Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau

Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau (20 September 1832 – 17 September 1905) was a German prince, military officer and parliamentarian. He was the youngest son of William, Duke of Nassau, and the only son by his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg.

The scion of a minor German princely family, Prince Nikolaus initially pursued a military career which notably led him to fight France during the Italian War of 1859. In 1862, he was briefly considered a candidate for the vacant Greek throne by the British government. Following the annexation of the Duchy of Nassau by the Kingdom of Prussia as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, he entered into Prussian military service the following year. As such, he participated in the military campaign in France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.

In 1868, he entered into a morganatic marriage with the youngest child of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, Natalia Alexandrovna Pushkina, who was created Countess of Merenberg. The subsequent claims of inheritance and succession in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg of the children born of this marriage later developed into the socalled Merenberg Affair. His granddaughter, Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby married George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven in 1916.

Early life

Birth and family

Nikolaus was born on 20 September 1832 at Biebrich Palace in the Duchy of Nassau. He was the eleventh child of William, Duke of Nassau (1792–1839), and the third by his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg (1810–1856), a daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg. Nikolaus was the half-brother of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg (then Hereditary Prince of Nassau), and was related to the Dutch royal family and also, distantly, to the British royal family through his father and mother, both of whom were descendants of King George II of Great Britain.

Childhood and youth

Prince Nikolaus was raised with his siblings in the ducal household in Nassau, and grew up between his parents' residences, the City Palace in the duchy's capital of Wiesbaden and Biebrich Palace, located on the banks of the Rhine River in Biebrich south of the city. However, the French Emperor Napoleon III rejected the candidacy of Nikolaus because he didn't want to see an officer who had recently fought against the French armies on the Greek throne. It was therefore ultimately the young Prince William of Denmark who would be elected monarch of the Kingdom of Greece in 1863.

Annexation of the Duchy of Nassau Prince Nikolaus was promoted to colonel on 1 January 1864 and to general major à la suite on 1 February 1865. In 1866, the Duchy of Nassau was annexed by the Kingdom of Prussia as a consequence of siding with the Austrian Empire during the Austro-Prussian War. In this context, Prince Nikolaus conducted the negotiations in Berlin about the future of the Nassau Field Brigade, as well as the political position and assets of the Ducal House of Nassau.

Later life

Prince Nikolaus with King William I of Prussia during a visit to Bad Ems, 1870.

From 1869 until his death, the couple lived in a stately villa in Wiesbaden.

In 1870-71, Prince Nikolaus participated in the military campaign in France during the Franco-Prussian War. Knight of the Gold Lion of Nassau, May 1858 Grand Cross of the Order of Adolphe of Nassau, with Swords, May 1858 Grand Cross of the Ludwig Order, 26 December 1858 Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1859 Knight of St. Andrew, 1864 Grand Cross of the Red Eagle, 6 February 1867 Iron Cross (1870), 2nd Class on Black Band Red Cross Medal, 1st Class, 27 January 1899 Sweden-Norway: Knight of the Seraphim, 9 July 1881 Grand Cross of the Order of Henry the Lion Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order Principality of Lippe: Cross of Honour of the House Order of Lippe, 1st Class with Swords Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion

Issue Countess Sophie von Merenberg (Geneva, 1 June 1868 – London, 14 September 1927); created Countess de Torby in 1891; married in Sanremo on 26 February 1891, Grand Duke Michael Mikhailovich of Russia (Peterhof Palace, Peterhof, 16 October 1861 – London, 26 April 1929) and had issue. Countess Alexandrine von Merenberg (Wiesbaden, 14 December 1869 – Buenos Aires, 29 September 1950); married in London in 1914 Argentine Don Maximo de Elia (1851 – Saint-Jean-de-Luz, 1929), no issue. Count Georg Nikolaus von Merenberg (Wiesbaden, 13 February 1871 – Wiesbaden, 31 May 1948) married Olga Alexandrovna Yurievskaya on 12 May 1895. They have three children. He remarried Adelheid Moran-Brambeer on 2 January 1930. Count Alexander Adolf Nikolaus von Merenberg (Hannover, 16 September 1896 – Hannover, 20 December 1897). Count Georg Michael Alexander von Merenberg (Hannover, 16 October 1897 – Mainz, 11 January 1965); married firstly in Budapest on 7 January 1926, Paulette Kövér de Gyergyó-Szent-Miklós, divorced in 1928, no issue; married secondly in Schroda on 27 July 1940, Elisabeth Anne Müller Uri (Wiesbaden, 1 July 1903 – Wiesbaden, 18 November 1963), and had issue: Countess Elisabeth Clothilde von Merenberg (b. Wiesbaden, 14 May 1941); married in Wiesbaden on 25 May 1965 Enno von Rintelen (b. Berlin, 9 November 1921 - 16 October 2013), and had issue: Alexander Enno von Rintelen (b. Wiesbaden, 23 March 1966). Georg Nikolaus von Rintelen (b. Wiesbaden, 29 June 1970); married on 30 May 2007 Olivia Minninger (b. Köln, 27 August 1969), and had issue: Julian von Rintelen (b. 7 January 2003) Nicolai von Rintelen (b. München, 17 November 2006) Gregor von Rintelen (b. Wiesbaden, 13 August 1972); married in 2002 Countess Christiane von Bentheim-Tecklenburg-Rheda-Prill (b. Wiesbaden, 18 May 1973), and had issue: Frederick von Rintelen (b. 11 December 2006) Countess Olga Katharina Adda von Merenberg (Wiesbaden, 3 October 1898 – Bottmingen bei Basel, 15 September 1983); married in Wiesbaden on 14 November 1923 Count Michael Loris-Melikov (Tsarskoye Selo, 16 June 1900 – Bottmingen, 2 October 1980), and had issue: Count Alexander Loris-Melikov (b. Paris, 26 May 1926); married in Soignies on 27 September 1958 Micheline Prunier (b. Liège, 21 June 1932), and had issue: Countess Ann Elisabeth Loris-Melikova (b. Basel, 23 July 1959); married in Therwil on 4 November 1983 Marc Moos (b. 5 February 1953), and had issue: Alain Moos (b. Basel, 26 March 1984). Countess Dominique Loris-Melikova (b. Basel, 24 March 1961). Countess Nathalie Loris-Melikova (b. Basel, 28 December 1963); married in Küssnacht on 9 October 1996 Johan Dierbach (b. Stockholm, 12 January 1963), and had issue: Sophie Dierbach (b. Zürich, 23 February 1997). Count Michael Loris-Melikov (b. Basel, 18 December 1964); unmarried with no issue. Ancestry