Name Prince of House House of Hohenzollern | Died April 20, 1966 | |
Issue Prince Frederick
Prince William
Princess Victoria Marina, Mrs. Achache
Prince Rupert
Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington Father Wilhelm, German Crown Prince Mother Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin Role Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin\'s son Spouse Lady Brigid Guinness (m. 1945–1966) Children Princess Antonia, Duchess of Wellington Parents Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Wilhelm, German Crown Prince Similar People Wilhelm II, Princess Antonia - Duchess, Wilhelm - German Crown Pri, Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg‑Schwerin, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia |
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, was the fourth son of Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. By renouncing his German citizenship in 1947, he relinquished his place in the line of succession to the former German throne.
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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:
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.
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"). 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. 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.
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.