Whilst visiting the Beer Museum in the old Bourse in Brussels I discovered an interesting connection between Snow White and Sir Anthony Standen. In Germany, researcher Eckhardt Sander has discovered some remarkable similarities between the life of Margaretha Gräfin von Waldeck and the story of Snow White, as described by the Brothers Grimm.
Margaretha von Waldeck was sent by her father to Brussels in 1548, to the court of Mary of Hungary at the Coudenberg Palace. She had a stepmother and was barely 16 years old at the time. By the age of 20, Margaretha had tragically passed away.
German chronicles suggest her untimely death was due to poisoning, a consequence of a presumed love affair with Philip II, the heir to the throne and son of Emperor Charles V.
Margaretha hailed from beyond the Seven Mountains (the Siebengebirge that lay between her hometown of Bad Wildungen and Brussels). In her region, children toiled in the mines, donning caps strikingly similar to those worn by the seven dwarfs. Soon, the chronicles recorded that she was laid to rest in… the Franciscan convent of Brussels.
The Brothers Grimm were aware of this story and even credited one of Margaretha’s later townspeople as the inspiration for their Snow White tale. However, they took creative liberties, inventing elements like the mirror, for instance.
But is Snow White truly buried in the crypt beneath Brussel’s Bourse? No, it is Margaretha who lies there. While she is not Snow White, her life probably greatly inspired and influenced the tale.
Sir Anthony Standen visited Brussels in 1576 and was forced to flee following an affair with Barbara Von Blomberg, former mistress of Charles V, and mother of Don John of Austria, half-brother of Phillip II.