Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia

Prince Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl of Prussia (7 July 1883 – 8 December 1942) was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Princess Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg. He was born and died in Potsdam, Germany.

Prince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia
Eitel Friedrich as captain of the First Regiment of Foot Guards, Potsdam
Born(1883-07-07)7 July 1883
Marmorpalais, Potsdam, Prussia, German Empire
Died8 December 1942(1942-12-08) (aged 59)
Potsdam, Brandenburg, Nazi Germany
Burial12 December 1942
Spouse
(m. 1906; div. 1926)
Names
Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl
HouseHohenzollern
FatherWilhelm II, German Emperor
MotherAugusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein

Life and activities

Prince Eitel Friedrich was born on 7 July 1883 as the second son of the then Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, and his first wife, Princess Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born in the Marmorpalais of Potsdam in the Province of Brandenburg, where his parents resided until his father acceded to the throne as Emperor Wilhelm II in 1888. He spent his childhood with his siblings at the New Palace, also in Potsdam, and his school days with his brothers at the Prinzenhaus in Plön in his mother’s ancestral Schleswig-Holstein.

On 27 February 1906, Prince Eitel married Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg (2 February 1879 Oldenburg – 29 March 1964 Westerstede) in Berlin. They were divorced on 20 October 1926 on the grounds of her adultery before the war. They had no children.

Raised at the cadet corps of Plön Castle, Prince Eitel was in the front line from the beginning of World War I and was wounded at Bapaume, where he commanded the Prussian First Foot Guards. He temporarily relinquished command to Count Hans von Blumenthal, but returned to duty before the end of the year. The following year, he was transferred to the Eastern Front. During the summer of 1915, he was out in a field in Russia when he had a chance encounter with Manfred von Richthofen, who had just crashed with his superior officer, Count Holck. The two men were hiding in a nearby tree line from what they thought was the advancing Russian army and who turned out to be the grenadiers, guardsmen, and officers of Prince Eitel.

In 1907, it was reported that Member of the Reichstag Otto Arendt had proposed the elevation of Alsace-Lorraine to a grand duchy within the empire, with Eitel Friedrich as monarch; however, while the Kaiser did express interest, ultimately nothing came of the plan.[1]

After the war, he was engaged in monarchist circles and Der Stahlhelm ex-servicemens' organization. In 1921, the Berlin criminal court found him guilty of the fraudulent transfer of 300,000 Marks and sentenced him to a fine of 5000 Marks.[2]

From 1907 to 1926, he was Master of the Knights (Herrenmeister) of the Order of St. John (Johanniterorden). He received the Pour le Mérite order in 1915. His body is buried at the Antique Temple in Sanssouci Park, Potsdam.

Regimental Commissions[3]

  • Hauptmann (captain) and commander of the Leibkompagnie (Life-company), 1. Garderegiment zu Fuß (1st Regiment of Foot Guards)
  • à la suite, Grenadierregiment König Friedrich Wilhelm IV.(1. Pommersches) Nr. 2
  • à la suite, 1. Gardelandwehrregiment (Guard Reserve Regiment)
  • Hauptmann (captain), Austria-Hungary K.u.K. Infantry Regiment "Wilhelm I., Deutscher Kaiser und König von Preußen" Nr. 34
  • Hauptmann (captain), Saxon Army
  • à la suite, 7. Königsinfanterieregiment (King's Infantry Regiment) Nr. 106
  • First Brigade of Imperial Guards, commander, 1914–15[4]

Orders and decorations

German decorations[3]
Foreign decorations[7]
Honours

Two ships were named after Prince Eitel, the passenger ship Prince Eitel Friedrich (1901) and the Reich postal steamer Prince Eitel Friedrich (1904).

Ancestry

References

  1. "FATE OF ALSACE-LORRAINE". New York Times. 8 June 1907. p. 8.
  2. Tucholsky: Awrumele Schabbesdeckel und Prinz Eitel-Friedrich von Hohenzollern at www.textlog.de
  3. Handbuch über den Königlich Preußischen Hof und Staat (1918), Genealogy p.1
  4. The American Library Annual. R.R. Bowker Co. 1915. p. 25.
  5. "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (supp.)", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), Berlin, 1: 7, 80, 129, 1886 via hathitrust.org
  6. "Schwarzer Adler-orden", Königlich Preussische Ordensliste (in German), Berlin, 1895, p. 5 via hathitrust.org{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  7. "Wilhelm Eitel-Friedrich Christian Karl Prinz von Preußen, K.H." the Prussian Machine. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
  8. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1910), "Großherzogliche Orden" p. 41
  9. "Königliche Orden", Hof- und – Staatshandbuch des Königreichs Bayern (in German), Munich: Druck and Verlag, 1914, p. 10 via hathitrust.org
  10. "Ludewigs-orden", Großherzoglich Hessische Ordensliste (in German), Darmstadt: Staatsverlag, 1914, p. 6 via hathitrust.org
  11. "Königliche Orden", Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Württemberg, Stuttgart: Landesamt, 1907, p. 31
  12. "A Szent István Rend tagjai" Archived 22 December 2010 at the Wayback Machine
  13. Jørgen Pedersen (2009). Riddere af Elefantordenen, 1559–2009 (in Danish). Syddansk Universitetsforlag. p. 468. ISBN 978-87-7674-434-2.
  14. Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 57.
  15. 刑部芳則 (2017). 明治時代の勲章外交儀礼 (PDF) (in Japanese). 明治聖徳記念学会紀要. p. 150.
  16. Norway (1908), "Den kongelige norske Sanct Olavs Orden", Norges Statskalender (in Norwegian), pp. 869–870, retrieved 17 September 2021
  17. Royal Thai Government Gazette (6 June 1902). "ส่งเครื่องราชอิสริยาภรณ์ไปพระราชทานเจ้าต่างประเทศ" (PDF) (in Thai). Archived from the original (PDF) on March 4, 2016. Retrieved 2019-05-08. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  18. Sveriges statskalender (in Swedish), 1905, p. 441, retrieved 2018-01-06 via runeberg.org
  19. Shaw, Wm. A. (1906) The Knights of England, I, London, p. 430

Sources

Schench, G. Handbuch über den Königlich Preuβischen Hof und Staat fur das Jahr 1908. Berlin, Prussia, 1907.


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