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Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm | |
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Born | Biebrich | 20 September 1832
Died | 17 September 1905 Wiesbaden | (aged 72)
Spouse | |
Issue | Sophie, Countess of Torby Countess Alexandrine of Merenberg Count Georg Nikolaus of Merenberg |
House | House of Nassau-Weilburg |
Father | William, Duke of Nassau |
Mother | Princess Pauline of Württemberg |
Religion | Calvinism |
Prince Nikolaus Wilhelm of Nassau (20 September 1832 – 17 September 1905) was a German prince, military officer and parliamentarian. He was the youngest son of William, Duke of Nassau, and the only son by his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg.
The scion of a minor German princely family, Prince Nikolaus initially pursued a military career which notably led him to fight France during the Italian War of 1859. In 1862, he was briefly considered a candidate for the vacant Greek throne by the British government. Following the annexation of the Duchy of Nassau by the Kingdom of Prussia as a consequence of the Austro-Prussian War in 1866, he entered into Prussian military service the following year. As such, he participated in the military campaign in France during the Franco-Prussian War of 1870-71.
In 1868, he entered into a morganatic marriage with the youngest child of the Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, Natalia Alexandrovna Pushkina, who was created Countess of Merenberg. The subsequent claims of inheritance and succession in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg of the children born of this marriage later developed into the socalled Merenberg Affair. His granddaughter, Countess Nadejda Mikhailovna de Torby married George Mountbatten, 2nd Marquess of Milford Haven in 1916.