Princess Marie of Battenberg, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg

by Scott Mehl  © Unofficial Royalty 2019

Princess Marie of Battenberg, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg

Marie Karoline of Battenberg was born in Strasbourg, France on February 15, 1852, the eldest child and only daughter of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia Hauke. Because of her parents’ morganatic marriage, her mother did not become a Princess of Hesse and by Rhine, and was instead created Countess of Battenberg in her own right. Marie and her siblings, therefore, took their titles from their mother and were not in the line of succession for the grand-ducal throne of Hesse and by Rhine. For many years, Marie said that her birth date was July 15, 1852, to hide the fact that her mother was already six months pregnant with her at the time they married.

Marie had four younger brothers:

She became Princess Marie of Battenberg in December 1858 when her mother’s title was elevated by Marie’s uncle, Grand Duke Ludwig III of Hesse and by Rhine.

Gustav Ernst, Count of Erbach-Schönberg. source: Wikipedia

In 1868, while attending the inauguration of the Luther Monument in Worms, Marie met Gustaf Ernst, Count of Erbach-Schönberg. He was the son of Ludewig III, Count of Erbach-Schönberg and Countess Caroline von Gronsfeld-Diepenbrock. They became engaged in 1870 and were married in the Darmstadt City Church in Darmstadt, Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine, now in Hesse, Germany, on April 29, 1871.

Marie and Gustav had four children:

  • Alexander, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg (1872) – married Princess Elisabeth of Waldeck and Pyrmont, had issue
  • Count Maximilian of Erbach-Schönberg (1878) – died in childhood
  • Prince Victor of Erbach-Schönberg (1880) – married Countess Elisabeth Széchényi de Sarvar et Felsö-Vidék, no issue
  • Princess Marie Elisabeth of Erbach-Schönberg (1883) – married Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Stolberg-Wernigerode, had issue

Princess Marie, Countess of Erbach-Schönberg with her parents Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Julia, Princess of Battenberg, at Osborne House, July 23, 1885, for the wedding of her brother Henry to Princess Beatrice of The United Kingdom. source: Royal Collection Trust RCIN 2905692

Marie’s title changed once again in August 1903, when her husband was elevated to the rank of Prince, and Marie became The Princess of Erbach-Schönberg. Five years later, in January 1908, Marie’s husband died, and their eldest son, Alexander, succeeded him as The Prince of Erbach-Schönberg.

An avid writer, Marie published translations of several prominent works and wrote My Trip to Bulgaria – a memoir of her visit to her brother, Alexander, who was Prince of Bulgaria from 1879 to 1886. In her later years, several more memoirs were published, one of which detailed the relationship she had with her son, Maximilian, who was mentally unstable.

The Dowager Princess of Erbach-Schönberg died in Schönberg, Hesse, Germany on June 20, 1923. She is buried in the cemetery of St. Mary’s Church in Schönberg, Hesse, Germany.

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