Coburg wedding

Hereditary Prince Hubertus of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Kelly Rondestvedt were married today in a civil ceremony at Schloss Callenberg, near Coburg. The ceremony was private, and was attended by family and close friends.

http://www.infranken.de/nc/nachrichten/lokales/artikelansicht/article/ja-21848.html

Coburg's local paper, the Neue Presse, has been covering the wedding in detail. http://www.infranken.de/nachrichten/prinzenhochzeit.html

This is the first royal wedding to be held in Coburg since June 1977, when Princess Beatrice married Prince Friedrich Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen. Princess Beatrice is Prince Andreas' younger half-sister.
On October 20, 1932, Princess Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha married Hereditary Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden in a Lutheran wedding at St. Mortiz. Sibylla's youngest brother, Friedrich Josias, succeeded as head of the house in 1954, following the death of their father, Carl Eduard. (The eldest son, Johann Leopold, lost his succession rights in March 1932 when he married a divorced Baroness.) The second son, Prince Hubertus, was killed in action during the second world war.
Prince Friedrich Josias was married three times. His first wife was his first cousin, Countess Victoria zu Solms-Baruth. They were married in 1942 in Casel, and were divorced in 1946. They had one son, Andreas, who is the current head of the family, and the father of the bridegroom. On Valentine's Day in 1948, Friedrich Josias married for a second time to Denyse von Muralt. They had three children, Beatrice, Maria Claudia and Adrian. This marriage ended in divorce in 1964, and Friedrich Josias married for a third time to Kathrin Bremme.
Prince Andreas was raised in the United States as his mother remarried in 1947 to an American, Richard Whitten. The family settled in Covington, Lousiana. Prince Andreas, who was born in 1943, attended high school and college in the USA. He returned to Germany to learn about his heritage and take on the mantle of running the family business and maintain the family properties, which, at the time, included Schloss Greinberg in Austria, and property in Coburg, Scotland and in othe parts of Germany.
Prince Andreas married at Hamburg in 1971 to Carin Dabelstein. This marriage was approved by his father.
Friedrich Josias died in 1998, and Prince Andreas succeeded as head of the House of Saxe-Coburg. Although Hubertus' great-grandfather, Duke Carl Eduard, was born a British prince, the ties to the British royal family are now largely genealogical. Duke Carl Eduard was embraced National Socialism with a passion, and, this put a major blot in his copybook.
This branch of the Coburg family does maintain strong ties to the Swedish court as Prince Andreas and King Carl XVI Gustaf are first cousins. Prince Andreas is one of Princess Madeleine's godparents.
It is not a surprise that Prince Hubertus has married an American. He has lived and worked in New York City for several years, where he is employed in the financial sector. His father, who has a half-sister, Victoria, continues to maintain the ties to his American family.


Here is a link to an interview with the bride and groom:

http://www.infranken.de/nc/nachrichten/lokales/artikelansicht/article/coburg-freut-sich-auf-koenige-aus-schweden-21527.html

http://www.infranken.de/nc/nachrichten/lokales/artikelansicht/article/coburg-und-das-ereignis-des-jahres-21835.html

http://www.br-online.de/studio-franken/frankenkult/blaues-blut-in-coburg-DID1242049657155/index.xml