Wilhelm von Preussen

May 6, 1882 (age 69)

Marmorpalais, Potsdam, Germany

Wilhelm frequently interfered in domestic politics, most notably in defending army officers during the infamous Zabern (Saverne) affair in 1913. Arrogant and haughty beyond the royal norm, Wilhelm rivaled his father in arousing antagonism especially in civilian circles. His private life was hardly a model, and shortly before the Great War he dispatched his wife to virtual exile in a lovely Tudor mansion named after her in Potsdam. On August 1, 1914, without being in the least qualified for high command, Wilhelm was given the Fifth Army in place of the recently injured General Hermann von Eichhorn. The Fifth Army was stationed near Diedenhofen-Metz as the pivotal point for the great wheeling movement through Belgium. Ignoring orders to stand, however, Wilhelm attacked the French at Longwy-Longuyon and marched as far west as the very gates of Verdun, where he finally consented to halt. At the Marne on September 5, the Fifth Army formed the outside wing and eventually retreated behind the Aisne as part of the overall withdrawal ordered by Colonel Richard Hentsch. Crown Prince Wilhelm's historic hour came on February 21, 1916, when he was nominally placed in charge of the German assault on Verdun. General Erich von Falkenhayn of the General Staff as well as Wilhelm's chief of staff, General Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, pressed the attack regardless of cost; French Marshal Joseph Joffre and General Henri Pétain were equally determined to hold the stone forts and to transform Verdun into the symbol of national determination. By the fall, after the loss of about 300,000 of the finest assault troops, the attack on Verdun had to be broken off and Forts Douaumont and Vaux abandoned. Schmidt von Knobelsdorf was summarily dismissed as Wilhelm's chief of staff as a result. At the end of September 1916, Wilhelm was appointed chief of a new Army Group Crown Prince Wilhelm and given General Friedrich von der Schulenburg as chief of staff. For much of the next year this army group stood in the sector Verdun-Laon; Wilhelm was promoted general of infantry in January 1917. In April/May his forces, and especially the Seventh Army, fought bloody engagements at the Aisne-Champagne front, while in August/ September it was the Fifth Army's turn to hold off violent French assaults near Verdun. The crown prince, always close to the annexationist Pan- Germans, willingly became a spokesman for all who wished a victorious end to the war with large-scale territorial acquisitions in Belgium and in the east. In November 1923, the crown prince caused a stir when he abandoned his exile and returned to his Silesian estate at Oels. In 1932 the old kaiser forbade his son s candidacy for the office of president of the Weimar Republic, and the crown prince instead urged Berlin to vote for Adolf Hitler. In 1933 Wilhelm joined the Nazi motorized corps and generally supported the Hitler movement. In 1944 he left Oels to avoid the Russians and, after a brief stay at the Cecilienhof in Potsdam, settled at Lindau, Bavaria, where the French eventually seized him. Wilhelm died at Castle Hohenzollern near Hechingen on July 20, 1951.

Wilhelm von Preussen Edit Profile

also known as Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst

statesman nobleman

Background

Wilhelm was born on 6 May 1882 in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg. He was the eldest son of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor (1859–1941) and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858–1921). When he was born, his great-grandfather, Kaiser Wilhelm I, was the reigning emperor and his grandfather, Crown Prince Frederick, was heir to the throne, making Wilhelm third in line to the throne. He was the eldest of the Kaiser's seven children, and his birth sparked an argument between his parents and grandmother. 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 Wilhelms 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.

Education

From 1901 to 1903 he attended Bonn University and in 1905 married Cecilia of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. The crown prince traveled extensively in the Mideast and in Asia Minor, and in 1911, after a grand tour of India, became commander of the First Guards Cavalry Regiment in Danzig.

Career

Wilhelm frequently interfered in domestic politics, most notably in defending army officers during the infamous Zabern (Saverne) affair in 1913. Arrogant and haughty beyond the royal norm, Wilhelm rivaled his father in arousing antagonism especially in civilian circles. His private life was hardly a model, and shortly before the Great War he dispatched his wife to virtual exile in a lovely Tudor mansion named after her in Potsdam.

On August 1, 1914, without being in the least qualified for high command, Wilhelm was given the Fifth Army in place of the recently injured General Hermann von Eichhorn. The Fifth Army was stationed near Diedenhofen-Metz as the pivotal point for the great wheeling movement through Belgium. Ignoring orders to stand, however, Wilhelm attacked the French at Longwy-Longuyon and marched as far west as the very gates of Verdun, where he finally consented to halt. At the Marne on September 5, the Fifth Army formed the outside wing and eventually retreated behind the Aisne as part of the overall withdrawal ordered by Colonel Richard Hentsch.

Crown Prince Wilhelm's historic hour came on February 21, 1916, when he was nominally placed in charge of the German assault on Verdun. General Erich von Falkenhayn of the General Staff as well as Wilhelm's chief of staff, General Schmidt von Knobelsdorf, pressed the attack regardless of cost; French Marshal Joseph Joffre and General Henri Pétain were equally determined to hold the stone forts and to transform Verdun into the symbol of national determination. By the fall, after the loss of about 300,000 of the finest assault troops, the attack on Verdun had to be broken off and Forts Douaumont and Vaux abandoned. Schmidt von Knobelsdorf was summarily dismissed as Wilhelm's chief of staff as a result.

At the end of September 1916, Wilhelm was appointed chief of a new Army Group Crown Prince Wilhelm and given General Friedrich von der Schulenburg as chief of staff. For much of the next year this army group stood in the sector Verdun-Laon; Wilhelm was promoted general of infantry in January 1917. In April/May his forces, and especially the Seventh Army, fought bloody engagements at the Aisne-Champagne front, while in August/ September it was the Fifth Army's turn to hold off violent French assaults near Verdun. The crown prince, always close to the annexationist Pan-

Germans, willingly became a spokesman for all who wished a victorious end to the war with large-scale territorial acquisitions in Belgium and in the east. In November 1923, the crown prince caused a stir when he abandoned his exile and returned to his Silesian estate at Oels. In 1932 the old kaiser forbade his son s candidacy for the office of president of the Weimar Republic, and the crown prince instead urged Berlin to vote for Adolf Hitler. In 1933 Wilhelm joined the Nazi motorized corps and generally supported the Hitler movement. In 1944 he left Oels to avoid the Russians and, after a brief stay at the Cecilienhof in Potsdam, settled at Lindau, Bavaria, where the French eventually seized him. Wilhelm died at Castle Hohenzollern near Hechingen on July 20, 1951.

Connections

Wilhelm married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954) in Berlin on 6 June 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 Frederick Francis 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, during the early stages of his marriage the crown prince had a brief affair with the American opera singer Geraldine Farrar, and he later had a relationship with the dancer Mata Hari.

Their children and male-line grandchildren are:

Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906–1940), who renounced his succession right. He married Dorothea von Salviati and had issue:

Princess Felicitas of Prussia (1934–2009)

Princess Christa of Prussia (born 1936)

Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (1907–1994); married Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia and had issue:

Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (1939–2015)

Prince Michael of Prussia (1940–2014)

Princess Marie Cécile of Prussia (born 1942)

Princess Kira of Prussia (1943–2004)

Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (1944–1977)

Prince Christian-Sigismund of Prussia (born 1946)

Princess Xenia of Prussia (1949–1992)

Prince Hubertus of Prussia (1909–1950); married Baroness Maria von Humboldt-Dachroeden and Princess Magdalena Reuss of Köstritz, had issue:

Princess Anastasia of Prussia (born 1944)

Princess Marie-Christine of Prussia (1947–1966)

Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911–1966); married Lady Brigid Guinness and had issue:

Prince Frederick Nicholas of Prussia (born 1946)

Prince Andrew of Prussia (born 1947)

Princess Victoria of Prussia (born 1952)

Prince Rupert of Prussia (born 1955)

Princess Antonia of Prussia (born 1955)

Princess Alexandrine Irene of Prussia (1915–1980), called "Adini", had Down syndrome.

Princess Cecilie Viktoria Anastasia Zita Thyra Adelheid of Prussia (1917–1975) she married Clyde Kenneth Harris on 21 June 1949:

Kira Alexandrine Brigid Cecilie Ingrid Harris (20 October 1954) she married John Mitchell Johnson, son of Joseph Edward Johnson and Blanche Dabney, on 22 May 1982. They have one son:

Philip Louis Johnson (18 October 1985)

As descendants of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom through her eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, their surviving descendants are in the line of succession to the British throne.

Father:: Wilhelm II

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