She had frequent conflicts with her in-laws during her marriage for behavior they considered inappropriate for a Hohenzollern princess--not unlike her aunt, Princess Friedrich Leopold. She liked modern dances such as the foxtrot and was frequently taken to task for spending too much money. She was full of high spirits and could adopt a sarcastic tone. AV had sued for divorce once before (post-revolution) naming numerous women in her decree. Under pressure, she withdrew the petition and the 2 resumed an uneasy existence together. She eventually sued again for divorce. AV gave an interview to a newspaper in 1926 upon her (and her husband's) arrival in New York. She said that she was grateful for the revolution as it gave her freedom from royalty and court restrictions. She was apparently an avid painter and this was severely repressed in the Kaiser's court. She also remarked on the 'loveless marriages' of herself, Sophie Charlotte and Marie Auguste--and even the Kaiserin--where they were all 'smothered with pomp, subject to whims of the Emperor, longing for simple life and honest affection. It was indeed a sorry little flock of unhappy women which the German revolution set loose from the Prussian castle '. Her second husband, former Naval officer Arnold Rumann, had been a friend of her father's. She and her husband set up house in Munich and while AV, for the first time, had to bake, clean and make her own clothes she was happy. She said 'I have love now' and the ability to paint and that 'you may be sure I learned the value of love and work during those bleak years' of her marriage when she 'had neither'. She said she occasionally still had dreams of the coldness of the Imperial world where their glittering existence was haunted by a 'black spectre--the Kaiser's will'. She also rejoiced that, unlike the pre-Revolution era, the Kaiser's will was not sufficient to deprive her of her son. He was, at the time, in school in Potsdam where he saw his father and spent time with his mother. She felt that she now had 'everything--a husband who loves me, a home of my own where my word is law, the right to work, and the visits of my boy. What more could a woman ask?'. Sadly, that marriage would end in divorce as well.
After her divorce, she earned her own way, partially by trying to sell her paintings. She would later visit California and paint in Santa Barbara and San Francisco and have an exhibit in the latter of her artwork. (She painted portraits & landscapes). It was even rumored that she might become an American citizen in 1929. She also travelled to NY incognito in 1927 and exhibited some work under her married name before it was revealed she was a princess. She was also the first member of the Hohenzollern family (even though she was divorced by then) to get bobbed hair. During WW2, she moved her possessions to the home of her brother where she thought they'd be safe--which they were from aerial bombardment but not from the Soviet occupying forces. She lost even the amount of money she had in the bank. By 1950, she was in very bad straights and living in a 15 foot trailer (which she once used to travel across the US) trying to keep it heated. She would drive in it from one free parking area to another and cooked her food on a small gas burner Her easel took up one corner and she shared the rest only with her small dog. Still, she maintained the 'bohemian' flair that 'shocked her royal relatives'. This is why, she said, she enjoyed visiting America--there no one was shocked but 'here people are always shocked'. She hoped to stock away enough money to visit again and said she didn't mind being poor--she'd existed on only hot dogs (which she made herself) during one of her travels in America and she'd do it again if she had to.
AV and 2nd husband
