William, Prince of Hohenzollern

William, Prince of Hohenzollern (German: Wilhelm August Karl Joseph Peter Ferdinand Benedikt Fürst von Hohenzollern) (7 March 1864 in Schloss Benrath, near Düsseldorf – 22 October 1927 in Sigmaringen) was the eldest son of Leopold, Prince of Hohenzollern and Infanta Antónia of Portugal.

William
Prince of Hohenzollern
Head of the Princely House of Hohenzollern
Tenure8 June 1905 – 22 October 1927
PredecessorLeopold
SuccessorFrederick
Born(1864-03-07)7 March 1864
Schloss Benrath, near Düsseldorf, Rhine Province, Prussia
Died22 October 1927(1927-10-22) (aged 63)
Sigmaringen, Province of Hohenzollern, Germany
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1889; died 1909)​

​
​
(m. 1915)​
IssueAugusta Victoria, Queen of Portugal
Frederick, Prince of Hohenzollern
Francis Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern-Emden
Full name
German: Wilhelm August Karl Joseph Peter Ferdinand Benedikt
HouseHohenzollern
FatherLeopold, Prince of Hohenzollern
MotherInfanta Antónia of Portugal

William was an older brother of Ferdinand of Romania. His maternal first cousins included (among others) Carlos I of Portugal, Albert I of Belgium, Frederick Augustus III of Saxony, and Princess Maria Josepha of Saxony.

Between 1880 and 1886, William was heir presumptive to the Romanian throne. On 20 December 1886, he renounced his rights to the throne in favor of his brother Ferdinand.[1][2]

Family
Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies
Prince William and his second wife Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria, 1916

On 27 June 1889, William married Princess Maria Teresa of Bourbon-Two Sicilies. Her parents were Prince Louis, Count of Trani and Mathilde Ludovika, Duchess in Bavaria. Louis was the eldest son of Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies and his second wife Archduchess Maria Theresa of Austria. Mathilde was the fourth daughter of Maximilian, Duke in Bavaria and Princess Ludovika of Bavaria. William and Maria Teresa had three children:

William succeeded his father as Prince of Hohenzollern on 8 June 1905. Maria Teresa died on 1 May 1909.

On 20 January 1915, Wilhelm married secondly Princess Adelgunde of Bavaria. She was a daughter of Ludwig III of Bavaria and Maria Theresia of Austria-Este. There were no children from this marriage.

William's title was effectively abolished[3] with the collapse of the German Empire. He continued to use his princely surname, which was permitted by the constitution.

Romanian succession

On 22 November 1880, William's father, Prince Leopold, renounced his rights to the succession of the principality of Romania[4] in favour of his sons.

Having become familiar with the situation in Romania, the 22-year-old William renounced all rights to the succession of the kingdom (since 1881) of Romania by a letter in French dated on 20 December 1886.[1]

In 1914, upon the death of king Carol I of Romania, William's next brother Ferdinand succeeded in Romania.

Honours
German decorations[5]
Foreign decorations[11]

Ancestry

References
  1. Renunciation letter of Guillaume de Hohenzollern, in French, dated on 20 December 1886
  2. (in French) Gheorghe Bengescu (1907)- Bibliographie franco-roumaine depuis le commencement du XIXe siècle jusqu'à nos jours.
  3. "Weimar Constitution of 1919". Cornell University. July 12, 2020.
  4. Renunciation letter of Leopold de Hohenzollern, in French, dated on 22 November 1880"
  5. Handbuch über den Königlich Preußischen Hof und Staat (1918), Genealogy p.6
  6. Justus Perthes, Almanach de Gotha 1922 (1922) p. 77
  7. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Herzogtums Anhalt (1894), "Herzogliche Haus-Orden Albrecht des Bären" p. 17
  8. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Großherzogtum Baden (1896), "Großherzogliche Orden" pp. 62, 77
  9. Hof- und Staats-Handbuch des Königreich Bayern (1906), "Königliche Orden" p. 9
  10. Staatshandbücher für das Herzogtum Sachsen-Coburg und Gotha (1890), "Herzogliche Sachsen-Ernestinischer Hausorden" p. 46
  11. Handbuch über den Königlich Preussischen Hof und Staat, 1908, p. 5
  12. "Ritter-Orden", Hof- und Staatshandbuch der Österreichisch-Ungarischen Monarchie, 1918, pp. 51, 55, 74, retrieved 5 July 2020
  13. Italy. Ministero dell'interno (1920). Calendario generale del regno d'Italia. p. 58.
  14. "Real y distinguida orden de Carlos III". Guía Oficial de España (in Spanish). 1910. p. 160. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  • "The Book of Kings: A Royal Genealogy" by C. Arnold McNaughton.
William, Prince of Hohenzollern
House of Hohenzollern
Cadet branch of the House of Hohenzollern
Born: 7 March 1864 Died: 22 October 1927
German nobility
Preceded by
Leopold		 Prince of Hohenzollern
8 June 1905 – 22 October 1927		 Succeeded by
Frederick
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