Prince Louis Ferdinand | |||||
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Prince of Prussia | |||||
Prince Louis Ferdinand in about 1930
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Head of the House of Hohenzollern | |||||
Period | 20 July 1951 – 26 September 1994 | ||||
Predecessor | Crown Prince Wilhelm | ||||
Successor | Prince Georg Friedrich | ||||
Born |
Marble Palace, Potsdam, German Empire |
9 November 1907||||
Died | 26 September 1994 Bremen, Germany |
(aged 86)||||
Burial | Hohenzollern Castle, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany | ||||
Spouse | Grand Duchess Kira Kirillovna of Russia | ||||
Issue | Prince Friedrich Wilhelm Prince Michael Princess Marie Cécile Princess Kira Prince Louis Ferdinand Prince Christian-Sigismund Princess Xenia |
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House | Hohenzollern | ||||
Father | Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany | ||||
Mother | Duchess Cecilie of Mecklenburg-Schwerin |
Full name | |
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Louis Ferdinand Victor Edward Albert Michael Hubert |
Styles of Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia |
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Reference style | His Imperial and Royal Highness |
Spoken style | Your Imperial and Royal Highness |
Alternative style | Sir |
Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia (English: Louis Ferdinand Victor Edward Albert Michael Hubert, Prince of Prussia) (German: Louis Ferdinand Viktor Eduard Albert Michael Hubertus Prinz von Preussen) (9 November 1907 – 26 September 1994), a member of the Hohenzollern family, was the pretender to the abolished German monarchy, staunch opponent of the Nazi Party in Germany, a businessman, and patron of the arts.
Louis Ferdinand was born in Potsdam as the third in succession to the throne of the German Empire, 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 non-royal from the lesser nobility in 1933 (he was later to be killed in action in France in 1940 fighting in the German army), Louis Ferdinand took his place as the second in the line of succession to the German throne after the Crown Prince.
Louis Ferdinand was educated in Berlin and deviated from his family's tradition by not pursuing a military career. Instead, he travelled extensively and settled for some time in Detroit, where he befriended Henry Ford and became acquainted with Franklin Delano Roosevelt, among others. He held a great interest in engineering. Recalled from the United States upon his brother's renunciation of the throne, he got involved in the German aviation industry, but was barred by Hitler 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 against Hitler in 1944 but was interrogated by the Gestapo immediately afterwards and was imprisoned at Dachau.