Duke Of Saxemeiningen Georg Ii

German duke who was the penultimate ruler of Saxe-Meiningen, reigning from 1866 to 1914. For his support for his successful court theatre he was also known as the 'Theaterherzog' (theatre duke). Georg was the only son of Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and his wife Princess Marie Frederica of Hesse-Kassel. Georg was married first in Charlottenburg on 18 May 1850 to Princess Charlotte of Prussia. She was the eldest daughter of Prince Albrecht of Prussia and Princess Marianne of the Netherlands, and was a granddaughter of both Friedrich Wwilhelm III of Prussia and Willem I of the Netherlands. They had four children. Charlotte died in childbirth and left Georg inconsolable. On 23 October 1858, he married his second cousin Princess Feodora of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. She was a niece of Queen Victoria. Georg and Feodora had three sons. Feodora contracted scarlet fever in January 1872, and died the following month. His third marriage in Liebenstein on 18 March 1873 was to Ellen Franz, a former actress. The couple had no children. Well loved by the people, she and Duke Georg created and developed the progressive Meiningen Theatre. In his later life, Georg suffered from acute deafness and retired from active life. He had been fond of hunting and travelling, and was a collector of antiques and manuscripts. He died aged 88 on 25 June 1914 at Bad Wildungen and was succeeded by his eldest son Bernhard. Link to Wikipedia biography