There are times that nothing interesting happens genealogically. And there are times that you rather would nothing happened. It always makes me terribly sad to see that it is not only older people dying, but also fairly young ones. Last week we had a few nobles far over 100. Let’s say, even when sad, it was their time and they lived longer than most people can ever imagine. To stick with royalty related persons: there was Franz Alexander Fürst von Isenburg, who died on 5 May 2018, aged 74 after an illness. About the age of my parents and I hope they won’t go yet. But in the same week there were two more deaths in the royal world that were just much more awful.
On Thursday 10 May Hubertus Stephan died in a tragic accident. In 2010 he married Princess Tatiana zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg. The couple had two young sons: Carl (who just turned 6) and Wolf (aged 4 1/2). Several German and Austrian newspapers reported about the accident that happened in the woods at Aurach near Kitzbühel, Austria. In the late afternoon he reached slippery meadows and let his sons out of the car, to go further down the meadows into the valley himself. However he lost control of his car, overturned and on the way down hit a tree. He died of his deadly injuries … And that all under the eyes of his sons. Police thinks he possibly underestimated the steepness of the area.
Just one day earlier, on 9 May, the heir of the Royal House of Württemberg, Duke Friedrich, aged 56, died in a car crash. Not far from Ebenweiler, south of Altshausen, where his parents Duke Carl and Duchess Diane live, he tried to pass a tractor with trailer wagon and must have missed a car coming from the other direction. The two cars collided. The people in the other car were injured, Duke Friedrich died instantly. He had been driving a vintage Porsche without airbag and had been on his way back home from Altshausen to Friedrichshafen apparently. In the evening the family announced his death.
On Friday 25 May 2018 many, many members of royal and mediatized, as well as noble, families gathered in Altshausen to say goodbye during a service in the Parish Church St Michael in Altshausen. A private burial took place afterwards. Many more guests were at squares outside watching the requiem on a screen. Outside the church were many wreaths with ribbons with initials on it.
Among the guests were King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of the Belgians, Prince Lorenz and I think also Princess Astrid of Belgium, Fürst Hans Adam II of Liechtenstein, Hereditary Prince Alois and Hereditary Princess Sophie of Liechtenstein with their daughter Princess Marie-Caroline, Princess Sibilla of Luxembourg, members of the families of Austria, Baden, Bavaria, France, Hannover, Hessen, Hohenzollern, Liechtenstein, Mecklenburg, Portugal, Prussia, Reuss, Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, Schaumburg-Lippe and Waldeck-Pyrmont.
