Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

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Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
German Crown Princess
Crown Princess of Prussia
Born(1886-09-20)20 September 1886
Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Empire
Died6 May 1954(1954-05-06) (aged 67)
Bad Kissingen, Bavaria, West Germany
Burial12 May 1954
Hohenzollern Castle, Baden-Württemberg, West Germany
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1905; died 1951)​
Issue
Names
Cecilie Auguste Marie
Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
MotherGrand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia

Duchess Cecilie Auguste Marie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (20 September 1886 – 6 May 1954) was the last

Wilhelm II, German Emperor
.

Cecilie was a daughter of

Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia. She was brought up with simplicity, and her early life was peripatetic, spending summers in Mecklenburg and the rest of the year in Southern France
. After the death of her father, she traveled every summer between 1898 and 1904 to her mother's native Russia. On 6 June 1905, she married German Crown Prince Wilhelm. The couple had four sons and two daughters. Cecilie, tall and statuesque, became popular in Germany for her sense of style. However, her husband was a womanizer and the marriage was unhappy.

After the

Nazi period, Cecilie lived a private life mainly at Cecilienhof Palace in Potsdam. With the advance of the Soviet troops, she left the Cecilienhof in February 1945, never to return. She settled in Bad Kissingen until 1952 when she moved to an apartment in the Frauenkopf district of Stuttgart
. In 1952, she published a book of memoirs. She died two years later.

Early years

Cecilie, Alexandrine and Friedrich Franz of Mecklenburg-Schwerin with their mother Grand Duchess Anastasia.

Born on 20 September 1886 in

Eugénie and her future husband's great-uncle, Edward VII
.

During the winter visit of 1897, Cecilie's sister,

Kronstadt Bay, the country home of her maternal grandfather, Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia.[4]

Engagement

Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and Wilhelm, Crown Prince of Germany in 1905.

During the wedding festivities of her brother

Wilhelm II
had sent his eldest son to the festivities as his personal representative. Taller than most women of her time at 182 centimetres (over 5'11"), Cecilie was as tall as the German Crown Prince. Wilhelm was struck by her great beauty, and her dark hair and eyes. On 4 September 1904, the young couple celebrated their engagement at the Mecklenburg-Schwerin hunting lodge, Gelbensande. The kaiser as an engagement present had a wooden residence built nearby for the couple. On 5 September the first official photos of the couple were taken.

Wedding

The wedding of Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and the German Crown Prince Wilhelm took place on 6 June 1905 in

Archduke Franz Ferdinand, as well as representatives from Denmark, Italy, Belgium, Portugal and the Netherlands. On her wedding day, Kaiser Wilhelm II presented his daughter-in-law with the Order of Louise
.

The wedding ceremony took place in the Royal Chapel and also the nearby

wedding march from Lohengrin was played along with music from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg|The Meistersinger from Nuremberg conducted by Richard Strauss. On her wedding day, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became Her Imperial and Royal Highness
The German Crown Princess and Crown Princess of Prussia. She was expected to one day become German empress and queen of Prussia.

German Crown Princess

As German crown princess, Cecilie quickly became one of the most beloved members of the German imperial house. She was known for her elegance and fashion consciousness. It was not long before her fashion style was copied by many women throughout the German Empire. After the end of the wedding festivities, the crown princely couple made their summer residence at the Marble Palace in Potsdam. Every year at the beginning of the court season in January, the couple would return to the Crown Prince Palace in Berlin on Unter den Linden. Cecilie's first child was born on 4 July 1906 and given the traditional Hohenzollern name of Wilhelm. At the time, the German monarchy appeared to be very secure.[5]

Nonetheless in private she had a fiery temper, not countenancing contradiction. Although in public the marriage of the crown prince and princess appeared to be perfect, cracks quickly appeared due to the crown prince's wandering eye and controlling behaviour. Very early on, he began a series of affairs that strained the relationship between husband and wife - on one occasion announcing to his wife his latest escapade, whereupon she thought of drowning herself.[6]

In spite of her husband's unfaithfulness, however, Cecilie had given birth to six children by 1917. They were:

She herself developed a passionate relationship with Baron Otto von Dungern (1873-1969), her husband's aide de camp - attempting, once, to get into bed with Dungern. On discovering that Dungern was also having an affair with another woman at court, she confessed to her husband who told him to resign with the words: "Only my consideration for his imperial majesty (his father, Kaiser William II) prevents me from grinding you into the dust."[7]

Impact as German Crown Princess

Crown Princess Cecilie (1906), by Philip de László

Cecilie made considerable impact in a number of areas including women's education. Several schools and roads were named after her. On 6 December 1906, the crown princess christened at

Emperor Franz Josef in Vienna. In May 1911, Cecilie with the crown prince visited the Russian imperial court in Saint Petersburg. The visit coincided with the birthday of the Russian tsar. A visit to London to King George V and Queen Mary at Buckingham Palace followed in June 1911. The London illustrated magazine, 'The Sphere
' reported the visit as "our beloved visitors for the coronation". Queen Mary was particularly fond of the imperial couple and maintained contact with the German crown princess until her death in 1953. The 1911 visit to London was Cecilie's last as representative of the German Empire.

Revolution and the overthrow of the German monarchy

Main article:
German Revolution of 1918-1919

The political and economic situation in the last year of the war became more and more hopeless. On 6 November 1918, the new German imperial Chancellor,

New Palace. It was here that the Empress Auguste Viktoria informed her daughter-in-law, "The revolution has broken out. The kaiser has abdicated. The war is lost."[8]

Life under the republic

The German Crown Prince with his wife and their children, circa 1925. From left to right: Prince Wilhelm, Prince Hubertus, Crown Princess Cecilie, Crown Prince Wilhelm, Prince Friedrich Georg and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia. In the foreground: Princesses Alexandrine and Cecilie of Prussia.

The former crown princess was nothing but realistic about the new political situation confronting her family and Germany. The former empress went into exile to join her husband. The crown princess was quite prepared to do the same, but wanted to stay in Germany with her children if at all possible. This she was allowed to do and on 14 November, she quietly left the New Palace and returned to her private home of Cecilienhof. As a result of a change of circumstances, Cecilie reduced her household staff by 50%.[9] Her children's tutor also left her service and as a result her two eldest sons, Princes Wilhelm and Louis Ferdinand, for the first time attended as day students at a nearby school.[10] Cecilie had considerable sympathy for the plight of the German people. In reply to an address from the German Women's Union in Berlin, the former crown princess stated, "I need no sympathy. I have the beautiful situation that can befall any German woman, the education of my children as good German citizens."[11]

Wilhelm was only allowed to return to Germany from his enforced exile in 1923. Before then visits to him were difficult. Fortunately for the Hohenzollern family they still possessed considerable private holdings in Germany due to a provisional agreement worked out between the Hohenzollern family and the Prussian state in November 1920.[12] Castle Oels, a castle with 10,000 hectares of workable land in Silesia, now in modern day Poland, provided substantial income for Cecilie's family. In the absence of her husband, Cecilie became the leading figure in the once ruling House of Hohenzollern. The former crown princess was under no illusions that the empire would be restored, unlike her father-in-law exiled in Doorn in the Netherlands. His return was completely impossible. With the election of Gustav Stresemann as chancellor of the Weimar Republic in August 1923, negotiations for the former crown prince commenced. On the evening of 13 November 1923, Cecilie met her husband at Castle Oels. The years of separation and the behavior of Wilhelm had made the marriage now merely one in name only, but Cecilie was determined to keep things together even at a distance. More and more she lived in Cecilienhof at Potsdam, while her husband lived in Silesia. The couple would come together when necessary for the sake of family unity for occasions such as family weddings, confirmation of children, christenings and funerals. In 1927, a final financial agreement was reached between the Hohenzollerns and the Prussian state. Cecilie remained active within several charity organizations such as the Queen Louise Fund, Chair of the Fatherland's Women Union and the Ladies of the Order of St. John, while keeping clear of any political involvement. With the coming to power of the Nazi Party of Adolf Hitler in 1933, all such charitable organizations were dissolved.

Under Nazi German rule 1933-1939

During 1933–1945, Cecilie lived a private life at Cecilienhof in Potsdam. Her eldest son, Prince Wilhelm forfeited his position as possible heir when he married

Dorothea von Salviati on 3 June 1933. This occurred as she was not from a suitable royal family. Even though the royal house was formally deposed, its strict house rules persisted. The former crown prince and princess were more understanding of their son than the exiled kaiser. Cecilie was not perturbed and made the best of the situation and was delighted when she became a grandmother for the first time on 7 June 1934. In 1935, Cecilie's second son worked, after studying economics and working for a time in the United States as a mechanic for Ford Motor Company, then with Lufthansa. Her third son, Hubertus, after spending a period of time farming joined the military and then the air force to become a pilot. The youngest son Friedrich went into business. In May 1938, Prince Louis Ferdinand married Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, daughter of the pretender to the Russian throne, Grand Duke Cyril Vladimirovich
, at Cecilienhof. It would be the last great family occasion before the outbreak of war in September 1939.

World War II

A period of relative calm for Cecilie's family and for Germany came to an end with the outbreak of

Church of Peace at Potsdam on 29 May. Over 50,000 people lined the way to his final resting place in the Antique Temple near the remains of his grandmother, former Empress Auguste Viktoria. The huge turnout in respect for a prince, who had died a hero's death, from the former ruling dynasty, alarmed and infuriated Adolf Hitler.[13] As a result, no prince from a former German dynasty was allowed to serve at the front and in 1943 Hitler ordered that they all be discharged from the armed forces.[14]

In 1941, the former Kaiser Wilhelm II died. At the age of 55, Cecilie's husband became Head of the House of Hohenzollern.[15] While under the monarchy this would have meant a great change for Cecilie and her husband, the change was potentially dangerous because of the leader of the Nazi German state. During this time, Cecilie and her husband increasingly retreated to Castle Oels to live a quiet life, far away from the dangers of Berlin. Even Potsdam, only 30 minutes away by train from the capital was too close for comfort. With the war going badly, Cecilie and her family left the advancing danger of the Soviet Army to return to Potsdam where they celebrated Christmas in December 1944. It would be the last such occasion at her beloved home. In February 1945, Cecilie left Cecilienhof for the last time.

Final years

Cecilie fled the Soviet Army in February 1945 to the sanatorium of Dr.

Castle Hohenzollern where he was buried in the ground near an urn containing the ashes of the late Prince Hubertus. On the arm of her son, Prince Louis Ferdinand
, Cecilie bade a final farewell to her husband. She remained in Bad Kissingen until 1952 when she moved to an apartment in the Frauenkopf district of Stuttgart.

In 1952, Cecilie's memoirs, 'Remembrances' were published. In an act of healing and friendship, the former Crown Princess Cecilie was received by King George V's widow, Queen Mary, in May 1952 during a visit to England. Cecilie visited for the first time to attend the christening of her granddaughter,

Castle Hohenzollern
.

Ancestry

References

  1. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 11.
  2. ^ Zeepvat, 'The Other Anastasia', p. 5.
  3. ^ Cecilie, Crown Princess of Germany, 'My Memories of Imperial Russia', p. 89.
  4. ^ Cecilie, Crown Princess of Germany, 'My Memories of Imperial Russia', p. 93.
  5. ProQuest 126857602
    .
  6. ^ Easton, Journey to the Abyss, pp. 479–85.
  7. ^ Easton, Journey to the Abyss, p. 484.
  8. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 54.
  9. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 54.
  10. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 54.
  11. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 55.
  12. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 57.
  13. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 90.
  14. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 90.
  15. ^ Kirschstein, Kronprinzessin Cecilie, p. 91.

Sources

External links

Media related to Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, German Crown Princess at Wikimedia Commons

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