t there was a daughter of this house, Countess Anna Dohna, who
claimed to have become the wife of the late Emperor William. She lived
for a time in London, Geneva, and then in New York, and was wont to
style herself Countess Dohna-Brandenburg, having added the name of
Brandenburg to that of Dohna by reason of this alleged marriage.

While in New York she lived in a large house in Lexington Avenue,
which she furnished handsomely, and she never seemed to be in want of
money. According to her own story she met the late Emperor William in
1825, during the lifetime of his father, King Frederick-William III.,
when she was sixteen years of age. After several clandestine meetings,
she claimed that they were married late one night at Clegnitz, in
Silesia, by a young country parson. The latter did not know the
prince, who gave the name of William Count Brandenburg, and his
occupation as that of an officer of the Royal Guards. The marriage
certificate was duly made out, and then her husband told her that it
would be expedient to keep their union secret for a time. To this she
reluctantly assented.

When at length, urged by her entreaties, her husband revealed their
marriage to his father, King Frederick-William III., he flew into a
terrible rage, forced him to sign a renunciation of the countess's
hand, and she was conveyed to a small castle near Koenigsberg, in
East-Prussia, where she was kept a close prisoner for years. In 1837,
always according to her story, she succeeded in escaping, and crossing
the Polish frontier reached Warsaw, where in the following year she
was recognized at a state performance of the opera given by Czar
Nicholas, in honor of the King of Prussia and Prince William, who were
visiting the Russian Court.

She was arrested at the theatre, and on the following morning conveyed
to Eastern Russia, where she was kept under strict surveillance until
the death of Frederick-William III., in 1840, led to her release.
She was then permitted to return to Prussia, and the new king,
Frederick-William IV., offered to compromise the matter with her. This
she refused to do. Her father's death placed her in possession of a
large fortune, and she spent several years in travelling.

In 1848 she intended to appeal to the Prussian National Assembly for
justice, but the police got wind of it, and she was interned in her
chateau in Silesia. On William becoming King of Prussia, she was given
the alternative of leaving the coun