Category Archives: German Royals

Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess of Austria

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Elisabeth of Württemberg, Archduchess of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

Elisabeth of Württemberg (Elisabeth Wilhelmine Luise) was born on April 21, 1767, in Treptow an der Rega in Brandenburg-Pomerania, now Trzebiatów, Poland. She was one of the twelve children of Friedrich II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg and Sophia Dorothea of Brandenburg-Schwedt. Elisabeth had eleven siblings:

At the age of 15, Elisabeth went to Vienna to prepare to become the bride of Archduke Franz, the nephew of Holy Roman Emperor Joseph II. The Protestant princess was educated by nuns at the Church and Monastery of the Visitation and converted to Roman Catholicism. Elisabeth married Archduke Franz (the future emperor) on January 6, 1788, when she was 20 years old.

Elisabeth was very close to Emperor Joseph and his final illness in February 1790 greatly upset the then-pregnant Elisabeth. She fainted upon seeing the dying emperor and on February 18, 1790, gave premature birth to a daughter Archduchess Ludovika Elisabeth. The labor had lasted more than 24 hours and Elisabeth, age 22, died the same day due to complications. Holy Roman Emperor Joseph died two days later. Archduchess Elisabeth was buried at the Capuchin Church in Vienna, in the Imperial Crypt in the Franzensgruft (Franz’s Vault) where her husband and his three other wives are also buried. Elisabeth’s baby, Ludovika Elisabeth, lived only until June 24, 1791, and is buried in the Imperial Crypt in the southwest pier of Ferdinandsgruft (Ferdinand’s Vault) along with other Habsburgs who died young. After her death, Elisabeth’s husband became Holy Roman Emperor and then Emperor of Austria.

Tomb of Elisabeth of Württemberg, first wife of Holy Roman Emperor Franz II/Emperor Franz I of Austria; Photo Credit – Susan Flantzer

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Austria Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, Queen of Hanover

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Marie of Saxe-Altenburg, Queen of Hanover; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on April 14, 1818, in Hildburghausen, Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen, now in the German state of Thuringia, Marie was the eldest daughter of the six daughters of Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Amalie of Württemberg.  She was given a long string of names: Alexandrine Marie Wilhelmine Katharine Charlotte Theresia Henriette Luise Pauline Elisabeth Friederike Georgine.  Marie was born as a Princess of Saxe-Hildburghausen, but in 1826 she became a Princess of Saxe-Altenburg due to a transfer of territories within her family.

Marie had five sisters:

  • Pauline (1819 – 1825), died young
  • Therese (1823 – 1915), unmarried
  • Elisabeth (1826 – 1896), married Peter II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg, had issue
  • Alexandra (1830 – 1911), married Grand Duke Konstantin Nikolayevich of Russia, son of  Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia; had issue, their daughter Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna and her husband King George I of Greece (born Prince William of Denmark) are ancestors of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Queen Sofía of Spain, and five Kings of Greece.
  • Luise (1832 – 1833), died young

In 1839, Marie met Crown Prince George of Hanover at Schloss Monbrillant, a summer palace of the Hanovers.  George was the son of Ernest Augustus, the fifth son of George III of the United Kingdom, who had inherited the throne of Hanover upon the accession of his niece Victoria in 1837.  Up until that point, Hanoverian kings of the United Kingdom were also Electors or Kings of Hanover.  However, Hanover followed the Salic Law which did not allow female succession.  Ernest Augustus, as the eldest surviving male, became King of Hanover.

Crown Prince George was totally blind, having lost sight in his left eye due to illness when he was ten years old and the sight in his right eye due to an accident four years later.  There were some doubts about his ability to be king due to his blindness, but his father decided to keep him in the line of succession.  Marie and George were married on February 18, 1843.

The couple had three children:

Marie and her family; Credit – Wikipedia

George succeeded his father as King of Hanover and Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, as well as Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale, in the Peerage of Great Britain, and Earl of Armagh, in the Peerage of Ireland, on November 18, 1851, and Marie assumed the female counterparts of the styles and titles.  King George V of Hanover reigned for only 15 years, being exiled from Hanover in 1866 because of his support for Austria in the Austro-Prussian War.  On September 20, 1866, Hanover was annexed by Prussia. George never abdicated from the throne of Hanover and he and Marie lived in exile at Gmunden, Austria, until he died in 1878. After George’s death, Marie continued living in the Villa Thun in Gmunden which became known as the Queen’s Villa and is still owned by the House of Hanover.  She died on January 9, 1907, and was buried in the mausoleum at Schloss Cumberland in Gmunden, Austria.  Through her son Ernst Augustus, Marie is the ancestor of former King Constantine I of Greece, his sister Queen Sofia of Spain, Sofia’s son King Felipe VI of Spain, and Prince Ernst Augustus of Hanover, the husband of Princess Caroline of Monaco.

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Unofficial Royalty Kingdom of Hanover Resources

Princess Viktoria of Prussia, Princess of Schaumburg-Lippe, Mrs Zoubkoff

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Princess Viktoria of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Viktoria of Prussia (Frederica Amalia Wilhelmine Viktoria) was born on April 12, 1866, at the Neues Palais in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany. Known in the family as Moretta, she was the second daughter and fifth of eight children of Friedrich III, German Emperor, King of Prussia and his wife Victoria, Princess Royal, a daughter of Queen Victoria.  Moretta was born two months before the tragic death of her brother Sigismund at the age of 21 months due to meningitis.  Sigismund was a favorite of their mother, who suffered intense grief upon her son’s death.  Unlike some of her older siblings, Moretta was devoted to her mother and very English in her ways.

Moretta had seven siblings:

Moretta’s family; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Moretta’s first possible love match was recommended by her mother and grandmother, Queen Victoria.  Prince Alexander of Battenberg (called Sandro), a brother of Prince Henry of Battenberg (husband of Moretta’s aunt Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom), and a brother of Prince Louis of Battenberg (husband of Moretta’s cousin Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine), had been selected the reigning Prince of Bulgaria in 1879.  Sandro visited the Prussian court at the suggestion of Moretta’s mother in 1881 and at age 15, Moretta fell in love with Sandro.  Her parents were eager for a marriage, but Moretta’s grandfather Wilhelm I, German Emperor and Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were not in favor of the marriage.  They felt that Alexander III, Emperor of All Russia would be offended by the marriage because Russia and Bulgaria did not have a positive relationship.  When Moretta’s father became the German Emperor in 1888, it appeared that it was possible that the marriage would occur.  However, Friedrich III, already ill with throat cancer, died three months after becoming Emperor.  The new Emperor, Moretta’s brother Wilhelm II, took Bismarck’s advice and did not give permission for the marriage.  The dejected princess was forced to give up the possibility of marrying Sandro.

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Over the next several years, Moretta, who was not considered attractive, became convinced that she would remain unmarried. There was talk about Moretta marrying Prince Carl of Sweden and a couple of Russian Grand Dukes.  In June 1890, Moretta, her sister Mossy (Margaret), and their mother visited Princess Marie of Wied.  Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the other guests.  The weather during the visit was rainy and Adolf and Moretta spent time together indoors.  On June 11, 1890, the couple became engaged.  They married on November 19, 1890.  Moretta suffered a miscarriage early in the marriage and the couple never had children.  Prince Adolf died in 1916.

Moretta with her second husband; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Moretta’s second marriage was made despite the disapproval of her siblings.  On November 19, 1927, Moretta married Alexander Zoubkoff, a Russian refugee described as a “dancer”, who was 35 years younger.  Moretta’s finances were not good but her new husband carelessly spent her money and was at home very infrequently.  Moretta was forced to sell the contents of Palais Schaumburg, her home in Bonn, Germany, but the sale did not net much money and she moved into a single furnished room in the Bonn suburb of Mehlem.  In 1929, Moretta announced that she was divorcing her second husband, but she died of pneumonia a few days later on November 13, 1929, at the Hospital of St. Francis in Bonn, Germany.  She was buried at the home her mother had built after her father’s death, the Schloss Friedrichshof in Kronberg im Taunus, Germany.

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Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, Duchess of Braganza

by Emily McMahon © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Adelaide of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg was the wife of deposed King Miguel I of Portugal. She was born April 3, 1831, in Kleinheubach, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany, to Hereditary Prince Constantine of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg and Princess Agnes of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She had one younger sibling:

Following the deaths of both of her parents by the time she was seven years old, Adelaide and her brother were raised by their paternal grandparents, Karl Thomas, Prince of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, and Princess Sophie of Windisch-Graetz.

Wedding of Adelaide and Miguel, watercolor by William Peoples. source: Wikipedia

On September 24, 1851, at Schloss Löwenstein in Kleinheubach, 20-year-old Adelaide married 49-year-old Miguel, who had been deposed as King of Portugal in 1834.  The couple met in the Grand Duchy of Baden where Miguel lived in exile. Following the wedding, the couple lived in Bronnbach, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, at Schloss Bronnbach, a former monastery owned by the Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg family.

They had seven children:

Adelaide with her husband and two eldest children. source: Wikipedia

Miguel died on November 14, 1866, leaving Adelaide a widow with seven young children. She spent the next several decades arranging prominent marriages for her children. Because of these marriages, Adelaide is the ancestor of the current royal families of Belgium, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, and the former royal families of Austria, Bavaria, Portugal, and Romania.

Adelaide as a nun; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1895, Adelaide retired to the Abbey of Sainte-Cécile in Solesmes, France and two years later, on June 12, 1897, she professed as a nun. The cloister later moved to the Isle of Wight in England, first in Cowes and then settling at what is now Saint Cecilia’s Abbey in Ryde.  It was there, on December 16, 1909, that Adelaide died at the age of 78. Initially buried at the Abbey, in 1967, her remains along with those of her husband were moved to the Royal Pantheon of the House of Braganza at the Monastery of São Vicente de Fora, in Lisbon, Portugal.

Portugal Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen of Prussia

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, Queen of Prussia; Credit: Wikipedia

Princess Sophia Dorothea of Hanover was born on March 26, 1687, in Hanover, Principality of Calenberg, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.  At the time of her birth in 1687, her father was styled His Highness Duke Georg Ludwig of Brunswick-Lüneburg and became Elector of Hanover when his father died in 1698. Upon the death of Queen Anne of Great Britain in 1714, he became King George I of Great Britain due to the provisions of the 1701 Act of Settlement.  Sophia Dorothea’s mother was Sophia Dorothea of Celle.

Sophia Dorothea had one sibling, an elder brother:

Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, on the right, with her mother Sophia Dorothea of Celle on the left, and her brother, the future King George II of Great Britain, in the middle

The marriage of Sophia Dorothea’s parents was happy at first, but George and Sophia Dorothea found affection elsewhere. George fell in love with one of his mother’s ladies-in-waiting, Melusine von der Schulenburg.  Sophia Dorothea fell in love with Swedish Count Philip Christoph von Königsmarck, an officer in the Hanoverian army. Despite warnings from her mother and friends, Sophia Dorothea and her lover wrote letters to each other, met secretly, and planned to escape Hanover together. On the morning of July 2, 1694, after a meeting with Sophia Dorothea, von Königsmarck disappeared from Leineschloss Castle and was never seen again. It was widely believed that George ordered von Königsmarck’s death. There is speculation that the letters were forgeries, and Sophia Dorothea’s guilt is still debated.

On December 28, 1694, a tribunal of judges and Lutheran Church officials declared the marriage of George and Sophia Dorothea dissolved on the grounds of Sophia Dorothea’s desertion. George was not satisfied with punishing his former wife with just a marriage dissolution.  He had his 27-year-old former wife imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden until she died 32 years later. Sophia Dorothea was never allowed to see her children again.

Sophia Dorothea was eight years old when her disgraced mother was divorced and banished for the rest of her life.  She was raised by her paternal grandmother Sophia, Electress of Hanover at Herrenhausen, the Hanover home.  She married her first cousin Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, son of Friedrich, King  I of Prussia and Sophia Charlotte of Hanover on November 28, 1706, in Berlin.  The couple had fourteen children:

Sophia Dorothea, Queen of Prussia in the center with some of her children during the visit of King Augustus II of Poland to Berlin; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Dorothea and Friedrich Wilhelm had met as children as they shared a grandmother, Sophia, Electress of Hanover, and they had disliked each other ever since.  Their interests were very different and Friedrich Wilhelm contemplated divorcing Sophia Dorothea the same year they were married, but nothing ever came of it.  Sophia Dorothea became Queen of Prussia in 1713 when her husband acceded to the Prussian throne.

Friedrich Wilhelm I, King of Prussia, 1713; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Wilhelm was faithful, but they did not have a happy relationship. Sophia Dorothea feared his unpredictable temper and resented him for allowing her no influence at court and for refusing to marry her children to their English cousins. She detested his cruelty towards their son and the heir Friedrich, with whom she was close.  In his own way, Friedrich Wilhelm was devoted to Sophia Dorothea.  Their daughter Wilhelmine wrote that when her father was dying, “he had himself rolled in his chair to the queen’s room. Not having thought the danger was imminent, she was still asleep. ‘Get up,’ the king said to her, ‘I have only a few more hours to live and I wish to have the happiness of dying in your arms.'”  Friedrich Wilhelm died on May 31, 1740, in Berlin.  During World War II, his remains were removed and hidden and were later found by American Forces and reburied at St. Elisabeth’s Church in Marburg. In 1953, his remains were moved to Hohenzollern Castle where they remained until 1991. In 1991, his coffin was finally laid to rest on the steps of the altar at the Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum at the Friedenskirche, the Church of Peace, in Sanssouci Park, surrounding Sanssouci Palace, in Potsdam, Germany.

Sophia Dorothea survived her husband by 17 years, dying at the age of 70 on June 28, 1757, at the Palace of Monbijou near Berlin, and was buried at the Berlin Cathedral.

Tomb of Sophia Dorothea of Hanover; Credit – findagrave.com

Prussia Resources at Unofficial Royalty

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Wilhelm I, German Emperor and King of Prussia

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2013

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

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

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Wilhelm I, German Emperor and King of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm I, German Emperor, King of Prussia (Wilhelm Friedrich Ludwig) was born at the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin, then the capital of the Kingdom of Prussia, on March 22, 1797.  He was the second of the five sons and the second of the nine children of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and Princess Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Wilhelm had eight siblings:

Wilhelm with his parents and siblings, circa 1806; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm and his elder brother Friedrich Wilhelm were first educated together by Johann Friedrich Gottlieb Delbriick, who had previously been the rector of the Magdeburg Educational College.  When Wilhelm was nine years old, he was appointed a lieutenant in the Prussian Army.  Four years later, when Wilhelm was 13 years old, his 34-year-old mother suddenly died from an unidentified illness.

An ivory miniature of 13-year-old Wilhelm made for his first teacher; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1813,  Johann Georg Emil von Brause, a colonel in the Prussian Army, took over Wilhelm’s education.  The next year, Wilhelm saw his first action in battle and continued advancing his rank until he became a lieutenant general in 1820 and commanding general of the III. Army Corps in 1825.

Wilhelm wanted to marry Princess Elisa Radziwill whose family came from Polish nobility.  She was the daughter of  Prince Anton Radziwill and Princess Louise of Prussia, niece of King Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia and therefore, a relative of the Prussian Royal Family.  However, Elisa and Wilhelm were not allowed to marry as their match was considered inappropriate.  Instead, at the instigation of his father, Wilhelm was betrothed to Augusta of Saxe-Weimar, daughter of Grand Duke Karl Friedrich of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Maria Pavlovna of Russia. 32-year-old Wilhelm and 18-year-old Augusta were married on June 11, 1829, in the chapel of Charlottenburg Palace in Berlin.  To the outside viewer, their marriage was stable, but in reality, it was not very happy.

Lithograph of Augusta and Wilhelm, circa 1830; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm and Augusta had two children:

Wilhelm’s father King Friedrich Wilhelm III died in 1840 and was succeeded by Wilhelm’s brother King Friedrich Wilhelm IV, who was childless.  In 1857, Friedrich Wilhelm IV suffered a stroke that left him partially paralyzed and largely mentally incapacitated.  Wilhelm served as regent from 1858 until his brother’s death in 1861 when he acceded to the throne as King Wilhelm I of Prussia.  Wilhelm and Augusta’s coronation was a magnificent ceremony at the church in  Königsberg Castle.  Wilhelm crowned himself and then crowned his queen.

Coronation of King Wilhelm I of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm’s reign was marked by the Second Schleswig War against Denmark in 1864 and the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, and the work of Otto von Bismarck as Prussian Prime Minister which ultimately resulted in the unification of Germany when he then served as Chancellor of the German Empire.  In 1867, the North German Confederation was created.  It was a constitutional monarchy with the Prussian king as the head of state.  In 1870–1871, during the Franco-Prussian War, the south German states of Baden, Hesse-Darmstadt, Württemberg, and Bavaria joined the confederation. On  January 18, 1871, in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France, Wilhelm was proclaimed German Emperor (Kaiser).

Wilhelm is proclaimed German Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm allowed the policy of the new German Empire (Reich) to be determined by Bismarck.  In accordance with Bismarck, Wilhelm sought peace through alliances with neighboring powers except for France. In September 1872 in Berlin, the League of the Three Emperors between Germany, Russia, and Austria-Hungary.  The three powers agreed that together they would control Eastern Europe and politically isolate France.

In his old age, Wilhelm, who personified the old Prussia with his simple and austere lifestyle,  was very popular.  After a short illness, Wilhelm I, German Emperor died on March 9, 1888, at the Berlin Palace at the age of 90.  He was buried in the mausoleum at Charlottenburg Palace.  1888 was called the Year of the Three Emperors.  Wilhelm I was succeeded by his son Friedrich III. Already ill with throat cancer, Friedrich’s reign lasted only 99 days.  He died on June 15, 1888, and was succeeded by his son, the last German Emperor,  Wilhelm II.

Grave of Wilhelm I, German Emperor; Photo Credit – www.findagrave.com

This article is the intellectual property of Unofficial Royalty and is NOT TO BE COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances. It is permissible to use a link that directs to Unofficial Royalty.

Prussia Resources at Unofficial Royalty