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Crown Prince of Prussia, Frederick III of Germany, Kingdom of Prussia, Prince Sigismund of Prussia, Princess Victoria the Princess Royal, Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
Franz Friedrich Sigismund; (September 15, 1864 – June 18, 1866) was the fourth child and third son of the then Crown Prince Friedrich-Wilhelm of Prussia (later King of Prussia and German Emperor as Friedrich III), and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of the British Queen Victoria and Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
Prince Sigismund of Prussia
He was born at the New Palace in Potsdam, Germany, in 1864 and known as “Sigi” to his family. His mother found him much more intelligent than his three elder siblings and believed he would have great potential when he grew up.
However, he died from meningitis at the New Palace on June 18, 1866, aged twenty-one months. He was buried in the royal mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam.
The Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia
His mother’s grief and despair were intense as his father, leading the Prussian army into battle against Austria, had taken all available doctors thus making it impossible for her to alleviate the suffering of her child or prevent his death, the memory of which would haunt her for the rest of her life.
Prince Sigismund was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria to die, almost 115 years before his last cousin Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who died in 1981.
European Royal History 