Karoline Bauer

http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/no2009112897

"Bauer, Karoline (1807–1877)." Women in World History: A Biographical Encyclopedia. . Encyclopedia.com. 1 Sep. 2017 .

Bauer, Karoline (1807–1877)

German actress. Name variations: Countess Montgomery. Born in Heidelberg on March 29, 1807; died in Zurich, Switzerland, on October 18, 1877; morganatic wife of Prince Leopold of Coburg (later king Leopold I of Belgium), 1829, under name Countess Montgomery; married Count Ladislas de Broel-Plater of Poland, in 1844.

Famous for her talents in both comedy and tragedy, Karoline Bauer was a noted German actress. After an early retirement, she returned to the stage when her morganatic husband Prince Leopold of Coburg became King Leopold I of the Belgians in 1831. (A morganatic marriage is one between a man of the nobility and a woman of lower rank wherein the woman contractually agrees that she and her future children will relinquish rights to the rank and possessions of her husband.) In 1844, Bauer retired once again when she married a Polish count. In her Posthumous Memoirs, she tendered a stinging attack on Leopold and Baron Stockmar.