Victor II, Duke of Ratibor

Victor II, Duke of Ratibor, Prince of Corvey, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (; 6 September 18479 August 1923) was a member of the House of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Duke of the Silesian duchy of Ratibor . He was a lawyer, an cavalry officer in the Royal Prussian Army and a politician in the Free Conservative Party. He served in the Prussian House of Lords, and as the chairman of the provincial parliaments of Silesia and Upper Silesia between 1897 and 1921.

Early life and family Victor was born at Rauden Castle, Kingdom of Prussia, eldest son of Victor I, Duke of Ratibor (1818–1893), (son of Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst and Princess Constanze of Hohenlohe-Langenburg) and his wife, Princess Amelie of Fürstenberg (1821–1899), (daughter of Charles Egon II, Prince of Fürstenberg and Princess Amalie of Baden).

He studied law in Bonn and Göttingen and was a member of the Corps Borussia (1867) and Corps Saxonia (1890). In Saxonia were also his four brothers, Max, Karl Egon, Franz (Colonel à la suite) and Egon (Lord Chamberlain).

Military career After making his Doctorate in Law, he entered the Potsdamer Life Guards Hussar Regiment in which he fought during the Franco-Prussian War.

Political career Between 1873 and 1876, he worked at the German Embassy in Vienna. In 1893, he took over the dominions Kieferstädtel and Zembowitz in Upper Silesia.

From 1897 to 1921, he served as the chairman of the provincial parliaments of Silesia during the German Empire (to 1918) and Upper Silesia during the Weimar Republic (1919–1921). As a member of the Free Conservative Party, he ran in 1885 and 1888 for the Prussian House of Representatives. Since 1893, he was a member of the Prussian House of Lords. From 1896 to 1904, he was chairman of the New Coalition Party.

Marriage

Victor married 19 June 1877 at Vienna to Countess Marie Breuner-Enckevoirt (1856–1929), daughter of Count August Johann Breuner-Enckevoirt, and his wife, Countess Agota Széchényi de Sárvár-Felsövidék.

They had four children: Victor III, Duke of Ratibor (Rauden, 2 February 1879 – Corvey, 11 November 1945), married in 1910 to Princess Elisabeth of Oettingen-Spielberg (1886–1976), had issue. Prince Hans of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (Rauden, 8 March 1882 – Walkersdorf Castle, 5 January 1948), married in 1918 to Princess Marie of Windisch-Graetz (1898–1992), no issue. Princess Agathe of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (Rauden, 24 July 1888 – Wiesbaden, 12 December 1960), married in 1910 to Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia (1880–1925), had issue. Princess Margarete of Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst (Rauden, 3 Mar 1894 – Corvey, 23 May 1973), never married.

Honours, awards and arms Military appointments Major general à la suite of the Prussian Army

Honorary citizenships and doctorates Honorary Citizen of Breslau, 1913

Orders and decorations

Arms

Ancestry

Notes and sources Genealogisches Handbuch des Adels, Fürstliche Häuser, Reference: 1956