Duke of Anhalt marries actress

March 4, 1927

The former Duke of Anhalt, Joachim Ernst, was married today to an actress, Ottilie Strichtrodt, at Schloss Ballenstedt.

According to the New York Times, the "pretentious royal court of the former little Duchy of Anhalt completely ignored the marriage ceremony."

Anhalt's local residents more than made up for the lack of royal guests at the wedding. They "paid homage to the youthful Duke and his spouse in a fashion which fully compensated for the absence of the bridegroom's relatives."

Duke Joachim Ernst reigned over Anhalt for a mere two months before the fall of the German monarchy. He remains head of the former ducal family.

While he waited for the new Republican government to "compensate the deposed families for their expropriated properties," the duke took a job a stage director at the local theatre, which once belonged to his family. Other family members tried to "persuade him to refrain from all forms of labor through fear of endangering the prestige of the noble families."

The duke took the job and fell in love with the theater manager's daughter.
Some of his relatives tried to have the marriage prevented by asking for the former Kaiser's help.

Duke Joachim Ernst will return to his job after the couple return from their honeymoon on the French Riviera. He will continue to "shun the court as long as his wife is not received, closing the castle gates to all the opponents of his marriage."