Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (14 February 1886 – 6 June 1964) was a member of the House of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He was heir to his relative William Ernest, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach until 1909, when he was disinherited of his royal status. From that point onwards, Hermann was commonly referred to with the lesser style, Graf von Ostheim (Count of Ostheim).

Early life Prince Hermann of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach was born on 14 February 1886 in Düsseldorf, as the son of Prince William of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his wife, Princess Gerta of Ysenburg-Büdingen-Wächtersbach. He was educated by a tutor until deemed old enough to enter the Imperial German Army. The ducal family forced him to renounce his rights of succession to the Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach throne, as well as his royal status, title and prerogatives, granting him a lesser, noble title, Count von Ostheim, along with a small allowance on the grounds that he stay out of the duchy. Hermann was also driven out of the German army "for all sorts of unsavory scrapes", as he was wanted in both England and Austria for debts, and for being a "common swindler".

In 1921 Count Hermann claimed in a lawsuit with Grand Duke William Ernest that he and his mother were induced by a ruse and told that he would be forcibly expelled from Paris unless he agreed to travel from there to Germany; instead Hermann was confined in an insane asylum. He was only freed after signing documents renouncing all claims to Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and assuming the style Count von Ostheim. Instead, Hermann, now Count von Ostheim, morganatically married Wanda Paola Lottero, an Italian stage actress, on 5 September 1909 in London. She was the daughter of Gian Baptiste Lottero and his wife, Emilia di Montarana, dei Baroni Sarchi, member of a minor Italian nobility. They visited the United States on several occasions.

On 4 August 1918, Hermann married secondly to Suzanne Aagot Midling at Heidelberg. They had one surviving child before her death on 16 October 1931: Alexander Kyrill Graf von Ostheim (born 7 August 1922); he died unmarried in Stockholm on 28 March 1943

On 16 November 1932, Hermann's engagement with Isabel Neilson, daughter of former British MP and prominent actor and author Francis Neilson, was announced. Hermann and Isabel were married civilly and religiously in Paris on 28 November 1932. A small family luncheon accompanied the wedding; afterwards, the couple honeymooned to Spain and North Africa. They had no children.

Hermann died in London on 6 June 1964 at the age of 78.

Ancestry