Princely House of Lippe


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The Princely House of Lippe


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Arms of the Princely House of Lippe
~ ¤ ~

Founded by Bernhard Lord of Lippe, living in 1123
Count of the Holy Empire 1529
Prince of the Empire 1720 (Lippe-Detmold)
reigned until 12 November 1918 (Lippe-Biesterfeld)


 
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Does anyone have any pictures of Furst Armin and his family?
 
Netty Leistra of Nettyroyal.nl has a special on prince Armin's 80th birthday in 2004, look here.

Two pictures from the site:

Fürst Armin and Fürstin Traute

Prince Stephan and Princess Maria

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Another picture of Stephan and Marie, here.

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And here a clip of Dutch programme 'Eén vandaag' which had an interview with Prince Armin about Prince Bernhard of The Netherlands, the interview starts after 27 minutes.
 
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Question: I noticed that Furst Armin was the only son by Furst Leopold IV's second marriage to Princess Anna of Ysenburg-Büdingen.

Why was Furst Leopold's eldest son from his first marriage (Hereditary Prince Ernst) passed over?
 
At the time Fuerst Leopold IV died his two eldest sons married morganatically, so they were out of the line of succession. Armin was still single but marrid a commoner 4 years after his fathers death. I think he renounced his succession rights for a while (to an uncle) but somewhere in the 80-ties he resumed it again. It is all rather unclear I am afraid.
 
A history of disputes

As clear as mud! The House of Lippe is well-versed in succession challenges beginning with the death of Woldemar, Prince of Lippe in 1895. He was succeeded by his mentally ill and unmarried brother Alexander. Thence followed a struggle between the three regents, Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe, Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld and Leopold of Lippe-Biesterfeld and the three branches of Schaumburg-Lippe, Lippe-Biesterfeld and Lippe-Weissenfeld over the succession.

The head of the Biesterfeld branch, Count Ernst, was the rightful heir, but the Kaiser favoured Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe who was married to his sister Victoria. To the Kaiser's chagrin the situation got so messy that he (the Kaiser) was bypassed and the matter was referred to the Federal Council who requested that the Chancellor of the Empire refer the question of the succession to a special court of arbitration. This court was presided over by King Albert of Saxony who determined in 1897 that Count Ernest of Lippe-Biesterfeld was the only and rightful successor and was henceforth the sole regent of the principality.

It was not over yet, and the Schaumburg-Lippes launched a counter-offensive by challenging Count Ernst's marriage with the intention of having the children of the marriage declared morganatic. Count-Regent Ernst died in 1904 and his eldest son Leopold was sworn in as regent. The Kasier refused to recognise him as regent and once again the issue of who was the legitimate regent and who was to be the reigning Prince after the death of the by now insane Alexander was referred to judicial arbitration. In 1905 Fürst Alexander died and the Court Justice of the Empire declared that the descendants of Count-Regent Ernst were entitled to the Princely crown. With the death of Alexander the line of Lippe-Detmold was extinct in the male line and the Lippe-Biesterfelds became the Princely branch.

The Kaiser, never one to forget a real or imagined slight to his dignity, got his own back in 1907. During a military review Prince Bernhard, a major in the Prussian army, was about to present his troops to the Kaiser when the Kaiser turned his head and pretended to have a conversation with his aide de camp. Responding to this direct affront, Bernhard gave the order to his men to march immedaitely to the barracks. On his death in 1934 he was lauded as one of the few men who had publicly stood up to the Kaiser.

There were other struggles within the family during WWI over the recognition of the marriage of Prince Bernhard, and between the Beisterfeld and Weissenfeld branches over the question of the right to bear the Princely title. Further disputes took place between Fürst Leopold IV and various family members over apanages which weren't resolved until 1942.

The internal peace lasted about a decade and when Fürst Armin married the commoner Traute Becker in 1953 he was forced to renounce his rights as Head of the House. Although recognised by most members of the Lippe family, the descendants of Prince Julius Ernest of Lippe, a son of Count-Regent Ernst, refused to do so and proclaimed themselves the rightful heirs. Prince Ernst August thus became 'Prince of Lippe by right of primogeniture'.

Armin had passed his rights as Head of the Princely House to his half-brother Prince Leopold Bernhard who died unmarried in 1965. In 1980 Prince Ernst August withdrew his claim to the Headship of the House. With the strong support of his cousin Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands, born a Prince of Lippe-Biesterfeld, Armin was once again the recognised and acknowledged Fürst zur Lippe, and remains so to this day.

source: Royalty Digest #166 (April 2005)
 
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1. Count-Regent Ernst of Lippe-Biesterfeld (1842-1904)
2. His eldest son Fürst Leopold IV (1871-1949) and family

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Thanks for the extensive reply on the Lippe-quarrels. I already suspected that prince Bernhard had a role in it, and he didn't have much time for nonsense so the outcome is no surprise.

Dutch magazine 'Royalty' visited Schloss Detmold and interviewed prince Armin. In the article they emphasize 3 or 4 times what a nice man the prince is, which they normally never do. Prince Armin greeted the reporter in Dutch but said he could not hold a conversation in the language. He is able to understand it perfectly though.

Some info from the interview:

- Since he is 13 years younger than prince Bernhard he never had much contact with him for a long time, in his childhood Bernhard probably had more interest in Armin's elder siblings.

- When Bernhard and Juliana were engaged the couple visited Detmold. Armin had a photocamera and made pictures. The princess started playing with a small cat and the cat captured Armins attention too. Consequently he almost made no pictures of princess Juliana and wasted his photos on the cat, much to the anger of his mother.

- At the wedding of Juliana and Bernhard Armin was a pageboy. All the pageboys were requiered to wear white polished shoes, but due to the depression none could be found by his family. In the end Armin had to wear white heels of his aunt, which made his feet hurt so much that he did not enjoy the wedding at all.

- Prince Armin attended the 25th wedding celebrations of Juliana and Bernhard, but there was not much contact so quickly after the war.

- After the abdication of Juliana, he saw his Dutch relatives more frequently. But Bernhard had a very different lifestyle, the prince is rather quiet and shy. He would sometimes have an appointment with Bernhard but only a few hours before that Bernhard could cancel it, faking an illness. A day later Armin saw pictures of a 'sick' prince Bernhard somewhere in the world descending an airplane.

- Prince Armin doesn't like hunting. He was in the air defence when he was a teenager during WWII, he saiys he heard so many shots that he can not stand any more. His son Stefan does hunt however.

- Armin and his wife are biologists and created a botanical garden outside the castle.

- Prince Armin refers to the family feuds with the Schaumburg family and later with his other family members but he doesn't say much, just that it was caused as his father disinherited the elder sons and that everything has been solved now.

- Schloss Detmold attracts 35.000 visitors each year, many of them are Dutch.

- His eldest grandson is called Bernhard, after the Ducth prince. The son of Armin and his children live in Schloss Detmold too. The children visit the local school. Because they live in a castle many schoolchildren want to visit their home, so each grandchild is allowed to take one friend each day. The prince says that the role of the family changed a lot after the revolution of 1918 but in Detmold it means something to people that there is a schloss, a prince etc. They like the idea.

- Armin recalls that the day after Queen Juliana died he was called by Bernhard. Bernhard seemed very shaken by his wives death and that night the doctors actually thought he would die too.
 
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Armin does not use the style of Fürst only Prince same as Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein.Berleburg.
Juliana and Bernhard also attended the Wedding of Armin's son Stephan to Countess Maria of Solms-Laubach (who is a niece of Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg) and the christening of one of their sons (i beleive th oldest but not sure).
 
Does Prince Armin and his wife the princess have any children ? And if not who is the next in line to the headship of the Lippe princely house after Armin passes on?
 
Does Prince Armin and his wife the princess have any children ? And if not who is the next in line to the headship of the Lippe princely house after Armin passes on?

See my post before you (nr. 9). The have one son Stephan Leopold who is married to Countess Maria zu Solms-Laubach, a niece of Prince Richard of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Berleburg (her mother Madeleine is his sister)

Stephan Leopold and Maria have 5 children

- Bernhard Leopold, * 1995
- Heinrich, * 1997
- Wilhelm * 1999
- Luise * 2001
- Mathilde, * 2003
 
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Correct me if I am wrong but was the late Prince Bernhard of Netherlands apart of this house before marrying the late Queen Juilana of Netherlands?
 
Princess Siegerlinde of Lippe died on August 8th 2008 at the age of 93. She was the daughter of the last Fuerst of Lippe, Leopold IV and the half-sister of the present one, Prince Armin. She was also a 1st cousin of prince Bernhard of the Netherlands.

Princess Siegerlinde married in 1943 Friedrich Carl Heldman with whom she got 3 children.

Source: monarchen.nl
 
Prince Armin was interviewed by Dutch author/historian Annejet van der Zijl for her book 'Bernhard, een vergeten geschiedenis'. I which she focusses on Bernhards life before his marriage and in which she was able to expose a lot of lies (about or by prince Bernhard).

Anyway, for the book she interviewed prince Armin. In the credits she says that the prince read the whole manuscript as it progressed. She also says that the archives of the prince in Schloss Detmold was one of her most important sources.

Prince Armin was also interviewed by Dutch television and he even showed the marriage contract of Juliana and Bernhard, with the seals of both houses.

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Princess Moretta of Schaumburg Lippe didn't take it very well that the Lippe-Biesterfelds would take over the principality and not she and her husband, this is what she wrote to her brother, Kaiser Wilhelm II on July 21st 1897:

The 'Biests' are dispicable, mean people, who took on princely airs.Can the German princes bear such a swine mess? (...) After this example every Mr. Müller or Miss Schültz can become a prince or regent? What would grandfather and father have said about it?
 
The inheritance issue is very interesting. I think if I had been a reigning german monarch at the time I would have taken a very dim view of the Kaisers involvement. If he could interfere in this issue on behalf of a family member against the rightful line, then what would have stopped him doing so with other realms in the German Empire.
 
From what I read in the Dutch book on Bernhard that I refered too, the more liberal southern states supported the Lippe-Biesterfelds. The author esp. names the Bavarians and the Saxony's. However she points out that the whole issue was a big clash between the upcoming bourgeoisie and the old nobility. It was all played out in the press, in court and public opinion was firmly on the side of the Lippe-Biesterfelds. Much to the horror of the Kaiser who was seething that he had to give in.

Later Leopold IV would develop a reasonable relationship with the Kaiser, he even received the iron cross. Princess Armgard actually visited huis Doorn frequently, mainly because she was related & friends of Kaiserin Hermine. Hermine also tried to play a matchmaker for princess Juliana btw, which made Queen Wilhelmina sent her an angry letter.
I believe the one who gave Bernhard the final instructions to where and how to introduce himself to Juliana was Fürstin Anna of Lippe.
 
Can someone tell me further biographical information about the following Prinz zur Lippe?

Proschwitz

Thank you!
 
I guess he is Prince Georg zur Lippe-Weißenfeld, born on 25 June 1957, the youngest son and child of the late Prince Christian (1907-1996) and Princess Pauline, née Countess zu Ortenburg (1913-2002).
 
German prince's one man fight over plans to turn 900-year-old family land into national park - Telegraph
The government of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia wants to incorporate the hills and the trees into a new national park.
But Stephen, Prince of Lippe, the landowner, is in no mood to co-operate.
On Saturday the prince spoke before a demonstration of 2,000 opponents of the park, in an address that reinforced his position at the forefront the opposition movement.
The Teutoburg Forest has been in his family almost since the founding of the Principality of Lippe in 1123, and for centuries they ruled it from the now ruined Falkenburg Castle, which still stands guard over the woods.
 
German prince's one man fight over plans to turn 900-year-old family land into national park - Telegraph
The government of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia wants to incorporate the hills and the trees into a new national park.
But Stephen, Prince of Lippe, the landowner, is in no mood to co-operate.
On Saturday the prince spoke before a demonstration of 2,000 opponents of the park, in an address that reinforced his position at the forefront the opposition movement.
The Teutoburg Forest has been in his family almost since the founding of the Principality of Lippe in 1123, and for centuries they ruled it from the now ruined Falkenburg Castle, which still stands guard over the woods.

Trypical Socialist ploy of making it a class war rather than what it actually is, a land grab of private property by the govt. I fully support the Prince, not because he is royalty but because he is a landowner trying to protect what is rightfully his against a rather dubious proposition.
 
... I fully support the Prince, not because he is royalty but because he is a landowner trying to protect what is rightfully his against a rather dubious proposition.
Does he have any chance to win the case?
 
Princess Elisabeth zu Solms-Braunfels, nee Princess zur Lippe died at Baden-Baden in May.
She was born at Dresden-Blasewitz on 23 January 1916, daughter of Prince Julius zur Lippe (1873-1952) & his wife Marie, nee Duchess of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. (1978-1948); she was thus a paternal first cousin of Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands. On 15 February 1939 in Dresden she married Prince Ernst August zu Solms-Braunfels (1892-1968). She is survived by their daughter, Maria Angela (b.1940).

Source: Royal News of 2013, Section II
 
The new issue of ROYALTY DIIGEST QUARTERLY will have the house of Lippe as its Family Album. We are trying desperately to find hi-resolution versions of the two pictures attached to this message. Does anyone have them?

TED ROSVALL, editor

The little boy is Fürst Armin. The group is of Fürst Leopold IV, his first wife Bertha and their three elder children.


We are also looking for a picture of Prince Ernst August zur Lippe (1917-1990) - either alone or with other family members.
 

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H.S.H. Prince Karl-Christian zur Lippe-Weissenfeld died on 7 March 2013, aged 82.

He was born at Dessau on 2 September 1930; he was the only child of Prince Karl zur Lippe-Weissenfeld (1889-1942) and of his wife, née Hedwig-Maria von Trotha (1903-1988).
He was unmarried and without issue.

Lippe
 
Wow, finally! Congrats to them!
 
A New Prince of Lippe-Weissenfeld

Princess Auguste of Bavaria (b.11 October 1979) [eldest of five children of Prince Luitpold of Bavaria (b.1951) & his wife Beatrix, nee Wiegand (b.1951)] &her husband, Prince Ferdinand Clemens of Lippe-Weissenfeld (b.5 September 1976)[youngest of three children and only son of Prince Ferdinand Jobst of Lippe-Weissenfeld (b.1942) & his wife Karoline nee Freiin von Feilitzsch (b.1939)] had their first child, a son, reportedly in late August or early September.

Name still unknown.

Source: Descendants of Duke Wilhelm of Nassau
.
 
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:previous:
His names are: Louis-Ferdinand Ludwig Beatus Bernhard Christopher Julio Patrick
He was born on September 16th 2013.

Source: the christmas wishes from his parents:flowers:
 
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German prince's one man fight over plans to turn 900-year-old family land into national park - Telegraph
The government of the state of North-Rhine Westphalia wants to incorporate the hills and the trees into a new national park.
But Stephen, Prince of Lippe, the landowner, is in no mood to co-operate.
On Saturday the prince spoke before a demonstration of 2,000 opponents of the park, in an address that reinforced his position at the forefront the opposition movement.
The Teutoburg Forest has been in his family almost since the founding of the Principality of Lippe in 1123, and for centuries they ruled it from the now ruined Falkenburg Castle, which still stands guard over the woods.
I wonder if anyone has heard anymore about ths? Has there been a resolution to the case?
 
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