salute his children, did not address them by the correct style for a ruling family, and that the commanding general at Detmold had personally ordered this. The Emperor's telegraph in response to Count Ernst's request was: Ernst remained as regent until his death in Schloss Lopshorn at which point his son Leopold succeeded him as head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line and regent, before becoming the reigning Prince of Lippe four months later on the death of Prince Alexander. Marriage and children Ernest was married to Countess Karoline Friederike Cecilia of Wartensleben (1844–1905) on the 16 September 1869 in Neuhof. From the marriage he had six children (prince/princess of Lippe since 1905). Countess Adelheid (22 June 1870 – 3 September 1948) married Prince Frederick Johann of Saxe-Meiningen; they were the grandparents of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Crown Prince Otto of Austria. Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe (30 May 1871 – 30 December 1949) Prince Bernhard of Lippe (1872–1934) (26 August 1872 – 19 June 1934) father of Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. Prince Julius (2 September 1873 – 15 September 1952) married Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz Princess Karola (2 September 1873 – 23 April 1958) Princess Mathilde (27 March 1875 – 12 February 1907) In the Lippe succession dispute (1904–05), it was claimed on part of the Schaumburg-Lippe that Countess Karoline of Wartensleben (who belonged to a family of counts whose rank of count was from the 18th century, and who were originally of lower nobility) was not noble enough to be legitimately a dynastic wife of count Ernest - that would have made her sons ineligible to succeed. However, it was ruled by the 1905 panel that her birth was high enough and her children with Ernest were dynasts. Ancestry References 1842 births 1904 deaths Nobility from Düsseldorf Regents of Germany House of Lippe Counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld Non-inheriting heirs presumptive