Prince Karl of Leiningen

Prince Karl
Born (1928-01-02)2 January 1928
Coburg, Germany
Died 28 September 1990(1990-09-28) (aged 62)
Vered Hagalil, Israel
Spouse Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria
(m. 1957; div. 1968)
Issue Prince Boris
Prince Hermann Friedrich
Full name
Karl Vladimir Ernst Heinrich
House Leiningen
Father Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen
Mother Grand Duchess Maria Kirillovna of Russia

Karl Vladimir Ernst Heinrich, Prince of Leiningen (2 January 1928 – 28 September 1990) was the son of Karl, 6th Prince of Leiningen (1898–1946) and Maria Kirillovna of Russia. Maria was the daughter of Princess Victoria Melita of Edinburgh and Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, a paternal granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, and Cyril Vladimirovich, Grand Duke of Russia. As such, Karl was a great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria and Alexander II of Russia (as Victoria Melita and Cyril Vladimirovich were both grandchildren of Alexander II).

Biography

Early life

Karl was born in Coburg, Germany.[1] As a young man, he worked mainly as a salesman in Paris.[1]

Marriage and issue

Karl met Princess Marie Louise of Bulgaria in Madrid, where she was living with her mother.[1] She was the only daughter of Boris III of Bulgaria by his wife Princess Giovanna of Italy. Karl announced his engagement to Marie Louise in December 1956.[1] They married in a quiet civil ceremony in Amorbach on 14 February 1957.[1][2] Amorbach had been the residence of the House of Leiningen since 1803, and the town's streets were lined with hundreds of cheering spectators; Karl's family owns huge estates in South Germany, and was considered to be one of the richest German noble families.[1] As of 1957, his family's fortune was valued at $1.5 billion.[1] The couple also married in a Greek Orthodox religious ceremony in Cannes on 20 February 1957.[2]

After the couple's wedding, they lived in Madrid until June 1958.[3] Karl traveled to Canada early in their marriage, and decided to settle there.[3] Karl and Marie Louise then arrived in Canada, with plans to journey to Toronto, where he hoped to go into business.[3] The marriage produced two sons:

The marriage was unhappy, and Karl and Marie Louise divorced on 4 December 1968.[4] Later in life, Carl reminisced, "Princes are expected to marry princesses, so I married Maria-Luisa, the daughter of Bulgarian ex-King Boris III".[4] After the divorce, Marie Louise and their two sons moved to the United States, where the boys were educated in a military academy.

Later life

Carl moved to Toronto, where he entered finance and became an executive in a brokerage firm. He eventually became a naturalized Canadian citizen.[4] He next moved to Zurich. Persuaded by some Jewish friends to visit Israel, Karl eventually found a job through the help of some new-found Israeli friends. He subsequently moved there, rarely leaving except for short visits with his family. He lived in Israel until his death on 28 September 1990 in Vered Hagalil.[4]

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

Ancestry

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Royalty Glitters At Wedding Rite", The Washington Post and Times Herald, Amorbach, 16 February 1957
  2. 1 2 "Bulgarian Princess Wed", The New York Times, Amorbach, Germany, 14 February 1957
  3. 1 2 3 "Two Royal Immigrants", The New York Times, Halifax, 15 June 1958
  4. 1 2 3 4 Mass, Haim (12 October 1990), "The Prince Who Lived In Galilee", Jerusalem Post, Jerusalem
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