Sisters of the Duke of Edinburgh

[JR76]

Before their weddings, were any of Prince Philip's sisters considered as a possible wife for any non-German Royals? Was there a specific reason they all married German Royals?

With few male members of the ruling houses available for marriage (the Swedish & Danish princes preferred non-royal brides, Spain was in turmoil even before the monarchy fell, the Balkan Crown princes chose Romanian and Italian brides, UK princes married British nobles except for George to their cousin Marina and with Astrid & Märtha snatching the Crown Princes of Belgium and Norway) marrying German princelings was the only way for them to contract equal marriages. Since they were all descended from both Queen Victoria and her siblings and Christian and Louise of Denmark they'd basically known each other all their lives and once the threat of expropriation had passed the German royals were still both wealthy and very suitable matches.

Except for Marina the only engagement between a Greek princess and a member of a ruling house was that between her sister Olga and the future King Fredrik of Denmark. The engagement was quietly broken off and Olga instead married Paul of Yugoslavia.

At the time even Crown Princess Juliana of the Netherlands had a hard time making a suitable match which in the end lead to her mother having to compromise on the rather strict demands she had set out regarding her future son-in-law for Juliana to find a husband at all.

 

[Thena]

Before their weddings, were any of Prince Philip's sisters considered as a possible wife for any non-German Royals? Was there a specific reason they all married German Royals?

I recall from the Hugo Vickers biography of Princess Alice that there was an attempt for the two oldest girls to find husbands in the UK. They spent time in London with their grandmother, Victoria Milford Haven, and their aunt Lady Louise Mountbatten acted as a chaperone. However, being from an exiled royal family and not having a great fortune, they weren't able to attract any suitors. This would have been a time when most aristocrats were marrying wealthy American heiresses. In a strange twist, it was Louise who ended up finding a husband (Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden).

 

[Blog Real]

In this photo the Duke of Edinburgh with his mother, father and sisters.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNpyzf25...of-Englands-family-poses-for-a-photograph.jpg

 

[Prinsara]

One thing I've always wondered about is, what are Prince Philip's memories of Prince Andrea, his father? Prince Philip didn't seem to see much of his father in the years of his youth, before the war and after his mother was institutionalised in a clinic. That event really signalled the break-up of the family as Philip's sisters married and Prince Andrew went off to Monaco, where he lived from then on.

Andrea would sometimes turn up at the family holidays at Wolfgarten and there were family weddings, christenings, of course, but, although he was consulted about Philip's upbringing, education and so-forth, he abdicated much of the responsibility to George Milford Haven and his daughters.

Biographies of Philip don't go into his relationship with his father much at all. There's a throwaway anecdote I read somewhere of him visiting Andrea's longterm live-in lover just after the war (his father was then dead, of course) and him getting on well with her. However, biographers seem to have concentrated more on Philip's relationship with his mother, Alice. Andrea/Andrew seems in many ways to be the forgotten parent in Philip's story.

"Strikingly less bitter than one would expect", was the impression I got from reading Young Prince Philip. It is important to remember he had both his parents until he was about 9, and both Alice and Andrea seem to have spoiled him due to being the baby and the only son, too, to the point where his sisters got annoyed. Andrea wasn't doing very much in Paris, so I imagine Philip saw more of him than most royal children do.

After Andrea died suddenly and left him nothing at all, he still took his clothes and had them altered and wore them, and is probably still wearing his signet ring. It's not the sort of behavior you'd expect towards someone who'd seemingly drifted out of your life. Alice didn't seem to harbor resentment towards Andrea, either, and even wanted to live with him again, so perhaps that helped.

I think it was Sophie (it may have been one of the other two) who told how amazed she was when Philip grew up and she realized he had all the mannerisms of their father. Whether that's blood or memory, who can say?

 

[Somebody]

In this photo the Duke of Edinburgh with his mother, father and sisters.

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rNpyzf25...of-Englands-family-poses-for-a-photograph.jpg

Not the happiest family portrait - but I assume they were expected to look 'serious' as is still customary in some cultures.

 

[Denville]

"S

After Andrea died suddenly and left him nothing at all, he still took his clothes and had them altered and wore them, and is probably still wearing his signet ring. It's not the sort of behavior you'd expect towards someone who'd seemingly drifted out of your life. Alice didn't seem to harbor resentment towards Andrea, either, and even wanted to live with him again, so perhaps that helped.

I?

I think Philip is too pragmatic to let bitterness rule his life... but possibly he took his father's clothes becuase being short of money himself, they were clothes that he could make use of...

 

[Somebody]

We don't hear that much about Charles' paternal cousins - and I don't see much evidence of a close relationship with them either (although there might be some behind the scenes - and there have been a few visits to Langenburg Castle). Nonetheless, I decided to list them (and their children and grandchildren); to get a better overview of the German side of the current British royal family.

By Philip's eldest sister Margarita (married to prince Gottfried of Hohenlohe-Langenburg) - all but one passed away:
1.2. Prince/Fürst Kraft Alexander Ernst Ludwig Georg Emich (25 June 1935 – 16 March 2004) married princess Charlotte of Croÿ (b. 1938; married 1965 - divorced 1990); married secondly Irma Pospesch (b. 1946)
1.2.1. Princess Cécile Marita Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 16 December 1967) married Cyril Amédéo de Commarque, comte de Commarque (b. 1970; married 1998; divorced 2008); no issue.
1.2.2. Philipp Gottfried Alexander, Prince/Fürst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 20 January 1970) married Saskia Binder (b. 1973; married 2003)
1.2.2.1. Max Leopold, Hereditary prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
1.2.2.2. Prince Gustav of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
1.2.2.3. Princess Marita of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
1.2.3. Princess Xenia Margarita Anne of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 8 July 1972) married Max Soltmann (married 2005)
1.2.3.1. Ferdinand Soltmann (b. 2005) [note: only? modern-day descendant of queen Victoria with haemophilia]
1.2.3.2. Louisa Marei Charlotte Soltmann (b. 6 Apr 2008)

1.3. Princess Beatrix Alice Marie Melita Margarete of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (10 June 1936 – 15 November 1997)

1.4. Prince Georg Andreas Heinrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (born 24 November 1938) married Princess Luise Pauline Amelie Vibeke Beatrix of Schönburg-Waldenburg (b. 1943; married 1969)
1.4.1. Princess Katharina Clementine Beatrix of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 21 Nov 1972) married prince Nikolaus Carl Ferdinand of Waldeck and Pyrmont (b. 1970; married 2002)
1.4.1.1. Princess Laetitia Antoinette Julia Tatjana Felicitas of Waldeck and Pyrmont (b. 2 Dec 2003)
1.4.1.2. Princess Alexia Natalie Luise Tatjana Maresa of Waldeck and Pyrmont (b. 20 Jun 2006)
1.4.2. Princess Tatiana Luise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 10 Feb 1975) married Hubertus Stephan (b. 1970; married 2010; died 2018)
1.4.2.1. Carl Stephan (b. 2012)
1.4.2.2. Wolf Thomas Dres Stephan (b. 2013)

1.5. Prince Rupprecht Sigismund Philipp Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 8 April 1978)

1.6. Prince Albrecht Wolfgang Christoph of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 23 April 1992) married Maria-Hildegard Fischer (b. 1933; married 1976)
1.6.1. Prince Ludwig of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 21 Apr 1976)

(Part 1)

 

[Claire]

Warren,

I guess I have a curious streak about me when it comes to family relationships. So, my question is this: have you read anywhere that any of Prince Philips family ever visit with Prince Philip in England or whether the Duke leaves England to visit in Canada?

I am interested in knowing whether they are the royal family or not, what kind of relationship does everyone have and if there are visits within families, such as picnics, tea parties, etc. Have you read about these relationships anywhere? In other words, do any of these people get together for a game of cards or movie night with popcorn?

Hello, little late to answer this _ yes I believe Margaret and Sophie and their children visited in England. Philip visited in Germany . I remember that the Duke received a tongue lashing for taken one of his children with to Germany. It was probably Edward, to visit his sisters. This would have been late 1960 _ 1970,s. But family get together in France would have been easier and missed.

I have seen photos of Philip and Edward at Sophia’s funeral and Edward at the funerals of his German cousins as well. I think that he represents the Queen and the Duke at these family events now.

 

[Somebody]

Two of his sister married really young; especially Sophie. I wonder whether they were all extremely desperate to leave their rather instable family home. Their mother had just been put into an sanatorium in Switzerland at that point.

Princess Sophie (born 26 June 1914) married on 15 December 1930 - aged 16(!)
Princess Cecilie (born 16 November 1911) married on 2 February 1931 - aged 19
Princess Margarita (born 18 April 1905) married on 20 April 1931 - aged 26
Princess Theodora (born 30 May 1906) married on 17 August 1931 - aged 25

 

[Curryong]

Yes, and Sophie became engaged (to Christoph Hesse) at 15 and I believe was the first sister married. I’ve always thought that Alice’s incarceration at the clinic was the final death knell to her and Andrew’s marriage (though there were great strains before) and after that there really wasn’t any home to speak of, at least not for Philip, and his sisters made their own lives as best they could.

 

[Prinsara]

Two of his sister married really young; especially Sophie. I wonder whether they were all extremely desperate to leave their rather instable family home. Their mother had just been put into an sanatorium in Switzerland at that point.

Princess Sophie (born 26 June 1914) married on 15 December 1930 - aged 16(!)
Princess Cecilie (born 16 November 1911) married on 2 February 1931 - aged 19
Princess Margarita (born 18 April 1905) married on 20 April 1931 - aged 26
Princess Theodora (born 30 May 1906) married on 17 August 1931 - aged 25

Sophie was 15 when she got engaged. It's rather sad that no one thought of sending her to school. I can't believe that Victoria Milford Haven wouldn't have let her come and stay if she wanted, so perhaps marriage really was what Sophie and everyone felt was best? Or what she really wanted.

 

[Somebody]

Yes, and Sophie became engaged (to Christoph Hesse) at 15 and I believe was the first sister married. I’ve always thought that Alice’s incarceration at the clinic was the final death knell to her and Andrew’s marriage (though there were great strains before) and after that there really wasn’t any home to speak of, at least not for Philip, and his sisters made their own lives as best they could.

Yes, see the overview in my post that ran from first (December 1930) to last (August 1931) marriage.

 

[Erin9]

Two of his sister married really young; especially Sophie. I wonder whether they were all extremely desperate to leave their rather instable family home. Their mother had just been put into an sanatorium in Switzerland at that point.

Princess Sophie (born 26 June 1914) married on 15 December 1930 - aged 16(!)
Princess Cecilie (born 16 November 1911) married on 2 February 1931 - aged 19
Princess Margarita (born 18 April 1905) married on 20 April 1931 - aged 26
Princess Theodora (born 30 May 1906) married on 17 August 1931 - aged 25

I wonder if it was less desperation/their own will so much as the family (whomever the decision makers were) decided that was the solution to Alice having a breakdown and Andrew mostly opting out as a parent going forward. Marry the girls off.

The 4 girls were married off staggeringly quickly- in less than a year. And all to Germans.

 

[Curryong]

Philip and his sisters had many German relatives though. And all the sisters’ husbands were their cousins, second cousins etc.

 

[Erin9]

Philip and his sisters had many German relatives though. And all the sisters’ husbands were their cousins, second cousins etc.

That’s true. It just struck me as....interesting I guess that they ALL married Germans.

 

[Iluvbertie]

They had to marry protestants and in the years after WWI there weren't a lot of protestants around who weren't Germans in the right age bracket. There were two British princes, for instance: Henry and George, who ended up marrying one of their first cousins anyway in Marina.

 

[Curryong]

Why did the sisters have to marry Protestants? Both parents were of the Greek Orthodox faith.

 

[Iluvbertie]

Why did the sisters have to marry Protestants? Both parents were of the Greek Orthodox faith.

To remain in the line of succession to the British throne. The Greek Royal Family also weren't too keen on their citizens marrying Roman Catholics before WWII.

Greek Orthodox are 'in communion with' the CoE.

 

[Marengo]

I am not sure if marrying catholics was such a big problem for the Greeks. There were quite a few of catholic marriages in the family: Prince George with Marie Bonaparte, their daughter Eugenie firstly with Dominic Radziwill and secondly with the Prince of Torre e Tasso. Princess Elisabeth married Prince Hans-Veit of Toerring-Jettenbach, Princess Irene married the duke of Aosta, Prince Christopher married a Princess of Orléans and Princess Sofia married the king of Spain.

I can't see why a very distant possibility of succession rights int he UK would have influenced marital choices for Prince Philip's sisters. All the grooms-to-be seemed to be rather suitable candidates, three of them heirs of the great dynasties of Germany.

 

[miss whirley]

Sophie was 15 when she got engaged. It's rather sad that no one thought of sending her to school. I can't believe that Victoria Milford Haven wouldn't have let her come and stay if she wanted, so perhaps marriage really was what Sophie and everyone felt was best? Or what she really wanted.

On India Hicks podcast when she was interviewing her mother Pamela, I think I remember Pamela talking about Sophie's first marriage in a negative way. That she had been lucky to get out of it (he died during the war) and that the family much preferred her second husband. We don't really know the full dynamics there. Was she unhappy because she rushed into a marriage she wasn't ready for? Or was he not such a nice person, and that's why he focused on a 15-year-old from a unstable family in the first place?

 

[fandesacs2003]

Firstly they had to marry Greek orthodox. If you go back to the first generation of Greek royals, King George I and his offspring, you have orthodox marriages. The King himself as well as 3 of his children married into Russian royal family. Exception the Crown Prince married Kaizer's sister (she converted to orthodox faith though), prince George married a catholic, (I doubt if Maria Bonaparte converted) Prince Andrew's wife also converted and Prince Christophoros married first an American (protestant?converted?) and then a catholic princess (much later).
But after 1917, the main niche of orthodox royalty /aristocracy, the Russian one, did not exist anymore, people were executed or refugees in Europe, without money most of them. They were more interested to marry rich Americans than dynastic marriages with Greek royals (fallen also).
Remaining as orthodox royalty, Romania, Yugoslavia and Bulgaria. If you see in the 30s , GRF had 2 royal weddings into RRF, as well as a 2 or 3 into YRF, but then, possibilities are limited, these royal families were very recent, and not so crowded to cover many marriages.

And now the 4 daughters of Prince Andreas. We have a family with high royal blood, but without money, chassed from their country, and living from the charity of their rich aunties (by marriage) Princess Marie Bonaparte and Princess Anastasia.
We are in the 30ies, royal and aristocracy ladies are not ment to work, are ment to wed.
In their case, girls without any money, and without any homeland, what could they do else? Ok, study, but for what for? Of course to have a better education end then what? Wedding again.
The 2 sisters who married at their 25s what did they do before? Nothing again. Educated, maybe, and then wedding.
So the only destiny it was the wedding, and the pressing was stronger as they were in a difficult situation for their lives, no money no homeland, walking around Europe from cousins to cousins, and with a nuclear family dismantled.
I don't know if they were arranged marriages or love matches, but they were good scenarios into the existing acceptable path, for a royal woman at this decade. Of course they could not really forsee that they would be involved with Nazis. (But this is another discussion).
Don't forget that 30 years after, another very young bride princess Anne-Marie of Denmark got engaged at 16 and married at 18. And it was considered as normal.

And a question, what is CoE?

 

[Curryong]

CoE is Church of England.

I never heard that Sophie was unhappy with her choice. Of course, like several Royal Houses in Germany at that time the von Hesse House turned to Nazism in the 1930s as a bulwark against Communism.


Christoph, Sophie’s husband, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Party along with his brother Phillip quite early in the 1930s. Royals and the Reich, a book by Jonathon Petropoulos is interesting and concentrates on the two brothers.


Perhaps the fact that he was high up in the Nazi Armed Forces put some of the Extended family off, but Prince Philip once told the writer Giles Brendryth that his brother in law Christoph was not what one would imagine, that he was in fact gentle and soft-voiced.

 

[Alison H]

I always get the impression that they were packed off to visit relatives in Germany with the intention of bagging husbands ASAP. There wasn't really much else for them to do.

 

[fandesacs2003]

Exactly @Allison H. It was the mentality at this time, especially for fallen and broken female royals

 

[Gawin]

Just a couple of notes to add to this discussion:

According to Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany by Jonathan Petropoulos, Sophie's marriage to Prince Christoph of Hesse was a love match: "Christoph's twin, Richard, also took a fancy to her and wanted to court her, but she quickly fell for Christoph" (p. 92). He also points out that Sophie was "virtually an orphan" and marriage allowed her to find a way out of a challenging situation.

In his biography of Princess Alice, Hugo Vickers states that when her illness first made its appearance in 1929, Alice claimed she had received "divine messages about potential husbands for her girls." As a result, her sister Crown Princess Louise of Sweden (who had suggested Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark as a suitor for Cecile) "began to regret her own attempts at matchmaking" (p. 200-201).

 

[An Ard Ri]

I'm always a little surprised that none of the sisters married a Danish or Swedish Prince.

 

[Prinsara]

I never heard that Sophie was unhappy with her choice. Of course, like several Royal Houses in Germany at that time the von Hesse House turned to Nazism in the 1930s as a bulwark against Communism.


Christoph, Sophie’s husband, was an enthusiastic supporter of the Party along with his brother Phillip quite early in the 1930s. Royals and the Reich, a book by Jonathon Petropoulos is interesting and concentrates on the two brothers.


Perhaps the fact that he was high up in the Nazi Armed Forces put some of the Extended family off, but Prince Philip once told the writer Giles Brendryth that his brother in law Christoph was not what one would imagine, that he was in fact gentle and soft-voiced.

Was Christoph supporting Hitler even as early as the time of his marriage to Sophie? But there are "enthusiastic Nazi supporters" and there is joining the SS, which is about as enthusiastic as it got. It really didn't work out too well for Christoph, Philipp, or Mafalda, and even if there are hints Christoph came to regret his decision, he would have surely faced severe penalties had he survived the war, however nice a person he may otherwise have been. As I said in the other thread, I don't know what Georg Wilhelm of Hanover did in the war, but it seems to have been something a bit less than that.

As for Sophie and her choice, we know she was horror-stricken by her sister-in-law being imprisoned and dying in Buchenwald. The rest of her feelings about her marriages, the war, and being widowed are not public, afaik.

 

[Lysander2]

I'm always a little surprised that none of the sisters married a Danish or Swedish Prince.

Didn't the Scandinavian royals tend to marry each other? e.g. Frederick IX of Denmark to Ingrid of Sweden; Olav of Norway to Martha of Sweden?

Gustav of Sweden (father of the present King Carl Gustav) married Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg, so maybe there weren't any eligible Scandinavian princes available for the Greek princesses? (I'm not sure, without checking, of the dates of the weddings I have just mentioned)

 

[Prinsara]

Didn't the Scandinavian royals tend to marry each other? e.g. Frederick IX of Denmark to Ingrid of Sweden; Olav of Norway to Martha of Sweden?

Gustav of Sweden (father of the present King Carl Gustav) married Sibylla of Saxe-Coburg, so maybe there weren't any eligible Scandinavian princes available for the Greek princesses? (I'm not sure, without checking, of the dates of the weddings I have just mentioned)

Prince Frederik was originally engaged to Olga of Greece (one of Marina's older sisters, and the first cousin of Philip and his sisters), about a decade before Ingrid. But that didn't work out.

Their Aunt Louise was chaperoning Margarita and Theodora in the London season when she ended up marrying CG's grandpa/Ingrid's dad, Gustav Adolf. (Who had previously been married to a British princess).

The inter-Scandinavian thing is relatively new.

 

[Marc23]

Didn't the Scandinavian royals tend to marry each other? e.g. Frederick IX of Denmark to Ingrid of Sweden; Olav of Norway to Martha of Sweden?

Before Ingrid Frederik IX was engaged to Princess Olga of Greece in 1922 who was a first cousin of the sisters, but the engagement was broken off because Frederik was overly fond of alcohol. Maybe the sisters also knew this and bad reputation followed him so maybe that's why he married only in 1935 when he was already 36.