Prince Aribert of Anhalt
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Prince Aribert of Anhalt, (Aribert Joseph Alexander), (18 June 1866 - 24 December 1933) was a Prince of the German duchy of Anhalt.
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[edit] Early life
Prince Aribert was born in Wörlitz, Germany. He was the 3rd son of Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt, and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. Anhalt was sovereign duchy in the German Empire.
[edit] Marriage
On 6 July 1891, he married Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. Princess Marie Louise was the daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, making her a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The bride's first cousin, the German emperor Wilhelm II, had been instrumental in arranging the match.
[edit] Divorce
The marriage, however, was unhappy and childless. (Years after the fact, it was mooted that Aribelt was homosexual and had been caught in bed with a servant, either by Marie Louise or his father.) In December 1900, the Duke of Anhalt used his prerogative as reigning Duke to annul the marriage.
Princess Marie Louise, on an official visit to Canada at the time, immediately returned to Britain. According to her memoirs, she regarded her marriage vows as binding, so she never remarried. Her memoirs do, however, indicate rage over her marital experience and an obvious dislike of her former husband[1]. Nevertheless, she did have a romantic male companion for many years.
[edit] Death
Prince Aribert died in Munich aged 69 on December 8, 1933.
[edit] Footnotes
- ^ The circumstances of the end of the marriage of Princess Marie Louise and Prince Aribert are unclear. The 1903 edition of the Almanach de Gotha states that they were divorced on 13 December 1900. The 1904 edition of Whitaker's Alamanac, on the other hand, states that "her marriage was dissolved by joint request on account of a new family law of that ducal house." Royal genealogist Marlene A. Eilers reports that Prince Aribert had been discovered in a compromising position with another man. Princess Marie Louise's uncle, Edward VII, summed up the situation, saying, "Ach, poor Louise, she has returned as she went-- a virgin."
