coco was the daughter of a lumber baron and grew up in the mansion now home to the Minnesota governor.

Like to read more? Order the book directly from the publisher (www.upress.umn.edu) or through a major online seller. Better yet, leave a comment here: One lucky AttaGirl reader will win a signed copy.

Minnesota readers: Attend the book launch event on Saturday, April 16, 2 p.m., at Virginia Street Swedenborgian Church in St. Paul (sponsored by Common Good Books). Peg Meier will also read from the book at Magers & Quinn, Minneapolis, on Monday, April 18, 7:30 p.m.

What Color is Love?

"He loves me. He loves me not." Library of Congress, 1910.

U.S. SENATORS GATHERED THIS WEEK at a hearing to discuss anti-Muslim discrimination and to determine if the Justice Department needs more resources to deal with the growing problem. Sadly, it seems unlikely that we'll ever live in a world without prejudice. Thankfully, there are always people who stand up against hate.

This week, 102 years ago, Californians Helen Gladys Emery, 21, and Gunjiro Aoki, 25, a native of Japan, fell in love and decided to marry. At the time, European-Americans and Japanese people were not allowed to marry in California; that state's legislature had passed the law just weeks before.

When the engagement news broke, a mob gathered outside her family's home and pelted Emery and her mother with rocks, rice and dead flowers as the two raced for a train to take them to Washington State, where Aoki, traveling separately, would meet them and the couple could legally marry. At the train station, another crowd gathered to hurl insults.

BUT THE YOUNG LOVERS STOOD STEADFAST: Aoki refused an offer of $1,000 from the Japanese community in San Francisco to give up his alliance. "Not for two million dollars," he answered. And before she left, Emery issued a public statement. In part, it read:

"I love Gunjiro Aoki, have loved him for some time, and sincerely hope to maintain my love for him despite all that may be said or done, despite the slurs on his character or the insults of the small-minded and petty individuals. . . . I cannot see why children born of such a union would possess to any lesser degree those attributes of Americanism, as judged in its highest and broadest sense, than, say, those born of a union between a native of Poland and one of the interior of Russia. Mentality, breeding, courtesy, honor, love of country and filial devotion are as much a part of the Japanese characteristics as they are American."

Turned away in Portland and Tacoma, the couple wed in Seattle — thanks to the mayor's permission and armed guards to prevent any more crowds from stopping or hurting them.

According to their great niece, playwright Brenda Wong Aoki, after the wedding her Uncle Gunjiro said, “To Christian spirit all things are equal. If you understand about love, you know it is the same in all nationalities. What is the color of love?”

The couple had five children and were married until Aoki's death in 1932. Incredibly, the U.S. government revoked Emery's citizenship for her marriage to Aoki — and reinstated it after his death and her name change to "Oakie."

AttaGirl notes:
Nancy Nichols will receive a copy of Friends Forever. The winner? Chosen by my 13-year-old daughter.

AttaGirl Author Interview and Book Giveaway

TIME TRAVEL AND FRIENDSHIP intertwine in Friends Forever, a sparkling novel that jumps across a century as tween heroines grow up in the same house 100 years apart. Author Amy Ariel, an attorney and educator, shared her thoughts about her characters and the novel's 1912 setting with AttaGirl. Check out her answers — then leave a comment and your email address. One lucky reader will receive a complimentary copy of Friends Forever. 

Amy Ariel

Friends Forever offers a lively backdrop of circa 1900 events, particularly those that relate to civil and women's rights. Do you hope readers will be inspired to learn more about this time in history?
The Progressive Era is both challenging and inspiring. When we imagine the past, it's tempting to conjure a time more simple than the one in which we live. . . . 

I would be thrilled if my readers became engaged with Hannah and Abigail’s story and through it became more interested in the setting of Abigail’s life. However, what I hope most is that they will be intrigued by the idea of the past brimming with stories and become
inspired to read more of any of them.
 

Why center your story on this time in history?

Friends Forever began as a short story written as a birthday present for one of my then seven-year-old students, Amalia Hertel. When asked what she would like for her birthday she requested I write a story about a Jewish girl who wasn’t too much older than and at least as smart as her, and she wanted a story that wasn’t too ordinary. . . . [Later] when I picked up my short story [again] and watched it grow under my fingers, I journaled in Abigail’s voice to get a sense of her character. It became clear Abigail is a child of the Progressive Era. She wonders at one point whether anyone living 100 years in the future will ever stand at the corner of Marshall and Lexington and wonder about a girl like her. I hope after meeting Abigail, more people do just that.

Both girls in Friends Forever are great readers, and several popular novels are featured. Do you have personal early-1900s favorites? 

It was love that motivated me to include so many references to my favorite turn-of-the-century novels. Others, for older readers, will have cameos in the next book.
 

An element of magic allows Hannah to time travel in Friends Forever. If you could get to know a woman from the turn-of-the-century, whom would you choose?

There are at least two: Alice Paul and Clara Ueland. They were very different women, but each was strong and brilliant. I think of Alice Paul every time I vote, since she was one of the people who led the successful campaign for women’s suffrage. Clara Ueland was the first president of the Minnesota League of Women Voters. I would guess neither of them would let me be satisfied with anything I’ve accomplished so far in my life. Both of them would push me to learn more, be more, and accomplish more. I would love to spend time with women like that.