Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia

Prussian Royalty
House of Hohenzollern
Wilhelm II
Grandchildren Prince Wilhelm Prince Louis Ferdinand Prince Hubertus Prince Frederick Prince Alexander Ferdinand Princess Alexandrine Prince Oskar Princess Victoria Marina Prince Karl Franz Prince Burchard Princess Cecilie Princess Victoria Marina Herzeleide, Princess of Courland Prince Wilhem Victor Prince Wilhelm-Karl
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Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (German: Louis Ferdinand Victor Eduard Adalbert Michael Hubertus Prinz von Preußen; 9 November 1907 – 26 September 1994) was a member of the princely House of Hohenzollern, which occupied the Prussian and German thrones until the abolition of those monarchies in 1918. He was also noteworthy as a businessman and patron of the arts.

Biography

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Louis Ferdinand was born in Potsdam as the third in succession to the throne of the German Empire, after his father, German Crown Prince William and elder brother Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. The monarchy was abolished after Germany's revolution in 1918. When Louis Ferdinand's older brother Prince Wilhelm renounced his succession rights to marry a member of the untitled nobility in 1933 (he was later to be killed in action in France in 1940 while fighting in the German army), Louis Ferdinand replaced him as second in the line of succession to the defunct German and Prussian thrones after the former Crown Prince.

Louis Ferdinand was educated in

Louis Ferdinand dissociated himself from the Nazis after this. He was not involved in the 20 July plot against Hitler in 1944 but was interrogated by the Gestapo immediately afterwards. He was released shortly afterwards.^[1]

He married his second cousin once removed,

The prince was a popular figure. In 1968

After

Sanssouci Palace in Potsdam. Instead of complying with his last wish after his death, the king had been laid to rest in the Garrison Church (Potsdam) next to his unloved father Frederick William I of Prussia in 1786. Both coffins were relocated during World War II and ended up in the prince's castle in what became West Germany. The prince had Frederick William I's coffin taken to the crypt of the Church of Peace, Potsdam because the Garrison Church had been destroyed in 1945.^[4]

In interviews with

C.L. Sulzberger for the book The Fall of Eagles, Louis Ferdinand expressed a deep sense of admiration for the informal bicycle monarchy and crowned republic style favored and used by the Dutch, Belgian, and Scandinavian royal families. Praising how vehicles carrying the King or Queen would stop and wait at traffic lights, Louis Ferdinand stated that if the House of Hohenzollern were ever restored to the German throne during his lifetime, this same informality was a quality he fully intended to emulate.^[5]

Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern, a member of the senior Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty, Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, is his godson.

Ancestry

Ancestors of Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
8. Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 13. Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz 3. Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin 14. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia 7. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia 15. Princess Cecilie of Baden

Notes

1. ^ Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia, The Rebel Prince (Chicago: Henry Reegnery, 1952):306–324
2. ^ Schultz, Sigrid (1 May 1938). "Wedding to Unite Royal Houses of Germany, Russia". Chicago Sunday Tribune. p. 18.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Otto Köhler (18 November 1968). "Unverzichtbare Kaiserkrone". Der Spiegel. Retrieved 15 July 2020.
4. ^ Postscript : Coming Home to Rest After 205 Years, 6 Stops : Frederick the Great wanted to be buried in the garden of his summer palace. Now, he’s about to get his wish., in: Los Angeles Times, Aug. 13, 1991
5. ^ C.L. Sulzberger (1977), The Fall of Eagles, Crown Publishers. Pages 384-393.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia.

• European Royal History entry on Prince Louis-Ferdinand
• Genealogy of the House of Prussia at the Wayback Machine (archived 28 October 2009)
• Newspaper clippings about Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia in the 20th Century Press Archives of the ZBW

Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia House of Hohenzollern Born: 9 November 1907 Died: 26 September 1994
Titles in pretence
Preceded by Crown Prince Wilhelm	— TITULAR — Prince of Prussia 20 July 1951 – 26 September 1994 Reason for succession failure: Kingdom of Prussia abolished in 1918	Succeeded by Prince Georg Friedrich