Ernst, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (Ernst, Prinz von Sachsen-Meiningen; 27 September 1859 – 29 December 1941) was the head of the house of

Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen (; german: Sachsen-Meiningen ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the Wettin dynasty, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernest ...

from 1928 until his death.

Biography

He was born in Meiningen, the eldest son of the heir apparent to the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen, Prince Georg and his second wife, '' HSH''

Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg Princess Feodora Victoria Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 July 1839 – 10 February 1872) was a daughter of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Feodora of Leiningen. She married Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Georg of ...

. His father succeeded to the throne in 1866. Ernst pursued a career in the army and retired as

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge o ...

in the Prussian cavalry. He received an

honorary doctorate An honorary degree is an academic degree for which a university (or other degree-awarding institution) has waived all of the usual requirements. It is also known by the Latin phrases ''honoris causa'' ("for the sake of the honour") or ''ad hon ...

in philosophy from the

University of Jena The University of Jena, officially the Friedrich Schiller University Jena (german: Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena, abbreviated FSU, shortened form ''Uni Jena''), is a public research university located in Jena, Thuringia, Germany. The un ...

. Ernst was married,

morganatically Morganatic marriage, sometimes called a left-handed marriage, is a marriage between people of unequal social rank, which in the context of royalty or other inherited title prevents the principal's position or privileges being passed to the spou ...

, in

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the third-largest city in Germany, after Berlin and Ha ...

on 20 September 1892, to Katharina Jensen, daughter of the painter

Marie Marie may refer to: People Name * Marie (given name) * Marie (Japanese given name) * Marie (murder victim), girl who was killed in Florida after being pushed in front of a moving vehicle in 1973 * Marie (died 1759), an enslaved Cree person in Tr ...

and the poet

Wilhelm Jensen Wilhelm Hermann Jensen (15 February 183724 November 1911) was a German writer and poet. Biography Wilhelm Jensen was born at Heiligenhafen in the Duchy of Holstein (now Germany), the illegitimate son of Swenn Hans Jensen (1795–1855), the May ...

. Not permitted to share her husband's

dynastic A dynasty is a sequence of rulers from the same family,''Oxford English Dictionary'', "dynasty, ''n''." Oxford University Press (Oxford), 1897. usually in the context of a monarchical system, but sometimes also appearing in republics. A d ...

title, his wife was created Baroness von Saalfeld on their wedding day by Ernst's father, Georg II. Despite his unequal marriage, Ernst retained his succession rights to the duchy of Saxe-Meiningen. When his older half-brother, the last reigning duke of Saxe-Meiningen, Bernhard III, died on 16 January 1928, Ernst succeeded him as head of the ducal house, but never

reign A reign is the period of a person's or dynasty's occupation of the office of monarch of a nation (e.g., Saudi Arabia, List of Belgian monarchs, Belgium, Co-prince of Andorra, Andorra), of a people (e.g., List of Frankish kings, the Franks, List of ...

ed, since the monarchy was abolished at the end of World War I in 1918. Rather than his own son, Ernst's nephew

Georg, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen Georg, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (11 October 1892 – 6 January 1946) was the head of the house of Saxe-Meiningen from 1941 until his death. Biography He was born in Kassel the eldest son of Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen (1861-19 ...

, succeeded him as head of the house following his death at Schloss Altenstein.

Children

Ernst and Katharina had six children: *Baron Georg Wilhelm von Saalfeld (11 June 1893-29 April 1916) killed in action at the age of twenty-two. *Baroness Elisabeth Helen Adelheid Marie von Saalfeld (2 February 1895-4 June 1934) she married Dr. Johann Duken on 25 April 1917. *Baron Ernst Friedrich Heinrich Paul von Saalfeld (4 July 1896-28 May 1915) killed in action at the age of eighteen. *Baron Ralf Erich von Saalfeld (28 March 1900-22 July 1947) he married Marie Seitz (1903-1931) on 11 October 1925. They had two children. He remarried Melanie von Bismarck on 16 August 1936. They had four children. *Baron Sven Hans Heinrich Bernhard von Saalfeld (18 September 1903-13 December 1998) he married Elisabeth Faust on 20 March 1936 and they were divorced on 6 November 1952. They had five children. *Baron Enzio Heinrich Waldemar Carl von Saalfeld (7 July 1908-31 March 1941) he married Rut Viererbe on 28 February 1936. They had four children.

Ancestry

References

External links

Saalfeld family
House of Saxe-Meiningen 1859 births 1941 deaths People from Meiningen Princes of Saxe-Meiningen Sons of monarchs {{Germany-noble-stub