Friedrich Franz (V) | |||||
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Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | |||||
Head of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | |||||
Period | 17 November 1945 – 31 July 2001 | ||||
Predecessor | Frederick Francis IV | ||||
Successor | None | ||||
Born |
Schwerin, Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
22 April 1910||||
Died | 31 July 2001 Hamburg, Germany |
(aged 91)||||
Spouse |
Karin Elisabeth von Schaper (m. 1941; div. 1967) & (m. 1977–2001; his death) |
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House | House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | ||||
Father | Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin | ||||
Mother | Princess Alexandra of Hanover |
Full name | |
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Freidrich Franz Michael Wilhelm Nikolaus Franz-Joseph Ernst August Hans |
Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German: Friedrich Franz Erbgroßherzog von Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 22 April 1910 – 31 July 2001) was the heir apparent to the throne of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and a member of the SS. He became head of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1945, with the house becoming extinct on his death.
He was born in Schwerin, the eldest child of the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Frederick Francis IV, and his wife Princess Alexandra of Hanover, a daughter of Crown Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover, a first-cousin once removed of Queen Victoria, and Princess Thyra of Denmark, the youngest daughter of King Christian IX of Denmark. Following the defeat of the German Empire in World War I, his father abdicated on 14 November 1918. He did not succeed to the throne, as the Empire was replaced with the Weimar Republic.
In May 1931 against the will of his father, Friedrich Franz joined the SS and by 1936 he had been promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer (Captain).
He was posted to Denmark during World War II where he worked at the German embassy as a personal aide to Werner Best. He spent the summer months of 1944 serving with the Waffen-SS tank corps.