Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Victoria Marie Auguste Luise Antoinette Karoline Leopoldine; 8 May 1878 – 14 October 1948) was the eldest daughter of Adolf Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and his wife Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt. Early life Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was born on 8 May 1878 in Neustrelitz. She was the eldest child and daughter of Adolphus Frederick V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, and Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt. Nearly a month after her birth, Duchess Marie was christened into the Lutheran church on 2 June at the Carolinenpalais in Neustrelitz. She was given the names Victoria Marie Auguste Luise Antoinette Karoline Leopoldine. During her childhood, Marie and her younger sister Jutta were looked after by a handful governesses. Their parents rarely saw them. As a young woman of 19, Marie became pregnant by a palace servant in 1897. The servant, a married man named Heinrich Hecht, was responsible for turning off the gas-lights in the bedrooms of the grand ducal children. Several of Marie's cousins, including the future King George V of the United Kingdom and William II, German Emperor, thought that Marie had been "hypnotised", while Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom thought that Marie "must have been drugged". Hecht was dismissed from service on the charge of stealing; his subsequent lawsuit against the grand ducal family made the details of the story public. The story made radical newspaper headlines in its day.