Diamond wedding anniversary in Detmold

One of my favourite royal couples last week celebrated their diamond wedding anniversary. Armin Prinz zur Lippe and Traute Prinzessin zur Lippe are both 88 years old, but last time I saw them, in August 2011, they still looked pretty healthy.

Prince Armin, son of Fürst Leopold IV zur Lippe and his second wife, met Traute Becker when they were both studying in Göttingen. They got married civilly on 27 March, and religiously on 29 March 1953. The civil marriage took place in Göttingen. The religious wedding was supposed to take place in church, but because the press found out about the princely family, it was decided last minute to marry in the bride’s family house. They had one son, Stephan, in 1959, who is married nowadays and has five children.

I remember in 2004 me and a friend drove all the way to Detmold, Germany, for the 80th birthday of Prince Armin. We had brought with us a few presents, which they appreciated a lot. And with the other guests we enjoyed the reception. Unfortunately the memoires the prince has written, and of which we enjoyed a few anecdotes, were not meant for publication. The weather outside was lovely, and the Princess even invited us with some others to tour the gardens with her. We were allowed to make pictures of the whole event.

In August 2011 I saw them back at the wedding of Prince Georg Friedrich and Princess Sophie of Prussia. I was glad to see they were still doing fine despite of their age. They stayed in the same hotel as me, and the morning of the wedding I saw them sitting in the breakfast room. I just wanted to say goodbye, but they probably kept me talking for at least five minutes. Just asking who I was, why I was in Potsdam …

I hope they had a wonderful wedding anniversary and wish them more years of happiness together.