Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911–1966)

Prince Frederick of Prussia
"Count von Lingen"
The Crown Princess presents her fourth son Frederick, 1911
Born 19 December 1911
Berlin
Died 20 April 1966(1966-04-20) (aged 54)
Rhine River
Burial 11 May 1966
Hohenzollern Castle, Wurttemberg-Hohenzollern, Germany
Spouse
Lady Brigid Guinness
(m. 1945; his death 1966)
Issue Prince Frederick
Prince William
Princess Victoria Marina, Mrs. Achache
Prince Rupert
Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington
Full name
German: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Christoph
House Hohenzollern
Father Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
Mother Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
Prussian Royalty
House of Hohenzollern
Wilhelm II
Grandchildren
Prince Wilhelm
Prince Louis Ferdinand
Prince Hubertus
Prince Frederick
Prince Alexander Ferdinand
Princess Alexandrine
Prince Oskar
Princess Victoria Marina
Prince Karl Franz
Prince Burchard
Princess Cecilie
Princess Victoria Marina
Herzeleide, Princess of Courland
Prince Wilhem Victor
Prince Wilhelm-Karl

Prince Frederick of Prussia (German: Prinz Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Christoph von Preußen; 19 December 1911 – 20 April 1966), also known as "Mr. Friedrich von Preussen" in England,[1] was the fourth son of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Family

On 30 July 1945, he married Lady Brigid Guinness, daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh, at Little Hadham, Hertfordshire. They have five children, fifteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren:[2]

  • Prince Frederick Nicholas (born 3 May 1946) married non-dynastically,[3] Hon. Victoria Lucinda Mancroft (born 7 March 1952, daughter of Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft) on 27 February 1980 in London. They have four children and one granddaughter:
    • Beatrice von Preussen (born 10 February 1981)
    • Florence von Preussen (born 28 July 1983) married Hon. James Tollemache (son of Timothy Tollemache, 5th Baron Tollemache) on 10 May 2014, and has issue:
      • Sylvie Beatrice Selina Tollemache (born 2 March 2016)
    • Augusta von Preussen (born 15 December 1986) married Caspar Helmore on 19 September 2015
    • Frederick von Preussen (born 11 June 1990)
  • Prince Andreas (born 14 November 1947) married non-dynastically,[3] Alexandra Blahova (born 28 December 1947) on 2 January 1979. They have two children and one grandson:
    • Tatiana von Preussen (born 16 October 1980) married Phillip Womack on 28 June 2014. They have one son:
      • Arthur Frederick Richard Womack von Preussen (born 21 November 2015)
    • Frederick von Preussen (born 15 November 1984)
  • Princess Victoria Marina (born 22 February 1952) married Philippe Alphonse Achache (born 25 March 1945) on 3 May 1976. They have two children:
    • George Jean Achache (born 8 June 1980)
    • Francis Maximilian Frederick Achache (born 30 April 1982)
  • Prince Rupert (born 28 April 1955) married non-dynastically,[3] Ziba Rastegar-Javaheri (born 12 December 1954, into a family of wealthy Iranian industrialists[4]) on 5 January 1982 in London, and has issue:
    • Brigid von Preussen (born 24 December 1983)
    • Astrid von Preussen (born 16 April 1985)
  • Princess Antonia (born 28 April 1955) who married Charles Wellesley, 9th Duke of Wellington on 3 February 1977. They have five children and five grandchildren.

Studies in England, then internment

He was studying at Cambridge, living incognito under the name of Count von Lingen, when war broke out in September 1939. He was arrested and interned in May 1940. He was held in England for several months, then sent to internment camps near Quebec City and soon afterwards, Farnham, Quebec. In both camps, he was elected camp leader by fellow inmates.[5]

British naturalisation in 1947

He renounced his German citizenship in 1947[2] and hence relinquished his place in the line of succession to the former German throne.[2] Being a descendant of Sophia of Hanover, and having rights under the Act of Settlement 1701, as amended by the Sophia Naturalisation Act 1705, he was naturalised as a British citizen in October 1947 under the name Mr. Friedrich von Preussen (having also been known during residence in the UK as "George Mansfield").[2] This naturalization was controversial to some, and his status and a subsequent claim for compensation was debated in Parliament and the law courts until 1961.[1] In the period 1917-32, it was settled that a person who had a foreign title would normally undertake to relinquish it before he/she could receive a certificate of British naturalization, and no exception was made in the case of Mr. Friedrich von Preussen.[6]

Death

He was the owner of Reinhartshausen Castle at Erbach, Germany. While staying there in 1966, he went missing and was found two weeks later, having drowned in the Rhine, whether suicidally or accidentally could not be determined.[2]

Ancestry

Notes

  1. 1 2 Commons Debate of 19 October 1961
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Descendants. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp.17-18, 124-125, 172. ISBN 91-630-5964-9
  3. 1 2 3 Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XIV. "Haus Preußen". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1991, pp. 148-149. ISBN 3-7980-0700-4.
  4. ↑ Milani, Abbas. Eminent Persians, The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, Volume 1, Syracuse University Press and Persian World Press, Syracuse, New York, 2008. pp.661-664. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0
  5. ↑ Grandson of Kaiser Was Held in Canada. Toronto Star, June 1, 1945, p. 28
  6. ↑ Home Office Notes, Dec 1924
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.