Ludwig zu Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

Prince Ludwig Adolf Friedrich of Sayn-Wittgenstein (born June 8, 1799 in Kovno, died June 20, 1866 in Cannes) was a Russian aristocrat of German descent. Among his properties were the famed Mir Castle Complex and Verkiai Palace.

The eldest son of the celebrated Russian Prince Peter of Sayn and Wittgenstein, he was half-Polish through his mother and was formally known in Russian as Lev Petrovich Witgenstein. In 1821 he was sent to represent Russia at the coronation of King George IV of the United Kingdom, but his career came to a halt when his participation in the Decembrist societies was revealed in 1826. He secured a pardon through the interference of his influential father.

On June 14 1828 at St. Petersburg Ludwig married Princess Caroline (Stefania) Radziwiłł and thus came into possession of the biggest privately-owned estate in Central Europe, covering roughly 12 000 km² of fields, forests, villages and towns in the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. They had two children:
* Marie (16 February 1829 - 21 December 1897); married Chlodwig, 2nd Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, Chancellor of the German Empire (31 March 1819 - 6 July 1901).

* Peter, 2nd Prince of Sayn and Wittgenstein (10 May 1831 - 20 Aug 1887); married Rosalie Léon (21 October 1832 - 28 August 1886).

Upon Stefania's death in 1832, Ludwig married Princess Leonilla Baryatinskaya, by whom he had a further four children.

External links

* [http://www.sayn.de/engl/familie_frameset_en.htm History of the House of Sayn]
* [http://pages.prodigy.net/ptheroff/gotha/sayn.html Sayn Genealogy]