Elise, Princess of Reuss

Marlene A. Eilers Koenig collection

On November 11, 1884,  Princess Elise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1864-1929) married Heinrich XXVII Prince of Reuss zu Schleiz (1858-1929), who ceased to rule on November 11, 1918.

The couple had five children: Viktoria-Feodora (1889-1918), who married Adolf Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Luise-Adelheid (1890-1951), Heinrich XL (b-d 1891), Heinrich XLIII (1893-1912) and Heinrich XLV, Prince Reuss zu Schleiz (1895-1945?)  He went missing in the second world war, and was declared dead in 1962.

Elise was the second child of Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, and Princess Leopoldine of Baden. She was named for her paternal aunt, Elise (1830-1850).  Her older brother, Ernst, who succeeded his father as Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg, married Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh, a granddaughter of Queen Victoria.

Elise's first daughter, Viktoria-Feodora, was named for Queen Victoria (her great aunt) and her grandmother, Princess Feodora, who was Queen Victoria's half-sister.  Elise's younger sister, Feodore, married Emich, Prince of Leiningen.

Unlike the marriages of her siblings, there are no references to Elise's engagement and marriage in Queen Victoria's letters or the Court Circular.