Prince Waldemar of Prussia (1889–1945)

Prince Waldemar Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich of, Germany

Prince Waldemar of Prussia (Waldemar Wilhelm Ludwig Friedrich Viktor Heinrich; 20 March 1889 – 2 May 1945) was a member of the House of Hohenzollern, the royal family that ruled the Kingdom of Prussia and the German Empire until the end of World War I.

Early Life

Prince Waldemar was born on 20 March 1889 in Kiel, Province of Schleswig-Holstein, in the German Empire. He was the eldest son of Prince Heinrich of Prussia (1862–1929) and his wife, Princess Irene of Hesse and by Rhine. His paternal grandparents were Emperor Frederick III and Empress Victoria, the eldest daughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom. His maternal grandparents were Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse and Princess Alice of the United Kingdom.

Education and Military Career

Waldemar received a traditional military education befitting a prince of the House of Hohenzollern. He served in the Imperial German Army and participated in World War I. Following the war and the abdication of his uncle, Kaiser Wilhelm II, Waldemar's role became more ceremonial.

Personal Life

Prince Waldemar married Princess Calixta of Lippe-Biesterfeld on 14 August 1919. The couple had no children. Waldemar was a hemophiliac, a condition he inherited from his mother, who was a carrier of the disease.

Later Life and Death

During World War II, Prince Waldemar and his wife fled to Tutzing, Bavaria, to escape the advancing Red Army. He required regular blood transfusions due to his hemophilia. Unfortunately, the advancing Soviet forces disrupted his medical care, leading to his death on 2 May 1945.

Ancestry

Prince Waldemar was a descendant of several European royal families, including the House of Hohenzollern, the House of Hesse, and the British royal family.

See Also

• House of Hohenzollern
• German Empire
• World War I
• Hemophilia