Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Born

5 March 1827 (1827-03-05)
Ludwigslust

Died

28 July 1879 (1879-07-29) (aged 52)
Heidelberg

Spouse

Alexandrine of Prussia

Issue

Duchess Charlotte

Names
English: Frederick William Nicholas German: Friedrich Wilhelm Nicolas

House

House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Father

Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Mother

Alexandrine of Prussia

Duke Frederick William Nicholas of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (German: Friedrich Wilhelm Nicolas; 5 March 1827 – 28 July 1879) was the second son of Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, and his wife Princess Alexandrine, daughter of King Frederick William III of Prussia.

Life

He enlisted in the Prussian Army and became commander of the 6th (Brandenburg) Cuirassiers "Emperor Nicholas I of Russia". William had a reputation for drunkenness and a dissolute character. On two occasions he was deprived of his command in the Prussian army and he proposed marriage to the celebrated ballerina Marie Taglioni; consequently he was generally considered to be the "black sheep" of the family.^[1] Under family pressure, on 9 December 1865, he married Alexandrine of Prussia, daughter of his uncle Albert of Prussia and Marianne of Orange-Nassau. William settled with his wife at Bellevue Palace in Berlin. The marriage was unhappy and the couple had an only child: Charlotte (1868-1944) who married Prince Heinrich XVIII Reuss of Köstritz.

William took part in the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 as a major general in command of a cavalry brigade in the First Army. He managed, with difficulty, to secure a command in the Prussian Army during the Franco-Prussian War, leading the 6th Cavalry Division, but he was wounded on 9 September 1870 in Laon. As a result, he was long absent from the front and he showed a great lack of energy at the Battle of Le Mans. In 1873 he became commander of the 22nd Division in Kassel, completed in 1874 but it was only an honorary position. He died on 28 July 1879.^[1]

Issue

By his wife, he had an only daughter:

Duchess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (7 November 1868-20 December 1944). She married firstly Henry XVII of Reuss-Köstritz and secondly Robert Schmidt.

Honours

He received the following orders and decorations:^[2]

Mecklenburg:
- Grand Cross of the Wendish Crown, with Crown in Ore and Collar
- Military Merit Cross, 2nd and 1st Classes (Schwerin)
Russian Empire:
- Knight of St. Andrew
- Knight of St. Alexander Nevsky
- Knight of the White Eagle
- Knight of St. Anna, 1st Class
Austrian Empire: Grand Cross of the Imperial Order of Leopold, 1852^[3]
Baden:^[4]
- Knight of the House Order of Fidelity, 1849
- Grand Cross of the Zähringer Lion, 1849
Brunswick: Grand Cross of Henry the Lion
Ernestine duchies: Grand Cross of the Saxe-Ernestine House Order, October 1862^[5]
Kingdom of Prussia:
- Knight of the Black Eagle, 5 June 1844; with Collar, 1851^[6]
- Knight of the Red Eagle, 1st Class, 5 June 1844; with Swords, 1849^[6]
- Pour le Mérite (military), 20 September 1866^[6]
- Iron Cross (1870), 1st and 2nd Classes
- Grand Commander's Cross of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, with Swords, 16 June 1871^[6]
Kingdom of Hanover: Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order, 1847^[7]
Oldenburg: Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Crown, 5 December 1865^[8]

Ancestors

Ancestors of Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

16. Duke Louis of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

8. Frederick Francis I, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

17. Princess Charlotte Sophie of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld

4. Frederick Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

18. Prince John August of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

9. Princess Louise of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg

19. Louise Reuss of Schleiz

2. Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

20. Peter III of Russia

10. Paul I of Russia

21. Catherine II of Russia

5. Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna of Russia

22. Frederick II Eugene, Duke of Württemberg

11. Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg

23. Margravine Friederike of Brandenburg-Schwedt

1. Duke William of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

24. Prince Augustus William of Prussia

12. Frederick William II of Prussia

25. Duchess Luise of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel

6. Frederick William III of Prussia

26. Louis IX, Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt

13. Frederika Louisa of Hesse-Darmstadt

27. Countess Palatine Caroline of Zweibrücken

3. Princess Alexandrine of Prussia

28. Duke Charles Louis Frederick of Mecklenburg

14. Charles II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

29. Princess Elisabeth Albertine of Saxe-Hildburghausen

7. Louise of Mecklenburg-Strelitz

30. Prince George William of Hesse-Darmstadt

15. Princess Friederike of Hesse-Darmstadt

31. Countess Maria Louise Albertine of Leiningen-Falkenburg-Dagsburg

Notes

^ ^a ^b "Romances of a Royal House", The Washington Post, 20 April 1906
^ Mecklenburg-Schwerin (Germany) Statistisches Landesamt (1878). "Grossherzogliches Haus". Mecklenburg-Schwerinsches Staatshandbuch. p. 4.
^ "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1878, pp. 73, retrieved 23 July 2020
^ Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1868), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 50, 60
^ Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtums Sachsen-Altenburg (1869), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 21
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d "Königlich Preussische Ordensliste", Preussische Ordens-Liste (in German), Berlin: 9, 22, 37, 924, 1895
^ Staat Hannover (1865). Hof- und Staatshandbuch für das Königreich Hannover: 1865. Berenberg. p. 76.
^ Hof- und Staatshandbuch des Großherzogtums Oldenburg0: 1879. Schulze. 1879. p. 33.