Princess Elisa Radziwiłł – The considerations of rank and birth (Part seven)

Read part six here.

Elisa remained in Antonin, as she loved the quiet of the castle.¹ The composer and pianist Frédéric Chopin visited Antonin. He later wrote, “The two young princesses were there, two sensitive Eves with musical ears, infinitely sweet and good. My Polonaise in F minor interested Princess Elisa so much that I had to play it for her every day. In Antonín, I wrote an ‘alla polacca’ with cello. It’s just a showpiece, good for the salon, for the ladies. I wanted Princess Wanda to study it. I gave her lessons, so to speak, during this time. She is young, seventeen years old, pretty, and God knows, it was a joy to guide her fingers….”²

In June 1830, the royal court visited Ruhberg Castle, while the Radziwiłłs were in residence. It would be the first time Elisa came face to face with Augusta. Elisa later wrote, “On Friday, Princess Augusta and I exchanged only a few words. You know I was determined that if she took any step of trust, I would meet her halfway and carry out the plan Gerlach made last year. Augusta was much shorter than I had imagined and also shorter than I was, with dark hair, a sharp profile, and interesting, but by no means beautiful, features. That Saturday afternoon, Princess Augusta and I had a talk. I was sitting in the Boisserie Gallery in Fischbach between her and Marie. I was wearing a light blue shawl dress and nothing in my hair, for all the royal highnesses wore fresh flowers instead of jewels, even Tsarina Alexandra-Charlotte, so I am by no means showing off.”³ An uneasy friendship began.

In October, Elisa’s father decided to return to Berlin as Poland began to show signs of unrest.⁴ Elisa did not want to return to Berlin and initially refused to go. She eventually went and wrote, “I felt that the house where I was born and where we were raised together remained my home even though everything in and around me has changed.”⁵ However, more tragedy was to come. Her brother Władysław had begun showing the first symptoms of consumption.⁶

Meanwhile, Elisa was trying to avoid Wilhelm as much as possible. He complained to his aunt in 1831, “In seven months I have not had a single conversation with her; ten words is the longest I could say to her. This is not how I had imagined the relationship.”⁷ The ailing Władysław was sent to Salzbrunn for treatment, but he soon began to cough up blood. He died on 8 July 1831, just 19 years old.⁸ Not long after her brother’s death, Elisa began coughing as well.

The family travelled to Teplitz, a famous spa, to recover from their tragedies. While there, Elisa met Prince Friedrich of Schwarzenberg, and she called him “her ideal come to life.”⁹ Elisa reflected on what she had felt for Wilhelm and what she now felt for Friedrich. She wrote, “What makes me so compelled to return to my feelings of ten years ago and dismiss them as not genuine is that I believe I have only now come to know true love, the kind that gives completely.”¹⁰

When Wilhelm learned that Elisa had found a new love, he wrote, “I still don’t know who it is! Do I know him, what he’s like? But this last question must surely be the easiest to answer, for she can only have chosen someone worthy! – Well! May God’s help and blessing be with her in this new shaping of her destiny! I can only pray that for her faithfulness and love for me, you will have a future that will compensate for so much sorrow, anxiety, and melancholy that I was called by the Lord to bring upon you!”¹¹

Friedrich wanted to marry her, and he seemed to be the perfect match. However, he revealed to her brother that his financial situation was dire.¹² Elisa was deeply in love and wrote, “Oh, my heart, I never believed I could love like this again. I knew I possessed the ability, but I hadn’t believed that my dreamed-of ideal could come true in this way.”¹³ In February 1832, she wrote, “I know that if God demanded the immeasurably difficult sacrifice of renouncing Fritz from me, I would make it, but all colour would be wiped from my life; I would have closed myself off from this world. I also believe that love for my parents and for God—but only this—would fill the emptiness of my deprived heart. However, it is my firm conviction that God in no way demands this sacrifice of me; my heart says a resounding “No” to it. I am convinced that God has brought us together and that my union with him would result in our mutual salvation. When I saw Fritz a few times, I already loved the angel in him, and when I revisited the folds of his life with him and saw the wounds that life had inflicted, my comfort was that even for these wounds there was balm. Nothing in the world can steal this hope from me.”¹⁴

The financial situation delayed the marriage negotiations. News arrived from Russia that his Russian debts could not be forgiven, but the Emperor had given him ten more years to repay them. Elisa celebrated the good news, but Friedrich then claimed that a life-threatening illness would prevent the marriage. Did he perhaps have syphilis?¹⁵ This was not known at the time, but it was later confirmed. At the time, no cure or treatment was available. Friedrich left quickly, and Elisa only learned of this in July 1832. She wrote, “Only after my arrival here did I learn that it was all over, completely, utterly over! I had parted from Bohemia with such a bleeding heart, and yet the worst was yet to come. What a difference with Prince Wilhelm! Schwarzenberg has much exaltation, much heart, and not a shred of sentimentality; he is rather crude, pursues his ambitions without denying them, but he also very subtly distinguishes between them.”¹⁶

Part eight coming soon. 

1. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.214
2. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.219
3. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.222
4. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.225
5. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.226
6. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.227
7. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.230
8. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.238
9. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.239
10. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.242
11. Prinz Wilhelm von Preußen an Charlotte: Briefe 1817-1860 p.165
12. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.245
13. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.246
14. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.247
15. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.250
16. Auf der ganzen Welt nur sie die verbotene Liebe zwischen Prinzessin Elisa Radziwiłł und Wilhelm von Preußen by Dagmar von Gersdorff p.251