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Princess Alexandrine of Prussia

Berlin, 1 Feb 1842 – Marlygarten (Sanssouci), 25 Mar 1906

10 facts3 sources

Facts and their sources

A life in time

  1. 1 Feb 1842

    Born in Berlin

  2. 7 Nov 1868

    A daughter is born

  3. 25 Mar 1906

    Dies in Marlygarten (Sanssouci), aged 64

Family

See the tree

Parents

Partner

Children · 1

During her lifetime

She lived through 7 decades. Pick one to hear and see what it was like around Berlin.

General history, not a record about the family: each item says where it comes from.

The 1840s · Princess is born in Berlin

In the news1842

Freedom of movement laws in 1842

Prussia introduced new laws enabling greater freedom of movement and settlement for individuals not dependent on public relief.

What people wore

Saving fabric with the Magsachte patch

Women saved money on expensive fabric by sewing a hidden patch of coarser linen, called a Magsachte, onto their dresses where it would be covered by an apron.

Daily life

Child labor and rudimentary schooling conditions

Children in rural areas were often tasked with labor, such as preparing and binding daily bundles of fuel for the household fire, a chore that frequently left their hands bleeding. Schooling was frequently held in the teacher's house, where the teacher was often a poorly paid local craftsman.

In the news1846–1847

Hunger crisis of 1846-1847

A severe potato blight caused a major hunger crisis across Europe, leading to unrest in Prussian markets and bakeries.

Music

The noisy brummtopf folk instrument

The brummtopf was a peculiar noise-making instrument used by groups of young people during winter festivities; it was made of a small wooden barrel covered with calfskin and played by rubbing horsehair strands inserted into the skin with wet hands.

In Europe1845–1852

The Great Famine in Ireland

Potato blight ruined harvests: a million Irish people died and a million more emigrated, many to America.

Getting around

Railways revolutionized travel speeds

The emergence of railways in the 1840s revolutionized travel, drastically reducing journey times compared to stagecoaches. For instance, the Cologne-Minden route, which previously took over 60 hours by coach, could be covered in 9 hours by train by 1847.