Prince Friedirch Karl of Prussia (Red Prince), his family and descendants

[grandduchessella]

Friedrich Karl (1828-1885) m.1854 Marie-Anne of Anhalt-Dessau (1837- 1906)
 
1) Marie (1855-1888) m.(1) 1878 Hendrik of the Netherlands (d.1879) (2) 1885 Albrecht of Saxe-Altenburg. Her first husband was brother to King William III of the Netherlands. They had no children. She had 2 by her 2nd husband--Olga and Marie (who married Heinrich XXXV Reuss and like her 1st cousin Viktoria Marina divorced her Reuss husband in 1921). Marie Sr died just 2 weeks after Marie Jr was born so I don't know if it was childbirth related.

2) Elisabeth (1857-1895); m.1878 GD Friedrich August of Oldenburg [their daughter Sophie Charlotte later married Kaiser Wilhelm II's son Eitel Friedrich but they divorced]

3) Anne (Feb 1858-May 1858)

4) Luise Margarete (1860-1917) m.1879 Arthur, Duke of Connaught

5)Friedrich Leopold (1865-1931) m.1889 Princess Luise of Schleswig-Holstein

Her father was known for being very bad-tempered and apparently Louise's homelife was not so great. (He also wasn't thrilled with so many daughters, esp before a son came). She was glad to marry Arthur (whom she loved) and 'escape' to the relative calm and harmony of Britain's royal family.

Her sister Elisabeth married  Friedrich of Oldenberg and died young. She married in a joint wedding ceremony with Vicky's daughter Charlotte in Jan 1878.

[grandduchessella]

Additionally some Louise's nieces/nephews from her brother were:

1) Viktoria Margarete (1890-1923) m.1913 (div 1922) Heinrich XXXIII Reuss (she's the one often mistaken on ebay for Vicky's daughter Victoria   )
2) Friedrich Sigismund (1891-died from a fall from a horse 1927) m.1916 Marie Luise of Schaumburg-Lippe (she was the daughter of Princess Louise of Denmark--daughter of Frederick VIII & Louise 'Aunt Swan')
3) Friedrich Karl (1892-KIA 1917; his cousin Arthur was of course fighting for the British)

[Prince_Lieven]

Her father was Prince Frederick Charles of Prussia (or Fritz Karl) and her mother was Princess Marianna of Anhalt. Fritz Karl reputedly puched Marianne's ears when she was on the delivery bed for giving birth to another girl. Fritz Karl was a violent drunkard. Vicky, wife of Fritz Karl's cousin Fritz, loathed him, but was friendly with Marianne.

Fritz Karl and Marianne'a first daughter was born in 1855 and was named Marie. She married Prince Henry of the Netherlands. There was no issue. she later married Prince Albert of Saxe-Altenburg and had two daughers, Olga and Marie. The second daughter was born ion 1857 and named Elizabeth. She married Grand Duke Frederick Augustus  of Oldenburg (their daughter Princess Sophia Charlotte married Wilhelm II's son Eitel Frederick).
The next child, Princess Anne, died young.  The fourth daughter was born in 1860. This was Louise.

Finally, Prince Frederick Leopold was born in 1865. He married Prince Luise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg, sister of Dona, Wilhelm II's empress. They had a daugher in 1890, Viktoria. She married a Count of Reuss and had a sone and daughter. A son, Frederick, was born in 1891 and married Princess Marie-Louise of Schaumberg-Lippe and had a son and daughter. Frederick Leopold's second son Tassilo was born in 1893 and died unmarried. So did the last child, Prince Frederick Leopold.

Is this info any use to you?

[Prince_Lieven]

grandduchessella must have posted her replies  while I was writing mine. And hers is so neat and mine looks so convoluted!

[Marc]

Is there anywhere portrait in colour of Duchess Louise of Connaught?I think I have never seen one!Is there anywhere her colour portrait?

[grandduchessella]

Mostly the Internet.   Some have been for sale on Ebay.  I have a few of the Louise ones I posted (I mostly have her post-wedding though) but not much of her family as I tend to stick to QV's family.

[Svetabel]

It's amazing that Fritz Karl's daughter-in-law, Princess Louise Sophie of Prussia said (in her book of reminiscences ) such words about him : "...a man whose outward ruggedness concealed a warm, true heart - a man who could on occasion abandon a longed-for holiday in order to give money which it would have cost to a friend in need". Hmmm! A man with WARM heart who pushed his wife's ears...

[grandduchessella]

Well his DIL was a contrary person.  

[Svetabel]

Princess Louise Sophie of Prussia about her mother-in-law, Prss Marianne : " I had the feeling that my mother-in-law was perhaps somewhat chagrined by all the jewels given to me by my Prince [Friedrich Leopold, son of Fritz Karl] because her husband had given her very few. As a girl at home she had been much petted and spoilt, and I could quite understand and sympathyze with what her feelings...Princess Friedrich Karl had been for some years quite deaf and I remember once, before I knew her affliction or ever thought of becoming her daughter-in-law, how amazed I was at the way she shouted".

Louise Sophie for good reason passed over in silence the cause of Marianne's deafness...

[grandduchessella]

Some glimpses into the charming fellow's personality and his wife courtesy of QV and Vicky and their voluminous correspondence:

Vicky Feb 1858 (as a new bride in Berlin):
"I like Marianne best of them, but she is so cowed by her husband ...."

Vicky Feb 20 1858: [reflecting on the amount of gossip between and about the royal family] 'For instance the marriage of Fritz Carl, is so much talked about. All the stories are more or less inventions but still neither he nor Marianne do anything go prove that they are false remarks, or once for all by their words--and appearance in public put to silence all the nonsense that goes about now...Each of these princes have in their household a person who is a sort of spy--and repeats all over the town what the princes or princesses say or do--for instance Marianne's and Prince Charles's.'

QV Feb 27 1858: '...poor Marianne how very unfortunate to have a third girl and how angry Fritz Carl will be; still you must wish him and her joy in both our names, and inquire after her in my name. What will they call this poor little unwelcome thing? I can fancy his indignation!' [to say the least! QV and PA were asked to be sponsors to this baby which they accepted]

QV Mar 5 1858: 'Papa has written to Fritz C. We think that perhaps 'Mrs Arthur' may be one of those little girls! [how very prescient! though Louise wasn't born yet?] Say every thing kind and civil from me to Fritz C....Do you think Fritz C and M. would like if I sent the two girls a pretty frock each?...What is the poor little swaddled-up baby to be called? Can't you send me some photographs of the little girls...[and other various Hohenzollerns] for my album?'

QV April 28 1858: ''Marianne; what a shame to leave her so alone! [after giving birth] That is inexcusable! I always think one of their little girls would do for one of your younger brothers. You must watch over their education a little.' [I guess QV thought because of their age they'd be good matches and also because she and Vicky liked Marianne--it couldn't be because she thought FC was such a bonus!]

QV Aug 2 1858: 'I am so vexed that poor Marianne is sent away all alone [without her daughters]; I wished so much to see her too; I hope I shall at Hanover. How stupid they are abroad in never letting children have change of air!...their little girls would I am sure be much the better for it. Fritz C is strange.'

Vicky Aug 4 1859: 'He [FC] despises women, and will not lose that feeling into he finds one that is his match and tells him the truth. I think he, as most gentleman do here, consider ladies as un chiffon to be well-dressed, and look pretty. To have stupid complimetns and flattery paid them and to have children is all they are made for. I wish some day you would invite them it would do him so mcuh good to see the sort of position women have in England. But still sometimes I think he puts on this opinion on purpose....'

FC would pay a visit and was well-impressed with QV. QV referred to him in a letter to Vicky as 'Rotkehlchen' (Robin Red Breast) an allusion to his nickname The Red Prince. He was called this because he was so often seen in his uniform of the Red Hussars of the Guard )

QV Aug 21 1860: 'Poor Marianne, I pity her much! I prefer the name her baby [Louise] to yours [Charlotte].'

[grandduchessella]

Louise Sophie for good reason passed over in silence the cause of Marianne's deafness...

What a brute!

On a side note, quotes from the book remind me how incredibly angry I still am that I paid about $100 for that book on ebay and never received it.  

[grandduchessella]

Vicky to QV FEb 3 1864: Vicky was down in the dumps because Fritz (and many of the Hohenzollern males including FC) was off to battle and she didn't have the spirits when he could at the same time be in grave danger--'but Marianne dances till 2 o'clock in the morning wherever and whenever she can.'  

[grandduchessella]

Vicky and QV weren't too impressed with FC's behavior during the S-Holstein war (the one during which Marianne enjoyed her freedom so much!). He took the last town which basically ended the conflict but Vicky resented the attention FC received while Fritz's enemies even then were attempted to marginalize him despite his commendations during battle. QV notes in Aug 1866 that 'everyone speaks in such love and admiration of him [Fritz] and the admirable behavior of the troops under Fritz--which is strongly contrasted with Fritz Carl and his armee corps. Fritz Carl is said to have been unfeeling and overbearing but we know what Fritz Carl is.' Praise for Fritz in England was even more noteworthy since England wasn't sympathetic to Prussia.


Vicky to QV Aug 17 1867: "You ask how Fritz Carl's boy is getting on. He is made a tremendous fuss with by everybody...On all occasion when the family is assembled Fritz Carl's boy is the principal attraction and Willy is not at all noticed...[Vicky was glad and resentful at the same time--when the family did notice Willy it was usually with pity] The said boy...is a heavy lump of unintelligence with pretty features, lovely hair, a big head--and an inanimate expression. In height he is the same as my funny little Vicky; he moreover wears a military cap--and the Papa who never took up his little girls or seemed to take teh sightest notice of them, torments the nurses about every single thing the boy puts on, has him on his lap all dinner time, and carries him about afterwards....They say the Duke of Brunswick (bosom friend of Fritz Carl's) has left all his fortune and his fine place at Silesia to Fritz Carl's son. '

[Svetabel]

  What a brute!

In fact her book is rather dull. The more I read it the more I understand that the authoress had for an object telling about her hatred to Kaiser Wilhelm II… It seems she was a trouble-making person, quite an irritable nature…That passage about "warm heart" of Pr.Friedrich Karl (who was a loathsome man by no means) convinces me that Louise Sophie’s  revelations and appraisals are not to be trusted entirely. :-/

[bookworm857158367]

Today Fritz Carl would have made a few appearances in family court for domestic violence. Poor Marianne. Louise was a very pretty, if reserved looking, little girl. I wonder what effect her brute of a father had on her and on the way she brought up her own children?