The True Story Of The Von Trapps From The Sound Of Music

He really was a widower, with seven children, but it was only one of those children who needed a tutor — Maria, the second oldest, who'd been seriously ill and missed school. Maria (the adult) really was a novice, a beginner nun at the nearby convent. She'd had a harsh upbringing herself, orphaned by the age of nine, raised by an abusive uncle until she discovered religion while at teachers college and entered the convent. Georg had requested one of the nuns to act as a tutor, and the convent sent Maria. In terms of timelines, this wasn't on the cusp of the rise of Nazi Germany; it was in 1926.

Maria stayed on as governess, and by her own account, fell in love with the seven children, not with Georg. As an article on the National Archives quotes her autobiography, "I really and truly was not in love. I liked him but didn't love him. However, I loved the children, so in a way I really married the children. . . . [B]y and by I learned to love him more than I have ever loved before or after." As for Georg himself — 25 years her senior, reports The Mirror — he is consistently described as the kind, gentle, affectionate parent. Maria was the stern one, prone to explosive outbursts of temper that also subsided as quickly — as Smithsonian says, "yelling, throwing things and slamming doors." Says Biography, "It was actually Maria herself, with her emotionally stunted upbringing, who needed thawing."

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB%2BkmxwbGhfqbWmedOrrJ5lo6m8s8WMqJ1mrJiaere7zWarq5mgpcBustGopGasmJp6tLvUp5tmp5Ziura%2FyJxm