Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Hereditary Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Pauline in 1868
Born(1852-07-25)25 July 1852
Stuttgart
Died17 May 1904(1904-05-17) (aged 51)
Orte
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1873; died 1894)​
Issue
Names
Pauline Ida Marie Olga Henriette Katherine
HouseSaxe-Weimar-Eisenach
FatherPrince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
MotherPrincess Augusta of Württemberg

Princess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Pauline Ida Marie Olga Henriette Katherine; 25 July 1852 – 17 May 1904) was the wife of Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.[1]

Early life

She was a daughter of Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his wife, Princess Augusta of Württemberg.[1]

Hereditary Grand Duchess

On 26 August 1873 at Friedrichshafen, Baden-Württemberg, Pauline married Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.[1][2] They were second cousins, as she was the paternal granddaughter of Prince Bernhard, younger brother of the Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the grandfather of Karl August.

Pauline and Charles Augustus had two sons:

Charles Augustus died on 22 November 1894 of inflammation of the lungs, at the age of 50.[3] He never succeeded as Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Consequently, Pauline was always known as Hereditary Grand Duchess, or after his death, Dowager Hereditary Grand Duchess. Their elder son William Ernest succeeded as Grand Duke.

Widowhood

In her final years, Pauline spent a lot of time in Italy, and was a frequent visitor to the Italian court.[4] It was rumored that she entered into a morganatic marriage with her chamberlain.[5] This marriage did not appear in the Almanach de Gotha, and was not approved by her son the Grand Duke. Consequently, the marriage was not sanctioned by the Saxe-Weimar government.[5] She continued to be styled as Dowager Hereditary Grand Duchess only by courtesy, as she was unpopular with her family and her son's subjects.[5]

Though she lived much of her widowhood away from the Saxe-Weimar court, Pauline "contributed even from a distance, to create the difficulties which rendered the position of her daughter-in-law, the present Grand Duchess, so extremely difficult during the first few months of marriage".[5] She was described as "extraordinarily fat, and one of the most plain-featured princesses of Germany, her homeliness being of the crabbed and sour order rather than of a genial nature".[5]

On 17 May 1904, Pauline died suddenly of heart disease while on a train en route from Rome to Florence.[2][4][6] Her body was taken to Florence.[6]

Honours

Ancestry

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Princess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
  1. ^ a b c Lundy, Darryl. "The Peerage: Pauline Ida Prinzessin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach". Retrieved 17 August 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Memorial Notices", The Manchester Guardian, Rome, 18 May 1904
  3. ^ "Hereditary Grand Duke Dead", The New York Times, Berlin, 22 November 1894
  4. ^ a b Eilers Koenig, Marlene. "Hereditary Grand Duchess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar". Royal Musings. Archived from the original on 2018-06-02. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  5. ^ a b c d e Eilers Koenig, Marlene. "More on Pauline of Saxe-Weimar". Royal Musings. Archived from the original on 2017-07-31. Retrieved 1 September 2010.
  6. ^ a b "Grand Duchess Dead" (PDF), The New York Times, Rome, 18 May 1904
  7. ^ Staatshandbuch für das Großherzogtum Sachsen / Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (1900), "Genealogie" p. 3
  8. ^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg (1896), "Königliche Orden" p. 136
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