Heinrich of Mecklenburg

Heinrich zu Mecklenburg, as Prince Hendrik of the Netherlands, around 1910

Standard of Heinrich (Hendrik) as the Dutch prince consort

Heinrich Wladimir Albrecht Ernst, Duke of Mecklenburg  [-Schwerin] (born April 19, 1876 in Schwerin , † July 3, 1934 in The Hague ) was Prince of the Netherlands from February 6, 1901 and Prince Consort of Queen Wilhelmina from February 7 of the Netherlands .

Life

Heinrich was the youngest son from the third marriage of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz II of Mecklenburg [-Schwerin] with Princess Marie of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt . He was a half-brother of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz III, who died in 1897 . as well as by Duke Johann Albrecht and uncle of Grand Duke Friedrich Franz IV.

He grew up mainly in the country, at Raben Steinfeld Castle . He later attended the Vitzthum Gymnasium in Dresden and then traveled through Asia and America. After attending the war school in Metz , he entered the Prussian military service as a first lieutenant in the Guard Jäger battalion .

While visiting relatives at Schwarzburg Castle in 1900, he met the then 19-year-old Dutch Queen Wilhelmina, who was also a guest there with her mother Emma . After arduous negotiations, he married Wilhelmina on February 7, 1901. This very unhappy marriage resulted in the daughter and later Queen Juliana . She received the family name of her mother and carried the title Princess of the Netherlands and Princess of Orange -Nassau before the title Duchess of Mecklenburg . During his marriage, Prince Hendrik fathered several illegitimate children, a.o. the Dutch form of the name that he had been using since his marriage. a son, the later lawyer and right-wing extremist politician Pim Lier (1918–2015). In 1927 he became an honorary member of the Masovia Hunting Corps in Berlin .

Prince Hendrik was rear admiral , major general à la suite , vice admiral and lieutenant general . Although he was a member of the State Council, he had no political influence, to his great regret. He died of cardiac paralysis in 1934.

literature

• Hans Wolfram von Hentig:  Heinrich, Duke of Mecklenburg. In: New German Biography (NDB). Volume 8, Duncker & Humblot, Berlin 1969, ISBN 3-428-00189-3 , p. 374 ( digitized version ).
• Bernd Kasten : Prince Schnaps. Black sheep in the Princely House of Mecklenburg. Hinstorff, Rostock 2009, ISBN 978-3-356-01334-4 , pp. 67-71.

Web links

Commons : Heinrich zu Mecklenburg  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Literature about Heinrich zu Mecklenburg in the state bibliography MV
• Newspaper article about Heinrich zu Mecklenburg in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Footnotes

1. ↑ Wilhelmina: Lonely and yet not alone . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1961, p. 95.
2. ↑ Wilhelmina: Lonely and yet not alone . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1961, p. 92.
3. ↑ Wilhelmina: Lonely and yet not alone . Evangelisches Verlagswerk, Stuttgart 1961, p. 226.

predecessor	Office	successor
Emma to Waldeck and Pyrmont	Prince Consort of the Netherlands 1901–1934	Bernhard zur Lippe-Biesterfeld