Leopold III, Prince of Lippe

Infobox Monarch
name =Leopold III
title =Prince of Lippe


reign =1 January 1851 - 8 December 1875
predecessor =Leopold II
successor =Woldemar
consort =Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
royal house =Lippe
father =Leopold II
mother =Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
date of birth =birth date|1821|9|1
place of birth =Detmold
date of death =death date and age|1875|12|8|1821|9|1
place of death =Detmold|

Leopold III, Prince of Lippe ("Paul Friedrich Emil Leopold" 1 September 1821 - 8 December 1875) was the sovereign of the Principality of Lippe reigning from 1851 until his death.

Early life and ascension

Leopold III was born in Detmold the eldest child of Leopold II, the reigning prince of Lippe and his consort Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen (1800-1867). Being the heir apparent to the throne from birth he had the title Hereditary Prince.

He succeeded as Prince of Lippe on 1 January 1851 following the death of his father.cite news | title = Obituary. Prince Leopold II of Lippe-Detmold. | publisher = New York Times | page = 4 | date = 1875-12-10 ] A year after succeeding to the throne Leopold was married on 17 April 1852 in Rudolstadt to Princess Elisabeth of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt (1833-1896) the daughter of Prince Albert of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt.

Reign

In 1854 Leopold issued two sovereign edicts. The first on 9 March placed the Catholic Church on an equal footing with the state Calvinist religion. The second six days later on 15 March was to grant the same status to the Lutherans. [cite encyclopedia | title = Lippe | encyclopedia = The Catholic Encyclopedia | pages = 276 | date = 1913 ]

Lippe went through various changes during his reign. At his ascension the principality was a member of the German Confederation, and Leopold supported Prussia during the Austro-Prussian War of 1866. Following the war and the dissolution of the German Confederation, Lippe joined the North German Confederation on its creation in 1867. Lippe would then remain a member of the North German Confederation until the creation of the German Empire in 1871 following the Franco-Prussian War.

Prince Leopold was one of the main promoters of the creation of the Hermann monument in the Teutoburg Forest which was opened by the German Emperor William I in the summer of 1875. A few months after the unveiling of the monument Leopold in Detmold. As he was childless his brother Woldemar succeeded him as Prince of Lippe.

Ancestry

ahnentafel top|Ancestors of Leopold III, Prince of Lippe|width=100%ahnentafel-compact4
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1= Leopold III, Prince of Lippe
2= Leopold II, Prince of Lippe
3= Princess Emilie of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
4= Leopold I, Prince of Lippe
5= Princess Pauline of Anhalt-Bernburg
6= Günther Friedrich Karl I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
7= Princess Karoline of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
8= Simon August, Count of Lippe-Detmold
9= Princess Leopoldine of Anhalt-Dessau
10=Prince Friedrich Albrecht of Anhalt-Bernburg
11=Princess Luise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Plön
12=Christian Günther III, Prince of Schwarzburg-Sondershausen
13=Princess Charlotte Wilhelmine of Anhalt-Bernburg
14=Friedrich Karl I, Prince of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt
15=Princess Friederike of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadtahnentafel bottom

References