CHARACTER OF PHILIPPINE
The character of Philippine seems to have been as pleasing as was her physical appearance. She is said to have had a fine, clear, though somewhat pale, complexion, blue eyes, and golden hair, although it must be added that existing portraits of her do not do her justice in the latter regard, unless her beauty was greatly exaggerated. In most of them she appears with a slightly oval, and more Italian than Teutonic type of face, with well-marked and well-bowed eyebrows, soft, but intelligent eyes, a straight nose, and a very sweet, and even in some portraits "roguish," mouth; but as a whole her face is not one of striking beauty, judging it by the standards of more modern times.
Philippine, when settled at Ambras, greatly interested herself in good works of all kinds, but more especially in the visiting and care of the sick, and the memory of her good deeds in this respect is still cherished in Tyrol. Her chief physician has set down the large number of sick who were at various times under her immediate care, and in the record one finds mention of ailing folk of many nationalities, showing her Catholic spirit in the relief of suffering. She even had her own dispensary at Ambras in the charge of one Guranta, who was a celebrated chemist of that time. Concerning her one of her biographers says, "She, herself delicate in health from early life, had a strong and ever ready sympathy for sufferers, especially those who were distressed in mind or circumstance as well as in body."
During the years she lived at Ambras she gained such a knowledge of disease and the remedies usually employed in those days that she wrote a book of prescriptions herself, which is now to be seen in the Court Library, Vienna. It is a most interesting volume, as it contains a considerable record of the effects of the remedies used; sometimes written by Philippine's own hand with remarks added as comments upon the success or failure of the treatment.
Philippine was in other ways also of a philanthropic and kindly disposition, and on many occasions girls in her service, or who were known to her, received the pleasant surprise on their marriage of a wedding dress from her; and there is still to be seen at Innsbruck a dressmaker's bill, the total amount of which is largely comprised of wedding dresses given in the way we have mentioned.
Although the burgomaster's daughter, according to her own confession, would rather have led a less exalted and more retiring life than that incumbent upon her by reason of her marriage with the Archduke Ferdinand, all writers are agreed that she ably and well adorned the position to which she had been called. Of her husband's great affection for her there can be little doubt. Indeed, it was so notorious that the Venetian Ambassador Michiele, when on a visit to the Archduke, reported to his Government that Ferdinand was never so happy as when with his wife, and in fact was never an hour away from her.
Philippine, in spite of her many social duties and exalted position, was an excellent and even an ideal German haus-frau. She was a clever needlewoman, skilled especially in embroidery; and quite an expert and practical cook. She might, indeed, be said to have rivalled the famous Mrs. Glass, as she wrote an exhaustive cookery book which displays a great and practical knowledge of the culinary art, and is, happily for the curious, preserved with her book of prescriptions in the Court Library at Vienna.
Nothing was too good for Philippine in the estimation of the Archduke. Not only did he give her the magnificent Schloss Ambras, Stubai Valley, and all it contained, several villages, and vast sums of money, but also the estates of Königsberg, Salurn, and Hörtenberg.
COURT AT CASTLE AMBRAS