History and Traditions: Norman and Plantagenet Weddings

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2018

Wedding of Matilda of England, King Henry I’s daughter, and Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

The duty of a medieval king was to have sons to succeed to the throne because women were considered unfit to rule. The political advantage of the marriage was the prime consideration – not the looks, the personality or whether the couple liked each other. In Scotland, it was common for the King of Scots to marry a daughter of a Scottish peer but it was not so in England. A foreign alliance was of the utmost importance.

Princesses were often sent off to their wedding without even meeting their future groom. However, royal children were brought up knowing their eventual fate and their duty to king and country. Young princesses were often sent to be brought up in their future husbands’ kingdoms to learn the language and the customs. King Henry I’s daughter Matilda was betrothed to marry Heinrich V, Holy Roman Emperor, who was sixteen years older than her. At the age of eight, she was sent off to Germany and placed into the custody of Bruno, Archbishop of Trier, who educated her in the German language and culture and in the government of the Holy Roman Empire. When the 22-year-old Matilda returned to England as a widow, the courtiers were amazed at how German she had become.

When the eldest daughter of the King of England married, a tax was collected from the barons to provide her with a dowry. The King provided his younger daughters with dowries with his own funds. It was common that royal dowries not only included cash but also land and goods. Proxy betrothals and proxy weddings were often necessary if the royal parents refused to send their daughter away because she was still a child. A proxy marriage was arranged between 28-year-old James IV, King of Scots and twelve-year-old Margaret Tudor, eldest daughter of King Henry VII with Patrick Hepburn, 1st Earl of Bothwell standing in for King James IV. Margaret was exactly the same age as her grandmother Margaret Beaufort had been when she married Edmund Tudor. Margaret Beaufort was determined that her granddaughter not consummate her marriage at such an early age and insisted that Margaret must remain in England until she was older.

The wedding of King Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou; Credit – Wikipedia

The royal bride’s arrival in her new country resulted in massive festivities as soon as she entered the country and continued as she traveled along the roads to the capital. When Margaret of Anjou, the bride of King Henry VI, entered London, she was met with tableaux vivants created and performed by citizens including an allegory of Peace and Plenty, and representations of Noah’s Ark, the Resurrection, and the Last Judgement.

Unfortunately, there is not much information on medieval royal wedding dresses. Most chroniclers were monks who did not describe what the bride wore but a few descriptions do exist. When Elizabeth of Rhuddlan, daughter of King Edward I, married John I, Count of Holland, she wore a gown of embroidered silk with silver gilt buttons and a crown set with rubies, emeralds, and pearls. Documentation from the wedding of Philippa of England, daughter of King Henry IV, and Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway indicates that Philippa wore a tunic with a cloak in white silk bordered with gray squirrel and ermine, making her the first documented princess to wear a white wedding dress. When King Edward IV’s sister Margaret of York married Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, she wore a surcoat and mantle of crimson velvet embroidered with gold and a magnificent crown adorned with pearls and enameled white roses for the House of York set between red, green and white enameled letters of her name in Latin.

Crown of Margaret of York in Aachen Cathedral; Photo Credit – By Photo by CEphoto, Uwe Aranas, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34659301

Chroniclers gave no specific account of wedding ceremonies but it can be assumed that the ceremony was the typical Roman Catholic ceremony at that time perhaps with the addition of music. The bride of the King of England was usually crowned Queen right after the wedding ceremony. After the wedding ceremony, the wedding banquet was held. The feasts lasted for several days and included dancing, singing, and jousts. The amount of food consumed was amazing. For the wedding of King Henry III’s daughter Margaret to Alexander III, King of Scots in York, England, the citizens of York contributed all the bread, 200 deer, 300 does, 200 young bucks and 100 boars. The Archbishop of York donated 60 oxen and the King of England’s fishermen gave 230 fish.

Crowning of King Edward III’s bride Philippa of Hainault; Credit – Wikipedia

Weddings of Norman and Plantagenet Kings and Their Children

Some weddings of Kings of England and their children were held in England and some were held in other countries.

  • Westminster Abbey was completed around 1060 and was consecrated in 1065.  It was the wedding venue for several royal weddings in this time period including that of King Richard II to Anne of Bohemia in 1382.  The next royal wedding in Westminster Abbey would be the wedding of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia of Connaught in 1919.
  • Windsor Castle, with its building started by King William I in the decade after the Norman conquest of 1066,  was the setting for a few weddings in this time period. King Henry III had built the Chapel of Edward the Confessor there in the early 13th century.  However, St. George’s Chapel, the site of many recent royal weddings, was not built there until the late 14th century. Henry III’s Chapel of Edward the Confessor was incorporated into the new chapel.  The first wedding at St. George’s Chapel was that of Queen Victoria’s son, the future King Edward VII, in 1863.
  • Other wedding venues that have official websites or Wikipedia articles will be linked below.  Sometimes the city where the wedding took place is known but the actual wedding venue is unknown.

Note: Only married monarchs and their married children are listed. Links are to Unofficial Royalty articles and only links for monarchs, their children, and their spouses are listed. Note that not all children and spouses have Unofficial Royalty articles.

William I (the Conqueror), King of England, Duke of Normandy married (1053) Matilda of Flanders at the Cathedral of Notre Dame in Eu, Normandy now in France

Henry I, King of England (son of William I) (1) married (1100) Edith of Scotland (renamed Matilda upon her marriage) at Westminster Abbey; (2) married (1121) Adeliza of Louvain at Windsor Castle

Stephen, King of England (grandson of William I) married (1125) Matilda of Boulogne, wedding venue unknown but probably in France

Henry II, King of England (grandson of Henry I) married (1152) Eleanor, Duchess of Aquitaine in Poitiers in the County of Poitou

Richard I, King of England (son of Henry II) married (1191) Berengaria of Navarre at the Chapel of St George in Limassol, Cyprus

John, King  of England (son of Henry II) (1) married (1189) Isabella, Countess of Gloucester at Marlborough Castle in Wiltshire, England (marriage annulled); (2) married (1200) Isabella of Angoulême in Bordeaux in the Duchy of Aquitaine

Henry III, King of England (son of King John) married (1236) Eleanor of Provence at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England

Edward I, King of England (son of Henry III) (1) married (1254) Eleanor of Castile at the Abbey of Santa María la Real de Las Huelgas in Burgos, Castile (now Spain) (2) married (1299) Margaret of France at Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, England

  • Eleanor of England married (1293) Henry III, Count of Bar in Bristol Cathedral in England
  • Joan of Acre (1) married (1290) Gilbert de Clare, Earl of Hertford at Westminster Abbey (2) married (1297) Ralph de Monthermer, wedding venue unknown
  • Margaret married (1290) John II, Duke of Brabant at Windsor Castle
  • Elizabeth of Rhuddlan (1) married (1297) John I, Count of Holland in Ipswich, England (2) married (1302) Humphrey de Bohun, Earl of Hereford at Westminster Abbey
  • Thomas of Brotherton, Earl of Norfolk married (1326) Alice de Hales in Loddon, Norfolkshire, England
  • Edmund of Woodstock, Earl of Kent married (1325) Margaret Wake, 3rd Baroness Wake of Liddell, wedding venue unknown

Edward II, King of England (son of Edward I) married (1308) Isabella of France in Boulogne, France

  • Eleanor of Woodstock married (1332) Reinoud II, Count of Guelders in Nijmegen in the County of Guelders now in the Netherlands
  • Joan of The Tower married (1328) King David II of Scotland in 1328 at Berwick-upon-Tweed, England

Edward III, King of England (son of Edward II) married (1328) Philippa of Hainault at York Minster in York, England

Richard II, King of England (grandson of Edward III) (1) married (1382) Anne of Bohemia at Westminster Abbey (last royal wedding at Westminster Abbey until the wedding of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter Princess Patricia of Connaught in 1919)  (2) married (1396) Isabella of Valois at the Church of St. Nicholas in Calais, France

Henry IV, King of England (grandson of Edward III) (1) married (1380) Mary de Bohun at Arundel Castle in West Sussex, England (2) married (1403) Joan of Navarre at Winchester Cathedral (Note: Mary de Bohun died before Henry became king.  She was the mother of all his children.)

  • Thomas of Lancaster, Duke of Clarence married (1411) Margaret Holland, wedding venue unknown
  • John of Lancaster, Duke of Bedford (1) married (1423) Anne of Burgundy in Troyes, France (2) married (1433) Jacquetta of Luxembourg in Thérouanne, France
  • Humphrey, Duke of Gloucester (1) married (1423) Jacqueline, Countess of Hainaut and Holland in Hadleigh, Essex, England (2) married (1428) Eleanor Cobham
  • Blanche of England married (1402) Louis III, Elector Palatine at Cologne Cathedral now in Germany
  • Philippa of England married (1406) Eric of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden at Lund Cathedral in Lund, Sweden

Henry V, King of England (son of Henry IV) married (1420) Catherine of Valois in Troyes, France

Henry VI, King of England (son of Henry VI) married (1445) Margaret of Anjou at Titchfield Abbey in Titchfield, Hampshire, England

Edward IV, King of England (great-great-grandson of Edward III) married (1464) Elizabeth Woodville at Elizabeth’s family home in Grafton Regis, Northamptonshire, England

  • Elizabeth of York married (1486) Henry VII, King of England in St. Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster
  • Cecily of York (1) married Ralph Scrope of Upsall, wedding venue unknown (2) married (1487) John Welles, 1st Viscount Welles, wedding venue unknown  (3) married (circa 1502-1504) Sir Thomas Kyme, wedding venue unknown
  • Anne of York married (1495) Thomas Howard at Greenwich, England (after Anne’s death was 3rd Duke of Norfolk)
  • Catherine of York married (1495) William Courtenay, 1st Earl of Devon, wedding venue unknown

Richard III, King of England (great-great-grandson of Edward III, brother of Edward IV) married (1472) Lady Anne Neville in St. Stephen’s Chapel in the Palace of Westminster

Works Cited

  • Ashdown, D. (1981). Royal Weddings. London: Robert Hale Limited.
  • Genealogics.org. (2018). [online] Available at: http://www.genealogics.org [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].
  • Unofficial Royalty. (2018). Unofficial Royalty. [online] Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (for wedding venue and genealogy information)
  • Westminster-abbey.org. (2018). Westminster Abbey » Home. [online] Available at: http://www.westminster-abbey.org/home [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018]. (for wedding venue information)
  • Wikipedia. (2018). Main Page. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/ [Accessed 2 Apr. 2018].  (for wedding venue and genealogy information)

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.

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 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 Dragoon 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, comprising 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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; Credit – Wikipedia

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; Credit – Wikipedia

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 buried the urn 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.

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

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 Queen 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.

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Anhalt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Karl, Prince of Leiningen

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Karl, Prince of Leiningen; Credit – Wikipedia

Karl, Prince of Leiningen was the half-brother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. Prince Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Emich was born in Amorbach, Principality of Leiningen, now in Bavaria, Germany, on September 12, 1804. He was the first child of Emich Karl, 2nd Prince of Leiningen and Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. He had one younger sister:

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

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

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

At the age of ten, Karl became Prince of Leiningen upon his father’s death in 1814. However, in 1806, the Principality of Leiningen had been mediatized – annexed to another state(s), while allowing certain rights to its former sovereign. The Principality of Leiningen ceased to exist and was divided between the Grand Duchy of Baden, the Kingdom of Bavaria, and the Grand Duchy of Hesse. The family retained Amorbach Abbey in Amorbach, which remains the family seat of the Princes of Leiningen.

Karl was educated privately at home before attending a private school in Bern, Switzerland. During this time, in 1818, his mother married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent, the fourth son of King George III of the United Kingdom, and became the Duchess of Kent. In 1819, the family moved to London where his younger sister, the future Queen Victoria, was born. His education continued at the University of Göttingen, where he studied law from 1821 to 1823.

Schloss Waldleiningen, photo by UrLunkwill – own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9423055

Beginning in 1823, Karl took over the oversight of his estates and began construction of a new residence, Waldleiningen Castle (link in German), near Mörschenhardt, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg.

On February 13, 1829, Karl married Countess Maria von Klebelsberg, the daughter of Count Maximilian von Klebelsberg and Maria Anna von Turba. The couple had two sons:

As the Prince of a mediatized house, Karl was a member of the First Chamber of the Estates Assembly of the Grand Duchy of Baden, the First Chamber of Estates of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and the Imperial Council of the Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1837, he was the first person created a Knight of the Order of the Garter by his half-sister Queen Victoria.

Karl, Prince of Leiningen, c1835. source: Wikipedia

In April 1842, Karl was one of the 21 founders, and chairman, of the Mainz Aristocracy Association, which organized and promoted the settlement of German emigrants in Texas. In 1843, he became President of the Imperial Council in Bavaria, serving until 1848. During this time, Karl became known for his various reforms and he developed a reputation as a liberal reformer. Following the March Revolution, the Frankfurt Parliament established the new, and short-lived, German Empire with Archduke Johann of Austria being named as Regent. Because of Karl’s accomplishments in the Bavarian government and his ties to the British royal family, he was named the first Prime Minister of the Provisional Central Power on August 5, 1848. His tenure, however, would be very brief. Three weeks later, King Friedrich Wilhelm IV of Prussia signed the Treaty of Malmö, ending the First Schleswig War without consulting the Central Power. With no real power against Prussia, Karl resigned as Prime Minister on September 6, 1848.

Three years later, in May 1851, Karl resigned from his position as chairman of the Aristocratic Association and retired fully from public service. He suffered a severe apoplectic attack in 1855 which greatly affected his health. A second attack the following year proved fatal. Karl, Prince of Leiningen died at Waldleiningen Castle near Mörschenhardt, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, on November 13, 1856, with his sister Feodora by his bedside. He was buried in Amorbach Abbey in Amorbach, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in Bavaria, Germany until 1866 when his remains were moved to Waldleiningen Castle.

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Eduard, 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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Eduard, Duke of Anhalt; Credit – Wikipedia

Eduard, Duke of Anhalt ruled for less than five months, just before World War I and the German Empire ended. Prince Eduard Georg Wilhelm was born in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in Saxony-Anhalt, Germany, on April 18, 1861, the third son and fourth child of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. He had five siblings:

Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg. source: Wikipedia

Eduard married Princess Luise Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg on February 6, 1895, in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia. She was the daughter of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Auguste of Saxe-Meiningen. Eduard and Luise Charlotte were second cousins, through their mutual descent from Friedrich, Duke 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 (divorced); (2) Edda-Charlotte von Stephani-Marwitz, had issue
  • Prince Eugen (1903-1980) – married Anastasia Jungmeier, had issue
  • Prince Wolfgang (1912-1936) – unmarried

Eduard and Luise Charlotte were divorced on January 26, 1918, just a few months before he succeeded to the ducal throne.

Eduard became Duke of Anhalt upon the death of his older brother, Friedrich II, on April 21, 1918. Less than five months later, on September 13, 1918, Eduard died in Berchtesgaden, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. He was succeeded by his son Joachim. As Joachim was not yet of age, Eduard’s brother Aribert served as Regent.

Eduard, Duke of Anhalt was buried in the Ducal Mausoleum (link in German) in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. In 1958, the remains of members of the House of Anhalt were removed from the Ducal Mausoleum secretly by night for political reasons (Dessau was then in Communist East Germany) and reburied in the Ziebigker Cemetery in Dessau in a common grave, marked only by a simple wooden cross. In 2019, Eduard’s remains were moved a second time and reinterred in the Marienkirche (link in German) in Dessau, the traditional burial site of the Dukes of Anhalt-Dessau dating back to the 15th century. The Marienkirche was destroyed during World War II and has since been rebuilt.

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Anhalt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Marie of Baden, Duchess of Anhalt

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2018

Marie of Baden, Duchess of Anhalt; Credit – Wikipedia

Marie of Baden was the last Duchess of Anhalt, as the wife of Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt. She was born Princess Marie Luise Amelie Josephine of Baden on July 26, 1865, in Baden-Baden, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Baden and Princess Marie of Leuchtenberg. Marie had one younger brother:

Friedrich II, Duke of Anhalt. source: Wikipedia

On July 2, 1889, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Marie married Hereditary Prince Friedrich of Anhalt, the son of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. From all accounts, the marriage was a very happy one, but the couple had no children.

Marie quickly became involved in charity after her marriage, supporting organizations that promoted education and care for the underprivileged. In 1892, along with her mother-in-law, she helped found the Anhalt Deaconess Institution, which educated women in caring for the sick and the poor. She also made a large donation of books to the Melanchthon House in Bretten, a museum of the Protestant Reformation and research institution for Philipp Melanchthon, which was inaugurated in 1903.

The Marie Cross. source: www.kuenker.de

During World War I, Marie continued working to establish better medical and care facilities for wounded soldiers. In honor of her efforts, on January 10, 1918, Friedrich II established the Marien-Kreuz (Marie Cross). It was awarded to women of Anhalt for distinguished service during the war,  particularly for caring for wounded soldiers. The medal featured Friedrich and Marie’s initials intertwined, with the arms of Anhalt on the reverse.

When Marie’s husband died in April 1918, the throne of Anhalt passed to his younger brother, Eduard. Marie eventually returned to Baden-Baden, her birthplace, where she died on November 29, 1939, having survived her husband by over 21 years. The last Duchess of Anhalt, Marie was buried in the Ducal Mausoleum (link in German) in Dessau, Duchy of Anhalt, now in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. In 1958, the remains of members of the House of Anhalt were removed from the Ducal Mausoleum secretly by night for political reasons (Dessau was then in Communist East Germany) and reburied in the Ziebigker Cemetery in Dessau in a common grave, marked only by a simple wooden cross. In 2019, Marie’s remains were moved a second time and reinterred in the Marienkirche (link in German) in Dessau, the traditional burial site of the Dukes of Anhalt-Dessau dating back to the 15th century. The Marienkirche was destroyed during World War II and has since been rebuilt.

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