Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Countess of Mensdorff-Pouilly

by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Countess of Mensdorff-Pouilly; Credit – Wikipedia

Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld was the sister of Leopold I, the first King of the Belgians and an aunt to both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and her husband Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Given the names Sophie Friederike Karoline Luise, she was born on August 19, 1778, in Coburg, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in Bavaria, Germany. She was the eldest of the nine children and the eldest of the five daughters of Franz Friedrich Anton, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and second wife Augusta Reuss of Ebersdorf.

Sophie had eight younger siblings:

Princess Sophia of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, circa 1795; Credit – Wikipedia

In 1794, the Russian Empress Catherine the Great sent Count Andrei Budberg, a Russian diplomat, off to the courts of Europe to search 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 von Stockmar, the Coburg court’s physician. Stockmar learned of the Budberg’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, Sophie and her next two sisters Antoinette and Juliane, accompanied by their mother, traveled to Saint Petersburg in August 1795. Sophie had all the prerequisites to be selected. She was the eldest and her mother wrote in the diary of the St. Petersburg trip that Empress Catherine liked Sophie the best. After several weeks, Konstantin chose 14-year-old Juliane, and the two became engaged. However, the marriage did not last long. By 1801, Juliane and Konstantin were living apart and eventually, their marriage was annulled.

Sophie’s sister Antoinette; Credit – Wikipedia

Sophie was very close to her sister Antoinette who was just a year younger. They both attended balls at the Schloss Fantaisie in Eckersdorf, Bavaria, a meeting place for French emigrants who had escaped from the French Revolution and the later reign of Napoleon I, Emperor of the French. It was there that she met her future husband Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly.  After meeting Emmanuel, Sophie wrote in her diary, “In Fantaisie, the happiness of my life began.”

Emmanuel’s father Albert-Louis, Baron de Pouilly et de Chaffour, Comte de Roussy and his wife Marie Antoinette escaped France during the French Revolution. Their sons Albert and Emmanuel took the name Mensdorff from a small town in the commune of Betzdorf in Luxembourg. In 1793, Emmanuel and his brother Albert joined the Austrian army and fought against Revolutionary and Napoleonic France. In 1799, Albert was killed in battle at the age of 24 and Emmanuel received a severe injury to his right hand that caused the hand to remain disabled for the rest of his life.

Sophie and Emmanuel were married in Coburg on February 23, 1804. The couple had six sons who were the first cousins of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert:

  • Hugo von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1806 – 1847), unmarried
  • Alphons von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1810 – 1894), married (1) Countess Therese von Dietrichstein-Proskau-Leslie, had two daughters (2) Countess Maria Therese von Lamberg, had one son
  • Alfred von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1812 – 1814), died in early childhood
  • Alexander von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1813 – 1871), married Countess Alexandrina von Dietrichstein-Nicholsburg, had two sons and one daughter, was Foreign Minister of the Austrian Empire
  • Leopold von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1815 – 1821), died in childhood
  • Arthur von Mensdorff-Pouilly (1817 – 1904), married (1) Magdalene Kremzow, no children (2) Bianca von Wickenburg, no children

Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly; Credit – Wikipedia

Despite his hand injury, Emmanuel remained in the Austrian army and Sophie became a military wife. She was a loyal and loving wife to her husband and accepted Emmanuel’s decision to remain in the army. While Emmanuel was off soldiering for “his master and emperor”, Sophie and her children lived at the Hereditary Prince’s Palace in Coburg and also at the  Mensdorff-Castell which today is a part of Castle Falkenegg (link in German), also in Coburg.

Several times Sophie lived with Emmanuel while he was stationed with the Austrian army.  The first time Sophie lived in Prague, then in Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic, from 1820-1824, were happy times. Sophia dined out, visited salons, and had many friends. From 1824 to 1834 Sophie and Emmanuel lived in Mainz (now in Germany), perhaps the happiest time of her life. In Mainz, Emmanuel was the commander of the Fortress of Mainz, part of a chain of strategic fortresses that protected the German Confederation, and also served as Vice Governor of Mainz. While living in Mainz, Sophie had to be more of a leader in society circles, hosting salons, and being fashionable and elegant. During her time in Mainz, Sophie published a romantic collection of fairy tales entitled Märchen und Erzählungen (Fairy Tales and Stories).

Sophie, Countess of Mensdorff-Pouilly in 1834: Credit – Wikipedia

When Sophie and Emmanuel moved back to Prague in 1835, Sophie was quite unhappy living in a place “where people above all want to know if she is a person of stature.” Sophie died in Tuschimitz, Bohemia (now in the Czech Republic) on July 9, 1835, aged 56. In 1838, after Sophie’s death, Emmanuel purchased the nearby Schloss Preitenstein which remained the property of the Mensdorff-Pouilly family until 1945. He had Sophie buried in the park of Schloss Preitenstein. In 1840, Emmanuel became Vice-President of the Hofkriegsrat (Imperial War Council), the central military administrative authority of the Habsburg Monarchy, the predecessor of the Austro-Hungarian Ministry of War. He remained in the Austrian army until he retired in 1848 with the rank of Lieutenant Field Marshall. Emmanuel survived Sophie by 14 years, dying in Vienna, Austria on June 28, 1852, at the age of 75.

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Works Cited

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  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Emmanuel von Mensdorff-Pouilly. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emmanuel_von_Mensdorff-Pouilly [Accessed 3 Feb. 2019].
  • En.wikipedia.org. (2019). Princess Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. [online] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Sophie_of_Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld [Accessed 3 Feb. 2019].
  • Mehl, S. (2018). Juliane of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Grand Duchess Anna Feodorovna of Russia. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/juliane-of-saxe-coburg-saalfeld-grand-duchess-anna-feodorovna-of-russia2/ [Accessed 3 Feb. 2019].
  • Slabakova, R. (n.d.). Sophie, Gräfin Mensdorff-Pouilly, geborene Prinzessin von Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld. [online] Academia.edu. Available at: http://www.academia.edu/8613608/Sophie_Gr%C3%A4fin_Mensdorff-Pouilly_geborene_Prinzessin_von_Sachsen-Coburg-Saalfeld [Accessed 3 Feb. 2019].