The Past and Present State of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen

 

 

Today, the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen dances on the brink of extinction. Depending on one's point of view, there are either one, two, or three male members of the family (each of different generations) who can carry on the dynasty into the future. The current extant branch of the family descends from Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen, the fifth child of Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen.

 

Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen

Princess Adelheid of Saxe-Meiningen

The announcement of the death of Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen in 1914

On 30 June 1901, at Köln, Prince Bernhard Friedrich Julius Heinrich of Saxe-Meiningen was born as the sixth and last child of Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen (1861-1914) and the former Countess Adelheid zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (1870-1948), whom he had married in 1889.

Grand Duchess Feodora of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Princess Adalbert (Adelheid) of Prussia

Prince Georg of Saxe-Meiningen

Princess Luise of Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard had followed five older siblings: Princess Feodora (1890-1972; married Grand Duke Wilhelm Ernst of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), Princess Adelheid (1891-1971; married Prince Adalbert of Prussia), Prince Georg (1892-1946; married Countess Klara-Maria von Korff gt Schmissing-Kerssenbrock), Prince Ernst Leopold (1895-1914), and Princess Luise (1899-1985; married Baron Götz von Wangenheim).

On 25 April 1931, at Eichenhof im Riesengebirge, Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen married Margot Grössler (Breslau 22 Jan 1911-Bad Sackingen 2 May 1998). The couple had two children: Princess Feodora (b.Schloß Pitzelstettin 27 May 1932; married Burkhard Kippenberg) and Prince Friedrich Ernst.

Article on the arrest of Prince Bernhard and Princess Margot of Saxe-Meiningen.
The Winnipeg Tribune, 21 October 1933.

In October 1933, Prince Bernhard was arrested as a member of the Nazi Party in Austria. By December, it was reported that he was to be held at Wöllersdorf, Austria, after being sentenced to a six week imprisonment. His wife, Margot, was placed under house arrest last the couple's residence, Schloß Pitzelstettin, as the result of a letter that she sent to a correspondent in Germany that was "full of invective against Austria." In January 1934, Bernhard and Margot fled to Italy, where they perhaps felt more comfortable as that country was already under the rule of Benito Mussolini.

"Charming Nazi Princess Escapes While Dollfuss Plans Christmas Truce."
The Winnipeg Tribune, 11 December 1933.

Bernhard and Margot flee to Italy.
The Evening Sun, 14 December 1933.

Bernhard and Margot divorced in 1947. The following year, on 11 August 1948, Prince Bernhard married Baroness Wera Schäffer von Bernstein (Frankfurt 10 August 1914-24 October 1994), daughter of Baron Friedrich "Fritz" Schäffer von Bernstein and Emma Carola von Passavant. Bernhard and Wera had three children: Princess Marie Eleonore "Ellen" (b.1950; married Peter Eric Rosden), Prince Konrad (b.1952), and Princess Almut (b.1959; married Eberhard von Braunschweig).

 

HH Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen

Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen died on 4 October 1984 at Bad Krozingen. He was eighty-three years-old. Bernhard had been the titular Duke of Saxe-Meiningen since the death of his brother Georg in 1946, due to the fact that Georg's only surviving son Friedrich-Alfred had become a Roman Catholic monk and renounced his dynastic rights in favour of his uncle.

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HH Prince Friedrich Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen

Prince Friedrich-Ernst "Friedel" Georg Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen was born at Meiningen on 21 January 1935. The young prince spent his early childhood in the family home on Bernhardstrasse in Meiningen and at his grandparents' manor in Silesia. His love for animals and plants also developed here.

Friedrich-Ernst was able to fully enjoy the last almost full moon of his lifetime over the Swiss Jura, the Rhine Valley and his forest park - in an incredible night mood - forgetting the exertion and the pain. However, the end of World War II and the following years were filled with losses that were just as formative: the loss of his homeland with the escape from Silesia, the departure from Meiningen, the divorce of his parents.

The prince decided to leave school early in order to learn the profession of a hotel manager, to work on his own abroad when he was young. During this time, his need for a harmonious environment, which he did not always find in his life, was accentuated even more.

At the age of twenty-four, he took his chances and utilised his linguistic skills and sales talent and moved into the paper industry as a sales manager. Friedrich-Ernst then made a career in the steel industry at the age of twenty-six. The prince eventually went to work for the Thyssen group.

On 3 March 1962 at Schweiherdingen, Prince Friedrich-Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen married Ehrengard von Massow (b.Stralsund 25 Oct 1933). Ehrengard was the daughter of Helmut Robert von Massow (1900-1967) and Ursula von Buch-Tornow. The couple divorced in 1973.

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Prince Friedrich Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen with the latter's mother Margot
PHOTOGRAPH (C) EUROHISTORY
IMAGE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED

 

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Prince Friedrich Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen on their wedding day
PHOTOGRAPH (C) EUROHISTORY
IMAGE MAY NOT BE REPRODUCED

In 1977, Friedrich-Ernst married Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha in a civil ceremony on 11 June 1977 at Coburg; the couple celebrated their religious wedding on 12 June 1977 in Coburg. Princess Beatrice (b.Bern 15 Jul 1951) is the daughter of Prince Friedrich Josias of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1918-1998) and his second wife Denyse Henriette von Muralt (1923-1984). Friedel and Beatrice had two children: Princess Marie Alexandra "Alix" Elisabeth Beatrice (b.Heilbronn 5 July 1978) and Prince Friedrich Constantin. Friedel and Beatrice separated but never divorced.

Princess Feodora zu Leitungen, Fürstin zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Friedrich-Ernst and Beatrice were third cousins once removed. The couple both descended from Fürst Ernst Christian zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1794-1860) and Princess Feodora zu Leiningen (1807-1872). Feodora was the daughter of Fürst Emich Carl zu Leiningen (1763-1814) and Princess Viktoria of Saxe-Saalfeld-Coburg (1786-1861). Four years after the death of her first husband, Princess Viktoria married Prince Edward, Duke of Kent: they became the parents of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (1819-1901). Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is a descendant of Queen Victoria as well as of her older half-sister Princess Feodora.

Benno Widmer, ex-husband of Princess Marie-Alix of Saxe-Meiningen

On 17 July 2002 at Gravedona, Italy, Princess Marie-Alix of Saxe-Meiningen was religiously wed to Benno Beat Christian Widmer (b.Basel 17 July 1971). Two years later, the couple contracted a civil marriage on 26 April 2004 at Basel. Marie-Alix is an attorney, as was her husband Benno. The pair divorced in 2009. They did not have children. Princess Marie-Alix has had a most extraordinary career: A Princess, a Poisoning and an Oil Fortune -The Bizarre Corruption Scandal at Bilfinger.

 

Death announcement of Prince Friedrich-Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen

After a long illness, Prince Friedrich-Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen died on Tuesday, 13 July 2004. He was sixty-nine years-old. A memorial service was held on Thursday, 22 July 2004.

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Prince Friedrich Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen in 2018

Prince Friedrich Constantin Hendric of Saxe-Meiningen was born on 3 June 1980 at Heilbronn as the second child and only son of Prince Friedrich Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen, Sophia Lupus, and their son Michael.
This image may not be reproduced.

In the Summer of 2015, Prince Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen and Sophia Lupus (b.1995) welcomed the arrival of a son. Sophia is the daughter of Nothart Rohlfs and Sabine Lupus. Prince Michael of Saxe-Meiningen was born on 26 July 2015 in Switzerland.

 

Prince Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen

The Head of the Saxe-Meiningen dynasty is considered to be Prince Konrad, the half-brother of Prince Friedrich-Ernst and the uncle of Prince Constantin. A banker, Konrad has never married. At various times, the prince has indicated that he intends for his heir to be his nephew Constantin. 

Spanish Royals Attend Mass in Memory of Those Lost to COVID-19

The King and Queen of Spain with the Princess of Asturias and the Infanta Sofía
Photo (c) Casa de S.M. el Rey

Today, King Felipe VI of Spain, his wife Queen Letizia, and their daughters, Leonor and Sofía, attended a official mass held for the victims of the novel coronavirus at the Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. The Deputy Prime Minister Carmen Calvo also attended the service.

The Spanish Royal Family
Photo (c) Casa de S.M. el Rey

The global pandemic has led to 28,388 Spaniards losing their lives. Carlos Osoro Sierra, the Archbishop of Madrid, officiated during the mass.

Eduard Habsburg, Hungarian Ambassador to the Vatican, Visits the Heart of Archduke Otto in Hungary

Archduke Eduard praying in front of the heart of Archduke Otto
Photograph (c) Eduard Habsburg

Archduke Eduard of Austria recently paid his respects to his late cousin, Archduke Otto (1912-2011). Eduard visited the crypt of the Abbey of Pannonhalma in Hungary, where Otto's heart is interred. According to Eduard, Otto made the choice for the urn holding his heart to be buried separately from his body because Otto considered that the Benedictine fathers from the Abbey of Pannonhalma had shaped his heart in the Roman Catholic faith when Otto was a child.

The resting place of the heart of Archduke Otto
Photograph (c) Eduard Habsburg

The Latin phrase "Cor mundum crea in me, Deus" is carved into the marble above Archduke Otto's heart. In English, the words are "O God, create in me a clean heart." The body of the archduke was buried at the Kapuzinergruft in Vienna.

The burial place of Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria-Hungary
Photograph (c) Eduard Habsburg

Archduke Otto is not the only Habsburg to rest in repose at the Abbey of Pannonhalma. Crown Princess Stéphanie of Austria-Hungary, Princess of Belgium, was buried there after her death. The princess was the daughter of King Léopold II of Belgium and Queen Marie-Henriette (born Archduchess of Austria).

Since 2015, Archduke Eduard of Austria is the Ambassador of Hungary to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta. Eduard (born 1967) is the son of Archduke Michael of Austria (born 1942) and Princess Christiana of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg (born 1940). Archduke Eduard recently celebrated his silver wedding anniversary with his wife Archduchess Maria Theresia (née von Gudenus). Eduard and Maria Theresia have six children; they live in Rome.

A New Novel by Georgina Perosch - An Author with an Imperial Russian Connection

 

On 25 June, Georgina Perosch published her first novel in English - Beauty Queen: An International Thriller. The book had earlier appeared in Italian and Spanish editions. The following is a summary of the book's storyline:

When Miss Universe, Cecilia Mendoza is enrolled by the CIA to kill the President of her country, Venezuela, she is convinced that she must cooperate. But things are hardly how they seem and Cecilia will end up embroiled in a spiderweb of conspiracies where nothing can be taken as it seems. Will she be able to carry out her mission? And above all, can she resist the fascinating President? A spy story that will take you from Moscow, to New York, Monte Carlo, and to the white sanded beaches of the Caribbean islands. You will discover Venezuela, a beautiful although difficult country. A plot that will keep you wondering until the last page and that will carry you away to places where dreams live. Until you too discover that nothing is as it seems.

Rebecca Bettarini, who writes under the nom de plume Georgina Perosch

The Author Page on Amazon tells us more about the writer of Beauty Queen, Georgina Perosch:

Rebecca Virginia Bettarini who writes under the pen name Georgina Perosch is an Italian writer of thrillers and novels. She received an international upbringing and lived in several countries including Iraq, Venezuela, Paris, Toronto, Brussels, Moscow and Luxembourg. She is fluent in several languages - Italian, Spanish, French and English - and she simultaneously writes her books in more than one language. 

She started writing to describe the peculiarities of the places she has lived in, as well as the situations she witnessed first hand. She likes to unveil what happens behind closed doors, that is why, although the characters in her novels are fictional, the situations, places as well as the characters reactions she describes, are realistic and well structured. 

She creates intricate plots full of twists and turns so that the reader will never know exactly what happens next. Her book endings are always highly surprising!

Grand Duke George of Russia and Rebecca Bettarini in March 2020
Photograph (c) Russian Imperial Foundation

Rebecca Bettarini is, of course, the longtime partner of Grand Duke George Mikhailovich of Russia. A portion of the proceeds from the sales of Beauty Queen will go directly to the Russian Imperial Foundation, which "aims to work in partnership with the very best non-profit organisations in Russia and abroad, those providing the most effective and efficient assistance to the most needy and disadvantaged in all corners of the country." During the COVID-19 pandemic, the foundation has supported a children's hospice as well as food-banks in Russia in addition to a hospital in Italy. 

 

 

To learn more about the mission and work of the Russian Imperial Foundation, please visit its website: Imperial Foundation

The Sad Fates of Two Princely Siblings: The Lobkowicz Brothers

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In the 1980s, Prince Edouard and Princess Françoise Lobkowicz twice suffered the loss that no parent ever wants to experience. They had to bury two of four children within a four year span. Violence and illness claimed the lives of their first and second sons.

 

Edouard
(1960-1984)

On 18 October 1960, Prince Marie Edouard-Xavier Ferdinand Auguste Gaspard Lobkowicz was born at Paris. He was the first child of Prince Edouard Lobkowicz and Princess Françoise of Bourbon-Parma. Edouard's parents had married civilly in 1959 and religiously in 1960.

After graduating from secondary school in France, Edouard Lobkowicz received a bachelor's degree in 1983 from the Jesuit-run University of San Francisco. The prince, a reserve lieutenant in the French Army, had fulfilled active service as a paratrooper. He was a Knight of Honor and Devotion of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

In early April 1984, Prince Edouard went missing in Paris, where he had been residing at the Avenue Morceau apartment of his parents. The French police found Edouard's car in mid-April outside the Gare de Lyon, a Paris rail station. The body of Prince Edouard Lodkowicz was found by the police on 27 April at Ivry in the River Seine. An autopsy of the body was conducted: it found that he had been shot in the throat with a shotgun and had a bullet in his left shoulder blade. His waist was tied to an iron slab, which weighed his body down in the waters of the Seine. The Lobkowicz family was not informed of the discovery of Edouard's body until 4 May. This delay was attributed to the fact that the authorities had been supplied with an inaccurate physical description of Edouard.

The prince was described by his friends as "refined." Edouard had returned to Paris from San Francisco only three months before his untimely death. The police first contemplated the possibility of suicide, but, upon discovering the gun wounds, realised that the prince had been the victim of a murder. No culprits were ever arrested.

Prince Edouard Lobkowicz was twenty-three years-old when he was killed. He was survived by his parents, Prince Edouard and Princess Françoise, by his brothers, Prince Robert and Prince Charles-Henri, and by his sister, Princess Marie-Gabrielle.

Prince Robert Lobkowicz

Robert

(1961-1988)

 

Prince Marie Robert Emanuel Joseph Michel Benoît Melchior Lobkowicz was born at Paris on 31 December 1961. He was the second child of Prince Edouard Lobkowicz and Princess Françoise of Bourbon-Parma.

Like his older brother Edouard, Robert attended the Saint Ignatius Institute at the University of San Francisco, from which he graduated. Robert also completed his service in the French Army. The prince was also a Knight of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

On 29 October 1988, Prince Robert Lobkowicz died from a brain tumour while in Bhannes, Lebanon.   Robert was twenty-six years-old when he passed away. In 1989, Robert's father Edouard opened the Bhannes Therapeutic Educational Center For Children With Cerebral Palsy in tribute to his late son. 

A Baby Expected in the Royal House of Bavaria!

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Prince Konstantin of Bavaria and his wife Princess Deniz are expecting their first child, as has been reported in Bunte.

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Konstantin of Bavaria and Deniz Kaya celebrated their religious marriage on 1 September 2018 at St Moritz, Switzerland. Prince Konstantin of Bavaria is the son of Prince Leopold of Bavaria and his wife Princess Ursula (née Möhlenkamp). Princess Deniz of Bavaria is the daughter of Metin Kaya and his wife Guelseren Kaya.

 

Congratulations to the couple and their families!

Latest Eurohistory Book: The Grand Ducal House of Hesse (August 2020)

EUROHISTORY

6300 Kensington Avenue

East Richmond Heights, CA 94805 USA

Phone: 510.236.1730

Email: eurohistory@comcast.net or aebeeche@mac.com

It is with great pleasure that we are able to announce to you that our latest book, The Grand Ducal House of Hesse, has gone to print!

With more than 400 beautiful images, the 336 pages inside the book bring to life the story of the Grand Ducal House of Hesse (and by Rhine), from its beginnings as Landgraves to Hesse-Darmstadt.

The authors, Arturo E. Beéche and Ilana D. Miller, conducted extensive research in several countries and received assistance from several living descendants of of members of this now extinct dynasty.

The story is gripping, tragic, joyful, hopeful. Eurohistory hopes that readers will find the book as spellbinding as the authors intended it to be!


The Grand Ducal House of Hesse will be available for purchase through our usual outposts (Eurohistory, Hoogstraten Bookstore, Galignani, AMAZON) in the second half of August!

 

 

The books chapters include:

 

Author’s Note

 

The Grand Duchy of Hesse in the German Empire

 

Prologue

 

Chapter I: The Landgraves of Hesse-Darmstadt 

 

Chapter II: A New Grand Duchy: Ludwig I and Ludwig II

 

Chapter III: Grand Duke Ludwig III

 

Chapter IV: Darmstadt & Windsor: Ludwig IV and the English Connections – tragedy and single parenthood

 

Chapter V: The Battenbergs

 

Chapter VI: The Greek-Battenberg Alliance

 

Chapter VII: Tragedy, World War, Turmoil, and Survival

 

Chapter VIII: The Next Generation Settles Down and Tragedy Strikes Again

 

Chapter IX: The Mountbatten-Windsor Connection

 

Chapter X: The End of an Ancient Line

 

Chapter XI: The Women of Darmstadt

 

Epilogue

 

Family Trees

 

 

Endnotes

 

Bibliography

 

 Index