| Prince Bernhard | |||||
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%2c_hertog_van_Saksen-Weimar._Generaal_in_Nederlandse_dienst_-_SK-A-1964_-_Rijksmuseum.jpg) Portrait of Prince Bernhard, byJacob Spoel, between 1840 and 1862 | |||||
| Born | (1792-05-30)30 May 1792 Weimar | ||||
| Died | 31 July 1862(1862-07-31) (aged 70) Schloss Belvedere,Weimar | ||||
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| House | Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | ||||
| Father | Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach | ||||
| Mother | Princess Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt | ||||
Prince Carl Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (30 May 1792 – 31 July 1862)[1] was a distinguished soldier, who, in 1815, after thecongress of Vienna, became colonel of a regiment in the service of the king of the Netherlands.[2] He fought at theBattle of Quatre Bras and theBattle of Waterloo where he commanded the 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Dutch Division, and later became a Chief Commander of theRoyal Netherlands East Indies Army.
Prince Bernhard was born on 30 May 1792 inWeimar. He was the seventh, and youngest, child ofCharles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach andPrincess Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt (1757–1830).[1] Among his siblings wereCharles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, andPrincess Caroline Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (who marriedFrederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin).
His paternal grandparents wereErnst August II, Duke of Saxe-Weimar and Saxe-Eisenach andDuchess Anna Amalia of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. His maternal grandparents wereLouis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt andCountess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken. Among his maternal family were auntsPrincess Frederica Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt, the wife of KingFrederick William II of Prussia, andPrincess Wilhelmina of Hesse-Darmstadt, the first wife of EmperorPaul I of Russia. His maternal uncles includedLouis I, Grand Duke of Hesse andPrince Christian of Hesse-Darmstadt,Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Prince Bernhard enlisted in thePrussian Army and, in 1806, fought in the Army ofHohenlohe-Ingelfingen. By 1809, he had enlisted in theSaxon Army and he fought underMarshal Bernadotte atWagram.
Prince Bernhard's 2nd Brigade of the 2nd Dutch Division (Sedlnitsky) was the first of theDuke of Wellington's forces to arrive at the cross roads ofQuatre Bras. Prince Bernhard's brigade (joined later by the 1st Brigade,) held the cross roads atQuatre Bras for almost 24 hours from the late afternoon of 15 June 1815, until about 3 p.m. on the 16 June, preventingMarshalMichel Ney with theleft wing of the FrenchL'Armée du Nord from taking the cross roads before the Duke of Wellington and substantial allied forces arrived to reinforce the 2nd Division and fight theBattle of Quatre Bras. The successful holding action by the two brigades of the Dutch 2nd Division was one of the most important actions by any of the coalition brigades in the whole of theWaterloo Campaign.
At theBattle of Waterloo Prince Bernhard commanded the allied forces holding the farms ofPapelotte,Frischermont andLa Haie on the extreme left of the Duke of Wellington's line of battle.[3] They were strategically important, not just because if the forces holding these positions gave way then the French could out flank Wellington, but because it was from that direction that Wellington expected and received Prussian support. Though in the course of the battle Durutte's 4th French Division obtained a temporary foothold in Papelotte, it was never captured[4]
Bernhard was appointed commander of theDutch East Indies Army on December 6, 1848, and arrived on April 14, 1849, in Java. Barely a few weeks after his arrival, the commander of thethird Balinese expedition,General Andreas Victor Michiels was killed at Kasumba; and Saxe-Weimar offered to the Governor-General to take over the leadership of the expedition, acting according to the rules that had been given to General Michiels. In the winter of 1849 he was promoted to general of the infantry and three years later (1852) he returned to the Netherlands, for his health, after many improvements and having accomplished to restore the East Indies army. He received on October 5, 1853, an honorable retirement.
Prince Bernhard traveled extensively in the United States between 1825 and 1826. A heavily edited account of his travels,Reise seiner Hoheit des Herzogs Bernhard zu Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach durch Nord-Amerika (Journey of His Highness Duke Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach through North America), was published by the historianHeinrich Luden in 1828. The work was translated into English and published in Philadelphia, also in 1828, asTravels through North America, during the Years 1825 and 1826. A critical edition of the original manuscript became available in 2017.
In the years after Waterloo, Bernhard distinguished himself as commander of a Dutch Division in the Belgian campaign of 1831 (theTen Days Campaign), and from 1847 to 1850 held the command of the forces in theDutch East Indies.[2]
On 30 May 1816 in Meiningen, Prince Bernhard marriedPrincess Ida of Saxe-Meiningen (1794–1852), a daughter ofGeorg I, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen andPrincess Louise Eleonore of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.[1] Among her siblings were PrincessAdelheid (who married KingWilliam IV of the United Kingdom),[5] andBernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen (who marriedPrincess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel). Together, they were the parents of:
He died 21 July 1862 inLiebenstein.[1] His residence in Batavia (nowJakarta) was later used for sessions of theVolksraad quasi-legislature of the Dutch East Indies and theInvestigating Committee for Preparatory Work for Independence (BPUPK). Now owned by the Indonesian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is preserved as thePancasila Building.[6]
Through his son Hermann, he was a grandfather of PrincessPauline of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who marriedCharles Augustus, Hereditary Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, andPrince Wilhelm of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1853-1924), who married Princess Gerta of Isenburg-Büdingen-Wächtersbach.
He received the following orders and decorations:[7]
Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach:Grand Cross of the White Falcon,15 December 1815[8]
Kingdom of Saxony:[9]
Netherlands:
Luxembourg:Grand Cross of the Oak Crown
United Kingdom:Honorary Grand Cross of the Bath (military),22 July 1830[14]
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of theSaxe-Ernestine House Order,September 1835[15]
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown,1835[16]
Russian Empire:
Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,23 May 1840[17]
Kingdom of Prussia:
Kingdom of France: Grand Cross of theLegion of Honour,June 1842[19]
Baden:[20]
Brunswick: Grand Cross of theOrder of Henry the Lion
Nassau:Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau,September 1858[21]
The State of Saxe-Meiningen was also to provide [Adelaide] with an income of 6,000 florins a year as pin-money.
