Wilhelm Karl Prinz von Preussen


Wilhelm Karl Adalbert Erich Detloff Prinz von Preussen was the third son of Prince Oskar of Prussia, and the last surviving grandson of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor. He was the thirty-sixth Master of Knights of the Protestant Order of Saint John, also known as Der Johanniterorden, as his father's successor and his son's predecessor.

Biography

Wilhelm-Karl was the youngest of Prince Oskar of Prussia and Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz's four children. Having been admitted to the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem in 1944, he later succeeded his father as its head, serving as the thirty-sixth Herrenmeister of the Order from 1958 until 1999. Wilhelm-Karl worked tirelessly to keep the Order intact during the Cold War and helped to reunite its membership after the fall of East Germany.
Amongst other orders and awards, Wilhelm-Karl received the Grand Merit Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Grand Cross of the Order pro merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

Marriage and issue

In 1952, Wilhelm-Karl married Armgard Else Helene von Veltheim, daughter of Friedrich von Veltheim and his wife, Ottonie von Alvensleben. The couple had two sons and a daughter:
  • Donata-Viktoria Prinzessin von Preussen.
  • Wilhelm-Karl Prinz von Preussen.
  • Oskar Prinz von Preussen ; historian, succeeded his father as the Master of the Knights of the Johanniterorden, he married in October 1992 Auguste Zimmermann von Siefart, daughter of Ralf Emil Eberhard Jules Henning Zimmermann von Siefart and Maria Ida Barbara Helene von Frankenberg und Proschlitz. The couple has two sons and a daughter:
  • * Oskar Prinz von Preußen ; he married in April 2024 Johanna Freiin von Jenisch
  • *Wilhelmine Prinzessin von Preußen ; she married in June 2025 Leonard Freiherr von Stenglin
  • *Albert Prinz von Preußen

    Published works

  • Auftrag des Johanniters. Ansprachen und Aufsätze ; 1983.
  • Johanniter und der 20. Juli 1944 ; 1989.
  • Die Soldaten der Wehrmacht, 1998.

    Ancestry