Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Will the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess reconcile?



December 29, 1902 

 The Marquise de Fontenoy is reporting "improbable though it may sound, there are prospects of a reconciliation" between Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig and his wife, Victoria Melita. Although they were divorced "in due form and in a sensational manner," due to charges of incompatibility, there "is nothing to stand in the way of a reconciliation between the young people if they can only decide to get along with one another" without further problems.

 Family members are striving to bring "about this understanding." 

The grand duke "has found no one else whom he cares to wed," and the grand duchess, described as high-spirited, is not "only fancy-free but tired of the dreary life she is compelled to live" in Coburg. The Marquise notes that Victoria Melita misses all the festivities and state functions. 

both images:  Marlene A Eilers Koenig collection


It is now "exceedingly probable" that Ernst Ludwig and Victoria Melita will remarry, and the grand duchess will "once more take up the position in which she is so particularly well qualified to scintillate." 

The Marquise has also suggested that the couple's young daughter, Elisabeth, who divides her time between her parents' homes, is helping toward reconciliation.

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