Woldemar, 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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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.

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.

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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].