Charles Augustus died on 22 November 1894 of inflammation of the lungs, at the age of 50.[2] He never succeeded as Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. Consequently, Pauline was always known as Hereditary Grand Duchess, or after his death, Dowager Hereditary Grand Duchess. Their elder son William Ernest succeeded as Grand Duke.
Widowhood
In her final years, Pauline spent a lot of time in Italy, and was a frequent visitor to the Italian court.[citation needed] It was rumored that she entered into a morganatic marriage with her chamberlain.[citation needed] This marriage did not appear in the Almanach de Gotha, and was not approved by her son the Grand Duke. Consequently, the marriage was not sanctioned by the Saxe-Weimar government.[citation needed] She continued to be styled as Dowager Hereditary Grand Duchess only by courtesy, as she was unpopular with her family and her son's subjects.[citation needed]
Though she lived much of her widowhood away from the Saxe-Weimar court, Pauline "contributed even from a distance, to create the difficulties which rendered the position of her daughter-in-law, the present Grand Duchess, so extremely difficult during the first few months of marriage".[citation needed] She was described as "extraordinarily fat, and one of the most plain-featured princesses of Germany, her homeliness being of the crabbed and sour order rather than of a genial nature".[citation needed]
On 17 May 1904, Pauline died suddenly of heart disease while on a train en route from Rome to Florence.[1][3] Her body was taken to Florence.[3]
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