Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard (IV)
Prince of Saxe-Meiningen
Head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen
Period	6 January 1946 – 4 October 1984
Predecessor	Prince Georg
Successor	Prince Konrad
Born	30 June 1901 Köln, Germany
Died	4 October 1984 (aged 83) Bad Krozingen, Germany
Spouse	Margot Grössler Baroness Vera Schäffer of Bernstein
Issue	Feodora Prinzessin von Sachsen-Meiningen Frederick Ernest Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen Princess Eleonore Prince Konrad Princess Almut
Full name Bernhard Friedrich Julius Heinrich
House	Saxe-Meiningen
Father	Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen
Mother	Princess Adelaide of Lippe

Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (German: Bernhard, Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen; 30 June 1901 – 4 October 1984) was the head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen from 1946 until his death.

Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard was born in Köln the third son of Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen and Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld. His father was the second son of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his mother a daughter of Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld.

After the death of his older brother Prince Georg in 1946 his nephew Prince Frederick Alfred renounced his succession rights and so Bernhard succeeded to the headship of the house of Saxe-Meiningen and the nominal title of Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (as Bernhard IV).

As his first marriage was morganatic his second son Prince Frederick Konrad succeeded him as head of the ducal house following his death in Bad Krozingen.

Bernhard and his first wife were declared guilty of a Nazi conspiracy against Austria in 1933; he was sentenced to six weeks in prison, while she was placed under house arrest.After intervention of the German envoy, he was released from prison, upon which they escaped to Italy . Three weeks later he was arrested while trying to return to his castle of Pitzelstaetten^{[1] [2]}

Family

Bernhard was married morganatically to Margot Grössler (1911–1998), a merchant's daughter from Breslau (today: Wrocław) in Eichenhof im Riesengebirge on 25 April 1931. This union ended in divorce on 10 June 1947. They had two children, both of whom had no succession rights:

• Feodora Prinzessin von Sachsen-Meiningen (born Schloß Pitselstettin, 27 April 1932), married on 8 August 1967 to Burkhard Kippenberg.
• Frederick Ernest Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen (21 January 1935 – 13 July 2004), married firstly on 3 March 1962 to Ehrengard of Massow, but the marriage was dissolved in 1973; secondly, he married on 12 June 1977 with Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. From his second marriage, he has a son and a daughter.

Bernhard married secondly in Ziegenberg über Bad Nauheim on 11 August 1948 to Baroness Vera Schäffer of Bernstein (1914–1994). They had three children, all with full rights to the succession to the house of Saxe-Meiningen:

• Princess Eleonore Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (b. Ziegenberg, 9 November 1950), married on 21 May 1983 to Peter Eric Rosden.
• Prince Frederick Konrad of Saxe-Meiningen (born Ziegenberg, 14 April 1952).
• Princess Almut of Saxe-Meiningen (born Bützbach, 25 September 1959), married on 16 October 1993 to Eberhard von Braunschweig.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

16. George I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen               8. Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen                       17. Luise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg               4. Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen                             18. William II, Elector of Hesse               9. Princess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel                       19. Princess Augusta of Prussia               2. Prince Friedrich Johann of Saxe-Meiningen                                   20. Charles Louis, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg               10. Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg                       21. Countess Amalie Henriette of Solms-Baruth               5. Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg                             22. Emich Carl, Prince of Leiningen               11. Princess Feodora of Leiningen                       23. Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld               1. Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen                                         24. Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld               12. Julius, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld                       25. Modeste von Unruh               6. Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld                             26. Friedrich Ludwig, Count of Castell-Castell               13. Countess Adelheid of Castell-Castell                       27. Princess Emilie of Hohenlohe-Langenburg               3. Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld                                   28. Cäsar Alexander, Count of Wartensleben               14. Leopold Otto, Count of Wartensleben                       29. Friederike von Gfug               7. Countess Karoline of Wartensleben                             30. Arnold Halbach               15. Mathilde Halbach                       31. Johanna Caroline Bohlen

References

1. To, Wireless (11 December 1933). "Nazi Prince and Princess Flee Austria, Abusing Freedom German Envoy Obtained". NYTimes. Retrieved 23 October 2009.
2. "AUSTRIANS RETAKE PRINGE WHO FLED; Bernhard of Saxe-Meiningen, Nazi, Is Captured Trying to Re-enter His Castle.". NYTimes. 1 January 1934. Retrieved 23 October 2009.