Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg


Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg was the only surviving son of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

Early life

Gottfried was born at Langenburg, Kingdom of Württemberg, the first child of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. Through his maternal grandparents, he was a great-grandson of Queen Victoria and of Tsar Alexander II.
After the fall of the Imperial German Monarchy in 1918, Gottfried continued to serve as a leader of the European royalty. He served in the German Army in World War II, becoming severely injured at the Russian front. He was dismissed from the army after the abortive attempt on Adolf Hitler's life on 20 July 1944.

Marriage and issue

Gottfried was briefly engaged during 1927-28 to marry Gloria Morgan Vanderbilt, the widow of Reginald Claypoole Vanderbilt. That engagement was however repudiated, and on 3 December 1930, Gottfried became engaged to Princess Margarita of Greece and Denmark. Margarita was the daughter of Prince Andrew of Greece and Denmark and his wife, Princess Alice of Battenberg. Gottfried and Margarita are second cousins once removed through Queen Victoria and third cousins through Nicholas I of Russia. Many years later, Margarita's much younger brother Philip would marry Gottfried's distant cousin Elizabeth, daughter of King George VI. Elizabeth would succeed her father to the throne of the United Kingdom as Queen Elizabeth II.
Gottfried and Margarita had a generally harmonious marriage. They had six children, six grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren:
Their four elder children were all born at Schwäbisch Hall, while the two youngest boys, twins, were born in Langenburg.

Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

At the death of his father in 1950, Gottfried inherited the title of Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.

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