Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
Encyclopedia
Princess Adelaide "Adi" of Saxe-Meiningen (Adelaide Erna Caroline Marie Elisabeth; later Princess Albert of Prussia; 16 August 1891 – 25 April 1971) was a daughter of Prince Frederick John of Saxe-Meiningen and his wife Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld
Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld was the eldest child of Ernest II, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Countess Karoline of Wartensleben.-Family and early life:...

.

Family

Adelaide (original )'s father Prince Frederick was a younger son of George II of Saxe-Meiningen
Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen , was the penultimate Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, reigning from 1866 to 1914.-Family and early life:...

 by his second wife Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She had five siblings, including Prince George, a prisoner of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...

 killed during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, and Prince Bernard.

Adelaide's mother, also named Adelaide, was the eldest child of Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld, who was the Regent
Regent
A regent, from the Latin regens "one who reigns", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Currently there are only two ruling Regencies in the world, sovereign Liechtenstein and the Malaysian constitutive state of Terengganu...

 of the principality of Lippe
Lippe
Lippe is a Kreis in the east of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Neighboring districts are Herford, Minden-Lübbecke, Höxter, Paderborn, Gütersloh, and district-free Bielefeld, which forms the region Ostwestfalen-Lippe....

 for seven years (1897–1904).

Marriage

On 3 August 1914, at the beginning of World War I, Adelaide married Prince Albert of Prussia
Prince Adalbert of Prussia
Prince Adalbert of Prussia was a son of Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein.-Marriage:He married Princess Adelheid "Adi" of Saxe-Meiningen on 3 August 1914 in...

 (original ) at Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven
Wilhelmshaven is a coastal town in Lower Saxony, Germany. It is situated on the western side of the Jade Bight, a bay of the North Sea.-History:...

, Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein
Schleswig-Holstein is the northernmost of the sixteen states of Germany, comprising most of the historical duchy of Holstein and the southern part of the former Duchy of Schleswig...

, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

. He was a younger son of Kaiser
Kaiser
Kaiser is the German title meaning "Emperor", with Kaiserin being the female equivalent, "Empress". Like the Russian Czar it is directly derived from the Latin Emperors' title of Caesar, which in turn is derived from the personal name of a branch of the gens Julia, to which Gaius Julius Caesar,...

 William II of Germany. Adelaide's father would die within a month, on 23 August 1914. Less than a month after their marriage, Prince Albert was reported to have been killed in battle in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

. This was only a rumor however, and the prince had been unharmed. In March 1915, he was promoted to Captain in the navy and Major in the army.

She and Prince Albert had three children:
Name|Death

Later life

After William II abdicated in 1918 at the end of World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

, Prince Albert sought refuge on his yacht, which had been maintained by a loyal crew. Princess Adelaide and their children soon attempted to follow, travelling by train from Kiel
Kiel
Kiel is the capital and most populous city in the northern German state of Schleswig-Holstein, with a population of 238,049 .Kiel is approximately north of Hamburg. Due to its geographic location in the north of Germany, the southeast of the Jutland peninsula, and the southwestern shore of the...

. They were delayed however, and eventually came to be staying in southern Bavaria
Bavaria
Bavaria, formally the Free State of Bavaria is a state of Germany, located in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the largest state by area, forming almost 20% of the total land area of Germany...

 with Prince Henry of Bavaria (a grandson of Ludwig III of Bavaria
Ludwig III of Bavaria
Ludwig III , was the last King of Bavaria, reigning from 1913 to 1918.-Early life:...

) and his wife. She and Prince Albert were later reunited.

Princess Adelaide died on 25 April 1971 in La Tour-de-Peilz
La Tour-de-Peilz
La Tour-de-Peilz is a municipality in Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut District in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland. The city is located on Lake Geneva between Montreux and Vevey .-History:...

, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

. Her husband had died 23 years earlier, on 22 September 1948, at the same location.

Titles and styles

  • 16 August 1891 – 3 August 1914: Her Highness Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen
  • 3 August 1914 – 25 April 1971: Her Royal Highness Princess Adalbert of Prussia

Ancestry

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