Prinz Friedrich Christian, Markgraf von Meißen

Friedrich Christian of Saxony, known from 1932 as Friedrich Christian, Margrave of Meissen, was born in Dresden on 31 December 1893 and died in Samedan on 9 August 1968. He was the second son of Frederick Augustus III, King of Saxony and the last reigning king of Saxony, and his wife Luise, Archduchess of Austria-Tuscany. After the end of the monarchy in 1918 and the death of his father, Friedrich Christian assumed leadership of the Royal House of Saxony in 1932, and thereby of the Albertine branch of the House of Wettin. Within his family, his mother affectionately called him “My Beloved Tia.” His parents divorced when Friedrich Christian was nine years old, following several extramarital affairs. His mother described him as warm-hearted and affectionate and noted his physical resemblance to her own father. Friedrich Christian was prepared for a military career from an early age. In accordance with family tradition, he received the rank of lieutenant in the 1st Royal Saxon Leib-Grenadier Regiment No. 100 at the age of ten. In 1913, he attended the Military Academy in Dresden. During the First World War, Friedrich Christian served on the General Staff on the Western Front and received several decorations for bravery. He was also gifted linguistically and was therefore sent on diplomatic missions. He travelled to King Alfonso XIII of Spain, Sultan Mehmed V of the Ottoman Empire, and Emperor Charles I of Austria. In 1918, he was among the possible candidates for the throne of a planned Kingdom of Lithuania or Poland, but these plans did not come to fruition. Following the defeat of the German Empire, his father abdicated on 13 November 1918. Friedrich Christian then led the Saxon troops back from Belgium and France to Germany, where they were demobilized in Fulda. After the war, he turned to another field and studied law at the universities of Cologne, Freiburg, Breslau, and Würzburg. His doctoral dissertation dealt with Nicholas of Cusa, who had made a significant contribution to the development of canon law in the late Middle Ages. While studying in Breslau, Friedrich Christian belonged to the Catholic student association KDSt.V. Winfridia, from which he later withdrew because of substantive disagreements. On 9 February 1920, he joined KDSt.V. Thuringia Würzburg. There he met Elisabeth Helene of Thurn and Taxis, the daughter of Albert, 8th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, and his wife, Margarethe Klementine, Archduchess of Austria. Friedrich Christian and Elisabeth Helene married in Regensburg on 16 June 1923. After completing his doctorate, he initially worked as a private lecturer in art history. At the same time, at his father’s request, he took over the administration of the family estates in Saxony and Silesia. His position within the family changed fundamentally that same year: his elder brother, Crown Prince Georg, renounced his succession rights and joined the Jesuit Order. Friedrich Christian consequently became heir apparent. When his father died on 12 February 1932, he became head of the Royal House of Saxony. In 1937, the family moved to Wachwitz Castle in Dresden-Wachwitz, where they lived until 1945. The castle survived the heavy bombing raids on Dresden, and Friedrich Christian subsequently took in numerous people who had been left homeless by the destruction. Later that year, the family left Saxony and moved via Hof and Regensburg to Bregenz, where the two youngest children had already been living since 1940. The family’s close ties to France helped, among other things, to facilitate the composer Richard Strauss’s move to Switzerland. In 1955, relatives from the Thurn and Taxis family helped Friedrich Christian and his relatives find a new home in the Harlaching district of Munich. There, he continued to devote himself to Saxon history and culture. Together with his sons Albert and Maria Emanuel, the chapter of the Military Order of St. Henry, the Association of People from Dresden, and the Munich branch of the association of Heimatvertriebene, he founded the Studiengruppe für Sächsische Geschichte und Kultur e. V. This organization developed into one of the largest historical societies in the Federal Republic of Germany. Had the monarchy survived, Friedrich Christian would have borne the Saxon royal title Friedrich Christian I. Friedrich Christian and Elisabeth Helene had five children. Maria Emanuel, the later Margrave of Meissen, married Anastasia of Anhalt in 1962; they had no children. Maria Josepha never married and had one daughter. Anna married Roberto de Afif in 1952 and had three sons, including Alexander Prinz von Sachsen. Albert, who later also became Margrave of Meissen, married Elmira Henke in 1980; they had no children. Mathilde married Johannes Heinrich of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha-Koháry in 1968. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1993, and they had one son. Friedrich Christian died in Samedan on 9 August 1968. He was buried outside the Royal Chapel in Karrösten, North Tyrol. In addition to his former military and dynastic roles, he was Captain à la suite in the Royal Bulgarian Infantry, Grand Master of the Order of the Rue Crown, a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, and a Knight Grand Cross of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.