Prince Joachim
From Kaiserreich
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Joachim Franz Humbert von Hohenzollern (born in Potsdam, Germany, on December, 17 1890) is a Prince of the House of Hohenzollern and the sixth and youngest son of Kaiser Wilhelm II. He disappeared from political life after his tentative of suicide in 1923.
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Biography
Early life
Prince Joachim was born in Potsdam, the sixth and youngest son of the Kaiser Wilhelm II and his first wife, Empress Augusta Viktoria. Educated, along with his brothers, in the Prinzenhaus, he joined in 1911, after his military formation, the 1. Garderegiment zu Fuß (1st Footguard Regiment). During the Weltkrieg, he was wounded at the Battle of the Masurian Lakes. He married in 1916 Princess Marie Auguste of Anhalt, but their wedding was however not so happy.
Depression
Prince Joachim almost progressively disappeared from public life and attempted to take his own life by gunshot on July 18, 1923. He was hopefully saved by one of his bodyguards. However, the Imperial Family and the then military government of Paul von Hindenburg and Erich von Ludendorff tried to hush up the scandal, but the tentative of suicide was finally revealed by Princess Marie Auguste herself, and later by the Prince's oldest brother, Kronprinz Wilhelm. This event contributed to the fall of the Hindenburg-Ludendorff dictatorship and somewhat damaged the image of the Hohenzollern dynasty who refused to support one of its Princes. Prince Joachim now lives retired from political life, in a secret residence.
Family
Prince Joachim married on March, 11 1916 with Princess Marie Auguste Von Anhalt-Dessau (born on June, 10 1898), daughter of Prince Eduard Georg Wilhelm of Anhalt. Together, they had a son, Karl Franz Josef Wilhelm Friedrich Eduard, born on December, 15 1916. Some sources affirmed that the cause of Prince's tentative of suicide was his unhappy marriage, a point that the Princess contests. It's however understandable that, after the failure of his Irish experience, the Prince's relation with his wife became more strained.
