May 6, 1882: Birth of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia

Tags

Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Prussia, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Head of the House of Prussia, House of Hohenzollern, King of Prussia, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, World War I

Wilhelm, German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst; May 6, 1882 – July 20, 1951) was the eldest child of the last German Emperor, Wilhelm II, and his consort Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. As Emperor Wilhelm’s heir, he was the last Crown Prince of the German Empire and the Kingdom of Prussia.

Wilhelm was born on May 6, 1882 as the eldest son of the then Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg, where his parents resided until his father acceded to the throne.

When he was born, his great-grandfather Wilhelm I was the German Emperor and King of Prussia while his grandfather Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhelm 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, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom, 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 Princess Helena to help instead. His mother was hurt and his grandmother, Queen Victoria, who was the younger Wilhelm’s great-grandmother, was furious.

Wilhelm became crown prince at the age of six in 1888, when his grandfather Friedrich III died and his father became emperor.

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 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.

However, Crown Prince Wilhelm was a womanizer and the marriage was unhappy. After the fall of the German monarchy, at the end of World War I, Wilhelm and Cecilie lived mostly apart.

Wilhelm was crown prince for 30 years until the fall of the German Empire on November 9, 1918. 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.

After his return to Germany in 1923, he fought the Weimar Republic and campaigned for the reintroduction of the monarchy and a dictatorship in Germany.

After his plans to become president had been blocked by his father, Wilhelm supported Adolf Hitler’s rise to power, but when Wilhelm realised that Hitler had no intention of restoring the monarchy, their relationship cooled.

Wilhelm became head of the House of Hohenzollern on June 4, 1941 following the death of his father. Although the Monarchy had been abolished, to his supporters and monarchists he had become Wilhelm III, German Emperor and King of Prussia. He held the position until his own death on July 20, 1951. He was succeeded in the headship of the House of Hohenzollern by his second son, Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia.

Happy birthday to Princess Sophie of Prussia

Tags

German Emperor Wilhelm II, House of Hohenzollern, King of Prussia, Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, princess Sophie of Prussia

Happy 44th birthday to Her Imperial and Royal Highness Princess Sophie of Prussia. She is the daughter of Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg (born 1943), and his wife, Countess Christine von Saurma zu der Jeltsch (born 1941). Her father is head of a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who lost their independence in 1815. She has two sisters, Archduchess Katharina of Austria-Este and Isabelle, Dowager Princess of Wied, and two brothers, Alexander, Hereditary Prince of Isenberg, and Prince Viktor.

In 2011 Princess Sophie married His Imperial and Royal Highness Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia who
is the current head of the Prussian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia. He is the great-great-grandson and historic heir of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia.

November 1918: Abdication of German Dukes and Princes

Tags

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

Tags

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.”

August 27, 2021: Tenth Wedding Anniversary of Thier Royal and Imperial Highnesses The Prince and Princess of Prussia

Tags

Countess Donata of Castell-Rüdenhausen, Georg Friedrich of Prussia, German Emperor Wilhelm II, Holy Roman Empire, King of Prussia, Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Sophie of Isenburg, The Prince and Princess of Prussia, Wedding Anniversary

Georg Friedrich Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (born June 10, 1976 in Bremen, West Germany) is a German businessman who is the current head of the Prussian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Empire and of the Kingdom of Prussia.

Georg Friedrich is the only son of Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1944–1977) and Countess Donata of Castell-Rüdenhausen (1950–2015). Born into a mediatised princely family, his mother later became Duchess Donata of Oldenburg when she married secondly Duke Friedrich August of Oldenburg, who had previously been married to her sister-in-law Princess Marie Cécile of Prussia. His only sister is Cornelie-Cécile (b. 1978).

House of Hohenzollern

Georg Friedrich succeeded his grandfather, Louis Ferdinand, as Head of the Royal House of Prussia, a branch of the House of Hohenzollern, on September 26, 1994. He stated that he learned to appreciate the history and responsibility of his heritage during time spent with his paternal grandfather, who often recounted to him anecdotes from the life in exile of his own grandfather, the last German Kaiser, Wilhelm II.

Georg Friedrich is the great-great-grandson and historic heir of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, who abdicated and went into exile upon Germany’s defeat in World War I in 1918. Thus he is a great-great-great-great-grandson of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and a distant cousin of many European monarchs.

On January 21, 2011, Georg Friedrich announced his engagement to Princess Sophie of Isenburg (born March 7, 1978). Her parents are Franz-Alexander, Prince of Isenburg and his wife, née Countess Christine von Saurma zu der Jeltsch. He is head of a mediatized Catholic line of Princes of the Holy Roman Empire, who lost their independence in 1815. She has two sisters (Archduchess Katharina of Austria-Este and Isabelle, Dowager Princess of Wied) and two brothers (Hereditary Prince Alexander and Prince Viktor).

The civil wedding took place in Potsdam on August 25, 2011, and the ecumenical religious wedding took place at the Church of Peace in Potsdam on August 27, 2011, in commemoration of the 950th anniversary of the founding of the House of Hohenzollern. The religious wedding was also broadcast live by local public television. The dinner, which many members of German and European royal families attended, was held in the Orangery Palace at Sanssouci Park.

On January 20, 2013, Georg Friedrich’s wife, Sophie, gave birth to twin sons in Bremen, Carl Friedrich Franz Alexander and Louis Ferdinand Christian Albrecht. Carl Friedrich, the elder of the two, is his father’s heir apparent. Their third child, Emma Marie Charlotte Sofia, was born on April 2, 2015. On November 17, 2016, Sophie gave birth to Heinrich Albert Johann Georg, their fourth child.

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

Tags

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.

This date in History: August 13, 1792. The arrest of King Louis XVI of France and Navarre.

Tags

Bastille, French Revolution, Holy Roman Emperor, Holy Roman Empire, King of France, King of Prussia, Leopold II, Louis Capet, Louis XVI, Reign of Terror

After the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789 Louis XVI eventually became a constitutional monarch. However, Louis’s conservatism and belief in the divine right of kings made that possibility that a Constitutional Monarchy in France would be successful, less and less a possibility.

Louis XVI, King of France & Navarre

The other monarchies of Europe looked with concern upon the developments in France, and considered whether they should intervene, either in support of Louis XVI or to take advantage of the chaos in France. The key figure was Marie-Antoinette’s brother, the Holy Roman Emperor Leopold II. Initially, he had looked on the Revolution with equanimity. However, he became more and more disturbed as it became more and more radical. Despite this, he still hoped to avoid war.

Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor

Friedrich Wilhelm II, King of Prussia

In the summer of 1792 Emperor Leopold II and King Friedrich Wilhelm II of Prussia, in consultation with émigrés French nobles, issued the Declaration of Pillnitz, which declared the interest of the monarchs of Europe in the well-being of Louis and his family, and threatened vague but severe consequences if anything should befall them. Although Leopold saw the Pillnitz Declaration as an easy way to appear concerned about the developments in France without committing any soldiers or finances to change them, the revolutionary leaders in Paris viewed it fearfully as a dangerous foreign attempt to undermine France’s sovereignty.

Carl-Wilhelm-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick

While the revolutionary government frantically raised fresh troops and reorganised its armies, a Prussian-Austrian army under Carl-Wilhelm-Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick assembled at Coblenz on the Rhine. In July, the invasion began, with Brunswick’s army easily taking the fortresses of Longwy and Verdun. The duke then issued on July 25, a proclamation called the Brunswick Manifesto, written by Louis’s émigré cousin, the Prince de Condé, declaring the intent of the Austrians and Prussians to restore the king to his full powers and to treat any person or town who opposed them as rebels to be condemned to death by martial law.

Contrary to its intended purpose of strengthening Louis XVI’s position against the revolutionaries, the Brunswick Manifesto had the opposite effect of greatly undermining his already highly tenuous position. It was taken by many to be the final proof of collusion between the king and foreign powers in a conspiracy against his own country. The anger of the populace boiled over on August 10 when an armed mob – with the backing of a new municipal government of Paris that came to be known as the Insurrectional Paris Commune – marched upon and invaded the Tuileries Palace. The royal family took shelter with the Legislative Assembly.

Louis XVI was officially arrested on August 13, 1792 and sent to the Temple, an ancient fortress in Paris that was used as a prison. On September 21, the National Assembly declared France to be a Republic and abolished the monarchy. Louis XVI was stripped of all of his titles and honours, and from this date was known as Citizen Louis Capet.

The Girondins* were partial to keeping the deposed king under arrest, both as a hostage and a guarantee for the future. Members of the Commune and the most radical deputies, who would soon form the group known as the Mountain**, argued for Louis’s immediate execution. The legal background of many of the deputies made it difficult for a great number of them to accept an execution without the due process of law, and it was voted that the deposed monarch be tried before the National Convention, the organ that housed the representatives of the sovereign people.

* From 1791 to 1793, the Girondins were active in the Legislative Assembly and the National Convention. Together with the Montagnards, they initially were part of the Jacobin movement. They campaigned for the end of the monarchy, but then resisted the spiraling momentum of the Revolution, which caused a conflict with the more radical Montagnards.

** The Mountain were the most radical group and opposed the Girondins. The term, first used during a session of the Legislative Assembly, came into general use in 1793. By the summer of 1793, that pair of opposed minority groups divided the National Convention. That year, led by Maximilien Robespierre, the Montagnards unleashed the Reign of Terror.

Survival of Monarchies

Tags

20th Century, Absolute Monarchy, Austrian Empire, Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia, Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, German Empire, King Felipe VI of Spain, King of Hungary, King of Prussia, Kingdom of England, Monarchy, Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Queen Margrethe II of Denmark., Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, World War I, World War ii

This is an introduction to a new series.

Emperor Franz-Joseph of Austria, King of Hungary.
Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, King of Prussia
Emperor Nicholas II of Russia
Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Queen Wilhelmina V of the Netherlands.
King Christian IX of Denmark
King Alfonso XIII of Spain
King Carlos I of Portugal and the Algarves
King Oscar II of Sweden and Norway
King Vittorio Emanuele III of Italy
King Otto of Bavaria
King Albrecht of Saxony
King Wilhelm II of Württemberg
King George I of Greece
King Alexander I of Serbia
King Carol I of Romania

King Leopold II of Belgium
Grand Duke Friedrich of Baden
Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV of Mechlenburg-Schwerin
Grand Duke Adolf Friedrich VI of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
Grand Duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse and By Rhine
Grand Duke Adolphus of Luxembourg

Duke Carl-Eduard of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
Prince Johann II of Liechtenstein
Prince Albert I of Monaco
Pope Leo XIII Sovereign of the Vatican City

Prince-Grand Master Giovanni Battista Ceschi a Santa Croce of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

 

This is a list of the monarchs who were on their throne on January 1, 1901 the day the 20th century began. By the end of the 20th century this list would be much shorter. The majority of thrones were lost after World War I and then again after World War II. This series is going to examine a hypothesis that I have. It seems the more autocratic and Conservative a monarchy was the more difficult it was for them to change and adapt to the changes within their nations. On the other hand, the more Liberal a state was, where the monarch ruled with a constitution, the more adaptable they were and willing to adjust to the changes within their nations and thus survive.

I will be examining the two more liberal monarchies, The United Kingdom and Denmark, to see how these more Liberal states survived, and I will examine the three large Empires of Europe, Germany, Austria and Russia to see how these Conservative regimes collapsed. I will start at a point in their histories where each state was more autocratic and conservative and how they each adapted or resisted the changing social and political movements that happened in European history.

Next Friday I will begin this series with England/The United Kingdom

I will leave you with a list of monarchies that thrive as of July, 2014.

Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Queen Margrethe II of Denmark
King Felipe VI of Spain
King Philippe of Belgium
King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands
King Harald V of Norway
King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
Grand Duke Henri of Luxembourg
Prince Hans-Adam II of Liechtenstein
Prince Albert II of Monaco
Pope Francis, Sovereign of the Vatican City

Prince-Grand Master Matthew Festing of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta

71st Anniversary of the Death of the last Kaiser

Tags

German Emperor, Huis Doorn, Kaiser Friedrich III of Germany, Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King of Prussia, Princess Royal, Princess Victoria, Queen Victoria, the Netherlands

June 4, 1941 former Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany, King of Prussia died at Huis Doorn in the Netherlands at the age of 82. The Kaiser had been living in the Netherlands in exile since the end of World War I in 1918 and moved in to Huis Doorn in 1920. He was buried in a mausoleum in the grounds of Huis Doorn attended by members of his family and Field Marshal August von Mackensen along with a few other military advisers. His body has never been returned to Germany out of respect for his wish that his body should only be returned there if and when the monarchy is reestablished. Huis Doorn is now a museum open to the public but recent financial difficulties may result in the building being shut down and sold. 

Wilhelm II has always been an interesting subject to study. Son of Kaiser Friedrich III of Germany and King of Prussia and Princess Victoria, Princess Royal of Great Britain, Wilhelm II was also the eldest grandchild of Britain’s Queen Victoria.  Born with a withered left arm from complications of his birth the last German Emperor had a bi-polar personality that was bombastic and arrogant but also warm and friendly to those he respected. He was a scapegoat for World War I and history has shown that not all the blame for the war rests on his shoulders.