Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (; 9 November 1907 – 26 September 1994) was a member of the princely

House of Hohenzollern The House of Hohenzollern (, ; , ; ) is a formerly royal (and from 1871 to 1918, imperial) German dynasty whose members were variously princes, Prince-elector, electors, kings and emperors of Hohenzollern Castle, Hohenzollern, Margraviate of Bran ...

, which occupied the Prussian and German thrones until the abolition of those monarchies in 1918. He was also noteworthy as a businessman and patron of the arts.

Biography

Louis Ferdinand was born in

Potsdam Potsdam () is the capital and largest city of the Germany, German States of Germany, state of Brandenburg. It is part of the Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region. Potsdam sits on the Havel, River Havel, a tributary of the Elbe, downstream of B ...

as the third in succession to the throne of the

German Empire The German Empire (),; ; World Book, Inc. ''The World Book dictionary, Volume 1''. World Book, Inc., 2003. p. 572. States that Deutsches Reich translates as "German Realm" and was a former official name of Germany. also referred to as Imperia ...

, after his father, German Crown Prince William and elder brother Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. The monarchy was abolished after Germany's revolution in 1918. When Louis Ferdinand's older brother Prince Wilhelm renounced his succession rights to marry a member of the untitled nobility in 1933 (he was later to be killed in action in France in 1940 while fighting in the German army), Louis Ferdinand replaced him as second in the line of succession to the defunct German and Prussian thrones after the former Crown Prince. Louis Ferdinand was educated in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

and deviated from his family's tradition by not pursuing a military career. Instead, he travelled extensively and settled for some time in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, where he befriended

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American Technological and industrial history of the United States, industrialist and business magnate. As the founder of the Ford Motor Company, he is credited as a pioneer in making automob ...

and became acquainted with

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

, among others. He held a great interest in engineering. Recalled from the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

upon his brother's renunciation of the throne, he became involved in the German

aviation Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as h ...

industry, but was barred by

Hitler Adolf Hitler (20 April 1889 – 30 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Nazi Germany from 1933 until Death of Adolf Hitler, his suicide in 1945. Adolf Hitler's rise to power, He rose to power as the lea ...

from taking any active part in German military activities. Louis Ferdinand dissociated himself from the Nazis after this. He was not involved in the

20 July plot The 20 July plot, sometimes referred to as Operation Valkyrie, was a failed attempt to assassinate Adolf Hitler, the chancellor and leader of Nazi Germany, and overthrow the Nazi regime on 20 July 1944. The plotters were part of the German r ...

against Hitler in 1944 but was interrogated by the ''

Gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

'' immediately afterwards. He was released shortly afterwards. He married his second cousin, Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia, in 1938 in first a

Russian Orthodox The Russian Orthodox Church (ROC; ;), also officially known as the Moscow Patriarchate (), is an autocephaly, autocephalous Eastern Orthodox Church, Eastern Orthodox Christian church. It has 194 dioceses inside Russia. The Primate (bishop), p ...

ceremony in Potsdam and then a

Lutheran Lutheranism is a major branch of Protestantism that emerged under the work of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German friar and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practices of the Catholic Church launched ...

ceremony in Huis Doorn, Netherlands. Both were great-grandchildren of Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. Kira was the second daughter of Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich and Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The couple had four sons and three daughters. His two eldest sons both renounced their succession rights in order to marry commoners. His third son and heir apparent, Prince Louis Ferdinand, died in 1977 during military maneuvers, and thus his one-year-old grandson

Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia (born 10 June 1976, as ''Georg Friedrich Ferdinand Prinz von Preußen'') is a German heir who is the current head of the Prussian branch of the House of Hohenzollern, the former ruling dynasty of the German Em ...

(son of Prince Louis Ferdinand) became the new heir apparent to the defunct Prussian and German Imperial throne. Upon Louis Ferdinand's death in 1994, Georg Friedrich became the pretender to the defunct thrones and head of the Hohenzollern family. The prince was a popular figure. In 1968 ''

Der Spiegel (, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...

'' reported that in a survey of their readers by ''

Quick Quick, as an adjective, refers to something moving with high speed. Quick may also refer to: In business * Quick (restaurant), a Belgian fast-food restaurant chain * Quick (sportswear), a Dutch manufacturer of sportswear * Quick (automobile), a ...

'' magazine about who would be the most honorable person to become President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Louis Ferdinand, the only one of twelve candidates who was not a politician, won with 39.8% before Carlo Schmid and

Ludwig Erhard Ludwig Wilhelm Erhard (; 4 February 1897 – 5 May 1977) was a German politician and economist affiliated with the Christian Democratic Union of Germany, Christian Democratic Union (CDU), and Chancellor of Germany (1949–), chancellor of West Ge ...

. In a similar survey by the tabloid ''

Bild ''Bild'' (, ) or ''Bild-Zeitung'' (, ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper '' Bild am Sonntag'' () is published instead, which has a differen ...

'', readers chose Louis Ferdinand by 55.6%. In an interview with ''Quick'', the prince indicated that he might accept the presidency but would not relinquish his claim to the imperial or Prussian crowns. After

German reunification German reunification () was the process of re-establishing Germany as a single sovereign state, which began on 9 November 1989 and culminated on 3 October 1990 with the dissolution of the East Germany, German Democratic Republic and the int ...

, he arranged for Prussian King

Frederick the Great Frederick II (; 24 January 171217 August 1786) was the monarch of Prussia from 1740 until his death in 1786. He was the last Hohenzollern monarch titled ''King in Prussia'', declaring himself ''King of Prussia'' after annexing Royal Prussia ...

to be reburied from the Christ Chapel at Hohenzollern Castle to the crypt chamber prepared by Frederick himself on the terrace of his

Sanssouci Palace Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...

. Instead of complying with his last wish after his death, the king had been laid to rest in the Garrison Church (Potsdam) next to his unloved father

Frederick William I of Prussia Frederick William I (; 14 August 1688 – 31 May 1740), known as the Soldier King (), was King in Prussia and Elector of Brandenburg from 1713 until his death in 1740, as well as Prince of Neuchâtel. Born in Berlin, he was raised by the Hugu ...

in 1786. Both coffins were relocated during World War II and ended up in the prince's castle in what became

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The prince had Frederick William I's coffin taken to the crypt of the Church of Peace, Potsdam because the Garrison Church had been destroyed in 1945. In interviews with C.L. Sulzberger for the book ''The Fall of Eagles'', Louis Ferdinand expressed a deep sense of admiration for the informal bicycle monarchy and

crowned republic A crowned republic, also known as a monarchical republic, is a system of monarchy where the monarch's role is almost entirely ceremonial and where nearly all of the royal prerogatives are exercised in such a way that the monarch personally has ...

style favored and used by the Dutch, Belgian, and Scandinavian royal families. Praising how vehicles carrying the King or Queen would stop and wait at traffic lights, Louis Ferdinand stated that if the

were ever restored to the German throne during his lifetime, this same informality was a quality he fully intended to emulate. C.L. Sulzberger (1977), ''The Fall of Eagles'', Crown Publishers. Pages 384-393. Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern, a member of the senior Swabian branch of the Hohenzollern dynasty,

Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen () was a principality in southwestern Germany. Its rulers belonged to the junior House of Hohenzollern#Swabian branch, Swabian branch of the House of Hohenzollern. The Swabian Hohenzollerns were elevated to princes in 162 ...

, is his godson.

Honours

: Sovereign Knight of the Imperial Order of the Black Eagle
Handbuch über den Königlich Preußischen Hof und Staat
' (1918), Genealogy p.1 *

: Sovereign Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Imperial Order of the Red Eagle *

: Co-Sovereign Knight Grand Cordon with Collar of the Imperial Order of Hohenzollern * Bavarian Royal Family Knight of the Royal Order of Saint Hubert * Hanoverian Royal Family Knight of the Royal Order of Saint George * Mecklenburger-Schwerinese Royal Family Knight Grand Cross with Collar of the Royal Order of the Wendish Crown * Saxon Royal Family Knight of the Royal Order of the Rue Crown *

Russian Imperial Family The House of Romanov (also transliterated as Romanoff; , ) was the reigning imperial house of Russia from 1613 to 1917. They achieved prominence after Anastasia Romanovna married Ivan the Terrible, the first crowned tsar of all Russia. Ni ...

: Knight of the Imperial Order of Saint Andrew *

: Knight of the Imperial Order of Saint Alexander Nevsky

Ancestry

Notes

External links

European Royal History entry on Prince Louis-Ferdinand
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Louis Ferdinand of Prussia, Prince 1907 1907 births 1994 deaths 20th-century German businesspeople House of Hohenzollern Crown princes of Prussia Prussian princes Pretenders Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Knights of the Golden Fleece German monarchists People from Potsdam People from the German Empire German people of Prussian descent German people of Russian descent German people of British descent Dachau concentration camp survivors Children of Wilhelm, German Crown Prince German patrons of the arts