Swedish writer and feminist activist, Fredrika Bremer, travelled to Greece in 1859 and recorded her impressions of the country, its antiquities, its customs and its people. Among her descriptions of Greek antiquities and nature, Bremer relates her meetings with King Otto (r. 1832-1862) and his wife, Queen Amalia.
King Otto in Bremer's travel journal
Fredrika Bremer first encountered King Otto at a royal ball given at the Palace where she was invited by Queen Amalia, on November 14, 1859. Among the guests was England’s young Prince Alfred and many former chieftains of the Greek War of Independence. King Otto appeared wearing his usual Greek national dress, embroidered in silver – a handsome manly figure who danced the quadrilles with dignity and grace.
Contrary to the scathing observations Nassau Senior had recorded in his travel journal just a year earlier, Bremer paints an idyllic picture of the King. After a brief conversation with Otto, she became convinced of him being “one of the most honest, gentlest and best of men”, in fact the only royal personage (save for the King of Sweden) she has seen to possess such an expression of so much goodness.
Bremer relates how King Otto’s goodness of character and his sense of justice had won him “the confidence of the unstable Greek... disarmed party spirit and pacified the public mind”. Although he is not handsome, the King radiates goodness – “there is a sunbeam in his expression” – his hair brushed simply aside reveal his broad and open forehead and his eyes glance bright and pure: “it is the glance of the pure conscience”.
However, on the occasion of the New Years’ Day ball, on January 13 1860, Bremer remarked that the King, “magnificently dressed” as usual, was not a very competent conversationalist able to deal with all the different characters and classes of people present in such an event. She noted that “his deafness is an impediment to him”, contrary to his wife Queen Amalia, who seemed at home among the crowd.
Bremer on Queen Amalia
Although the Swedish feminist, Bremer, did not find in Queen Amalia a proponent of gender equality, she is left with a very positive impression of the first Queen of Greece. She found her a handsome woman of 40, of a strong and well-made figure, of manners simple and unassuming and was charmed by her friendliness and conversation. Bremer applauds the Queen’s application to the beautification of Athens and to her various horticultural and charity projects.
As she is agreeable in private, the Queen is equally pleasant in public. Tastefully dressed in expensive Parisian crinolines, able dancer excelling especially in waltzes, fluent in French and Greek, Amalia was a delightful conversationalist who neglected no one at the ball – “her eyes, full of the joy of life, emulated in brightness the diamonds around her head and neck”. She is, Bremer exclaims, after Carolina Amalia of Denmark, “the handsomest queen I have seen”.
However, Bremer is critical of the “luxurious style of dress” that is demanded of all ladies present at royal events and which is a serious financial burden to the ladies’ families. Queen Amalia, who had introduced a folksy court-dress costume, known as the Amalia dress, had however a noted preference for the expensive and flamboyant Parisian crinoline.
Royals of Greece and their Reception
The reception of the royal couple by the Greek people did not appear to be particularly warm, according to Bremer. She records in her travel journal on August 8, 1859, the weekly Sunday encounter of the fashionable crowd of Patissia Road with the royals as a not so agreeable occasion. Both royals were in horseback, Otto making a salutation and looking "remarkable handsome", the Queen, "prouder and less beautiful" and wearing an unbecoming riding-dress and hat.
The royal couple sat on horseback quietly within the circle of officers and surrounded by the equally quiet spectators for twenty minutes. There was no exchange of greetings and only King Otto and Queen Amalia spoke to each other. The royals of Greece then rode on and the crowd dispersed. “The scene would have been beautiful if there had been a little more cordiality to it; as it was, it appeared to me dry and unmeaning”.
Source:
Fredrika Bremer, Greece and the Greeks. The Narrative of a Winter Residence and Summer Travel in Greece and its Islands, vol. I, trans. Mary Howitt, Hurst and Blackett: London 1863
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