Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911–1966)

Prince Frederick

The Crown Princess presents her fourth son Frederick, 1911
Born 19 December 1911
Berlin
Died 20 April 1966(1966-04-20) (aged 54)
Rhine River
Spouse Lady Brigid Guinness
(m. 1945; his death 1966)
Issue Prince Frederick
Prince William
Princess Victoria Marina, Mrs. Achache
Prince Rupert
Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington
Full name
German: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Christoph
House Hohenzollern
Father Wilhelm, German Crown Prince
Mother Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
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

Prince Frederick of Prussia (German: Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Christoph von Preußen; 19 December 1911 – 20 April 1966), also known as "Mr. Friedrich von Preussen" in England,[1] was the fourth son of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. By renouncing his German citizenship in 1947,[2] he relinquished his place in the line of succession to the former German throne.

Family

On 30 July 1945, he married Lady Brigid Katherine Rachel Guinness, daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh, from the famous brewery family, at Little Hadham, Hertfordshire. They had five children, fifteen grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren:[2]

Studies in England, then internment

He was studying at Cambridge, living incognito under the name of Count von Lingen, when war broke out in September 1939. He was arrested and interned in May 1940. He was held in England for several months, then sent to internment camps near Quebec City and, soon afterwards, Farnham, Quebec. In both camps, he was elected camp leader by fellow inmates.[6]

British naturalisation in 1947

Being a descendant of Sophia of Hanover, and having rights under the Act of Settlement 1701, as amended by the Sophia Naturalisation Act 1705, he was naturalised as a British citizen in October 1947 under the name Mr. Friedrich von Preussen (having also been known during residence in the UK as "George Mansfield").[2] This naturalization was controversial to some, and his status and a subsequent claim for compensation was debated in parliament and the law courts until 1961.[1] In the period 1917-32, it was settled that a person who had a foreign title would normally undertake to relinquish it before he/she could receive a certificate of British naturalization (like the Princes von Battenberg became the Mountbatten family), and no exception was made in the case of Mr. Friedrich von Preussen.[7]

Death

He was the owner of Schloss Reinhartshausen at Erbach, Rheingau. While staying there in 1966, he went missing and was found two weeks later, having drowned in the Rhine, whether suicidally or accidentally could not be determined.[2]

Ancestry

Notes

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  1. 1 2 Commons Debate of 19 October 1961
  2. 1 2 3 4 Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Descendants. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp.17-18, 124-125, 172. ISBN 91-630-5964-9
  3. Milani, Abbas. Eminent Persians, The Men and Women Who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979, Volume 1, Syracuse University Press and Persian World Press, Syracuse, New York, 2008. pp.661-664. ISBN 978-0-8156-0907-0
  4. His birth was only reported in the Daily Mail 31 December 2014 in a story about the late Duke not meeting his newborn great-grandson. See also "Jemma Kidd's husband becomes heir apparent to the Duke of Wellington after his grandfather dies six months before 200th anniversary of Waterloo" 31 December 2014, retrieved 1 January 2015. The date of birth was reported on the Peerage News group on Google Groups.
  5. Maung, Carole Aye (5 September 1997). "Our Auntie Diana". The Mirror. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  6. Grandson of Kaiser Was Held in Canada. Toronto Star, June 1, 1945, p. 28
  7. Home Office Notes, Dec 1924
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