# Prince Aribert of Anhalt

Prince Aribert Joseph Alexander of Anhalt (18 June 1866 – 24 December 1933) was regent of Anhalt from September to November 1918 on behalf of his underage nephew Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt. As regent, following the German revolution, he abdicated in the name of his nephew on 12 November 1918, thus ending the rule of the House of Ascania in Anhalt.

## Early life

Prince Aribert was born in Wörlitz in the Duchy of Anhalt, then part of the German Confederation. He was the fourth son of Frederick I, Duke of Anhalt, and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. Anhalt was a Sovereign Duchy, from 1871 part of the German Empire.

## Marriage

On 6 July 1891, he married Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein at St. George's Chapel in Windsor Castle. Princess Marie Louise was the daughter of Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein and Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, making her a granddaughter of Queen Victoria. The bride's first cousin, the German Emperor Wilhelm II, had been instrumental in arranging the match.
In December 1900, the Duke of Anhalt used his prerogative as reigning Duke to annul the marriage. Princess Marie Louise, on an official visit to Canada at the time, immediately returned to England. According to her memoirs, she regarded her marriage vows as binding, so she never remarried. Her memoirs do, however, indicate rage over her marital experience and an obvious dislike of her former husband.
Though contemporary sources did not directly suggest it was a cause of his marriage dissolution, a number of contemporaries and subsequent historical accounts suggest Aribert was bisexual or homosexual, and some have suggested an indiscretion with a male attendant was the catalyst for the dissolution and that the marriage had never been consummated. However, other sources later suggested he was planning to remarry.

## Military career

Prince Aribert entered the Prussian Army on 21 September 1882 as a Secondelieutenant à la suite of the Anhaltisches Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 93. On 3 November 1885, while remaining à la suite of Infanterie-Regiment Nr. 93, he was assigned to the 1st Guards Dragoon Regiment (1. Garde-Dragoner-Regiment), where he was promoted to supernumary Premierlieutenant on 27 January 1891 and given a patent on 29 February 1892. On 27 January 1895, he was promoted to supernumary Rittmeister. On 14 November 1901 he was given the Charakter of a Major à la suite of the army. On 13 September 1912, he was given the Charakter of Oberstleutnant à la suite of the army.
During World War I, Prince Aribert served on the staff of the 8th Infantry Division and as a battalion and regimental commander. On 6 October 1914, he was promoted to Oberst à la suite of the army. In October 1917, he took command of the 16th Infantry Brigade. On 22 March 1918, he was promoted to Generalmajor à la suite of the army.

## Regent

When his nephew, Joachim Ernst, succeeded his father as Duke of Anhalt on 13 September 1918, Aribert was appointed regent due to the young age of Joachim Ernst. Aribert's brief regency came to an end on 12 November 1918 when he abdicated in the name of his nephew following the German revolution. The duchy subsequently became the Free State of Anhalt.

## Later life

Prince Aribert died in Munich aged 67 on 24 December 1933.

## Honours

Prince Aribert received the following orders and decorations:
* Duchy of Anhalt:
** Order of Albert the Bear, Grand Cross with Swords
*** Grand Cross (1882)
*** Swords to the Grand Cross
** Friedrich Cross
* Grand Duchy of Baden:
** House Order of Fidelity (1889)
** Order of Berthold the First (1889)
* Kingdom of Bavaria:
** Order of Saint Hubert, Knight's Cross (1885)
** Military Merit Order, 3rd Class with Swords (13 November 1914)
* Duchy of Brunswick: Order of Henry the Lion, Grand Cross (1888)
* Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz:
** House Order of the Wendish Crown, Grand Cross with Crown in Ore (15 November 1888)
** Cross for Distinction in War
* Kingdom of Prussia:
** Order of the Red Eagle, 1st Class
** Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class
** Officer's Service Decoration Cross
** Centenary Medal of Kaiser Wilhelm I. (22 March 1897)
* Grand Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach: Order of the White Falcon, Grand Cross
* Saxon duchies: Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order
** Grand Cross
** Commander's Cross 2nd Class with Swords (23 May 1915)
* Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe: Order of the Cross of Honor, Grand Cross
* Hohenzollern principalities: Princely House Order of Hohenzollern, Cross of Honour 1st Class
* Kingdom of Bulgaria: Order of Saint Alexander, Grand Cross
* United Kingdom: Honorary Grand Cross of the Bath (civil), with Collar, 14 July 1891 (annulled)

## Ancestry

Ancestors of Prince Aribert of Anhalt :

## References and notes

* ↑ "CABLE NEWS. A ROYAL WEDDING". The Advertiser. 1891-07-08. Retrieved 2024-10-06.
* 1 2 Royal Couple Separated, New York Times, 14 November 1900.
* ↑ The 1903 edition of the Almanach de Gotha states that they were divorced on 13 December 1900 and the contemporary report from the New York Times confirms this.
* ↑ The 1904 edition of Whitaker's Almanack states that "her marriage was dissolved by joint request on account of a new family law of that Ducal House" which seems to also have been confirmed by the New York Times.
* ↑ Robert Aldrich, The Seduction of the Mediterranean: Writing, Art and Homosexual Fantasy Routledge, 1993.
* ↑ Gods, Mongrels And Demons by Angus Calder (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2004)
* 1 2 Greg King, Twilight of Splendor: The Court of Queen Victoria During Her Diamond Jubilee Year, John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
* ↑ Marlene A. Eilers suggests that Prince Aribert had been discovered in a compromising position with another man.
* ↑ Princess Marie Louise's uncle, Edward VII, summed up the situation, saying, "Ach, poor Louise, she has returned as she went-- a virgin."
* ↑ Prince Aribert Gives Up His Rights to a Throne, Saint John Daily Sun, 23 January 1904.
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Stammliste der Offiziere, Sanitätsoffiziere und Beamten des Anhaltischen Infanterie-Regiments Nr. 93 von 1867-1919, compiled by Oberst a.D. Feodor von Puttkamer, Magdeburg 1935.
* ↑ Dienstalters-Liste der Offizere der Königlich Preußischen Armee und des XIII. (Königlich Württembergischen) Armeekorps 1917, E.S.Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1917
* ↑ Günter Wegner: Stellenbesetzung der Deutschen Heere 1815-1939. Band 1: Die Höheren Kommandostellen, Biblio-Verlag, Osnabrück 1990, ISBN 3-7648-1779-8
* ↑ Dienstalters-Liste der Offizere der Königlich Preußischen Armee und des XIII. (Königlich Württembergischen) Armeekorps 1919, E.S.Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1919
* ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1894) "Genealogie des Herzoglichen Hauses" p. 5
* ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtum Anhalt (1894) "Herzoglicher Haus-orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 15
* 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Kriegsministerium (Preußen): Rangliste der Königlich preußischen Armee und des XIII. (Königlich württembergischen) Armeekorps für 1914, E.S. Mittler & Sohn, Berlin 1914.
* ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1896), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 63, 77
* ↑ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreichs Bayern (1906), "Königliche Orden" p. 9
* ↑ Erhard Roth: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen des Königreichs Bayern im Ersten Weltkrieg 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Offenbach am Main, 1997, ISBN 3-932543-19-X
* ↑ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Herzogtums Braunschweig für 1905. Braunschweig 1905. Meyer. p. 11
* ↑ "Großherzogliche Orden und Ehrenzeichen". Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Mecklenburg-Strelitz: 1907 (in German). Neustrelitz: Druck und Debit der Buchdruckerei von G. F. Spalding und Sohn. 1907. p. 14.
* ↑ Richard Lundström and Daniel Krause: Verleihungen von militärischen Orden und Ehrenzeichen der Ernestinischen Herzogtümer Sachsen-Altenburg, Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha und Sachsen-Meiningen im Ersten Weltkrieg, 1914-1918, Phaleristischer Verlag Michael Autengruber, Konstanz am Bodensee 2008, ISBN 3-937064-09-5
* ↑ Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 213