Category Archives: Former Monarchies

Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg: The Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg was created in 1826 when Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen became Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. After Friedrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg died in 1825 without heirs, the Ernestine duchies were reorganized. Gotha passed to the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Altenburg passed to Friedrich. In exchange, the two Dukes ceded Saalfeld and Hildburghausen, respectively, to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.

As World War I ended, the last Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, Ernst II, was one of the first German sovereigns to realize that major changes were coming and quickly arrived at an amicable settlement with his subjects. He abdicated on November 13, 1918. Today the territory that encompassed the Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg is located in the German state of Thuringia.

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Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg was born in Hildburghausen, Duchy of  Saxe-Hildburghausen, now in Thuringia, Germany, as The Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen on April 29, 1763, the only son of Ernst Friedrich III, Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen and his third wife, Princess Ernestine of Saxe-Weimar. He had two sisters:

Friedrich also had two half-sisters from his father’s first two marriages, both of whom had died in infancy.

Friedrich was educated privately at home and later spent some time at the court in Gotha learning about the workings of government. He was presented to the Austrian court in 1779 and served in the Austrian military. At just 17 years old, he became Duke of Saxe-Hildburghausen upon his father’s death in 1780. Because of his youth, a Regency was established, led by his great-grand-uncle Prince Joseph of Saxe-Hildburghausen. The Regency continued even after he reached his majority, ending only with Joseph’s death in 1787.

Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. source: Wikipedia

On September 3, 1785, Friedrich married Duchess Charlotte Georgine of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, the daughter of Carl II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt. The marriage was happy at first, but soon Friedrich realized that his wife was far more intelligent than he was, and began to ignore her. Despite this, the couple had 12 children:

Upon taking control of his government in 1787, he quickly established a trade agreement with Saxe-Meiningen and Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He improved the education system and established several schools in Hildburghausen. He also worked to improve the duchy’s financial situation. Due to his father’s poor fiscal policies, the Duchy was under the official administration of the Imperial Debit Commission and horribly in debt. Joining the Confederation of the Rhine in 1806 saw a marked positive change in the duchy’s financial state. This was further enhanced by joining the German Confederation in 1815. By the time he issued a new constitution in 1818, both the Duchy and the Duke himself were in a greatly improved financial position.

Along with his wife, the much-loved Charlotte Georgine, Friedrich worked to bring art and culture to Saxe-Hildburghausen, turning it into one of the cultural centers in Germany. He made sure to remain close to his subjects, often inviting people of all classes to his palaces, visiting inns and workshops around the duchy, and bringing about initiatives that helped the poor. Charlotte Georgine, Duchess of Saxe-Hildburghausen died eight years before her husband became Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, in Hildburghausen, Duchy of Saxe-Hildburghausen, now in Thuringia, Germany on May 14, 1818, after a long illness.

Friedrich IV, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. source: Wikipedia

Friedrich became Duke of Saxe-Altenburg in 1826. After Friedrich IV, the last Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg died in 1825 without heirs, the Ernestine duchies were reorganized. Gotha passed to Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (becoming the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and Altenburg passed to Friedrich. In exchange, the two Dukes ceded Saalfeld and Hildburghausen, respectively, to Bernard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen.

Leaving Hildburghausen after living there for 63 years was very difficult for Friedrich, but he moved to Altenburg in November 1826. He took up residence at the Hummelshain Hunting Lodge (Jagdschloss Hummelshain) while a massive restoration was undertaken at Altenburg Castle. Keeping to his promise to the people of his new duchy, Friedrich enacted a constitution in April 1831, improved the infrastructure, streamlined the government, and reinforced trade with the other German states.

Jagdschloss Hummelshain. photo: By Michael Sander – Own work (selbst fotografiert), CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10112948

Eight years after becoming Duke of Saxe-Altenburg, Friedrich died on September 29, 1834, at the Hummelshain Hunting Lodge in Hummerlshain, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in the Altenburg Cemetery in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in Thuringia, Germany. In 1974, all the remains were removed from the mausoleum and were buried in an unmarked grave elsewhere in the cemetery

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Saxe-Altenburg Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Viktoria Luise of Prussia, Princess of Hanover, Duchess of Brunswick

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Viktoria Luise of Prussia, Princess of Hanover, Duchess of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte of Prussia was the last Duchess of Brunswick through her marriage to Prince Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick. She was born on September 13, 1892, at the Marble Palace in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg, the youngest child and only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia and Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. Viktoria Luise had six older brothers:

Viktoria Luise with her parents and siblings, c1896. source: Wikipedia

The young princess was christened on October 22, 1892, and named for her great-grandmother Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her great-great-grandmother Queen Luise of Prussia. As the youngest child and only daughter, she was her father’s favorite and could do no wrong in his eyes. She was educated privately at home, studying religion and music and developing a love of athletic pursuits. From a young age, she became an accomplished hunter and rider. In 1900, the Hamburg-American Line named a ship in her honor. The Prinzessin Viktoria Luise would be the world’s first cruise ship.

Prince Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

Viktoria Luise met her future husband in 1912 when he came to Berlin to personally thank the Emperor for sending two of his sons to the funeral of Ernst August’s brother. While there, the couple met and quickly fell in love. However, there was political tension between Prussia and Hanover, as Ernst August’s father, also named Ernst August, Duke of Cumberland, refused to relinquish his claims to the Hanoverian throne. For this reason, the Emperor had not allowed him to succeed to the Duchy of Brunswick, to which he was also the rightful heir. Finally, after months of negotiations, a compromise was reached that would allow Viktoria Luise and Ernst August to marry. The Duke of Cumberland renounced his rights to the throne of Hanover for himself and his heirs. He also ceded his rights to the Duchy of Brunswick, which allowed the younger Ernst August to become reigning Duke. After all these negotiations, Viktoria Luise and Ernst August were engaged on February 11, 1913.

Their wedding, held in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg, on May 24, 1913, was one of the largest gatherings of royalty in Germany since the establishment of the German Empire in 1871. It would also be one of the last large social events before World War I, attended by 1,200 guests, including the British King and Queen and the Russian Emperor and Empress. Six months later, Ernst August was formally created Duke of Brunswick. He and Viktoria Luise took up residence in Brunswick, where they had five children:

Viktoria Luise and Ernst August, c1918. source: Wikipedia

After World War I, Viktoria Luise’s husband was forced to abdicate on November 8, 1918, when the monarchies in Germany were abolished. The following year, he also lost his British title as a Prince of the United Kingdom under the Titles Deprivation Act. 1918 also saw the abdication of Viktoria Luise’s father, who lived the rest of his life in exile at Huis Doorn in Doorn, Netherlands. The couple lived at several of their estates, including Blankenburg Castle, in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt, where Viktoria Luise continued her support of philanthropic causes, promoted restoration projects for several of the old palaces, and indulged in her love of horses and hunting. When Blankenburg was taken by the Soviets in 1945, Viktoria Luise and her family were forced to flee. Under orders of her second cousin King George VI of the United Kingdom, British army troops were sent to Blankenburg to transport all of their belongings to Marienburg Castle in Hanover, Lower Saxony, Germany, the couple’s privately owned property, where they lived for the next eight years.

Viktoria Luise was widowed in 1953, and the following year her son turned Marienburg Castle into a museum, uprooting Viktoria Luise and causing a rift between mother and son. The relationship became further strained over their disagreement over her public role. Her son wanted her to retire quietly but Viktoria Luise had no intention of that. Her son offered her several residences, but instead, she moved to the Riddagshausen district of Brunswick, moving into a home provided to her by a group called the Brunswick Circle of Friends. With the support of this group, she continued to be involved in her charitable works and maintained her position in society. After living many years in Brunswick, her health began to fail in the fall of 1980, and she moved to the Friederikestift, a hospital in Hanover.

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The Dowager Duchess of Brunswick died in Hanover, Germany on December 11, 1980, at the age of 88. She was the last surviving child of Wilhelm II, having outlived her siblings by over 22 years. Viktoria Luise is buried beside her husband, in front of the Royal Mausoleum in the Berggarten at Herrenhausen Gardens in Hanover, Germany.

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Brunswick Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Duchy of Brunswick: The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Congress of Vienna turned Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel into an independent country called the Duchy of Brunswick in 1815. Ernst August III, the last Duke of Brunswick was forced to abdicate on November 8, 1918, as the German Empire came to an end. Today the land that encompassed the Duchy of Brunswick is in the German state of  Lower Saxony. Since 1866, the senior heir of the House of Hanover has been the pretender to the throne of the Kingdom of Hanover.

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Ernst August III of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick; Credit –  Dora Tarnke, Braunschweig – Original publication: Published as a print in Europe.Immediate source: Private Collection – Wartenberg Trust, PD-US, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=36382755

Ernst August of Hanover was the last reigning Duke of Brunswick and the pretender to the throne of Hanover. He was born Prince Ernst August Christian Georg on November 17, 1887, in Penzig, Austria, the youngest child of Ernst August II, Crown Prince of Hanover and Princess Thyra of Denmark. He had five siblings:

Ernst August’s father was heir to the Duchy of Brunswick and should have succeeded as Duke following the death of the reigning Duke of Brunswick in 1884. However, in 1866, Hanover was annexed by Prussia, and the Crown Prince refused to renounce his claim to the throne. The German Chancellor Otto von Bismark persuaded the Federal Council to decree that it would not be in the interests of Germany for the Crown Prince to gain the throne of Brunswick, and instead installed a Regent, Prince Albrecht of Prussia. The regency continued after Albrecht’s death in 1906, with Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin named as his successor.

The situation severely strained the relationship between the Hanovers and the German Emperor. However, this would change in 1912, when Ernst August’s eldest brother, Georg, was killed in a car crash. Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia sent condolences to the Crown Prince, who in turn sent his youngest and only surviving son Ernst August, to Berlin to personally thank the Emperor. While there, Ernst August met and quickly fell in love with, the Emperor’s only daughter, Princess Viktoria Luise.

Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia

Ernst August and Viktoria Luise became engaged on February 11, 1913. At that time, Ernst August took an oath of loyalty to the Emperor and was commissioned as a cavalry officer and company commander in the Zieten-Hussars, a Prussian Army regiment that had previously included his grandfather and great-grandfather as Colonels. With the Emperor’s blessing and the required consent from the British King George V, the couple was married in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hanover, on May 24, 1913. The wedding was one of the last large gatherings of European royalty before World War I began the following year, attended by 1,200 guests including numerous reigning monarchs. Ernst August and Viktoria Luise had five children:

Ernst August, Duke of Brunswick, c1916.  photo: By Gustav Rienäcker  Own work, Medvedev, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33646335

Just over five months after the wedding, Ernst August’s father renounced his claim to the Duchy of Brunswick, in favor of his son. The Federal Council voted to allow the younger Ernst August to become reigning Duke, which he did on November 1, 1913. His reign, however, would be rather short-lived. He was forced to abdicate on November 8, 1918, when the German Empire came to an end.

Following his father’s death in 1923, Ernst August became head of the House of Hanover. However, he was unable to inherit his father’s Dukedom of Cumberland. That title had been suspended by the British government under the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917. Ernst August and his family were able to remain in Hanover, and lived his remaining years at his various properties, including Cumberland Castle (link in German) in Gmunden, Austria, Marienburg Castle in Hanover, and Blankenburg Castle in Harz.

Graves of Ernst August and Viktoria Luise, in front of the Mausoleum. photo: By Vivimeri – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16765011

Ernst August III of Hanover, the last Duke of Brunswick, died at Marienburg Castle in Hanover, Germany on January 30, 1953. He and his wife are buried in front of the Mausoleum (link in German) in Herrenhausen Gardens.

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Brunswick Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Duchy of Brunswick: The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Congress of Vienna turned Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel into an independent country called the Duchy of Brunswick in 1815. Ernst August III, the last Duke of Brunswick was forced to abdicate on November 8, 1918, as the German Empire came to an end. Today the land that encompassed the Duchy of Brunswick is in the German state of  Lower Saxony.

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Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelm was the second Duke of Brunswick, reigning from 1830 until 1884. He was born Prince Wilhelm August Ludwig Maximilian Friedrich of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel in Brunswick, Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, now in Lower Saxony, Germany, on April 25, 1806, the younger son of Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Marie of Baden.

Wilhelm had one older brother:

Following the death of his mother in 1808, and then his father in 1815, Wilhelm and his brother were placed under the guardianship of The Prince Regent, the future King George IV of the United Kingdom. From an early age, Wilhelm had a military career in both Prussian and Hanoverian regiments, later reaching the ranks of General and Field Marshal.

Upon their father’s death, Wilhelm and his brother Karl inherited their father’s estates in Oels, a town in Silesia, now in Szczodre, Poland. After Karl reached his majority and took control of the government in Brunswick, he ceded the Oels estates to Wilhelm who would spend a large part of his life there.

Wilhelm, c1870. source: Wikipedia

When his brother Karl II was forced to flee Brunswick in September 1830, Wilhelm came to the Duchy and took the helm of the government as Regent. The following year, in May 1831, the German Confederation declared that Karl was no longer able to govern and that Wilhelm was his successor. While this cleared the way for Wilhelm to become the reigning Duke of Brunswick, it did not address the possibility of any heirs that Karl may have. This was resolved by a family law within the House of Guelph which formally made Wilhelm the reigning Duke, backdated to September 10, 1830, the day after his elder brother had fled.

Under Wilhelm’s regency, the Duchy of Brunswick was granted a new constitution that extended significant fundamental rights to the people. He quickly became much more popular than his brother had ever been. He let his government do much of the ruling, leaving his ministers to handle most of the government business, and spending much of his time at his estates in Oels.

Sibyllenort Castle, photographed in 1932. photo: by Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-13153 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5480895

Wilhelm died at Sibyllenort Castle in Silesia, Kingdom of Prussia now in Szczodre, Poland, on October 18, 1884. He is buried in the crypt at Brunswick Cathedral in Brunswick, Duchy of Brunswick, now in Lower Saxony, Germany. As he had no heir, the ducal throne should have passed to Ernst August II, the last Crown Prince of Hanover. However, because Ernst August refused to renounce his claim to the throne of Hanover which had been annexed by Prussia in 1866, Wilhelm I, King of Prussia (later also German Emperor) refused to allow him to succeed as Duke of Brunswick. Despite this, Wilhelm passed all his personal possessions to Ernst August II upon his death. Two regents, Prince Albrecht of Prussia (1885-1906) and Duke Johann Albrecht of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1906-1913), ruled over Brunswick for the next 23 years. In 1913,  Ernst August II’s son Ernst August III married Princess Viktoria Luise, the only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia. Ernst August II renounced his rights to the Duchy of Brunswick in favor of his son Ernst August III, who took his place as Duke of Brunswick.

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Brunswick Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha was an uncle of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, father of King Ferdinand II of Portugal, and the founder of the Catholic cadet branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Born Prince Ferdinand Georg August of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld on March 28, 1785, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in Bavaria, Germany, Ferdinand was the second son of Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Auguste of Reuss-Ebersdorf, and had eight siblings:

Ferdinand’s military career started in 1791 when he was just six years old. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Austrian Imperial Army, serving in a Dragoons Regiment. Over the next thirty-seven years, he served with several different regiments and saw battle in the Wars of the Fifth and Sixth Coalitions, the Battle of Kulm, and the Battle of Leipzig. By the late 1820s, he had reached the rank of General of the Cavalry.

Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya; Credit – Wikipedia

In Vienna on November 30, 1815, Ferdinand married Princess Maria Antonia Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya, the daughter of Ferenc József, Prince Koháry de Csábrág et Szitnya and Countess Maria Antoinetta Josefa of Waldstein-Wartenburg. Although Ferdinand remained Lutheran, the couple married in the Catholic Church, with the condition that they would raise their children Catholic. They had four children:

The Palais Coburg in Vienna, 2014. photo: Von Buchhändler – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=33246568

Ferdinand’s wife was the sole heiress to her father’s vast fortune, which she inherited upon his death in 1826. Ferdinand took over the management of the Koháry estates, which comprised of over 150,000 hectares of land in Austria, Hungary, and Slovakia, and included numerous estates, forests, mines, and factories. At the time, Ferdinand also converted to Catholicism and founded the Koháry branch of the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. He oversaw the construction of the Palais Coburg in Vienna, Austria in the early 1840s, which is used today as a five-star hotel.

Prince Ferdinand died in Vienna, Austria on August 27, 1851. He was buried in the Ducal Mausoleum in the Glockenberg Cemetery in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in Bavaria, Germany.

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Karl II, Duke of Brunswick

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Duchy of Brunswick: The Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel was a subdivision of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg. After the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, the Congress of Vienna turned Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel into an independent country called the Duchy of Brunswick in 1815. Ernst August III, the last Duke of Brunswick was forced to abdicate on November 8, 1918, as the German Empire came to an end. Today the land that encompassed the Duchy of Brunswick is in the German state of  Lower Saxony.

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Karl II, Duke of Brunswick; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl II, Duke of Brunswick, was born in Brunswick, Principality of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, now in Lower Saxony, Germany,  on October 30, 1804, to Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel and Princess Marie of Baden. Through his father, he was a great-great-grandson of King George II of Great Britain. Karl had one younger brother:

After his mother died in 1808, Karl and his brother were sent to live with his maternal grandmother, the former Amalie of Hesse-Darmstadt, while their father raised forces to fight alongside the Austrians against Napoleon. The following year, their father escaped to England and sent for his sons to join him.

The Prince Regent, painting in 1816. source: Wikipedia

In 1815, the Duchy of Brunswick was established by the Congress of Vienna. That same year, on June 16, 1815, Karl’s father died in battle, and Karl became the reigning Duke of Brunswick. He and his brother were placed under the guardianship of their father’s first cousin (and their uncle by marriage), The Prince Regent of Great Britain, the future King George IV of the United Kingdom and King of Hanover. The Prince Regent also reigned in Brunswick on Karl’s behalf. When Karl turned 18 in 1822, he claimed his majority, but the Prince Regent claimed that he would not reach his majority until turning 21. A compromise was reached, and Karl took control of the government on his 19th birthday in 1823. Four years later, Karl tried to invalidate several of the laws established during his minority. This caused great conflict with Hanover, and the German Confederation stepped in, ordering Karl to accept the laws.

In 1830, Karl was in Paris when the July Revolution broke out. He fled the city and returned to Brunswick, announcing that he intended to squash any revolutionary actions by force. This further caused dislike by the people of Brunswick. After being attacked while returning from the theater one evening, and a large mob attempting to storm the palace the next day, Karl fled Brunswick on September 7, 1830. Three days later, his brother Wilhelm arrived in Brunswick and was greeted with large crowds of supporters. A year later, by family law of the House of Guelph, Karl was deemed to have ended his reign on September 9, 1830.

Karl made several attempts to return and regain the throne, but all were unsuccessful. He spent the next 40 years living in London and Paris. The subject of many allegations of impropriety, homosexuality, and other eccentricities, Karl sued several publishers for libel. In 1849, he sued a publisher for republishing a libelous article from years earlier. This case established a precedent in English defamation law, ruling that plaintiffs could sue again if the original libel was re-published. This ruling remained intact until The Defamation Act of 2013.

The Brunswick Monument. photo: By Tommes – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44155891

When the Franco-Prussian War began in 1870, Karl was forced to leave Paris and settled at the Beau-Rivage Hotel in Geneva, Switzerland, where he died on August 19, 1873.  As he never married and had no direct heirs, Karl left his entire estate to the City of Geneva, on the condition that they built a large tomb for him in a prominent location in the city. The Brunswick Monument was built, largely to Karl’s specific design, in the Garden of the Alps in Geneva, and the Duke’s remains were interred there in 1879.

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Brunswick Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was an aunt to both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Born Juliane Henriette Ulrike on September 23, 1781, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Bavaria, she was the third daughter of Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Countess Auguste of Reuss-Ebersdorf.

Juliane had eight siblings:

Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1795, Catherine II (the Grea), Empress of All Russia sent Count Andrei Budberg on a visit to the royal courts of Europe, secretly searching for a potential bride for her grandson Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia. Konstantin was the second son of the future Paul I, Emperor of  All Russia and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg, and younger brother of the future Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia.

While traveling, Budberg became ill and stopped in Coburg where he was treated by Baron Stockmar, the Coburg court’s physician. Stockmar learned of the general’s ‘mission’, and suggested the daughters of the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Once the prospect of a Coburg bride was approved by Catherine the Great, Juliane and her two elder sisters, accompanied by their mother, traveled to Saint Petersburg in August 1795. After several weeks, Konstantin chose Juliane, and the two became engaged.

In early February 1796, Juliane was baptized into the Russian Orthodox Church and took the name Anna Feodorovna. Just weeks later, on February 26, 1796, she and Konstantin were married. The marriage was unhappy from the beginning and they had no children. From most accounts, Konstantin was forced into marrying and had no real interest in Juliane. Both were still teenagers, had little in common, and Konstantin was focused solely on his military career. He was also known to be quite violent toward her. Extremely jealous, particularly of his elder brother Alexander, Konstantin would not allow Juliane to leave her rooms unless he was accompanying her. Her only friend at the Russian court was her sister-in-law, the former Luise of Baden.

In 1799, Juliane left Russia under the auspices of medical treatment but was soon forced to return. After her father-in-law Paul I was assassinated in 1801, she once again found an opportunity to leave. Later that year, her mother came to Russia to accompany Juliane to Coburg to recover from ill health. Upon arriving home in Coburg, she refused to return to Russia and soon began negotiating for a divorce. However, the Russian court would not allow a formal end to the marriage.

Although still technically married, Juliane had several affairs, two of which resulted in the birth of children. In October 1808, she gave birth to a son, Eduard Edgar Schmidt-Löwe. The father was believed to be French nobleman  Jules de Seigneux but some believe the father was Emperor Alexander I. Ten years later, Juliane’s brother Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha elevated Eduard to the nobility and gave him the surname ‘von Löwenfels’. After moving to Bern, Switzerland, Juliane gave birth to a second child, a daughter named Louise Hilda, in 1812. The father was Rodolphe de Schiferli, a Swiss doctor and professor who served as chamberlain of Juliane’s household for over twenty years. To avoid further scandal, the baby was adopted.

The mansion house at Elfenau. photo: Von RicciSpeziari – photo uploaded by User:RicciSpeziari. Photographer: Riccardo Speziari, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5608824

In 1814, after refusing an offer of reconciliation from her husband, Juliane purchased an estate in Bern, Switzerland along the banks of the Aare River. She named the property Elfenau, and it became her home for the rest of her life. Here she entertained musicians and artists from around Europe and hosted numerous foreign diplomats. Finally, in 1820, her marriage to Grand Duke Konstantin Pavlovich of Russia was formally annulled by Emperor Alexander I. Several years later, in 1835, her son Eduard married his cousin Bertha von Schauenstein. She was the illegitimate daughter of Ernst I of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and therefore a half-sibling to Prince Albert, who married Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom.

Juliane, as painted by Winterhalter in 1848. source: Wikipedia

Anna Feodorovna, the former Princess Juliane, died at her home Elfenau in Bern, Switzerland on August 15, 1860. She is buried there, with a simple marble stone inscribed with just her name – ‘Julia-Anna’ – and the years of her birth and death.

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Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt

by Scott Mehl
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Duchy of Anhalt: Leopold IV Friedrich, the first Duke of Anhalt inherited three duchies: the Duchy of Anhalt-Dessau from his grandfather, the Duchy of Anhalt-Köthen from a distant cousin, and the Duchy of Anhalt-Bernburg from another distant cousin. The three duchies were united as the Duchy of Anhalt on August 30, 1863.

Joachim Ernst was the last Duke of Anhalt. He came to the throne in September 1918 when he was 17-years-old. As he was underage, his father’s brother Prince Aribert of Anhalt served as Regent. With the German Empire crumbling at the end of World War I, Aribert abdicated on Joachim Ernst’s behalf on November 12, 1918. Today the territory that encompassed the Duchy of Anhalt is in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt.

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Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt

Joachim Ernst, the last reigning Duke of Anhalt, reigned for just two months before the end of the German Empire. He was born Prince Joachim Ernst Wilhelm Karl Albrecht Leopold Friedrich Moritz Erdmann on January 11, 1901, at Ballenstedt Castle in Ballenstedt, Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, the son of Eduard, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg.

Joachim Ernst had five siblings:

  • Princess Friederike (born and died 1896) – died in infancy
  • Prince Leopold (1897-1898) – died in infancy
  • Princess Marie-Auguste (1898-1983) – married Prince Joachim of Prussia, had issue
  • Prince Eugen (1903-1980) – married Anastasia Jungmeier, had issue
  • Prince Wolfgang (19121936) – unmarried

Prince Aribert, Regent of Anhalt. source: Wikipedia

Joachim Ernst became Duke upon his father’s death in September 1918. As he was underage, his father’s brother, Prince Aribert of Anhalt, served as Regent. With the German Empire crumbling, Aribert abdicated on Joachim Ernst’s behalf on November 12, 1918.

Joachim Ernst with one of his wives

Joachim Ernst married twice. His first marriage was to actress Elisabeth Strickrodt at Ballenstedt Castle on March 3, 1927. The marriage was morganatic, and she was given the title Countess of Askanien. They divorced in 1929. His second marriage, on October 15, 1929, was to Edda-Charlotte von Stephani-Marwitz. They had five children:

  • Princess Alexandra (1930-1993) – married (1) Karl-Heinz Guttmann, divorced; (2) Max Riederer, divorced
  • Princess Anna Luise (1933-2003) – married Thomas Birch, divorced
  • Friedrich, Hereditary Prince of Anhalt (1938-1963) – unmarried, died from injuries received in a car accident
  • Princess Edda (born 1940) – married Albert Darboven
  • Eduard, Prince of Anhalt (born 1941) – married Corinne Krönlein, had issue

Joachim Ernst spent his post-abdication life at Ballenstedt Castle, where he raised his family and became a trained agricultural and forestry farmer. Always at odds with the Nazis, he was arrested in 1944 and imprisoned at the Dachau Concentration Camp for three months. He was arrested again in September 1945 – this time by the Soviets – and was sent to the NKVD Special Camp No. 2 at the former Buchenwald Concentration Camp.

Memorial tomb at Ballenstedt Castle. photo: by Migebert – Own Work, CC-BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=63354843

The former Duke of Anhalt died at the camp on February 18, 1947, and his remains were thrown into a mass grave. Sixty years later, on February 18, 2007, a memorial service was held on the grounds of Buchenwald, and an urn of earth was removed from the burial ground there. The Duke’s family had the urn buried with a memorial stone at the Röhrkopf Hunting Lodge in Ballenstedt. After the hunting lodge was sold in 2011, the stone and urn were moved to the edge of the courtyard at Ballenstedt Castle in Ballenstedt, Saxony-Anhalt, Germany where they remain today.

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Anhalt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Feodora of Leiningen, Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Feodora was the elder half-sister of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. She was born Princess Anna Feodora Auguste Charlotte Wilhelmine of Leiningen on December 7, 1807, in Amorbach, Principality of Leiningen, now in Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of Emich Carl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Feodora had one older brother:

Feodora had an elder half-brother from her father’s first marriage to Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg:

  • Prince Friedrich (1793 – 1800) – died in childhood

She also had a younger half-sister from her mother’s second marriage to Prince Edward, Duke of Kent:

Feodora’s father died in 1814 when she was just seven years old. Her mother remarried in 1818 and the following year the family moved to England where they took up residence in Kensington Palace in London. It was there in May 1819 that Feodora’s half-sister Victoria was born. Tragedy came again in January 1820 when her stepfather died. Because Victoria was directly in line for the British throne, the family remained in England. Feodora studied privately at home, under the direction of her governess Luise Lehzen who would later become governess, confidante, and companion to the young Victoria. Feodora, too, was a close companion to her sister, and the two would maintain a close relationship for the rest of Feodora’s life.

Stifled by her restricted life within Kensington Palace, Feodora was eager to find a husband and leave. She wrote of her drives with Victoria and Lehzen as the only time she was happy. Soon, she would find her opportunity to escape.

Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. source: Wikipedia

On February 18, 1828, Feodora married Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Kensington Palace, despite having only met him twice before the wedding. He was the son of Karl Ludwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth. They settled at Schloss Langenburg (link in German) and had six children:

Feodora’s daughter Adelheid married Friedrich VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Adelheid and Friedrich’s daughter Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein married Wilhelm II, German Emperor, King of Prussia, son of Victoria’s eldest child Victoria, Princess Royal. And so, Feodora’s granddaughter married Quen Victoria’s grandson. Through this marriage, Feodora and her daughter Adelheid are ancestors of the Greek and Spanish royal families.

Feodora and Queen Victoria maintained a close relationship and wrote to each other religiously. Victoria and her mother visited Feodora and Feodora visited Victoria and their mother in England. Whenever she came, Victoria paid Feodora £300 for her expenses. Feodora came to England when Victoria needed her the most, in the summer of 1861 following the death of their mother and then in December 1861 following Prince Albert’s death.

Feodora’s husband was very politically active, serving as a member of the Württemberg Estates Assembly, President of the Estonian Committee, and later President of the First Chamber of the Württemberg Landtag, so the family also spent much time living in Stuttgart. Feodora maintained a very active social life both at home and in England, where she often visited her mother and sister. She was also very active in charitable causes in Langenburg, founding the Children’s Rescue Center in 1830 to help poor and orphaned children, and, at the time of her silver anniversary in 1853, founding the Poor Preservation Institute for Children and the Sick.

Villa Hohenlohe, painted by August Becker, 1877. source: Royal Collection Trust, RCIN 408974
https://www.royalcollection.org.uk/collection/408974/the-villa-hohenlohe

After being widowed in 1860, Feodora moved to Baden-Baden, where, with some financial help from Queen Victoria, she purchased a cottage called Villa Friesenberg. In a letter to Victoria, she described the house as “a Swiss cottage and a garden on a hill, with good air and a lovely view”. Queen Victoria visited Feodora there in the spring of 1872. Following Feodora’s death several months later, Victoria took possession of the house and its contents. She visited again four years later, calling the house Villa Hohenlohe.

Following a serious illness, Princess Feodora died at Villa Hohenlohe on September 23, 1872. She is buried in the Main Cemetery in Baden-Baden. After getting a telegram informing her of Feodora’s death, Queen Victoria wrote in her journal: “Can I write it? My own darling, only sister, my dear excellent, noble Feodora is no more!… I stand so alone now, no near & dear one nearer my own age, or older, to whom I could look up to, left! All, all gone! How good & wise, beloved Feodora was, so devoted to me, so truly pious & religious. She is gone to that world she was so fit for & entered it, just sleeping away. What a blessed end! but what a loss to those who are left! She was my last near relative on an equality with me, the last link with my childhood & youth.”

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Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, Princess Edward of Anhalt

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg, Credit – Wikipedia

Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg was the wife of the future Eduard, Duke of Anhalt. She was born in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, on August 11, 1873, the youngest child of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Auguste of Saxe-Meiningen.

Luise Charlotte had four older siblings:

Eduard, Duke of Anhalt. source: Wikipedia

On February 6, 1895, in Altenburg, Luise Charlotte married her second cousin, Prince Eduard of Anhalt, the future Duke of Anhalt. He was the son of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg.

They had six children:

  • Princess Friederike (born and died 1896) – died in infancy
  • Prince Leopold (1897-1898) – died in infancy
  • Princess Marie-Auguste (1898-1983) – married Prince Joachim of Prussia, had issue
  • Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt (1901-1947) – married (1) Elisabeth Strickrodt, no issue; (2) Edda-Charlotte von Stephani-Marwitz, had issue
  • Prince Eugen (1903-1980) – married Anastasia Jungmeier, had issue
  • Prince Wolfgang (1912-1936) – unmarried

Luise Charlotte and Eduard divorced on January 26, 1918, a few months before her husband became Duke of Anhalt. She spent her remaining years in Altenburg, Germany where she died on April 15, 1953. She is buried in the Ducal Cemetery in Trockenborn-Wolfersdorf, Germany along with her brother, Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg.

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.

Anhalt Resources at Unofficial Royalty