Royal morganatic marriages

[Kristallinchen]

Since we've a divorce thread I thought we'd might have a special marriage thread too.

In the past the stricter the rules of the Royal House the more illegal marriages it seemed.

I'll start with one tragic and less known:

Agnes Bernauer (1410-1435) was the supposedly first wife of Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria-Munich. Since he was his fathers only son and there were no legitimate heirs he was pressured for a divorce. When he refused his father Ernst had her accused as witch and drowned in the Danube.

For a while Albrecht thought war with his father, but a year after they reconciled and he dutifully married Princess Anna of Braunschweig.

[Principessa]

Since we've a divorce thread I thought we'd might have a special marriage thread too.

In the past the stricter the rules of the Royal House the more illegal marriages it seemed.

I'll start with one tragic and less known:

Agnes Bernauer (1410-1435) was the supposedly first wife of Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria-Munich. Since he was his fathers only son and there were no legitimate heirs he was pressured for a divorced. When he refused his father Ernst had her accused as witch and drowned in the Danube.

For a while Albrecht thought war with his father, but a year after they reconciled and he dutifully married Princess Anna of Braunschweig.

Wow, never heard of that one before!

[leatherface]

Since we've a divorce thread I thought we'd might have a special marriage thread too.

In the past the stricter the rules of the Royal House the more illegal marriages it seemed.

I'll start with one tragic and less known:

Agnes Bernauer (1410-1435) was the supposedly first wife of Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria-Munich. Since he was his fathers only son and there were no legitimate heirs he was pressured for a divorce. When he refused his father Ernst had her accused as witch and drowned in the Danube.

For a while Albrecht thought war with his father, but a year after they reconciled and he dutifully married Princess Anna of Braunschweig.

So Henry VIII wasn't the only one who resorted to a false witchcraft charge to get rid of inconvenient wives, good to know.

[Kristallinchen]

Since we've a divorce thread I thought we'd might have a special marriage thread too.

In the past the stricter the rules of the Royal House the more illegal marriages it seemed.

I'll start with one tragic and less known:

Agnes Bernauer (1410-1435) was the supposedly first wife of Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria-Munich. Since he was his fathers only son and there were no legitimate heirs he was pressured for a divorce. When he refused his father Ernst had her accused as witch and drowned in the Danube.

For a while Albrecht thought war with his father, but a year after they reconciled and he dutifully married Princess Anna of Braunschweig.

So Henry VIII wasn't the only one who resorted to a false witchcraft charge to get rid of inconvenient wives, good to know.

No, this was, so to say, international practise at this time.

[Kristallinchen]

Archduke Heinrich (1828-1891) son of Archduke Rainer (1783-1853) and Princess Maria Elisabeth of Savoy-Carignan (1800-1856) contracted a morganatic marriage with singer Leopoldine Hoffmann. Emperor Franz Joseph was furious at first, but after a while they kind of reconciled and she was given the title Freifrau von Waideck.

They had a daughter together, Maria Rainiera, born in 1872. Tragically both parents died on 1891 within a day in Vienna after contracting pneumonia.

Their daughter was than adopted by Heinrich's elder brother Rainer (who was also her godfather), later on made a Gräfin (Countess) and married into the Lucchesi-Palli family.

[Principessa]

The marriage of Duke Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria (1831-1920), son of Duke Maximilian Joseph in Bavaria (1808-1888) and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria (1808-1892), and actress Henriette Mendel (1833-1891). Ludwig Wilhelm was the oldest brother of Duchess Elisabeth in Bavaria, who would become Empress of Austria, upon her marriage to their 1st cousin Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria.

Henriette and Ludwig Wilhelm had an illegitimate daughter in 1858, named Marie Louise. Their daughter would later become famous under her married name. Especially with regard to her involvement in the Mayerling incident (death of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria and his mistress Mary Vetsera): https://en.m.wikipedia.or...arie_Larisch_von_Moennich

When Henriette became pregnant a 2nd time a morganatic marriage was arranged. In 1859 Ludwig Wilhelm renounced his rights to the Bavarian throne, their son Karl Emmanuel was born, Henriette was created Freiin von Wallersee and the morganatic marriage took place. Their children would be entitled Freiin and Freiherr von Wallersee. Unfortunately Karl Emmanuel only survived a few months and died in 1859. The couple had no more children.

About a year after the death of Henriette, in 1892, the widower Ludwig Wilhelm remarried to German actress Antoine Barth, who was created Baroness von Bartolf. They had no children and divorced in 1913.

Ludwig Wilhelm:
https://en.m.wikipedia.or...varia_(1831%E2%80%931920)

Henriette:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henriette_Mendel

Antoine Barth
https://en.m.wikipedia.or...iki/Barbara_Antonie_Barth

[Kristallinchen]

One of my favourites:

Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria (1874-1957), the eldest daughter of Archduchess Gisela and Prince Leopold of Bavaria, eloped together with her wanna be fiance Baron Otto von Seefried auf Buttenheim (1870-1951). He was not only of a much lower rank, but also a Protestant and they knew they would never get the permission for the marriage. Therefore they married secretly in Italy.

Emperor Franz Joseph still was much less angry than normally and forgave his granddaughter, sanctioning the marriage. Elisabeth's father had to be pursued for some years though, but eventually he also forgave her (FJ and Gisela spoke in her favour). Otto was later made a Graf (Earl). One of their daughters (Augusta) married back into the Bavarian Royal Family.

[Principessa]

One of my favourites:

Princess Elisabeth of Bavaria (1874-1957), the eldest daughter of Archduchess Gisela and Prince Leopold of Bavaria, eloped together with her wanna be fiance Baron Otto von Seefried auf Buttenheim (1870-1951). He was not only of a much lower rank, but also a Protestant and they knew they would never get the permission for the marriage. Therefore they married secretly in Italy.

Emperor Franz Joseph still was much less angry than normally and forgave his granddaughter, sanctioning the marriage. Elisabeth's father had to be pursued for some years though, but eventually he also forgave her (FJ and Gisela spoke in her favour). Otto was later made a Graf (Earl). One of their daughters (Augusta) married back into the Bavarian Royal Family.

Also one of my favorites

[Principessa]

Countess Julia von Hauke and Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine.

Julia was the daughter of a Polish general of German descent, she was not of princely origin. She became a lady-in-waiting to Marie of Hesse, wife of the future Tsar Alexander II and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, whom she married, having met him in the course of her duties. The marriage of social unequals was deemed morganatic, but the Duke of Hesse gave her own title of nobility as Princess of Battenberg.

She was the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and is an ancestor of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, and to the current generations of the Spanish royal family.

There were five children of the marriage, all princes and princesses of Battenberg:
1. Princess Marie of Battenberg (1852–1923), married in 1871 Gustav, Count of Erbach-Schönberg (d. 1908), with issue.
2. Prince Louis of Battenberg (1854–1921), created first Marquess of Milford Haven in 1917, married in 1884 Princess Victoria of Hesse and by Rhine (1863–1950), with issue (including Princess Andrew of Greece and Denmark, Queen Louise of Sweden, and the 1st Earl Mountbatten of Burma). In 1917, he and his children gave up their German titles and took the surname Mountbatten.
3. Prince Alexander of Battenberg (1857–1893), created Reigning Prince of Bulgaria in 1879, abdicated in Bulgaria and created Count of Hartenau, married morganatically in 1889 Johanna Loisinger (1865–1951), with issue.
4. Prince Henry of Battenberg (1858–1896), married in 1885 Princess Beatrice of the United Kingdom (1857–1944), with issue (including Princess Victoria Eugenie of Battenberg later Queen of Spain). His children resided in the UK and became lords and ladies with the surname Mountbatten in 1917. His eldest son was created the first Marquess of Carisbrooke in 1917.
5. Prince Francis Joseph of Battenberg (1861–1924), married in 1897 Princess Anna Petrovich-Njegosh of Montenegro (1874–1971), with no issue.

Julia's eldest son, Ludwig (Louis) of Battenberg, became a British subject, and during World War I, due to anti-German sentiment prevalent at the time, anglicised his name to Mountbatten (a literal translation of the German Battenberg), as did his nephews, the sons of Prince Henry and Princess Beatrice. The members of this branch of the family also renounced all German titles and were granted peerages by their cousin King George V of the United Kingdom: Prince Louis became the 1st Marquess of Milford Haven, while Prince Alexander, Prince Henry's eldest son, became the 1st Marquess of Carisbrooke.

Their children formed marital ties with several reigning families:
- Prince Louis married Princess Victoria (daughter of Queen Victoria's second daughter, Alice). Their children included:
Princess Louise, became Queen of Sweden through her marriage to Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden.
Princess Alice, married Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark, with whom her children include Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, the husband of Elizabeth II.

- Prince Henry married Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, Beatrice. Their only daughter:
Princess Ena, became queen of Spain upon her marriage to King Alfonso XIII of Spain. Their grandson Juan Carlos I was King of Spain until 2014 when he abdicated in favor of his son, Felipe VI.

- Prince Alexander became the first reigning Prince of modern Bulgaria. He obtained the consent of Frederick III, German Emperor, to marry his daughter, Princess Viktoria of Prussia, whose mother and grandmother, Queen Victoria, also supported the marriage as a love match. But even before Alexander was deposed from his throne, the marriage was opposed by Prince Bismarck for political reasons and by his fiancée's brother, Wilhelm II, as a matter of dynastic pride, prompting Queen Victoria to withdraw her support as a concession to diplomacy, and Alexander to lose interest in favor of a morganatic marriage to Johanna Loisinger.

[Principessa]

Prince Alexander of Battenberg & Johanna Loisinger

Alexander Joseph (Bulgarian: Александър I Батенберг)(1857 – 1893), known as Alexander of Battenberg, was the first prince (knyaz) of the Principality of Bulgaria from 1879 until his abdication in 1886.

Alexander was the second son of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine by the latter's morganatic marriage with Countess Julia von Hauke. The Countess and her descendants gained the title of Princess of Battenberg (derived from an old residence of the Grand Dukes of Hesse) and the style Durchlaucht ("Serene Highness") in 1858.

In 1881, a marriage was suggested between Alexander and Princess Viktoria of Prussia, the daughter of the then Crown Princess of Germany and granddaughter of England's Queen Victoria. While the would-be bride's mother and grandmother supported the marriage, her grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm I, her brother, later Kaiser Wilhelm II (Kaiser Wilhelm I's grandson), and German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck were against the marriage fearing that it would offend the Russians, most notably, Prince Alexander's cousin, Tsar Alexander III, who recently ascended the throne, and who, unlike his father, was far from kindly disposed to the prince.

After his abdication from the Bulgarian throne, Alexander I claimed the title Prince of Tarnovo and used it until his death. Alexander then retired into private life. A few years later he married Johanna Loisinger, an actress, and assumed the style of Count von Hartenau (6 February 1889). There were a son and a daughter from this marriage: Assen Ludwig Alexander (1890–1965) and Marie Therese Vera Zvetana (1893–1935).

Johanna Maria Louise Loisinger (1865–1951), was an Austrian actress, pianist and soprano opera singer, She was in 1865 to John Loisinger and Maria Meier.

[Principessa]

Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria, ruler of the Tirol, first married Philippine Welser, a bourgeoise of a wealthy family, in 1557; their children were given the title Margrave von Burgau, the issue of Ferdinand's second (and equal) marriage being of archducal rank and preferred for purposes of inheritance.

Victor Emmanuel II of Italy in 1869 married morganatically his principal mistress Rosa Teresa Vercellana Guerrieri (3 June 1833 – 26 December 1885). Popularly known in Piedmontese as "Bela Rosin" (Little Rosa the Beautiful), she was born a commoner but made Countess di Mirafiori e Fontanafredda in 1858.

Late in his life, the widowed ex-king Fernando II of Portugal married the opera singer Elise Hensler, who was created Countess von Edla.

The 1900 marriage of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, whose subsequent assassination triggered World War I, to Countess Sophie Chotek was morganatic at the insistence of the Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph I

Marie Louise, Duchess of Parma (by birth an archduchess of the Imperial House of Habsburg, and by her first marriage a French empress) married morganatically twice after the death of her husband, the emperor Napoleon I, in 1821. Her second husband was Count Adam Albert von Neipperg. After his death, she married Count Charles-René de Bombelles, her chamberlain, in 1834.

Queen Maria Christina of Bourbon-Two Sicilies, regent of Spain after her husband's (Ferdinand VII) death while their daughter, the future Isabella II was a minor. She married one of her guards in a secret marriage.

Princess Stéphanie of Belgium, the widow of Crown Prince Rudolf of Austria, married Count Elemér Lónyay de Nagy-Lónya et Vásáros-Namény after the death of her first husband. In 1917, Emperor Charles I of Austria, conferred upon Lónyay a non-dynastic title of prince (Fürst).

Until 1971, Danish princes who married women who did not belong to a royal or noble family were refused the sovereign's authorization, renouncing their right of succession to the throne and royal title (Prince Aage of Denmark morganatically eloped with Matilda Calvi, daughter of Count Carlo Giorgio di Bergolo, in January 1914 but renounced his dynastic rights and titles subsequently). They were granted the non-royal prefix of "Prince" and their descendants bear the title Count af Rosenborg in the Danish nobility.

Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1885) married in 1835, morganatically, Countess Claudine Rhédey von Kis-Rhéde (1812-1841), by whom he fathered three children: Claudine, Francis and Amalie. His wife was granted the title "Countess von Hohenstein". The children inherited their mother's title as Count or Countess von Hohenstein from birth, having no rights through their father to any royal title, status or inheritance.In 1863, his three children were elevated to the rank of Prince and Princesses Fürst and Fürstin von Teck by King William I of Württemberg.In 1871, his son Francis was raised to the title "Duke of Teck" by King Charles I of Württemberg, five years after his marriage with Alexander's third cousin (in descent from George II of Great Britain), Princess Mary of Cambridge. The Dukedom of Teck was a hereditary title, without land attached, in the Kingdom of Württemberg. Alexander's daughters were not given any new status, and remained princesses of Teck.

[Principessa]

Grand Duchess Maria Nikolaievna of Russia (Russian: Мария Николаевна) (18 August 1819 – 21 February 1876) was a daughter of Emperor Nicholas I of Russia, and sister of Alexander II. In 1839 she married Maximilian, Duke of Leuchtenberg. With whom she had 7 children. However, by the late 1840s the couple drifted apart. They had separate lives and both had love affairs of their own. Maximilian became a well known womanizer while Maria started a long term relationship with Count Gregory Alexandrovich Strogonov. Court rumors attributed the paternity of her son George to her lover. Maria Nikolaievna made a second marriage in 1854, to Count Grigori Stroganov (1824 – 1879). It was a morganatic union and was kept secret while her father lived. Officially the marriage did not take place until 16 November 1856, after Nicholas I's death. Anna Tyutcheva commented, "The former tsar would have sent Masha to a convent and exiled the count to the Caucasus", but her more gentle brother Tsar Alexander, as the new head of the family, preferred not to let on that he knew about the secret marriage. Maria begged her brother to recognize her second marriage and permit them to live in Russia, but he did not dare permit it; instead, he suggested she continue to live abroad while he maintained ignorance of their marriage. Because he could not recognize her marriage, he paid special attention to her children by her first marriage, who lived in St. Petersburg without their mother. From her second marriage Maria had 2 children.


Source: Wikipedia

[Konradin]

Since we've a divorce thread I thought we'd might have a special marriage thread too.

In the past the stricter the rules of the Royal House the more illegal marriages it seemed.

I'll start with one tragic and less known:

Agnes Bernauer (1410-1435) was the supposedly first wife of Duke Albrecht III. of Bavaria-Munich. Since he was his fathers only son and there were no legitimate heirs he was pressured for a divorce. When he refused his father Ernst had her accused as witch and drowned in the Danube.

For a while Albrecht thought war with his father, but a year after they reconciled and he dutifully married Princess Anna of Braunschweig.

So Henry VIII wasn't the only one who resorted to a false witchcraft charge to get rid of inconvenient wives, good to know.

Well, not really, Henry IV of Castile and Leon, half brother of Isabel of Castile, current ancestor of almost every single royal house in existence now, divorced his first wife, Blanche II of Navarre, by claiming she had practiced withcraft, thus not enabling them to have children. By some earlier conception device, he managed to have a daughter with his second wife, but she didn't get to the throne, her aunt did, after a long string of battles, of course.

My favourite one, a union that was much scorned back then, is the one Prince Bertil of Sweden, and Princess Lilian, duke and duchess of Haland, née Lilian Craig. A lot was said about her, horrible things, mostly rumours; yes, she was still married when they met but got a divorce, and after that they chose to live together, quietly, not to endanger the monarchy until the current king, out of love for them, allowed their union. That would have been impossible without the royal blessing, being her both a commoner and a divorcée.
Princess Lilian proved to be an asset for both Sweden and the monarchy, she was really loved within the Royal Family, Crown Princess Victoria sad face is a proof of that, Lilian left most of her jewels to her and was always like a grandmother both for her and her siblings.

 

[Principessa]

Franz Xavier of Saxony (1730 – 1806) was a German prince and member of the House of Wettin. He was the fourth but second surviving son of Augustus III, King of Poland and Elector of Saxony, and Maria Josepha of Austria. In 1765 Franz Xavier married morganatically an Italian lady-in-waiting to his sister-in-law, the Dowager Electress, the contessa Maria Chiara Spinucci. The union was kept secret until 1777 when it was formally announced and legitimized.

In 1769, Franz Xavier moved his family to France, the home of his younger sister, the Dauphine Marie-Josèphe, who had died two years earlier. He lived in France for almost twenty years under the assumed title of Count of Lusatia (fr: Comte de Lusace, de: Graf von der Lausitz). In 1774, his nephew, Louis XVI, became the king of the country. Franz Xavier and his family chose to flee France at the beginning of the French Revolution. They moved to Rome; while in Rome, the Prince sat for a bust by Domenico Cardelli.  After the death of his wife in 1792, he remained in Rome for some years. Eventually, though, he returned to Saxony and settled into Schloss Zabeltitz. Franz Xavier lived there until his death, aged seventy-five. During their marriage, Franz Xavier and Maria Chiara had ten children —known as counts and countesses of Lusatia (de: Graf/Gräfin von der Lausitz) — but only six survived to adulthood.

[Konradin]

Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the 1st and last one before the current owner, he married twice. Both marriages took place without the consent, or even the knowledge, of his father. In August 1794, the Court of Arches annulled the prince's first marriage on the grounds that it contravened the Royal Marriages Act 1772, not having been approved by the King. 1st he married Lady Augusta Murray (1768–1830), the second daughter of the 4th Earl of Dunmore. A year after the death of Lady Augusta D'Ameland (Lady Augusta Murray) , the Duke of Sussex married a second time on 2 May 1831 (again in contravention of the Royal Marriages Act) to Lady Cecilia Letitia Buggin (1793–1873), the eldest daughter of Arthur Gore, 2nd Earl of Arran, and Elizabeth Underwood, and the widow of Sir George Buggin. On the same day, Lady Cecilia assumed the surname Underwood by Royal Licence. She was never titled or recognized as the Duchess of Sussex. However, she was created Duchess of Inverness in her own right by Queen Victoria in 1840. He was her favourite uncle.