Once upon a time, there was a woman whose life would make a great plot of a book. She was born Princess Cecile of Prussia, but due to the unrest in Germany during the World Wars, her family abdicated the throne. Princess Cecile adapted well to life as a regular citizen once she was no longer a royal, and served as a nurse with the German Red Cross during WWII.
When the Red Army advanced, Princess Cecile was sent to live with family for her safety. While in Hessen, she met her future husband, a Texan named Clyde Harris, who was a member of the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives unit. This unit went around Europe attempting to save and restore valuable historic artifacts and cultural monuments from German bombings. Clyde and Princess Cecile wrote to one another for four years after the war, while he was home in Texas. In 1949, the pair was married in the picturesque and breathtaking Hoenzollern Castle in Germany. This castle has sat atop a hill since the 11th century, with many blue-roofed spires and thick stone walls. The Register, however, described the castle as bleak in the wedding announcement. The castle is open to the public and if you ever find yourself in the Bavarian Alps, you can decide for yourself.
After the wedding, the Harrises moved to Amarillo, where Clyde was an interior designer. The Princess said she believed she would like living in Texas. They lived in Amarillo together for many years, and had a daughter. Hopefully she found Texans to be friendly and Texas became home. Upon her death, Princess Cecile was buried in Hoenzollern Castle, where she had been married.
If you’re curious about what the members of the monuments unit did, we have the nonfiction book and the movie, both titled Monuments Men, available at the Cooke County Library.
This project is made possible by grants from the Institute of Museum and Library Services and the Texas State Library and Archives Commission and with the help of UNT Libraries.
Gainesville Daily Register Digitization Project 