Another Ancient Mail Call

 

Duke Christian Ludwig married Princess Barbara of Prussia, daughter of Prince Sigismund, second of three sons of Prince Henry of Prussia and Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine.

King Constantine of the Hellenes

The last three cards are from Princess Margaret of Hesse and By Rhine (nee Hon. Margaret Geddes), the widow of Prince Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine, the younger son of the last Grand Duke of Hesse and By Rhine, Ernst Ludwig. Ludwig and his older brother, Georg Donatus, were paternal first cousins of Princess Alice of Battenberg, whose daughter Cecilie married Georg Donatus in 1931.  

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/11/the-hesse-air-tragedy-november-16-1937.html

I visited Schloss Wolfsgarten on September 16, 1984, one day after the birth of Prince Harry.  At lunch, where guests included Princess Beatrix of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, we celebrated the newest British royal with a champagne toast.  Princess Margaret gave me a tour of the house.  I saw the window with the signatures etched with a diamond,  the height chart for different family members, and access to the family archives. I got to play in Princess Elisabeth's playhouse.

Nearly 41 years I played in Princess Elisabeth of Hesse and By Rhine's playhouse at Schloss Wolfsgarten

The Playhouse

Princess Margaret of Hesse and By Rhine (all three photos by me)

Weeding through files, saving bits and pieces.

HSH Princess Maria Anna's death notice

 

@Schloss Sayn Archives

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2025/05/mamarazza-has-died-hsh-princess.html

Mamarazza has died - HSH Princess Marianne of Sayn Wittgenstein-Sayn (1919-2025)

 

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HSH Marianne, Dowager Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, the doyenne of German and Austrian nobility, died on May 4, 2025, at her home in Munich.  She was 105 years old.

The Austrian newspaper Krone reports that "no one captured the nobility and high society like Princess Marianne of Sayn-Wittgenstein Sayn, affectionately and appreciatively called 'Mamarazza' by her friends."

Princess Caroline gave her the nickname: "You're not a paparazzo, you're a mamarazzi."

The princess was born Baroness Maria Anna Mayr von Melnhof in Salzburg, Austria, on December 19, 1919. She was the eldest of nine children of Baron Froedrich Mayr von Melnhof and Countess Maria Anna von Meran.   Princess Marianne was a descendant of Empress Maria Theresia of Austria through her mother.

https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2024/12/princess-manni-celebrates-centenary.html

 While studying at the Blocherer Art School in Munich, Princess Marianne met her future husband,  HSH Hereditary Prince Ludwig Stanislaw Heinrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. They married at Schloss Glanegg on March 12, 1942.  Since 1896, Schloss Glanegg has been owned by the Mayr von Melnhof family.

Ludwig succeeded his father, Gustav Alexander, in 1953 as the 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn. 

 

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 Princess Marianne became a widow with five young children when Ludwig, at age 45, was killed by a drunk driver outside Schloss Sayn on January 9, 1961.   After hr husband's untimely death, she returned to Salzburg where she inaugurated an annual arts festival. Her hunting lodge in Fuschl am See evolved into a "social hub" during the Salzburg Festival, where a "private 'country lunch' quickly developed into an unofficial meeting place for the nobility, artists, and international celebrities."

The couple's eldest son, Hereditary Prince Alexander Konrad Friedrich  Heinrich, was only 17 when he inherited the family estate and position as the 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn.

The Dowager Princess is survived by four of her five children: HSH Princess Yvonne, HSH Prince Alexander, HSH Princess Teresa, Countess von Kageneck, and HSH Prince Peter, with numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Her second daughter, HSH Princess Elisabeth, Baroness Schuler von Senden, died in 1997.

Princess Marianne took over 300,000 photographs of celebrities and royals, including the Aga Khan and King Charles III.

She lived in an apartment in Munich, where she was cared for 24 hours a day.

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Embed from Getty Images

 

 In December, when she celebrated her 105th birthday, her youngest son, Prince Peter, told a reporter: "My mother was always vain and placed great importance on her appearance. My mother would never wear a tracksuit or even a nightgown during the day when guests came."

According to the Kurier, an Austrian newspaper, the Princess will be " remembered as a hostess of legendary parties and a noble observer of high society."  

 The late Marianne, Dowager Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn, said of her work as a photographer: “I always photographed my friends as friends.”

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140th ANNIVERSARY OF PRINCE ALEXANDER’S DEATH MARKED IN OPLENAC

 

TRH Hereditary Prince Philip and Prince Stefan

Belgrade, 3 May 2025 – TRH Hereditary Prince Philip, Princess Danica, Prince Stefan, and Princess Marija attended today a memorial service and a wreath-laying ceremony held in Saint George’s Church in Oplenac, honouring the 140th anniversary of the death of HSH Prince Alexander, the son of the founder of the Royal Dynasty, Supreme Leader Karadjordje.

Due to unavoidable obligations abroad, TRH Crown Prince Alexander and Crown Princess Katherine could not attend the marking of this important jubilee. After the church service held by the priests of the Oplenac Parish, the Hereditary Prince laid a wreath on the tomb of his ancestor, the great reformer. TRH Prince Mihailo, Princess Ljubica, and Mr. Dragan Reljic, Director of the Foundation of King Peter I in Oplenac, were also present and paid their respect to His late Serene Highness.

Earlier today, HRH Crown Prince Alexander shared his message in remembrance of Karajdordje’s son. “My great-great-grandfather, Aleksandar Karađorđević, Serbian Prince from 1842 to 1858 and son of the leader of the First Serbian Uprising – Supreme Leader Karađorđe, ruled the country for almost 16 years, and his reign was marked by visible progress, especially in the establishment and strengthening of institutions, the passing of laws, the growth of economic activity and the development of education.

Although he did not gain glory on the battlefield like other Karađorđevićs, Prince Aleksandar fought a different battle, a battle for the establishment of civil society, progress, and modernization of the Principality of Serbia, which was still part of the Ottoman Empire. During his reign, the first in our history in which the monarch respected the Constitution, many reforms were initiated, and numerous new institutions were founded. All this was done to overcome the centuries-old lag behind other European countries, to encourage the progress of the Serbian state, and to bring our nation closer to modern society.”

HRH Hereditary Prince Philip stated:“Today, with deep respect, we remember Prince Alexander Karađorđević — a statesman of quiet strength and a visionary whose role in our history has remained insufficiently illuminated. Although often in the shadow of other great names, he is precisely the one who laid the foundations of the modern Serbian state in the difficult times after the First and Second Serbian Uprisings.

During his reign from 1842 to 1858, Prince Alexander initiated significant reforms: he established the National Assembly as the seed of parliamentarism, renovated the judicial system, founded the Artillery School — the forerunner of today's Military Academy — and strongly supported education, culture, and science. He supported the work of the Serbian Literary Society - the future Academy of Sciences- and was convinced that the people's spiritual progress must go hand in hand with the state system.

Prince Alexander was the first Serbian ruler of the modern era who consistently and quietly directed Serbia towards Europe—not only in foreign policy but primarily through institutions, laws, and the way of governing. His reformist spirit was marked by an aspiration to European administration standards, education, the army, and the judicial system.

He laid the foundations of the Court as a serious, state-building center. His Court was not a place of personal splendor but a dignified institution that symbolized order, stability, and openness towards Europe. Gradually and without imposition, he introduced a style of governance that brought order, modesty, and European political culture into the civil service.

His rule was not loud, but it was thorough. His contribution to statehood was devoid of personal ambition, but filled with responsibility towards the people and the Karađorđe’s oath.

Today, more than ever, we have a moral obligation to correct historical injustice and pay a worthy tribute to this statesman. That is why I call on all of us, as a community, to support the initiative to erect a monument to Prince Alexander in his birthplace, Topola, the place where not only the history of our dynasty began, but also the struggle for an orderly, legal and European-oriented Serbia.

TRH Hereditary Prince Philip and Hereditary Princess Danica &TRH Prince Mihailo, Princess Ljubica

May this monument not be just a stone, but a living reminder of the values that Prince Alexander stood for — responsibility, reforms, institutions, and the European spirit. And may it be a lesson to future generations that the silent builders of the state deserve the same eternal respect as the heroes on the battlefield. May his glory be immortal, we are forever thankful!”

all photos courtesy of HRH Crown Prince Alexander

Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha's funeral

 HH Prince Andreas of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha's life was celebrated at St Moritz Kirche in Coburg on April 24th.

Duke Wilhelm of Württemberg

HRH Prince Ernst August of Hanover (right)

The King of Sweden who was Prince Andrea's first cousin

Prince Andrea's goddaughter, HRH Princess Madeleine of Sweden and her husband, Christopher O'Neill

TH Prince Hubertus and Princess Kelly of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

HH Prince Alexander of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, HH Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and her husband, Jan Stahl

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (half-sister of Prince Andreas)

TRH The Margrave and Margravine of Baden, HRH Prince Laurent of Belgium,  HRH Princess Kalina of Bulgaria and her husband, Kitin Munoz

In the back right  HI & RH Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia

HRH Princess Sophie Alexandra of Bavaria

HRH Princess Madeleine, Christopher O'Neill and Princess Christina, Mrs. Magnuson

TSH The Prince and Princess of Hohenzollern and TSH the Prince and Princess of Schaumberg-Lippe

HRH Princess Sophie Alexandra of Bavaria, HRH Duke Franz of Bavaria

The Margrave and Margravine of Baden

HSH the Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg 

HRH Princess Kalina of Bulgaria and Kitin Munoz

The copyright for these photos belongs to the photographer, a friend of mine.   I am grateful that I can share these photos with my readers.

Waldburg-Zeil Heir to Marry

Both photos Linkedin

H Ill H Count Maximilian Aloysius Maria Anselm Franz Joseph Andreas Antonius Wunibald of Walzburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg, the future head of the house of Waldburg zu Zeil, is engaged to marry German banker Veronika Elisabeth Maria Müller-Wilmes.

 He was born in Stuttgart on February 10, 1992. He is the third child and eldest son of H Ill H Count Maria Clemens Franz  Erich Thomas  Wunibald of Walzburg zu Zeil und Trauchburg and HSH Princess Georgina Maria Agnes Philippine Elisabeth Ignatia of Liechtenstein.

Clemens is the Secretary General of the German Red Cross.   

Count Maximilian is based in Zurich, where he works as a Project Portfolio & Cost Controller for Generali Switzerland. He has a Bachelor's and a Master's degrees in Economics from St. Gallen University in St. Gallen, Switzerland.

Taken by a friend at Countess Leonie von Waldburg-Zeil Hohenems' wedding

Miss Müller-Wilmes was born in July 1995. She is the daughter of Urban Müller-Wilmes and Elisabeth Freiin von Landsberg-Velen 

Veronika's undergraduate degree is a Bachelor of Science in Economics and Business Economics from Maastricht University School of Business and Economics. She earned a Master of Science in Finance from the University of St. Andrews.  

She is the Head of Business Development at Asset Management, Züricher Kantonalbank, in Zürich.

Maximilian is the heir to his uncle, HSH Erich Wunibald Aloysius Georg, Prince of Waldburg zu Zeil and Trauchberg, who is married to HRH Duchess Mathilde of Württemberg. They are the parents of five daughters. Succession to the title and the estates is based on Salic Law (males only.)

Erich and Clemens are first cousins, as are their wives. Mathilde is the daughter of the late Carl, Duke of Württemberg, whose sister, Duchess Maria Christina, is the mother of  Georgina.