Mindaugas II
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Mindaugas II of Lithuania (otherwise known as William Charles Florestan Gero Crescentius, 2nd Duke of Urach and Count of Wurttemberg, May 30, 1864, Monaco) is the current King of Lithuania. He was elected on July 11, 1918 and crowned in January, 1919.
Early life
Born as HSH Prince Wilhelm Karl Florestan Gero Crescentius of Urach, Count of Württemberg, he was the elder son of Wilhelm, 1st Duke of Urach (the head of a morganatic branch of the Royal House of Württemberg), and his second wife, Princess Florestine of Monaco, occasional acting Regent of Monaco (daughter of Prince Florestan I of Monaco).
At the age of four Wilhelm succeeded his father as Duke of Urach. He spent much of his childhood in Monaco, where his mother Florestine often managed the government while her nephew, Prince Albert I of Monaco, went on long oceanographic explorations. Wilhelm was culturally francophone.
Candidate for various thrones
Through his mother, Wilhelm was the legitimate heir to the throne of Monaco. Wilhelm's cousin Prince Albert I of Monaco had only one son Louis who was unmarried and had no legitimate children. The French Republic, however, was reluctant to see a German prince ruling Monaco. Under French pressure Monaco passed a law in 1911 recognising Louis's illegitimate daughter, Charlotte, as heir; she was adopted in 1918 by her grandfather Prince Albert I.
In 1913 Wilhelm was one of several princes considered for the throne of Albania; he was supported by Catholic groups in the north. In 1914 Prince William of Wied was selected instead.
In 1917, as a newly-retired general Wilhelm sounded out the possibility of being made Duke of Lorraine after the war was over.
Military career
Typical of his family, Wilhelm entered the Württemberg army in the 1890s and was a professional general by the outbreak of World War I in 1914, commanding the 26th Infantry Division. Until November 1914 they were part of the German assault on France. In December 1914 the division fought in the battle to cross the Bzura river in Poland. From June to September 1915 the division moved from north of Warsaw to positions close to the Neman River, an advance of hundreds of miles in the campaign in which Poland was taken. In October-November 1915 it took part in the assault on Serbia, moving from west of Belgrade to Kraljevo in less than a month. At Ypres in Belgium from December 1915 to July 1916, the division was largely destroyed in the Somme battles from August to November 1916, holding the Schwaben Redoubt (Württemberg is part of Swabia). Wilhelm retired as a general on January 5, 1917.
