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| Prince Ernst Heinrich | |||||
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 Prince Ernst Heinrich in 1911 | |||||
| Born | (1896-12-09)9 December 1896 Dresden,Kingdom of Saxony,German Empire | ||||
| Died | 14 June 1971(1971-06-14) (aged 74) Edingen-Neckarhausen,Rhein-Neckar-Kreis,Baden-Württemberg,West Germany | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Prince Dedo Prince Timo Prince Gero | ||||
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| House | Wettin(Albertine line) | ||||
| Father | Frederick Augustus III of Saxony | ||||
| Mother | Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany | ||||
Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony, Duke of Saxony (Ernst Heinrich Ferdinand Franz Joseph Otto Maria Melchiades; 9 December 1896 – 14 June 1971), was a member of theHouse of Wettin and the youngest son of the lastKing of Saxony,Frederick Augustus III, and his wife,Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. From 1923 to 1945, Ernst Heinrich served as the Administrative Chief of the associationHaus Wettin – Albertinische Linie e.V..
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Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony spent his childhood inDresden,Pillnitz, andMoritzburg under the parenting of his father. The loss of his mother, who left the family permanently in 1902, affected his father and siblings very deeply, according to their own statements. Ernst Heinrich, who was only six at the time, was possibly the child who felt this loss most.
WhenWorld War I broke out, Ernest Heinrich wasfirst lieutenant in the 1st Royal Saxon Leib-Grenadier-Regiment Nr. 100. In September 1914, he becamebatman in the General Kommando ofXIX (2nd Royal Saxon) Corps atReims andLille. He did hisAbitur during a four-month leave in 1916, then took part in theBattle of the Somme as a member of the staff of the 24th Reserve Division. On 30 August 1916, Ernst Heinrich received theMilitary Order of St. Henry for merit.
In the spring of 1917, he took over the leadership of the 9th Company of Reserve-Infantry Regiment No. 104 inBerezhany (in easternGalicia). He was in the hospital for two months in 1917, after which he commanded the 9th Battery of Artillery Regiment No. 115 in the area aroundYpres.
Beginning in May 1918, he led the 1st Squadron of Mounted Guard Regiments in Stary Bychow at Dnieper in Russia and, in August of the same year, he was in charge of the Saxon troops inDorpat,Reval and Finland. In November and December 1918, Ernst Heinrich oversaw the return of Saxon troops to Germany.
In 1919 and 1920, Ernst Heinrich learned to administer a manor inSilesia. During theKapp Putsch in March 1920, he acted as a liaison between the putschists inBerlin and theReichswehr inWrocław. After the failure of the putsch, he moved toMunich, where he joined the circle around the former Crown PrinceRupprecht of Bavaria. He married on 12 April 1921 in theNymphenburg Palace toSophie (14 February 1902 – 24 May 1941), the youngest sister ofCharlotte, Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and of Rupprecht's wifePrincess Antonia of Luxembourg. This was considered a happy marriage; they had three sons.
Ernst Heinrich did not participate in theBeer Hall Putsch on 8 and 9 November 1923 in Munich. He rejected theNazi ideology consistently and distanced himself from Hitler andLudendorff. At his father's request, he took over the function of head of the administration of the associationHouse of Wettin — Albertinische Linie e.V. His father also gave him power of attorney to negotiate with theFree State of Saxony about the future use of the manors owned by theWettin family and their art collection. On 25 June 1925, a treaty was signed between the Free State and its former ruling dynasty, regulating the relation between the House of Wettin and the Free State, within the context of the law on the subject of 9 July 1924.
In subsequent years, Ernst Heinrich, who was an avid art lover, made several trips toEgypt with his wife and children. In 1928/29, he was approached byGustav Stresemann of the DVP (the German People's Party), who wanted Ernst Heinrich to stand as a candidate for the federal presidency. Ernst Heinrich considered this a hopeless undertaking and declined.
Ernst Heinrich opposed the Nazis after they formed a government on 30 January 1933. However, he failed to read the political situation correctly. He believed that Hitler could be stopped by the conservative political opposition and, in the spring of 1933, he joinedDer Stahlhelm, hoping he could escape the influence of the Nazis. On 1 July 1934, during theNight of the Long Knives, he was arrested. He was interned in the concentration camp inHohnstein for five days.
After his release, Ernst Heinrich retired toMoritzburg Castle in Saxony. He was an avid hunter and had to keep in touch with Nazi leaders such asHermann Göring, who, as Master of the Hunt, was interested in the forests owned by theWettins, andMartin Mutschmann, the Nazi governor of Saxony. In 1938, he received KingCarol II of Romania in his castle, and in 1939 he had extensive political discussions withCarl Friedrich Goerdeler, who had been mayor of Leipzig and was later active in theGerman resistance. A few weeks before the outbreak ofWorld War II, Ernst Heinrich was drafted into theAbwehr group IV in Dresden.
In 1943, he openly expressed doubts that the death of his brotherGeorg, Crown Prince of Saxony had been an accident. TheGestapo then arrested and questioned him. However, there were no further personal consequences, as the Nazis were still reluctant to confront a member of a former royal family.
Ernst Heinrich was an admirer of the art ofKäthe Kollwitz. After she lost her home when Berlin was bombed in 1943, he invited her to move to Moritzburg, where she lived and worked at theRudenhof, a mansion in the immediate vicinity of the castle, until she died in April 1945.
In February 1945, nearbyDresden was bombed. In March 1945, Ernst Heinrich fled toSigmaringen to escape the advancingRed Army. Before he left, Ernst Heinrich and his sons buried most of their valuables in 40 crates in the Königswald forest. Most of this treasure was found by the Red Army and carried off to the Soviet Union. However, three crates full of treasure were rediscovered in 1995.[citation needed]
In 1947, Ernst Heinrich married the actress Virginia Dulon (1910–2002), who styled herselfPrincess Virginia of Saxony after her marriage. Later that year, he purchased the Coolamber estate in Lismacaffrey (County Westmeath) in Ireland and moved there with his second wife and his sons from his first marriage.
He died inNeckarhausen while visiting West Germany in 1971, without ever having returned to his native Saxony after the war.
Ernst Heinrich was first married toPrincess Sophie of Luxembourg, sixth and youngest daughter ofWilliam IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg and his wifeInfanta Marie Anne of Portugal, on 12 April 1921 atSchloss Hohenburg. Ernst Heinrich and Sophie had three sons:
Sophie died on 24 May 1941 inMunich of pneumonia.[2] Following her death, Ernst Heinrich marriedmorganatically Virginia Dulon (1910-2002) on 28 June 1947 inParis. This marriage was without issue.
Kingdom of Prussia: Knight of theOrder of the Black Eagle[3]
Kingdom of Saxony: Knight of theOrder of the Rue Crown[3]| Ancestors of Prince Ernst Heinrich of Saxony |
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