Marie of Saxe-Altenburg (Alexandrina Mary Wilhelmina Catherine Charlotte Theresa Henrietta Louise Pauline Elizabeth Frederica Georgina; german: Alexandrine Marie Wilhelmine Katharine Charlotte Theresia Henriette Luise Pauline Elisabeth Friederike Georgine; 14 April 1818 – 9 January 1907) was

Queen of Hanover Because of the Salic law of succession, all monarchs of Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in ...

as the wife of

George V of Hanover en, George Frederick Alexander Charles Ernest Augustus , house = Hanover , religion = Protestant , father = Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover , mother = Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz , birth_date = 27 May 1819 , ...

, a grandson of

George III of the United Kingdom George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

and Queen Charlotte.

Early life

Marie was born at Hildburghausen, as Princess Marie of Saxe-Hildburghausen, the eldest daughter of Joseph, the Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Hildburghausen and Duchess Amelia of Württemberg. In 1826, the family moved to

Altenburg Altenburg () is a city in Thuringia, Germany, located south of Leipzig, west of Dresden and east of Erfurt. It is the capital of the Altenburger Land district and part of a polycentric old-industrial textile and metal production region betw ...

as a result of a transfer of territories among the various branches of the Ernestine Wettins, and Marie took the title ''Princess of Saxe-Altenburg'' in place of the previous.

Marriage

Marie married, on 18 February 1843, at Hanover, George, Crown Prince of Hanover. They had three children: Prince Ernest Augustus, Princess Frederica, and Princess Marie.

Queen of Hanover

The Crown Prince, blind since his youth, and his wife became King and Queen of

Hanover Hanover (; german: Hannover ; nds, Hannober) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Lower Saxony. Its 535,932 (2021) inhabitants make it the 13th-largest city in Germany as well as the fourth-largest city in Northern Germany ...

upon the death of his father,

Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover Ernest Augustus (german: Ernst August; 5 June 177118 November 1851) was King of Hanover from 20 June 1837 until his death in 1851. As the fifth son of King George III of the United Kingdom and Hanover, he initially seemed unlikely to become a ...

, on 18 November 1851. Between 1858 and 1867 George V had Marienburg Castle built as a birthday present to his wife, named after her. However, he was expelled from his kingdom in 1866 as a result of his support for

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

in the

Austro-Prussian War The Austro-Prussian War, also by many variant names such as Seven Weeks' War, German Civil War, Brothers War or Fraternal War, known in Germany as ("German War"), (; "German war of brothers") and by a variety of other names, was fought in 186 ...

, and on 20 September 1866, the Kingdom was annexed by

Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an e ...

. Nevertheless, George never abdicated; he emigrated to Vienna, Austria, while Marie and her daughters remained at Herrenhausen Palace, then moving to Marienburg Castle, which was still under construction, in September 1867. Marie succeeded in having the Hanoverian crown jewels and other precious items smuggled abroad, before finally leaving for Austria herself. There, the family moved into a villa in

Gmunden Gmunden () is a town in Upper Austria, Austria in the district of Gmunden. It has 13,204 inhabitants (estimates 2016 ). It is much frequented as a health and summer resort, and has a variety of lake, brine, vegetable and pine-cone baths, a hydrop ...

near Salzburg, which they rented and later acquired. On 18 September 1872, Queen Marie was godmother to Queen Victoria's granddaughter, Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein. Princess Marie Louise was the youngest daughter of Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg; Queen Victoria & Prince Albert's third daughter and fifth child. George V. died in 1878 on a travel in Paris where he had attempted to re-establish his

Guelphic Legion The Guelphic Legion (german: Welfenlegion) was an irregular, volunteer military unit founded and maintained at the expense of the deposed Welf king George V of Hanover, after the annexation of the Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia in 1866. History Af ...

, a military unit aimed at a re-conquest of his kingdom. He was buried in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle. Queen Marie died, some twenty-eight years after her husband, on 9 January 1907, in ''The Queen's Villa'' (Königinvilla) at Gmunden, where she was later buried in a mausoleum that her eldest son had built next to his residence, Cumberland Castle. File:MarienburgNordstemmenOst.jpg, Marienburg Castle Gmunden Königinvilla.JPG, The ''Queen's Villa'' in

GrabMariaSachsen.jpg, Mausoleum of Queen Marie in Gmunden

Issue

Ancestry

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marie of Saxe-Altenburg 1818 births 1907 deaths Hanoverian royal consorts

Cumberland Cumberland ( ) is a historic counties of England, historic county in the far North West England. It covers part of the Lake District as well as the north Pennines and Solway Firth coast. Cumberland had an administrative function from the 12th c ...

Wives of British princes Hanoverian princesses by marriage House of Hanover House of Saxe-Altenburg Ladies of the Royal Order of Victoria and Albert Nobility from Hanover People from Saxe-Hildburghausen People from Hildburghausen Princesses of Saxe-Altenburg Burials at the Schloss Cumberland Mausoleum