and his
elder brother (1918) Born in
Schloss Ludwigslust, as a member of an elder, Mecklenburg-Schwerin line of an ancient
House of Mecklenburg, he was the second child of the reigning Grand Duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin,
Frederick Francis IV, and his wife,
Princess Alexandra of Hanover, third child and second daughter of
Ernest Augustus, Crown Prince of Hanover and
Princess Thyra of Denmark. Following the defeat of the
German Empire in
World War I, his father formally abdicated on 14 November 1918 and the monarchy was abolished. After the abolition of the monarchy, in 1919 the family went at the invitation of
Queen Alexandrine, consort of
Christian X of Denmark and sister of the Grand Duke, into exile in
Denmark, where they lived for a year in
Sorgenfri Palace. Later, the family returned to Mecklenburg and lived in
Gelbensande, and from 1921 the family settled at
Ludwigslust Castle. After finishing school, in the autumn of 1935, he went as a recruit in the cavalry regiment 14 in Ludwigslust, with whom he was drafted in 1939 into World War II. In 1944, he was dismissed because of
a decree as being a member of a former ruling house of the armed forces. ==After the war==