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Excerpts from the diaries of the ducal state minister of Brunswick, Adolf Hartwieg († 1914), about the wedding gift of the Land Brunswick.
Hartwieg always was a pronounced follower of the traditional dynasty. It was not that this corresponded to the opinion of the monarchic minded bourgeoisie of that time, but more of an inherited conviction as a descendent of an ancient patrician family of Brunswick, whose collateral line had provided the reigning royal House Wolfenbüttel some princely Secretary, Chamber-, War- and Court Counsellor. One of them signed as a doctor of laws, legal counsellor and representative of the Crown the treaty of St.Petersburg in 1615, which finished the long feuds between the city of Brunswick and the reigning Royal House of Wolfenbüttel. On the occasion of the selection of a sovereign for the dukedom after the death of the last scion of the Royal House of Brunswick (the elder line), who deceased unmarried and without heirs, Hartwieg reproached the Landtag for having contacted the Duke of Cumberland, the English collateral line of the House of Brunswick, in order to prevent the choice of a foreign sovereign. This reproach probably derived from the fact that the Marshall Hunter von Kalm proposed among his friends to send him to Gmunden as a mediator. A long time before a connection between the Houses of Cumberland and
Prussia was suspected, Hartwieg contacted the followers of the Hanoverian
Guelph party in order to settle the question which had been on his mind
a long time: Having been appointed state minister, he continuously pursued the aim to remove all obstacles that might prevent the accession of the legitimate Royal House to the throne. The engagement of Prince Ernst August with the daughter of the Prussian king was the natural cause to drive forward his aim with both intensity and prudence.
**** Mentioning all the above in advance is necessary for the comprehension
of the following: Hartwieg requested an audience from the monarch in order for receiving
the ducal agreement for the wedding gift of the land of Brunswick. In the diadem, which they wanted to buy, the two biggest and especially
valuable diamonds were missing. The executive of the jewellers guild, the master Carl Grieß,
and the secretary Ernst Wurm offered their services. Ellimeyer agreed
to leave the diadem up to the Court Jeweller of Brunswick, Hermann Jürgens,
who was to complete the diamond skeleton. To be on the safe side, Hartwieg
made experts examine the manufacturing and the value of the jewel. “I like the idea of engraving the heraldic figures of Brunswick and Prussia on the jewel-case. But I am stressing the one of Brunswick since Prince Ernst August is important for our land only as the hereditary Prince or Duke of Brunswick, not as the prince of Hanover.” The Court Jeweller of Brunswick, Jürgens, was able to procure
the missing diamonds immediately. The purchase of the wedding gift from the treasury had been approved in the Landtag session of Brunswick on March 4th. The finance department took over to handle the case and accepted Hartwiegs
proposals unanimously. In his application speech the reporter Lagerfeld,
member of the Landtag stressed the following: The orator continues with his hopes that this union will bring a descendent to the guelphs, “who will especially benefit our Land of Brunswick…”. Later, the general assembly of the Landtag had been informed about
the choice of the wedding gift: a tiara. Then, on 10th of May 1913,
the lawyer von Dähne, chairman of the Brunswick Guelph party, wrote
to the Landtag: However, the Landtag ignored his objection. In these days, Hartwieg was in Berlin to negotiate the arrangement of the line of succession with the Imperial Chancellor, the Minister-president of Prussia, von Bethmann-Hollweg, the Secretary Delbrück and the second Secretary Wahnschaffe. Apart from these events I consider the modalities of the tiara’s presentation to be important for the decision whom it belongs to. Hartwieg applied for the permission of the first office of majordomo
for presenting the wedding gift with a delegation on May 23rd 1913,
the day before the wedding. In the application, he wrote: On 23.05.1913, Hartwieg wrote in his diary:
According to the newspaper, the bride and the groom were visibly moved and warmly pleased. This also showed their returning thanks, which the Empress, too, expressed. The gift met with everybody’s approve. The lord ships could not find enough words to express their delight and appreciation… The young bride wore the tiara of Brunswick already at the family lunch
that day and occasionally at Gala operas. Viktoria Luise Adelheid Mathilde Charlotte Princess of Prussia,
Markgravin of Brandenburg, Countess of the Castle of Nuremberg, Countess
of Hohenzollern, Duchess of Silesia and the duchy of Glatz, Duchess
of the Lower Rhine and Posen, Duchess of Saxony, Westphalia and Engern,
of Pomerania, Lüneburg, Silesia-Holstein, Magdeburg, Bremen, Geldern,
Cleve, Jülich-Bergen, Wenden and Cassuben, Crossen, Lauenburg,
Mecklenburg, Countess of Upper and Lower Laisitz, Princess of Orania,
Rügen, East Frisia, Paderborn and Pyrmont, Halberstadt, Münster,
Minden, Osnabrück, Hildesheim Verden, Cammin, Fulda, Nassau and
Mörs, Princely Countess of Henneberg, Countess of the marches,
Ravensburg, Hohenstein, Tecklenburg and Lingen, of Manfeld, Sigmaringen
and Veringen, Mistress of Frankfort.
Special Thanks to my dear Caroline Butschal for help!!
Das Braunschweiger Diadem von Kaiserin Josephine >>
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is kept in the national archives. They contain important details on
the origins of the tiara, which Hartwieg wanted to be informed of.