Such was the desperate plight of the family which, a generation later, was to have gained a foothold in half the reigning Houses of Europe.

The Napoleonic harrow had indeed done its work, the seed was planted; and the crop would have surprised Napoleon.

Prince Leopold, thrown upon his own resources at fifteen, made a career for himself and married the heiress of England.

The Princess of Leiningen, struggling at Amorbach with poverty, military requisitions, and a futile husband, developed an independence of character and a tenacity of purpose which were to prove useful in very different circumstances.

In 1814, her husband died, leaving her with two children and the regency of the principality.