Marie zu Erbach-Schönberg (1852–1923)

Marie Caroline of Battenberg was born in Strasbourg, France, the eldest child of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine and Countess Julia Hauke, his German-Polish morganatic wife. The irregularity and scandal of their parents' union meant that Marie and her siblings were excluded from the succession of the Grand Duchy of Hesse-Darmstadt, but they were granted the title of Prince/Princess of Battenberg, and two of her brothers married into the British royal family. In 1871, she married Count Gustav Ernst of Erbach-Schönberg, with whom she had four children. She was known after the marriage as Princess Marie of Erbach-Schönberg. She worked as a translator of works into German, and also wrote a biographer of her brother Prince Alexander of Bulgaria and her memoirs.