Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen

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For the wife of Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, see Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen (1890-1972).
Feodora
Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen
Princess Feodora Reuss YL
FeodoraSaMeiReu.jpg
Born (1879-05-19)19 May 1879
Potsdam
Died 26 August 1945(1945-08-26) (aged 66)
Hirschberg, Silesia
Spouse Prince Heinrich XXX Reuss (Younger Line)
Full name
Feodora Victoria Auguste Marianne Marie
House House of Reuss
House of Saxe-Meiningen
Father Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen
Mother Princess Charlotte of Prussia

Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen (Feodora Victoria Auguste Marie Marianne) (19 May 1879 – 26 August 1945) was born at Potsdam, was the only child of Bernhard III, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his wife Princess Charlotte of Prussia (the eldest daughter of Frederick III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain). Feodora was the first great-grandchild of Queen Victoria.

Upbringing[edit]

She was regularly neglected by her mother, Charlotte, and often looked after by her grandmother, Empress Victoria. Charlotte often referred to Feodora as "stupid", which upset her grandmother, Victoria. The latter once wrote to her own mother, Queen Victoria, expressing her concern for Feodora's upbringing.

Marriage[edit]

In early October 1897, Feodora's betrothal with Prince Heinrich XXX Reuss (1864–1939) was announced.[1]

At Breslau on 26 September 1898 Feodora married Prince Heinrich. They had no children.

Health[edit]

Feodora suffered from a lifetime of ill-health, believed to be porphyria, inherited from her maternal great-great-great-grandfather George III of the United Kingdom. That diagnosis followed medical tests carried out on her remains and those of her mother.[citation needed]

Last years[edit]

Feodora Reuss spent her last years at the Sanatorium Buchwald-Hohenwiese, Kowary, near Hirschberg, Silesia; the hospital being close to the home she had made with her husband at nearby Schloss Neuhoff. Tiring of years of illness and dubious treatment - and possibly also in reaction to the Potsdam Conference ceding part of Silesia to Poland - she committed suicide at the age of 66 on 26 August 1945.[citation needed]

Ancestry[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "German Princes Betrothed", The New York Times (Berlin), 3 October 1897 

Sources[edit]