Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz's siblings

On June 17, 1882,  Hereditary Grand Duchess Elisabeth of Mecklenburg-Strelitz provided her husband, Hereditary Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich with a son and heir.  The birth of a healthy son was a relief to Elisabeth.  Her first two children were daughters.

The infant's baptism took place at Neustrelitz on July 20th with an impressive list of godparents including his grandparents, Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt,  Princess Friedrich Carl of Prussia, the Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg, the Duke of Cambridge, the Prince of Wales, Prince Eduard of Anhalt and Princess Christian of Schleswig-Holstein.
Princess Friedrich Carl and the Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg were born Princesses of Anhalt and were the infant's great aunts.  The Duke of Cambridge was the older brother of young Adolf's grandmother, Augusta.  

Unlike his two sisters, who were raised by governesses,  Adolf Friedrich, and his younger brother, Karl Borwin were privately tutored.  Adolf Friedrich also attended school in Dresden.

Adolf Friedrich's father succeeded as Grand Duke in 1904.   The younger Adolf Friedrich was now the Hereditary Grand Duke, and the question arose:  who will the new heir marry?  A good question. The situation was further complicated following the death of his brother, Prince Karl Borwin, who was killed by Count Georges Jametel in a duel on August 24, 1908.  

Jametel was the estranged husband of Adolf and Karl Borwin's sister, Marie.
 
Here is a link to a site with more information about Adolf Friedrich:

  http://www.mecklenburg-strelitz.org/adolf_friedrich_6.html


The second of the four children of Adolf Friedrich and Elisabeth was Duchess Auguste Charlotte Jutta Alexandra Georgina Adolphine.  She was born at Neustrelitz on January 24, 1880.   

It is no coincidence that Jutta's marriage was hastily arranged after her sister's pregnancy and the scandal that ensued.

Jutta's marriage to Crown Prince Danilo of Montenegro was arranged by Kaiser Wilhelm II.  The official announcement of the engagement was made in Cetinje on April 16, 1899.  Shortly after her arrival in Montenegro, Jutta converted to the Orthodox faith, and took the name Militza.  The marriage took place in Cetinje on July 29, 1899, six weeks after the marriage of Marie to Jametel.

The new Crown Princess and her husband settled into married life in Cetinje, but the marriage was not a happy one.   The marriage was also childless.  

Nicholas of Montenegro, who received financial support from the Russian Czar,  actively encouraged the marital matchmaking for his sons and daughters
After the end of the first world war,  Montenegro ceased to be an independent monarchy.  Jutta's father-in-law, King Nicholas, lost his throne, as the country was incorporated into the new Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.    Nicholas died in 1921, and was succeeded by Crown Prince Danilo.  He abdicated a week later in favor of his nephew, Michael.

In 1928, Princess Jutta singlehandedly endangered the "independence of the free state of Mecklenburg-Strelitz," which had 110, 000 residents.

According to a report in the Chicago Daily Tribune, Princess Militza,  the name Jutta took when she joined the Orthodox church, filed suit against the Mecklenburg government for "more money than the state takes in during a whole year."  The princess based her claim "on the strength of the Versailles treaty."

Mecklenburg's government was alarmed by the princess's legal action.  If the arbitration court in Paris ruled in her favor, Mecklenburg-Strelitz would have lost their independence.

The 48-year-old Princess refused to recognize "her family's settlement with the new republican government of Mecklenburg-Strelitz."  She demanded the full payment of her inheritance, which was a total of 15,000,000 marks (about $3,750,000)l, plus "compound interest accrued since 1918."

Mecklenburg-Strelitz made it clear that it refused to pay the Princess, "claiming that the settlement which was good enough for its own former reigning grand dukes should be satisfactory to the dethroned princess of Montenegro."
Princess Militza aligned herself "with the victorious allied powers" and chose to use "clauses of the Versailles Treaty" to force "Mecklenburg-Strelitz to pay her more than the state is worth.

She filed suit in Mecklenburg-Strelitz,  which "appealed to the arbitration court" in Paris.

Jutta and Danilo lived in France until he died in 1939.  She moved to Rome, where she died on February 17, 1946.   Her sister-in-law, Queen Elena, was the wife of King Victor Emanuele.