April 20, 1929: Death of Prince Heinrich of Prussia

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German Emperor Friedrich III, German Emperor Wilhelm II, German Empire, German Navy, German Revolution, Hemophilia, House of Hohenzollern, Prince Henry of Prussia, Princess Irene of Hesse and By Rhine, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria of the United Kingdom., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, World War I

Prince Albert Wilhelm Heinrich of Prussia (August 1862 – April 20, 1929) known by his last name, Heinrich, he was a younger brother of German Emperor Wilhelm II and a Prince of Prussia. He was also a grandson of Queen Victoria. A career naval officer, he held various commands in the Imperial German Navy and eventually rose to the rank of Grand Admiral and Generalinspekteur der Marine.

Biography

Born in Berlin, Prince Heinrich was the third child and second son of eight children born to Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm (later Emperor Friedrich III), and Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom (later Empress Victoria and in widowhood Empress Frederick), eldest daughter of the British Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

Heinrich was three years younger than his brother, the future Emperor Wilhelm II (born January 27, 1859). He was born on the same day as King Friedrich Wilhelm I “Soldier-King” of Prussia.

After attending the gymnasium in Cassell, which he left in the middle grades in 1877, the 15-year-old Heinrich entered the Imperial Navy cadet program. His naval education included a two-year voyage around the world (1878 to 1880), the naval officer examination in October 1880, and attending the German naval academy (1884 to 1886).

At the beginning of World War I, Prince Heinrich was named Commander-in-Chief of the Baltic Fleet. Although the means provided to him were far inferior to Russia’s Baltic Fleet, he succeeded, until the 1917 Revolution, in putting Russian naval forces far on the defensive and hindered them from making attacks on the German coast. After the end of hostilities with Russia, his mission was ended, and Prince Heinrich simply left active duty. With the war’s end and the dissolution of the monarchy in Germany, Prince Heinrich left the navy.

Family

On May 24, 1888, Heinrich married Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine, his first cousin. She was the third child and third daughter of Princess Alice of the United Kingdom and Ludwig IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine. Her maternal grandparents were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Her paternal grandparents were Prince Charles of Hesse and by Rhine and Princess Elizabeth of Prussia.

Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine

Heinrich’s dying father, German Emperor Friedrich III and his mother Empress Victoria were in attendance. The marriage produced three children:

Their sons Waldemar and Heinrich were both hemophiliacs, a disease which they inherited through Irene from the maternal grandmother of both of their parents, Queen Victoria, who was a carrier.

Personality and private life

Heinrich received one of the first pilot’s licenses in Germany, and was judged a spirited and excellent seaman. He was dedicated to modern technology and was able to understand quickly the practical value of technical innovations. A yachting enthusiast, Prince Heinrich became one of the first members of the Yacht Club of Kiel, established by a group of naval officers in 1887, and quickly became the club’s patron.

Heinrich was interested in motor cars as well and supposedly invented a windshield wiper and, according to other sources, the car horn.

After the German Revolution, Heinrich lived with his family in Hemmelmark near Eckernförde, in Schleswig-Holstein. He continued with motor sports and sailing and even in old age was a very successful participant in regattas. He popularized the Prinz-Heinrich-Mütze (“Prince Henry cap”), which is still worn, especially by older sailors.

In 1899, Heinrich received an honorary doctorate (Doctor of Engineering honoris causa) from the Technical University of Berlin. Also in foreign countries he received numerous similar honors, including an honorary doctorate (LL.D.) from Harvard University in March 1902, during his visit to the United States.

Prince Heinrich died of throat cancer, as his father had, in Hemmelmark on April 20, 1929.

November 1918: Abdication of German Dukes and Princes

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Abdication, Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe, Charles Eduard of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Ernst August of Brunswick, German Emperor Wilhelm II, German Empire, King of Prussia, Reuss-Gera, Saxe-Altenburg, Waldeck and Pyrmont, World War I

In the hope of preserving the monarchy in the face of growing revolutionary unrest, Chancellor Prince Max of Baden announced Wilhelm’s abdication of both titles on November 9, 1918.

Despite the announcement of his abdication and subsequent flight to the Netherlands, Wilhelm II didn’t officially abdicate until November 28, 1918 when he signed a Statement of Abdication.

Statement of Abdication. I herewith renounce for all time claims to the throne of Prussia and to the German Imperial throne connected therewith…. ” November 28, 1918 German Emperor Wilhelm II gave up his claims in a letter signed in exile from Amerongen in the Netherlands.

On November 11th I wrote about the abdication of German Emperor Wilhelm II, the other kings and Grand Dukes within the German Empire.

Today I will focus on the abdication of the German monarchs who reigned as Dukes and Princes.

Duke of Saxe-Meiningen

Bernhard assumed the Duchy of Saxe-Meiningen as Bernhard III after the death of his father in 1914. With the start of World War I Bernhard hoped to be assigned command over an army but was disappointed. In reaction he also withdrew from his role in the Duchy’s government.

After Germany lost the war, the German revolution forced Bernhard to abdicate as duke on November 10, 1918. Like all the German princes he lost his title and state. He spent the rest of his life in his former country as a private citizen. Bernhard died on January 16, 1928 in Meiningen.

Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha

Charles Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1884 – 1954) was the last sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha from July 30, 1900 until 1918. A male-line grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Prince Albert ofSaxe-Coburg-Gotha, he was also until 1919 a Prince of the United Kingdom and from birth held the British titles of Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow.

Charles Eduard was a controversial figure in the United Kingdom due to his status as the sovereign Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, which was part of the German Empire, during World War I. On November 14, 1918, however, after a revolution in Germany, he was forced to abdicate as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and lost his rights to the ducal throne. Under the Titles Deprivation Act of 1917 Charles Eduard also lost his British titles of Duke of Albany, Earl of Clarence and Baron Arklow.

Duke of Saxe-Altenburg

Ernst II of Saxe-Altenburg was the fourth child and only son of Prince Moritz, the youngest son of Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen.

The death of his father, on the May 13, 1907, made him first in the line of succession to the duchy of Saxe-Altenburg. He inherited the dukedom when his uncle and namesake, Ernst I, died without any surviving male issue.

World War I

During World War I, Ernst refused all honorary appointments at the Kaiser’s headquarters, which would have been considerably safer than other areas. Resigning from his courtesy rank of Generalleutnant, he requested and was granted the colonelcy and the command of his duchy’s regiment, the 153rd (8th Thuringian) Infantry.

Quickly promoted to General der Infanterie, Ernst II led several brigades on the western front. In 1915, he was awarded the Pour le Mérite award and was given command of the 8th Infantry Division, further distinguishing himself in the Battle of the Somme. In late 1916, he relinquished his field command because of illness and returned to Altenburg for the remainder of the war.

When Germany lost the war, all German princes lost their titles and states. Ernst was one of the first princes to realise that major changes were coming and quickly arrived at an amicable settlement with his subjects. He was forced to abdicate the government of the duchy on November 13, 1918 and spent the rest of his life as a private citizen.

Later life

After his abdication Ernst, with a moderate fortune, retired to a hotel in Berlin. Two years later, in 1920, his marriage ended in divorce. Later that year, Ernst announced his engagement to Helena Thomas, an opera singer. They had met while she was temporarily filling an engagement at the Ducal Theatre in Altenburg during the war. The marriage never took place, however.

On July 15, 1934 Ernst married his second wife, Maria Triebel, who had been his companion for many years, at his home, Schloss Fröhliche Wiederkunft (“Palace of Happy Returning”) at Wolfersdorf. It was a morganatic marriage, and she received only the title of “Baroness Reiseneck”. They had no children.

Still interested in science, Ernst established a modern observatory in Wolfersdorf, employing Kurd Kisshauer in 1922. On May 1, 1937, Ernst joined the Nazi Party.

Ernst became the only former reigning German prince who accepted German Democratic Republic citizenship after World War II, refusing an offer to leave his beloved “Palace of Happy Returning” and relocate to the British occupation zone.

The Schloß had been confiscated by the Soviet occupiers, but Ernst had been granted free use of it until his death. In March 1954, with the death of Charles Eduard, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, he became the last survivor of the German princes who had reigned until 1918. One year later, he died at the Schloß.

Duke of Brunswick

On October 27, 1913, Prince Ernst August of Great Britain and Hanover, Duke of Cumberland formally renounced his claims to the duchy of Brunswick in favor of his surviving son, also named ErnstAugust. The following day, the Federal Council voted to allow Ernst August to become the reigning Duke of Brunswick.

The new Duke of Brunswick formally took possession of his duchy on November 1, 1913. In 1913 Ernst August married Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, the only daughter of German Emperor Wilhelm II and his wife Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.

The new duke and duchess of Brunswick moved into Brunswick Palace in the capital of Brunswick and began their family with the birth of their eldest son, Prince Ernst August, less than a year after their wedding.
During the First World War, Ernst August rose to the rank of major-general.

Abdication and later life

In 1917, the British dukedom of Ernest Augustus’s father, and his own title as a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, were suspended by the Titles Deprivation Act 1917, as a result of the Duke’s service in the German army during the war.

On November 8, 1918, Ernest Augustus was forced to abdicate his throne, as were all the other German kings, grand dukes, dukes, and princes during the German Revolution of 1918–1919. Thus, when his father died in 1923, Ernst August did not succeed to his father’s title of Duke of Cumberland. For the next thirty years, Ernst August remained as head of the House of Hanover, living in retirement on his various estates, mainly Blankenburg Castle in Germany and Cumberland Castle in Gmunden, Austria. He also owned Marienburg Castle near Hanover, although rarely ever living there until 1945.

Duke of Anhalt

Eduard was born at Dessau, the capital of the Duchy, in 1861 as the third son of Duke Friedrich I of Anhalt (1831–1904) and his wife Princess Antoinette of Saxe-Altenburg (1838–1908). As Eduard’s eldest brother, Leopold, died without male offspring in 1886, and the next brother, Friedrich, had no issue, Eduard became heir presumptive and Hereditary Prince following the death of their father, Duke Friedrich I, in 1904.

Reign

Eduard succeeded his brother Duke Friedrich II of Anhalt on April 21, 1918, but his brief reign came to an end five months later with his own death on September 13, 1918. He was succeeded by his eldest surviving son Prince Joachim Ernst under the regency of Eduard’s younger brother, Prince Aribert.

Joachim Ernst, Duke of Anhalt, succeeded his father as Duke of Anhalt on September 13, 1918. However, due to his age, his uncle Prince Aribert of Anhalt was appointed regent. His brief reign came to an end on 12 November 12, 1918, with his uncle abdicating in his name following the German revolution. The duchy became the Free State of Anhalt and is today part of the state of Saxony-Anhalt.

Joachim Ernst died at the Buchenwald concentration camp after World War II as a prisoner of the Soviet Union, when it was called NKVD special camp Nr. 2. Following his death, the headship of the Ducal House of Anhalt was disputed between his elder son, Prince Friedrich, and brother Prince Eugen.

Principalities

Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe

Principality of Lippe

The Counts of Lippe-Detmold were granted the title of Imperial prince in 1789.

Shortly after becoming a member state of the German Empire in 1871, the Lippe-Detmold line died out on July 20, 1895. This resulted in an inheritance dispute between the neighbouring principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and the Lippe-Biesterfeld line. The dispute was resolved by the Imperial Court in Leipzig in 1905, with the lands passing to the Lippe-Biesterfeld line who, until this point, had no territorial sovereignty.

The Principality of Lippe came to an end on November 12, 1918 with the abdication of Leopold IV, with Lippe becoming a Free State. In 1947, Lippe merged into the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The princely family still owns the estate and Fürstliches Residenzschloss [de] in Detmold.

Principality of Reuss-Gera (Junior Line) and Reuss-Greiz (Senior Line)

At the death of his father on March 29, 1913 Prince Heinrich XXVII of Reuss-Gera inherited the throne of the Principality. He also continued as regent of Reuss Elder Line, because of a physical and mental disability of Prince Heinrich XXIV of Reuss-Greiz due to an accident in his childhood.

Prince Heinrich XXVII abdicated in 1918 after the German Revolution of 1918–19, when all German monarchies were abolished.

With the death of Heinrich XXIV in 1927, the Elder Line became extinct and its titles passed to Heinrich XXVII, who thus became the sole Prince Reuss.

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe

Adolf II of Schaumburg-Lippe was born in Stadthagen to the then hereditary Prince Georg (1846–1911) and Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg (1864–1918) during the reign of his grandfather Prince Adolf I.

He became heir apparent to Schaumburg-Lippe on May 8, 1893 following the death of his grandfather, and the accession of his father. He succeeded his father as prince on April 29, 1911, and reigned until he was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918 following the German revolution: the principality became the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe. Adolf was exiled to Brioni in Istria. During his reign he developed the spa of Bad Eilsen and was responsible for many buildings there.

Adolf married Ellen Bischoff-Korthaus (1894–1936, previously married to Prince Eberwyn, son of Alexis, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt) in Berlin on January 20, 1920.

They were both killed in a plane crash in Zumpango, Mexico, on March 26, 1936, while flying from Mexico City to Guatemala City in a Ford Trimotor airplane.

His youngest brother Prince Friedrich Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe, who served as an adjutant to Joseph Goebbels, spoke out against letting Ellen be buried in Bückeburger Mausoleum next to her husband, because she was not of “Aryan origin”. He was succeeded as head of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe by his brother Wolrad.

Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt & Schwarzburg-Sondershausen

With the death of Prince Leopold of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen on 20 April 20, 1906 Prince Günther Victor then became heir presumptive to the other Schwarzburg principality. The death of the prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, Charles Günther on March 28, 1909 united the two Schwarzburg principalities under Prince Günther in a personal union. This was the first time the two principalities had been united under the same ruler since the 16th century when the Sondershausen and Rudolstadt lines had been formed. Following his succession in Sondershausen Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

Following the outbreak of the German revolution Prince Günther Victor abdicated on November 25, 1918. Following his death in Sondershausen in the spring of 1925, he was succeeded as head of the House of Schwarzburg by Prince Sizzo.

Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont

Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1865 – 1946) was the last reigning Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont from May 12, 1893 to 13 November 13, 1918.

Family

He was the only son and sixth child of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife Princess Helena of Nassau. He was a brother of the Dutch Queen consort Emma and Princess Helena, Duchess of Albany.

His maternal grandparents were Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau and his second wife Princess Pauline of Württemberg. Pauline was a daughter of Prince Paul of Württemberg and his wife Charlotte of Saxe-Hildburghausen.
Paul was a son of Friedrich I of Württemberg and his wife Duchess Augusta of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. Augusta was the eldest daughter of Charles Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg and Princess Augusta of Great Britain, elder sister of George III of the United Kingdom.

Abdication of the German Monarchies. Part I

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Armistice, Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, German Emperor, German Empire, German Revolution, Hesse and By Rhine, King of Prussia, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Oldenburg, Prince Max of Baden, Wilhelm II, Wilhelm II of Württemberg, World War I

The Armistice ending World War I was agreed upon at 5:00 a.m. on November 11, 1918, to come into effect at 11:00 a.m. Paris time (noon German time), for which reason the occasion is sometimes referred to as “the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month”.

The German Empire consisted of 26 states, each with their own nobility, four constituent kingdoms, six grand duchies, five duchies (six before 1876), seven principalities, three free Hanseatic cities, and one imperial territory. While Prussia was one of four kingdoms in the realm, it contained about two-thirds of Empire’s population and territory, and Prussian dominance had also been constitutionally established, since the King of Prussia was also the German Emperor (German: Kaiser)

In this post I will give a brief summary of the abdications of the German monarchs at the end of the war. Today I will mention the four kingdoms and 6 grand duchess that made up the German Empire. On November 28th, the anniversary of the abolition of the monarchy, I will summarize the abdication of the 5 Duchies and 7 Principalities that constituted the empire.

Kingdoms

German Emperor and King of Prussia

As the war was nearing its end Wilhelm II’s hope of retaining at least one of his crowns,, that of the Kingdom of Prussia, was revealed as unrealistic when, in the hope of preserving the monarchy in the face of growing revolutionary unrest, Chancellor Prince Max of Baden announced Wilhelm’s abdication of both titles on November 9, 1918.

Wilhelm consented to the abdication only after Ludendorff’s replacement, General Wilhelm Groener, had informed him that the officers and men of the army would march back in good order under Hindenburg’s command, but would certainly not fight for Wilhelm’s throne. The monarchy’s last and strongest support had been broken, and finally even Hindenburg, himself a lifelong monarchist, was obliged, after polling his generals, to advise the Emperor to give up the crown. On November 10, Wilhelm crossed the border by train and went into exile in the Netherlands.

Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia

Kingdom of Bavaria

On November 2, 1918, an extensive constitutional reform was established by an agreement between the royal government and all parliamentary groups, which, among other things, envisaged the introduction of proportional representation. Ludwig III, approved on the same day the transformation of the constitutional into a parliamentary monarchy. On November 7, 1918, Ludwig III fled from the Residenz Palace in Munich with his family and took up residence in Schloss Anif, near Salzburg, for what he hoped would be a temporary stay. He was the first of the monarchs in the German Empire to be deposed. The next day, the People’s State of Bavaria was proclaimed. This effectively dethroned the Wittelsbachs and ended the family’s 738-year rule over Bavaria.

Kingdom of Württemberg

King Wilhelm II of Württemberg finally abdicated on November 30, 1918, ending over 800 years of Württemberg rule. He died in 1921 at Bebenhausen. King Wilhelm II was also the last German ruler to abdicate in the wake of the November Revolution of 1918.

Kingdom of Saxony

Friedrich August III was a member of the House of Wettin, and the last King of Saxony (1904–1918). Though well-loved by his subjects, he voluntarily abdicated as king on November 13, 1918, after the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. He died in Sibyllenort (now Szczodre) in Lower Silesia and was buried in Dresden.

When the German Republic was proclaimed in 1918, he was asked by telephone whether he would abdicate willingly. He said: “Oh, well, I suppose I’d better.”

Upon abdicating, he is supposed to have said “Nu da machd doch eiern Drägg alleene!” (Saxon for “Well then take care of this crap yourselves!”), but there is no documentation of this.

When cheered by a crowd in a railroad station several years after his abdication, he stuck his head out of the train’s window and shouted “Ihr seid mer ja scheene Demogradn!” (Saxon for “You’re a fine lot of republicans, I’ll say!”).

Grand Duchies

Grand Duchy of Hesse and by Rhine

During World War I, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine served as an officer at German Emperor Wilhelm II’s headquarters. In February, 1917, the February Revolution in Russia forced his brother-in-law, Emperor Nicholas II, to abdicate. Sixteen months later, in July 1918, his two sisters in Russia, Elizabeth, the widow of Grand Duke Sergei Alexandrovich, and Alexandra, the wife of Nicholas II, were murdered by the Bolsheviks, Alexandra dying alongside her husband and children. At the end of the war, Grand Duke Ernst Ludwig lost his throne during the revolution of 1918, after refusing to abdicate.

Wilhelm II, King of Württemberg

Grand Duchies of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Following the 1918 suicide of Grand Duke Adolph Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, 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. Friedrich Franz IV abdicated the grand ducal throne on November 14, 1918 following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I; the Strelitz regency ended at the same time.

Grand Duchy of Baden

Grand Duke Friedrich II of Baden was the last sovereign Grand Duke of Baden, reigning from 1907 until the abolition of the German monarchies in 1918. He abdicated on November 22, 1918, amidst the tumults of the German Revolution of 1918–19 which resulted in the abolition of the Grand Duchy.

Following the death of his uncle Grand Duke Friedrich I of Baden in 1907, Margrave Maximilian (Max of Baden) became heir to the grand-ducal throne of his cousin Friedrich II, whose marriage remained childless.

in October and November 1918 Maximilian briefly served as the last Chancellor of the German Empire and Minister-President of Prussia. He sued for peace on Germany’s behalf at the end of World War I based on U.S. President Woodrow Wilson’s Fourteen Points, which included immediately transforming the government into a parliamentary system, by handing over the office of chancellor to SPD Chairman Friedrich Ebert and unilaterally proclaiming the abdication of Emperor Wilhelm II. Both events took place on November 9, 1918, the beginning of the Weimar Republic.

Grand Duchy of Saxe-Wiemar-Eisenach

In 1901 Charles Alexander was succeeded by his grandson Wilhelm Ernst. In 1903, the Grand Duchy officially changed its name to Grand Duchy of Saxony. However, many people continued to call it Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, to avoid confusion with the neighbouring Kingdom of Saxony.

Wilhelm Ernst abdicated the throne on November 9, 1918, thereby ending the monarchy in the state. It continued as the Free State of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, until 1920, when it merged with most of its neighbours to form Thuringia, with Weimar as the state capital.

Grand Duchy of Oldenburg

Friedrich August III began his reign on June 13, 1900, when his father, Grand Duke Peter II, died. His reign came to an end on November 11, 1918, shortly before the German monarchy was formally abolished on November 28, 1918.

Friedrich August and his family took up residence at Rastede Castle, where he took up farming and local industrial interests. A year after his abdication, he asked the Oldenburg Diet for a yearly allowance of 150,000 marks, stating that his financial condition was “extremely precarious.”

October 2, 1921: Death of King Wilhelm II of Württemberg

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Abdication, Albrecht of Württemberg, Charlotte of Schaumburg-Lippe, George V of the United Kingdom, German Empire, Mary of Teck, Succession, William II of Württemberg, World War I

Wilhelm II (February 25, 1848 – October 2, 1921) was the last King of Württemberg. He ruled from October 6, 1891 until the dissolution of the kingdom on November 30, 1918. He was also the last German ruler to abdicate in the wake of the November Revolution of 1918.

Early years

Wilhelm was born the son of Prince Friedrich of Württemberg (1808–1870) by his wife Princess Catherine Frederica of Württemberg (1821–1898), herself the daughter of King Wilhelm I of Württemberg (1781–1864). His parents were first cousins, being the children of two brothers, and Wilhelm was their only child.

Wilhelm’s growing years coincided with a progressive dimininution of Württemberg’s sovereignty and international presence, concomitant with the process of German unification. In 1870, Württemberg took the side of Prussia in the Franco-German War. In 1871, Württemberg became a state of the German Reich, a significant limitation on its sovereignty.

King of Württemberg

Wilhelm’s father died in 1870, but his mother lived to see him seated on the throne of Württemberg. In 1891, Wilhelm succeeded his childless maternal uncle, King Charles I (1823–1891) and became King Wilhelm II of Württemberg. This was not, as it may seem, a departure from the Salic law which governed succession in the German states; his claim to the throne came because he was the nearest agnatic heir of his maternal uncle, as the senior male-line descendant of King Friedrich I of Württemberg through his younger son Prince Paul.

King Wilhelm II became a Generalfeldmarschall during World War I. In 1918, he was deposed from the throne along with the other German rulers. King Wilhelm II finally abdicated on November 30, 1918, ending over 800 years of Württemberg rule. He died on October 2, 1921 at Bebenhausen.

Personality and interests

Considered to be a popular monarch, Wilhelm had the habit of walking his two dogs in public parks in Stuttgart without being attended by bodyguards or the like. During these excursions, he would often be greeted by his subjects with a simple Herr König (“Mister King”).

Despite living in a landlocked kingdom, Wilhelm II was a yachting enthusiast. The king was instrumental in the establishment of the Württembergischer Yacht Club (formerly “Königlich Württembergischer Yacht-Club” or Royal Yacht Club of Württemberg) in 1911 on Lake Constance.

Marriages and children

On February 15, 1877 at Arolsen he married Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont (1857–1882), was the third daughter of Georg Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his wife, Princess Helena of Nassau, younger half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxembourg.

Marie was born in Arolsen, then part of the German Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Her younger brother, Friedrich, was the last reigning prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Two of her younger sisters, Emma and Helena, married her third cousin once removed King Willem III of the Netherlands and Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany (youngest son of Queen Victoria), respectively.

They had three children:

Princess Pauline of Württemberg (December 19, 1877 – May 7, 1965); married in 1898 Wilhelm Friedrich, Prince of Wied (1872–1945), and had issue.

Prince Ulrich of Württemberg (28 July 1880 – 28 December 1880), died in infancy

A stillborn daughter (24 April 1882)

Marie died on April 30, 1882 in Stuttgart, from complications resulting from the birth of their third child. Wilhelm, already depressed by the death of his only son, is said never to have recovered from this blow.
Nevertheless, he was King and it was his duty to secure the succession.

On April 8, 1886, at Bückeburg, he married Princess Charlotte of Schaumburg-Lippe (1864–1946), the daughter of Prince Wilhelm Karl August of Schaumburg-Lippe, and his wife, Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau. As the second wife of King William II of Württemberg she became Queen consort of Württemberg. She was not only the last queen of Württemberg, but the last surviving queen of any German state.

They had no children.

Succession

On Wilhelm II’s death in 1921 without male issue, the royal branch of the House of Württemberg became extinct, and the headship of the house devolved to Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg, head of the Roman Catholic cadet branch of the dynasty, based at Altshausen.

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Albrecht, Duke of Württemberg (December 23, 1865 – October 31, 1939) was the last Württemberger crown prince, a German military commander of the First World War, and the head of the House of Württemberg from 1921 to his death.

Duke Albrecht was born in Vienna as the eldest child of Duke Philipp of Württemberg and his wife Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria, daughter of Archduke Albert, Duke of Teschen.

Albrecht entered the armies of the Kingdom of Württemberg and the German Empire in 1883, rose quickly through its ranks, and became the heir apparent to the throne of Württemberg.

Albrecht was married in Vienna on January 17, 1893 to Archduchess Margarete Sophie of Austria, the fourth and youngest child and only daughter of Archduke Karl Ludwig of Austria and his second wife Princess Maria Annunciata of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. She was named for her father’s first wife, Princess Margaretha of Saxony, and for her paternal grandmother, Princess Sophie of Bavaria. Her older brothers included Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria and Archduke Otto Francis of Austria.

In 1910, Albrecht attended the funeral of Edward VII of the United Kingdom. Albrecht was a second cousin once removed of Mary of Teck, who was the Queen consort of George V. Mary of Teck was a morganatic descendant of the House of Württemberg and a granddaughter of Duke Alexander of Württemberg (1804–1885).

Albrecht had become heir presumptive to the Kingdom of Württemberg following the death of his father in October 1917, but the German Empire’s World War I defeat and the abdication of his cousin King Willhelm II of Württemberg following the German Revolution prevented him from ever succeeding to the throne.

Albrecht became head of the House of Württemberg after the death of Wilhelm on October 2, 1921. Albrecht died at Altshausen Castle. His son Duke Philipp Albrecht succeeded him as head of the House of Württemberg.

May 6, 1882: Birth of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia.

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Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Emperor, German Empire, Wilhelm II of Germany, World War I, World War III

Prince Wilhelm was born on May 6, 1882 in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg. He was the eldest son of Wilhelm II, the last German Kaiser (Emperor) (1859–1941), and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858–1921).

When he was born, his great-grandfather Wilhelm I was the emperor and his grandfather Crown Prince Friedrich was the heir apparent, making Wilhelm third in line to the throne.

His birth sparked an argument between his parents and his grandmother Crown Princess Victoria. Before Wilhelm was born, his grandmother had expected to be asked to help find a nurse, but since her son did everything he could to snub her, the future Wilhelm II asked his aunt Helena to help.

His mother was hurt and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was the younger Wilhelm’s great-grandmother, furious. When his great-grandfather and grandfather both died in 1888, six-year-old Wilhelm became the heir apparent to the German and Prussian thrones.

Wilhelm married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (September 20, 1886 – May 6, 1954) in Berlin on June 6, 1905. After their marriage, the couple lived at the Crown Prince’s Palace in Berlin in the winter and at the Marmorpalais in Potsdam.

Cecilie was the daughter of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (1851–1897) and his wife, Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia (1860–1922). Their eldest son, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, was killed fighting for the German Army in France in 1940.

During World War I, he commanded the 5th Army from 1914 to 1916 and was commander of the Army Group German Crown Prince for the remainder of the war.

At the end of the war, Wilhelm was captured by French Moroccan troops in Baad, Austria and was interned as a (World War I) war criminal. Transferred to Hechingen, Germany, he lived for a short time in Hohenzollern Castle under house arrest.

Upon his father’s death on June 4, 1941, Wilhelm succeeded him as head of the House of Hohenzollern, the former German imperial dynasty. To his monarchist supporters he was German Emperor Wilhelm III and King of Prussia. He was approached by those in the military and the diplomatic service who wanted to replace Hitler, but Wilhelm turned them down.

After the ill-fated assassination attempt on July 20, 1944, Hitler nevertheless had Wilhelm placed under supervision by the Gestapo and had his home at Cecilienhof watched.

Eventually he moved to a small five-room house at Fürstenstraße 16 in Hechingen where he died on July 20, 1951, of a heart attack.

November 9, 1918: Abdication of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia.

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Abdication, Friedrich Ebert, Friedrich III of Germany, German Chancellor, German Empire, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, Prince Maximilian of Baden, Victoria Princess Royal, Wilhelm II of Germany, World War I

Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; January 27, 1859 – June 4, 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, ruling the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia from June 15, 1888 to his abdication November 9, 1918. He was the eldest grandchild of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and related to many monarchs and princes of Europe, most notably King George V of the United Kingdom and Emperor Nicholas II of Russia.

Wilhelm was born at the Crown Prince’s Palace, Berlin, to Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia (the future Friedrich III) and his wife, Victoria, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of Britain’s Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.

At the time of his birth, his great-uncle Friedrich-Wilhelm IV was king of Prussia, and his grandfather and namesake Wilhelm was acting as Regent. He was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, but more important, as the first son of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Wilhelm was second in the line of succession to Prussia, from 1861 onwards and also, after 1871, to the newly created German Empire, which, according to the constitution of the German Empire, was ruled by the King of Prussia. At the time of his birth, he was also sixth in the line of succession to the British throne, after his maternal uncles and his mother.

 

Accession and Reign

Kaiser Wilhelm I died in Berlin on 9 March 1888, and Prince Wilhelm’s father ascended the throne as Friedrich III. He was already suffering from an incurable throat cancer and spent all 99 days of his reign fighting the disease before dying. On June 15 of that same year, his 29-year-old son succeeded him as German Emperor and King of Prussia.

His reign would last to November 9, 1918. Despite strengthening Germany’s position as a great power by building a blue-water navy and promoting scientific innovation, his tactless public statements and reckless foreign policy greatly antagonized the international community and ultimately plunged his country into World War I. When the German war effort collapsed after a series of crushing defeats on the Western Front in 1918, he was forced to abdicate, thereby bringing an end to the Hohenzollern dynasty’s three hundred year rule.

Abdication

Wilhelm was at the Imperial Army headquarters in Spa, Belgium, when the uprisings in Berlin and other centres took him by surprise in late 1918. Mutiny among the ranks of his beloved Kaiserliche Marine, the imperial navy, profoundly shocked him. After the outbreak of the German Revolution, Wilhelm could not make up his mind whether or not to abdicate. Up to that point, he accepted that he would likely have to give up the imperial crown, but still hoped to retain the Prussian kingship.

However, this was impossible under the imperial constitution. Wilhelm thought he ruled as emperor in a personal union with Prussia. In truth, the constitution defined the empire as a confederation of states under the permanent presidency of Prussia. The imperial crown was thus tied to the Prussian crown, meaning that Wilhelm could not renounce one crown without renouncing the other.

Wilhelm’s hope of retaining at least one of his crowns was revealed as unrealistic when, in the hope of preserving the monarchy in the face of growing revolutionary unrest, Chancellor Prince Max of Baden announced Wilhelm’s abdication of both titles on 9 November 1918. Prince Max himself was forced to resign later the same day, when it became clear that only Friedrich Ebert, leader of the SPD, could effectively exert control. Later that day, one of Ebert’s secretaries of state (ministers), Social Democrat Philipp Scheidemann, proclaimed Germany a republic.

Wilhelm consented to the abdication only after Ludendorff’s replacement, General Wilhelm Groener, had informed him that the officers and men of the army would march back in good order under Paul von Hindenburg’s command, but would certainly not fight for Wilhelm’s throne on the home front. The monarchy’s last and strongest support had been broken, and finally even Hindenburg, himself a lifelong royalist, was obliged, with some embarrassment, to advise the Emperor to give up the crown.

On 10 November, Wilhelm crossed the border by train and went into exile in the Netherlands, which had remained neutral throughout the war. Upon the conclusion of the Treaty of Versailles in early 1919, Article 227 expressly provided for the prosecution of Wilhelm “for a supreme offence against international morality and the sanctity of treaties”, but the Dutch government refused to extradite him, despite appeals from the Allies. King George V wrote that he looked on his cousin as “the greatest criminal in history”, but opposed Prime Minister David Lloyd George’s proposal to “hang the Kaiser”.

It was reported, however, that there was little zeal in Britain to prosecute. On January 1, 1920, it was stated in official circles in London that Great Britain would “welcome refusal by Holland to deliver the former kaiser for trial,” and it was hinted that this had been conveyed to the Dutch government through diplomatic channels.

Wilhelm first settled in Amerongen, where on November 28, 1918 he issued a belated statement of abdication from both the Prussian and imperial thrones, thus formally ending the Hohenzollerns’ 500-year rule over Prussia. Accepting the reality that he had lost both of his crowns for good, he gave up his rights to “the throne of Prussia and to the German Imperial throne connected therewith.”

He also released his soldiers and officials in both Prussia and the empire from their oath of loyalty to him. He purchased a country house in the municipality of Doorn, known as Huis Doorn, and moved in on May 15, 1920. This was to be his home for the remainder of his life. The Weimar Republic allowed Wilhelm to remove twenty-three railway wagons of furniture, twenty-seven containing packages of all sorts, one bearing a car and another a boat, from the New Palace at Potsdam.

Wilhelm died of a pulmonary embolus in Doorn, Netherlands, on June 4, 1941, at the age of 82, just weeks before the Axis invasion of the Soviet Union.

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

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Adolf Friedrich II of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Charlotte Sophia of Mecklenburg- Strelitz, Congress of Vienna, Frederick Francis IV of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick William III of Prussia, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Intermarriage, Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

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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Adolf-Friedrich V of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz, Adolf-Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz., Augusta of Cambridge, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, Princess Elisabeth of Anhalt, Wilhelm I of Germany, World War I

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.

Kingdom of Finland (1918): The Kingdom that never was.

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Frederick Charles of Hesse-Cassel, German Emperor, German Empire, Grand Duchy of Finland, Kingdom of Finland, The Instrument of Government of 1772, Wilhelm II of Germany, World War I

There was an earlier attempt at creating the Kingdom of Finland in 1742 that I will address in another post.

Lithuania had already taken a similar step in July 1918, electing Wilhelm-Charles, Duke of Urach and Count of Württemberg, as King Mindaugas II of Lithuania. In Latvia and Estonia, a “General Provincial Assembly” consisting of Baltic-German aristocrats had called upon the German Emperor, Wilhelm II, to recognize the Baltic provinces as a joint monarchy and a German protectorate. Adolf-Friedrich, Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, was nominated Duke of “the United Baltic Duchy” by the Germans.

Crown of Finland

There was an attempt to establish a monarchy in Finland in 1918. In the aftermath of the Finnish Declaration of Independence from Russia in December 1917 and the Finnish Civil War from January–May 1918, the victorious Whites in the Parliament of Finland considered making the newly independent Finland a kingdom and creating a monarchy. The attempt came to naught; the king-elect never reigned nor came to Finland, and republican victories in the next election ensured the proposal was abandoned.

During the Finnish Civil War of 1918, Finnish Reds on friendly terms with Soviet Russia fought Finnish Whites who allied with the German Empire. Direct aid from the German Baltic Sea Division aided the Whites who won the war. The provisional government established after the Grand Duchy of Finland’s declaration of independence leaned heavily toward the Finnish right and included a number of monarchists.

The Finnish parliament drew up plans to create a monarchy on the legal theory that the Swedish Constitution of 1772 was still in effect, but there had been an extended interregnum with no monarch on the throne. The Instrument of Government of 1772, adopted under King Gustaf III of Sweden, when Finland had been a part of the Kingdom of Sweden. The same constitutional document had also served as the basis for the rule of the Russian Emperors, as Grand Dukes of Finland, during the 19th century.

Prince Friedrich-Charles of Hesse, King-Elect of Finland

Prince Friedrich-Charles of the Electoral Hesse branch (formerly Hesse-Cassel) was elected to the throne of Finland on October 9, 1918 by the Finnish parliament. Finland’s position vis-a-vis Germany was already evolving towards that of a protectorate by spring 1918, and the election of Prince Frriedrich-Charles, who happened to be the brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, was viewed as a confirmation of the close relations between the two nations. The strongly pro-German prime minister, Juho Kusti Paasikivi, and his government offered the crown to Prince Friedrich-Charles in October 1918. However, he never took the position nor traveled to Finland.

Almost immediately after the election, Finnish leaders as well as the population belatedly came to understand the grave situation their German allies were in, and the wisdom of electing a German Prince their new leader as Germany was about to lose World War I was called into question. Germany itself became a republic and deposed Emperor Wilhelm II, and signed an armistice with the Allies in November.

The victorious Western powers informed the Finnish government that the independence of Finland would only be recognized if it abandoned its alliance with Germany. However, warnings received from the West convinced the Finnish government of Prime Minister Lauri Ingman – a monarchist himself – to ask Prince Friedrich-Charles to give up the crown, which he had not yet come to wear in Finland.

As a result, the King-Elect, Friedrich-Charles renounced the throne on December 14, 1918. Mannerheim, the leader of the Whites during the Finnish Civil War, was appointed as Regent, and the Baltic Sea Division withdrew from Finland.

Princess Margaret of Prussia, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel

In the March 1919 election, Republican parties won three-quarters of the parliament’s seats in the election of 1919 and Finland adopted a republican constitution. In July 1919, Finland’s first president Kaarlo Juho Ståhlberg replaced Mannerheim as the first President of the Republic. Finland’s status as a republic was confirmed in the Finnish Constitution of 1919.

Biographical information on Prince Friedrich-Charles

Friedrich Charles Ludwig Constantine, Prince and Landgrave of Hesse (May 1, 1868 – May 28, 1940), was born at his family’s manor, Gut Panker, in Plön, Holstein. He was the third son of Friedrich-Wilhelm of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse, and his second wife Princess Anna of Prussia, daughter of Prince Charles of Prussia and Princess Marie-Louise of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach.

His father, Friedrich-Wilhelm of Hesse, Landgrave of Hesse Danish military officer, had been one (and perhaps the foremost) of the candidates of Christian VIII of Denmark in the 1840s to succeed to the Danish throne if the latter’s male line died out, but renounced his rights to the throne in 1851 in favor of his sister, Louise. Louise was married at the Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen on May 26, 1842 to her second cousin Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg who eventually succeeded to the Crown of Denmark as King Christian IX.

On January 25, 1893, Friedrich-Charles married Princess Margaret of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, and the younger sister of Emperor Wilhelm II and a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United. They had six children, all sons, including two sets of twins.

Prince Philipp, Landgrave and Princess Mafalda, Landgravine of Hesse-Cassel

Landgrave Alexander-Friedrich of Hesse abdicated as the head of the House of Hesse on 16 March 1925, and was succeeded by Friedrich-Charles, his younger brother.

At Prince Friedrich-Charles’s in death 1940, his eldest surviving son, Prince Philipp, succeeded him as head of the House of Hesse and titular Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel.

However, according to certain family documents and correspondence, his successor as King of Finland would have been his second surviving son Prince Wolfgang of Hesse (1896–1989), apparently because Wolfgang was with his parents in 1918 and ready to travel to Finland, where a wedding to a Finnish lady was already in preparation for the coming Crown Prince.

Philipp was in the military and unable to be contacted at the time. This choice of the younger of the twins, however, was not intended to mean that in future generations, the kingship would have been passed on through secundogeniture, with the eldest son always succeeding to the Hesse title (according to Dr. Vesa Vares).

On the contrary, it is practically inconceivable that succession of a kingdom would depend on secondary consideration. The source Viini 2/2007 (in Finnish) indicates a view that until his death Moritz of Hesse was the current successor, and Prince Donatus was the heir.

June 15, 1888: Death of German Emperor Friedrich III, King of Prussia

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Frederick III of Germany, German Emperor, German Empire, King of Prussia, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, Throat Cancer, Victoria Princess Royal, Wilhelm I of Germany, Wilhelm II of Germany, Year of the Three Emperors

Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia was born in the New Palace at Potsdam in Prussia on October 18, 1831. He was a scion of the House of Hohenzollern, rulers of Prussia, then the most powerful of the German states. Friedrich’s father, Prince Wilhelm (future German Emperor and King of Prussia), was a younger brother of King Friedrich-Wilhelm IV and, having been raised in the military traditions of the Hohenzollerns, developed into a strict disciplinarian.

Prince Friedrich’s mother was Princess Augusta of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, the second daughter of Charles-Friedrich, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and Grand Duchess Maria Pavlovna of Russia, a daughter of Paul I of Russia and Sophie-Dorothea of Württemberg.

In 1851, his mother sent Friedrich to England, ostensibly to visit the Great Exhibition but in truth, she hoped that the cradle of liberalism and home of the industrial revolution would have a positive influence on her son. Prince Albert took Friedrich under his wing during his stay but it was Albert’s daughter, Victoria, Princess Royal, only eleven at the time, who guided the German prince around the Exhibition.

Friedrich only knew a few words of English, while Victoria could converse fluently in German. He was impressed by her mix of innocence, intellectual curiosity and simplicity, and their meeting proved to be a success. A regular exchange of letters between Victoria and Friedrich followed.

Victoria, Princess Royal of the United Kingdom

Friedrich proposed to Victoria in 1855, when she was 14 years old and he was 23. The betrothal of the young couple was announced on May 19, 1857, at Buckingham Palace and the Prussian Court, and their marriage took place on January 25, 1858 in the Chapel Royal of St. James’s Palace, London. Victoria too had received a liberal education and shared her husband’s views. Of the two, Victoria was the dominant one in the relationship.

The couple often resided at the Crown Prince’s Palace and had eight children: Wilhelm in 1859, Charlotte in 1860, Heinrich in 1862, Sigismund in 1864, Victoria in 1866, Waldemar in 1868, Sophia in 1870 and Margaret in 1872. Sigismund died at the age of 2 and Waldemar at age 11, and their eldest son, Wilhelm, suffered from a withered arm—probably due to his difficult and dangerous breech birth, although it could have also resulted from a mild case of cerebral palsy.

When his father succeeded to the Prussian throne as King Wilhelm I of Prussia on January 2, 1861, Friedrich became the Crown Prince of Prussia.

Three days after Friedrich was confirmed to be suffering from cancer, his father Emperor Wilhelm I died aged 90 at 8:22 a.m. on March 9, 1888, upon which Friedrich became German Emperor and King of Prussia. His son, Wilhelm, now Crown Prince, telegraphed the news to his father in Italy. Later the same day, Friedrich wrote in his diary that he had received the telegram upon returning from a walk, “…and so I have ascended the throne of my forefathers and of the German Kaiser! God help me fulfill my duties conscientiously and for the weal of my Fatherland, in both the narrower and the wider sense.”

Germany’s progressive elements hoped that Wilhelm’s death, and thus Friedrich’s succession, would usher the country into a new era governed along liberal lines. Logically, Friedrich should have taken as his regnal name either Friedrich I (if the Bismarckian empire was considered a new entity) or Friedrich IV (if the new empire was considered a continuation of the old Holy Roman Empire, which had had three emperors named Friedrich); he himself preferred the Friedrich IV. However, on the advice of Bismarck that this would create legal problems, he opted to simply keep the same regnal name he had as king of Prussia, Friedrich III.

The new Emperor reached Berlin at 11 p.m. on the night of March 11; those who saw him were horrified by his “pitiful” appearance. The question now was how much longer the mortally ill emperor could be expected to live, and what, if anything, he could hope to achieve. In spite of his illness, Friedrich did his best to fulfill his obligations as Emperor.

Immediately after the announcement of his accession, he took the ribbon and star of his Order of the Black Eagle from his jacket and pinned it on the dress of his wife; he was determined to honor her position as Empress. Too ill to march in his father’s funeral procession, he was represented by Wilhelm, the new Crown Prince, while he watched, weeping, from his rooms in the Charlottenburg Palace.

As the German Emperor, he officially received Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom (his mother-in-law) and King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway, and attended the wedding of his son Prince Heinrich to his niece Princess Irene. However, Friedrich III reigned for only 99 days, and was unable to bring about much lasting change. The majority of the German ruling elite viewed Friedrich III’s reign as merely a brief interim period before the accession of his son Wilhelm to the throne.

An edict he penned before he ascended to the throne that would limit the powers of the chancellor and monarch under the constitution was never put into effect,although he did force Robert von Puttkamer to resign as Prussian Minister of the Interior on June 8, when evidence indicated that Puttkamer had interfered in the Reichstag elections. Dr. Mackenzie wrote that the Emperor had “an almost overwhelming sense of the duties of his position.”

In a letter to Lord Napier, Empress Victoria wrote “The Emperor is able to attend to his business, and do a great deal, but not being able to speak is, of course, most trying.” Friedrich III had the fervour but not the time to accomplish his desires, lamenting in May 1888, “I cannot die … What would happen to Germany?”

From April 1888, Friedrich III became so weak he was unable to walk, and was largely confined to his bed; his continual coughing brought up large quantities of pus. In early June, the cancer spread to and perforated his esophagus, preventing him from eating. He suffered from bouts of vomiting and ran high fevers, but remained alert enough to write a last diary entry on June 11: “What’s happening to me? I must get well again; I have so much to do!”

Friedrich III died in Potsdam at 11:30 a.m. on June 15, 1888, and was succeeded by his 29-year-old son as Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia. Under Emperor Wilhelm II, his parents and maternal grandparents, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert’s hopes of a liberal Germany were not fulfilled. He believed in the autocracy and Conservative principles of his paternal grandfather, Emperor Wilhelm I.

Frederick is buried in a mausoleum attached to the Friedenskirche in Potsdam. After his death, William Ewart Gladstone described him as the “Barbarossa of German liberalism.” His wife, Empress Victoria, now calling herself the Empress Friedrich, went on to continue spreading her husband’s thoughts and ideals throughout Germany, but no longer had power within the government.

The early death of Emperor Friedrich III is a tragedy in German history. For if he lived and was able to enact his Liberal policies the history of Germany would have been much different.