Flashback Friday: A Simple Prussian Wedding in Bonn

June 3, 1933: Prince Wilhlem of Prussia, eldest son of Wilhem, German Crown Prince and heir to the headship of the House of Hohenzollern, married his love Dorothea von Salviati in a simple church ceremony in Bonn.

Wilhelm and Dorothea (front row, centre) with family members at the bride’s family home after their wedding ceremony

The couple had met and fallen in love while attending the University of Bonn, but Wilhelm’s grandfather, the former Kaiser Wilhelm II, refused to give them permission to marry as he still held out hope of a German restoration and that his heir should marry a fellow “thoroughbred”. Nevertheless, the Prince could not be convinced otherwise and gave up his place in the succession.

Wilhelm and Dorothea had two daughters, Felicitas and Christa, who were made Princesses of Prussia in 1940 by their great-grandfather when the former Kaiser recognised his grandson’s marriage as dynastic.

Unfortunately, the marriage only lasted seven years, as Prince Wilhelm was killed in action during the Second World War (his death and the public grief shown was the catalyst to Adolf Hitler putting in place the Prinzenerlass, which forbade former German royals from serving in the Wehrmacht).

Filed under Germany, Historical Royals
Tagged Dorothea von Salviati, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, Prussia, Wedding Anniversary.