Gottfried, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg

Prince Gottfried at the age of nine

Gottfried was born at Langenburg, Kingdom of Württemberg, the first child of Ernst II, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1863–1950, son of Hermann, Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg and Princess Leopoldine of Baden) and his wife, Princess Alexandra of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha (1878–1942, daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia). 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 was a German soldier 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.[1]

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 younger brother Prince Philip married Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Gottfried's second cousin, King George VI. Elizabeth succeeded 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:

• A stillborn daughter (born and died 3 December 1933)
• Prince Kraft Alexander Ernst Ludwig Georg Emich (25 June 1935 – 16 March 2004); succeeded his father as Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg
• Princess Beatrix Alice Marie Melita Margarete of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (10 June 1936 – 15 November 1997), once engaged to Maximilian, Margrave of Baden
• Prince Georg Andreas Heinrich of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (born 24 November 1938) married Princess Luise of Schönburg-Waldenburg on 9 September 1968.
• Prince Rupprecht Sigismund Philipp Ernst of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 8 April 1978)
• Prince Albrecht Wolfgang Christoph of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (7 April 1944 – 23 April 1992) married Maria-Hildegard Fischer on 23 January 1976. They have one son.

Their four elder children were all born at Schwäbisch Hall, while the two youngest boys, twins, were born in Langenburg.[2]

At the death of his father in 1950, Gottfried inherited the title of Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg.[1][3]

• Queen Victoria's Descendants, New York, 1987, Eilers, Marlene A., Reference: 197

Media related to Gottfried, 8th Prince of Hohenlohe-Langenburg at Wikimedia Commons