Mecklenburg-Schwerin

[Yseult]

So, Sveta, we can say Elisabeth married for the first time due to the wish of Johann Albrecht about being father. And later she married for the second time due to her own wish of being a new mother for a little niece...

I was wondering if she was happy with her two marriages.

[Svetabel]

I was wondering if she was happy with her two marriages.

 At least she never looks gloomy or sad in her various single photos, and in the group-shots of the Mecklenburg clan too.

More of her

In 1912



In 1913



With her 1st husband

[Carolath Habsburg]

she had a pretty smile! I love that last one. Thanks for sharing

Elisabeth 1st husband, Johann



Second husband, Adolf

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

Exactly. But there was one more point at least in the beginning of the XVIII century when Peter I married off his niece Ekaterina to a Mecklenburg Duke. Peter needed allies in the North Germany and Mecklenburg was just the one.

Interesting. I never knew about this alliance, and neither that her granddaughters lived out their lives in exile in Horsens in Denmark! (Which strangely enough also served as exile for another, wayward Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin: Charlotte Frederikke, wife of the former King Christian VIII.)

What about Grand Duchess Ekaterina Mikhailovna?She was Russian Grand Duchess and later Duchess von Mecklenburg-Strelitz...this must have formed some connection...

Ups yes, I quite forgot about her and the Russian Mecklenburgs!

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

If memory serves, Mecklenburg's ruling families have rather unique origins.

Their founder wasn't German, but was a Slavic tribal chieftain. The Germans were expanding eastward across the Elbe. Niklot (I think was his name) correctly read the signs, and allied himself with the Holy Roman Emperors.
Almost alone of the old Wendish (or Sorbian) ruling families, his descendants held onto their position after the German Conquest.

His son or grandson was made a Prince of the Empire, and they went on from there.

It's kind of charming to think that this family represents a link to the original Slavic inhabitants of eastern Germany.

Indeed, and I guess this Pan-Slavic connection was played up each time a Romanov married a Duke or Duchess of Mecklenburg?

Exactly.

I see from Staffan Skott's book about the Romanovs that Miechen mentioned this connection herself, saying that she was just as Slavic as the Romanovs.

[Carolath Habsburg]

Adolf and first wife, Victoria de Reuss. She died giving birth in 1918 (correct me if im wrong). Later, Adolf married his brother Johann` widow Elisabeth of Stolberg rossla . No issue.

[Eutropius]

An interesting tidbit from E. H. Cookridge's book From Battenberg to Mountbatten: There was an attempt in 1844 by the Tsar and Tsarina to marry Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (who later married Prince Hugo Windisch-Graetz) to Prince Alexander of Hesse and the Rhine (who married Princess Battenberg).  She came to Russia with her widowed mother on a visit.  She was described as "unlovely."  Alexander was disinterested.  Her nickname was "Vivi."

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

For all Mecklenburgophiles here who want to appear extra Mecklenburg-savvy:
The original, correct (North) German pronunciation of the name is [ˈmeːklənbʊrk] with the first vowel long, as if written Meecklenburg.
Apparantly doubling the following consonant was a way to indicate a long vowel in medieval Low German. (Mecklenburg means "Big Town/Castle" and is cognate with Miklagard, the Vikings' name for Constantinople.)

The Slavic Wendish name of the original castle Mecklenburg (between Schwerin and the Baltic) was Wiligrad (same meaning), a name that later was recycled for the castle Duke Johann Albrecht built by the Lake of Schwerin in the 1890s.

Schloss Wiligrad:

[Naslednik Norvezhskiy]

The noble line of Solodkoff issued from Duchess Donata of Mecklenburg-Schwerin's marriage to renowned Fabergé expert and author Alexander von Solodkoff must be, though no longer Mecklenburg dynasts, the heirs of the medieval Mecklenburg claim to Norway, according to the medieval Norwegian Laws of Succession of 1273 and 1302. If Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, as senior male-line heir of Eufemia Eriksdotter of Sweden and Norway (her son Albrecht was ousted as King by Queen Margrethe I and her designated heir Eric of Pomerania, see this post in the Danish section about those events), then in absence of male-line heirs his eldest male-line granddaughter Donata's eldest son Niklos-Alexis von Solodkoff (born 8. December 1994) is King of Norway according to the medieval Laws of Succession!

I never thought how poignant it was that the first modern king of an independent Norway, Kristian Fredrik of 1814 fame (later Christian VIII of Denmark), probably wasn't the son of his Oldenburg father Hereditary Prince Frederik, but his aide-de-camp Frederik von Blücher's liaison with his mother Sofie Frederikke, a born Princess of Mecklenburg-Schwerin! And that Kristian Fredrik himself married a Princess of M-S, the wayward Charlotte Frederikke. Their son Frederik (VII of Denmark, the last of the royal Oldenburg line), was of course the first modern crown prince of an independent Norway! (I don't think his paternity is doubted, but if it is, given his mother's relationship with her French song teacher that led to her divorce, he was still a cognatic descendant of that Mecklenburg line from Eufemia!) And of course one of Frederik VII's three wifes was a Princess of M-Strelitz to boot. Of course this Mecklenburg dimension also adds a no doubt not intended dimension to the remark of Grand Duchess Augusta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (née Princess of Great Britain) that Maud and Haakon's coronation in 1906 was "revolutionary".

[Svetabel]

An interesting tidbit from E. H. Cookridge's book From Battenberg to Mountbatten: There was an attempt in 1844 by the Tsar and Tsarina to marry Duchess Louise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (who later married Prince Hugo Windisch-Graetz) to Prince Alexander of Hesse and the Rhine (who married Princess Battenberg).  She came to Russia with her widowed mother on a visit.  She was described as "unlovely."  Alexander was disinterested.  Her nickname was "Vivi."

That's interesting, as there's no much info on Louise and her short life.I've been searching for her image but still no any are found.

[Marc]

Duchess Donata and her husband Alexander von Solodkoff:

http://media.ostsee-zeitung.de/images/oz/artikel/400x400/b/c/4/0000k4cb.jpg

[ashdean]

Duchess Donata and her husband Alexander von Solodkoff:

http://media.ostsee-zeitung.de/images/oz/artikel/400x400/b/c/4/0000k4cb.jpg

Herr von Solodkoff is a world authority on Faberge and has written fascinating books on the subject.

[Marc]

Beautiful photo of Grand Duchess Anastasia:

[Eric_Lowe]

Yes. I think the fringe tiara went to her daughter Alexandrine along with a lovely sapphire brooch.

[violetta]

I was in Schwerin last week. I took some pictures of the beautiful Schwerin castle. This is one of the most beatiful buildings I`ve ever seen!!! I immedaitely fell i love with it.As soon as I saw it I became breathless.As simple as that. I`m posting some pictures from my visit,some of the pictures are almost identical but i can`t help posting them.I will post more pictures step by step.