Richard, 6th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Richard Casimir Karl August Robert Konstantin; 29 October 1934 – 13 March 2017) was the head of the

House of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg was one of several imperial counties and later principalities ruled by the House of Sayn-Wittgenstein. Most of the former county is located in the present district of Siegen-Wittgenstein (in the modern state of Nor ...

and husband of

Princess Benedikte of Denmark Princess Benedikte of Denmark, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Benedikte Astrid Ingeborg Ingrid, born 29 April 1944) is a member of the Danish royal family. She is the second daughter and child of King Frederick IX and Queen Ingrid of ...

Biography

Richard Casimir Karl August Robert Konstantin was the eldest son and child of

Gustav Albrecht, 5th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Gustav, Gustaf or Gustave may refer to: *Gustav (name), a male given name of Old Swedish origin Art, entertainment, and media * ''Primeval'' (film), a 2007 American horror film * ''Gustav'' (film series), a Hungarian series of animated short cart ...

, a highly decorated

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 ...

officer declared missing in 1944 yet only legally declared dead in 1969, and Margareta Fouché d'Otrante, a descendant of Napoleonic statesman Joseph Fouché, Duke d'Otrante. Richard was raised in Sweden with his maternal grandfather, the

Duke of Otranto Duke of Otranto (french: Duc d'Otrante) is a hereditary title in the nobility of the First French Empire which was bestowed in 1809 by Emperor Napoleon I upon Joseph Fouché (1759-1820), a French statesman and Minister of Police. Fouché had been ...

, at Elghammar Castle. He attended the boarding schools Viggbyholm and Sigtuna. Having studied arboreal science at

Munich University The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Germany. It is Germany's sixth-oldest university in continuous oper ...

, Prince Richard obtained his forestry diploma at the

University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

. He took post-graduate training as ''Forstreferendar'', obtaining a degree as ''Assessor des Forstdienstes'' after passing the second-level examination at the North Rhine Westphalian State Forestry Service. In July 2003, he underwent surgery for treatment of

prostate The prostate is both an accessory gland of the male reproductive system and a muscle-driven mechanical switch between urination and ejaculation. It is found only in some mammals. It differs between species anatomically, chemically, and phys ...

cancer; previously, he had undergone treatment for skin cancer.

Conservation

Prince Richard engaged in several conservation programmes, while responsible for managing his family's extensive lands in Germany. He launched a project to re-introduce

European bison The European bison (''Bison bonasus'') or the European wood bison, also known as the wisent ( or ), the zubr (), or sometimes colloquially as the European buffalo, is a European species of bison. It is one of two extant species of bison, along ...

to the native continent on part of his 32,000 acre estate in

North Rhine-Westphalia North Rhine-Westphalia (german: Nordrhein-Westfalen, ; li, Noordrien-Wesfale ; nds, Noordrhien-Westfalen; ksh, Noodrhing-Wäßßfaale), commonly shortened to NRW (), is a state (''Land'') in Western Germany. With more than 18 million inha ...

, credited as a success by Rewilding Europe as part of a larger effort to restore depleted animals across Europe. Schloss Wittgenstein

Marriage

Richard married

at Fredensborg Palace Church on 3 February 1968. She is the second daughter of Frederik IX of Denmark and

Ingrid of Sweden Ingrid of Sweden (born: Princess Ingrid Victoria Sofia Louise Margareta of Sweden; 28 March 1910 – 7 November 2000) was Queen of Denmark from 1947 until 1972 as the wife of King Frederick IX. Born into the House of Bernadotte, she was the dau ...

, younger sister of

Margrethe II of Denmark Margrethe II (; Margrethe Alexandrine Þórhildur Ingrid, born 16 April 1940) is Queen of Denmark. Having reigned as Denmark's monarch for over 50 years, she is Europe's longest-serving current head of state and the world's only incumbent femal ...

and elder sister of

Queen Anne-Marie of Greece Anne-Marie, ( el, Άννα-Μαρία ; born 30 August 1946) is a Greek and Danish royal who was the last Queen of Greece from 1964 to 1973 as the wife of King Constantine II. The Greek monarchy was abolished with the 1974 Greek Republic Re ...

. The couple lived at

Berleburg Bad Berleburg (, earlier also Berleburg) is a town, in the district of Siegen-Wittgenstein, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is one of Germany's largest towns by land area. It is located approximately northeast of Siegen and northwest of ...

Castle. Pursuant to the

marriage contract ''Marriage Contract'' () is a 2016 South Korean television series starring Lee Seo-jin and Uee. It aired on MBC from March 5 to April 24, 2016 on Saturdays and Sundays at 22:00 for 16 episodes. Plot Kang Hye-soo (Uee) is a single mother who ...

, in Denmark Richard and his children by Princess Benedikte were to be attributed the

style Style is a manner of doing or presenting things and may refer to: * Architectural style, the features that make a building or structure historically identifiable * Design, the process of creating something * Fashion, a prevailing mode of clothing ...

of ''

Highness Highness (abbreviation HH, oral address Your Highness) is a formal style used to address (in second person) or refer to (in third person) certain members of a reigning or formerly reigning dynasty. It is typically used with a possessive adje ...

'', rather than the unknown ''

Durchlaucht 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 ...

'' ("Serene Highness") to which all Sayn-Wittgenstein princes were historically entitled in Germany.Eilers, Marlene. Queen Victoria's Descendants. Rosvall Royal Books, Falkoping, Sweden, 1997. pp.100, 158-159, 179. While the couple were raising their family Princess Benedikte reduced her royal engagements in Denmark, where she spent only about a quarter of her time.

Death

Prince Richard died suddenly on 13 March 2017 at the castle of

in Germany. He was 82.

Children and grandchildren

Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Gustav, 7th Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-BerleburgIn 1919 royalty and nobility were mandated to lose their privileges in Germany, hereditary titles were to be legally borne thereafter only as part of the surname, according tArticle 109of the Weima ...

(born 12 January 1969). * Princess Alexandra of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (born 20 November 1970). She married on 6 June 1998 at Gråsten Palace to

Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth Count Jefferson von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth (''Jefferson-Friedrich Volker Benjamin Graf von Pfeil und Klein-Ellguth''; born 12 July 1967) is a German nobleman and a banker. Early life and ancestry Jefferson is born as the younger son and the y ...

(born 12 July 1967). The couple have two children, they divorced in 2017. She remarried on 18 May 2019 Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille (born 26 February 1965). *

Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg Princess Nathalie of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (Nathalie Xenia Margrethe Benedikte; born 2 May 1975) is a Danish equestrian, an Olympian and a daughter of Princess Benedikte of Denmark and Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg. She is ...

(born 2 May 1975). On 27 May 2010, she married Alexander Johannsmann (born 6 December 1977). The couple have two children.

Titles, styles and honours

Titles

''His Highness'' The Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg

Honours

National honours

* : Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, 1st Class * : Knight of the

Order of the Elephant The Order of the Elephant ( da, Elefantordenen) is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional ...

Foreign honours

* : Knight Grand Cross of the

Royal Order of the Polar Star The Royal Order of the Polar Star ( Swedish: ''Kungliga Nordstjärneorden'') is a Swedish order of chivalry created by King Frederick I on 23 February 1748, together with the Order of the Sword and the Order of the Seraphim. The Order of ...

* : Knight Grand Cross of the

Order of Isabella the Catholic The Order of Isabella the Catholic ( es, Orden de Isabel la Católica) is a Spanish civil order and honor granted to persons and institutions in recognition of extraordinary services to the homeland or the promotion of international relations a ...

* : Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown

Ancestry

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

Richard Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg
on

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Richard, 6th Prince Of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg 1934 births 2017 deaths People from Giessen Princes of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg House of Sayn-Wittgenstein University of Göttingen alumni Grand Crosses 1st class of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Commanders Grand Cross of the Order of the Polar Star Recipients of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Isabella the Catholic Recipients of the Order of the Crown (Netherlands) Grand Crosses of the Order of the Crown (Netherlands)