Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2015

Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen: On March 26, 1675, Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg died. Initially, his seven sons collectively governed the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, as set out in their father’s will. On February 24, 1680, the seven brothers concluded a treaty of separation, with each brother getting a portion of the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha Altenburg and becoming a Duke. One of the seven new duchies was the Duchy of Saxe-Meinigen and Bernhard, one of the seven sons of Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg became the first Duke of Saxe-Meinigen.

On November 9, 1918, Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia in the wake of the November Revolution. Bernhard III, the last Duke of Saxe-Meiningen abdicated the next day due to pressure from the Meininger Workers and Soldiers Council. His half-brother Ernst waived his succession rights on November 12, 1918, officially ending the monarchy of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. Today the territory that encompassed the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen is in the German state of Thuringia.

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Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen; Credit – Wikipedia

Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, a scholar, and a Field Marshal in the Prussian army, was the husband of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Charlotte of Prussia. He was born on April 1, 1851, in Meiningen, the capital of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, now in Thuringia, Germany. Bernhard was the eldest son of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his first wife Princess Charlotte Frederica of Prussia.  Bernhard’s parents had three other children:

On January 27, 1855, Bernhard’s younger brother died. Three months later his mother died of childbirth complications, along with her newborn son. Bernhard’s father was inconsolable, but in 1858 he married Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg to provide a mother to his remaining children. Feodora’s mother, Feodora of Leiningen, was an older half-sister to Queen Victoria, making the younger Feodora a niece of the Queen. Bernhard’s father and stepmother had three sons:

  • Prince Ernst Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen (1859 – 1941), married morganatically to Katharina Jensen; had issue
  • Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen (1861 – 1914), married Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld; had issue; killed in action during World War I in Tarcienne, France; grandfather of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Otto von Habsburg, last Crown Prince of Austria
  • Prince Viktor of Saxe-Meiningen (born and died 1865), died as an infant

Bernhard began serving as a second lieutenant in the Saxe-Meiningen Infantry Regiment in 1867. In 1869, he enrolled at Heidelberg University to study classical philology, the study of literary texts and written records to establish their authenticity, their original form, and determine their meaning. His education was interrupted by the Franco-Prussian War as he served as an aide with the 6th Thuringian Infantry Regiment Nr. 95 and the 6th Cavalry. After the war, he resumed his studies in Heidelberg and then studied in Leipzig. After graduating in 1873, Bernhard went for military training with the Fusilier Guards Regiment of the Prussian Army in Berlin.

Bernhard was interested in the Greek language and was the author and translator of several works. Between 1873 and 1894, he made numerous study trips to Greece and Asia Minor, where he visited archaeological sites and had worked with well-known archaeologists. For his work in archaeology, the University of Athens gave Bernard the title “Philhellene,” lover of Greece and Greek culture, in 1889 and in 1912, the University of Breslau awarded him an honorary doctorate.

On February 18, 1878, in Potsdam, Bernhard married, Princess Charlotte of Prussia, the eldest daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and King of Prussia and Victoria, Princess Royal, and the sister of Wilhelm II, German Emperor. Bernhard and Charlotte had one child:

  • Feodora (1879-1945), married Prince Henry XXX Reuss-Köstritz, no children

Bernhard and Charlotte in 1877; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Bernhard was transferred to the General Staff of the Prussian Army in 1882 and moved to Charlotte’s apartments at Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin. In 1889, he was appointed Major General and then Lieutenant General in 1891. The German Archaeological Institute appointed him an honorary member in 1892. In December 1893, Bernhard and Charlotte took up permanent residence in Meiningen because Bernhard’s father Georg suffered from acute deafness and had retired from active life.

Bernhard’s rank and responsibility in the Prussian Army kept increasing. He became General of the Infantry and from 1896-1903 was Commanding General of the VI Army Corps in Breslau (now Wroclaw, Poland). On September 15, 1903, he was appointed Inspector-General of the II Army Inspectorate and was stationed in Meiningen. With his wife Charlotte, he undertook numerous road trips throughout the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen and the German Empire. In 1909, Bernhard received the rank of Field Marshal. Bernhard ended his military career in 1912 and moved back permanently to Meiningen.

Bernhard’s father died on June 25, 1914, just three days before the assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, and Bernard became the reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. Bernhard’s conservative Prussian views made him unpopular in the liberal Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. After the start of World War I, Bernhard transferred his governing duties to his wife Charlotte and went to the front to visit Meiningen troops and military installations.

Bernhard with some other royalty circa 1913-1915; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On November 9, 1918, his brother-in-law Wilhelm II abdicated as German Emperor and King of Prussia in the wake of the November Revolution.  Bernhard abdicated the next day due to pressure from the Meininger Workers and Soldiers Council. His half-brother Ernst waived his succession rights on November 12, 1918, officially ending the monarchy of the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen.

On October 1, 1919, Bernhard’s wife Charlotte died at the age of 59 while taking a cure in Baden-Baden. Bernhard lived his remaining years at Schloss Altenstein in Bad Liebenstein, now in Germany. After his death on January 16, 1928, at the age of 76, Bernhard’s coffin lay in state at the Große Palais (Great Palace) in Meiningen. On January 20, 1928, with great interest from the local population, a funeral procession brought his coffin to the train station for the journey to Schloss Altenstein, where he was buried on January 21, 1928, next to his wife Charlotte in the castle park.

Burial site of Bernhard and his wife Charlotte; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Saxe-Meiningen Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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