The Marquise de Fontoney's latest dispatch is about a tragic accident in Munich. Young Baron Georg von Saafeld, who is 14 years old, was run over by a tramcar in Munich as he was attempting to board "on the front platform while it was in motion." One of his legs was amputated due to the injury.
Baron von Saafeld can "boast an illustrious ancestry" on his father's side, as his father is Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen, the second son of the reigning Duke of Saxe-Meiningen. His elder brother, the Crown Prince of Saxe-Meiningen, is married to Princess Charlotte of Prussia, Kaiser Wilhelm's eldest sister.
Prince Ernst's mother was Princess Feodore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, a niece of Queen Victoria. Princess Feodora's mother (and namesake) was Queen Victoria's older half-sister, Princess Feodore of Leiningen.
Prince Ernst of Saxe-Meiningen's marriage to Katharina Jensen, the daughter of a Jewish journalist, Dr. William Jensen, is morganatic. At the time of her marriage, Katharina was created Baroness von Saafeld. This title is also used by her children.
Although Ernst retains his own dynastic rights -- his elder brother's marriage is childless --he cannot pass those rights to his sons.
Prince Ernst and his wife and their six children, Georg Wilhelm, Elisabeth Helene, Ernst Friedrich, Ralph Erich, Sven Hans, and Heinrich, live in Munich, where the family lives an "extremely happy life."
[Baron Georg Wilhelm was killed in action in La Bassée, France on April 29, 1916), so one wonders about the article's accuracy. If young Baron Georg Wilhelm lost his leg in 1910, how could he have been a soldier?]
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