Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg


Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was a daughter of Ernst I, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Feodora of Leiningen. By her marriage to Georg of Saxe-Meiningen, she would become Duchess of Saxe-Meiningen upon his accession to the ducal throne in 1866.

Family

Feodora was the youngest of six children. Her mother was an older half-sister to Queen Victoria, thus making the younger Feodora a niece of the Queen. Her siblings included Prince Victor of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Adelheid, Duchess of Schleswig-Holstein.

Marriage and children

Feodora met her future husband while he was on his way to Italy. He had been recently widowed, his first wife having been Charlotte Frederica of Prussia. Despite this recent loss, Georg went on a search to provide a mother for his two young children. Feodora and Georg became engaged almost at once. On 23 October 1858, they married at Langenburg.
They had three sons:
Their marriage was unhappy however. Georg had never become reconciled to Charlotte's death and Feodora was not temperamentally suited for the life she was expected to lead. She had no intellectual or artistic attainments and no apparent interest in developing any. Despite this fact, Georg attempted to educate her. He was a great lover of the arts, especially theater. Her mother approved, stating it was "very sensible of him indeed to arrange for his bride to be much occupied with lessons, to take drawing lessons, and to hear lectures on history". He soon realized however that she would never be as witty and clever as Charlotte. After the death of their third son, Feodora stayed away from Meiningen for as much time as decently possible. In 1866, he succeeded as Duke of Saxe-Meiningen, making her the first lady of the realm.
Feodora contracted scarlet fever in January 1872, and died the following month. Despite the many differences between them, Georg had remained fond of her; when she became sick, he was genuinely distraught and sent telegrams to her parents twice daily. In the following year, Georg remarried again, morganatically to Ellen Franz, a former actress.

Ancestry