Here's one of those tragedies:
Adolf II (the last ruler; abdicated on 1918) died at age 53 in a plane crash (along with his wife) in Mexico.
Marriages:
Friedrich Christian married 3 times:
(1) 1927-1961 (widowed) Alexandra Castell-Rüdenhausen
(2) 1962-1969 (widowed) Marie Luise of Schleswig-Holstein (she was 54 when they married; he was 56)
(3) 1971 Hélène Mayr (she was age 59; he was 63). She actually outlived him
Adelheid m.1841 (div 1848) Duke Friedrich of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg . She remarried her first husband in 1854.
Of course poor Moretta's marriage to Adolf which was content but he wasn't her first choice and she was denied the blessings of motherhood she wanted so badly.
On a side note, Louise's husband Friedrich's family had quite the colorful marital career. Of Friedrich's siblings (Louise's siblings-in-law):
1) brother Christian married Duchess Elsa of Wurttemberg and his brother Max married Elsa's twin Olga (daughters of Vera Constantinova). Max died after 6 yrs of marriage leaving a widow and 2 children (one child having died in infancy). Their eldest son died in a plane crash in 1929 (age 30) while their 2nd son married but his only child was an illegitimate one fathered (during his marriage) when he was 60.
2) sister Bathildis married Helen of Albany and Queen Emma of the Netherlands' brother Friedrich. I think he or his son was a BIG Nazi suppporter.
3) Adelheid married Duke Ernst II of Saxe-Altenburg in 1898 and divorced in 1920.
4) Alexandra died age 70 unmarried; Franz Joseph died age 16
5) eldest sister Charlotte married Wilhelm II of Wurttemberg in 1886. He was the widower of Bathildis's husband's sister Pauline of Waldeck-Pyrmont.
found this on the German-Austrian message board:
Another leading supporter of the Nazis who disgraced himself and his family, was Prince Josias of Waldeck une Pyrmont, an SS Obergruppenfuhrere, who was jailed for his crimes after the war. The Hereditary Grand Duke of Oldenburg (brother-in-law of Prince Josias) was another German royal involved closely with the Nazis, and held the rank of SA Standartenfuhrer and commander of the SA - Reiterstandarte 14, while his eldest son, Duke Anton Gunther, was an SS officer. The hereditary Grand Duke's other brother-in-law, Prince Stephan of Schaumburg-Lippe was an SS-Obersturmfuhrer. Prince Stephan's brother, Friedrich Christian, was an SA Standartenfuhrer, orator of the Reich NSDAP, and 1st chief of Section of the Chief of Staff of the Gauleiter of the foreign (i.e. non-German NSDAP (i.e. a true Nazi ideologue). A cousin, Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe, was NSKK Staffelfuhrer (his sister was married to Prince Wolrad, head of the House, who was not directly involved but a strong sympathiser).
