Remnants of the old Empire

[Mike Dwyer]

As some of you know, I collect postcards mostly of royalty and nobility. Usually when I look at them, or we all talk about Kaiser Wilhelm and others, I think of them all in the past tense. I know that Archduke Otto, the crown prince of the Austrian empire, son of Kaiser Karl, is still living, but he's about the only one I ever think of as still being with us.

Today I was reading some royalty news and was kind of shocked to read that the younger son of the last reigning Duke of Braunschweig (photo attached) just recently died! Prince Georg Wilhelm, born in 1915, died on 8 January 2006.

I just forget that there might still be a few of the royals and nobles born under the old Empire still out there somewhere.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Mike Dwyer

[Daniel Murphy]

I did not realize any were any born before 1918, were still alive either. Georg Wilhelm would have been at least 90 years old at his death. Any remaining will slowly slip away in few years. Of course the royal families still exist but it is just not the same. Somehow the princes of Schaumburg-Lippe were able to keep their castles and other property after 1918. I believe they were the only ones.

Dan Murphy

[Mike Dwyer]

Somehow the princes of Schaumburg-Lippe were able to keep their castles and other property after 1918. I believe they were the only ones.

Dan Murphy

Daniel,

I was watching a show on the History Channel, Discovery, PBS (one of those educational type channels!) about Queen Victoria a month ago or so and they had several scenes dealing with Prince Andreas, the current head of the ducal house of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. They had his historian on there showing letters between Princess Victoria and her future husband, Prince Albert, scenes of the prince walking around his estate with his estate manager, and scenes from his "palace". While it was very nice looking, the "palace" looked more like a very large, old, house to me than a palace. Anyway, my point was apparently Saxe-Coburg-Gotha got to keep at least some of their stuff too.

(Now that I'm more awake, I'll edit this and add some other things I just remembered!) The Prussian royal House of Hohenzollern still has Castle Hohenzollern in southern Germany, which is still used by the family and houses a museum. http://www.preussen.de/en/today/hohenzolle...D12A03A42B62980

The princely House of Hohenzollern still has Castle Sigmaringen. http://www.hohenzollern.com/

I could be mistaken, but I believe the royal house of Bavaria still has at least one of their palaces. There could be others out there too, I just don't know.

Edited January 25, 2006 by Mike Dwyer

[David M]

Georg Wilhelm was in fact one of the two remaining grandchildren of the Emperor. The last one, if still alive would be Prince Wilhelm-Karl, a son of Prinz Oskar.

Regards

David

[Mike Dwyer]

Georg Wilhelm was in fact one of the two remaining grandchildren of the Emperor. The last one, if still alive would be Prince Wilhelm-Karl, a son of Prinz Oskar.

Regards

David

According to the source I used for Prince Georg Wilhelm you are correct, Prince Wilhelm Karl is still living.

[Ed_Haynes]

According to

http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/P...oyal_Family.htm

there's rather a flock of Prussians left.

[Mike Dwyer]

According to

http://www.btinternet.com/~allan_raymond/P...oyal_Family.htm

there's rather a flock of Prussians left.

You're right Ed, it's a rather prolific family! We were, of course, mainly concerned with living members who were actually alive while the German Empire still existed.

[Dave Danner]

Duke Albrecht, the son of Crown Prince Rupprecht of Bavaria and heir to the Bavarian throne, died in 1996. He was the only one of the Crown Prince's children born before the war to live past the fall of the kingdom, though Rupprecht had several more children after the war, a few of whom are still alive. Duke Albrecht's son Franz (born 1933) is the current head of the Bavarian royal house

Ludwig Karl Maria Prinz von Bayern, Crown Prince Rupprecht's nephew, was born in 1913 and is still alive. By the way, he is married to one of Crown Prince Rupprecht's daughters, Irmingard von Bayern.

Maria Elisabeth Prinzessin von Bayern, Ludwig Karl's sister and hence another grandchild of King Ludwig III, was born in 1914 and is still alive.

Because Franz von Bayern has no children, and his brother Max (born 1937) has no sons, the line of succession passes to Ludwig Karl's family after they die. So the product of the incestuous union of first cousins, Luitpold Prinz von Bayern (born 1951), is next in line.