Eliza Fryderyka Radziwiłł
| Elisa Radziwill | |||||
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| Born |
28 October 1803 Berlin |
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| Died | 27 August 1834 (aged 30) Bad Freienwalde |
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| House | House of Radziwiłł (Radziwill) | ||||
| Father | Prince Anton Radziwill | ||||
| Mother | Princess Louise of Prussia | ||||
| Religion | Calvinism | ||||
| Full name | |
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| Elisa Friederike Luise Martha Radziwill |
Princess Elisa Radziwill (Elisa Friederike Luise Martha; 28 October 1803, Berlin – 27 August 1834, Bad Freienwalde) was a member of Polish high nobility of royal ancestry. She was the desired bride of Prince William of Prussia, who would later become William I, German Emperor, but they were not allowed to marry.
Elisa was a daughter of Prince Anton Radziwill and Princess Louise of Prussia, niece of King Frederick the Great and a relative of the Prussian Royal Family. Prince William, her second cousin once removed and the heir presumptive of the Prussian throne, met with and fell in love with her.
William was expected to marry and produce further heirs. His father and her kinsman King Frederick William III were fond of the relationship between Wilhelm and Elisa, but some in the Prussian court had discovered historical allegations that her ancestors had bought their princely title from Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor. In the eyes of certain people, she was not deemed of sufficiently high nobility to marry the heir to the Prussian throne (Elisa was not royal, because her father was not a reigning prince). Interestingly, William's older brother, Frederick William IV of Prussia was married to Elisabeth Ludovika of Bavaria, and Elisabeth was descended from both Bogusław Radziwiłł and Prince Janusz Radziwiłł.
Thus in 1824, the King of Prussia turned to the childless Emperor Alexander I of Russia to adopt Elisa, but the Russian ruler declined. The second adoption plan by Elisa's uncle, Prince Augustus of Prussia, likewise failed as the responsible committee considered that adoption "does not alter the blood" (a principle which governs noble and royal connections to the present day). Another factor was the influence of the Mecklenburgish kinsmen of the deceased Queen Louise in the German and Russian courts who were not fond of Elisa's father and opposed the possible marriage.
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Wikipedia