Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach

Princess Sophie of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (25 July 1888 – 18 September 1913) was a great-granddaughter of Prince Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, who was a younger brother of Charles Frederick, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

Her life ended in scandal after she committed suicide in apparent reaction to her family's refusal to allow her to marry Hans von Bleichröder, the son of Gerson von Bleichröder, the most influential banker in Germany. Reports speculating about their relationship and her later death were widespread in German and foreign newspapers. Sophie is believed to be the first European royal woman cremated.

Family and early life Sophie was born in Düsseldorf as the only daughter of Prince William of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his wife Princess Gerta of Ysenburg and Büdingen in Wächtersbach. She was a great great granddaughter of Charles Augustus, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, as well as a great granddaughter of William I of Württemberg. On her mother's side, Sophie was a great granddaughter of Frederick William, Elector of Hesse's morganatic marriage to Gertrude Falkenstein, Princess of Hanau.

Due to her parents' lack of wealth, Sophie was brought up at Heidelberg, where they had settled for economy's sake; their family was mainly supported by gifts from the Weimar court. In addition, she and her parents were much beloved in Heidelberg for the interest they took in the poor and the general public welfare, in spite of their lack of wealth.

Her home life was said to be unhappy, as her elder brother Prince Hermann's affairs weighed heavily on her spirits. Several other sources, such as Catherine Radziwill, tell a different account, stating that he was just an "intermediary", and that Sophie actually wished to marry someone else in the town. Most other reports list von Bleichröder as the man she wished to marry however. Though they were not equal in birth, newspapers reported that they were engaged regardless. Enjoying taking long drives in the Fontainbleau Forest, on one night while driving at high speed, their vehicle hit a little gypsy girl and mortally injured her. The following day, von Bleichröder visited the girl's house and paid them the equivalent of $3,000 in compensation. At the time of the accident, Walter Palmer, her chauffeur, claimed to be driving. But at the trial of Palmer and the Baron a month later (very shortly after her suicide) – Palmer was charged with homicide and von Bleichröder with civil responsibility, as the owner of the car – sworn statements by the occupants of the car established that at the time, the Princess, "a keen motorist and expert driver", was at the wheel, Palmer was sitting beside her, and her mother and the Baron were in the back seats. Palmer admitted he had falsely claimed responsibility at the time of the accident to spare the Princess, and had done so without any promise or expectation. At the time, the Princess and her mother were registered at the hotel incognito as Madame and Mlle Deroda, and identified themselves similarly to police at the time of the accident. The court was satisfied that the deceased Princess had been the driver, and dismissed the charges against Palmer and von Bleichröder. Some newspapers hinted that the stress or guilt of this tragedy may have been instrumental in her suicide a month later, saying "Every effort was made to hush up the affair, owing to fear that the Princess's movements would become known to her father."

Although the story of a frustrated passion for Baron von Bleichröder has gained traction in newspapers and history books, at least one book described an entirely different story. In Secrets of Dethroned Royalty by Princess Catherine Radziwill (1920), it is explained that Sophie, required by her family's financial circumstances to live in the university town of Heidelberg instead of the metropolis of Weimar, had fallen deeply in love with a young man (identified only as "Count T.") of excellent but poor family. The two young people planned to elope and to conceal their plans, the princess pretended to carry on a romance instead with one of her sweetheart's friends, Baron von Bleichröder, "who consented with alacrity to play the part ... for he was flattered by the request to appear before the world as a suitor for the hand of a Princess of Weimar." However, Prince William and Princess Gerta intended on another match (presumably more prosperous) for their daughter, and they persuaded Count T to leave Heidelberg. Count T secretly arranged to continue to exchange love letters with Sophie using Bleichröder as intermediary. However, after the passage of time the Count, living in another city, found an heiress to his liking, and married her. Apparently he had not bothered to notify Sophie of these changes in his feelings and she discovered these developments only by reading of his marriage in a newspaper; she was so distraught that she killed herself that night. It was widely but erroneously believed that she was driven to suicide by the presumed opposition of her parents to Bleichröder, who, for his part, did not attempt to correct that impression "with evident satisfaction [of] the prestige he derived from his position as the man for whose sake a Royal Princess had shot herself. This awful catastrophe ... was for the Hebrew banker's son, merely a triumph of vanity, and he was glad to allow the world to think she had died for him." This version has not received any currency, although a different story, to the effect that the Princess had previously been carrying on a doomed romance with a Lt. Edler Herr von Putlitz, has circulated. The romance was doomed because although von Putlitz came from a family as aristocratic as that of the Princess, he was just as poor as her father. However, Lt. von Putlitz had died (possibly by suicide) in 1908.

Event and newspaper reports At her father's house in Heidelberg on 18 September 1913, Sophie retired to her room "apparently in her usual spirits". A gunshot was heard shortly after midnight, and a servant found her with a gunshot through her forehead. Her death was at first announced to be the result of "paralysis of the heart". The suicide was generally attributed to the opposition she had encountered at home to her desire to marry von Bleichröder.

Remains and funeral Sophie's body was cremated in 1913 in Heidelberg, and her remains were interred in the royal family's vault in Weimar. Her funeral was attended by only a small number of persons, most of whom were representatives of princely houses. As stated in her father's statement, von Bleichröder was not allowed to attend the funeral.

Ancestry