Tag: 185

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: A Mother and Son Give the World’s Great Books a Voice

Some family traditions are about what’s for dinner. For the Schaumburg-Lippes, it’s about what’s on the bookshelf. H.H. Dr. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe and her son, H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, have spent years narrating classic literature for Ad Astra Entertainment’s Grand Classics of International Literature, a mother-and-son project with a simple mission: inspire children to read.

The catalogue is enormous. Together, their recordings span children’s literature, great novels, fairy tales, history, biography, psychology, philosophy, travel, etiquette, and historic speeches. The authors run from Shakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain to Lewis Carroll, H. G. Wells, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Freud, and Jung, alongside the storytellers of One Thousand and One Nights.

Prince Mario-Max, a SAG-AFTRA actor and voice narrator, describes the work with pride: “We are grateful that through Ad Astra Entertainment’s Grand Classics of International Literature, we, mother and son were able to narrate a remarkable collection spanning children’s literature, great novels, fairy tales, history, biography, psychology, religion, philosophy, travel, etiquette and historic speeches!” He adds: “I am so proud how amazing my mother narrated such an important series over the years, overcoming any obstacle and difficulty, and we are grateful as non-native speakers with an accent that a Los Angeles production entrusted us with this precious task! Audiobook recording is always a lot of work but it is very rewarding. Mom and me want to preserve books in a modern form for the new generation!”

Princess Antonia frames the mission in her own words: “to keep great literature alive, make it accessible to contemporary audiences, and help light the spark that can turn a young listener into a lifelong reader.”

The family’s philosophy is that an audiobook should never replace the printed book. “It can be the doorway to it.” A child who hears the opening of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland may follow Lewis Carroll down the rabbit hole. A young listener captivated by The Time Machine may grow curious about H. G. Wells. Black Beauty can introduce a new generation to Anna Sewell.

The recordings are available across the world’s leading audiobook platforms, including Apple and iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube Audiobooks, AudiobooksNow, Kobo/Walmart, Storytel, and Libro.fm. That reach matters, because the places where people discover culture have changed. A classic no longer has to wait silently on a shelf. It can introduce itself through a pair of headphones.

Even SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin has taken up audiobook narration, a sign the family reads as confirmation of the format’s standing in contemporary media. For the Schaumburg-Lippes, though, the measure of success is smaller and more personal: one child listens, one child grows curious, one child opens a book. And perhaps that book becomes only the first of thousands.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: September 21 Becomes Princess Antonia Day, Honoring a Remarkable Life

September 21 now belongs to someone. H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe has declared the date officially Princess Antonia Day, in honor of his mother, H.H. Dr. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe, on her birthday.

Having a day named for you is a rare kind of honor. It doesn’t sit on a shelf like a trophy or hang on a wall like a certificate. It returns every year, on the calendar, belonging to everyone who marks it. For Princess Antonia, the date is fitting twice over: it is both her birthday and now, by her son’s declaration, her day.

The title fits a life lived across several callings. Princess Antonia is a respected lawyer and a doctor of veterinary medicine who has devoted her career to helping others, two professions that ask for both intellect and compassion. She is also a Hollywood filmmaker whose work brings joy to global audiences, and an audiobook narrator who brings children to books through the Ad Astra Grand Classics of International Literature, a project she shares with her son.

Her son’s tribute speaks of profound love, gratitude, and admiration for a woman described as remarkable in beauty, dignity, intelligence, and grace. Her kindness, generosity, and warmth, the tribute notes, have touched countless lives. It is the kind of tribute that reads less like ceremony and more like a son who means every word.

The day also carries a note of remembrance. Alongside the birthday celebration, the family lovingly remembered H.H. Dr. h.c. Prince Waldemar Schaumburg-Lippe, the beloved patriarch of the Schaumburg-Lippe family, keeping his memory present inside the joy of the occasion.

So: happy September 21. Happy Princess Antonia Day. May the birthday be filled with happiness, love, good health, and countless blessings, for a princess mother whose life has given so many people reason to celebrate.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Remembering Countess Thyra zu Castell-Castell Moes, 1939-2026

She was born in Berlin in 1939 and left this world in Denmark in 2026, and in between she was, by every account, the heart of her family. Countess Thyra Antonie Marie-Therese Feodora Agnes zu Castell-Castell Moes, known with affection as Thyra Moes, has passed away at the age of 86.

Born on September 14, 1939, she died on September 10, 2026, just days before her 87th birthday, according to the family notice shared in Denmark. Her funeral is to take place from Gentofte Church on Tuesday, September 22, at 2 p.m., with all welcome to attend.

Thyra belonged to a lineage joining German nobility and Danish royal heritage. She was the daughter of Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell and Princess Alexandrine-Louise of Denmark, and through her mother a descendant of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. She married Karl Moritz Moes, and together they raised five children: Marie-Louise, Benedikte, Otto, Anne-Sophie, and Karl. The family announcement described her simply as “our beloved mother.”

Her Danish royal connections ran deep. She attended the gala performance at the Royal Danish Theatre in 2010 honoring Queen Margrethe’s 70th birthday, and was invited to the festive performance marking the 2004 wedding of then Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. She was also a beloved guest at celebrations of the Rosenborg family, a branch of the Danish royal house.

Her Highness Dr. Princess Antonia zu Schaumburg-Lippe and His Highness Dr. Prince Mario-Max zu Schaumburg-Lippe expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of their relative, remembering her as one of the loveliest women in the family. Princess Antonia recalled: “The moments with Countess Thyra and Princess Elisabeth of Denmark together were always so precious and lovely.”

They described her as elegant, beautiful, kind, funny, generous, strong, and intelligent, and noted the pride she took in her children, speaking of them often and with love. In their tribute, they imagined Prince Waldemar welcoming Thyra and continuing their cherished relationship, a comfort rooted in the family’s faith.

Thyra Moes is mourned foremost as a mother, relative, and friend. She leaves behind children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and a family that will carry her example of elegance, intelligence, kindness, and love.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Prince Mario-Max and Princess Antonia Mourn King Harald V of Norway

The passing of His Majesty King Harald V of Norway has a deeply personal meaning for H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe and his mother, H.H. Dr. Princess Antonia Prinzessin zu Schaumburg-Lippe. In a joint communiqué issued under the name of the Princely Waldemar Family zu Schaumburg-Lippe, mother and son remember Norway’s king not as a distant sovereign but as family.

The connection runs through the late H.H. Prince Waldemar of Schaumburg-Lippe, Princess Antonia’s husband and Prince Mario-Max’s father. King Harald was Prince Waldemar’s cousin, and the bond went back another generation: King Harald’s father, King Olav V of Norway, was Prince Waldemar’s godfather. What looks like genealogy on paper was lived as affection across decades.

King Harald V took the Norwegian throne in 1991, succeeding his father, and his reign became a defining stretch of contemporary Norwegian royal history. The Schaumburg-Lippe communiqué remembers those decades through the language of duty, describing a reign marked by devotion to country, family and the institution he represented, alongside the dignity, warmth and humanity people associated with him personally.

The statement keeps its focus where the family feels it most: on the relative they knew and loved. Public mourning for a monarch belongs to a nation; private mourning belongs to a family. The communiqué holds both together with restraint, acknowledging 35 years of service while placing affection at the center of remembrance.

Godparenthood, the communiqué suggests, once meant something profound in European royal circles, a personal commitment that could shape a lifetime. King Olav’s role in Prince Waldemar’s life gave the Norwegian connection a lasting place in the family’s story, and King Harald’s kinship carried it into the next generation. For Prince Mario-Max, these ties are part of the inheritance of memory surrounding his father. For Princess Antonia, the loss is inseparable from her life with Prince Waldemar and the extended family world they shared.

Their condolences extend to Her Majesty Queen Sonja, the Norwegian Royal Family and the people of Norway. Queen Sonja receives particular acknowledgment as King Harald’s wife and partner through the decades of his reign. The message recognizes that a sovereign’s death is felt simultaneously inside a family and across the country he served.

Presented formally with the Schaumburg-Lippe heraldic emblem, the communiqué is a record of enduring affection across generations: King Olav V, Prince Waldemar, King Harald V, Princess Antonia and Prince Mario-Max, links in a family narrative carried forward through memory. In mourning Norway’s king, mother and son honor a relative whose place in their own family story was deeply cherished, and they stand with Norway in its grief.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Princess Antonia Narrates Goethe Biography for Apple Books

A landmark life in European letters is getting a new voice. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe narrates Life of Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe, the classic biography credited to James Sime, in an audiobook edition from Ad Astra Grand Classics Audiobooks now available through Apple Books.

In a media age where centuries-old texts travel through earbuds and phones, the arrival of a Goethe biography on Apple Books Preview is a small cultural event. Goethe’s name carries literature, philosophy, drama, poetry and science, yet for many listeners today the first encounter with such a figure won’t happen in a university library. It will happen through a carefully produced audiobook found on a mobile device. Narration becomes the bridge.

That bridge needs the right voice. A biography of Goethe asks for poise, control and a feel for cultural atmosphere, and Princess Antonia’s narration gives the project its defining elegance. She appears on the cover artwork too, seated in a refined interior among books and historic motifs, framing the audiobook as a formal encounter with literary history rather than a stripped-down modernization.

The Ad Astra Grand Classics imprint shapes the production’s identity: a commitment to works of enduring scale, presented with respect. In a crowded audio market driven by speed and novelty, a Goethe biography signals a different value, the preservation of cultural achievement. The cover’s dark tones, gilded borders and library setting all point the same way.

Goethe himself resists simple description. His life spanned poetry, drama, prose, science, public service and personal development, and James Sime’s biography follows that breadth as the unfolding of a single life. Hearing it narrated restores something ancient to the experience: the sense of being addressed by a voice, of a life being told rather than scanned.

There’s a practical side too. Audiobooks have changed how people meet the classics. A biography that once sat on a shelf of serious works can now accompany a commute, a study session or a quiet evening. The format doesn’t diminish the text; it extends its reach, giving the work another life at the pace of contemporary culture.

The Apple Books placement matters symbolically as well. A life rooted in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries now sits inside a twenty-first-century marketplace of attention, beside new releases and global media. That the biography holds its own there says something about the continuing appetite for depth.

For listeners, the sequence of discovery tells its own story: first the name Goethe, then the biographer James Sime, then the narrator whose voice carries them through. Subject first, biography second, narration as the living medium. In that order, Life of Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe becomes what every good classic edition should be: an invitation to spend time with an essential life.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Princess Antonia Brings Queen Liliuokalani’s Hawaii Story to Audio

More than a century after Queen Liliʻuokalani committed her experiences to the page, her voice is reaching new listeners. Dr. Princess Antonia Prinzessin zu Schaumburg-Lippe narrates the unabridged audiobook of Hawaiʻi’s Story, presented by Ad Astra Entertainment as part of its Grand Classics of International Literature series and available through Google Play.

The edition identifies Queen Liliʻuokalani as author and Princess Antonia as narrator and voice performer. Released in December 2021, the unabridged recording runs one hour and 47 minutes, offering sustained engagement with the Hawaiian queen’s own account rather than a condensed retelling.

That first-person dimension is what gives the work its lasting weight. Queen Liliʻuokalani stands at the center of the final years of the Hawaiian Kingdom, and her own writing lets history be approached through the perspective of a Hawaiian monarch who lived through profound political transformation. Firsthand accounts keep their value because they preserve how one person understood the events around her.

Audio adds its own quality to the encounter. Written sentences become spoken passages, and the listener follows the narrative at a human pace, through language, sequence and sustained perspective. For audiences used to consuming literature while traveling or moving through daily routines, the format opens another door into the material.

Narration here is interpretive work. Pacing, emphasis, pronunciation and continuity all shape comprehension, and historical material carries extra responsibility: the subjects are real people, the events belong to a documented past. The unabridged designation matters because it promises the full literary experience, not a summary.

The cover keeps things restrained: a black background, an elaborate royal crown at the center, the title above and the Ad Astra Grand Classics designation with Princess Antonia’s name completing the composition. Royal symbolism up front, historical substance behind it.

There’s an evident resonance in a princess narrating the writings of a queen, a European voice carrying a Hawaiian monarch’s testimony into the digital marketplace. But the production keeps the hierarchy right. The performer provides the voice; the author and her experiences stay at the center. Princess Antonia’s contribution is stewardship through performance.

Google Play’s listing makes discovery simple, with a sample function letting prospective listeners hear the narration before buying. That matters because the listener-narrator relationship carries an audiobook: a voice has to sustain attention across the entire work.

Queen Liliʻuokalani’s legacy spans leadership, political history, music and an enduring connection to Hawaiian identity. Each responsible new edition offers another point of entry into that record. Through Ad Astra and Google Play, her story now travels on the same devices people use for everything else, which is exactly how classics stay alive: not by being preserved behind glass, but by remaining within reach.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: A Mother and Son Give the World’s Great Books a Voice

Some family traditions are about what’s for dinner. For the Schaumburg-Lippes, it’s about what’s on the bookshelf. H.H. Dr. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe and her son, H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe, have spent years narrating classic literature for Ad Astra Entertainment’s Grand Classics of International Literature, a mother-and-son project with a simple mission: inspire children to read.

The catalogue is enormous. Together, their recordings span children’s literature, great novels, fairy tales, history, biography, psychology, philosophy, travel, etiquette, and historic speeches. The authors run from Shakespeare, Dickens, Jane Austen, and Mark Twain to Lewis Carroll, H. G. Wells, Benjamin Franklin, Andrew Carnegie, Freud, and Jung, alongside the storytellers of One Thousand and One Nights.

Prince Mario-Max, a SAG-AFTRA actor and voice narrator, describes the work with pride: “We are grateful that through Ad Astra Entertainment’s Grand Classics of International Literature, we, mother and son were able to narrate a remarkable collection spanning children’s literature, great novels, fairy tales, history, biography, psychology, religion, philosophy, travel, etiquette and historic speeches!” He adds: “I am so proud how amazing my mother narrated such an important series over the years, overcoming any obstacle and difficulty, and we are grateful as non-native speakers with an accent that a Los Angeles production entrusted us with this precious task! Audiobook recording is always a lot of work but it is very rewarding. Mom and me want to preserve books in a modern form for the new generation!”

Princess Antonia frames the mission in her own words: “to keep great literature alive, make it accessible to contemporary audiences, and help light the spark that can turn a young listener into a lifelong reader.”

The family’s philosophy is that an audiobook should never replace the printed book. “It can be the doorway to it.” A child who hears the opening of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland may follow Lewis Carroll down the rabbit hole. A young listener captivated by The Time Machine may grow curious about H. G. Wells. Black Beauty can introduce a new generation to Anna Sewell.

The recordings are available across the world’s leading audiobook platforms, including Apple and iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, YouTube Audiobooks, AudiobooksNow, Kobo/Walmart, Storytel, and Libro.fm. That reach matters, because the places where people discover culture have changed. A classic no longer has to wait silently on a shelf. It can introduce itself through a pair of headphones.

Even SAG-AFTRA President Sean Astin has taken up audiobook narration, a sign the family reads as confirmation of the format’s standing in contemporary media. For the Schaumburg-Lippes, though, the measure of success is smaller and more personal: one child listens, one child grows curious, one child opens a book. And perhaps that book becomes only the first of thousands.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: September 21 Becomes Princess Antonia Day, Honoring a Remarkable Life

September 21 now belongs to someone. H.H. Dr. Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe has declared the date officially Princess Antonia Day, in honor of his mother, H.H. Dr. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe, on her birthday.

Having a day named for you is a rare kind of honor. It doesn’t sit on a shelf like a trophy or hang on a wall like a certificate. It returns every year, on the calendar, belonging to everyone who marks it. For Princess Antonia, the date is fitting twice over: it is both her birthday and now, by her son’s declaration, her day.

The title fits a life lived across several callings. Princess Antonia is a respected lawyer and a doctor of veterinary medicine who has devoted her career to helping others, two professions that ask for both intellect and compassion. She is also a Hollywood filmmaker whose work brings joy to global audiences, and an audiobook narrator who brings children to books through the Ad Astra Grand Classics of International Literature, a project she shares with her son.

Her son’s tribute speaks of profound love, gratitude, and admiration for a woman described as remarkable in beauty, dignity, intelligence, and grace. Her kindness, generosity, and warmth, the tribute notes, have touched countless lives. It is the kind of tribute that reads less like ceremony and more like a son who means every word.

The day also carries a note of remembrance. Alongside the birthday celebration, the family lovingly remembered H.H. Dr. h.c. Prince Waldemar Schaumburg-Lippe, the beloved patriarch of the Schaumburg-Lippe family, keeping his memory present inside the joy of the occasion.

So: happy September 21. Happy Princess Antonia Day. May the birthday be filled with happiness, love, good health, and countless blessings, for a princess mother whose life has given so many people reason to celebrate.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Remembering Countess Thyra zu Castell-Castell Moes, 1939-2026

She was born in Berlin in 1939 and left this world in Denmark in 2026, and in between she was, by every account, the heart of her family. Countess Thyra Antonie Marie-Therese Feodora Agnes zu Castell-Castell Moes, known with affection as Thyra Moes, has passed away at the age of 86.

Born on September 14, 1939, she died on September 10, 2026, just days before her 87th birthday, according to the family notice shared in Denmark. Her funeral is to take place from Gentofte Church on Tuesday, September 22, at 2 p.m., with all welcome to attend.

Thyra belonged to a lineage joining German nobility and Danish royal heritage. She was the daughter of Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell and Princess Alexandrine-Louise of Denmark, and through her mother a descendant of King Frederik VIII of Denmark. She married Karl Moritz Moes, and together they raised five children: Marie-Louise, Benedikte, Otto, Anne-Sophie, and Karl. The family announcement described her simply as “our beloved mother.”

Her Danish royal connections ran deep. She attended the gala performance at the Royal Danish Theatre in 2010 honoring Queen Margrethe’s 70th birthday, and was invited to the festive performance marking the 2004 wedding of then Crown Prince Frederik and Crown Princess Mary. She was also a beloved guest at celebrations of the Rosenborg family, a branch of the Danish royal house.

Her Highness Dr. Princess Antonia zu Schaumburg-Lippe and His Highness Dr. Prince Mario-Max zu Schaumburg-Lippe expressed heartfelt condolences on the loss of their relative, remembering her as one of the loveliest women in the family. Princess Antonia recalled: “The moments with Countess Thyra and Princess Elisabeth of Denmark together were always so precious and lovely.”

They described her as elegant, beautiful, kind, funny, generous, strong, and intelligent, and noted the pride she took in her children, speaking of them often and with love. In their tribute, they imagined Prince Waldemar welcoming Thyra and continuing their cherished relationship, a comfort rooted in the family’s faith.

Thyra Moes is mourned foremost as a mother, relative, and friend. She leaves behind children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and a family that will carry her example of elegance, intelligence, kindness, and love.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.

Prince Mario-Max Schaumburg-Lippe: Princess Antonia Narrates A Labrador Doctor for Ad Astra

Some audiobooks hook you with the voice, others with the story. A Labrador Doctor has both, plus a title that stops pet lovers mid-scroll. Princess Antonia Schaumburg-Lippe narrates Sir Wilfred Thomason Grenfell’s enduring memoir of medical service in Labrador for Ad Astra, now available on Spotify.

The title works on two levels, and that’s part of its charm. Labrador is a real place with a formidable history, and Grenfell’s story belongs to it: a physician serving remote northern communities where distance itself was one of the greatest obstacles to care. But for millions of listeners, Labrador also means one of the world’s most beloved dogs, and the cover leans into that connection with a Labrador standing calmly beside the historical figure against a northern coastal setting.

Grenfell’s life was defined by work. In an era before modern medical infrastructure reached isolated settlements, practicing medicine meant physical travel, resourcefulness and deep knowledge of the communities served. His account preserves what healthcare looked like when geography dictated everything: schedules, transportation, communication, access. It’s medical history told at personal scale, through one life moving through demanding circumstances.

That first-person intimacy is exactly what audio does well. Words written in another period gain cadence when spoken aloud, and details that might blur past on a printed page get their proper space. Princess Antonia’s narration bridges Grenfell’s era and today’s listener, keeping the language recognizably historical while giving it enough natural movement to carry across an extended work.

Historical narration is its own discipline. Clarity matters enormously: place names, maritime language, medical and community references all need room to register. The best performances don’t compete with the text; they provide consistency and let the listener stay close to the story.

Pet lovers will find a natural doorway here. Dogs in northern life were historically tied to movement, work and survival, not just companionship, and understanding that background deepens appreciation for the roles dogs have played alongside human communities. A devoted Labrador owner might arrive because of the title and stay for the history; a history enthusiast might arrive through Grenfell and discover the animal connection.

The production sits comfortably across categories: memoir, medical history, Canadian and northern studies, exploration, humanitarian service. Princess Antonia’s recognizable narration gives it a distinct identity in a crowded audio marketplace, and her portrait on the cover acknowledges what every audiobook listener knows, the voice is part of the work.

For anyone whose favorite listening hours are shared with a dog nearby, this one has an especially natural place: substantial history, personal scale, and a narrator who understands that some stories are best heard, not just read.

Originally published on Times Square Chronicles.