Duke Carl Gregor of Mecklenburg

Duke Carl Gregor of Mecklenburg (German: Herzog Carl Gregor zu Mecklenburg; born 14 March 1933) is a member of the House of Mecklenburg-Strelitz and a music and art historian.

Biography

He was born in Remplin, Mecklenburg at the grand ducal families estate the youngest child of Duke Georg of Mecklenburg and his first wife Irina Mikhailovna Raievskya. Of his names, Gregor was given as honoring his maternal ancestral uncle, Grigori Potemkin, Prince of Tauride - in Russian context, the boy would be 'Grigori Yurievich'. He spent the first years of his life at Schloss Remplin until the main part of the palace was destroyed in a fire in 1940. His family then moved to Grunewald, where they lived until their home was completely destroyed in February 1944 during a bombing raid. His father was held prisoner by the Nazi government from 1944 until he was released in February 1945 when he took his family to live in Sigmaringen at the invitation of Princess Margarethe of Hohenzollern.

Carl Gregor studied music and art history at the University of Tübingen and in 1968 gained a Doctorate in Art history. He has worked as an assistant professor in the department of art history at the Technische Hochschule in Stuttgart. In 1974 he was appointed the director of the Museum of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart and held the position until his retirement in 1992. Carl Gregor is the author of a number of books.

Duke Carl Gregor married Princess Maria Margarethe of Hohenzollern, the daughter of Franz Joseph, Prince of Hohenzollern-Emden, in a civil ceremony on 18 February 1965 in Hechingen. They were married religiously on 23 April 1966 in the Chapel at Burg Hohenzollern.

Ancestry