Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

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Gottfried
The prince in uniform, c. 1916
Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Tenure11 December 1950 – 11 May 1960
PredecessorErnst II
SuccessorKraft
Born(1897-03-24)24 March 1897
Langenburg, German Empire
Died11 May 1960(1960-05-11) (aged 63)
Langenburg, West Germany
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1931)​
Issue
  • Kraft, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
  • Princess Beatrix
  • Prince Georg Andreas
  • Prince Rupprecht
  • Prince Albrecht
Names
German: Gottfried Hermann Alfred Paul Maximilian Viktor
HouseHohenlohe-Langenburg
FatherErnst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
MotherAlexandra of Edinburgh

Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (German: Gottfried Hermann Alfred Paul Maximilian Viktor Fürst zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg; 24 March 1897 – 11 May 1960) was the only surviving son of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

At the death of his father in 1950, Gottfried inherited the title of Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.[1][2]

Early life[edit]

Prince Gottfried at the age of nine

Gottfried was born at Langenburg, Kingdom of Württemberg, the first child of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1863–1950, son of Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Leopoldine of Baden) and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Edinburgh (1878–1942, daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia). Through his maternal grandparents, he was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and of Tsar Alexander II.

On 1 May 1937, he joined the Nazi Party the same day as his mother, with the membership number of 4023070.[3][4] He served as an army officer in World War II, becoming severely injured at the Russian front. He was dismissed from the army after the abortive attempt on Adolf Hitler's life on 20 July 1944.[1]

Marriage and issue[edit]

Gottfried was briefly engaged during 1927–28 to Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the widow of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt. That engagement was however repudiated. On 3 December 1930, Gottfried became engaged to Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark. Margarita was the daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Gottfried and Margarita were second cousins once removed through Queen Victoria and third cousins through Nicholas I of Russia. Margarita's younger brother Prince Philip in 1947 married Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Gottfried's second cousin, King George VI. Elizabeth succeeded her father to the throne of the United Kingdom as Queen Elizabeth II.

Gottfried and Margarita had a generally harmonious marriage. They had six children, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren:[citation needed]

  • A stillborn daughter (born and died 3 December 1933)
  • Prince Kraft Alexander Ernst Ludwig Georg Emich (25 June 1935 – 16 March 2004); succeeded his father as Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. He married Princess Charlotte Alexandra Marie Clotilde of Croÿ (31 December 1938) on 5 June 1965 at Langenburg, Baden-Württemburg, Germany. They had three children:
    • Princess Cécile Marita Dorothea of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (16 December 1967); married Count Cyril of Commarque on 6 June 1998 at Cadouin Abbey, Dordogne.
    • Prince Philipp Gottfried Alexander of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (20 January 1970); married Saskia Binder on 13 September 2003. They had three children:
      • Max-Leopold Ernst Kraft Peter, Hereditary Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (22 March 2005)
      • Prince Gustav Philipp Friedrich Alexander (28 January 2007)
      • Princess Marita Saskia Friedelinde Charlotte (23 November 2010)
    • Princess Xenia Margarita Anne of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (8 July 1972); married Max Soltmann on 13 August 2005 at Obertaukirchen, Bayern, Germany. They had two children:
      • Ferdinand Gabriele Kraft Soltmann (5 November 2005)
      • Louisa Marei Charlotte Soltmann (6 April 2008)
  • Princess Beatrix Alice Marie Melita Margarete of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (10 June 1936 – 15 November 1997), once engaged to Maximilian, Margrave of Baden
  • Prince Georg Andreas Heinrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (24 November 1938 – 28 October 2021[5]) married Princess Luise Pauline Amelie Vibeke Beatrix of Schönburg-Waldenburg on 9 September 1968. They had two daughters:
    • Princess Katharina Clementine Beatrix of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (21 November 1972); married Prince Nikolaus of Waldeck and Pyrmont (2 November 1970) on 29 September 2002. They have two daughters:
      • Princess Laetitia Antoinette Julia Tatjana Felicitas of Waldeck and Pyrmont (2 December 2003).
      • Princess Alexia Natalie Luise Tatjana Maresa of Waldeck and Pyrmont (20 June 2006).
    • Princess Tatjana Luise of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (10 February 1975); married Hubertus Stephan (d. 10 May 2018 in a traffic collision). They had two sons:
      • Carl Stephan (b. 2012).
      • Wolf Thomas Dres Stephan (b. 2013).
  • Prince Rupprecht Sigismund Philipp Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 8 April 1978)
  • Prince Albrecht Wolfgang Christoph of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 23 April 1992) married Maria-Hildegard Fischer (b. 1933) on 23 January 1976. They had one son:
    • Prince Ludwig Ferdinand of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (b. 1976)

Their four elder children were all born at Schwäbisch Hall, while the two youngest boys, twins, were born in Langenburg.[6]

Later years and death[edit]

After World War II, he was appointed as district administrator (Landrat) of Crailsheim.[7] Gottfried became an advocate for West German business interests, which included securing land leases in Liberia.[8]

On 11 May 1960, Gottfried died at Langenburg Castle after a long illness.[1] He is buried on the castle grounds.

Archives[edit]

Prince Gottfried's personal papers (including family correspondence and photographs) are preserved in the Hohenlohe-Langenburg family archive (Nachlass Fürst Gottfried, HZAN La 145), which is in the Hohenlohe Central Archive (Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein) in Neuenstein Castle in the town of Neuenstein, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.[9]

Ancestry[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Prince Hohenlohe-Langenburg of German Noble Family Dies", The New York Times, Bonn, 12 May 1960
  2. ^ Marlene A. Eilers, Queen Victoria's Descendants (Baltimore, Maryland: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1987), page 181. Hereinafter cited as Queen Victoria's Descendants.
  3. ^ Ernst, Klee (2007). Das Kulturlexikon zum Dritten Reich. Wer war was vor und nach 1945. Frankfurt am Main: S. Fischer Verlag. p. 261. ISBN 978-3-10-039326-5.
  4. ^ Petropoulos, Jonathan (2006). Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 382.
  5. ^ Leonard, Seth B. (28 October 2021). "Eurohistory: Prince Andreas zu Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1938-2021), Nephew of the Duke of Edinburgh". Eurohistory. Retrieved 28 October 2021.
  6. ^ Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser XIII. "Haus Griechenland". C.A. Starke Verlag, 1987, pp. 38, 203–204.
  7. ^ "In guter Erinnerung" [In good memory]. Südwest Presse (in German). 11 May 2010. Archived from the original on 28 July 2016. Retrieved 9 April 2021.
  8. ^ "Germans Win Africa 'Colony'". New York Daily News. 18 January 1954. p. 42.
  9. ^ "Hohenlohe-Zentralarchiv Neuenstein".

Sources[edit]

  • Queen Victoria's Descendants, New York, 1987, Eilers, Marlene A., Reference: 197

External links[edit]

Media related to Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Wikimedia Commons

Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
Cadet branch of the House of Hohenlohe
Born: 24 March 1897 Died: 11 May 1960
Titles in pretence
Preceded by — TITULAR —
Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
1950–1960
Reason for succession failure:
German nobility titles abolished 		Succeeded by
Kraft
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