Category Archives: Former Monarchies

Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Wilhelmina of Prussia, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

Born Princess Wilhelmina of Prussia (Friederike Sophie Wilhelmina) in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia, now in Brandenburg, Germany, on August 7, 1751, she was the only daughter and the third of the four children of Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia and Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Wilhelmina’s father was the second surviving son of King Friedrich Wilhelm I of Prussia and Sophia Dorothea of Hanover, the daughter of King George I of Great Britain. August Wilhelm’s elder brother was King Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia and an elder sister was Louisa Ulrika, wife of King Adolf Frederik of Sweden. Wilhelmina’s uncle Friedrich II of Prussia married her mother’s sister Elisabeth Christine of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Their marriage was childless and Friedrich II was succeeded by Wilhelmina’s eldest brother.

Wilhelmina had three brothers:

At a very young age, Wilhelmina was separated from her parents and raised by her paternal grandmother Queen Dowager Sophia Dorothea. After her grandmother died in 1757, Wilhelmina was raised by her maternal aunt, Queen Elisabeth Christine, the wife of her paternal uncle King Friedrich II (the Great) of Prussia, who lived apart from her husband. When Wilhelmina was seven-years-old, her 35-year-old father died from a brain tumor.

On October 4, 1767, in Berlin, 16-year-old Wilhelmina married 19-year-old Willem V, Prince of Orange, son of Willem IV, Prince of Orange and Anne, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain. The marriage was negotiated at the request of her uncle King Friedrich II.

Willem and Wilhelmina had five children, but only three survived infancy:

Willem and Wilhelmina with their three children (left to right) Friedrich, Wilhelm, and Louise by Pieter le Sage, 1779; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelmina was a proud and politically ambitious person. She was King Friedrich II of Prussia’s favorite niece and the two conducted a long-lasting correspondence containing political content. Because of her uncle’s advice, Wilhelmina tried to gain political influence in the Dutch Republic. Wilhelmina dominated her husband and exerted influence in the politics of the Dutch Republic.

In 1783, after the signing of the Treaty of Paris ending the American Revolutionary War, there was growing restlessness in the Dutch Republic. A group of revolutionaries called Patriots was challenging Willem V’s authority. In September of 1787, the Patriots were defeated by a Prussian army and many of the Patriots fled to France. In 1793, after the French Revolution, Willem V joined the First Coalition which fought against revolutionary France in 1793. The next year, the Dutch Republic was threatened by invading French armies. In 1795, the revolutionary Patriots, now supported by the French Army, returned and replaced the Dutch Republic with the Batavian Republic which remained in power until 1806.

Wilhelmina in 1789; Credit – Wikipedia

Willem V and his family fled to England where they lived in exile until 1802 in London in the part of Kew Palace known as the Dutch House with the permission of Willem’s first cousin King George III. In 1802, the family went to Germany where they lived in Nassau and Brunswick. Willem spent the rest of his life in exile. During his exile, Willem was viewed quite negatively in both England and the Netherlands. On April 9, 1806, Willem V died at the age of 58 in Brunswick (Germany) and was buried there. On April 29, 1958, after more than 150 years of lying in peace in Brunswick, he was reinterred at the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.

In 1806, Napoleon I, Emperor of the French created the Kingdom of Holland for his brother Louis and the Batavian Republic came to an end. Aware of the discontent of the Dutch under French rule, Willem V’s son, also named Willem met with Alexander I, Emperor of All Russia to appeal for help in restoring him to rule in the Netherlands. Alexander agreed to help, and following Napoleon’s defeat at Leipzig in 1813, the Dutch provisional government agreed to accept Willem as the first King of the Netherlands.

Wilhelmina’s son King Willem I of the Netherlands; Credit – Wikipedia

Wilhelmina survived long enough to see her son become King Willem I of the Netherlands, and she returned to live in the Netherlands in 1814.  She died on June 9, 1820, at the age of 68 at Het Loo Palace in Apeldoorn where she was buried. In 1831, Wilhelmina was reinterred at the new crypt of the House of Orange at the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.

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Marie Luise of Hesse-Kassel, Princess of Orange

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Marie Luise of Hesse-Kassel, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

Until September 8, 2022, Marie Luise of Hesse-Kassel and her husband Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange held the distinction of being the most recent common ancestors to all currently reigning European monarchs. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt and his wife Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken became the most recent common ancestors of all current hereditary European monarchs on September 8, 2022 after Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, who was not a descendant, died and her son, Charles III, a descendant through his father, became king.

The second of the four daughters and ninth of the fourteen children of Karl I, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel and his wife and cousin Maria Amalia of Courland, Marie Luise was born on February 7, 1688, in Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse, now in Hesse, Germany.

Marie Luise had thirteen siblings:

Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

When she was 21-years-old, Marie Luise’s marriage was arranged by her future mother-in-law Henriëtte Amalia of Anhalt-Dessau who was concerned that her son Johan Willem Friso, Prince of Orange had been almost killed twice in battle and had no heir. She started searching for a bride and soon gave him a choice of two German princesses. Johan Willem Friso became engaged within a week to Marie Luise. They were married on April 26, 1709, in Kassel, Landgraviate of Hesse-Kassel, now in the German state of Hesse.

Marie Luise and Johan Willem Friso had two children:

Marie Luise and her children; Credit – Wikipedia

The couple made their home at the Stadhouderlijk Hof in Leeuwarden in Friesland one of the two of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic where Johan Willem Friso was Stadtholder. However, Johan Willem Friso was often away at war. Sadly, their marriage lasted only two years. In July 1711, Johan Willem Friso traveled from the battlefields of the War of the Spanish Succession to The Hague to meet with King Friedrich I of Prussia. To cross the Hollands Diep, a wide river in the Netherlands, Johan Willem Friso and his carriage traveled on a ferry. The captain had trouble with the sails and suddenly a great gust of wind filled the sails, the ferry capsized and Johan Willem Friso drowned at the age of 23. His body was found floating in the river eight days later. At the time of her husband’s death, Marie Luise was pregnant with her second child. Six weeks later, she gave birth to a son who immediately became Willem IV, Prince of Orange.

Willem V succeeded his father as Stadtholder of Friesland and as Stadtholder of Groningen under the regency of his mother until he reached his majority in 1731. In 1722, he was elected Stadtholder of Guelders and Marie Luise also served as regent of Guelders. She put much effort into ensuring her children received a proper education. Marie Luise was loved and admired by the Dutch people who called her Marijke Meu (Aunt Mary). In 1731, Marie Luise’s role as regent was over. She purchased the Princessehof in Leeuwarden, moved in, and started a collection of ceramics. Today her former home is the Princessehof Ceramics Museum and her collection forms part of the museum’s collection.

On March 25, 1734, Marie Luise’s son Willem IV, Prince of Orange married Anne, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King George II of Great Britain at the Chapel Royal in St. James’s Palace in London. It was the third time in less than 100 years that a British princess had married a Prince of Orange. Willem IV and Anne had two children including the future Willem V, Prince of Orange born in 1748. However, William IV died at age 40 from a stroke on October 22, 1751, and was succeeded by his three-year-old son as Willem V, Prince of Orange with his mother Anne serving as regent. Anne acted as regent until her death from dropsy in 1759 at age 49. As Willem V was still underage, his paternal grandmother 70-year-old Marie Luise became regent.

Marie Luise; Credit – Wikipedia

Marie Luise’s health had been deteriorating and she often had to travel from her home in Leeuwarden to The Hague for government business which exhausted her. She suffered a slight stroke that caused her to lose some functioning on the right side of her body. On Palm Sunday in 1765, Marie Luise was present at the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk in Leeuwarden greeting as many churchgoers as possible. The day before Easter, Marie Luise became ill and she was upset that her absence in church on Easter would disappoint the people. Two days after Easter, on April 9, 1765, Marie Luise died at the age of 77. She had survived her husband Johan Willem Friso by 54 years. Marie Luise was buried with her husband at the Grote of Jacobijnerkerk in Leeuwarden, Friesland now in the Netherlands, where sixteen members of Nassau-Diez family – six Stadtholders of Friesland, their spouses, and children – are buried.

Grote of Jacobijnerkerk; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

Amalia of Solms-Braunfels was born on August 31, 1602, at Braunfels Castle (Schloss Braunfels) in Braunfels, then in the County of Solms-Braunfels now in Hesse, Germany. She was the fourth of five daughters and the eighth of the eleven children of Johann Albrecht I, Count of Solms-Braunfels and Agnes of Sayn-Wittgenstein.

Schloss Braunfels, Amalia’s birthplace; Photo Credit – By I, ArtMechanic, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=196823

Amalia had ten siblings but only five survived childhood:

  • Friedrich Kasimir (1591 – 1595), died in early childhood
  • Elisabeth (1593 – 1636), married Wolfgang Friedrich, Count of Salm, Wild and Rheingraf, had seven children
  • Ursula (1594 – 1657), married Christoph, Count of Dohna, had twelve children
  • Konrad Ludwig, Count of Solms-Braunfels (1595 – 1635), married Anna Sibylla, Baroness Winneburg, no children
  • Juliana (1597 – 1599), died in early childhood
  • Otto (born and died 1598)
  • Johann Albrecht II, Count of Solms-Braunfels (1599 – 1648), married Anna Elisabeth, Baroness Daun-Falkenstein, had two children
  • Friedrich (1604 – 1605), died in early childhood
  • Johann Philipp (1605 – 1609), died in early childhood
  • Louise Christina (1606 – 1669), married Johan Wolfert van Brederode, 16th Lord van Brederode, had eight children

Amalia spent her childhood at the family’s castle in Braunfels. In 1619, Amalia’s father became an adviser to Friedrich V, Elector Palatine of the Rhine who had just been elected King of Bohemia. Amalia’s family traveled to Prague, the capital of Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) and Amalia became a maid of honor to King Friedrich’s wife Elizabeth Stuart, the eldest daughter of King James I of England. The crown of Bohemia had been in Habsburg hands for a long time and the Habsburg heir, Ferdinand II, Holy Roman Emperor refused to accept Friedrich as King of Bohemia. Friedrich’s reign ended with his defeat by Ferdinand at the Battle of White Mountain, one of the early battles of the Thirty Years’ War, on November 8, 1620. Friedrich and Elizabeth are called the Winter King and the Winter Queen, referring to their short reign as King and Queen of Bohemia.

Elizabeth, pregnant with her fifth child, left Prague with Amalia in attendance. At the Castle of Custrin outside of Berlin, Elizabeth gave birth to her son Moritz with the help of Amalia. Friedrich and Elizabeth were granted asylum by Maurits, Prince of Orange, and invited to live in The Hague. It was at a ball in honor of Elizabeth in 1622 in The Hague that Amalia met her future husband Frederik Hendrik, the only child of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange and his fourth wife Louise de Coligny, and the half-brother of the Prince of Orange, Maurits. Frederik Hendrik, who was unmarried, fell madly in love with Amalia and wanted her to become his mistress. Amalia refused to accept anything but marriage.

Frederik Hendrik and Amalia; Credit – Wikipedia

Frederik Hendrik’s half-brother Maurits, Prince of Orange never married but he did have several illegitimate children. In 1625, while on his deathbed, Maurits threatened to legitimize his illegitimate sons, threatening Frederik Hendrik’s succession. Because of Maurits’ threat to legitimize his illegitimate sons, Frederik Hendrik summoned Amalia and married her on April 4, 1625. The marriage and the promise of children satisfied Maurits. He died on April 23, 1625, at the age of 57. Frederik Hendrik succeeded him as Prince of Orange and the other hereditary titles of their father. He also succeeded in the elective offices as Stadtholder (Governor) of five of the seven provinces of the Dutch Republic and as the Captain-General and Admiral of the military forces of the Dutch Republic.

Frederik Hendrik and Amalia had nine children but four did not survive infancy:

Frederik Hendrik with his wife and three youngest daughters, circa 1647; Credit – Wikipedia

Amalia and her husband had a good relationship and a happy marriage. She was the main matchmaker of the family, arranging the marriage of her son Willem with Mary, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of King Charles I of England, and the marriages of her daughters with German princes. Amalia had influence in politics, initially as Frederik Hendrik’s adviser, and then, after 1640, when her husband became ill, she became openly involved in political life and received foreign diplomats and envoys.

For many years before his death, Frederik Hendrik suffered from gout. In the summer of 1646, he had a stroke that temporarily prevented him from speaking. After that, Frederik Hendrik was physically weak, difficult to cope with, and sometimes mentally unstable. He died on March 14, 1647, in The Hague, Holland, Dutch Republic at the age of 63. His 21-year-old eldest son succeeded him as Willem II, Prince of Orange.

Willem II served as Stadtholder and Prince of Orange for only three years. On November 6, 1650, he died from smallpox. His wife Mary gave birth to their only child eight days later. The 19-year-old widow wanted to name her son Charles after her brother King Charles II of England but her mother-in-law Amalia insisted that her grandson be named Willem Hendrik and she got her way. From birth, the infant was Willem III, Prince of Orange.

Amalia’s grandson Willem III, Prince of Orange, later King William III of England; Credit – Wikipedia

During Willem’s minority, his mother Mary had to share his guardianship and regency with his paternal grandmother Amalia and Friedrich Wilhelm, Elector of Brandenburg, whose wife Louise Henriette was the elder sister of little Willem’s father. In 1660, Willem’s mother Mary died from smallpox while visiting her brothers King Charles II and the future King James II in England and Amalia became the sole regent for her 10-year-old grandson. In 1672, Willem III, Prince of Orange was declared an adult, and his regency council was dismissed. Amalia witnessed her grandson become Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel and Captain-General of the military forces. Willem married his first cousin Mary, the eldest surviving child of the future King James II of England. During the Glorious Revolution of 1688, King James II was overthrown and his son-in-law and daughter then reigned jointly as King William III and Queen Mary II.

Amalia died on September 8, 1675, in The Hague at the age of 73. She was buried at the Nieuwe Kerk in Delft.

Nieuwe Kerk in Delft; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Murder of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin in 1916; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

On November 26, 1894, in the Grand Church of the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, Nicholas II, Emperor of All the Russias married Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, the youngest surviving daughter of Ludwig, Grand Duke IV of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, a daughter of Queen Victoria.  Upon her conversion to Russian Orthodoxy, Alix was given the name Alexandra Feodorovna. After giving birth to four daughters during the first seven years of her marriage, Alexandra felt great pressure to provide an heir. Finally, in 1904, she gave birth to a son, Alexei. However, it would soon become apparent that she was a carrier of hemophilia, and her young son was a sufferer. This would cause great pain to Alexandra, and great measures were taken to protect him from harm and to hide the illness from the Russian people. When Alexei’s illness eventually became public knowledge, it led to more dislike for Alexandra, with many of the Russian people blaming her for the heir’s illness.

After working with many physicians to help Alexei who suffered greatly, Alexandra turned to mystics and faith healers. This led to her close, disastrous relationship with Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, a Russian peasant and mystical faith healer. Several times Rasputin appeared to have brought Alexei back from the brink of death, which further cemented Alexandra’s reliance on him. To many historians and experts, this relationship would contribute greatly to the fall of the Russian monarchy.

Rasputin with Alexandra Feodorovna, her children, and the children’s nurse in 1908; Credit – Wikipedia

Rasputin became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg, especially after August 1915, when Nicholas II took supreme command of the Russian armies fighting in World War I. Eventually, a group of conspirators plotted to murder Rasputin in hopes of ending his influence over the Imperial Family.

Rasputin, Nicholas, and Alexandra, anonymous caricature in 1916; Credit – Wikipedia

The conspirators were led by two men, one a member of the Imperial Family and one who married into the Imperial Family. Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia was the second child and only son of Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich, a son of Alexander II, Emperor of All the Russias, and Princess Alexandra of Greece, a daughter of King George I of Greece and Grand Duchess Olga Konstantinovna of Russia. Therefore, Dmitri was the first cousin of Nicholas II as their fathers were brothers. (A side note, Dmitri is also the first cousin of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh as Dmitri’s mother and Philip’s father were siblings.) Prince Felix Felixovich Yusupov was a Russian aristocrat who was wealthier than any of the Romanovs. Felix married Princess Irina Alexandrovna of Russia, Nicholas II’s only niece, the daughter of his sister Grand Duchess Xenia Alexandrovna of Russia and Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich of Russia.

Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich of Russia, before 1917; Credit – Wikipedia

Prince Felix Yusupov, 1914; Credit – Wikipedia

Along with Dmitri and Felix, Vladimir Purishkevich, a deputy of the Duma, the Russian legislature, was one of the main conspirators. Dr. Stanislaus de Lazovert, a physician, and Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin, a lieutenant in the Preobrazhensky Regiment, also were participants. On the night of December 29-30, 1916, Felix invited Rasputin to Moika Palace, his home in St. Petersburg, promising Rasputin that his wife Irina would be there, although she was not there. According to his memoir, Felix brought Rasputin to a soundproof room in a part of the wine cellar and offered Rasputin tea and petit fours laced with a large amount of cyanide, but the poison had no effect.

Felix then offered Rasputin wine, and after an hour Rasputin was fairly drunk. The other conspirators were waiting in a room on another floor of the palace and Felix then went upstairs and came back with Dmitri’s revolver. He shot Rasputin in the chest and the wounds appeared to be serious enough to cause death. However, Rasputin escaped, struggling up the stairs and opening an unlocked door to the courtyard. Apparently, Purishkevich heard the noise, went out to the courtyard, and shot Rasputin four times, missing three times. Rasputin fell down in the snow. Again, Rasputin should have been dead, but he was still moving. One of the conspirators shot him in the forehead. Rasputin’s body was thrown off the Bolshoy Petrovsky Bridge into an ice-hole in the Malaya Neva River. Rasputin’s body was found a few days later.

Rasputin was buried on January 2, 1917, at a small church at Tsarskoye Selo, near St. Petersburg. His funeral was attended by members of the Imperial Family. Rasputin’s body was exhumed and burned by a detachment of soldiers shortly after Nicholas II abdicated in March 1917 to prevent his burial site from becoming a place of pilgrimage.

Police photograph of Rasputin’s corpse, found floating in the Malaya Nevka River, 1916; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

After Rasputin’s murder, the St. Petersburg authorities refused to arrest the conspirators because the murder they committed was considered acceptable. Instead, Dmitri was exiled to Persia (now Iran), a move that most likely saved his life during the Russian Revolution, and Felix was exiled to his estate in Rakitnoje, near Belgorod, Russia and the Ukraine border.

After the Russian Revolution, Dmitri lived in exile in Paris where he had an affair with the fashion designer Coco Chanel. He married American heiress Audrey Emery in 1926, but the couple divorced in 1937. The marriage produced one child, Paul Ilyinsky, who was an American citizen, served as a US Marine in the Korean War, and was elected mayor of Palm Beach, Florida. Dmitri died from tuberculosis at a Swiss sanatorium in 1942 at the age of 50.

Dmitri with his wife Audrey Emery, 1920s; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Felix and his wife Irina escaped Russia in 1919 aboard the British battleship HMS Marlborough along with Irina’s grandmother Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna (born Princess Dagmar of Denmark) and other members of the Imperial Family. Felix and Irina lived in exile in Paris. Felix died in 1967 at the age of 80 and Irina died three years later at the age of 74.

Felix and Irina in exile, 1930s, Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Éléonore de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Orange

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Éléonore de Bourbon-Condé, Princess of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

The wife of Filips Willem, Prince of Orange, Éléonore de Bourbon-Condé, was born on April 30, 1587, St-Jean-d’Angély, Saintonge, France. She was the elder of the two children of Henri I, Prince de Condé and his second wife Charlotte Catherine de La Tremoille. The House of Condé was a French princely house and a cadet branch of the House of Bourbon. The title of Prince of Condé was originally assumed around 1557 by Éléonore’s grandfather Louis de Bourbon,  a prominent Huguenot (French Protestant) leader and general and first cousin of King Henri IV of France. The title was held by his male-line descendants.

Éléonore had one younger brother who was named heir presumptive to the French throne by King Henri IV and remained the heir until the birth of the king’s son, the future King Louis XII, in 1601:

Éléonore had a half-sister from her father’s first marriage to Marie of Cleves:

  • Catherine de Bourbon-Conde, (1574–1595), died unmarried

Éléonore’s father died when she was nearly a year old. Henri I, Prince de Condé had been wounded in battle several months earlier and was recuperating when he suddenly died on March 3, 1588, at the age of 35. An autopsy indicated that he may have been poisoned. Éléonore’s mother Charlotte Catherine was three months pregnant at the time and there was talk that the father was her page. Thought to have a motive, Charlotte Catherine was arrested for murder. She was held in the tower of the family castle where she gave birth to her son Henri on September 1, 1588. Charlotte Catherine was tried and condemned to death. She appealed her conviction but she remained imprisoned. After seven years, Charlotte Catherine’s conviction was overturned and she was released from her imprisonment.

On November 23, 1606, at the Château de Fontainebleau in France, 19-year-old Éléonore married 51-year-old Filips Willem, Prince of Orange, son of Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange and his first wife Anna van Egmont. The marriage had been arranged by Louise de Coligny, the fourth wife and widow of Willem I. Louise was the daughter of a French nobleman, admiral, and Huguenot leader Gaspard II de Coligny who had been killed during the St. Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572 when thousands of Huguenots were murdered.

Filips Willem, Prince of Orange; Credit – Wikipedia

Willem I (the Silent), Prince of Orange, Filips Willem’s father, was the leader of Dutch forces during the wars of independence against the Spaniards who held the land we now know as the Netherlands. In 1568, when the 13-year-old Filips Willem was a student at the University of Leuven (now in Belgium), he had been abducted and taken to Spain, where he had been held hostage by King Philip II of Spain. In Spain, Filips Willem was made to convert to Roman Catholicism and educated as a Spaniard. He never saw his father again. In 1584, his father was assassinated and Filips Willem inherited the Principality of Orange (which was in France). He did not return to the Netherlands until 1596, 28 years after he was kidnapped. As a Catholic, Filips Willem often collided with his younger Protestant half-brother Maurits, who had succeeded his father as Stadtholder (Governor) of several Dutch provinces. The brothers were at odds with each other until 1609 when King Henri IV of France succeeded in reconciling them.

Éléonore and Filips Willem dancing at a ball; Credit – Wikipedia

Éléonore and Filips Willem had a happy marriage despite their age difference and the absence of children. Filips Willem died on February 20, 1618, at the age of 63 at the Palace of Nassau in Brussels after a botched medical procedure. He was buried at Saint Sulpice Church, a Roman Catholic parish church in Diest, now in Belgium. Éléonore did not inherit anything since her husband had willed all his possessions to his half-brother Maurits who became the next Prince of Orange.

Éléonore survived her husband by barely a year, dying at the age of 31 on January 20, 1619, in Muret-le-Château, France. She was buried at the Eglise Saint-Thomas de Cantorbery in Vallery, France, the traditional burial place of the Princes of Condé and their descendants.

Eglise Saint-Thomas de Cantorbery; Photo Credit – Par François GOGLINS — Travail personnel, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28084982

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Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Queen of Spain, Duchess of Aosta

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, Queen of Spain, Duchess of Aosta; Credit – Wikipedia

Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo (Maria Vittoria Carlotta Enrichetta) was born in Paris, France on August 9, 1847, the elder of the two daughters of Italian noble Carlo Emmanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince of Cisterna and his wife Countess Louise de Merode. Maria Vittoria’s father’s family was one of the few aristocratic families in the Kingdom of Sardinia to bear the title of “prince” as a noble title. Her father was a politician in the Kingdom of Sardinia. Her mother was a member of the de Merode family, an important Belgian noble family. Her mother’s younger sister, Antoinette de Merode, was the wife of Charles III, Prince of Monaco.

Maria Vittoria had one younger sister who died at the age of 13:

  • Beatrice Giuseppa Antonia Luisa dal Pozzo (1851–1864)

Maria Vittoria spent most of her childhood at the Palazzo della Cisterna in Turin in the Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy. Upon her father’s death in 1864, Maria Vittoria inherited her father’s noble titles and became Princess della Cisterna, Princess di Belriguardo, Marchioness di Voghera, and Countess di Ponderano in her own right. Maria Vittoria’s sister died from typhus one month after her father’s death.

On May 30, 1867, Maria Vittoria married Prince Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of Aosta at the chapel of the Royal Palace of Turin. Amedeo was the second son of King Vittorio Emanuele II of Italy (formerly King of Piedmont, Savoy, and Sardinia) and Archduchess Adelheid of Austria.

Maria Vittoria and Amedeo; Credit – Wikipedia

Amedeo and Maria Vittoria had three children. Their descendants through their eldest son have been the disputed claimants to the headship of the House of Savoy along with descendants of Amedeo’s brother King Umberto I of Italy.

After Queen Isabella II of Spain was deposed, Amedeo was elected King of Spain and Maria Vittoria was Queen Consort. In Madrid, she suffered a great deal because of her poor health and difficulties with Spanish politics. Maria Vittoria stayed away from politics and devoted her time to charitable works. One of the charities she founded was a nursery where children of washerwomen who worked on the banks of the Manzanares River in Madrid could be cared for by nuns while their mothers worked. Attached to the nursery was a hospital for the washerwomen.

During Amedeo’s reign, there were many republican uprisings. Without popular support, Amedeo abdicated the Spanish throne on February 11, 1873, and left Spain. Maria Vittoria had given birth to her last child only two weeks before the abdication. The recent childbirth, the stress of the abdication, and the exile from Spain exacerbated her physical condition. On November 8, 1876, at the Villa Dufour in San Remo, Italy, 29-year-old Maria Vittoria died from tuberculosis. She was buried in the Basilica of Superga near Turin. The Spanish and American Enlightenment newspaper wrote of her: “Madrid cannot forget that angel of virtue and charity, to whom the people granted the simple title of Mother of the Poor.”

Basilica of Superga; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Kingdom of Spain Resources at Unofficial Royalty

King Amedeo I of Spain, Duke of Aosta

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2018

King Amedeo I of Spain, Duke of Aosta; Credit – Wikipedia

Born an Italian prince, Amedeo briefly reigned Spain as the only King of Spain from the House of Savoy. Born on May 30, 1845, at the Royal Palace in Turin, Kingdom of Sardinia, now in Italy, he was the second of the three surviving sons and the third of the eight children of King Vittorio Emanuele II (King of Piedmont-Sardinia and later first King of Italy) and Archduchess Adelheid of Austria. Soon after his birth, Amedeo was given the title Duke of Aosta, which he was known as for most of his life.

Amedeo had seven siblings but only four survived to adulthood:

Amedeo with his parents and siblings, 1854; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1859, Amedeo entered the Royal Italian Army with the rank of captain. By 1866, he had risen to the rank of major-general and took part in the Third Italian War of Independence of 1866 and was wounded at the Battle of Custoza.

On May 30, 1867, Amedeo married Maria Vittoria dal Pozzo, the elder of the two daughters of Italian noble Carlo Emmanuele dal Pozzo, 5th Prince of Cisterna and his wife Countess Louise de Merode. Upon her father’s death in 1864, Maria Vittoria inherited her father’s titles in her own right.

Maria Vittoria and Amedeo; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Amedeo and Maria Vittoria had three children. Their descendants through their eldest son have been claimants to the disputed headship of the House of Savoy along with descendants of Amedeo’s brother King Umberto I of Italy.

In Spain, Queen Isabella II had reigned since 1833, when she was not quite three years old. Isabella’s authoritarianism, her religious fanaticism, her alliance with the military, and the chaos of her reign — sixty different governments — helped bring about the Revolution of 1868 that eventually exiled her to Paris. On November 16, 1870, the Spanish Cortes (Parliament) elected Amedeo the new King of Spain. He swore to uphold the constitution and was proclaimed King in Madrid on January 2, 1871.

King Amedeo I of Spain; Credit – Wikipedia

During Amedeo’s reign, there were many republican uprisings. After an attempt to assassinate him on July 19, 1872, Amedeo I declared his frustration with the complications of Spanish politics: “I do not understand anything. We’re in a mad cage.” Lacking popular support, Amedeo abdicated the Spanish throne on February 11, 1873. The First Spanish Republic was declared but it lasted a little less than two years. After the First Spanish Republic collapsed, Queen Isabella’s 17-year-old son became King Alfonso XII.

Completely disgusted, Amedeo returned to Turin where he assumed the title Duke of Aosta. On November 8, 1876, Amedeo’s wife Maria Vittoria died from tuberculosis at the age of 29. Amedeo again became active in the Royal Italian Army and held various positions during the reign of his brother who succeeded as King Umberto I of Italy in 1878.

In 1888, twelve years after the death of his first wife, Amedeo married again. His second wife was Princess Maria Letizia Bonaparte, his niece, the daughter of his sister Marie Clotilde and Prince Napoléon Joseph Bonaparte. The betrothal announcement caused a great scandal in the Italian court because Amedeo was twenty-two years older than Maria Letizia and was also her uncle. Nevertheless, the necessary papal dispensation for the marriage was obtained.

Maria Letizia in 1888; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

Amedeo and Maria Letizia had one child:

  • Prince Umberto of Savoy-Aosta, Count of Salemi (1889 – 1918), unmarried, served in the Royal Italian Army during World War I; the official court bulletin recorded that he was killed in action, but apparently, he died from influenza

Amedeo was married to his second wife for less than two years. He died from pneumonia in Turin, Italy on January 18, 1890, at the age of 44. He was buried at the Basilica of Superga near Turin, the traditional burial site of the House of Savoy.

Basilica of Superga; Photo Credit – Wikipedia

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Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland was the last Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, as the wife of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV. Princess Alexandra Luise Marie Olga Elisabeth Therese Vera was born at Schloss Ort in Gmunden, Austria on September 29, 1882, the daughter of Ernst August, Crown Prince of Hanover and Princess Thyra of Denmark.

Alexandra (standing, front-right) with her parents and siblings; Credit – Wikipedia

Alexandra had five siblings:

Alexandra and Franz Friedrich following their wedding; Credit – Wikipedia

On July 7, 1904, at Schloss Cumberland (link in German) in Gmunden, Austria, Alexandra married Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. They went on to have five children:

Because of the death of her daughter Olga at just six weeks old, Grand Duchess Alexandra worked to improve medical care for children in the Grand Duchy. She established the Olga Foundation, which raised money for education and training for nurses and midwives.

Following her husband’s abdication on November 14, 1918, the family was forced to leave the Grand Duchy. They traveled to Denmark at the invitation of Queen Alexandrine, Friedrich Franz’s sister, and stayed for a year at Sorgenfri Palace. The following year, they were permitted to return to Mecklenburg and recovered several of their properties. For the next two years, they lived at the Gelbensande hunting lodge (link in German) before returning to Ludwigslust Palace in 1921. They also began spending their summers at the Alexandrinen Cottage (link in German) in Heiligendamm.

Glücksburg Castle. photo: By Wolfgang Pehlemann – Own work, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21693722

At the end of World War II, with the Red Army approaching Mecklenburg, the family was again forced to flee in 1945. Intending to return to Denmark, they traveled to Glücksburg Castle, in Glücksburg, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, the home of their youngest daughter. While there, the Grand Duke died. The Dowager Grand Duchess Alexandra also died there, on August 30, 1963, having survived her husband by nearly 18 years. She is buried beside him in the New Cemetery in Glücksburg.

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Mecklenburg-Schwerin Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: The Duchy of Mecklenburg was divided and partitioned a number of times over the centuries.  In 1701, the last division created the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. In 1815, the Congress of Vienna recognized both Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Strelitz as grand duchies. Friedrich Franz I, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became the first Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. On November 14, 1918, at the end of World War I, Friedrich Franz IV was forced to abdicate as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Today the territory encompassing the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin is in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.

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Friedrich Franz IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Credit – Wikipedia

Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV was the last reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He was born in Palermo, Italy on April 9, 1882, the only son of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia. He had two sisters:

He also had a half-brother – Alexis Louis de Wenden – his mother’s illegitimate son, born in 1902.

Friedrich Franz with his mother and sisters, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Franz attended the Vitzthum Gymnasium in Dresden, Kingdom of Saxony, and then studied law at the University of Bonn. He became Grand Duke upon his father’s death in April 1897. Because he was still a minor, his uncle Duke Johann Albrecht, served as regent until Friedrich Franz came of age in 1901. Once he had taken control of his government, the young Grand Duke attempted to reform the Mecklenburg constitution. However, his efforts failed when the government of Mecklenburg-Strelitz refused to agree to his ideas.

Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland; Credit – Wikipedia

Encouraged to marry young by his mother, Friedrich Franz married Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland in Gmunden, Austria on June 7, 1904. She was the daughter of Ernst August, Crown Prince of Hanover and Princess Thyra of Denmark. The couple had five children:

In February 1918, Friedrich Franz IV began to serve as Regent for the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. The reigning Grand Duke, Adolf Friedrich VI, had died by suicide, and the heir presumptive was serving with the Russian military and had made it known that he wished to renounce his rights of succession. The regency lasted only nine months because in 1918, after the end of World War I, Friedrich Franz IV was forced to abdicate as Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, as well as the Regent in Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Forced to leave the grand duchy, Friedrich Franz and his family traveled to Denmark at the invitation of his sister Queen Alexandrine. There, they lived at Sorgenfri Palace for a year, before being permitted to return to Mecklenburg, Germany, and recovering several of the family’s properties. They lived for two years at the Gelbensande hunting lodge (link in German), and then in 1921, took up residence at Ludwigslust Palace in Ludwigslust, Germany. They also spent their summers at the Alexandrine Cottage (link in German) in Heiligendamm, Germany.

At the end of World War II, with the advance of the Soviet Union’s Red Army, Friedrich Franz, along with his wife and son Christian Ludwig, fled to Glücksburg Castle, in Glücksburg, Germany, the home of his youngest daughter and her husband, with the intention of returning to Denmark. However, the Grand Duke became ill, and while under house arrest at the Castle, he died there on November 17, 1945. He is buried in the New Cemetery in Glücksburg, Germany.

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Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin; Credit – Wikipedia

Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia was the wife of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. She was born at the Peterhof Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia, on July 28, 1860, the second child and only daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolaevich of Russia son of Nicholas I, Emperor of All Russia, and Princess Cecilie Auguste of Baden. Anastasia had six brothers. Her brother Sergei was among the five other Romanovs murdered by the Bolsheviks along with Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna on July 18, 1918. Two of her brothers, Nicholas and George, were among the four Grand Dukes murdered by the Bolsheviks on January 28, 1919.

When Anastasia was just two years old, her father was appointed Viceroy of the Caucasus and the family moved to Georgia where she was raised. The favorite of her father, and doted on by her brothers, Anastasia grew to become a very strong-willed and intelligent young woman. Educated privately at home, she developed a love of languages, becoming fluent in French, German, and English at a very young age.

Engagement photo of Anastasia and Friedrich Franz; Credit – Wikipedia

On May 4, 1878, the engagement of Grand Duchess Anastasia and the future Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III of Mecklenburg-Schwerin was announced. The marriage was arranged by Anastasia’s future sister-in-law Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin who had married Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia. Anastasia and her fiancé were second cousins, both great-grandchildren of King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia. They were married at the Winter Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia on January 24, 1879, in both Orthodox and Protestant services. Following their marriage, the couple settled in the Marienpalais in Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, now in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany, and had three children:

Anastasia with her children, circa 1894; Credit – Wikipedia

Due to her husband’s health, Anastasia’s family traveled frequently to warmer climates. They were staying in Palermo, Italy when her husband became Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on April 15, 1883. When they eventually returned to Schwerin, they took up residence at Schwerin Castle. The Grand Duke reached an agreement with the government that he would stay in Schwerin for five months each year but would travel elsewhere the rest of the year due to his health. They spent six months each year at Villa Wenden, their private home in Cannes, France, and preferred to stay at the Gelbensande hunting lodge when in the Grand Duchy.

The Grand Duchess was an avid tennis player and had courts built at Villa Wenden where she played quite often. She was also a frequent visitor to the casino in Monte Carlo, Monaco, often gambling away large amounts of her fortune.

Following her husband’s death in April 1897, Anastasia inherited Villa Wenden and the hunting lodge in Gelbensande, along with most of his personal property. She spent as little time in Schwerin as possible, preferring Gelbensande and Cannes, and traveled often to St. Petersburg, Paris, and London.

A scandal erupted in 1902 when Anastasia became pregnant from an affair with her personal secretary Vladimir Alexandrovitch Paltov. She gave birth to a son Alexis Louis de Wenden in Nice, France on December 23, 1902. The surname ‘de Wenden’ was granted by King Christian IX of Denmark. Anastasia, who first hid the fact that she was pregnant, raised the child herself. When news of the scandal spread through the royal houses of Europe,  Anastasia was shunned by several royal houses, particularly the Prussian court. When her younger daughter Cecilie married the son of the German Emperor, who was particularly outspoken in his disdain for Anastasia, she was only permitted to come to Berlin twice – for Cecilie’s wedding in 1905, and for the birth of  her first child the following year.

World War I saw her family divided. Her son was a reigning German Grand Duke and her daughter was the daughter-in-law of the German Emperor, while her Russian brothers were on the opposing side. As the Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Anastasia was unable to remain in France. Because she placed her loyalty with the Russians, she was unable to return to Schwerin. Instead, she settled in Switzerland, living at the Savoy Hotel in Lausanne. The toll of the war was particularly devastating for Anastasia. She saw her son lose his throne and the murders of three of her brothers in Russia.

Following World War I, Anastasia returned to France. Unwelcome as a German, she used her Russian passport to sneak into the country as part of her entourage of her cousin Princess Ekaterina Yourievskaya. She settled at Villa Fantasia in Èze, near Cannes, France, where she returned to her hectic social schedule and frequent trips to the Monte Carlo casinos.

Dowager Grand Duchess Anastasia in her later years: Credit – Wikipedia

Dowager Grand Duchess Anastasia died in Èze, France on March 11, 1922, after suffering a stroke. Her remains were returned to Schwerin where she was buried in the Helena Pavlovna Mausoleum (link in German) on the grounds of Ludwigslust Palace in Ludwigslust, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Her funeral would be the first time her three legitimate children were together since the beginning of World War I.

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Mecklenburg-Schwerin Resources at Unofficial Royalty