Many times “Oui”: Maria Teresita, Princess of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony, married Comte (Count) Beryl Alexandre de Saporta from a French noble family on Saturday in Dresden. It was the first wedding of a princess of the former ruling Saxon princely and royal family in almost 140 years in the former residence.
The young couple, who live in Brussels (Belgium), were married in a multilingual service in the cathedral by a priest from Paris, a relative of the House of Habsburg. In front of around 450 guests, including visitors from the Houses of Habsburg and Bavaria, the two 24-year-olds said “Oui” to each other several times before exchanging rings.
International trade fair
“Without the Wettin House, this beautiful church would certainly not exist,” said former bishop Joachim Reinelt. “That’s why it’s fitting to get married here.” The Mass was international and was also said in French, English, Spanish and Latin.
The Dresden Kapellknaben filled the packed nave with music, with soprano Laura Kirchgässner singing “Ave Maria” after the wedding. Numerous onlookers happily welcomed the father of the bride and his youngest as they drove up in a Rolls Royce vintage car – and the newlyweds as they left the church.
The bride is the only daughter of Alexander, a great-grandson of the last king of Saxony, and Princess Gisela of Saxony, Duchess of Saxony, a Bavarian princess. Her birth in 1999 was the first of a Wettin woman in Dresden in almost a century. She grew up with three older brothers between Germany and Mexico, where her father, an entrepreneur, also works for German companies.
Getting to know each other in Belgium
Comté de Saporta was born in Paris. He and the princess met in Belgium; his sister was at boarding school there with her. The couple works in the Count’s family’s Brussels business, a cybersecurity and web design company – and got engaged just over a year ago.
Most recently, Maria Josefa, a Wettin princess, married Archduke Otto of Austria on October 2, 1886 in what was then the Catholic court church. They later became parents of the last Emperor Charles I.
The Wettins, an ancient dynasty with extensive connections to European royal houses, ruled over Saxony for a good 800 years, as kings since 1806. The best-known representative was Elector Friedrich August I, called the Strong (1670-1733), who was also King of Poland for a time – and whose heart rests in the prince’s crypt in the cathedral, above sarcophagi of his descendants.
