Tuesday, May 29, 2012

The runaway princess ...



May 29, 1908

Members of the princely family of Fürstenberg held a family council earlier today and have decided to not oppose the marriage of Princess Amelie of Fürstenberg and Gustav Kozian, reports the New York Times.

The Princess and Herr Kozian, who works for an automobile firm, recently eloped from Vienna.  The couple is now in Lucerne, Switzerland, and have stated that they will live abroad after the wedding.

The first reports of a runaway princess were published in Austria several days earlier.  On May 26, the press identified the Princess as 24-year-old Princess Amelie Luise, sister of Prince Emil Egon zu Fürstenberg.  On May 26, the New York Times reported that the police were "actively at work to locate the fugitives."

A day later, the Princess and Gustav Kozian, who worked for a local automobile firm, were traced to Zurich.  But as soon as they learned they had been discovered, the couple left for an unknown destination.

It was said that the Princess took with her "a large quantity of jewelry," including several tiaras.  Descriptions of these pieces have been sent to "the principal jewelers of Europe with a warning not to purchase."

4 comments:

phoebes in santa fe said...

Wow, I'd love to know how THIS one turned out. It has all the ingredients of a great story. Young heiress, garage mechanic, elopement... plus tiaras!

I know you don't normally write about what happened, but if you could give a leeetle idea.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

he was actually a minor noble, and was the representative of the country .. they did get divorced about a decade later.

Unknown said...

I've got a fantastic photograph of the front of a newsagent shop showing the headlines as 'German Princess elopes with chauffeur to England' That's how I traced this story. Would love to be able to show it here but it won't let me upload it.

Marlene Eilers Koenig said...

you can scan it to the blog's email address