Category Archives: German Royals

Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: The County of Schwarzburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1195 to 1595, when it was partitioned into Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The new counties remained in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution. In 1697, the County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710.

The death of Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen without an heir in 1909 caused the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to be united under Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in a personal union. Following his succession in Sondershausen, Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

At the end of World War I, Prince Günther Victor was the last German prince to renounce his throne, abdicating on November 22, 1918. He made an agreement with the government that awarded him an annual pension and the right to use several of the family residences. The territory that encompassed the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is now located in the German state of Thuringia.

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Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was the wife of Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt who reigned 1744 – 1767. Born on May 5, 1724, in Weimar, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in the German state of Thuringia, Bernardina Christina was the seventh of the eight children and the youngest of the four daughters of Ernst August I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his first wife Eleonore Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Köthen. Bernardian Christina’s paternal grandparents were Johann Ernst III, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and his first wife Sophie Auguste of Anhalt-Zerbst. Her maternal grandparents were Prince Emmanuel Lebrecht of Anhalt-Köthen and Gisela Agnes of Rath, Countess of Nienburg.

Bernardina Christina had seven siblings but only Bernardina and two sisters survived childhood:

Wilhelm Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1717 – 1719), died in early childhood
Princess Wilhelmine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1717 – 1752), twin of Wilhelm Ernst, unmarried
Johann Wilhelm, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1719 – 1732), died in his teens
Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1720 – 1724), died in childhood
Princess Johanna of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1721 – 1722), died in infancy
Princess Ernestine Albertine of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1722 – 1769), married (first wife) Philipp, Count of Lippe-Alverdissen, had four children
Prince Emmanuel Frederick of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1725 – 1729), died in childhood

In 1726, when Bernardina Christina was only two years old, her 30-year-old mother died. Bernardina Christina’s father was deeply affected by his wife’s death. Ernst August I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach decided to not marry again, choosing to live quietly with his mistresses. However, in 1732, Ernst August’s only surviving son Johann Wilhelm, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach died and it became necessary for Ernst August to marry again to provide an heir to his throne.

On April 7, 1734, 10-year-old Bernardina Christina got a stepmother when her father married Sophie Charlotte of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Bernardina Christina had four half-siblings from her father’s second marriage:

Karl August, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1735 – 1736), died in infancy
Ernst August II Konstantin, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1737 – 1758), married Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had two sons including Karl August who became Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach when he was nine months old and was the first Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Princess Ernestine Auguste of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1740 – 1786), married Ernst Friedrich III Karl, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen, had three children
Prince Ernst Adolf (1741 – 1742), died in infancy

Bernardina Christina’s husband Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 19, 1744, in Eisenach, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in the German state of Thuringia, 20-year-old Bernardina Christina married 23-year-old Johann Friedrich, who had become the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt just two months earlier.

Bernadina Christina and Johann Friedrich had six children but only two daughters survived childhood:

Princess Friederike of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1745 – 1778), married her first cousin once removed Friedrick Karl, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, had six children including Ludwig Friedrich II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Daughter (born and died 1746)
Son (born and died 1747)
Princess Sophie Ernestine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1749 – 1754), died in childhood
Princess Wilhelmina of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1751 – 1780) married Ludwig I, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken, had one son
Princess Henrietta Charlotte of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1752 – 1756), died in childhood

Bernadina Christina was active in charitable causes. In 1756, she founded the Bernardina Abbey for noblewomen in Rudolstadt. However, she did not live to see the inauguration of the abbey in 1757. On June 5, 1757, aged 33, Bernadina Christina died in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. She was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg (link in German), the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) in Schwarzburg, now in the German state of Thuringia.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas where Bernadina Christina and her husband are buried; Credit – Von Michael Sander – Selbst fotografiert, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=543007

Bernadina Christina was deeply mourned by her husband Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, who never remarried. Johann Friedrich survived his wife by ten years, dying at the age of 46 on July 10, 1767, in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried with his wife at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg. In the early 1940s, the remains of Johann Friedrich and Bernardina Christina were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German) in Rudolstadt before the demolition of the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg.

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Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2023. Johann Friedrich (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_(Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)> [Accessed 13 October 2023].
En.wikipedia.org. 2023. Ernest Augustus I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest_Augustus_I,_Duke_of_Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach> [Accessed 13 October 2023].
En.wikipedia.org. 2023. John Frederick, Prince Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frederick,_Prince_of_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt> [Accessed 13 October 2023].
En.wikipedia.org. 2023. Princess Bernardina Christina Sophia Of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Bernardina_Christina_Sophia_of_Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach> [Accessed 13 October 2023].
Flantzer, Susan,2020. Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/johann-friedrich-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ [Accessed 13 October 2023].
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 13 October 2023].

Auguste of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The County of Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire since 1180. In 1625, the much smaller County of Pyrmont became part of the much larger County of Waldeck through inheritance and the combined territory was known as the County of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In 1712, Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont was elevated to Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont by Holy Emperor Karl VI.

Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and Arolsen Forest. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont is located in the German states of Hesse and Lower Saxony

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Auguste of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Princess of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Credit- Wikipedia

The wife of Georg I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Princess Auguste of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (Albertine Charlotte Auguste) was born on February 1, 1768, Sondershausen, Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia. She was the third of the six children and the second of the three daughters of Prince August of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1738 – 1806), the grandson of Christian Wilhelm I, a reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, and Princess Christine of Anhalt-Bernburg. Auguste’s paternal grandparents were Prince August of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1691 – 1750) and Princess Charlotte Sophie of Anhalt-Bernburg. Her maternal grandparents were Viktor Friedrich, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg and Princess Albertine of Brandenburg-Schwedt.

Auguste had five siblings:

Prince Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1763 – 1791), married his first cousin Catarina of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, had one daughter
Princess Katharina of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1764 – 1775), died in childhood
Prince Wilhelm of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1770 – 1807), unmarried
Prince Alexius of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1773 – 1777), died in childhood
Princess Friederike of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1774 – 1806), married Friedrich Karl of Sayn-Wittgenstein and had three children

Auguste’s husband Georg of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Credit – Wikipedia

On September 12, 1784, at Otterwisch Castle in Otterwisch, Electorate of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony, sixteen-year-old Auguste married 37-year-old Prince Georg of Waldeck-Pyrmont, the son of Karl August, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Christiane Henriette of Zweibrücken-Birkenfeld. Georg was the heir of his unmarried brother Friedrich Karl August, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont who reigned 1763 – 1812.

Georg and Augusta had thirteen children. Seven of their children died either in childhood or in their early twenties:

Christiane of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1787 – 1806), Abbess of Schaaken, died at age 19
Karl of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1788 – 1795), died in childhood
Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1789 – 1845), married Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, had five children
Friedrich of Waldecka and Pyrmont (1790 – 1828), morganatically married Ursula Polle who was created Countess of Waldeck, had four children
Christian of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1792 – 1795), died in early childhood
Augusta of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1793 – 1794), died in infancy
Johann of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1794 – 1814), died at age 20
Ida of Waldeckaamd Pyrmont (1796 – 1869), married Georg Wilhelm Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, had nine children
Wolrad of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1798 – 1821), died at age 23
Mathilde of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1801 – 1825), married Eugen of Württemberg, had three children, died during her fourth pregnancy
Karl Christian of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1803 – 1846), married Amalie of Lippe-Biesterfeld, had one child
Karoline Christiane of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1804 – 1806), died in early childhood
Hermann of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1809 – 1876), married Agnes Teleki de Szék, had no children

Auguste in old age; Credit – www.geni.com

On September 24, 1812, upon the death of his childless elder brother Friedrich Karl August, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, Auguste’s husband 65-year-old Georg succeeded him as Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Georg had a short reign, dying on September 9, 1813. He was buried in the Princely Mausoleum at Schloss Rhoden (link in German) in Rhoden, Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. Auguste survived her husband by thirty-six years, dying on December 26, 1849, aged 81, in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. She was buried with her husband in the Princely Mausoleum at Schloss Rhoden.

Princely Mausoleum (on the right) and Cemetery; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Works Cited

August von Schwartzburg-Sondershausen. geni_family_tree. (2021). https://www.geni.com/people/August-von-Schwartzburg-Sondershausen/6000000094312734890
Flantzer, Susan. (2021). Georg I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/georg-i-prince-of-waldeck-and-pyrmont/
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Princess Augusta of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Augusta_of_Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Авґуста Шварцбург-Зондерсгаузенська (Augusta of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen). Wikipedia (Ukrainian). https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%90%D0%B2%D2%91%D1%83%D1%81%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%A8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3-%D0%97%D0%BE%D0%BD%D0%B4%D0%B5%D1%80%D1%81%D0%B3%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%B7%D0%B5%D0%BD%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0

Christina Sophia of East Frisia, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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Christina Sophia of East Frisia, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Christina Sophia of East Frisia (See Wikipedia: East Frisia) was the second of the two wives of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Born on March 16, 1688, in Bayreuth, then in the Margraviate of Brandenburg-Bayreuth, now in the German state of Bavaria, she was the second of the ten children and the eldest of the five children of Christian Eberhard, 3rd Prince of East Frisia and his first wife Princess Eberhardine Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen. Christina Sophia’s paternal grandparents were Georg Christian, Count of East Frisia and Duchess Christine Charlotte of Württemberg. Her maternal grandparents were Albrecht Ernst I, Prince of Oettingen-Oettingen and Duchess Christine Friederike of Württemberg. Sophia Christina’s grandmothers were sisters.

Christina Sophia had nine siblings:

Prince Leopold Ignaz of East Frisia (born and died 1687), died in infancy
Princess Marie Charlotte of East Frisia (1689 – 1761), married Friedrich Ulrich of East Frisia, had one daughter
Georg Albrecht, 4th Prince of East Frisia (1690 – 1734), married (1) Christiane Luise of Nassau-Idstein, had five children but only one survived infancy (2) Sophie Caroline of Brandenburg-Kulmbach, no children
Prince Ulrich Friedrich of East Frisia (born and died 1691), died in infancy
Prince Karl Enno of East Frisia (1692 – 1709), died in his teens
Princess Friederike Wilhelmine of East Frisia (1695 – 1750), unmarried
Prince Enno August of East Frisia (1697 – 1725), unmarried
Princess Juliana Luise of East Frisia (1698 – 1740), married Duke Joachim Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön, no children
Princess Christine Charlotte of East Frisia (1699 – 1733), unmarried

In 1700, when Christina Sophia was 12 years old, her 34-year-old mother Eberhardine Sophie died. A year after her mother’s death, Christina Sophia’s father Christian Eberhard morganatically married his late wife’s maid of honor, Anna Juliana von Kleinau, who received the title Freifrau (Baroness) von Sandhorst.

Christina Sophia had one half-sister from her father’s second marriage:

Antoinette Sophie Juliane von Sandhorst (1707 – 1725), died from smallpox, aged 18

In 1708, when Christina Sophia was 20 years old, her father Christian Eberhard, Prince of East Frisia, who had always been sickly, died, aged 42, and was succeeded by his 18-year-old son Georg Albrecht.

Christina Sophie’s husband Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 4, 1727, Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, the first wife of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, died. On January 6, 1729, Friedrich Anton married again to Christina Sophia. While their marriage was childless, Christina Sophia was the stepmother to her husband’s two surviving children from his first marriage:

Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1721 – 1767), married Bernardina Christiane of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four surviving daughters
Sophia Albertine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1724 – 1799), unmarried

During Christina Sophia’s marriage to Friedrich Anton, her husband issued letters of protection to Jewish families and allowed them to settle in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. These families developed into the Jewish community of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. In 1732, 2,000 Protestant exiles from Salzburg, Austria arrived in Rudolstadt. They had been expelled when Salzburg began enforcing Catholicism in 1731. They were welcomed with the ringing of church bells and a church service at the Stadtkirche St. Andreas Church (link in German) in Rudolstadt.

Schwarzburg Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

A year before Christiana Sophia’s marriage, a fire damaged Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) and the Schlosskirche (castle church, link in German). Reconstruction due to a 1695 fire had just been completed in 1713. A fire at Heidecksburg Castle (link in German) in 1735 caused two wings to be burned down to the ground floor. The reconstruction costs were substantial, and the reconstruction of Heidecksburg Castle was not completed until 1744, two months after Friedrich Anton’s death.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt died September 1, 1744, aged 52, in Rudolstadt. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Christina Sophia survived her husband by six years, dying on March 31, 1750, in Rudolstadt, aged 62, and was buried with her husband at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany, before the demolition of Schwarzburg Castle and Schlosskirche Schwarzburg by the German government, who planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. However, the construction was never completed, and the ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years until reconstruction of the original castle, which is still occurring, began.

Works Cited

Christian Eberhard ‘Der Friedsame’ von Ostfriesland, 3’er fürst zu ostfriesland (2022) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Christian-Eberhard-von-Ostfriesland-3-er-F%C3%BCrst-zu-Ostfriesland/6000000016072127364# (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Christian Everhard, Prince of East Frisia (2023). Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Everhard,_Prince_of_East_Frisia (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Christina Sophia von Ostfriesland (1688–1750) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christina_Sophia_von_Ostfriesland_(1688%E2%80%931750) (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Eberhardine Sophie von Oettingen-Oettingen (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eberhardine_Sophie_von_Oettingen-Oettingen (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-anton-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 07 September 2023).

Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress, 2nd wife of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Maria Joseph of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria was the second of the two wives of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor who also was the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands. Maria Josepha Antonia Walburga Felizitas Regula was born on March 20, 1739, in Munich, then in the Electorate of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. She was the seventh of the seven children and the youngest of the five daughters of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, also Karl I, Elector of Bavaria, and Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria. Maria Josepha’s paternal grandparents were Maximilian II Emanuel, Prince-Elector of Bavaria and his second wife Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska. Her maternal grandparents were Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg

Two of Maria Josepha’s siblings, her father’s successor Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria and Joseph Ludwig; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Josepha had six elder siblings but only three survived to adulthood

Princess Maximiliana Maria of Bavaria (born and died 1723)
Princess Maria Antonia of Bavaria (1724 – 1780), married Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony, had eight children
Princess Theresa Benedicta of Bavaria (1725 – 1743), died in her teens from smallpox
Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (1727 – 1777), married Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, no children
Prince Joseph Ludwig of Bavaria (1728 – 1733), died in childhood
Princess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria (1734 – 1776), married Ludwig Georg, Margrave of Baden-Baden, no children

Archduke Joseph of Austria, the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, was the eldest son of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, the only woman to be ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands in her own right. His father was born Prince François Étienne of Lorraine. Maria Theresa had arranged for her husband to be elected Holy Roman Emperor as Franz I but she wielded the real power and Joseph’s father was content to leave the act of reigning to his wife.

In the fall of 1763, there was an outbreak of smallpox in and around Vienna, and IIsabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria, the pregnant wife of Archduke Joseph of Austria, the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, became ill with smallpox. Isabella’s high fever induced labor three months early, and on November 22, 1763, she gave birth to a second daughter. The baby was baptized Maria Christina, as Isabella requested, but died the same day. Five days later, a month short of her 22nd birthday, Isabella died from smallpox. Joseph was devastated by Isabella’s death and never fully recovered. In a letter to Isabella’s father, Joseph wrote: “I have lost everything. My adorable wife and only friend is no more. (…) What a frightful separation! Can I survive it? Yes, and only to be unhappy all my life. (…) There is nothing I will enjoy ever again.”

Joseph did not want to marry again after Isabella’s death but his mother wanted him to provide a male heir. Some overtures were made to Isabella’s younger sister Maria Luisa of Parma but she was already promised to the future Carlos IV, King of Spain. At his mother’s insistence, Joseph married again to his second cousin Maria Josepha of Bavaria. Joseph did not find Maria Josepha physically attractive. After seeing her for the first time, he described her in a letter: “Her figure is short, thickset, and without a vestige of charm. Her face is covered with spots and pimples. Her teeth are horrible.”

Maria Josepha’s husband Joseph in 1765, the year of their marriage; Credit – Wikipedia

A proxy marriage was held in Munich on January 13, 1765, and then 23-year-old Joseph and 25-year-old Maria Josepha were married in person on January 25, 1765, at the Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. Holy Roman Emperors could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed them after their death. The elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans. In 1764, Joseph was elected and crowned King of the Romans and so Maria Josepha’s new title was Queen of the Romans

Maria Josepha as Holy Roman Empress, circa 1765; Credit – Wikipedia

During his unsuccessful marriage to Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Joseph’s father Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor died suddenly of a stroke or heart attack on August 18, 1765, at the age of 56, in his carriage while returning from the opera in Innsbruck, Austria. Since Joseph had been elected and crowned King of the Romans, the title of the elected heir to the Holy Roman Emperor, Joseph became Holy Roman Emperor but his mother Maria Theresa continued to wield the real power. On September 17, 1765, Joseph was elevated by his mother Maria Theresa to be her co-regent in the Habsburg hereditary lands. Maria Josepha, of course, held the female counterparts of Joseph’s titles.

Maria Josepha’s state of health led her and others to believe that she was pregnant. Joseph never loved Maria Josepha and the marriage was probably never consummated. Joseph avoided sharing a bedroom and even had their shared balcony in Schönbrunn Palace partitioned off so he would not have to see Maria Josepha. In a letter to his brother Leopold, Joseph wrote: “As for my empress, there is no change. She has no illness but considerable disturbance. She [Josepha] may be pregnant though without the slightest swelling. I just don’t understand it, and I console myself with the happy life I lead as a bachelor husband.”

Maria Josepha loved Joseph despite his frigid behavior toward her. She was naturally timid, always felt inferior, and trembled and turned pale in Joseph’s presence. Joseph’s father had been the only family member who gave Maria Josepha any support and with his death, that support was gone.

Tomb of Maria Josepha of Bavaria, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – By Krischnig at German Wikipedia – Own work., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5557276

A severe smallpox epidemic broke out in 1767, and Maria Josepha came down with the disease. Although Joseph, who had survived smallpox at an earlier time, had nursed his first wife Isabella as she was dying from smallpox, he did not visit Maria Josepha while she was ill. Her mother-in-law Maria Theresa, did and also caught the disease, but she survived. Maria Josepha was not so lucky. On May 28, 1767, a little more than two years after her marriage to Joseph, Maria Josepha, aged 28, died at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna, Austria. She was interred at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria

Joseph did have some regrets after Maria Josepha’s death. He told some close friends that he regretted the coldness he had shown to her, and surprisingly, Joseph told Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Electress of Saxony, Maria Josepha’s sister, that his wife had been “for so many reasons worthy of respect”. Despite this, Joseph did not attend Maria Josepha’s funeral and never visited her tomb. Joseph also never married again. He survived Maria Josepha by twenty-three years, dying from tuberculosis, aged 48, on February 20, 1790, in Vienna, Austria.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor also King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/joseph-ii-holy-roman-emperor-also-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia-archduke-of-austria/ (Accessed: 05 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Elector of Bavaria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/karl-vii-holy-roman-emperor/ (Accessed: 05 September 2023).
Maria Josepha of Bavaria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Josepha_of_Bavaria (Accessed: 05 September 2023).
Maria Josepha von Bayern (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Josepha_von_Bayern (Accessed: 05 September 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

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Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the first wife of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Born on August 9, 1693, in Saalfeld, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, Sophia Wilhelmina was the third of the eight children and the eldest of the five daughters of Johann Ernst IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his second wife Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen. Sophia Wilhemina’s paternal grandparents were Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg. Her maternal grandparents were Count Josias II of Waldeck-Wildungen and Countess Wilhelmine Christine of Nassau-Siegen.

Sophia Wilhelmina had seven siblings but only four survived childhood:

Wilhelm Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1691 – 1720), unmarried
Karl Ernst of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1692 – 1720), unmarried
Henriette Albertine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1694 – 1695), died in infancy
Luise Amaliaof Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1695 – 1713), died as a teenager
Charlotte of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (born and 1696), died in infancy
Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1697 – 1764), married Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, had four sons and four daughters
Henriette Albertine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1698 – 1728), unmarried

Sophia Wilhelmina had three half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Merseburg who died on August 2, 1686, giving birth to a stillborn son.

Christiane Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1681 – 1697), died as a teenager
Christian Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1683 – 1745), married Christiane Fredericka of Koss, no children
Charlotte Wilhelmine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1685 – 1767), married Philip Reinhard, Count of Hanau-Münzenberg, no children

In 1699, when Sophia Wilhelmina was six years old, her 34-year-old mother Charlotte Johanna died a little more than two months after giving birth to her eighth child. Sophia Wilhelmina’s father never remarried.

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Wilhelmina’s father undertook a marriage policy to create a better alliance with the Principality of Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. On February 8, 1720, in Saalfeld, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, 26-year-old Sophia Wilhelmina married 28-year-old Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Three years later, Sophia Wilhelmine’s younger brother, the future Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld married Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the younger sister of Sophie Wilhelmina’s husband.

Sophia Wilhelmina and Friedrich Anton had three children but only two survived childhood:

Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1721 – 1767), married Bernardina Christiane of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four surviving daughters
Sophia Wilhelmina of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1723)
Sophia Albertine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1724–1799), unmarried

The marriage of Friedrich Anton and Sophia Wilhelmina lasted only seven years as Sophia Wilhelmina died on December 4, 1727, aged 34, in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. She was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Wilhelmina’s husband Friedrich Anton married again, on January 6, 1729, to Christina Sophia of East Friesia, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian Eberhard of East Friesia and Eberhadine Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen. Unfortunately, the marriage was childless. Friedrich Anton survived his first wife Sophia Wilhelmina by fifteen years, dying on September 1, 1744, aged 52, in Rudolstadt. He was also buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, as was his second wife Christina Sophia when she died six years later.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany before the demolition of Schwarzburg Castle and Schlosskirche Schwarzburg by the German government who planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. However, the construction was never completed and the ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years until reconstruction of the original castle, which is still occurring, began.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-anton-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2019) Johann Ernst IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/johann-ernst-iv-duke-of-saxe-coburg-saalfeld/ (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 07 September 2023].
Princess Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sophia_Wilhelmina_of_Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
Sophie Wilhelmine von Sachsen-Saalfeld (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Wilhelmine_von_Sachsen-Saalfeld (Accessed: 07 September 2023).

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

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Princess Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was the wife of Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Born on December 22, 1670, in Gotha, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, Anna Sophie was the eldest of the eight children and the eldest of the six daughters of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his first wife Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels. Her paternal grandparents were Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg. Anna Sophie’s maternal grandparents were August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Anna Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Anna Sophie had seven younger siblings but only five survived childhood:

Princess Magdalene Sibylle of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1671 – 1673), died in early childhood
Princess Dorothea Maria of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1674 – 1713), married Ernst Ludwig I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, had five children
Princess Friederike of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1675 – 1709), married Johann August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, no children
Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676 – 1732), married Princess Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst, had seventeen children, only nine survived childhood including Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Wales who married Frederick, Prince of Wales (predeceased his father King George II of Great Britain), Augusta and Frederick are the parents of King George III of the United Kingdom
Prince Johann Wilhelm of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1677 – 1707), unmarried, General in the Imperial Army, killed at the Battle of Toulon
Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1679 – 1680), died in early childhood from smallpox
Princess Johanna of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1680 – 1704), married Adolf Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (second of three wives), no children

When Anna Sophie was ten-years-old, her mother Magdalena Sibylle died, aged 32, on January 7, 1681, just three months after giving birth to her last child. Later in 1681, Anna Sophie’s father Friedrich married a second time to Christine of Baden-Durlach, daughter of Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach and Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Friedrich’s second marriage to Christine of Baden-Durlach was childless.

Anna Sophie’s husband; Ludwig Friedrich, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 15, 1691, at Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, the nearly 21-year-old Anna Sophie married 24-year-old Ludwig Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the son and heir of Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and his wife Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Mühlingen. Emilie Juliane was the most productive of the German female hymn-writers, composing nearly 600 hymns. She was an early adherent of Pietism, a movement within Lutheranism that emphasized biblical doctrine, individual piety, and living a vigorous Christian life.

Anna Sophie’s daughter, also named Anna Sophie, who was the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by marriage and great-great-grandmother of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert; Credit – Wikipedia

Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie had thirteen children. Via their daughter, Anna Sophie who married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie are the ancestors of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, and their uncle Leopold I, King of the Belgians. The royal families of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are their descendants.

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1692 – 1744), married (1) Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had one son and two daughters (2) Christina Sophia of East Frisia, no children
Amalie Magdalene of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Sophie Luise
Sophie Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Amalie Magdalene
Sophie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1694 – 1776), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Wilhelm Ludwig of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1696 – 1757), married morganatically Caroline Henriette Gebauer who was created Baroness of Brockenburg, had three sons and two daughters
Christine Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1697 – 1698), died in infancy
Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1698 – 1720), unmarried
Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1699 – 1774), unmarried
Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1700 – 1780), married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had four sons and four daughters
Sophia Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1737), unmarried, twin of Friederike Luise
Friederike Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1787), unmarried, twin of Sophia Dorothea
Magdalena Sibylle of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1707 – 1795), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Ludwig Günther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1708 – 1790), married Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz, had two daughters and two sons

View of Schwarzburg Castle, lithograph around 1860; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1697, Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Ludwig Friedrich’s father, was raised to a Prince, and the County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was raised to a principality by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. However, Albrecht Anton chose not to accept his elevation due to his religious modesty which focused on the Pietism of his mother. He also wanted to avoid a confrontation with his neighbors, the dukes from the Ernestine lines of the House of Wettin, (whose duchy names began with “Saxe”) who had opposed his elevation. In 1710, the elevation to Prince was offered again and this time, Albrecht Anton accepted it. However, he did not publish notice of his elevation and continued to use the style Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. On December 15, 1710, Albrecht Anton died and his son Ludwig Friedrich succeeded him. Ludwig Friedrich published notice of the elevation to Prince in 1711 and began using the style Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on April 15, 1711. The elevation strengthened the position of the House of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt against the House of Wettin.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 24, 1718, Ludwig Friedrich I, aged 50, died in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg (link in German), the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German), in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Anna Sophie survived her husband by ten years, dying on December 28, 1728, at the age of 58, and was buried with her husband at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German) in Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, before the demolition of the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg and Schwarzburg Castle. The German government took possession of Schwarzburg Castle and compensated the widow of the last reigning prince. They planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. In June 1940, demolition began on Schwarzburg Castle, one of the most important Baroque castles in central Germany. In 1942, the construction was stopped and the Imperial Guest House was never finished. The ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years. The only thing that remained of the castle church was the tower dome but it was destroyed in a fire caused by fireworks on New Year’s Eve 1980. There has been much reconstruction on the castle especially after Schwarzburg Castle was transferred to the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation in 1994.

Works Cited

Anna Sophie von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Sophie_von_Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ludwig-friedrich-i-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 06 September 2023].
Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Duke_of_Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
Princess Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anna_Sophie_of_Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, was the brother of Marie, the first wife of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, Emma who married King Willem III of the Netherlands, and Helena, the wife of Queen Victoria’s hemophiliac son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and the mother of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Friedrich abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and Arolsen Forest. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont is located in the German states of Hesse and Lower Saxony

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Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Credit – By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-041-62 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482509

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont was the last heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont from 1946 until his death in 1967, and a convicted Nazi war criminal. Josias Georg Wilhelm Adolf was born on May 13, 1896, at Arolsen Castle in Arolsen, then in the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. He was the eldest of the four children and the eldest of the three sons of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe. Josias’ paternal grandparents were Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife Princess Helena of Nassau. His maternal grandparents were Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau. Through his father, Josias was the first cousin of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and two grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Charles Edward, the last reigning Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his sister Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone.

Josias had three younger siblings:

Prince Maximilian of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1898 – 1981), married Countess Gustava von Platen Hallermund, had three children
Princess Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1899 – 1948), married Nikolaus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg, had nine children
Georg Wilhelm of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1902 – 1971), married Countess Ingeborg von Platen Hallermund, had five children

Beginning in 1902, Josias was educated by private tutors. In 1912, he began to attend the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium (link in German) in Kassel, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hesse. In 1914, 18-year-old Josias passed the Notabitur (link in German), which replaced the usual Abitur, exams taken for a high school diploma, for students in the final years of high school who wanted to serve in the German Army during World War I.

When World War I broke out, Josias enlisted in the German army and was wounded several times, including a grazing shot to his head. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I and the end of all the German monarchies, Josias’ father Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont abdicated on November 13, 1918. He was the only German prince who refused to sign an abdication agreement. However, Friedrich did negotiate an agreement with the new government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and the Arolsen Forest.

On August 25, 1922, at Rastede Palace in Rastede, in Lower Saxony, Germany, Josias married Duchess Altburg of Oldenburg, the daughter of Friedrich August II, the last reigning Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and his second wife Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Josias and Altburg had four daughters and one son. Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, the two most powerful Nazis, were among the godparents of their only son Wittekind.

Princess Margarethe of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1923 – 2003), married Franz II, Count of Erbach-Erbach von Warthenberg-Roth, had two children, divorced in 1979
Princess Alexandra of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1924 – 2009), married Botho, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt, had two children
Princess Ingrid of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1931 – ), unmarried
Prince Wittekind, Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont (born 1936), married, Cecilia Countess Goëß-Saurau, had three sons
Princess Guda of Waldeck and Pyrmont (born 1939), married Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Wied, had two children, divorced in 1962

Josias, with the rank of an SS-Obergruppenführer; Credit – By Franz Langhammer – Retrieved from germanianternational.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11725055

Josias’ parents both lived through World War II but neither joined the Nazi Party. However, their eldest son Josias, his wife Altburg, and their eldest child Margarethe were members of the Nazi Party. Josias joined the Nazi Party in 1929 and by 1930, he was a member of the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS. The SS was the primary agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. In September 1930, Josias became the Adjutant and Staff Chief of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, and the main architect of The Holocaust. In 1933, Josias was promoted to the rank of SS Lieutenant General. He was promoted again in 1938, to the Higher SS and Police Leader for Weimar. In this position, he had supervisory authority over the Buchenwald concentration camp. His final rank was SS- Obergruppenführer, the highest commissioned SS rank and General of Waffen-SS. Members of the Waffen-SS were involved in numerous atrocities. At the Nuremberg Trials (1945 – 1946), the Waffen-SS was judged to be a criminal organization because of its direct involvement in numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Toward the end of World War II, Josias oversaw the efforts to conceal the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp by sending off inmates, resulting in thousands of deaths. Some inmates were sent on forced marches. Others were put in sealed trains for days. On one train trip that was supposed to last eighteen hours, only 300 of the 3,105 on the train survived the poor conditions, after days without any provisions for food or sanitation.

Josias; mug shot after being arrested; Credit – By unknown soldier or employee of the U.S. Army Signal Corps – Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4783531

Josias was captured by American General George Patton’s forces at the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 13, 1945, the day the camp was liberated. While he was in custody, Josias learned of the death of his father on May 26, 1946. Josias was now the Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont and began to use the title Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont but Josias would soon face two trials during the post-war period.

Josias in black facing the judges as a defendant at the Buchenwald Trial in 1947; Credit – Wikipedia

The Buchenwald Trial or United States of America vs. Josias Prince of Waldeck et al was a war crime trial conducted by the United States Army from April 11 to August 14, 1947, at the internment camp for war criminals, the SS and important witnesses in Dachau, Germany at the site of the former Dachau concentration camp. Thirty-one people, including Josias and many of the doctors responsible for Nazi human experimentation, were indicted for war crimes related to the Buchenwald concentration camp and its satellite camps, and all thirty-one defendants were convicted. On August 14, 1947, Josias was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and was sent to Landsberg War Criminal Prison Nr. 1 in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany.

On September 17, 1949, a denazification appeals court classified Josias as a Level 2 – Offender: Activist, Militant, or Profiteer, on the five-tier scale of the denazification system, with Level 1, Main Offender, being the worst. As a result, 70% of his property was seized along with other sanctions and fines.

On November 29, 1950, after serving just three years in prison, Josias was released. He was among the first to benefit from US High Commissioner for Germany John J. McCloy’s amnesty program. At the strong urging of the West German government, and under pressure from the West German people, McCloy approved recommendations for the commutation of sentences of some Nazi criminals. In 1953, Josias received an amnesty from Georg-August Zinn, Minister President of Hesse reducing his fine from the denazification appeals court by more than half of the original fine.

Schaumberg Castle where Josias spent his final years; Credit – By Carsten Steger – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122795425

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont spent the last years of his life in seclusion at Schaumburg Castle near Limburg an der Lahn in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He was investigated in the late 1950s and early 1960s in connection to atrocities at the Buchenwald concertation camp, the war-time murder of civilian workers, and the Röhm Purge of 1934, a series of political executions without trials intended to consolidate Hitler’s power. However, most investigations were discontinued because the statute of limitations had expired or guilt could not be proven.

Waldeck-Pyrmont Princely Mausoleum and Cemetery; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont died, aged, 71, on November 30, 1967, at Schaumburg Castle, and was buried in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden (link in German), the burial site of the Waldeck-Pyrmont family in Rhoden, now in the German state of Hesse. He was succeeded as Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont by his only son Prince Wittekind. Josias’ wife Altburg survived him by 34 years, dying on June 16, 2001, aged 98. She was buried with her husband in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2021). Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-prince-of-waldeck-pyrmont/
Petropoulos, Jonathan. (2009). Royals and the Reich. Oxford University Press.
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Buchenwald Trial. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald_trial
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Josias zu Waldeck und Pyrmont. German Wikipedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias_zu_Waldeck_und_Pyrmont
Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias,_Hereditary_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont

Ellen Bischoff-Korthaus, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe

Ellen Bischoff-Korthaus, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1647, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was formed through the division of the County of Schaumburg by treaties between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and the Count of Lippe. In 1808, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was raised to a Principality and Georg Wilhelm, Count of Schaumberg became the first Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Adolf II, the last Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and lived out his life in exile. In 1936, Adolf and his wife were killed in an airplane crash in Mexico.

Today, the territory that encompassed the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe is in the German state of Lower Saxony.

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Born Elisabeth Franziska von Bischoff-Korthaus on November 6, 1894, in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, and known as Ellen Bischoff-Korthaus, she was the wife of Adolf II, the last reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

Ellen was an actress under the stage name Ellen Korth. She had roles in two silent films in 1918: Othello, a play by William Shakespeare, directed by Max Mack, playing Desdemona, Othello’s wife, with renowned German actors Wilhelm Diegelmann, Julius Falkenstein, Max Gülstorff and Rosa Valetti, and Wanderratten (link in German) also directed by Max Mack and also with Wilhelm Diegelmann, Max Gülstorff and Rosa Valetti, and Rudolf Lettinger. After the films, Ellen concentrated on her stage career.

Adolf was not the first prince Ellen married. On August 24, 1918, she married Prince Eberwyn of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1882 – 1949), son of Alexis, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt, and Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Ellen was the second of Prince Eberwyn’s three wives. The couple divorced on December 13, 1919.

Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 10, 1920, in Berlin, Germany, 25-year-old Ellen married 37-year-old Adolf II, the last reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, the son of Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg. When his father died on April 29, 1911, Adolf became the reigning Prince of Schaumberg-Lippe. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, Adolf II was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and the Principality of Schaumberg-Lippe became the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe, and later part of Germany. Adolf was exiled from the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe and lived mostly in the Brionian Islands, then Italy, now in Croatia. After her marriage, Ellen used the title Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe. In 1919, Germany abolished noble and royal titles and the privileges that the titles endowed but titles were allowed as part of surnames. The marriage of Ellen and Adolf was childless.

While living in Italy, Ellen and Adolf were investigated by the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police) beginning in June 1934. They were later denounced by Kurt von Behr, head of the Nazi Party in Italy.

On March 26, 1936, Adolf, aged 53, and Ellen, aged 42, were killed in an airplane crash in Zumpango, Mexico, along with eight other passengers from Germany, Austria, and Hungary, and four crew members. Their plane developed engine trouble and crashed between the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl as they were flying from Mexico City, Mexico to Guatemala City, Guatemala. The plane had been chartered by Hamburg-American Line, which brought the Europeans to Mexico on a tour. It was the worst Mexican plane crash at that time.

Bückeburg Mausoleum; Credit – Von Corradox – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328133

The bodies of Adolf and Ellen were recovered and returned to Germany thanks to the intervention of Adolf’s youngest brother Friedrich Christian, who was aide-de-camp to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Friedrich Christian joined the Nazi Party in 1928, one of the first German princes to do so. He never distanced himself from the Nazi ideology and championed it until the end of his life. Initially, Friedrich Christian was against the idea of burying Ellen’s remains in the Bückeburg Mausoleum because he thought that she was not of Aryan origin. When Friedrich Christian was proven wrong, Ellen was buried with Adolf at the Bückeburg Mausoleum (link in German) on the grounds of Bückeburg Castle

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/adolf-ii-prince-of-schaumburg-lippe/ (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
IMDb (no date) Ellen Korth | actress, IMDb. Available at: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0466765/ (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1936. 14 Die In Worst Mexican Air Crash; Three Titled Germans Among Dead; Plane Carrying Ten Tourists From Europe And Four In Crew Falls Between Two Volcanoes, Killing All — Prince And Princess Adolf Of Schaumburg-Lippe Lose Lives. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/03/27/87926235.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0> [Accessed 1 September 2023].
Staedeli, Thomas. (no date) Portrait of the actress Ellen Korth by Thomas Staedeli. Available at: https://www.cyranos.ch/smkore-e.htm (Accessed: 01 September 2023).

Maria Amalie of Austria, Holy Roman Empress, Electress of Bavaria

Maria Amalie of Austria, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Learn more at Unofficial Royalty: What was the Holy Roman Empire?

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Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria was the wife of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor who was also Karl I, Elector of Bavaria. Born on October 22, 1701, at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria, Maria Amalie was the youngest of the three children and the second of the two daughters of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, King of Hungary and Princess Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg. Her paternal grandparents were Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor and his third wife Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg. Maria Amalie’s maternal grandparents were Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate.

Maria Amalie had two elder siblings. Her brother, her parents’ only son, died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday, eleven weeks before Maria Amalie’s birth.

Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1699 – 1757), married Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, had fourteen children
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1700 – 1701), died in infancy

Maria Amalie as a child, 1709; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Amalie was raised with her sister Maria Josepha who was less than two years older. Both girls received a strict Roman Catholic upbringing. Maria Amalie was proposed as a bride for Vittorio Amadeo, Prince of Piedmont, the heir to the Kingdom of Sicily and the Duchy of Savoy, in the hopes of improving relations between Austria and Sicily and Savoy. Vittorio Amedeo II, King of Sicily and Duke of Savoy was not in favor of the marriage and his son died from smallpox in 1715.

Karl of Bavaria, as a young man; circa 1717 – 1719; Credit – Wikipedia

At the imperial court in Vienna, Maria Amalie met Karl of Bavaria, the heir to the Electorate of Bavaria. Karl thought a marriage into the House of Habsburg would widen his dynastic and economic prospects. On October 5, 1722, Marie Amalie married Karl of Bavaria, son of Maximilian II Emanuel, Prince-Elector of Bavaria and his second wife Teresa Kunegunda Sobieska.

Two of Maria Amalie and Karl’s children, Karl’s successor Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria and Joseph Ludwig; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Amalie and Karl had seven children but only four survived to adulthood:

Princess Maximiliana Maria of Bavaria (born and died 1723)
Princess Maria Antonia of Bavaria (1724 – 1780), married Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony, had eight children
Princess Theresa Benedicta of Bavaria (1725 – 1743), died in her teens from smallpox
Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria (1727 – 1777), married Maria Anna Sophia of Saxony, no children
Prince Joseph Ludwig of Bavaria (1728 – 1733), died in childhood
Princess Maria Anna Josepha of Bavaria (1734 – 1776), married Ludwig Georg, Margrave of Baden-Baden, no children
Princess Maria Josepha of Bavaria (1739 – 1767), married her second cousin Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor, no children

Nymphenburg Palace; Credit – By Richard Bartz, Munich aka Makro Freak – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4083697

Maria Amalie and Karl lived at the Nymphenburg Palace in Munich, then in the Electorate of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. In 1726, after his father died, Karl became Elector of Bavaria. He maintained good relations with both the Habsburgs and France, continuing his father’s policies. In May 1727, after the birth of an heir to the Electorate of Bavaria, Karl gave Maria Amalie Fürstenried Palace in Munich as her own residence. Despite Karl having a mistress and an illegitimate son, Maria Amalie and Karl’s marriage was relatively happy. The couple had similar personalities and interests. They both enjoyed the pomp and the festive life at court and together they made the Bavarian court a cultural center. Maria Amalie enjoyed opera, politics, and hunting, and loved to travel. She supported churches and convents and had a close relationship with her sister-in-law Maria Anna Karoline of Bavaria (1696 – 1750), a Poor Clare nun.

During his reign, Maria Amalie’s grandfather Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor had devised the 1703 Mutual Pact of Succession, a succession device, because there was a lack of males in the family. The Mutual Pact of Succession effectively made Maria Josepha, Maria Amalie’s elder sister the heir presumptive to the Habsburg hereditary lands if neither of his sons, the future Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and the future Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor, had sons. However, when Maria Josepha and Maria Amalie’s 32-year-old father Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor died suddenly from smallpox in 1711, he was succeeded in the Habsburg hereditary lands by his brother Karl who was also elected Holy Roman Emperor. In 1713, Karl VI annulled the 1703 Mutual Pact of Succession with his Pragmatic Sanction which made his daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria the heir presumptive to the Habsburg hereditary lands instead of her cousin Maria Josepha. Both Maria Josepha and Maria Amalie would have to renounce their succession rights to the Habsburg hereditary lands before they were allowed to marry.

After Karl VI died in 1740, his daughter Maria Theresa succeeded to the Habsburg hereditary lands as the Queen of Hungary, Queen of Croatia, Queen of Bohemia, and Archduchess of Austria in her own right, the only female to hold those sovereign positions. However, as the son-in-law of the late Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I and brother-in-law of Archduchess Maria Josepha, Karl, Elector of Bavaria, Maria Amalie’s husband rejected the Pragmatic Sanction. He claimed the Habsburg hereditary territories against Maria Theresa, even though his wife Maria Amalia had renounced her claims to the Habsburg lands upon her marriage. With the 1741 Treaty of Nymphenburg, Karl, Elector of Bavaria aligned himself with Spain, France, Prussia, Saxony, and Sardinia against Austria. This led to led to the War of Austrian Succession (1740 – 1748) which resulted in the eventual confirmation of Maria Theresa’s Habsburg titles.

Maria Amalie’s husband as Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

While the War of the Austrian Succession was occurring, Karl, Elector of Bavaria was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII in 1742, and his wife Maria Amalie was now Holy Roman Empress. Karl VII’s three-year reign as Holy Roman Emperor was greatly overshadowed by the War of Austrian Succession.

On January 20, 1745, 47-year-old Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor died at the Munich Residenz in Munich, then in the Electorate of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. His autopsy report listed gout, kidney stones, and heart problems as contributory factors to his death. He was interred in the Theatinerkirche in Munich. On the day of his death, Karl VII, Holy Roman had declared his son Maximilian III Joseph, two months short of his eighteenth birthday, to be of legal age, which enabled him to succeed as Elector of Bavaria without a regent. At the urging of his mother Maria Amalie, Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria made peace with Austria via the 1745 Treaty of Füssen. Bavaria recognized the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713. Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria promised to support the candidacy of Francis Stephen of Lorraine, the husband of Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria (the daughter of Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor) and future Habsburgs, as Holy Roman Emperor. In return, Austria recognized the legitimacy of Karl VII’s election as Holy Roman Emperor.

Maria Amalie as a widow; Credit – Wikipedia

After the death of her husband, Maria Amalie lived at the home her husband had given her, Fürstenried Palace, for the rest of her life. In 1754, she founded the first modern hospital in Munich (link in German), managed by nuns of the Order of Saint Elisabeth whom she had invited to found a convent. The nuns at the hospital not only served the sick people of Munich, but they also trained lay nursing assistants.

Maria Amalie of Austria, daughter of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and wife of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, survived her husband by nearly thirteen years, dying at Nymphenburg Palace in Munich on December 11, 1756, aged 55. Like her husband, she was buried in the Theatinerkirche in Munich.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/joseph-i-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-king-of-croatia-king-of-hungary/ (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/karl-vii-holy-roman-emperor/ (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
Maria Amalia, Holy Roman Empress (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Amalia,_Holy_Roman_Empress (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
Maria Amalia von Österreich (1701–1756) (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Amalia_von_%C3%96sterreich_(1701%E2%80%931756) (Accessed: 01 September 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe: In 1647, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was formed through the division of the County of Schaumburg by treaties between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Count of Lippe. In 1808, the County of Schaumberg-Lippe was raised to a Principality and Georg Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg became the first Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Adolf II, the last Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and lived out his life in exile. In 1936, Adolf II and his wife were killed in an airplane crash in Mexico. Today, the land encompassing the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe is in the German state of Lower Saxony.

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Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg, Princess of Schaumberg-Lippe, circa 1885; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg was the wife of Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. Born on March 14, 1864, in Altenburg, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, Marie Anna was the eldest of the five children and the eldest of the four daughters of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen. Her paternal grandparents were Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Duchess Marie Luise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Marie Anna’s maternal grandparents were Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Marie Friederike of Hesse-Kassel.

Maria Anna had four younger siblings:

Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Altenburg (1865 – 1927), married Grand Duke Konstantin Konstantinovich of Russia, after her marriage Grand Duchess Elizaveta Mavrikievna, had nine children, three of her sons were murdered by the Bolsheviks on July 18, 1918, along with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna (born Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria) and two other Romanovs
Princess Margarethe of Saxe-Altenburg (1867 – 1882), died in her teens
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg (1871 – 1955), married Princess Adelaide of Schaumburg-Lippe, had four children
Princess Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg (1873 – 1953), married Eduard, Duke of Anhalt, had six children, divorced

Engagement photo of Georg and Marie Anna, 1882; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 16, 1882, in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, 18-year-old Maria Anna married 36-year-old Georg, then Hereditary Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. Georg was the son of Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont and had a career in the Prussian Army. After their marriage, the couple resided in the newly furnished Stadthagen Castle (link in German), the residence of the Hereditary Prince in Stadthagen, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.When his father died on May 8, 1893, Maria Anna’s husband Georg became the reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. As Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, Maria Anna supported churches and schools.

Stadthagen Castle, Georg and Marie Anna’s home before Georg became Prince of Schaumberg-Lippe; Credit – Von Beckstet – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9726977

Maria Anna and Georg had nine children:

Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1883–1936), married Ellen von Bischoff-Korthaus, no children, Adolf and his wife were killed in an airplane crash
Prince Moritz Georg of Schaumburg-Lippe (1884 – 1920), unmarried
Prince Peter of Schaumburg-Lippe (born and died 1886), died in infancy
Prince Wolrad of Schaumburg-Lippe (1887 – 1962), married his second cousin Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, had three sons and one daughter
Prince Stephan of Schaumburg-Lippe (1891 – 1965), married Duchess Ingeborg of Oldenburg, had one son and one daughter
Prince Heinrich of Schaumburg-Lippe (1894 – 1952), married Countess Marie-Erika von Hardenberg, had one daughter
Princess Margaretha of Schaumburg-Lippea (1896 – 1897), died in infancy
Prince Friedrich Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe (1906 – 1983), married (1) Countess Alexandra zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, had two daughters and one son (2) Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, no children (3) Helene Mayr, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Schaumburg-Lippe (1908 – 1933), married (1) Benvenuto Hauptmann, no children, divorced (2) Baron Johann Herring von Frankensdorff, had one son and one daughter

In 1907, upon the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary, Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia presented Schaumburg Castle, the Schaumburg-Lippe ancestral home, in Rinteln, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Lower Saxony, to Georg and Maria Anna. The castle had become the property of the Prussian royal family when the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe sided with the Austrians, the losers in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. The gift was also meant to be in recognition of Georg’s support of Prussia in the dispute over the succession to the Principality of Lippe throne. (See Unofficial Royalty: Alexander, Prince of Lippe for an explanation of the dispute over the succession to the Principality of Lippe throne.)

The Bückeburg Mausoleum. photo: By Corradox – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328133

Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe died on April 29, 1911, aged 64, at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was buried at the Bückeburg Mausoleum (link in German) in the park surrounding Bückeburg Castle. Georg’s son and successor Adolf II, the last reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, had the mausoleum built following his father’s death to replace the Princely Mausoleum at the St. Martini Church (link in German) in Stadthagen as the family burial site. Marie Anna survived her husband by seven years, dying in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, on May 3, 1918, at age 54. She was buried with her husband at the Bückeburg Mausoleum.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/georg-prince-of-schaumburg-lippe/ (Accessed: 31 August 2023).
Marie Anna von Sachsen-Altenburg (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Anna_von_Sachsen-Altenburg (Accessed: 31 August 2023).
Moritz von Sachsen-Altenburg (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moritz_von_Sachsen-Altenburg (Accessed: 31 August 2023).
Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_Moritz_of_Saxe-Altenburg (Accessed: 31 August 2023).
Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Marie_Anne_of_Saxe-Altenburg (Accessed: 31 August 2023).

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