Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
Prince Ludwig Adolf Friedrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein (born June 8, 1799, in Kovno, died June 20, 1866, in Cannes) was a Russian aristocrat of German descent. Among his properties were the famed Mir Castle Complex and Verkiai Palace.
The eldest son of the celebrated Russian Prince Peter of Sayn and Wittgenstein, he was half-Polish through his mother and was formally known in Russian as Lev Petrovich Witgenstein. In 1821 he was sent to represent Russia at the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom, but his career came to a halt when his participation in the Decembrist societies was revealed in 1826. He secured a pardon through the interference of his influential father.
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On June 14, 1828, at St. Petersburg Ludwig married Princess Caroline (Stefania) Radziwiłł and thus came into possession of the biggest privately owned estate in Central Europe, covering roughly 12 000 km² of fields, forests, villages and towns in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They had two children:
- Marie (16 February 1829 - 21 December 1897); married Chlodwig, 2nd Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Chancellor of the German Empire (31 March 1819 - 6 July 1901).
- Peter, 2nd Prince of Sayn and Wittgenstein (10 May 1831 - 20 Aug 1887); married Rosalie Léon (21 October 1832 - 28 August 1886).
Upon Stefania's death in 1832, Ludwig married Princess Leonilla Bariatinskaya, by whom he had a further four children.
- Friedrich, 1st Fürst Sayn-Wittgenstein (3 April 1836 - 19 May 1909)
- Princess Antoinette zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (12 March 1839 - 17 May 1918) married with issue
- Ludwig, 2nd Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn (15 July 1843 - 28 February 1876)
- Alexander, 4th Fürst zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn,