Born at New Palace, Potsdam, Prussia, at 1am on 15th September 1864, Prince Sigismund was the fourth child of Princess Victoria and Friedrich of Prussia. The babys maternal grandmother, Queen Victoria received the news of the birth while she “was dressing to go out”. In her journal she adds that Sigismund was “a fine strong child”and how she was “very thankful that all is safely over.”
Christened with the names Francis Frederick Sigismund, the baby was simply in as ‘Sigi’ by his family and soon became the favourite child of his mother. Sigismund was the first of Victorias children that she nursed herself. In a letter, she describes how much she loved nursing her son, adding: “I really think I have never been so happy, and I certainly never loved one of the others so much”.
©️ Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III
Around the beginning of June 1866, the usually calm Sigismund began getting unsettled. At first, his distress was believed to be as a result of him teething but it soon became something much more sinister. The 21 month old suddenly lost the ability to eat and sleep and by the following day he had lost the ability to stand. His mother consulted a doctor, who immediately diagnosed him with meningitis.
On the 18th June Queen Victoria writes that she heard ‘very bad’ news of ‘Vicky’s darling’ boy. She adds that the ‘convulsions & unconsciousness’ continued and that his strength was failing.Later that day, she was taking tea when she heard the ‘sad news’ that he had passed away at 1pm that afternoon. He was the first of her 42 grandchildren to pass away.
©️ Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III
His mother went into an extreme state of shock and was the only person at his funeral the following day that didn’t cry. Her pain can be felt in a letter to her mother, Queen Victoria: “Oh to see it suffer so cruelly, to see it die and hear its last piteous cry was an agony I cannot describe, it haunts me night and day”. His body was laid to rest at Friedenskirche, Potsdam, on 21st June. He and his brother, Waldemar, were later reinterred in the new Kaiser Friedrich Mausoleum, following his father’s death in 1888.
The Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia with their children, dated November 1865.
From left to right: Prince William; the Crown Princess (seated); Prince Sigismund (in his father’s arms); the Crown Prince; Princess Charlotte (seated on a low stool beside her mother); and Prince Henry (seated on a table beside his father).
©️ Royal Collection Trust / HM King Charles III
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