06:07

[Music – I’ve Got A Heart (Filled With Love For You Dear) by Glenn Miller, Album Perfect Big Bands]

Section 2 – History & Historiography

[Music Fade Out]

06:24

This tale has been a long winding road that gets even twistier the more up close and personal we get to it.  When I first conceived of telling the story, I must admit I had no idea I would be uncovering the micro details I am now revealing to you.  I set up a format of telling the story close to a chronological time to pace out the story, with knowable blanks and spaces but with the trust that they would fill out as time goes on.

Of course, I am a crazy and thorough researcher so those blank spaces get filled up and at times even a bit bloated.  But I am taking immense pleasure in all this discovery.

Why?

07:05

Because exactly that – the why, why do things happen?  It’s the perpetual question we always ask ourselves.  In the court of law, motive is a big determining factor as to what is determined as a crime and what type of punishment should be meted out. 

In the court of public opinion on less judicial matters like things based on feelings and emotions, the why – the motivation very much matters too.  It can also be the hardest to ascertain resolve whether truth in perception and/or reality and more likely a mixture between the two.  For motivation can be highly complex and very multi-dimensional.

07:50

When it comes to betrayal, it’s the layers that count.  The subtle piece upon piece that builds up and leads to more.  When we read an event in a biography, we have little reference to space and time in which it is happening.  Was it one instance or a series of progression of little things…  Generally, it can be safe to assume the latter rather than one big explosion.  But when it is taken as solely one thing, it’s hard to understand the reactions.

These little tidbit of details add so much to the story and even more counter the known story.  Barbara Hutton in her statements often claimed Louise Van Alen had little interest in Prince Alexis Mdivani.  These recent gossip snippets prove otherwise.

08:38

Another important aspect is making tangible connections.  The fact that everyone seems to be traveling on the same ocean liners and to the same locations back and forth.  Travel lasted more than today’s mostly half a day’s flight to almost anywhere, but back then travel took several days if not a week or more crossing the Atlantic Ocean or to other destinations.  Time in between to move about and socialize, or at minimum observe a fellow passenger.  All this makes the world feel more insular and familiar.  This is a different environment and community, and not as isolationist as we tend to think when looking into the past.

09:24

So much when we look and dissect an event or a person, it is very hyper focused and in a way that ignores the other surrounding elements and influences.  Yes, the immediate is covered, but what is an era really like.  What are the prominent theories, ideologies, and interactions that dictate life choices in the subconscious?  Yes, we know items and details separately, but what if we put them back next to each other.  Really next to each other, actively next to each other.

09:59

Often these discoveries come as I pursue confirmation of a date, chronology, and who else might be present as a witness or a participant.  And now such luscious details are adding more dimension and intrigue to the story. 

I had no idea and certainly not even this far into the project, that I would be uncovering so many of these tiny details that so illuminate more to these situations.  Adding layer and texture to things still yet to come.  Not only am I telling the story in a different way, but I am getting to reveal new information.

10:39

A real story, the actual story, not fiction, but real stories of love, fortune, and heartbreak.  Love is a matter of perception, so even rumors, lies, and misdirection are part of the experience.

Once again, I emphasize part of this ability to locate this information is due to our current era – the digital internet resources and the ability to use technology to peruse and browse these elements across multiple sources.  I would not fault the past biographers from almost 40 years ago or more for not manually scouring every newspaper to check for these miniscule variants and tidbits. 

11:21

I need such information because of the method and manner with which I am telling multiple people’s stories.   Covering so many people expands what I am searching for and increases the pleasure when finding the intersections and overlaps between them. 

And since I am telling their stories over an extended and focused time frame that allows for the savoring and ability to segway and digress onto the smaller paths.  It helps connect the time in between bigger events with the emotional thread and the effects of time to intensify or de-escalate a situation or feelings.  I don’t need to rush to the next part in trying to cover succinctly a 70+ years lifetime and multiple relationships of one person’s life, but knowing that other information I can point out similar and recurring themes in earlier interactions knowing what they really foreshadow.

12:20

This new information turns speculation and insinuation into something more concrete.  A seduction, a pursuit, not in mere allusion but with actual dates and tiny events that seem irrelevant in the present, but in the near future could retrospectively reveal a very powerful chess move.  The story being re-woven is in the present, the near future, a further future, and even as far into the future well past their own lives.

The final move in one game of fortune and love will soon come into play.  Will a prince turn into a king, or will someone else take away his queen?