Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe (''Leopold Julius Bernhard Adalbert Otto Karl Gustav''; 30 May 1871 – 30 December 1949) was the final sovereign of the

Principality of Lippe Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It was founded in the 1640s under a separa ...

. Succeeding to the throne in 1905 he had been governing the state since 1904 as regent.

Early life

He was born as Count Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld in Oberkassel, the son of

Ernest, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld Ernst, Count of Lippe-Biesterfeld (''Ernst Kasimir Friedrich Karl Eberhard''; 9 June 1842 – 26 September 1904) was the head of the Lippe-Biesterfeld line of the House of Lippe. From 1897 until his death he was the regent of the Principalit ...

and Countess

Karoline of Wartensleben Countess Karoline Friederike Cäcilie Klothilde von Wartensleben (6 April 1844 in Mannheim – 10 July 1905 in Detmold) was a German noblewoman. She is a paternal great-great-grandmother of King Willem-Alexander of the Netherlands. Early life ...

. Leopold belonged to the

Lippe-Biesterfeld The House of Lippe-Biesterfeld was a comital cadet line of the House of Lippe (a German dynasty reigning from 1413 until 1918, of comital and, from 1789, of princely rank). The comital branch of Lippe-Biesterfeld ascended the throne of the Princ ...

line of the

House of Lippe The House of Lippe (german: Haus Lippe) is the former reigning house of a number of small Germany, German states, two of which existed until the German Revolution of 1918–19, the Principality of Lippe and the Schaumburg-Lippe, Principality of S ...

which was the most senior line of the princely house after the reigning

Lippe-Detmold Lippe (later Lippe-Detmold and then again Lippe) was a historical state in Germany, ruled by the House of Lippe. It was located between the Weser river and the southeast part of the Teutoburg Forest. It was founded in the 1640s under a separ ...

line. He served as an officer in the

German Army The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...

until 1894, when he left to study political science at the universities of

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

Ruler of Lippe

Since 1895, Lippe had been ruled by a regent due to the incapacity of Prince Alexander. Leopold's father had acted as regent since 1897, and following his death on 26 September 1904, Leopold assumed the regency. This was not recognized by the German Emperor William II, who initially refused to legally recognize Leopold as regent as there was an issue over whether Leopold and his siblings were of legitimate rank, and as such eligible for the succession. As a result, the Diet of Lippe appointed a high commission to consider the matter. The regency issue was still ongoing when Prince Alexander died on 13 January 1905. Leopold was confirmed as Prince of Lippe and Alexander's successor on 25 October 1905, following a court ruling. On 3 June 1911, while out motoring, Leopold and his brother Prince Julius were attacked by a gang of Italian laborers who hurled a shower of missiles at the princes. Though Leopold escaped unhurt, his brother received a head wound. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Leopold upgraded the titles of the various lines of the

. One of the members to benefit from the granting of titles was Leopold's nephew Count Bernhard of Biesterfeld (son of Leopold's brother

Bernhard Bernhard is both a given name and a surname. Notable people with the name include: Given name *Bernhard of Saxe-Weimar (1604–1639), Duke of Saxe-Weimar * Bernhard, Prince of Saxe-Meiningen (1901–1984), head of the House of Saxe-Meiningen 194 ...

), who would go on to become the Prince Consort of Queen

Juliana of the Netherlands Juliana (; Juliana Louise Emma Marie Wilhelmina; 30 April 1909 – 20 March 2004) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1948 until her abdication in 1980. Juliana was the only child of Queen Wilhelmina and Prince Henry of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Sh ...

. On 24 February 1916, Bernhard and his brother were upgraded to the title Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld with the style Serene Highness. The Counts of

Lippe-Weissenfeld The House of Lippe-Weissenfeld (German spelling: Lippe-Weißenfeld) is one of the junior branches of the House of Lippe, a dynasty ruling the Principality of Lippe until the German Revolution of 1918–19. Branches of the House of Lippe The Li ...

also benefited with creations of the title Prince of Lippe-Weissenfeld, with the style

Serene Highness His/Her Serene Highness ( abbreviation: HSH, second person address: Your Serene Highness) is a style used today by the reigning families of Liechtenstein, Monaco and Thailand. Over the past 400 years, it has also used as a style for senior members ...

, taking place on 24 February 1916 for Count Clemens and his descendants, and again on 9 November 1918 for the other members of this line. Just three days after upgrading the titles of members of the Lippe-Weissenfeld line, and following the

German Empire The German Empire (),Herbert Tuttle wrote in September 1881 that the term "Reich" does not literally connote an empire as has been commonly assumed by English-speaking people. The term literally denotes an empire – particularly a hereditary ...

's defeat in

and the subsequent

revolution In political science, a revolution (Latin: ''revolutio'', "a turn around") is a fundamental and relatively sudden change in political power and political organization which occurs when the population revolts against the government, typically due ...

, Leopold was forced to renounce the throne on 12 November 1918. Following the end of his rule, the Principality of Lippe was transformed into a Free state in the new

Weimar Republic The Weimar Republic (german: link=no, Weimarer Republik ), officially named the German Reich, was the government of Germany from 1918 to 1933, during which it was a constitutional federal republic for the first time in history; hence it is al ...

Post abdication

After the rise of

Nazism Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

in Germany all three of his sons by his first wife became members of the party. His eldest son the Hereditary Prince Ernst is reported to have been the first German prince to join the party when he signed up in May 1928. In addition to being pro Nazis both Hereditary Prince Ernst and Prince Chlodwig had contracted unequal marriages. So in 1947 when Leopold wrote his will, Armin, his youngest son and only child with his second wife, would succeed him as head of the

and also become administrator of the princely family's properties such as

Schloss Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

. Thus when Leopold died in

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

his three eldest sons were all disinherited and his youngest son Armin became head of the princely house.

Marriages and children

Leopold was married to Princess Bertha of

Hesse-Philippsthal-Barchfeld This is a list of rulers of Hesse (german: Hessen) during the history of Hesse on west-central Germany. These rulers belonged to a dynasty collectively known as the House of Hesse and the House of Brabant,''Burke's Royal Families of the World ...

(1874–1919) on 16 August 1901 in

Rotenburg Rotenburg may refer to: *Rotenburg (district), Lower Saxony, Germany *Rotenburg an der Wümme, capital of the district *Rotenburg an der Fulda, near Kassel in Hesse *Rothenburg ob der Tauber, in the Franconia region of Bavaria *Hersfeld-Rotenburg, ...

. They had five children. *Ernst, Hereditary Prince of Lippe (1902–1987) married first (1924) Charlotte Ricken (1900–1974). After divorcing in 1934 he married secondly (1937) Herta-Elise Weiland (1911–1970) *Prince Leopold Bernhard of Lippe (1904–1965) *Princess Karoline of Lippe (1905–2001) married (1932) Count Hans von Kanitz (1893–1968) *Prince Chlodwig of Lippe (1909–2000) married (1940) Veronika Holl (1915–2007) *Princess Sieglinde of Lippe (1915–2008) married (1942) Friedrich Carl Heldman (1904–1977) He was married secondly to

Princess Anna of Ysenburg and Büdingen Princess Anna of Ysenburg und Büdingen (10 February 1886, Büdingen – 8 February 1980, Detmold) was the youngest child of Bruno, Prince of Ysenburg and Büdingen and his second wife, Countess Bertha of Castell-Rüdenhausen. Through her second ma ...

(1886–1980) on 26 April 1922 at

Büdingen Büdingen is a town in the Wetteraukreis, in Hesse, Germany. It is mainly known for its well-preserved, heavily fortified medieval town wall and half-timbered houses. Geography Location Büdingen is in the south of the Wetterau below the Vogelsb ...

. From this marriage he had one son. *

Armin, Prince of Lippe Armin, Prince of Lippe (''Armin Leopold Ernst Bruno Heinrich Willa August Fürst zur Lippe''; 18 August 1924 – 20 August 2015, also in Detmold) was the fourth son of Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe, from his second wife, Princess Anna of Ysenburg a ...

(1924–2015) married Traute Becker in 1953. Their only son is: ** Stephan, Prince of Lippe, born 1959, married Countess Maria of

Solms-Laubach Solms-Laubach was a County of southern Hesse and eastern Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. The House of SolmsSee German article on the '' House of Solms'' or French article '' Maison de Solms. had its origins in Solms, Hesse. History Solms-Laubach ...

in 1994

Ancestry

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leopold IV, Prince of Lippe 1871 births 1949 deaths Nobility from Düsseldorf Regents of Germany House of Lippe Princes of Lippe Counts of Lippe-Biesterfeld German hunters