Prince Frederick of Prussia (1911–1966)

Prince Friedrich Georg Wilhelm Christoph of Prussia (19 December 1911 – 20 April 1966), a.k.a. in England as "Mr. Friedrich von Preussen",^[1] was the son of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.

Family

On 30 July 1945, he married Lady Brigid Katherine Rachel Guinness, daughter of Rupert Guinness, 2nd Earl of Iveagh, at Little Hadham, Hertfordshire. They had five children:

• Prince Frederick Nicholas (in German, Friedrich Nikolaus, born 3 May 1946), married the Hon. Victoria Lucinda Mancroft (daughter of Stormont Mancroft, 2nd Baron Mancroft) on 27 February 1980 in London, and had issue:
  • Beatrice Victoria von Preußen (born 10 February 1981)
  • Florence Jessica von Preußen (born 28 July 1983)
  • Augusta Lily von Preußen (born 15 December 1986)
  • Frederick Nicholas Stormont von Preußen (born 11 June 1990)
• Prince William Andrew (in German, Wilhelm Andreas, born 14 November 1947), married Alexandra Blahová on 2 January 1979, daughter of František Blaho and wife Vlasta Dokupilová, formerly married on 17 December 1972 to Tom Aisbett, and had issue:
  • Tatiana Brigid Honor von Preußen (born 16 October 1980)
  • Friedrich Alexander von Preußen (born 28 November 1984)
• Princess Victoria Marina Cecilie (in German, Viktoria Marina Cecilie, born 22 February 1952), married Philippe Alphonse Achache (born 25 March 1945), son of Jean Achache and wife Jacqueline Andrieu, on 3 May 1976 in Albury, Hertfordshire, England, and had issue:
  • George Jean Achache (born 8 Jun 1980)
  • Francis Maximilian Frederick Achache (born 30 Apr 1982)
• Prince Rupert Alexander Frederick (in German, Rupprecht Alexander Friedrich, born 28 April 1955), married Ziba Rastegar-Javaheri (born 12 December 1954) on 5 January 1982 in London, England, daughter of Morteza Rastegar-Javaheri and wife Rabeéh Baghaii-Kermani, and had issue:
  • Brigid Elizabeth Soraya von Preußen (born 24 Dec 1983) in London, England
  • Astrid Katherine Rabeéh von Preußen (born 16 Apr 1985) in London, England
• Princess Antonia Elizabeth Brigid Louise (in German, Antonia Elisabeth Birgitta Luise, born 28 April 1955), married Arthur Charles Valerian Wellesley, Marquess of Douro and had issue.

Studies in England, Internment

Friederich 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.^[2]

British naturalization in 1947

Being a descendant of Sophia of Hanover and having rights under the Act of Settlement 1701, as amended by a 1705 Act, Prince Frederick was naturalised as a British citizen in October 1947 under the name Mr. Friedrich Von Preussen. This naturalisation was controversial to some, and his status and a subsequent claim for compensation was debated in parliament and the law courts until 1961.^[3] It is therefore doubtful whether he could have been styled in England as a Prince after 1947 (as distinct from any naming practices in Germany where titles are incorporated into names). 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, and no exception was made in the case of Mr. Friedrich von Preussen.^[4] In turn, his children's claims to be princes or princesses, and their usage of royal titles, is open to question, at least in Britain; titles can be incorporated into names in modern Germany (see German nobility).^[5]

Prince Friedrich was owner of Schloss Reinhartshausen at Erbach, Rheingau, where he died in 1966 after drowning in the Rhine.

Ancestry

Notes