The Kingdom of Saxony (Sachsen) and its Ruling Family

A bit of the topic regarding the Hohenzollerns, but does anyone have some information on the royal house of Sachsen or Saxony?
They seem to be missing in the royal marrying circles, or maybe its just me.
I have read somewhere that a Crown Princess made a scandal, but dont know what she did or who she was!

Louise, a Habsburg [Tuscany] princess. She ran off with another man, left hubby & kids. Wrote her apologia, as did her paramour. Kind of racy for the Saxon royals. Interesting family and odd successions.

They tended to marry in the Roman Catholic royal circles.

Thank you. That would inded qualify as a scandal, sounds very juicy! So she never returned to her family? Maybe im stupid but is paramour, lover?

oh, do you know when it happend?

Fred. Aug. III & Louise div. in 1903.
She married her toy boy in 1907 & div. him in 1912.

As I recall, without going back and reading the book right away, she tried to "snatch" the kids, got cought and was paid off to stay away for the rest of her life.
It is  her grandson [b. 1926]  who is head of the family now [Meissen]. {I am shaky but must be close on that date]

There was a series in Royaylty magazine (3-part) a year or so ago that caught my interest. I had never heard of her before but, yes, juicy stuff! I had to go out and get her autobiography after that. She apparently felt stifled by the stiff court and ran off with her children's tutor in 1903. There were rumors that her youngest daughter, Princess Anna Monica, was her lover's rather than her husband's since she was born after Louise left. I think she (Louise) resided in a sanatorium while pregnant and immediately after. Eventually she gave up this child, who went to live in Dresden with her father and siblings,  and basically her other children, seeing them only infrequently. She and the lover eventually broke up and, after the King divorced her, she married a composer or violinist named Enrico Toselli. She died in poverty in Brussells in 1947 and the King had abdicated in 1918 and died in 1932. It was quite the scandal and I have a series of postcards which detail how she abandoned the children and of her with her lover--really shocking for the times that it was so commented on publicly rather than hidden away. There were 3 sons (2 born the same year!) and 3 daughters.  Her eldest son George is interesting to me as he renounced his rights in 1923 and  became a Jesuit  priest and was perhaps murdered by the Nazis as he was an outspoken opponent (as were many of the Catholic royal houses it seems--Saxony, Wurttemberg, Bavaria). Another son married Sophie of Luxemburg (one of the 6 lovely daughters there) and 2 of the daughters married Hohenzollern brothers (not descended from the Kaiser--different branch). Anna Monica married Archduke Josef Franz of Austria.

Friedrich August and his 6 children:


Margaret, Alix & Anna:


the family in the 30s

it shows his sons, their wives and his daughters (except for Anna) & their husbands and some grandchildren (Margarete & Alix married brothers--twins?)

Great story,very ineresting...Any picture of Louise?Or her husband(I mean the first one   )

Great story,very ineresting...Any picture of Louise?Or her husband(I mean the first one   )

He's shown in the above photos with his children but I'll toss in another (and see last set as well).  


Louise:


with husband #1

and husband #2


more family photos

The home/castle of the Saxon royal family was a lovely place in the most wonderful setting. It along with the rest of Dresden and 500,000 of its citizens and refugees were destroyed in 1945. Part of the royal complex was the Taschenbergpalais, also a fantastic palace. The Taschenbergpalais has been rebuilt as a 5 star hotel. The royal palace has been or will be rebuilt but not as a hotel or residence. The nearby Semper Opera house, which some believe to the Europe's most beautiful, was destroyed as well but reconstructed with precise detail and now stands in all its glory.

Are the Green Vaults in one of these palaces, or were they lost as well ?

Thanks Robert. Yes, the Green Vaults were destroyed as well, but the contents were removed and stored in the mines nearby prior to the conflagration. The room has been rebuilt and contents replaced, although the Russian troops made off with a significant amount of the treasures. The Green Vault was originally in the royal residence and after the WWII was located in the Zwinger, I think (may have been another museum). Now however it is back to its original location in the newly restored royal castle, or at least soon to be. The treasures were on a global tour years ago under the name "The Splendors of Dresden". We can thank the royal family of Saxony (King Augustus mainly) for accumulating such a collection.

Although I did not see the exhibit, I do have a bokk [rather lacish] from that tour. The treasures were incredible, equal to the most exquisite  Faberge I thought. From that book alone I have always wanted to see them.

The items taken by the Soviets- are they being returned in this new spirit of exchange ?