Category Archives: German Royals

Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen: The County of Schwarzburg was a state of the Holy Roman Empire from 1195 to 1595, when it was partitioned into Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The new counties remained in the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution. In 1697, the County of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. The County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was elevated to the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1710.

The death of Karl Günther, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen without an heir in 1909 caused the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen to be united under Günther Victor, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in a personal union. Following his succession in Sondershausen, Prince Günther Victor dropped the name Rudolstadt from his title and assumed the title Prince of Schwarzburg.

At the end of World War I, Prince Günther Victor was the last German prince to renounce his throne, abdicating on November 22, 1918. He made an agreement with the government that awarded him an annual pension and the right to use several of the family residences. The territory that encompassed the Principalities of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Schwarzburg-Sondershausen is now located in the German state of Thuringia.

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Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on January 8, 1721 in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Johann Friedrich was the only son and the eldest of the three children of Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld.

Johann Friedrich had two younger sisters but one died in infancy and the other never married:

Sophia Wilhelmina of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1723)
Sophia Albertine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1724 – 1799), unmarried

Johann Friedrich was raised and educated by private tutors from the age of four. When he was six-years-old, Johann Friedrich’s mother died. In 1729, his father married again to Christina Sophia of East Friesia but the marriage was childless. From 1737 – 1741, Johann Friedrich made the customary Grand Tour through Europe. He attended lectures on theology at the University of Strasbourg and lectures on mathematics and physics at the University of Utrecht. While in Utrecht, Johann Friedrich visited King George II of Great Britain who was also visiting Utrecht. During his time in France, Johann Friedrich was exposed to the ideas of the Enlightenment. In 1742, he represented his father at the coronation of Holy Roman Emperor Karl VII (also Prince-Elector of Bavaria).

Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach; Credit – Wikipedia

Upon the death of his father Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on September 1, 1744, 23-year-old Johann Friedrich became the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Two months later, on November 19, 1744, in Eisenach, Duchy of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, now in the German state of Thuringia, Johann Friedrich married Princess Bernardina Christina of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach (1724 – 1757). Bernardina Christina was the daughter of Ernst August I, Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach and his first wife with Eleonore Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Köthen. Sadly, Bernadina Christina died in 1757 at the age of 33. She was deeply mourned by her husband who never remarried.

Johann Friedrich and Bernadina Christina had six children but only two daughters survived childhood:

Princess Friederike of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1745 – 1778), married her first cousin once removed Friedrick Karl, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, had six children including Ludwig Friedrich II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
Daughter (born and died 1746)
Son (born and died 1747)
Princess Sophie Ernestine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1749 – 1754), died in childhood
Princess Wilhelmina of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1751 – 1780) married Ludwig I, Prince of Nassau-Saarbrücken, had one son
Princess Henrietta Charlotte of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1752 – 1756), died in childhood

Heidecksburg Castle; Credit – Von © R.Möhler, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41580216

Johann Friedrich continued and completed the reconstruction project his father had started at Heidecksburg Castle (link in German) after a fire in 1735 caused two wings to be burned down to the ground floor. The fire had also destroyed the principality’s sheet music collection and Johann Friedrich with the assistance of his Kapellmeister Georg Gebel built up a new collection.

Johann Friedrich founded a theological seminary and a public library in Rudolstadt. He added his private library to the previous collections and from 1751 made the books available to the public once a week. During his reign, Johann Friedrich acquired more books for the Princely Public Library in Rudolstadt. The collection is now partly part of the historical library in Rudolstadt and partly in the collection at the Heidecksburg Castle library.

Leda and the Swan, circa 1785, an example from the porcelain factory in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit- Wikipedia

In 1760, Johann Friedrich granted Georg Heinrich Macheleid a license to run a porcelain factory. Johann Friedrich was the co-managing director of the porcelain factory which still exists under the name Volkstedter Porzellanmanufaktur. In 1764, upon the 100th anniversary of the local school in Rudolstadt being declared the Princely State School, Johann Friedrich officially declared it a gymnasium (secondary school), renamed it the Gymnasium Friedericianum, and added teaching posts for mathematics and natural science. The Gymnasium Friedericianum Rudolstadt is still in existence.

Johann Friedrich; Credit – Wikipedia

Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt died at the age of 46 on July 10, 1767, in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, (link in German) the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, where his wife Bernadina Christina had been buried. Because he had no son, Johann Friedrich was succeeded by his uncle Louis Günther II. In 1763, Louis Günther II’s eldest son, the new Hereditary Prince Friedrich Karl, had married Johann Friedrich’s eldest daughter Friederike. Friedrich Karl succeeded his father Louis Günther II as the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt in 1790.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas where Johann Friedrich and his wife are buried; Credit – Von Michael Sander – Selbst fotografiert, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=543007

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, Thuringia, Germany before the demolition of Schwarzburg Castle and Schlosskirche Schwarzburg by the German government who planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. However, the construction was never completed and the ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years until reconstruction of the original castle, which is still occurring, began.

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Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Johann Friedrich (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johann_Friedrich_(Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. John Frederick, Prince Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Frederick,_Prince_of_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Princess Bernardina Christina Sophia Of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Bernardina_Christina_Sophia_of_Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 20 October 2020].

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer

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Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Born on August 14, 1692, in Rudolstadt, then in the County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was the eldest of the thirteen children and the eldest of the four sons of Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg. Friedrich Anton had twelve younger siblings. His youngest sibling Ludwig Günther also was a reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. He succeeded to the throne upon the death of Friedrich Anton’s only son Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt who had no sons.

Friedrich Anton’s siblings:

Amalie Magdalene of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Sophie Luise
Sophie Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Amalie Magdalene
Sophie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1694 – 1776), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Wilhelm Ludwig of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1696 – 1757), married morganatically Caroline Henriette Gebauer who was created Baroness of Brockenburg, had three sons and two daughters
Christine Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1697 – 1698), died in infancy
Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1698 – 1720), unmarried
Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1699 – 1774), unmarried
Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1700 – 1780), married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had four sons and four daughters
Sophia Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1737), unmarried, twin of Friederike Luise
Friederike Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1787), unmarried, twin of Sophia Dorothea
Magdalena Sibylle of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1707 – 1795), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Ludwig Günther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1708 – 1790), married Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz, had two daughters and two sons

Friedrich Anton was raised mainly by his paternal grandfather Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt who ensured his grandson received a solid education in the sciences and religion. The young prince was especially fond of poetry and even wrote some poetry himself.

Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Friedrich Anton’s first wife; Credit – Wikipedia

On February 8, 1720 in Saalfeld, Duchy of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, now in the German state of Thuringia, Friedrich Anton married Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld (1693 – 1727). Sophia Wilhelmina was the eldest daughter of Johann Ernst IV, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld and his second wife Charlotte Johanna of Waldeck-Wildungen.

Friedrich Anton and Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld had three children but only two survived childhood:

Johann Friedrich, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1721 – 1767), married Bernardina Christiane of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach, had four surviving daughters
Sophia Wilhelmina of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1723)
Sophia Albertine of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1724–1799), unmarried

Friedrich Anton’s second wife Christina Sophia of East Friesia; Credit – Wikipedia

The marriage of Friedrich Anton and Sophia Wilhelmina lasted only seven years as Sophia Wilhelmina died on December 4, 1727, aged 34. On January 6, 1729, Friedrich Anton married again to Christina Sophia of East Friesia (1688 – 1750). Christina Sophia was the eldest daughter of Prince Christian Eberhard of East Friesia and Eberhadine Sophie of Oettingen-Oettingen. Unfortunately, the marriage was childless.

Upon the death of his father on June 24, 1718, Friedrich Anton became the reigning Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. He was not very interested in the day-to-day governing of the principality and left that to his Chancellor, Georg Ulrich von Beulwitz. He did seem interested in offering religious refuge. In 1727, Friedrich Anton issued a letter of protection to two Jewish families and allowed them to settle in Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. Between 1727 and 1737, nine more Jewish families were granted the same privilege. These families developed into the Jewish community of the Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. In 1732, 2,000 Protestant exiles from Salzburg, Austria arrived in Rudolstadt. They had been expelled when Salzburg began enforcing Catholicism in 1731. They were welcomed with the ringing of church bells and a church service in the St. Andreas Church in Rudolstadt.

Schwarzburg Castle; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Anton had to deal with several financial issues. His brother Wilhelm Friedrich was always in debt and Friedrich Anton needed to bail him out several times. In 1726, a fire damaged Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) and the Schlosskirche (castle church, link in German). Reconstruction necessitated by a 1695 fire had just been completed in 1713. A fire at Heidecksburg Castle (link in German) in 1735 caused two wings to be burned down to the ground floor. The reconstruction costs were substantial and the reconstruction on Heidecksburg Castle was not completed until 1744, two months after Friedrich Anton’s death

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt died September 1, 1744, aged 52, in Rudolstadt. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Friedrich Anton’s second wife Christina Sophia survived him by six years, dying on March 31, 1750, aged 62. Both wives were buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas in Rudolstadt, (link in German) Thuringia, Germany before the demolition of Schwarzburg Castle and Schlosskirche Schwarzburg by the German government who planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. However, the construction was never completed and the ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years until reconstruction of the original castle, which is still occurring, began.

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Friedrich Anton (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Anton_(Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Frederick Anton, Prince Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Anton,_Prince_of_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt> [Accessed 29 October 2020].
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 20 October 2020].

Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

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Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt; Credit – Wikipedia

Ludwig Friedrich I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was born on October 25, 1667, in Rudolstadt, County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. He was the eldest of the two children of Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt and Countess Emilie Juliane of Barby-Mühlingen. Emilie Juliane was the most productive of the German female hymn-writers, composing nearly 600 hymns. She was an early adherent of Pietism, a movement within Lutheranism that emphasized biblical doctrine, individual piety, and living a vigorous Christian life.

Ludwig Friedrich had one younger sister who died in infancy:

Albertina Antonia of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1668)

As was typical for German princes at that time Ludwig Friedrich made a Grand Tour of Europe from May 1687 to October 1688. Accompanied by his tutor Johann von Asseburg, he was received at the Palace of Versailles by King Louis XIV of France and in Vienna, Austria by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. He was also received by Duke Frederick I of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, whose daughter Anna Sophie he later would marry.

Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 15, 1691 at Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, Duchy of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, Ludwig Friedrich married Anna Sophie of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg (1670 – 1728). She was the eldest of the eight children and the eldest of the six daughters of Friedrich I, Duke of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg and Magdalena Sibylle of Saxe-Weissenfels.

Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie had thirteen children:

Friedrich Anton, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1692 – 1744), married (1) Sophia Wilhelmina of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had one son and two daughters (2) Christina Sophia of East Frisia, no children
Amalie Magdalene of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Sophie Luise
Sophie Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (born and died 1693), died in infancy, twin of Amalie Magdalene
Sophie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1694 – 1776), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Wilhelm Ludwig of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1696 – 1757), married morganatically Caroline Henriette Gebauer who was created Baroness of Brockenburg, had three sons and two daughters
Christine Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1697 – 1698), died in infancy
Albrecht Anton of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1698 – 1720), unmarried
Emilie Juliane of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1699 – 1774), unmarried
Anna Sophie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1700 – 1780), married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, had four sons and four daughters
Sophia Dorothea of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1737), unmarried, twin of Friederike Luise
Friederike Luise of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1706 – 1787), unmarried, twin of Sophia Dorothea
Magdalena Sibylle of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1707 – 1795), a nun at Gandersheim Abbey
Ludwig Günther II, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1708 – 1790), married Sophie Henriette of Reuss-Untergreiz, had two daughters and two sons

Ludwig Friedrich’s daughter Anna Sophie who was the Duchess of of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld by marriage; Credit – Wikipedia

Via their daughter, Anna Sophie who married Franz Josias, Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Ludwig Friedrich and Anna Sophie are the ancestors of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert and Leopold I, King of the Belgians. The royal families of Belgium, Denmark, Luxembourg, Norway, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom are their descendants.

In 1697, Albrecht Anton, Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, Ludwig Friedrich’s father, was raised to a Prince and the County of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt was raised to a principality by Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I. However, he chose not to accept his elevation due to his religious modesty which focused on the Pietism of his mother. He also wanted to avoid a confrontation with his neighbors, the dukes from the Ernestine lines of the House of Wettin, (whose duchy names began with “Saxe”) who had opposed his elevation. In 1710, the elevation to Prince was offered again and this time, Albrecht Anton accepted it. However, he did not publish notice of his elevation and continued to use the style Count of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

View of Schwarzburg Castle, lithograph around 1860; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 15, 1710, Albrecht Anton died and his son Ludwig Friedrich succeeded him. Ludwig Friedrich published notice of the elevation to Prince in 1711 and began using the style Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt on April 15, 1711. The elevation strengthened the position of the House of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt against the House of Wettin. The Imperial Hall, which was added to the Schwarzburg Castle (link in German) between 1713 and 1719, was created in connection with the elevation. It contained full-length images of Holy Roman Emperors and the members of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family and represented the dignity and the descent of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family.

Even before he succeeded to the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt throne, Ludwig Friedrich had assisted his father in administrating the principality. After he inherited the throne, he reformed the administration on an absolutist basis. In 1713, an agreement was reached with the other ruling branch of the Schwarzburg family, Schwarzburg-Sondershausen, whereby primogeniture was introduced in both branches, and further division of the family’s possessions was prevented.

Schlosskirche Schwarzburg, circa 1890; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 24, 1718, Ludwig Friedrich I, aged 50, died in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in Thuringia, Germany. He was buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg (link in German), the castle church at Schwarzburg Castle, in Schwarzburg, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia. Anna Sophie, Ludwig Friedrich’s wife, survived him by ten years, dying on December 28, 1728, at the age of 58, and was buried with her husband at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg.

Stadtkirche St. Andreas; Credit – Wikipedia

In the early 1940s, the remains of the Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt family buried at the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg were transferred to the Stadtkirche St. Andreas (link in German) in Rudolstadt, Principality of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, now in the German state of Thuringia, before the demolition of the Schlosskirche Schwarzburg and Schwarzburg Castle. The German government took possession of Schwarzburg Castle and compensated the widow of the last reigning prince. They planned to convert the castle into Adolf Hitler’s Imperial Guest House. In June 1940, demolition began on Schwarzburg Castle, one of the most important Baroque castles in central Germany. In 1942, the construction was stopped and the Imperial Guest House was never finished. The ruins of the castle and the incomplete construction of the guest house were left for years. The only thing that remained of the castle church was the tower dome but it was destroyed in a fire caused by fireworks on New Year’s Eve 1980. There has been much reconstruction on the castle especially after Schwarzburg Castle was transferred to the Thuringian Palaces and Gardens Foundation in 1994.

Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Albert Anton (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Anton_(Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Emilie Juliane Of Barby-Mühlingen. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countess_Emilie_Juliane_of_Barby-M%C3%BChlingen> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Ludwig Friedrich I. (Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ludwig_Friedrich_I._(Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt)> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Louis Frederick I, Prince Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Frederick_I,_Prince_of_Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt> [Accessed 20 October 2020].
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/royal-burial-sites/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-schwarzburg-rudolstadt/> [Accessed 20 October 2020].

Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe: In 1647, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was formed through the division of the County of Schaumburg by treaties between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Count of Lippe. In 1808, the County of Schaumberg-Lippe was raised to a Principality and Georg Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg became the first Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Adolf II, the last Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and lived out his life in exile. In 1936, Adolf II and his wife were killed in an airplane crash in Mexico. Today, the land encompassing the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe is in the German state of Lower Saxony.

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Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Adolf II (Adolf Bernhard) was the last reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. He was born on February 23, 1883, at Stadthagen Castle (link in German), the residence of the Hereditary Prince in Stadthagen, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany. At the time of his birth, his father was the Hereditary Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. Adolf was the eldest of the seven sons and the eldest of the nine children of Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg.

Adolf had eight younger siblings:

Prince Moritz Georg of Schaumburg-Lippe (1884 – 1920), unmarried
Prince Peter of Schaumburg-Lippe (born and died 1886), died in infancy
Prince Wolrad of Schaumburg-Lippe (1887 – 1962), married his second cousin Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, had three sons and one daughter, Wolrad was Head of the House of Schaumberg-Lippe from 1938 until his death
Prince Stephan of Schaumburg-Lippe (1891 – 1965), married Duchess Ingeborg of Oldenburg, had one son and one daughter
Prince Heinrich of Schaumburg-Lippe (1894 – 1952), married Countess Marie-Erika von Hardenberg, had one daughter
Princess Margareth of Schaumburg-Lippea (1896 – 1897), died in infancy
Prince Friedrich Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe (1906 – 1983), married (1) Countess Alexandra zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, had two daughters and one son (2) Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, no children (3) Helene Mayr, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Schaumburg-Lippe (1908 – 1933), married (1) Benvenuto Hauptmann, no children, divorced (2) Baron Johann Herring von Frankensdorff, had one son and one daughter

Upon his father’s death on April 29, 1911, Adolf became the reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. During Adolf’s reign, the huge Bückeburg Mausoleum (link in German) was built between 1911 and 1915 on the Bückeburg Palace grounds to replace the Princely Mausoleum at the St. Martini Church in Stadthagen (links in German) as the family burial site. Adolf’s father was the first in the family to be buried there. After the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, Adolf II was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe became the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe. Adolf was exiled from the Free State of Schaumburg-Lippe and lived in the Brionian Islands, then Italy, now in Croatia.

Ellen von Bischoff-Korthaus

On January 10, 1920, in Berlin, Germany, Adolf married actress Elisabeth Franziska (Ellen) von Bischoff-Korthaus. Ellen was born on November 6, 1894, in Munich, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. The marriage was childless. Adolf was not the first prince Ellen married. On August 24, 1918, Ellen married Prince Eberwyn of Bentheim and Steinfurt (1882 – 1949), son of Prince Alexis of Bentheim and Steinfurt and Princess Pauline of Waldeck and Pyrmont, daughter of George Victor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and his first wife Princess Helena of Nassau. The couple was divorced on December 13, 1919.

While living in Italy, Adolf and Ellen were investigated by the Gestapo (Geheime Staatspolizei, Secret State Police) beginning in June 1934. They were later denounced by Kurt von Behr, head of the Nazi Party in Italy.

On March 26, 1936, Adolf, aged 53, and his wife Ellen, aged 42, were killed in an airplane crash in Zumpango, Mexico, along with eight other passengers from Germany, Austria, and Hungary, and four crew members. Their plane developed engine trouble and crashed between the volcanoes Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl as they were flying from Mexico City, Mexico to Guatemala City, Guatemala. The plane had been chartered by Hamburg-American Line which brought the Europeans to Mexico on a tour. It was the worst Mexican plane crash at that time.

The bodies of Adolf and Ellen were recovered and returned to Germany thanks to the intervention of Adolf’s youngest brother Friedrich Christian who was aide-de-camp to Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels. Friedrich Christian joined the Nazi Party in 1928, one of the first German princes to do so. He never distanced himself from the Nazi ideology and championed it until the end of his life. Initially, Friedrich Christian was against the idea of burying Ellen’s remains in the Bückeburg Mausoleum because he thought that she was not of Aryan origin. When Friedrich Christian was proven wrong, Ellen was buried with Adolf at the Bückeburg Mausoleum (link in German) on the grounds of Bückeburg Castle. Wolrad, Adolf’s next surviving brother, who was also a member of the Nazi Party, succeeded him as Head of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe.

Bückeburg Mausoleum; Credit – Von Corradox – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328133

Schaumburg-Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolf II. (Schaumburg-Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_II._(Schaumburg-Lippe)> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolf II, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_II,_Prince_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
It.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolfo II Di Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_II_di_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
Pt.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolfo II, Príncipe De Eschaumburgo-Lipa. [online] Available at: <https://pt.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolfo_II,_Pr%C3%ADncipe_de_Eschaumburgo-Lipa> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1936. 14 Die In Worst Mexican Air Crash; Three Titled Germans Among Dead; Plane Carrying Ten Tourists From Europe And Four In Crew Falls Between Two Volcanoes, Killing All — Prince And Princess Adolf Of Schaumburg-Lippe Lose Lives. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1936/03/27/87926235.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0> [Accessed 21 October 2020].

Georg, Prince of Schaumberg-Lippe

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe: In 1647, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was formed through the division of the County of Schaumburg by treaties between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Count of Lippe. In 1808, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was raised to a Principality and Georg Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg became the first Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

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Georg, Prince of Schaumberg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

On October 10, 1846, Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (Stephan Albrecht Georg) was born at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was the eldest of the four sons and the second of the eight children of Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont.

Georg had seven siblings but only five survived childhood:

Princess Hermine of Schaumburg-Lippe (1845 – 1930), married Duke Maximilian of Württemberg, no children
Prince Hermann of Schaumburg-Lippe (1848 – 1928), unmarried
Princess Emma of Schaumburg-Lippe (1850 – 1855), died in childhood
Princess Ida of Schaumburg-Lippe (1852 – 1891), married Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz, had one son and five daughters
Prince Otto Heinrich of Schaumburg-Lippe (1854 – 1935), married morganatically Anna von Koppen, had two sons and one daughter
Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (1859 – 1917), married Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, no children
Princess Emma of Schaumburg-Lippe (1865 – 1868), died in childhood

16-year-old Georg, Hereditary Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

Georg had a career in the military. After his initial military training, he studied at the University of Göttingen. He then served as an officer of the Schaumburg-Lippe Jäger Battalion. In 1867, after Schaumburg-Lippe signed a military treaty with Prussia and entered into a military union, a Prussian battalion, the 7th Westphalian Jäger Battalion relocated to Bückeburg, the capital of the Principality of Schaumberg-Lippe, and Georg transferred to the Prussian battalion with the rank of captain. Georg took part in the Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 1871). He later served in the 11th Hussar Regiment and the Life Guards Hussar Regiment (link in German) of the Prussian Army.

Engagement photo of Georg and Marie Anna, 1882; Credit – Wikipedia

On April 16, 1882, in Altenburg, Duchy of Saxe-Altenburg, now in the German state of Thuringia, Georg married Princess Marie Anna of Saxe-Altenburg, eighteen years younger than him. Born on March 14, 1864, Marie Anna was the eldest child of Prince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg and Princess Augusta of Saxe-Meiningen. Her paternal grandparents were Georg, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg and Duchess Marie Luise of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and her maternal grandparents were Bernhard II, Duke of Saxe-Meiningen and Princess Marie Friederike of Hesse-Kassel. After their marriage, the couple resided in the newly furnished Stadthagen Castle (link in German), the residence of the Hereditary Prince in Stadthagen, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in Lower Saxony, Germany.

Stadthagen Castle, Georg and Marie Anna’s home before Georg became Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Von Beckstet – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9726977

Georg and Marie Anna had nine children:

Adolf II, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1883–1936), married Ellen von Bischoff-Korthaus, no children
Prince Moritz Georg of Schaumburg-Lippe (1884 – 1920), unmarried
Prince Peter of Schaumburg-Lippe (born and died 1886), died in infancy
Prince Wolrad of Schaumburg-Lippe (1887 – 1962), married his second cousin Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, had three sons and one daughter
Prince Stephan of Schaumburg-Lippe (1891 – 1965), married Duchess Ingeborg of Oldenburg, had one son and one daughter
Prince Heinrich of Schaumburg-Lippe (1894 – 1952), married Countess Marie-Erika von Hardenberg, had one daughter
Princess Margareth of Schaumburg-Lippea (1896 – 1897), died in infancy
Prince Friedrich Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe (1906 – 1983), married (1) Countess Alexandra zu Castell-Rüdenhausen, had two daughters and one son (2) Princess Marie Louise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, no children (3) Helene Mayr, no children
Princess Elisabeth of Schaumburg-Lippe (1908 – 1933), married (1) Benvenuto Hauptmann, no children, divorced (2) Baron Johann Herring von Frankensdorff, had one son and one daughter

Upon the death of his father on May 8, 1893, Georg became the reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. In 1907, upon the occasion of their 25th wedding anniversary, Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia presented Schaumburg Castle, the Schaumburg-Lippe ancestral home, in Rinteln, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Lower Saxony, to Georg and Maria Anna. The castle had become the property of the Prussian royal family when the Principality of Schaumberg-Lippe sided with the Austrians, the losers in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War. The gift was also meant to be in recognition of Georg’s support of Prussia in the dispute over the succession to the Principality of Lippe’s throne. (See Unofficial Royalty: Alexander, Prince of Lippe for an explanation of the dispute over the succession to the Principality of Lippe throne.)

Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe died on April 29, 1911, aged 64, at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was buried at the Bückeburg Mausoleum (link in German) in the park surrounding Bückeburg Castle. Georg’s son and successor Adolf II, the last reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, had the mausoleum built following his father’s death. Georg’s wife Marie Anna survived him by seven years, dying on May 3, 1918, at age 54. She was buried with her husband at the Bückeburg Mausoleum.

The Bückeburg Mausoleum. photo: By Corradox – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=7328133

Schaumburg-Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Georg (Schaumburg-Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_(Schaumburg-Lippe)> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Marie Anna Von Sachsen-Altenburg. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marie_Anna_von_Sachsen-Altenburg> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Georg, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg,_Prince_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Princess Marie Anne Of Saxe-Altenburg. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Marie_Anne_of_Saxe-Altenburg> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Schaumburg-Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-schaumburg-lippe/schaumburg-lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
Thepeerage.com. 2020. Genealogy Of Georg, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://www.thepeerage.com/p11098.htm#i110977> [Accessed 16 October 2020].
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1907. Kaiser Rewards Prince. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1907/04/21/104704676.pdf?pdf_redirect=true&ip=0> [Accessed 16 October 2020].

Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

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Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (Adolf Georg) was the eldest of the nine children of Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe and Princess Ida of Waldeck and Pyrmont. He was born at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony, on August 1, 1817.

Adolf had eight younger siblings. He was 24 years older than his youngest sibling:

Princess Mathilde (1818 – 1891), married Duke Eugen of Württemberg, had two daughters and one son
Princess Adelheid (1821 – 1899), married Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had three daughters and two sons
Prince Ernst (1822 – 1831), died in childhood
Princess Ida (1824 – 1894), unmarried
Princess Emma (1827 – 1828), died in infancy
Prince Wilhelm (1834 – 1906), married Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau, had four daughters and four sons including Charlotte who married King Wilhelm II of Württemberg and Adelheid who married Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Prince Hermann (born and died 1839), died in infancy
Princess Elisabeth (1841 – 1926), married Prince Wilhelm of Hanau and Horowitz, no children, divorced

Adolf was educated at the local school on Schulstrasse (School Street) in Bückeburg, founded in 1614 as a Latin school. A new school was constructed in a different location in Bückeburg from 1874 to 1876 and was named Gymnasium Adolfinum after Adolf, who was the reigning Prince at that time. The Gymnasium Adolfinum in Bückeburg is still in existence, however, it is located in a newer building in a different location. A gymnasium in the German education system is the most advanced of the three types of German secondary schools.

As was typical for German princes of that time, Adolf studied for short periods at several universities (Geneva, Leipzig, and Bonn), followed by a grand tour of Italy. In 1835, he served as a captain in the Schaumburg-Lippe contingent in the German Federal Army, the army of the German Confederation. From 1842 – 1892, Adolf served in the Prussian Army, ultimately reaching the rank of General of the Cavalry, fighting in the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1870 – 1871).

Adolf and his wife Hermine in 1862; Credit – Royal Collection Trust

On October 20, 1844, at Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse, Adolf married his maternal first cousin Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont, a daughter of Georg II, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym. Hermine was born on September 29, 1827. Through her brother and her father’s successor Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, Hermine was the aunt of Princess Marie who married the future King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, Princess Emma who married King Willem III of the Netherlands, and Princess Helena who married Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, Queen Victoria’s hemophiliac, youngest son.

Adolf and Hermine had eight children including two daughters named Emma who both died young:

Princess Hermine of Schaumburg-Lippe (1845 – 1930), married Duke Maximilian of Württemberg, no children
Georg, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1846 – 1911), succeeded his father as Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe; married Princess Marie Anne of Saxe-Altenburg, had seven sons and two daughters
Prince Hermann of Schaumburg-Lippe (1848 – 1928), unmarried
Princess Emma of Schaumburg-Lippe (1850 – 1855), died in childhood
Princess Ida of Schaumburg-Lippe (1852 – 1891), married Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz, had one son and five daughters
Prince Otto Heinrich of Schaumburg-Lippe (1854 – 1935), married morganatically Anna von Koppen, had two sons and one daughter
Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (1859 – 1917), married Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of Queen Victoria, no children
Princess Emma of Schaumburg-Lippe (1865 – 1868), died in childhood

On November 21, 1860, upon the death of his father Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, Adolf became the reigning Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe. In 1867, the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe joined the North German Confederation, the German federal state that existed from July 1867 to December 1870. After long negotiations with the Schaumburg-Lippe national assembly, Adolf agreed to a new constitution in 1868.

Proclamation of King Wilhelm I of Prussia as German Emperor in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles; Credit – Wikipedia

On December 10, 1870, the legislature of the North German Confederation adopted the name Deutsches Reich (German Empire) and granted the additional title of German Emperor to Wilhelm I, King of Prussia. On January 18, 1871, Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe was present in the Hall of Mirrors at the Palace of Versailles in France when Wilhelm I, King of Prussia was proclaimed German Emperor. The Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe was one of the 26 constituent states of the German Empire.

After a reign of 33 years, Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe died at the age of 75, on May 8, 1893, at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was buried in the Princely Mausoleum (link in German) at the St. Martini Church (link in German) in Stadthagen, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. Adolf’s wife Hermine survived him by 17 years, dying on February 16, 1910, at the age of 82, at Bückeburg Castle, and was buried with her husband.

The Princely Mausoleum at the St. Martini Church in Stadthagen. photo: By losch – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17674154

Schaumburg-Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolf I. Georg (Schaumburg-Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_I._Georg_(Schaumburg-Lippe)> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Georg Wilhelm (Schaumburg-Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_(Schaumburg-Lippe)> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Adolf I, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_I,_Prince_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. George William, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William,_Prince_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Princess Hermine Of Waldeck And Pyrmont. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Hermine_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Schaumburg-Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-schaumburg-lippe/schaumburg-lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 15 October 2020].

Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe

by Susan Flantzer
© Unofficial Royalty 2020

Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe: In 1647, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was formed through the division of the County of Schaumburg by treaties between the Duke of Brunswick-Lüneburg, the Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel, and the Count of Lippe. In 1808, the County of Schaumberg-Lippe was raised to a Principality and Georg Wilhelm, Count of Schaumburg became the first Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Adolf II, the last Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 15, 1918, and lived out his life in exile. In 1936, Adolf and his wife were killed in an airplane crash in Mexico. Today, the land encompassing the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe is in the German state of Lower Saxony.

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Credit – Wikipedia

Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe was born on December 20, 1784, at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, County of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was the only son and the third of the four children of Philipp II Ernst, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe and his second wife Landgravine Juliane of Hesse-Philippsthal.

Bückeburg Castle, Georg Wilhelm’s birthplace; Credit – Von Beckstet – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9684542

Georg Wilhelm’s father Philipp Ernst had first married in 1756 to Princess Ernestine Albertine of Saxe-Weimar (1722-1769). They had three sons and one daughter but Ernestine Albertine died in 1769 and by 1780, all four children had died and Philipp Ernst was left without an heir.

Georg Wilhelm’s half-siblings from his father’s first marriage:

Count Clemens August (born and died 1757)
Count Karl Wilhelm (1759 – 1780)
Count Georg Karl (1760 -1776)
Countess Friederike Antoinette (1762 -1777)

Georg Wilhelm’s mother Juliane of Hesse-Philippsthal; Credit – Wikipedia

After the death of his last surviving son in 1780, 57-year-old Philipp II Ernst, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe married 21-year-old Landgravine Juliane of Hesse-Philippsthal in hopes of having a son to succeed him. After giving birth to two daughters, Julianne finally gave birth to an heir, Georg Wilhelm, in 1784.

Georg Wilhelm had three sisters:

Countess Eleonore Luise (1781 – 1783), died in early childhood
Countess Wilhelmine Charlotte (1783 – 1858), married Ernst zu Münster, Cabinet Minister of the Kingdom of Hanover, had one son
Countess Karoline Luise (1786 – 1846)

Count Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, an important person in Georg Wilhelm’s childhood; Credit – Wikipedia

Two months after his second birthday, Georg Wilhelm became the reigning Count of Schaumberg-Lippe upon the death of his 64-year-old father on February 13, 1787. His mother Julianne and Count Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn, an illegitimate son of King George II of Great Britain by his mistress Amalie von Wallmoden, served as Regents of the Principality of Schaumberg-Lippe. Shortly after the death of Philipp II Ernst, Count of Schaumburg-Lippe, William IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel occupied Schaumburg-Lippe, arguing that it was a fief of Hesse-Kassel and was up for grabs after Philipp Ernst’s death. With military support from Hanover and Prussia and the rulings of the Reichshofrat, the court of the Holy Roman Empire responsible for matters relating to imperial fiefs and imperial privileges, Juliane managed to achieve a rapid withdrawal of the Hessian troops.

In the short time, Julianne served as regent, she conducted thorough reforms of the economy and education, downsized the court, continued the tolerant policy towards the Jews her father-in-law had introduced, and managed to cut taxes. She appointed Bernhard Christoph Faust (link in German) as her personal physician and helped him with the introduction of the smallpox inoculation.

On November 9, 1799, fifteen-year-old Georg Wilhelm lost his surviving parent when his mother Julianne died at the age of 38 after a severe cold. Count Johann Ludwig von Wallmoden-Gimborn took over as Georg Wilhelm’s regent and Georg Wilhelm lived under his supervision in Hanover. In 1802, he studied at the University of Leipzig and then traveled to Switzerland and Italy.

In 1807, Georg Wilhelm took over the government. In the same year, after joining the Confederation of the Rhine, sixteen German states joined together in a confederation formed by Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, the County of Schaumburg-Lippe was raised to the Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe and Georg Wilhelm became its first reigning prince. In 1815, Schaumburg-Lippe joined the German Confederation, an association of 39 German-speaking countries created by the Congress of Vienna in 1815 to coordinate the economies of the German-speaking countries and to replace the former Holy Roman Empire, which had been dissolved in 1806. Georg Wilhelm abolished serfdom without compensation and introduced a restricted constitution in 1816.

Princess Ida of Waldeck and Pyrmont; Credit – Wikipedia

On June 23, 1816, in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse, Georg Wilhelm married Princess Ida of Waldeck and Pyrmont. Born on September 26, 1796, Ida was one of the thirteen children of Georg I, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont and wife Princess Auguste of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.

Georg Wilhelm and Ida had nine children whose births spanned twenty-four years:

Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe (1817 – 1893), married his first cousin Princess Hermine of Waldeck and Pyrmont, had four daughters and four sons including Georg who succeeded his father, Ida who married Heinrich XXII, Prince Reuss of Greiz, and Adolf who married Princess Viktoria of Prussia, daughter of Friedrich III, German Emperor and Victoria, Princess Royal
Princess Mathilde (1818 – 1891), married Duke Eugen of Württemberg, had two daughters and one son
Princess Adelheid (1821 – 1899), married Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had three daughters and two sons
Prince Ernst (1822 – 1831), died in childhood
Princess Ida (1824 – 1894), unmarried
Princess Emma (1827 – 1828), died in infancy
Prince Wilhelm (1834 – 1906), married Princess Bathildis of Anhalt-Dessau, had four daughters and four sons including Charlotte who married King Wilhelm II of Württemberg and Adelheid who married Ernst II, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
Prince Hermann (born and died 1839), died in infancy
Princess Elisabeth (1841 – 1926), married Prince Wilhelm of Hanau and Horowitz, no children, divorced

During the Revolutions of 1848, when there were demands for more participation in government and democracy, Georg Wilhelm gave in to some liberal demands but then changed to a more reactionary course in 1849 by abolishing the new constitution without restoring the old one.

Georg Wilhelm, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, aged 75, died on November 21, 1860, at Bückeburg Castle (link in German) in Bückeburg, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. He was buried in the Princely Mausoleum (link in German) at the Evangelical Lutheran St. Martini Church (link in German) in Stadthagen, Principality of Schaumburg-Lippe, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. Georg Wilhelm’s wife Ida survived him by nine years, dying on April 12, 1869, in Menton, Alpes-Maritimes, France at the age of 72. She was buried with her husband in the Princely Mausoleum at St. Martini Church.

St. Martini Church; Credit – Von Beckstet – Eigenes Werk, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9678243

Schaumburg-Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Georg Wilhelm (Schaumburg-Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Wilhelm_(Schaumburg-Lippe)> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. George William, Prince Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_William,_Prince_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Landgravine Juliane Of Hesse-Philippsthal. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Landgravine_Juliane_of_Hesse-Philippsthal> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Philip II, Count Of Schaumburg-Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_II,_Count_of_Schaumburg-Lippe> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Schaumburg-Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-schaumburg-lippe/schaumburg-lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 15 October 2020].
Nl.wikipedia.org. 2020. George Willem Van Schaumburg-Lippe (1784-1860). [online] Available at: <https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Willem_van_Schaumburg-Lippe_(1784-1860)> [Accessed 15 October 2020]

Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe

by Susan Flantzer © Unofficial Royalty 2020

Principality of Lippe: Originally called Lippe-Detmold, the Principality of Lippe came into existence in 1789 when it was raised from a County within the Holy Roman Empire to a Principality. Leopold I, Count of Lippe-Detmold became the first Prince of Lippe.

At the end of World War I, Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe, was forced to abdicate on November 12, 1918. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government that allowed his family to remain in Lippe. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Lippe is located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

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Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe (Leopold Julius Bernhard Adalbert Otto Karl Gustav) was born Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld on May 30, 1871, in Oberkassel. Oberkassel was the seat of the counts and later princes of Lippe-Biesterfeld. In 1815, it was taken over by the Kingdom of Prussia and now Oberkassel is a district of the city of Bonn, Germany. Leopold was the eldest of the three sons and the second of the six children of Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Countess Karoline Friederike Cecilia of Wartensleben. Leopold’s father Ernst was the head of the non-reigning Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe, the most senior line of the princely house after the reigning Lippe-Detmold line.

Leopold had five siblings:

Countess Adelheid (1870 – 1948) married Prince Friedrich Johann of Saxe-Meiningen, had six children, grandparents of Princess Regina of Saxe-Meiningen, wife of Crown Prince Otto of Austria
Prince Bernhard (1872 – 1934), married Baroness Armgard von Cramm, had two sons including Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld, husband of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands
Prince Julius (1873 – 1952) married Duchess Marie of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, had two children
Princess Karola (1873 – 1958), unmarried
Princess Mathilde (1875 – 1907), unmarried

Leopold’s childhood home, Lippe House in Oberkassel: Credit – By Tohma – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3570902

Leopold began his education at the Klosterschule Roßleben (link in German), founded in 1554 and still in existence, in Roßleben, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Thuringia. For his secondary education, Leopold attended the Pädagogium Putbus (link in German) in Putbus, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, graduating in 1891. From 1891 – 1894, Leopold served as an officer in the Imperial German Army. Leopold studied political science at the University of Bonn and the University of Berlin from 1894 – 1895. At the University of Bonn, he became a member of the Corps Borussia, a German student association. In 1895, Leopold returned home because the Lippe succession dispute required his presence.

In 1895, the childless Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died and his unmarried, mentally incapacitated brother Alexander succeeded him as Prince of Lippe, with a regency. Since 1871, Alexander had been confined at the St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium, a private sanatorium for men with nervous and mental disorders, near Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1890, Woldemar, Prince of Lippe issued a decree, ordering that it be kept secret until his death, appointing Prince Adolf of the reigning House of Schaumburg-Lippe, the brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, as his brother’s regent. After the reigning Princes of Lippe, Lippe-Biesterfeld was the most senior line of the princely house followed by the Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld and the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. According to the house law, Leopold’s father Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld was the heir and entitled to be the Regent of the Principality of Lippe.

Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld disputed the regency of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe. The Lippe parliament confirmed Prince Adolf as regent but agreed, along with Prince Adolf, to submit to an arbitration decision. Due to the intervention of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, there was intense interest in the Lippe succession dispute throughout Europe. The dispute also caused a temporary rift between Wilhelm II, who supported his brother-in-law Prince Adolf of Schaumberg-Lippe, and his Chancellor, Chlodwig, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst, who supported Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld for legal reasons and also because of a family relationship. On June 22, 1897, the seven-member Court of Arbitration, comprised of King Albert of Saxony as President and six Judges of the Imperial Court, granted Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld the regency of the Principality of Lippe and the right to succeed Alexander, Prince of Lippe.

Leopold and his first wife Bertha with their three eldest children; Credit – Wikipedia

On August 16, 1901, in Rotenburg an der Fulda, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Hesse, Leopold married the first of two wives, Princess Bertha of Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld. Bertha was the daughter of Prince Wilhelm Friedrich Ernst of Hessen-Philippsthal-Barchfeld, a rear admiral in the Prussian and German Imperial Navy, and the second of four wives, Princess Juliane of Bentheim and Steinfurt.

Leopold and Bertha had five children:

Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (link in German) (1902 – 1987), married (1) Charlotte Ricken, divorced (2) Herta-Elise Weiland, had one son and one daughter
Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904 – 1965), unmarried
Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905 – 2001), married Count Hans of Kanitz, had six daughters
Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909 – 2000), married Veronika Holl, had one daughter
Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915 – 2008), married Friedrich Carl Heldman, had two daughters and one son

Leopold’s father Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld died on September 26, 1904, and Leopold succeeded him as Regent of the Principality of Lippe. Four months later, Alexander, Prince of Lippe, the last of the Lippe-Detmold line, died on January 13, 1905. With the extinction of the Lippe-Detmold line, the throne of the Principality of Lippe went to Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld who reigned as Leopold IV and would be the last reigning Prince of Lippe.

During Leopold IV’s reign, there was much economic and cultural advancement. The major building projects provided much-needed employment for the people of Lippe. Christ Church in Detmold (link in German) was built in 1908 to accommodate the growing Protestant community which had outgrown the small Church of the Redeemer. It is the burial site of Leopold IV, his two wives, and most of their children.

Christ Church in Detmold; Credit – Von Daniel Brockpähler – Eigene Fotografie, bearbeitet mit Photoshop von Nikater, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8648403

In 1825, Leopold II, Prince of Lippe had built a theater and established a very successful theater company, the Lippe Princely Court Theater (Hochfürstliches Lippisches Hoftheater). In 1912, the original theater burned to the ground because of a damaged chimney. Leopold IV had the theater rebuilt during World War I, financed with donations from the Detmold citizens and funds from the Princely House. The rebuilt theater and the theater company is still in existence today. Now called the Landestheater Detmold, it is a theater for operas, operettas, musicals, ballets, and stage plays in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

During World War I, Leopold upgraded the titles of some members of the House of Lippe. In 1916, Leopold’s nephews, sons of his brother Bernhard, were upgraded to the title Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld with the style Serene Highness. One of these nephews was Prince Bernhard of Lippe-Biesterfeld who would marry Queen Juliana of the Netherlands. The Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld also were upgraded with the creations of the title Prince of Lippe-Weissenfeld and the style Serene Highness.

Following the German Empire’s defeat in World War I and the German Revolution of 1918-1919, Leopold IV was forced to renounce the throne on November 12, 1918, by the Lippe People’s and Soldiers’ Council. However, Leopold negotiated a treaty with the new government allowing his family to remain in Lippe. Three months later, on February 19, 1919, Leopold’s wife Bertha died at the age of 44. She was buried at the Christ Church, one of her husband’s building projects, in Detmold, then in the new Weimar Republic, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen; Credit – geni.com

On April 26, 1922, in Büdingen, Germany, Leopold married Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen (1886–1980). Anna was the youngest of the eight children of Bruno, 3rd Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his second wife Countess Bertha of Castell-Rüdenhausen. Princess Anna had been married for three years to Count Ernst of Lippe-Weissenfeld until he was killed in action early in World War I on September 11, 1914.

The nine-year-old daughter of Anna and her first husband became Leopold’s stepdaughter:

Princess Eleonore of Lippe-Weissenfeld (1913 – 1964), married and divorced Adolph Sweder Hubertus, Count of Rechteren-Limpurg, had two one son and one daughter

Leopold and Anna had one son:

Armin, Prince of Lippe (1924 – 2015) married Traute Becker, had one son

Leopold’s son Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe as a witness during the Nuremberg Trials; Credit – Wikipedia

During the rise of Nazism in Germany, all three of Leopold’s sons by his first wife Bertha became members of the Nazi Party. The eldest son the Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the Nazi Party when he signed up in May 1928. Ernst’s brother Chlodwig joined the Nazi Party in 1931 and the other brother Leopold Bernhard joined in 1932. Hereditary Prince Ernst later became an SS-Major (Schutzstaffel Sturmbannführer) and held a high-ranking post in the SS Race and Settlement Main Office. The SS (Schutzstaffel) was the agency of security, surveillance, and terror in Nazi Germany and German-occupied Europe. The SS Race and Settlement Main Office was responsible for safeguarding the racial purity of the SS within Nazi Germany. At the end of World War II, Hereditary Prince Ernst of Lippe was taken prisoner by the Allies and took part in the Nuremberg Trials as a witness. The denazification tribunal in the Detmold administrative district classified Ernst as a Lesser Offender, Category III. He was not imprisoned but rather placed on probation for two-three years with a list of restrictions.

In addition to being pro-Nazi, both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Khlodwig had made unequal marriages. Due to these circumstances, Leopold rewrote his will in 1947, indicating that Armin, his only child with his second wife, would succeed him as the head of the House of Lippe and become the administrator of the princely family’s properties such as the Residenzschloss Detmold (link in German), thereby disinheriting all three of his sons from his first marriage.

Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, aged 78, died on December 30, 1949, in Detmold, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He was buried with his first wife Bertha at the Christ Church in Detmold (link in German). Leopold’s second wife Anna survived him by thirty-one years, dying on February 8, 1980, in Detmold at the age of 94, and was also buried at Christ Church.

Leopold IV and Anna’s son Armin was head of the House of Lippe from 1949 until he died in 2015. Armin’s only child Stephan, Prince of Lippe (born 1959) succeeded him as head of the House of Lippe. Stephan married Countess Maria of Solms-Laubach and they had three sons and two daughters.

Stephan, Prince of Lippe; Credit – geni.com

Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Ernst Leopold Prinz Zur Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_Leopold_Prinz_zur_Lippe> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV. (Lippe). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV._(Lippe)> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Ernest, Count Of Lippe-Biesterfeld. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest,_Count_of_Lippe-Biesterfeld> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Leopold IV, Prince Of Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leopold_IV,_Prince_of_Lippe> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Mehl, Scott, 2018. Lippe Royal Burial Sites. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-lippe/lippe-royal-burial-sites/> [Accessed 13 October 2020].
Petropoulos, Jonathan, 2009. Royals And The Reich. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Alexander, Prince of Lippe

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Credit – Wikipedia

Alexander, Prince of Lippe (Karl Alexander) was the seventh of the nine children of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe and Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen. He was born on January 16, 1831, in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

Alexander had six older siblings and two younger siblings. It appears his brothers Leopold and Woldemar, who were both reigning Princes of Lippe, were the only ones who married but neither had any children. This would eventually create a succession crisis.

Leopold III, Prince of Lippe (1821 – 1875), married Princess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, no children
Princess Luise of Lippe (1822 – 1887)
Woldemar, Prince of Lippe (1824 – 1895), married Princess Sophie of Baden, no children
Princess Friederike of Lippe (1825 – 1897)
Prince Friedrich of Lippe (1827 – 1854)
Prince Hermann of Lippe (1829 – 1884)
Prince Karl of Lippe (1832 – 1834), died in childhood
Princess Pauline of Lippe (1834 – 1906)

Alexander served as a captain in the army of the Kingdom of Hanover. He had a fall from his horse in 1851 and over the subsequent years, he developed the first signs of mental disorder. In 1870, due to the worsening of his mental disorder, Alexander was legally declared incapacitated. The following year, it became necessary to place Alexander in the St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium, a private sanatorium for men with nervous and mental disorders, near Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria, where he spent the remainder of his life.

St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium where Alexander was a patient from 1871 until his death in 1905; Credit – Wikipedia

There appears to be a history of mental disorder in the Lippe family. Alexander’s grandfather Leopold I, Prince of Lippe had mental disorders that interfered in his role as reigning prince and he was deemed incapacitated by the Reichskammergericht (Imperial Chamber Court), one of two highest judicial institutions in the Holy Roman Empire, and placed under guardianship. Leopold I’s condition did improve for a while and that allowed him to marry. However, because of Leopold I’s tenuous mental condition, his wife Pauline became his governmental adviser and colleague, staying mostly in the background and avoiding anything that could be interpreted as exceeding her duties. Within the next few years, Leopold I developed intestinal tuberculosis and his mental disorders returned with memory loss. Leopold I, Prince of Lippe died at the age of 34. Prince Friedrich (1797 – 1854), Leopold I’s second son, was also described as temporarily mentally disturbed and Prince Kasimir August (1777 – 1809), Leopold I’s brother exhibited schizophrenic traits.

When Alexander’s father Leopold II died in 1851, he was succeeded by his eldest son Leopold III. The childless Leopold III died in 1875 and he was succeeded by his next brother Woldemar who was also childless. During Woldemar’s reign, Alexander became Woldemar’s only surviving brother, the last of the line of the House of Lippe, and therefore his heir.

Because Alexander had been declared incapacitated and therefore, incapable of governing, a regency would be necessary during Alexander’s reign. In 1884, Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld succeeded his father as the head of the non-reigning Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe. After the reigning Princes of Lippe, Lippe-Biesterfeld was the most senior line of the princely house followed by the Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld and the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. According to the house law, Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld was the heir.

Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld; Credit – Wikipedia

However, Woldemar did not want Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld to be his brother’s regent because of a personal dislike and because of his desire to bequeath his principality to a member of a ruling princely house. In 1890, Woldemar issued a decree, ordering that it be kept secret until his death, appointing Prince Adolf of the reigning House of Schaumburg-Lippe, the brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, as his brother’s regent. When Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died March 20, 1895, his incapacitated brother Alexander succeeded him as Prince of Lippe, with a regency. However, Woldemar’s appointment of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as his brother’s regent sparked the Lippe succession dispute.

As for Alexander, he probably knew nothing about the Lippe succession dispute. He remained at the St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium but was able to attend concerts and plays, and spent his time playing chess, copying pictures from illustrated newspapers, listening to music, and playing chess. However, Alexander did know his rank and position and insisted on the proper etiquette.

Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld, the future Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Count Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld remained as regent until his death on September 26, 1904, at the age of 62. His son Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld succeeded him as head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line, Regent of the Principality of Lippe, and heir to the Lippe throne.

Alexander, Prince of Lippe, the last of the Lippe-Detmold line, died on January 13, 1905, aged 73, at the St. Gilgenberg Sanatorium, near Bayreuth, Kingdom of Bavaria, now in the German state of Bavaria. He was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. With the extinction of the Lippe-Detmold line, the throne of the Principality of Lippe went to Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld who would be Leopold IV, the last Prince of Lippe.

Mausoleum on the Büchenberg in Detmold. photo: by Tsungam – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=18903057

Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Ernst Zur Lippe-Biesterfeld. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_zur_Lippe-Biesterfeld#Lippischer_Erbfolgestreit> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Ernest, Count Of Lippe-Biesterfeld. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernest,_Count_of_Lippe-Biesterfeld> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1895. Lippe Succession Decided.. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1897/07/08/105948202.html?pageNumber=7> [Accessed 21 October 2020].
Timesmachine.nytimes.com. 1904. LIPPE’s INSANE MONARCH.; Prince Is Not Closely Confined — Goes To Concerts And Theatres.. [online] Available at: <https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1904/10/14/101399441.html> [Accessed 21 October 2020].

Woldemar, Prince of Lippe

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Woldemar, Prince of Lippe; Credit – Wikipedia

Woldemar, Prince of Lippe (Günther Friedrich Woldemar) was born on April 18, 1824, in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was the second of the six sons and the third of the nine children of Leopold II, Prince of Lippe and Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen.

Woldemar had two elder siblings and six younger siblings. It appears that Woldemar and his elder brother Leopold were the only ones who married and neither had any children. This would eventually create a succession crisis. After the death of Woldemar’s successor and brother Alexander and the extinction of the Lippe-Detmold line, the throne of the Principality of Lippe went to Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld who would be the last Prince of Lippe.

Leopold III, Prince of Lippe (1821 – 1875), married Princess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, no children
Princess Luise of Lippe (1822 – 1887)
Princess Friederike of Lippe (1825 – 1897)
Prince Friedrich of Lippe (1827 – 1854)
Prince Hermann of Lippe (1829 – 1884)
Alexander, Prince of Lippe (1831 – 1905), unmarried, a regency was established due to his mental illness
Prince Karl of Lippe (1832 – 1834), died in childhood
Princess Pauline of Lippe (1834 – 1906)

Sophie of Baden, Woldemar’s wife; Credit – Wikipedia

On November 9, 1858, in Karlsruhe, Grand Duchy of Baden, now in the German state of Baden-Württemberg, Woldemar married Princess Sophie of Baden. Sophie was the daughter of daughter of Prince Wilhelm of Baden and Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Württemberg. Her paternal grandparents were Karl Friedrich, the first Grand Duke of Baden, and his morganatic second wife, Louise Caroline Geyer von Geyersberg, Countess of Hochberg. The marriage of Woldemar and Sophie was childless.

Because Woldemar was a second son and not expected to succeed to the throne, he had a career in the Prussian Army. He achieved the rank of General and was the commander of the 55th (6th Westphalian) Infantry “Count Bülow von Dennewitz”. He was a Knight of the Order of the Black Eagle, the highest order of chivalry in the Kingdom of Prussia.

Woldemar succeeded his childless elder brother Leopold III, Prince of Lippe upon his death on December 8, 1875. He inherited an unpleasant constitutional situation that had been going on during his brother’s reign. Leopold III had opposed the liberal reforms, more participation in government and democracy, that resulted from the German revolutions of 1848–49. He dissolved the state parliament, repealed the constitution of 1849, and reintroduced the constitution of 1836. He then replaced his cabinet councilors with conservatives. Leopold’s position was that he had neither initiated nor approved, let alone sworn to, the constitution forced by the revolution. The constitutional dispute continued throughout Leopold III’s reign and the rift between conservatives and liberals, between town and country, deepened. The citizens of the Principality of Lippe hoped that their new, more liberal prince would remedy the situation and he did to a large extent.

On January 13, 1876, Woldemar appointed August Eschenburg as President of the Cabinet with the task of restoring constitutional conditions. Eschenburg succeeded in convening a working state parliament and persuaded the nobility to renounce its class privileges. Apart from his grandmother Princess Pauline, who served as Regent for eighteen years for her son Leopold II until he reached his majority, no other Prince of Lippe dealt with government affairs as successfully as Woldemar did.

Woldemar had no children to succeed him and his only surviving brother was Alexander who suffered from mental illness and had been declared incapacitated since 1871 and therefore, incapable of governing. A regency would be necessary during the reign of Alexander. In 1884, Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld succeeded his father as the head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe. After the reigning Princes of Lippe, Lippe-Biesterfeld was the most senior line of the princely house followed by the Counts of Lippe-Weissenfeld and the Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe. However, Woldemar did not want Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld to be his brother’s regent because it would mean Ernst would become the heir. In 1890, Woldemar issued a decree, ordering that it be kept secret until his death, appointing Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe, the brother-in-law of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia, as his brother’s regent.

Crypt in the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg; Credit – Von unbekannt / Tsungam – Foto: Eigenes Werk; Infotafel: Freunde der Residenz Detmold, Gemeinfrei, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20182639

Woldemar, Prince of Lippe died March 20, 1895, aged 70, in Detmold, Principality of Lippe, now in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia. He was buried at the Mausoleum on the Büchenberg (link in German) in Detmold. His wife Sophie survived him by nine years, dying on April 6, 1904, at the age of 70. She was buried with her husband. Woldemar’s incapacitated brother Alexander succeeded him as Prince of Lippe, with a regency. However, Woldemar’s appointment of Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe as his brother’s regent sparked the Lippe succession dispute that is discussed in Alexander, Prince of Lippe’s article.

Lippe Resources at Unofficial Royalty

Works Cited

De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Woldemar (Lippe-Detmold). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woldemar_(Lippe-Detmold)> [Accessed 6 October 2020].
En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Woldemar, Prince Of Lippe. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woldemar,_Prince_of_Lippe> [Accessed 6 October 2020].
Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Leopold II, Prince Of Lippe. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/leopold-ii-prince-of-lippe/> [Accessed 6 October 2020].

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