Wednesday, June 24, 2009

Princess Alfred of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst is dead

June 24, 1929

Princess Alfred of Hohenlohe-Waldenburg-Schillingsfürst died today in Vienna. She "suddenly became ill and died of paralysis of the lungs," according to the Associated Press report, which was published in the New York Times. She underwent surgery in a Vienna hospital in a "vain effort to save her life." Her husband was at her bedside when she died. The Princess was 37 years old.

The Princess was the former Catherine Britton of Washington, D.C., the daughter of the late Alexander Britton, a prominent attorney.

Prince Alfred was in the Austro-Hungarian diplomatic service in Washington, D.C., when he first met Miss Britton. Their marriage on December 14, 1916, "was one of the social events of that Winter in Washington." Shortly before his marriage, he was transferred to Austria's consulate in San Francisco.

The couple was married at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, and the wedding was largely attended by "the diplomatic set and representatives of the oldest families in Washington."

Miss Britton had made her debut in Washington several years earlier, and was a "popular and beautiful leader in the younger set."

When the World War broke out in 1914, she went to France as a war nurse, and was "attached to a hospital there for some time. Her marriage to Prince Alfred took place before the United States "entered the war," and she made Europe her home.

The Princess is survived by her husband and three young sons, Alexander, Konrad, and Viktor. She is also survived by her sister, Mrs. H. Wells Rusk Jr.

http://royalmusingsblogspotcom.blogspot.com/2016/12/katherine-britton-weds-austrian-prince.html

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