Ellen Franz

Ellen Franz (30 May 1839 - 24 March 1923), was a German pianist and actress.

She was born in Berlin. According to Friedrich Martin von Bodenstedt, Ellen Franz make her first appearance in the "Hoftheater" of Meiningen in 1867.

On 18 March 1873 she married —as his third wife— Duke Georg II of Saxe-Meiningen in the Villa Feodora in Bad Liebenstein. Because of her "bourgeois" origin, the Duke ennobled her shortly before their marriage with the new name "Helene, Freifrau of Heldburg", which she carried henceforth. This morganatic marriage annoyed the German Emperor Wilhelm I so much that he decided not visit the Schloss Altenstein after his reconstruction in 1889 by work of Georg II because of his aversion towards Helene.

The Duke and she executed together with the Director Ludwig Chronegk with the "Meiningen Principles" ("Meininger Prinzipien") a profund theater reform and made the world-famous Meiningen Theater ("Meininger Hoftheater"). Besides, Helene performed big changes in the dramaturgy and was responsible for commitment and cast decisions and the education of young students. Her husband Georg II led together with Chronegk the direction and formed appropriate sceneries and costumes.

After the death of her husband in 1914, Helene retired to her countryseat, the Veste Heldburg, where she died nine years later, aged eighty-three. She was buried near the Duke Georg II in a common grave arrangement on the Meininger Park Churchyard (Meininger Parkfriedhof).