Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg

Early life

Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg was born at Rostock, Free State of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 17 December 1918, just after the abdication of her first cousin Frederick Francis IV of the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and the establishment of the Weimar Republic. Her parents were Duke Adolf Friedrich of Mecklenburg and Princess Victoria Feodora Reuss zu Schleiz. Her father was the seventh son of Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1823–1883) by his third wife Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1850–1922). Her mother Princess Victoria Feodora died a day after her birth.

She is first cousin of:

Invitation

Preparations for the wedding of Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands's only child Crown Princess Juliana to the German Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld were underway in the 1937 when a small diplomatic scandal occurred.

The affair was the result of Wilhelmina's opinion that the wedding be a family affair; consequently, she did not invite foreign royalty unless she was personally familiar with them. As a result, Juliana’s chosen bridesmaids were either her relatives or family friends. These included Woizlawa herself (being first cousins), Duchess Thyra of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (her second cousin), Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia (her first cousin once removed), Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (her second cousin), and two of Bernhard’s sisters, among others.

Marriage and family

On 15 September 1939 in Bad Doberan Woizlawa married, Prince Heinrich I Reuss elder son of Prince Heinrich XXXIV Reuss of Köstritz. They had six children (one daughter and five sons).

She is one of the only remaining members of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, after her cousins (twice-removed), Donata and Edwina.

Restitution Claim

In 1935 Woizlawa Feodora's husband has been adopted by one of his relatives, Heinrich XLV, Hereditary Prince Reuss Younger Line (1895–1945), head and last male member of the House of Reuss Younger Line, for inheritance reasons, and after the latter's death in 1945 had become the sole heir of the private assets that had remained in the ownership of the House of Reuss Younger Line after its dethronement in the German Revolution of 1918. In 1945 however, the communist land reform in the Soviet occupation zone (East Germany) expropriated all movable and immovable assets of the House of Reuss. After the German reunification of 1990, the princess, as her husband's heir, claimed for restitution based on the fact that her late husband was of British nationality, as well as German, and should thus legally not have been expropriated under occupation law. Furthermore, a legal restitution claim for movable assets was passed by the Bundestag, leading to vast returns of museum items. In a settlement, the princess also received Thallwitz castle and some forest property, with Waidmannsheil hunting lodge in Saaldorf near Bad Lobenstein.