Louis Ferdinand, Prince of Prussia
Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia (German: Ludwig Ferdinand Viktor Eduard Albert Michael Hubertus Prinz von Preussen) (
November 9,
1907 -
September 26,
1994), a member of the
Hohenzollern family, was the
pretender to the abolished German monarchy, opponent of the
National Socialist German Workers Party in Germany, a business man, and patron of the arts.
Louis Ferdinand was born as the third in succession to the throne over the German Empire, after his father,
Crown Prince Wilhelm of Germany and elder brother Prince Wilhelm of Prussia. The monarchy was abolished after Germany's revolution in 1918. Since Prince Wilhelm renounced his throne to marry a commoner in
1933 (later to be killed in action in France in
1940 fighting in the German army), Louis Ferdinand took over in the line of succession.
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 disassociated himself from the Nazis after this, and may even have been involved in the
July 20 Plot against Hitler in 1944.
He married the
Grand Duchess Kira Kirilovna of Russia in
1938 in first a
Russian Orthodox in
Potsdam and then
Lutheran ceremony in
Huis ten Doorn,
Netherlands. Kira was the second daughter of
Grand Duke Kyril Vladimirovich and
Grand Duchess Viktoria Feodorovna. They 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,
Prince Louis Ferdinand II died in
1977 during military maneuvers, and thus his eighteen-year-old grandson
Georg Friedrich, Prince of Prussia became heir to the Prussian and Imperial throne and head of the Hohenzollern family upon Louis Ferdinand's death in 1994.
After the reunification of Germany, Louis Ferdinand arranged to have the remains of several Hohenzollern members reinterred at the imperial vault in Potsdam.
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Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, Dr. von Preußen (born
February 10,
1939)
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Prince Michael of Prussia (born
March 22,
1940)
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Princess Marie-Cécile of Prussia (born
May 28,
1942)
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Princess Kira of Prussia (
June 27,
1943–
January 10,
2004)
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Prince Louis Ferdinand (
August 25,
1944–
July 11,
1977)
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Prince Christian-Sigismund of Prussia (born
March 14,
1946)
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Princess Xenia of Prussia (
December 9,
1949–
January 18,
1992)
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European Royal History entry on Prince Louis-Ferdinand*
Genealogy of the House of Prussia
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