Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels
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| Prince Carl of Solms-Braunfels | |||||
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| Born |
27 July 1812 Neustrelitz |
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| Died | 13 November 1875 (aged 63) Rheingrafenstein |
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| Father | Prince Frederick William of Solms-Braunfels | ||||
| Mother | Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz | ||||
| Religion | Lutheranism | ||||
| Full name | |
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| Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Ludwig Georg Alfred Alexander |
Prince Carl (Karl) of Solms-Braunfels (27 July 1812 – 13 November 1875), was a German prince and military officer in both the Austrian army and in the cavalry of the Grand Duchy of Hesse. As Commissioner General of the Adelsverein, he spearheaded the establishment of colonies of German immigrants in Texas. Prince Solms named New Braunfels, Texas in honor of his homeland.
Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Karl Ludwig Georg Alfred Alexander of Solms-Braunfels was born in Neustrelitz. His father was Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Solms-Braunfels, second husbant of Princess Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, who bore thirteen children during the course of her three marriages.
Although he was the landless, younger son of a younger son of a minor German prince whose realm had been mediatized in 1806, Friedrich's 1834 marriage to Luise Auguste Stephanie Beyrich was considered below his princely station and had to be conducted morganatically. In 1837 his mother became queen consort of Hanover. Shortly before her death in 1841 his step-father, King Ernest Augustus I, a member of the British royal family, succeeded in pressuring Friedrich to make a monetary arrangement with his wife and three children for a de facto royal annulment. Luise and Marie (born 1835, married Wilhelm Bähr), Karl Louis (1837-1918, married Wilhelmine Gantenhammer), and Melanie (born 1840, married Karl Heil), were ennobled in the Grand Duchy of Hesse under the name von Schönau on 25 March 1841. The family was further ennobled in 1912 with the surname von Schönau de Solms.
Prince Solms married Maria Josephine Sophie, widow of Prince Franz of Salm-Salm and a princess of Lowenstein-Wertheim-Rosenberg, on 3 December 1845. The union produced five children:
Friedrich was well-educated, well-connected, and handsome. An adventure seeker, he became Captain in the cavalry in the Imperial Army of Austria in 1841.
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Wikipedia