Parallel lives

Scandal, secrets and tragedy of the 19th Century princess whose fate echoes Diana's

- BY SUSAN LEE and DR ULRIKE GRUNEWALD

Louise's first husband, Ernst Charles and Di's wedding in 1981

They were two royal women born more than 150 years apart, yet they lived almost parallel lives.

Diana, Princess of Wales, remains one of the most recognised faces on the planet, the mother of our future king.

Princess Louise, Diana's Georgian counterpart and mother-in-law to Queen Victoria, is all but written out of history.

Their personalities, lives, tragic fates and legacies are uncannily alike. Both women were beautiful, charming and popular.

As young wives to older men each became deeply unhappy in their marriage and the subject of gossip and scrutiny.

Both were made royal outcasts following scandals not entirely of their own making - and died young after spending their last days in Paris. And each left behind sons fated to play important roles in royal history.

Dr Ulrike Grunewald, author of a new book, A Royal Outcast: The Life and Scandal of Princess Louise, says: "When I first heard about the destiny of Princess Louise, mother of Prince Albert, I was left shivering.

"Louise's story took me in its icy grip: it reminded me immediately of Diana, Princess of Wales. It is one of scandals, tragedy and secrets, and shapes the House of Windsor today."

Perplexed as to why Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg had disappeared from the history books, Dr Grunewald began intense research among archives both at Gotha and Coburg in Germany and at Windsor Castle. The more she studied Louise, the more vivid comparisons between her and Diana became.

Louise, like Diana, was part of a noble family.

She was born in 1800 as a princess of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, the last heiress of a tiny but wealthy dukedom in eastern Germany.

She was later described by her daughter-in-law, Queen Victoria, as "very handsome, full of cleverness and talent", while friends noted her as "friendly and approachable and unpretentious.