Count Luitpold of Castell-Castell

Count Luitpold Alfred Friedrich Karl of Castell-Castell (; born November 14, 1904 in Langenzell, Wiesenbach, Grand Duchy of Baden – died November 6, 1941 in Bankya near Sofia, Kingdom of Bulgaria) was a German jurist (Dr. jur.), staff officer in the German Army during World War II and a member of the extended Danish Royal Family through his marriage to Princess Alexandrine-Louise of Denmark. He was a Count of Castell-Castell and a member of the Comital House of Castell-Castell.

Family Luitpold was born on November 14, 1904, in Langenzell, Wiesenbach, Grand Duchy of Baden and was the eldest child and son of Generalmajor Otto Friedrich Graf zu Castell-Castell (1868–1939), aide-de-camp (Flügeladjutant) to the King of Bavaria, and his wife, Serene Highness (Durchlaut) Amélie Caroline Ludwiga Gabriele Prinzessin zu Löwenstein-Wertheim-Freudenberg (1883–1978).

Marriage and issue Luitpold's engagement to Princess Alexandrine-Louise of Denmark, third child and daughter of Prince Harald of Denmark and his wife Princess Helena Adelaide of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, was announced on August 24, 1936, by special permission of Alexandrine-Louise's uncle Christian X of Denmark. Until the announcement, Alexandrine-Louise had been frequently mentioned as a possible queen consort to Edward VIII. Footage of the wedding on nitrate film is preserved by the Danish Film Institute in their bunker archive for nitrate film at Store Dyrehave in Hillerød. According to the film archivist Karin Bonde Johansen regarding the scenes captured by the film, "the atmosphere looks cheerful and wild looking, but unfortunately there is no audio to the footage." He was severely wounded as a flight passenger when the Ju 52 (CE + AS; Werknummer: 5382) he was on, during a courier flight from Belgrade to Athens, crashed due to ice on the wings on 28 October 1941. He died on 6 November 1941 in the Kriegslazarett 1/602 in Bankya near Sofia at the age of 36. Luitpold was interred at Bankya, and reinterred in the Castell-Castell family plot at the cemetery in Hochburg.

Ancestry