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In the early months of 1918, Princess Benigna Karoline Elisabeth Reuss zu Köstritz was preparing for her marriage to Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.
Although the engagement had not yet been publicly announced, Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich, 35, had already informed his government of his intention to marry the 25-year-old Reuss princess, whose young life had been marred by the scandal of her parents’ divorce. Benigna was the third and youngest child of Prince Heinrich XXVIII (1859-1924) and Countess Magdalene of Solms-Laubach (1863-1925). This marriage was dissolved by divorce in 1907. A year later, Heinrich married Mary Grace Sawyer. Shortly before this second marriage, Heinrich renounced his titles and was created Count von Dürrenberg.
There is no doubt that this marriage would be suitable for Benigna to move away from her own family’s scandal and find comfort in marriage, and as the consort of the Grand Duke. Although there were hints of a possible marriage in the local press, Adolf Friedrich VI’s future wife was not identified by name. It would be some years before Princess Benigna Reuss was named as Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI’s fiancée.
The Great War was moving inexorably toward a fourth year and, in early 1918, few Germans believed that their military strength would be brought down by the Allies. A wedding, even a quiet wedding, would perhaps lift the spirits of Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich’s war-wearied subjects.
But there would be no wedding for Benigna, only tragedy, as Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich took his own life on the evening of February 23, 1918. The original reports of his death were confusing and inaccurate. According to the Berlin Lokalanzeiger, the Grand Duke called for his dog and said he was going for a walk. The route was familiar, as the Grand Duke walked along the Kammer canal. Servants became concerned when he had not returned by the next morning, and a search party was sent out to look for the Grand Duke. It was early afternoon on February 24 when Adolf Friedrich’s lifeless body was found floating in the Bürger Lake, about 100 yards from the Kammer Canal bridge. Soldiers “hastened to the scene,” recovered the body, and brought it back to the palace.
There was a gunshot wound to the Grand Duke’s chest.
The Lokal Anzeiger reported: “Sad experiences about which, as about everything, the grand duke was silent and reserved, affected him perhaps more deeply than his entourage imagined.”
The rumors began to rise within days of the Grand Duke’s death. The most prominent rumor concerned a morganatic marriage that Adolf Friedrich sought to end to marry Princess Benigna. However, at the time, the newspapers referred to her as a “Princess of a German house whom he loved,” but who was facing difficulties in extricating herself from this alleged morganatic marriage.
The New York Times reported on what was being written in the German newspapers. Some years before, Adolf Friedrich and his younger brother, Duke Karl Borwin, had come to an arrangement where Adolf Friedrich would renounce his rights of succession in favor of his younger brother, so he could devote himself to his painting and his lady love and Karl Borwin would marry a woman of equal rank and continue the dynasty. There was some truth to this report, although the actual facts would not be known for nearly 100 years.
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Duke Karl Borwin was killed in a duel when he was 19 years old, thus ending the arrangement made between the two brothers.
To understand what led to this duel – Borwin was killed by his rake of a brother-in-law, Count Georges Jametel – one must go back to 1897, when his eldest sister was raped by a footman. Their parents had left the raising of their children to governesses and tutors, and were largely uninformed about their four children’s lives. Marie’s predicament caused a great scandal for her family although it was not her fault that she did not know the facts of life. Marie’s parents, the Hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, seemed more concerned about the family name than about their daughter’s emotional and physical welfare.
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| HRH Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz |
The children’s formidable paternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, took matters into her own hands. She brought Marie to France, where the teenager gave birth to a daughter.
Augusta arranged for the infant to be adopted. She also sought advice from her friend, Infanta Eulalia of Spain, on finding a husband for Marie. The ever mischievous Eulalia recommended a ne’er-do-well, Count George Jametel, a Frenchman who was nearly 20 years older than Duchess Marie. Infanta Eulalia did omit one crucial fact when she recommended Georges to Augusta. He was her lover, and Eulalia had no intention of giving up the Count, but was more than willing to offer Georges as a potential husband for the very unworldly Duchess Marie.
Georges continued his affair with Infanta Eulalia even after his marriage to Marie, which took place in June 1899 in London.
Nearly a decade would pass before Marie’s marital situation led to further heartbreak and death.
Duke Adolf Friedrich Georg Ernst Albert Eduard of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born at Neustrelitz on June 17, 1882, the third child and elder son of Hereditary Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich and his wife, Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt. His two elder sisters, Duchesses Marie and Jutta, were four and two years his senior, and his younger brother, Karl Borwin, was six years younger. Adolf Friedrich’s paternal grandparents were Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his formidable wife, Augusta, a British princess. Grand Duchess Augusta preferred London to Neustrelitz. Her love for Great Britain was shared by her elder grandson.
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| Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich V |
Adolf Friedrich’s baptism took place at Neustrelitz on July 19, 1882. As befitted a future sovereign, the infant Duke had twelve godparents: Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt, Prince Eduard of Anhalt, Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Maria Anna of Prussia, Duchess Agnes of Saxe-Altenberg, the Duke of Cambridge, Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Altenberg, the Prince of Wales, Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein, Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia, and Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.
The young duke’s education was designed to prepare him for his future role as Grand Duke. After being tutored at home by the Lutheran theologian Carl Horn, Adolf Friedrich was sent to the Vitzthum-Gymnasium in Dresden, where he joined his distant cousin, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who would become his closest friend. In 1902, he moved to Munich to study law. Military service followed, with stints in the Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Grenadier Regiment No 89. After completing his studies, he joined the Potsdam-based 1st Uhlan Guards, a division in the Prussian army.
The nearly 22-year-old Adolf Friedrich, who was known as Fred, became the Hereditary Grand Duke when his grandfather, Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm, died on May 30, 1904 and his father, succeeded as Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich V. Fred remained in the military until 1911, when he resigned his commission and returned home to concentrate on his duties as heir to the throne.
In 1912, Fred moved into a new home, Parkhaus, on Park Street, in Neustrelitz. Many expected that the new house would mean that the Hereditary Grand Duke was considering marriage. He often visited England, spending time with his beloved grandmother, Augusta, who maintained a London residence, Mecklenburg House, near Buckingham Palace, until only a few years before the outbreak of the First World War. Fred enjoyed being in England with his grandmother, spending time visiting museums, attending parties, visiting his English relatives, including his godfather, the future Edward VII. His appreciation for his grandmother’s country would put Fred in a difficult position after the start of the First World War.
There is no doubt that Fred’s parents encouraged him to find a suitable bride. In January 1912, German newspapers reported that the Hereditary Grand Duke was going to marry Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, the only daughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II. Earlier reports of a proposed engagement were met with a “prompt denial” from the Imperial Household. The Los Angeles Times described Fred as “a handsome, brainy fellow with a clear head, a fine soldierly figure, and the face of a student.”
The engagement was expected to be announced on the German Emperor’s birthday, January 27. Another report noted that the extensive repairs being made on the Palace in Neustrelitz were surely a sign that the Hereditary Grand Duke was going to marry the Kaiser’s daughter. The repairs had nothing to do with a proposed marriage, however. On January 22, 1912, the report of the engagement was “semi-officially” denied. In May 1913, Viktoria Luise married Prince Ernst August of Hanover, son of the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland.
London always beckoned, as Fred enjoyed spending time with his British family and friends. The summer of 1912 was delightful as he was the guest of the 2nd Duke of Westminster (Bend Or) and his wife, Shelagh, at their London home, Grosvenor House, and at Cowes. It was through the Duchess of Westminster that he got to know her older sister, Daisy, the Princess of Pless. The British-born Princess was a noted social reformer and was a friend of nearly everyone, including Kaiser Wilhelm II and King Edward VII. During the First World War, the friendship between Daisy and Fred would be subjected to unfounded and cruel rumors.
Fred was still in London in August when the Chicago Tribune reported that Countess Zia Torby, the elder daughter of Grand Duke Michael Mikailovich of Russia and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie von Merenberg, had “replaced” Viktoria Luise in Fred’s affections. Zia was “endowed with much personal charm,” according to the Tribune. This seems to be the only news account of the purported engagement, but it is easy to see how the report surfaced. Fred and Countess Zia attended many of the same balls, parties, and court events. At a ball at Derby House hosted by the Earl and Countess of Derby, Fred’s name followed Zia’s name in the list of guests published in The Times. Zia was also the first cousin of Fred’s close friend and kinsman, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Zia’s father, Grand Duke Michael, and Friedrich Franz’s mother, Grand Duchess Anastasia were brother and sister.
One can only assume that the Hereditary Grand Duke probably asked Zia to dance and, no doubt, they conversed as well. Dancing and talking at balls and parties do not always lead to an engagement. Fred may have been enchanted with Countess Zia Torby, but a marriage was not on Zia’s dance card. His parents would certainly have wanted him to marry and continue the dynastic line, but no one, not his parents or his friends, was aware of the reason why Fred was not actively in search of a bride.
This brings us back, briefly, to Fred’s sister, Marie, who had finally divorced her husband and was now living in Dresden with her daughter, Marie Auguste. Fred remained close with Marie and had helped her find a home in Germany.
Duchess Marie’s scandal affected nearly the entire family. Although her parents had hoped to sweep the story of her rape and subsequent birth of a child under the rug, the newspapers reported what happened (not always accurately) and the aftermath, which included the disastrous marriage to Jametel. He treated her cruelly and openly flaunted his affairs, including Infanta Eulalia. He had married her for her money, and nearly spent it all, which caused further problems within Marie’s family.
Duke Karl Borwin, who was a child at the time of Marie’s discomfiture, knew little of what happened, but as he approached adulthood, he witnessed the abuse to which Jametel frequently subjected Marie. In the summer of 1903, Duke Karl Borwin was so enraged by the Count’s ill treatment of his sister that he challenged the Count to a duel.
Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich V tried to talk his nineteen-year-old son out of such a dangerous action, but Karl Borwin was determined to fight for his sister’s honor. The duel took place at Ban-St. Martin, France, where the Count fired the fatal shot that led to Duke Karl Borwin’s death on August 24, 1908.
One can only imagine how Fred felt or reacted to the death of his much-loved younger brother. Marie’s marriage was dissolved by divorce, and she returned to Germany to live. Two years later, on October 10, 1910 (Karl Borwin’s 21st birthday), Fred joined other family members at the inauguration of the Borwinheim, a charitable organization established by Grand Duchess Elisabeth in memory of her son. Elisabeth believed that her younger son died “after brief, severe, insidious suffering,” and the pain from the loss of Karl-Borwin weighed heavily on his older brother.
The death of Duke Karl Borwin left Fred as the sole male heir to the Strelitz grand duchy, as the Russian line that descended from Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm’s younger brother, Grand Duke Georg, who had married Grand Duchess Catherine Mikhailovna of Russia, was ineligible for the succession due to members of the family becoming Russian nationals and a morganatic marriage.
The Grand Duke was undergoing medical treatment in Berlin on June 7, 1914, when he decided to transfer “governing power” to Fred. The entire family was with the Grand Duke when he died on June 11, only four days later. The whole family was with the Grand Duke when he died, at age 65.
Fred – now Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI – inherited an estate worth more than $88 million. His inheritance – as Grand Duke – seemed an unfathomable burden. On the one hand, he was determined to continue his father’s political reforms in the tiny Grand Duchy. Still, by August 1918, Germany was at war with Great Britain, and Fred had no other option but to support the German Empire. He joined the staff of the 17th Division, which had ties to the Mecklenburg Grenadier Regiment, as a colonel and was eventually promoted to Major General. He served in France on the Western Front.
The summer of 1913 was Fred’s last visit to England, where he attended numerous social events, including Ascot, joining King George V and Queen Mary in the first carriage. Queen Mary and Fred’s father were first cousins. In fact, while the Hereditary Grand Duke was enjoying the social season in London, the Prince of Wales traveled to Germany and spent some time with the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess at Neustrelitz.
There would be no trip to London during the summer of 1914. As Germany prepared for war against Great Britain, Fred could only be reminded of his many visits and his friends and family, now, officially, his enemies. It was a difficult time for the new Grand Duke. He attended his sister, Marie’s, marriage to Prince Julius Ernst of Lippe in August 1914, and was delighted that she had found happiness with her second husband.
There were two people with whom Fred could confide: his aging grandmother, the Dowager Duchess Augusta, and the British-born Princess Daisy of Pless.
The Princess of Pless first met Fred in the summer of 1910, when she and her husband were in London to attend the Coronation of Edward VII. The then Hereditary Grand Duke was representing his father at the Coronation, which was postponed after the king underwent an emergency appendectomy. Edward’s Coronation was rescheduled for August. It was at Grosvenor House in July 1910 that the Duke and Duchess of Westminster gave a reception for the Duke and Duchess of Connaught, their daughter, Margaret, the Crown Princess of Romania, and the Tecks, with Fred among the honored guests.
In the early weeks of the war, Daisy was under German suspicion and “all sorts of charges” were brought against her, “mostly quite silly, but nonetheless annoying.” Her own British background and her close ties to the British court could not help her. She was determined to help the British prisoners-of-war, which brought her into contact with Fred’s elderly grandmother, Augusta, the Dowager Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Fred was the intermediary who wrote to Daisy asking for her help, enclosing his grandmother’s list of British prisoners.
In early 1915, as Daisy’s problems with German authorities increased, she wrote to the Grand Duke asking if she could come and stay at Neustrelitz.
Adolf Friedrich immediately responded: “Please do not think I am a person who leaves his friends in a situation like this ... my house will always be open to you and I will be glad to have the honour of receiving you.”
Daisy saw Fred as a lonely man, and she believed that he would be happier if he married. She acknowledged that most of the marriages in her circle were “arranged,” and she set about arranging a marriage for Fred. He had not wanted to cause his grandmother and his mother any anxiety by “keeping his troubles to himself.” Daisy noticed that he “was terribly alone and had no one to confide in.”
Grand Duchess Augusta died in December 1916, leaving Fred even more desolate. He never had the same close relationship with his mother that he had with his grandmother.
It was during this time that Daisy and Fred became close friends, a platonic relationship, never lovers. They often talked about the plans for his marriage.
The marriage arrangements were made discreetly, and by the spring of 1917, Daisy had found a princess. Although she never mentioned the princess by name, Daisy’s choice was Princess Benigna Reuss, a “young and charming Princess,” who was related to the Prince of Pless.
Both families were pleased with Daisy’s choice. Although the couple became engaged, no official announcement was made, although the Grand Duke informed the government.
Daisy was working as a nurse in Belgrade when she received a “nice, chatty” letter from the Grand Duke, on leave at Strelitz, dated January 10, 1918. He wrote about celebrating his first Christmas without “his beloved Granny.” He also wrote about Benigna and her mother, and how he was making progress on his home, Parkhaus, getting it ready for a wife and children. It was a “chatty letter,” according to Daisy. Understandably, she was stunned when, only seven weeks later, Fred had taken his own life.
More than a decade later, Daisy wrote: “Such events are mysterious and baffling. All one can know is that to face them, a human soul must feel utterly defenceless and alone. Then the consuming grief and regret that one was not there in time of greatest need to help, perhaps even to prevent.”
No one, not even Daisy, knew the real reason for Fred’s decision to take his own life. There were so many rumors that surfaced after his death, including one that he and Daisy were lovers and that they had been caught spying for England, that “he was given the alternative of being shot as a traitor or taking his own life.” This refers to news reports several weeks after the Grand Duke’s death. A Mannheim newspaper reported that the Grand Duke had been ordered to commit suicide by Kaiser Wilhelm because he had been on “intimate terms with the English wife of a German prince.” The Kaiser was said to be furious by the scandal and “intimated” to Fred that his “only course was to kill himself.” The day before Adolf Friedrich killed himself, his cousin, Princess Marie Auguste, the wife of Prince Joachim of Prussia, the youngest son of the Kaiser, visited Parkhaus and brought with her a letter from Wilhelm II. The contents of the letter are not known, but it was unlikely that Wilhelm II would order a fellow sovereign to commit suicide.
Daisy and Grand Duke Adolf were close friends, but not lovers.
In her memoirs, Daisy includes a letter from a mutual friend of hers and Fred, who wrote that she (the friend is not identified by name) that Fred’s death seemed to be an “insoluble puzzle.” This friend had spent some time with Fred in Berlin in late January and told Daisy that she could not understand or “conceive what has made this horrible issue possible.”
The woman described Fred as the “truest friend of my son and had given him much good advice, especially as he knew life.... What must the poor thing have suffered those last days, and no one to help.”
It was a statement from the Ministry of the Grand Ducal House on March 5, 1918, that attempted to answer some of the questions. The Grand Duke was, according to the statement, “about to become engaged to a German princess, whose grace and charm had made a deep impression upon him.” But before he could make this relationship official, the Grand Duke had to “take steps corresponding to his inclination as a ruler, certain obstacles had first to be removed, originating in a formerly projected union, which could not be realised owing to the question of unequal birth.”
The Grand Duke found himself in a difficult situation due to the “long and difficult negotiations for dissolving these obligations pressed heavily” on the Grand Duke’s mind. The situation had taken an “unfavorable turn,” and the Grand Duke, with no one to confide in or seek legal assistance, decided to end his life.
This is where we return to Adolf Friedrich and Karl Borwin’s pact. The alleged agreement between the brothers was for Fred to “devote his life to painting,” and marry the woman he loved, a woman of a lesser rank, and for Karl Borwin to continue the family line. According to several press reports, there was an effort at the beginning of the war to have the Grand Duke divorce his morganatic wife. Still, he was said to be devoted to her, and she “strenuously opposed” the divorce, even though the Mecklenburg government demanded it.
The woman was believed to be an Italian opera singer, Mafalda Salvatini, who had achieved great success in Berlin in Turandot. Fred had seen her perform and, in 1916 and 1917, invited her to his summer home on Usedom. After Fred’s death, the rumors became more pervasive. Adolf Friedrich had promised marriage to Mafalda and was said to be the father of her two sons, Walter and Rolf. It also claimed that Mafalda refused to release him from his promise to her, thus denying him the opportunity to marry Benigna.
This story has proven false, thanks to the research of Mecklenburg historian Andreas Frost. Mafalda did not have a sexual relationship with the Grand Duke. Her first husband, Walter Gerard, a scientist, was the father of her two sons.
Meticulous research in Germany, Poland, and Switzerland led Frost to the truth, long hidden from the public. Yes, there was an arrangement between the brothers, and yes, there was a woman. Her name was Margit Höllrigl, born in Budapest in 1878. She was an actress who played ingenue roles at Teplitz, Graz, and Linz before coming to Berlin to seek fame and fortune. She changed her name to Marguerite von Höllrigl and ran a salon frequented by “high-ranking personalities.”
In 1904, she met the young Hereditary Grand Duke, then stationed in Potsdam. According to Frost, Fred was very close to Margit and promised to marry her, telling her he did not want to be the Grand Duke. He wanted the succession to pass to his younger brother, but after Karl Borwin died in 1908, Fred tried to extricate himself from his relationship with Margit.
A considerable sum was offered to Margit, but she wanted more, according to the court proceedings in Dresden in 1928. It’s called blackmail. She said she had letters “whose contents suggested homosexual relations of the hereditary grand duke.” The publication of these letters would have been a “social death sentence” for Fred.
A financial settlement between Fred and Margit was arranged in 1914, but Margit did not return the letters, thus still maintaining control over Adolf Friedrich.
Kaiser Wilhelm II awarded the Grand Duke the Iron Cross for his services on the battlefield in 1917. But no medal could erase the depression that was engulfing the Grand Duke. His marriage to Benigna was unlikely to take place because of Margit Höllrigl's actions. Racked by fear of scandal and depression and with no one to turn to for help or guidance, Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz took his own life, unable to free himself from the Höllgril’s clutches.
One of the first people to arrive in Neustrelitz was Fred’s close friend, Grand Duke Franz Friedrich IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, who took over the responsibility of arranging the funeral for Fred’s distraught mother, Elisabeth. It was Fred’s wish to be buried outside on the Liebeninsel and not in the family crypt at the Johanneskirche in Mirow.
But who was the new Grand Duke? Duke Karl Michael of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was the youngest son of the late Duke Georg, the younger brother of Friedrich Wilhelm, and, technically, next in line; however, he was an enemy officer serving in the Russian military. Shortly before the outbreak of the First World War, Karl Michael wrote to Fred, telling him that he planned to become a Russian national and would renounce his right of succession. At the time of Fred’s death, it was not known if Karl Michael would stand by his decision, as he was living in Russia.
Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI left most of his fortune to Friedrich Franz’s younger son, Duke Christian Ludwig, then only five years old, with the stipulation that Christian Ludwig live in Strelitz. The inheritance would be “considerably reduced” if Christian Ludwig did not agree to remain in Strelitz. Friedrich Franz IV knew that his son was far too young to make such a decision. He took the reins of a regency much to the dismay of the citizens of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who cherished their independence and did not want the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin to rule them as well as his own Grand Duchy.
Once the war was over, he reckoned, the citizens of Strelitz could make their own decision regarding the succession. It was not meant to be. Following Germany’s defeat, Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin abdicated on November 14, 1918. His regency ended the same day.
In a Dresden court in the 1920s, Margrit Höllrigl lost a suit to obtain money from Fred’s heirs. She lost the case. The last reference to her was in Berlin in 1937; from there, not a trace.
Princess Benigna never married. According to Heinrich IV, Prince Reuss, in a letter to author Helmut Borth, Benigna died shortly before her 90th birthday. Prince Reuss described her as a “strong personality.” Countess Caroline von Wedel, Benigna’s niece, admired her aunt very much, but growing up, there was little conversation about the putative marriage. The “indiscreet details in her life were not even vaguely spoken about, Caroline wrote to Helmut Borth. “Despite my close ties to my aunt, whom I often visit in Oberstdorf and later in La Tour de Peilz, we have never talked about the engagement with Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Streitz and his suicide.”
Caroline added that the family had known about the “tragic death and the motives that triggered it.” She described her aunt as a “weird, extraordinary, and intelligent woman with a great sense of quantum humor, always helpful to others and totally undemanding.”
After the death of her mother in 1925, Princess Benigna lived with Archduchess Isabella of Austria, the divorced wife of Prince Georg of Bavaria, first in Oberstdorf and then in La Tour de Peilz in Switzerland. Benigna died at Vevey, Switzerland, in 1982.
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-on-marie.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2018/01/divorce-possible-for-duchess-marie.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2016/11/count-and-countess-jametel.html
https://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2017/01/mecklenburg-house-once-royal-residence.html
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