This article is about the Crown Prince Wilhelm. For German ships of the same name, please see the Kronprinz Wilhelm or SMS Kronprinz Wilhelm.

Frederick William Victor Augustus Ernest (Friedrich Wilhelm Victor August Ernst) (6 May 1882 – 20 July 1951) of the House of Hohenzollern was the last Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire. He was colloquially known as William or Wilhelm.

Early life

William was born in the Marble Palace of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg. He was the eldest son of William II, German Emperor (1859-1941) and his first wife Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1921).

As a young man, the Crown Prince grew up within militaristic circles. He had received little command experience when he was given charge of the 5th Army in August 1914, shortly after the outbreak of World War I. He led this Army until November 1916, and his command included the period of the Verdun Offensive. Since April 1916 he tried in vain to convince the supreme command that the battle no longer made any sense. Only on September 2 was his wish fulfilled. During World War I he was nicknamed the "Clown Prince" by the British soldiers, the name was continued in 1917 by the Americans.

After the German revolution

After the outbreak of the German Revolution in 1918, both Emperor William II and the Crown Prince signed the document of abdication. The Crown Prince went into exile to the isle of Wieringen, in the Netherlands. In 1923, he returned to Germany after giving assurances that he would no longer engage in politics. The former Crown Prince held some political ambitions, and was reportedly interested in the idea of running for Reichspräsident as the right-wing candidate opposed to Paul von Hindenburg in 1932, until his father forbade the idea.

The Crown Prince supported Hitler for some time, hoping and announcing in public that this man would do for Germany what Mussolini had done for Italy - making an end to all Bolshevist/Marxist influence. He had connections with some organizations, more than loosely connected with the National Socialist Party (Nazi Party) and allowed himself to be used by the Nazi government in various symbolic actions.. After the murder of his friend, the former Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher in the Night of the Long Knives (1934), he retreated from all political activities. Most of his efforts from 1919 until 1934 had been directed to make a return of the Hohenzollerns to the throne viable option again, and he had assumed that Hitler would give this idea his support.

William lived as a private citizen on his family's estates throughout World War II. Upon his father's death in 1941, William succeeded him as head of the House of Hohenzollern, the former German imperial dynasty. In 1951, the former Crown Prince died of a heart attack in Hechingen, in the ancestral lands of his family in Swabia, as the family's estates in Brandenburg had been occupied by the Soviet Union.

Family and children

William married Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 - 6 May 1954) in Berlin on 6 June 1905. 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 this marriage the crown prince had a brief affair with the American opera singer Geraldine Farrar.

Their children and male-line grandchildren are:

• Prince Wilhelm of Prussia (1906-1940), who renounced his succession right.
• Princess Felicitas of Prussia (born 1934)
• Princess Christa of Prussia (born 1936)
• Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (1907-1994)
• Prince Hubertus of Prussia (1909-1950)
• Princess Anastasia of Prussia (born 1944)
• Princess Marie-Christine of Prussia (1947-1966)
• Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911-1966)
• 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 of Prussia (1915-1980)
• Princess Cecilie of Prussia (1917-1975)

Their surviving descendants are also in the Line of British succession.

Titles, styles, honours and arms

Titles and styles

• 6 May 1882 - 15 June 1888: His Royal Highness Prince William of Prussia
• 15 June 1888 - 20 July 1951: His Imperial and Royal Highness The German Crown Prince, Crown Prince of Prussia

Ancestry

External links

• The memoirs of the Crown Prince of Germany
• The Life of Crown Prince William

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