Figure 1.--Prince Ernst Heinrich Ferdinand Franz Joseph Otto Maria Melchiades was born in Dresden (1896). He was the youngest son of King Frederick Augustus III of Saxony and Archduchess Luise of Austria, Princess of Tuscany. He was raised in Dresden, Pillnitz, and Moritzburg. His motyher ran way from the family (1903). The early loss of his mother deeply affected him and his family (1903), but as adult did not support his mother who was destiute. He grew up in Emperial Germany at a time that the Imperial system and the German aristocracy seemed a stable peranent fixture of German life. It proved to be the final final years of the German Empire under Kaiser Wilhelm II, a world shattered by World War I (1914-18). He served in World War I, but after the War steered clear of Garman politics and unlike his oldesr brothr, Crown Prince Georg, survived the NAZIs and World War II..

The last king of Saxony was Friedrich August III. He was born (1865) and acceded to the throne (1904). His father was King George of Saxony (1832- ). His mother was Maria Anna of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha (1843- ), related to the Britih royal family. He married Louise Habsburg-Lotharingen (1891). They had seven children Crown Prince George and Prince Friedrich Chrision were born (1893) But were not twins. Crown Prince Georg may have had issues with the NAZIs, but we do not have details. Prince Ernst Heinrich (1896-1971). Married first Princess Sophie of Luxembourg (1902-41), daughter of Guillaume IV, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (1921) and second Virginia Dulon (1910–2002) morganatically (1947). Queen Louise ran away while pregnant with her last child. The Queen fled because King Georg threatened juat befored he died interned in a mental asylum at the Sonnenstein Castle. The divorced was a messy situation (1903). Emperor Franz Josef refused to recognize it. Prince Henry (Werrin) married Sophie von Nassau (1921) and they had three children. King Friedrich August Proved a popular monarch who unlike theKaiser was not interested in the formalities and excessive luxuries of royalty. He reportedly common dressed in civilian clothes often spoke in the vernacular Upper Saxon dialect rther than Hiogh Germamn. He enjoyed playing skat with his subjects in the pubs of Dresden. He had a self-effacing sense of humor. He had a serious military career, but this ended with his accession to the throne (1904). He did not play a sdubstntial part in Wirld War I. Friedrich-August was deposed in the aftermath of World War I (1918). He made not effort to resist the Republicam revolution. And like most German aristicrats remained uin Germany. When the deposed king journeyed through Saxony after the 1918 revolution, Saxon people waved to him at railway stations. Whereupon the deposed king is supposed to have said in broad Saxon dialect: "You're a fine lot of Republicans." He died aged 66 (1932). Saxony and other German states still had broad power within the Weimar Republic, but with the NAZIs seizure of power state authority was centraliized. After the NAZI defeat in World War II, Saxony fell within the Soviet zone of occupation and until unification in 1989 was a part of the German Democratic Republic (DDR), East Germany.

Created: October 3, 2002
Last updated: 3:16 AM 6/2/2026