Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin

Infobox Prince
name = Friedrich Franz (V)
title =Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin


full name =Freidrich Franz Michael Wilhelm Nikolaus Franz-Joseph Ernst August Hans
spouse 1 =Karin Elisabeth von Schaper
royal house =Mecklenburg
father =Friedrich Franz IV
mother =Princess Alexandra of Hanover
date of birth =birth date|1910|4|22
place of birth = Schwerin
date of death =Death date and age|2001|7|31|1910|4|22
place of death = Hamburg|

Friedrich Franz, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin ( _de. Friedrich Franz Erbgroßherzog von Mecklenburg-Schwerin; 22 April 1910 ndash 31 July 2001) was the heir apparent to the throne of Mecklenburg-Schwerin and a member of the SS. He became head of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin in 1945 with the house becoming extinct on his death.

Early life

He was born in Schwerin the eldest child of the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Friedrich Franz IV and his wife Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland a daughter of Crown Prince Ernest Augustus of Hanover and Princess Thyra of Denmark. Following the defeat of the German Empire in the First World War his father abdicated on 14 November 1918 although he did not succeed to the throne as the Empire was replaced with the Weimar Republic.

Post monarchy

In May 1931 against the will of his father,cite book |title=Royals and the Reich: The Princes Von Hessen in Nazi Germany |pages=72 ] Friedrich Franz joined the SS and by 1936 he had been promoted to the rank of Hauptsturmführer. He was posted to Denmark during the Second World War where he worked at the German embassy as a personal aide to Werner Best. He spent the summer months of 1944 serving with the Waffen-SS tank corps.cite book |title=Royals and the Reich: The Princes Von Hessen in Nazi Germany |pages=99 ]

In May 1943 a family council was called by the Grand Ducal family and Friedrich Franz was passed over as heir in favour of his younger brother Duke Christian Ludwig who would instead inherit the family property. He became head of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin on 17 November 1945 following the death of his father.

Friedrich Franz married Karin Elisabeth von Schaper (b. 1920) the daughter of Walter von Schaper and his wife Baroness Louise von Münchhausen on 11 June 1941 at Wiligrad. They divorced on 22 September 1967 but remarried a decade later in Glücksburg on 27 April 1977. [cite book |title= L'Allemagne Dynastique, Tome VI : Bade-Mecklembourg |pages=253] The death of his brother Duke Christian Ludwig in 1996 left Friedrich Franz as the only male member of the grand ducal house. As he had no children and his brother had only two daughters following his death in Hamburg the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin became extinct in the male line.

Ancestry

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1=1. Frederick Francis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
2=2. Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
3=3. Princess Alexandra of Hanover and Cumberland
4=4. Frederick Francis III, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
5=5. Grand Duchess Anastasia Mikhailovna of Russia
6=6. Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover
7=7. Princess Thyra of Denmark
8=8. Frederick Francis II, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
9=9. Princess Augusta Reuss of Köstritz
10=10. Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich of Russia
11=11. Princess Cecilie Auguste of Baden
12=12. George V of Hanover
13=13. Marie of Saxe-Altenburg
14=14. Christian IX of Denmark
15=15. Louise of Hesse-Kassel
16=16. Paul Frederick, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
17=17. Princess Alexandrine of Prussia
18=18. Heinrich LXIII, Prince Reuss of Köstritz
19=19. Countess Eleonore of Stolberg-Wernigerode
20=20. Nicholas I of Russia
21=21. Charlotte of Prussia
22=22. Leopold, Grand Duke of Baden
23=23. Princess Sophie of Sweden
24=24. Ernest Augustus I of Hanover
25=25. Frederica of Mecklenburg-Strelitz
26=26. Joseph, Duke of Saxe-Altenburg
27=27. Duchess Amelia of Württemberg
28=28. Friedrich Wilhelm, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg
29=29. Landgravine Louise Caroline of Hesse-Kassel
30=30. Landgrave William of Hesse-Kassel
31=31. Princess Louise Charlotte of Denmark

Notes

ources

*cite book |title=Royals and the Reich: The Princes Von Hessen in Nazi Germany |last=Petropoulos |first=Jonathan |year=2006 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0195161335
*cite book |last= Huberty |first= Michel |coauthors= Alain Giraud, F. et B. Magdelaine |title= L'Allemagne Dynastique, Tome VI : Bade-Mecklembourg |isbn= 9782901138068