Name Princess of | Died May 17, 1904, Orte, Italy | |
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Born 25 July 1852
Stuttgart ( 1852-07-25 ) Issue William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Prince Bernhard House House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
(by birth and marriage) Father Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Mother Princess Augusta of Wurttemberg Spouse Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (m. 1873–1894) Children William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Parents Princess Augusta of Wurttemberg, Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Grandchildren Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach Grandparents Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | ||
Princess Pauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (Pauline Ida Marie Olga Henriette Katherine; 25 July 1852, in Stuttgart – 17 May 1904, in Orte) was the wife of Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
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She was a daughter of Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Princess Augusta of Württemberg.
Hereditary Grand Duchess
On 26 August 1873 at Friedrichshafen, Baden-Württemberg, Pauline married Charles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. They were second cousins, as she was the paternal granddaughter of Prince Bernhard, younger brother of the Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the grandfather of Karl August.
Pauline and Charles Augustus had two sons:
Charles Augustus died on 22 November 1894 of inflammation of the lungs, at the age of 50. He never succeeded as Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Consequently, Pauline was always known as Hereditary Grand Duchess, or after his death, Dowager Hereditary Grand Duchess. Their elder son William Ernest succeeded as Grand Duke.
Widowhood
In her final years, Pauline spent a lot of time in Italy, and was a frequent visitor to the Italian court. It was rumored that she entered into a morganatic marriage with her chamberlain. This marriage did not appear in the Almanach de Gotha, and was not approved by her son the Grand Duke. Consequently, the marriage was not sanctioned by the Saxe-Weimar government. She continued to be styled as grand duchess only by courtesy, as she was unpopular with her family and her son's subjects.
Though she lived much of her widowhood away from the Saxe-Weimar court, Pauline "contributed even from a distance, to create the difficulties which rendered the position of her daughter-in-law, the present grand duchess, so extremely difficult during the first few months of marriage". She was described as "extraordinarily fat, and one of the most plain-featured princesses of Germany, her homeliness being of the crabbed and sour order rather than of a genial nature".
On 17 May 1904, Pauline died suddenly of heart disease while on a train en route from Rome to Florence. Her body was taken to Florence.