100373 | GERMANY. Brunswick. Ernst August with Viktoria Luise silver Medal.

100373  |  GERMANY. Braunschweig (Brunswick). Ernst August with Viktoria Luise silver Medal. Dated 1913. Commemorating the Royal Marriage (28mm, 9.22 g, 12h). By O. Oertel in Berlin.

 

ERNST AUGUST HERZOG • VIKTORIA LUISE HERZOGIN, facing busts of Viktoria Luise and Ernst August / Rayed crown; below, ZUM ANDENKEN / AN DIE THRON– / BESTEIGUNG / DES HERZOG– / PAARES / 1913 (in remembrance of the ducal accession of the royal couple) in six lines. Edge: SILBER 990.

 

Brockmann 584; Fiala 5957. Choice Proof. Lightly toned, with a pleasing goldenrod hue; a few scattered marks and hairlines on the obverse. Rare.

 

The marriage of Ernst August and Viktoria Luise, which took place on 24 May 1913, was a gallant affair with over 1,000 guests in attendance. Given the union's political importance (it ended the long-standing rift between the Houses of Hannover and Hohenzollern) and familial connections (Ernst August was, on his paternal side, the great-grandson of another Ernst August, the fifth son of Great Britain's King George III, and, on his maternal side, the grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark, the "father-in-law" of Europe––while Viktoria Luise was, on her paternal side, the daughter of the German Emperor Wilhelm II and the great-granddaughter of Great Britain's Queen Victoria), it served as an important and momentous European gathering.

 

Noteworthy guests were Wilhelm's cousins––Great Britain's King George V and wife Mary, along with Russia's Czar Nicholai II and wife Alexandra. The wedding represented the largest gathering of reigning monarchs in Germany since her unification in 1871, and one of the final grand events before Europe, and much of the world, would be plunged into the chaos of World War I little over a year later.

 

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