by Susan Flantzer

• Hereditary Prince Emanuel of Salm-Salm and Prince Louis Murat
• Timeline: August 1, 1916 – August 31, 1916
• A Note About German Titles
• August 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

Hereditary Prince Emanuel of Salm-Salm

During the month of August 1916, two princes from non-reigning houses were killed in action. Hereditary Prince Emanuel of Salm-Salm was killed in action August 19, 1915 in Pinsk, Russia (now in Belarus) and Prince Louis Murat was killed in action on August 21, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme in France.

Hereditary Prince (Erbprinz in German) Emanuel of Salm-Salm was born November 30, 1871 at Münster, Westphalia, now in Germany. He was the eldest of the eight children of Alfred, 7th Prince of Salm-Salm (Fürst zu Salm-Salm in German) and Rosa, Countess of Lützow (Gräfin von Lützow in German) from an old Mecklenburg noble family.

The Principality of Salm-Salm was a state of the Holy Roman Empire, originally located in the northwest of present-day France. In 1790, after the French Revolution, the Salm-Salm princely family fled their principality and moved to their castle in Anholt, Westphalia, now in Germany. Salm-Salm then was besieged by the revolutionary army, which blocked food supplies from reaching the state and the people of Salm-Salm were forced to surrender to France. On March 2, 1793, the French National Convention declared Salm-Salm to be a part of the French Republic. In 1802, together with the Prince of Salm-Kyrburg, the Prince of Salm-Salm was granted new territories formerly belonging to the Bishops of Münster in Westphalia. The new territory was governed in union with Salm-Kyrburg and was known as the Principality of Salm.  Each Prince had equal sovereign rights, but neither had a separate territory. Anholt Castle was the residence of the Salm-Salm family.

In 1806, the Principality of Salm became a part of the Confederation of the Rhine (1806-1813) established by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French when the Holy Roman Empire was renounced. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna, whose objective was to provide a long-term peace plan for Europe by settling critical issues arising from the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, gave the Principality of Salm to the Kingdom of Prussia and it became the westernmost part of the Prussian Province of Westphalia. The Principality of Salm became one of the German mediatized states, a state that was annexed to another state, while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign.

Emanuel grew up with his seven younger siblings in Anholt Castle:

• Princess Marie Emma (1874 – 1966), became a nun
• Princess Henriette (1875 – 1961), married Carlo Lucchesi Palli, 10th Prince of Campofranco, Duke of Grazia, had issue
• Prince Franz (1876 – 1964), married Maria Anna,Baronin von und zu Dalberg , had issue
• Princess Rosa (1878 – 1963), married Karl, Graf zu Solms-Laubach, had issue
• Prince Alfred (1879 – 1952), unmarried
• Princess Augusta (1881 – 1946), married Felix, Count Droste zu Vischering by Nesselrode-Reichenstein, had issue
• Princess Eleonore (1887 – 1978), married to Carl Rieniets, no issue

On May 10, 1902 in Vienna, Austria, Emanuel married Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria-Teschen, Princess of Hungary, Bohemia, and Tuscany.  Maria Christina was the eldest child of Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen, a member of the House of Habsburg and the Supreme Commander of the Austro-Hungarian Army during World War I, and Princess Isabella of Croÿ. Maria Christina’s paternal aunt was Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria, second wife of King Alfonso XII of Spain.

Emanuel and Maria Christina had five children:

• Princess Isabelle of Salm-Salm (1903 – 2009) married Felix, Graf von Loë, had issue
• Princess Rosemary of Salm-Salm (1904 – 2001), married Archduke Hubert Salvator of Austria, son of Archduke Franz Salvator of Austria and his wife Archduchess Marie Valerie of Austria, who was the youngest child of Emperor Franz Joseph of Austria and Elisabeth of Bavaria (“Sisi”), had issue
• Nikolaus Leopold, 8th Prince of Salm-Salm (1906 – 1988) married (1) Princess Ida of Wrede (div. 1948), had issue (2) Eleonore von Zitzewitz (div. 1961), had issue (3) Maria Moret, had issue (4) Christiane Kostecki, no issue
• Princess Cäcilie of Salm-Salm (1911 – 1991), married Franz Josef, 6th Prince of Salm-Reifferscheidt-Krautheim and Dyck, had issue
• Prince Franz of Salm-Salm (1912 – 1917), died young

Before the start of World War I, Emanuel had been an unofficial Captain in the Imperial German Army’s Gardes du Corps, the personal bodyguard of the King of Prussia and, after 1871, of the German Emperor. He had permission to wear the Gardes du Corps’ uniform, but was not an active officer. During World War I, Emanuel served in the Imperial German Army under General Felix, Graf von Bothmer in Corps Bothmer, a unit raised to help defend the passes of the Carpathian Mountains against Russian attacks that directly threatened Hungary.

From June-September 1916, the Corps Bothmer participated in the Brusilov Offensive, named after the commander in charge of the Southwestern Front of the Imperial Russian Army, General Aleksei Brusilov. The Brusilov Offensive was a successful major Russian attack against the armies of the Central Powers (Austria-Hungary, German Empire, Ottoman Empire) on the Eastern Front in an area of present-day western Ukraine. It was the high point of the Russian effort during World War I and one of the most lethal offensives in history with 1,600,000 causalities.

On the morning on August 18, 1916, Emanuel was serving as interim commander of 2nd Squadron of the Corps Bothmer, leading a squadron of about 150 horses and five officers. He received a deadly shrapnel wound to the head and died at the age of 44 without regaining consciousness, during the night in a field hospital in Pinsk, then part of the Russian Empire, but occupied by the German Empire, and now in Belarus.

Maria Christina, Emanuel’s widow, continued to live at Castle Anholt until her death in 1962 at the age of 82. She was she was buried in the royal crypt in the chapel at Castle Anholt in Westphalia.

Prince Louis Murat

Louis Marie Michel Joachim Napoleon Murat, Prince Murat was born on September 8, 1896 in Rocquencourt, Yvelines, France. He was the seventh of the eight children of Joachim Napoléon Murat, 5th Prince Murat and Marie Cécile Ney d’Elchingen. The House of Murat, collectively known as Princes of Murat, is a noble family created by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French for his brother-in-law Joachim-Napoléon Murat, Marshal of France, Admiral of France, and King of the Two Sicilies. Joachim married Napoleon’s youngest sister Caroline.  Prince Louis Murat was the great-great grandnephew of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, and the great-great-grandson of Napoleon’s sister Caroline Bonaparte and her husband Joachim Murat.

Prince Louis’ father, Joachim Napoléon Murat, 5th Prince Murat, was a childhood friend of Louis Napoléon, Prince Imperial, the only child of Napoléon III, Emperor of the French and his wife Eugénie de Montijo. Following the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, which resulted in the fall of Napoléon III, Joachim and his parents left France to accompany the Imperial Family into exile in England. Once peace returned in France, the Murats returned to France, where they acted as an intermediary between the former emperor and his son and Bonapartist movement in France, which hoped to restore the House of Bonaparte and its style of government. After the deaths of the former emperor and his son, Joachim continued working with the Bonapartist movement.

Prince Louis Murat had seven siblings:

• Joachim, 6th Prince Murat (1885–1938), married Louise Amélie Plantie, had issue including Joachim Murat, 7th Prince Murat who was killed in action during World War II
• Princess Marguerite (1886–1956), married Baron Edgar Lejeune who was killed in action in 1914, had issue
• Prince Pierre (1887–1888), died young
• Prince Alexandre (1889–1926) married Yvonne Gillois, had issue
• Prince Charles (1892–1973), married Margaret Rutherford, no issue
• Prince Paul (1893–1964) married Solange de La Rochefoucald, had issue
• Prince Jérôme (1898–1992), married (1) Nicole de L’Espée, had issue; (2) Marthe Hafner, had issue

In 1915, Louis volunteered with the 5th Cuirassier Regiment of the French Army. On August 17, 1916, the regiment was sent to the front, specifically to the village of Lihons, France on the plateau of Santerre, to the east of the River Somme where the Battle of the Somme, one of the deadliest battles in history, was being fought. Louis was killed in action by the explosion of a rifle grenade on August 21, 1916, north of Lihons, at the age of 19.

The Murat family decided to bury Louis where he had died. His tomb is located outside the village of Lihons, in a wooded park that the Murat family gave to the village in 1961. Unfortunately in June of 2007, Louis’ tomb was vandalized and the medallion under the eagle was stolen. To avoid further damage, the village of Lihons decided to keep the eagle in the city hall and then replaced the eagle and the medallion with plaster copies.

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Timeline: August 1, 1916 – August 31, 1916

• July 1 – November 18 – Battle of the Somme in Somme, Picardy, France
• July 23 – August 7 – Battle of Pozières in France (Initial phase of the Battle of the Somme)
• July 24 – August 8 – Battle of Kowel in Galicia (now in Poland and Ukraine)
• August 3–5 – Battle of Romani in the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt
• August 6 – Battle of Doberdo in Gorizia-Doberdò del Lago, Italy
• August 9–18 – First Battle of Doiran near Lake Dojran, present-day Republic of Macedonia
• August 24 – Battle of Mlali in East Africa
• August 27 – Romania enters the war on the Entente’s side. The Romanian army is defeated in a few weeks. See Romania during World War I.
• August 27 – December – Conquest of Romania by Central Powers
• August 27 – November 26 – Battle of Transylvania in Romania, a phase of the conquest of Romania
• August 28 – Italy declares war on Germany
• August 29 – Paul von Hindenburg replaces Erich von Falkenhayn as German Chief of Staff

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A Note About German Titles

Many German royals and nobles died in World War I. The German Empire consisted of 27 constituent states, most of them ruled by royal families. Scroll down to German Empire here to see what constituent states made up the German Empire.  The constituent states retained their own governments, but had limited sovereignty. Some had their own armies, but the military forces of the smaller ones were put under Prussian control. In wartime, armies of all the constituent states would be controlled by the Prussian Army and the combined forces were known as the Imperial German Army.  German titles may be used in Royals Who Died In Action below. Refer to Unofficial Royalty: Glossary of German Noble and Royal Titles.

24 British peers http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peerage were also killed in World War I and they will be included in the list of those who died in action. In addition, more than 100 sons of peers also lost their lives, and those that can be verified will also be included.

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August 1916 – Royals/Nobles/Peers/Sons of Peers Who Died In Action

The list is in chronological order and does contain some who would be considered noble instead of royal. The links in the last bullet for each person is that person’s genealogical information from Leo’s Genealogics Website or to The Peerage website. If a person has a Wikipedia page, their name will be linked to that page.

Giuseppe Maria Giustiniani-Bandini

• son of Charles Giustiniani-Bandini Giustiniani-Bandini, 9th Earl of Newburgh and Donna Maria Lanza di Trabia
• born September 3, 1896
• unmarried
• killed in action August 11, 1916 at Monfalcone, Italy while fighting with the Italian Army, age 19
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p54106.htm#i541055

Lieutenant The Honorable Brian Danvers Butler

• son of Captain John Vansittart Danvers Butler, 6th Earl of Lanesborough and Anne Elizabeth Clark
• born April 18, 1876 in Swithland, Leicestershire, England
• unmarried
• killed in action Aug 18, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme while fighting with the British Army, age 40
• Leicestershire County Council War Memorials Project: Lieutenant Brian Danvers Butler
• http://www.thepeerage.com/p65904.htm#i659040

Emanuel, Erbprinz zu Salm-Salm (Hereditary Prince of Salm-Salm (see article above)

• eldest son and heir of Alfred, 7th Fürst zu Salm-Salm and Rosa, Gräfin von Lützow
• born November 30, 1871 at Münster, Westphalen, Germany
• married May 10, 1902 Maria Christina, Archduchess of Austria, had five children
• killed in action August 19, 1915 in Pinsk, Russia (now in Belarus) fighting with the Imperial German Army, age 44

Prince Louis Marie Michel Joachim Napoléon Murat (see article above)

• son of Joachim Napoléon Murat, 5th Prince Murat and Marie Cécile Ney d’Elchingen
• born September 8, 1896 at Rocquencourt, Yvelines, France
• killed in action on August 21, 1916 at the Battle of the Somme while fighting with the French Army, age 19
• great-great nephew of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, great great grandson of Napoleon’s sister Caroline Bonaparte and her husband Joachim-Napoléon Murat, Marshal of France, Admiral of France, and King of the Two Sicilies