Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: The County of Schwarzburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1195 to 1595, when it was partitioned into Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The new counties remained in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution. In 1697, the County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710.

The death of Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen without an heir in 1909 caused the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to be united under Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in a personal union. Following his succession in Sondershausen, Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

At the end of World War I, Prince Günther Victor was the last German prince to renounce his throne, abdicating on November 22, 1918. He made an agreement with the government that awarded him an annual pension and the right to use several of the family residences. The territory that encompassed the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is now located in the German state of Thuringia.

**********************

Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the first wife of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Born on August 9, 1693, in Saalfeld, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, Sophia Wilhelmina was the third of the eight children and the eldest of the five daughters of Johann Ernst IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his second wife Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen. Sophia Wilhemina’s paternal grandparents were  Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg. Her maternal grandparents were Count Josias II of Waldeck-Wildungen and Countess Wilhelmine Christine of Nassau-Siegen.

Sophia Wilhelmina had seven siblings but only four survived childhood:

  • Wilhelm Friedrich of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1691 – 1720), unmarried
  • Karl Ernst of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1692 – 1720), unmarried
  • Henriette Albertine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1694 – 1695), died in infancy
    Luise Amaliaof Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1695 – 1713), died as a teenager
  • Charlotte of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld  (born and 1696), died in infancy
  • Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1697 – 1764), married Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, had four sons and four daughters
  • Henriette Albertine of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1698 – 1728), unmarried

Sophia Wilhelmina had three half-siblings from her father’s first marriage to Sophie Hedwig of Saxe-Merseburg who died on August 2, 1686, giving birth to a stillborn son.

In 1699, when Sophia Wilhelmina was six years old, her 34-year-old mother Charlotte Johanna died a little more than two months after giving birth to her eighth child. Sophia Wilhelmina’s father never remarried.

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Wilhelmina’s father undertook a marriage policy to create a better alliance with the Principality of Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. On February 8, 1720, in Saalfeld, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, 26-year-old Sophia Wilhelmina married 28-year-old Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Three years later, Sophia Wilhelmine’s younger brother, the future Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld married Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the younger sister of Sophie Wilhelmina’s husband.

Sophia Wilhelmina and Friedrich Anton had three children but only two survived childhood:

The marriage of Friedrich Anton and Sophia Wilhelmina lasted only seven years as Sophia Wilhelmina died on December 4, 1727, aged 34, in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. She was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophia Wilhelmina’s husband Friedrich Anton married again, on January 6, 1729, to Christina Sophia of East Friesia, the eldest daughter of Prince Christian Eberhard of East Friesia and Eberhadine Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen. Unfortunately, the marriage was childless. Friedrich Anton survived his first wife Sophia Wilhelmina by fifteen years, dying on September 1, 1744, aged 52, in Rudolstadt. He was also buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, as was his second wife Christina Sophia when she died six years later.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany before the demolition of Schwarzburg Castle and Schlosskirche Schwarzburg by the German government who planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. However, the construction was never completed and the ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years until reconstruction of the original castle, which is still occurring, began.

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.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-anton-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019) Johann Ernst IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/johann-ernst-iv-duke-of-saxe-coburg-saalfeld/ (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 07 September 2023].
  • Princess Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sophia_Wilhelmina_of_Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (Accessed: 07 September 2023).
  • Sophie Wilhelmine von Sachsen-Saalfeld (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophie_Wilhelmine_von_Sachsen-Saalfeld (Accessed: 07 September 2023).

The Mysterious Death of Ananda Mahidol, King of Thailand (1946)

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

On June 9, 1946, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand was found shot to death in his bedroom in the Boromphiman Throne Hall, a residential palace located in the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok, Thailand. He died from a single gunshot wound to the forehead.

King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand

King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand in 1946; Credit – Wikipedia

King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand was born on September 20, 1925, in Heidelberg, Germany where his parents were studying at Heidelberg University. He was the second of the three children and the elder of the two sons of  Prince Mahidol Adulyadej and Princess Srinagarindra. His younger brother succeeded him as King Bhumibol Adulyadej and reigned until he died in 2016. Prince Mahidol Adulyadej was the son of King Chulalongkorn and Sri Savarindira, a consort and half-sister of King Chulalongkorn. King Chulalongkorn had 92 consorts during his lifetime and had 77 surviving children.

On September 24, 1929, King Ananda Mahidol’s father Prince Mahidol Adulyadej died of kidney failure at the age of 37. In 1935, King Prajadhipok of Thailand, one of Ananda Mahidol’s many uncles, abdicated due to political issues and health problems. He decided not to name a successor to the throne. Instead, the Cabinet, with the approval of the National Assembly, used the 1924 Palace Law of Succession and named nine-year-old Ananda Mahidol as King of Thailand. Because the new king was a child and attending school in Switzerland, three regents were appointed to take over the duties of the young king.

King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand in 1938; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1938, accompanied by his mother and his siblings, Ananda Mahidol returned to Thailand for the first time as its king. He spent two months in Thailand and returned to Switzerland to resume his studies.

In December 1941, during World War II, Japan occupied Thailand. King Ananda Mahidol was studying in Switzerland and remained there until the end of World War II. He returned to Thailand in December 1945 after receiving a law degree from the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. King Ananda Mahidol had plans to return to the University of Lausanne to obtain a Ph.D. in law four days after his death. After he obtained his Ph.D, he planned to return permanently to Thailand and have his coronation.

On June 9, 1946, 20-year-old King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand was found shot to death in his bedroom in the Boromphiman Throne Hall, a residential palace located in the Grand Palace complex in Bangkok, Thailand. King Ananda Mahidol was cremated at Sanam Luang, an open public square in Bangkok, Thailand on March 29, 1950, four years after his death.

King Ananda Mahidol’s ashes are enshrined in the base of the Buddha; Credit – www.findagave.com

What caused the death of King Ananda Mahidol?

King Ananda Mahidol and Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma on January 19, 1946, in Bangkok, Thailand; Credit – Wikipedia

Besides knowing the pathological cause of King Ananda Mahidol’s death, why he died has never been definitively answered. It was noted at the time of his death that Ananda Mahidol did not want to be king and felt his reign would not last long. In January 1946, Louis Mountbatten, 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the British commander in Southeast Asia, visited King Ananda Mahidol in Bangkok, Thailand. Lord Mountbatten described the young king as “a frightened, short-sighted boy, his sloping shoulders and thin chest behung with gorgeous diamond-studded decorations, altogether a pathetic and lonely figure.” After attending a public function with King Ananda Mahidol, Lord Mountbatten observed, “His nervousness increased to such an alarming extent, that I came very close to support him in case he passed out”. Lord Mountbatten’s anecdote questions King Ananda Mahidol’s state of mind.

What happened on the morning of June 9, 1946?

Boromphiman Throne Hall in the Grand Palace complex. King King Ananda Mahidol’s bedroom was on the upper floor; Credit – Wikipedia

A sequence of events for the morning of June 9, 1946, was devised by Dr. Keith Simpson, pathologist to the British Home Office and founding chairman of the Department of Forensic Medicine at Guy’s Hospital in London, after a forensic analysis of King Ananda Mahidol’s death. Dr. Simpson included this information in Chapter 13 – The Violent Death of King Ananda of Siam, in his book Forty Years of Murder: An Autobiography.

  • 6:00: King Ananda Mahidol was awakened by his mother in his bedroom located on the second floor of the Boromphiman Throne Hall in the Grand Palace.
  • 7:30: The king’s page Butsat Patthamasarin, came on duty and began preparing a breakfast table on a balcony adjoining the king’s dressing room.
  • 8:30: Butsat Patthamasarin saw the king standing in his dressing room. He brought the king his customary glass of orange juice a few minutes later. However, by then the king had gone back to bed and refused the juice.
  • 8:45: The king’s other page Chit Singhaseni appeared, saying he had been called to measure the king’s medals and decorations on behalf of a jeweler who was making a case for them.
  • 9:00: Prince Bhumibol Adulyadej visited his brother King Ananda Mahidol. He said afterward that he had found the king dozing in his bed.
  • 9:20: A single shot rang out from the king’s bedroom. Chit Singhaseni ran in and then ran out along the corridor to the apartment of the king’s mother, crying “The king’s shot himself!” The king’s mother followed Chit Singhaseni into the king’s bedroom and found the king lying face up in bed, bloodied from a wound to the head.

Aftermath

The three men arrested, tried, found guilty, and executed for the supposed assassination of King Ananda Mahidol: left to right: Chit Singhaseni, Bustat Patmasarin, and Chaliao Pathumros; Credit – Wikipedia

An initial radio announcement on June 9, 1946, reported that King Ananda Mahidol was accidentally killed while holding his pistol. In October 1946, a Commission of Inquiry reported that King Ananda Mahidol’s death could not have been accidental but that neither suicide nor murder had been satisfactorily proven.

King Ananda Mahidol’s secretary Chaliao Pathumros and his pages Chit Singhaseni and Butsat Patmasarin were arrested and charged with conspiracy to murder the king. After a very long trial, the court ruled that King Ananda Mahidol had been assassinated but that there was no proof that any of the three had killed the king. However, Chit Singhaseni was found guilty of being a party to the murder.

Chit Singhaseni appealed his conviction and the prosecution appealed the acquittal of Chaliao Pathumros and Butsat Patmasarin. After fifteen months of deliberation, the Appeals Court dismissed Chit Singhaseni’s appeal and found Butsat Patmasarin guilty. Both appealed to the Supreme Court which deliberated for ten months before upholding both convictions and also finding Chaliao Pathumro guilty. King Bhumibol Adulyadej rejected their petitions for clemency. The three men were executed by firing squad on February 17, 1955. King Ananda Mahidol’s brother and successor, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, later said he did not believe the three men were guilty.

What Could Have Happened?

Various people have suggested what could have happened.

Dr. Keith Simpson, the forensic pathologist who investigated King Ananda Mahidol’s death, found it highly unlikely that the death was due to suicide. In Chapter 13 – The Violent Death of King Ananda of Siam, in his book Forty Years of Murder: An Autobiography, Dr. Simpson noted:

  • The gun was found next to the king’s left hand, but he was right-handed.
  • The direction of the bullet fired was not inward towards the center of the head.
  • The wound over the left eye was not a contact discharge, a gunshot wound incurred while the gun was in direct contact with the body at the moment of discharge
  • The king was killed while lying flat on his back. Simpson noted that in twenty years’ experience, he had never known of any suicide shooting while lying flat on the back.

King Bhumibol Adulyadej was certain that his brother’s death had been accidental. After the court ruled that the death was proven not an accident, He noted in English: “The investigation provided the fact that he died with a bullet wound in his forehead. It was proved that it was not an accident and not a suicide. One doesn’t know. … But what happened is very mysterious, because immediately much of the evidence was just shifted. And because it was political, so everyone was political, even the police were political, [it was] not very clear. I only know [that] when I arrived he was dead. Many people wanted to advance not theories but facts to clear up the affair. They were suppressed. And they were suppressed by influential people in this country and in international politics.”

Seni Pramoj and the Democrat Party spread rumors that former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong was behind the death. A United States State Department memo said: “Within forty-eight hours after the death of the late King, two relatives of Seni Pramoj, first his nephew and later his wife, came to the Legation and stated categorically their conviction that the King had been assassinated at the instigation of the Prime Minister.” (Pridi Phanomyong)

Sulak Sivaraksa, a more recent prominent conservative and monarchist, wrote in 2015 that former Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong was protecting “a wrongdoing royal, and prevented an arrest of a person who destroyed the evidence…in truth, the murderer of the king is not Pridi Banomyong. That person is still alive.”

Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong met with American Chargé d’affaires Charles Yost who made the following report to the US State Department: “Pridi spoke very frankly about the whole situation and ascribed the King’s death to an accident, but it was obvious that the possibility of suicide was at the back of his mind. Pridi was violently angry at the accusations of foul play leveled against himself and most bitter in the manner in which he alleged that the Royal Family and the Opposition, particularly Seni Pramoj and Phra Sudhiat, had prejudiced the King and especially the Princess Mother against him.”

Field Marshal Plaek Pibulsonggram, after overthrowing Prime Minister Pridi Banomyong in a coup, told United States Ambassador Edwin Stanton that he “personally doubted whether Pridi was directly involved for two reasons: “firstly, … Pridi is a very clever politician and secondly, … he has a ‘kind heart’. Plaek Pibulsonggram “did not think that Pridi would cause anybody to be murdered. However, Plaek Pibulsonggram said that it was possible Pridi had covered up or destroyed some of the evidence to protect the successor King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

William Stevenson, author and journalist, gave an account of the death in his book The Revolutionary King, written with the cooperation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. The account says those executed were innocent and suggests that King Ananda Mahidol was murdered by Tsuji Masanobu, a former Japanese intelligence officer who had been active in Thailand during the war and was hiding out in Thailand for fear of being prosecuted for his war crimes.

Rayne Kruger, journalist and author, who had access to members of the inner circle of the Thai royal family, says in his book The Devil’s Discus that King Ananda Mahidol died by suicide, perhaps an accidental suicide. Kruger writes about a Swiss girl Marylene Ferrari as a love interest of King Ananda Mahidol. Kruger suggests that King Ananda Mahidol might have died by suicide because he knew marrying Marylene would be impossible. He further surmised that the death of King Ananda Mahidol was exploited for a political vendetta, and King Ananda Mahidol’s secretary Chaliao Pathumros and his pages Chit Singhaseni and Butsat Patmasarin were charged, tried, and executed to maintain the façade.

Paul Handley, the author of an unauthorized biography of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, The King Never Smiles, wrote that either suicide or an accidental shooting by Prince Bhumibol was responsible for King Ananda Mahidol’s death. He says, “I have no idea whether Ananda shot himself or was killed by Bhumibol, the two possibilities most accepted among historians. If the latter, I clearly term it an accident that occurred in play”.

Marylene Ferrari; Credit – Desperately seeking Marylene

Pavin Chachavalpongpun, Associate Professor at Kyoto University‘s Center for Southeast Asian Studies, and the author of Love and Death of King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand, published in 2021, writes about the Swiss girl Marylene Ferrari who was mentioned as a love interest of King Ananda Mahidol in Rayne Kruger’s book The Devil’s Discus. Intrigued about Marylene Ferrari, Chachavalpongpun sought to find more information.

King Ananda Mahidol and Marylene Ferrari met in 1943 at the law school at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland. The two became romantically involved despite the Thai royal family discouraging the relationship. Their relationship shaped King Ananda Mahidol’s perception of marriage and his duties as king of a very traditional Thailand. Thinking back on what Lord Mountbatten said about King Ananda Mahidol – that he did not want to be king and felt his reign would not last long – his relationship with Marylene could have been a cause. As King of Thailand, Ananda Mahidol was supposedly free to make decisions about his marriage but in reality, this was not true. Marylene’s father was an influential figure in the religious circles of Lausanne, Switzerland, and he was not enthusiastic about the prospect of his daughter becoming the Queen of Thailand because of the inferior status of women in Thailand. The clash of the two diverse views of gender equality and the treatment of women in Thai society further deepened the difficulties in the relationship between Ananda and Marylene. Chachavalpongpun suggests that King Ananda Mahidol, having fallen deeply in love with Marylene, decided to die by suicide because of their star-crossed love.

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.

Works Cited

  • Ananda Mahidol. (2021). Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananda_Mahidol
  • Chachavalpongpun, Pavin. (2012). Desperately Seeking Marylene. New Mandala. https://www.newmandala.org/desperately-seeking-marylene/
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2019). King Ananda Mahidol of Thailand. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/king-ananda-mahidol-of-thailand/
  • Strangio, Sebastian. (2022). Pavin Chachavalpongpun on the Strange Death of King Ananda Mahidol. Thediplomat.com. https://thediplomat.com/2022/01/pavin-chachavalpongpun-on-the-strange-death-of-king-ananda-mahidol/

Breaking News: Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein, aged 51, has died

© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Photo Credit: Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation

Prince Constantin of Liechtenstein died on December 5, 2023, at the age of 51. He was the third of the four children and the youngest of the three sons of Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein and his late wife Princess Marie of Liechtenstein, born Countess Marie Aglaë of Wchinitz and Tettau, who died in 2021.

A statment released by the Princely House of Liechtenstein on December 6, 2023 said: “The Princely House regrets to announce that H.S.H. Prince Constantin von und zu Liechtenstein passed away unexpectedly on 5 December 2023.”

Prince Constantin was born March 15, 1972. He received a law degree from the University of Salzburg in Austria and worked primarily in the financial field, holding positions at investment firms both in the United States and in Europe. He also served on the boards and management teams of several of the family’s companies. From 2012 until his death in 2023, Prince Constantin served as General Director and chairman of the board of directors of the Prince of Liechtenstein Foundation.

In 1999, Prince Constantin married Countess Marie Gabriele Franziska Kálnoky de Kőröspatak . and the couple had three children: Prince Moritz (born 2003), Princess Georgina (born 2005), and Prince Benedikt (born 2008).

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.

Isabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Isabella of Parma, Archduchess of Austria; Credit – Wikipedia

The Holy Roman Empire was a limited elective monarchy composed of hundreds of kingdoms, principalities, duchies, counties, prince-bishoprics, and Free Imperial Cities in central Europe. The Holy Roman Empire was not really holy since, after Holy Roman Emperor Charles V in 1530, no emperors were crowned by the pope or a bishop. It was not Roman but rather German because it was mainly in the regions of present-day Germany and Austria. It was an empire in name only – the territories it covered were mostly independent each with its own rulers. The Holy Roman Emperor directly ruled over only his family territories, and could not issue decrees and rule autonomously over the Holy Roman Empire. A Holy Roman Emperor was only as strong as his army and alliances, including marriage alliances, made him, and his power was severely restricted by the many sovereigns of the constituent monarchies of the Holy Roman Empire. From the 13th century, prince-electors, or electors for short, elected the Holy Roman Emperor from among the sovereigns of the constituent states.

Frequently but not always, it was common practice to elect the deceased Holy Roman Emperor’s heir. The Holy Roman Empire was an elective monarchy. No person had a legal right to the succession simply because he was related to the current Holy Roman Emperor. However, the Holy Roman Emperor could and often did, while still alive, have a relative (usually a son) elected to succeed him after his death. This elected heir apparent used the title King of the Romans.

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

********************

Princess Isabella of Parma, Infanta of Spain was the first wife of the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor who was also the ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands. Isabella died before Joseph became Holy Roman Emperor. Isabella Maria Luisa Antonietta Ferdinanda Giuseppina Saveria Dominica Giovanna was born on December 31, 1741, at Buen Retiro Palace in Madrid, Kingdom of Spain. She was the eldest of the three children and the elder of the two daughters of Infante Felipe of Spain, from 1748 until his death also Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, and his first cousin once removed Princess Louise Élisabeth of France. Isabella’s paternal grandparents were Felipe V, King of Spain and his second wife Elisabeth Farnese of Parma. Her maternal grandparents were Louis XV, King of France and Marie Leszczyńska.

Isabella had two younger siblings:

Isabella’s maternal grandparents Felipe V, King of Spain and Elisabeth Farnese of Parma who were important during the early years of her life; Credit – Wikipedia

Isabella’s mother was only fourteen years old when she gave birth to Isabella. Two months later, Isabella’s father left to fight in the War of the Austrian Succession and did not return until Isabella was eight years old. Just a child herself, Isabella’s mother showed little affection toward Isabella and probably found the baby to be a burden. For the first seven years of her life, Isabella was raised at the Madrid court of her paternal grandfather Felipe V, King of Spain. Her paternal grandmother Queen Elisabeth was the primary influence in young Isabella’s life.

Following the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Isabella’s father became Duke of Parma and Piacenza, a title formerly belonging to the House of Farnese, his mother’s family. Isabella was now a Princess of Parma and a member of the new House of Bourbon-Parma. Isabella and her mother arrived in Parma in November 1749.

Isabella’s family in Parma in 1757; Isabella, age 16, standing in a light purple dress. Left to right are Isabella’s brother Ferdinando and sister Maria Luisa, her mother Louise Élisabeth of France, her father Felipe of Spain, Duke of Parma, Piacenza and Guastalla, and the children’s governess Marie Catherine de Bassecourt, Marchioness of Borghetto.

Isabella was well educated. She was eager to learn and was interested in many things. She read the writings of Italian and French philosophers and had an understanding of mathematics and military matters. Isabella was very musical and excelled at singing and playing the violin and the harpsichord. She drew, painted, and began to write about serious topics. As an adult, Isabella wrote on various topics including an analysis of her life, her philosophy, and the state of the world around her. Isabella wrote a humorous autobiography Les Aventures de l’étourderie (The Adventures of Amazement). In her Christian Reflections, she wrote about her thoughts on many religious questions, especially death.

Over and over again, Isabella expressed her desire to become a nun but other plans were in the works. To strengthen the relations between the Bourbons and the Habsburgs, Isabella’s grandfather King Louis XV of France and Maria Theresa of Austria, ruler in her own right of the Habsburg hereditary lands, Holy Roman Empress by her marriage to Franz I, Holy Roman Emperor and in reality the ruler of the Holy Roman Empire because her husband left the ruling to her, arranged a marriage between Isabella and Maria Theresa’s eldest son Archduke Joseph of Austria, the future Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor and future ruler of the Habsburg hereditary lands.

Isabella’s husband, then Archduke Joseph of Austria, after her death Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor; Credit – Wikipedia

A proxy marriage was held on September 5, 1760, at Padua Cathedral in Padua, then in the Republic of Venice, now in Italy. Josef Wenzel I, Prince of Liechtenstein, who had a successful military career in the Imperial Army of the Holy Roman Empire and as a diplomat for the Holy Roman Empire, was given the honor of escorting Isabella to Vienna, Austria. On October 6, 1760, at the Augustinerkirche (Augustinian Church) in Vienna, Austria, the two 18-year-olds Joseph and Isabella were married by the Papal Nuncio Cardinal Vitaliano Borromeo.

Isabella and her elder daughter Archduchess Maria Theresa; Credit – Wikipedia

Joseph and Isabella had two daughters but neither survived childhood:

Left to right: Isabella’s husband Joseph, her mother-in-law Maria Theresa, Isabella, and Joseph’s sister Maria Christina in 1763; Credit – Wikipedia

Joseph adored his wife but Isabella hated the strict court ceremonies and was very reserved toward Joseph. Joseph’s sister Archduchess Maria Christina was Isabella’s best friend and closest confidante. Some modern historians believe that Isabella and Maria Christina likely had a romantic, and possibly a sexual relationship. They exchanged letters and small notes in French but only the nearly two hundred letters and notes written by Isabella have survived. Isabella’s letters and notes show a deep affection toward Maria Christina and are characteristic of a romantic-sexual relationship. See Wikipedia: Relationship with Archduchess Maria Christina and scroll down to A selection of quotes by Isabella in letters to Marie cited by Badinter as supporting a love affair.

Isabella had a very difficult first pregnancy with her first child Maria Theresa, suffering from many physical symptoms, depression, and a lingering fear of death. This was worsened by her inexperienced husband not understanding her problems. Isabella had miscarriages in August 1762 and January 1763. Her mother-in-law Maria Theresa, who had given birth to sixteen children, was so worried that she advised her son Joseph to wait for six months before trying for another child. However, Isabella was soon again pregnant.

It was a tradition that the imperial court spent the summer at Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna,  away from the more populated central part of Vienna. In 1763, warm weather lasted well into the autumn and the court returned to Hofburg Palace, located in central Vienna, on November 14, 1763. Isabella would have preferred to remain at the more isolated Schönbrunn Palace. She was six months pregnant and there were reports of smallpox cases in and around Vienna. After returning to Hofburg Palace, Isabella developed a fever on November 18, 1763, and it soon became clear that she had smallpox. Isabella’s high fever induced labor three months early, and on November 22, 1763, she gave birth to a premature second daughter. As Isabella requested, the baby was baptized Maria Christina but died the same day.

Following the birth, Isabella was rarely conscious but during her moments of consciousness, she displayed extraordinary courage. Joseph, who had already had smallpox, stayed by her side and took care of her without a break. On November 27, 1763, one month and three days before her 22nd birthday, Isabella died from smallpox at Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Because her body was still infectious, it was buried quickly without an autopsy or embalming in the Maria Theresa Crypt at the Imperial Crypt in the Capuchin Church in Vienna, Austria. The tiny coffin of her daughter Maria Christina was placed under Isabella’s coffin. In 1770, when Isabella’s elder daughter Maria Theresa died at the age of seven from pleurisy, her coffin was placed next to her mother’s and younger sister’s coffins.

Isabella’s tomb in the middle with the coffin of her younger daughter Maria Christina sticking out underneath. To the right is the tomb of Isabella’s elder daughter Maria Theresa who died in 1770; Credit – By C.Stadler/Bwag – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 at, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28671919

Joseph was devastated by Isabella’s death and never fully recovered. In a letter to Isabella’s father, Joseph wrote: “I have lost everything. My adorable wife and only friend is no more. (…) What a frightful separation! Can I survive it? Yes, and only to be unhappy all my life. (…) There is nothing I will enjoy ever again.” At his mother’s insistence, Joseph married again to his second cousin Maria Josepha of Bavaria, daughter of Karl VII, Holy Roman Emperor and Elector of Bavaria and Maria Amalie of Austria. On May 28, 1767, after only two years of a childless marriage, Maria Josepha died of smallpox, as had her predecessor Isabella. Joseph never remarried.

Smallpox, now eradicated, was a serious contagious disease that killed many and left many survivors scarred. The disease knew no class boundaries and royalty was as likely to suffer from it as the common folk. (See Unofficial Royalty: Royal Deaths from Smallpox.) Smallpox was a leading cause of death in the 18th century. It killed an estimated 400,000 Europeans each year in the 18th century. Before Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine that contained the cowpox virus in 1796 and that ultimately led to the eradication of smallpox, there was another way to possibly prevent smallpox called variolation and it was first seen in China in the fifteenth century. In 1716, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu accompanied her husband to Turkey where he was to serve as the British ambassador. While she was in Turkey, Lady Mary observed the Turkish practice of smallpox variolation or inoculation and she brought the practice back to Great Britain. Lady Mary persuaded Caroline, Princess of Wales (wife of the future King George II) to arrange to have the inoculation tested using prisoners and orphans, all of whom survived the inoculation. In 1722, King George I allowed the inoculation of two of his grandchildren, the children of the Prince and Princess of Wales and they survived. Variolation gained acceptance and was used until Edward Jenner developed his much safer vaccination using the cowpox virus instead of the smallpox virus.

The tragedy of Isabella’s death and the death of Joseph’s second wife from smallpox along with the earlier deaths from smallpox of four of Joseph’s siblings, and the suffering of the Habsburg family members who had survived smallpox, contributed to Maria Theresa’s decision to have the younger members of the Habsburg family inoculated, and the subsequent acceptance of variolation in Austria, thus saving many lives.

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.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2023) Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor also King of Bohemia, King of Hungary and Croatia, Archduke of Austria, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/joseph-ii-holy-roman-emperor-also-king-of-bohemia-king-of-hungary-and-croatia-archduke-of-austria/ (Accessed: 04 September 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2013) Smallpox knew no class boundaries, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-illnesses-and-deaths/smallpox-knew-no-class-boundaries/ (Accessed: 04 September 2023).
  • Isabella von Bourbon-Parma (2023) Wikipedia (German). Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_von_Bourbon-Parma (Accessed: 04 September 2023).
  • Princess Isabella of Parma (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Isabella_of_Parma (Accessed: 04 September 2023).
  • Wheatcroft, Andrew. (1995) The Habsburgs. London: Viking.
  • Wilson, Peter H. (2016) Heart of Europe – A History of the Holy Roman Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness, Mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Thelma, circa 1925

Mistress: a woman who has a continuing, extramarital sexual relationship with one man

Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness was the mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom from 1929 to 1932 while he was Prince of Wales.

Born Thelma Morgan on August 23, 1904, at the Grand Hotel National in Lucerne, Switzerland, Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria were the second and third of the four children of Harry Hays Morgan Sr., an American diplomat who was U.S. consul in Buenos Aire, Argentina and in Brussels, Belgium, and his second wife Laura Delphine Kilpatrick. Thelma’s paternal grandparents were Philip Hicky Morgan and Beatrice Leslie Ford. Her maternal grandparents were Hugh Judson Kilpatrick, a Union Army General and an American ambassador to Chile, and his second wife Luisa Fernandez de Valdivieso, a member of a wealthy family of Spanish origin that emigrated to South America in the 17th century.

Thelma had three siblings:

  • Laura Consuelo Morgan (1901 – 1979), known as Consuelo, married (1) Count Jean de Maupas du Juglart, no children, divorced (2) Benjamin Thaw Jr., no children (3) Alfons B. Landa, no children
  • Gloria Morgan (1904 – 1965), Thelma’s identical twin, born Maria Mercedes Morgan, adopted the name Gloria as a teenager, married Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, from the wealthy Vanderbilt family, had one daughter, the fashion designer Gloria Vanderbilt who was the mother of CNN anchor Anderson Cooper
  • Harry Hays Morgan Jr. (1898 – 1983), a film actor and diplomat, married (1) Ivor Elizabeth O’Connor, divorced (2) Edith Churchill Gordon, had one daughter (3) Ruth Broadbent Castor, no children

Thelma had two half-sisters from her father’s first marriage to Mary Edgerton:

  • Constance Morgan (1887 – 1892), died in childhood
  • Gladys Morgan (1889 – 1958), married Lieutenant John W. Henderson

Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria were first educated by governesses while their father was on diplomatic assignments in Europe and South America. When they returned to the United States, Thelma and her twin sister Gloria attended the Convent of the Sacred Heart, a Roman Catholic all-girls school in the Manhattan borough of New York City, the Skerton Finishing School, and Miss Nightingale’s School, also in Manhattan. In 1921, with their father’s permission, 17-year-old Thelma and Gloria ended their education and moved into an apartment at 40 Fifth Avenue, a private townhouse in Manhattan.

Thelma and Gloria were known as “The Magnificent Morgans” and were already popular with the New York high society as teenagers. The sisters had some minor roles in silent movies, using the names Gloria and Thelma Rochelle, debuting as extras in the 1922 Marion Davies film The Young Diana. In 1923, Thelma founded her own film company, Thelma Morgan Pictures. She produced and acted in four films, Aphrodite (1923), Enemies of Women (1923), a William Randolph Hearst production whose cast included Lionel Barrymore and Clara Bow, So This Is Marriage? (1924), and Any Woman (1925).

On February 16, 1922, in Washington, DC, seventeen-year-old Thelma married twenty-nine-year-old James Vail Converse, a grandson of Theodore Vail, former president of the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). The marriage was childless and the couple divorced three years later. After her divorce and a brief relationship with actor Richard Bennet, Thelma went to Europe to visit her parents and her sister Consuelo.

Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness

It was at a dinner in Paris, that Thelma met Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness who was twenty-one years older than her. Marmaduke was the chairman of Furness Withy, a shipping company and one of the richest men in the world. His first wife had died in 1921. On June 27, 1926, Thelma and Marmaduke were married at St George’s Register Office in London. The couple divorced in 1933 due to Thelma’s affair with the Prince of Wales.

Thelma and Marmaduke had one son:

Thelma had a stepdaughter and a stepson from Marmaduke’s first marriage to the late Ada “Daisy” Hogg:

Thelma first met the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII, called David by his family and friends, in 1926 at a ball at Londonderry House, the London home of Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, 7th Marquess of Londonderry. When they met again on June 14, 1929, at the Leicestershire Agricultural Show at Leicester, David asked her to dine with him. Thelma and David continued to meet regularly and she joined him on an African safari in 1930. During this period, David was having a long-time affair with Freda Dudley Ward along with several short affairs.

Thelma and the Prince of Wales in 1932; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1929, David’s father King George V gave him Fort Belvedere, a country house in Windsor Great Park, in Surrey, England where Thelma was a regular weekend companion and acted as David’s hostess. She also entertained Davis at her London home on Elsworthy Road in the Primrose Hill section of London and Burrough Court, the Furness country house in Burrough on the Hill, Leicestershire, England.

On a weekend in November 1930, Thelma invited two last-minute guests to a house party at Burrough Court, Ernest Simpson and Wallis Simpson. This was the first meeting of David and his future mistress and wife Wallis Simpson. Between 1931 and 1934, David met the Simpsons at various house parties and Wallis was presented at court. It appears that while Thelma was visiting her sister Gloria in the United States from January to March 1934, Wallis Simpson became David’s mistress. Upon her return to the United Kingdom, Thelma and David dined together once and she visited Fort Belvedere once. Although David was cordial, Thelma thought he was personally distant. Confused about the situation. Thelma called her friend Wallis Simpson who said, “Thelma, I think he likes me” and the rest is history.

Thelma (center) arriving in New York to assist her twin sister Gloria in her custody battle for her daughter. She arrived with her brother Harry Hays Morgan Jr and his wife.

On the rebound, Thelma had a short affair with Prince Aly Khan, a wealthy Pakistani diplomat, who had a long list of affairs. In 1934, Thelma’s sister Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the widow of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt, was at the center of a highly publicized court battle with Reginald’s sister Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney for the custody of her ten-year-old daughter Gloria Vanderbilt. Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney believed that her former sister-in-law Gloria was a bad influence and neglectful of her daughter and won custody of her niece at the end of a brutal custody battle.

The Morgan twins in 1955: Gloria (on the left) and Thelma (on the right); Credit – Wikipedia

After her divorce, Thelma divided her time between London and New York but from the 1940s until their deaths, Thelma and her sister Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt lived together in New York City and Los Angeles, California. They wrote a dual memoir called Double Exposure: A Twin Autobiography, published in 1958. Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt died on February 13, 1965, aged 60, in Los Angeles, California, and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles, California.

Grave of Thelma and her identical twin sister Gloria; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Thelma, Viscountess Furness, aged 65, died of a heart attack on January 29, 1970, at the corner of Lexington Avenue and 73rd Street in Manhattan, New York City, on her way to the doctor. In her purse was one of the teddy bears she used to exchange with David. Thelma was buried with her sister Gloria at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Los Angeles, California.

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.

Works Cited

  • Bloks, Moniek. (2021). Before Wallis – Thelma, Viscountess Furness . History of Royal Women. https://www.historyofroyalwomen.com/the-year-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-2021/the-year-of-the-duchess-of-windsor-thelma-viscountess-furness-part-one/
  • Donaldson, Frances. (1974). Edward VIII. Ballantine Biograpy.
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gloria_Morgan_Vanderbilt
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Marmaduke Furness, 1st Viscount Furness. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marmaduke_Furness,_1st_Viscount_Furness
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelma_Furness,_Viscountess_Furness

Freda Dudley Ward, Mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Freda Dudley Ward, 1919; Credit – Wikipedia

Mistress: a woman who has a continuing, extramarital sexual relationship with one man

Freda Dudley Ward was the mistress of the future King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom from 1918 – 1934 while he was Prince of Wales.

Born Winifred May Birkin on July 28, 1894, Freda Dudley Ward was the eldest of the four children of Colonel Charles Wilfred Birkin and his American wife Claire Lloyd Howe. Freda’s paternal grandparents were Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet and Harriet Tebbutt. Her paternal grandfather was a wealthy lace manufacturer, whose company had its headquarters in Nottingham, England, with large factories in the Kingdom of Saxony (now in Germany) and Chester, Pennsylvania in the United States. Freda’s maternal grandparents were Alexander Howe, from a family of American politicians, and Ada Webb.

Freda had three younger siblings:

  • Violet Birkin (1899 – 1953), married Douglas Holden Blew-Jones, had one daughter
  • Vera Birkin (1903 – 1970), married Frank James Wriothesley Seely, had five children
  • Sir Charles Birkin, 5th Baronet (1907 – 1985), married Janet Johnson, had three children

On July 9, 1913, Freda married William Dudley Ward, the Liberal Member of Parliament for Southampton. William’s family surname was Ward but Dudley Ward became their official surname through common usage.

Freda with her two daughters in 1918; Credit – Wikipedia

Freda and William had two daughters:

The Prince of Wales in 1919; Credit – Wikipedia

In March 1918, during World War I, Freda and a male friend were walking through Belgrave Square in London. They noticed, through an open door, that a party was going on in one of the homes. They then noticed that maroons, fireworks used as a danger or warning signal, were going off indicating a German Zeppelin raid. They could see the guests running down the stairs to the safety of the cellar. The hostess called out to Freda and her friend to join her guests in the cellar. While in the darkness of the cellar, a young man started a conversation with Freda. He asked where she lived and then she asked him where he lived. He replied in London and sometimes in Windsor. When the air raid was over, the party hostess invited Freda and her friend to join the party, saying, “His Royal Highness is so anxious that you should do so.” Freda spent the evening dancing with the Prince of Wales, the future King Edward VIII. Her male friend disappeared during the evening, and in the early hours of the next morning, the Prince of Wales, called David by his family and friends, escorted Freda home.

The next day, David called upon Freda at her home and said he would like to see her again, beginning a sixteen-year relationship. While the relationship was discrete, it was never a secret and was well-known in British society. Throughout their relationship, David called Freda every morning – her household called it “the baker’s call” – and usually visited her sometime during the day. David adored Freda’s two daughters who called him “Little Prince.” Freda and her husband eventually separated and in 1931, they divorced.

The Prince of Wales with Freda Dudley Ward at the opening Union Station in Toronto, Canada, 1927; Credit – Wikipedia

After 1924, David had several short affairs and one longer affair from 1929 – 1932 with American Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness. Thelma was born Thelma Morgan, the identical twin of Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt (the mother of Gloria Vanderbilt, the fashion designer and the mother of CNN news anchor Anderson Cooper). During this period, David’s attachment to Freda remained more or less the same.

David with Thelma Furness, Viscountess Furness in 1932; Credit – Wikipedia

In May 1934, Freda’s daughter Penelope had an appendectomy and was seriously ill. Freda spent most of her time at the nursing home where Penelope was recovering. Only when Penelope was out of danger did Freda realize that weeks had passed without David calling or visiting her. Freda called St. James Palace in London where David had apartments. The switchboard operator and Freda had spoken nearly daily for years and she told Freda that she had something terrible to tell her. The Prince of Wales had given orders that her calls were not to be put through. Freda would never speak to David again. In January 1934, Wallis Warfield Simpson had become David’s mistress. On January 20, 1936, David’s father King George V died and David became King Edward VIII. Wallis divorced her second husband in October 1936. On December 10, 1936, David abdicated his throne so he could marry Wallis, because, as he said in his famous speech, he was unable to do his job “as I would have wished to do” without the support of “the woman I love”.

Freda’s second husband Peter de Casa Maury; Credit – The Peerage 

On October 20, 1937, Freda married Cuban-born Pedro Monés, 1st Marquis de Casa Maury. He was a naturalized British citizen but retained his Spanish title. Peter was a former Wing Commander of the Royal Air Force and intelligence officer, a race car driver, and the founder of Curzon Cinemas. Freda then held the Spanish title Marquesa de Casa Maury. The couple had no children and divorced in 1954. Peter died on June 27, 1968.

Freda Dudley Ward (left) and Lady Birkenhead attending a christening in 1937

After Peter died in 1968, Freda retired to a small home in Chelsea, London, England, where she continued her interest in home decorating, focusing on the country house look. She died at her Chelsea home on March 16, 1983, at the age of 88.

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.

Works Cited

  • Donaldson, Frances. (1974). Edward VIII. Ballantine Biography.
  • Pedro Jose Isidro Manuel Ricardo Mones Maury, Marques de Casa Maury. The Peerage. (2007a). https://www.thepeerage.com/p14286.htm#i142853
  • Trethewey, Rachel. (2023, October 8). As never-before-seen photos are auctioned, meet the married lover who came before Wallis. Daily Mail Online. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12592745/Wallis-Simpson-prince-Edward-VIII-affair-Freda-Dudley-Ward.html
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Freda Dudley Ward. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freda_Dudley_Ward
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Sir Thomas Birkin, 1st Baronet. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sir_Thomas_Birkin,_1st_Baronet
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). William Dudley Ward. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dudley_Ward
  • Winifred May Birkin. The Peerage. (2007). https://www.thepeerage.com/p992.htm#i9915

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, Princess of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: The County of Schwarzburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1195 to 1595, when it was partitioned into Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The new counties remained in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution. In 1697, the County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710.

The death of Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen without an heir in 1909 caused the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to be united under Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in a personal union. Following his succession in Sondershausen, Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

At the end of World War I, Prince Günther Victor was the last German prince to renounce his throne, abdicating on November 22, 1918. He made an agreement with the government that awarded him an annual pension and the right to use several of the family residences. The territory that encompassed the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is now located in the German state of Thuringia.

**********************

Princess Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg was the wife of Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Born on December 22, 1670, in Gotha, then in the Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, Anna Sophie was the eldest of the eight children and the eldest of the six daughters of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and his first wife Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels. Her paternal grandparents were Ernst I, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Altenburg and Elisabeth Sophie of Saxe-Altenburg. Anna Sophie’s maternal grandparents were August, Duke of Saxe-Weissenfels, and Anna Maria of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Anna Sophie had seven younger siblings but only five survived childhood:

When Anna Sophie was ten-years-old, her mother Magdalena Sibylle died, aged 32, on January 7, 1681, just three months after giving birth to her last child. Later in 1681, Anna Sophie’s father Friedrich married a second time to Christine of Baden-Durlach, daughter of Frederick VI, Margrave of Baden-Durlach and Christina Magdalena of the Palatinate-Zweibrücken. Friedrich’s second marriage to Christine of Baden-Durlach was childless.

Anna Sophie’s husband; Ludwig Friedrich, Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 15, 1691, at Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, the nearly 21-year-old Anna Sophie married 24-year-old Ludwig Friedrich of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, the son and heir of Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, and his wife Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Mühlingen. Emilie Juliane was the most productive of the German female hymn-writers, composing nearly 600 hymns. She was an early adherent of Pietism, a movement within Lutheranism that emphasized biblical doctrine, individual piety, and living a vigorous Christian life.

Anna Sophie’s daughter, also named Anna Sophie, who was the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by marriage and great-great-grandmother of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert; Credit – Wikipedia

Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie had thirteen children. Via their daughter, Anna Sophie who married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie are the ancestors of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert, and their uncle Leopold I, King of the Belgians. The royal families of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are their descendants.

  • Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1692 – 1744), married (1) Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had one son and two daughters (2) Christina Sophia of East Frisia, no children
  • Amalie Magdalene of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Sophie Luise
  • Sophie Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Amalie Magdalene
  • Sophie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1694 – 1776), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
  • Wilhelm Ludwig of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1696 – 1757), married morganatically Caroline Henriette Gebauer who was created Baroness of Brockenburg, had three sons and two daughters
  • Christine Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1697 – 1698), died in infancy
  • Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1698 – 1720), unmarried
  • Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1699 – 1774), unmarried
  • Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1700 – 1780), married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had four sons and four daughters
  • Sophia Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1737), unmarried, twin of Friederike Luise
  • Friederike Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1787), unmarried, twin of Sophia Dorothea
  • Magdalena Sibylle of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1707 – 1795), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
  • Ludwig Günther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1708 – 1790), married Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz, had two daughters and two sons

View of Schwarzburg Castle, lithograph around 1860; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1697, Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Ludwig Friedrich’s father, was raised to a Prince, and the County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was raised to a principality by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. However, Albrecht Anton chose not to accept his elevation due to his religious modesty which focused on the Pietism of his mother. He also wanted to avoid a confrontation with his neighbors, the dukes from the Ernestine lines of the House of Wettin, (whose duchy names began with “Saxe”) who had opposed his elevation. In 1710, the elevation to Prince was offered again and this time, Albrecht Anton accepted it. However, he did not publish notice of his elevation and continued to use the style Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. On December 15, 1710, Albrecht Anton died and his son Ludwig Friedrich succeeded him. Ludwig Friedrich published notice of the elevation to Prince in 1711 and began using the style Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on April 15, 1711. The elevation strengthened the position of the House of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt against the House of Wettin.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 24, 1718, Ludwig Friedrich I, aged 50, died in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg (link in German), the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German), in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Anna Sophie survived her husband by ten years, dying on December 28, 1728, at the age of 58, and was buried with her husband at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German) in Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, before the demolition of the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg and Schwarzburg Castle. The German government took possession of Schwarzburg Castle and compensated the widow of the last reigning prince. They planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. In June 1940, demolition began on Schwarzburg Castle, one of the most important Baroque castles in central Germany. In 1942, the construction was stopped and the Imperial Guest House was never finished. The ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years. The only thing that remained of the castle church was the tower dome but it was destroyed in a fire caused by fireworks on New Year’s Eve 1980. There has been much reconstruction on the castle especially after Schwarzburg Castle was transferred to the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation in 1994.

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.

Works Cited

  • Anna Sophie von Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anna_Sophie_von_Sachsen-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan. (2020) Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/ludwig-friedrich-i-prince-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/ (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
  • Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 06 September 2023].
  • Frederick I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (2022) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_I,_Duke_of_Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).
  • Princess Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (2023) Wikipedia. Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anna_Sophie_of_Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (Accessed: 06 September 2023).

Marguerite Bellanger, Mistress of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Marguerite Bellanger, born Julie Justine Marine Leboeuf; Credit – Wikipedia

Marguerite Bellanger was the mistress of Napoleon III, Emperor of the French from 1863 until 1870 when he was deposed and exiled.

Born Julie Justine Marine Leboeuf on June 10, 1838, in Saint-Lambert-des-Levées, Maine-et-Loire, France, Marguerite Bellanger, her stage name, was the daughter of François Leboeuf and Julie Hanot. Marguerite’s family was poor and when she was fifteen, she began working as a laundress. After an affair with a lieutenant from the French army, Marguerite joined a local circus, performing as an acrobat and a trick rider.

Margurite traveled to Paris and made her acting debut at the Théâtre de la Tour d’Auvergne using the stage name Marguerite Bellanger, Bellanger being the surname of an uncle. Her acting career was not successful and Marguerite became a popular courtesan, cocotte in French. Cocette is defined as a woman in France under the Second Empire who was paid for sexual services but who was not or no longer registered as a prostitute by the police. Marguerite was much in demand and lived a very comfortable life.

Napoleon III, Emperor of the French; Credit – Wikipedia

In June 1863, Napoleon III, Emperor of the French, known as Louis-Napoleon, while driving through a park in his carriage, happened to see 25-year-old Marguerite sheltering from the rain under a tree. She soon became his mistress, and, with the knowledge of all those around him, including his wife Empress Eugénie, Marguerite traveled with Louis-Napoleon on his private and official trips. Empress Eugénie had given her husband his heir in 1856 after a two-day labor that endangered both mother and child and required a lengthy recovery. Empress Eugénie found sex with her husband disgusting and it is doubtful that she allowed further approaches by her husband. She accepted her husband’s lovers and mistresses.

The grounds of the Château de Saint-Cloud where Louis-Napoleon gave Marguerite a home; Credit – Wikipedia

Louis-Napoleon gave Marguerite two homes: one at 57 rue des Vignes in the Passy section of Paris and the other on the grounds of the Château de Saint-Cloud, Louis-Napoleon’s preferred residence.

Marguerite and her son Charles; Credit – Look and Learn

In February 1864, Marguerite gave birth to a son Charles Jules Auguste François Marie Leboeuf, who was in all likelihood, Louis-Napoleon’s son. After the birth of her son, Louis-Napoleon gave Marguerite the Château de Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin, near Meaux, France.

Napoleon III at the Battle of Sedan by Wilhelm Camphausen; Credit – Wikipedia

In July 1870, France entered the Franco-Prussian War. Without significant allied support, and with unprepared and limited forces, the French army was quickly defeated. Louis-Napoleon was captured at the Battle of Sedan and surrendered on September 1, 1870. As word reached Paris, the Third Republic was declared on September 4, 1870, ending, for the last time, the French monarchy. Louis-Napoleon was held by the Prussians in a castle in Wilhelmshöhe, near Kassel until peace was established between France and Germany. He was released in March 1871 and quickly went into exile. Arriving in England on March 20, 1871, Napoleon and his family settled at Camden Place, a large country house in Chislehurst, England where he lived until he died in 1873. With Louis-Napoleon’s exile, his affair with Marguerite ended. In 1872, she married William Kulbach, Baronet, a Captain in the British Army and the couple lived in England and France. When Louis-Napoleon died in 1873, Marguerite went to England to mourn him.

Marguerite Bellanger, aged 48, died on November 23, 1886, at the Château de Villeneuve-sous-Dammartin, near Meaux, France. Her funeral was held at the Church of Saint-Pierre-de-Chaillot in Paris and she was buried in Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris. Her only child Charles Leboeuf had a military career and died in Paris on December 7, 1941. He was buried with his mother.

Burial site of Marguerite Bellanger and her son in Montparnasse Cemetery; Credit – https://androom.home.xs4all.nl/biography/i020183.htm

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.

Works Cited

  • Mehl, Scott. (2016). Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, Emperor Napoleon III of the French. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/louis-napoleon-bonaparte-emperor-napoleon-iii-of-the-french/
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2019). Charles Lebœuf. Wikipedia (French). https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Leb%C5%93uf
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2022, September 10). Marguerite Bellanger. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Bellanger
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023, August 29). Marguerite Bellanger. Wikipedia (French). https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marguerite_Bellanger

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

The County of Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire since 1180.  In 1625, the much smaller County of Pyrmont became part of the much larger County of Waldeck through inheritance and the combined territory was known as the County of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In 1712,  Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont was elevated to Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont by Holy Emperor Karl VI.

Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont, was the brother of Marie, the first wife of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, Emma who married King Willem III of the Netherlands, and Helena, the wife of Queen Victoria’s hemophiliac son Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany and the mother of Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Friedrich abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and Arolsen Forest. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont is located in the German states of Hesse and Lower Saxony

********************

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Credit – By Bundesarchiv, Bild 146-1969-041-62 / CC-BY-SA, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5482509

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont was the last heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont from 1946 until his death in 1967, and a convicted Nazi war criminal. Josias Georg Wilhelm Adolf was born on May 13, 1896, at Arolsen Castle in Arolsen, then in the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. He was the eldest of the four children and the eldest of the three sons of Friedrich, the last reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe. Josias’ paternal grandparents were Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife Princess Helena of Nassau. His maternal grandparents were  Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau. Through his father, Josias was the first cousin of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands and two grandchildren of Queen Victoria, Charles Edward, the last reigning Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and his sister Princess Alice of Albany, Countess of Athlone.

Josias had three younger siblings:

Beginning in 1902, Josias was educated by private tutors. In 1912, he began to attend the Royal Wilhelms-Gymnasium (link in German) in Kassel, then in the Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hesse. In 1914, 18-year-old Josias passed the Notabitur (link in German), which replaced the usual Abitur, exams taken for a high school diploma, for students in the final years of high school who wanted to serve in the German Army during World War I.

When World War I broke out, Josias enlisted in the German army and was wounded several times, including a grazing shot to his head. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I and the end of all the German monarchies, Josias’ father Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont abdicated on November 13, 1918. He was the only German prince who refused to sign an abdication agreement. However, Friedrich did negotiate an agreement with the new government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and the Arolsen Forest.

On August 25, 1922, at Rastede Palace in Rastede, in Lower Saxony, Germany, Josias married Duchess Altburg of Oldenburg, the daughter of Friedrich August II, the last reigning Grand Duke of Oldenburg, and his second wife Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Josias and Altburg had four daughters and one son. Adolf Hitler and Heinrich Himmler, the two most powerful Nazis, were among the godparents of their only son Wittekind.

  • Princess Margarethe of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1923 – 2003), married Franz II, Count of Erbach-Erbach von Warthenberg-Roth, had two children, divorced in 1979
  • Princess Alexandra of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1924 – 2009), married Botho, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt, had two children
  • Princess Ingrid of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1931 – ), unmarried
  • Prince Wittekind, Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont (born 1936), married, Cecilia Countess Goëß-Saurau, had three sons
  • Princess Guda of Waldeck and Pyrmont (born 1939), married Friedrich Wilhelm, Prince of Wied, had two children, divorced in 1962

Josias, with the rank of an SS-Obergruppenführer; Credit – By Franz Langhammer – Retrieved from germanianternational.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=11725055

Josias’ parents both lived through World War II but neither joined the Nazi Party. However, their eldest son Josias, his wife Altburg, and their eldest child Margarethe were members of the Nazi Party. Josias joined the Nazi Party in 1929 and by 1930, he was a member of the Schutzstaffel, better known as the SS. The SS was the primary agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. In September 1930, Josias became the Adjutant and Staff Chief of Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, and the main architect of The Holocaust. In 1933, Josias was promoted to the rank of SS Lieutenant General. He was promoted again in 1938, to the Higher SS and Police Leader for Weimar. In this position, he had supervisory authority over the Buchenwald concentration camp. His final rank was SS- Obergruppenführer, the highest commissioned SS rank and General of Waffen-SS. Members of the Waffen-SS were involved in numerous atrocities. At the Nuremberg Trials (1945 – 1946), the Waffen-SS was judged to be a criminal organization because of its direct involvement in numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Toward the end of World War II, Josias oversaw the efforts to conceal the horrors of the Buchenwald concentration camp by sending off inmates, resulting in thousands of deaths. Some inmates were sent on forced marches. Others were put in sealed trains for days. On one train trip that was supposed to last eighteen hours, only 300 of the 3,105 on the train survived the poor conditions, after days without any provisions for food or sanitation.

Josias; mug shot after being arrested; Credit – By unknown soldier or employee of the U.S. Army Signal Corps – Stiftung Gedenkstätten Buchenwald und Mittelbau-Dora, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4783531

Josias was captured by American General George Patton’s forces at the Buchenwald concentration camp on April 13, 1945, the day the camp was liberated. While he was in custody, Josias learned of the death of his father on May 26, 1946. Josias was now the Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont and began to use the title Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont but Josias would soon face two trials during the post-war period.

Josias in black facing the judges as a defendant at the Buchenwald Trial in 1947; Credit – Wikipedia

The Buchenwald Trial or United States of America vs. Josias Prince of Waldeck et al was a war crime trial conducted by the United States Army from April 11 to August 14, 1947, at the internment camp for war criminals, the SS and important witnesses in Dachau, Germany at the site of the former Dachau concentration camp. Thirty-one people, including Josias and many of the doctors responsible for Nazi human experimentation, were indicted for war crimes related to the Buchenwald concentration camp and its satellite camps, and all thirty-one defendants were convicted. On August 14, 1947, Josias was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment and was sent to Landsberg War Criminal Prison Nr. 1 in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria, Germany.

On September 17, 1949, a denazification appeals court classified Josias as a Level 2 – Offender: Activist, Militant, or Profiteer, on the five-tier scale of the denazification system, with Level 1, Main Offender, being the worst. As a result, 70% of his property was seized along with other sanctions and fines.

On November 29, 1950, after serving just three years in prison, Josias was released. He was among the first to benefit from US High Commissioner for Germany John J. McCloy’s amnesty program. At the strong urging of the West German government, and under pressure from the West German people, McCloy approved recommendations for the commutation of sentences of some Nazi criminals. In 1953, Josias received an amnesty from Georg-August Zinn, Minister President of Hesse reducing his fine from the denazification appeals court by more than half of the original fine.

Schaumberg Castle where Josias spent his final years; Credit – By Carsten Steger – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=122795425

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont spent the last years of his life in seclusion at Schaumburg Castle near Limburg an der Lahn in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate. He was investigated in the late 1950s and early 1960s in connection to atrocities at the Buchenwald concertation camp, the war-time murder of civilian workers, and the Röhm Purge of 1934, a series of political executions without trials intended to consolidate Hitler’s power. However, most investigations were discontinued because the statute of limitations had expired or guilt could not be proven.

Waldeck-Pyrmont Princely Mausoleum and Cemetery; Credit – www.findagrave.com

Josias, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont died, aged, 71, on November 30, 1967, at Schaumburg Castle, and was buried in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden (link in German), the burial site of the Waldeck-Pyrmont family in Rhoden, now in the German state of Hesse. He was succeeded as Head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont by his only son Prince Wittekind. Josias’ wife Altburg survived him by 34 years, dying on June 16, 2001, aged 98. She was buried with her husband in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden.

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.

Works Cited

  • Flantzer, Susan. (2021). Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/friedrich-prince-of-waldeck-pyrmont/
  • Petropoulos, Jonathan. (2009). Royals and the Reich. Oxford University Press.
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Buchenwald Trial. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buchenwald_trial
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Josias zu Waldeck und Pyrmont. German Wikipedia. https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias_zu_Waldeck_und_Pyrmont
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josias,_Hereditary_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont

Leonora Dori Galigai, Favorite of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2023

Favorite: a person treated with special or undue favor by a king, queen, or another royal person

Leonora Dori Galigai and later, her husband Concino Concini, were favorites of Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France, the second wife of Henri IV, King of France. Neither Leonora nor Concino had a happy ending.

Leonora Dori Galigai; Credit – Wikipedia

The daughter of Jacopo di Sebastiano Dori and Caterina Dori, Leonora Dori Galigai was born on May 19, 1568, in Florence, then in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany, now in Italy. Her father was a carpenter and her mother was a wet nurse at the court of the Medicis who were Grand Dukes of Tuscany from 1569 to 1737. Jacopo was able to buy the adoption of his children by the Galigai family, a poor but noble Florentine family from which he was descended in the female line. This gave his children some advantages socially and politically.

Leonora had two brothers and one sister:

  • Andrea Dori Galigai
  • Sebastiano Dori Galigai, Archbishop of Tours (? – 1694)
  • Cassandra Dori Galigai

In 1588, Ferdinando I de’Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany appointed twenty-year-old Leonora to be the maid to his thirteen-year-old niece Marie de’ Medici. Having lost her mother at the age of five, and her father at the age of twelve, Marie was raised by her uncle Ferdinando, who had succeeded her father as Grand Duke of Tuscany. For nearly thirty years, Leonora remained in service to Marie, becoming her close friend and confidante. In late 1600, when Marie traveled to France to become the second wife of Henri IV, King of France, Leonora was included in her retinue as lady-in-waiting and wardrobe attendant.

Leonora’s husband Concino Concini; Credit – Wikipedia

Also in Marie’s retinue was Concino Concini, whose father was First Secretary to Marie’s uncle. During the journey to France, Concino romanced Leonora and proposed to her. King Henri IV opposed the marriage because he considered Concino too ambitious but he finally gave his approval, and Leonora and Concino were married on July 12, 1601. Marie de’ Medici, now Queen of France, gave Leonora a large dowry. In 1605, Concino became maître d’hôtel (chief steward) of Queen Marie’s household, and in 1608, he received the additional appointment of premier écuyer of the queen, being in charge of her royal stables. These positions allowed Concino to amass a small fortune, which he invested in real estate.

Leonora and Concino had two children, named after King Henri IV and Queen Marie:

  • Henri Concini (1603 – 1631), died of the plague
  • Marie Concini (1607 – 1617), died in childhood

In 1610, King Henri IV was assassinated and Queen Marie was appointed Regent for their eldest son, the eight-year-old King Louis XIII of France. Leonora exploited her friendship with Queen Marie, encouraging the rapid rise of her husband’s career. Concino became Queen Marie’s most trusted advisor. He was created Marquis d’Ancre and a Marshal of France. Leonora and Concino successfully plotted to have King Henri IV’s very capable Chief Minister, Maximilien de Béthune, Duke of Sully dismissed. Queen Marie was strongly influenced by Concino and Leonora and many of her policies were in sharp contrast to those of her late husband. Concino and Leonora hoped to influence the suppression of Protestantism in France. However, Queen Marie, as Regent, maintained her late husband’s policy of religious tolerance. As one of her first acts, Marie reconfirmed Henri IV’s Edict of Nantes, which ordered religious tolerance for Protestants in France while asserting the supremacy of the Roman Catholic Church.

The behavior and policies of Concino and Leonora caused hatred among the French people. The French nobility had to deal with their power being weakened because Concino and Leonora’s Tuscan followers were given preference in the awarding of positions and privileges. The French common people resented the power of these Tuscans who had become masters of France.

A contemporary depiction of the assassination of Concino Concini; Credit – Wikipedia

Finally, sixteen-year-old King Louis XIII, who detested Leonora and Concino, stepped up and asserted his position as King. In April 1617, he organized a coup d’état with Charles d’Albert, Duke of Luynes, a close advisor and favorite of King Louis XIII from childhood until his death, who held numerous top positions within the French court. Since Concino could not be arrested because he had a personal army of more than 7,000 soldiers, it was planned to have him assassinated. On April 24, 1617, Concino Concini was killed in the courtyard of the Louvre Palace in Paris. He was buried at the Church of Saint-Germain-l’Auxerrois in Paris but an angry crowd of Parisians exhumed his body and dragged it through the streets of Paris. After being stoned and beaten, Concino’s body was hanged by the feet from a gallows, and then dismembered and burned.

17th-century engraving of the execution of Leonora; Credit – Wikipedia

After the death of her husband, the tides also turned against Leonora. She was arrested, accused of witchcraft, and sent to the Bastille. Queen Marie was unable to help her old friend because she had been sent into exile at the Château de Blois in the Loire Valley on the orders of her son King Louis XIII. After a short trial, Leonora was found guilty of having bewitched Queen Marie, Regent of France. On July 8, 1617, at the Place de Grève in Paris, now the Place de l’Hôtel-de-Ville, Leonora was beheaded, and then her headless body burned at the stake.

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.

Works Cited

  • Leonora Doria Galigai. geni_family_tree. (2016). https://www.geni.com/people/Leonora-Doria-Galigai/6000000022782162100
  • Mehl, Scott. (2016). Marie de’ Medici, Queen of France. Unofficial Royalty. https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/marie-de-medici-queen-of-france/
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Leonora Galigaï. Wikipedia (German). https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Galiga%C3%AF
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2023). Leonora Dori. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Dori
  • Wikimedia Foundation. (2022). Leonora Dori Galigai. Wikipedia (Italian). https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonora_Dori_Galigai