Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld

Countess Adelaide of Lippe-Biesterfeld (22 June 1870 – 3 September 1948) was the eldest child of Ernest II, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Countess Karoline of Wartensleben.

Countess Adelaide
Princess Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen
Born(1870-06-22)22 June 1870
Oberkassel, Prussia
Died3 September 1948(1948-09-03) (aged 78)
Detmold, West Germany
Burial
Christuskirche
SpousePrince Friedrich of Saxe-Meiningen
IssueFeodora, Grand Duchess of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach
Adelaide, Princess Adalbert of Prussia
Georg, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen
Prince Ernst Leopold
Princess Luise Marie
Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen
Full name
Adelheid Karoline Mathilde Emilie Agnes Ida Sophie
HouseLippe
FatherErnest, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld
MotherCountess Karoline of Wartensleben

Family and early life
Adelaide with her father and two sisters.

Adelaide was born on 22 June 1870 to Ernest II, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and his wife Countess Karoline of Wartensleben.

After the death of Woldemar, Prince of Lippe in 1895, her parents were involved in a regency and succession dispute to the principality of Lippe. Though Woldemar's younger brother Alexander succeeded, he was incapable of ruling due to a mental illness. Consequently, two branches of the House of Lippe argued over rights to a regency. Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe, a brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, German Emperor was chosen, but a court-settlement allowed Ernest to become the regent of Lippe-Detmold on 17 July 1897.

Marriage and issue

At Neudorf, Adelaide married Prince Friedrich Johann of Saxe-Meiningen, a younger son of Georg II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen on 24 April 1889.[1] They had the following children together:

NameBirthDeathNotes
Feodora Karola Charlotte Marie Adelaide Auguste Mathilde29 May 189012 March 1972married on 21 January 1910 to Wilhelm Ernst, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.
Adelaide Erna Karoline Marie Elisabeth16 August 189125 April 1971married on 3 August 1914 to Prince Adalbert of Prussia.
Georg, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen11 October 1892[1]6 January 1946Died as a POW in Russian camp of Cherepovets, Soviet Union; married Countess Klara Marie von Korff genannt Schmising-Kerssenbrock; had issue including Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Crown Prince Otto of Austria.
Ernst Leopold Friedrich Wilhelm Otto23 September 1895[1]17 August 1914Killed in action, near Maubeuge, France
Luise Marie Elisabeth Mathilde Helene Katharine13 March 189914 February 1985married on 25 October 1936 to Baron Götz von Wangenheim
Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen30 June 19014 October 1984married firstly Margot Grössler (morganatic) and secondly Baroness Vera Schäffer von Bernstein (equal marriage)

Role in Lippe succession dispute

Two branches of the House of Lippe debated over rights to the principality of Lippe-Detmold.[2]

As Adelaide's great-grandmother was a member of the petite noblesse, her family's claim to full royalty was challenged.[2] This claim threatened the succession to Saxe-Meiningen, as Adelaide was married to the Duke of Saxe-Meiningen's heir apparent; were her father deemed a lesser royal status, it might be thought that her own claim was not equal enough for her husband's family.[3]

Ancestry

References
  1. Paxton, John (1900). The Statesman's year-book, Volume 37. London: Macmillan and Co. p. 685.
  2. "No Title" (PDF), The New York Times, Berlin, 8 October 1904 Cite uses generic title (help)
  3. "The Kaiser and the Lippes" (PDF), The New York Times, Berlin, 26 July 1898
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