HRH Princess Herzeleide of Prussia (1917-1989)

Princess Herzeleide was not a princess by birth.  She was born on Christmas Day, 1918, in Bristow, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the third of four children — and only daughter — of HRH Prince  Oskar Karl Gustaf Adolf of Prussia.  Oskar was the fifth son of Kaiser Wilhelm II and Princess Auguste Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenberg.

Although her father was a prince, her mother was Countess Ina-Marie Helene Adele Elise von Bassewitz.  Her status was considered unequal to Prince Oskar’s.   This was a love match, and Oskar and Ina-Marie were married on July 31, 1914, at Schloss Bellevue near Berlin.  Four days before the wedding, Ina Marie was created Countess von Ruppin, a title that would be passed to her children. 

Thus, Herzeleide Ina-Marie Sophie Charlotte Else was styled as Countess Herzeleide von Ruppin at birth. Her parents’ marriage was morganatic until November 3, 1919, when it was declared dynastic. It was not until June 21, 1920, that Ina-Marie was recognized as HRH Princess Ina-Marie of Prussia. Her children were also elevated to the same status. Countess Herzeleide was eighteen months old when she became a princess of Prussia with the style of royal highness.  

After their marriage, Prince Oskar and Countess Ina-Marie moved into Villa Quandt in Potsdam, where they lived until Soviet troops moved toward Potsdam and Berlin.  

https://www.fontanearchiv.de/en/about-us/villa-quandt

Her first name means “heart’s sorrow,” as she was born six weeks after the fall of the German monarchy, with her grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm II, living in exile in the Netherlands.   Herzeleide was Parsifal’s mother, the tragic queen Herzeleide in Wagner’s opera, Parsifal.  Her family called her Herzele, which meant “dear little heart.”

Princess Herzeleide’s portrait was painted by the “celebrated German artist Annie Berensdorf, a family friend,” at age five.

In November 1923, a United Press article, published in numerous US newspapers, profiled “the littlest Hohenzollern princess — or rather – a five-year-old miss who would have been a princess if a certain world holocaust a few years ago had not deprived her granddad of his monarchial job — is appropriately named.”

The news reported that her first name was “deeply significant of the state of mind in which her numerous and kingly relatives find themselves today.”   Annie Berensdorf’s portrait shows the young princess “of more than average prettiness, with a chubby face. framed in silky golden hair and eyes of cornflower blue.”

Prince Oskar (1915-1939), Prince Wilhelm Karl (1922-2007), Princess Herzeleide (1917-1989) and Prince Burchard (1917-1988).  Prince Oskar was killed in action in the early days of World War II.

In January 1938, Princess Herzeleide was one of three bridesmaids at the wedding of her first cousin, Princess Friederike of Hanover, to Crown Prince Paul of the Hellenes.   Four months later, her family announced her engagement to HSH Karl Peter Franz Andreas Alexander, Prince Biron von Curland.

According to a report in the West Australian, the princess was educated like all German girls, “in domestic pursuits and is an accomplished housewife.”  The young princess was also said to be “an out-of-doors girl and should fit in happily into the country and sporting life for which her future home is famed.”

This was the cover for the May 29, 1938, issue of the Winer Salonblatt, a bi-weekly royal and nobility, covering marriages, engagements, births, and other events.   The magazine’s first issue was in July 1924; the final issue was August 21, 1938.

The Princess was only 19 when she married HSH Karl Peter Franz Andreas Alexander, Prince Biron von Curland (1907-1982, eldest son of HSH Gustav Peter Johan, Prince Biron von Curland, and Francoise Lévisse de Montigny de Jaucourt.

Prince Karl and Princess Herzeleide’s civil wedding occurred in Potsdam on August 15, 1938.  The following day, they were married in Potsdam’s Garnison Kirche (Garrison Church), a Lutheran church damaged by British bombs during the Second World War and demolished by the German Democratic Republic in 1968.

The bride’s uncles, Crown Prince Wilhelm, Prince Eitel Friedrich, Prince August Wilhelm, and Empress Hermine, were guests at the wedding.  

Herzeleide wore “a white silk gown with a headdress trimmed in myrtle.   Male guests were dressed in “the uniform of the old army,” according to the Manchester Guardian.    

The newlyweds’ honeymoon trip included a stop in Doorn, where they visited Princess Herzeleide’s grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm II.

Their married life began in Gross Wartenberg, Silesia. Prince Ernst Johann von Biron (1690-1772) acquired this estate in 1734. The family retained the property until they were expelled in 1945 following the Potsdam agreement, which gave the German part of Silesia to Poland.  The town is now called Syców.

Herzeleide and her husband were the parents of three chldren: Viktoria-Benigna Ina-Maria Cecilie Friederike-Luise Helene Biron von Curland (1939), Ernst-Johann Karl Oskar Franz Eitel-Friedrich Peter Burchard (1940), and Michael Karl August-Wilhelm (1944).   Benigna and Michael were born in Gross Wartenberg and Ernst-Johann was born in Berlin.  

When their family home was lost in 1945, Prince Karl and Princess Herzeleide fled to what would become West Germany and settled in Munich with their three young children.

HRH Princess Herzeleide and HSH  Karl Prince  Biron von Curland

Prince Karl died in Munich in 1982.  His elder son, Prince Ernst Johann, succeeded as Prince Biron von Curland.  

While cleaning out correspondence files, I found Princess Herzeleide’s death notice, which one of her children had sent me.  

All of the images are from the Marlene A Eilers Koenig Collection

`