Alfonso and Pimpinella

Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection

In 1921, Prince Max Egon of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a member of a junior (and Roman Catholic) branch of the Langenburg family, married Doña Maria de la Piedad Iturbe y Scholtz. Piedita was a Spanish noblewoman, and was the Marquesa de Belvis de las Navas in her own right.

The couple had six children, Maria Francesca (known as Pimpenella), Alfonso, Christian, Elisabeth, Max Emanuel and Beatriz. I bought these postcards from a German dealer. The cards have handwritten notes from their mother on the backsides (in German) to "Lieber Freund." The notes contain family news, and are signed "Piedita H-L"

The first card shows Prince Alfonso, 11, with his godfather, King Alfonso XIII of Spain.

The middle card shows Princess Maria Francisca (Pimpinella) on a horse in 1930. The final image shows Maria Francesca and her infant brother, Alfonso.

Pimpinella succeeded to her mother's title in 1959. She married Claudio Gamazo y Arnus, Marqués de Soto de Aller. She died in 2007.

 Alfonso, who ran the Marbella Club, was married three times. His first wife, Princess Ira zu Fürstenberg, was only 15 when they married. Alfonso died in 2003.