Dynasty ~ Royal Houses

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Act of Settlement 1701, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este, Dynastic Marriage, Dynasts, Dynasty, King Edward VIII of the United Kingdom, King Louis XIV of France and Navarre, King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands., Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Queen Maria II of Portugal, Royal Family, Royal House

I will be examining the history of Royal Houses, or Dynasties, from time to time but before I do I’d like to examine just what is a Dynasty?

A Dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family, usually in the context of a feudal or monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in elective republics. Alternative terms for “Dynasty” may include “House”, “Family” and “Clan”, among others.

The longest-surviving dynasty in the world is the Imperial House of Japan, otherwise known as the Yamato dynasty, whose reign is traditionally dated to 660 BC. The current Japanese Emperor is Naruhito. He acceded to the Chrysanthemum Throne on May 1 2019, beginning the Reiwa era, following the abdication of his father, Emperor Akihito (the Showa Emperor). He is the 126th monarch according to Japan’s traditional order of succession.

The dynastic family or lineage may be known as a “noble house”, which may be styled as “imperial”, “royal”, “princely”, “ducal”, “comital”, “baronial” etc., depending upon the chief or present title borne by its members.

Prior to the 20th century, dynasties throughout the world have traditionally been reckoned patrilineally, such as under the Frankish Salic law. In nations where it was permitted, succession through a daughter usually established a new dynasty in her husband’s ruling house. This has changed in some places in Europe, where succession law and convention have maintained dynasties de jure through a female.

For instance, the House of Windsor will be maintained through the children of Queen Elizabeth II, as it did with the monarchy of the Netherlands, whose dynasty remained the House of Orange-Nassau through three successive queens regnant. The earliest such example among major European monarchies was in the Russian Empire in the 18th century, where the name of the House of Romanov was maintained through Grand Duchess Anna Petrovna.

By the marriage of Duke Franz of Lorraine to Maria Theresa of Austria in 1736, and with the success in the ensuing War of the Austrian Succession, the House of Lorraine was joined to the House of Habsburg, and was now known as Habsburg-Lorraine. Franz, his sons Joseph II and Leopold II, and grandson Franz II were the last four Holy Roman Emperors from 1745 to the dissolution of the empire in 1806. Habsburg-Lorraine inherited the Habsburg Empire, ruling the Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary until the dissolution of the monarchy in 1918.

Queen Maria II of Portugal

This also happened in the case of Queen Maria II of Portugal, who married Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, but whose descendants remained members of the House of Braganza, per Portuguese law. In Limpopo Province of South Africa, Balobedu determined descent matrilineally, while rulers have at other times adopted the name of their mother’s dynasty when coming into her inheritance. Less frequently, a monarchy has alternated or been rotated, in a multi-dynastic (or polydynastic) system – that is, the most senior living members of parallel dynasties, at any point in time, constitute the line of succession.

Dynasts

Louis XIV (seated) with his son le Grand Dauphin (to the left), his grandson Louis, Duke of Burgundy (to the right), his great-grandson Louis Duke of Anjou, and Madame de Ventadour, Anjou’s governess, who commissioned this painting; busts of Henri IV and Louis XIII are in the background.

A ruler from a dynasty is sometimes referred to as a “dynast”, but this term is also used to describe any member of a reigning family who retains a right to succeed to a throne. For example, King Edward VIII ceased to be a dynast of the House of Windsor following his abdication.

In historical and monarchist references to formerly reigning families, a “dynast” is a family member who would have had succession rights, were the monarchy’s rules still in force. For example, after the 1914 assassinations of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and his morganatic wife, Sophie, Duchess of Hohenberg, their son Maximilian, Duke of Hohenberg, was bypassed for the Austro-Hungarian throne because he was not a Habsburg dynast.

Even since the abolition of the Austrian monarchy, Duke Maximilian of Hohenberg and his descendants have not been considered the rightful pretenders by Austrian monarchists, nor have they claimed that position. Although its senior agnates are the Dukes of Hohenberg, the house is currently headed by Charles von Habsburg-Lothringen (born 1961), oldest grandson of the last emperor Charles I.

Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Este

The term “dynast” is sometimes used only to refer to agnatic descendants of a realm’s monarchs, and sometimes to include those who hold succession rights through cognatic royal descent. The term can therefore describe overlapping but distinct sets of people. For example, David Armstrong-Jones, 2nd Earl of Snowdon, a nephew of Queen Elizabeth II through her sister Princess Margaret, is in the line of succession to the British crown; in that sense, he is a British dynast, but since he is not a patrilineal member of the British royal family, he is therefore not a dynast of the House of Windsor.

On the other hand, the German aristocrat Prince Ernst August of Hanover, a male-line descendant of King George III of the United Kingdom, possesses no legal British name, titles or styles (although he is entitled to reclaim the former royal dukedom of Cumberland). He was born in the line of succession to the British throne and was bound by Britain’s Royal Marriages Act 1772 until it was repealed when the Succession to the Crown Act 2013 took effect on March 26, 2015. Thus, he requested and obtained formal permission from Queen Elizabeth II to marry the Roman Catholic Princess Caroline of Monaco in 1999.

Yet, a clause of the English Act of Settlement 1701 remained in effect at that time, stipulating that dynasts who marry Roman Catholics are considered “dead” for the purpose of succession to the British throne. That exclusion, too, ceased to apply on 26 March 2015, with retroactive effect for those who had been dynasts prior to triggering it by marriage to a Roman Catholic.

A “dynastic marriage” is one that complies with monarchical house law restrictions, so that the descendants are eligible to inherit the throne or other royal privileges. The marriage of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands to Queen Máxima Zorreguieta in 2002 was dynastic, for example, and their eldest child Princess Catharina-Amalia is expected to inherit the Crown of the Netherlands eventually. However, the marriage of his younger brother Prince Friso of Orange-Nassau to Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau in 2003 lacked governmental support and parliamentary approval. Thus, Prince Friso forfeited his place in the order of succession to the Dutch throne, lost his title as a “Prince of the Netherlands”, and left his children without dynastic rights.

The Privilegium maius: Creation of the Archduchy of Austria

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Archduchy of Austria, Duchy of Austria, Empire of Austria, Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, Holy Roman Empire, House of Habsburg, House of Habsburg-Lorraine, Privilegium maius, Rudolph IV of Austria

The Privilegium maius (“greater privilege”) was a medieval document forged in 1358 or 1359 at the behest of Duke Rudolf IV of Austria (1358–65) of the House of Habsburg. It was essentially a modified version of the Privilegium minus issued by Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa in 1156 which had elevated the former March of Austria into a duchy. In a similar way, the Privilegium maius elevated the duchy into the Archduchy of Austria.

The privileges described in the document had great influence on the Austrian political landscape, and created a unique connection between the House of Habsburg and Austria.

Rudolf IV – Rudolfus Archidux Austriae – with archducal hat, painted about 1365

Background

The House of Habsburg had gained rulership of the Duchy of Austria in 1282. Rudolph IV (1339–1365) attempted to restore the Habsburg influence on the European political scene by trying to build relations with Holy Roman Emperor Charles IV of Luxembourg and increasing the respect of the Austrian rulers.

However, Rudolph IV did not belong to the seven Prince-electors, who—as dictated by the Golden Bull of 1356—had the power to choose the king. In the same way Charles IV had made Prague the center of his rule, Rudolph did the same for Vienna, giving it special privileges, launching construction projects and founding the University of Vienna. All this aimed at increasing the legitimacy and influence of the House and its Austrian lands. For this purpose, in the winter of 1358/1359, Rudolph IV ordered the creation of a forged document called Privilegium maius (“the greater privilege”).

The Document

The Privilegium maius consists of five forged deeds, some of which purported to have been issued by Julius Caesar and Nero to the historic Roman regnum Noricum province similar to the modern Austrian borders. Though purposefully modeled on the Privilegium minus, the original of which “got lost” at the same time, the bundle was already identified as a fake by contemporaries such as the Italian scholar Petrarch.

In the Privilegium maius, Rudolf IV declared Austria an “archduchy”, endowed with rights similar to those of the prince-electors of the Holy Roman Empire such as:

* inseparability of the territory
* automatic inheritance of the first-born (primogeniture), later extended to female heirs in the Pragmatic Sanction of 1713 in favour of Archduchess Maria Theresa
* independent jurisdiction and legislature, without any possibility to appeal to the Emperor (privilegium de non evocando)
* permission to display certain symbols of rule
Rudolf also created the title Pfalzerzherzog (“Archduke Palatine”), similar to the Elector Palatine of the Rhine, the holder of an electoral vote. The first Habsburg ruler who actually used the title of an archduke was Ernest of Iron, ruler of Inner Austria from 1406 to 1424. From the 15th century onward, all princes of the Habsburg dynasty were called Erzherzöge (Archduke).

Effects

Emperor Charles IV refused to confirm the Privilegium maius, the forgery being recognised by his advisor, the poet and scholar Petrarch. However, the Habsburg Friedrich V of Austria after his election as Holy Roman Emperor was able to grant himself permission to assume the archducal title, later again confirmed by his descendants Rudolf II and Charles VI. It did not, however, involve the electoral dignity itself and in 1519 Archduke Charles I had to borrow an enormous sum (almost 3 tonnes of gold) from Jacob Fugger to bribe the prince-electors to secure his succession as rex Romanorum (Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor) against his rival for the position, François I of France.

Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor, King of Spain, Archduke of Austria, Count of Habsburg

The Privilegium maius had great influence on the Austrian political landscape. The Habsburg archduke arrogated an almost king-like position, and demonstrated this to outsiders through the usage of special insignia. The Habsburgs gained a new foundation for their rule in these lands; in a way, the House of Habsburg and Austria became a single unit. Thus, the forgery was a success. The family subsequently published special editions of the documents, and forbade all discussion of their authenticity.

With the creation of the Empire of Austria in 1804 and the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, the Privilegium maius finally lost its meaning. Despite, the elevation of the Archduchy into an Empire, dynastic members of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine retained the title Archduke and Archduchess of Austria. In 1852, it was proven a forgery by historian Wilhelm Wattenbach.

Franz II, Holy Roman Emperor, Emperor of Austria

January 19, 1757: Birth of Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf

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Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf, Fürst, Franz of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Hochadel, Imperial Counts, Johann Heinrich Tischbein, King George III of the United Kingdom, mediatised, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Thuringia

Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf (January 19, 1757 –November 16, 1831), was by marriage the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. She was born in Saalburg-Ebersdorf. She was the maternal grandmother of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and the paternal grandmother of her husband Prince Albert, of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, The Prince Consort.

Family

She was the second of seven children of Heinrich XXIV, Count Reuss of Ebersdorf and his wife Countess Karoline Ernestine of Erbach-Schönberg. Her birthplace, Ebersdorf, was a center of Pietism in Thuringia and Augusta’s grandparents were ardent admirers of this religious movement. Augusta’s great-aunt Countess Erdmuthe Dorothea of Reuss-Ebersdorf was married to Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf und Pottendorf, leader of the revivalist Moravian Church. This background explains the deep religious feelings of Duchess Augusta in later years.

Marriage

Her father commissioned a portrait of Augusta as Artemisia by the painter Johann Heinrich Tischbein. Count Heinrich XXIV showed this painting during the Perpetual Diet so potential marriage candidates were aware of his beautiful daughter. One of those potential marriage candidates was Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. Duke Franz, previously acquired the Artemisia painting for four times the original price because he was deeply in love with Augusta, but he had to marry a relative, Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen.

Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (July 15, 1750 – December 9, 1806), was the eldest son of Ernest Friedrich, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and Sophia Antonia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Duke Franz was one of the ruling Thuringian dukes of the House of Wettin. Despite being in love with Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf, on March 6, 1776, in Hildburghausen Franz married Princess Sophie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, a daughter of his Ernestine kinsman, Duke Ernst Friedrich II. She died on October 28, 1776, only seven months after her wedding. There were no children born from this marriage. With death of Princess Sophie the duke was free to pursue the hand of his beloved.

Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

In Ebersdorf on June 13, 1777 Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf married Franz, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld. During her marriage, Augusta bore her husband ten children; some of them played important roles in European history: Victoria, who married Edward, Duke of Kent (son of King George III of the United Kingdom & Hanover) and King Leopold I of Belgium.

Countess Augusta is the grandmother of many notable monarchs of Europe, including both Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (through her mother Victoria) and her husband, Prince Albert (through his father Ernst), King Consort of Portugal Ferdinand II (through his father Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha), and also Empress Carlota of Mexico and her brother Leopold II of Belgium (through their father Leopold I who was elected King of the Belgians on June 26, 1831).

Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf was from a family of Imperial Counts of the junior line of the House of Reuss which had split into many lines, with Reuss-Ebersdorf being one of them.

Although most German counts belonged officially to the lower nobility, those who were mediatised belonged to the Hochadel, the heads of their families being entitled to be addressed as Erlaucht (“Illustrious Highness”), rather than simply as Hochgeboren (“High-born”). Reuss-Ebersdorf is such an example.

Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf

Countess Augusta Caroline Sophie Reuss-Ebersdorf was born with the style Her Illustrious Highness. In examining her titles I want to know if her title included Princess of The Holy Roman Empire?

Sources are confusing. One source said that the head of each branch of the Imperial County of Reuss Family bore the German title Fürst (Prince) as did their male children……I assume that the female children held the title of Princess? Yet another source mentions it wasn’t until 1806 that the title of the ruler of Reuss-Ebersdorf was upgraded to that of Prince of the Holy Roman Empire.

As soon as I have this figured out I will post more.

This date in History: January 13, 1546, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey is arrested for treason.

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3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne Boleyn, Catherine Howard, Earl of Surrey, Edward the Confessor, Edward VI of England, House of Howard, King Henry VIII of England, Queen of England, Thomas Howard

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1516/1517 – January 19, 1547), KG, (courtesy title), was an English nobleman, politician and poet. He was one of the founders of English Renaissance poetry and the last known person execution by King Henry VIII. He was a first cousin of both Queen Anne Boleyn and Queen Catherine Howard, second and fifth wives of King Henry VIII.

Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey

Henry Howard, was born in Hunsdon, Hertfordshire, the eldest son of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk by his second wife Elizabeth Stafford, a daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham. He was thus descended from King Edward I on his father’s side and from King Edward III on his mother’s side.

He was brought-up at Windsor Castle with Henry FitzRoy, 1st Duke of Richmond and Somerset, the illegitimate son of King Henry VIII. He became a close friend, and later a brother-in-law, of Fitzroy following the marriage of his sister, Lady Mary Howard, to him. Like his father and grandfather, he was a soldier, serving in Henry VIII’s French wars as Lieutenant General of the King on Sea and Land.

Howard was repeatedly imprisoned for rash behaviour, on one occasion for striking a courtier, on another for wandering through the streets of London breaking the windows of houses whose occupants were asleep. Henry Howard assumed the courtesy title Earl of Surrey in 1524 when his grandfather, Thomas Howard, 2nd Duke of Norfolk (1443-1524) died and his father, Thomas Howard, became 3rd Duke of Norfolk.

In 1532 he accompanied Anne Boleyn (his first cousin), King Henry VIII, and the Duke of Richmond to France, staying there for more than a year as a member of the entourage of King François I of France during the Field of the Cloth of Gold. The Field of the Cloth of Gold was a site in Balinghem that hosted a tournament field as part of a summit from June 7-24 1520, between the French king and King Henry VIII of England.

Frances de Vere, Countess of Surrey

The Earl of Surrey married Frances de Vere, a daughter of John de Vere, 15th Earl of Oxford, (by his wife Elizabeth Trussell). His first son was born, Thomas Howard (later 4th Duke of Norfolk) in 1536 and in the same year Anne Boleyn was executed on charges of adultery and treason. Also that same year the Duke of Richmond, the illegitimate son of Henry VIII died at the age of 17 and was buried at Thetford Abbey, one of the Howard seats. Another event in 1536 is when the Earl of Surrey also served with his father in the suppression of the Pilgrimage of Grace, a rebellion against the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

Downfall

Henry VIII, King of England of Ireland

King Henry VIII, consumed by paranoia because of his increasing illness, became convinced that the Earl of Surrey had planned to usurp the crown from his son the future King Edward VI. The Earl of Surrey suggested that his sister Mary FitzRoy, Duchess of Richmond and Somerset (a widow of Henry’s illegitimate son Henry Fitzroy) should seduce the aged King, her father-in-law, and become his mistress, to “wield as much influence on him as Madame d’Etampes doth about the French King”. The Duchess, outraged, said she would “cut her own throat” rather than “consent to such villainy”. She and her brother fell out, and she later laid testimony against Surrey that helped lead to his trial and execution for treason.

Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk

The matter came to a head when the Earl of Surrey quartered the attributed arms of King Edward the Confessor into his family coat-of-arms. Although the arms of the Earl of Surrey’s ancestor Thomas Mowbray, 1st Duke of Norfolk shown that he was entitled to bear Edward the Confessor’s arms, Henry VIII thought that doing so was an act of pride and rebellion against him. In consequence, on December 12, 1546 both the Earl of Surrey and his father Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk were arrested and sent to the Tower.

On December 24, 1546, the elder Howard acknowledged that he had “concealed high treason, in keeping secret the false acts of my son, Henry, Earl of Surrey, in using the arms of St. Edward the Confessor, which pertain only to kings”, and offered his lands to the King in compensation. The Duke of Norfolk’s family, including his estranged wife, his daughter Mary Fitzroy, Duchess of Richmond, and his mistress, Elizabeth Holland, all gave evidence against the father and son.

The two were sentenced to death on January 13, 1547 without a formal trial. On January 19, Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey was beheaded for treason. The dying King Henry VIII gave his assent to the death of the Earl of Surrey’s father, Thomas Howard 3rd Duke of Norfolk, by royal commissioners, and it was rumoured that he would be executed on the following day. However, King Henry VIII died on January 28, and was succeeded by his eldest son as King Edward VI. The Duke of Norfolk’s execution was stayed because the king’s Council did not want to inaugurate the new king’s reign with bloodshed.

The Earl of Surrey’s son, Thomas Howard became heir to the Dukedom of Norfolk in place of his father, which title he inherited on the 3rd Duke’s death in 1554.

January 8, 1864: Birth of HRH Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Duke of Clarence, King Christian IX of Denmark, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Prince Albert Victor, Princess Alix of Hesse by Rhine, Princess Hélène of Orléans, Princess Mary of Teck

Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence and Avondale (Albert Victor Christian Edward; January 8, 1864 – January 14, 1892) was the eldest child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (later King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra) and grandson of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria. From the time of his birth, he was second in the line of succession to the British throne, but never became king because he died before his father and grandmother.

Albert Victor was born two months prematurely on January 8, 1864 at Frogmore House, Windsor, Berkshire. He was the first child of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, and his wife Alexandra of Denmark, daughter of was Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (King Christian IX of Denmark) and her mother was Princess Louise of Hesse-Cassel.

Following his grandmother Queen Victoria’s wishes, he was named Albert Victor, after herself and her late husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. As a grandchild of the reigning British monarch in the male line and a son of the Prince of Wales, he was formally styled His Royal Highness Prince Albert Victor of Wales from birth.

He was christened Albert Victor Christian Edward in the private chapel of Buckingham Palace on March 10, 1864 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Charles Longley, but was known informally as “Eddy”. His godparents were Queen Victoria (his paternal grandmother), King Christian IX of Denmark (his maternal grandfather, represented by his brother Prince Johann of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg), King Leopold I of Belgium (his great great-uncle), the Dowager Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg (his maternal great-grandmother, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy), the Duchess of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (his great-aunt by marriage, for whom the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz stood proxy), the Landgrave of Hesse (his maternal great-grandfather, for whom Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, stood proxy), the Crown Princess of Prussia (his paternal aunt, for whom Princess Helena, her sister, stood proxy) and Prince Alfred (his paternal uncle).

When Albert Victor was just short of seventeen months old, his brother, Prince George of Wales, was born on June 3, 1865. Given the closeness in age of the two royal brothers, they were educated together. In 1871, the Queen appointed John Neale Dalton as their tutor. The two princes were given a strict programme of study, which included games and military drills as well as academic subjects. Dalton complained that Albert Victor’s mind was “abnormally dormant”. Though he learned to speak Danish, progress in other languages and subjects was slow. Sir Henry Ponsonby thought that Albert Victor might have inherited his mother’s deafness. Albert Victor never excelled intellectually. Possible physical explanations for Albert Victor’s inattention or indolence in class include absence seizures or his premature birth, which can be associated with learning difficulties, but Lady Geraldine Somerset blamed Albert Victor’s poor education on Dalton, whom she considered uninspiring.

In 1877, the two boys were sent to the Royal Navy’s training ship, HMS Britannia. They began their studies there two months behind the other cadets as Albert Victor contracted typhoid fever, for which he was treated by Sir William Gull. Dalton accompanied them as chaplain to the ship. In 1879, after a great deal of discussion between the Queen, the Prince of Wales, their households and the Government, the royal brothers were sent as naval cadets on a three-year world tour aboard HMS Bacchante. Albert Victor was rated midshipman on his sixteenth birthday. They toured the British Empire, accompanied by Dalton, visiting the Americas, the Falkland Islands, South Africa, Australia, Fiji, the Far East, Singapore, Ceylon, Aden, Egypt, the Holy Land and Greece. They acquired tattoos in Japan. By the time they returned to Britain, Albert Victor was eighteen.

Brothers Prince George and Prince Albert Victor

Albert Victor’s intellect, sexuality and mental health have been the subject of speculation. Rumours in his time linked him with the Cleveland Street scandal, which involved a homosexual brothel, but there is no conclusive evidence that he ever went there or was homosexual. Some authors have argued that he was the serial killer known as Jack the Ripper, but contemporary documents show that Albert Victor could not have been in London at the time of the murders, and the claim is widely dismissed.

The foreign press suggested that Albert Victor was sent on a seven-month tour of British India from October 1889 to avoid the gossip which swept London society in the wake of the Cleveland Street scandal. This is not true; the trip had actually been planned since the spring. Traveling via Athens, Port Said, Cairo and Aden, Albert Victor arrived in Bombay on November 9, 1889. He was entertained sumptuously in Hyderabad by the Nizam, and elsewhere by many other maharajahs. In Bangalore he laid the foundation stone of the Glass House at the Lalbagh Botanical Gardens on November 30, 1889. He spent Christmas at Mandalay and the New Year at Calcutta. Most of the extensive travelling was done by train, although elephants were ridden as part of ceremonies. In the style of the time, a great many animals were shot for sport.

On his return from India, Albert Victor was created Duke of Clarence and Avondale and Earl of Athlone on May 24, 1890, Queen Victoria’s 71st birthday.

Prospective brides

Princess Alix of Hesse and By Rhine

Princess Hélène of Orléans

Several women were lined up as possible brides for Albert Victor. The first, in 1889, was his cousin Princess Alix of Hesse and by Rhine, but she did not return his affections and refused his offer of engagement. She would later marry Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, another of Albert Victor’s cousins, in 1894. The second, in 1890, was a love match with Princess Hélène of Orléans, the third of eight children born to Prince Philippe VII , Count of Paris, and Infanta Maria Isabel of Spain, daughter of Prince Antoine, Duke of Montpensier and Infanta Luisa Fernanda of Spain. Antoine was the youngest son of Louis-Philippe I, the last King of France, and Maria Amalia of Naples and Sicily. Infanta Luisa was the daughter of Ferdinand VII of Spain and her grandfather’s fourth wife Maria Christina of the Two Sicilies. All four of her grandparents and seven of her eight great-grandparents were members of the French Royal House of Bourbon.

At first, Queen Victoria opposed any engagement because Hélène was Roman Catholic. Victoria wrote to her grandson suggesting another of her grandchildren, Princess Margaret of Prussia, as a suitable alternative, but nothing came of her suggestion, and once Albert Victor and Hélène confided their love to her, the Queen relented and supported the proposed marriage. Hélène offered to convert to the Church of England, and Albert Victor offered to renounce his succession rights to marry her. To the couple’s disappointment, her father refused to countenance the marriage and was adamant she could not convert. Hélène travelled personally to intercede with Pope Leo XIII, but he confirmed her father’s verdict, and the courtship ended. On June 25, 1895, at the Church of St. Raphael in Kingston upon Thames, Hélène married Prince Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy, 2nd Duke of Aosta (1869–1931).

The Duke of Clarence and Avondale with Princess Mary of Teck

In late 1891, the Prince was implicated as having been involved with a former Gaiety Theatre chorus girl, Lydia Miller (stage name Lydia Manton), who committed suicide by drinking carbolic acid. In 1891, Albert Victor wrote to Lady Sybil St Clair Erskine that he was in love once again, though he does not say with whom, but by this time another potential bride, Princess Mary of Teck, was under consideration. Mary was the daughter of Queen Victoria’s first cousin Princess Mary Adelaide, Duchess of Teck. Queen Victoria was very supportive, considering Mary ideal—charming, sensible and pretty. On 3 December 1891 Albert Victor, to Mary’s “great surprise”, proposed to her at Luton Hoo, the country residence of the Danish ambassador to Britain. The wedding was set for February 27, 1892.

Just as plans for both his marriage to Mary and his appointment as Viceroy of Ireland were under discussion, Albert Victor fell ill with influenza in the pandemic of 1889–92. He developed pneumonia and died at Sandringham House in Norfolk on January 14, 1892, less than a week after his 28th birthday. His parents the Prince and Princess of Wales, his sisters Princesses Maud and Victoria, his brother Prince George, his fiancée Princess Mary, her parents the Duke and Duchess of Teck, three physicians (Alan Reeve Manby, Francis Laking and William Broadbent) and three nurses were present. The Prince of Wales’s chaplain, Canon Frederick Hervey, stood over Albert Victor reading prayers for the dying.

The nation was shocked. Shops put up their shutters. The Prince of Wales wrote to Queen Victoria, “Gladly would I have given my life for his”.

This date in history, December 14, 1878: death of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Grand Duchess of Hesse and By Rhine.

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December 14 1878, Diptheria, Grand Duchess of Hesse and By Rhine, Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine, Marie of Hesse and By Rhine, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain

Princess Alice of the United Kingdom (Alice Maud Mary; April 25, 1843 – December 14, 1878), Grand Duchess of Hesse and by Rhine, was the third child and second daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Alice was the first of Queen Victoria’s nine children to die, and one of three to be outlived by their mother, who died in 1901.

On July 1, 1862, while the court was still at the height of mourning, Alice married the minor German Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine, heir to the Grand Duchy of Hesse and By Rhine. Prince Ludwig was the first son and child of Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine (1809 – 1877) and Princess Elisabeth of Prussia (1815 – 1885), the second daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Prussia and Landgravine Marie Anna of Hesse-Homburg and a granddaughter of Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia. Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is her great-great-grandson.

As his father’s elder brother Ludwig III (1806-1877), the reigning Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, had been married to his first wife since 1833 without legitimate children and from 1868 was married morganatically, Prince Ludwig was from birth second-in-line to the grand ducal throne, after his father.

Grand Duke Ludwig IV of Hesse and By Rhine

The wedding ceremony—conducted privately and with unrelieved gloom at Osborne House—was described by the Queen as “more of a funeral than a wedding”. The Princess’s life in Darmstadt was unhappy as a result of impoverishment, family tragedy and worsening relations with her husband and mother.

In November 1878, the Grand Ducal household fell ill with diphtheria. Alice’s eldest daughter Victoria was the first to fall ill, complaining of a stiff neck in the evening of 5 November 5th. Diphtheria was diagnosed the following morning, and soon the disease spread to Alice’s children Alix, Marie, Irene, and Ernest. Her husband Louis became infected shortly thereafter. Elisabeth was the only child to not fall ill, having been sent away by Alice to the palace of the Princess Charles, her mother-in-law.

The youngest, Marie, became seriously ill on November 15, and Alice was called to her bedside, but by the time she arrived, Marie had choked to death. A distraught Alice wrote to Queen Victoria that the “pain is beyond words.” Alice kept the news of Marie’s death secret from her children for several weeks, but she finally told Ernst-Ludwig in early December. His reaction was even worse than she had anticipated; at first he refused to believe it. As he sat up crying, Alice broke her rule about physical contact with the ill and gave him a kiss. This was the kiss of death.

At first, however, Alice did not fall ill. She met her sister Victoria (Crown Princess of Germany and Prussia) as the latter was passing through Darmstadt on the way to England, and wrote to her mother with “a hint of resumed cheerfulness” on the same day. However, on December 7, Alice recognized the symptoms of diphtheria in herself and by Saturday, December 14th the 17th anniversary of her father’s death, she became seriously ill with the diphtheria caught from her son. Her last words were “dear Papa”, and she fell unconscious at 2:30 am. Just after 8:30 am, she died.

Alice was buried on 18 December 1878 at the Grand Ducal mausoleum at Rosenhöhe outside Darmstadt, with the Union Flag draped over her coffin. A special monument of Alice and her daughter Marie was erected there by Joseph Boehm.

She was the first child of Queen Victoria to die, with her mother outliving her by more than 20 years. Victoria noted the coincidence of the dates of Albert and Alice’s deaths as “almost incredible and most mysterious.” Writing in her journal on the day of Alice’s death, Queen Victoria referred to the recent sufferings of the family: “This terrible day come round again.” Shocked by grief, she wrote to her daughter Princess Victoria: “My precious child, who stood by me and upheld me seventeen years ago on the same day taken, and by such an awful and fearful disease…She had darling Papa’s nature, and much of his self-sacrificing character and fearless and entire devotion to duty!” The animosity that Victoria had towards Alice seemed no longer present.

The Duke and Duchess of Gloucester: The OTHER William & Mary.

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Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Duchess of Gloucester, George III, King George III of Great Britain, King George IV of the United Kingdom, Prince William Frederick of Great Britain, Princess Mary of Great Britain, Queen Victoria, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, Robert Walpole, The Prince Regent

Princess Mary was born on April 25, 1776, at Buckingham Palace, London. Her father was the reigning British monarch, George III. Her mother was Queen Charlotte, the youngest daughter of Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg (1708–1752) and of his wife Princess Elisabeth of Saxe-Hildburghausen (1713–1761).

The King was a devoted father, finding time to regularly visit the royal nursery. Engaging in active play with his young children, he behaved quite informally in contrast to the dignified Queen Charlotte, who had more difficulty abandoning the formal behaviour expected of their class. Despite her outer reserve, however, Charlotte took a role as conscientious as her husband in their children’s upbringing. For the royal princesses, the Queen carefully oversaw their welfare, education, and development of moral values. Faced with less time due to her public duties and close marriage to the King, she appointed Lady Charlotte Finch to manage the royal nursery and administer her ideas.

According to Flora Fraser, Mary was considered to be the most beautiful daughter of George III; Fraser calls her a “bland beauty”. Mary danced a minuet for the first time in public at the age of sixteen in June 1791, during a court ball given for the king’s birthday. In the spring of 1792 she officially debuted at court. Around 1796 Mary fell in love with the Dutch Prince Frederik, while he and his family lived in exile in London. Frederik was a son of Willem V, Prince of Orange, the Dutch stadholder, and younger brother to the future King Willem I of the Netherlands. However Frederik and Mary never wed because George III stipulated that her elder sisters should marry first. In 1799 Prince Frederik died of an infection while serving in the army, and Mary was allowed to go into official mourning.

Prince William Frederick was born on January 15, 1776 at Palazzo Teodoli in via del Corso, Rome. His father was Prince William Henry, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh, the third son of Frederick Louis, Prince of Wales (eldest son of King George II and Caroline of Brandenburg-Ansbach), and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg the daughter Friedrich II, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1676–1732) and Magdalena Augusta of Anhalt-Zerbst (1679–1740).

Prince William Frederick’s mother, Maria Walpole was the illegitimate daughter of Edward Walpole and Dorothy Clement. Maria was a granddaughter of Robert Walpole, considered to be the first Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (1721–41). As a great-grandson of George II he held the title of Prince of Great Britain with the style His Highness, not His Royal Highness, at birth. Today, a great grandchild in the male line descendant of a British sovereign will not have any princely title or style as this was limited by the Letters Patent issued in 1917.

On August 25, 1805, Prince William Frederick’s father died, and he inherited the titles Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh and Earl of Connaught. From 1811 until his death he was Chancellor of the University of Cambridge. Prince William Frederick was offered the position of King of Sweden in 1812 by some members of the Swedish nobility, but the British government would not allow it.

Because of the unequal character of his parents’ marriage, he was excluded from membership in the German House of Hanover, being considered only a British prince. For instance, he and his sister were not listed in the genealogical listing of the electoral house of Hanover in the Königlicher Groß-Britannischer und Kurfürstlicher Braunschweig-Lüneburgscher Staats-Kalender. He was also not invited to sign the family compact of the House of Brunswick-Lüneburg in 1831, which means that he was not considered an agnate of the royal (electoral) house in Germany. The Hanoverian Dynasty was a collateral branch of the House of Brunswick, which in turn was a branch of the House of Guelph.

During Prince William Frederick’s stay in Stockholm in 1802–1803, his interest and rumoured affair with Aurora Wilhelmina Koskull attracted a lot of attention, and he reportedly had plans to marry her. Queen Charlotte recalled that William Frederick said of Koskull: “If she was your daughter, I would marry her!” He was admitted to the University of Cambridge (Trinity College) in 1787, and granted his MA in 1790.

Princess Mary’s upbringing was very sheltered and she spent most of her time with her parents and sisters. King George III and Queen Charlotte were keen to shelter their children, particularly the girls. Prince William Frederick had been encouraged to stay single, so that there might be a suitable groom for Princess Charlotte of Wales, the heiress to the throne, even if no foreign match proved suitable; she had married Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg ten weeks earlier.

Princess Mary and Prince William Frederick were married on July 22, 1816. The marriage took place at St. James’s Palace, London. On their wedding day, Mary’s brother, The Prince Regent, (future King George IV) raised the bridegroom’s style from Highness to Royal Highness, an attribute to which Mary’s rank as daughter of the King already entitled her. As mentioned previously, Prince William Frederick, as a great-grandson of George II, he held the title of Prince of Great Britain with the style His Highness, not His Royal Highness. Legally, Princess Mary would have adopted her husbands style of Highness, despite it being a lower style than a Royal Highness. Since Princess Mary was a Royal Highness from birth, The Prince Regent merely elevated her husband to the higher style.

The new Duke and Duchess of Gloucester lived at Bagshot Park in Surrey. They had no children together; they had married when both were 40.

He was active in many walks of life, and on April 27, 1822 chaired the first Annual General Meeting of London’s new United University Club. Politics, however, was not among them; he entered the House of Lords rarely, and he voted on few of the great issues of his time. He did advocate the abolition of slavery, and he supported Caroline of Brunswick the wife of George IV and the Duke of Sussex against George IV when the king tried unsuccessfully tried to divorce her after succeeding to the throne.

As Duke of Gloucester, he kept more state than the King; he never permitted a gentleman to be seated in his presence (which King George did as an exceptional favour) and expected to be served coffee by the ladies of any party he attended, and that they would stand while he drank it. The general estimate of his capacity is given by his nickname, “Silly Billy”; he was also called “Slice of Gloucester” and “Cheese”, a reference to Gloucester cheese. The Duke died on November 30, 1834 at Bagshot Park, and was buried in St. George’s Chapel, Windsor.

Mary was the last surviving child of George III, and was said to be the favourite aunt of her niece, Queen Victoria. Princess Mary was quite close to her eldest brother, and she shared his dislike toward his wife, their cousin Caroline of Brunswick. When the latter left for Italy, Princess Mary congratulated her brother “on the prospect of a good riddance. Heaven grant that she may not return again and that we may never see more of her.” Princess Mary died on April 30, 1857 at Gloucester House, Weymouth, aged 81. At the time of her death, she was the last surviving child as well as the longest-lived child of King George III and Queen Charlotte.

Life of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. Part II.

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Alexandra of Denmark, Duchess of Argyll, Duke of Argyll, Frederick VIII of Denmark, John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, Prince Alfred, Prince of Orange, Princess Louise of the United Kingdom, Princess of Wales, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Marriage

Suitors

As a daughter of the queen, Louise was a desirable bride; more so as she is regarded as the queen’s most beautiful daughter by both contemporary and modern biographers. However, she was accused by the press, without substantiation, of romantic affairs. This, coupled with her liberalism and feminism, prompted the queen to find her a husband. The choice had to suit Victoria as well as Louise, and the queen insisted that her daughter’s husband should live near her, a promise which had also been extracted from Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein, the husband of Helena, Louise’s sister.

Various suitors were proposed by the leading royal houses of Europe: Princess Alexandra, the Princess of Wales, proposed her brother, the Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark, (future Frederick VIII) but the queen was strongly opposed to another Danish marriage that could antagonise Prussia at a time of diplomatic tension over the Schleswig-Holstein question.

Victoria, Louise’s eldest sister, Victoria, Crown Princess of Prussia, proposed the tall and rich Prince Albert of Prussia, but Queen Victoria disapproved of another Prussian marriage that would have been unpopular in England. Prince Albert was also reluctant to settle in England as required. Willem, Prince of Orange, was also considered a suitor, but because of his extravagant lifestyle in Paris, where he lived openly with a lover, the queen quickly vetoed the idea.

Louise viewed marriage to any prince as undesirable, and announced that she wished to marry John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne, heir to the Dukedom of Argyll. No marriage between a daughter of a monarch and a British subject had been given official recognition since 1515, when Charles Brandon, 1st Duke of Suffolk, married King Henry VIII’s sister Mary. Louise’s brother, the Prince of Wales, was strongly opposed to a marriage with a non-mediatized noble.

Furthermore, Lorne’s father, George Campbell, was an ardent supporter of William Ewart Gladstone, and the prince of Wales was worried that he would drag the royal family into political disputes. The queen averred that Louise’s marriage to a subject would bring “new blood” into the family, while all European princes were related to each other. She was convinced that this would strengthen the royal family morally and physically.

Louise became engaged to the Marquess of Lorne on October 3, 1870 while they were visiting Balmoral. Lorne was invited to Balmoral Castle in Scotland, and accompanied Louise, the Lord Chancellor, Lord Hatherley and Queen Victoria’s lady-in-waiting Lady Ely on a drive. Later that day, Louise returned and announced to the queen that Lorne had “spoken of his devotion” to Louise, and she accepted his proposal in the knowledge of the queen’s approval.

Princess Louise and John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne.

The Queen found it difficult to let go of her daughter, confiding in her journal that she “felt painfully the thought of losing her”. The new breach in royal tradition caused surprise, especially in Germany, and Queen Victoria wrote to the Queen Augusta of Prussia that princes of small impoverished German houses were “very unpopular” in Britain and that Lord Lorne, a “person of distinction at home” with “an independent fortune” was “really no lower in rank than minor German Royalty”.

The ceremony was conducted at St George’s Chapel at Windsor Castle on 21 March 21, 1871, and the crowd outside was so large that, for the first time, policemen had to form chain barriers to keep control. Louise was escorted into the Chapel by her mother, and her two eldest brothers, the Prince of Wales and the Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh. On this occasion, the usually severe black of the queen’s mourning dress was relieved by the crimson rubies and blues of the Garter star. Following the ceremony, the queen kissed Louise, and Lorne – now a member of the royal family, but still a subject – kissed the queen’s hand.

December 3, 1939: Death of Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll. Part I.

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Albert Edward, Duchess of Argyll, Duchess of Cambridge, Duke of Argyll, King Edward VII of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, King George III, Lord Lorne, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Princess Louise of the United Kingdom, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom

Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, (Louisa Caroline Alberta; March 18, 1848 – December 3, 1939) Louise was born on 18 March 1848 at Buckingham Palace, London She was the fourth daughter and sixth child of the reigning British monarch, Queen Victoria, and her husband, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her birth coincided with revolutions which swept across Europe, prompting the queen to remark that Louise would turn out to be “something peculiar”.The queen’s labour with Louise was the first to be aided with chloroform.

Albert and Victoria chose the names Louisa Caroline Alberta. She was baptized on 13 May 1848 in Buckingham Palace’s private chapel by John Bird Sumner, the Archbishop of Canterbury. Though she was christened Louisa at the service, she was invariably known as Louise throughout her life. Her godparents were Duke Gustav of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her paternal great-great-uncle, for whom Prince Albert stood proxy); Princess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Cassel, Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen (for whom her great-aunt Queen Adelaide stood proxy); and Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Hereditary Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (her first cousin once-removed, for whom the Duchess of Cambridge stood proxy). During the ceremony, Princess Mary, the Duchess of Gloucester, one of the few children of King George III who was still alive, forgot where she was, and suddenly got up in the middle of the service and knelt at the queen’s feet, much to the queen’s horror.

Like her siblings, Louise was brought up with the strict programme of education devised by her father, Prince Albert, and his friend and confidant, Baron Stockmar. The young children were taught practical tasks, such as cooking, farming, household tasks and carpentry. From her early years, Louise was a talented and intelligent child, and her artistic talents were quickly recognized.

On his visit to Osborne House in 1863, Hallam Tennyson, the son of the poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson, remarked that Louise could “draw beautifully”. Because of her royal rank, an artistic career was not considered. However, the queen first allowed her to attend art school under the tutelage of the sculptor Mary Thornycroft, and later (1863) allowed her to study at the National Art Training School, now The Royal College of Art. South Kensington.

Her father Prince Albert, died at Windsor on December 14, 1861. The queen was devastated, and ordered her household to move from Windsor to Osborne House on the Isle of Wight. The atmosphere of the royal court became gloomy and morbid in the wake of the prince’s death, and entertainments became dry and dull. Louise quickly became dissatisfied with her mother’s prolonged mourning. For her seventeenth birthday in 1865, Louise requested the ballroom to be opened for a debutante dance, the like of which had not been performed since Prince Albert’s death. Her request was refused, and her boredom with the mundane routine of travelling between the different royal residences at set times irritated her mother, who considered Louise to be indiscreet and argumentative.

The queen comforted herself by rigidly continuing with Prince Albert’s plans for their children. Princess Alice was married to Prince Ludwig, the future Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine. at Osborne on June 1, 1862. In 1863, Albert Edward, the Prince of Wales, married Princess Alexandra of Denmark. The queen made it a tradition that the eldest unmarried daughter would become her unofficial secretary, a position which Louise filled in 1866, despite the queen’s concern that she was indiscreet.

Louise, however, proved to be good at the job: Victoria wrote shortly afterwards: “She is (and who would some years ago have thought it?) a clever dear girl with a fine strong character, unselfish and affectionate.” However, when Louise fell in love with her brother Leopold’s tutor, the Reverend Robinson Duckworth (14 years her senior), between 1866 and 1870, the queen reacted by dismissing Duckworth in 1870. He later became Canon of Westminster Abbey.

Louise was bored at court, and by fulfilling her duties, which were little more than minor secretarial tasks, such as writing letters on the queen’s behalf; dealing with political correspondence; and providing the queen with company, she had more responsibilities.

Part II tomorrow.

This date in History: December 3, 1838. Birth of Princess Louise of Prussia.

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Frederick III of Germany, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Grand Duke Frederick I of Baden, Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden, Otto von Bismark, Princess Louise of Prussia, Queen Victoria of Sweden, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Wilhelm I of Germany, Wilhelm II of Germany

Princess Louise of Prussia (December 3, 1838 – April 23, 1923)

Princess Louise of Prussia in 1856, portrait by Franz Xaver Winterhalter

Louise Marie Elisabeth was born on December 3, 1838 to Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (future German Emperor Wilhelm I) and his wife Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the second daughter of Carl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, a daughter of Emperor Paul I of Russia and Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg. Louise was named after her grandmothers, Louise, Queen of Prussia and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia and was known as “Vivi” in her family.

Her parents were an unhappy and tense couple, and Louise had only one other sibling, Prince Friedrich (future German Emperor Friedrich III, “Fritz”) and she was the aunt of Wilhelm II of Germany. Louise was seven years younger than her brother and two years older than his wife, Victoria, Princess Royal, the daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. Upon her birth, her mother Augusta declared that her duty in perpetuating the Hohenzollern dynasty was complete.

While Wilhelm showed some outward affection to his only son, he lavished attention on Louise, and often his unexpected visits to her schoolroom resulted in them playing together on the floor. Mother and daughter however were not close, with Augusta’s presence filling Louise up with awe; one account states that when Augusta encountered her daughter, Louise “involuntarily drew herself up to her full height, and sat stiff and constrained as for her portrait, while she inwardly trembled lest her answers should prove incorrect”.

Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden

Louise was betrothed to Friedrich, Prince Regent of Baden in 1854, and they married September 20, 1856 at Neues Palais in Potsdam. Friedrich had been regent because of his brother Ludwig’s insanity, and was proclaimed Grand Duke of Baden when doctors declared that there was no chance of recovery. As the only daughter of the Prussian crown prince (and later German Emperor), their marriage caused Baden to gain a great deal of importance, and even more so once the German Empire was founded.

Within a few weeks of their marriage, the new grand duchess was already pregnant with their first child, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich (future Grand Duke Friedrich II). Louise was a happy wife and mother, writing to a friend that “since we last met, my life has become so much more beautiful, more precious, to me, my happiness is so much richer and deeper than before”.

Grand Duke and Duchess of Baden

Louise and Friedrich disliked the stiffness of the Karlsruhe court, and gladly escaped to their castle on the island of Mainau. They were popular in Baden, and everyone spoke with affectionate pride of their grand duke and duchess in Constance, where the couple had a summer residence.

The couple had three children.

1. Grand Duke Frederick II of Baden (9 July 1857 – 9 August 1928), married Princess Hilda of Luxembourg; no issue
2. Queen Victoria of Sweden (7 August 1862 – 4 April 1930), married King Gustav V of Sweden; had issue
3. Prince Ludwig of Baden (12 June 1865 – 23 February 1888), died unmarried; no issue

Louise was a great friend of Alice, Grand Duchess of Hesse, her sister-in-law’s younger sister; i.e., Alice was the sister of Crown Victoria of Prussia (Louise’s brother Friedrich’s wife) both sisters being daughters of Queen Victoria. The two often visited each other. In Queen Victoria’s letters, she and Frederick were always referred to with pleasure or sympathy as good Fritz and Louise of Baden. Though friends as young girls, Louise and her sister-in-law Victoria, Princess Royal (“Vicky”) always had a “none-too-friendly rivalry”, particularly when comparing their children: while Vicky’s eldest son Crown Prince Wilhelm was born with a deformed arm, Louise apparently could not resist bragging that her three children were healthier and bigger at the same age.

Louise doted on her nephew however, and Vicky wrote to her mother that the grand duchess “spoilt him quite dreadfully”. Often supporting him against his parents, her and Wilhelm’s close relationship would carry on to his adulthood, and he would later write in his memoirs that Louise “possessed considerable political ability and a great gift for organisation, and she understood excellently how to put right men in the right place and how to employ their strength serviceably for the general benefit”.

The Austro-Prussian War caused a degree of friction between Baden and Prussia, as the former, despite their close familial connections to Berlin, chose to support the Austrians. As the daughter of the Prussian king, Baden was not included in the list of states forced to pay excessive indemnities to Prussia. Her father’s strongly anti-Catholic chancellor Otto von Bismarck disliked Baden however, as it was one of Germany’s most important Catholic states; he saw its religion as threatening the stability of the new German Empire. Suspicious of the grand duchess’ influence on her father, he did his best to block her request for clemency on behalf of Alsace Catholics to the emperor.

Within two years, four of Louise’s closest family members died – her father, brother, younger son and mother. Vicky, now Dowager Empress Friedrich, took sympathy on Louise and persuaded her mother to confer Royal Order of Victoria and Albert, First Class, on her.

Grand Duke Friedrich died on September 28, 1907, and their eldest son succeeded as Grand Duke Friedrich II. That same year, their only daughter Victoria succeeded as Queen consort of Sweden, as the spouse of King Gustaf V of Sweden and Norway, the son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway and Sofia of Nassau.

Louise, now Dowager Grand Duchess of Baden, lived to see her duchy become absorbed into the new state of Germany under the Revolution of 1918-19 that took place at the end of World War I. At the time of the revolution, her daughter, Queen Victoria of Sweden, was visiting her. After the abdication of the German emperor, riots spread in Karlsruhe on November 11. The son of a courtier led a group of soldiers up to the front of the palace, followed by a great crowd of people, where a few shots were fired. Louise, as well as the rest of the family, left the palace the backway and left for the Zwingenberg palace in the Neckar valley. By permission of the new government, they were allowed to stay at the Langenstein Palace, which belonged to a Swedish count, Douglas.

During these events, Louise was said to have kept her calm and never uttered a word of complaint. The government gave the order that the former Grand Ducal family was to be protected, and that Langenstein be excepted from housing the returning soldiers, because Louise’s daughter, the Queen of Sweden, was in their company and Baden should not do anything to offend Sweden. In 1919, the family requested permission from the government to reside in Mainau, and was met with the answer that they were now private citizens and could do as they wished.

The new republican government gave her permission to live out the rest of her life in retirement at Baden-Baden, where she died on April 24, 1923, (aged 84). She was the last surviving non-morganatic grandchild of Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia.