Intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines of the House of Mecklenburg. Part IV.

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In 1695, the Mecklenburg-Güstrow branch of the House of Mecklenburg became extinct with the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

After more than five years of dispute over succession to the House of Mecklenburg, the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was established in 1701 in the territory of the former duchy of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. With the death of Duke Gustaf-Adolph in 1695, Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Schwerin claimed heirship, a move which his uncle, Prince Adolf-Friedrich strongly opposed. Adolf-Friedrich, was the husband of Marie of Mecklenburg-Güstrow, the daughter of Duke Gustaf-Adolph, strengthening his claim to the territory. The emissaries of the Lower Saxon Circle finally negotiated a compromise on March 8, 1701.

Adolf-Friedrich II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

The agreement they reached created the final, definitive division of Mecklenburg and was sealed with the 1701 Treaty of Hamburg. Section 2 of the treaty established Mecklenburg-Strelitz as a duchy in its own right and assigned it to Adolf-Friedrich (Duke Adolf-Friedrich II) together with the Principality of Ratzeburg on the western border of Mecklenburg south of Lübeck, the Herrschaft Stargard in the southeast of Mecklenburg, with the cities of Neubrandenburg, Friedland, Woldegk, Strelitz, Burg Stargard, Fürstenberg/Havel and Wesenberg, and the commandries of Mirow and Nemerow.

At the same time the principle of primogeniture was reasserted, and the right to summon the joint Landtag was reserved to the Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The 1701 provisions were maintained with minor changes until the end of the monarchy. Both parties continued to call themselves Dukes of Mecklenburg; Adolf-Friedrich II took his residence at Strelitz. Mecklenburg-Strelitz was a part of the Holy Roman Empire.

Adolf-Friedrich II (October 19, 1658 – May 12, 1708), was born in Grabow as the posthumous son of Duke Adolf-Friedrich I of Mecklenburg and his second wife, Maria Katharina of Brunswick-Dannenberg (1616–1665).

In 1684 Adolf-Friedrich II married firstly to his cousin Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow. They had five children:
* Adolf-Friedrich III, Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1686 – 1752).
* Duchess Magdalena Amalia of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1689 – 1689).
* Duchess Maria of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died August 1690).
* Duchess Eleonore Wilhelmina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born and died, July 1691)
* Duchess Gustave Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748) she married Christian Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

On June 20, 1702, Adolf-Friedrich II married secondly to Princess Johanna of Saxe-Gotha (1680 – 1704), a daughter of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, and Magdalena-Sybille of Saxe-Weissenfels. There were no children from this marriage.

On June 11, 1705 at Neustrelitz, Adolf-Friedrich II married thirdly to Princess Christiane Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, a daughter of Christian-Wilhelm I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen and Countess Antonie-Sybille of Barby-Mühlingen (1641–1684).

They had two children:
* Duchess Sophia Christina Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1706 – 1708).
* Duke Charles I Ludwig Friedrich of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1708 – 1752), Prince of Mirow.

Through his granddaughter Charlotte, Adolf-Friedrich II is the ancestor of every British monarch beginning with George IV, who ascended the throne of the United Kingdom in 1820.

The Strelitz duchy remained one of the most backward regions of the Empire. Nevertheless, its princesses achieved prominent marriages: Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, sister of Duke Adolf-Friedrich IV, married King George III of Great Britain in 1761, thus becoming queen consort of Great Britain.

Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Great Britain

Her niece Princess Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, daughter of Duke Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, married Friedrich-Wilhelm III of Prussia in 1793 and became queen consort of Prussia in 1797. Her other niece, Louise’s sister, Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz married in 1815 Prince Ernst-Agust, Duke of Cumberland, who, in 1837, became King of Hanover, making her queen consort of Hanover.

Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Queen of Prussia

Princess Friederike of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Mecklenburg-Strelitz adopted the constitution of the sister duchy in September 1755. In 1806 it was spared the infliction of a French occupation through the good offices of the king of Bavaria. In 1808 its duke, Charles (d. 1816), joined the Confederation of the Rhine, but in 1813 he withdrew from it. The Congress of Vienna recognized both Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin as Grand Duchies and members of the German Confederation. In 1871 Both Grand Duchies became part of the German Empire.

Following the 1918 suicide of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, (this occurred prior to the abolition of the monarchy) Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin took up the regency of Strelitz. This happened because the heir presumptive Duke Charles-Michael was serving in the Russian Army at the time and had indicated that he wished to renounce his succession rights. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV abdicated the grand ducal throne on November 14, 1918 following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I; the regency ended at the same time.

After his abdication, he was initially not allowed to live in Mecklenburg and had to move to Denmark. A year later, he was permitted to return. He recovered some of his former properties and occupied some of his former homes. Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV died on November 17, 1945 in Flensburg after being arrested by No6 RAF Security section on November 9, 1945. He was succeeded as head of the grand ducal house by his son Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz V.

In May 1931 against the will of his father, Hereditary Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin joined the SS and by 1936 he had been promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain).

He was posted to Denmark during World War II where he worked at the German embassy as a personal aide to Werner Best. He spent the summer months of 1944 serving with the Waffen-SS tank corps.

In May 1943, a family council was called by the Grand Ducal family and Friedrich Franz was passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother Duke Christian-Ludwig (III), who would instead inherit the family property.

On July 5, 1954 in Glücksburg, Christian-Ludwig married in a civil wedding Princess Barbara of Prussia, daughter of Prince Sigismund of Prussia and Princess Charlotte of Saxe-Altenburg. They married in a religious ceremony on 11 July 1954. They had two daughters. Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

With the extinction of Schwerin branch, with the death of Christian-Ludwig (III), Mecklenburg-Strelitz is now the only surviving branch of the Grand Ducal house in the male line. The current head of this house is Borwin, Duke of Mecklenburg. His grandfather was Count Georg of Carlow, the morganatic son of Duke George Alexander of Mecklenburg (1859–1909).

Duke Georg (II) was adopted in 1928 by his uncle Duke Charles-Michael of Mecklenburg, the head of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He then assumed the title and style of “His Serene Highness The Duke of Mecklenburg”, which was confirmed by the head of the Imperial House of Russia, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich on July 18, 1929 and recognized on December 23, by Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. He succeeded his uncle as head of the house on December 6, 1934 and was granted the style of Highness on 18 December 18, 1950.

In addition to Duke Borwin, the current members of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz are his wife Duchess Alice (née Wagner; born 1959); their children Duchess Olga (born 1988), the Dukes Alexander (born 1991) and Michael (born 1994); and his sisters, the Duchesses Elisabeth -Christine (born 1947), Marie Catherine (born 1949) and Irene (born 1952).

The lines of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Mecklenburg-Güstrow did briefly intermarry. Once the establishment of the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz the only intermarriages of the Strelitz line had was with the Mecklenburg-Güstrow line was in the beginning in 1684 when Adolf-Friedrich II married Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – January 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow.

The singular marriage between the Schwerin line and the Strelitz line was when Duchess Gustave-Caroline of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1694 – 1748), daughter of Adolf-Friedrich II and Princess Maria of Mecklenburg-Güstrow (1659 – 1701), daughter of Gustaf-Adolph, Duke of Mecklenburg-Güstrow – married Christian-Ludwig II, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

After that there was no intermarriage between the Schwerin and Strelitz lines.

July 22, 1848: Birth of Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

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Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (July 22, 1848 – June 11, 1914) was reigning grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz from 1904 to 1914.

Biography

His Highness Prince Adolph Friedrich August Victor Ernst Adalbert Gustavus Wilhelm Wellington of Mecklenburg was born in Neustrelitz, the only surviving child of Friedrich-Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg, and Princess Augusta of Cambridge.

Adolph-Friedrich V, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Following the death of his grandfather Grand Duke Georg on 6 September 6, 1860, Adolph-Friedrich became the heir apparent to the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz with the title of Hereditary Grand Duke and the style, His Royal Highness.

Adolph-Friedrich took part in the Franco-Prussian war and represented his father at the crowning of King Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor at Versailles.

His father, Friedrich-Wilhelm was a large land owner with more than half of the entire grand duchy was his personal property. Adolph-Friedrich succeeded his father as grand duke on May 30, 1904.

Friedrich-Wilhelm, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (Father)

Princess Augusta of Cambridge (Mother)

His mother, Grand Duchess Augusta, was disgusted at her son’s military ways. She wrote to her niece, Mary of Teck, “Strelitz that was never a Military State, suddenly is all drums and fifes, … such a pity, a bad imitation of (Mecklenburgh) Schwerin & small German Courts, whilst we were a Gentlemanlike Civilian court!”

In 1907 Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V announced that he would grant Mecklenburg-Strelitz a constitution, but this was met with opposition from nobles. In his attempt to create a constitution he offered to pay $2,500,000 to the national treasury if the nobles and land-owning classes dropped their opposition. In 1912 he repeated attempts to create a constitution for Mecklenburg-Strelitz, which along with Mecklenburg-Schwerin were the only European states without one.

In January 1914, Adolf-Friedrich was reported to be the second richest person in Germany after the Emperor William II with a fortune of $88,750,000.

Marriage and children

Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt

Adolph-Friedrich was married on April 17, 1877 in Dessau to Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt. She was born Princess Elisabeth Marie Frederica Amelia Agnes in Wörlitz, the third child of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg. Her nickname in the family was “Elly”.

His mother commented on his wife, “She welters in happiness at her luxurious “Schloss” wearing a new Paris dress daily, Diamonds, also, when we are quite entre nous – Yes, she does enjoy being a Grand Duchess! poor dear, I am glad she does, for I never did.”

Adolph-Friedrich and Elisabeth had four children:

* Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg (1878–1948) married June 23, 1899 and divorced December 31, 1908 Count George Jametel (1859–1944), married secondly on August 11, 1914 Prince Julius Ernst of Lippe (1873–1952)
* Duchess Jutta of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1880–1946) married Danilo, Crown Prince of Montenegro
* Adolphus Frederick VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (1882–1918)
* Duke Karl Borwin of Mecklenburg (Karl Borwin Christian Alexander Arthur, Herzog von Mecklenburg-Strelitz; October 10, 1888 – August 24, 1908); killed in a duel with his brother-in-law Count George Jametel, defending his sister’s honor.

Adolph-Friedrich VI, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V died in Berlin on June 11, 1914, aged aged 65; two weeks before the assassination of Archduke Franz-Ferdinand of Austria, whose death would drag Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich V‘s son and successor, Adolph-Friedrich VI, into World War I.

June 17, 1882: Birth of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI was born on June 17, 1882 in Neustrelitz the third of the four children of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich V and his wife Grand Duchess Elisabeth, (the third child of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg.) At the time of his birth his grandfather Grand Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was on the throne and his parents were the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess. As the elder son of the Hereditary Grand Duke at birth Adolf-Friedrich bore the title Hereditary Prince.

Hereditary Prince

The young hereditary prince was christened Adolf Friedrich Georg Ernst Albert Eduard in Neustrelitz on July 19, 1882 with holy water sent from the River Jordan in Palestine. The christening was part of a double celebration for Mecklenburg-Strelitz as the day also marked the 60th birthday of his grandmother Grand Duchess Augusta.

Adolf-Friedrich’s godparents were his two grandfathers Grand Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt, his uncle the future Duke Eduard of Anhalt, his great aunts Duchess Ekaterina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born Grand Duchess of Russia) and Princess Maria Anna of Prussia and Duchess Agnes of Saxe-Altenburg (both born Princesses of Anhalt), his great uncles Prince George, Duke of Cambridge and Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Altenburg, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein (born Princess of Great Britain), the future German Emperor Friedrich III and Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  

Adolf-Friedrich spent his childhood at the Carolinenpalais in Neustrelitz with his parents and siblings, Marie, Jutta and Carl-Borwin where he received private tutoring. From February 1, 1891 to December 11, 1898 he was tutored by the Protestant theologian Carl Horn, after which Adolf-Friedrich left Neustrelitz to continue with his studies at the Vitzthum-Gymnasium in Dresden where a fellow student was his kinsman the young Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Hereditary Grand Duke

The first half of 1904 was a time of sadness for Adolf-Friedrich and the grand ducal family. In January he lost his maternal grandfather the Duke of Anhalt while in March his great uncle and godfather the Prince George, Duke of Cambridge also died. It would be his third bereavement that would have the most impact on his life as with the death of his paternal grandfather Grand Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm on May 30, 1904 his father succeeded as grand duke with Adolf-Friedrich becoming heir apparent to the throne and Hereditary Grand Duke. From his paternal grandfather he inherited considerably less money than his siblings as he was in direct line to become grand duke and inherit the bulk of the grand ducal family’s wealth and estates.     

Thanks to the influence of his grandmother the Dowager Grand Duchess, who was born Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Adolf-Friedrich had a great admiration for Great Britain. He was present at a number of major British royal events including the funeral of Queen Victoria in February 1901, the coronation in 1902 and the funeral in 1910 of King Edward VII, and the coronation in 1911 of King George V. He spent the summers of 1912 and 1913 in Britain and became a well known and liked member of London society.

While hereditary grand duke, Adolf-Friedrich was seen as one of the most eligible European princes of his day with a possible engagement a topic of newspaper gossip. With his close links to Britain he was at various times linked to King George V’s only daughter the Princess Mary, the king’s cousin Princess Patricia of Connaught and even the morganatic daughter of the British based Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia, the Countess Zia de Torby, who Adolf-Friedrich was regularly seen out with while in London. Other rumoured spouses were Emperor Wilhelm II’s only daughter Princess Viktoria-Luise of Prussia, her cousin Princess Margarethe of Prussia and her future sister-in-law Princess Olga of Cumberland.

Reign as Grand Duke

Having spent ten years as heir apparent in 1914 Adolf Friedrich’s father fell seriously ill. On June 7, 1914 while receiving treatment in Berlin his father transferred governing power to Adolf-Friedrich. Four days later Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich V died and he mounted the throne as Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich VI. He had very little time to mourn the loss of his father and adjust to his new role as that August the First World War broke out and he had to fulfil the grand duchy’s obligations and lead Mecklenburg-Strelitz in support of the German Empire.

Although Mecklenburg-Strelitz was at war and Adolf-Friedrich VI a serving German officer, he was also a sovereign prince with a responsibility and duty to his subjects and as such continued to push for political reform in Mecklenburg just as his father had before him. When negotiations broke down with Mecklenburg-Schwerin over the subject in 1917 Adolf-Friedrich VI’s government contemplated repealing the union of the two states.

With Adolf-Friedrich VI having come to the throne while unmarried and without a son there was an issue surrounding the succession as his heir Duke Carl-Michael had indicated just before war broke out that he wished to renounce his rights to the succession. If there was no male heir to Mecklenburg-Strelitz then the grand duchy would merge with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

During the war the topic of marriage was discussed by Adolf-Friedrich VI and his friend Princess Daisy of Pless, however in war time it was difficult to arrange a meeting with an eligible princess. Eventually the Princess of Pless identified her husband’s relative, Princess Benigna Reuss of Köstritz, as a suitable bride. As Adolf-Friedrich VI was agreeable to the match his Minister-President Heinrich Bossart began negotiations to bring about the marriage. However before an engagement could be announced there was the complication of a connection with a women whom Adolf-Friedrich VI needed to be freed from.

While heir to the throne and based in Potsdam, Adolf-Friedrich VI had a relationship with a Hungarian born woman named Margit Höllrigl. He was rumoured to have given her a marriage proposal so he could renounce his succession rights and allow his brother Duke Carl-Borwin to become grand duke instead. Any possibility of this happening ended suddenly in 1908 with the death of his brother which left the only other successor to the throne the Russian based Duke Carl-Michael.

With the succession now uncertain it became essential for Adolf-Friedrich VI to remain heir and one day marry to ensure continuation of the dynasty and the independence of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. As such he attempted to pay off Höllrigl to release him from his promise. But because she was alleged to have been in possession of letters linking Adolf-Friedrich VI’s name with homosexual circles, the publication of which would have caused a great scandal, she was said to have attempted to extract more money from him.

One of the other women identified was the Italian opera singer Mafalda Salvanti who Adolf-Friedrich VI had invited to his summer residence in 1916 and 1917. Adolf-Friedrich VI was alleged to have been the father of her two sons Rolf and Horst Gérard although this claim has been shown to be untrue as letters from Adolf Friedrich to Salvanti, which only came to light around 2008, show that there was no real relationship between them and that they only knew one another after both Gérard boys had already been born. The story that Adolf-Friedrich VI was the father originated from a note written by a Hanseatic city diplomat who had been told the story by Adolf-Friedrich’s brother in law Prince Julius-Ernst of Lippe.

Death

With the war entering a fourth year and his love affairs possibly going to become public knowledge, on the evening of 23 February 1918 Adolf-Friedrich VI left his residence in Neustrelitz to take his dog for a walk. He never returned and the next morning his body was found in the Kammer Canel with a gunshot wound to his temple bringing about a tragic end to Adolf-Friedrich VI four year reign which had been blighted by war. An autopsy found that he had drowned and no weapon was recovered from the scene.

The circumstances and reasons for his death are unclear although in his suicide note he hinted that a woman wanted to discredit him. Rumours surfaced after his death that the German Secret Service had discovered that he had been spying for Britain and that he had been given the choice of being tried as a traitor to Germany or taking his own life, although this story was refuted by his close friend the Princess of Pless.

In the newspapers at the time both Mafalda Salvatini and Margit Höllrigl’s names were also mentioned in connection with his death. The princess who was lined up as his wife, Benigna Reuss of Köstritz, would remain single for the rest of her life dying on 20 February 1982. In 1926 Margit Höllrigl reappeared unsuccessfully suing Adolf Friedrich’s heirs for £162,000 which she claimed was the remaining balance of the £200,000 that Adolf Friedrich had allegedly agreed to pay her for compromising documents.    

With Adolf-Friedrich VI’s passing his childhood friend the Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin travelled to the neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz to assume control of the government as regent until the issue of the possible succession to the throne of the Russian based Duke Carl-Michael could be resolved.

With the civil war raging in Russia, Carl-Michael had fled to the Caucasus region so contacting him proved difficult. With the independence of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at stake Adolf-Friedrich VI had requested in his will that Duke Christian-Ludwig, second son of Friedrich-Franz IV, become grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz as it was thought unlikely that Carl-Michael would assume the throne having indicated before the war that he wished to renounce his succession rights.

Ultimately the succession to the throne became irrelevant as the German revolution in November 1918 forced the Emperor, kings, grand dukes, dukes and princes from there thrones to make way for a republic in Germany. As such Adolf-Friedrich VI would prove to be the last grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Adolf-Friedrich VI is buried on Lovers Island in Mirow. In recent years some memorials to him have been unveiled in Neustrelitz.

Death of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

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On this date in History, February 23, 1918, death of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich VI was born on June 17, 1882 in Neustrelitz the third of the four children of Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich V and his wife Grand Duchess Elisabeth, (the third child of Friedrich I, Duke of Anhalt and Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg.) At the time of his birth his grandfather Grand Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz was on the throne and his parents were the Hereditary Grand Duke and Hereditary Grand Duchess. As the elder son of the Hereditary Grand Duke at birth Adolf Friedrich bore the title Hereditary Prince.

Hereditary Prince

The young hereditary prince was christened Adolf Friedrich Georg Ernst Albert Eduard in Neustrelitz on July 19, 1882 with holy water sent from the River Jordan in Palestine. The christening was part of a double celebration for Mecklenburg-Strelitz as the day also marked the 60th birthday of his grandmother Grand Duchess Augusta. Adolf Friedrich’s godparents were his two grandfathers Grand Duke Friedrich Wilhelm of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt, his uncle the future Duke Eduard of Anhalt, his great aunts Duchess Ekaterina of Mecklenburg-Strelitz (born Grand Duchess of Russia) and Princess Maria Anna of Prussia and Duchess Agnes of Saxe-Altenburg (both born Princesses of Anhalt), his great uncles Prince George, Duke of Cambridge and Duke Ernst I of Saxe-Altenburg, the future King Edward VII of the United Kingdom, Princess Helena of Schleswig-Holstein (born Princess of Great Britain), the future German Emperor Friedrich III and Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.  

Adolf Friedrich spent his childhood at the Carolinenpalais in Neustrelitz with his parents and siblings, Marie, Jutta and Carl-Borwin where he received private tutoring. From February 1, 1891 to December 11, 1898 he was tutored by the Protestant theologian Carl Horn, after which Adolf-Friedrich left Neustrelitz to continue with his studies at the Vitzthum-Gymnasium in Dresden where a fellow student was his kinsman the young Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. In January 1902 he moved to Munich to study law.

On July 30, 1898 Adolf-Friedrich was made a Lieutenant à la suite in the Royal Prussian Army’s Grand Ducal Mecklenburg Grenadier Regiment Number 89. As a future grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz he was expected to one day head of the regiment’s second battalion, the first and third battalions being headed by the Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. However Adolf-Friedrich’s active army career did not begin until after the conclusion of his studies at which point he joined the Prussian Army’s 1st Uhlan Guards Regiment in Potsdam as a Lieutenant.

Hereditary Grand Duke

The first half of 1904 was a time of sadness for Adolf-Friedrich and the grand ducal family. In January he lost his maternal grandfather the Duke of Anhalt while in March his great uncle and godfather the Duke of Cambridge also died. It would be his third bereavement that would have the most impact on his life as with the death of his paternal grandfather Grand Duke Friedrich-Wilhelm on May 30, 1904 his father succeeded as grand duke with Adolf-Friedrich becoming heir apparent to the throne and Hereditary Grand Duke. From his paternal grandfather he inherited considerably less money than his siblings as he was in direct line to become grand duke and inherit the bulk of the grand ducal family’s wealth and estates.     

Thanks to the influence of his grandmother the Dowager Grand Duchess, who was born Princess Augusta of Cambridge, Adolf-Friedrich had a great admiration for Britain. He was present at a number of major British royal events including the funeral of Queen Victoria in February 1901, the coronation in 1902 and the funeral in 1910 of King Edward VII, and the coronation in 1911 of King George V. He spent the summers of 1912 and 1913 in Britain and became a well known and liked member of London society.

While hereditary grand duke Adolf-Friedrich was seen as one of the most eligible European princes of his day with a possible engagement a topic of newspaper gossip. With his close links to Britain he was at various times linked to King George V’s only daughter the Princess Mary, the king’s cousin Princess Patricia of Connaught and even the morganatic daughter of the British based Grand Duke Mikhail Mikhailovich of Russia, the Countess Zia de Torby, who Adolf-Friedrich was regularly seen out with while in London. Other rumoured spouses were Emperor Wilhelm II’s only daughter Princess Viktoria Luise of Prussia, her cousin Princess Margarethe of Prussia and her future sister-in-law Princess Olga of Cumberland.

Reign as Grand Duke

Having spent ten years as heir apparent in 1914 Adolf Friedrich’s father fell seriously ill. On June 7, 1914 while receiving treatment in Berlin his father transferred governing power to Adolf-Friedrich. Four days later Grand Duke Adolf-Friedrich V died and he mounted the throne as Grand Duke Adolph-Friedrich VI. He had very little time to mourn the loss of his father and adjust to his new role as that August the First World War broke out and he had to fulfil the grand duchy’s obligations and lead Mecklenburg-Strelitz in support of the German Empire.

Although Mecklenburg-Strelitz was at war and Adolf-Friedrich VI a serving German officer, he was also a sovereign prince with a responsibility and duty to his subjects and as such continued to push for political reform in Mecklenburg just as his father had before him. When negotiations broke down with Mecklenburg-Schwerin over the subject in 1917 Adolf-Friedrich VI’s government contemplated repealing the union of the two states.

With Adolf-Friedrich VI having come to the throne while unmarried and without a son there was an issue surrounding the succession as his heir Duke Carl-Michael had indicated just before war broke out that he wished to renounce his rights to the succession. If there was no male heir to Mecklenburg-Strelitz then the grand duchy would merge with neighbouring Mecklenburg-Schwerin. During the war the topic of marriage was discussed by Adolf-Friedrich VI and his friend Princess Daisy of Pless, however in war time it was difficult to arrange a meeting with an eligible princess. Eventually the Princess of Pless identified her husband’s relative Princess Benigna Reuss of Köstritz as a suitable bride. As Adolf-Friedrich VI was agreeable to the match his Minister-President Heinrich Bossart began negotiations to bring about the marriage. However before an engagement could be announced there was the complication of a connection with a women whom Adolf-Friedrich VI needed to be freed from.

While heir to the throne and based in Potsdam, Adolf-Friedrich VI had a relationship with a Hungarian born woman named Margit Höllrigl. He was rumoured to have given her a marriage proposal so he could renounce his succession rights and allow his brother Duke Carl-Borwin to become grand duke instead. Any possibility of this happening ended suddenly in 1908 with the death of his brother which left the only other successor to the throne the Russian based Duke Carl-Michael. With the succession now uncertain it became essential for Adolf-Friedrich VI to remain heir and one day marry to ensure continuation of the dynasty and the independence of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. As such he attempted to pay off Höllrigl to release him from his promise. But because she was alleged to have been in possession of letters linking Adolf-Friedrich VI’s name with homosexual circles, the publication of which would have caused a great scandal, she was said to have attempted to extract more money from him.

One of the other women identified was the Italian opera singer Mafalda Salvanti who Adolf-Friedrich VI had invited to his summer residence in 1916 and 1917. Adolf-Friedrich VI was alleged to have been the father of her two sons Rolf and Horst Gérard although this claim has been shown to be untrue as letters from Adolf Friedrich to Salvanti, which only came to light around 2008, show that there was no real relationship between them and that they only knew one another after both Gérard boys had already been born. The story that Adolf-Friedrich VI was the father originated from a note written by a Hanseatic city diplomat who had been told the story by Adolf-Friedrich’s brother in law Prince Julius-Ernst of Lippe.

Death
 
With the war entering a fourth year and his love affairs possibly going to become public knowledge, on the evening of 23 February 1918 Adolf-Friedrich VI left his residence in Neustrelitz to take his dog for a walk. He never returned and the next morning his body was found in the Kammer Canel with a gunshot wound to his temple bringing about a tragic end to Adolf-Friedrich VI four year reign which had been blighted by war. An autopsy found that he had drowned and no weapon was recovered from the scene.

The circumstances and reasons for his death are unclear although in his suicide note he hinted that a woman wanted to discredit him. Rumours surfaced after his death that the German Secret Service had discovered that he had been spying for Britain and that he had been given the choice of being tried as a traitor to Germany or taking his own life, although this story was refuted by his close friend the Princess of Pless. Writing about his passing in her memoirs the Princess of Pless noted “I think the loss of his Grandmother, the apparent endlessness of the War, his heart in England and his home in Germany, and the two countries fighting with each other, just tore him in pieces and he could stand it no longer. Then there was that terrible exhausting chronic hay fever, which, so I am told, leads to the utmost depression.” In the newspapers at the time both Mafalda Salvatini and Margit Höllrigl’s names were also mentioned in connection with his death. The princess who was lined up as his wife, Benigna Reuss of Köstritz, would remain single for the rest of her life dying on 20 February 1982. In 1926 Margit Höllrigl reappeared unsuccessfully suing Adolf Friedrich’s heirs for £162,000 which she claimed was the remaining balance of the £200,000 that Adolf Friedrich had allegedly agreed to pay her for compromising documents.    
 
With Adolf-Friedrich VI’s passing his childhood friend the Grand Duke Friedrich-Franz IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin travelled to the neighbouring Mecklenburg-Strelitz to assume control of the government as regent until the issue of the possible succession to the throne of the Russian based Duke Carl-Michael could be resolved. With the civil war raging in Russia, Carl-Michael had fled to the Caucasus region so contacting him proved difficult. With the independence of Mecklenburg-Strelitz at stake Adolf-Friedrich VI had requested in his will that Duke Christian-Ludwig, second son of Friedrich-Franz IV, become grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz as it was thought unlikely that Carl-Michael would assume the throne having indicated before the war that he wished to renounce his succession rights. Ultimately the succession to the throne became irrelevant as the German revolution in November 1918 forced the Emperor, kings, grand dukes, dukes and princes from there thrones to make way for a republic in Germany. As such Adolf-Friedrich VI would prove to be the last grand duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz.

Adolf-Friedrich VI is buried on Lovers Island in Mirow. In recent years some memorials to him have been unveiled in Neustrelitz.