Prince Eitel Friedrich Of Prussia
Prince Eitel Friedrich (Wilhelm Eitel Friedrich Christian Karl) (7 July 1883 – 8 December 1942) was the second son of Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany by his first wife, Augusta Viktoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He was born and died in Potsdam, Germany.
On 27 February 1906 Prince Eitel married Duchess Sophia Charlotte of Oldenburg (2 February 1879 Oldenburg – 29 March 1964 Westerstede) in Berlin. They were divorced 20 October 1926 and had no children.
Raised at the cadet corps of Plön Castle, Prince Eitel was in the front line from the beginning of World War I and was wounded at Bapaume, where he commanded the Prussian First Foot Guards. He temporarily relinquished command to Count Hans von Blumenthal, but returned to duty before the end of the year. The following year he was transferred to the Eastern Front and during the Summer of 1915 was out in a field in Russia when he had a chance encounter with Manfred von Richthofen who had just crashed with his superior officer, Count Holck. The two men were hiding in a nearby tree line from what they thought was the advancing Russian army and who turned out to be the grenadiers, guardsmen, and officers of Prince Eitel.
After the war he was engaged in monarchistic circles and the Stahlhelm paramilitary organization. In 1921 the Berlin criminal court found him guilty of fraudulent transfer of 300,000 Mark and sentenced him to a fine of 5000 Mark.
From 1907 to 1926 he was Master of the Knights (Herrenmeister) of the Order of St. John (Johanniterorden). He received the Pour le Mérite in 1915. His body is buried at the Antique Temple in Sanssouci Park.
Read more about Prince Eitel Friedrich Of Prussia: Regimental Commissions, Chivalric Orders, Military Decorations (1914-1918), Ancestry
Famous quotes containing the words prince, eitel and/or prussia:
“The last public hanging in the State took place in 1835 on Prince Hill.... On the fatal day, the victim, a man named Watkins, peering through the iron bars of his cell, and seeing the townfolk scurrying to the place of execution, is said to have remarked, ‘Why is everyone running? Nothing can happen until I get there.’”
—Administration for the State of Con, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)
“The manuscript lay like a dust-rag on his desk, and Eitel found, as he had found before, that the difficulty of art was that it forced a man back on his life, and each time the task was more difficult and distasteful.”
—Norman Mailer (b. 1923)
“It is reported here that the King of Prussia has gone mad and has been locked up. There would be nothing bad about that: at least that might of his would no longer be a menace, and you could breathe freely for a while. I much prefer madmen who are locked up to those who are not.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)