Wilhelm Malte was born on 1 August 1783 in Putbus, when Rügen still belonged to
Sweden as a result of the
Thirty Years' War. He was the son of the Swedish
Marshal of the Court,
Malte Friedrich of Putbus and his wife Sophie Wilhelmine,
née Countess von der Schulenburg. After studying at the
University of Greifswald and Göttingen, he entered military service in Sweden on 21 July 1800 with the
Stockholm Life Hussars. After becoming a Swedish
chamberlain on 14 September 1802, Wilhelm Malte was elevated on 25 May 1807 by King
Gustav IV Adolf of Sweden to the rank of a prince (
Fürst). After the end of French occupation, he was nominated in 1813 by the Swedish Crown Prince and Regent, later
Charles XIV John Bernadotte, as
Governor-general of
Swedish Pomerania. This office was traditionally linked to the office of Chancellor of the University of Greifswald. As a result of the
Treaty of Kiel, Rügen became Danish for a short time in 1814 and then went to Prussia in 1815 in exchange for its support in the cession of Norway to Sweden, not least because of the involvement of the prince. In 1817, Wilhelm Malte's princely rank was confirmed by
Frederick William III of Prussia, and so was his position as Governor-general. The office of university chancellor was approved and the honour of a hereditary Lord Marshal (
Erblandmarschall) of the House of Putbus was bestowed on the prince. This also gave him the right to preside over the regional council (
Kommunallandtag) for Neuvorpommern and Rügen. and an individual vote (
Virilstimme) in the Pomeranian provincial parliament. In the same year, he acquired the lordship of
Spyker from Count
Magnus Fredrik Brahe. He held the title of a governor-general as well as the corresponding salary, because an appointment as the President (
Regierungspräsident) of the
government district of Stralsund would have been tantamount to a curb of his powers. Under his rule, there was a building boom that has left an indelible mark on the island of Rügen, and he also presided over economic and cultural development. In 1832, Putbus Palace, originally a castle complex from the 14th century, extended in the Renaissance and Baroque periods, was redesigned in a
neoclassical style according to plans of the Berlin architect Johann Gottfried Steinmeyer. (After a fire, it was again redesigned in 1872, and demolished by communist East Germany in 1962.) 1827-1836 Wilhelm had the new
Granitz Hunting Lodge built on the site of an older hunting lodge, based on plans by
Karl Friedrich Schinkel. He was also involved in sugar mills and chalk factories, had shipbuilding established in Seedorf and founded the first seaside resort on Rügen at
Lauterbach. He had 655 acres of land settled with indivisible peasant holdings, held under hereditary leases. In addition, in 1836, he founded the
Pedagogium Putbus, a school for boys from the middle classes and aristocracy. This laid the foundation of a tradition of education in Putbus that continues to the present day. The prince died on 26 September 1854 at Putbus of a bladder disease after a long illness. He was laid to rest in the family vault of Putbus in the
church at Vilmnitz. == Progeny ==