Death of Princess Felicitas von Preussen

Princess Felicitas, the eldest great-granddaughter of Kaiser Wilhelm II, passed away on Saturday (01.08.09), at the age of 75. Her family made the announcement of her death yesterday, on the Royal Family’s website, but did not reveal the cause of death.

 

Princess Felicitas was fifth in an unbroken line of first-born children starting with Victoria, Princess Royal (Queen Victoria’s eldest child). The line continues with her own eldest daughter, Friederike von der Osten, and her eldest granddaughter (Friederike’s eldest daughter), Felicitas von Reiche.

The marriage of Princess Felicitas’ parents made headlines because Kaiser Wilhelm famously disapproved of the union of his eldest grandson Prince Wilhelm and Dorothea von Salviati, a member of the minor nobility, and did not give his permission for the marriage. Prince Wilhelm refused to leave Dorothea and they were married in 1933. Prior to the marriage, he renounced any rights to the succession for himself and any children he might have. Felicitas was born in 1934 and in 1936 her younger sister, Christa Friederike, was born.

 

In 1940, the marriage was recognized as dynastic: thus, Felicitas and her sister Christa were given the styles and titles of Princesses of Prussia. Her father’s death in 1940 (in action) provoked mass grieving and sympathy of the German public: over 50,000 mourners attended the funeral.

Princess Felicitas was married twice: firstly, to Dinnies Karl von der Osten (in 1958), with whom she had four children – Friederike Thyra (born in 1959), Dinnies-Wilhelm (1962 – 1989), Hubertus Christoph (born in 1964) and Cecilie Felicitas (born in 1967); and secondly to Jorg Hartwig von Nostitz-Wallwitz (in 1972), with whom she had one daughter – Diana Renata (born in 1974). She has 4 grandchildren: Felicitas Catharini, Victoria Cecilie and Donata Friederike Diana von Reiche (children of her eldest daughter Friederike), and Julius Dinnies Ole Marxen (the son of her daughter Cecilie Felicitas).

The Princess will be buried in Aumuehle, near Hamburg, next to her eldest son Dinnies-Wilhelm von der Osten, who died in 1989, aged 27.

To learn more about the Royal and Princely Houses of Hohenzollern, visit this forum.

Filed under Germany
Tagged Biography, Death, Felicitas of Prussia, Prussia.