Prince Wilhelm-Karl of Prussia


Prince Wilhelm Karl of Prussia was the third son of Prince Oskar of Prussia, and the last surviving grandson of Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor. He was the thirty-sixth Master of Knights of the Protestant Order of Saint John, also known as Der Johanniterorden.

Biography

Wilhelm-Karl was the youngest of Prince Oskar of Prussia and Countess Ina Marie von Bassewitz's four children. Having been admitted to the Bailiwick of Brandenburg of the Order of Saint John of the Hospital at Jerusalem in 1944, he later succeeded his father as its head, serving as the thirty-sixth Herrenmeister of the Order from 1958 until 1999. Prince Wilhelm-Karl worked tirelessly to keep the Order intact during the Cold War and helped to reunite its membership after the fall of East Germany.
Amongst other orders and awards, Wilhelm-Karl received the Grand Merit Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Grand Cross of the Order pro merito Melitensi of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.
In 1952, Wilhelm-Karl married Armgard Else Helene von Veltheim. The couple had two sons and a daughter: