by Scott Mehl © Unofficial Royalty 2019
Prince Oskar of Prussia; Credit – Wikipedia
Prince Oskar Karl Gustav Adolf was the fifth son of Wilhelm II, German Emperor and King of Prussia and Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born at the Marble Palace in Potsdam, Kingdom of Prussia, now in the German state of Brandenburg, on July 27, 1888, and had six siblings:
- Wilhelm, Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia (1882-1951) – married Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, had issue
- Prince Eitel Friedrich (1883-1942) – married Sophie Charlotte of Oldenburg (divorced), no issue
- Prince Adalbert (1884-1948) – married Adelheid of Saxe-Meiningen, had issue
- Prince August Wilhelm (1887-1949) – married Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, had issue
- Prince Joachim (1890-1920) – married Marie-Auguste of Anhalt (divorced), had issue
- Princess Viktoria Luise (1892-1980) – married Ernst August of Hanover, Duke of Brunswick, had issue
Like his elder brothers, Oskar was educated at Plön where he received strict military training. He served in the Prussian forces during World War I and led his troops into numerous successful battles. Toward the end of the war, he served on the Eastern Front and received numerous medals and honors for his bravery. He continued to serve for several years after the fall of the Prussian monarchy.
Prince Oskar with his wife and children, 1925. photo: By Bundesarchiv, Bild 102-00069 / CC-BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 de, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=5478638
On July 31, 1914, at Bellevue Palace in Berlin, Oskar married Countess Ina-Marie von Bassewitz. The marriage was considered morganatic, so the bride could not take her husband’s style and title. Instead, four days before the wedding, Ina-Marie was created Countess von Ruppin. Several years later, in November 1919, the marriage was decreed dynastic, and Ina-Marie and her children were elevated to HRH Prince/Princess of Prussia as of June 1920. The couple had four children:
- Prince Oskar (1915-1939) – unmarried
- Prince Burchard (1917-1988) – married Countess Eleonore Fugger von Babenhausen, no issue
- Princess Herzeleide (1918=1989) – married Karl, Prince Biron von Kurland, had issue
- Prince Wilhelm-Karl (1922-2007) – married Irmgard von Veltheim, had issue
From 1926 until he died in 1958, Oskar served as Master of Knights of the Johanniterorden (Order of Saint John), an ancient order that has been a favorite of the Hohenzollerns. He is credited with saving the order from extinction at the hands of the Nazi regime.
Prince Oskar suffered from declining health for the last few years of his life. He died of stomach cancer in a clinic in Munich, Germany on January 27, 1958, and is buried at Hohenzollern Castle in Bisingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
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