The True Identity of King of Bohemia

It is an undisputed fact that the last true king of Bohemia was Ferdinand I (reigned 1526-1564), and that after his death, the Kingdom of Bohemia was absorbed by the Holy Roman Empire. “A Scandal in Bohemia” is estimated from1887 to 1889 by various chronologists, and it is clear there was not a king of Bohemia in the late 19th century.

Scholars have proposed the names of several noblemen as the real identity of the King of Bohemia in SCAN. However, some were already married by 1887-89; most others were too old or too young.

L. W. Baily1 and Julian Wolff2 proposed the Crown Prince Rudolf as the King of Bohemia. Rudolf was a son of Franz Josef, Emperor of Austria, and Elizabeth of Bavaria, Empress of Austria. Rudolf was born in 1858, and he died in 1889. He married to Saxe-Coburg, Stephanie of Belgium in 1881. It would have been impossible for him to say “I am about to be married.”

Julian Blackburn3, E. V. Girand4 and Michael Harrison5 suggested Prince Alexander (“Sandro”) of Battenberg, Prince of Bulgaria (1857-1893). He was a nephew of Tsar Alexander II of Russia, and “Alexander was expected to be a faithful servant of St. Petersburg, but . . . he began to take a more independent line. This eventually disturbed Russia so much that her agents organized a conspiracy against Alexander among discontented army officers. One night in August 1886, they burst in on the Prince, forced him to abdicate on pain of death, and removed him to Russia.”6 Alexander married Johanna Loisinger (1865-1951), an opera singer in 1889. If Loisinger was the real Irene Adler, there would be no reason for SCAN to occur, because they married successfully. In addition, Alexander had already resigned as Prince of Bulgaria in 1886. He was not a monarch in SCAN time.

John D. Cleark7 and Goran Sundholm8 considered Albert Wilhelm Heinrich von Hohenzollern, who became Kaiser Wilhelm II in 1888, as the King of Bohemia. Wilhelm II was born in 1859, and his father was Frederick III, Emperor of Germany. His mother was Victoria Adelaide Mary, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of Britain. He married Augusta Victoria von Schleswig-Holstein in 1881. The king was going to marry to “Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the King of Scandinavia.” John B. Wolf pointed out that Wilhelm II “was married to Princess Auguste-Victoria zu Schleswig-Holstein; Schleswig-Holstein being the Danish duchies of the second German Reich.”9 Schleswig-Holstein is very near to Denmark, but it is not a part of Scandinavia.

T. S. Blakeny10 thought it was Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria (1863 -1914). He married to Sophie Josefine Albina Choteck in 1900. However, D. Martin Dakin says “nothing is known of any arrangement with the Scandinavian royal house, but he fits better than anyone else.” Charles A. Meyer11 and Edgar W. Smith12 indicated the Prince of Wales, later Edward VII, King of Britain, as the King of Bohemia. Actually, he had many mistresses, and his bride was Princess Alexandra of Denmark, “daughter of the King of Scandinavia.” The other monarchs mentioned in this article did not have brides who were from Scandinavia. It is the largest positive factor for Edward. However, he married in 1863, and was already a father of six children and too old in the late 1800s to be the 30-year-old king in the story. The King of Bohemia must have married in late 1880s, and his bride must have been from Scandinavia.

At that time, there were two kingdoms in Scandinavia. One was Sweden and the other was Denmark. Sweden’s king was Oscar II (1829-1907), but he had four princes and no princesses. And his grandchildren were too young to have married by 1887-89.

The other king was Christian IX of Denmark. He was born in 1818, acceded in 1863 and died in 1906. He married to Princess Louise Wilhelmina of Hesse-Cassel in 1842, and had six children. His eldest son, Frederick VIII, King of Denmark, was born in 1843. His eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra was born in 1844 and married to Edward VII of Britain. His second son, Prince William George, born in 1845, became the King of Greece, George I. Christian’s second princess, Dagmar “Marie” of Denmark, was born in 1847. She was married to Alexander III and became the Empress Marie of Russia. Their third princess, Thyra Amelia Caroline, was born in 1853, and married to Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover and third Duke of Cumberland in 1878. The third prince, Valdemar, was born in 1858 and married Princess Marie d’Orleans.

Frederick VIII’s eldest daughter, Louise Caroline Josephine, was born in 1875, and was only thirteen years old in 1888 -- too young to be a bride for the “King of Bohemia.” She married Prince Frederick von Schaumburg-Lippe in 1896. The daughters of Alix, Marie and Thyra are not members of Glücksburg family. Prince Valdemar’s only daughter was born in 1895.

Prince William George, King George I of Greece and his wife, Olga Constantinovna, Princess of Russia, had four princes and three princesses. Their eldest daughter, Princess Alexandra of Greece was born on 18 August 1870. She married Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich Romanov on 5 June 1889. As far as my research has found, this is the only marriage of a Glücksburg princess between 1887 and 1889.

Though Princess Alexandra was a Princess of Greece, she was also a member of Glücksburg, the Danish Royal family. It is not exact to say she is a “daughter of the King of Scandinavia,” but she was a granddaughter of the King of Scandinavia, and a daughter of the King of a member of the Scandinavian Royal Family.

Grand Duke Paul Alexandrovich Romanov was the King of Bohemia? He was born in 1860, and was 29 years old when he married. The King of Bohemia said “I am but thirty now.” His father was Alexander II of Russia and his mother was Princess Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt. It is a well known fact that the Romanov family had married extensively into the German aristocracy: Alexander II’s mother was Princess Alexandra (Charlotte) of Prussia. But the most famous example is Catherine II (the Great), Empress of Russia (1729-1796). She was a daughter of Christian Augustus, Prince of Anholt-Zerbst and married to Peter III, Tsar of Russia. It is natural that Grand Duke Paul disguised himself as a German noble, and that Watson used a German pseudonym for him.

The King of Bohemia said “I am about to be married.” Though the Canon says “it was on the twentieth of March, 1888,” Blakeney, Brend, Christ, Dakin, Folsom, Hall and Zeisler consider that it was March, 1889. This coincides with that fact Grand Duke Paul’s marriage was 5 June 1889, only three months after Holmes’ involvement in the affair. The King of Bohemia also said “You may know the strict principles of her family.” King George I and Queen Olga “led a happy, but simple life with their large family.” 6

The King of Bohemia “could hardly have been less than six feet six inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules . . . with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy.” The king had a moustache and no beard in Sidney Paget’s illustrations. The Grand Duke Paul “was a very tall, thin, broad shouldered man with a rounded forehead, a long thin nose, a moustache and no beard.”

The King and Irene Adler met in Warsaw, which was a part of the Russian Empire at that time. Adler was “Prima donna Imperial Opera of Warsaw” [emphasis added]. It is natural that a member of Russian Imperial family visited the Imperial Opera of Warsaw. If he was a German noble, the opera houses of Berlin or Vienna were probable destinations. The Grand Duke Paul “was charming, elegant, humorous, a good dancer and a great favorite among the ladies.” It is not hard to imagine Irene and Grand Duke Paul falling in love.

A Grand Duke is not a king, but then, Prince Alexander (“Sandro”) of Battenberg, Crown Prince Rudolf, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Edward VII were not kings at the time of SCAN, either. It is not an important problem. The most important points in favor of Grand Duke Paul are, one: he married a member of the Glücksburg family; two: his marriage was just after the SCAN; and three: he was about thirty in late 1880s. I consider Grand Duke Paul as the most believable candidate for the King of Bohemia.

Grand Duke Paul had two children, Maria Pavlovna, was born on 6 April 1890, and Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich (the man who killed Rasputin), born 6 September 1891. Princess Alexandra died on 12 September 1891. In 1902, he married Olga Valerienovna Karnovich, Princess Paleij, as a morganatic marriage, and had three children. This second marriage caused a scandal in Russian society, forcing Grand Duke Paul to leave Russia to reside in Paris until 1912. This scandalous love affair of Grand Duke Paul supports my theory that he was the actual “King of Bohemia.” He returned to Russia and lived “not far from the Alexander Palace, where Nicholas II and his family lived . . . when his health permitted, he commanded the First Imperial Guards Corps at the front, ranking as a full general of cavalry.”

He was arrested and killed by the Soviets on 29 January 1919, at Fortress Peter & Paul, Petrograd, Russia.

Bibliography

1. Bailey, L. W. “The Scandal Behind the ‘Scandal,’” SHJ, 9, No. 3 (Winter 1969), pp.82-85.

2.Wolff, Julian. “The King of Bohemia,” Practical Handbook of Sherlockian Heraldry. Compiled by Julian Wolff. New York: [Privately Printed], 1955. pp.22-23.

“The Arms of the King of Bohemia,” BSJ, 15, No. 3 (September 1965), 147- 149.

3. Blackburn, Julian. “The Identity of the King of Bohemia,” BSJ, 21, No. 2 (June 1971), pp.114-116.

4. Girand, E. V. “On the Antiquity of Scandal in Bohemia,” BSJ, 23, No. 3

(September 1973), 162-169.

5. Harrison, Michael. “Sherlock Holmes and the King of Bohemia: The Solution of a Royal Mystery,” Beyond Baker Street: A Sherlockian Anthology. Edited and annotated by Michael Harrison. Indianapolis/New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Co., [1976], pp. 137-172. illus.

6. Kroll, Maria, Lindsey, Jason; Europe’s Royal Families, Country Life Books, London, 1979

7. Clark, John D. “The King of Bohemia?” BSJ, 15, No. 3 (September 1965), pp.142-146.

8. Sundholm, Goran “Vem var Kungen av Bohmen?” Baker Street Cab Lantern, No. 7 (1969), pp.17-20.

“Who Was the King of Bohemia?” Tr. by the author; revised and edited by Herbert A. Eaton. VH, 4, No. 3 (September 1970), pp.2-4.

9. Baring-Gould; The Annotated Sherlock Holmes volume I, Clarkson N. Potter Inc., New York, 1967, pp.354

10. Blakeney, T.S.; Sherlock Holmes Journal, vol.3, No.2, pp15-16.

11. Meyer, Charles A. “Some Thoughts on A Scandal in Bohemia,” NS, No.26 (March 25, 1986), pp.3-8.

12. Smith, Edgar W. “A Scandal in Identity,” Profile by Gaslight, edited by Edgar E. Smith, Simon and Schuster, New York, 1944, pp.262-273.

(The Shoso-in Bulletin vol.7, 1997)