Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis
Encyclopedia
Paul Maximilian Lamoral, Prince of Thurn and Taxis, full German
name: Paul Maximilian Lamoral Fürst von Thurn und Taxis; 27 May 1843, Castle Donaustauf
near Regensburg
– 10 March 1879 Cannes
, France), was the third child of Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
and his second wife Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg
. He was buried in Cannes, at the Cimetière du Grand Jas
, Allée du Silence no. 33 under the name of Paul de Fels.
, he was appointed on 15 November 1861 as junior lieutenant in the 2nd Bavarian artillery regiment (military registry no. KA OP 69 547) and was assigned as orderly officer of then Crown Prince Ludwig on 1 May 1863. Ludwig and Paul became close friends after spending three weeks together in Berchtesgaden
in September 1863. After Ludwig’s accession to the throne in 1864, Paul was promoted to personal aide-de-camp
of the king on 18 January 1865. In the following two years, Paul von Thurn und Taxis, who matched the king in his good looks, became the closest friend and confidant of the monarch, who gave him the nickname Faithful Friedrich:
“Let me assure you that I shall always foster with the same sincerity the feelings of gratefulness and faithful love which I bear for you in my heart. Remember with love, your faithful Ludwig” (Letter of Ludwig II to Paul).
Although this infatuation, like that with Richard Wagner
, was probably not sexually expressed, there were rumours in Munich that Ludwig was sexually intimate with his aide-de-camp.
Paul appears to have kept a diary, but like everything else concerning him in the Regensburg archives of the Thurn und Taxis family, it has been destroyed. Following letter was sent by Paul to Ludwig from his apartment at Türkenstrasse 82 in Munich on 5 May 1866:
“Dear and Beloved Ludwig! I am just finishing my diary with the thought of the beautiful hours which we spent together that evening a week ago which made me the happiest man on earth… Oh, Ludwig, Ludwig, I am devoted to you! I couldn’t stand the people around me; I sat still and, in my thought I was with you...How my heart beat when, as I passed the Residenz, I saw a light in your window."
Paul and Ludwig shared their passion for Richard Wagner and the theatre. He was gifted with a beautiful voice and sang before the King several times. Wagner rehearsed with Paul a part of the opera Lohengrin
which was performed at the occasion of the 20th birthday of the king on August 25, 1865 at the Alpsee
in Hohenschwangau
. It was magnificently staged with Paul - dressed as Lohengrin wearing a silver shining armor - drawn over the lake by an artificial swan and the whole scenery was illuminated by electric light.
After Richard Wagner was forced to leave Munich on 10 December 1865, Prince Paul of Taxis served as a discreet messenger and intermediary between Ludwig and Wagner. Ludwig apparently also toyed with the idea of abdicating in order to follow his hero into exile, but Wagner with the assistance of Taxis dissuaded him from doing so, while both of them stayed incognito at Wagner’s Villa in Tribschen
in May 1866. Using the alias ‘’Friedrich Melloc’’, Paul travelled again to Tribschen on 6 August 1866, this time, however without Ludwig, obviously to convince Wagner to return to Munich. Paul’s following letter to Ludwig is dated 7 August 1866:
“I have just left the intimate circle of the Dear Friends (i.e. Richard & Cosima Wagner) and have retired to the cosy little room which we shared when we were here together… Beautiful memory!...He and Frau Vorstal (i.e. Richard & Cosima Wagner) send their deepest greetings. May God protect you and keep you on the Throne. This is their wish and my own, because only then can we achieve our high ideal. The results of my mission are best given verbally, and I believe that you will approve of them….But now good night, in my thoughts I salute you a thousand times. Your sincere and faithful Friedrich.”
But soon the relationship between Paul and Ludwig soured. Jealous tongues attempted to discredit Paul, and evil and untrue rumours reached Ludwig’s ears that Paul lived a frivolous life. Having little malice in his own nature, Ludwig could never get used to it in others and at first he probably took the rumours about Paul at face value.
Although Ludwig’s feelings for his friend grew deeper and developed into great love, the friendship was so precariously balanced that the slightest tremor of reality threatened to send it plummeting to oblivion. Paul again “faltered” making a wrong choice, saying the wrong word, displaying too much familiarity on one occasion and not enough affection on another. Trivial in themselves, such incidents preyed upon Ludwig’s mind until they became unbearable. Once and for all, he cut Paul out of his life. Apparently the final indiscretion was so trivial that even Paul himself was unaware of it. When he learned of his fall from grace, he sent some agonized letters to the King, but there was to be no response from Ludwig. Paul’s letter to Ludwig is undated, but must have been written somewhere about the middle of December 1866:
“My own beloved Ludwig! What in the name of all the Saints has your Friedrich done to you? What did he say that no hand, no good night, no Auf Wiedersehen favoured him? How I feel I cannot say, my trembling hand may show you my inner disquiet. I did not intend to hurt you. Forgive me; be good again with me, I fear the worst - I cannot stand this. May my notes climb to you reconcilingly. Amen! Forgive your unhappy Friedrich”.
Elise Kreuzer of the Actien-Volkstheater
, "with whom he spend a night at a local boarding house, he was well too drunk to remember, the next morning they parted but in the end of December 1866 she proclaimed him to be the father of her unborn child”.
After their final break up Paul would never see Ludwig again. In January 1867, Paul retired from the Bavarian army under peculiar circumstances, which were later termed as “desertion” by Minister of War Siegmund von Pranckh
in 1872. Using the alias “Rudolphi”, Paul moved to Wankdorf near Bern, Switzerland, together with Elise where their son Heinrich, named after Elise’s father Heinrich Kreuzer
, a known opera singer, was born on 30 June 1867.
After Paul received notice that his parents had tasked the Bavarian police to trace their son in order to convince him to abandon Elise, they moved to Mannheim
or Ludwigshafen in August 1867. In October 1867, Paul took up an engagement at the municipal theatre of Aachen
under the name “Herr von Thurn” together with Elise.
1867 was a very challenging year for the Thurn and Taxis family. Paul’s sister Amalie died on 12 February 1867 at the age of 22 and his half-brother, Maximilian Anton Lamoral
, the Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis, died on 26 June 1867 at the age of 36. With the annexation of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main - where the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post
had its headquarters - by the Kingdom of Prussia
in 1866 during the Austro-Prussian war, the era of the Thurn and Taxis family's postal monopoly ended on 1 July 1867 with the handover to Prussia.
In 1868, Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis was forced by his family to marry Elise morganatically
, and thereafter was disowned by them, stripped of all his titles, rank and birthrights against an annual pension of 6000 florin
. Paul kept writing to Ludwig but without any reply, in the end he begged the King to give him a title. On 19 June 1868 Ludwig inscribed him upon the list of the nobility of Bavaria as Herr Paul von Fels. However, his later petition for conferment of hereditary nobility was declined on 10 December 1869 at the request of the Bavarian Ministry.
Paul tried to reconnect with Richard Wagner as a diary entry of Cosima Wagner on 11 April 1869 shows:“...Hans
reporting nothing but bad things from Munich; on top of that a letter from Paul of Fels (formerly Prince Taxis), who wants an appointment of some kind, and, in order to secure it, tells us a lot of gossip! At three o’clock a boat trip with the three little ones and R.
”
Paul started a new attempt to reconcile with his father and visited him together with Elise on 3 August 1869 in castle Donaustauf, obviously to no avail. Paul became then an actor at the Zurich
theatre in Switzerland, however, ended his acting career after being hissed off the stage.
After his father died on on 10 November 1871, his sister-in-law, Helene of Thurn and Taxis
, became the unofficial head of the family until her son, Maximilian Maria
, the Hereditary Prince, became of age on 24 June 1883. Known for her diplomatic skills, she tried to reconnect Paul to King Ludwig II and, according to newspaper reports of 1874, Paul would regain his family name and become the Marshall of the Royal Palace Herrenchiemsee
and Master of the Revels
to King Ludwig II. However, this was not realized for unknown reasons.
In 1877/78, Elise was the prima donna
at the theatre of Freiburg
. According to Baring-Gould she “exacted from her husband that, whenever she acted, he should throw a bouqet on to the stage at her feet, and get his friends to do the same”.
Shortly after, Paul came down with tuberculosis
and went with his wife to Lugano
, where he grew worse. Elise formed a liaison with a Prussian officer, staying at the same hotel, and eloped with him, "leaving her husband, who had given up so much for her, to die unbefriended" on March 10, 1879 in Cannes
, "remembering the only true love of his life".
In 1879, Paul's widow - under the name of Frau Elisabeth von Fels - joined the Municipal Theatre in Lübeck
together with Arno Cabisius, whom she married in 1881. In 1891, Cabisius became the Director of the Magdeburg
Municipal Theatre which he led until his death on 6 March 1907. Elisabeth Cabisius-Kreuzer took over the directorship to complete her husband's contract until the end of the season 1907/08. The fate of Paul's son Heinrich von Fels, who was left behind with his father after Elise abandoned her family, remains unclear.
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
name: Paul Maximilian Lamoral Fürst von Thurn und Taxis; 27 May 1843, Castle Donaustauf
Donaustauf
Donaustauf is a market town in Bavaria, 5 km east of Regensburg at the foothills of the Bavarian Forest. The ruins of a medieval castle, presumably erected between 914 and 930, tower above the small town...
near Regensburg
Regensburg
Regensburg is a city in Bavaria, Germany, located at the confluence of the Danube and Regen rivers, at the northernmost bend in the Danube. To the east lies the Bavarian Forest. Regensburg is the capital of the Bavarian administrative region Upper Palatinate...
– 10 March 1879 Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, France), was the third child of Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
Maximilian Karl, 6th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*3 November 1802 – 13 November 1805: His Serene Highness Prince Maximilian Karl of Thurn and Taxis*13 November 1805 – 15 July 1827: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis...
and his second wife Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg
Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg
-Titles and styles:*9 February 1816 – 24 January 1839: Her Serene Highness Princess Mathilde Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen and Oettingen-Spielberg*24 January 1839 – 10 November 1871: Her Serene Highness The Princess of Thurn and Taxis...
. He was buried in Cannes, at the Cimetière du Grand Jas
Cimetière du Grand Jas
The Cimetière du Grand Jas is located at 205 avenue de Grasse in Cannes on the French Riviera. The nine hectare terraced cemetery began operations in 1866 and is known for its landscaped architecture with rich floral decorations and statuary.Its "English square" or Cimetière Anglais, is the final...
, Allée du Silence no. 33 under the name of Paul de Fels.
Friendship with Ludwig II of Bavaria
At the request of his father to King Maximilian II of BavariaMaximilian II of Bavaria
Maximilian II of Bavaria was king of Bavaria from 1848 until 1864. He was son of Ludwig I of Bavaria and Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen.-Crown Prince:...
, he was appointed on 15 November 1861 as junior lieutenant in the 2nd Bavarian artillery regiment (military registry no. KA OP 69 547) and was assigned as orderly officer of then Crown Prince Ludwig on 1 May 1863. Ludwig and Paul became close friends after spending three weeks together in Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden
Berchtesgaden is a municipality in the German Bavarian Alps. It is located in the south district of Berchtesgadener Land in Bavaria, near the border with Austria, some 30 km south of Salzburg and 180 km southeast of Munich...
in September 1863. After Ludwig’s accession to the throne in 1864, Paul was promoted to personal aide-de-camp
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
of the king on 18 January 1865. In the following two years, Paul von Thurn und Taxis, who matched the king in his good looks, became the closest friend and confidant of the monarch, who gave him the nickname Faithful Friedrich:
“Let me assure you that I shall always foster with the same sincerity the feelings of gratefulness and faithful love which I bear for you in my heart. Remember with love, your faithful Ludwig” (Letter of Ludwig II to Paul).
Although this infatuation, like that with Richard Wagner
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
, was probably not sexually expressed, there were rumours in Munich that Ludwig was sexually intimate with his aide-de-camp.
Paul appears to have kept a diary, but like everything else concerning him in the Regensburg archives of the Thurn und Taxis family, it has been destroyed. Following letter was sent by Paul to Ludwig from his apartment at Türkenstrasse 82 in Munich on 5 May 1866:
“Dear and Beloved Ludwig! I am just finishing my diary with the thought of the beautiful hours which we spent together that evening a week ago which made me the happiest man on earth… Oh, Ludwig, Ludwig, I am devoted to you! I couldn’t stand the people around me; I sat still and, in my thought I was with you...How my heart beat when, as I passed the Residenz, I saw a light in your window."
Paul and Ludwig shared their passion for Richard Wagner and the theatre. He was gifted with a beautiful voice and sang before the King several times. Wagner rehearsed with Paul a part of the opera Lohengrin
Lohengrin (opera)
Lohengrin is a romantic opera in three acts composed and written by Richard Wagner, first performed in 1850. The story of the eponymous character is taken from medieval German romance, notably the Parzival of Wolfram von Eschenbach and its sequel, Lohengrin, written by a different author, itself...
which was performed at the occasion of the 20th birthday of the king on August 25, 1865 at the Alpsee
Alpsee
The Alpsee is a lake in the Ostallgäu district of Bavaria, Germany, located about 4 kilometres southeast of Füssen. It is close to the Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau castles....
in Hohenschwangau
Hohenschwangau
Hohenschwangau is a village in the municipality of Schwangau, Ostallgäu district, Bavaria, Germany.It is located between Schloss Neuschwanstein and Schloss Hohenschwangau and is visited by about 2 million people annually, where they start tours to the former royal palaces.The village is dominated...
. It was magnificently staged with Paul - dressed as Lohengrin wearing a silver shining armor - drawn over the lake by an artificial swan and the whole scenery was illuminated by electric light.
After Richard Wagner was forced to leave Munich on 10 December 1865, Prince Paul of Taxis served as a discreet messenger and intermediary between Ludwig and Wagner. Ludwig apparently also toyed with the idea of abdicating in order to follow his hero into exile, but Wagner with the assistance of Taxis dissuaded him from doing so, while both of them stayed incognito at Wagner’s Villa in Tribschen
Tribschen
Tribschen is a suburb of Lucerne, in the Canton of Lucerne in central Switzerland.Tribschen is best known today as the home of the German composer Richard Wagner from 30 March 1866 to 22 April 1872. When Wagner was obliged to leave Munich in March 1866, he moved to a spacious villa in Tribschen on...
in May 1866. Using the alias ‘’Friedrich Melloc’’, Paul travelled again to Tribschen on 6 August 1866, this time, however without Ludwig, obviously to convince Wagner to return to Munich. Paul’s following letter to Ludwig is dated 7 August 1866:
“I have just left the intimate circle of the Dear Friends (i.e. Richard & Cosima Wagner) and have retired to the cosy little room which we shared when we were here together… Beautiful memory!...He and Frau Vorstal (i.e. Richard & Cosima Wagner) send their deepest greetings. May God protect you and keep you on the Throne. This is their wish and my own, because only then can we achieve our high ideal. The results of my mission are best given verbally, and I believe that you will approve of them….But now good night, in my thoughts I salute you a thousand times. Your sincere and faithful Friedrich.”
But soon the relationship between Paul and Ludwig soured. Jealous tongues attempted to discredit Paul, and evil and untrue rumours reached Ludwig’s ears that Paul lived a frivolous life. Having little malice in his own nature, Ludwig could never get used to it in others and at first he probably took the rumours about Paul at face value.
Although Ludwig’s feelings for his friend grew deeper and developed into great love, the friendship was so precariously balanced that the slightest tremor of reality threatened to send it plummeting to oblivion. Paul again “faltered” making a wrong choice, saying the wrong word, displaying too much familiarity on one occasion and not enough affection on another. Trivial in themselves, such incidents preyed upon Ludwig’s mind until they became unbearable. Once and for all, he cut Paul out of his life. Apparently the final indiscretion was so trivial that even Paul himself was unaware of it. When he learned of his fall from grace, he sent some agonized letters to the King, but there was to be no response from Ludwig. Paul’s letter to Ludwig is undated, but must have been written somewhere about the middle of December 1866:
“My own beloved Ludwig! What in the name of all the Saints has your Friedrich done to you? What did he say that no hand, no good night, no Auf Wiedersehen favoured him? How I feel I cannot say, my trembling hand may show you my inner disquiet. I did not intend to hurt you. Forgive me; be good again with me, I fear the worst - I cannot stand this. May my notes climb to you reconcilingly. Amen! Forgive your unhappy Friedrich”.
Marriage, Break-up with his Family and Death
On 7 November 1866, Paul is released from his duties as aide-de-camp and transferred to an artillery regiment "under gracious recognition of his services". From midst November 1866, he started to drink without limits and in a state of turmoil and distress ended up with the Jewish soubretteSoubrette
A soubrette is a female stock character in opera and theatre. The term arrived in English from Provençal via French, and means "conceited" or "coy".-Theater:...
Elise Kreuzer of the Actien-Volkstheater
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz is an opera house and opera company in Munich. Designed by the architect Michael Reiffenstuel, it opened on 5 November 1865 as the city's second opera house after the National Theatre....
, "with whom he spend a night at a local boarding house, he was well too drunk to remember, the next morning they parted but in the end of December 1866 she proclaimed him to be the father of her unborn child”.
After their final break up Paul would never see Ludwig again. In January 1867, Paul retired from the Bavarian army under peculiar circumstances, which were later termed as “desertion” by Minister of War Siegmund von Pranckh
Siegmund von Pranckh
Siegmund Freiherr von Pranckh was a Bavarian general and Minister of War. Pranckh joined the army in Munich in 1840 from the cadet corps and in 1849 worked on the staff of the Generalquartiermeister...
in 1872. Using the alias “Rudolphi”, Paul moved to Wankdorf near Bern, Switzerland, together with Elise where their son Heinrich, named after Elise’s father Heinrich Kreuzer
Heinrich Kreuzer
Heinrich Kreuzer was a well-known Austrian Jewish opera singer.-Biography:...
, a known opera singer, was born on 30 June 1867.
After Paul received notice that his parents had tasked the Bavarian police to trace their son in order to convince him to abandon Elise, they moved to Mannheim
Mannheim
Mannheim is a city in southwestern Germany. With about 315,000 inhabitants, Mannheim is the second-largest city in the Bundesland of Baden-Württemberg, following the capital city of Stuttgart....
or Ludwigshafen in August 1867. In October 1867, Paul took up an engagement at the municipal theatre of Aachen
Aachen
Aachen has historically been a spa town in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Aachen was a favoured residence of Charlemagne, and the place of coronation of the Kings of Germany. Geographically, Aachen is the westernmost town of Germany, located along its borders with Belgium and the Netherlands, ...
under the name “Herr von Thurn” together with Elise.
1867 was a very challenging year for the Thurn and Taxis family. Paul’s sister Amalie died on 12 February 1867 at the age of 22 and his half-brother, Maximilian Anton Lamoral
Maximilian Anton Lamoral, Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*28 September 1831 – 26 June 1867: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis-Honours:*Knight of the Austrian Order of the Golden Fleece -Ancestry:-References:...
, the Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis, died on 26 June 1867 at the age of 36. With the annexation of the Free City of Frankfurt am Main - where the Thurn-und-Taxis-Post
Thurn-und-Taxis-Post
The Thurn-und-Taxis-Post was a private company and the successor to the Imperial Reichspost of the Holy Roman Empire. The Thurn-und-Taxis-Post was operated by the Princely House of Thurn and Taxis between 1806 and 1867...
had its headquarters - by the Kingdom of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
The Kingdom of Prussia was a German kingdom from 1701 to 1918. Until the defeat of Germany in World War I, it comprised almost two-thirds of the area of the German Empire...
in 1866 during the Austro-Prussian war, the era of the Thurn and Taxis family's postal monopoly ended on 1 July 1867 with the handover to Prussia.
In 1868, Prince Paul von Thurn und Taxis was forced by his family to marry Elise morganatically
Morganatic marriage
In the context of European royalty, a morganatic marriage is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which prevents the passage of the husband's titles and privileges to the wife and any children born of the marriage...
, and thereafter was disowned by them, stripped of all his titles, rank and birthrights against an annual pension of 6000 florin
Bavarian gulden
The Gulden was the currency of Bavaria until 1873. Between 1754 and 1837 it was a unit of account, worth of a Conventionsthaler, used to denominate banknotes but not issued as a coin...
. Paul kept writing to Ludwig but without any reply, in the end he begged the King to give him a title. On 19 June 1868 Ludwig inscribed him upon the list of the nobility of Bavaria as Herr Paul von Fels. However, his later petition for conferment of hereditary nobility was declined on 10 December 1869 at the request of the Bavarian Ministry.
Paul tried to reconnect with Richard Wagner as a diary entry of Cosima Wagner on 11 April 1869 shows:“...Hans
Hans von Bülow
Hans Guido Freiherr von Bülow was a German conductor, virtuoso pianist, and composer of the Romantic era. He was one of the most famous conductors of the 19th century, and his activity was critical for establishing the successes of several major composers of the time, including Richard...
reporting nothing but bad things from Munich; on top of that a letter from Paul of Fels (formerly Prince Taxis), who wants an appointment of some kind, and, in order to secure it, tells us a lot of gossip! At three o’clock a boat trip with the three little ones and R.
Richard Wagner
Wilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
”
Paul started a new attempt to reconcile with his father and visited him together with Elise on 3 August 1869 in castle Donaustauf, obviously to no avail. Paul became then an actor at the Zurich
Zürich
Zurich is the largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is located in central Switzerland at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich...
theatre in Switzerland, however, ended his acting career after being hissed off the stage.
After his father died on on 10 November 1871, his sister-in-law, Helene of Thurn and Taxis
Duchess Helene in Bavaria
-Titles and styles:*4 April 1834 – 24 August 1858 Her Royal Highness Duchess Helene in Bavaria*24 August 1858 – 16 May 1890 Her Royal Highness the Hereditary Princess of Thurn and Taxis-Ancestry:-Sources:...
, became the unofficial head of the family until her son, Maximilian Maria
Maximilian Maria, 7th Prince of Thurn and Taxis
-Titles and styles:*24 June 1862 – 26 June 1867: His Serene Highness Prince Maximilian Maria of Thurn and Taxis*26 June 1867 – 10 November 1870: His Serene Highness The Hereditary Prince of Thurn and Taxis...
, the Hereditary Prince, became of age on 24 June 1883. Known for her diplomatic skills, she tried to reconnect Paul to King Ludwig II and, according to newspaper reports of 1874, Paul would regain his family name and become the Marshall of the Royal Palace Herrenchiemsee
Herrenchiemsee
Herrenchiemsee is a complex of royal buildings on the Herreninsel, an island in the Chiemsee, Bavaria's largest lake, 60 km south east of Munich. Together with the neighbouring island of Frauenchiemsee and the uninhabited Krautinsel it forms the municipality of Chiemsee...
and Master of the Revels
Master of the Revels
The Master of the Revels was a position within the English, and later the British, royal household heading the "Revels Office" or "Office of the Revels" that originally had responsibilities for overseeing royal festivities, known as revels, and later also became responsible for stage censorship,...
to King Ludwig II. However, this was not realized for unknown reasons.
In 1877/78, Elise was the prima donna
Prima donna
Originally used in opera or Commedia dell'arte companies, "prima donna" is Italian for "first lady." The term was used to designate the leading female singer in the opera company, the person to whom the prime roles would be given. The prima donna was normally, but not necessarily, a soprano...
at the theatre of Freiburg
Fribourg
Fribourg is the capital of the Swiss canton of Fribourg and the district of Sarine. It is located on both sides of the river Saane/Sarine, on the Swiss plateau, and is an important economic, administrative and educational center on the cultural border between German and French Switzerland...
. According to Baring-Gould she “exacted from her husband that, whenever she acted, he should throw a bouqet on to the stage at her feet, and get his friends to do the same”.
Shortly after, Paul came down with tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
and went with his wife to Lugano
Lugano
Lugano is a city of inhabitants in the city proper and a total of over 145,000 people in the agglomeration/city region, in the south of Switzerland, in the Italian-speaking canton of Ticino, which borders Italy...
, where he grew worse. Elise formed a liaison with a Prussian officer, staying at the same hotel, and eloped with him, "leaving her husband, who had given up so much for her, to die unbefriended" on March 10, 1879 in Cannes
Cannes
Cannes is one of the best-known cities of the French Riviera, a busy tourist destination and host of the annual Cannes Film Festival. It is a Commune of France in the Alpes-Maritimes department....
, "remembering the only true love of his life".
In 1879, Paul's widow - under the name of Frau Elisabeth von Fels - joined the Municipal Theatre in Lübeck
Lübeck
The Hanseatic City of Lübeck is the second-largest city in Schleswig-Holstein, in northern Germany, and one of the major ports of Germany. It was for several centuries the "capital" of the Hanseatic League and, because of its Brick Gothic architectural heritage, is listed by UNESCO as a World...
together with Arno Cabisius, whom she married in 1881. In 1891, Cabisius became the Director of the Magdeburg
Magdeburg
Magdeburg , is the largest city and the capital city of the Bundesland of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany. Magdeburg is situated on the Elbe River and was one of the most important medieval cities of Europe....
Municipal Theatre which he led until his death on 6 March 1907. Elisabeth Cabisius-Kreuzer took over the directorship to complete her husband's contract until the end of the season 1907/08. The fate of Paul's son Heinrich von Fels, who was left behind with his father after Elise abandoned her family, remains unclear.
Trivia
- In the TV series WagnerWagner (mini-series)Wagner is a 1983 film on the life of Richard Wagner. The title role was played by Richard Burton, who said it was the role he was born to play...
(1983) with Richard BurtonRichard BurtonRichard Burton, CBE was a Welsh actor. He was nominated seven times for an Academy Award, six of which were for Best Actor in a Leading Role , and was a recipient of BAFTA, Golden Globe and Tony Awards for Best Actor. Although never trained as an actor, Burton was, at one time, the highest-paid...
as Richard Wagner and Vanessa RedgraveVanessa RedgraveVanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
as Cosima WagnerCosima WagnerCosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner, née de Flavigny, from 1844 known as Cosima Liszt; was the daughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt...
, Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis (played by Arthur Denberg) appears performing as Lohengrin on the Alpsee and at the occasion of his visit to Tribschen together with King Ludwig II in May 1866.
- Prince Paul Taxis is featured as lover of King Ludwig II in the three-volume mangaMangaManga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
series Ludwig IILudwig II (manga)is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by You Higuri. It is licensed in North America by Digital Manga Publishing, which released the first volume of the manga on 10 June 2009, and the second on 23 September 2009. It is licensed in France and Germany by Panini Comics, although it is now out...
(Ruutovihi II sei) by the artist You HiguriYou Higuriis a Japanese shōjo and yaoi manga artist who has made several appearances at anime and manga conventions in the United States, as well as in Germany. Her first U.S. appearance was at the initial Yaoi-Con in San Francisco in 2001...
, published by Kadokawa ShotenKadokawa Shotenis a well-known Japanese publishing company based in Tokyo, Japan. Kadokawa has published both manga novels and magazines, such as Newtype magazine...
.
- Prince Paul makes a little appearance in the movie Ludwig - Requiem für einen jungfräulichen König, from 1972. Actor unknown.
Titles and styles
- 27 May 1843 – 7 June 1868: His Serene Highness Prince Paul of Thurn and Taxis
- 7 June 1868 – 10 March 1879: Paul, Lord of Fels
Ancestry
See also
- Austro-Prussian WarAustro-Prussian WarThe Austro-Prussian War was a war fought in 1866 between the German Confederation under the leadership of the Austrian Empire and its German allies on one side and the Kingdom of Prussia with its German allies and Italy on the...
- Baron Karl Ludwig von der PfordtenBaron Karl Ludwig von der PfordtenLudwig Karl Heinrich Freiherr von der Pfordten was a Saxon and Bavarian attorney and politician.- Biography :...
- Castle Berg (Lake Starnberg)Castle Berg (Lake Starnberg)The Castle of Berg is situated at the east bank of Lake Starnberg in the village of Berg in Upper Bavaria.- History :The estate was acquired by Ferdinand Maria, Elector of Bavaria in 1676 who ordered the construction the Castle of Berg. It was the venue of numerous festivities also under his...
- Cosima WagnerCosima WagnerCosima Francesca Gaetana Wagner, née de Flavigny, from 1844 known as Cosima Liszt; was the daughter of Hungarian composer Franz Liszt...
- Duchess Sophie Charlotte in Bavaria
- Edgar Hanfstaengl
- Ludwig II of BavariaLudwig II of BavariaLudwig II was King of Bavaria from 1864 until shortly before his death. He is sometimes called the Swan King and der Märchenkönig, the Fairy tale King...
- Prince Chlodwig of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst
- Richard WagnerRichard WagnerWilhelm Richard Wagner was a German composer, conductor, theatre director, philosopher, music theorist, poet, essayist and writer primarily known for his operas...
- Roseninsel