A woman has become an “accidental detective” after solving a 100-year-old mystery at a museum.
Andreane Rellou visited Brighton Museum while on a trip to the city, and was fascinated by a display of Fabergé items – including two frames of women, with a sign next to them saying their identities were unknown.
With researchers struggling to identify them, the sign asked any members of the public who could help to reach out.
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History buff Andreane decided to try her hand at solving the mystery – with the frames dating back to the 1800s.
“I was struck by that, and as I’ve always loved history and mysteries I decided to try it,” Andreane, who is in her 20s and lives in London, told What’s The Jam.
The actress and scriptwriter – who went viral sharing the tale on TikTok, with 460,000 views – first trawled through the information posted online by the museum.
She then surmised that the older of the two women – seen in the square frame – was likely in her early 40s, and her hair and clothing placed her in the early Edwardian period.
With Fabergé frames being very valuable, she knew the woman would have had considerable wealth and social status, and was able to calculate she was born in the early 1860s, and likely married in the 1880s.
She searched debutante portraits and looked through recently married men of the upper classes, before finding the Rothschild archive website – where she finally found a portrait of Marie Perugia, who married Leopold de Rothschild in 1881.
After just a few hours of searching, she had identified the first unknown woman.
Identifying the second woman from the diamond-shaped frame took a few days, but she eventually discovered she was Sophia of Prussia, the Queen of Greece – the granddaughter of Queen Victoria and sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany.
Andreane being of Greek heritage helped her crack the mystery, as she could research in both languages.
The ‘detective’ said: “It feels very satisfying to have cracked the case, and I’m very glad I could restore their identities.
“However, it feels like a collaborative effort in many ways as well, as my research relied heavily on the works of others: I just put the dots together!
“The response of everyone at the museum has been incredible, and getting to meet Geoffrey Munn [Antiques Roadshow expert], who initially discovered the Fabergé items, was really fantastic.
“I would love to do more historical detective work, I’m endlessly fascinated by women whose achievements have been forgotten, and the kind of historical and detective work it takes to bring them back.
“I may be an actress and screenwriter primarily, but I very much wish to bring more attention to forgotten voices.”
Andreane shared her incredible find on TikTok, where the post garnered 70,000 likes.
One person commented: “Funny that the professionals weren’t able to do this, especially that these women were so well known. Well done.”
“I hope this becomes a job for you. How cool is this,” said another fan.
Someone else wrote: “You’re the adult all reading-girls want to grow up to be. You got your own detective-adventure.”
Other users dubbed her ‘Enola Holmes in real life’.
Someone else added: “Amazing, well done! It’s absolutely WILD that the experts couldn’t do this themselves!!”
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