(Wilhelm and Elisa, circa 1831, following accession as Duke and Duchess of Posen)
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"In later generations, the idea of being a Wilhelm and Elisa overwhelmed the notion of romance - Romeo and Juliet were childish and depressing; Cleopatra and Antony maudlin and selfish; Paris and Helen foolish and destructive. Wilhelm and Elisa were pure and true, united in an ideal love. Even their monogram, 'W.E.' , seemed to serve as a romantic image of the couple standing against the world. The loss of Elisa and Wilhelm's subsequent grief added to their legend."
- W.E. by HRH Princess Elisa of Prussia, Duchess of Poznań, 2014
"After the birth of their daughter Luise, Wilhelm and Elisa felt it appropriate to retire from the unfriendly court life in Berlin, Elisa’s poor health providing a handy excuse. Wilhelm’s father, the King of Prussia, decided to take advantage of the situation and made his son the new Governor of the Grand Duchy of Posen.
The choice of Wilhelm as the Governor of Posen was an interesting one, politically. Wilhelm was generally considered neutral in politics, and was popular for his simple lifestyle. His wife, Elisa, was a Radziwill by birth, and could be expected to thus claim the affection of her countrymen. The general belief was that the charming young couple would earn the affection of their people, while remaining mostly out of political affairs and allowing the Oberpräsident to continue to call the pro-Prussian shots. This belief would prove incorrect.”
- The Prussian Guardians of Posen by Mikołaj Wawrzyniec Musiał, 2010
“She had taken to Posen quickly, Elisa thought to herself with a smile. It was a simple place, cheerfully so, and a breath of fresh air after the oppression of Berlin. Posen was a good place to raise Luise. She had seen the looks that certain members of the court, like her sister-in-law, the haughty Marie, had sent her daughter.
The thought made Elisa frown, even as she ran her hand through her daughter's dark curls. Such venom towards a little girl, no threat to the succession, and the joy of her father's life. In her heart, Elisa wished her daughter favored Wilhelm more, but he himself was immensely pleased that their daughter was "the very picture of her mother" in his words, and his pleasure touched her heart.
"We will go to the square now, please, Anna." The Polish words felt like marbles in her mouth but evidently she got her point across - her daughter's governess beamed and curtsied before going to bundle little Luise in her pram. Elisa had insisted on hiring Polish staff, and speaking Polish to them. She had been entirely Germanized growing up, Polish in name only - but one could not grow up a Radziwill without learning a few political tricks.
Wilhelm, smart in his uniform, was waiting by the entrance for her as he did every day. Ever since her health had started to recover the physician had insisted on a "good, long walk" once a day to continue building her strength. Regardless of other commitments, Wilhelm never failed to appear exactly at 4 o'clock to escort her on her walk, and the sight of the Duke and Duchess of Posen walking through the public square had become a familiar one. Elisa could confess to a little politicking in that - it made Wilhelm seem more accessible to his subjects, humanized him when the people saw him tenderly kiss his wife’s hand and personally carry his little daughter.”
-The Pearl: A Novel of Princess Wilhelm of Prussia by Angelika Braun, 2002
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“It’s the 210th birthday of Princess Elisa Radziwill - better known to historical fans as Princess Wilhelm of Prussia, Duchess of Posen. In honor of her birthday, we are going to be looking at her most famous jewelry, as well as their current provinces!
For starters, we have Elisa’s promise ring. It was long believed, and has recently been confirmed by her leading biographer and descendant, another Princess Elisa, that Wilhelm gave this ring to Elisa shortly before going to his father to ask for permission to marry her. It is a micro ivory ring, traditionally ascribed to Francesco Tanadei, and shows Eros wearily leaning on a pickaxe, preparing the soil to sow the seeds of love. The onyx oval face is set into a milled gold bezel. We do know that Elisa cherished the ring dearly, being painted with it in numerous portraits. The ring was left to her husband Wilhelm upon his death, and he later left the ring to his grandson, another Wilhelm. The ring remains with his descendants to this day as far as we know, though it hasn’t been publicly seen in some decades.
Update: Since the original 2013 post, the ring was finally spotted in 2016 being worn by the new Duchess of Posen at the funeral of her father-in-law, the Duke. She has worn it multiple times since then, including in her official portrait.
Next, we have her absolutely fabulous amethyst and pearl earrings, which Wilhelm gave to her as a gift at the christening of their eldest daughter Luise. Talk about a push gift, am I right? These were extremely important to Elisa and she was noted as having worn them frequently, particularly to the coronation of her dear friend Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom. After her death, the earrings were inherited by her daughter Luise, and passed through a female line to eventually end up in the royal collection of the Electors of Hesse, where they remain to this day. They were most recently publicly worn by the Elector’s daughter, Princess Julianna of Hesse, on her wedding day in 2019.
These aquamarine earrings, given to Elisa as a wedding gift by her father-in-law, caused quite a scandal at the time as they had originally belonged to her mother-in-law, the late Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. Many of Luise’s relatives did not think Wilhelm could (or should) be allowed to dynastically marry Elisa and caused quite a fuss over their marriage - Elisa famously wore them on her wedding day, as did her daughter Luise, who later inherited the earrings. They remain amongst her male-line descendants in a privately owned collection, though they have been loaned to various museums for exhibits on both Elisa and Luise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, including the 2016 exhibit in Posen on Elisa.
Elisa’s aquamarine and diamond necklace is usually ranked among the top favorites for jewelry on this site and it’s easy to see why. It was a first anniversary gift from her husband, specifically designed to go with the earrings that she had received from his father. Like the matching earrings, the necklace went to Elisa’s daughter Luise, and they have remained with her male-line descendants ever since. They have also been loaned out for various exhibits including the 2016 exhibit in Posen on Elisa.
This pearl and gold double heart bangle bracelet was a Christmas gift to Elisa from her sister-in-law, Elisabeth Ludovika. There’s no mention of Elisa wearing the bracelet but it evidently meant enough to her to be specifically mentioned in her will - she left the bracelet to Elisabeth Ludovika, who eventually left it to her eldest granddaughter. The bracelet went unmentioned for several generations before reappearing in the private collection of the Polish branch of the Romanov family - it was publicly worn by Princess Katarzyna Anna Radziwill at her wedding to Prince Vyacheslav Andreevich of Russia in 1981. Katarzyna Anna is a direct descendant of Elisa’s brother, Bogusław Fryderyk Radziwiłł. The bracelet remains in their possession and has been worn by each of their seven daughters (Sabina, Yuliya, Darya, Nataliya, Tatyana, Marfa, and Pelagiya) at their weddings.
Elisa inherited her pearls from her paternal grandmother, Helena, upon the latter’s death in 1821. She seems to have enjoyed them for everyday use, as there are multiple references to a “handsome strand of pearls” adorning her neck. Upon her death, Elisa left the pearls to her sister-in-law, Leontyna Gabriela, wife of her brother Boguslaw. Upon her death, Leontyna Gabriela’s heirs sold the pearls to Queen Dagmar of the United Kingdom. Dagmar, a purveyor of fine jewelry, was apparently delighted with them and wore them often enough that her family apparently referred to them as “Granny’s rocks”. The pearls are now in possession of the Dukes of Albany and were last publicly seen worn by the Duchess of Albany at a family wedding in 2018.
Wilhelm was apparently a firm believer in push gifts - this emerald, peal, and diamond pendant on a gold chain was his gift to Elisa for the christening of their second child. There is no record of her publicly wearing it, though this can be accounted to her lack of public appearances after receiving the gift. It seems to have not been a great favorite amongst her descendants, and spent several generations locked away in a vault. The necklace is currently in possession of the Dukes of the Posen, and was last publicly worn by the Duchess during a charity ball in 2020.
The birthstone of October is opal, which can explain this opal cross pendant / brooch birthday gift to Elisa upon her thirtieth birthday from her maternal uncle, Prince August of Prussia. She wore it as a brooch in a birthday portrait from the same year. Elisa left the piece to her second child, who apparently took great pride in it - the pride has been passed onto Elisa’s descendants, who continue to own the piece today. It was worn by the bride at the 2015 wedding of Elisa’s great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, another Elisa, who wore it as a pendant on the diamond riviere necklace that the family also inherited from Elisa, and has been seen at multiple royal occasions since then.
The diamond riviere necklace is believed to have been given to Elisa as a wedding anniversary present on her tenth wedding anniversary by the people of Posen (specifically, the Women’s Association of Posen). The necklace was also inherited by Elisa’s youngest child and remains in the family to this day. It was worn by the bride at the 2015 wedding of Elisa’s great-great-great-great-great-great-granddaughter, another Elisa, who wore it with the aforementioned opal cross pendants, and has been seen at multiple royal occasions since then.
The small pearl and diamond tiara most commonly associated with Elisa - it’s actually often called “Elisa’s pearl tiara” in both official and unofficial sources - was a wedding gift from her parents. The flexible tiara frame also allows the tiara to be made into a necklace, but it looks as though Elisa preferred it as a tiara - there are multiple references to her wearing the tiara after her wedding, including at several court events in Berlin and Posen and the coronation of Queen Charlotte of the United Kingdom. The tiara officially went to Wilhelm after her death, who gave it as a wedding present to their daughter Luise upon her marriage. Since then, the pearl tiara has remained with Luise’s descendants and has become the official wedding tiara of that branch of the family - almost every bride in the last two hundred years, both born into and marrying into the family, has worn the tiara either for her ceremony, reception, or both. An impressive family tradition, to be sure!
Opals are rare in jewelry from the Caroleon Era, but that just adds to the absolute drama of this tiara. A gift from Elisa’s father-in-law upon her husband’s accession as Governor of the Duchy of Posen, Elisa proudly wore the tiara to multiple events in Posen and even had several portraits painted in the tiara. It’s technically a hair comb-tiara combination, but that doesn’t detract from it. It also doubles as a necklace but really, why waste it as a necklace? Like her pearl and diamond tiara, this tiara also went to her husband upon her death. It has remained in the possession of the Dukes of Posen, however, and it is considered the official tiara of the Duchesses of Posen (who all take every advantage possible to wear it).
-Post from Glittering Authority blog, October 28, 2013
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[Clip from 2015 Rosalie Biermann interview with HRH Princess Elisa of Prussia, Duchess of Posen]
[Rosalie sitting on a bench outside of Poznań Castle next to HRH Princess Elisa of Prussia, Duchess of Posen]
“Good evening everyone. I am Rosalie Biermann and this is ‘Royals: Rulers and Rebels’ on the History Network. Today I am exploring one of the most famous love stories in history: Wilhelm of Prussia, the Governor of Posen, and his wife Elisa Radziwill. I am going to be interviewing one of the top experts on this couple - who is also a descendant of theirs! -, Princess Elisa of Prussia, who has also been kind enough to give us a tour of Posen Castle, Wilhelm and Elisa’s residence. Hello, Elisa.”
ELISA: Hello, Rosalie.
ROSALIE: It’s so odd to call you Elisa while we are talking about her! Sorry, just had to get that out of the way!
ELISA:
[laughing] I completely understand. I was named after her, actually - we share the same birthday and my family thought it was just too much of a coincidence to pass up. If it’s easier, you can call me Liese.
ROSALIE: Are you the first descendant named for her?
ELISA: Oh, no. At this point, I’m probably the twentieth or so. It was a really big deal to Wilhelm that their descendants be named after Elisa - all of his firstborn granddaughters were named Elisa or Elisabeth, and the name just kept getting passed down. It’s an honor to be named for her. She really helped save Poznań - a lot of the schools and foundations she set up are still functioning today.
ROSALIE: You call it Poznań and not Posen. Any reason why?
ELISA: Poznań is the Polish name; Posen is the German - we speak both languages here, so both are technically correct. When I’m in Poznań, I say Poznań. Outside of Poznań, I say Posen.
[shot of Elisa and Rosalie walking through Poznań castle, stopping before a portrait of Wilhelm and Elisa]
ROSALIE: I see the resemblance between you and her - talk about strong genetics
[they laugh]. So what made you interested enough to become the leading biographer in Wilhelm and Elisa?
ELISA: Well, when you grow up in Poznań, they can be hard to escape. Honestly, their love story was one of the fairytales I heard at bedtime growing up. Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty turned out to just be stories, so I was fascinated with the one story that had really happened. Their story led to me and my siblings and cousins all over Europe - all over the world. I knew the outcome of the story - I wanted to know the origins. I probably researched them off and on throughout my life - picking up tidbits here and there - until I went to University.
ROSALIE: The University of Munich, right?
ELISA: Yes.
[smiles] I had wanted to go to the university here, but my mother insisted I go somewhere else.
ROSALIE: Any particular reason?
ELISA: Well, I grew up in Poznań. My great-uncle is the royal patron of the University; my grandmother has a library named after her; there are artworks there that Wilhelm donated upon his death. My family’s obviously been very involved with the university. My mother was worried I would get preferential treatment here - she and my father are very big on making sure we can stand on our own two feet, get by on our own merits. When I went to Munich, I enrolled under the name Elisa Poznań. I tutored and I had a job at the metro station.
[laughs] My mother definitely got her way - nobody would have thought I was a princess.
ROSALIE: You majored in history, correct?
ELISA: Yes. I couldn’t imagine majoring in anything else. I’m working on my doctorate right now, actually.
[Shot of Elisa and Rosalie walking through Poznań castle, stopping in the library]
ELISA: I became interested in writing a novel about Wilhelm and Elisa when I was home my senior year of school - I found a diary of Elisa’s here in the library and I devoured it in about two days. I had forgotten about my interest in them as a child before that. Within days, I mapped out the entire book.
ROSALIE: But it took you five years to publish it?
ELISA: I had to do my research, and then re-do my research. I wanted to make sure I had everything as correct as possible. There was a ton in the archives here, obviously, but I also went to Berlin and London for research. I even spent some time in Russia.
ROSALIE: How lucky to have access to that diary and those private family records!
ELISA: It’s definitely an advantage, I won’t lie. But I feel like it’s one that I can respect - no matter how fascinating they are, they’re still my ancestors. I feel like there’s a line in research between respecting the subject and doing your job - learning all you can about them and presenting it in a factual manner. I’m definitely biased but I did my best to toe the line in the book
ROSALIE: So let me ask you one of the big questions everyone always asks - why didn’t Wilhelm remarry?
ELISA: Why would he?
ROSALIE:
[smiling patronizingly at the camera] Well, there was a lot of pressure from Berlin, obviously. There were rumors that the King was considering making Posen a hereditary duchy - and that Wilhelm’s unmarried state was considered an issue because it showed a lack of dynastic stability. Even courtiers here in Posen pushed for the remarriage - they felt that the Duchy needed a Duchess. Plus, there’s the whole mistress thing.
ELISA:
[clearly displeased] Posen is a hereditary duchy. So Wilhelm’s unmarried state didn’t affect it that much.
ROSALIE:
[triumphant] But it only became a hereditary duchy after Wilhelm’s death!
ELISA: If you look at the records, the King of Prussia never asked Wilhelm to remarry. There’s no communication existing between them where he asked him to do that. Neither did any of Wilhelm’s brothers - in fact, Wilhelm’s younger brothers wanted him to stay unmarried so they didn’t get pushed further down the line by more children from the new marriage. And if you look at records, you will see that every courtier here in Poznań that brought up remarrying to Wilhelm was immediately dismissed and banned from the Duchy for life. That’s a pretty clear indicator of how Wilhelm felt about remarriage.
ROSALIE: And the mistress?
ELISA: Do you mean Anna Dunajski?
ROSALIE: Yes, of course. I’ve heard reports that Wilhelm’s children called her ‘Ducky’, supposedly for her manner of walking.
ELISA: Anna was actually born a Kaczka - Dunajski was her married name. Kaczka is Polish for duck. It was a term of endearment. Elisa also called her that.
ROSALIE: Oh.
[obviously embarrassed]
ELISA: Yeah. Her husband was later ennobled as a Baron under Wilhelm - he served as the head of Wilhelm’s household until Wilhelm’s death..
ROSALIE:
[trying to recover] Couldn’t this be a reward for Anna being Wilhelm’s mistress?
ELISA: Well, that depends on your view of ‘mistress’. By all accounts, Anna loved Elisa. Elisa helped arrange her marriage to Dunajski and stood as godmother to their eldest son, Michal Wilhelm. Anna had a big part in keeping Elisa’s good reputation alive - she wrote the first biography of Elisa as the Duchess of Posen, she took over many of Elisa’s charities, and she remained the head of the household of Elisa’s children until they were all married. They invited her to their weddings - she stood as a godmother to several of Elisa’s grandchildren. She and her husband remained in Wilhelm’s household until his death, and she served as his hostess at official events for years after Elisa’s death. Anna and Wilhelm were definitely very close - she was one of the few people he seems to have been close with after Elisa’s death, and we have correspondence between them spanning several decades. He called her “moja dobroć”, which means “my kindness”. So yes, there’s definitely a possibility for a relationship there. I do think he relied on her in an emotional, personal way. Whether that was physical or not, I can’t tell you. But I truly do not believe Wilhelm ever loved anyone, or even came close to it, after Elisa’s death.
ROSALIE: What makes you so sure?
ELISA: Come with me.
[Rosalie and Elisa in the crypt of Poznań Cathedral, standing before a sarcophagus, covered with recumbent effigies of a couple].
ELISA: This is where Elisa and Wilhelm are buried.
ROSALIE: They’re buried together?
ELISA: Yes. Wilhelm had the effigies carved when Elisa was buried here - he knew that he would lie here next to her one day.
ROSALIE: Oh my.
ELISA: And look, here -
[points to a single carved line of script in Polish at the foot of Elisa’s effigy]. This says “Tu leży serce Wilhelm” - “Wilhelm’s heart lies here”.
[pause] As far as he was concerned, they buried his heart here with Elisa. That’s how I know.
[end clip]
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Poznań Castle, 2020
(Home of Wilhelm and Elisa)
Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul, 2020
(Burial site of Wilhelm and Elisa)
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"Princess Elisa Zofia Philomena Maria of Prussia, Duchess of Posen was born October 28, 1987, in the Duchy of Posen. She is the only daughter of August Wilhelm, The Duke of Posen, and his wife, Princess Zofia Lubomirska; her siblings are her elder brother Hereditary Duke Wilhelm Sigismund, her twin brother Prince Otto, and her younger Prince Friedrich Kasimir.
She attended the University of Munich and the University of Posen, receiving her doctorate in history from the later. She is known for her book
W.E., a biography of her ancestors Wilhelm of Prussia and Elisa Radziwill, as well as her second book,
The Hohenzollerns of Poznań, a novel tracing her family rule of the duchy.
In 2015, she married Freiherr Stefan Dunajski, a lawyer, at the Archcathedral Basilica of St. Peter and St. Paul (the bride having been raised in her mother's Catholic faith) by the Archbishop of Posen.
The couple had their first child, a son named Freiherr Mieszko August Antoni Dunajski, on August 2, 2019. The couple currently resides in Posen."
-From the Wikipedia page of Princess Elisa of Prussia, Duchess of Posen