Princess Marie Caroline | |||||
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Princess of Erbach-Schönberg | |||||
Marie of Battenberg, Princess of Erbach-Schönberg
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Born |
Strasbourg, France |
15 February 1852||||
Died | 20 June 1923 Schönberg, Weimar Republic |
(aged 71)||||
Spouse | Gustav, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg | ||||
Issue |
Alexander, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg Count Maximilian of Erbach-Schönberg Prince Victor of Erbach-Schönberg Princess Marie of Erbach-Schönberg |
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House | Battenberg | ||||
Father | Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine | ||||
Mother | Countess Julia Hauke |
Full name | |
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Marie Caroline |
Princess Marie Caroline of Battenberg (German: Prinzessin Marie Karoline von Battenberg; 15 February 1852 – 20 June 1923) was a Princess of Battenberg and, by marriage, The Princess of Erbach-Schönberg. She worked as a writer and translator.
Marie was the eldest child and only daughter of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine (1823–1888), founder of the House of Battenberg and his morganatic wife, the Countess Julia Hauke (1825–1895), daughter of the Polish Count John Maurice Hauke. As a result of a morganatic marriage, Marie and her siblings were excluded from the succession of the Grand Duchy of Hesse, and bore the title Princes of Battenberg. Conceived six months before her parents married, Marie always told people that her birthday was the 15th of July instead of the 15th of February. She was born 15 February in Strasbourg and not 15 July in Geneva.
Marie's brother, Alexander since 1879 was Prince of Bulgaria. Her memoir of a visit to him, My Trip to Bulgaria, was published in 1884.
Marie translated The Gate of Paradise and An Easter Dream of Edith Jacob, and A Trip to Siberia by Kate Marsden. She also published her memoirs, which places her relationship with her mentally-unstable son Maximilian in an essential role.
The Princess married on 19 April 1871 in Darmstadt, Count Gustav Ernst of Erbach-Schönberg (1840–1908), who was elevated to the rank of Prince (German: Fürst) in 1903 because of family ties with the British Royal Family and the Russian Imperial Family.