Wittekind, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Encyclopedia
Wittekind, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont (born March 9, 1936) has been since 1967 the head of the House of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Waldeck (state)
Waldeck was a sovereign principality in the German Empire and German Confederation and, until 1929, a constituent state of the Weimar Republic. It comprised territories in present-day Hesse and Lower Saxony, ....

.

Early life

He was born in Arolsen
Bad Arolsen
Bad Arolsen is a small town in northern Hesse, Germany, in Waldeck-Frankenberg district. From 1655 until 1918 it served as the residence town of the Princes of Waldeck-Pyrmont and then until 1929 as the capital of the Waldeck Free State...

 the son of Hereditary Prince Josias of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont
Josias, Hereditary Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont was the heir apparent to the throne of the Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont and a General in the SS. From 1946 until his death he was the head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont...

 and his wife Duchess Altburg of Oldenburg
Duchess Altburg of Oldenburg
Duchess Altburg Marie Matilda Olga of Oldenburg was a daughter of Frederick Augustus II, Grand Duke of Oldenburg by his second wife Duchess Elisabeth Alexandrine of Mecklenburg-Schwerin.-Early life:...

 (1903–2001). Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Himmler
Heinrich Luitpold Himmler was Reichsführer of the SS, a military commander, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. As Chief of the German Police and the Minister of the Interior from 1943, Himmler oversaw all internal and external police and security forces, including the Gestapo...

 was his godfather. Wittekind who has served in the German Armed Forces and held the rank Lieutenant Colonel succeeded as head of the house of Waldeck and Pyrmont on the death of his father on 30 November 1967.

Honours

On 9 August 2001 he received the Federal Cross of Merit from Roland Koch
Roland Koch
Roland Koch is a German jurist and former conservative politician. He was Minister-President of Hesse from April 7, 1999, immediately becoming President of the Bundesrat, completing the term begun by his predecessor as Minister President, Hans Eichel, until his resignation on August 31, 2010...

, then Minister-President
Minister-President
A minister-president is the head of government in a number of European countries or subnational governments, in which a parliamentary or semi-presidential system of government prevails, who presides over the council of ministers...

 of Hesse
Hesse
Hesse or Hessia is both a cultural region of Germany and the name of an individual German state.* The cultural region of Hesse includes both the State of Hesse and the area known as Rhenish Hesse in the neighbouring Rhineland-Palatinate state...

.

Marriage and issue

Wittekind is married to Countess Cecilie of Goëss-Saurau
Countess Cecilie of Goëss-Saurau
Countess Cecilie of Goëss-Saurau is the wife of Wittekind, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont, current head of the Princely House of Waldeck and Pyrmont.- Early life :...

 (b. 1956) and they have three sons.
  • Prince Carl-Anton (b. 1991)
  • Prince Josias (b. 1993)
  • Prince Johannes (b. 1993)

Ancestors

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