Prince George William
Born(1915-03-25)25 March 1915
Brunswick, Brunswick, German Empire
Died8 January 2006(2006-01-08) (aged 90)
Munich, Bavaria, Germany
Burial11 January 2006
Schliersee, Bavaria, Germany
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1946; died 2001)​
IssuePrince Welf Ernest
Prince George
Princess Frederica, Mrs. Cyr
Names
Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel
HouseHanover
FatherErnest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick
MotherPrincess Victoria Louise of Prussia

Prince George William of Hanover (Georg Wilhelm Ernst August Friedrich Axel Prinz von Hannover; 25 March 1915 – 8 January 2006) was the second-eldest son of Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswick, and his wife Princess Victoria Louise of Prussia, the only daughter of Wilhelm II, German Emperor, and Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein.

His wife was a sister of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. His children are thus first cousins of King Charles III.

Life

George William was christened on 10 May 1915 in Brunswick.[1] The prince's godparents included Maria Christina of Austria, Prince Axel of Denmark, and Princess Olga of Hanover and Cumberland who held the infant prince over the baptismal font.

From 1930 through 1934, Prince George William attended the elite boarding school Schule Schloss Salem in Überlingen on Lake Constance. Schule Schloss Salem was co-founded by the prince's uncle, the last Chancellor of the German Empire, Prince Maximilian of Baden, and educator Kurt Hahn in 1920.

With George William having completed his law studies at the University of Göttingen in 1948,[2] he was approached by his brother-in-law, Berthold, Margrave of Baden, to take over the management of the Salem Castle School, which had since been closed due to the Second World War. A former student of the institution, the prince then went to Scotland with his wife to meet with Kurt Hahn, the founder of the school, and to visit Gordonstoun, the establishment that the latter founded when he had to flee Nazi Germany because of his Jewish origins.[3] The family remained in Salem until 1959, when George William gave up his post of school director.

The horse lover George William, who had belonged to the German eventing team before the Second World War, later built up the riding academy in Munich-Riem. For many years Prince George William was a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and of the Deutscher Olympischer Sportbund (DOSB), the German NOC.[4]

Prince George William of Hanover lived in Schliersee, near Munich, and died in Munich in 2006 aged 90. His wife, Sophie, sister of Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Duke of Edinburgh, consort of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, died in 2001.

Marriage and issue

Ernest Augustus with Prince George William on his lap, 1916

On 23 April 1946 in Salem, Baden-Württemberg, Germany, Prince George William married his third cousin Princess Sophie of Greece and Denmark, daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and Princess Alice of Battenberg, and the widow of Prince Christoph of Hesse. After consultations with the Foreign Office, Home Office and King George VI's private secretary, Sir Alan Lascelles, a ciphered telegram dated 18 April 1946 and crafted by Sir Albert Napier, permanent secretary to the Lord Chancellor, was transmitted from the British Foreign Office to the Foreign Adviser to the British Commander in Chief at Berlin:

"The Duke of Brunswick has formally applied to The King by letter of March 22nd for the consent of His Majesty under the Act 12 Geo. III, cap. 11 to the marriage of his son Prince George William with Princess Sophia Dowager Princess of Hesse. The marriage is understood to be taking place on April 23rd. Please convey to the Duke an informal intimation that in view of the fact that a state of war still exists between Great Britain and Germany, His Majesty is advised that the case is not one in which it is practicable for His consent to be given in the manner contemplated by the Act."[5]

Together they had three children:

  • Prince Welf Ernst of Hanover (25 January 1947 – 10 January 1981), married 1969 (div 1979) Wibke van Gunsteren. They have one daughter.
  • Prince Georg Paul of Hanover (born 9 December 1949), married 1973 Victoria Ann Bee (daughter of Countess Eleonore Fugger of Babenhausen). They have two daughters.
  • Princess Friederike Elisabeth of Hanover (born 15 October 1954), married 1979 Jerry William Cyr, a native of Canada.

Ancestry

George William was a descendant of Victoria of the United Kingdom and Albert, Prince Consort through their eldest daughter Victoria, Princess Royal, the wife of Frederick III, German Emperor.

He was born a Prince of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Announcements" (in German). Neue Preußische Zeitung. 11 May 1915.
  2. ↑ Petropoulos, Jonathan (2006): Royals and the Reich: The Princes von Hessen in Nazi Germany, p. 362. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533927-7.
  3. ↑ Vickers, Hugo (2000): Alice: Princess Andrew of Greece, p. 329. Londres: Hamish Hamilton. ISBN 978-0-241-13686-7.
  4. ↑ Welfenprinz Georg Wilhelm gestorben, in: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 12 January 2006
  5. ↑ "LCO 2/3371A Marriage of Prince George William, son of the Duke of Brunswick, with Princess Sophia, Dowager Princess of Hesse". Heraldica. LCO 2/3371A. The National Archives (UK).
  6. ↑ The London Gazette, issue 28850. 17 July 1914. p. 14/552. Declaration, 14 June 1914. [Children born to Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Brunswick and Lüneburg http://www.heraldica.org/topics/britain/prince_highness_docs.htm#1914]. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
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