| Prince Joachim | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Born | (1890-12-17)17 December 1890 Berlin Palace,Kingdom of Prussia,German Empire | ||||
| Died | 18 July 1920(1920-07-18) (aged 29) Potsdam,Free State of Prussia,Weimar Republic | ||||
| Burial | 21 July 1920 | ||||
| Spouse | |||||
| Issue | Prince Karl Franz | ||||
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| House | Hohenzollern | ||||
| Father | Wilhelm II, German Emperor | ||||
| Mother | Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein | ||||
| Prussian Royalty |
| House of Hohenzollern |
|---|
 |
| Wilhelm II |
Prince Joachim Franz Humbert of Prussia (17 December 1890 – 18 July 1920) was the youngest son and sixth child ofWilhelm II, German Emperor, by his first wife,Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein. He committedsuicide at age 29. Prince Joachim was educated as an officer and participated in theFirst World War. During the war, he was considered a candidate for several newly established monarchies in Europe.
His great-grandson isGrand Duke George Mikhailovich, theheir apparent toMaria Vladimirovna, a claimant to the disputed Headship of theImperial Family of Russia.
Prince Joachim was born on 17 December 1890, two years after his father had become theGerman Emperor, at theBerlin Palace in centralBerlin. He was the sixth and youngest son ofEmperor Wilhelm II, and his first wife, PrincessAugusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein.
Prince Joachim spent his childhood with his siblings at theNew Palace inPotsdam, and his school days at thePrinzenhaus inPlön, in his mother's ancestralSchleswig-Holstein, as his brothers had been before him.
On 11 March 1916 in Berlin, Joachim marriedPrincess Marie-Auguste of Anhalt (10 June 1898 – 22 May 1983), the daughter ofEduard, Duke of Anhalt and his wife Princess Luise ofSaxe-Altenburg (daughter ofPrince Moritz of Saxe-Altenburg). He and Marie-Auguste had been engaged since 14 October of the previous year. The wedding was celebrated atBellevue Palace, and was attended by Joachim's father and mother, the Duke and Duchess of Anhalt, as well as other relatives.[1] They had a simpleLutheran ceremony.
The couple had one son,Prince Karl Franz Josef Wilhelm Friedrich Eduard Paul (15 December 1916 in Potsdam – 22 January 1975 in Arica, Chile). Their grandson,Prince Franz Wilhelm, marriedMaria Vladimirovna of Russia, a claimant to the Imperial Russian throne.
During theEaster Rising inDublin in 1916, somerepublican leaders, includingPatrick Pearse andJoseph Plunkett, contemplated giving the throne of an independentIreland to Prince Joachim.[2][3] Pearse and Plunkett thought that if the rising were successful and Germany won the First World War, an independent Ireland would be a monarchy with a German prince as king, likeRomania andBulgaria before it.[4]
The fact that Joachim did not speakEnglish was also considered an advantage, as he might be more disposed to learning and promoting the use of theIrish language.[5]
In his memoirs, Irish revolutionary, politician, and poetDesmond FitzGerald wrote:
"That would have certain advantages for us. It would mean that a movement forde-anglicisation would flow from the head of the state downwards, for what was English would be foreign to the head of the state. He would naturally turn to those who were more Irish and Gaelic, as to his friends, for the non-nationalist element in our country had shown themselves to be so bitterly anti-German. Such a ruler would necessarily favour theIrish language, for it would be impossible to make the country German-speaking, while it would be against his own interests to foster English. For the first generation or so it would be an advantage, in view of our natural weakness, to have a ruler who linked us with a dominant European power, and thereafter, when we were better prepared to stand alone, or when it might be undesirable that our ruler should turn by personal choice to one power rather than be guided by what was most natural and beneficial for our country, the ruler of that time would have become completely Irish."[6]
Ernest Blythe recalled that in January 1915 he heard Plunkett andThomas MacDonagh express support for the idea at anIrish Volunteers meeting.[7]Bulmer Hobson, secretary of the Volunteers, was among the attendees.[8] No objections were made by anyone and Blythe himself said he found the idea "immensely attractive".[9]
AfterGeorgia's declaration of independence following theRussian Revolution of 1917, Joachim was briefly considered by the German representative CountFriedrich Werner von der Schulenburg andGeorgian royalists as a candidate for the Georgian throne.[10]
TheCouncil of Lithuania declaredLithuania's independence on February 16, 1918, but the council was unable to form a government, police, or other state institutions due to the continued presence of German troops. The Germans presented various proposals to incorporate Lithuania into the German Empire, particularlyPrussia.
One such proposal offered the crown of Lithuania to Joachim. The Lithuanians resisted this idea and hoped to preserve their independence by creating a separate constitutional monarchy. On 4 June 1918, they voted to offer the Lithuanian throne to the German nobleWilhelm Karl, Duke of Urach.
Following theGerman Revolution in November 1918, the Emperor was forced to abdicate, thus depriving Joachim of his titles, position and prospects for heading any newly established monarchies in Europe. Unable to accept his new status as a commoner, he fell into a deep depression. On 31 May 1918, Joachim was examined by the psychiatristRobert Gaupp, who submitted a report concluding that he "was incurably ill, both mentally and physically ... was extremely easily emotionally and sexually aroused",[11] and "was inclined to 'violent, uncontrollably exploding outbursts of anger in which all self-control [was] lost'".[11]
The relationship between Joachim and his wife had already started to deteriorate. The couple were divorced soon after the end of the First World War. The direct causes of the divorce are not known to the public. According to one report, Marie-Auguste had previously abandoned her husband and child to run away with another man, had been forcibly brought back home on the orders of the Kaiser, but had filed for divorce as soon as the war ended, when she saw that her husband's family were at their lowest ebb. According to Hans von Gontard, who served as the Kaiser'sHofmarschall in exile, Joachim was "quite out of control and had beaten his wife".[12]
Following the divorce, Joachim shot himself inPotsdam on 18 July 1920. One source reports that he had been in financial straits and suffered from "great mental depression". His own brotherPrince Eitel Friedrich of Prussia commented that he suffered from "a fit of excessive dementia". Kaiser Wilhelm's reaction to the news of his son's suicide was one of fury, commenting that he was outraged "that the oaf should have done this, too, to us and especially to his mother!"[12] Although the Kaiser initially tried to convince his wife that the death of their youngest son had simply been an accident, she immediately realised what had happened, and interrupted him with the remark: "He has shot himself!" She desperately wanted to believe that his death had been accidental ... but she knew better.[12]
The only issue of the marriage of Prince Joachim and Princess Marie-Auguste was their son,Prince Karl Franz Josef Wilhelm Friedrich Eduard of Prussia (15 December 1916 – 22 January 1975).
On 5 October 1940, Prince Karl marriedPrincess Henriette Hermine Wanda Ida Luise von Schönaich-Carolath (25 November 1918 – 16 March 1972). They divorced on 5 September 1946. They were the parents of three children:
After the divorce, Prince Karl married,morganatically, Luise Dora Hartmann (5 September 1909 – 23 April 1961) on 9 November 1946. The childless couple divorced in 1959.
Prince Karl's last marriage was to Eva Maria Herrera y Valdeavellano (10 June 1922 – 6 March 1987) on 20 July 1959 inLima, Peru. They were married until Prince Karl's death and had two daughters;
Prince Joachim received the following orders and decorations:[13][14]
Kingdom of Prussia:
Hohenzollern: Cross of Honour of thePrincely House Order of Hohenzollern, 1st Class
Anhalt:
Baden: Knight of theHouse Order of Fidelity,1909[15]
Kingdom of Bavaria:Knight of St. Hubert,1913[16]
Brunswick:
Grand Duchy of Hesse: Grand Cross of theLudwig Order,27 January 1912[17]
Lübeck:Hanseatic Cross
Mecklenburg:
Oldenburg:Grand Cross of the Order of Duke Peter Friedrich Ludwig, with Golden Collar and Crown
Reuss: War Merit Cross with Swords
Saxe-Meiningen:Cross for Merit in War
Kingdom of Saxony:
Württemberg:Grand Cross of the Württemberg Crown
Austria-Hungary: Grand Cross of theRoyal Hungarian Order of St. Stephen,1911[18]
Netherlands:Grand Cross of the Netherlands Lion
Ottoman Empire:Order of Osmanieh, 1st Class with Star in Diamonds
United Kingdom: Honorary Grand Cross of theRoyal Victorian Order,1 July 1904[19]Prince Joachim was played by American actorJesse Plemons and portrayed as the main antagonist in the2021Disneyfantasyadventure filmJungle Cruise.
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