Princess Pauline, Princess of Wied

Princess Pauline Olga Helene Emma of Württemberg (19 December 18777 May 1965) was the only child of William II of Württemberg and Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont to reach adulthood. Pauline was the wife of William Frederick, Prince of Wied, and worked for many years as the regional director of the German Red Cross in western Germany.

Early life Pauline was born at Stuttgart in the Kingdom of Württemberg, the elder daughter of William II of Württemberg by his first wife, Princess Marie of Waldeck and Pyrmont. She became their only surviving child after the deaths of her brother Prince Ulrich and unnamed stillborn sister.

World War II She was indicted for concealing, since October 1945, a pair of important Nazis by a military court of the United States. She confessed to knowingly sheltering Gertrud Scholtz-Klink and her spouse, former SS Maj. General August Heissmeyer. The Princess was aware that Scholtz-Klink was the head of the Nazi women's organizations, but she denied that she had been aware of Heissmayer's SS position. Her husband's elder brother was William, Prince of Albania, and she was a first cousin of the Dutch queen, Wilhelmina of the Netherlands. She was also a niece of American expatriate Harry Van Bergen and a granddaughter of businessman Anthony T. Van Bergen.

Descendants Through Prince Dietrich, she was a grandmother of Prince Maximilian (1929–2008), Prince Ulrich (1931–2010) and Prince Ludwig-Eugen (1938–2001). Her grandson Prince Ulrich married Ilke Fischer and they were the parents of Prince Ulrich (b. 1970), who married Clarissa Elizabeth Makepeace-Massingham (b. 1971); and Princess Marie (b. 1973), who married Friedrich, Hereditary Duke of Württemberg (1961–2018), eldest son of Carl, Duke of Württemberg and heir to the House of Württemberg. Hereditary Duke Friedrich died in a car accident in 2018 and his funeral was attended by King Philippe and Queen Mathilde of Belgium, Hans-Adam II, Prince of Liechtenstein, and Bernhard, Hereditary Prince of Baden. When Carl died in 2022, he was succeeded by his grandson (Friedrich’s son) Wilhelm.

Ancestry