Princess Marianne of the Netherlands – A charitable spirit (Part five)

Read part four here.

The same year as the consecration of the Evangelical Church in Johannes’s name, Marianne’s youngest daughter, Alexandrine, married Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, a younger son of Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg and Alexandrine’s aunt and namesake, Princess Alexandrine of Prussia. Her mother could not be present, and she wrote to Queen Elisabeth Ludovika to replace her on the wedding day and to tell Alexandrine about “her duties on the wedding day” and “what she could expect.”¹

Alexandrine cried through the ceremony, and the Crown Princess of Prussia (Victoria, Princess Royal) later wrote to her mother, Queen Victoria, “It was celebrated with the greatest pomp but had something of the solemnity of a funeral about it – nothing gay, festive or bridal. Perhaps my own sadness made it appear even gloomier to me than it did to others. The only thing that made a pleasing impression on me was dear Addy herself, who, although she cried the whole time, had such a dignified and touching appearance that I never saw her look so well. She went through it all (and a very trying ceremony of 4 hours it was) with the most perfect tenue, though I never saw her smile once. She did not look a bit like a bride, but I must say very elegant and distinguished. She had a very heavy, silver gown and train without any trimming – only embroidered – and all the crown jewels.”² Marianne now became determined to marry off her only unmarried child, Prince Albert, but he would remain unmarried until 1873.

The year before his marriage, Albert’s father and namesake died after having had a stroke in 1871. Marianne did not mourn him. On 9 April 1873, the young Prince Albert married Princess Marie of Saxe-Altenburg. Marianne loved her and wrote, “I loved her from the first time we met; she is a kind and gentle being.”³ The following day, tragedy struck again for Marianne when Johannes van Rossum died at the age of 63. He had been ill for a long time and eventually succumbed to tuberculosis. Marianne wrote, “You will have heard that my old, faithful, tried friend, Mr. van Rossem, after a long and painful suffering, passed away in God’s peace on the 10th of this month, Maundy Thursday, at 10 minutes past 7 in the evening and was buried on Easter Monday at 4 o’clock in the afternoon.”⁴

Marianne had always intended to be interred alongside her son and her lover at the Evangelical Church in Johannes’s name. However, since they had never married, the church did not agree to this. Thus, he was interred in the cemetery in Erbach. Marianne then decided to be buried alongside her lover, even though the church had no objection to her being interred with her son. She had a monument placed, which did not bear her lover’s name. Johannes’s death should have made Marianne’s life a little bit simpler, but she no longer cared what the European royal courts thought of her.

She had never gotten along with Queen Sophie, but eventually made her peace with Sophie’s husband and her nephew, King William III. As early as 1846, Sophie had written, “I despise the princess more than anyone, for she has no moral sense, but I also pity her. She is in a worse state than I am.”⁵ In 1878, she even attended the opening of the States-General with her granddaughter, Princess Marie Elisabeth of Saxe-Meiningen. Marianne was delighted when King William remarried after the death of Queen Sophie to Princess Emma of Waldeck and Pyrmont. In 1883, flags flew again from government buildings in the Netherlands in honour of Marianne’s birthday.

Marianne died on 29 May 1883, shortly after her 73rd birthday, at Reinhartshausen. Her nephew continued to pretend she had not divorced her husband and announced her death with the name “Dowager Princess Albert of Prussia.”

Marianne’s funeral took place on 4 June with a simple ceremony. Her two surviving children, Charlotte and Albert, and their families attended, and several others sent representatives. She was buried with  Johannes van Rossem in the cemetery of Erbach. A Dutch newspaper wrote, “While their closest relatives have lost a dear relative in Princess Marianne, the Netherlands has lost a princess, once the glory of the Royal Court, a princess who, throughout her eventful life, never ceased to unequivocally demonstrate her attachment to the Dutch people and who is deeply and sincerely mourned for her kindheartedness and charitable spirit.”⁶

Johannes and Marianne still rest together, and the church with their son’s remains is about 750 metres away. They were joined later by Marianne’s great-granddaughter, Elisabeth, who died in 1961 at the age of 42. She had apparently requested to be buried here, and it was only then that the coffin of Johannes was rediscovered.

1. Prinses Marianne by Arnout van Cruyningen p.154
2. Your Dear Letter edited by Roger Fulford p.46
3. Prinses Marianne by Arnout van Cruyningen p.156
4. Prinses Marianne by Arnout van Cruyningen p.157
5. Een vreemdelinge in Den Haag: uit de brieven van Koningin Sophie der Nederlanden aan Lady Malet p.56
6. Haagsche Courant