North Hessian relatives: "With Charles, a 'real Battenberger' is sitting on the throne again"
Created: 09/14/2022, 01:09 am
By: Sebastian Richter
The name Mountbatten connects Battenberg (Waldeck-Frankenberg district) with the English royal family.
How is the city taking the death of Queen Elizabeth II?
Battenberg – "Oh dear, what now?" On Thursday, Elisabeth Skupin was having dinner with friends when she found out from the landlord: "The Queen is dead." The keeper of the Battenberg City Museum immediately wrote a message to the mayor.
It is decided to write a condolence card and to set the flags at half-mast, as reported by hna.de.
Elisabeth Skupin is a self-confessed royalist and was well aware of the fact that after the death of her husband, His Royal Highness Sir Philip Mountbatten and Duke of Edinburgh, Elizabeth II was increasingly skipping appointments and had to use a cane.
But somehow the Queen seemed immortal.
"I can't understand it at all.
It happened so quickly,” she says.
"Boris Johnson and Liz Truss were with her because of the new elections.
Perhaps the death of Philips made her so weak.
He had always given her so much strength.”
Battenberg (Waldeck-Frankenberg district) and the English royal family: "The connection will become even more intense"
But the story of Battenberg and the English royal family will continue, Elisabeth Skupin is convinced of that.
"Perhaps the connection will become even more intense, because with Charles there is now a 'real Battenberg' on the throne again."
This connection begins a good 170 years ago.
Battenberg, the small town on the Eder, had 1200 inhabitants and a castle at that time, but no longer had any lords.
The first mention of the castle dates back to 1226, when Werner II von Battenberg brought it into his possession.
Many changes of ownership followed through seizures and sales, until sometime in the 15th century there was no longer a 'von Battenberg' to be found.
The Battenberg museum director Elisabeth Skupin knows pretty much everything about the English royal family and its connections to Battenberg.
© Barbara Liese
Battenberg (Waldeck-Frankenberg district): Battenberg prince married daughter of Queen Victoria
It was more than 300 years before the grand ducal court in Darmstadt remembered the 'Battenbergs', whose name had since become vacant.
Prince Alexander of Hesse-Darmstadt had married Julie von Haucke, his sister's lady-in-waiting, the future Tsarina of Russia.
A scandal: The descendants of the former Russian war minister as princes and princesses of Hesse.
Unthinkable!
In November 1851 a decision was made at court: Julie became the Countess of Battenberg and the small town was once again honored as a count, albeit only through the name and without a residence.
Julie and Alexander had five children.
Two of them are trying their luck in England.
Prince Henry marries the English Princess Beatrice, Queen Victoria's youngest daughter, and moves to Buckingham Palace with her mother-in-law.
Prince Ludwig Alexander goes to sea and makes a career in the British Navy.
His daughter Alice Elizabeth Julia Marie von Battenberg is the mother of Prince Philip and grandmother of Charles, the new King of England.
In 1967 she moved in with her son and daughter-in-law at Buckingham Palace, where she died on December 5, 1969.
During World War I, Battenberg becomes Mountbatten in England
In the First World War in 1914, Germany and England faced each other as enemies and once again the name Battenberg had to disappear.
The German Prince Ludwig had to resign as head of the British Navy.
Mountbatten was born.
Shortly after the end of the war, Philip married Elizabeth, Princess of England, who later became Queen.
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In 1960, Queen Elizabeth put an end to the name confusion and clarified the family name: All children and other descendants are given the double name Mountbatten Windsor.
When it comes to aristocratic stories, it always gets a bit more complicated, but Elisabeth Skupin knows her way around the English royal family very well: "Now we're even a little closer to the family with the grandson."
Family photo with (from left) Louis Mountbatten, uncle to Prince Philip, Princess Elizabeth with Prince Charles, Prince Philip and Queen Elizabeth (Queen Mum).
© Archive
Battenberg (Waldeck-Frankenberg district): Battenberg invite Prince Harry
"To top it off, we'll of course send a card again," says Skupin.
"I am sure that Charles and his children will not forget where their name comes from.
I'm excited to see how Charles takes on his new role.
Maybe he will now approach Harry and Meghan again.
It would be nice if the family got along again.”
Prince Harry will also soon receive a letter from Elisabeth Skupin and Mayor Christian Klein.
It is, of course, an invitation to visit Battenberg.
(Barbara Liese)
His father is a lot ahead of Prince Harry when it comes to North Hesse visits: the newly crowned King of England visited the Kassel organic shop “Schmanddibben” 25 years ago.