#German Royalty

[tiaramania]

TIARA ALERT: Princess Maria Teresita of Saxony wore an aquamarine and pearl tiara for her wedding to Count Beryl Alexandre de Saporta at the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity (formerly the Catholic Church of the Royal Court of Saxony) in Dresden, Germany on 23 September 2023.

[empress-alexandra]

Princess Alix of Hesse (later Empress Alexandra Feodorovna of Russia) with her sister Grand Duchess Elizabeth Feodorovna of Russia, 1890.

[la-belle-histoire]

Princess Anna of Hesse and by Rhine, 1860.

[royal-hair]

Sophie-Alexandra Evekink at her wedding to Prince Ludwig of Bavaria at St Kajetan Church in Munich. Germany - 20.05.23

[edwardian-girl-next-door]

~ Trudpert Schneider. Elisabeth Henriette Fürstin zu Fürstenberg, born Princess of Reuss-Greiz (1824-1861), Heiligenberg Castle (Zenophotography)

photo taken 1849, when Elisabeth was ~25yrs old.

via wikimedia commons

[europesroyalsjewels]

Bavarian Lover’s Knot Tiara ♕ Residenz Museum in Munich (displayed, unknown if owned)  

[kaiserrreich]

October 22 1858: The Birth of Kaiserin Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein was the eldest daughter of Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Lagenburg. Tragedy struck only a week after her birth when her elder brother died from illness. In 1860, her younger sister, Caroline Mathilda, was born. Who was regarded as prettier and a brighter personality than the chubby, serious, submissive Augusta Victoria. Soon Augusta’s mother would give birth to another boy, Gerhard, who died in infancy. Their next male heir and fifth child, Ernst Gunther, was a perfectly healthy baby boy. Augusta would have two other sisters, Louise Sophie in April 1866 and Feodora Adelaide in July 1874.

In her family, she was known affectionately as “Dona.” Augusta’s obedient nature was noted on early in her youth, even by her future mother-in-law Crown Princess Frederick. ‘It is strange how good some children are – and how little trouble they give,’ she wrote to her mother, Queen Victoria, when Augusta Victoria was nine years old.  ‘Ada’s children are patterns of obedience, gentleness – the best of dispositions’. (1)

The thought of a match between Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein and Prince Wilhelm of Prussia was contemplated ever since they were children, as noted by the prince (future Kaiser, ex-Kaiser) later in the future. But was never taken seriously until after the prince was rejected by Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and by Rhine. Perhaps, Wilhelm was seeking for a rebound in Dona and it was a success. As the couple married on the 27th of February 1881. The marriage has been regarded to be happy but not without struggle. As Wilhelm quickly grew bored at his new wife’s longing for a simple domestic lifestyle, having multiple affairs throughout the years. And in the beginning only saw Dona as a broodmare. It was only after an ear infection gone bad, where Augusta stayed by Wilhelm’s side throughout the duration of it did he start to see her in an adjusted light, but continued to be unfaithful to her.

She bore him seven children:

Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (1882-1951)

Prince Eitel Friedrich (1883-1942)

Prince Adalbert (1884-1948)

Prince August Wilhelm (1887-1949)

Prince Oskar (1888-1958)

Prince Joachim (1890-1920)

Princess Viktoria Louise of Prussia (1892-1980)

Her days as Empress, she was regarded by the court as a prudish, a stickler for rules who punished anyone for the simplest gesture she deemed to be “immoral.” She was deemed by many as unremarkable and plain with a gaudy and tacky sense of fashion. With Nicholas II remarking to his mother, the Dowager Empress. That she ‘did her best to be pleasant but looked awful in sumptuous gowns completely lacking in taste; in particular the hats she wore in the evening were frightful.’

Though as overbearing and a nuisance as she was in public life and a part of her private life, by some family members, such as Empress Frederick (with whom she had a very heated feud with and who Augusta enjoyed snubbing frequently) who wrote to her daughter, Sophie, she was characterized as: ‘very grand and stiff and cold and condescending at first, but became much nicer afterwards.  Perhaps it was also partly shyness.’ and by her younger sister, Louise Sophie that when she was ‘not bowing to the will of her autocratic husband she was easy and indulgent’. “Her cousin Alice of Albany, who was sometimes mildly critical of her older relations, found her ‘most affable and kind’.”(1)

She was her husband’s biggest supporter throughout everything (for better and for worse) and was crushed when she was stripped of her titles as German Empress and Queen of Prussia after the war. Her health, which was already declining ever since the 1890s (causing her to miscarry twice) went down a rapid decline in the 1920s. And it had worsened when she had heard of the news of the death of her youngest son, Prince Joachim. She passed away on the 11th April 1921, in spite of her personal flaws, she was a beloved Empress by the German people and her popularity outshined her husband’s. Thousands lined up to see her off, where she would be buried at the Temple of Antiquities in the gardens near the New Palais in Postdam. Her husband, the ex Kaiser Wilhelm II was forbidden to cross into Germany to see his wife off for the final time.

Her room in Huis Doorn was soon turned into a shrine dedicated to the late Empress. With Wilhelm ordering for the room to regularly be cleaned with flowers and a cross draped over the bed. “Once a week, for the rest of his twenty years, he would retire there on his own, to go and mourn her memory.“ (1)

Wilhelm adhered to his late wife’s wishes for him to marry someone else when she was gone. When only a year later he would marry Princess Hermine of Reuss. He passed away in June of 1941, at age 82, 20 years after her passing.

Source : The Last German Empress

[krasivaa]

Princess Charlotte of Prussia, later Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen. Charlotte was an descendant of Queen Victoria via her mother, Victoria Princess Royal, who was the Queen's daughter. Charlotte's father was Frederick III, German Emperor; her brother later Kaiser Wilhelm II. The photo was taken in late 1860s - early 1870s!

[europesroyalsweddings]

✵ May 23, 2009 ✵

Kelly Rondestvedt & Hubertus, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg & Gotha

[romanovsotma]

Princess Charlotte of Prussia, eldest daughter of Crown Princess Victoria and Crown Prince Frederick (future German Emperor and Empress) in July 1873.

[tiaramania]

TIARA ALERT: Duchess Amelie of Württemberg wore the Wurttemberg Diamond Tiara for her wedding to Baron Franz-Ferdinand von Feilitzsch at St. Michael’s Church in Altshausen, Germany on 2 September 2023.

[empress-alexandra]

Princesses Alix (later Empress Alexandra of Russia) and Irene (Princess Henry of Prussia) of Hesse, 1888.

[loiladadiani]

Cecilie, the last German Crown Princess

The last German Crown Princess, through marriage to Crown Prince Wilhelm (son of Keiser Wilhelm II), was Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ( 1886 – 1954.) She was the daughter of Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna and Friedrick-Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Therefore, through her mother, she was a Romanov. Cecilie and her husband never got to reign in Germany because of WWI.

It has always amazed me that Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna, who always lived as she wished and at times scandalously so, could marry her children so well. However, after Cecilie married, Anastasia’s visits to her were severely restricted by the Keiser. German royalty wanted Anastasia as far as possible from her daughter.

Cecilie was probably the most beautiful European Princess of her time, with the Mikhailovichi height (she was her husband's height - 5'11 or so), beautiful dark eyes, and abundant dark hair. Unfortunately, her marriage to the German Crown Prince Wilhelm was not happy as he was constantly unfaithful to her. In between those infidelities, they managed to have six children. One of their daughters had Down Syndrome, and the child always appeared in all photographs and family events (as it should be), which at the time was not usual.

Cecilie was beloved by the German people, and her exquisite sense of fashion was copied in her youth. Most importantly, she took on quite a bit of charity work, preferring to get involved with causes that aimed at improving women's education. During a visit in 1911 to the United Kingdom, Cecilie developed a friendship with Queen Mary, which lasted until the Queen died.

[princessvictoriamelita]

Beautiful Princess Mathilde of Bavaria (Princess Ludwig of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha) and her baby son Prince Antonius in 1901.

[februaryfrost]

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine in 1863 with her nurses, Mrs. Castle and Mrs. Moffat.

Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863-1950) was the eldest daughter of Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine, and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom, the second daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha.

After her marriage to Prince Louis of Battenberg she would become Victoria Mountbatten, Marchioness of Milford Haven.

Through her daughter Princess Alice, she was the grandmother of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.

[europesroyalsjewels]

Beau Sancy Diamond ♕ Sold in 2012 to an Unknown Buyer