The life of Princess Margaret of Prussia

Born at New Palace, Prussia, on 22nd April 1872, Princess Margaret of Prussia, was the youngest child of Crown Princess Victoria and her husband, Crown Prince Friedrich of Prussia. She was later baptised with the names Margaret Beatrice Feodora. By this time, she had grown a moss-like layer of hair, which quickly maimed her gained the nickname ‘Mossy’.

After the death of Prince Waldemar in 1866, Crown Princess Victoria decided to bring up her younger children herself, rather than leaving her children in the care of nannies and tutors. As a result, Margaret and her siblings: Viktoria, Waldemar and Sophia, had a much more relaxed upbringing and were extremely close to both each other and their parents. In 1879, tragedy struck when Prince Waldemar unexpectedly died of meningitis. Seven year old Margaret quickly took his place as favourite child. Nine years later, the family faced more heartbreak when Margaret’s father, Frederick III, died of throat cancer, just 99 days after becoming German Emperor. Aged just sixteen, she remained by her mothers side and supported her through her grief.

Within a couple of months, Margaret’s mother, now Empress Dowager, and her eldest Brother, Wilhelm II, began the search for possible suitors for Margaret. Some of the first to be suggested were included Nicholas Alexandrovich of Russia (future Tsar Nicholas II) and Prince Albert Victor of Wales, who was third-in-line to the British throne. Unfortunately for her two cousins, Margaret was quick to dismiss them as she had her eye on Prince Maximilian of Baden. Heartbreakingly, the feelings weren’t mutual and a match never took place. Although she was disappointed, Margaret moved her attention to Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse. Coincidentally, Frederick was a close friend of Maximilian and also Margaret’s third cousin. At first, Wilhelm was agains the match as Margaret was his most popular sister and, in his eyes, could have chosen someone with more money and with a higher social influence. However, he soon backtracked and agreed to their engagement as Margaret “was so unimportant”.

The couple got married at the Hohenzollern Stadtschloss in Berlin, on 25th January 1893, Margaret’s parents wedding anniversary. Later that year, the princess gave birth to their first child, Friedrich. She later went on to have six sons, including two sets of twins. The royal couple made their family home at Schloss Rumpenheim. But later moved into Schloss Friedrichshof, after inheriting it in 1901. Their marriage proved to be happy.

During the First World War, their lives changed forever. In October 1914, her son, Maximilian, was killed by gunfire while serving in France. Two years later, in September 1916, her eldest son, Friedrich, died at Kara Orman in Romania after his throat was slit by an enemy bayonet. In October 1918, Frederick was offered the throne of newly independent Finland. Although at first he accepted, he later stepped down as all German royals had renounced their titles after the war. Although this was the case, Margaret and Fredrick were allowed to keep their statuses as Landgrave and Landgravine of Hesse and Head of the house of Hesse-Kassel, which they received in 1925 after Fredrick’s brother abdicated. Fredrick died five years later, on 25th May 1940.

In the following years, two of her other sons, Philipp and Christoph, began supporting Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party, in hope that he could reinforce the German monarchy. During this time, Margaret, not knowing what would later happen, invited Hitler round to her home on many occasions. After finding out that Philipp was married to Princess Mafalda, daughter of King Victor Emmanuel III of Italy, Hitler appointed Philipp to his personal staff to channel communications between Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. As time went on, he came to realise the truth behind the Nazi party and tried to resign. Banned from leaving, Philipp continued to undergo missions for Hitler, while using his position to secretly help persecuted Jews escape to the Netherlands. When Italy capitulated, Hitler took his frustrations out on Philipp and had him taken to a concentration camp for political prisoners. He was finally released but his wife had died at Buchenwald during a bombing raid.

Margaret’s other son, Christoph, remained a firm supporter of the Nazis until they turned on Philipp and his family. He later died in a plane crash. In addition, Mossy lost another daughter-in-law, Princess Marie Alexandra when the cellar she was hiding in, collapsed during bomb fire.

During the war, Schloss Friedrichshof was used as officers club during American occupation. Margaret’s son, Wolfgang, had the idea to hide the family jewels in a sub-basement to prevent them from being taken. However, in November 1945, they were found by the club manager, along with Colonel Jack Durant and Major David Watson. The jewels were then taken out of Germany and presumably sold. The theft wasn’t discovered until 1946, when Margaret was looking for the jewels to be used at a family wedding. The three suspects were arrested in 1951, with the recovered jewels being returned to the family. Unfortunately for Margaret, this was just 10% of what had been taken!

Throughout the war and despite her own overwhelming grief, Margaret remained strong. She took in her orphaned grandchildren and offered a home to the rest during their parent’s difficulties.

Like many of her royal relatives, Margaret’s final years were filled with tragedy. She died at Schloss Friedrichshof, aged 81, on 22nd January 1954. She was the last surviving child of Emperor Frederick III and Empress Victoria. She was later buried near Schloss Friedrichshof, although the exact location remains unknown.

I’d like to thank you for taking the time to read my blog. If you have any questions or would like to know more about anything you have read on my page, please feel free to get in touch, either by leaving a comment, sending me an email or you can message me on any of my social media pages (@Queen.Victoria.Roses)

©️Queen.Victoria.Roses 2024

This article is the intellectual property of Queen.Victoria.Roses and should not be COPIED, EDITED, OR POSTED IN ANY FORM ON ANOTHER WEBSITE under any circumstances unless permission is given by the author