📩 L'état passé et présent de la Maison Ducale de Saxe-Meiningen

 

 

Aujourd'hui, la maison ducale de Saxe-Meiningen est au bord de l'extinction. Selon le point de vue, il reste un, deux ou trois membres masculins de la famille (chacun de générations différentes) qui peuvent poursuivre la dynastie dans le futur. La branche actuelle de la famille descend du prince Frédéric de Saxe-Meiningen, cinquième enfant du duc Georg II de Saxe-Meiningen.

 

Prince Frédéric de Saxe-Meiningen

Princesse Adelheid de Saxe-Meiningen

L'annonce du décès du prince Frédéric de Saxe-Meiningen en 1914

Le 30 juin 1901, à Cologne, naissait le prince Bernhard Friedrich Julius Heinrich de Saxe-Meiningen, sixième et dernier enfant du prince Friedrich de Saxe-Meiningen (1861-1914) et de l'ancienne comtesse Adelheid zur Lippe-Biesterfeld (1870-1948), qu'il avait épousée en 1889.

Grande-Duchesse Théodora de Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Princesse Adalbert (Adelheid) de Prusse

Prince Georges de Saxe-Meiningen

Princesse Louise de Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard avait suivi cinq frères et sœurs aînés : la princesse Feodora (1890-1972 ; mariée au grand-duc Wilhelm Ernst de Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach), la princesse Adelheid (1891-1971 ; mariée au prince Adalbert de Prusse), le prince Georg (1892-1946 ; mariée à la comtesse Klara-Maria von Korff gt Schmissing-Kerssenbrock), le prince Ernst Leopold (1895-1914) et la princesse Luise (1899-1985 ; mariée au baron Götz von Wangenheim).

Le 25 avril 1931, à Eichenhof im Riesengebirge, le prince Bernhard de Saxe-Meiningen épousa Margot Grössler (Breslau 22 janvier 1911 - Bad Sackingen 2 mai 1998). Le couple a eu deux enfants : la princesse Feodora (née à Schloß Pitzelstettin le 27 mai 1932 ; mariée à Burkhard Kippenberg) et le prince Friedrich Ernst.

Article sur l'arrestation du prince Bernhard et de la princesse Margot de Saxe-Meiningen. The Winnipeg Tribune , 21 octobre 1933.

En octobre 1933, le prince Bernhard est arrêté en Autriche en raison de son appartenance au parti nazi. En décembre, on apprend qu'il sera détenu à Wöllersdorf, en Autriche, après avoir été condamné à six semaines de prison. Sa femme, Margot, est assignée à résidence à la résidence du couple, Schloss Pitzelstettin, à la suite d'une lettre qu'elle a envoyée à un correspondant en Allemagne et qui est « pleine d'injures contre l'Autriche ». En janvier 1934, Bernhard et Margot s'enfuient en Italie, où ils se sentent peut-être plus à l'aise, car ce pays est déjà sous le joug de 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.

À l'été 2015, le prince Constantin de Saxe-Meiningen et Sophia Lupus (née en 1995) ont accueilli un garçon. Sophia est la fille de Nothart Rohlfs et Sabine Lupus. Le prince Michael de Saxe-Meiningen est né le 26 juillet 2015 en Suisse.

 

Prince Konrad de Saxe-Meiningen

Le prince Konrad, demi-frère du prince Friedrich-Ernst et oncle du prince Constantin, est considéré comme le chef de la dynastie de Saxe-Meiningen. Banquier, Konrad ne s'est jamais marié. À plusieurs reprises, le prince a indiqué qu'il souhaitait que son neveu Constantin soit son héritier.