Princess Anne of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg

Did You Know?

• Anne invented an automatic balancing bed that she declared prevented seasickness, which she brought on a 1913 voyage to New York aboard the White Star liner SS Majestic.
• She was accompanied by her secretary, Hughes Massie, on that 1913 voyage.
• Her husband Prince Ludwig was killed during fighting between Emilio Aguinaldo-led insurgents and the United States Army in the Battle of Caloocan.

Marriage

Anne married Prince Ludwig of Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg on 15 May 1897 in London. The couple were distantly related as seventh cousins, both descending from Sir Henry Garraway, a Lord Mayor of London. She brought a great fortune to the marriage. Within a year, her husband disappeared in the Philippines during the Spanish–American War and was killed in the Battle of Caloocan of the Philippine–American War. Anne regained British nationality in 1918 after World War I.

Aviation enthusiast

Anne began flying as a passenger in 1914 and befriended Captain Leslie Hamilton, a World War I flying ace. She flew as a passenger under her maiden name, Lady Anne Savile, in the 1923 King's Cup Race. In 1922 she rode in her own aircraft in a cup race from Croydon to Edinburgh. In 1925 she and Hamilton attempted a flight from London to Paris; after passing Folkestone the aircraft was not seen until it was found near Pontoise, forced down by engine trouble.

In 1927 Anne financed Hamilton's attempt to be the first to fly east to west over the Atlantic from England to Canada. Despite relatives' protests, she joined as a passenger, hoping to become the first woman to fly the sea. On 31 August 1927, she, Hamilton, and Colonel Frederick F. Minchin departed Upavon, Wiltshire at 7:32 a.m. in a Fokker F.VII monoplane named Saint Raphael, bound for Ottawa. For the flight she wore purple leather knee-breeches, a matching jacket, a black crush hat, black silk stockings, and high-heeled fur-lined boots. The Archbishop of Cardiff blessed the aircraft before she boarded.