Figure 1.--Alexander Ferdinand is seen here about 1915. He wears a colored smock. Notice the heavy front smocking with white belt and heavy belt. Also note the hair style--rather like a French choupette even though it was during World War I.

August Wilhelm had only one son, unlike some of the other Gerrman royals who had very large families. His son was Alexander Ferdinand Albert. While I have little on August William, several photographs are available Alexander Ferdinand. Alexander Ferdinand was born December 26, 1912. He appears to wear a tunic suit which appears to be smocked. He also appears to have long hair at about age 3. I have no information on the boy's childhood or how he got along with his parents. Alexander Ferdinand married December 19, 1938, to Irmgard Weygand in Dresden. They had one child, Prinz von Preussen, Stephen Alexander who was born September, 30 1939.

Parents

Augustus Wilhelm's father was Kaiser William II of Germany. His mother was Augusta Victoria von Schleswig-Holstein.

Father

Augustus Wilhelm was one of the sons of Kaiser Wilhelm II. We have developed some information August William. While there are a lot of photographs showing how the Kaiser's grandchildren, including August Wilhelm, were dressed, HBC so far as relatively little information how August and his brothers were dressed. He married Alexandra of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg (1887-1957) in 1908. They divorced in 1920 after World War I. After the War he joined a far-right veterans group known as the Stanlhelm. August Wilhelm, was an early an esthusiastic supporter of the NAZIs. He also served in World War II. Several photographs are available of his son Aleander Ferdinand.

Mother

Augustus Wilhelm married Princess Alexandra Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein on October 22, 1908. Her fther was Duke of Frederick Ferdinand Schleswig-Holstein (1855- ). Her mother was Victoria Frederica of Schleswig-Holstein (1860- ). She divorced him in 1920. I am not sure why, but presumably the loss of the money and trappings of imperial glorry with the fall of the royal family after World War I must have been a factor. She remairred in 1922.

Siblings

Alexander Ferdinand had no brothers and sisters. He was an only child. The German princes often had large families. This was less true of Kaiser Wilhelm's grandchildren. We get the impression that their wives were less willing to put up with their pomposity once the tgrappings of royalty were gone. Many of the portraits of Alexander Ferdinand show him by himself.

Figure 2.--The caption is difficut to read, but seems to read Alexander Ferdinand, son of Prince August Wilhelm. It would have been taken about 1916 during World War I.

Childhood

August Wilhelm had only one son, unlike some of the other German royals who had very large families. His son was Alexander Ferdinand Albert. While I have little on August William, several photographs are available Alexander Ferdinand. Alexander Ferdinand was born December 26, 1912. We have no details on the marriage. They divorced at Electors Hall Divorce in 1920. We do not have detail on the divorce, but suspect that his father's addication and the fact that his family no longer was the ruling family of Germany was a major factor. Alexander would hav been about 8 years old at the time.

Childhood Clothing

We notice Alexander Ferdinand wearing a wide variety of outfits. For some reason we have more images of him than many other of the grandchildren of Kaiser Wilhelm. One image shows him wearing a smock or dress with heavy front smocking. As a pre-school boy he worn tunics with above the knee bloomers. Another outfit was a kind of cossock tunic. He also appears to have worn colored smocks. I'm not sure what color they were, but they had heavy front smocking work and were worn with contrasting white belts--rather like the tunics he also wore. Of course like other German royals, he wore sailor suits. He is shown wearing knicker-length pants with short socks about the time he began school. He also wore lederhosen.

Hair Styles

Available photographs suggest that Alexander wore long hair until hewas about 6 years old. His hair was long down to his neck and curled, but not done into ringlets. at about age 3 or his appears tobe done in a French chopette or a style somewhat similar. I'm not sure what this may have been called in German.

Marriage

Alexander married Irmgard Weygand in Dresden in 1938.

The NAZIs

Alexander Wilhelm's father was an early supporter of the NAZIs. We have no information on Alexander Wilhelm's politics after the NAZI takeover in 1933 when he would have been a young man of about 21 years of age. Nor do we know what he may have done during World War II. After a cousin was killed in France during 1940, Hitler was pribately incesed at the public grief. So he ordered other members of the family be kept out of the front line. Oerhaps this happened with Alexander.

Figure 3.--Alexander Ferdinand as a slightly older boy commonly wore sailor suits. He looks to be about 5-6 years old here. It would have been taken about 1917-18 in the final years of the War.

Child

Alexander had one child, Prince Stephen Alexander von Preussen who was born in 1939.

Death

Alexander died in Wiesbaden during 1985.

Created: June 3, 2002
Last updated: February 15, 2003