Woldemar of Lippe (''Günther Friedrich Woldemar''; 18 April 1824 – 20 March 1895) was the 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 ...

, reigning from 1875 until his death.

Early life and reign

Prince Woldemar of Lippe was born 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 ...

the third child of Leopold II, Lippe's reigning prince, and his consort, Princess Emilie of

Schwarzburg-Sondershausen Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a small principality in Germany, in the present day state of Thuringia, with its capital at Sondershausen. History Schwarzburg-Sondershausen was a county until 1697. In that year, it became a principality, which la ...

(1800–1867). Woldemar was married to

Princess Sophie of Baden Princess Sophie of Baden (Sophie Pauline Henriette Marie Amelie Luise; 7 August 1834 in Karlsruhe – 6 April 1904 in Karlsruhe), was a Princess of Baden by birth and the Princess consort of Lippe by marriage. Life Sophie was the second daugh ...

(1834–1904), a daughter of

Prince William of Baden Margrave Wilhelm of Baden (8 April 1792 in Karlsruhe – 11 October 1859 in Karlsruhe) was the second son of Karl Friedrich, Grand Duke of Baden and his second wife, Luise Karoline, Baroness Geyer von Geyersberg (26 May 1768 – 23 July 18 ...

, on 9 November 1858 in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. Following the death of his brother Leopold III on 8 December 1875, Woldemar succeeded him as Prince of Lippe. In 1892 along with the other German sovereigns Woldemar attended a gathering in

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 ...

with the

German Emperor William II , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

. After the Emperor described the other sovereigns as his vassals, Prince Waldemar took exception and interrupted the speech to say, "No, Sire, not your vassals. Your allies, if you like". This was seen as the

coup de grâce A coup de grâce (; 'blow of mercy') is a death blow to end the suffering of a severely wounded person or animal. It may be a mercy killing of mortally wounded civilians or soldiers, friends or enemies, with or without the sufferer's consent. ...

to the Emperor's ambition to become "Emperor of Germany" instead of just "German Emperor".

Death and regency dispute

Following his death in

, Woldemar was succeeded as Prince of Lippe by his brother

Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...

. His brother, however, was suffering from a mental illness and, as he had been placed under legal restrictions in 1870, and 1893 it was necessary for a regency to be established in Lippe. Prince Woldemar foreseeing this had made a provision in his will that the regency should go to

Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe (german: Adolf Wilhelm Viktor; 20 July 1859 – 9 July 1916) was a German prince of the House of Schaumburg-Lippe and a Prussian General of the Cavalry. He was regent of the Principality of Lippe from 1895 t ...

, the brother-in-law of the German Emperor. Prince Woldemar's decision to appoint Prince Adolf was the beginning of a decade long dispute between two lines 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 ...

, the Lippe-Biesterfeld's led by Count Ernst who claimed the regency, and the princes 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 ...

. There were various compromises and the matter was finally resolved in 1905.

Ancestry

References

External links

* A summary of events can be found at

Wikinfo The history of wikis began in 1994, when Ward Cunningham gave the name "WikiWikiWeb" to the knowledge base, which ran on his company's website at c2.com, and the wiki software that powered it. The wiki went public in March 1995, the date used ...

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1824 births 1895 deaths People from Detmold House of Lippe Princes of Lippe Generals of Cavalry (Prussia) {{Germany-royal-stub