The von Erlach family was a recognized pillar of the Swiss city of Bern, and a statue of Rudolf (born 1299 in Bern, died in 1360) stands to this day as a reminder of the unique status of this dynasty. Rudolf was the son of Urlich the First and Ulrich the Elder. A descendant of Ulrich I was Katharine (von Erlach) whose daughter Charlotte married George von Eisenbach von Riedese. Their grand-daughter Maria von Riedese was the grand-mother of Count Johann Moritz von HAUKE (HAUCKE), the father of the future Princess Julia of Battenberg, the direct ancestor of the current royal families of English (Prince Philip’s mother was born Princess of Battenberg) and Spain, as well as the Hesse family of Germany.
Above: Julia, Princess of Battenberg (previously Countess Julia von Hauke; 24 November [O.S. 12 November] 1825 – 19 September 1895) was the wife of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, the third son of Louis II, Grand Duke of Hesse. The daughter of a Polish general of German descent, she was not of princely origin. She became a lady-in-waiting to Marie of Hesse, wife of the future Tsar Alexander II and a sister of Prince Alexander of Hesse and by Rhine, whom she married, having met him in the course of her duties. The marriage of social unequals was deemed morganatic, but the Duke of Hesse gave her own title of nobility as Princess of Battenberg.
She was the mother of Alexander, Prince of Bulgaria, and is an ancestor of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, and to the current generations of the Spanish royal family.
