by Susan Flantzer  © Unofficial Royalty 2021

The County of Waldeck was a county within the Holy Roman Empire since 1180.  In 1625, the much smaller County of Pyrmont became part of the much larger County of Waldeck through inheritance and the combined territory was known as the County of Waldeck-Pyrmont. In 1712,  Friedrich Anton Ulrich, Count of Waldeck-Pyrmont was elevated to Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont by Holy Emperor Karl VI.

Friedrich, the last Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont,  abdicated on November 13, 1918, and negotiated an agreement with the government that gave him and his descendants the ownership of the family home Arolsen Castle and Arolsen Forest. Today the territory that encompassed the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont is located in the German states of Hesse and Lower Saxony

Georg Viktor, Prince of Waldeck and Pyrmont was born in Arolsen, Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse, on January 14, 1831. He was the fourth of the five children and the second but the eldest surviving of the three sons of Georg II, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont and Emma of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym, daughter of Viktor II, Prince of Anhalt-Bernburg-Schaumburg-Hoym and Amelia of Nassau-Weilburg.

Georg Viktor had four siblings:

• Augusta of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1824 – 1893), married Alfred, Prince of Stolberg-Stolberg, had seven children
• Josef of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1825 – 1829), died in childhood
• Hermine of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1827 – 1910), married Adolf I, Prince of Schaumburg-Lippe, had eight children
• Wolrad of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1833 – 1867)

On May 15, 1845, Georg Viktor’s father died and his mother Emma served as Regent of the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont until he reached his majority in 1852. One of Emma’s first acts was to reform the Waldeck-Pyrmont forces of the German Federal Army, which collectively defended the German Confederation, of which Waldeck-Pyrmont was a member, from external enemies. This was implemented in 1845 by Prussian army officers. The Revolutions of 1848 took place during Emma’s regency and this led to a new constitution and a new parliament being convened. When Georg Viktor was to assume his powers as reigning Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont on his 21st birthday, he refused to recognize the constitution that had been instituted as a result of the Revolutions of 1848. Georg Viktor took over the reigning only after a constitutional amendment that was acceptable to him passed on August 17, 1852.

On September 26, 1853, in Wiesbaden, Duchy of Nassau, now in the German state of Hesse, Georg Victor married Helena of Nassau, daughter of Wilhelm, Duke of Nassau and his second wife Pauline of Württemberg. Helena proved to be very successful in finding suitable marriages for their children by making contacts with various European royal houses. Because of her efforts, the relatively poor House of Waldeck-Pyrmont was linked to the richer ruling dynasties of Würtemberg, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. Georg Viktor and Helena are the ancestors of the Dutch royal family through their daughter Emma and the Swedish royal family through their daughter Helena.

Georg Viktor and Helena had six daughters and one son:

• Sophie of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1854 – 1869), died of tuberculosis at age fifteen
• Pauline of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1855 – 1925), married Alexis, Prince of Bentheim and Steinfurt, had eight children
• Marie of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1857 – 1882), married the future King Wilhelm II of Württemberg, had two children, died in childbirth as did her third child
• Emma of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1858 – 1934), married King Willem III of the Netherlands, had one child Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands
• Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1861 – 1922), married the youngest son of Queen Victoria, Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, had two children including Charles Edward, last reigning Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha whose daughter Sibylla married Prince Gustaf Adolf of Sweden, Duke of Västerbotten, their son is King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden
• Friedrich, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1865 – 1946), married Princess Bathildis of Schaumburg-Lippe, had four children
• Elisabeth of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1873 – 1961) married Alexander, Prince of Erbach-Schönberg, had four children

In the Prussian-Austrian War (1866) Georg Viktor sided with the Kingdom of Prussia and then joined the North German Confederation, a group of German monarchies controlled and led by the largest and most powerful member, the Kingdom of Prussia. Due to a treaty, from 1868 onward, the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont was administered by Prussia but retained its legislative sovereignty. This reduced administrative costs for the small principality and was based on a ten-year contract that was repeatedly renewed for the duration of the principality’s existence. In 1871, the Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont became a constituent state of the new German Empire.

Georg Viktor’s wife Helena had been in ill-health for the last decade of her life. She died on October 28, 1888, aged 57, in Pyrmont, Principality of Waldeck and Pyrmont, now in the German state of Lower Saxony. On April 29, 1891, at Schloss Luisenlund in Güby, Duchy of Schleswig, now in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein, Georg Viktor married Louise of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg, who was twenty-seven years younger. Louise was the daughter of Friedrich, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Glücksburg and Adelheid of Schaumburg-Lippe.

Georg Viktor and Louise had one son:

• Wolrad of Waldeck-Pyrmont (1892 – 1914), unmarried, killed in action two months after the start of World War I

A year after the birth of his son Wolrad, Georg Viktor, aged 62, died from pneumonia on May 12, 1893, in the spa town Marienbad, Kingdom of Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic. He was buried with his first wife Helena in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden (link in German) in Rhoden, Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont, now in the German state of Hesse. Georg Viktor’s second wife Louise survived him by 43 years, dying on July 2, 1936, aged 78, in Marburg an der Lahn, Germany, and was buried in the Princely Cemetery at Schloss Rhoden with her husband and his first wife.

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Waldeck-Pyrmont Resources at Unofficial Royalty

• Principality of Waldeck-Pyrmont Index
• Profiles: Princes and Consorts of Waldeck and Pyrmont
• Waldeck and Pyrmont Royal Burial Sites

Works Cited

• De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Georg Viktor (Waldeck-Pyrmont). [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Viktor_(Waldeck-Pyrmont)> [Accessed 5 December 2020].
• De.wikipedia.org. 2020. Helene Von Nassau. [online] Available at: <https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helene_von_Nassau> [Accessed 5 December 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. George Victor, Prince Of Waldeck And Pyrmont. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Victor,_Prince_of_Waldeck_and_Pyrmont> [Accessed 5 December 2020].
• En.wikipedia.org. 2020. Princess Helena Of Nassau. [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Helena_of_Nassau> [Accessed 5 December 2020].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Georg II, Prince of Waldeck-Pyrmont. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/georg-ii-prince-of-waldeck-and-pyrmont/> [Accessed 3 December 2020].
• Flantzer, Susan, 2020. Royal Burial Sites Of The Principality Of Waldeck-Pyrmont. [online] Unofficial Royalty. Available at: <https://www.unofficialroyalty.com/former-monarchies/german-royals/principality-of-waldeck-and-pyrmont/royal-burial-sites-of-the-principality-of-waldeck-pyrmont/> [Accessed 30 November 2020].