Prince Christian of Schaumburg-Lippe (german: Christian zu Schaumburg-Lippe; 20 February 1898 – 13 July 1974) was a German prince and head of the

Náchod Náchod (; german: Nachod) is a town in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 19,000 inhabitants. It is known both as a tourist destination and centre of industry. The town centre with the castle complex is well preserved ...

branch of the princely house of

Schaumburg-Lippe Schaumburg-Lippe, also Lippe-Schaumburg, was created as a county in 1647, became a principality in 1807, a free state in 1918, and was until 1946 a small state in Germany, located in the present day state of Lower Saxony, with its capital at Bück ...

Early life

Bundesarchiv Bild 102-00055, Kopenhagen, Beisetzung der Königin-Mutter

He was born on 20 February 1898 in

Sopron Sopron (; german: Ödenburg, ; sl, Šopron) is a city in Hungary on the Austrian border, near Lake Neusiedl/Lake Fertő. History Ancient times-13th century When the area that is today Western Hungary was a province of the Roman Empire, a ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

as the only son and second child of Frederick of Schaumburg-Lippe (1868–1945) and his first wife Princess Louise of Denmark, younger sister of King

Christian X of Denmark Christian X ( da, Christian Carl Frederik Albert Alexander Vilhelm; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 to his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, in the form of a personal union rathe ...

Marriage and issue

In 1927, his engagement to

Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark Princess Irene of Greece and Denmark, ( el, Ειρήνη; born 11 May 1942) is the youngest child and second daughter of Paul of Greece and his wife Queen Frederica. She is the younger sister of Queen Sofía of Spain and of the deposed Const ...

, a daughter of Constantine I of Greece was announced. Nothing ever came of these plans, however. She later married

Prince Aimone of Savoy-Aosta Prince Aimone, 4th Duke of Aosta (''Aimone Roberto Margherita Maria Giuseppe Torino''; 9 March 1900 – 29 January 1948) was a prince of Italy's reigning House of Savoy and an officer of the Royal Italian Navy. The second son of Prince Emanuel ...

. He was also briefly considered as a marriage candidate for

Princess Juliana 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. ...

, the heiress to the Dutch throne. They had met each other in 1932 in

Mecklenburg Mecklenburg (; nds, label= Low German, Mękel(n)borg ) is a historical region in northern Germany comprising the western and larger part of the federal-state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania. The largest cities of the region are Rostock, Schweri ...

, the home of Juliana’s paternal relations. His reputation as a womanizer, his previous called off engagement and his German heritage did not make him a popular choice, but he was reconsidered after other candidates were rejected by

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

or Juliana herself. These plans, however, did not prove fruitful either. On 9 September 1937, he married his cousin, Princess Feodora, daughter of

Prince Harald of Denmark Prince Harald of Denmark (''Harald Christian Frederik''; 8 October 1876 – 30 March 1949) was a member of the Danish Royal Family. He was the third son and fourth child of Frederick VIII of Denmark and his wife, Lovisa of Sweden, and thus brothe ...

, a younger brother of King Christian X and Princess Louise, at

Fredensborg Palace Fredensborg Palace ( da, Fredensborg Slot; ) is a palace located on the eastern shore of Lake Esrum ( Danish, ''Esrum Sø'') in Fredensborg on the island of Zealand (''Sjælland'') in Denmark. It is the Danish Royal Family’s spring and autumn ...

Zealand Zealand ( da, Sjælland ) at 7,031 km2 is the largest and most populous island in Denmark proper (thus excluding Greenland and Disko Island, which are larger in size). Zealand had a population of 2,319,705 on 1 January 2020. It is the 1 ...

, Denmark; they had four children. * Prince Wilhelm of Schaumburg-Lippe (b. 19 August 1939) * Prince Waldemar of Schaumburg-Lippe (19 December 1940-11 August 2020) * Princess Marie of Schaumburg-Lippe (b. 27 December 1945) * Prince Harald of Schaumburg-Lippe (b. 27 March 1948)

Later life

He died aged 76 on 13 July 1974 at

Bückeburg Bückeburg (Northern Low Saxon: ''Bückeborg'') is a town in Lower Saxony, Germany, on the border with North Rhine Westphalia. It is located in the district of Schaumburg close to the northern slopes of the Weserbergland ridge. Population: 21,0 ...

, a year before his wife. His four children live in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and Denmark.

Ancestry

References

Citations

Bibliography

* 1898 births 1974 deaths House of Lippe Princes of Schaumburg-Lippe German expatriates in Hungary People from Sopron {{Germany-noble-stub