Figure 1.--Princess Victoria Louise and Ernst August are seen here after World War I with their five children. It looks to have been taken about 1926. The Princess clearly liked sailor suits for the boys.

Victoria Louise and Ernst August had five children. They are of course all grand children of German Kaiser Wilhelm II. They included: Ernest Augustus, Duke of Brunswig-Lüneburg (1914- ), George William Ernest (1915- ), Frederica Louise Thyra (1917-81) future queen of Greece, Christian Oscar Ernest (1919- ), and Guelph Henry Ernest (1923- ). The Princess clearly liked sailor suits for the boys. The boys except for the youngest Guelph Henry Ernest all wear identical traditional sailor suits. The youngest boy appears to be wearing some kind of ligh-colored short pants knot outfit with a double breasted blouse. The oldest boy has relatively short hair, but certainly not clipped extremely short. The two younger boys have longer cuts. We have very little information about the children at this time. The younger boys anf Frederika joined the Hitler Youth (HJ). Frederika joined the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM), the girls' division of the HJ. We are unsure whose idea it was. The two younger brothers also joined the HJ. They all were of military age and at the beginning of the War the older boys were in the military. They were forcibly discharged from the Armed Forces , presumably as a result of the Prinzenerlass (1940).

Ernest Augustus (1914- )

Ernest Augustus was the oldest boy of Victoria Louise and Ernst August. He was born in 1914. His christening was notable (summer 1914). The gathering of royalty was the last great gathering of European monarchs. The royals were connected by multiple family ties. The Prince had an particularly illustrious list of godparents, including the German Emperor and Empress (his maternal grandparents), the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland, his paternal grandparents (George V of the United Kingdom, Franz Joseph of Austria-Hungary, Nicholas II of Russia, Ludwig III of Bavaria, Frederick Francis IV, Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Prince Adalbert of Prussia, Prince Oskar of Prussia, Prince Maximilian of Baden, and The 1st Royal Bavarian Heavy Cavalry Regiment. Within weeks World War I would erupt and these monarchsould be at war wuth each other. Many of thei thrones would be lost by the end of the War. The Tsar and his family would be shot. Ernest Augustus lost his titles when his father abdicated in 1918 when he was 4 years old. He was also heir to the British title of Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale. The outbreak of World War I created a breach between the British Royal Family and its Hanoverian cousins. The British susspended this under the Titles Deprivation Act 1917. Unlike the three younger childrem, he did not join the Hitler Youth. He was too old when the NAZIs seized power (1933). The Gestapo arrested him (1944). I'm not sure what the circumstances were. I am not sure if he was actually involved in anti-NAZI activities or this was part of the the general NAZI anti-Hohenzollern feeling. Hopefully readers will have more details. After his father's death in 1953, he became head of the House of Hanover--Duke of Brunswig-Lüneburg.

George William Ernest (1915- )

George William Ernest was born in 1915. Likr Ernest August, he was also too old to join the HJ.

Frederica Louise Thyra (1917-81)

Frederika was born in Blankenburg, Germany, a princess of Hannover (1917). Her father was Ernest Augustus III, Duke of Brunswick and Princess Victoria of Prussia. Princess Victoria was Kaiser Wilhelm II's daughter. Thus through her mother she was related to both the German and British royal family. We do not know much about her childhood. We do know that she joined the Bund Deutscher Mädel (BDM)--the girls' division of the Hitler Youth. Her brothers also joined the HJ. They were photographed together anout 1933-34. We do not know why she joined. In the early period of NAZI rule, membership was still voluntary. We do not know when she met Prince Paul. We do know that Prince Paul asked her to marry him whikle he was in Berlin attending the Summer Olympic Games (1936). They announced their engagement (1937) and were married in Athens (1938). They lived at Villa Psychiko in the Athens suburbs. Princess Sophia was born (1938) and and Prince Constantine (1940). Soon their quiet family life was interupted by international events. Mussolini who had seized Albania, invaded Greece (October 1940). Here husband became King Paul I after the War (1947). Queen Frederika was a beautiful and highly intelligent woman. She did not prove to be an asset to her husband as king after the War. There were several problems. First it was primarily her Germaness in a country that fought Germany in two world wars. Anti-German feeling was intense in Greece as a result of the brutal German World War II occuption of Greece. Photographs of Frederika in a HJ uniform were very embarassibng. Another problen=m was her outspokeness in a conservative country in which politics was still seen as a realm for men. Not only was she outspoken, but her autocratic attitudes made her a target for opponents of the monarchy. Some historians believe that she was a factor in the growing republican sentiment during her husband's reign.

Christian Oscar Ernest (1919- )

Guelph Henry Ernest (1923- )

Guelph Henry Ernest (1923- ).

Clothing

Princess Victoria clearly liked sailor suits for the boys. The boys except for the youngest Guelph Henry Ernest all wear identical traditional sailor suits. The youngest boy appears to be wearing some kind of ligh-colored short pants knot outfit with a double breasted blouse.

Hair Cuts

The oldest boy has relatively short hair, but certainly not clipped extremely short. The two younger boys have longer cuts.

Created: March 20, 2003
Last updated: 8:11 AM 11/25/2009