Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg
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| Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg | |
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| Born | May 8, 1878 Neustrelitz |
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| Died | October 14, 1948 (aged 70) Oberkassel |
| Title | Duchess of Mecklenburg Countess Jametel Princess of Lippe |
| Parents | Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt |
Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg (8 May 1878 - 14 October 1948) was the eldest daughter of Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt.
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[edit] Early life
As a young woman Marie became pregnant by a palace servant.[1] The servant, a married man named Hecht, was responsible for turning off the gas-lights in the bedrooms of the grand ducal children. Several of Marie's cousins, including the future King George V of the United Kingdom and William II, German Emperor, thought that Marie had been "hypnotised". Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom thought that Marie had been "drugged". Hecht was dismissed from service on the charge of stealing; his subsequent law-suit against the grand ducal family made the details of the story public.
A daughter was born to Marie in 1898; she was raised under the protection of Marie's grandmother, Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born Princess Augusta of Cambridge).[2]
[edit] First marriage
Marie went to France where she met Count George Jametel (1859-1944), the son of a patent medicine manuafacturer; he had received the title of papal count from Pope Leo XIII in 1886. Marie and George were married on 22 June 1899, at the Catholic chapel of St. Elizabeth in Richmond Park, near White Lodge, the home of Marie's great aunt, the Duchess of Teck (born Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge). There was a second Anglican wedding ceremony the same day at the Parish Church of Kew.[3] In spite of the fact that the marriage was morganatic, many members of Marie's family attended the wedding, including her grandparents, parents, and three siblings. The wedding breakfast was given by her great-uncle the Duke of Cambridge at Cambridge Cottage, Kew.[4]
Marie and George received a large financial settlement ($200,000) from Marie's father.[5] They lived in the Faubourg St. Germain in Paris. They had two children:
- Count George Jametel (3 February 1904 - 1982)
- Countess Marie Auguste Jametel (11 September 1905 - 24 September 1969)
Marie's husband George had several affairs, most notoriously with the married Infanta Eulalia of Spain.[6] In January 1908 Marie applied for a divorce from George.[7][8] In August her nineteen-year-younger brother Duke Karl Borwin of Mecklenburg decided to defend her honour and challenged George to a duel in which Karl Borwin was killed.[9] Marie and George were divorced 31 December 1908.[10] She resumed the use of her Mecklenburg title and lived in the Blasewitz section of Dresden.
[edit] Second marriage
On 11 August 1914, at Neustrelitz, Marie married Prince Julius Ernst of Lippe (1873-1952), third son of Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld and uncle of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.[11] After their marriage Marie and Julius lived in Blasewitz. They had two children:
- Princess Elisabeth of Lippe (born 23 January 1916), married Prince Ernst-August of Solms-Braunfels
- Prince Ernst August of Lippe (1 April 1917 - 15 June 1990) a claimant to the headship of the House of Lippe.
Marie died at the age of seventy in Oberkassel near Bonn. She is buried with her second husband in the Lippe family mausoleum at Heisterbach Abbey.[12]
[edit] Ancestors
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ James Pope-Hennessy, Queen Mary, 1867-1953 (London: G. Allen and Unwin, 1959).
- ^ Le Royaume-Uni de Grande-Bretagne et Irlande du Nord (Paris : Cercle d'Études des Dynasties Royales Européennes, 1989): II, 145.
- ^ "A Morganatic Marriage", The New York Times (June 23, 1899): 7.
- ^ "Court Circular", The Times (June 23, 1899): 6.
- ^ "Countess Wants Divorce", The New York Times (February 9, 1908): C1.
- ^ Ricardo Mateo Sainz de Medrano, "L'Affaire Jametel", Royalty Digest (vol. 8, no. 96): 360.
- ^ "Royal Divorce Probable", The New York Times (February 1, 1908): 4.
- ^ "Countess Wants Divorce", The New York Times (February 9, 1908): C1.
- ^ Erstling, Frank; Frank Saß, Eberhard Schulze (April 2001). "Das Fürstenhaus von Mecklenburg-Strelitz", Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Beiträge zur Geschichte einer Region (in German). Friedland: Steffen, 184. ISBN 3980753204.
- ^ Almanach de Gotha, 1910, 61.
- ^ "German Royal Engagement", The Times (April 29, 1914): 7.
- ^ Royalty (Travel) Guide
