Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1882-09-19
THE PRINCESS OF HANAU'S
STORY.
How the Last E1ectOr Of Hesse
B0ught a wife.
London Telegraph.

tess of Schaumberg, nee Falkenstein
Divorce Lehman, the widow Of the
last elector Of Hesse, who died a few
days ago at Prague in her seventy
seventh year, was the daughter OF a
wine merchant at Bonn. Endowed
with extraordinary personal attrac-
tons, she had offers of marriage while
still in her teens, and bestowed her
hand upon a Prussian paymaster
called Lehman, then serving in the
Seventh LanCers, a regiment quar-
tered at Marienwerder, in West Prus-
STA. Shortly after her union she paid
a visit to her parents, and during her
stay with them made the acquaintance
of Frederick William, eleotoralPrince
of..Hesse and a Captain Of Prussian
cavalry in garrison at Bonn. The
young officer, who had quilted his
fathers court in consequence Of a
Quarrel with the ~reigning electors
mistress. Countess Reichenbach, and
was notorious for his disapproval of
princely peecadillots, fell in love with
drs. Captain Lehman, and soon pro-
posed to make i%ncantations OF his
high principles in her favor by carry.
ing her off from her husband. Ger.
trude, however, gave him to under
stand that her views were exclusively
matrimonial.
She suggested that her husband,
| Lehman. was a sensible fellow. and
that in all probability judicious per
suasion would convince him of the
expediency Of parting with his spouse
-for a consideration. Negotiations
we're opened between the husband in
esse and in posse, resulting in a hard
cash transaction, whereby Lehman
became the happy possessor of 49,
900. Having pOeketed this little
competence. he proceeded to institute
a divorce suit against his wife upon
the plea OF incompatibility Of tempera.
ment, and as soon as the decree had
been pronounced, Gertrude Falken-
stein was led to the altar by her
prineely sutton, who a few months
later conferred upon her the title oil
Countess Won Schaumberg.
The wedding took place in the au-
tumn of 1871, the year in which popu-
lar discomfort with the ElectOr Will
liam regiment in Hesse compelled
that singularly dissolute potentate to
nominate his son co-regent-a step
which practically amounted to his
abdicasiOn in favor Of Frederick
William. Frau Won Schaumberg,
therefOre,-at that time in the zenith
of her beauty-had not long to wait
for the position to which she had
aspired when she resolved to part
from the husband of her girlhood
choice, who had been compelled to
throw up his commission in the Prus-
sian service by his brother officers,
and vanished into obscurity with the
price of his infamy. When she took
up her abode, however, in the Hessian
capital, her new mother-in-law the
electress-an aunt Of the present
German Emperor-refused to sit in
the same box at the Court theater,
w~hereupon Frederick William gave
notice that his mother should not be
admitted to thatlplace of entertain
ment.
Toward the end Of the year the
aged electress, ignoring her sons pro-
hibition, paid a visit to the theater one
evening, and was enthusiastically
cheered by the audience upon her ap.
pearance in a private box. Thi;
demonstration was continued in the
street, when she left the house, aud
led to the populace being charged by
the electors bodyguard with drawn
sabres, at His Highness' express com
mand. The Hessians never forgave
their elector for giving this barbarous
order. By causing his subjects tobe
ridden and cut down for cheering his
own mother Frederick William de-
stroyed his popularity in the realm Of
his ancestors.
Between 1881 and 1850 Countess
Schaumberg bore he- husband seven
sons and two daughters. Early in
the latter year she wal created Prin-
cess Of Hanau by the Emperor Of
Austria. On the electors death in
1875 she inherited the whole of hi:
enormous fortune, invested in State
securities and railway stock, which
will now be divided among her eight
surviving children, the youngest Of
whom is a Lieutenant in the Fourth
Regiment OF Austrian Lancers.