(Left to right) - Front: King Wilhelm II of Württemberg (father of the bride); Princess Pauline of Württemberg; Hereditary Prince Wilhelm Friedrich of Wied.
Second row (Ladies): Princess Elisabeth of Wied; Princess Alexandra of Schaumburg-Lippe; Princess Luise of Wied; Princess Elisabeth of Waldeck; Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands; Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Teschen, Duchess Philipp of Württemberg* ; Queen Mother Emma of the Netherlands; Queen Charlotte of Württemberg (second wife of King Wilhelm II.); Princess Katharina of Württemberg (mother of King Wilhelm II.); Marie, Princess of Wied (mother of the groom); Duchess Hermine of Württemberg; Princess Maria Isabella of Saxony (wife of Prince Johann Georg, Duke of Saxony; daughter of Duke Philipp of Württemberg); Princess Pauline of Bentheim-Steinfurt; Duchess Margarete Sophie of Württemberg (wife of Duke Albrecht); Hereditary Grand Duchess Hilda of Baden (wife of Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich); Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe; Helena, Duchess of Albany.
Third row (Gentlemen): Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.; Duke Robert of Württemberg (son of Duke Philipp); Prince Wilhelm, Duke of Urach; Prince Viktor of Wied; Prince Karl of Urach; Duke Ulrich of Württemberg (son of Duke Philipp); Duke Albrecht of Württemberg (son of Duke Philipp); Duke Philipp of Württemberg; Duke Nikolaus of Württemberg; Prince Johann Georg, Duke of Saxony; Prince Wilhelm of Wied (father of the groom); Prince Alexis of Bentheim-Steinfurt; Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden; Prince Wilhelm Ernst Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach*; Prince Wilhelm of Wied; Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe.
* In spite of my quite remarkable talent for this sort of thing, and though she looks rather familiar, I've been unable to identify the lady whose name has been left off the list. But I was able to put a name to the one gentleman unaccounted for: Wilhelm Ernst, the very unpleasant last Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, "most unpopular prince in all Germany".
Update 3/14/2020: Thanks to a follower of this blog, I was finally able to identify the lady: Auguste, Princess Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who stands only a few feet away from her sister, Princess Katharina of Württemberg; as the kind reader mentioned, the two elderly sisters died just three days apart, only five weeks after the wedding.
Update 5/31/2020: Thanks to another follower of this blog, we've re-identified the lady. After I did a bit more research, it appears that she is Archduchess Maria Teresa of Austria-Teschen, Duchess Philipp of Württemberg. The case for this identification is further bolstered by the fact that the lady is standing next to Duke Philipp and all four of their surviving children are also present.
 |
| Engagement portraits of the couple. (Two images.) |
Princess Pauline of Württemberg (Pauline Olga Helene Emma von Württemberg; 19 December 1877, Stuttgart – 7 May 1965, Ludwigsburg), daughter of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, by his first wife Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont; her mother died when Pauline was only four years old. (From her mother, she was first cousins with Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, and Charles Edward, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, among others.) As the King's only surviving child, she was the last Prinzessin von Württemberg, as well as the last senior member of the House of Württemberg. She was for many years the regional director of the German Red Cross, in several western Germany regions, before and during the Nazi régime. Three years after the end of the war, she was indicted by a United States Military Government court for "having concealed two prominent Nazis since October 1945." She admitted to having made living arrangements for Frau Scholtz-Klink - a fervent member of the Nazi Party and the leader of the National Socialist Women’s League - and her husband, SS Major General August Heissmayer, when they came to the Princess seeking shelter at the fall of the Reich. She was eventually given a stiff fine and would spend the last years of her life devoted to horse breeding.
 |
| In later life, Pauline showed a decided preference for quite mannish attire. |
On 29 October 1898 she had wed Wilhelm Friedrich, Prince of Wied (Wilhelm Friedrich Hermann Otto Karl Fürst von Wied; 27 June 1872, Neuwied – 18 June 1945, Neuwied), eldest child of Wilhelm, Prince of Wied and his wife, Princess Marie of the Netherlands. (At the end of 1913, his younger brother - also named Wilhelm, confusingly - was chosen by the Great Powers to be the sovereign prince of the newly independent Albania; in March of 1914 he arrived in the country to begin a reign that would last exactly six months.) Wilhelm Friedrich became head of the Wied house at his father's death in 1907; in 1919, when all titles were abolished in Germany, he retained the courtesy title of Fürst (Prince). When he died - just as the war ended - the title passed to his grandson.
 |
| Portrait taken at the time of his engagement. |
Together, Pauline and Wilhelm had two sons, Hermann (18 August 1899 – 5 November 1941), and Dietrich (30 October 1901 – 8 June 1976). Both married and had issue. Hermann, the elder son, died in Poland of wounds received in action during World War II; his son, Friedrich Wilhelm, succeeded to the the princely title at the death of his grandfather.
 |
| With - presumably - their first born, Hermann, 1899. |
 |
| The couple with their sons, her father and stepmother. (Two images.) |
 |
| Princess Pauline with her sons, her father and stepmother. |
 |
| The couple, their two sons, their daughters-in-law, and grandsons. Seated second from left is Pauline's stepmother, Queen Charlotte of Württemberg. There is some confusion because of the dates listed here; the years are wrong. This particular Wilhelm of Wied - Dietrich's third son - was born on 24 August 1936. (Sadly, he died on the following 13 April, as is noted here.) I haven't been able to identify the lady in the middle - perhaps she's the other grandmother - nor the woman standing at left. But the white-haired gentleman holding the infant... is the baby's grandmother, Princess Pauline. |
The unidentified lady half-obscured by Queen Emma could be Princess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, mother of the "very unpleasant" Wilhelm Ernst. Both of her parents were Württembergs.
ReplyDeleteYes, I wondered about Princess Pauline. Seems like a likely suspect. But I couldn't find any images of her that would help with identification. Hmm....
DeleteI think it might be Princess Catherine’s sister Auguste who was married the Prince Herman of Saxe-Weimar. One weird fact both Catherine & Auguste would be dead a little over a month after this picture was taken. The marriage of Pauline and
ReplyDeleteFriedrich was on Oct 29, 1898. Auguste died on Dec 3, 1898 & Katherine died 3 days later on Dec 6.
I think that's it! I finally found a later image of Auguste, and that would appear to be her. Thank you so much!
DeleteAnd thank you for the "weird fact"; very interesting. : )
I would like to identify the unknown lady: I am sure that she isn't Auguste, Princesse Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach but she is 100% Princesse Maria Teresa of Austria-Teschen, Duchess Philip of Wurttemberg (standing next to her). Here is a photo of her:
ReplyDeleteAlright...! After some more research, I think that THIS is correct. I'll update the post again. Thank you!
DeleteI am curious as to why Marie of Nassau, Princess of Wied, was not at this 1898 wedding. She was the groom's grandmother and lived until 1902.
ReplyDeleteI have no idea - good question! I've been unable to find much information on her, but she was fairly elderly at the time, so maybe the trip was too much for her, or perhaps she was ill. But I found this in her Wikipedia entry: "According to the German writer and socialite Marie von Bunsen (1860–1941), Princess Marie is reported to have had a relationship with the Baden politician Franz von Roggenbach (1825–1907) to whom she even might have been married morganatically after her husband's death." I have no idea whether there is anything to substantiate this, so maybe it's nonsense. But she'd already been a widow for 34 years in 1898, and if the family knew about the relationship, maybe they disapproved and she stayed away...? But this is all WILD conjecture. And then again, maybe she did attend the wedding - but just didn't pose for the picture...?
DeleteAccording to James Pope Hennessey, who describes this photo, the woman is her sister in law, Princess Elisabeth of Wied.
ReplyDelete