Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1864–1866)

This page is about the Prince Sigismund born in 1864. For his nephew and namesake born in 1896, see Prince Sigismund of Prussia (1896-1978)

Prince Sigismund
Prince Sigismund of Prussia
Born	(1864-09-15)15 September 1864 New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia German Empire
Died	18 June 1866(1866-06-18) (aged 1) New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia, German Empire
Burial	21 June 1866 Friedenskirche, Potsdam, Prussia, German Empire
Full name Franz Friedrich Sigismund
House	Hohenzollern
Father	Frederick III, German Emperor
Mother	Victoria, Princess Royal

Prince Sigismund of Prussia (Franz Friedrich Sigismund) (15 September 1864 – 18 June 1866) was the fourth child and third son of Crown Prince Frederick William of Prussia (later King of Prussia and German Emperor as Frederick III), and Victoria, Princess Royal, eldest daughter of the British Queen Victoria.

He was born at the New Palace in Potsdam, Germany, in 1864. His mother found him much more intelligent than his three elder siblings and believed he would have great potential when he grew up. However, he died from meningitis at the New Palace on 18 June 1866, aged twenty-one months. He was buried in the royal mausoleum of the Friedenskirche at Potsdam. His mother's grief and despair were intense as his father, leading the Prussian army into battle against Austria, had taken all available doctors thus making it impossible for her to alleviate the suffering of her child or prevent his death, the memory of which would haunt her for the rest of her life.

Prince Sigismund was the first grandchild of Queen Victoria to die, almost 115 years before his last cousin Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone, who died in 1981.

Ancestry