Friday, October 14, 2011

Royal Engagement: Prussia-Anhalt




October 14, 1915


The engagement of Prince Joachim of Prussia, the youngest son of the German Emperor, and Princess Marie Auguste, daughter of Prince Eduard of Anhalt, was announced today in the Berlin Reichsanzeiger,  according to an Associated Press dispatch sent from Amsterdam to London.

The prince is 25 years old, and his future wife celebrated her 17th birthday last June.  She is the niece of Duke Friedrich II of Anhalt.   Marie August is the eldest of four children of Prince Eduard and his wife, the former Princess Luise of Saxe-Altenburg.   She has three younger brothers.  Her father is in command of a battalion of Prussian cavalry with Crown Prince Wilhelm at the front in Belgium.

At the start of the war, it was reported that Joachim had been wounded at the front in Belgium, and was visited by his mother, who presented him with the Iron Cross.  Later, he was "said to be convalescing at Baden-Baden."  This led to a report by the "usually well-informed chronicle of the doings of royalty" for the London Truth.

"It has been stated that Prince Joachim of Prussia, youngest son of Emperor Wilhelm, is staying at Baden-Baden for a course of treatment, as he is suffering from fatigue and exposure at the front.  It is very unlikely that Prince Joachim has been at all engaged at the front as he has always been more or less an invalid and is in very bad health.  He is highly nervous and subject to a serious congenital malady."

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