One hundred years ago today,
Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 35, committed suicide, for reasons that have never
really been satisfactorily explained, though given what happened to all
the German monarchies later that year, it may appear in retrospect to
have constituted an escape from defeat and revolution. His death plunged
the grand duchy into confusion as not only was he childless, his only
brother having been killed in a duel, but his only surviving
non-morganatic heir, Carl Michael, had served in the enemy Russian
forces and wished to renounce his rights to Mecklenburg-Strelitz. With
no one to be Grand Duke, the other Mecklenburg Grand Duke, Friedrich
Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, acted as regent. The succession issue
was not resolved until after the fall of the German monarchies, with
Carl Michael adopting his hitherto morganatic cousin the Count of
Carlow. As the Mecklenburg-Schwerin line eventually died out, ironically
today it is that Carlow line that serves as the sole representative of
the Mecklenburg family.
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| Adolf Friedrich VI as a boy |
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There have been so many depressing centennials, especially for
monarchists, since June 28, 2014, and it's far from over. I liked it
better when we were less than a century removed from my beloved
Belle Époque Europe
(1871-1914). Think of how much time has elapsed since summer 2014, all
the things you've done, and imagine how horrifyingly endless that war
would have seemed by "now," in February 1918, a hundred years ago. How
many boys born in the 90s, so much younger than I am
,
had died. Perhaps that's what got to poor Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich
VI, who as a grandson of Queen Victoria's cousin Princess Augusta of
Cambridge (1822-1916) deeply loved England, where he had spent a good
deal of time before the war. In December 2016 I marked the centennial of Grand Duchess Augusta's death; today I remember her
grandson. Adolf Friedrich had been close to his formidable grandmother.
She was not spared the war between the two nations she loved, but at
least she was spared her grandson's death and the fall of the monarchy.
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| Modern Mecklenburgers paying their respects at the grave of Adolf Friedrich VI on the centennial of his death, 23 February 2018 |
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