by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2018
Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe, Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg; Credit – Wikipedia
Princess Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe was the wife of Ernst II, the last reigning Duke of Saxe-Altenburg. She was born Princess Friederike Adelheid Marie Luise Hilda Eugenie on September 22, 1875, at Ratibořice Castle in Bohemia, the daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau. Adelheid had seven siblings:
- Princess Charlotte (1864-1946) – married King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, no issue
- Prince Franz Joseph (1865-1881) – unmarried
- Prince Friedrich (1868-1945) – married Princess Louise of Denmark, had issue
- Prince Albrecht (1869-1942) – married Duchess Elsa of Württemberg, had issue
- Prince Maximilian (1871-1904) – married Duchess Olga of Württemberg, had issue
- Princess Bathildis (1873-1962) – married Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, had issue
- Princess Alexandra Caroline (1879-1949) – unmarried
Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg; Credit – Wikipedia
On February 17, 1898, at Bückeburg, Adelheid married Prince Ernst of Saxe-Altenburg. He was the son of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Auguste of Saxe-Meiningen. Together they had four children:
- Princess Charlotte (1899-1989) – married Prince Sigismund of Prussia, had issue
- Georg Moritz, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Altenburg (1900-1991) – unmarried
- Princess Elisabeth (1903-1991) – unmarried
- Prince Friedrich (1905-1985) – unmarried
Adelheid, the last Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg; Credit – Wikipedia
In February 1908, Adelheid became the last Duchess of Saxe-Altenburg when her husband succeeded his father as Duke. Their reign, however, would be relatively short-lived. Her husband was forced to abdicate on November 13, 1918, when the German Empire was abolished. Following the abdication, Adelheid felt that she no longer had to endure her husband’s affairs and the shame it brought to her marriage. The couple separated and was divorced on January 17, 1920.
Mausoleum in the park of Schloss Bückeburg. photo: Von Corradox – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328133
After remaining mostly out of the public eye for the rest of her life, Adelheid died in Ballenstedt, East Germany, on January 27, 1971, at the age of 95. She is buried in the Mausoleum Garden at Schloss Bückeburg, the traditional burial site of the Princely Family of Schaumburg-Lippe, in Bückeburg, Lower Saxony, Germany.
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