A pseudonym is usually common for artists. However, also the royals sometimes wanted to travel or write incognito. Given the fact we know their pseudonyms, they couldn’t be extremely good.
Under which name can you meet with Peter the Great, Emperor Joseph II, Empress Sisi or her son Crown Prince Rudolph?
Peter the Great and Joseph II shared hobby – traveling. They traveled across Europe. To see most of the old continent, they don’t travel under the identity of the Russian Czar and Austrian Emperor.
The group of 250 Russian representatives led by Franz Lefort visited western Europe in the years 1697 – 1698. One member of this group was urjadnik (Уря́дник, military rank) of the Preobrazhensky regiment Peter Michajlov (Пётр Михайлов). It was no one other than the czar reigning one year Peter, in the future the Great.
The first journey of Joseph II took place in 1766. He was overseeing the army in the Czech lands. He returned many times later to check the economic and social issues. People liked him, so the Emperor became the hero of many legends. Thanks to them, the majority know his pseudonym Graf Falkenstein. In fact, it’s not a pseudonym, it’s one of his numerous titles. The county Falkenstein (today situated in state Rheinhald-Pfalz in Germany) belonged to his father Franz Stephan.
Emperor Joseph II inspired his great-great nephew’s wife the famous Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She traveled under the name of Countess of Hohenems. It was namely one of her titles. However, she didn’t travel modestly like a countess, but in a full glance. Therefore, everybody could read in newspapers in Geneva in September 1898 that the Empress of Austria had arrived in the city. One of the readers was Luigi Luccheni…
Elisabeth’s son Rudolf wanted to express his opinion. He couldn’t do it officially because he was in opposition to his father Emperor Franz Joseph. Therefore, the author Julius Felix was created. However, Rudolf should have used more pseudonyms for his newspaper articles. Thus, historians believe we don’t know all his articles.
In the end, we must not forget to mention Elisabeth, the Queen Consort of Romania. She didn’t only share the name with the Empress of Austria, but she shared also her passion for poetry and literature in general. Her work was published under the name of Carmen Sylva.
Source:
Sergei Alschen: In the footsteps of Peter the Great (http://www1.umassd.edu/euro/2013papers/alschen.pdf)
Martin Mutschlechner:Die Reisen des Grafen von Falkenstein (http://www.habsburger.net/de/kapitel/die-reisen-des-grafen-von-falkenstein?language=de)
Empress of History and Books 