Monday, March 19, 2012

Prince Eugen engaged to a Duchess of Württemberg

March 19, 1898

A report from Rome to the Chicago Daily Tribune notes that Prince Eugen, the youngest son of King Oscar V of Sweden, is engaged to Duchess Olga of Württemberg.

Prince Eugen, known as the " 'Red Prince' for his predilection for red colors,"  is an artist of "no mean ability."  He is "extremely democratic in his ways," mixes easily with brother artists, and lives a very bohemian life.

He has a "large fortune of his own, " and Duchess Olga is one of the "wealthiest princesses in Europe."  Her mother is the former Grand Duchess Vera of Russia.   Her father,  Duke Wilhelm, died in January 1877, less than eleven months after Olga's birth.  She has an older sister, Duchess Elsa, who married in Prince Albrecht of Schaumburg-Lippe in 1897.

Prince Eugen is in Rome.  The princess and her mother are also there, and King Oscar "is expected shortly."

Members of the Swedish royal family have been "fortunate in their matrimonial experiences."  Prince Oscar Bernadotte, "the reputed evangelist," is married to his mother's maid of honor, but all the other princes of the royal house have followed the "old Quaker advice: It is just as easy to love a girl with money as without any," as all of the princes have married princesses with fortunes, but none are beauties.

2 comments:

Rex said...

Marlene,

Weren't Duchess Olga and Duchess Elsa twin daughters of Grand Duchess Vera? And wasn't one of them engaged to Prince Axel of Pless at one stage, with the engagement being broken when it was said that Axel had had a homosexual relationship in his youth?

And, Axel of Pless was also engaged to Princess Ileana of Roumania, wasn't he, with this engagement being broken too?

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

No such person as Axel of Pless. I think you mean Count Alexander of Hochberg, known as Lexel, who was the son of the Prince and Princess of Pless. It would have been rather difficult for Lexel and one of the Württemberg girls to become engaged . he was born in 1905. Elsa was engaged to the Hereditary Prince Alfred of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha