Do you know this man: Alexander von Waldenburg

July17, 1908

Do you know where Alexander von Waldenburg is living? If so, please let the German authorities know because he has money coming to him. The Marquise of Fontenoy reports today on Alexander von Waldenburg, 38, a great-grandson of Prince August of Prussia and his "fair friend," Frederica Wichmann, who "at the instance of her royal protector was ennobled and accorded the name of von Waldenburg."
Prince August left two families of illegitimate children. The "major portion of his immense property returned to the reigning house," some estates were left "in trust for his progeny. Some of the property of these estates are going to be sold, and the trust has obtained the permission of all the heirs with the exception of the missing Alexander von Waldenburg, whose last known address was in Tottenville, Staten Island, New York. His "consent is needed to effect the partition," and his expected share of the sale will be about $25,000.
Prince August was the son of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, who was the younger brother of Friedrich the Great. Prince Louis Ferdinand bequeathed his castle, Bellevue, to his son, August, who never married. He lived there "with women who have wrongly described as his morganatic wives." The only woman he "sought to marry" was Mme de Récamier," but they were never wed, and he never married the mothers of his children.
One of the woman was Marie Arndt, "for whom he obtained the title of Baroness von Prillwitz. One of their daughters married Count Heinrich Arnim, who as Germany's ambassador at Paris, "incurred the enmity of Bismarck and died in exile."
Prince August and Fredrica Wichmann had three children, three daughters, who never married and a son, Eduard, who became the head of his father's household. He had two sons and two daughters. The elder of the two sons married a Miss Selina Gregg, daughter of one of King George IV's gentlemen-in-waiting.
The missing Alexander is the eldest son of this marriage.


[Alexander was indeed living on Staten Island. He was located, and he sailed to Germany in late August in order to sign the documents and get his inheritance. He was not, however, the son of Selina Greig, not Gregg, but one of two children from his father's first marriage to Amalie Thien. Alexander was born on February 1, 1870 and died on June 1944. His parents divorced in 1871, not long after the birth of their Flora, on July 14, 1871.
Eduard married Selina Greig in December 1871, They had eight children before getting a divorce in 1892.
Alexander was married three times. His first wife was Berthe Lange, who was the mother of his only child, Ruth-Susanne von Waldenburg, who was born in 1902. He married Mathilde Trager in 1818, but the marriage lasted for two years. In 1920, he married Elisabeth Bergmann. This marriage ended in divorce in 1933.
Ruth-Susanne married on April 16, 1920 to Werner von Bychelberg. This marriage, too. ended in divorce. The couple had two sons, Axel and Harry. Ruth died in 1983.
As Alexander died in Berlin, it seems possible that after receiving his inheritance, he chose to remain in Germany. It also should be noted that Prince August's friend was named Karoline Wichmann, not Frederica.]