Princely Houses of Reuss


If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.
Thank you for this very interesting contributions, @Duc et Pair!

So, one can say the dutch royals have their own head, when it comes to love affairs, Like Queen Beatrix, which married against the public will a German; or Willem with Maxima, she was not welcomed either by the public in the beginning.

But personal love is one thing for them and the love for their country can become very though for the relatives of their spouses. Very interesting!
 
I believe that why the relationship with Duke Adolf became rather tense was for a personal matter: in 1942 the private secretary of Prince Bernhard was arrested by the Nazi's in the Netherlands. His name was Jhr. Willem Roëll.

Roëll was a good friend of both Bernhard as Juliana. His wife Martine del Court van Krimpen was at the time living in Canada with Juliana. The couple's daughter Renée is the best friend of Beatrix and later became the godmother of King Willem-Alexander.

Bernhard apparently wrote several letters to Duke Adolf -who supposedly was a friend of Goering- to use his influence to get Roëll released. He did not lift a finger, either because he did not want to or because he was in no position to do so.

Roëll was later shot by the Nazi's. Bernhard and Juliana never forgave duke Adolf and never wanted to have anything to do with him. Bernhard and Beatrix were at the Helsinki Olympics in 1952 where they met the duke -who was a member of the German Olympic committee- They refused to greet him and publicly turned their backs to him.

Dss Woizlawa Feodora claimed in 2008 that her father was not a fanatic Nazi and that he wasn't even a member of the Nazi party. His friendship with Goering didn't mean much: they only hunted together a few times.

Note that Dss WF was still invited to the silver wedding celebrations of Bernhard and Juliana in 1962.

Duc et Pair said:
After WWII Queen Wilhelmina rücksichtlos ended all contacts with her German relatives.

Fasseur wrote that Wilhelmina even took it out on the tableware. A Japanese set was renamed the Chinese set etc. She refused to speak one word of German after the war, which led to funny situation with Pss Armgard, whose Dutch was not very good.
 
Last edited:
Another article for the birthday of Princess Feodora. Today she will celebrate at home and later this week she will trvel to GEra where an Event will be held in the Theater.
Im Alter von 100 Jahren eine "gewisse Narrenfreiheit" genießen - Görwihl - Badische Zeitung


Pictures from the celebrations on Thursday with a ceremony in the Gera Theater.

https://cdn.mdr.de/thueringen/ost-t...mage_v-variantBig16x9_w-960.jpg?version=30316
https://cdn.mdr.de/thueringen/ost-t...image_v-variantBig16x9_w-960.jpg?version=3731

https://www.mdr.de/thueringen/ost-thueringen/gera/prinzessin-feodora-feiert-geburtstag-102.html
 
The Funeral of Princess Woizlawz Feodora take place in Kloster Arnsburg on 18 June


Reuss
 
Marie Princess Reuss and husband Heinrich XX. Prince Reuss attended the Salvatore Ferragamo Frankfurt Store Opening on May 24:


** Pic ** gettyimages gallery **
 
"Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss of Greiz, arrested suspected of planning a coup d'état in Germany:

The plan is said to have been to attack the German parliament in Berlin and insert the Prince as new head of state, King/Emperor of Germany."




"Senior members of the House of Reuss-Greiz has now denounced Prince Heinrich XIII Reuss of Greiz. Prince Heinrich XIV Reuss of Greiz, the head of the House of Reuss-Greiz has issued the following statement"


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FjXIZNkXgAA0Frr?format=jpg&name=large
 
Last edited:
So disgusting. What disgrace to his family line.
 
What an absolutely bonkers story! It makes you want to check the date, if we are living during the Weimar republic of 1922 instead of in 2022.

The prince is the 4th son of the late Duchess Woizlava Feodora of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and a 2nd cousin of Pss Beatrix of the Netherlands.

The statement says that the prince 'left the family' 14 years ago. I am not sure what that entails. I suppose that he broke off contact with his relatives? The prince's wedding in 1989 was considered morganatic, according to Paul Theroffs online Gotha.
 
Last edited:
Here's the article from SZ (in German, you need to register to read for 4 free trial articles):

Der Prinz, der Putsch und der Pöbel

It's reported that 3,000 officers were dispatched in searching 137 objects in eleven federal states. The proceedings currently aimed at 51 suspects. 25 people were provisionally arrested, including one person in Austria. The GSG 9, the special unit of the federal police, even moved to at least two suspects because the investigators suspected they had firearms.

This does sound like serious threats

From DW (in English)
(edit: I replace it with DW for variety of article since Mbruno also post the BBC one below)
German police arrests 25 suspects in plot to overthrow state
 
Last edited:
I had read earlier about the German anti-terror raids but had no idea that a German Prince was involved.
 
I was so shocked when I read the news today! There were 25 people from the 'Reichsbürger' group were arrested and a large number of houses were search in large, Germany-wide police operation. Apparently there were concrete plans for storming the Reichtstag/Parliament. They planned to attack infrastructure in order to create nationwide blackouts and use the chaos to provoke a kind of civil war. I also read that there were plans to assassinate the health minister's security officers and take the minister hostage.

So this is not just about one crackpot prince, it's about a serious dangerous terrorist organisation.
 
What a crazy plan! That prince is still a cousin of Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands.
Thankfully, the authorities were able to prevent this attack, which could have led to tragedy.
 
I just saw the news, though the House was not mentioned. So I came here for more news. A very damning but also very clear message from the Reuss-family.
 

The rest of the family have long distanced themselves from the minor aristocrat, with one spokesman telling local broadcaster MDR during the summer that Heinrich was an "at times confused" man who had fallen for "misconceptions fuelled by conspiracy theories".

Most likely this is the article referred above (in German, you can read it without subscription or register):

Fürstenhaus Reuss distanziert sich von Weigelt-Gast Prinz Heinrich XIII

So the prince left the family at his own request 14 years ago and there has been no personal contact for a long time. On August, he had been invited to a reception by Bad Lobenstein Mayor Thomas Weigelt as part of the market festival where the mayor had a dispute with a reporter from OTZ. According to OTZ, Weigelt justified the invitation by saying that Prince Reuss XIII a historical person "for us". The mayor is said to have suddenly pounced on the journalist, injuring him and damaging his equipment. There is a video of the incident.
 
Last edited:
The Prince of Reuss was alledgedly one of the leaders of this failed coup.

But if you read the snippets of information in the German press carefully - there were other nobles involved. Among them and alledgedly co-leader is one ex-General of the Bundeswehr (German armed forces) with a "von" in the name. Elite soldiers from the special forces, in parts with a "von" too...

There is more to come!

My take: There is not all well in the German Federal Republic. A lot of people feel sidelined by big politics. And those wannabes here are a symptom of this.
 
According to this article the prince was supposed to become the new head of state/government.

Wie wilden gewapend het Duitse parlement bestormen? - https://nos.nl/l/2455469

Although he is a second cousin of priness Beatrix and her sisters (via their grandfather prince Henrik, born Herzog Heinrich zu Mecklenburg(-Schwerin) - whose brother Adolf Friedrich was this prince's grandfather (through his mother born Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg)), the Orange Nassaus distanced themselves -just like the closer family members- from him a long time ago.

Heinrich XIII is the second youngest within his family of origin: his eldest sister is called Feodora and all his brothers -according to Reuss traditions- are also 'Heinrich' but with different Roman numbers, they've got the numbers 8, 9, 10, 13 (him) and 15 among the siblings.
 
Last edited:
According to this article the prince was supposed to become the new head of state/government.

.
Yes I was watching a report on this last night on the BBC and he also seems to have been one of the main ring leaders.
 
Maybe (then) Queen Beatrix had already heard gossips from her German relatives that her cousin Heinrich XIII. Prinz Reuß was a bit into suspect milieux and decided to keep distance.

Henrich XIII. Prinz Reuß and his late mother Woizlawa-Feodora Prinzessin Reuß born Herzogin zu Mecklenburg once went public in Dutch media to request "rehabilitation" from the Orange-Nassaus.

They did not understand why Queen Beatrix had warm contacts with other princely families like the Waldeck-Pyrmonts but avoided Reuß. Heinrich XIII. once famously remarked "I am afraid my dear cousine has been poorly informed".

Of course going public was exactly the trigger for Beatrix to stop a possible defrost of familial relations between Orange-Nassau and Reuß.
 
Last edited:
To show "how close" the Orange-Nassaus are to the "that mad Reuß prince" some media claim that the Reuß family would be on the throne today, was Juliana not born.


That is not true, The Princes Reuß only came after the Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach line would have no male dynasts anymore, descending from Princess Sophie of the Netherlands (aunt of Queen Wilhelmina):


1890
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1
Princess Sophie, Großherzogin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzogin zu Sachsen born Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau (aunt of Queen Wilhelmina)

Successor Nr 2
Karl August Erbgroßherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzog zu Sachsen (son of Princess Sophie)


-------------------------------


1894
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1
Princess Sophie, Großherzogin von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzogin zu Sachsen born Princess of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau (aunt of Queen Wilhelmina)

Successor Nr 2
Wilhelm Ernst Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzog zu Sachsen (grandson of Princess Sophie)


-------------------------------

1897
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1:
Wilhelm Ernst Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzog zu Sachsen (grandson of Princess Sophie)

Successor Nr 2:
Bernhard Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzog zu Sachsen (grandson of Princess Sophie)


-------------------------------

1909
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1:
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Herzogin zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Successor Nr 2:
Wilhelm Ernst Großherzog von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach, Herzog zu Sachsen (grandson of Princess Sophie)


-------------------------------

1922
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1:
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Herzogin zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Successor Nr 2:
No any successor. The Constitution of 1922 limited the successors to those no furterer related to the Sovereign than three degrees of consanguity.


-------------------------------


1938
Queen Wilhelmina

Successor Nr 1:
Princess Juliana of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Herzogin zu Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Successor Nr 2:
Princess Beatrix of the Netherlands, Princess of Orange-Nassau, Prinzessin zur Lippe-Biesterfeld
 
Last edited:
To show "how close" the Orange-Nassaus are to the "that mad Reuß prince" some media claim that the Reuß family would be on the throne today, was Juliana not born.
The Reußes would be behind the different Weimar descendants and the Heinrich in question would be quite far down the line in any case according to what I've seen. Who knew that there were so many family connections between the Oranjes and the Reußes. It's all very confusing and them all having the same name makes it even worse.

The site Adel in Nederland has posted an article about Heinrich XIII and his connection to the Oranjes and the Netherlands.

http://www.adelinnederland.nl/
 
Last edited:
Back
Top Bottom