Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (; 30 June 1901 – 4 October 1984) was the head of the House of

Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen ( ; ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine duchies, Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day Germany, German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ern ...

from 1946 until his death.

Prince of Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard was born in

Köln Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

the third son of

Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen Prince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen, Duke of Saxony (Friedrich Johann Bernhard Hermann Heinrich Moritz; 12 October 1861 – 23 August 1914) was a German soldier and member of the Ducal House of Saxe-Meiningen. Birth and university Prince Fried ...

and Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld. His father was the second son of

Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (2 April 1826 – 25 June 1914), was the penultimate Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, reigning from 1866 to 1914. For his support for his successful court theatre he was also known as the ''Theaterherzog'' (theatre duke ...

and his mother a daughter of

Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (''Ernst Kasimir Friedrich Karl Eberhard''; 9 June 1842 – 26 September 1904) was the head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe. From 1897 until his death he was the regent of the Principality o ...

. 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 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 spous ...

his second son Prince Frederick Konrad succeeded him as head of the ducal house following his death in

Bad Krozingen Bad Krozingen (; Alemannic: ''Bad Chrotzige'') is a spa town in the district Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It is situated 15 km southwest of Freiburg. In the 1970s, the previously independent villages Biengen, ...

. Bernhard and his first wife were declared guilty of a

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

conspiracy against

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

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.

Family

Bernhard was married

ally to Margot Grössler (1911–1998), a merchant's daughter from Breslau (today:

Wrocław Wrocław is a city in southwestern Poland, and the capital of the Lower Silesian Voivodeship. It is the largest city and historical capital of the region of Silesia. It lies on the banks of the Oder River in the Silesian Lowlands of Central Eu ...

) 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: *Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen (27 April 1932) she married Burkhard Kippenberg on 6 April 1967. They have one son: **Walter Johannes Kippenberg (27 January 1968) *Prince Frederick Ernest of Saxe-Meiningen (21 January 1935 – 13 July 2004) he married Ehrengard von Massow on 3 March 1962. He remarried

Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha Princess Beatrice of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria; 20 April 1884 – 13 July 1966) was a member of the British royal family, a male-line granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She later married into the Spanish royal family, a ...

on 12 June 1977. He has two children and one grandson by his second wife: **Princess Marie Alexandra of Saxe-Meiningen (5 July 1978) married Benno Beat Christian Wiedmer on 27 July 2004. **Prince Friedrich Constantin of Saxe-Meiningen (3 June 1980) He has one son with his wife, Sophia Lupus (born in 1995): ***Prince Michael of Saxe-Meiningen (July 2015) Bernhard married secondly in Ziegenberg über Bad Nauheim on 11 August 1948 to Baroness Vera Schäffer von Bernstein (1914–1994), daughter of Baron Friedrich "Fritz" Schäffer von Bernstein (1868–1958) and Emma Carola, née Passavant (1884–1971). They had three children, including a son, Konrad, with full rights to the succession to the house of Saxe-Meiningen: *Princess Eleonore Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen (9 November 1950) she married Peter Eric Rosden on 22 October 1982. * Prince Frederick ''Konrad'' of Saxe-Meiningen (14 April 1952) unmarried and without issue, head of the

House of Saxe-Meiningen Saxe-Meiningen ( ; ) was one of the Saxon duchies held by the Ernestine line of the House of Wettin, located in the southwest of the present-day German state of Thuringia. Established in 1681, by partition of the Ernestine Duchy of Saxe-Gotha ...

since 4 October 1984. *Princess Almut of Saxe-Meiningen (25 September 1959) she married Eberhard von Braunschweig on 16 October 1993. They have two children: **Marie Cecilie von Braunschweig (4 August 1994) **Julius-Alexander von Braunschweig (20 October 1996)

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bernhard Of Saxe-Meiningen, Prince 1901 births 1984 deaths Nazis convicted of crimes People from Cologne Princes of Saxe-Meiningen Pretenders