Category Archives: German Royals

Oktoberfest’s Bavarian Royal Connection

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013


Credit – Wikipedia

October 12, 1810 – Wedding of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen

Oktoberfest is a well-known festival held each autumn for sixteen days in Munich, Bavaria, Germany.  Six million people attend Oktoberfest in Munich and more than one million gallons of beer are consumed. Cities around the world have their own Oktoberfests, but many people do not know that it all began with a royal wedding on October 12, 1810.  On that day Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria married Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.  The Bavarian royal family invited the citizens of Munich to attend the festivities, held on the fields in front of the city gates. These famous public fields were named Theresienwiese  (“Therese’s fields”) in honor of the new crown princess, but in Munich, the name became known as the “Wies’n,” and it is on these fields that Oktoberfest has been held since 1810.

Horse races were held to mark the end of the wedding festivities and the decision to repeat the horse races in subsequent years started the tradition of Oktoberfest.  The horse races, which had at one time been the most popular event of the festival are no longer held today.
An agricultural show designed to boost Bavarian agriculture began in 1811 and is still held every three years during the Oktoberfest on the southern part of the festival grounds. Amusement rides, a carousel, and two swings made their first appearance in 1818, and visitors to the festival were able to quench their thirst at small beer stands, which grew rapidly in number. In 1896, the beer stands were replaced by the first beer tents set up with the backing of the breweries.  Since 1810, Oktoberfest was canceled 24 times due to cholera epidemics and war.

Today there are fourteen large beer tents and twenty small tents at Oktoberfest.  Only beer conforming to the Reinheitsgebot, with a minimum of 13.5% Stammwürze (approximately 6% alcohol by volume) may be served at Oktoberfest. The beer must also be brewed within the city limits of Munich. The breweries that can produce Oktoberfest Beer under the criteria are:

Having visited Munich in August 2012 and sampled beers from several of these breweries, I can attest that they are wonderful.  I never liked beer until I discovered Belgian and German beer.  In fact, as I wrote this, I was drinking some Paulaner Oktoberfest beer.

Inside one of the tents at Oktoberfest, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

King Ludwig I (born in 1786) was the son of King Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria and his first wife Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt.  Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen  (born in 1792) was the daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen (later Duke of Saxe-Altenburg) and Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Ludwig succeeded his father as King of Bavaria in 1825.

Although the marriage of Ludwig and Therese began with great celebration and promise, it was not a happy marriage.  Ludwig had many affairs that Therese reluctantly tolerated.  Several times, she left while Ludwig was having affairs and she refused to associate with his mistresses.  Among Ludwig’s mistresses were the scandalous English aristocrat Lady Jane Digby, Italian noblewoman Marianna Marquesa Florenzi, and Lola Montez (born Eliza Rosanna Gilbert), an Irish dancer and actress who became famous as a “Spanish dancer.”  It is likely that Ludwig’s affair with Lola Montez contributed to his abdication in 1848.  Therese died in 1854 in Munich and was buried in St. Boniface’s Abbey in Munich.  Ludwig lived for another twenty years after his abdication, died in Nice, France in 1868, and was buried next to his wife.

Ludwig and Therese had nine children:

  • Maximilian (1811–1864), married Princess Marie of Prussia, King of Bavaria as Maximilian II from 1848 – 1864
  • Mathilde Caroline (1813–1862), married Ludwig III, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine
  • Otto (1815–1867), Amalie of Oldenburg, King of Greece as Otto I from 1832-1862
  • Theodelinde (1816–1817)
  • Luitpold (1821–1912), married Archduchess Auguste of Austria, was Prince Regent of Bavaria from 1886–1912
  • Adelgunde (1823–1914), married Francis V, Duke of Modena
  • Hildegard (1825–1864), married Archduke Albert of Austria, Duke of Teschen
  • Alexandra (1826–75), never married
  • Adalbert (1828–1875), married Infanta Amelia of Spain

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Thyra of Denmark, Crown Princess of Hanover

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Credit – Wikipedia

Thyra was the youngest of the three daughters and fifth child of the six children of King Christian IX of Denmark and Louise of Hesse-Kassel. She was born on September 29, 1853, at the Yellow Palace in Copenhagen, Denmark where the family was living at the time in relatively humble circumstances. Her father Christian had been chosen as the heir to the childless King Frederik VIII shortly before Thyra’s birth.

Thyra had five siblings:

Christian IX, King of Denmark and his family by Georg Emil Hansen, albumen carte-de-visite photomontage, 1862, NPG x74402 © National Portrait Gallery, London

Encouraged by the prominent marriages her elder daughters had made, Louise had the same hopes for Thyra. However, before any serious marriage negotiations could take place, Thyra had fallen in love with a Danish cavalry officer, Vilhelm Frimann Marcher. Louise evidently knew of Thyra’s attachment to Marcher but considered it a harmless adolescent flirtation. However, by the summer of 1871, it was clear that the “flirtation” had blossomed into a full-blown affair and that Thyra was pregnant with Marcher’s child.

News of Thyra’s pregnancy was restricted to the family as it could be lethal to her reputation. Arrangements were made to send Thyra to Greece to visit her brother George, where she could have the baby in relative anonymity, and then the baby could be given to a Greek family. Thyra gave birth to a daughter in Greece (some claim Glücksburg Castle) on November 8, 1871. It is believed that Thyra convinced her family to let the baby be adopted by a Danish couple, rather than a Greek one. The story of Thyra’s pregnancy has never been confirmed by the Danish court.

Marcher was allegedly distraught over losing Thyra and his child. Although he was said to have told Thyra’s father he would marry Thyra, this was refused due to Marcher’s low rank. Marcher may have had a second confrontation with Christian in early 1872 that resulted in a verbal altercation. Whatever the case, Marcher died by suicide on January 4, 1872. There is no record of Thyra’s reaction to his death.

Following her involvement with Marcher, Thyra was one of the leading candidates for a bride for Arthur, Duke of Connaught, the third son of Queen Victoria. The two had met as children in the early 1860s when Thyra’s sister Alexandra married Arthur’s brother, the Prince of Wales. Thyra’s sister and brother-in-law strongly supported the match, with Alexandra cleverly mentioning that Thyra treasured a note Arthur had given her in 1863. Although Thyra and Arthur met a few times in preparation for a possible engagement, Queen Victoria eventually decided that a second British-Danish union would interfere with her pro-German leanings. Arthur went on to marry a Prussian princess in 1878.

Thyra traveled to the United Kingdom during the winter of 1875 to spend Christmas with the family of her sister Alexandra at Sandringham in Norfolk, England. Also visiting the family was Ernst Augustus, Crown Prince of the defunct throne of Hanover. Although he was without a throne and not considered handsome, Ernst Augustus had a kind and easygoing manner. He was also lucky enough to keep a large amount of his fortune despite his exile from Hanover. However, the Prussians did not view a union between Denmark and Hanover favorably at that time. Both had lost considerable (or all, in the case of Hanover) territory to Prussia in the aftermath of the war.

After meeting Ernst Augustus, Thyra was considered as a second wife of King Willem III of the Netherlands. Willem’s first wife, Sophie had died in 1877, leaving him with two surviving sons who had not (and would not) produce children. In his sixties at this time, Willem needed a younger princess who could bear him further children. Willem, however, had a reputation as a shameless womanizer. His questionable moral character coupled with his age led Thyra to refuse William. He did find his younger princess in Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont, who married Willem and became the mother of his successor Queen Wilhelmina.

Thyra’s hopes of marriage kept coming back to Ernst Augustus, who apparently knew of Thyra’s illegitimate child and still wished to marry her. Thyra’s parents, along with the Princess of Wales, were able to arrange a meeting in Frankfurt between Thyra and Ernst Augustus in early 1878 and the two became engaged.

Schloss Cumberland, Thyra and Ernst Augustus’ home in Gmunden, Austria; Photo Credit – By Pepito Tey – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22858180

On December 21, 1878, Thyra and Ernst Augustus were married at the chapel in Copenhagen’s Christianborg Palace. Following the wedding, Thyra and Ernst Augustus made their home in exile at Schloss Cumberland (link in German) in Gmunden, Austria, the home they built and where they raised six children:

Thyra with her husband and children; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

According to some sources, Thyra struggled with periodic bouts of mental illness during her marriage. Additionally, Ernst Augustus was somewhat asocial and disliked gatherings, which isolated the family. Nonetheless, the marriage was a happy one that lasted until Ernst Augustus’ death in 1923.

Thyra in the 1900s; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Although she never officially became a queen like her sisters, Thyra was the titular queen consort of Hanover as her husband had never renounced his rights to the throne. She also counts among her descendants King Constantine II of Greece, his sister Queen Sofia of Spain, and Queen Sofia’s son King Felipe VI of Spain, and future Spanish monarchs. Thyra died at Schloss Cumberland in Gmunden, Austria on February 26, 1933, and is buried with her husband in the family mausoleum in Gmunden.

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Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg in middle age. Photo credit: erhj.blogspot.com

September 23, 1872 – Death of Feodora of Leiningen, Princess consort of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Feodora’s Wikipedia page

Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine was born in Amorbach, Germany, in December 1807. Her parents were Emich Carl, 2nd (ruling) Prince of Leiningen and Viktoria of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Feodora (as she was known) had a brother, Carl, who was three years older.

Feodora’s father died in 1814. The family stayed in Amorbach for the next few years, where Viktoria served as regent for Carl. Viktoria’s brother Leopold and his wife Charlotte of Wales, the only legitimate grandchild of George II of the United Kingdom, began working in early 1817 to marry Viktoria to Edward, Duke of Kent (Charlotte’s uncle). Both parties were somewhat lukewarm to the idea of marriage, as Viktoria had a comfortable and secure position in Amorbach and Edward had a long-time mistress.

In November 1817, the British were facing a succession crisis as Charlotte died after giving birth to a stillborn son. George’s unmarried sons took to continental Europe to find brides to sire children and secure the succession. Not to be left out of the race, Edward convinced Viktoria to marry him in May 1818. Leaving her brother Carl in Amorbach, Feodora traveled with her stepfather and pregnant mother to the United Kingdom in early 1819. Feodora’s sister, the future Queen Victoria, was born at Kensington Palace that May.

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In the meantime, Feodora was growing into a rather beautiful young woman. During the mid-1820s, she began attracting the attentions of her stepfather’s brother, George IV of the United Kingdom. Viktoria realized that if this marriage occurred and produced children, young Victoria’s place in the succession would be jeopardized. Besides, Viktoria despised her gluttonous, arrogant brother-in-law. The idea of becoming his mother-in-law horrified her. Additionally, Feodora did not get along with Sir John Conroy, the Welsh army officer who controlled Viktoria’s finances – and had a Svengali-like influence over her.

Viktoria hurriedly searched for a suitable husband for her eldest daughter. In February 1828, Feodora married Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Kensington Palace. Ernst was the cousin of Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, the consort of William IV of the United Kingdom, giving Feodora an additional tie to the British monarchy. For her part, Feodora was glad to leave home and return to Germany. Her departure left Victoria lonely and at the mercy of her mother and Conroy.

The principality of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was controlled by Württemberg, giving Ernst little to do. Additionally, Feodora and Ernst barely knew each other at the time of their marriage. Nevertheless, the marriage was a happy one that produced six children.

Despite their eleven year age difference, Feodora and Victoria were quite close. They sent each other letters and sketches frequently, discussing mostly their children, their mother, and their upbringing. Feodora visited the United Kingdom as often as she could. After she became queen, Victoria also granted her sister a small allowance.

Feodora died in Baden-Baden in 1872. Victoria, who long lamented her lack of a large family of origin, was crushed by the loss of her sister. Victoria continued to take a great interest in her sister’s family, promoting the marriage of Feodora’s granddaughter Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein to her own grandson, the future German Emperor Wilhelm II, in 1882. Among Feodora’s other descendants include Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, the wife of Crown Prince Otto of Austria and Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg, the mother of Swedish king Carl XVI Gustav.

Friedrich II, King of Prussia (the Great)

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Kingdom of Prussia: The Protestant Franconian branch of the House of Hohenzollern ruled as Margraves of Brandenburg, Dukes of Prussia, Electors of Brandenburg, Kings of Prussia from 1415 until 1918. In November 1700, in exchange for supporting the Holy Roman Empire in the Spanish War of Succession, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor agreed to allow Friedrich III, Duke of Prussia, Elector of Brandenburg to make Prussia a kingdom and become its first king. In the aftermath of World War I, Prussia had a revolution that resulted in the replacement of the monarchy with a republic. Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia abdicated on November 9, 1918.

The Kingdom of Prussia had territory that today is part of Belgium, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Poland, Russia, and Switzerland. All or parts of the following states of today’s Germany were part of the Kingdom of Prussia: Brandenburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, North Rhine-Westphalia, Saarland, Saxony-Anhalt, and Schleswig-Holstein.

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photo: Wikipedia

King Friedrich II of Prussia, best known as Frederick the Great, was born January 24, 1712, at the Berlin City Palace in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany, the eldest surviving son and the fourth of the fourteen children of Friedrich Wilhelm I, King in Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, daughter of King George I of Great Britain.

Friedrich had thirteen siblings:

Friedrich with his brothers; Credit – Wikipedia

As Crown Prince, Friedrich had a very distant and tense relationship with his father, whose interests varied greatly from the young prince. While his father was interested in all things military, Friedrich’s interests were in the arts, particularly music. However, he enjoyed a very close relationship with his mother. At the age of 18, he attempted to flee Prussia for England but was captured and jailed. His close friend was implicated in the affair and the King had him executed while forcing Friedrich to watch. This would further alienate the father from his son for the rest of his life.

Friedrich’s marriage to Elisabeth Christine; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 12, 1733, Friedrich married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel-Bevern, but they spent most of their lives separated, seeing each other only a handful of times after he became King. They had no children, and upon becoming King in 1740, Friedrich named his brother Augustus as Crown Prince.  Augustus predeceased Friedrich so his son succeeded as King Friedrich Wilhelm II.

Friedrich became King in Prussia in 1740 upon the death of his father Friedrich II. Aside from his promotion of the arts, Friedrich proved himself a skilled military commander and is attributed with great advancements in his kingdom. Through several battles and wars, he united the various parts of his kingdom, taking the title King of Prussia in 1772.

The death of Friedrich; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich II died quietly in his study at Sanssouci in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany on August 17, 1786, at the age of 74. He was succeeded by his nephew King Friedrich Wilhelm II. He left very strict instructions that he wished to be buried on the grounds of Sanssouci with little fuss or fanfare. However, his nephew had him buried in the Garrison Church in Potsdam, with his father. During World War II, his remains were removed and hidden away, and were later found by American Forces and reburied at St Elisabeth’s Church in Marburg. In 1953, his remains were moved to Hohenzollern Castle where they remained until 1991. Finally, on the 205th anniversary of his death, Fredrick the Great’s wishes were granted. His casket lay in state in the court of honor at Sanssouci with a guard of honor. Late that night, he was laid to rest in the plot he had designated before his death – on the terrace overlooking the vineyards at Sanssouci – near the graves of his beloved dogs.

Grave of Frederick the Great. Photo: Wikipedia

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Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Queen of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, Credit – Wikipedia

On November 6, 1817, a great tragedy struck the British Royal Family. Twenty-one-year-old Princess Charlotte of Wales, the only child of George, Prince of Wales, died after delivering a stillborn son. At the time of her death, Charlotte, who was second in line to the throne, was the only legitimate grandchild of King George III, despite the fact that thirteen of his fifteen children were still alive. Her death left no legitimate heir in the second generation and prompted the aging sons of King George III to begin a frantic search for brides to provide for the succession.

One of the sons was William, Duke of Clarence (the future King William IV).  William had never married but had lived for 20 years with actress Dorothea Jordan.  Together they had ten illegitimate children, all of whom used the surname FitzClarence.  William and Dorothea had separated in 1811 and Dorothea received a yearly allowance and the custody of their daughters, while William received the custody of their sons.  There was a stipulation that Dorothea would not return to acting to retain the allowance and the custody of her daughters.  However, she did return to acting to help a son-in-law with a debt.  William then got custody of their remaining daughters and Dorothea lost her allowance.  She moved to France to escape creditors and died in poverty in 1816.  Soon after the death of Princess Charlotte of Wales, negotiations began for the marriage of William to Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, and the engagement was announced on April 19, 1818. William was 52 and Adelaide was 25.

Adelaide Louisa Theresa Caroline Amelia (in German Adelheid Luise Therese Karoline Amalie) was born in the Elisabethenburg Palace in Meiningen, Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen now in the German state of Thuringia, on August 13, 1792.  She was the elder daughter and first child of Georg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Luise Eleanore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.  Adelaide’s father died when she was 11-years-old and she, along with her younger siblings Ida and Bernhard, who became the reigning duke, were carefully raised by their mother and received an excellent education.

Adelaide’s siblings:

Adelaide and her mother traveled to England for her wedding and arrived in London on July 4, 1818. They stayed at Grillon’s Hotel where they were visited an hour after their arrival by the Prince Regent (the future King George IV) and William, who met his bride for the first time.  William and Adelaide were married on July 14, 1818, at Kew Palace in the presence of an ailing Queen Charlotte who died in November of the same year.  It was a double wedding as William’s brother Edward, Duke of Kent and Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, who had married in May at Coburg, were remarried by the Anglican rite at the same time.  Despite the age difference, William and Adelaide’s marriage was a happy one.  Adelaide was a good influence on William keeping his eating, drinking, and behavior in line.  She was also a kind stepmother to the six children of William and Dorothea Jordan who were still at home.

Adelaide loved children but was destined not to have one of her own.  Her first child was born prematurely on March 27, 1819, as a result of Adelaide being ill with pleurisy.  The baby girl was christened Charlotte Augusta Louisa and died the same day.  Adelaide suffered a miscarriage on September 5, 1819.  On December 19, 1820, Adelaide gave birth to a girl, Elizabeth Georgiana Adelaide, six weeks prematurely.  Princess Elizabeth, who had been healthy despite being premature, died 12 weeks later on March 4, 1821, of the then-inoperable condition of a strangulated hernia.  Twin boys were stillborn on April 23, 1822.

A child of William and Adelaide would have succeeded to the throne as William’s two elder brothers (George IV and Frederick, Duke of York) had no surviving children.  Adelaide wrote to her widowed sister-in-law the Duchess of Kent, “My children are dead, but your child lives, and she is mine too.”  That child was the future Queen Victoria.  Adelaide had close and loving relationships with her stepchildren and step-grandchildren, with her brother and sister’s children, and with William’s nieces and nephews, the future Queen Victoria and the Cambridge children.  Queen Victoria used the name Adelaide in honor of her aunt when she gave birth to her first child Victoria Adelaide Mary Louise and Adelaide was one of the godparents.

Recumbent effigy of Princess Elizabeth of Clarence in the Grand Corridor of Windsor Castle, Credit – Wikipedia

William succeeded to the throne when his brother King George IV died on June 26, 1830, and both William and Adelaide were crowned on September 8, 1831.  During William’s reign, Adelaide was admired by the British people and helped her husband with the proper etiquette and often covered many of his gaffes.   Both William and Adelaide were very fond of their niece Princess Victoria of Kent who was the heiress presumptive and wanted to be closer to her.  However, the Duchess of Kent did not allow this. In addition, she was rude to Queen Adelaide by refusing to recognize the Queen’s precedence, ignoring her letters, and taking space in royal stables and apartments for her own use.  At dinner, in front of Queen Adelaide, the Duchess of Kent, Princess Victoria of Kent, and many guests, King William announced that the Duchess of Kent did not know how to behave and he was insulted by her behavior. He further said that he hoped he did not die until Victoria was 18 so that the Duchess would not serve as Regent.  The King, Queen, and Duchess never fully reconciled, but Victoria always viewed the King and Queen with kindness.

King William IV and Queen Adelaide, Credit – Wikipedia

King William IV died of heart failure on June 20, 1837, at Windsor Castle and Victoria had turned 18 on May 24.  Adelaide had stayed at her husband’s side for three weeks, not sleeping in her bed for the last 10 days.  Adelaide was the first Queen Dowager in more than a century, the last one being Catherine of Braganza, King Charles II’s widow.  She survived William by 12 years, dying on December 2, 1849, at the age of 57 at Bentley Priory in Stanmore, Middlesex, England.  She was buried after a simple funeral in accordance with her wishes, in the Royal Tomb House beneath St. George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle where her husband had been buried.

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Caroline of Brunswick, wife of King George IV of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer

Caroline of Brunswick, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

August 7, 1821 – Death of Caroline of Brunswick, estranged wife of King George IV of the United Kingdom, at Brandenburg House in Hammersmith, London, England; buried at the Cathedral of St. Blasius in Brunswick, Germany

The marriage of Princess Caroline of Brunswick and the future King George IV, then Prince of Wales, was not one made in heaven.  The two did not meet until three days before their wedding.  The princess had just arrived in London and was staying in apartments at St. James’ Palace prior to her marriage and it was there on April 5, 1795 that Caroline and George first met.  The Prince of Wales came into the apartments to greet Caroline.  There was no one else there except James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, who had escorted Caroline to London from her native Brunswick, and he described the meeting in his diary:

“She very properly, in consequence of my saying to her it was the right mode of proceeding, attempted to kneel to him.  He raised her (gracefully enough), and embraced her, said barely one word, turned round, retired to a distant part of the apartment, and calling me over to him said, ‘Harris, I am not well; pray get me a glass of brandy.'”

Lord Malmesbury suggested a glass of water.  “Upon which he, out of humour, said, with an oath, ‘No, I will go directly to the Queen,’ and away he went.  The Princess, left during this short moment alone, was in a state of astonishment; and, on my joining her, said [in French], ‘ My God! Is that the Prince? I find him very fat, and not as handsome as his portrait.'”

And so started one of the most disastrous royal marriages.

Caroline Amalie Elisabeth was born on May 17, 1768 in Brunswick, Germany.  Her parents were Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Augusta, elder sister of King George III of the United Kingdom.  Caroline was not well-educated although she could understand French and English.  In 1794, Caroline became engaged to her first cousin George, the Prince of Wales.  Despite being first cousins, the two had never met.  George, who was in debt, had been promised a raise in his allowance if he married an acceptable princess. In 1785, George had married Maria Fitzherbert, but the marriage was invalid because it was against the Royal Marriages Act of 1772.

James Harris, 1st Earl of Malmesbury, who escorted Caroline to England had doubts about her appropriateness when he first met her in Brunswick.  He thought Caroline spoke her mind too readily, acted indiscreetly, and often neglected to wash, or change her dirty clothes.  He went on to say that she had “some natural but no acquired morality, and no strong innate notions of its value and necessity.”  On April 8, 1795, three days after their ill-fated first meeting, Caroline and George married at the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace in London.  On the day of his wedding, George told his brother William, Duke of Clarence to tell Mrs. Fitzherbert she was the only woman he would ever love.

William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Lord Melbourne) said about George as he walked down the aisle, “…the Prince was like a man doing  a thing in desperation, it was like Macheath [character from The Beggar’s Opera] going to execution; and he was quite drunk.”  Lord Malmesbury agreed in his diary that George literally had to be supported by the Duke of Bedford and the Duke of Roxburghe.  On the other hand, Caroline appeared joyful and chattered with George’s brother William, Duke of Clarence as she waited at the altar.  The wedding night was a disaster.  Caroline confided to Lady Charlotte Campbell, “Judge what it was to have a drunken husband on one’s wedding day, and one who passed the greatest part of his bridal night under the grate, where he fell and where I left him.”  Evidently George and Caroline performed their marital duty at least once because nine months later, on January 7, 1796, their only child Charlotte was born.  A little more than a year after the marriage, George and Caroline were living separately.
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George did not allow Caroline to have any part in their daughter Charlotte’s upbringing and ordered that Caroline’s visits to Charlotte had to be supervised by a governess.  However, some sympathetic staff did allow Caroline to be alone with Charlotte.  Princess Charlotte married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the uncle of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert.  Unfortunately, Charlotte died at age 21 of childbirth complications along with her baby.

Since Caroline was living in a household separate from her husband, she entertained whomever she pleased and there were rumors of affairs.  In 1802, Caroline adopted a three month old boy named William Austin and raised him in her home.  There were accusations that the boy was Caroline’s illegitimate son and a special commission was established called the Delicate Investigation to look into the matter.  The commission found that there was no evidence that the allegations were true.

After George became Prince Regent in 1811 upon the worsening of King George III’s illness, Caroline’s visits to Charlotte were cut off and she was further socially isolated.  Caroline was very unhappy with her situation and treatment and after Napoleon’s defeat in 1814, when she would be able to travel, she  negotiated a deal with the Foreign Secretary to leave the United Kingdom in exchange for an annual allowance of £35,000.  Caroline spent several years traveling through Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Tunisia, Malta, Greece, and Palestine.  She established a household in Milan, Italy and hired Bartolomeo Pergami and his sister as servants.  Pergami rose to become the head of Caroline’s household and rumors swirled that they were having an affair.

King George III died on January 29, 1820 and Caroline’s husband became king and she became, at least in name, queen.  Caroline decided to return to the United Kingdom to assert her rights as queen.  As she was traveling back to London, she received a proposition from her husband offering her £50,000 per year if she would continue to live abroad which she refused.  Caroline arrived back in London on June 5, 1820 where she was greeted by a stage-managed enthusiastic greeting.  King George IV wished to divorce Caroline and on July 5, 1820 the Pains and Penalties Bill was introduced into Parliament which would dissolve the marriage of George and  Caroline and deprive her of the title Queen of the United Kingdom.  During the reading of the bill, witnesses were called and there was effectively a public trial of Caroline.  The bill passed the House of Lords, but never made it to the House of Commons as there was little chance it would pass there.  Caroline joked with her friends that she had committed adultery only once, with the king, the husband of Mrs. Fitzherbert.

The Trial of Queen Caroline (she can be seen in the middle of the painting sitting in a chair), Photo Credit – Wikipedia

King George IV’s coronation was to take place on July 19, 1821, but no plans had made for Caroline’s participation.  Nevertheless, on the day of the coronation Caroline went to Westminster Abbey and demanded entrance, but was barred at every door.  When she demanded entrance to Westminster Hall where processions were being formed, the door was slammed in her face.  Finally, she left to the sound of jeering crowds.

On the evening of the coronation day, Caroline went to the Drury Lane Theatre and felt unwell.  She had suffered on and off from bowel problems and took a large amount of milk of magnesia and some laudanum.  When she did not feel better in two days, she sent for her doctor who diagnosed “acute inflammation of the bowels,” bled her, and gave her a large amount of calomel and castor oil.  Over the next three weeks, her condition worsened and it became apparent that she would die.  Caroline died on August 7, 1821 after a long night of pain.   The cause of her death is unknown.  Possibly there was a bowel obstruction or cancer, and there were rumors that Caroline had been poisoned.

Caroline had requested to be buried in her native Brunswick in a tomb bearing the inscription “Here lies Caroline, the Injured Queen of England.”  On August 14, 1821, her casket was to leave London and start its journey back to Brunswick.  It was decided that the funeral procession would avoid central London, but the crowd accompanying the procession blocked the planned route and forced the procession to go through London.  On August 25, 1821, Caroline’s casket was placed in the vault at the Cathedral of St. Blasius.  The reigning duke, Caroline’s nephew, ordered that a hundred young girls holding flowers and candles line the aisles as Caroline’s casket was brought into the cathedral.  In the vault, a prayer was said as the young girls encircled the casket and then extinguished the flames of their candles.

Coffin of Caroline of Brunswick, Photo Credit – http://www.findagrave.com

Wikipedia: Caroline of Brunswick

Recommended biography: The Unruly Queen: The Life of Queen Caroline by Flora Fraser

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King Otto of Greece

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

King Otto, 1867. Photo: Wikipedia

Prince Otto of Bavaria was born at Mirabell Palace in Salzburg, Austria on June 1, 1815, the second son of King Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

Otto had eight siblings:

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In 1832, the Convention of London established Greece as a kingdom, and the Great Powers appointed Otto to be the new kingdom’s first king. He was actually the second choice – the throne was initially offered to Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, who declined, choosing instead to become the first King of the Belgians. Only 17 at the time, Otto arrived in his new country on a British warship, accompanied by 3,500 Bavarian troops and his advisors, who would form a Regency Council to rule Greece until Otto’s majority. He quickly made steps to endear himself to the Greek people, even taking on the Greek version of his name – Othon.

In many ways, Otto stood no chance of truly being accepted by the Greek people. Although he deemed that his heirs would be raised in the Greek Orthodox faith, he himself refused to convert from  Roman Catholicism. Tasked with making Greece a viable and flourishing kingdom, heavy taxes were imposed to get the necessary funds to do so. Neither of these went over well with the population.

His marriage in 1836 to Amalia of Oldenburg at first seemed to calm the waters, as she was initially welcomed by the Greek people. However, she quickly became involved in the politics of the Kingdom, and her refusal to give up her Protestant faith and the couple’s lack of an heir led to her becoming greatly disliked by the people.

Having dismissed the Regency Council in 1835, Otto ruled as an absolute monarch for a few years, until uprisings from the Greek people, demanding a Constitution. His original Bavarian troops having left Greece, the King had no recourse but to give in to the demands and allow for a constitution and convention of a Greek National Assembly.

Throughout his reign, King Otto had the full support and backing of the three Great Powers. This would begin to change in 1850. The Athens home of a British subject was vandalized by a group of antisemitic Greeks, while the authorities watched and did nothing to stop it. This became known as the Pacifico Affair. The British quickly responded, demanding retribution and compensation for the victim. The British Royal Navy was sent in to block off Piraeus, the primary port in Athens. This led to tension between the three Powers, but the British held firm for several months until the Greek government finally agreed to settle the affair with Don Pacifico. Several years later, King Otto’s intent to join Russia in her battle against Turkey (supported by the other two Powers) in the Crimean War, proved to be another significant event in Otto’s reign. Again, the British blocked off the port of Piraeus, forcing Greece to reconsider and remain neutral.

While away from Athens in 1862, a coup led to the formation of a provisional government, and Otto was deposed. Under the advice of the Great Powers, Otto accepted the situation, and he again boarded a British warship and returned to Bavaria. He would continue to wear his Greek uniforms, and secretly gave most of his fortune to support the Greek troops in the Cretan Rebellion of 1866. He spent his exile living at the New Palace in Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria,  now in the German state of Bavaria, where he died on July 26, 1867. Otto was buried in the Wittelsbach Royal Crypt at the Theatinerkirche in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. At his specific request, he was buried in his Greek uniform.

Tomb of King Otto at the Theatinerkirche, Munich. Photo: Wikipedia

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Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

by Emily McMahon and Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Credit – Wikipedia

Duchess Luise of Mecklenburg, Princess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Luise Auguste Wilhelmine Amalie) was born in Hanover, Electorate of Hanover now in Lower Saxony, Germany on March 10, 1776.  She was third of the five daughters and the sixth of the ten children of Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his first wife Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt.

Luise had nine siblings:

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The family was connected to the British royal family as Carl’s sister Charlotte was the wife of King George III. During her childhood, Luise spent part of her early childhood at Leineschloss, the home of the Hanoverian kings. At the time, her father was the Governor-General of Hanover.  King George III was king and never visited Hanover so the residence was made available to the family.

Following her mother’s death in childbirth in 1782, Luise and her siblings were raised mostly by their maternal grandmother, Marie Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg. who  Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt, the brother of the reigning Landgrave Louis IX of Hesse-Darmstadt. Maria Louise Albertine made a comfortable home for the family in Darmstadt, Landgraviate of Hesse-Darmstadt now in Hesse, Germany, and her grandchildren grew quite fond of her. In her grandmother’s care, Luise was given her lessons and religious instruction primarily in French, but she later grew very fond of German literature. She was also encouraged to devote herself to acts of charity.

Luise and her sister Frederica attracted the attention of two Prussian princes. Luise was betrothed to the future King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia, while Frederica was engaged to his brother Ludwig Karl.  Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm married on December 24, 1793, and her sister married Ludwig Karl two days later. It was hoped that the double marriage would improve the bond between the two German states.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm in 1794; Credit – Wikipedia

Luise was wildly popular in Prussia from the start, and descriptions of her from this time speak of her grace, goodness, and beauty. The marriage was a happy one, and the couple raised their family rather quietly at Paretz Palace west of Berlin.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm had nine children:

Luise with her husband and children, circa 1806; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Wilhelm became King of Prussia in 1797. As queen, Luise traveled around Prussia with her husband, becoming more well-known and well-liked. Luise took it upon herself to stay well-versed in the affairs of the country, earning her the respect of her husband’s advisers. Friedrich Wilhelm similarly trusted his wife’s intelligence and good judgment, treating her as an unofficial adviser.

Prussia declared war on France in 1806. Following a resounding defeat by Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Jena-Auerstedt, Friedrich Wilhelm and Luise fled with their family to Königsberg in eastern Prussia. When Napoleon requested a meeting with Friedrich Wilhelm to discuss peace terms, Friedrich Wilhelm brought the pregnant Luise along to garner some sympathy from the French emperor. Napoleon was charmed when the pregnant queen begged him for mercy for Prussia. Napoleon did not budge in his terms for peace, but Luise was even more beloved in Prussia.  Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm were absent from Berlin for three years following the war with the French.

Luise and Friedrich Wilhelm meeting with Napoleon; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 19, 1810, while visiting her father at Schloss Hohenzieritz in Hohenzieritz, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, now in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, 34-year-old Luise died in her husband’s arms from an unidentified illness. The harshness of the French occupation may have hastened her death, as she often suffered from long bouts of ill health. Her grieving husband later instituted the Order of Louise in her name and her family mourned her death each year on July 19.  Luise was buried in the garden of Charlottenburg Palace, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany where a mausoleum was built over her grave.  Friedrich Wilhelm  III survived his wife by thirty years and was buried by her side.

Sarcophagus of Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Prussia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2013

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Her Grand Ducal Highness Princess Elisabeth Alexandra Louise Alice of Hesse and by Rhine was born on November 1, 1864, in Bessungen, Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany.  Ella, as she was called by her family, was the second daughter and the second of the six children of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (a daughter of Queen Victoria) and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and also the sister of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, wife of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia.

Ella in 1865; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Ella had six siblings:

Ella’s family in 1876, two years before the death from diphtheria of Ella’s mother and sister May: Her brother Friedrich, who was a hemophiliac, had died in 1874 after a fall. The photo shows Ella’s father Ludwig holding May, Victoria at his side, Ernest and Irene at the front, Ella with her hand on Irene’s shoulder and leaning against her mother, and Ella’s mother Alice holding on to Alix (the future Empress Alexandra Feodorovna), Photo: Wikipedia

Ella and her siblings received a very strict education and were encouraged to be humble.  They were brought up in a modest lifestyle for royalty, sweeping the floors and cleaning their own rooms, while their mother sewed clothes for her children.  The children spoke English with their mother and German with their father.

Ella was 14 years old in 1878 when her mother died, following an outbreak of diphtheria in the family which also took the life of her youngest sister, four-year-old May. Ella had been sent away to her paternal grandmother’s home at the beginning of the outbreak and was the only member of her family to remain unaffected. Much of the next years were spent, along with her sisters, under the supervision of their grandmother, Queen Victoria. The Queen had taken a particular interest in the children following Alice’s death, overseeing almost every aspect of their lives.

Victoria, Ella, Irene, and Alix grieving for their mother, February 1879; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Ella was charming and considered to be beautiful, so it is not surprising that she had a number of suitors.  Her first cousin, the future Wilhelm II, German Emperor, proposed to Ella, but she turned him down.  Another suitor who also got a “No” from Ella was Wilhelm’s first cousin, the future Friedrich II, Grand Duke of Baden, who was favored by Ella’s grandmother Queen Victoria.

The Hessian court had a special relationship with the Russian court since Ella’s great-aunt Marie of Hesse and by Rhine (Empress Maria Alexandrovna after her marriage) had married Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia.  The Empress regularly visited her homeland and was usually accompanied by her two youngest sons, Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich and Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich. Ella and Sergei, who was seven years older, got to know each other and eventually fell in love.  Queen Victoria was strongly against the idea of marriage, primarily due to her strong distaste for all things Russian. Despite the misgivings of the two families, Sergei was intent on making Ella his bride. In 1883, during a visit to the Hessian family’s hunting lodge Schloss Wolfsgarten, Sergei proposed and Ella accepted. The engagement was announced publicly in February 1884 when Sergei was again visiting Darmstadt.

Ella and Sergei in 1884; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The couple married on June 15, 1884, at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. As Ella had not yet converted to the Russian Orthodox religion, there were two ceremonies, one Lutheran and one Russian Orthodox. The wedding was attended by many royals from around Europe, with the noticeable exception of Queen Victoria. Instead, she was represented by two of her sons, The Prince of Wales, and Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh who had married Sergei’s sister. After her marriage, Ella was known as Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna.

Ella in 1885; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Following the wedding, the couple spent their honeymoon at Ilinskoye, Sergei’s country estate outside of Moscow, and then settled at the Sergeivsky Palace in St. Petersburg. In addition to these two homes, they also had a home on the grounds of Peterhof, and a house on the bank of the Moskva River. Serge and Ella did not have any children of their own. However, they later took in the children of Sergei’s brother Paul, Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna (the younger), and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich. The children’s mother had died in 1891 in childbirth, and they spent much time with Sergei and Ella. In 1902, when Paul entered into a morganatic marriage and was banished from Russia, he was not permitted to take the children, and they were formally put under the guardianship of Sergei and Ella.

Sergei with his foster children: Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

The couple were very close with Sergei’s brother, Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia, and his wife Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark), and were often asked to represent them at royal events elsewhere in the world. In 1887, they represented the Emperor at Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee, and the following year attended the consecration of the church of Saint Mary Magdalene in Jerusalem, which was built in memory of the brothers’ mother, the late Empress Maria Alexandrovna.  In 1894, Ella’s youngest surviving sister Alix married Sergei’s nephew Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia.  Alix and Nicholas had first met at Ella and Sergei’s wedding.

In 1891, Alexander III appointed Serge Governor-General of Moscow, and in the following years was also appointed to the Imperial State Council and made Commander of the Moscow military district.  Sergei’s nephew Nicholas became Emperor upon his father’s death in November 1894.  Over the next 11 years, Sergei would become more and more disenchanted with the policies and decisions of his nephew. Finally, after massive losses in the Russo-Japanese War, Sergei resigned from his position as Governor-General on January 1, 1905.

On February 17, 1905, Grand Duke Sergei left the Nicholas Palace in Moscow in his carriage, en route to the Governor General’s mansion where he was in the process of clearing out his office. He had just come through one of the gate towers when an assassin threw a nitroglycerin bomb into the carriage from just a few feet away. The bomb landed in Sergei’s lap and exploded. The Grand Duke was killed instantly, his body literally blown to pieces. The assassin, Ivan Kalyayev, who was injured in the attack, was promptly arrested and later executed. Ella, having heard the blast from the Nicholas Palace, rushed to the scene and began to gather what was left of her husband’s body.

Four years after her husband’s assassination, Ella sold all her jewelry and with the proceeds opened the Convent of Saints Martha and Mary and became its abbess.  A hospital, pharmacy, and orphanage were opened on the convent’s grounds, and Ella and her Russian Orthodox nuns spent their time serving the poor of Moscow.

Ella in her nun’s habit; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After the Russian Revolution, Ella was arrested in 1918 by the Bolsheviks and was sent away to the Urals where she was later joined by five other Romanovs: Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, three sons of Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich: Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, Prince Konstantin Konstantinovich, Prince Igor Konstantinovich, and a son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich:  Prince Vladimir Pavlovich Paley.   Also in the group were Varvara Yakovleva, a nun from Ella’s convent, and Feodor Remez, Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary.  On May 20, 1918, they were all taken to Alapaevsk where they were kept in the Napolnaya School.

On July 18, 1918, the day after the shooting of Emperor Nicholas II and his family,  Ella and all of the people with her were thrown down a mineshaft near Alapayevsk by the Bolsheviks. All except Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich survived the fall.  Hand grenades were thrown down after them killing Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich’s secretary, Feodor Remez.   According to the personal account of Vassili Ryabov, one of the killers, the singing of hymns was heard after the grenade explosions.  Ryabov threw another grenade into the mine shaft, but the singing continued.  Finally, wood and brush were set on fire and thrown into the mine shaft.

Romanovs killed with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna who was 53 years old when she died; All photos from Wikipedia

Grand Duke Sergei Mikhailovich, 48 years old, grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Ioann Konstantinovich, 32 years old, son of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich who was a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Igor Konstantinovich, 24 years old, son of Grand Duke Konstantine Konstantinovich who was a grandson of Emperor Nicholas I. photo: Wikipedia

Prince Vladimir Paley, 21 years old, son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, a son of Emperor Alexander II. photo: Wikipedia

Three months later, White Army soldiers found the remains of the victims.  Ella’s remains eventually were interred at the St. Mary Magdalene Convent on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem along with the remains of her fellow nun Varvara Yakovleva.  Princess Alice of Battenberg, the mother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the niece of Ella, asked to be buried with her aunt.  Princess Alice had founded a nursing order of Greek Orthodox nuns, the Christian Sisterhood of Martha and Mary, which was modeled after her aunt’s order of nuns. When Princess Alice died in 1969, she was interred at St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle, but her remains were transferred to St. Mary Magdalene Convent in 1988.

Tomb of Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna; Photo Credit – Автор: Deror Avi – собственная работа, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=6527236

Ella was canonized as a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia in 1981, and in 1992 by the Moscow Patriarchate as New Martyr Elizabeth.  She is one of the ten 20th-century martyrs depicted in statues above the Great West Door of Westminster Abbey in London, England.  Ella’s convent was closed in 1920 during the Soviet regime, but the convent was re-opened in 1994 and the sisters there continue doing the work Ella started.

Statue of Elizabeth (far left) and other martyrs of the 20th century at Westminster Abbey in London; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Recommended Books

  • Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia – Hugo Mager
  • The Life and Death of Ella, Grand Duchess of Russia: A Romanov Tragedy – Christopher Warwick

Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine

by Emily McMahon  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Scandal followed Alexander in one way or another for much of his life. Born in Darmstadt in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany, on July 15, 1823, Alexander Ludwig Georg Friedrich Emil was the third son of Ludwig II, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and Wilhelmina of Baden. At the time of Alexander’s birth, the couple had been living apart for some time. Alexander’s biological father may have been August Ludwig, Freiherr von Senarclens de Grancy, his mother’s chamberlain and lover. August is believed to have fathered Wilhelmina’s youngest four children. Nevertheless, Ludwig claimed all of Wilhelmina’s children as his own.

Alexander had four siblings:

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In 1841, Alexander accompanied his sister Marie on her journey to Russia to marry the future Alexander II. After the wedding, Alexander stayed for a time in Russia, where he became close to his sister’s imperial in-laws. Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia was so impressed by Alexander that he considered marrying the Hessian princes to one of the daughters of his brother Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich.

However, Alexander had fallen in love with Julia Hauke, one of Marie’s ladies-in-waiting and the daughter of the former minister of war. Although forbidden by Nicholas I to marry, the couple married anyway in 1851 as Julia was already pregnant with their first child. The marriage forced the couple to leave Russia, but the two were allowed to settle in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. However, the marriage was viewed as morganatic which removed any future children from the Hesse and by Rhine line of succession. Julia was granted the title of Countess of Battenberg, a castle in Hesse and by Rhine. Eventually, the two regained some of their favor in Russia and Hesse and Hesse and by Rhine.

Julia and Alexander; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander and Julia had five children.  Through their son Louis, they are the ancestors of the British Royal Family and through their son Henry, they are ancestors of the Spanish Royal Family.

Alexander’s second son, also named Alexander, was named Prince of Bulgaria in 1879, with help from his uncle, Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. The younger Alexander ruled Bulgaria under considerable turmoil until 1886 when he was forced to resign. In the following years, Alexander was the object of affection of Victoria of Prussia, another granddaughter of Queen Victoria. A possible marriage between Alexander and Victoria was long debated in Prussia but was eventually vetoed due to Alexander’s now-sour relationship with Russia. The younger Alexander eventually made his own morganatic marriage to actress Johanna Loisinger.

Alexander died of cancer at the age of 65 on December 15, 1888, in Seeheim, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany. He was first buried in the Altes Mausoleum in the Rosenhöhe in Darmstadt.  In 1894, his remains were moved to the newly built Mausoleum on the grounds of Heiligenberg Castle, where his wife’s remains were also interred after her death in 1895.  In 1902, the mausoleum was converted to a memorial chapel, and Alexander and Julia’s remains were moved to a gravesite just outside of the mausoleum.

In the foreground, the graves of Alexander and his wife Julia; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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