Category Archives: German Royals

Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress, wife of Joseph I, 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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Wilhemine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick-Lüneburg was the wife of Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor who was also Archduke of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, and King of Hungary. Born on April 21, 1673, in Hanover, then in the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg, now in the German state of Lower Saxony, Wilhelmine Amalie was the youngest of the four daughters of Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate. Her paternal grandparents were Georg, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Anna Eleonore of Hesse-Darmstadt. Wilhelmine Amalie’s maternal grandparents were Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine and Anna Gonzaga, from a noble Italian family. Her maternal grandfather Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine was a grandson of King James I of England (also James VI, King of Scots), the son of Mary, Queen of Scots.

Wilhelmine Amalie had three elder sisters but only one survived to adulthood:

Anna Sophie of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1670 – 1672), died in early childhood
Charlotte Felizitas of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1671 – 1710), married Rinaldo d’Este III, Duke of Modena, had seven children, died giving birth to her eighth child who also died
Henriette Maria of Brunswick-Lüneburg (1672 – 1687), died in her teens

Although Wilhelmine Amalie’s maternal grandfather Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine was born Protestant, he converted to Roman Catholicism, and so her mother Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate was raised Catholic. Wilhelmine Amalie’s father Johann Friedrich, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg converted to Roman Catholicism after a visit to Italy in 1651, where he met Joseph of Cupertino, an Italian Conventual Franciscan friar and mystic who was canonized a saint in 1767.

In 1679, when Wilhelmine Amalie was six-years-old, her father died without a son to succeed him. His Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg was inherited by his Protestant younger brother Ernst August who was married to Sophia of the Palatinate, Wilhelmine Amalie’s great aunt, better known as Sophia of Hanover. Ernst August and Sophia of Hanover were the parents of George I, the first King of Great Britain from the House of Hanover. Sophia of Hanover’s family was the most junior of the Stuart lines but was the most Protestant. In 1701, Parliament passed the Act of Settlement, giving the succession to the British throne to Sophia and her non-Catholic heirs. This act ensured the Protestant succession and bypassed many Catholics who had a better hereditary claim to the throne.

After her husband’s death, Benedicta Henrietta returned to Paris, France, where she had been raised, with her two surviving daughters Charlotte Felizitas and Wilhelmine Amalie, to live near her sister Anne Henriette who had married Henri Jules, Prince of Condé. Benedicta Henrietta entrusted the education of her two daughters to the nuns of the Cistercian Maubuisson Abbey, where Wilhelmine Amalie’s great aunt Louise Hollandine of the Palatinate was the Abbess. Wilhelmine Amalie did not return to her birthplace Hanover until 1693 when she was twenty years old.

Wilhelmine Amalie, who was considered beautiful, serious, and a pious Catholic, caught the eye of Eleonore Magdalena of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress, the third wife of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and the mother of Archduke Joseph, the future Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I. Joseph began having affairs at the age of 15 with maids and noble women. It was thought that the pious Wilhelmine Amalie, who was five years older than Joseph, would be a positive influence on Joseph and he would then stop having affairs. A marriage was proposed and accepted.

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

On January 15, 1699, in the Duchy of Modena, where Wilhelmina Amalie and her mother were staying with her eldest sister Charlotte Felizitas, Duchess of Modena and Reggio, Wilhelmine Amalie and Archduke Joseph of Austria were married by proxy. On February 18, 1699, Wilhelmine Amalie arrived in Tulln an der Donau in the Archduchy of Austria, where she was met by Joseph. The couple were married in person on February 24, 1699, at the Augustinerkirche (Augustinian Church), in Vienna, Austria, adjacent to the Hofburg Palace, the winter palace of the Habsburgs. Wilhelmina Amalie wore a wedding dress encrusted with diamonds and the wedding celebrations continued for eight days.

Joseph and Wilhelmine Amalie had three children but their only son died from hydrocephalus before his first birthday:

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
Archduchess Maria Amalie of Austria (1701 – 1756), married Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor, Prince-Elector of Bavaria, had seven children

Joseph did not stop his affairs, and the affairs combined with the death of his only son took a toll on his marriage. Joseph contracted a venereal disease, probably syphilis, and probably passed the disease to Wilhelmine Amalie. The venereal disease was most likely the reason for the failure of the couple to produce more children.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, and his 27-year-old son Joseph succeeded him in the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor. Joseph’s reign lasted just six years. During the smallpox epidemic of 1711, which killed Louis, Le Grand Dauphin of France, the only surviving child and heir of King Louis XIV of France, and three siblings of the future Holy Roman Emperor Franz I, Joseph also became ill with smallpox. He died, aged thirty-two, on April 17, 1711, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna. Joseph had promised his wife that if he survived, he would stop having affairs. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph I was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. Because Joseph did not have any sons, his brother Karl succeeded him as the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands and was elected Holy Roman Emperor Karl VI.

Wilhelmine Amalie as Holy Roman Dowager Empress, 1730; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1722, after both her daughters had married, Wilhelmine Amalie retired to the convent she had founded in 1717 for the Salesian nuns, the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary (link in German) in Vienna. Living in the convent did not mean that Wilhelmine Amalie gave up her social life. As Dowager Empress she participated in the social life of the imperial family and worked with many charities.

Tomb of Wilhelmina Amalie, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – By krischnig – Own work: selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48472044

Wilhelmine Amalie survived her husband by thirty-one years, dying on April 10, 1742, eleven days before her sixty-ninth birthday, at the Monastery of the Visitation of Mary in Vienna that she had founded. She was buried in the crypt under the high altar of the monastery’s church where the Salesian nuns are buried. As per her orders, her heart was interred at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna.

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Works Cited

Benedicta Henrietta of the Palatinate (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedicta_Henrietta_of_the_Palatinate (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, King of Hungary, 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: 21 July 2023).
Salesianerinnenkirche (Wien) (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salesianerinnenkirche_(Wien) (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
Wilhelmine-Amélie de Brunswick-Lunebourg (2023) Wikipedia (French). Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine-Am%C3%A9lie_de_Brunswick-Lunebourg (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilhelmine Amalie of Brunswick (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine_Amalie_of_Brunswick (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilhelmine Amalie von Braunschweig-Lüneburg (2022) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelmine_Amalie_von_Braunschweig-L%C3%BCneburg (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Вильгельмина Брауншвейг-Люнебургская (2022) Wikipedia (Russian). Available at: https://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%92%D0%B8%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%B3%D0%B5%D0%BB%D1%8C%D0%BC%D0%B8%D0%BD%D0%B0_%D0%91%D1%80%D0%B0%D1%83%D0%BD%D1%88%D0%B2%D0%B5%D0%B9%D0%B3-%D0%9B%D1%8E%D0%BD%D0%B5%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3%D1%81%D0%BA%D0%B0%D1%8F (Accessed: 21 July 2023).
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Principality of Lippe: Originally called Lippe-Detmold, the Principality of Lippe came into existence in 1789 when it was raised from a County within the Holy Roman Empire to a Principality. Leopold I, Count of Lippe-Detmold became the first Prince of Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 12, 1918. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Lippe is located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Portrait of Princess Anna by Bernhard Zickendraht, 1924, displayed in Detmold Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen was the second of the two wives of Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe. Anna was born on February 10, 1886, in Büdingen, then in the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in the German state of Hesse. Originally, the House of Büdingen, a noble family, held control of Büdingen but in 1816, it was given to the Grand Duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt, later the Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine. Anna was the youngest of the eight children and the youngest of the seven daughters Bruno, 3rd Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his second wife Countess Bertha of Castell-Rüdenhausen. Her paternal grandparents were Ernst Casimir II, 2nd Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his wife Countess Thekla of Erbach-Fürstenau. Anna’s maternal grandparents were Adolf, Hereditary Count of Castell-Rüdenhausen and Baroness Marie of Thüngen.

Anna had seven older siblings:

Princess Emma of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1870 – 1944), married Count Otto of Solms-Laubach, had four children
Princess Marie of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1875 – 1952), unmarried
Wolfgang, 4th Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1877 – 1920), married Countess Adelheid of Rechteren-Limpurg, no children
Princess Thekla of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1878 – 1950), married Manfred V, Prince of Collalto and San Salvatore, had four children
Princess Mathilde of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1880 – 1947), married Cornelius, Baron Heyl of Herrnsheim, had five children
Princess Helene of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1881 – 1951), unmarried
Princess Hertha of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1883 – 1972), married Prince Albrecht of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had one daughter Princess Ortrud of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg who married Ernst August IV, Hereditary Prince of Brunswick, Prince of Hanover – they are the parents of Prince Ernst August (V) of Hanover

Anna had two older half-sisters from her father’s first marriage to Princess Mathilde of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich:

Princess Hedwig of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1863 – 1925), married (1) Botho, 1st Prince of Stolberg-Rossla, had four children (2) Count Kuno of Stolberg-Rossla, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1864 – 1946), married Rudolf, Baron of Thüngen, had four children

Büdingen Castle where Anna grew up; Credit – Von Sven Teschke – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 2.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=31460

On November 21, 1911, at Büdingen Castle (link in German) in Büdingen, where Anna grew up, she married Count Ernst of Lippe-Weissenfeld, son of Count Franz of Lippe-Weissenfeld and Baroness Marie von Beschwitz. Less than three years later, Ernst was killed in action at Gołdap, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in Poland, on the Eastern Front during World War I, on September 11, 1914.

Anna and Ernst had one daughter:

Princess Eleonore of Lippe-Weissenfeld (1913 – 1964), married Adolph Sweder Hubertus, Count of Rechteren-Limpurg, had two one son and one daughter

On April 26, 1922, in Büdingen, Germany, Anna became the second wife of Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe, the pretender to the throne of the Principality of Lippe. Following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Leopold IV was forced to renounce the throne on November 12, 1918, by the Lippe People’s and Soldiers’ Council. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government allowing his family to remain in Lippe.

Leopold and Anna had one son:

Armin, Prince of Lippe (1924 – 2015) married Traute Becker, had one son

Leopold’s first wife Princess Bertha of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld died in 1919 and upon her marriage to Leopold in 1922, Anna became the stepmother of Leopold’s five children from his first marriage:

Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (link in German) (1902 – 1987), married (1) Charlotte Ricken, divorced (2) Herta-Elise Weiland, had one son and one daughter
Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904 – 1965), unmarried
Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905 – 2001), married Count Hans of Kanitz, had six daughters
Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909 – 2000), married Veronika Holl, had one daughter
Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915 – 2008), married Friedrich Carl Heldman, had two daughters and one son

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, all three of Leopold’s sons by his first wife Bertha became members of the Nazi Party. The eldest son the Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the Nazi Party when he signed up in May 1928. Ernst’s brother Chlodwig joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the other brother Leopold Bernhard joined in 1932. Hereditary Prince Ernst later became an SS-Major (Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer) and held a high-ranking post in the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office was responsible for safeguarding the racial purity of the SS within Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Hereditary Prince Ernst of Lippe was taken prisoner by the Allies and took part in the Nuremberg Trials as a witness. The denazification tribunal in the Detmold administrative district classified Ernst as a Lesser Offender, Category III. He was not imprisoned but rather placed on probation for three years with a list of restrictions.

In addition to being pro-Nazi, both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Khlodwig had made unequal marriages. Due to these circumstances, Leopold rewrote his will in 1947, indicating that Armin, his only child with his second wife, would succeed him as the head of the House of Lippe and become the administrator of the princely family’s properties such as the Residenzschloss Detmold (link in German), thereby disinheriting all three of his sons from his first marriage.

Christ Church in Detmold; Credit – Von Daniel Brockpähler – Eigene Fotografie, bearbeitet mit Photoshop von Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8648403

Anna’s husband Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe died, aged 78, on December 30, 1949, in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was buried with his first wife Bertha at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold’s second wife Anna survived him by thirty-one years, dying on February 8, 1980, in Detmold at the age of 94, and was also buried at Christ Church.

Anna and Leopold’s son Armin was head of the House of Lippe from 1949 until he died in 2015. Armin’s only child Stephan, Prince of Lippe (born 1959) succeeded him as head of the House of Lippe. Stephan married Countess Maria of Solms-Laubach and they had three sons and two daughters.

Works Cited

Bruno, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bruno,_Prince_of_Ysenburg_and_B%C3%BCdingen (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV. (Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV._(Lippe)> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV, Prince Of Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV,_Prince_of_Lippe> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Flantzer, S. (2023) Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iv-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-lippe/lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Petropoulos, Jonathan, 2009. Royals And The Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022a) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Princess-Anna-of-Ysenburg-and-B%C3%BCdingen/6000000009136870908 (Accessed: 19 July 2023).
Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anna_of_Ysenburg_and_B%C3%BCdingen (Accessed: 19 July 2023).

Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Bertha Louise of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld was the first of the two wives of Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe. Born on October 25, 1874, in Burgsteinfurt, a city under the control of the noble Bentheim-Steinfurt family, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Bertha Louise was the eldest of the four children and the only daughter of Wilhelm, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, a rear admiral in the Prussian and German Imperial Navy, and his second wife Princess Juliane of Bentheim-Steinfurt.

Bertha Louise had three younger brothers but two died in infancy:

Chlodwig, Landgrave of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1876 – 1954), married Karoline of Solms-Hohensolms-Lich, had five children
Prince Eduard of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (1878 – 1879), twin of Julian, died in infancy
Prince Julian of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (born and died 1878), twin of Eduard, died in infancy

When Bertha Louise was three-and-half years old, her mother Juliane, age thirty-six, died eight days after giving birth to twin boys, probably from childbirth complications. The twin boys both died before their first birthday.

Bertha Louise had five half-siblings from his father’s first marriage to Princess Maria von Hanau und zu Hořowitz which ended in divorce. Maria was the daughter of Elector Friedrich Wilhelm I of Hesse-Kassel and his morganatic wife Gertrude Falkenstein, later Countess of Schaumburg and Princess of Hanau und zu Hořowitz. Maria took her title from her mother and because of her parents’ morganatic marriage, her children were not given the title Prince/Princes of Hessen-Philippsthal but rather Prince/Princess of Ardeck, and they did not have succession rights.

Prince Friedrich of Ardeck (1858 – 1902), married Anne Hollingsworth Price, no children
Prince Carl of Ardeck (1861 – 1938), married Anne Elise Strehlow, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Ardeck (1864 – 1919), married Count Ferdinand of Ysenburg-Büdingen-Philippseich, had four children
Princess Marie of Ardeck (1867 – 1868), died in infancy
Princess Luise of Ardeck (1868 – 1959), married Prince Rudolf of Lippe-Biesterfeld, had three children

Bertha Louise’s father married for a third time in 1879 to Princess Adelheid of Bentheim and Steinfurt, the sister of his second wife, but the marriage was childless and Adelheid died in 1880. In 1884, Bertha Louise got another stepmother when her father married Princess Auguste of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, the daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Princess Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe. Bertha Louise had one half-brother from this marriage.

Prince Christian of Hessen-Philippsthal (1887 – 1971), married (1) Elizabeth Reid Rogers, had four children (2) Anne Pearl Everett, no children

Bertha Louise’s husband Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 16, 1901, in Rotenburg an der Fulda, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hesse, Bertha Louise married the future Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, the son of Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Countess Karoline Friederike Cecilia of Wartensleben. Leopold’s father Ernst was the head of the non-reigning Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe, the most senior line of the princely house after the reigning Lippe-Detmold line.

Bertha Louise and Leopold with their three eldest children; Credit – Wikipedia

Bertha Louise and Leopold had five children:

Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (link in German) (1902 – 1987), married (1) Charlotte Ricken, divorced (2) Herta-Elise Weiland, had one son and one daughter
Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904 – 1965), unmarried
Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905 – 2001), married Count Hans of Kanitz, had six daughters
Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909 – 2000), married Veronika Holl, had one daughter
Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915 – 2008), married Friedrich Carl Heldman, had two daughters and one son

Leopold’s father Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld served as the Regent of the Principality of Lippe for Alexander, Prince of Lippe. Alexander had been declared mentally incapacitated and therefore, incapable of governing, a regency would be necessary during Alexander’s reign. When Leopold’s father died on September 26, 1904, Leopold succeeded him as Regent of the Principality of Lippe. Four months later, Alexander, Prince of Lippe, the last of the Lippe-Detmold line, died on January 13, 1905. With the extinction of the Lippe-Detmold line, the throne of the Principality of Lippe went to Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld who reigned as Leopold IV and would be the last reigning Prince of Lippe.

Christ Church in Detmold, which Leopold IV built and where he is buried with his two wives; Christ Church in Detmold; Credit – Von Daniel Brockpähler – Eigene Fotografie, bearbeitet mit Photoshop von Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8648403

Following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Leopold IV was forced to renounce the throne on November 12, 1918, by the Lippe People’s and Soldiers’ Council. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe. Three months later, on February 19, 1919, Bertha Louise died, aged 44, in Detmold, then in the new Weimar Republic, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. She was buried at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold married for a second time to Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen and they had one son Armin, Prince of Lippe.

Bertha and Leopold’s son Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials; Credit – Wikipedia

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, all three sons of Bertha Louise and Leopold became members of the Nazi Party. Their eldest son Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the Nazi Party when he signed up in May 1928. Ernst’s brother Chlodwig joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the third brother Leopold Bernhard joined in 1932. Hereditary Prince Ernst later became an SS-Major (Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer) and held a high-ranking post in the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office was responsible for safeguarding the racial purity of the SS within Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Hereditary Prince Ernst was taken prisoner by the Allies and took part in the Nuremberg Trials as a witness. The denazification tribunal in the Detmold administrative district classified Ernst as a Lesser Offender, Category III. He was not imprisoned but rather placed on probation for two-three years with a list of restrictions.

In addition to being pro-Nazi, both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Khlodwig had made unequal marriages. Due to these circumstances, when their father Leopold rewrote his will in 1947, he indicated that Armin, his only child with his second wife, would succeed him as the Head of the House of Lippe and become the administrator of the princely family’s properties such as the Residenzschloss Detmold (link in German), thereby disinheriting all three of his sons from his first marriage.

Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, survived his first wife Bertha Louise by thirty years, dying, aged 78, on December 30, 1949, in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was buried with Bertha Louise at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold’s second wife Anna survived him by thirty-one years, dying on February 8, 1980, in Detmold at the age of 94, and was also buried at Christ Church.

Works Cited

Bertha Louise von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bertha_Louise_von_Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iv-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Petropoulos, Jonathan, 2009. Royals And The Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prince William of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_of_Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (Accessed: 13 July 2023).
Wilhelm Prinz von Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld (2022) geni_family_tree. Available at: https://www.geni.com/people/Wilhelm-Prinz-von-Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld/6000000002188424816 (Accessed: 13 July 2023).

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress, 3rd wife of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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

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Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg, Holy Roman Empress; Credit – Wikipedia

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg was the third of the three wives and also the second cousin of Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who was also King of Hungary, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, King of Croatia, Duke of Teschen, King of the Romans, Archduke of Further Austria, and Prince of Transylvania. Born in the Palatinate-Neuburg, now in the German state of Bavaria, on January 6, 1655, Eleonore Magdalene was the eldest of the seventeen children and the eldest of the eight daughters of Philipp Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Duke of Jülich-Berg and his second wife Elisabeth Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt. Her paternal grandparents were Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg and Magdalene of Bavaria. Eleonore Magdalene’s maternal grandparents were Georg II, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and Sophie Eleonore of Saxony.

Eleonore Magdalene had sixteen younger siblings:

Maria Adelheid of Neuburg (born and died 1656), died in infancy
Sophie Elizabeth of Neuburg (1657 – 1658), died in infancy
Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Neuburg (1658 – 1716), married (1) Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria, had two sons who died at birth (2) Anna Maria de Medici, no children
Wolfgang Georg of Neuburg, Auxiliary Bishop of Cologne (1659 – 1683), unmarried
Ludwig Anton of Neuburg, Bishop of Worms (1660 – 1694), unmarried
Karl Philipp, Elector Palatine of Neuburg (1661 – 1742), married (1) Princess Luise Charlotte Radziwill, had four children, only one survived childhood (2) Princess Theresa Katharina Lubomirska, had two daughters who died young (3) Countess Violante Maria Theresa von Thurn und Taxis, no children
Alexander Sigismund of Neuburg, Prince Bishop of Augsburg (1663 – 1737), unmarried
Franz Ludwig of Neuburg, Archbishop of Mainz (1664 – 1732), unmarried
Friedrich Wilhelm of Neuburg (1665 – 1689), General in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire, died in the Nine Years’ War during the Siege of Mainz
Marie Sophie of Neuburg (1666 – 1699), married King Pedro II of Portugal, had eight children including King João V of Portugal
Maria Anna of Neuburg (1667 – 1740), married King Carlos II of Spain, no children
Philipp Wilhelm of Neuburg (1668 – 1693), married Princess Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, had two daughters
Dorothea Sophie of Neuburg (1670 – 1748), married (1) Odoardo Farnese, Hereditary Prince of Parma, had one son who died in childhood and one daughter Elisabeth Farnese of Parma, Queen of Spain (2) Francesco Farnese, Duke of Parma, no children
Hedwig Elisabeth of Neuburg (1673 – 1722), married Jakob Ludwig Sobieski of Poland, had six children, only three survived childhood
Johann of Neuburg (born and died 1675)
Leopoldine Eleanor of Neuburg (1679 – 1693), died at age 13, probably from tuberculosis

Eleonore Magdalene was raised in a very religious environment and received an excellent education. Besides her native language German, Eleonore Magdalene was fluent in Latin, French, and Italian, translated biblical texts and spiritual literature into German, was well-versed in theology, and was fond of music and art. From the age of seventeen, Eleanore Magdalene lived with her mother in Benrath Castle where a lady-in-waiting instructed her in court etiquette.

From an early age, Eleonore Magdalene showed a strong devotion to her Roman Catholic faith. She developed a daily prayer practice and an ascetic life that included self-flagellation and the secret wearing of a chain cilice. Eleonore Magdalene visited the sick, gave alms to the poor, and asked others not to treat her as royalty because she considered all people equally dear to God. When she was fourteen-year-old, Eleonore Magdalene joined the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Sorrows at the Cross, a secular order, and remained a member all her life. She wanted to become a Carmelite nun but her parents would not let her. Five monarchs asked to marry her and were refused by her.

Eleonore Magdalene’s husband Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1676, Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor was devastated by the loss of his second wife, and he retired to a monastery near Vienna to mourn. From his two marriages, he had six children, however, all except the oldest daughter from his first wife, had died. Leopold needed to marry again to provide a male heir. Eleanore Magdalene’s mother had 23 pregnancies and 17 live births and the family gained the reputation as a fertile family. Because of this reputation, 36-year-old Leopold chose his 21-year-old second cousin Eleonore Magdalene as his third wife. The wedding took place on December 14, 1676, in Passau, then in the County of Palatine, now in Bavaria, Germany. Having an imperial wedding in Passau was a major event and it is remembered with an 1892 painting of the wedding, displayed in the Passau Town Hall.

The painting of the wedding of Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I and Eleonore Magdalene, displayed in the Passau Town Hall; Credit – https://tourismus.passau.de/

Leopold made a good choice because his third wife Eleonore Magdalene had ten children with five surviving childhood including two Holy Roman Emperors:

Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor (1678 – 1711), married Wilhelmine Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg, had three children, their only son died of hydrocephalus before his first birthday
Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (born and died 1679), died at birth
Archduchess Maria Elisabeth of Austria, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1680 – 1741), unmarried
Archduke Leopold Joseph of Austria (1682 – 1684), died in early childhood
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1683 – 1754) married King João V of Portugal, had six children including two Kings of Portugal and one Queen Consort of Spain
Archduchess Maria Theresia of Austria (1684 – 1696), died from smallpox at the age of 12
Karl VI, Holy Roman Emperor (1685 – 1740), married Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, had one son who died in infancy and three daughters, father of Maria Theresa, Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, the only woman to rule the Habsburg lands in her own right
Archduchess Maria Josepha of Austria (1687 – 1703), died from smallpox at the age of 16
Maria Magdalena of Austria, Governor of Tyrol (1689 – 1743), unmarried
Maria Margaretha of Austria (1690 – 1691), died in infancy

Eleonore had one surviving stepchild from her husband’s first marriage to Margarita Teresa of Spain:

Archduchess Maria Antonia of Austria (1669 – 1692), married Maximilian II Emanuel, Elector of Bavaria, had three sons, none survived childhood

Eleonore Magdalene was politically active and influenced her husband in governmental matters, particularly as he grew older. Because she was fluent in several languages, Eleonore Magdalene translated foreign political documents for her husband, as many were written in French. She used her position as Holy Roman Empress to secure high-status marriages for her sisters, to promote the careers of her brothers in the Roman Catholic Church, and to oversee the political needs of her brother Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine of Neuburg. Eleonore Magdalene’s generosity to those in need was almost limitless. She built hospitals and shelters, supported numerous brotherhoods, churches, and monasteries, distributed alms, and visited the sick in hospitals. In 1684, Eleonore received the Golden Rose from Pope Innocent XI as a token of his affection for her reverence.

Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor died, aged sixty-four, on May 5, 1705, in Vienna, then in the Archduchy of Austria. He was buried in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. After Leopold’s death, Eleonore Magdalene dressed in mourning for the rest of her life. During the six-year reign of her son Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor, Eleonore Magdalene continued to influence the affairs of the state. After Joseph I’s death, by the decision of the Privy Council, Eleanore Magdalene served as regent until the return of her son, the new Emperor Karl VI, from Spain where he was dealing with issues relating to the War of the Spanish Succession.

During her last years, Eleonore Magdalene lived a very ascetic life, similar to a nun. She instructed her servants, who had witnessed her ascetic life, never to tell anyone. On January 1, 1720, while preparing for the sacrament of confession, Eleonore Magdalene suffered a stroke which left the right side of her body paralyzed. She received the Anointing of the Sick and gave her blessing to her children and grandchildren who were at her deathbed. During her final days, Eleonore Magdalene was constantly nursed by her two daughters-in-law Wilhelmine Amalia and Elisabeth Christine.

Eleonore Magdalene’s second coffin; Credit – By Krischnig – de.wikipedia.org, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=51297806

Eleonore Magdalene died on January 19, 1720, aged sixty-five, at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Following her wishes, Eleonora Magdalene was buried wearing the robe of a nun, in a very simple wooden coffin that bore the inscription “Eleonore Magdalene Theresa, poor sinner”. Her coffin was placed at the foot of her husband’s tomb in the Imperial Crypt at the Capuchin Church in Vienna. The current lead Baroque coffin containing Eleonore Magdalene’s remains was made in August 1755 following the orders of her granddaughter Holy Roman Empress Maria Theresa, in her own right Archduchess of Austria, and Queen of Hungary, Croatia, and Bohemia, because the old wooden coffin had deteriorated considerably.

Works Cited

Eleonore Magdalene of Neuburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonore_Magdalene_of_Neuburg (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Eleonore Magdalene von Pfalz-Neuburg (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eleonore_Magdalene_von_Pfalz-Neuburg (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_I,_Holy_Roman_Emperor (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Philip William, Elector Palatine (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_William,_Elector_Palatine (Accessed: 18 July 2023).
Rathaussäle Passau (2023) Startseite Passau Tourismus. Available at: https://tourismus.passau.de/passau-sehen-erleben/sehenswuerdigkeiten-in-passau/altes-rathaus-und-rathaussaele/ (Accessed: 18 July 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.

Sophie of Baden, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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Sophie of Baden, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophie of Baden was the wife of Woldemar, Prince of Lippe. Born on August 7, 1834, in Karlsruhe, then in the Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Sophie was second of the four children, all daughters, of Prince Wilhelm of Baden and Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg. Her paternal grandparents were Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, and his morganatic second wife Louise Caroline, Baroness Geyer von Geyersberg, Countess of Hochberg. Sophie’s maternal grandparents were Duke Ludwig of Württemberg and Princess Henriette of Nassau-Weilburg.

Sophie had three sisters:

Princess Henriette of Baden (1833 – 1834), died in infancy
Princess Elisabeth Pauline Sophie of Baden (1835 – 1891), unmarried
Princess Leopoldine of Baden (1837 – 1903), married Hermann, 6th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, the son of Princess Feodora of Leiningen, the half-sister of Queen Victoria, had three children

On November 9, 1858, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Sophie married Woldemar, the future Prince of Lippe, the son of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe and Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. Sophie and Woldemar had no children.

Sophie’s husband Woldemar, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Woldemar had two elder siblings and six younger siblings. Woldemar and his elder brother Leopold III, Prince of Lippe were the only ones who married and neither had any children. This would eventually create a succession crisis. Woldemar became Prince of Lippe upon the death of his elder brother Leopold III on December 8, 1875.

Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died March 20, 1895, aged 70, in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold. Woldemar had no children to succeed him and his only surviving brother was Alexander who suffered from mental illness and had been declared incapacitated since 1871 and therefore, incapable of governing. A regency would be necessary during the reign of Alexander. However, Woldemar’s appointment of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as his brother’s regent sparked the Lippe succession dispute. This dispute between the two lines of the House of Lippe over the right to inherit lasted two decades and is discussed in Alexander, Prince of Lippe’s article.

Crypt in the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg; Credit – Von unbekannt / Tsungam – Foto: Eigenes Werk; Infotafel: Freunde der Residenz Detmold, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20182639

Sophie survived her husband Woldemar by nine years, dying at the age of 70, on April 6, 1904, at the age of 70, in Detmold. She was buried with her husband.

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Woldemar, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/woldemar-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 11 July 2023).
Prince William of Baden (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prince_William_of_Baden (Accessed: 11 July 2023).
Princess Sophie of Baden (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sophie_of_Baden (Accessed: 11 July 2023).

Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

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Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was the wife of Leopold III, Prince of Lippe. Born on October 1, 1833, in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, Elisabeth was the second but the eldest surviving of the four children and the only daughter of Albrecht, the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Princess Auguste of Solms-Braunfels. Her paternal grandparents were Ludwig Friedrich II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Karoline of Hesse-Homburg. Elisabeth’s maternal grandparents were Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels and Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Elisabeth had three brothers but only one survived childhood:

Karl (born and died 1828)
Georg Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1838 – 1890), unmarried
Ernst Heinrich (born and died 1848)

Elisabeth was raised in a strict but simple manner by her Swiss governess and received drawing and painting lessons from Richard Schinzel, who later became the last Rudolstadt court painter. On April 17, 1852, in Rudolstadt, 18-year-old Elisabeth married 30-year-old Leopold III, Prince of Lippe but their marriage was childless. However, Leopold, who loved children very much, invited many children to Detmold Castle (link in German) every year for Christmas.

Elisabeth’s husband Leopold III, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth used all the means at her disposal for charitable causes. She published a booklet with Bible verses for every day of the year and designed wall decorations with Bible verses. The booklet and wall decorations were mass-produced and the proceeds went to Elisabeth’s charitable causes. Devoted to children, Elisabeth founded a school, the Elisabeth-Anstalt in the town of Blomberg. She also promoted the establishment and maintenance of the Augustineum Secondary School a school and teacher training center in Otjimbingwe, then in a settlement of the Herero people, now in the country of Namibia.

Throughout her life, Elisabeth remained connected to her homeland and regularly visited Rudolstadt. Although she was popular with the people of the Principality of Lippe, Elisabeth and her husband Leopold became increasingly estranged which greatly distressed her. On December 8, 1875, Elisabeth’s husband Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, aged 54, died in Detmold after suffering a stroke and was succeeded by his brother Woldemar. Leopold was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

After Leopold’s death, Elisabeth moved into her widow’s residence at the New Palais in Detmold and continued her charitable work. She convinced her sister-in-law Princess Luise of Lippe to leave her palace to the Principality of Lippe upon her death so that it could house the Princely Public Library, today the Lippe State Library in Detmold (link in German). Among the other projects that Elisabeth sponsored was the Hostel zur Heimat Detmold (link in German), a facility for people in social distress, which is still in existence. As a condition of her support, Elisabeth stipulated that her name not be associated with the hostel.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, where Elisabeth is interred; Credit – Von Telemarco, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=46588535

After the death of her brother Georg Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1890, Elisabeth inherited the manor in Niederkrossen (link in German), then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Elisabeth regularly stayed there and had a handicraft school built there in the town. While staying in Niederkrossen during the autumn of 1896, Elisabeth became ill with pneumonia, and died on November 27, 1896, at the age of sixty-three. As per her wishes, Elisabeth was not buried at the traditional burial site of the princely family of Lippe but rather in the princely crypt at the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German), an Evangelical Lutheran church in Rudolstadt, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, where members of her birth family were buried.

Works Cited

Єлизавета Шварцбург-Рудольштадтська (2023) Wikipedia (Ukrainian). Available at: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%84%D0%BB%D0%B8%D0%B7%D0%B0%D0%B2%D0%B5%D1%82%D0%B0_%D0%A8%D0%B2%D0%B0%D1%80%D1%86%D0%B1%D1%83%D1%80%D0%B3-%D0%A0%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%BE%D0%BB%D1%8C%D1%88%D1%82%D0%B0%D0%B4%D1%82%D1%81%D1%8C%D0%BA%D0%B0 (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Elisabeth von Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elisabeth_von_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Albrecht, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/albrecht-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 12 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Leopold III, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-iii-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 12 July 2023).

Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Princess of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Princess of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was the wife of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe. Born on April 23, 1800, in Sonderhausen, then in the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia, Emilie Friederike Caroline was the elder of the two children and the only daughter of Günther Friedrich Karl I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Caroline of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Her paternal grandparents were Christian Günther III, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Charlotte Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Bernburg. Emilie’s maternal grandparents were Friedrich Karl, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Friederike of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

Emilie had one brother:

Günther Friedrich Karl II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1801 – 1889), married (1) Caroline of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, had four children (2) Mathilde of Hohenlohe-Öhringen, had two children

Although Emilie’s father Günther Friedrich Karl I promoted the arts in his principality, he ruled as an absolute monarch despite his subjects wanting a say in the principality’s government. Emilie’s mother had a different mindset on many issues, and in 1816, she moved with her children to Arnstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia, where they led a quiet and peaceful life. Eventually, Günther Friedrich Karl I’s refusal to grant any concessions made him very unpopular and he was forced to abdicate on August 19, 1835, by his son Günther Friedrich Karl II in a palace revolt called the Ebeleben Revolution.

Emilie’s husband Leopold II, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1820, her 20th birthday, Emilie married 23-year-old Leopold II, Prince of Lippe in Arnstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, now in the German state of Thuringia.

Emilie and Leopold with their two eldest children; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Emilie and Leopold had nine children including three reigning Princes of Lippe but none of their children had children.

Leopold III, Prince of Lippe (1821 – 1875), married Princess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, no children
Princess Luise of Lippe (1822 – 1887), unmarried
Woldemar, Prince of Lippe (1824 – 1895), married Princess Sophie of Baden, no children
Princess Friederike of Lippe (1825 – 1897), unmarried
Prince Friedrich of Lippe (1827 – 1854), unmarried
Prince Hermann of Lippe (1829 – 1884), unmarried
Alexander, Prince of Lippe (1831 – 1905), unmarried, a regency was established due to his
mental illness
Prince Karl of Lippe (1832 – 1834), died in childhood
Princess Pauline of Lippe (1834 – 1906), unmarried

The Princely Residential Palace in Detmold, home of the Princes of Lippe; Credit – Von Nikater (Diskussion · Beiträge) – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4885970

Due to a difficult childhood, Leopold II was a reclusive person. His father Leopold I, Prince of Lippe had been deemed mentally incapacitated by the Imperial Chamber Court, one of the two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, and placed under guardianship. Leopold II’s mother Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg, became her husband’s governmental adviser and colleague, staying mostly in the background and avoiding anything that could be interpreted as exceeding her duties. When Leopold I died in 1802, his five-year-old son became Leopold II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen with his mother Pauline very capably acting as Regent of the Principality of Lippe until 1820, the same year Emilie and Leopold II were married. Sadly, Leopold II’s mother Pauline died on December 29, 1820. Emilie was kind and gentle and understood the strict lifestyle of her husband. The couple lived in the Princely Residential Palace Detmold (link in German) where they led an exemplary family life.

Leopold II had a passion for the theater and with the help of his wife Emilie, the Lippe Princely Court Theater (Hochfürstliches Lippisches Hoftheater – link in German) was established in Detmold in 1825. It was among the best theaters in the German monarchies. The schedule for the theater included both opera and plays. In 1912, the original theater burned to the ground because of a damaged chimney. However, the theater was rebuilt, financed with donations from the Detmold citizens and funds from the Princely House. The rebuilt theater and the theater company established by Leopold II and Emilie are still in existence today. Now called the Landestheater Detmold (link in German), it is a theater for operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and stage plays in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

On January 1, 1851, Leopold II, Prince of Lippe died in Detmold at the age of 54. Initially buried at the Church of the Redeemer (link in German) in Detmold, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Leopold’s remains were later moved to the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold after the mausoleum’s completion in 1855. Emílie survived her husband by sixteen years, dying on April 2, 1867, in Detmold. She was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg next to her husband.

Works Cited

Emilie zur Lippe (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emilie_zur_Lippe (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Emílie Schwarzbursko-Sondershausenská (2023) Wikipedia (Czech). Available at: https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Em%C3%ADlie_Schwarzbursko-Sondershausensk%C3%A1 (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Емілія Шварцбург-Зондерсгаузенська (2023) Wikipedia (Ukrainian). Available at: https://uk.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D0%95%D0%BC%D1%96%D0%BB%D1%96%D1%8F_%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 (Accessed: 08 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Leopold II, Prince of Lippe, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-ii-prince-of-lippe/ (Accessed: 08 July 2023).

Maria Anna of Bavaria, Archduchess of Inner Austria, 1st wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor

Maria Anna of Bavaria,1604; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Anna of Bavaria was the first wife of Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor. She died before her husband became King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, and Holy Roman Emperor, so she held only the title Archduchess of Inner Austria. Born on December 18, 1574, in Munich, Duchy of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, she was the fourth of the ten children and the second eldest but the eldest surviving of the four daughters of Wilhelm V, Duke of Bavaria and Renata of Lorraine. Maria Anna’s paternal grandparents were Albrecht V, Duke of Bavaria and Anna of Austria, a daughter of Ferdinand I, Holy Roman Emperor. Her maternal grandparents were François I, Duke of Lorraine and Christina of Denmark, daughter of King Christian II of Denmark.

Maria Anna had nine siblings but only five survived childhood:

Christoph of Bavaria (born and died 1570), died on the day of his birth
Christine of Bavaria (1571 – 1580), died in childhood
Maximilian I, Duke and Elector of Bavaria (1573 – 1651), married (1) his first cousin Elisabeth of Lorraine, no children (2) his niece Maria Anna of Austria, had two sons
Cardinal Philipp Wilhelm of Bavaria, Bishop of Regensburg (1576 – 1598), unmarried
Ferdinand of Bavaria, Archbishop and Prince-Elector of Cologne (1577 – 1650), unmarried
Eleonore Magdalene of Bavaria (1578 – 1579), died in infancy
Karl of Bavaria (1580 – 1587), died in childhood
Albrecht VI, Duke of Bavaria (1584 – 1666), married Mechthilde of Leuchtenberg, had five children
Magdalene of Bavaria (1587 – 1628), married Wolfgang Wilhelm, Count Palatine of Neuburg, had one surviving son and a total of twelve stillbirths or miscarriages

Maria Anna’s husband Ferdinand; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 23, 1600, at Graz Cathedral in Graz, Styria, Lower Austria, now in Austria, 26-year-old first cousin Maria Anna of Bavaria married her first cousin 22-year-old Ferdinand II, Archduke of Inner Austria, the son of Karl Franz II, Archduke of Inner Austria and his niece Maria Anna of Bavaria. This marriage reaffirmed the alliance between the House of Habsburg and the House of Wittelsbach.

Maria Anna and Ferdinand had seven children but only four survived childhood:

Archduchess Christine of Austria (born and died 1601)
Archduke Karl of Austria (born and died 1603)
Archduke Johann Karl of Austria (1605 – 1619), died in his teens
Ferdinand III, Holy Roman Emperor (1608 – 1657), married (1) his first cousin Infanta Maria Anna of Spain, had six children (2) Maria Leopoldine of Austria, had one son (3) Eleanor Gonzaga of Mantua, had four children
Archduchess Maria Anna of Austria (1610 – 1665), married her uncle Maximilian I, Elector of Bavaria, had two sons
Archduchess Cecilia Renata of Austria (1611 – 1644), married Władysław IV Vasa, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Lithuania, had two children
Archduke Leopold Wilhelm of Austria (1614 – 1662), unmarried

Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II next to Graz Cathedral; Credit – Von KarlN – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=981869

Maria Anna was ill for a long time before she died on March 8, 1616, at the age of forty-one, in Graz, Inner Austria, now in Austria. She was interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II (link in German) which her husband began building in 1614, next to Graz Cathedral on the site of a former cemetery. When Ferdinand died in 1637, he was also interred in the Mausoleum of Emperor Ferdinand II. The tombs of Maria Anna of Bavaria, Ferdinand, and their son Johann Karl, who died in his teens, are coffin wall niches, marked by inscriptions

Maria Anna’s tomb marker; Credit – Von krischnig – selbst fotografiert, Copyrighted free use, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=129845239

Works Cited

Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor, Archduke of Inner Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ferdinand-ii-holy-roman-emperor-archduke-of-austria-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Matthias, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, Archduke of Austria, Archduke of Further Austria, King of Hungary and Croatia, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/matthias-holy-roman-emperor-king-of-bohemia-archduke-of-austria-archduke-of-further-austria-king-of-hungary-and-croatia/ (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Maria Anna of Bavaria (1551–1608) (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Anna_of_Bavaria_(1551%E2%80%931608) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Mausoleum Kaiser Ferdinands II. (Graz) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mausoleum_Kaiser_Ferdinands_II._(Graz) (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
William V, Duke of Bavaria (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_V,_Duke_of_Bavaria (Accessed: 16 June 2023).
Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France

Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Josepha of Saxony was the second wife of Louis, Dauphin of France, the son and heir of King Louis XV of France, and the mother of three Kings of France, Louis XVI, Louis XVIII, and Charles X. Maria Josepha Karolina Eleonore Franziska Xaveria was born on November 4, 1731, at Dresden Castle in Dresden, Electorate of Saxony, later in the Kingdom of Saxony, now in the German state of Saxony. She was the eighth of the fourteen children and the fourth of the seven daughters of Augustus III, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Maria Josepha of Austria. Her paternal grandparents were Augustus II, Elector of Saxony, King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania and Christiane Eberhardine of Brandenburg-Bayreuth. Maria Josepha’s maternal grandparents were Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor and Wilhelmina Amalia of Brunswick-Lüneburg.

Maria Josepha had thirteen siblings:

Friedrich August of Saxony (1720 – 1721), died in infancy
Joseph August of Saxony (1721 – 1728), died in childhood
Friedrich Christian, Elector of Saxony (1722 – 1763), married Maria Antonia of Bavaria, had nine children
Maria Amalia of Saxony, Queen of Spain (1724 – 1760), married King Carlos III of Spain, had thirteen children including King Carlos IV of Spain and King Ferdinando I of the Two Sicilies
Maria Margaretha of Saxony (1727 – 1734), died in childhood
Maria Anna of Saxony, Electress of Bavaria (1728 – 1797); married Maximilian III Joseph, Elector of Bavaria, no children
Franz Xaver, Regent of Saxony (1730 – 1806), married morganatically Maria Chiara Spinucci, had ten children
Karl Christian of Saxony, Duke of Courland and Zemgale (1733 – 1796), married morganatically Countess Franciszka Krasińska, had two children
Maria Christina of Saxony, Princess-Abbess of Remiremont (1735 – 1782), unmarried, a secular canoness
Maria Elisabeth of Saxony (1736 – 1818), unmarried
Albert Kasimir of Saxony, Duke of Teschen and Governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1738 – 1822), married Maria Christina of Austria, Duchess of Teschen, Governor of the Austrian Netherlands, had one daughter who lived only one day
Clemens Wenceslaus of Saxony, Archbishop-Elector of Trier (1739 – 1812), unmarried
Maria Kunigunde of Saxony, Princess-Abbess of Thorn and Essen (1740 – 1826), unmarried, a secular canoness like her sister Maria Christina

Louis, Dauphin of France, son of King Louis XV, husband of Maria Josepha; Credit – Wikipedia

Louis, Dauphin of France was the elder son and heir apparent of his father Louis XV, King of France. In 1739, King Louis XV negotiated a marriage for his son Louis with Maria Teresa Rafaela, Infanta of Spain, daughter of Felipe V, King of Spain, born Philippe of France, Duke of Anjou, a grandson of Louis XIV, King of France and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. The purpose of this marriage was to strengthen the alliance of Bourbon France and Bourbon Spain. Louis, Dauphin of France and Maria Teresa Rafaela, Infanta of Spain were married in 1745.

Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela had one daughter Princess Marie Thérèse of France, born on July 19, 1746. Sadly, Maria Teresa Rafaela died three days later, on July 22, 1746, at the age of twenty. Louis’ sorrow was so intense that his father King Louis XV had to physically drag his son away from Maria Teresa Rafaela’s deathbed. Louis and Maria Teresa Rafaela’s daughter did not survive to her second birthday, dying on April 27, 1748.

Even though he grieved for his first wife, Louis knew he had to marry again to provide for the succession to the French throne. His first wife’s brother Fernando VI, King of Spain offered his youngest sister but Louis XV wanted to expand France’s diplomatic connections. France and Saxony had been on opposing sides in the recent War of the Austrian Succession (1740 -1748) and a marriage between a Princess of Saxony and the Dauphin of France would form a new alliance between the two countries. On January 10, 1747, fifteen-year-old Maria Josepha of Saxony was married by proxy to seventeen-year-old Louis, Dauphin of France. A second marriage ceremony took place in person at the Palace of Versailles on February 9, 1747. At the time of this marriage, Louis was still grieving for Maria Teresa Rafaela but Maria Josepha was patient and won his heart a little at a time.

Maria Josepha and her son Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Josepha and Louis had eight children including three Kings of France:

Marie Zéphyrine of France (1750 – 1755), died in childhood
Louis Joseph of France, Duke of Burgundy (1751 – 1761), died in childhood
Xavier of France, Duke of Aquitaine (1753 – 1754), died in infancy
Louis XVI, King of France (1754 – 1793), married Maria Antonia of Austria (Marie Antoinette), had four children, executed during the French Revolution
Louis XVIII, King of France (1755 – 1824), married Marie Joséphine of Savoy, no children
Charles X, King of France (1757 – 1836), married Marie Thérèse of Savoy, had four children
Marie Clotilde of France, Queen of Sardinia (1759 – 1802), married Carlo Emanuele IV, King of Sardinia, no children
Élisabeth of France (1764 – 1794), unmarried, executed during the French Revolution

The couple’s first child, a daughter, was born on the feast day of Saint Zephyrinus and named Marie Zéphyrine. The birth was greeted with much joy by her parents but her grandfather King Louis XV was disappointed the child was not a male. On August 30, 1755, five-year-old Marie Zéphyrine suffered convulsions and died on September 2, 1755. Maria Josepha and Louis’ second child Louis Joseph, Duke of Burgundy fell off a toy horse in 1759. He started limping and a tumor began to grow on his hip. This was operated on in 1760, but he never recovered the use of his legs. Louis Joseph was diagnosed with extrapulmonary tuberculosis of the bone which caused his death in 1761. The couple’s second son, Xavier, Duke of Aquitaine died after an epileptic seizure when he was five months old.

Maria Josepha’s husband Louis was a pious man, faithful to her, and concerned about the welfare and education of his children. Like her husband, Maria Josepha was very devout. Maria Josepha and Louis were a counterbalance to the behavior of King Louis XV, who had many mistresses and many illegitimate children. The couple was not fond of the various entertainments held at the Palace of Versailles every week and preferred to stay in their apartments. Kept away from government affairs by his father, Louis was at the center of the Dévots, a group of religiously-minded men who hoped to gain power when he succeeded to the throne.

Allegory on the Death of the Dauphin by Louis-Jean-François Lagrenée, 1765; Credit – Wikipedia

However, Maria Josepha’s husband Louis never succeeded to the throne. He died of tuberculosis at the Château de Fontainebleau in France on December 20, 1765, at the age of 36. According to Louis’ last wishes, he was buried at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens, France, and his heart was buried at the Basilica of Saint-Denis, near the grave of his first wife. Maria Josepha, who had cared for Louis during his last illness, also contracted tuberculosis. She died at the Palace of Versailles, on March 13, 1767, at the age of 35, and was buried with her husband.

When King Louis XV died of smallpox at the Palace of Versailles on May 10, 1774, he was succeeded by his grandson, King Louis XVI, the third but the eldest surviving son of Maria Josepha and her husband. During the French Revolution (1789 – 1799), King Louis XVI and his wife Marie Antoinette were beheaded as was Louis XVI’s youngest sister Elisabeth. Louis XVI’s two younger brothers escaped France and survived the French Revolution. Both reigned as Kings of France during the Bourbon Restoration (1814 – 1830).

Louis and Maria Josepha’s restored tomb; Credit – Par Aubry Gérard — Travail personnel, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=42182840

In March 1794, during the French Revolution, Louis and Maria Josepha’s tomb was desecrated and their remains were thrown into a mass grave. After the Bourbon Restoration, on the orders of Louis and Maria Josepha’s son King Louis XVIII, their remains were found, their tomb was restored, and they were reinterred at the Cathedral of Saint-Étienne in Sens, France on December 8, 1814.

Works Cited

Augustus III of Poland (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustus_III_of_Poland (Accessed: 13 June 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2019) Louis, Dauphin of France, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louis-dauphin-of-france/ (Accessed: 13 June 2023).
Maria Josepha of Saxony, Dauphine of France (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Josepha_of_Saxony,_Dauphine_of_France (Accessed: 13 June 2023).
Maria Josepha von Sachsen (1731–1767) (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Josepha_von_Sachsen_(1731%E2%80%931767) (Accessed: 13 June 2023).
Marie-Josèphe de Saxe (1731-1767) (2023) Wikipedia (French). Available at: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie-Jos%C3%A8phe_de_Saxe_(1731-1767) (Accessed: 13 June 2023).

Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen

Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen; Credit – Von DerDeutscheFotograf – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=100232161

Andreas, the titular 8th Prince of Leiningen and the Head of the former Princely House of Leiningen is the heir to his brother Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, one of the disputed pretenders to the Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and the throne of Russia. The Headship of the Russian Imperial Family and succession to the former Russian throne has been in dispute, mainly due to disagreements over whether marriages in the Romanov family were equal marriages – a marriage between a Romanov dynast and a member of a royal or sovereign house. The Monarchist Party of Russia recognizes Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen as the heir to the Russian throne and the Head of the Russian Imperial House. The claim will pass to Andreas and his descendants born of equal marriages upon the death of Karl Emich, and on the condition that they should convert to Russian Orthodoxy. There is no indication that Andreas or any of his children, who are Lutheran, have any interest in this claim.

The Principality of Leiningen was created in 1803 when properties owned by the Catholic Church were confiscated. The House of Leiningen-Dagsburg-Hardenburg was compensated for their possessions on the left bank of the Rhine in the Palatinate with land from the former Electorate of Mainz, Electorate of the Palatinate and the Electorate-Bishopric of Würzburg. The combined territory was named the Principality of Leiningen. However, in 1806, the Principality of Leiningen had been mediatized – annexed to another state(s), while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign. The Principality of Leiningen ceased to exist and was divided between the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The family retained Amorbach Abbey in Amorbach, which remains the family seat of the Princes of Leiningen. Therefore, Carl Friedrich Wilhelm was the first and the only actual reigning Prince of Leiningen. Queen Victoria’s mother Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was first married to Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen and Queen Victoria had two half-siblings from this marriage, Karl, 3rd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Andreas, 8th Prince of Leiningen was born on November 27, 1955, in Frankfurt am Main, then in West Germany, now in the German state of Hesse. He is the third of the four children and the younger of the two sons of Emich Kyrill, 7th Prince of Leiningen and Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg. Karl Emich’s paternal grandparents are Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen and Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia, the eldest daughter of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia , a grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia, and Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, a granddaughter of both Queen Victoria and Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. His maternal grandparents are Nikolaus, the last Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg and his first wife, Princess Helena of Waldeck and Pyrmont, the daughter of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

Andreas has three siblings:

Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen (born 1952), married (1) Princess Margarita of Hohenlohe-Öhringen, died in a car accident, had one daughter (2) morganatically Gabriele Renate Thyssen, divorced, had one daughter (3) Countess Isabelle von und zu Egloffstein, had one son
Princess Melita of Leiningen (born 1951), married Horst Legrum, no children
Princess Stephanie of Leiningen (1958 – 2017), unmarried

Embed from Getty Images

Andreas and his wife attending the wedding of her nephew Prince Ernst August (VI) of Hanover in 2017

On October 5, 1981, Andreas married Princess Alexandra of Hanover, the sister of Prince Ernst August (V) of Hanover, and the couple had three children:

Hereditary Prince Ferdinand of Leiningen (born 1982), married Princess Victoria Luise of Prussia, had two daughters
Princess Olga of Leiningen (born 1984)
Prince Hermann of Leiningen (born 1986), married Isabelle Heubach, had one son

On May 24, 1991, Andreas’ elder brother Karl Emich morganatically married Gabriele Renate Thyssen. Their parents, Emich Kyrill, 7th Prince of Leiningen and Duchess Eilika of Oldenburg refused to attend the wedding because Karl Emich broke an 1897 family law stipulating that family members must make an equal marriage. Karl Emich was formally disinherited, and when his father died on October 30, 1991, Karl Emich’s younger brother Andreas succeeded his father as the titular Prince of Leiningen.

The Monarchist Party of Russia recognizes Andreas’ elder brother Prince Karl Emich of Leinigen as the heir to the Russian throne and the Head of the Russian Imperial House. Karl Emich and Andreas are great-grandchildren of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich of Russia, a male-line grandson of Alexander II, Emperor of All Russia. Kirill declared himself Guardian of the Throne and later assumed the title Emperor of All Russia in 1924, after Grand Duke Michael Alexandrovich (son of Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia and brother of Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia) was declared legally dead.

Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich had three children, listed below. His eldest child Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna is the grandmother of Karl Emich and Andreas.

Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia (1907 – 1951), married Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen, had seven children including Emich Kyrill, 7th Prince of Leiningen, the father of Karl Emich and Andreas
Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (1909 – 1967), married Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, had seven children
Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia (1917 – 1992), married Princess Leonida Bagration-Mukhrani, had one child Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, a current pretender

Upon the death of his father Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich in 1938, his son Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich was recognized as the Head of the Russian Imperial House by the Grand Dukes and Princes of Imperial Blood behind him in order of dynastic seniority and by the majority of the reigning houses of Europe. When Kirill Vladimirovich died in 1992, his only child Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna declared herself Headship of the Russian Imperial Family.

The claim of Maria Vladimirovna as Head of the Russian Imperial Family is disputed by the Romanov Family Association made up of the majority of the male-line descendants of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia. Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna and father Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich, male-line descendants of Nicholas I, never joined. In 1992, with the support of the Romanov Family Association, Prince Nicholas Romanov claimed he was the Head of the Imperial Family of Russia.

Karl Emich and his supporters argue that the marriage of Maria Vladimirovna’s parents was in contravention of the Pauline Laws, also an argument of the Romanov Family Association. They maintain that there is a precedent that a marriage between the House of Romanov and the House of Bragation-Mukhrani, the house of Leonida Bagration-Mukhrani, Maria Vladimirovna’s mother, was unequal. The House of Bragation-Mukhrani did not possess sovereign status and was not recognized as an equal marriage by Nicholas II, Emperor of All Russia for the purpose of dynastic marriages at the time of the marriage of Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna of Russia and Prince Konstantine Bragation-Mukhrani in 1911, thirty-seven years before the marriage of Princess Leonida of Bragation-Mukhrani and Grand Duke Vladimir Kirillovich of Russia. The couple married but Princess Tatiana Konstantinovna was required to renounce her rights to the Russian throne and she was no longer a member of the House of Romanov because the marriage was unequal.

Karl Emich and his third wife Isabelle on the day of the conversion to Russian Orthodoxy; Credit – Авторство: Anton Bakov. Anton Bakov, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37446161

The Monarchist Party of Russia claims that Karl Emich is the heir of Grand Duke Kirill Vladimirovich through his elder daughter Maria Kirillovna and her eldest son Emich Kyrill, 7th Prince of Leiningen, Karl Emich’s father. The Monarchist Party of Russia recognized Karl Emich as the heir to the Russian throne, on June 1, 2013, the day Karl Emich and his third wife Isabelle converted from Lutheranism to Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Karl Emich and Isabelle received the Orthodox names of Nikolai Kirillovich and Yekaterina Feodorovna.

However, because Karl Emich’s marriage to his third wife Isabelle would not have been deemed equal according to the Pauline Laws, their son Prince Emich, although considered a dynast of the House of Leiningen, cannot inherit his father’s claim to the headship of the House of Romanov. The claim will pass to his brother Andreas, Prince of Leiningen and his descendants born of equal marriages upon the death of Karl Emich, and on the condition that they should convert to Russian Orthodoxy. However, Andreas is Lutheran and Head of the House of Leiningen and there is no indication that he has any interest in this claim.

Works Cited

A Pauper Prince’s Palatial Quest (2000) The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2000/jun/22/4 (Accessed: 25 July 2023).
Andreas zu Leiningen (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreas_zu_Leiningen (Accessed: 25 July 2023).
Emich Kyrill, Prince of Leiningen (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emich_Kyrill,_Prince_of_Leiningen (Accessed: 25 July 2023).
Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Prince Karl Emich of Leiningen, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/prince-karl-emich-of-leiningen/ (Accessed: 25 July 2023).
Principality of Leiningen (2020) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Leiningen (Accessed: 25 July 2023).

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