The island was once a summer resort for Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden. He had purchased the property in 1853 as a private transaction. The Grand Duke built the schloss, and the family used the island as a private retreat. The island was inherited by his eldest son, Friedrich II, who retained the property after his abdication in 1918. As Friedrich II had no children, he left the island to his sister, Victoria, who was the wife of King Gustaf V of Sweden, when he died in 1928.
Queen Victoria of Sweden died two years later. She chose to bequeath the island to her second son, Prince Vilhelm, and his descendants. In 1932, Prince Vilhelm gave the island to his only child, Lennart.
The island remained in the Count's possession until 1974 when he turned it over to a foundation. He also founded Enterprise Mainau, which runs the island for Lennart's foundation, the Lennart-Bernadotte Stiftung.
Count Lennart remained actively involved in the running of Mainau and was largely responsible for the garden designs. Sonja was named a co-manager, and after Lennart's death, she and their five children ran both the management firm and the stiftung.
http://www.mainau.de/htdocs/en/0104.htm
Small correction:
ReplyDeleteThe Palace on Mainau island is 18th century, not 19th. It was a commenderie, or something, of the Deutche Orden. There are a couple of elder (medieval) towers standing.
A good part of the schloss was built in the 1800s.
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